Good scenes from bad movies

“Cats” is a fiasco, and the film swiftly became a popular “so bad it’s good” movie, so much so that it became tedious in, like, two weeks. However, as bad as “Cats” is as a musical on stage or screen, it has “Memory,” and the movie version had Jennifer Hudson singing “Memory.” Yeah, she looked ridiculous, but it still worked.

This unimaginative remake of the iconic low-budget horror movie has too much sheen and too little momentum to it. However, briefly it manages to provide a bit of thrill and quality filmmaking. R. Lee Ermey plays the evil patriarch of the clan, and he in all his R. Lee Ermey-ness calls Leatherface into action, much to the horror of Jessica Biel and her compatriots. The chainsaw-wielding madman appears, and this scene is the one instance of success in this movie.

People were so excited for the prequels, and then we got “The Phantom Menace.” The pod race was a fresh idea, at least, and has some moments, but also has Jake Lloyd and too much goofy CGI. On the other hand, the so-called “Duel of the Fates,” also known as the big fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul, is a legitimately good fight scene.

Here’s another musical where the one good scene involves a song. There’s also real star power here. While “Grease 2” is decidedly worse than “Grease,” it does have Michelle Pfeiffer, and when she does the “Cool Rider” number, but at least a couple minutes of her screen presence means a lot.

In bad musicals, one good number can still make it through. In bad action movies, meanwhile, sometimes you’ll get a good fight scene. This is the original “Suıcide Squad,” the Jared Leto one predating James Gunn’s revamp of the premise. Both films, though, have Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and she does get one kickass fight scene in David Ayer’s disastrous effort.

“Wonder Woman 1984” was unsuccessful enough that, even after the massive critical and commercial success of the first film, they nixed the idea of a third. “1984” indicated a lack of upside for future ventures, so that makes sense. At least the scene where Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) fly through fireworks in her invisible jet looks cool and has a real cinematic quality to it.

“Rocky IV” was silly fun. “Rocky V,” though, was just kind of a slog. It’s a bummer all in all, but the deglamorized vision of Rocky Balboa did lead to one notable moment. The big fight in the film is between Rocky and his protégé Tommy Gunn, and it doesn’t take place in a ring, but in the streets. Yes, it’s a Rocky movie that ends with a street fight.

Yeah, we didn’t expect great things from “Street Fighter” as a film, but the results were particularly poor. Director and screenwriter Steven E. de Souza claimed to write the first draft of the screenplay in one night, and it shows. One smart decision, though, was casting Raul Julia as the big bad M. Bison. This is an action movie where the good scene is not a fight, but a conversation between Chun-Li and Bison, where Julia’s acting chops come into play as he delivers a villain speech that manages to thread the needle, unlike most things in this film.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” series has been super successful financially. Critically, though, the first film is the only one that did well. “Dead Man’s Chest” is the second movie in the series, and has that warmed-over rehash feeling to it. What it does have, though, is an exciting three-way sword fight between Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and James Norrington that just casts the rest of the lackluster movie into contrast.

Back when Dwayne Johnson was still riding his “The Rock” persona into attempted movie stardom, he got the lead role in “Doom,” based on the first-person shooter game. The game is iconic, the film forgotten. Briefly, though, “Doom” the film to replicate the game people actually like, is shot like a first-person shooter, and that at least doesn’t feel generic and dull.

We return to the world of “Star Wars” here. How? In this post-apocalyptic dragon movie, a folk tale is told to entertain a gathered crowd. That tale being told to the children? It’s from “Empire Strikes Back.” Maybe not a good idea to riff on a beloved movie in your bad movie, but at least it was memorable.

While “so bad it’s good” movies are fine fodder for this list, not quite so with “so bad it’s good” scenes. These are for only legitimately good scenes. Now, the infamous scene of Samuel L. Jackson’s character’s death in “Deep Blue Sea” may make you laugh, but we’d argue that’s kind of the point. It’s supposed to be surprising and over the top. The general response to this twist seems in line with the intent of the filmmaker.

Michael Bay has made some lousy, incoherent action films (but also “Ambulance,” which is quite good), but he’s taken so many bites at the apple he delivers on occasion. “Pearl Harbor” is a bad film, mostly because every single character is a snooze. However, even detractors, then and now, will note the actual bombing of Pearl Harbor is effective.

“Fallen Kingdom” is the worst film in the “Park/World” franchise, but we will give it kudos for the bonkers ending that paved the way to “Dominion,” a slightly better movie. A bunch of dinosaurs are freed by the protagonists, and the movie ends with dinosaurs returning to nature. Yeah, it’s wild.

What a journey the “Jaws” franchise took. The first film? Still considered a classic! “The Revenge,” on the other hand, is considered one of the worst films ever. A shark is hunting down the Brody family… for revenge. That being said, there is one scene we find effective, even if the scene still carries the silly “revenge” element. Sean Brody, son of Martin, is clearing a buoy right before Christmas. Then, a shark attacks and bites his arm off, but he can’t be heard on shore, because of Christmas carolers. It’s the only effective death — or effective moment, at that — in the movie.

“Moonraker” is the worst James Bond film. It’s the Roger Moore era at its silliest. A pigeon does a double take. However, “Moonraker” does have the returning Jaws. It also has Jaws fighting Bond in a cable car in Rio, and that’s a good fight scene. Then, it ends with Jaws in the cable car crashing through the wall of a building, unscathed, and meeting a woman he immediately falls in love with, helping to turn Jaws into a good guy. Like we said, silly.

Now, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is a spotty film, but not a bad one, and it delivers some proper fight scenes that are good. In 1962, though, there was a cheap headline grabber in “King Kong vs. Godzilla.” The costumes are cheap. The special effects are minimal. And yet, we get King Kong fighting Godzilla on Mt. Fuji. However you slice it, that’s cool.

You may notice this list lacking in comedies. There’s a reason for that. Bad comedies rarely deliver a good, funny scene together. “Jack and Jill” is a disaster, Adam Sandler’s worst movie. That being said, this movie does feature Al Pacino, as himself, rapping about Dunkin’ Donuts’ Dunkaccino. It straddles the line between sublimely bad and intentionally absurd. However, it certainly has a “you have to see it to believe it quality” to it, and to get one comedy on this list, we gift you Pacino’s “Dunkaccino” music video.