The best bad movie ever made

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I have a confession to make... I love the movie "Armageddon" In my humble opinion, I believe it is the best bad movie ever made period. It is great and horrible in it's over the topness. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNxUguxwjU&feature=related]

Some reviews of the film:

"A real movie about courage in space is Apollo 13, in which fear and sacrifice have meaning. This jingoistic, overblown spectacle is about whistling in the dark."

"...full of sound and fury but without a single new idea to add to the conversation."

"...why couldn't the film have tapped into a more noble and stylish tradition? Why couldn't these men have been interesting instead of cartoons?"

Somebody also called it an "ugly mess" but I think it's a beautiful mess of excess that takes itself so seriously even as it becomes more and more over the top.

Now we have this video from Tim Pawlenty to promote his new book.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfkNEq1XioE]

Wow, now that's a video. I love the production values, wow, how much did they spent on this thing? So much for fiscal restraint. And I'll say this for the video, it makes Pawlenty, a guy who has never really impressed me much seem Presidential, so it deserves some credit for that.

But here's the rub, it seems so over the top, so lacking in anything authentic, I get that the guy is running for President, but he's not giving the Gettysburgh address or saving the world from Astroids. The video while beautifully executed seems so out of proportion, it's full of sound & fury, but there's no there there. I guess if the only take away is that this guy can appear presidential, then it serves it's purpose. But I'd worry that it also could make him appear smaller ironically. It is so excessive that it makes me wonder why? Why does he need so much propping up?

Over the top works for Armegeddon (in my opinion). Sure it sucks, but it doesn't seem to care, it's so earnest and so overindulgent that it wins me over despite it's paper thin characters, plot and excess. But this video isn't a movie, so that same earnestness feels manipulative to me in this context. Like big dramatic music, fast editing, extreme close ups and iconic shots can compensate for a boring candidate.

Still, it must have been fun to film this one.

Now, I'm going back to a real american hero Bruce Willis.