10 Guilty Pleasures of 2011

There is a certain breed of movie that pops onto our screens every once in a while, usually (I say USUALLY) lambasted by critics and glossed over with indifference by the paying audience. These are movies that perhaps you would have seen, but won't recollect --

-- at least that's what you'll say when asked about said movie.

One of the many great things about films is that they can truly divide an audience. Obviously there's a difference between saying something like 'I didn't like Schindler's List' and 'Schindler's List is a bad movie' -- one is an opinion, and the other is an incorrect statement. Yet what if the movie is considered to be a bad movie, yet you find yourself oddly drawn to it? A foul-mouthed tirade of insults, accompanied by bumbling jokes living up to the age-old cliche of being 'so bad, it's good'.

So 'ave a look:


1. Drive Angry 3D
Current Metacritic Rating: 44

What They Say: Over-the-top grindhouse formula.

What I Say: It's a movie called 'Drive Angry' and features the versatile genius that is Nic Cage as an undead vigilante who recklessly 'drives' across the country in a flurry of explosions, booze and boobs (sometimes all at the same time) hunting down a satanic cult and co-starring Bill Fichtner and Amber Heard, with a script crammed full of rampant one-liners, perilous threats, and vehement put-downs (*puts away thesaurus*) -- in a nutshell, it cannot fail.



2. Gnomeo And Juliet
Current Metacritic Rating: 53

What They Say: Weird, silly, too self-referential. Pixar-wannabe.

What I Say: I like Pixar as much as the next over-grown kid, but to expect every animation to live up to the standards set by Woody and Buzz is ridiculous. Though the film never hits the heights of a Pixar movie (Cars being the only exception) it is a creative and spirited take on a tale which had all but worn out its welcome. There are plenty of laughs to be had, and features a well rounded cast with the talents of Matt Lucas, James McAvoy, Michael Caine, Emily Blunt and Jason Statham. Kids will love it, their parents will love it, their slightly older kids will love it, and those that don't fall into any of those brackets will also love it.




3. Your Highness
Current Metacritic Rating: 31

What They Say: Scattered laughs at the usual phallus/sex/fart/old person falling over humour.

What I Say: Yeah, I can't really defend this movie -- it's a terrible, terrible film and deserves all the criticism it gets. Yet, there's no denying the well placed moments of genuine humour it does have, and the cast who, no matter how uninspiring the movie was at the box office, appear to be having the time of their lives. And fair play to Natalie Portman for following up the performance of her career in Black Swan with a role which I imagine will be a top answer in years to come on BBC's gameshow 'Pointless'. Danny McBride is a funny guy, and his brand of improv, in-your-face comedy is usually very entertaining and he has the impression of a guy who doesn't care immensely how his movie performs. He'll just stroll through the set, saying what comes naturally and putting on a good show for the audience.



4. Paul
Current Metacritic Rating: 57

What They Say: Fun, but never hilarious, nor successful.

What I Say: Whilst Paul doesn't fit into the category of being a 'bad movie' in any way in particular. It does feature the most generic looking alien you're likely to see in any contemporary movie for a while, smoking spliffs, coming onto women, and uttering about every swear word the script can come up with (and more, knowing Seth Rogen's knack for improvisation). It's not a believable movie in any shape or form, and will not change the way you consider the world, or anything Kubrickian like that, but it will provide good family fun for everyone, from fan-boys to the stuffy, impassive uncle that no one really likes. The mix of charm, good-nature and outrageous (Yo, fucknuts! It's probing time) outbursts will be enough to keep everyone entertained. OK, so maybe it's not 'family' fun.



5. Super
Current Metacritic Rating: 50

What They Say: No life and no idea of what it actually is.

What I Say: Ellen Page. She hoists this movie up onto her shoulders, and runs as far as she can with it (before having her head blown off). For a movie marketed as a dark comedy, there's actually very little comedy from its lead, Rainn Wilson, who has made his name in one of the funniest US sitcoms on TV. He mopes and stumbles through this film in a state of child-like depression leaving it to the youthful exuberance of Page to salvage any hope of praise from the critics and audience, and thankfully for him, she proves herself worthy. She makes the film what it strives to be so much so, that when she's not on screen, the movie is soulless, dull and in desperate need of the defibrillators to give it some life.



6. Scream 4
Current Metacritic Rating: 52

What They Say: Wearing out its welcome quickly. Can't get away with its 1996 hi-jinks.

What I Say: There is little doubt in my mind that Scream is one of the greatest and most influential slashers of all time. It took the archaic, dusty rulebook of Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13th, gave it a good scrub, ripped it to shreds and then plastered bit and pieces of it into its own, modern rulebook. In Scre4m, and its new techno-enabled world, it's less of a rulebook and more of a memo, created on an iPad. It may explain the difficulties the film had in being able to achieve what it did in the original but nevertheless, it brings the franchise a much needed refresh, along with the giggles and the gore and its 'meta' story is enough to make us forget about the decaying corpse complete with bloodied-knife-in-back that was Scream 3. **shudders** (quick note, the writer of Scream 3 also penned Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen....)


7. Pirates Of The Carribean: On Stranger Tides

Current Metacritic Rating: 45

What They Say: Disjointed, noisy, irrelevant action scenes.

What I Say: Yes, they've milked this rum-stained franchise bone dry and I hear they plan to release yet another vehicle to propel Capn' Jack into the limelight, but c'mon, this flick was a far superior effort than the jumble-sale of convoluted plot lines that characterized 2 and 3. Gone was the sentimental soaked 13yr old love letter that was Elizabeth and Will (has anyone else tired of Keira Knightley and her bloody corsets real quick?) and in comes the slightly less muddled goal of living forever. Simple. Let's keep it at that. Depp is his usual, Penelope Cruz radiates charm, zest and many other positive attributes and McShane is callous as ever as Blackbeard. Action sequences are consistent, fun and original (sorta') and the refreshed score epitomised a return to form for a franchise which finally began to resemble the Disney ride it was based on.


8. Horrible Bosses
Current Metacritic Rating: 57

What They Say: Premise is promising but loses its way quickly.

What I Say: Who knew that 'Guilty Pleasure' was just a phrase used to veil the utterly ridiculous. Horrible Bosses is a concept based on a general idea, magnified into an extreme hyperbole and then tied up neatly with a well-rounded cast. It's one of the year's best comedy movies and brings more laughs than both 'Hangover' films combined (for me, anyway -- don't bitch and moan). The strength of 'The Hangover' was that it was based on a situation that can and probably frequently does happen. Horrible Bosses chooses to base itself on the impossible, but deals with it in a mature and almost believable manner -- with the exception of Aniston and Farrell's cartoon villain bosses -- moving itself from a wacky/absurd tale to the blackest of black comedies, sure to bring the laughs (Jamie Foxx's Motherfucka Jones is a particular highlight) and even though by the end of it, you're fairly certain that it took some rather large liberties with the narrative, you're satisfied that you've just watched a movie full to the brim of comedic talents and some real gems packed within.



9. 30 Minutes Or Less
Current Metacritic Rating: 49

What They Say: Disjointed narrative with laughs too sporadic.

What I Say: Similar to Natalie Portman, Jesse Eisenberg follows up his career-defining role with a rather more liberating movie which sees him play a pizza-delivery guy, caught in the middle of a bank-heist plot, conducted by, hey, Danny McBride again. Eisenberg teams up with Ruben Fleischer once more (Zombieland) in this black comedy, and though the script doesn't live up to its undead counterpart, the cast featuring Eisenberg, McBride and Aziz Ansari, are likable and breeze through their dialogue with relish and contribute to an entertaining, if not slightly too short, ride.


10. Tower Heist
Current Metacritic Rating: 59

What They Say: Usual Ratner offering of no-brains, but amusing sequences.

What I Say: Again, not a badly received movie by any means, but when it comes to Ratner, there is a certain acceptance that all disbelief must be locked away in an air-tight container. You've come to watch the ridiculous and to laugh at the interactions and sequences that would never happen in a Mike Leigh movie. From beginning to end, you will endure high-end stupidity from its talented cast, and you will not care, because that is the only way you will be rewarded. Eddie Murphy is the star of the show and brings the laughs in bucketfuls; he says 'bitch' and we laugh, that's how ensnared we are as an audience. Character is kept to a minimum and the movie never reaches the levels of previous efforts such as Rush Hour, but Tower Heist is amusing in its own sought out way, and deserves a place on the list.