Movies

When going to the movies with friends, I am sometimes deemed too critical. It seems like I want to have everything on a silver platter and if something ever so tiny is missing, I write the movie off.
But if one is to distinguish bad movies, those that are ok and those that are breathtakingly great, one needs to use the whole scale.
There are really bad movies, which I probably don´t need to describe in much detail. They can be either just bad or so bad that they are funny (nevertheless still bad).
Mostly I see movies that are ok - they might lack something in the storytelling, logic, performance of the actors, directorial skills; or they might use too many cliches, or maybe the music is too loud or it does not fit the scene etc.. It can be any number of things, but overall they are ok. It is nice to watch these and just relax and not overthink it. But when I am to state my opinion, I would not be able to say that such a movie was great... because it was not.
Then there are good movies, that just work. I go to a cinema to watch these. I might even connect to one of the characters and be afraid, when something bad is about to happen to them, or be happy for them, when they win a lottery or find that special someone for themselves. Sometimes there is a puzzle that I cannot help but try solving with the characters. After the movie is over, I might think about it for a while, there might be some questions that arise, that resonate in my mind for a couple of days. Sometimes I watch the movie again, maybe even more than once. But even when connected in some way, I am still just the viewer.
And then there are very rare movies that move me. I cease to be just a member of the audience. The movie touches something inside of me, speaks to me (as ridiculous as that sounds). It is not rational and I cannot even describe it right.
Last summer it was Single Man with Colin Firth, last night it was Shame with Michael Fassbender. I don´t know if these are objectively great movies. Maybe I just watched them at the right time and if I saw them at a different point in my life, they would not have the same effect. I even hesitate to watch them again, precisely because it was so strong an experience. If every movie was like that, I would not be able to go to a cinema as often as I do. They need to be the exception, not the rule. But on my personal scale, they are the only ones that deserve to be called great.