Your Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Flicks

With discussion of John Carpenter flicks and top 10 lists, let's merge the two...

I'm sure we could all lists several Carpenter films, so to keep this interesting I'm banning his flicks from any and all lists.

So, with what's left...watcha got?

Here's mine in order by year of release:

Infra-Man (1975) - My first exposure to anything even resembling a superhero...this Shaw Brothers release contains everything a little boy would want. A superhero with a bad@$$ costume, who knows karate, but also fights giant monsters! I had no need for kung-fu flicks, godzilla films, or superheroes...it was all right here.

Flash Gordon (1980) - I actually prefer this to the Star Wars films. Well, probably not against A New Hope head to head, but I'll take Flash over the SW franchise as a whole. There's just a level of fun here that isn't in SW. From the acid trip sets, to the Masquerade style costumes, and of course the over the top, hammy acting. "Flash Gordon. Quarterback. New York Jets." Love it. I've dressed up as Flash for Halloween on at least 3 occasions.

Hawk The Slayer (1980) - Flip my comment on FG v SW and that's how I feel about HtS v the LotR saga. The LotR flicks as a whole are amazing...but they're...just...so...long. I do the entire trilogy in December every year (and even then it's on in the background while I do something else). Hawk however, I'll watch anytime. Such a fantastic little fantasy flick that doesn't require 12hours of sitting. This was the first flick I ever saw that had a real, deal D&D party in it...and the dwarf with a whip! Awesome. I was watching a bootleg copy of this in the early 80's while living in West Germany where I'd get copies of White Dwarf magazine and Fighting Fantasy books from one of the local British military bases, so the fact that this was a British film fit into my view of fantasy at the time. Still, to this day, unless it's specifically Sword and Sorcery, all fantasy in my mind sits in damp european forests. Anyway, back to Hawk. I've seen this film more than any other. Bar none. I Never tire of it. it's just about perfect in every way. The disco score, the relationship between the giant and dwarf, the robotic acting of Crow the elf, the repeater crossbow, Voltan. It's all good.

Streets of Fire (1984) - Outside of EfNY or BTiLC, this is the ultimate 80's urban adventure flick...or wait, is it the 50s? Post Apocalyptic? Who the hell knows!? I don't care though, this film rocks. Well, it's a 'Rock n Roll Fable' to be precise... The Jim Steinman songs are still mind-blowing, but I guess it helps that Diane Lane was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Pare's wooden acting gets a pass because William Defoe, Bill Paxton, The Blasters, Rick Moranis, and Robert Townsend (bit part) more than carry the film. (Sort of like the cast of Flash Gordon being stronger than the lead). Wish they still made off-beat films like this.

Return of the Living Dead (1985) - I was done with zombies after the excellent Night of the Living Dead remake by Savini. However, to me, this is still the pinnacle of zombie entertainment. 'Reagan-era' punks, a mortician of dubious origin (but lots of great lines!), fast zombies, a somewhat explanation, split dogs, nukes...blammo! Top 80's horror/comedy right here. I'll take this over Evil Dead II all night.

Back to School (1986) - Underrated comedy film where the guy from Christine gets his college plans wrecked as his rich father, Rodney Dangerfield, enrolls at the University. Rocky Balboa's drunk flunky turns up as Dangerfield's drunk flunky, Robert Downy Jr's in his best role, I think the lead jock in Revenge of the Nerds is the main antagonist here (Or is it the lead Cobra Kai guy from Karate Kid...) and Oingo Boingo shows up to play a few hits. This film barely edges out Bachelor Party and Top Secret as my favorite 80's comedy. However, ask me again tomorrow and one of the others may take the spot.

Tremors (1990) - As you can tell, I like my monsters with a side of humor. For my dollar, Tremors is the greatest creature feature ever filmed. I've house-ruled graboids into at least 5 different games over the past 25 years. Fred Ward is a lot more entertaining here than in Remo Williams, and Egg Shen pops up to continue peddling odds and ends, but Michael Gross' Burt Gummer ends up stealing all the scenes he's in...and ultimately the franchise. Like the other flicks on this list, it's full of classic one-liners and I could watch it all the time.

Men at Work (1990) - I wish I could justify this one. I don't know why, but every time this would ever come on, I couldn't change the channel. I'm sure it's because of Keith David's psyched out, vietnam vet character. There's just no explaining this one really...it is what it is...and I dig it. On a side note, besides being in fine Carpenter films, Mr. David has the honor of performing one of my favorite movie lines in another film (the Quick and the Dead...another favorite), when asked how his gunslinger's name is spelled...his response? 'Correctly'. I guess it's in the delivery.

Congo (1995) - I know this was panned, but I can't get enough of Ernie Hudson's Monroe character. Add in a little Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell getting axed, silly apes with lasers and what can be said about this jungle adventure film? Well, a lot of folks would say it's dumb, but for me, like Hawk the Slayer or Flash Gordon against their blockbuster rivals, I almost prefer this over the Indiana Jones films. I know which one I've seen more....Anyway, Peter Jackson's The Frighteners (1996) used to hold this spot, and may again one day.

A Knight's Tale (2001) - This anachronistic look at the jousting scene saw regular rotation in my dvd player until Heath Ledger passed away. That specter hanging overhead sorta puts a damper on the joy I used to get out of this movie. However, I'm down with the songs, the costumes, the side-kick characters are dead perfect, the whole thing _to me_ comes together as almost the last perfect b-movie (I don't count straight to rental flicks).

Looking over the above lists it's clear to see that a lot of my favorites are pretty light hearted, but also they were formed prior to kids. A time when I'd watch a film over and over as the years rolled by. I can't think of any movie not mentioned here that I've bothered to watch more than twice in the past seven years. What I'm saying is, I'm sure it's me and not 'modern movies aren't the same'. I do really enjoy Neil Marshall's little run of Dog Soldiers, Descent, Doomsday, and Centurian, but I don't think I've seen any of them more than twice. I also really dug Black Death (Sean Bean) and Ironclad (James Purefoy), but I don't think I've even seen either of them a second time. Who knows...maybe a new cult favorite will crack the top 10...after the kids move out...

EDIT: Correction...I've seen Love Actually, Brown Sugar, Bridget Jones' Diary, 50 First Dates, and 500 Days of Summer each well more than twice...but that's not on me!!!

I guess it depends on what you call Cult. Blade runner is my favourite film and some would call it cult, but im going to go with slightly trashier or less well known pictures. If i put on Blade runner then why not Alien etc.

The Thing (1982)

The Warriors (1979)

Hard Boiled (1992)

Escape from New York (1981)

Battle Wizard (1977)

Sorcerer (1977)

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Outland (1981)

Excalibur (1981)

Starship Troopers (1997)

Pi (98)

Labyrinth (86)

The Getaway (72)

Valley of Gwangi (69)

This is Spinal Tap (84)


Two-Lane Blacktop (71)

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (74)

Bottle Rocket (96)

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (74)

The 'Burbs (89)

I unabashedly and legitimately love David Lynch's Dune.

I also love it. It gets a lot of stick for being disjointed and for not following the book as closely as it could be its great. It has really memorable images and lines in the way few epics really do. I have read that the original version was 6 hours long and it was cut down. If this is so, i would really like to see an original edit released some day.

Movies:
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
Dune
Hudson Hawk
My Cousin Vinny
Singles
Starship Troopers

TV shows:
Homicide - Life on the Street
Hull High
Relativity

Boardgames:
Cults Across America
Siena

DukeofChutney wrote: I also love it. It gets a lot of stick for being disjointed and for not following the book as closely as it could be its great. It has really memorable images and lines in the way few epics really do. I have read that the original version was 6 hours long and it was cut down. If this is so, i would really like to see an original edit released some day.

I have a director's cut on DVD that clocks in at 4 1/2 hours. Not sure if it's still available.

mrmarcus wrote:

DukeofChutney wrote: I also love it. It gets a lot of stick for being disjointed and for not following the book as closely as it could be its great. It has really memorable images and lines in the way few epics really do. I have read that the original version was 6 hours long and it was cut down. If this is so, i would really like to see an original edit released some day.

I have a director's cut on DVD that clocks in at 4 1/2 hours. Not sure if it's still available.

"The only "director's cut" of the film was the one shown theatrically; Lynch never had a hand in any other version of Dune."
www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/alternateversions

Been thinking about this...I'm not sure if these all constitute "cult" but anyways:

-Deathrace 2000: Magical is the only way I can describe this
-The Running Man: Basically Deathrace on feet
-Sharktapus: Half shark, half octopus, all badass
-The Blues Brothers: Best musical ever, plus they come from the same city I was born in - Calumet City, IL!
-Equinox: I love practical effects and the starting point for the legend Dennis Muren
-House: Because WTF?
-Adventures of Baron Munchausen: Just a great adventure movie
-Jason and the Argonauts: Which is basically a placeholder for anything Harryhausen
-Tokyo Zombie: One of the better zombie flicks I thought, just different enough to be memorable
-The Princess Bride: Great movie, Great story, Great concept, Heartwarming, Fantastic.

Snap! I did forget a recentish flick.

Sky High

The whole family enjoys this one, so I've seen it a few times.

My 10 would be..

Blade - not sure why that isn't more popular.

Excalibur - I watched it about a million times on HBO, back in the early 80's.

The Quick and the Dead - Who wouldn't love a Sam Raimi movie about a gunfight contest.

The War Lord - Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, and about 2 hours of a castle siege.

Point Break - I don't even know why I watch it, but I'll watch it every time I see it on.

Red Dawn - Another Patrick Swayzee flick.

Conan the Barbarian (Ahnuld) - stealing this from another list on here. Another one I'll watch when it's on.

Con Air - I don't normally get into shitty movies, because life's too short. But this one I'll watch.

Airplane - I still laugh at it.

The Andromeda Strain - hi-tech 1970's style. Michael Crichton before he got shitty.

In no particular order are movies that while may not be considered critical success, will suck me in if I happen to come across them on TV:

HARD TARGET

ROADHOUSE

POINT BREAK

THE WARRIORS

BLUES BROTHERS

TOTAL RECALL( the original, not the wretched remake )

THE RUNNING MAN

EXCALIBUR

Regarding Dune, I have the extended edition on DVD, but I don't think its 4 1/2 hours.

The SciFi miniseries was actually pretty well done IMO. While it didn't have the stellar cast of the Lynch version, it was a lot less bizarre and did a better job keeping to the books ( no yelling at shit to blow it up for instance ) . Worth checking out if you can find it on DVD.

wice wrote: Movies:
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

Holy shit. I haven't thought about that movie in a looooong time. My college roommate and I watched that movie roughly 8 kajillion times.

"See those chicks? Girl Scouts. I took two boxes. OHHH!"

Add me to the list of sincere, un-ironic fans of Lynch's Dune. I watched that movie, thought "What the hell was THAT?" Then I read the book, and watched the movie AGAIN, just so I had some clue what was happening.

What is a cult film? What separates a cult movie from a regular one? You've got the 'so bad it's good' movies, B movies, midnight flicks, and the personal guilty pleasures, among other types. Wikipedia has a list of cult films , which I browsed through and find I like many of the movies on that list. I'm going to try for a more obscure list;

The work of Yoshiyuki Tomino, Go Nagai, Leiji Matsumoto, Ryousuke Takahashi, and Gainax studios. Creators of some of my favorite anime, writers of original stories, creating unique worlds and iconic characters. It is a shame so many modern anime fans have no idea who these guys are. I'd pit Galaxy Express 999 or Space Battleship Yamato against any anime released today. Some stories never really age.

Gargoyles, that Disney show from the '90s. I loved that show, still do. Lots of references to literary characters, not to mention the large percentage of Star Trek voice cast. I once calculated the ages of all the characters, the titular gargoyles aging half the rate of humans, accounting for their being frozen for a thousand years, the land of Avalon doing crazy things with time, and so forth. Goliath was in his forties, his daughter Angela was 19, and Demona was in her early twenties, what with the magic that kept her youthful. Pretty sure Hudson was in his mid sixties. I can't remember the others.

Exosquad, a good attempt at an anime-esque series with an ongoing storyline. Had some bitchin' mech designs. I recreated quite a few of them out of Legos long ago. I guess I always wanted those toys. I won't buy them now out of nostalgia though.

I'm hungry and need to eat, maybe I'll add more later.

Great point about cult or guilty pleasure.

Gonna rename this thread.