Sub-thread: “as long as X is in it, it’s not totally bad.”
x = Rutger Hauer
I can think of a number of movies that would have been a lot better if they’d had more of a budget. Vibes, The Shadow, Daredevil, Evolution…
Little Nicky is generally considered to be pretty bad, but I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit.
A lot of comic book fans hate the two Fantastic Four films, but I’ve been an FF fan in the comics from way, way back and I thought the films captured the essence of the main characters very well. The film version of Doom was bad (slightly better in the second movie than in the first) but I thought they were good FF movies.
Hudson Hawk is a movie that many think is bad but it is not. I saw it at home, not at the theater and I could not understand why it was so reviled.
My children were at the right age for them to love horrible, awful movies made just for them. This includes the first Power Ranger movie, all the Surf Ninja movies, Blank Check. . . the list is very long and too painful to recount fully. But there was one movie on their "let’s watch it again list that I didn’t mind too much, Good Burger. This is mostly because of Kel Mitchell.
I wonder what happened to him. He made Mystery Men (another movie that gets panned but I like) and disappeared. Yet his less funny sidekick, Kenan, is on TV every week. Go figure.
Mystery Men gets panned? I thought it was well-liked. But maybe it’s just a cult thing and I didn’t realize it.
Machete
Demolition Man
and thirding Last Action Hero
I have never seen or heard of The Core. But you make it sound really wonderfull!
After reading what you had to say, I must go and see it. Really!
I’m gone, baby! Just plain gone!
Gone! Gone! Gone!
The Shadow is listed as a bad movie? Add it to my list, then. Not a huge fan, but I loved it when it came out and still think it is pretty good. I didn’t even see any budget problems in it.
Holds 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Barb Wire has a rating of 28%.
Dead Man isn’t by any stretch a bad movie. Wierd, yes. 
I seem to remember it getting average to decent reviews, but I also remember it being a bit disappointing upon actual viewing. I mean it was okay, but I certainly wasn’t in any rush to see it again or run out and buy “Mystery Men” action figures or anything.
OK, and I’ll add Return of the Killer Tomatoes. For two reasons.
a. Karen Mistal is adorable.
b. There’s a scene where they parody Spock’s death in Wrath of Khan. The girl played by Karen Mistal (who is actually a killer tomato in human form, beating Battlestar Galactica to the idea by 20 years), is trapped in a chamber of poison gas and apparently succumbs. But to our hero’s delight, she survives. But she’s still a tomato, right? No, the line that makes the movie for me: “Once she’s gassed, she can never be a real tomato.” Happy endings all around.
Agreed. I’ve watched it many times.
Movies mentioned here that I like/love:
Machete
Resident Evil Apocalypse
The Fifth Element
Red Dawn
I didn’t really know that The Fifth Element and Red Dawn were supposed to be bad. IIRC Red Dawn did well in its original theatrical run. The Fifth Element has become a cult classic.
Lifeforce, starring Mathilda May’s breasts, and a bunch of British actors.
Oh, yeah, and one gratuitous American.
His character was the lead role in the novel.
His character is ostensibly the lead role in the movie.
And yet he manages to make Raymond Burr’s contributions to Godzilla look good.
The 1990 direct-to-video version of Captain America.
It’s pretty bad. But Ronny Cox makes an awesome President of the USA!
The 1994 Roger Corman version of The Fantastic Four. Of course, it sucked. But it could have sucked a lot worse.
The screenwriters did actually read some of the comic books, and they did try to get the comic book onto the screen.
The guy playing Doctor Doom is a horrid actor, but he has the perfect voice for the role. It is exactly the sort of voice you would expect to hear from a villain in an iron mask.
I liked all the Resident Evil movies, for all that they have nearly nothing to do with the source material. They’re the epitome of “buy your popcorn and check your brain at the door” movies.
I still like to watch Lifeforce on occasion, simply because of all the really amazing actors sharing time with Mathilda May’s boobs in this insane movie. I think that if there was an award for “sheer amount of nudity in a completely non-porn film,” Lifeforce would win hands down. Aside from one scene of her frantically making out with Steve Railsback, she does nearly nothing sexy in most of the movie while wandering around completely starkers…
Flash Gordon. Just so campy.
No, Machete is awesome! “Machete don’t text!”
I’m on board with Last Action Hero.
I also think the Hulk movie with Eric Bana is the best one.
I never did see what the beef was with Last Action Hero. I didn’t think it was Citizen Kane, or anything, but it was a fun little popcorn film, and I never understood all the hate.
And Arnie doing Shakespeare was hilarioius.