I realized something recently. I hate Hollywood films. I feel real pretentious saying this. I feel like a Radiohead fan, you know, someone who only likes something because it’s cool to like it. Am I really supposed to believe Radiohead is good? The guy’s playing the guitar and crying half the time. Oh you think you’re ugly? How about you buy a new face. Oh look at me I’m Radiohead and I give away free things on my website because I’m a common man. Yeah, good idea. Wait until you’ve made your millions to do that. I fucking hate Radiohead.
Rather than discuss why I seem to enjoy independent films more than Hollywood ones like a douchebag Radiohead fan I want to let you know a few bigger budget films that are notoriously known for being bad yet I enjoy. For the record my favorite movies in order are The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly first followed by Taxi Driver second followed by a two-way tie between The Naked Gun and Dumber and Dumber. I probably should have stopped after the first two classics to earn your respect.
Vertical Limit: I love any movie that you can describe as Die Hard on a fill in the blank. This film is basically Die Hard on a mountain. I know Cliffhanger starring Sylvester Stallone really is Die Hard on a mountain but I want to talk about Vertical Limit instead because Sylvester’s lips scare me. The film is basically about a rescue crew going up Mount Everest’s redheaded twin brother K2 to save some people who fell down a hole in a mountain. There are a lot of intense and awesome death scenes involving hanging off cliffs and getting his by avalanches. I haven’t seen this movie in years and I was actually thinking about buying it recently. I didn’t though because I didn’t have the 50 cents Best Buy wanted for it.
(Such a 90s cover. Also, Robin Tunney and Bill Paxton are in this? I never knew I was such a Bill Paxton fan)
Frailty: This is a Bill Paxton movie. I remember the difference between Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton with this formula; Bill Paxton is in Big Love and Frailty which both have major religious themes. PAX is the name of the religious channel known for Supermarket Sweep and Wonder Years reruns. PAX TV as in Bill Paxton. Bill Pullman is best known for his roles in humorous films like Spaceballs and Mr. Wrong. Pulling someone’s leg is a phrase used for joking around. The root of “pulling” is pull and that makes me think of Bill Pullman, a funny guy. As far as this actual movie goes it’s really good and is about a religious serial killer who brainwashes his sons to help him. Seriously, this is a really good movie and you should see it.
(Why do serial killers always have to cut off heads? It’s so messy. Also the only thing stopping me from becoming one)
The Last Action Hero: Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Tina Turner, Chevy Chase, Little Richard, Jim Belushi, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Ian McKellan all thought so highly of this film they made cameos, several playing themselves or revisiting old characters. Some say this film destroyed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career. The film is about a lonely teenage boy who gets a golden ticket from an old movie projectionist. The projectionist got the ticket from Harry Houdini backstage after a show and if you do the math that would mean the projectionist would have to be at least 80 years old in order to have had this happened based on when Houdini died. The kid gets sucked into the action film and has to help Arnie save the day even when the fictional characters enter the real world. I actually own this film and watched it as recently as a month ago because it’s so fantastic. Okay, maybe it’s not fantastic but it’s definitely not as terrible as everyone makes it out to be.
(Some say this ruined Arnie’s career. Others say I called him Arnie here because I didn’t feel like typing out his last name)
Wishmaster: For a time this was my favorite film. I’ve talked about it before and I’m going to talk about it again. This was a Wes Craven project about an evil genie who grants wishes in an insulting way. When he grants a wish for you then he gets your soul. Before my family had the Internet we had a book with every movie listed and a review of the film. Wishmaster had no stars. Instead it had a big fat turkey next to it. I immediately threw the book into a fire after seeing this. I don’t generally like horror films but this is one I could always get behind. I like when people wish for a million dollars and then their mothers die in plane crashes and they get the insurance money.
(Is this poster in Spanish? Maybe people in Mexico liked this movie. Even when a Mexican wish backfires it’s better than having a normal wishless Mexican life)
Little Big League: Films like The Sandlot and Rookie of the Year were popular in the 1990s for little boys and lesbians who were into baseball. I went in a different direction. I chose to be a fan of a film called Little Big League. The premise was something more akin to my interest. A little leaguer’s grandpa is the owner of the Minnesota Twins then croaks because that’s what old people do. This 12 year old boy becomes the Twins’ new owner and he has to prove he can do it. I’ve known probably since I was around 12 that I would never be a big leaguer so the next best thing would be to own a team. Unfortunately I can barely pay to play fantasy baseball so I’ll just have to watch this movie over and over again.
(Yeah because a child could handle the sports media world and give a press conference. Bullshit. Go fuck yourself reality)
Epic Movie: I know these guys get a bad reputation for putting together garbage films, but I think we all need to…okay I can’t go any further. Everything these guys do suck.
(Nobody even talks about 300 anymore which makes this film an even bigger disaster. Don’t worry about how far your breasts may sag, they will never flop as much as the writers of these films)
Dirty Work: Of all the movies I listed here this is the only one I ever watched in school. Once you find out the premise you’ll understand how it was relevant to my Ancient/Mediaeval History class. Norm McDonald and Artie Lange have always been great at getting revenge on people through pranks and such. When they’re in need of money they open up a revenge for hire business where they’ll do your dirty work for you. See how much this has to do with the Ming Dynasty. Although the film slows down in the third act as too many comedies do it still has a lot of great lines and gags. For you Chris Farley fans, and I know you’re out there and many because fat people always like Chris Farley and fat people also like looking at things on the Internet, this was the last film he ever did. Too bad it was a box office disappointment. Who would have thought Norm McDonald wasn’t a massive draw?
What are some movies you adore that nobody seems to understand your love for?
Mooselicker 