Thursday's Thought: Ignorance is Bliss

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a cheat, co-running a film blog. I only really got into films in the last few years, and there's a whole ton of films that are considered 'must watch' that I haven't seen, or even heard of. Then I think to myself, well that's the reason this blog is so enjoyable. I get to discover great films I've never heard of, watch them, and then share my thoughts with like-minded people.

I'm also fairly easily amused by many films, and struggle to understand heavy plots (hello, Inception), which does lead to my more 'hardcode' film fan friends to poke fun at me. What I think though, is that ignorance is bliss.

The idea for this post came to me whilst driving to work this morning listening to Busted (don't ask) and Thunderbirds Are Go came on (Love it!). It reminded me of when the film came out, how it was the first time I ever even heard of the Thunderbirds, and how much I loved the film at the time, even though it felt like the rest of the world hated it. So today, I want to talk briefly about Thunderbirds and two other films I really enjoyed.

Thunderbirds (2004)

This is quite fitting, as it's been 10 years since this film came out! Me and my friends went to see this for the sole reason that Busted provided the song, Thunderbirds Are Go. I didn't know anything about the Thunderbirds and I fell in love with it! My email address contained Virgil Tracy for about 8 years before I finally changed it. I still have the DVD and I would love to watch it again soon to see if I still enjoy it; I'll review it on this blog too.
In this case, I was completely ignorant to the horrific reviews but that year, I watched some of the original TV Show episodes, and my parents got me some of the old school toys from eBay too.  I too only watched this because of the Busted song and I was really disappointed when it was only played at the end.  I don't actually hate this film, I found it rather entertaining, maybe a bit too cheesy and certainly not enough of the other Tracy brothers (Scott was always my favourite in the original series).  I have watched it a few times since and still the credits (with the Busted song) are still the best part overall!!

Green Lantern (2011)

Jenna's going to rib me for this, I know. In fact, even now I'll happily file this under 'Guilty Pleasure', but before I saw this, the only comic book film I'd seen was Thor, which I loved, and so I was happily dragged to another comic book film. Again, I had no knowledge of who the Green Lantern was or what made him special, and so the origin story was awesome for me. It spurred on my love of comic books (and Ryan Reynolds) and after collecting loads of graphic novels, I see now that although the film certainly wasn't bad, it could have been a hell of a lot better.
But still, if this film brought on an appreciation of comic books, and the films, it can't be a bad thing, right? You justify this however you need to haha!!  If I'm going to be honest the first time is saw this I didn't completely hate it but then I watched it again and I DID completely hate it.  Some of the graphics used are great, Ryan Reynolds suit is awesome but the story lacks and I didn't find myself caring whether Hal Jordan survived or not! Sorry Allie!!

Robocop (2014)

Can you see the pattern emerging here? I've never seen the original Robocop, whatever it was. I don't even know if it started as a film, TV show or comic. My guy friends are fans though, and so after I had seen the Robocop film I happily struck up the conversation. "Hey guys, I saw Robocop last night, what did you guys think?" Which was followed by groans and then ten minutes of getting my ear chewed off about how his accident was lame, and something about the giant robot things. Oh. I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, it took half the film before the action really kicked in, but that's not always a bad thing!
I'm probably going to watch the original Robocop now, in whatever form it may have. I'll have to write up a review of the new version first before I end up hating it!

I hope I haven't rambled too much but these things play on my mind every now and again. I'd love to know, is there a film you love that everyone ribs you for?