Jimmy's Oasis

Good movies

Jimmy Chen -

I recently looked at a list of Oscar winners from the past few decades, and noticed a significant discrepancy between most winning movies’ IMDB scores (which is an aggregate of user reviews) and Metacritic scores (which is an aggregate of movie critic reviews). I find that my own personal preferences are more in line with IMDB scores, and started to think about what the exact criteria are for a good movie for me, given my own tastes.

Since I like watching movies but my time is limited, it makes sense to have a good framework for discovering and choosing which movies to watch. I’ll share mine below.

In my case, there seem to be three main criteria: how memorable a movie is; whether it’s positively entertaining; and whether it made me think. In my experience, some good movies score well on all three elements. Others score extremely well in 1-2 elements to make up for weakness elsewhere.

Memorable

Some movies make their way into the collective cultural consciousness. Sometimes, they don't need to be "objectively good"; a great example of this is Star Wars, which is a cultural phenomenon in the West but hasn't really caught on in China.

I find that this category consists of movies with iconic music, memorable acting performances, and/or unforgettable scenes/dialogue. Some examples for me:

  • Iconic music: Titanic; Star Wars; Frozen; The Lion King
  • Memorable acting performances: The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger); Whiplash (J.K. Simmons); Joker (Joaquin Phoenix)
  • Unforgettable scenes: The Matrix; Inception; La La Land; Good Will Hunting

Positively entertaining

This is where comedies and light action movies shine. In general, people go to the movies to have a good time, and at least among friends whom I've talked to about this, most prefer happy movies with happy endings. I’m the same way. However, for some reason, people don’t rate light/comedic movies highly. It seems that I’m overweight on this criteria when compared to the general population (there aren’t many highly rated comedies or light action movies on IMDB).

Some (highly rated) examples: Back to the Future; Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame; Jurassic Park; Casino Royale

Thought-provoking

I'm underweight this criteria compared to the general population (there are a ton of highly rated thought-provoking movies on IMDB). Movies of this type are usually hard for me to sit through. Intellectually, I recognize and remember good movies that are not positively entertaining, but they need to be extremely good - and even so, I never rewatch them.

Some very good movies I've watched but will never rewatch: The Shawshank Redemption; Seven; Parasite; Interstellar; Joker

Some highly rated movies that I know are thought-provoking but have never watched because of my preference: Schinder’s List; The Silence of the Lambs; Grave of the Fireflies

My all-time great movies list

Movies that score very high for all three criteria will probably qualify as great movies for most of the population. I’ll list my favourites below (in no particular order) as potential recommendations:

  • The Matrix
  • The Lord of the Rings trilogy
  • Several Pixar films: Inside Out; Coco; WALL-E; Up
  • Good Will Hunting
  • Your Name.
  • Back to the Future
  • The Dark Knight

Very entertaining movies

What can I say, I love movies that are light and a good time all around. Here's an additional list of my favourites that aren't particularly highly rated. I almost never rewatch movies, but I’ve seen each of these at least twice (some 3-4 times):

Crazy Rich Asians; Avatar; The Hangover; Iron Man; Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle; Fast Five; Limitless; Love Actually; Hitch.

Movies that I should watch

This final list is mostly a reminder for my own benefit:

The Godfather (Part I/II); Forrest Gump; Fight Club; Spirited Away; Goodfellas; Leon: The Professional; Django Unchained