Talk About a Movie That Gets a Bad Rap...A Movie That Is Almost Universally Trashed....

[The Great Escape]

for me that movie is Xanadu. I watch this movie and I think, honestly. Whats to hate. It always seemed to me to be a pretty standard "follow your dreams" movie, that has been done over and over again. It had Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John at her most beautiful and Michael Beck (fresh from his starring role in "The Warriors"). I don't have a romantic bone in my body. However, the ONJ & Michael Beck scene, roller skating to "Suddenly", always makes me smile. Hell, it was even directed by Robert Greenwald!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puO7L5NoDCQ&mode=related&search=

[LynneSin]

1. The Broadway Musical is getting rave reviews

Anyhow, anthing with ELO music in it has just got to be good!

[terrya]

7. It's doing great box office

I'd LOVE to see the Broadway version. But the tickets are kind of pricey.

Maybe if it does really well, it will tour and come to Chicago some day. :-)

[kay1864]

2. Wild Wild West

This came out shortly after The Avengers (which really WAS bad), and so I caught it on HBO a few months later.

Kept waiting for it to get bad.

It didn't. Kenneth Branagh was great as Loveless. Kevin Kline was funny. Will Smith was, well, Will Smith. Not a great movie; an okay one. But it never got as awful as everyone said it was.

[IndianaJones]

3. Starship Troopers. nt.

[Alexander]

4. Logan's Run.

That movie is so totally awesome.

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. Mannequin!

Oh wait. It IS that bad. :blush:

[Connonym]

6. Howard the Duck

I can't possibly be the ONLY one who finds this to be a masterpiece.

[Giant Robot]

9. No you're not

I was at a comic book convention once in the dealer's room, which was separated from the panel discussion area by basically a drawn curtain, so we all could hear what was going on in the other area. I was talking to one of the dealers at the time, and heard the words Howard the Duck, which was followed by loud boos. Without thinking I said outloud something like hey it wasn't that bad or something like that. The dealer at the time looked at me, and asked if he heard me correctly. I sheepishly affirmed I kind of liked it. He asked to shake my hand because he thought he was the only one on the planet who liked it. We're a small but loyal contingent, and we're out there.

[Orrex]

11. Now, if each of you had paid $30 million to see it...

It might almost have been worthwhile for Universal. Otherwise... Not so much.

Probably the worst thing I ever saw in a theater. And in making that claim, I necessarily admit that I saw both Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael and Taking Care of Business within a span of just a few short months.

[Hugin]

18. HTD...

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[fizzgig]

19. it's one of my favorite movies

it's so horrible that it's wonderful

[yellowdogintexas]

26. Howard The Duck rocks. It is a staple at our house, one of those you

drag out when you need a good laugh. My daughter initiates new friends with it and several other family favorites. We Love it.

[terrya]

8. And it amuses me that Robert Greenwald....

directs excellent documentaries now. :-)

I adore "Xanadu". I've seen it about 20 times so far...it's just a cinematic pleasure for me. "Xanadu" has become a cult film now. With a enthusiastic fan base.

[ThomCat]

10. I like Xanadu. I even have the CD and like the music.

:)

[underpants]

12. Joe vs. the Volcano

and "From Justin to Kelly" okay that one is bad but it sets the mark of BAD where it should be.

[LanternWaste]

23. "I have no response to that..."

The older I get, the more I like Joe v. the Volcano.

"I have no response to that..."

[underpants]

25. "Have you thought much about luggage sir?"

"It is the central preoccupation of my life"

"May you live to be a thousand years old sir"

[Hugin]

24. Joe vs. the Volcano would've been much better if George Clooney had been the lead...

:shrug:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Last Action Hero

I love the potshots it takes at action movies.

[smitty]

15. I agree, it's an underrated movie. Arnold even pokes fun at

himself. When I saw it in the theater many people were wondering aloud what the hell was going on.

[smitty]

I agree, it's an underrated movie. Arnold even pokes fun at

himself. When I saw it in the theater many people were wondering aloud what the hell was going on.

[smitty]

16. I agree, it's an underrated movie. Arnold even pokes fun at

himself. When I saw it in the theater many people were wondering aloud what the hell was going on.

[smitty]

17. Yikes! Please excuse the triple post.

[ForrestGump]

32. I love that film. It's the

anti-action-film action film. It's almost a perfect send-up of the genre, right down to the hard rock music and the babes (then again, "this is Kahlifohnia") and Arnold's quick clean-up after a dip in the tar pits (the pits transported, it would seem, to Long Beach). I really like that Arnie's prepared to poke fun at himself, as well as at the genre that made him famous, even if the film set his career back a bit.

I think it's brilliant. And Benedict is such a perfect bad guy... :D

[LostInAnomie]

39. I was going to say that.

WAY underrated.

[PVnRT]

53. I agree

It's more of an action movie satire than anything, and that's why it's hilarious.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Popeye.

I don't know why everybody hates it.

The music's great.

[Monk06]

31. Vastly underrated. Great music. Fantastic sets and Altman's grandson played Sweetpee.

[Burma Jones]

55. I Agree, I always really liked that Movie

[Hand]

65. Robert Altman at his very weirdest!

A great film indeed! Kind of an ongoing :wtf: :rofl: experience.

By the way, it was filmed on Malta, of all places. :silly:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

66. Yeah, the scenery was outstanding.

It looked like something out of the strip, or the cartoon.

With all that, the water scenes, and the budget, I can't blame the film for having a few trivial faults.

[SaveElmer]

20. Hook...

A little noisy but not a bad update of the Peter Pan story...

[yellowdogintexas]

27. oh, Hook is awesome. Dustin Hoffman should have had to pay Spielberg

to get the part of Hook...he had way too much fun playing that old pirate.


which bring to mind another Hoffman under rated movie: "Ishtar"
I actually liked it.

[Critters2]

58. I liked Ishtar too

Not Oscar-level, certainly, but not Godfather III, either. I never understood all the hate.

[Hugin]

21. To my "Howard the Duck" admission above, I will add "Silent Running"...

I liked it.

[racaulk]

22. Pink Flamingos

It's bad, really bad. Obviously a very low-budget film, directed by John Waters, horrible writing and acting, and many parts were just disgusting and vulgar.

But that's why I loved it!!! :D

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069089/

[ruiner4u]

29. he did prove that he was the filthiest person alive in the end scene...

[TOhioLiberal]

28. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure...

...:hide::yoiks:

I also liked B & T's Bogus Journey.

[ForrestGump]

33. Masterpiece

I love it...knew I would when I first saw the trailer.

Citizen Kane really didn't do too much for me, but Bill and Ted rule.

Bogus Journey, though, was not -- I felt -- at all up to the trailblazing cinematic experience that was Excellent Adventure. The original remains the classic.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

56. Be excellent to each other!

Really, what else is there to say? :thumbsup:

[EstimatedProphet]

62. Great movie!

The talk about time travel when they were trying to escape the police station is worth watching it for alone!

[hyphenate]

30. Okay

I know most people don't have much good to say about my choice, but it's the one I enjoy a lot--"Paint Your Wagon" with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. Yeah, it's a musical. I still love it. :)

[EstimatedProphet]

63. My favorite musical

Everyone gripes about how Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood can't sing, but that just makes it for me - how many '49ers were opera stars anyway?

[mitchum]

34. "Caligula"...

it's terrible as history or porn, but it's hilarious when watched as a comedy

[MrScorpio]

40. I'm with you on Caligula

Nobody understood Tinto Brass. Not even Bob Guccione himself.

[MonkeyFunk]

35. I watch Biodome

whenever it's on TV.

Cracks me up.

[susanna]

36. Seriously?

Titanic.

When you say universally trashed, I still think that a lot of people thought this movie "fluff." So I include it here.

Mostly because I was an amateur historian of Titanic lore for many, many years before the 90s movie version was even dreamed of. You know what? The movie held true to many of the congressional and parlimentary investigations about what really happened that night. (The insipid love story aside.)

To me, it was the first movie that showed the ship breaking in two, which was a insistence by many, many survivors that all the "powers that be" said was "impossible" and was negated during official testimony. Well, the wreckage--once found--proved that point in a nutshell, didn't it? I think that's why I always laugh when people poo-poo that movie. It finally told at least one HUGE truth.

There was a woman in the Detroit metro area who survived the sinking, and she emphatically pointed out that the ship split in half before sinking. Everyone laughed at her, for many, many years. She may still be alive, but I'm not betting on it. There is a part of me that is content that her version of events is now a FACT.

So it wasn't a completely useless movie, regardless of a lot of folks' opinions. Of course, I must bow to the fact that it followed the basic idea of Walter Lord's amazing book, "A Night To Remember." OK, it didn't exactly follow it, it re-envisioned it. So there. :-)

on edit: conjunction rescue

[Kingofalldems]

37. 'Convoy"

Great movie and song.

[ForrestGump]

43. Yes!

Finally got a (pretty poor) DVD version of it from eBay...used to watch it regularly in mu youth and I always loved the song. I think you had to be there, though, really...

The Gumball Rally, though...I LOVE that one!!!

[Chomskyite]

38. Magical Mystery Tour

Especially the scene with Victor Spinetti talking British Ol'Boy drill instructor gibberish and McCartney sitting at a desk laughing like he understands his jokes.

You also can't forget Lennon shovelling spaghetti onto Aunt Jessie's plate.

[Neshanic]

41. A.I. Very underated. When I saw it I thought it was

haunting, and beautifull. The score is magnificent.

Just my opinion.

[Nevernose]

47. Same here, I thought it was a masterpiece

In fact, just a few weeks ago, I couldn't get my 11 year old to go to sleep (summer vacation and all of that). I thought, "I'll put on the most boring movie ever made -- one in which I loved but apparently everyone else hated to death."

She stayed up longer than me.

She's since watched all the interviews and making-of documentaries. And, best of all, this movie has sparked HOURS of conversations between me and an eleven year old girl.

[On the Road]

68. I Agree on AI

I think it's brilliant.

I think people are afraid of being thought maudlin for identifying with the boy's need for his mother. It contains vastly different sytles, but to me that's part of the strength. The ending is artificial, and breaks all the "unity of time and space" rules, but it is perfect for a fairy tale. It is the kind of "unexpected diversity" you sometimes find in art.

On a more commercial level, I think "Death to Smoochy" is pretty funny and very sweet even though it's universally trashed.

[philosophie_en_rose]

42. Death to Smoochie

not quite a masterpiece, but I think it's fun.

[HuskerDU]

45. Totally agree. A lot of hyperbole about how bad it was.

I thought it pretty damn funny. Plenty WAY worse for sure.

[idgiehkt]

44. yep, here's to xanadu

:toast:

you can have your own harem of roller disco angels in every pastel hue. Sigh...

:hi:

[enigmatic]

46. "Ready To Rumble"

notwithstanding David Arquette's "winning" the WCW Title as a gimmick for the film; that was a travesty. But the film itself is funny, and Oliver Platt as Jimmy "I Will Ruuuuuule You!" King is pure Gold:

[AmyDeLune]

48. Equilibrium & Reign of Fire. n/t

[MissMarple]

50. Reign of Fire

Matthew McConaughey, well, good, but,... that's Matthew. Christian Bale, quite good. I love the movie. Classic sci fi.

Kudos to the Kentucky National Guard. Actually, I think they could do that.

[PVnRT]

54. I loved Reign of Fire

I thought it was actually kind of an interesting story, and it's a great little action flick.

[nickgutierrez]

61. Equilibrium was the best bad movie ever.

Some of the ideas were a bit silly, and the ideas seemed a bit half-baked, but the execution was excellent.

[Oeditpus Rex]

49. 'Pearl Harbor'

I guess the CGI was pretty good. :shrug:

[RockaFowler]

51. Waterworld

I know it's not fully plausible, but I can't stop watching it. Plus, I still loved Kevin Costner at this time.

[Frank Cannon]

52. Xanadu is one of my favorite movies of all time

And I'm not even ashamed to say it.

Not only was ONJ at the height of her awesome powers, but ELO was great too. "All Over the World", "I'm Alive", and, of course, "Xanadu" are some of ELO's greatest songs ever. The movie also features, to my knowledge, the only big-screen appearance of '80s legends The Tubes.

It's an overall happy movie that is also unintentionally laugh-out-loud funny in parts. It's colorful and the music is terrific.

[riverdale]

57. Little Nicky

It would still qualify as a bad movie, but it was not that horrible. It had some funny parts, plus with Rodney Dangerfield and Ozzy doing cameos it can't be all bad.

[Tyler Durden]

59. Paradise Alley; Stallone is actually FUNNY in it....

...and I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

[HamdenRice]

60. Battlefield Earth

It's bad, but by no means is it the worst movie ever made or anywhere near that level of badness.

[EstimatedProphet]

64. I have to admit, I really like Plan 9 From Outer Space

I'm convinced Ed Wood knew it would be "bad" because he was trying for that. I think it's almost like a cinema abstraction. I think he wanted it to parody itself, in a way.

[Hand]

67. No movie could be that bad without genius behind it!

They must have had a ball making it!

Here's a bio of Tor Johnson, the policeman turned zombie shown below...



Tor Johansson, born on October 19, 1903, in Sweden, the son of Karl J. Johansson and Lovisa Petersson, was a large man, weighing 300 pounds (136 kg). He had a full head of blonde hair, but he shaved it to maintain an imposing, villainous appearance in wrestling and acting appearances. He began getting bit parts in movies upon his move to California - usually as the strongman or weightlifter - as early as 1934. His movie career ended in the early 1960s after appearing in a string of poorly-rated movies (including the famously execrable The Beast of Yucca Flats in 1961). However, he continued to make appearances on television and made a number of commercials.

A number of Johnson's peers had commented that he was a very friendly man and easy to work with on movie sets. Valda Hansen, who worked with Johnson in the 1959 movie Revenge of the Dead said that "Tor was like a big sugar bun." Johnson befriended Bela Lugosi during the time both worked with infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr., and legend has it that Tor saved Lugosi's life one night when the elder actor was about to commit suicide.

Johnson died on May 12, 1971 at the San Fernando Valley Hospital in San Fernando, California, from congestive heart failure, at the age of 67. He was buried at the Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California.

He was portrayed by fellow wrestler George "The Animal" Steele in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood.