Thoughts on movies

Mark McIlroy

September 2025


1. Please don't make prequels. I've never been to see a prequel and I never will. What would be the slightest point of going to see a movie when you already know how it is going to end?


2. Movies that are part of a series often include a device which is a short reference to a previous film in the series.
I think that this is a bad idea. If you haven't seen the previous film then this reference is very confusing. If you have,
then it's a reminder of a past event that you probably don't want to be reminded of.


3. A love story is the only story. Movies from comedies to action often include tension between a man and a woman who end up together at the end of the film. Think that 'Alien' is not a love story? It's a story about a love of life and the will to live.


4. To make a successful series, don't start the next movie where the previous one ended. Go back to the start and repeat 
the previous film. This is how Mission Impossible and James Bond managed to make dozens of successful films with the same characters.


5. Movies where the second film starts where the first one ended, with the couple now together, usually aren't very successful.
No-one wants to see a film about a couple's life. A solution to this problem is to start the second film with the couple
estranged, and who get back together as the film progresses. This was used by the Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters films.


6. Road movies such as Wild at Heart are a bit of an exception to this as they often have a couple but there's a lot of tension.


7. Try to have a happy ending. Most movies follow this pattern but there've been a few where the main character was left confused and defeated, at best. It's profoundly depressing to leave a movie theatre having just watched a film where the end for the character was terrible. The ending feeling carries forward into the following days for the viewer.

I believe that Pretty Woman was originally intended to have a gritty and negative ending but a decision was made to give it a happy ending.


8. I think that James Bond should be rich. The viewer is supposed to connect to the main character and everyone wants a life that is warm and easy. In the later films there was an attempt to add some 'street credibility' to the character, which I don't agree with. Also, I think that he should be 50 years old. In my opinion males reach their peak of suaveness and attractiveness at about 50-55 years old. In the books apparently he was only about 30 which in my opinion is too young.