Have you ever noticed how some of your most favorite movies have a cheese factor of 10? For me the undisputed King of Cheese movies is the 1980 release of Flash Gordon starring some hot dude named, Sam Jones. Not only does the soundtrack rock...(what do you expect, it featured Freddy Mercury and Queen!), but the acting is so melodramatic it's a cheesing good time for all. I put this movie on for background sometimes as I'm working.
Next on our tour of the Cheese Museum is Clash of the Titans, starring Dancing with the Stars alumnus Harry Hamlin (pre-dancing shoes, of course.) Wonderful! The Ray Harryhausen stop animation minitures are to die for. And who doesn't love the fight with Medusa or the scary Gorgon that wanted the princess? If you don't love 'em, you don't love camp.
Xanadu. People will actually laugh out loud at me when I tell them I love this movie. Olivia Newton-John and Michael Beck (remember him from Warriors?) on roller skates. Come on. You can smell the Gouda a mile away with this one. It's cheesielicious.
The thing with a cheesy movie is, it has to be one that wanted to be taken seriously but the drama-to-camp ratio was inverted and turned it from serious to cheese faster than you can say Roquefort.
(Notice most of these movies have sci-fi or paranormal/mythological themes)
Then there are the not-so-cheesy but really quite good movies.
Practical Magic. I love this movie. Give me Aidan Quinn in a romantic lead and I'll follow you anywhere. Ah, hell. Just give me Aidan Quinn period.
Princess Bride. "And wuv...twoo wuv.." Enough said.
Willow. Val Kilmer as Madmortegan. You really gotta love this movie. Little Willow as the desperate magician-in-training, trying to save the world. How fun is that?
These movies aren't cheesy at all. Kinda dark actually, but I love them. I watch them as often as possible.
Pitch Black. Vin Diesel's character is so awesome. You never know from one minute if you can trust him or not. And as bad as his character is, there are others who are worse. It's a case of having to trust someone you shouldn't, and not trusting those you should. Brilliant for character study.
Chronicales of Riddick. All right, so I'm a closet Diesel fan. Sue me. I could point out that this movie also features Dame Judith Dench, so yes, I guess it is culturally rewarding as well. All right...all right...I'll admit I love the Riddick character, but it also had Karl Urban in it, which really set me up nicely.
Underworld. This movie rocked. Wasn't so fond of the sequel, but this first movie in the saga is amazing. It really set up so many possibilities for future movies.
Vampire Hunter D. Yes, it's manga, but it's rockin' great manga. The cells are beautifully rendered, the story awesome. I encourage anyone who likes vampire stories, or enjoys manga to get into this series.
So, that's the round up. Maybe you've seen some of your favorites here and will go watch and enjoy them again. Maybe you'll find something new and try it.
What are some of your favorites cheesy and non-cheese favorite movies?
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7 comments:
Interesting factoid: Flash Gordon also starred a pre James Bond Timothy Dalton, looking mighty fine in his youthful splendor!
Practical Magic wasn't cheesy. I adored that movie. Thought NK looked absolutely beeyouteeful before her poor hair faded. Can't go wrong with Sandra Bullock.
Hmm. For painful cheese, dedicated Bond fan that I am, I must nominate the last Roger Moore installment, the name of which escapes me. It costarred the painful emoting of Tanya Roberts. Yes, the performance was sooo bad, it was almost a separate character.
Then there was Denise Richards in the Pierce Brosnan 007 outing, the name of which also escapes me. We are expected to believe DR as a nuclear physicist. I'm sorry to be cruel, but I think my husband's cat would have been more believable...
I could go on for days. But I won't. LOL
Meer, how could you have named all those cheesy movies without giving some credit to Joel, crow, gypsy,and Tom Servo from MST3K week after week being forced to watch the "creme cheese" of all time cheesy movies? How could you forget The brain that wouldn't die, or Manos: Hands of faith? To me these were the cheesiest of all time, although Harry Hamlin did seem a little out of place in "Clash". But I think that the ultimate of MST3K was the theme song: "We send them cheesy movies...the worst we can find..la la la...."
My favorite cheesy movie has got to be "Big Trouble in Little China".
My all time favorite movie is "Buckaroo Bonzai" - you can't get more cheesy than a rock star/brain surgeon/physicist and his band of Hong Kong Cavaliers. I adore them!
Oh man...I forgot Buckaroo Banzi and Big Trouble in Little China.
I'm sure I'll think of more I forgot.
Oh. Ow. Wisconsin could never dream of producing as much cheese as Hollywood has!
Love Chronicles of Riddick and Underworld. Willow and Princess Bride are classics!!
The Princess Bride has so many quotable lines. I love that movie!
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