The recent Dungeons and Dragons.
‘Upgrade’ is an excellent sifi B movie.
Upgrade was not a “B” movie by any stretch. Low budget doesn’t mean B. Upgrade was more well done than much of the “A” stuff that’s put out.
But obviously this is opinion and depends how you define B movies.
The question was does it look like it would suck, at face value. I think Upgrade qualifies.
I totally thought Upgrade would suck. I’ve watched it 10 times now, and every time it gets better. Just stellar work.
A Knight’s Tale. Not only is it a good movie but it was my introduction to Paul Bettany and Alan Tudyk and they were brilliant in it.
And it left its mark on renaissance jousts everywhere. Always hear We Will Rock You at so many different ren fairs.
Alan Tudyk is a gem! There’s a scene that I love from a doc about the voice acting on Moana. Cuts to Tudyk doing chicken sounds (he played the chicken), when he slyly looks into the camera and says “I went to Julliard”.
If you haven’t, watch Resident Alien.
I must watch the new season of that. And Con Man is so good, too.
Just finished season 3 on Netflix. It was some bullshit. :P
Have to look up Con Man
I think Con Man is available on Prime. I just watched the first couple episodes, myself.
Found it!
the clip in all its glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaGYXjMwS60
Danny Boyd wrote an excellent video essay on A Knight’s Tale. I too always wonder why there’s always someone cutting onions when I choose to watch.
Because you have been judged, and likely not found wanting if you don’t suppress feelings.
Thank you for posting this so I didn’t have to.
Just a gem of a movie.
That movie has perfect casting. Everyone in it is exactly right for their parts. There is a B movie feel that I can’t quite put my finger on but it is an outright excellent film, one of my personal favorites.
I think it’s that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, while still remaining carefully in the world/rules they set.
Well, that’ll piss some folks off I think. I actually appreciate things like the crowd at the opening joust rocking out to We Will Rock You. The banquet dance scene is better executed; they start out with the old time dance and then fade into modern club dancing, as if to say “Here’s what’s actually taking place” versus “Here’s how the characters feel about it in terms a modern audience can understand.”
I think I’m more talking about how a lot of the sets look like styrofoam? Especially castle interiors or other masonry? There’s just something very 80’s Gragthar The Destroyer about it.
It didn’t click until I’d finished watching it that they’d tricked me into loving a sports underdog movie.
It’s true. The cocky rival who cheats, the training montages, the win despite all odds… It has every trope of the genre with a medieval set dressing.
Why dont they do this with more genres? Like I want a musician biopic movie ala Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman about a couple bards in England in the dark ages, and it is just Simon and Garfunkel doing Simon and Garfunkel songs on lyres and flutes completely anachronistically. Not satirically. Completely earnestly and yet fun.
“Trudging!”
“I will fong you. I will fong you until your entrails become extrails! I will—pain! Lots of pain!”
I do believe I’ll be watching this movie again today. 😁
I just can’t get past the dance scene.
I love it. Starts off cringe but then once the Golden Years kicks in it’s magical.
Lets not forget Rufus Sewell, who is such an excellent villain
Liked him since Dark City which could be another candidate for this list.
Genuinely a top 3 movie for me. Heath, Paul and Alan are all fantastic in it. I will never not watch it if an opportunity presents itself.
Clue - A movie based on a board game sounds terrible, but it’s really funny.
For more of a movie that visually looks bad.
Primer - Very low budget time travel movie that gets better every time you watch it.
Clue didn’t work in the theater because they did this gimmick where they made three versions with three different endings. So because it had to be consistent with three contradictory endings, you CAN’T solve it as you go; it doesn’t function as a mystery movie. And, it was kind of short.
The TV cut crammed all three endings at the end with the “Here’s what REALLY happened” cards inserted, so one ending is now canonical while the others are plausible alternatives, it runs longer, especially the frantic, energetic ending plays longer, so while it still doesn’t function as a mystery movie, it is now an excellent farce.
I think it also found its audience in young millennials on television; it was made for and by my parents’ generation but they don’t like it, while a lot of people my age love it.
There’s a particular character arc twist in Clue that made me jump out of my seat.
After the second watch, you should read the hours and hours of content covering the time loops and paradoxes, and then watch it three or four more times to begin to grasp what you read.
Moon. Fantastic mostly 1 man show.
The effects of the rider are amateurish, but the story and acting are awesome.
I was surprised by how Mickey 17 used a similar plot point.
What we do in the shadows. The movie, not the show. If you like mockumentaries it’s a must watch. Looks like garbage at times but it works very well for what they were going for.
The show is great too!
Yeah it’s really good in its own right but it feels a lot more polished
OMG YES +100 for What We Do in the Shadows
I still need to watch the latest season of the show though lmao
I have nightmares about baby Colin Robinson. Great show though!
The Jumanji remake was FAR better than I expected
Jack black is obnoxious but really nailed the high school girl impression.
This was going to be my pick. I went in with very low expectations which may be the reason it ended up being enjoyable. It was better than it had any reason to be.
Swiss Army Man - Daniel Redcliffe with farting as a superpower. Sounds ridiculous but really fun to watch.
Daniel Radcliffe while dead the entire movie flexes his ass cheeks as a superpower.
We were having a movie night in our neighborhood a few years back where we got a bedsheet and a cheap projector. We hooked it up to a laptop to project a movie on someone’s garage for the neighborhood kids.
We ended up projecting The Lego Movie and most of the kids lost interest about half an hour in - and were falling asleep and ready to go home.
I’ll be damned if it wasn’t one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen. I sent my wife home with our youngest just so I could stay and finish the movie.
Lego movie is brilliant. It’s not a kid’s movie. It’s so good.
Everything is awesome.
Edit to add: both 1 and 2 have great soundtracks.
Probably not the answer you’re looking for, but Puss In Boots 2. The second Shrek spinoff about the cat? Who honestly expected that to be such a banger
Lol now that you mention it, I didn’t see the first Puss in Boots, but took my kids to see the 2nd in the theater. I distinctly remember thinking “God damn, this movie is fucking good for a sequel to a spinoff to a movie that had two mediocre sequels.”
The only thing that put me off was the weird animation style. Otherwise it was a truly great film
Alita: Battle Angel.
The film looks stupid because they gave the main character giant anime eyes.
In the context of the film it makes sense and I think the look is meant to mirror the anime it is from… but for the film it still makes the film look stupid. Now the film itself is far from perfect, there is at least one storyline that is utter dogshit. However! The film ultimately was solid.
Sadly it ends setting up future films that will never happen, but I think it’s still enjoyable overall.
Love the universe but the whole anime eyes thing was just way too silly. They should’ve pulled a Sonic and made her look more normal.
Oh I completely agree. The anime eyes did not add to the film. It also sucks because the actress who played Alita, Rose Salazar, did a great job, but it’s such an uncanny valley type look that I didn’t recognize her anywhere else.
It’s one thing when it’s Andy Serkis playing Gollum or something but she was just playing a robot girl, but she looks like a throwaway CGI character.
Also she was the only one with the eyes! That’s the most inexplicable thing. Maybe if other people had the eyes it’d be ok, maybe there a thing people do. But she’s the only one so it’s extra weird.
How comes they won’t be making more?
Because no one saw the first one.
Now some very influential people who were involved in the first one want to make a second one, so maybe just maybe it will happen one day… But I doubt it.
I saw it. There’s at least two of us.
It’s funny I saw it completely randomly.
I was chatting with a coworker and just off handedly mentioned how bad Alita looked and they jumped on to defend the film and series harder than I’d ever seen anyone defend anything before. It was a true, “I’ve waited all my life for this moment” for them.
My evening was free and it was one of those $5 Tuesday type movie nights so I figured what the hell.
So there was at least another that convinced me, got to pay it forward.
There are dozens of us!
Three
It still looks goofy as f
Barbie (2023)
Just saw this a few months ago. And gotta agree. It’s a solid flick. Nothing crazy ambitious, but told a story that seems pretty haunting in the past few months.
Haunting?
I am trying not to sound disrespectful. But Allow my to gesture vaguely to current events.
I thought it would be a parody of Barbie but its actually a parody of Mattel and shows how men can be confused in this world. It’s a real movie for all the bros out there. Its the kind of movie I’ll watch again later because its good.
The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. It seems like a tropey romance-action flick, but is more a parody of genre clichés. The writing, acting, and humour are pretty good.
Honestly, princess bride. I’m usually not all that into rom com type movies, but princess bride is a masterpiece
Hey, that’s the metaplot of the movie!
The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, it’s like a Monty Python movie but with American actors and an evil Robin Williams.
I have heard that Speed Racer from the late 2000s kind of kicks ass but haven’t investigated myself
I recently saw it after thinking it was bad since release. Holy crap it’s literally live action anime. There’s not a lot (if any) depth of field so it takes a little bit to get used to but a few minutes into the movie and it feel normal. There’s shots are all bright or colorful and just ughhh… chefs kiss
I will vouch for Speed Racer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s corny as heck, but still also rad. The race scenes are fantastic! Kind of like a Godzilla movie though, you’re not there for the dialogue.
It’s wonderful. The last race always gets me legit hyped.
