I only take my kids to the theater when I want to see a cartoon kids movie and not look like a creep.

I don’t consider anything I watch a guilty pleasure, since I’m pretty open about watching B and bad movies.

I enjoy movies where a director has made a surprisingly successful cult movie and on the back of that got creative freedom and a big budget from a studio, which they then used to create something beautiful and terrifying. My exemplar movie for this is Southland Tales, which I absolutely love on all possible levels.

I really like movies that commit to a sharp genre turn. The Guest (2014) is a great example.

Lastly, spaghetti westerns. This seems like a maybe more mainstream choice, but had a conversation in real life not too long ago with somebody who had no interest in any kind of western and didn’t know about the distinction between classic and spaghetti. When I was articulating the difference I was able to boil it down to classic westerns being nostalgia and romanticization of the American west, while spaghetti westerns were made by people with no nostalgia for it. It creates a subgenre which is grittier and more morally grey than the John Wayne era movies. My favorite is Once Upon A Time In The West, though I’d recommend people work up to that by watching other genre movies first.

apocalyptic movies.

recently watched 2012 just to see what a good president is like.

independence day. same thing.

deep impact. same thing.

Generaly I like movies with a good twist, or that require a bit of thinking, so things like The Usual Suspects, Seven, Memento or Shutter Island (though not so much films that fall into this category but which I feel cheat, like The Prestige.

I also quite like ‘clever protagonist outsmarts the antagonist(s)’ films, like The Amateur, Law Abiding Citizen, or, I suppose The Usual Suspects also falls into this group as well, though I prefer it when the cleverness is plausible and not crazy accurate prediction on exactly how people will react to chnaging evens (Law Abiding Citizen has a bit too much of this).

But they’re not really guilty pleasures. My guilty pleasures are American Hich School movies, like 10 Things I Hate About You, Heathers, or even Bring It On. Bonus points if it features an unconventional teacher or coach who turns underdog teams or academics around, like Coach Carter or Dangerous Minds.

Japanese monster fighting movies. Godzillas especially but it needs to be guys in rubber suits doing stunts shot in slow motion. If you have that, I’m there. No matter how bad the acting no matter how bad the story, no matter how horrendous the dub. Give me big rubber monsters fighting and I’m there.

Gotta be found family movies, particularly if the parental figure didn’t want the responsibility in the first place or if they’re clueless, gruff, and/or emotionally not prepared for a child.

So movies like Logan, Ice Age, Wild Robot, Up, or Despicable Me and shows like The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones (Arya and the Hound), and The Witcher.

I was trying to think of more found family mother shows and movies and honestly couldn’t think of more. Most of the ones involving women that I could find are of friend groups or there was no hesitation to pretty much adopt the child.