'Bad' Movies, TV Shows, Books Etc. You Like

[TheLobster]

Unfamiliar with the phrase 'hock up', but no-one can diss Spaceballs, surely?

Anyone who tries will simply prove to everyone else that his Schwartz is very tiny indeed.

 

[StillStunned]

Unfamiliar with the phrase 'hock up', but no-one can diss Spaceballs, surely?

You'd think so, but sometimes you find yourself surrounded by arseholes.

 

[MythMaker]

Off the top of my head, Batman Returns is one that I'm surprised to see get as much flack as it does. There are a handful of moments that I find too silly, but on the whole I find it to be an excellent film that's worthy as a follow-up to its predecessor.

On the topic of superheroes, Man of Steel is also one that while I can understand people's criticisms for, still wonder why it seems to be as universally disliked as it is. I personally see it as a different interpretation Superman, and if you were looking something exactly like the older Christopher Reeve films, then you're better off actually watching those films. I find it interesting as well to be a more 'realistic' take on the concept of Superman as well, and the reaction the world at large would have to such a powerful individual living among them.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is another one I'm an apologist for, although I still admit it's nowhere near as good as the first three films, and the middle act is a definite low point, I still think it at least captures the same 'spirit' as those first three films. A lot better than Dial of Destiny does in any case. And I also think it does a much better job depicting an older Indiana handling these crazy action set pieces much better than that more recent film where he is even older.

There's a lot more out there as well that I'm not remembering either at this time.

 

[alohadave]

A lot better than Dial of Destiny does in any case.

It was boring and the god-daughter was an awful person.

She should have let him stay in the past like he wanted instead of dragging him back to the 70s.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Off the top of my head, Batman Returns is one that I'm surprised to see get as much flack as it does. There are a handful of moments that I find too silly, but on the whole I find it to be an excellent film that's worthy as a follow-up to its predecessor.

On the topic of superheroes, Man of Steel is also one that while I can understand people's criticisms for, still wonder why it seems to be as universally disliked as it is. I personally see it as a different interpretation Superman, and if you were looking something exactly like the older Christopher Reeve films, then you're better off actually watching those films. I find it interesting as well to be a more 'realistic' take on the concept of Superman as well, and the reaction the world at large would have to such a powerful individual living among them.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is another one I'm an apologist for, although I still admit it's nowhere near as good as the first three films, and the middle act is a definite low point, I still think it at least captures the same 'spirit' as those first three films. A lot better than Dial of Destiny does in any case. And I also think it does a much better job depicting an older Indiana handling these crazy action set pieces much better than that more recent film where he is even older.

There's a lot more out there as well that I'm not remembering either at this time.

The aliens thing in Crystal Skull was just too much.
The series is full of supernatural stuff. Play to what we love, not aliens.
(Insert Ancient Aliens guy meme here)

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'd say 1979's The Warriors, yet another New York gang movie. Absurd yet funny, possibly inadvertently. (A gang of mimes? Bronx skinheads with an "attack bus"?) The cast seems to take it seriously, and puts in some good performances. Nearly 100% on-location filming gives a sense of the city at the worst time in its history. I like the opening credits filmed out the front of the A train on the Fulton Street subway. "Can you dig it?"

 

[SimonDoom]

Two other guilty pleasure bad 80s movies:

Red Dawn. Daft concept. Cubans invade Wyoming. Rampant jingoism. Commies getting blown up by American teens. Wolverines. What's not to like?

Commando. Arnold's stupidest movie, but thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe even more ridiculous lines than Road House: "I let him go." "He's dead tired." "Let off some steam, Bennett."

 

[MrHereWriting]

I'm looking at these "bad" movies and it seems people are just mentioning movies they like that weren't popular. Most of these aren't bad movies, they're just not to everyone's taste. The acting is fine, the production values are fine, the plots can be a little silly, but that's about the worst thing I can think of. The movies were coherent, the sequences made sense, etc.

When I think of bad movies, Lost Boys 2 comes to mind. Now that's a bad movie. It's a horrible movie, and I didn't even try to watch the entire thing.

Road House, 13th Warrior, Big Trouble in Little China, The Warriors, Spaceballs...none of these were bad. They were well made, well acted, and well produced. I liked Star Wars Episodes 1 to 3, despite all of the horrible acting George Lucas allowed to be in the movie. (Hey, Lucas, you're allowed to film a scene more than once, you know?) Full Metal Jacket had some horrible acting, so bad it made me cringe. But were they bad movies because of it?

Maybe a thread about "What makes a movie bad?" should be started.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Two other guilty pleasure bad 80s movies:

Red Dawn. Daft concept. Cubans invade Wyoming. Rampant jingoism. Commies getting blown up by American teens. Wolverines. What's not to like?

Commando. Arnold's stupidest movie, but thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe even more ridiculous lines than Road House: "I let him go." "He's dead tired." "Let off some steam, Bennett."

Red Dawn should be mentioned in the remake thread. The charm of that movie was that they were just kids making it up as they went along.
Let's remake and add big brother who's a trained Marine!

And Commando had peak Arnold running up the beach scantily clad. Very nice.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Two other guilty pleasure bad 80s movies:

Red Dawn. Daft concept. Cubans invade Wyoming. Rampant jingoism. Commies getting blown up by American teens. Wolverines. What's not to like?

Commando. Arnold's stupidest movie, but thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe even more ridiculous lines than Road House: "I let him go." "He's dead tired." "Let off some steam, Bennett."

Even if the Soviets could even consider a trans-Pacific invasion, they wouldn't go anywhere near Wyoming. Actually, wasn't it supposed to be Colorado? And Cuba has a tiny military. But Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey were cute insurgent ladies!

 

[jaF0]

The Pilot (Powers Boothe) explained that it was a multi-pronged invasion and the rural areas were later into it. I'm not sure they really explained how no one knew about it though.

But that brings up By Dawn's Early Light with Powers Boothe and Rebecca DeMornay.

 

[StillStunned]

Commando. Arnold's stupidest movie, but thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe even more ridiculous lines than Road House: "I let him go." "He's dead tired." "Let off some steam, Bennett."

"Sully, remember when I said I'd kill you last?"
"Yes!"
"I lied."

And:
Baddy: "This Green Beret is gonna kick your ass!"
Arnold: "I eat Green Berets for breakfast!"
Chick: "I can't believe this macho bullshit..."

 

[Erozetta]

Depending on if your definition of "bad" is poorly received or a shit budget causing production to suffer:

Howard the Duck.

Forever Knight

FreakyLinks

Brimstone

Jason X

Cube Zero

Braindead/Dead Alive

Basket Case (and sequels)

Street Trash

Orca

All the Jaws sequels

Return of the Living Dead 3

The Granny (and almost every other 90s horror movie)

 

[gunhilltrain]

The Pilot (Powers Boothe) explained that it was a multi-pronged invasion and the rural areas were later into it. I'm not sure they really explained how no one knew about it though.

But that brings up By Dawn's Early Light with Powers Boothe and Rebecca DeMornay.

I doubt the script involved "situation maps" about how the war was progressing. One either accepted it at face value or not.

 

[SimonDoom]

Even if the Soviets could even consider a trans-Pacific invasion, they wouldn't go anywhere near Wyoming. Actually, wasn't it supposed to be Colorado? And Cuba has a tiny military. But Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey were cute insurgent ladies!

You're right. It was Colorado.

 

[jaF0]

I doubt the script involved "situation maps" about how the war was progressing. One either accepted it at face value or not.

It sorta did. The Pilot drew something out in the dirt. Obviously not situation room graphics, but still something to help explain to the kids how it happened.

Col. Tanner: You think you're tough for eating beans every day? There's half a million scarecrows in Denver who'd give anything for one mouthful of what you got. They've been under siege for about three months. They live on rats and sawdust bread and sometimes... on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It's medieval.​

[Col. Tanner explains the war situation using the campfire as a representation of the US]
Col. Tanner: [gestures to parts of the campfire] West Coast, East Coast. Down here's Mexico. First wave of the attack came in disguised as commercial charter flights, same way they did in Afghanistan in '80. They were crack airborne outfits. They took these passes in the Rockies.
Jed: So that's what hit Calumet?
Col. Tanner: I guess so. They coordinated with selective nuke strikes, and the missiles were a hell of a lot more accurate than we thought; they took out the silos here in the Dakotas, key points of communication.
Darryl: Like what?
Col. Tanner: Oh, like Omaha, Washington, Kansas City.
Darryl: Gone?
Col. Tanner: Yeah. That's right.
Darryl: Jesus Christ.
Col. Tanner: Infiltrators, came up illegal; Cubans, mostly. They managed to infiltrate SAC bases in the Midwest, several down in Texas, wreaked a hell of a lot of havoc, I'm here to tell. They opened up the door, and the whole Cuban and Nicaraguan armies come walking right through, rolled right up here through the Great Plains.
Robert: How far'd they get?
Col. Tanner: Cheyenne, across to Kansas. We held 'em at the Rockies, and at the Mississippi. Anyway, the Russians reinforced with 60 divisions. Sent three whole army groups across the Bering Strait into Alaska, cut the pipeline, came across Canada, link up here in the middle but we stopped 'em but cold. Lines've pretty much stabilized now.
Matt Eckert: What about Europe?
Col. Andrew Tanner: I guess they figured twice in one century was enough. They're sitting this one out. All except England, and they won't last very long. The Russians need to take us in one piece, and that's why they're here now. That's why they won't use nukes anymore, and we won't either, not on our own soil. Whole damn thing's pretty conventional now. Who knows? Maybe next week will be swords.
Darryl: What started it?
Col. Tanner: Two toughest kids on the block, I guess. Sooner or later they gonna fight.
Jed: That simple?
Col. Tanner: Maybe somebody just forgot what it was like.
Jed: Well, who is on our side?
Tanner: Six hundred million screamin' Chinamen.
Darryl: Well, last I heard, there were a billion screamin' Chinamen.
Tanner: There were. [throws whiskey into fire, and it violently ignites for a moment, possibly signifying a Soviet nuclear strike on China]


https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Red_Dawn

 

[jaF0]

As far as films that were entertaining and engaging, but wholly fantastical and unbelievable, I give you Wargames and The Manhattan Project, both with teenagers that set off nuclear crises.

 

[SimonDoom]

As far as films that were entertaining and engaging, but wholly fantastical and unbelievable, I give you Wargames and The Manhattan Project, both with teenagers that set off nuclear crises.

I never saw The Manhattan Project but I saw Wargames and enjoyed it. I agree it was completely unbelievable, but I wouldn't call it "bad."

An example of a BAD 80s sci fi comedy was Weird Science, where Anthony Michael Hall and friend use a computer to create a woman . . . somehow. One of the dumbest premises ever. It's been a long time, but I don't remember it being "so dumb it's good" so much as just "dumb."

 

[jaF0]

Weird Science was entertaining but had some awful scenes. That premise (guys bring girl to life from pictures) was done on a TV show also, maybe 'Amazing Stories'?

 

[jaF0]

Weird SciFi accidental outcome stuff goes back a long ways and Disney got into it with Flubber.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I never saw The Manhattan Project but I saw Wargames and enjoyed it. I agree it was completely unbelievable, but I wouldn't call it "bad."

An example of a BAD 80s sci fi comedy was Weird Science, where Anthony Michael Hall and friend use a computer to create a woman . . . somehow. One of the dumbest premises ever. It's been a long time, but I don't remember it being "so dumb it's good" so much as just "dumb."

An under appreciated part of Weird Science was that they were creating their fantasy woman and they made her smart and talented. During the scanning montage they had pictures of Einstein and a concert pianist among other things.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Not really a good movie, but visually entertaining with hot chicks in thongs, plus a CFNM/femdom vibe.

 

[alohadave]

Weird Science was entertaining but had some awful scenes. That premise (guys bring girl to life from pictures) was done on a TV show also, maybe 'Amazing Stories'?

There was a Weird Science TV show that aired for 5 seasons in the 90s. Starred Vanessa Angel.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Braindead/Dead Alive

Bad Taste had its moments too!

 

[jaF0]

There was a Weird Science TV show that aired for 5 seasons in the 90s. Starred Vanessa Angel.

Yeah, but this is what I was thinking of:

"Amazing Stories" Miscalculation (TV Episode 1986) - IMDb​

Miscalculation: Directed by Tom Holland. With Jon Cryer, JoAnn Willette, J.J. Cohen, Lana Clarkson. Nerdy collegiate Phil unsuccessfully tries every trick in the book to meet girls. Then he discovers a potion that makes gorgeous magazine pin-ups spring to life. Unfortunately, he can't guess the right ratio to use, so his experiments backfire in a freaky way.