What Makes It Entertaining?

[Blue]

I've been thinking a lot about story lately...and how unimportant it is.

Did anyone go and see Pirates of the Carribean because they thought the story was going to be riveting? I think most went because even in the trailer you could see that Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow was interesting and more importantly, funny.

Movie trailers are the only thing besides reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations that get us in the theater seats. Movie trailers give some of the plot line away but do you really remember the plot by the next commercial. Probably not, but what did you remember? You remembered one or two characters, a funny or powerful dialog line or two, and many of the special effects, eye-candy shots.

After seeing the movie, you probably find it hard to remember the storyline well enough to communicate. But you can probably act out a few key scenes and tell someone that you saw aliens suck someone down a toilet.

It seems to me interesting characters and dynamic visuals/action are what resonate with people. I realize that story is necessary for the characters to exist and do the things they do. But perhaps the Story or Plot Line in and of itself doesn't have to be spectacular or original for a film to be good. For instance, Jack and Jill go fetch some water from a well...ok ho hum. Now, Jack is a pedofile who just got out of prison and Jill is a flirty tween with a short skirt. You could say I'm changing or adding to the story, but the plot line is still the same, still going for water--I'm diffentiating the two. Characters and Plot.

Did you ever see a bad movie with really great characters?

I dunno, maybe I just had too much coffee today, tell me what you think.

[NightmanGX]

A really bad movie with an awesome character is Evil Dead 3 or known as Army of Darkness. The main character Ash Williams is played by beloved B-movie star Bruce Campbell.

The story sucks but Ash has lived on into the comics, and fought with the Marvel Zombies (its exactly what it sounds like) and done battle with Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.

"Listen up you primitive screwheads, this is my BOOMSTICK!"

Another good movie that has great characters and an deep plot are the movies Death Note and Death Note 2: The Last Name. I highly recomend these movies.

[Blue]

Great example of a movie that revolves around a GREAT character. Campbell's timing and comic delivery in this movie are just perfect. I wonder how much was improv'd and how much was script?

"Klatu, verata...wwkh*cough*ahselfk"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeLUi_20Nrg