Good movie, bad movie: just try to define it. It's like obscenity, "I won't further try to define it, but I know it when I see it", paraphrased from Justice Potter Stewart (1964)  - most movie goers know when they've seen a good movie, so why does anybody make bad movies? I've heard a lot of explanations of why, ranging from "the public is stupid" explanation (which I guess is saying that the movie is actually good, but no one can see it but the guys who made the movie), to "when you work on a movie long enough you can no longer tell if it's good or not". Certainly the first explanation is unlikely: it seems like a rationalization to justify having made a less than stellar film. However, the second explanation isn't really much more than that, either - really, you can't tell? Certainly there are often extenuating circumstances, basically the "too big to fail" movie, where someone has spent so much money on the movie that the HAVE to release it, no matter how bad they worry it might be, and there is the "he made us hit movies before, it's got to be good despite all evidence to the contrary" (I heard that "John Carter" was in this category). And of course, it's tough to make a "hit' movie, even if you do make a good movie - Doug Liman's recent "Edge of Tomorrow" (Tom Cruise / Emily Blunt) was a really fun SciFi film that pretty much everyone I know enjoyed, yet it did poorly at the box office. Who knows why (although the ridiculously lack luster title may have assisted, along with a confusing ad campaign). I'm currently re-watching the 2005 Fantastic 4 movie, one which I was totally prepared to enjoy originally, but which sadly lacked any real punch. Origin stories are often disappointing, I think because you have to do a whole series of movies worth of exposition, plus when it's a "let's watch our super powers develop" kind of thing (like in Fantastic 4) you see the same powers over and over again, just slightly more developed each time (Reed's stretchiness, Dr. Doom's weird metallic electrical effects, etc.). And then there were the silly cheap shots, like having the Invisible Girl re-appearing in public after shedding most of her clothes so that she can "disappear" (and then trying to cover herself with her arms as she accidentally becomes visible again). Yes, Jessica Alba looks nice with her clothes off, but is this a girly film or a superhero movie? And Johnny Storm's ill conceived antics did not endear that character to me - I was kind of rooting for him to get the stuffing whacked out of him. I would dearly love to work on a movie one day, but that dream seems to get further away every day. If I ever do, I hope is a good one. Nuff said (since I'm watching a Marvel movie).

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