# Bad movies that you genuinely enjoy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 17, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106 "2014-01-17T22:05:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/101 "2014-01-20T04:41:52Z")

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> [@mbh](#):
>
> _Lifeforce_, starring Mathilda May’s breasts, and a bunch of British actors. By Golan-Globus standards, it had a remarkably high budget. The special effects are pretty good for 1985.

I was going to mention this one myself. Other wonderful stuff: Steve Railsback screaming/crying every line (remember when he was considered a promising young actor?); Patrick Stewart’s first on-screen kiss, with Railsback; Britain has their own space program, complete with a space shuttle called Churchill; the first evidence of extraterrestial life is stored in the basement of a low-security office building in London, guarded by pudgy, doughnut-eating rent-a-cops; and a floating glob of blood that shapes itself into a replica of naked Mathilda May, complete with boobs (and this was pre-CGI).

The outer space scenes were very elegantly done, and I think this was the first film that attempted (not always successfully) to show that there is no “up” in space. Also, Lifeforce has one of the greatest film scores ever written. If my house was on fire, the only thing I’d try to save is my LP of the soundtrack, autographed by Henry Mancini.

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/102 "2014-01-20T06:40:25Z")

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> [@Evil\_Captor](#):
>
> I’ll third Space Truckers. An unpretentious, fun little B SF movie. Dennis Hopper and Debi Mazar made it a hoot to watch.

Charles Dance sold it for me, with his pull-start cyborg penis. And the villainous mooks were inventive and genuinely creepy.

eta I just checked it out on IMDB, and Sandra Dickinson voiced Bitchin’ Betty: her what was Trillian, and married the Fifth Doctor, and mothered Georgia Moffat what married David Tennant.

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**Author:** ![Roundabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dec6dc/32.png) [@Roundabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roundabout)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/103 "2014-01-20T19:56:31Z")

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> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> **Ace Ventura: Pet Detective** clocks in at only 45%, which is obviously wrong.

Likewise, **Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls** at 33%.

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**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/104 "2014-01-20T20:08:07Z")

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**Vertical Limit  
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story**. I thought this was HILARIOUS.  
**Demolition Man  
Maximum Overdrive  
Airplane 2  
Loaded Weapon 1**

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**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/105 "2014-01-20T20:25:00Z")

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Boondock Saints; 20% on RT, but 92% by audience.

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**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/106 "2014-01-20T23:54:04Z")

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_Kung Pow: Enter The Fist_ is hilarious. It’s intentionally stupid, doesn’t take itself at all seriously, the villain randomly changes his name half-way through the film for no reason, and it perfectly takes the piss out of bad Kung Fu movies. One of my favourites.

Like almost everyone else on the SMBD, I also liked _Hudson Hawk_ too. It didn’t change my life or anything, but I found it an enjoyable, slightly odd, and not as bad as people seem to think it is.

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**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/107 "2014-01-21T04:46:10Z")

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On Deadly Ground. This movie is dumb as fuck, and Michael Caine is in full “I’m just here for the paycheck” mode as an evil bolo tie wearing oilman.

But it’s also great unintentional comedy. How can you not love a movie that features R. Lee Ermey delivering the following dialogue about what a badass Steven Seagal is:

> [@](#):
>
> My guy in D.C. tells me that we are not dealing with a student here, we’re dealing with the Professor. Any time the military has an operation that can’t fail, they call this guy in to train the troops, OK? He’s the kind of guy that would drink a gallon of gasoline so he could piss in your campfire! You could drop this guy off at the Arctic Circle wearing a pair of bikini underwear, without his toothbrush, and tomorrow afternoon he’s going to show up at your pool side with a million dollar smile and fist full of pesos. This guy’s a professional, you got me? If he reaches this rig, we’re all gonna be nothing but a big goddamned hole right in the middle of Alaska. So let’s go find him and kill him and get rid of the son of a bitch!

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/108 "2014-01-21T07:40:52Z")

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k-Pax got a 41/75 rating so I’m not sure that counts.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/109 "2014-01-21T07:50:47Z")

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> [@Kobalt](#):
>
> I can’t elieve no one’s mentioned **Battle Beyond the Stars**. Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, Richard Thomas and John Saxon doing The Magnificent Seven IN SPACE. And the special effects aren’t half bad in an low budget, 80’s kind of way.

I intended to mention this.

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/110 "2014-01-21T09:06:16Z")

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It’s Pat!

Has me chuckling most of the way through.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/111 "2014-01-21T10:27:18Z")

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> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> On Deadly Ground. This movie is dumb as fuck, and Michael Caine is in full “I’m just here for the paycheck” mode as an evil bolo tie wearing oilman.

In _Starcrash_, Christopher Plummer is just phoning it in for a quick paycheck, yet he still gives a better performance than the rest of the cast combined. According to imdb, his scenes were all filmed in a single day, and he got paid $30,000.00 (in 1978 dollars) for that one day’s work. As a capitalist, I heartily approve.

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**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/112 "2014-01-21T12:42:55Z")

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Not Another Teen Movie has a 28% on RT. I enjoyed for what it was-- a satire of teen movies. Compared to truly awful satires like Epic Movie, it was very good. The scene where the jerkass jock is dared to date the ugliest girl in school and picks the one with a ponytail and glasses, because they make her so much more unattractive than her albino hunchback classmate, was excellent.

Constantine has a 48%, and I have to admit, it has some deeply stupid moments. For instance, a cop puts herself in the position where a dodgy guy she has no reason to trust can drown her, if he gets the notion, with one hand. For me, the bad scenes are more than balanced by some cool ones, like an alkie priest tricked into killing himself with booze, a monster made of insects, my favorite portrayal of Satan, and a vision of Hell that struck me as original and creepy. Plus, the cop is Rachel Weisz, and Tilda Swinton plays a suspect angel. Plus plus, the film got Roger Ebert to write my favorite bad review.

Beat the Devil violates criteria with an RT of 67%, but I’m including it because for one thing, RT scores for old movies are typically inflated, IMO. For another, it was a bomb and the reviews at the time were pretty meh, from what I can tell. For a third, Bogey, the star, notoriously hated it. It’s one of my favorite old movies, just lunatic, with great little speeches, and an excellent cast, including, again, two lovely actresses: Gina Lollobrigida and Jennifer Jones. I can’t think of a single other movie I’ve seen either of them in, but I like them a lot in this.

Hoodwinked is a kid’s movie with an RT of 46%. It has admittedly second-rate animation, especially considering what Pixar and the Shrek franchise were up to at the time. On the good side, I thought it had good voice acting, particularly Patrick Warburton. Throw in a clever premise-- sort of a mashup of Rashomon, The Thin Man, and the Brothers Grimm-- and a funny, subversive script, and IMO it’s just one of those movies that wasn’t lucky with critics for whatever reason.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/113 "2014-01-21T14:42:32Z")

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**Starship Troopers** – never before have I seen a movie so completely at odds with its source material. Veerhoeven’s philosophy is completely at odds with Heinlein’s (which isn’t the fascist image Veerhoeven presents). The science is abysmal and ludicrous in the movie, the opposite of Heinlein’s careful attention to detail. The military actions at all levels – command, strategy, and tactics in the film is absolutely ludicrous (again, in opposition to the book)(He has soldiers surrounding the Bugs in a circle and firing on them – which must have made for _LOTS_ of Friendly Fire casualties on our side) I should have hated this film completely. But the special effects are gorgeous, and it’s amusing to watch a film in which everyone’s actions are so completely screwed up.

**Sahara** – Clive Cussler’s novels are a guilty pleasure. There are lots of them on audio at the local libraries, they’re fairly thick, and they make for good listening fodder for my daily commute. They are also over-the-top ludicrous. The first Cussler move adaptation, _raise the Titanic_, was actually too staid and tried to make itself seem plausible, and the result was a stodgy and too-slow action movie. Sahara embraced the looney plot and premise, and it certainly has movement and sweep. Fun to watch, if you put your brain on "hold’.  
I loved **Hoodwinked** too, and don’t consider it a Bad Movie at all. They _knew_ their animation was awful, but so did Jay Ward, who used the Mexican-based Gamma Productions to breathe life into Rocky and Bullwinkle. as in Ward’s case, they made up for their animation lack with very clever plotting and writing. One heckuva clever film.

> [@](#):
>
> Lifeforce, starring Mathilda May’s breasts, and a bunch of British actors. By Golan-Globus standards, it had a remarkably high budget. The special effects are pretty good for 1985

This thing about Dan O’Bannon and his associates is that the get hold of an idea, hammer at it until they get it right, then keep on hammering until they get it wrong again. In this case, they did the sorta zombie movie _Dead and Buried_ (which was awful), then eventually got it right with _Return of the Living Dead_, but then went on to make this fiasco, nominally based on Colin Wilson’s _The Space Vampires_. The Sexy Naked Chick was re-used from RotLD, but the zombie things look like bad puppets – which they were. The cool special effects that DID work were the lasers and stuff, which were highlighted at a traveling exhibit on special effects that I saw at the Boston Museum of Science, where they explained how they did them. The Naked Space Chick was the better effect, though.

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**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/114 "2014-01-21T14:45:04Z")

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> [@ExTank](#):
>
> Boondock Saints; 20% on RT, but 92% by audience.

Wow. That’s gotta be one of the largest spreads between those numbers. To be fair, I sort of see both opinions on that. It was a fun but very flawed movie.

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**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/115 "2014-01-21T16:10:49Z")

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> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#):
>
> Not Another Teen Movie has a 28% on RT. I enjoyed for what it was-- a satire of teen movies. Compared to truly awful satires like Epic Movie, it was very good. The scene where the jerkass jock is dared to date the ugliest girl in school and picks the one with a ponytail and glasses, because they make her so much more unattractive than her albino hunchback classmate, was excellent.

Not Another Teen Movie only has 28%?? Talk about knee-jerk reviewing.

Finally THERE’S a movie I can say I genuinely enjoy on all levels and will defend. A lot of the ones mentioned (that got below 50%) I can say I like on some level, or will watch when it comes on…but I can’t honestly say it’s ‘good’. But NATM is good. Where else can you see Captain America with whip cream on his dick?

Ahh. Found another one. Superstar (32%) Wow, talk about some grumpy-gus reviewing to give Superstar 32%  
Similar to the spirit of this thread…I see Blade Runner got 91%, but when it came out, it got mediocre reviews.

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**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/116 "2014-01-21T16:19:51Z")

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> [@steveroo](#):
>
> I was going to mention this one myself. Other wonderful stuff: Steve Railsback screaming/crying every line (remember when he was considered a promising young actor?); Patrick Stewart’s first on-screen kiss, with Railsback; Britain has their own space program, complete with a space shuttle called Churchill; the first evidence of extraterrestial life is stored in the basement of a low-security office building in London, guarded by pudgy, doughnut-eating rent-a-cops; and a floating glob of blood that shapes itself into a replica of naked Mathilda May, complete with boobs (and this was pre-CGI).
> 
> The outer space scenes were very elegantly done, and I think this was the first film that attempted (not always successfully) to show that there is no “up” in space. Also, Lifeforce has one of the greatest film scores ever written. If my house was on fire, the only thing I’d try to save is my LP of the soundtrack, autographed by Henry Mancini.

My comics, my kids, my cats and my computer.  
If we did a thread about “Movies whose lead actor is never mentioned when discussing the film”, I’d include this one. (The Caine Mutiny would be another) Dramatically, Peter Firth, is the lead. Railsback is more or less along for the ride.

I see Lifeforce has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s hilarious. I’m sure May’s breasts account for half of that.

> [@](#):
>
> Demolition Man

That was the film where I knew that Bullock girl was going to be a big star.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/117 "2014-01-21T16:20:30Z")

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_Megaforce_-A film so cheesy and full of holes it should have been filmed in Switzerland. A 0% on the Tomatometer, and an absolute hoot!

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**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/118 "2014-01-21T16:27:25Z")

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\*\*Solarbabies

My Chauffeur

Better Off Dead\*\*

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/119 "2014-01-21T16:33:47Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Hudson Hawk  
> Brainsmasher: A Love Story

I didn’t like \*\*\*Hudson Hawk \*\*\*at all, but I can understand why people would. It’s a complete failure, but it’s an INTERESTING failure. It’s a movie that has me thinking constantly, “Oh, that’s a sort of cool idea, and I see what they were going for, but… it just doesn’t quite work.”

The movie is FILLED with almost brilliant scenes that don’t quite work. Hence, I regard it as an awful movie that comes VERY close to being a great movie (if that makes any sense at all).  
And for those who’ve never seen _ **Brainsmasher** _ (meaning pretty much everybody), it’s a terrible action-comedy by Andrew Dice Clay. I KNOW it’s terrible! ANd yet it cracked me up the two times I saw it. Go figure.

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**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-you-genuinely-enjoy/679106/120 "2014-01-21T16:39:28Z")

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> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#):
>
> Not Another Teen Movie has a 28% on RT. I enjoyed for what it was-- a satire of teen movies. Compared to truly awful satires like Epic Movie, it was very good. The scene where the jerkass jock is dared to date the ugliest girl in school and picks the one with a ponytail and glasses, because they make her so much more unattractive than her albino hunchback classmate, was excellent.
> 
> Constantine has a 48%, and I have to admit, it has some deeply stupid moments. For instance, a cop puts herself in the position where a dodgy guy she has no reason to trust can drown her, if he gets the notion, with one hand. For me, the bad scenes are more than balanced by some cool ones, like an alkie priest tricked into killing himself with booze, a monster made of insects, my favorite portrayal of Satan, and a vision of Hell that struck me as original and creepy. Plus, the cop is Rachel Weisz, and Tilda Swinton plays a suspect angel. Plus plus, the film got Roger Ebert to write my favorite bad review.

I agree with both of these.

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