Writer's Block: Great Films

[packbat]

What does it take to make a good movie? What's the best movie you've seen recently? View other answers

I was thinking about this a while back, and I came up with something like this:

• A good movie (good anything, really) does everything competently well. A movie might be fun that does some things badly, but unless all the fundamentals - plot, character, acting, cinematography - are there, it's not going to be a good movie.
  
• A great movie does something superbly.

Of course, neither of these encompass everything required for me, personally, to like a movie. For example, a certain sort of moral center has to be present, and certain kinds of stupidity absent. (I disliked Johnny English for both of these reasons, though it is a good movie; similarly, though to a lesser extent on the former grounds, Surviving Christmas.) However, as a rule of thumb, I believe the above suffice.

Now, as for the best recent movie I've seen? (Yes, I'm altering the phrasing a little.) My nominee is Crank.

First off: if you check the site, you'll see that it's "Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and drug use." You see that "pervasive"? That practically applies to the entire rest of the sentence - no, the entire sentence, full stop. Do not bring your kids to this movie.

Why do I say Crank is an excellent movie? Well, to start with, it's a good movie. The plot is not entirely original - as my mom said, it's clear that the people who made it had heard of the 1950 movie D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival) - but it's definitely okay, and it's the weakest part. But the real reason I mention it is the camerawork.

Read, if you will, the directing, writing, and camera department credits. Yes, those are the same two people. This is a movie by and for camera operators, and it contains the most incredible camerawork I have ever seen, including the most incredible in-camera special effects I've ever heard of. (When you hit the end of the movie: yes, they shot that in-camera. I'm not kidding.)

(Have I abused the <em> tags enough? Hmm, may as well make it an even dozen.)

Now, I can't guarantee you'll like it. My brother didn't even think I'd (twelve!) like it. But if action is your game (and there's plenty of it; it even stars Jason Statham doing his own stunts), Crank won't disappoint.