Good "bad" movies

[El Unicornio, mang]

Velvet Goldmine is worth watching if only to see pre-"action hero tough guy" Christian Bale looking slightly different

[BJB]

The Room.


Recent events however have proved the director/writer/producer/star of this to be a pompus, ignorant buffoon.

[vrailaine]

Batman Forever is a bloody entertaining film, better than the ones before it,  Joel Schumacher is absolutely right to've never apologised for it.

[BJB]

Better then the Burton movies? I wouldent say so. It IS miles better then Batman and Robin though

[HAYRDRYAH]

Ive always had a soft spot for things like Cannibal! the musical and anything troma have put out

Anyone going to this?

http://www.leicestersquaretheatre.com/lqt/show/S1261501658/Cannibal!+The+Musical

Any idea if it will be any good?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I was massively disappointed by Cannibal! The Musical. I knew from the outset it was going to be a cheap, trashy film (indeed that's what I was in the mood for at the time) but found it to be pretty lazy and obvious stuff, and the songs were very weak too.

[SavageHedgehog]

I also found Cannibal! a little disappointing; not awful, just kind of flat and thin. The songs were nice though. I guess it was a student film.

Better then the Burton movies? I wouldent say so. It IS miles better then Batman and Robin though

I personally have no problem saying it's better than Batman Returns, which I re-watched about a year ago and didn't feel worked at all.

[vrailaine]

Better than both Burton films, not sure if I would've said so before Begins.

[Blumf]

I consider Starship Troopers one of the greatest ever genre movies made. Although I don't think it's universally considered a 'bad movie', so maybe it doesn't count.

Surely the other Paul Verhoeven classic (other than Robocop and Total Recall, which are 100% good/good) Showgirls needs a mention here. Wilfully tacky and chock full of terrible, laugh out loud, lines and scenes.

"they're going to see a smiling snatch if you don't fix this g-string"

[biggytitbo]

Flesh+Blood is also a surprisingly good and intelligent film, despite all the usual Verhoven exploitation stuff present and correct.

[Ginyard]

"they're going to see a smiling snatch if you don't fix this g-string"

One of those lines that stays with you, isn't it? A bit like 'No more pull-ups' from 2012.

I love Octaman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j6xhFdDxDI

Where's Cledus and Don Williams when you need them, Smokey?

Watching it became a bi-annual institution in my student years when an alchohol fuelled evening would peak with this masterpiece. Its not just the abysmal fx and camera work that get me wet, its the fact that Octaman looks like something Butlins would order if kids demanded to be entertained by a veridian green rubber Orson Welles mollusk. Also, I dig that he doesn't suck his victims with his tentacles in a foul way, he just bitch slaps them by swinging his shit like a drag artist with a dead fox round his neck.

A+

[SavageHedgehog]

Surely it's become accepted that the "cheesy" elements of Starship Troopers were deliberate? I'm not a fan of it myself because I don't think what Verhoven was trying to do is actually very entertaining to watch, but I wouldn't really categorise it with the other films here. Starship Troopers 3 on the other hand...

[Blumf]

Surely it's become accepted that the "cheesy" elements of Starship Troopers were deliberate?

Oh yes, I think all of Verhoven's US films are taking the piss in some form or another, quiet often a direct attack on various parts of US culture.

Starship Troopers in particular is a good example of this seeing as the source novel has been an influential part of the US Military's reading lists for many decades now[*].

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Never liked Starship Troopers. The satirical element is fair enough, but the story is grade zed Arse.

I agree about Predator 2, great fun and Danny Glover was a natural for the lead.

[SavageHedgehog]

Never liked Starship Troopers. The satirical element is fair enough, but the story is grade zed Arse.

That's always been the problem for me; no matter how "ironic" or "satirical" you make soap opera bullshit or monotonous battles scenes, it's still soap opera bullshit and monotonous battles scenes.

The Room.


Recent events however have proved the director/writer/producer/star of this to be a pompus, ignorant buffoon.

What's he done?

[Hank_Kingsley]

The Room is faaacking amazing.

How could Tommy Wiseau be any more pompous? He's always been a completely self-deluded chump, hence the amusing nature of The Room.

[SavageHedgehog]

But in fairness hasn't he been the one ringleading a lot of these screenings where people sit there and mock it for two hours? Granted, he's doing that because it's the only way he can actually make money, but to sit there and take it like that does indicate some level of humility and humour I think, even if it's a false one.

[localhero87]

I'm embarrassed to say I enjoyed Corky Romano, which is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen, despite my enjoyment. Its a Chris Kattan (of SNL fame and Night At The Roxbury with Ferrell) vehicle with Chris Penn, and its thoroughly rubbish, but so rubbish it made it lovely.

That qualifies it for this thread, although even after saying I enjoyed it I'd recommend everyone stayed away from it.

[SavageHedgehog]

I liked both of those, especially Roxbury. I even own the soundtrack, which is shameful in its own way.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

There was some utter shitfest on last night with Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger/Michael Madsen that was entertaining in a really laughable way. What crowned it was this awesomely appalling hammy performance by a young looking Jennifer Tilly as a damsel in distress.

[localhero87]

I liked both of those, especially Roxbury. I even own the soundtrack, which is shameful in its own way.

I have a Night At The Roxbury on DVD and I'm proud of it!

[thugler]

Halloween 3 season of the witch:

Cyborgs!

Stone henge!

Melting heads!

[biggytitbo]

Halloween 3 season of the witch:

Cyborgs!

Stone henge!

Melting heads!

Doh Halloween 3 Season of the Witch isn't a good bad film, its a good good film. Not as good good as it should be, but great nonetheless. I'd love to see Kneale's original script filmed, but even as it is, one of the nastiest central ideas in horror.

[BJB]

I personally have no problem saying it's better than Batman Returns, which I re-watched about a year ago and didn't feel worked at all.

I agree bout Batman Returns. The more I watch it, the worse it gets. Its not terrible, but it just dident work the same way as that first movie. And Danny Devito is no Jack Nicholsen.

[BJB]

What's he done?

The Nostaliga Critic reviewed the Room recently, and Tommy wiseau had him take the video down, even though NC was breaking no laws and is protected by the Fair Use clause. Needless to say, Tommy has been getting a LOT of negative E mails in his inbox and on his facebook lately.

[Cohaagen]

Absolutely glorious summary, I laughed my head off reading that - peaking at the phrase 'death by twig'.

It sounds brilliant. I shall acquire and indulge forthwith.

Good man.

Ha ha, thanks man. I'm being absolutely serious about the twig fatality, by the way. I even think it's on YouTube.

A few years ago I actually wrote a sort of 500-word paen to Charles Bronson as an introduction to an adaptation of the Death Wish series I wishfully planned to put on in Edinburgh. The script stalled about a third of the way through because I became more interested in sitting in my room drinking and staring at the wall, but the intro remains the only thing I'm ever proud of having written.

While like any sane person I am a big fan of Death Wish 3, I personally plump for Death Wish 4 as the high point of the series. The deaths are more novel, there are more one liners ("I was making a sandwhich") and the finale is at a roller-rink. Fantastic. Similarly I think Delta Force 2 trumps the first; it leaves behind the original's semi-realistic zionism to make the Bond movie the Broccolis could have made, if they weren't too damn concerned about being "respectable"

I agree partly with your first point, and wholly with the second. DF2 also benefits from the fact that it features Nathan White, the baddie from Death Wish 4, who unfortunately does not reprise his white vinyl shoes n' gold chains costume from that movie.

Gary Busey's Bulletproof where he actually plays - and I'm not making this up - a cop named "McBain" is going for about four quid in Tesco and on Amazon right now, and I urge everyone to have a look at it. This clip is representative of the tone and features three key requirements of any 80s action film: stupid Hispanic henchmen, a pre-death one-liner, and a silenced Micro-Uzi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqsN1smBIeE

[chocolateboy]

Not entirely unrelated.

And surely the most successful movie of all time is a good bad movie? Does anyone love (or hate) Avatar unconditionally? Even James Cameron must cop to several charges of crimes against Na'vinity humanity, not least ripping off James Cameron, and playing himself off with keyboard Leona Lewis.

[Cohaagen]

If you're looking for a critique of the movie from the perspective of a Cameron fan (at least a highly selective one), I'd say that any self-taught art design auteur who imagines a universe where giant fusion-powered robot warmech robots are commonplace, yet paraplegics are restricted to wheelchairs that wouldn't stand up to a decent game of cripple murderball, has certainly dropped a futurist bollock somewhere. I'm sure Syd Mead could have cracked out a suppository-shaped spinal apparatus with oversized wheels which could support our hero.

[biggytitbo]

I know a lot of people seem to think its bloody awful, perhaps because its so outlandish, but I regard Phenomena as Argento's best work. A bizarre bad dream after some strong cheese of a film, genuinely weird and eccentric. Once seen never forgotten!

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Never liked Starship Troopers. The satirical element is fair enough, but the story is grade zed Arse.

If the storyline was anything other than fairly formulaic then it just wouldn't have worked.  It's so close to the thing it's attacking that many people simply don't realise the whole thing is a parody.  Much of it is laugh out loud funny, other bits are just disturbing in what it's saying.  I'd strongly recommend people to listen to Verhoven's DVD commentary on this one, it's one of the best ones I've heard.  He says somewhere near the beginning that the message of the film is "war makes fascists of us all".