Thursday Movie Picks - So Bad It's Good

Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Come play along by picking three films that fit the week's theme and saying a little bit about them!

Thursday again?!? It seems like almost no time has passed since the last round of Thursday Movie Picks. And this week's theme, well, it was suggested by yours truly! Why? Well, because I thought it would be fun (and it was close to April Fool's Day). Everyone has those films that they know are so terrible, but they love them anyway. Here are three of mine. You... may notice a theme within the theme...

Conan the Destroyer (Richard Fleischer, 1984) Arnold Schwarzenegger's first big starring role, Conan the Barbarian is just plain bad. But its sequel, Conan the Destroyer, is so bad it's AWESOME. Yes, this is thanks mostly to the one and only Grace Jones, but Schwarzenegger is no slouch either. Far more at ease in front of the camera than he was two years prior, he's a full-fledged star here. Handsome to look at most of the time and utterly crazed and almost inhuman the rest of the time, it's the stuff camp dreams are made from, and so is the plot, which involves a ragtag group of medieval-ish rogues on a quest to take a princess to find a jewel that will awaken a Dream God. Or something. I don't know, it doesn't matter. What matters is that this thing is utterly ridiculous in every way.

Bloodsport (Newt Arnold, 1988) What Conan was to Arnold, Bloodsport was to Jean-Claude Van Damme, and they both share the characteristics of their respective stars. Whereas the first Conan film is bloated and lumbering, Bloodsport is short and swift. The acting is still terrible, though. However, the fights (aka the film's sole reason for existing) are all amazing to watch, and it's kind of hard not to be attracted to the Muscles From Brussels, as an American military man who travels to Hong Kong to compete in an underground martial arts tournament, in which fights often end only in death. It's ridiculous, but it's FUN once you give yourself over the hacky cliché of it all.

Gymkata (Robert Clouse, 1985) I mean, just watch the trailer. That should tell you everything you need to know about this ridiculous, addictive piece of 1980s B-movie junk. I mean, Kurt Thomas is even rocking a mullet FAR better than anyone should have the right to. I caught this one day on TV when I was home sick from school but old enough to be left alone (so probably around 11 or 12) and was utterly in awe that such a film could even exist. And that's where the obsession with these God-awful 80s "action" flicks started. Do you like any of these as much as I do?