Top Ten Guilty Pleasures Part 1

As I was contemplating how I enjoyed John Carter while audiences and critics tore it apart, it reminded me that there are a slew of movies out there that people love to hate that I, for some reason, can't come to hate completely. Films that I enjoy watching knowing full well that they at heart are bad films. They consist of the following:

10) Michael Bay's Transformers trilogy-I remember Transformers from my youth, but I never got into the franchise on account of thinking it was stupid. Then the movies came along. I have to admit, seeing the first Transformers film was a unique experience for me. Suddenly, the Transformers were cool. The robots, the mythology, everything seemed so much more interesting than what I remembered from the cartoons of my youth. Michael Bay is, for all intents and purposes, a horrible filmmaker, but I have to give the man credit for reviving a beloved '80s franchise for a new generation and making it relevant again. The films themselves amount to little more than mindless action films, and suffer from thin characters and recycled plots. Despite this, however, I can't completely hate them because they're so damn fun to watch (ok, the second film kinda stretches what is defined as entertainment, but it too has its moments of greatness). Honestly, I don't care if the film is just 2 and a half hours of Shia Labeouf and insert hot chick here running from explosions, as long as Optimus Prime is there to kick ass and take names, I'm good.

9)Van Helsing-I never got the hate for this film. I loved it when it came out, if only for the idea that Wolverine and Selene from Underworld were fighting Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man...ALL AT ONCE. It had great action, an interesting plot line I felt effectively tied all the monsters into one universe, and Hugh Jackman was as awesome as ever as Van Helsing. The production design was fantastic, and to me it just really worked as an action film. However, as the years go by I can see why people hate it. The characters really have no depth, and the film bends over backwards incorporating too many monsters into its plot. But I still like it. In a world where the modern perception of vampires and werewolves comes from Twilight, at least Van Helsing attempts to stick to the iconography that makes those monsters so memorable.

8) Ghost Rider-Ever since I first saw Spider-Man 2, I fell in love with super hero films. In the past decade there have been good comic book films and bad ones, and for me, Ghost Rider falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. Nic Cage sucked as Johnny Blaze, for sure. The Rider himself had no character. And the villains were horrible. But, I can't completely hate it. Peter Fonda and Sam Elliot gave off great performances, and Eva Mendes was incredibly hot as the love interest. And the scene where Sam Elliot becomes the Western Rider and he and Cage's Rider ride off into the desert together? Bad ass. So by all means, Ghost Rider was a terrible film, but I enjoy it for its unique visuals.

7) Tron Legacy-Same deal with this film as Ghost Rider. I remember seeing the first Tron as a kid and enjoying it for its visuals and the idea of being inside a computer. I never dreamed I would see a sequel in my lifetime. I was hyped beyond hyped when I learned about it, and in hindsight thought that the first Tron was ahead of his time for focusing on computers now that our whole society is based on them. The sequel had much more potential to tell a great story knowing that we depend so much on computers nowadays. What the film ended up as was a visual-audio experience that I would never forget. The film updated the Tron experience for the 21st Century, and I especially loved Legacy's amazing light cycle race. And the Daft Punk score/cameo? Breathtaking. Really sold the digital side of the film. But, while I can't fault the film for its assault on the senses, the story really wasn't that groundbreaking. Looking back, I realize now Tron was never meant to tell a good story so much as showcase what filmmakers can do with computers. In that sense, Legacy was brilliant, but I still consider it a guilty pleasure because there is nothing to the film besides what it looks and sounds like.

6) Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3, & 4-The first Pirates film was awesome. Jack Sparrow, Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, the skeleton pirates, everything clicked. The sequels were obviously a step down from the first, and while they fail in various degrees, I still find something to enjoy in each film. I love the Empire Strikes Back tone and cliffhanger of Dead Man's Chest, and for that reason rate it the second best of the series, even though there were parts that could have been taken out (The Cannibal island, for instance). While I thought it was great set up, the payoff in World's End was somewhat lacking. It started good, and ended good with the final battle and the tragic resolution to Will and Elizabeth's story, but the middle part dragged with too many plotlines, so I rate it the worst of the four even though I do enjoy watching it. On Stranger Tides felt unnecessary, but I excepted it when I heard about it because of the Fountain of Youth subplot which was unresolved at the end of World's End. I loved the mermaids, the mythology of the Fountain, and the character arc they gave Barbossa, but I found the new characters boring and the whole film to lack a sense of danger. However, the attempts to streamline the series after World's End put it a step above that bloated film, but I still find it lacking compared to the first two. So while I obviously have problems with each sequel, I still enjoy watching them despite their flaws, if only to watch Captain Jack Sparrow being awesome.

5) Batman Forever- I love the Christopher Nolan Batman films, and tend to think of the earlier films as "test runs" to see what would work and what didn't in the Batman franchise. The first Tim Burton film was the best, obviously, but even that had flaws, such as putting the Joker as the main character and making Batman an afterthought. Come to think of it, all the films pretty much handle Batman as second fiddle to the celebrity villain of the week. Despite this, I like Batman Forever, the first Schumacher flick, for two reasons: the film's origin of Robin, and Jim Carrey as the Riddler. Now maybe I'm biased because I think Carrey is hilarious, but I adore his Riddler. I just think it works so well. He was batshit insane, but cold and calculating enough to think of himself as more intelligent than Batman and willing to do whatever it took to prove it. Hated Tommy Lee Jones' Two Face, but Carrey's Riddler made up for it. As for Robin, I knew next to nothing about the character's origin from the comics, and this film provided a great introduction to who he was and how he came to be, not to mention his prescence gave Batman himself more of a character arc concerning his identity. So, it's not a "good" movie, but I enjoy it for its outlandish characters and the overall story. With that said, Batman and Robin is unforgiveable.