"Is that good?" vs "Is that any good?"

I only say "Is that any good?" when I don't expect the thing to be good. To me, "Was that movie any good" means "it didn't look good to me but I'd like to hear your opinion."

Can't think of a way to use the phrase "any good" outside of a question. So when asked "Is that any good?" a person would reply that it's good/bad, but not that it's "any good."

The modifier "any" can be read as a logic check for non-zero values.

"Do you have any apples?" --> Do you not have zero apples?

With that in mind, I'd say "is that any good" is a gentler inquiry along the same lines of "is that good"

"is that any good?" --> is this even a little bit good "is that good?" --> is this good

I think it's an issue of the degree of value judgment being solicited by the question. Then again, talking about something like 'quantities' of good seems a tad phantasmagorical.

By itself, good means (in this usage)

Having the required qualities; of a high standard: a good restaurant

The phrase any good means:

Have some merit: tell me whether that picture is any good

ODO definitions

So good generally implies a higher level of quality than any good. E.g. if a food is good, you look forward to eating it; if it's just any good, you won't spit it out, but you may not relish it.

Here's a simple example. Let us give emphasis to “it”, by telling you exactly what “it”, is in the sentence.

Let’s say we are talking about food.

We know that the object about which the question is being framed is food, but what about the food?

The second clue you’re given is the focus on the taste of the food.

Is it ‘any’ good..?

The word ‘any’, coming before ‘good’, is the key word that is used to indicate and support the word coming after; that ties the rest of the sentence together, to that object... which in this case is food, if it was “any” good.

Like if someone were to ask, "Does it have any taste?"

e.g. No, it was tasteless. (so, it did not taste good)

It was not ‘any’ good.