ESTRAGON: Let’s go.

VLADIMIR: We can’t.

ESTRAGON: Why not?

VLADIMIR: We’re waiting for Godot.

ESTRAGON: Ah! 

PERSON 1: I hated that movie.

PERSON 2: That was a good movie!

PERSON 1: You liked it?

PERSON 2: No, I hated it, but it was a good movie.

PERSON 1: Ahhh!

I think that Serena and Robyn both bring up a very valid point: does this whole debate about liking a film verses it being “good” even really matter? Obviously it matters to Bordwell and Thompson. But does it really affect the average movie-goer? My bet has to be on “no.” The average American will probably not pay attention to movie reviews, but rather go and see a movie they think they will like based on the movie trailer. And, if the average American movie-goer does pay attention to reviews, I imagine that most of them don’t pay attention to who writes them, such as the father of the She’s My Rushmore blog owner (I’m sorry for not knowing your name). Granted, there are those people out there who do actually care if a movie is “good” or not. I can be that way myself. Now, what is “good?” I have no idea. Is it fantastic cinematography? Is it superb acting? Is it an original storyline? Is it a famous speech? Is it camera motion, or lighting? Who knows? There are many schools of thought on this subject. So how can we know for sure what is “good?” Well, we can listen to the critics, but I personally don’t like that idea, because I don’t care for other people telling me what I ought to consider “good;” or, we can each have our own individual ideas of what makes a “good” film. I’m willing to bet that there will be some similarities in our ways of thinking, and that it’s those similarities would create the canon of “good” or “classic” film.

But then again, like so many of you have said in your blogs, and in class: what does it really matter? If you like the movie, what does it matter if it’s also “good” or not?