These movies would not make it onto my Top 50 Movies list because, frankly, they are guilty pleasures and I am relatively embarrassed that I love them SO MUCH. But we all have those guilty pleasures ... and so I figured I would bring mine out into the open.
I would love to hear what y'all have to say, what yours are.
Guilty Pleasures (Movies)
1. Bring It On - this has got to be # 1. A cheerleading competition. Kirsten Dunst. "Brr...it's COLD in here ... there must be some Toros in the atmosphere ... I said Brr...it's COLD in here..." Also, I went on ONE date with one of the members of the cast. But I'm not sayin' who.
2. Center Stage - ballerinas studying at the American Ballet. One of them feels stifled, unappreciated. She breaks out and takes a jazz class, and realizes, again, how much she loves dancing. Terribly rendered love story. But I own this movie. Love the dancing.
3. Blue Crush - Girl surfers in Hawaii. I went to this movie on its opening day - mainly because it was a heat wave in NYC and I wanted to be in air-conditioning. But I ended up LOVING this movie. It's embarrassing.
4. GI Jane - You think I'm made fun of for my love of Titanic?? Well, my love for THIS movie is even more embarrassing. I know it's stupid and unrealistic, but I BUY it. Every single time I see it, I succumb. I own it. How mortifying.
5. Kate & Leopold - A time machine brings a 19th century Duke into modern-day Manhattan. Hi-jinks ensue. Very romantic, very silly. LOVE IT.
6. Basic Instinct - a ridiculous film. Ridiculous. But here is what I maintain: Sharon Stone gives one of the greatest film-noir performances of all time. However - an unbeLIEVably silly film. With the stupidest view of homosexuality I have ever seen.
Posted by sheilaYay for Bring it on and Blue Crush. Every time those movies come on one of the cable channels, I get sucked in and end up watching the whole thing again.
Posted by: michele at December 29, 2003 8:41 AMRomy & Michele's High School Reunion
I watched it with my best friend from elementary and high school, and we just cackle through the whole thing. It has pretty much become 'our' movie.
Posted by: Laura at December 29, 2003 11:09 AMnow your talking some good movies - I do not want to be educated at a movie, I want to be entertained, taken away from my life, amused - damnit! gratuitous sex and violence and silly high school shit are all that work anymore...
Posted by: Jim at December 29, 2003 12:01 PMJim - I like both kinds of films.
I like the films which are merely entertaining - Comedy is one of the greatest gifts any movie can give an audience, I think.
But then I love the serious ones, too.
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 12:03 PMOther movies in this realm:
Pretty in Pink
Karate Kid
Those movies where bad is clearly bad - and good is clearly good. LOVE it.
and don't forget your all time favorite, Gili or giggley or ...
Posted by: Jim at December 29, 2003 12:50 PMNo. Absolutely not.
Gigli cannot be classified as a guilty PLEASURE. That movie was painful. I went to gawk at the downfall of two major movie stars. I went with schaudenfraude in my heart. Not a proud moment.
Giggly, indeed...
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 12:52 PMPretty in Pink is good, I also love The Breakfast Club.
Posted by: Laura at December 29, 2003 1:09 PMI actually liked GI Jane. Not for the story, which was rife with technical errors (SEAL Training program is called BUD/S, not 'CRT'), but because of the downright amazing commitment Demi Moore made to it.
I remember seeing her on Leno doing one-hand pushups. She got into absolutely amazing physical condition for that film.
Posted by: Mr. Lion at December 29, 2003 2:43 PMIce Pirates is a guilty pleasure. I'd say Cemetery Man too, but I'm not really guilty about that one...come to think of it, I'm not all that guilty about Ice Pirates, either....
Posted by: Ken Hall at December 29, 2003 2:56 PMIt says something about Hollywood when two barely talented performers like Affleck and Lopez are considered "major stars".
My guilty pleasures: Street Fighter, Independence Day, Commando, Tremors and Ice Pirates.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at December 29, 2003 3:55 PMIce Pirates has come up twice now.
As has Pretty in Pink.
Is Ice Pirates a typically "boy" movie, in the same way that Pretty in Pink is a typically "girl" movie?
Why is Ice Pirates so enjoyable?
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 5:49 PMSwashbuckling adventure, spaceships, fighting robots, a near complete lack of original content, mouthy sidekicks, and a beautiful "princess" who falls for the scruffy pirate.
That, and the memorable and assembly line scene where they "fix" slaves. The whole mechanical jaw part of that scene makes me cringe and laugh at the same time.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at December 29, 2003 5:56 PM"complete lack of original content"
That pretty much says it all.
oh and by the way, Mr. Lion - I think Demi was phenomenal in GI Jane as well. She was fierce and I completely believed what happened to her. Loved all the guys too. One of them was that great actor - Cazaviel is his name?? - who will be playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's Aramaic (with no subtitles) epic coming up in the spring.
In GI Jane he plays an ignorant SEAL, who is pissed at having to share space with a woman, and who FREAKS OUT when he sees tampons in her locker.
He's great.
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 6:12 PMMy guilty pleasures include The Last Dragon and The Crimson Pirate. There are others, but those come to mind most easily.
Posted by: wheels at December 29, 2003 8:13 PMI couldn't resist this topic, although I am not sure someone with Titanic on their Top 50 list truly has "guilty" pleasures--I will be quiet, Sheila. Off the top of my head, I think of three--D.A.R.Y.L., Donovan's Reef, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Given time, I could think of many more. By the way, I noticed you have NO westerns in your Top 50. What about Shane, Lonesome Dove, The Searchers, Unforgiven, Silverado, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, etc? Surely the city girl has room on her list for one little ol' cowboy?
Posted by: David at December 30, 2003 12:04 AMDavid, it is true that with me there is a bit of spillover. If I love a movie, I love a movie and that's final. It's like GI Jane. I considered putting it on my Top 50 because - for whatever reason - I love that movie - but I just couldn't.
And Titanic is a great accomplishment. End of story.
About Westerns - I never really got into them. I did see Shane and loved it, and I thought Unforgiven was AMAZING but ... outside of watching "Bonanza" religiously when I was a kid ... I never was a big Western fan. maybe cause there are usually no women in them? or very few anyway? Not sure why ...
What are your favorite Westerns, David, and I will rent them.
You have my word.
Posted by: red at December 30, 2003 7:16 AMoh, and Lonesome Dove, too ... many of my favorite actors are in that, and I had read the book, so that's why I saw that one.
GOD. Incredible.
I think the scene with Robert Duvall and the arrow-wound is, hands-down, the best acting I've ever seen. He is unbelievable.
Posted by: red at December 30, 2003 7:17 AM"Josie and the Pussycats": It is so over the top, that it takes camp to new levels. I love it.
Parker Posey steals every scene she's in, and the writers nailed the whole boy band phenomenon with their parody, "du Jour."
I'm ashamed for enjoying it as much as I do.
Posted by: Joey at January 4, 2004 6:04 PMJoey -
I understand. Camp needs to be taken to new levels.
But I do get the shame. However, it can't be as add as the shame I feel from OWNING Blue Crush!!
Posted by: red at January 4, 2004 6:06 PMWow... there i was criticising my 16 year old sister for Bring it on. What can i say? It must be a ladies thing...
Posted by: Mr. Teo at April 27, 2004 10:36 AMI am an absolute sap when it comes to Westerns. I've seen every John Wayne oater a hundred times, but if I hear the opening bars to the theme from "Rio Bravo," it'll take an army to drag me away from the screen. I'm not particular about my cowboy flicks either. Good scripts and acting are important, of course, but even crappy westerns demand my undivided attention. Classic or cheesy, I'm in for the whole nine yards.
This from I guy who had a pony ride at a fair in New York City at age 6 and has never been on a horse since. Go figure.
Posted by: spd rdr at May 26, 2004 7:44 AM