(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
So kids, the time has come to choose: what is the greatest really bad movie of all time? Number one seeds: Xanadu, Starship Troopers, Urban Cowboy and Point Break.
The floor is also open for nominations.
One movie I’ve had nominated, but haven’t had the chance to see yet: Congo.
Have your voice heard by voting in the comment section.
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Point Break! Hands down.
Urban Cowboy is close. The other two aren’t even in competition.
“I caught my first tube today … Sir.”
Eyes Wide Shut!!
Eyes Wide Shut eh? I didn’t see the whole thing, but it seemed kind of creepy and dull to me.
WATERWORLD. Hands down.
Waterworld was certainly bad, I mean baaaaaad, but was it so bad it is good?
How could Urban Cowboy even make the list of potentials!? That was a GOOD movie! My vote is for Starship Troopers….because that was a good bad movie.
Seriously! Urban Cowboy was good! 🙂
“If they get to shooting, just hit the floor!”
-Uncle Bob to Bud
“GET ME A BEER!!!!”
-Bud to Sissy
“Sissy, I wanna ‘polgize to you clear back to the first time I hit ya!”
-Bud to Sissy
No, Waterworld wasn’t so bad it was good. It was just bad. So bad I can’t even copy the dialogue here without infecting my computer. So read for yourself and you will see… it has to win this award. 🙂 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/quotes
I should clarify the parameters. The movie has to be so bad that it is good- as in you would actually enjoy watching it despite the fact that you recognize that it is bad.
Waterworld is so bad I never want to see it again, and would contribute to a fund to burn all copies of it. Starship Troopers 3, on the other hand, I just returned to Netflix.
I think this is kind of tough because, at least for me, the line between enjoying things ironically or truly enjoying things gets blurry sometimes. There are some truly awful movies that are good. Take Reefer Madness–there’s no way that’s a good movie but it truly is fun to watch. Other movies, though, that typically get lumped into this category are harder to place. I think the Rocky Horror Picture Show is fantastic. I don’t even think it is so bad it is good, I think it really is good. Maybe something about the way we characterize the intent of the filmmakers matters here. If the film is made to be taken seriously and it ends up appealing on a different level then I suppose it is so bad it is good. But were movies like the Rocky Horror, or say, Xanadu, really ever meant to be taken seriously? All this musing aside, here are some more for the list:
Cobra–this is a pretty bad movie that is fun to watch because it is so bad.
Rob Schneider movies–think Duece Bigelow 1 and 2, or his recent (excellent) performance in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” I am not sure how to place these. The comedy is both awful and great at the same time, and I think Rob may be aware of this. Like Beavis and Butthead, the jokes work on two levels. They can be funny, or so not funny they are funny. Anyone should choose these movies over Waterworld, which is just a bad movie.
Omega Man–I think this is a lame but fun movie…
Planet of the Apes movies…again, pretty fun.
Psycho–if you think this is really good, then maybe you haven’t seen it in a while. The shower scene is absolutely hilarious by today’s standards. I actually saw this in a theater setting a couple of years ago and no one could stop laughing when (spoiler alert) Norman showed up in the dress.
All John Hughes movies–I know what you’re probably thinking–he made good movies. Or you’re thinking he made bad movies. Well, time to update reality once again. They were good when he made them, then they sucked for a while, and now they’re good again because they suck so bad.
Urban Cowboy . . . horribly entertaining!!!
Travolta’s horrible accent, mechanical bull riding, and Gilley’s!!!
“Pack that SHIT!!!!!”
— Scott Glenn to Debra Winger
Another great U-cowboy line:
“Daddy’s in oil…and all that implies.”
Random Gilly’s hookup Pam to Bud
I used to watch Siskel & Ebert’s show every Sunday. The harshest line I ever heard in a review was this, from Ebert (I don’t remember which movie):
“You know how some movies are so bad that you can actually enjoy watching them because they’re so bad? Well, this movie is almost that bad. Almost, but . . . not . . . quite.”
They Live has to be one of those at the top of the so-bad, so-good list.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/
Just about anything from Carpenter will get my attention though…. Big Trouble in Little China for example.
I think there are alot of movies like this for me that I find myself watching repeatedly… something I don’t usually do with movies. Movies in the category include Fifth Element and Red Dawn.
Here’s the question: to make your list, Matt, does the movie have to be not INTENTIONALLY made bad, or does intent have anything to do with membership in the club?
I think intent does have something to do with it. Big Trouble in Little China for instance is great, but it was a spoof, so it doesn’t count.
It’s a fine line though. My friend Dan Twiggs once described a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie set around a hockey match to me as “It was a spoof, but no one told Jean-Claude” so that would count. Starship Troopers has some purposeful spoofish elements, but ST is so bad it’s good as a absurd attempt at social commentary. When giant space bugs attack the kids on Gossip Girl, forcing their favorite teacher to become a blood thirsty killer on Planet P, then and only then will it be time for me to tune in.
Waterworld is just bad-it is really painful to watch. Xanadu is really close-it destroyed
Olivia Newton John’s career, the movie musical, etc.
The movie musical is like a Bond villian- they may seem dead, but unless you find the body…
Mamma Mia is out, so Xanadu only induced a long hiatus for the movie musical rather than an actual execution.
Mrs. Ladner claims that I would like Mamma Mia, but I am afraid I would have to turn in my man card if I went to see it.
There were plenty of movie muscals between Xanadu and Mamma Mia! It’s just that most of them stunk, but not badly enough to be good, so they aren’t remembered.
Some of the more notable ones include Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Hairspray (twice!), and The Producers. In just the past few years we’ve had Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Dreamgirls, and Sweeney Todd.
You’re right- no bonus points to Xanadu for killing movie musicals. It drove a stake in the heart, but they forgot to decapitate the head and fill it with holy wafers.
Holy wafers?
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Vampire
Gotta go with Xanadu. Costumes, horribly funny. Situations, outrageous. ROLLER DISCO FOR GOD’S SAKE.
Problem is, I love Jeff Lynn and ELO….
Starship Troopers is an abomination. There’s more depth and substance in that little book than…::shakes head:: …it’s just an abomination.
Robocop had more substance than the Starship Troopers Movie abomination.
den
Tremors
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100814/
Mutant worms, Kevin Bacon & dialogue like:
Valentine McKee: STAMPEDE! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!
Earl Bassett: [waking up] You dumb sh!t. I was in a stampede once. Five hundred head, all hell-bent for the horizon.
Valentine McKee: Now, exactly how many cattle are required for a stampede, Earl? Is it three or more? Is there a minimum to ‘pede?
Earl Bassett: I wish they’d stampede up your @ss.
The only thing missing is a scene where Bacon gets Footloose to confuse dem wormy critters.
Tremors….good call!