Guilty Pleasure or movie underrated?

Drumpot

Been a few years since there was the last Guilty pleasure post so thought I might start a new one.

I have a very broad taste in movies that is not limited to one genre. At the moment I am really enjoying re-watching (and listening to soundtrack) The most recent Tron movie.

As a father of 3, its great to find a movie I enjoy and can watch with my children. The Tron movie ticks all the boxes and the soundtrack is just about one of the best soundtracks in any movie.

It wasn't going to win Oscars for dialogue or story, but its a really superb movie for what it was trying to portray. I was disappointed to see it wasn't going to get a sequel (yay instead we get another pirates of the Caribbean movie!) but I cannot get over how it has a rotten tomatoes rating of 49%.

I know critics can be completely off the mark quite regularly but I cant help but feel that the people who rated this movie thought they were going to see the Godfather 4. I think that this can happen for many movies, whereby snobby reviewers place unreasonable expectations on movies and judge them on an inconsistent level to other movies. This seems to be Particularly true of movies with large budgets.

On a side note and to a lessor degree Doom, oblivion and Constantine are two movies I really enjoyed that got panned by critics. Again, I felt both had enough entertainment to not get the abuse they suffered.

Another one that the critics got completely , utterly wrong was "watchmen". One of the best (if not the best) comicbook movies of all time. the extended version fleshes out the story to an even greater satisfaction level. This is as epic as a movie gets and is to me a superb commentary on the human species and what it would take for us to all just get along. The soundtrack is also very good, but the story, characters and dialogue is superb at times. This got a raw deal in my opinion because the trailer made it look like X-Men for adults, its just so much more.

Anybody got any hidden/berated gems that they feel are worth promoting ?

Harry Palmr

Hate the very term guilty pleasure - if you liked it then shout about it!

Some, indeed many films get re-appraised years later, usually within the unspoken context of films being a bit rubbish these days/an outbreak of nostalgia.

Speaking of Tron - the 1982 original was pretty much lambasted upon release, I'm old enough to remember the lack of enthusiasm for what was expected to be a major film with exciting new visuals, the current Fresh rating on RT is 70%, it would have been lucky to have scored 30 back in the day with the critics and looking at the professional
reviews they still don't like it much but the ordinary Joe is much more positive. I bet they are mainly middle aged and quite like it for the retro cool visuals and soundtrack.

Starship troopers is a guilty pleasure of mine..

I also like seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger in anything, must be nostalgia or something.

Liam McPoyle

Happy Gilmore

Sandler gets an awful lot of guff but this is a very funny movie.

Deuce Bigelow 2

Again, its derirded by many but I think its very funny.

bogmanfan

Thomas Crown Affair remake with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Beautifully shot and cracking chemistry between the two leads. Great plot and a fantastic score. Gets no love from most people but much better than the original in my opinion.

Ageyev

It depends. Does guilty pleasure refer to a mainstream Hollywood film that is almost devoid of artistic merit yet you find t enjoyable? If so, I could realm off hundreds of action and thriller films I've watched ad found enjoyable. I posted inthe Netflix thread about how Cold Comes the Night was reviewed negatively upon release but I thought it was quite good - it did a decent job at capturing that small town claustrophobia needed for a small time thriller.

Then, in some film fan circles anything made before they were born, in B&W or with subtitles is deemed rubbish. So subjective. As a kid I adored an Indiana Jones knock-off called Curse of the Crystal Eye and held onto that nostalgia for years. I saw 'Buddy, Buddy', Billy Wilder's last Matthau/Lemmon film late at night once and enjoyed it. My favourites used to be the usual 70s thriller/dramas and men, their misery and morality.

Harry is on to a good point mentioning Tron(1982). Blade Runner is another highly revered 80s film in the science-fiction genre that didn't fare well with critics or audiences yet look at how it is viewed today.

The Phantom Menace I guess is a guilty pleasure of mine but that is because I didn't change my opinion on it. I can't recall much vocal,criticism against it amongst the rolling news stories of people camping outside cinemas, multiple visits, 5 star reviews etc. It'll be interesting to see the response to, Star Wars 7 now and how it fares over time.

Bret Hart

Both of the Paul Blart: Mall Cop films would be my guilty pleasure films.

e_e

Don't believe in guilty pleasures because it assumes you're wrong or should feel ashamed for liking certain things. **** that noise.

Bad movies are often more entertaining and rewatchable than mediocre/solid movies too. I'd probably take the Nic Cage Wicker Man over something like The Imitation Game or King's Speech any day of the week. :P

silverharp

Watched Valley Girl and Fast times at Ridgemount High last week to do a bit of time travelling back to the early 80's. Some cool music in there

MadDog76

I love the Underworld movies, the Blade movies, The Hangover movies and the Ted movies ........ but I don't feel at all guilty!

YungKeo

I always enjoy watching Mars Attacks! It's such a ridiculous film I can't help but love it

Ageyev

e_e wrote: »

Don't believe in guilty pleasures because it assumes you're wrong or should feel ashamed for liking certain things. **** that noise.

Bad movies are often more entertaining and rewatchable than mediocre/solid movies too. I'd probably take the Nic Cage Wicker Man over something like The Imitation Game or King's Speech any day of the week. :P

I am down for bad remakes. Horror in particular. Friday the 13th remake was ru rubbish but also fine as a once off.

Kim Newman years ago reviewed Jason X as a four star movie. When questioned on his review he pointed to the sequels of varying quality which tended to do little new with the story/character whereas Jason X did something very different and as bizarre and silly as it seems, in hindsight it works and imo is fun.

Facekicking 2 The Future

Terminator 3.

Judgement Day is TODAY. Love Nick Stahl and Claire Danes (would have loved to seem them continue in those roles), brings the series full circle. Brisk and taunt, barely gives you time to think (about some of the stupid ****) as the story is takes place over about 18 hours or so.

Never been so sucker pucked by an ending as it dawns on them where they are and why they are there, the dawning realisation. You can see why the earlier parts of the film were darkly humourous and dry.

There's a fantastic fanedit was on youtube called: T3 The Coming Storm, and it turns into a even better film.

Ageyev

MadDog76 wrote: »

I love the Underworld movies, the Blade movies, The Hangover movies and the Ted movies ........ but I don't feel at all guilty!

The first two Blade films were great at the time imo. Haven't seen them in idk how long. Snipes was wooden as a board but it was good to see a superhero character played straight at the time with decent action scenes and all the rest of it.

I guess we disagree with the critics ...





I also have a soft spot for Terminator 3. Liked it on release and never changed opinion since. The two sequels after it were forgettable to me - when a TV series is better than a big time million dollar film you're doing something wrong.


Ang Lee's Hulk is another controversial big film panned in hindsight that I still like.

Tomagotchye

I like Elizabethtown. I find it very calming

New Ice Age

Not a guilty pleasure at all, because I genuinely believe The 'Burbs a great comedy horror. I don't think it got/gets the recognition it deserves(?)!

e_e

e_e wrote: »

Don't believe in guilty pleasures because it assumes you're wrong or should feel ashamed for liking certain things. **** that noise.

One for me though: Lucy

One of the most creative, effervescent, colorful, bat**** crazy and exciting action movies of the decade. It's 2001 A Space Odyssey but about half the length with shootouts and car chases, what's not to like? :P

Dirty Dingus McGee

I love the film Daylight it's pure sh1te bit it has everything a cheesy disaster movie should have including a beloved dog in danger and the audience ending up caring more about the dog than any of the people in the film.

I also love Cliffhanger although I'm not sure if it's a great movie or a terrible one but it's pure enjoyment.

Andrew Laeddis

The 'Friday' trilogy with Ice Cube crack me up

Always cheer me up when I'm down in the dumps

Optimalprimerib

How to train your dragon. Ok its a cracking movie, but when you watch it 10+ times you have to feel guilty at some point.

Simon2015

Green Street 2 its so bad its good.

Tony EH

I agree with e_e regarding the lack of such a thing as a "guilty pleasure', sod that. Watch what you want and like or dislike what you want.

However, as a "genre fan" (I hate that term), there are tons of films that would fall under the dubious title of "guilty pleasure", ahem...'Humanoids from the Deep', or 'Monster' as it was known in the UK. When you watch Italian rip off horror from the early 80's, there are mines of GP's...hello 'Cannibal Ferox' and I can see nearly all of the films of Lucio Fulci standing behind you!

Outside of that, a film that nobody seemed to like, that I admit to liking is Tom Green's notorious flop, 'Freddy Got Fingered'.

People literally go :eek:.

Skerries

Drumpot wrote: »

On a side note and to a lessor degree Doom, oblivion and Constantine are two movies I really enjoyed that got panned by critics. Again, I felt both had enough entertainment to not get the abuse they suffered.

This review that talks about Constantine being a bad Comic Book film but a great Noir film is interesting

Mitch Connor

Transporter 2 would be one movie I absolutely love, but realise I am in a minority on; most people role their eyes at me when I try to explain just why it is awesome.

Drumpot

e_e wrote: »

Don't believe in guilty pleasures because it assumes you're wrong or should feel ashamed for liking certain things. **** that noise.

Bad movies are often more entertaining and rewatchable than mediocre/solid movies too. I'd probably take the Nic Cage Wicker Man over something like The Imitation Game or King's Speech any day of the week. :P

The only reason I use the phrase "guilty pleasure" on a discussion forum about not so popular movies is that there's a better chance of avoiding the usual muppets who feel like its their responsibility to correct your opinion. Its also the shortest phrase possible that articulates why the post was started. You might not like the phrase, but you immediately understood why I said it.

Drumpot

New Ice Age wrote: »

Not a guilty pleasure at all, because I genuinely believe The 'Burbs a great comedy horror. I don't think it got/gets the recognition it deserves(?)!

Agreed. Tom Hanks was actually a fantastic leading comedic actor in movies in the 80s before Philadelphia. Interestingly like the way Bruce Willis played a lot of comedic roles before Die Hard and was only in good action movies thereafter! Armageddon, one of my favourate cheesy flicks !

Also, definitely agree with poster about Blade 1 and Blade 2 (that was just as good).

Gerry Rio

I think the OP may need a dictionary.

A "guilty pleasure" and something that is "underrated" are entirely different things.

e_e

Drumpot wrote: »

The only reason I use the phrase "guilty pleasure" on a discussion forum about not so popular movies is that there's a better chance of avoiding the usual muppets who feel like its their responsibility to correct your opinion. Its also the shortest phrase possible that articulates why the post was started. You might not like the phrase, but you immediately understood why I said it.

Yep, personally I think I'm gonna call then "not-guilty pleasures" from now in. :P

Ageyev

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Transporter 2 would be one movie I absolutely love, but realise I am in a minority on; most people role their eyes at me when I try to explain just why it is awesome.

I thought the first one was good actually. A serviceable action film.

Whitewinged

I liked Scream. I'm not sure if that's a guilty pleasure or not?

I just remember I was about 13 and watching it with my dad. At the first scene we were "oh Drew Barrymore is in this" then a few minutes later we were like "ohh".

Drumpot

Gerry Rio wrote: »

I think the OP may need a dictionary.

A "guilty pleasure" and something that is "underrated" are entirely different things.

Both "guilty pleasures" and "underrated" movies are founded on opinions and preferences. As I stated, I used guilty pleasure purely because most people know what I am discussing straight away.

I wasn't trying to suggest they were the same thing, which is why I said "or". A movie that one person thinks is their "guilty pleasure", might be another persons "underrated" movie.

I was hoping that using these phrases would prevent me from having to explain exactly what I was getting at with the Original post. But for you, I am glad to expand if it helps you get into the spirit of the thread.