My friend Ced and I sometimes argue about what constitutes a “good” movie. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t argue about photography versus acting, script versus pace. Ced just disagrees when I say things like “that was a really bad movie, but I liked it”. To Ced, if I liked it, then I should consider it a good movie. To me, if the movie was made with love, integrity and attention to quality, it’s usually a “good” movie. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I liked it. Think of it as a wonderful painting by Goya, whose genius you recognize, but whose paintings you’d never want to hang in your living room.

Thus, there are some movies that I think are good, but that I have to guiltily admit I didn’t like (Punch-Drunk Love, Easy Rider, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Usual Suspects). Conversely, I have to admit, often with shame, that I liked certain movies I considered “bad”.

Case in point: Soldier, with Kurt Russell. I’m on a business trip in New Jersey. Due to white out conditions, the client cancels the training I am to give today. I am stuck in an Econo Lodge on a deserted snowy highway, all day. I have a tv with something like two channels, and a physics textbook. No internet. Soldier is on. I think I would rather shave my head with a cheese grater, but as I don’t have a cheese grater, I start watching it. It turns out to be quite entertaining, especially in light of my expectations.

Thus, Soldier is one of my “bad movies”, as is The Cutting Edge, a sappy 80s flick in which an injured hockey player becomes a successful figure skater.

I believe everyone has their “bad movie”. What’s yours?