What movies have you enjoyed that everyone else despises?

I'm not talking about some fiasco like "Heaven's Gate" that was universally -- and rightly -- condemned on its release, a film that for some imbecile reason you liked, and kept liking, until enough others began to like it as well, allowing you to lie to yourself about how right you were when everyone else was wrong. No, I'm not referring to that. I'm talking about those guilty pleasures that make you so guilty you dare not mention them approvingly in certain circles, since such a confession would mark you for life, scarring your reputation beyond any hope of recovery. I mean those movies that will never develop a cult following, that merit the scorn that's been heaped upon them. Don't pretend you haven't got a few of these in the closet. None of us has perfect taste. No matter how much you educate your taste buds, you still make room for chili fries and pork rinds. I realize that it's mighty tough standing up in front of everybody and saying, "My name is Rupert, and I'm an alco -- excuse me, I actually enjoyed _______________ (fill in the blank)."

I'm gifted when it comes to publicly degrading myself, so I'll start. Here are four -- there are others -- that I've seen and ENJOYED, even though I know they're every bit as bad as everyone says they are:

ISHTAR

DEATH TO SMOOCHY

MOHAWK

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

I've seen the first two only once, and that was after they'd been denounced and burned in effigy all over this land. I suppose I mention that to suggest that, if I saw them a second time, my eyes would see the truth, and I could make myself clean again. Don't bet on it.

The second two are not really hated by everyone. In fact, they have their acolytes. But they'll never convince me. I've seen both films many times and will see them again. Those of us who enjoy them know the reasons why, reasons which I won't disclose, since they'd exhibit me as a coarse and lewd fellow.

Anyone else willing to confess?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cheryl on September 22, 2008 at 11:06am: I liked Heaven's Gate. I saw it years after its release, so it's not as if I was going against the tide. It's a good movie.

However, I also love Land of the Pharaohs . It makes a great double feature with The Ten Commandments, the 1950s version, not the original.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Juli on September 22, 2008 at 3:12pm: This should give you a chuckle, but actually thought it was totally campy as ridiculous as it was and it was panned. Once was enough though - poor guy. The spoofs of spoofs. (Being a rat, aren't i?); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by beeswax on October 24, 2008 at 5:01am: Maybe everyone's already seen this, but I think Cheryl and perhaps Sevorin will enjoy it. Cracks me up every time, frankly.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sevorin on October 31, 2008 at 11:54pm: Finally catching up with my own thread.

Thanks for the preview. I have a special fondness for De Mille's movie of the great Hebrew exodus, where the only Jew in the cast plays the villain. I remember when I first saw it -- I took my seat in the theater at the precise instant Moses parts the Red Sea.

(By the way, does it seem to you, as it does to me, that Rameses treats Moses with remarkable civility and tolerance? Instead of killing him, which he has a perfect legal right to do, he sets him free in the desert. Once Moses returns from exile, Rameses gives him audience at the royal court, permits him to move wholly at liberty among the slaves (whose minds he fills with thoughts of freedom and insubordination), and never once orders that he be jailed or hampered in the slightest, even after Moses has clearly -- and self-confessedly -- fucked up the entire kingdom with one vicious plague after another. Ah, how the love of freedom works its will on us! To trade so humane a master for forty years of homeless wandering in the shittiest desert on earth.); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Derek on September 22, 2008 at 9:58pm: I'm really going to have to watch "Heaven's Gate" now. I'll make up my own mind about it.

Never seen any of Rupert's(no name signed) favorite bad ones. I must have better taste since I've avoided them. I think I might of avoided them on merely the titles! Gosh!

Derek J.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richard on September 22, 2008 at 10:51pm: Hudson HawkI love this movie a singing thief.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenga on September 30, 2008 at 4:24pm: You are not alone :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David on September 22, 2008 at 11:48pm: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen--pretty much badly reviewed, but i saw it on TV, and wasn't bored, I guess that says something ;0....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Drom John on September 24, 2008 at 1:40pm: NF says the 25 at the end of this post are my most overrated:
hmmm, at #4 is ....

The truly "bad" film is Dark Star which could be discussed in the production value thread.
All the rest have merit somewhere.

Newsfront
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
Open Water
Heaven's Gate
The Libertine
Rhinoceros
I Am a Camera
Winter Kills
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Dark Star
Coffee and Cigarettes
S.O.B.
The Birth of a Nation
New York, New York
All the King's Men
Freedomland
The General Died at Dawn
J'Ai Ete Au Bal
3000 Miles to Graceland
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Subject Was Roses
Melvin and Howard
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Dillinger; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Drom John on September 24, 2008 at 1:44pm: Hmm, Ebert gave it 4 stars.

Ok, all 25 have merit.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sevorin on September 30, 2008 at 12:00am: I like The General Died at Dawn -- especially its wild finale -- Melvin and Howard, and bits and pieces of some of the others.

I can't think of any merit in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow or -- may it burn in the vasty deep -- Open Water.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by salmon_lox on September 24, 2008 at 3:15pm: The Newsies, though I think it has developed a cult following.

Constantine, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen- I hated both of these the first time around, but on a second viewing, my attitude softened a LOT. I'm still disappointed, as they could have been so much more, but alas, I still enjoy them.

Alex & Emma- this is less of a guilty pleasure and more of a "why does everybody hate this?" As a writer, I thoroughly enjoy this film and think Luke Wilson is hilarious. Oh well.

Around the World in 80 Days- that's right, I'm talking about the remake. The ridiculous flop. The Jackie Chan adventure. I know it's not a good movie, I know it raped the original story, but so what? I found it funny and Chan's action sequences to be up there with his "really goods" (but not "bests"). I think people might have actually been expecting a serious film...

Waterworld- a testament to modern cinema's fiscal indulgence and wastefulness, sure. A lame wannabe-epic, of course. An ego trip for a deluded Kevin Costner, without a doubt. But I am still drawn to this movie. It was a unique take on the apocalypse (relatively, I mean, it's basically Mad Max on water), and had some interesting ideas. All the rag-tag scrounged machinery was cool, too.; ▶ Reply to This