Bad films make you scream for joy that you have a big bucket of popcorn in your lap and an extra large Coke in your cup holder. Bad films make a 90 minute runtime seem as long as “Gone with the Wind.” Bad films make you think of anything else in the world except for the film itself. Polanski, director of classics like “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” is absolutely right that good films should make you forget you are sitting in a theater. When watching a good film everything else just slips away. A good film makes you feel you’re apart of it, as if you are actually in the story up there on that big screen. The good films are the ones that have the ability to captivate the audience, make the audience cry and make the audience laugh; sometimes both at the same time. The good films are the ones that will make you think one thing for hours and in the final few minutes surprise the Hell out of you. The good films will thrill, humor, terrify, arouse, inspire, confuse, delight, and even anger you as a fan. These emotions that films produce in a viewer are what truly make films great. Good films are magical.

The only criterion set forth for films on this site is that they are indeed good films. The term “good film” is subjective. Different film goers have different thoughts as to which movies are good and bad and what aspects of filmmaking and storytelling make a good or bad film. Some questions are raised by the term “good film.” Does a film have to be well-liked by such astute film critics like that of a Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael to be considered a good film? No, it does not, however the film opinions of critics shouldn’t be disvalued as they view nearly every film that comes out on a yearly basis and get paid to persuade us about which films we should and should not see. Ultimately it is up for us as individuals to decide which films are good and bad. The films that can be found in reviews, lists, and articles on this site are ones that are deemed by me and other contributors of the site to be “good films.” You can take these opinions and choose to agree, disagree, or debate them; after all, that is what truly makes film so special.        

I hope that you sincerely enjoy this site dedicated to the fine art of cinema and I hope you enjoy these great films that truly stand the test of time.

- Julian L. Spivey, founder of The Red Carpet Reel