# List 5 GOOD Movies and 5 BAD Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252 "2008-04-21T17:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/41 "2008-04-24T00:34:26Z")
Trying to think of good & bad in the same categories: Good: Action: Ronin Romance: Persuasion (Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds version) SciFi: Aliens Fantasy: Time Bandits James Bond: Casino Royale Bad Action: The Transporter Romance: The Jane Austen Book Club SciFi: Chronicles of Riddick Fantasy: Conan the Destroyer James Bond: Casino Royale ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/42 "2008-04-24T17:50:34Z")
Is it just me, or is reading the “bad” movie lists more entertaining? Good: Rocky Shawshank Redemption Tombstone Zero Effect Seabiscuit Bad: Rocky III Stealth Young Einstein Dead Poets Society Babel ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/43 "2008-04-24T18:02:20Z")
[QUOTE=HelloKitty] Is it just me, or is reading the “bad” movie lists more entertaining? [/QUOTE] It’s certainly less depressing. While there are some good movies on the “bad” list, I’m finding a lot more movies I find quite bad on the “good” list… ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/44 "2008-04-24T19:06:42Z")
Good movies: 1. The Sting 2. Bull Durham 3. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan 4. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 5. Raiders of the Lost Ark Bad movies: 1. Norbit (and if anyone questions this ranking such person is clearly an idiot. 2. 88 Minutes (because I wasted $16 on it last Sunday). 3. Matrix 2 4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 5. Cool World ---
**Author:** ![WomanofScorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@WomanofScorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WomanofScorn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/45 "2008-04-24T19:37:54Z")
Good: 1. Pride & Prejudice (the most recent one) 2. Howl’s Moving Castle 3. Little Women 4. Dreamgirls (I thought I would hate it, but I love it) 5. Grease Bad: 1. Pulp Fiction 2. Scream 2 3. Vanilla Sky 4. Solaris 5. Bewitched (the one with Nicole Kidman) ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/46 "2008-04-25T00:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Good: Aguirre, Wrath of God [/QUOTE] I like you 😃 I was just with my family at the Toledo Zoo last weekend, and in their rainforest section, they had a Piha, which is that screaming bird you hear in that film (and I think also in Fitzcarraldo)- it’s such a jarring and eerie sound. Totally adds to the landscape of the whole film. It was awesome to hear it in real life. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/47 "2008-04-25T00:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=HelloKitty] Zero Effect [/QUOTE] I like you, too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/48 "2008-04-25T01:47:18Z")
In order to preserve my reputation as a contrarian, I’ve listed only titles that I specifically disagree with from posts above. Each entry is an argument in other words. (Unfortunately, the only mention of \*[Showgirls](http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dvd_review.asp?ID=407) \*is as a good movie, so I was unable to argue with that!) Anyway, to my lists: **Bad** _Schindler’s list Saving Private Ryan Shawshank Redemption The Green Mile Sling Blade Crash 2004 Natural Born Killers Dreamgirls_ \*\*Good \*\*(or, at least, enjoyable, not excluding camp) _Judge Dredd (camp enjoyable) Bride of Chucky (good) Mommie Dearest (camp enjoyable) Superbad (good) Starship Troopers (good) Pink Flamingos (obvious camp) Red Dawn (outrageous cheesy campfest; would watch again any day) Last Action Hero (the brilliantest parody every made) Death to Smoochy (more outrageous campfest) Pulp Fiction (great)_ ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/49 "2008-04-25T18:53:20Z")
Here are the results (cleaned up and sorted) so far with current IMDB rankings where noted (the other number in parentheses denotes more than one vote for these titles): GOOD 12 Angry Men (2) **(8.8)** 1776 (2) 3:10 to Yuma **(7.9)** 5th Element 9 to 5 Accepted Accused, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of Desert, The After Hours Aguirre, Wrath of God Airplane! Aliens (2) **(8.4)** Amadeus **(8.3)** American Beauty **(8.5)** Apocalyse Now (2) **(8.5)** Back to the Future **(8.2)** Bad Lieutenant Band of Brothers Battle Royale Beauty and the Beast (1991) Beavis & Butt-head Do America Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Night Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure Blade Runner **(8.3)** Blazing Saddles Blues Brothers, The Boondock Saints Boys Don’t Cry Brazil Breaker Morant Breakfast Club, The (2) Brick Bride of Chucky Bull Durham Butch Cassady And the Sundance Kid Cannibal! the Musical Casablanca **(8.8)** Casino Royale (2) Caveman Citizen Kane (2) **(8.6)** City Lights **(8.3)** Clerks Color Purple, The Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Contact Conversation, The (2) Cool Hand Luke **(8.2)** Crash **(8.2)** Crouching Tiger Dark City Dead Poets Society Death to Smoochy Deer Hunter, The **(8.1)** Dogma Dr. Strangelove **(8.6)** Dreamgirls Duck Soup **(8.0)** Elephant Man, The **(8.3)** Enter the Dragon Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind **(8.4)** Fargo (2) **(8.2)** Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Fish Called Wanda, A Forbidden Planet Gattaca General, The **(8.1)** Ghostbusters Godfather, The **(9.1)** Good Morning, Vietnam Good Will Hunting Goonies, The Grease Green Mile, The **(8.2)** Groundhog Day **(8.0)** Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Haunting, The Hidden Dragon High Fidelity Highlander Hot Fuzz (2) **(7.9)** Howl’s Moving Castle Illusionist, The Imitation of Life Incredibles, The (2) **(8.1)** Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade **(8.2)** Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Insomnia It’s a Wonderful Life **(8.6)** Jersey Girl Joe Dirt Judge Dredd Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2) L.A. Confidential **(8.4)** Lair of the White Worm Last Action Hero Last Emperor Little Big Man Little Nemo Little Women Lord of the Rings **(8.7)** Lord of War Magnificent Seven, The Man for All Seasons, A Memento Metropolis **(8.4)** Midnight Express Mommie Dearest Monsoon Wedding Monsters, Inc. Mysterious Skin Natural Born Killers No Country For Old Men (2) **(8.4)** One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest **(8.8)** One Hour Photo Original Star Wars Trilogy Outlaw Josie Wales, The Pan’s Labyrinth Persuasion (Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds version) Pianist, The **(8.4)** Pink Flamingos Planes Trains and Automobiles Pleasantville Postman, The Pride & Prejudice Princess Mononoke Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Pulp Fiction (3) **(8.9)** Queens Logic Raiders of the Lost Ark (2) **(8.7)** Re-Animator, The Red Dawn Repo Man Reservoir Dogs **(8.4)** Road to Perdition Rocketeer, The Rocky Ronin Round Midnight Rounders Run Lola Run Saving Private Ryan (3) **(8.4)** Schindler’s List (2) **(8.8)** Seabiscuit Sean of the Dead Searchers, The Sense and Sensibility Serenity Seven Samurai, The Shakespeare in Love Shawshank Redemption, The (2) **(9.1)** Showgirls Silver Streak Sin City Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Sling Blade Soylent Green Spartacus **(8.0)** Spider-Man 2 Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (2) Star Wars (2) **(8.8)** Starship Troopers Station Agent, The Sting, The **(8.3)** Straight to Hell Stranger than Fiction (2) Stripes Superbad Superman I Superman II Superman III Superman Returns Terminator 2 **(8.3)** That Thing You Do! This Is Spinal Tap Time Bandits Time of the Gypsies Tombstone Trading Places True Lies True Romance Unforgiven (2) **(8.2)** Usual Suspects, The What’s Eating Gilbert Grape Wings of Desire Yellow Submarine Zero Effect BAD 13 27 Dresses 88 Minutes Alien Alien 3 Alien from LA Alien versus Predator Aliens vs. Predator American Pie Angry Red Planet Antz Any of the American Pie movies Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery Babel Bad Bad Boys Batman and Robin (2) Batman Forever Battlefield Earth **(2.3)** Bedazzled (newer version) Beverly Hillbillies Beverly Hills Ninja Bewitched (the one with Nicole Kidman) Blood Diamond BloodRayne (2) Bride of Chucky Bulletproof Monk Bulletproof Monk (2) Casino Royale Chasing Amy Chronicles of Riddick Chronicles of Riddick, The Closer Cold Creek Manor Conan the Destroyer Cool World (2) Core, The Crash 2004 Crawling Eye, The Curse of the Pink Panther Day After Tomorrow, The Dead Poets Society Death to Smoochy Dirty Dancing Double Dragon Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine Dreamcatcher Dreamgirls Eating Out Elektra Elf Eliminators, The Envy (2004) Epic Movie Event Horizon FernGully: The Last Rainforest Few Good Men, A Flintstones, The Flubber (2) For Love of the Game Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan Full Fathom Five G.I. Jane Giant Claw, The Gigli **(2.3)** Gladiator Glimmer Man, The Godzilla (1998) Golden Compass, The Green Mile, The Harlem Nights Hear No Evil Hidalgo History of Violence Hollywood Knights, The Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Hook Hostel House of the Dead (2.0) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (live-action version) Hunted, The I am Legend I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead Instant Justice Island of Dr. Moreau, The Jake Speed Jane Austen Book Club, The Judge Dredd Jurassic Park II Kazaam! **(2.3)** Kill Bill Killers from Space Krull Last Action Hero, The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, The Liquid Sky\* Little Man Lizzie McGuire Movie, The Look Who’s Talking Too Lost World, The Lucky Number Slevin Man of the Year Manos, the Hands of Fate Matrix Reloaded, The (2) Me, You and Everyone We Know Meet the Fockers Mercury Rising Message in a Bottle Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie Mitchell Mixed Nuts Mommie Dearest Monster-in-Law (2005) Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Moscow on the Hudson Mousehunt Mr. Deeds Napoleon Dynamite (2) Natural Born Killers Never Been Kissed Newton Boys, The Night at the Museum Norbit Nothing But Trouble Pearl Harbor (2001) Pink Flamingos Plan 9 from Outer Space Plan Nine from Outer Space Posse Prophecy Prophecy 3: Ascent, The Pulp Fiction Rambo Rat Race Red Dawn Rent (2005) Rescuers, The Return to the Planet of the Apes Rhinestone River Runs Through It, A Road to Wellville, The Roadhouse Robot Monster Rocky III Rope Rush Hour Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style Saving Private Ryan Scarface Schindler’s list Scream 2 Seeker, The Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Shawshank Redemption Shrek Signs Sixth Sense, The Sling Blade Snow Dogs Solaris Son of the Mask Son of the Mask (2) **(2.0)** Spanglish Sphere Splash! Star Trek V, The Final Frontier Star Trek: Nemesis Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Starcrash Starship Troopers Stealth Stupids, The Superbad Superman 3 Superman IV Superman Returns Syriana Tales from the Past Taps Time Machine, The (2002) Transporter, The Trial of Billy Jack , The Twins Vanilla Sky Varsity Blues Village, The Wag the Dog Wedding Planner, The What the Bleep Do We Know? White Chicks (2) Wild World of Batwoman., The Wind Dancer Wing Commander Yin and Yang of Mr. Go, The Young Doctors in Love Young Einstein ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/50 "2008-04-25T19:52:04Z")
You’re a fine person for all that work, **dwc1970** , and you have my thanks and appreciation. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/51 "2008-04-25T19:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] You’re a fine person for all that work, **dwc1970** , and you have my thanks and appreciation. [/QUOTE] :: takes a bow :: My pleasure. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/52 "2008-04-25T20:06:47Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] :: takes a bow :: My pleasure. 🙂 [/QUOTE] If you don’t mind my asking, how long did that take you, and did you use some programming skills, special software, spreadsheet, or what? Since we just turned the page on the thread, maybe a repost would be in order? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/53 "2008-04-25T22:10:29Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] If you don’t mind my asking, how long did that take you, and did you use some programming skills, special software, spreadsheet, or what? Since we just turned the page on the thread, maybe a repost would be in order? [/QUOTE] It took me a couple of hours, but I probably spent less than an hour actually working on it (I work in a call center and it was slow today, so I worked on it in between calls). I used Excel for most of the work. I copied and pasted all the lists into two separate workbooks, then sorted them. I then copied the portions of the lists with all the “The…” titles and pasted this into Word, where I replaced "The " with a blank, and then replaced the carriage returns (^p) with “, The^p”. I then pasted this list back into Excel and re-sorted. next, I copied the lists from IMDB and then compared the entries against the items in the SDMB list. The rest of it was done with some manual tweaking and editing. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/54 "2008-04-25T22:18:55Z")
Thanks for the explanation on your methods, **dwc1970**. It’s been quite some time since my Excel days, and the “spreadsheet” I have now is such a weak version that I stick mostly with Notepad. Wordpad for any “serious” word processing which is very rare. How difficult would it be in your workbooks to find the movies that made it to both the Good and Bad lists? I suspect we have quite a few; some serious and some just to be different or funny. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/55 "2008-04-28T15:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Thanks for the explanation on your methods, **dwc1970**. It’s been quite some time since my Excel days, and the “spreadsheet” I have now is such a weak version that I stick mostly with Notepad. Wordpad for any “serious” word processing which is very rare. How difficult would it be in your workbooks to find the movies that made it to both the Good and Bad lists? I suspect we have quite a few; some serious and some just to be different or funny. [/QUOTE] Not too hard. Here’s the list of movies that made it on both the “good” and “bad” SDMB lists: Bride of Chucky Casino Royale Crash Dead Poets Society Death to Smoochy Judge Dredd Last Action Hero, The Mommie Dearest Natural Born Killers Red Dawn Saving Private Ryan Shawshank Redemption Sling Blade Starship Troopers Superbad Superman 3 Superman Returns ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252/56 "2008-04-28T16:28:44Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] It took me a couple of hours, but I probably spent less than an hour actually working on it (I work in a call center and it was slow today, so I worked on it in between calls). I used Excel for most of the work. I copied and pasted all the lists into two separate workbooks, then sorted them. I then copied the portions of the lists with all the “The…” titles and pasted this into Word, where I replaced "The " with a blank, and then replaced the carriage returns (^p) with “, The^p”. I then pasted this list back into Excel and re-sorted. next, I copied the lists from IMDB and then compared the entries against the items in the SDMB list. The rest of it was done with some manual tweaking and editing. [/QUOTE] Yes, awesome work indeed. I’m impressed. One thing though, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is actually one movie. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-5-good-movies-and-5-bad-movies/446252.md?page=2)