Reading: The Weekly Dig
Music: Utopia, Live at the Royal Oak
TV/Movie: Addams Family Values
Link o' the Day: Multiplex (webcomic)

Is confession good for the soul? How about a little lemon, pepper, and just a touch of olive oil? Or was that sole?

In any case. I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm going to write a series of these things (not all in a row) under the heading of Guilty Pleasures. Today's theme is films. Down the line I expect to hit music, literature, food, and anything else that strikes me. I may even repeat themes.

So what's a Guilty Pleasure? At least how am I defining it? Well in the case of movies, it's any movie that you might see in my collection and go, "What the hell is that doing in here?" It's a movie that may be a little corny or square, or it may be a little too mainstream for my usual tastes. Or too "family friendly" or some other nonsense, yet for some reason, when this movie appears on TV my attention is riveted for the duration of said film. I may not be proud of it, but I watch it just the same.

Don't confuse a guilty pleasure with a campy movie. Some campy movies are brilliant in their own ways, and are worthy of collecting. No, these are movies that you just don't expect me to like... but I do. Oh lord.

So here are five Guilty Pleasure movies, in no particular order...

Addams Family Values - Okay, I had this on this morning. I own not just the DVD, but the double-header version that pairs this sequel with the first movie. While the first movie is nicely dark and pays great homage to its source material, it's the sequel that is pretty much fun from beginning to end. It's just so packed with funny lines and scenes. And whenever they show Angelica Houston, she's always draped in shadow except for a single band of light that always falls across her eyes. And it has Joan Cusack and Carol Kane. C'mon! And the song... "Eat Me!" Sit down and listen to those lyrics sometime. Ohmighod.

A Knight's Tale - I was an English major in college. (Surprising, no?) What's worse, is that I specialized in medeival literature. A movie like this should be an anathema with all its inconsistencies and anachronisms. I admit, when I first saw their version of Geoffrey Chaucer, I almost went up in flames. But Paul Bettany grew on me. And it has Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly) and Mark Addy (from Still Standing). How can you go wrong? Heath Ledger did an okay job, but I despised the love interest as too shallow and vain to really care about. But it's the story of a loveable underdog making good and that sort of story is hard to resist.

Sister Act 2: Back In the Habit - Good lord, do I really stop everything I'm doing to watch this? Sadly, so. Despite me being one of the more irreligious people you're ever likely to encounter, I'm a sucker for good gospel music, and when you mix that with some decent Motown, you get a top notch soundtrack that is right up there among the best. It has a good cast. If my attention wanders during the slow parts, you can be sure that it's firmly focused for the last 20 or so minutes. More underdogs making good.

Hook - I love pirates. So there. In Hook, I root for the pirates, at least up to the point when Rufio gets shivved. Then its all about the Pan. Each time I watch it, I hope that Tinkerbell gets eaten by a bird, but that never happens. But that aside, who could resist the talented work of Bob Hoskins, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, and Maggie Smith? (Trivia: The couple seen kissing on the bridge in London are George Lucas and Carrie Fisher.)

Dungeons & Dragons - Here I'm talking about the live action movie. This got reamed by a lot of reviewers, unfairly, I think. It was very consistent in its world design. Excellent special effects for its time and budget. Jeremy Irons made a great lunatic villain. We get cameos from Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror Picture Show) and Tom Baker (Dr. Who). Sure its a little campy in some spots, but c'mon. It's a Dungeons & Dragons movie.

So there we have five guilty pleasures. I'm sure after I hit "Save" on this, I'll think of five even more embarassingly guilty examples, but this will do for the nonce.

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Today's link goes to Multiplex, a webcomic based at a movie theater. It's about the employees, the customers, and the movies. Updated twice weekly, and not a bad strip for browsing.

Enjoy!

--John