Edward Scimia's Blog - Posts Tagged "so-bad-it-s-good"
My Five Favorite "So Bad, They're Good" Movies
Hey guys! I've recently set up an author account here at Goodreads. It's something I should have done long ago, but it was the release of my latest book that finally convinced me to take the plunge.
So Bad, It's Good
So Bad, It's Good is all about enjoyably bad films: the kinds of movies that you can watch with friends and have fun with not because of what they do right, but because of everything they get wrong. It's available now at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, and I'm also giving away ten copies here on Goodreads.
Since this is my first post here, I thought I should do more than just plug my book. With that in mind, I've put together a list of my five favorite So Bad, It's Good movies. A couple of these are relatively new discoveries, and don't even appear in the book! Without further ado:
Honorable Mention: Rocky VI
I'm listing Rocky VI without giving it a place in the list, because it very well might be my favorite movie that appears in So Bad, It's Good. However, a lot of people consider this to be a good movie -- or at least one that can't be called bad. That said, it's still a great movie for bad movie lovers. You have a talking robot (in 1986!), an insane James Brown musical number, Dolph Lundgren, and Rocky more or less ending the Cold War with one post-fight speech. Every time you think you've seen the most ridiculous thing the movie will throw at you, it manages to top itself, and that's the hallmark of any great bad movie.
#5: Gymkata
Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas plays...an Olympic gymnast who is recruited by the U.S. government and trained in martial arts. The goal: to send him to the fictional nation of Parmistan, where he will compete in "The Game," an obstacle course style contest in which winners gain the right to ask one wish of Parmistan's king. Luckily for our hero, there are a few gymnastics equipment-shaped objects around for him to take advantage of! This movie has a special place in my heart, because I first saw it after taping a 3 AM showing of it in college. My roommates and I would have stayed up to watch it, but we had just sat through Ninja III: The Domination, and likely wouldn't have survived the double feature.
#4: The Karate Kid, Part III
An old, out-of-shape Ralph Macchio is back to play Daniel LaRusso one last time in this horrible sequel. In between scenes that detail the challenges of opening a bonsai shop, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are tortured by a billionaire who has nothing better to do that spend his time taking revenge on a teenager for winning a karate tournament. The highlight is definitely Thomas Ian Griffith's performance as the villainous Terry Silver: he's not just over the top, he's gleeful about every second of it.
#3: Miami Connection
You'll be hearing a lot more about this movie in the years to come, but since most of you likely haven't seen it yet, I'll keep my comments brief. This film is all about five Tae Kwon Do masters - all orphans - who live together, play in a band together, and fight ninja biker gangs together. Originally released to (a few) theaters in 1987, it was all but lost until a couple years ago, and was finally released on DVD this month.
#2: Samurai Cop
Not only does this movie star Slyvester Stallone's bodyguard and Robert Z'Dar...no, you know what? I don't have to say anything else. Just read that sentence again, remind yourself what the title of this film is, and go find a copy. Do you really need to know anything else? Of course it's terrible...and more incredible than you could possibly imagine. Bad writing, bad editing, bad performances, bad effects: it's bad.
#1: The Room
I know, I'm not exactly being original here. But how can you go wrong with Tommy Wiseau's magnum opus? At its heart, this is a simple story of a man who is betrayed by his fiancee and best friend...but anyone who has even a passing familiarity with this masterpiece of bad filmmaking knows it is so much more. The star (who also wrote and directed the film) is nearly unintelligible, the script features lines that might have made sense in another language (but which certainly don't work in English), and there's a flower shop scene that may be the most infamously bad short scene in movie history. That, the lovely sex scenes and the hundreds of other little bits and pieces of trivia that go along with this film make it - at least in my eyes - the best bad movie around.
So Bad, It's Good
So Bad, It's Good is all about enjoyably bad films: the kinds of movies that you can watch with friends and have fun with not because of what they do right, but because of everything they get wrong. It's available now at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, and I'm also giving away ten copies here on Goodreads.
Since this is my first post here, I thought I should do more than just plug my book. With that in mind, I've put together a list of my five favorite So Bad, It's Good movies. A couple of these are relatively new discoveries, and don't even appear in the book! Without further ado:
Honorable Mention: Rocky VI
I'm listing Rocky VI without giving it a place in the list, because it very well might be my favorite movie that appears in So Bad, It's Good. However, a lot of people consider this to be a good movie -- or at least one that can't be called bad. That said, it's still a great movie for bad movie lovers. You have a talking robot (in 1986!), an insane James Brown musical number, Dolph Lundgren, and Rocky more or less ending the Cold War with one post-fight speech. Every time you think you've seen the most ridiculous thing the movie will throw at you, it manages to top itself, and that's the hallmark of any great bad movie.
#5: Gymkata
Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas plays...an Olympic gymnast who is recruited by the U.S. government and trained in martial arts. The goal: to send him to the fictional nation of Parmistan, where he will compete in "The Game," an obstacle course style contest in which winners gain the right to ask one wish of Parmistan's king. Luckily for our hero, there are a few gymnastics equipment-shaped objects around for him to take advantage of! This movie has a special place in my heart, because I first saw it after taping a 3 AM showing of it in college. My roommates and I would have stayed up to watch it, but we had just sat through Ninja III: The Domination, and likely wouldn't have survived the double feature.
#4: The Karate Kid, Part III
An old, out-of-shape Ralph Macchio is back to play Daniel LaRusso one last time in this horrible sequel. In between scenes that detail the challenges of opening a bonsai shop, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are tortured by a billionaire who has nothing better to do that spend his time taking revenge on a teenager for winning a karate tournament. The highlight is definitely Thomas Ian Griffith's performance as the villainous Terry Silver: he's not just over the top, he's gleeful about every second of it.
#3: Miami Connection
You'll be hearing a lot more about this movie in the years to come, but since most of you likely haven't seen it yet, I'll keep my comments brief. This film is all about five Tae Kwon Do masters - all orphans - who live together, play in a band together, and fight ninja biker gangs together. Originally released to (a few) theaters in 1987, it was all but lost until a couple years ago, and was finally released on DVD this month.
#2: Samurai Cop
Not only does this movie star Slyvester Stallone's bodyguard and Robert Z'Dar...no, you know what? I don't have to say anything else. Just read that sentence again, remind yourself what the title of this film is, and go find a copy. Do you really need to know anything else? Of course it's terrible...and more incredible than you could possibly imagine. Bad writing, bad editing, bad performances, bad effects: it's bad.
#1: The Room
I know, I'm not exactly being original here. But how can you go wrong with Tommy Wiseau's magnum opus? At its heart, this is a simple story of a man who is betrayed by his fiancee and best friend...but anyone who has even a passing familiarity with this masterpiece of bad filmmaking knows it is so much more. The star (who also wrote and directed the film) is nearly unintelligible, the script features lines that might have made sense in another language (but which certainly don't work in English), and there's a flower shop scene that may be the most infamously bad short scene in movie history. That, the lovely sex scenes and the hundreds of other little bits and pieces of trivia that go along with this film make it - at least in my eyes - the best bad movie around.
Support the Kickstarter for So Bad, It's Good 2!
If you enjoyed So Bad, It's Good, then you might want to take a look at the Kickstarter for my next book on enjoyably bad films: So Bad, It's Good 2: Electric Bookaloo!
So Bad, It's Good 2 will be bigger and better than the first, with longer entries and a wider variety of content. For more information, check out the Kickstarter project page. We're over 50% of the way to having the book funded, and I appreciate any help you can give - whether that's a pledge, or simply spreading the word. Thanks for the support!
So Bad, It's Good 2 will be bigger and better than the first, with longer entries and a wider variety of content. For more information, check out the Kickstarter project page. We're over 50% of the way to having the book funded, and I appreciate any help you can give - whether that's a pledge, or simply spreading the word. Thanks for the support!
