lesterlong

What is good dialogue? What I consider good dialogue is realistic dialogue. Characters giving their viewpoints on things which may or may not be related to the plot but are related to the character. Because that's what reality is like. We all don't spit out a bunch of one liners, and say things like "We must get out of here!" or 'They sent a backup plan...me" On the other end, I also don't think good dialogue is just spewing your philosophical beliefs on Star Wars. Good dialogue doesn't necessarily have to relate to the story but should definately build and shape your characters. What are some qualities of good dialogue?

clemente

The dialogue I have with people in my life is rather mundane......if I watched a filmed "real dialogue" chances are it'd be pretty damn boring and I do not go to the movies to be bored.

One liners and preposterous lines of dialogue are sometimes part of the package and as long as the package I'm buying and the dialogue are consistent, I'm okay with it.

inVectiVe

This might seem totally trivial to some, but since X2 is coming out and I recently re-watched X-Men, I decided I really liked these 2 Wolverine scenes.

Rogue: When they come out.......does it hurt?
Wolverine: Every time.

[I liked this because it's a perfectly natural question, plus the affirmative answer shows that being a mutant is kind of a mixed blessing.]

Professor X: (Something about how the "Big, Round Room" helps him locate mutants)
Wolverine: Then why don't you just use it to find Magneto?
Professor X: I've tried, but he seems to have found a way to block the signal.
Wolverine: And how would he know how to do that?
Professor X: Because he helped me build it.

[This further fleshes out the Magneto / Professor X relationship, and makes me wonder how, since they were obviously pretty close at one point, their ideologies ultimately became so incompatible.]

My point here is to show that "Good Dialogue" can exist in a fantasy / action setting, and isn't limited to the international nomenclature of McDonald's lunch menu.

DVD Smurf

A good dialogue should be based on what has happen, will happen, or happens at the current moment, which should coherent and easily understood by the audience. Then one can discuss whether the dialogue should be realistic to the geographical ethnic socio-economic environment.

However, a good film does not base its story on the dialogue, but on the images and the actions of the characters. The dialogue can be there to explain the action of the chatacters and what is going on, since the characters needs to be aware of the situation based on past, current, and future predicaments. For example, Three Colors: Blue the leaking fluid from the breakwire this should induce a sense of emergency, which the characters are not aware off.

As mentioned above, dialogue sometimes is totally irrelavant (or seems so to the audience, since we do not know everything about the characters past or future) and mundane to what is going on, but can be there to help in the character development or to cause some action by the characters. And here I go blah, blah, blah...

Anyway, if it sounds, looks, and feels right then it is usually a good dialogue...I bet I make no sense at all...

Autotelik

I like what Ripley's character says in The Talented Mr. Ripley (Matt Damon). Especially the parts in the 2nd half of the movie, where he talks about his own demons, and whether evil people think of themselves as evil.

Fok

Jay & Silent Bob strike back

Rypro 525

Tarrentino is a master of making great dialogue. It can be sometimes very funny even though it is very tense as well. Like in Pulp Fiction with Jules and the What speech, as well as Marvin in the car.

Azazoth

My vote is for The Thin Man. It's not realistic, but it's witty and well delivered. Plus, they don't wait for the audience to laugh. I hate when pauses are built into movies so the audience doesn't miss any lines.