# Bad movies on pay cable **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744 "2006-07-16T15:35:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/1 "2006-07-16T15:35:11Z")
Cinemax is showing **Battlefield Earth**. Why? There are approximately 500,000 better movies they could be showing. Why do the pay movie channels show so many bad films? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/2 "2006-07-16T15:58:48Z")
They’re cheap. There’s a lot of airtime to fill. Someone is bound to watch it, if only rabid scientologists. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/3 "2006-07-16T16:31:26Z")
When I had HBO, this used to drive me nuts. It’s not just that they ran crappy movies, but it seemed like there was an inverse relationship between the quality of the movie and the number of times they show it. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/4 "2006-07-16T20:23:38Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > It’s not just that they ran crappy movies, but it seemed like there was an inverse relationship between the quality of the movie and the number of times they show it. There is. The cheaper the film is to license, the more times they can lard the schedule with it for the same price that a decent movie would cost. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/5 "2006-07-16T20:27:09Z")
Consider also that one man’s crap is another man’s croissant. I have met a few people online who claimed that they were fans of **Battlefield Earth**. I guess that’s possible. My own husband likes **Howard the Duck** , and has subjected himself to multiple viewings of same. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/6 "2006-07-16T20:41:35Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Cinemax is showing **Battlefield Earth**. Why? There are approximately 500,000 better movies they could be showing. Why do the pay movie channels show so many bad films? Battlefield Earth may be a stupid movie, but it isn’t a bad movie. There are large numbers of mind-numbingly bad movies that are made every year, that are not even good enough to be shown at 4am on HBO. A friend used to regularly read Variety. I’d skim through the paper when he was done with it. I was always surprised at how many movies had been made, that never appeared in local theaters, or on broadcast or cable television. Typically, these were really bad low-budget movies, made by, and starring, people you have never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/7 "2006-07-16T20:53:57Z")
Current PayPerView offerings on DirecTV: Firewall Fun With Dick and Jane Freedomland Munich Date Movie When A Stranger Calls Cheaper By the Dozen 2 Big Momma’s House 2 Dave Chapelle’s Block Party Last Holiday Family Stone Nanny McPhee Hoodwinked Doogal HP Goblet of Fire Chronicles of Narnia The Producers Grandma’s Boy Something New The Sisters Casanova Running Scared Brokeback Mountain London Aeon Flux Tamara The Apostle Sea of Love Rent These are the movies they want us to pay **extra** for. I haven’t even heard of most of them. If it weren’t for TCM and Deadwood, I wouldn’t even turn on the set. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/8 "2006-07-16T21:03:58Z")
I thought _Fun With Dick and Jane, Munich, Nanny McPhee, HP Goblet of Fire, Chronicles of Narnia, Brokeback Mountain_ and _Rent_ were all enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/9 "2006-07-16T22:16:19Z")
Me too. And maybe Chappelle. So who’s watching the other 25? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/10 "2006-07-16T23:14:00Z")
…_Running Scared_ is an amiable buddy cop movie but nothing special, _Sea of Love_ is a pretty good erotic thriller starring Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino and _The Apostle_ is a masterpiece character study of an evangelical priest, written, produced, directed, and starring Robert Duvall in a tour-de-force performance. I loved it. Overall, that DirecTV schedule looks pretty darn good compared to some of the crap that The Movie Network foists upon us here in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-on-pay-cable/364744/11 "2006-07-17T00:57:25Z")
> [@Hodge](#): > > …_Running Scared_ is an amiable buddy cop movie but nothing special, I’d be willing to bet this is last year’s _Running Scared_, which is supposedly an extremely dark, violent, gritty, intense film noir, and not the '80s buddy cop movie with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines. I’ve heard excellent things about the new one, but if you aren’t into those kinds of movies, I wouldn’t recommend it.