First of all. Thank you for having Canadian beer in the fridge.

I've tried to answer this question myself. However, I never got a concrete answer because it tends to change over time for me. At times a good movie is whatever keeps my interest because I'm going through a rough patch. At other times it is the movie that hits me the hardest emotionally. At other times it is what makes me laugh the most.

I think everything you said is a part of that, it just isn't as clear to me.


What is in the pasta? It looks like broccoli, asparagus and something else.

Hey, I'm a vegetarian. Can you please please please post your recipe? I've been looking for some good pasta that isn't filled to the brim with five types of cheese.

It's everything you saw plus olive oil and pesto...canned pesto.

... That was actually surpringsly good. I mean, I know it's just watching a man cooking dinner while talking about what makes a good movie (hell what makes a good story in general), but it did sort of struck a chord with me. It ironically fulfilled exactly what you were saying when you said you were trying to make a good movie (well at least it did in my opinion).

That was really good man, keep up the good work.

From the look of it, I'd guess:

Pasta
Pesto
Asparagus
Broccoli

With Red Hot to taste.

To me; a good movie has to have likeable characters, the best actors to play said characters, amazing costumes (authentic looking ones, if you're doing a fantasy or period piece,) an amazing musical score and the film should slightly make the audience think that it's real.

That was cute. XP

I was bored silly watching this. No biggie, right?

Pass the hot sauce.

I'm currently finding a similar thing with my recent music kick... I don't like music which bores me or otherwise doesn't engage me. This is partly why I simultaneously relish and dread the idea of braving the Lou Reed and Metallica album "Lulu" for instance.

A good example of a film that is fun but not exactly art is Riki-Oh: The Story Of Ricky. It's so violent that it's hilarious, but while watching it I never felt bored.

A bad example of a film that is conceptually and artistically sound but as far as engaging me lacking, was The Social Network. I really don't get David Fincher's appeal outside of Fight Club. I'm sorry. His worlds are mean spirited and awful, and not in the fun Fight Club 90s cynicism way either. I'm... just left cold by the guy.

Meanwhile The Coen Brothers I really enjoy because they can do both dark and comedy well.

Also, Wake In Fright is a good movie that succeeds on both a black humour and a horrific realism level. Go find it.

Yeah, that was surprisingly entertaining for just watching a guy make dinner. ^_^ I, too, would love the recipe for that pasta. I know it looks pretty straight forward, but I'm missing whatever it was you added from that little jar at the end there.

Also, I spent the first half of this feeling like your shirt was going to eat me.

Would the points you made transfer well to what makes a good Novel?

Fun to watch you make the dinner, I get that feeling watching Spirited Away as well.
Your comments are interesting as well, but kinda just putting into words what many people already know... not much new ground being tread...

Still, nice to have someone put it in words for the masses.

The only unnecessary part of this video is your pretentiousness with that pasta. Lol. "Nom this is so nom good nom, not even nom joking nom." We get it. As someone said above, it's just pesto, veggies, and pasta with "hothot", as it sounded like you called it, to taste.

(For some reason, I was very tempted to make a few vegetarian jokes here.) [can't fathom vegetarians or vegans] ^^'

I write on occasion, and I'm always annoyed by how I feel that I kind of lack the ability to really show the emotions of characters outside of the main POV. It's a little different with literature than films, for obvious reasons, but it's one of those skills that I've always had issues with. :

Making good food as a metaphor for making good movies?

A great video, Luke. It's important for any legitimate critic and reviewer to allow the audience to have insight into their criteria. It's one thing to throw out opinions, it's another to present constructivism of said opinion and one way to do that is giving your viewers/readers perspective even if briefly. Short and to the point but nicely insightful.

get a table

Your not a very good cook are you? The best pasta you have ever had should not include canned pesto.

Aw, hungry Luke. ^^ I love pasta too; not hot sauce though.

Good points on what's a good movie but it is hard to get a concrete answer especially with all the different people & movies there.

Same with any medium, really..

You should go through the various genres and explore what works and doesn't work as part of a movie.

Whatever entertains you, not what someone tells you what is good or bad.

Hmm...I now feel the need to go out and buy Catelli pasta and Franks Red Hot Sauce now...:P

You know what you said about movies that doesn't do their job...
Well, strangely enought, this 'silly little video' has totally grown on me. It made an impact, made me very hungry too.:)
And i think your definition were broad enough to fit most arthouse movies also.
On experimental cinema... not so much.
But I guess that is the whole point of that field. It's allowed not to succeed all the time on generally accepted terms (and maybe that's why it is the place where the some of the most unwatchable movies also coming from)...

Very enjoyable video Luke! I'm glad I'm not the only person that gets hungry watching Miyazaki films. I get so jealous because the dishes look soooo delicious! Not to mention like in Howl's Moving Castle, the mondo bacon? Ah! I wish they sold bacon strips that large where I live! While that dish you made looks good, I'm not a veg-head so I'd probably add shrimp and not use hot sauce since hot sauce upsets my stomach.

Here are my criteria, just for the heck of it.

1. Technical film-making aspects. I put this as one criterion because I do not know enough about technical film making to talk about each individual aspect of film-making meaningfully, but also because it is pretty basic and any film that does not get things like cinematography, editing, set design, sound design and pacing right usually fails no matter what else it has going for it.

2. It must be about something. No matter how well-made a film is, if it does not leave the audience with any definite impression or idea, it should not exist. Even if the impression is as simple as, "I am sad now" or "That climax was exciting!" The audience still has to have that impression and know that it was intentional.

3. It must have at least one consistent element that the audience can identify with. The only time a film should be completely alien to the audience is if the filmmaker makes it clear that he is aware of this complete alienation, and that it serves a purpose that justifies it.

4. The filmmaker must be honest with himself and his audience. Like Luke said.

5. It must provoke a reaction that is not apathy. Like Luke said.

6. Unless it is an experimental art film, which by the definition of the term "experimental" are very difficult to do well no matter what, or it is a sweeping multi part epic, it must have a 3-act structure, which means a beginning, a middle, and an end. They can be shown out of order, like in Memento and Fight Club, but the film must have shown them all by the time it is over and thus told a complete story.

I am not sure how logically consistent my rules are with each other or themselves, but they are the best I can come up with off the top of my head.

About the pasta, I am not a vegetarian, but it is good to see someone else who does not eat pasta without hot sauce. I would have added Parmesan cheese but maybe that is just me.

Thumbs up on the Hausu shirt! I have the same one (and have gotten crap from my girlfriend over it as she thinks it looks silly, even though she liked it once I got her to sit down and watch it).

hmm pasta ~ just made some the other night, turned out pretty good XD

Hey you see that salt he is using its from my town of Windsor ON LOL I never thought I would see Windsor on this web site lol ya CANADA

That was great!

My criteria for what makes a good film tends to vary. But there are just a couple things I constantly look for when judging if a film is good or not. Is the concept unique, and in what way is it unique? And if it's not a unique concept than what did the filmmaker at least do differently?

I like vegetarian dinner. Vegetarians are so tasty.

But to the point: above all else, a movie should entertain. Even if you don't remember a thing about it tomorrow, if it doesn't enteritain, it's a failure.

All else is a bonus.