Guilty Pleasure Films

There isn't a person in the world who doesn't have a few guilty pleasures hidden away in the deepest darkest corner of their hearts. Whether you're the person who secretly loves the ninth season of Scrubs or someone who thinks that Paul McCartney's solo career was better than his work with The Beatles, everyone has a guilty pleasure or two especially when it comes to films. I'm no different. So, I'm admitting to mine and giving you all a chance to mock, snigger, and maybe even consider your own. Here they are, my top five guilty pleasure films:

Mean Girls (2004)
Director: Mark Waters
Starring: Linsday Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey

The mother of all guilty pleasures for any guy. Mean Girls is quite clearly a girls film, the clue's in the title, but it's as far from a generic girls film as you can get. Go to almost any high school or college and 90% of the girls there will be able to pull out at least one quote from this film (most likely something about Glen Coco). I'd also be willing to bet that at least half of the men in that school will be able to pull out an equally adept quote in return, even if they wouldn't like to admit it. Mean Girls is just hilarious. It's well written, well acted, and gives a pretty accurate although rather exaggerated depiction of the clique culture in schools. It also features possibly the greatest head teacher performance of any film I've watched. Honestly, if you somehow haven't seen Mean Girls go and watch it no matter what your gender, you will not regret it!


Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L Jackson

I make no attempt to hide my immense love of Star Wars, I accept being a fully fledged Lucas loving nerd. However I do understand why people may have gone off the saga slightly, especially after watching The Phantom Menace. Let's be honest, it's a bit rubbish isn't it. The story isn't that strong and the script is laughable in all the wrong places. All of this would be forgivable though if it were not for one of the worst characters in the history of science fiction - Jar-Jar Binks. I remember being incredibly excited to watch The Phantom Menace in the cinema at the tender age of 5. I also remember coming home with my sides hurting from laughing so hard at Jar-Jar Binks. Fast forward to post puberty and I now realise that Jar-Jar isn't hilarious, he is in fact nothing more than a complete dick and a complete stain on the Star Wars legacy. But despite all of its shortcomings I can't help but still feel a childlike affection for The Phantom Menace every time I watch it. I'm not sure whether it's because I have a worryingly passionate love for Qui-Gon Jinn, or because of how amazingly cool podracing looks, or even just because of how much of a complete badass Darth Maul is, but I can't help but have a special place in my heart for The Phantom Menace, despite the fact that I know just how absolutely rubbish it really is.


National Treasure (2004)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean

Nicolas Cage has become somewhat of a joke these days amongst movie goers. Maybe it's because he's a quite terrible actor, or maybe it's his ridiculous hairline. Either way the majority of people will laugh pretty hard at the suggestion of watching a Nic Cage film, especially if that film happens to be trying to rip off the legendary Indiana Jones. However it turns out if you're bored enough the idea of watching such a film becomes incredibly appealing. It also turns out I actually quite enjoyed it, unfortunately. Clearly National Treasure isn't a patch Indiana Jones, how could it be? It's also blatantly just Hollywood studios shamelessly attempting to recreate the revenue that Dr Jones and his friends created, and on top of all that the lead is Nicolas Cage. Let me just make this clear - they replaced Harrison Ford with Nicolas Cage. NICOLAS CAGE. Yet something about it appeals to me. The story is actually really interesting. It mixes fascinating historical events with pretty decent narrative and you end up feeling really engaged with the adventure these characters are on. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I know I'd happily watch National Treasure again.


Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Director: Sharon Maguire
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant

Bridget Jones's Diary falls into a similar category as Mean Girls, it's only a guilty pleasure if you're a man. I don't want to seem like a stereotypical idiotic sexist who thinks men can only like football and beer whilst women only enjoy pretty dresses and love stories, but there are clearly certain film genres that appeal to women more than men. Romantic comedies tend to fall under that category. But every now and then one will come along that is just impossible to pass off as chick flick drivel, Bridget Jones's Diary is definitely one of those films. It's brilliant. Renee Zellweger pulls out a perfect London accent, Colin Firth is the bumbly Brit we all love, and Hugh Grant plays what seems like the evil twin of his regular role. On top of that the story is really good and there are some moments of genuine hilarity, most notably a fantastic fight scene between  Firth and Grant to the soundtrack of "It's Raining Men". The book upon which it's based was incredibly successful and it appears, although I've never read it, that the film more than did it justice. I think I'd probably be right in guessing that there are quite a few men who would have this is one of their guilty pleasures. The sequel is pretty decent as well.


The Producers (2005)
Director: Susan Stroman
Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell

I'm not a fan of musicals. I never have been and I probably never will. I do however have two exceptions to that rule, South Park The Movie and The Producers. I've got no real problem with musicals and I firmly believe that they're unisex, they just don't really tickle my pickle. As a result throughout the years I've repeatedly rejected people's offers to watch musicals and kicked up a bit of a fuss when I've been forced to watch them. So I always try and keep it on the down low just how much I love The Producers, in an attempt to avoid being bombarded by recommendations of musicals I couldn't care less about. However, it's a guilty pleasure I'm happy to recommend to anyone and I actually think it's a really good film with some quite brilliant songs. Nathan Lane, who for me is an outstanding comedy actor, turns in a great performance as Max Bialystock, a down on his luck Broadway producer who spends more time scamming old ladies than producing musicals. Matthew Brodrick and Uma Thurman also perform adeptly as his supporting cast. However, the show is completely stolen by Will Ferrell, playing a crazed former Nazi turned script writer. He's hilarious from his very first scene to his very last and he's probably the biggest reason this is one of my guilty pleasure films. Even if you're not a fan of musicals I'd wholeheartedly recommend you check The Producers out.





Written by Ash Davies

The Wilhelm Scream

The Wilhelm Scream is a little piece of cinematic history that almost everybody knows, but almost no one knows they know. Confused? Understandably so. The Wilhelm Scream is an iconic sound effect used throughout a plethora of movies dating back to the 1950's.

The Wilhelm Scream

The scream itself was originally recorded for a Warner Bros. film called Distant Drums in 1951. In one particular scene from the film a group of soldiers are wading through a swamp when one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The unfortunate soldier's scream was recorded later then placed into the film during the editing process and with that one of the most legendary sound effects in cinema was born.

Distant Drums (1951)
















However, it was not until two years later that the scream itself was even named. The film The Charge At Feather River (1953) borrowed the Distant Drums sound effect for a particular scene when a soldier by the name of Pvt. Wilhelm is shot in the leg by an arrow. Although the scream was used twice more in the film, Pvt. Wilhelm's name would remain forever synonymous with it.

The Charge At Feather River (1953)



The Wilhlem Scream however did not rise to fame until the late 70's, when a man named Ben Burtt decided to dig it out. Burtt was hired by George Lucas to create the sound effects for his film Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). Though the scream was only featured once in the film it was later persistently used throughout the trilogy. Burtt then continued to use it for the Indiana Jones trilogy, further creating love for a sound effect that was rapidly becoming a piece of cinematic history.

His friend and fellow sound effect engineer Richard Anderson then carried on Burtt's tradition, using it in films such a Poltergeist (1982), Batman Returns (1992), Planet Of The Apes (2001), Agent Cody Banks (2003), and Madagascar (2005).

Because of Ben Burtt The Wilhelm Scream has long resided in the sound library at Sykwalker Sound. Other colleagues there including Gary Rydstrom and Chris Boyes have used it in films sch as Toy Story (1995), Hercules (1997), and Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003).

From humble beginnings to one of the most legendary sound effects in Hollywood, The Wilhelm Scream has delighted audiences for over 60 years now, having been used in over 200 movies. To this day it is unknown who the voice behind the scream, although some have guessed that actor Sheb Wooley may have been the original man. Nobody knows for sure, but whoever it was will forever responsible for the greatest sound effect in cinema.


I shall leave you with this. A compilation of some of The Wilhelm Screams finest appearances, including Lord Of The Rings, Kill Bill, and even Family Guy:








Written by Ash Davies