I’m a bit late with this today but figured we can use the mental health break as we close in on the election. Today’s five is movies that are guilty pleasures.
By “guilty pleasure” I mean a movie you know is not a classic or enriching or a “feeelm”. You might even go so far as to say you would be mildly embarrassed to be caught watching it. But it will be warming your DVD player more often than, say, Citizen Kane. Or if you’re channel surfing and find it, you’ll stop. It’s something you put on when you want to turn the brain off.
My five?
Kick-ass: This may not quote fit the category but, to quote me:
I have this rated 7/10 and that’s probably my ego insisting that I can’t like it as much as I do. This was just so much fun to watch. I know Roger Ebert and others were appalled by a young girl spewing profanities and murdering roomfuls of bad guys. And if I took it seriously, I would be too. But the movie is so ridiculously over the top, so obviously satirical, I was able to enjoy it on its own terms. I hope we see a lot more of Chloe Moretz, who is utterly charming.
Moretz was also excellent in Hugo.
The Mummy: Roger Ebert famously said of this: “Look, art this isn’t. Great trash, it isn’t. Good trash, it is.” It’s ridiculous and silly and bit impossible. I’ll watch just about anything with Rachel Weisz in it, but this is one of my favorites. It’s absurdly fun. Brendan Frasier has probably been in more guilty pleasure movies than anyone in Hollywood.
There’s Something About Mary: My dad sent this to me out of the blue for Christmas one year. It’s not art by any means. But it’s the Ferrelly Brother’s best so far. It understand the principle rule of gross-out comedy: having a basic sweetness about the characters.
Commando: I debated putting Predator here but that movie has too much going for it. Commando, by contrast, is just dumb. Arnold blows away about six hundred guys because they kidnapped his daughter. Dumb dumb dumb. And totally unashamed. And I probably watch it about once a year with a grin.
Young Sherlock Holmes: As a Holmes fan, I should be outrageously outraged about this. But it has a great sense of fun. My brother and I loved this as kids and used to re-enact the mummy sacrifice scene with my sister’s dolls (she didn’t think was such a hot idea).
Honorable Mentions: A host of 80′s films: War Games, Real Genius, the Last Starfighter, Goonies. If it was made in the 80′s and has cheese spilling out of the camera reels, I probably like it.
What are your five?
