Mr. Salty

Inspired by Original Desmond's interesting discussion here.

Taste is subjective, obviously, but do you realize it when you like or even love a movie that is widely regarded as a horrendous front to humanity? And I don't mean in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. You really like a movie that everyone else sees as a steaming pile of shit and you proudly defend your horrible taste.

Ash Ketchum

I don't know if this is what you mean, but there are certain kinds of movies that many of us here love and enjoy that are anathema to "serious moviegoers." I mean, I can sit through SON OF GODZILLA and THE GREEN SLIME till Doomsday and never get tired of them, while the average middlebrow moviegoer who dutifully sees whatever critic-approved Oscar bait is tossed to them like bones at Christmastime will make a gagging gesture if a frame from any Godzilla movie was flashed at them unsuspectingly.

My question would be: Do middlebrow moviegoers know they're being pandered to by films like DRIVING MISS DAISY, AMERICAN BEAUTY, CRASH and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE?

inri222

You forgot your favorite : A Beautiful Mind.

Osiris3657

There are probably dozens of previous "what are your guilty pleasures" threads. This new one was unnecessary.

Mr. Salty

I specifically addressed that in the OP. I'm not talking about guilty pleasures. I'm talking about actual shit.

superdeluxe

Crappy movies like Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes and the Toxic Avenger, that used to be on USA Up All Night B movies you know was going to be rubbish. But still great.

hanshotfirst1138

I sort of doubt the people involved in the making of such films ever had any delusions about what they were making. But you never know. But there is a certain fondness some have for bad movies, whether to laugh at them or with them.

rocket1312

Has anyone else noticed that Ash seems to be getting a lot crankier lately?

auto

The answer to your question, of course, is sometimes.

Obi-Wanma

Judging by the box office receipts for the Transformers series, no they do not.

stvn1974

When I was watching Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters there were several times where I expected Gemma Arterton to look directly into the camera and wink.

hanshotfirst1138

That's become fairly standard for most movie heroes these days, they're almost all a step away from winking at the camera.

Ash Ketchum

I haven't. I thought I was at my normal level of crankiness.

rocket1312

I don't know, in the last few days you've taken some pretty aggressive shots at Punisher: War Zone fans, Nickdawgy's houseguest, mabuse (for liking Postman or something), and now "middlebrow" film goers. Come on man, you're supposed to be like DVDTalk's kindly uncle who regales us with stories of Hollywood yesteryear!



p.s. Please don't take any of the above too seriously. I'm just having some fun with you.

inri222

I blame that bastard Godard.

arminius

I hate that lousey fuck and his stupid rockets.

Ash Ketchum

Hey, get it right--I'm a huge fan of PUNISHER WAR ZONE!

TomOpus

I enjoy a movie for various reasons. If someone wants to call it rubbish, I'm sure they have a better view from their high horse they stand upon.

Giantrobo

pretty much.

joliom

Your thread title and OP seem to be asking two different questions. My answer to the thread title is yes, almost always; my answer to the OP is no, almost never.

DRG

For audiences in general in regards to blindness to good vs bad, I think it's really noticeable in audience-friendly yet critically slammed dramas. A good example of this is John Q. Now, I hated this movie when I saw it and critics largely agreed (23% on Rotten Tomatoes). Yet friends of mine seemed to think it was so great and it was going to win Oscars and what not. There's a general misconception that all 'serious' sappy dramas are automatically beloved by critics. Like that every biopic is a shoo-in for awards just because it's a biopic, for example.

These same people are always shocked when an audience-pleasing popcorn movie like Guardians of the Galaxy gets good reviews because they're under the other false assumption that critics automatically hate these kinds of movies. They see Transformers 2 get bad reviews and they LOVED Transformers 2 so naturally critics are just serious sourpusses who can't have fun.

As for me, I can enjoy a movie despite its faults. But the situation posed seems to be more about being blind to bad filmmaking, or at least strongly disagreeing with the assertion that the film in question is bad in first place. I'm not sure I can think of a situation where I unilaterally defended a movie generally considered awful. Now, I defended ANoES 2 in another thread -- a movie many consider to be a steaming turd -- but I'm not blind to its faults and there are certainly elements the film could have done without.

milo bloom

I can enjoy movies that are considered bad, but at least have some level of "earnestness" to them. Nostalgia also helps a lot. I'm aware of the flaws of Disney's The Black Hole, but it remains one of my favorite movies because of my childhood memories. Same with the original Tron (I really need to get around to watching the sequel...).

I'm also a big fan of MST3K, though I don't know how well I'd fare without a janitor and two robots to help me through the film.


My wife is one of those people that is intelligent but likes dumb films, but she has her limits. She's accused me of being a movie snob for not liking "popular" films and made me watch 2012 with her when she rented it. About halfway through I heard start mumbling things like "oh, come on...." and after it was over she gave me that look that said "yes you were right, but I'm not going to admit and we're never going to speak of this again."

I'm also a fan of the Godzilla/Gamera movies despite their flaws. As I said above, there is an earnestness to them where you can tell the filmmakers knew it wasn't really high art, but neither was it just a "cash-in" - they were trying to have a little fun and turn enough of a profit to do another one next year.

Ash Ketchum

I'm stumped.

Anyone?

kd5

I was wondering the same thing...

kd5

There are a lot of movies I like that many here consider rubbish and I don't care. If they have entertainment and rewatch value to my wife and I, then it doesn't matter to me what other people think.....although I privately question some of their high-horse bullshit sometimes.