Favorite guilty-pleasure movies

[Kirkman1987]

They Live

 

[Wynterhawk]

The Mummy
A New York Minute

 

[intrinsical]

Down Periscope
The first few Police Academy movies.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Escape From LA. Not up to par sequel. But it's Snake, even though it's Snake-lite.

I seem to be the only one (other than Ebert), but I liked this more than "Escape From New York".

 

[JCooper]

Constantine

It's cheesy, it's far from the Hellblazer as can be to still bear resemblance - but I love it!

"What would *you* do if you were sentenced to a prison where half the inmates were put there by you?"
*********
Angela Dodson: Hold the door. You going down?
John Constantine: Not if I can help it.
*********
Angela Dodson: She was a patient at Ravenscar. She... jumped off the roof.
John Constantine: Thought you said she was murdered?
Angela Dodson: Yeah, well, Isabel wouldn't have taken her own life.
John Constantine: Yeah, what kind of mental patient kills herself? That's just crazy.
*********
John Constantine: Detective, what if I told you that God and the devil made a wager, a kind of standing bet for the souls of all mankind?
Angela Dodson: I'd tell you to stay on your meds.

 

[scotpens]

Down Periscope

Another one I wouldn't classify as a “guilty pleasure” because it's actually a pretty good movie. As military “slob comedies” go, it's much funnier than the overrated Stripes with Bill Murray. YMMV.

For a true guilty pleasure, how about a cheesy 1960s sci-fi flick like Journey to the Seventh Planet or The Angry Red Planet. Or Reptilicus, the best giant-monster movie ever made in Denmark.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Judging from prevailing opinion, Alexander. To my eyes, it looks like a bold effort to actually dramatize an incredible life with some sort of appreciation of the big picture. It's big failing is the determination to write Alexander as a cautionary tale of hubris leading to a fall, except there isn't actually a fall. Alexander just died.

I think maybe you've finally articulated the reason why I didn't much care for the film. Since its conclusion is a false one, it's a really difficult movie to follow because it's hard to tell what it's about and which plot threads we should be paying closest attention to. I also think the non-linear parts of the story didn't make much sense either. It was too hard to tell what was happening when.

Hmm... well, in that case ... I'd have to say The Avengers.

I assume you mean the 1998 film with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman based on the classic British TV series, not the Marvel Comics Avengers movie scheduled for release in 2012. (Unless you have precognitive powers.)

For me, that travesty isn't a guilty pleasure. It's just plain bad.

I think it was the hat. Some men can pull off wearing a bowler, and some can’t.

No, I'm talking about The Avengers based on the British tv show. And I'm well aware of how bad it is. That does not, however preclude the possibility that it has some worthwhile qualities that I find enjoyable and interesting, from a filmmaking perspective.

I put The Avengers in the same category as Batman & Robin and Wild Wild West-- movies I love primarily for their feminine eye candy.

Although, Wild Wild West is kind of a decent movie in other respects as well. While some of it is misguided, it doesn't take itself too seriously and coasts along on the easy charm of Will Smith & Kevin Kline, particularly back when Will Smith was a fresh new discovery off of Independence Day & Men in Black. And Kenneth Branagh is great fun as a Southern bad guy.

Constantine

It's cheesy, it's far from the Hellblazer as can be to still bear resemblance - but I love it!

"What would *you* do if you were sentenced to a prison where half the inmates were put there by you?"
*********
Angela Dodson: Hold the door. You going down?
John Constantine: Not if I can help it.
*********
Angela Dodson: She was a patient at Ravenscar. She... jumped off the roof.
John Constantine: Thought you said she was murdered?
Angela Dodson: Yeah, well, Isabel wouldn't have taken her own life.
John Constantine: Yeah, what kind of mental patient kills herself? That's just crazy.
*********
John Constantine: Detective, what if I told you that God and the devil made a wager, a kind of standing bet for the souls of all mankind?
Angela Dodson: I'd tell you to stay on your meds.

Yeah. I love Constantine. Furthermore, I'm unfamiliar with the comics, so I don't have nearly as many issues with the film as most people did.

 

[selina]

- Resident Evil, 2-4 (I think the first movie is justified)
Resident Evil-movies are best known for plenty of zombies, flat characters with no development and a very simple story. However, I enjoy the movies, God knows why.

- Critters 2
Man, that movie is horrible and yet funny.

 

[scotpens]

I put The Avengers in the same category as Batman & Robin and Wild Wild West-- movies I love primarily for their feminine eye candy.

If you're talking about Uma Thurman, I find her more odd-looking than beautiful. In any case, she's certainly no Diana Rigg. Not even in the same ballpark.

 

[stj]

I think maybe you've finally articulated the reason why I didn't much care for the film. Since its conclusion is a false one, it's a really difficult movie to follow because it's hard to tell what it's about and which plot threads we should be paying closest attention to. I also think the non-linear parts of the story didn't make much sense either. It was too hard to tell what was happening when....

Yeah. I love Constantine. Furthermore, I'm unfamiliar with the comics, so I don't have nearly as many issues with the film as most people did.

About Alexander, in defense of Oliver Stone, every ancient writer has tried to cast Alexander's life in similar terms. In one respect, the murder of Kleitos could stand as a moral fall. Except that Alexander is the only king-conqueror who would treat a conquered people well enough to enrage his own people and easy going enough they would still have nerve enough to defy him to his face.

Any other kings would have either been too feared to be insulted that way or would have gotten their revenge by having him killed by someone else, assassin or judicial murder or sacrificed on the battlefield. Julius Caesar, who cultivated a reputation for magnanimity as well, was so sensitive to criticism, despite being a civilian politician in a republic (in name, anyhow,) that he wrote an entire book, the Anti-Cato, to defend his honor. The book was apparently so inadvertently self-degrading it was discreetly suppressed by Augustus and no copies survived.

And I too really enjoyed Constantine, being innocent of the comics. I tried one graphic novel about him (by Denise Mina, the well known mystery writer,) and it was okay. But Constantine the movie is a sort of anti-origin story. It shows how Constantine's metaphysical dilemma resolves itself, and (theologically, at least,) Constantine becomes an ordinary person again, with his ultimate fate undetermined as yet. Makes it different from the pack.