Why 'Aquaman' Should Be Cheesy | Heat Vision Breakdown - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

From films like 'Top Gun' to 'Robocop' this week on Heat Vision Breakdown, Patrick Shanley explores the realm of cheesy and good films and how James Wan's 'Aquaman' will likely be both.

Transcript

00:00Hello friends! Taking risks as a filmmaker is, well, risky. Go figure.

00:04It can often feel like audiences want to dislike a film before it even hits theaters,

00:07and the balance between showing people something fresh,

00:09or making a film so ridiculous that moviegoers laugh you out of town

00:12and force you to make videos pointing out flaws in other people's movies

00:16is something that's always there.

00:17This week on Heat Vision Breakdown, we take a look at the fine line between cheesy and charming,

00:21and the films that have managed to walk that tightrope to greatness.

00:24James Wan is a director who knows a thing or two about having a vision.

00:31The filmmaker launched two separate horror franchises over the past two decades,

00:35Saw and The Conjuring Universe, and also helmed, if not the fastest,

00:38at least the furiousest of the Fast and Furious franchise.

00:41Wan's films are fun, and his sense of style behind the lens has solidified him

00:45as one of the most sought-after directors working today,

00:47but there is no doubt that some of his work can be viewed as a bit cheesy.

00:51Now before you yell at me, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

00:54If you can genuinely say that watching The Rock break out of an arm cast

00:57while saying, Daddy's gotta go to work,

00:59isn't both the most ridiculous and simultaneously the most badass thing you've ever seen,

01:03then I don't think you have a soul, legally.

01:05With his upcoming take on Aquaman,

01:07Wan has shown, even through the small amount of footage released thus far,

01:10that he is not afraid to lean into the more over-the-top aspects of a character

01:14who communicates with Monkfish.

01:15Following such dour affair as Batman v Superman, Trial of the Century,

01:18and last year's Justice League, a colorful, action-packed romp through the open seas

01:23may be exactly what DC needs to get back on track.

01:26And while it may seem ridiculous or garish to include the likes of a towering lava crab,

01:30or put Willem Dafoe in a man bun,

01:32Wan seems to have once again struck a chord between the authentically charming and the tawdry.

01:36Yes, tawdry. I own a thesaurus.

01:39Wan is hardly the only director to inject cheesy elements into his movies and have them work beautifully.

01:43In fact, an entire decade was built on the concept.

01:45The 1980s, a time when films about grown men partnering with young high school boys

01:49in incredibly dangerous situations, was the premise for multiple blockbusters.

01:53Temple of Doom, Back to the Future, Karate Kid, kinda,

01:56are loaded with cheesy films that also happen to be classics.

01:58Take Steven Spielberg as a prime example.

02:00Undoubtedly one of the most beloved and commercially successful filmmakers of all time,

02:04much of his work could be viewed as a bit schmaltzy at times.

02:08Schmaltzy.

02:09From flying bicycles powered by love,

02:11to Indian Kate Capshaw riding an inflatable life raft down the Himalayas,

02:14without him losing his hat, I might add,

02:16there are certainly a few moments that make audiences think twice,

02:19but the overall films they live in are still classics.

02:22Meanwhile, films like Robocop, Big Trouble in Little China,

02:25Roadhouse, and Top Gun, specifically the volleyball scene,

02:28are all chock full of ridiculous one-liners, practical effects,

02:31over-the-top action sequences, and other factors that lean heavy on the corny nature of movies,

02:35but they all still manage to be fun viewing experiences,

02:38and are even considered fine cinema depending on who you ask.

02:41Robocop, in particular, looks at poverty, authoritarianism,

02:44and the corporatization of America in a thought-provoking way that feels relevant today.

02:48And that was decades before Citizens United.

02:51Even Walt Disney described himself as corny.

02:53And to be fair, the guy who made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang kinda deserves that label.

02:56But he also said that there's just about 140 million people in this country that are just as corny as I am.

03:02Perhaps the best example of good cheesy is Nicolas Cage,

03:05an Oscar-winning talent so divisive that there's an entire community episode dedicated to the question if he's good or bad.

03:11Spoiler, he's good. Really, really good.

03:14Part of what makes Cage's performances in movies like Con Air or The Rock or Mandy so good

03:19is that he's 100% committed to his job.

03:21You just wanna watch him and see how he'll react to situations around him.

03:24Sorta like when you put a dog in roller skates or on a skateboard.

03:27The key to making a cheesy movie work is tricky.

03:32Sometimes a film is released and it is panned by critics and fans,

03:35like Flash Gordon or The Rocky Horror Picture Show,

03:37but over the years can grow into a phenomenon.

03:39Other times, audiences can willingly lean into the joke of the film,

03:42as is the case with many of the Fast and Furious films,

03:44Snakes on a Plane, or even Tom Hardy's Venom.

03:46It's also important to note that cheesy is still a negative term in many instances.

03:51The fact that visionary directors can elevate hookier themes in their films to lofty levels

03:55is a testament to the mastery of their craft,

03:57but many, many, many more examples of the opposite exist,

04:01and most of them are video game movies.

04:02Street Fighter, Assassin's Creed, Double Dragon, Dead or Alive,

04:06the list is long and it is rarely fun.

04:08When Mortal Kombat is the best film on any list, you know you have issues.

04:11The Rock is perhaps the greatest example of a man who toes this line.

04:14He understands cheese, after all he has shared this photo of himself more times than I can count.

04:19It's a good photo.

04:20But he may be an example of too much of a good thing.

04:22Over the past 12 months, Dwayne Johnson has starred in three films with outlandish premises.

04:26Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle, in which he played a teenage boy stuck in The Rock's body,

04:30was a monster hit.

04:31Rampage, in which The Rock played a guy whose gorilla best friend

04:34became super tall due to a science project, sure,

04:37was a modest hit but didn't really excite critics or audiences.

04:40And finally, Skyscraper, in which he plays the world's foremost skyscraper authority,

04:44fighting terrorists in the world's tallest building.

04:47Actually, it wasn't that cheesy in its execution,

04:49but it failed to live up to box office expectations and quickly faded into obscurity.

04:53Hard to believe.

04:54The truth is, you'd be hard-pressed to find any director who would actually label their films as cheesy.

04:59Even Uwe Ball.

05:00But a tongue-in-cheek film with hokey dialogue and childish or over-the-top action

05:04does not a bad film make, necessarily.

05:06As with most art, it comes down to the skill and finesse of the creator behind it.

05:10There is no magical, mathematical formula that explains why watching Indiana Jones jump a minecart over a lake of lava is awesome,

05:16while seeing him survive a nuclear blast in a refrigerator is idiotic.

05:19But, if there was one, you can be sure whoever wrote it would win the Nobel Prize, and deserve it.

05:24Until that day, we can all enjoy just a little bit of cheese with our popcorn.

05:28So what are some films that you think are cheesy in a good way?

05:30Let us know in the comments right down there, and join us here every Friday morning for new episodes of Heat Vision Breakdown.

05:34By the way, cheesy isn't a bad word, it's a Gouda one.

Why 'Aquaman' Should Be Cheesy | Heat Vision Breakdown

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