Timeless Formulas

Have you ever watched a movie and had the vague feeling of deja vu? You ask yourself, didn't I just see that somewhere else? You probably did. Expanding upon the Three Acts of a Screenplay, there is something called a formulaic Screenplay. I recommend finding the book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting you'll ever need! Written by an "insider" it explains why somethings seems to always be present in certain movies. 

The success of these movies depends on the execution and your personal taste, but I can tell you the goal of these films is to strike a cord. They want some kind of emotional resonance, where the audience members feel "Like you know me inside and out!"

The following movies to me showcase the following formulas:

• The Family crisis/ The Family reunion/ Or The Dysfunctional Family-Another Happy Day, In Her Shoes , We need to Talk About Kevin, August: Osage County, Extremely loud and Incredibly Close 

• Epic fight for humanity- Independence Day,World War Z, Book of Eli, The Titans, Battle Los Angeles 

• Good vs. Evil- Thor, Avengers, The Batman Trilogy any super hero, sci fi. or fantasy film will have this. But in blurred situations where the good guy isn’t “purely” good check out Blood Diamond, Sweeny Todd The Demond Barber, Road to Perdition, and The Green Mile  

• The Love Story. Personally I categorize romantic films into three categories:

 Break up/Make Up- Sweet Home Alabama, The Bounty Hunter,  How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Tragic love -The Duchess, Titanic, Moulin Rouge  

Happily ever after- Labor Day, The Great and Powerful Oz, Notting Hill. 

Comedies get their own category and their formulas are quite obvious.

Post your own list of “Formulaic” movies and what you think about them.