Good Bad Flicks is a webseries created and hosted by Cecil Trachenburg in which he reviews movies that need So Bad, It's Good or Needs More Love. He also has a series called Exploring, which goes into the interesting production histories of some movies. He was formerly a part of The Escapist, but was let go in 2017 (along with other members at the time) but is on good terms with the site and still attends their twitch streams. He is also a part of Geek Juice Media (where he riffs alongside Brad Jones amongst others) and The Agony Booth.
You can watch the show on his website
or on Youtube. The show is Patreon supported, donate here if you wish.
Compare with Cinema Wins (which is another show that focuses on the positives of all movies, regardless of critical response), as well as with another escapist show Movie Defense Force, which is identical in premise, and was hosted by Jim Sterling of Jimquisition fame.
Good Bad Flicks provides examples of:
- Accentuate the Negative: Averted. Cecil's whole reason for this show is to take unpopular movies and explain why they are better than their reputation suggests.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: He said that the most unrealistic moment in Catwoman (2004) was Sally ending up with a boyfriend at the end.
- Author Appeal:
- Cecil really loves horror and low budget movies.
- He also seems to like cats a lot. (The animal, not the play)
- Full Moon Video is one of his favorite studios, unsurprising since they specialized in exactly the kind of low-budget, direct-to-video films the channel is centered around. And to be fair, Full Moon is an exemplar at having nothing but using it well when it comes to filmmaking.
- Berserk Button:
- Cecil really hates it, if an animal gets killed for a film.
- An even bigger one for him is when Executive Meddling occurs and makes the film worse— case in point, he's genuinely pissed at the treatment Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 got by producers who knew nothing about what they were doing.
- When horror films try to shoehorn in a final Jump Scare just before the end credits. Better known as the "Bughuul!" scare, which originated from Cecil's review of Sinister. Blumhouse Productions in particular is a repeat offender of this trope, much to Cecil's dismay and frustration.
- Body Horror: Plenty of it in some of the movies that are reviewed here.
- Comically Missing the Point: On seeing a banana-eating contest in Spring Break, he thanks the movie for drawing attention to the nutritional importance of potassium.
- Crossover: With Obscurus Lupa in two episodes.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cecil has no lack of snark in his delivery or his editing. As an example, he explains the many investments that went into making Waterworld one of the most expensive films of all time, complete with cheesy cash register sound and money signs appearing all over the screen.
- Due to the Dead: In his "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, Cecil will give due reverence to a participant in a film who died between the time the film was made and Cecil did his review, especially if the career of a promising actor or filmmaker was cut tragically short.
- Everyone Has Standards: Cecil definitely appreciates films that use Sex Sells to make their way, enjoying when a low-budget movie casts attractive actresses who don't mind taking their clothes off on camera. However, sometimes, there's so much nudity and sex it gets to be too much. And while he appreciates attractive actresses getting naked, he's much less enamored with it in the context of a rape scene.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: An exploration of films that are
So Bad, It's Good, or actual good films that are underappreciated, Cult Classics, or just somehow slipped through all the cracks to be forgotten. - Executive Meddling: In-Universe, Cecil often calls that as one of the main reasons why certain movies turn out to be worse than they could've been.
- Rarely, it goes in the opposite direction, with producers needed to reign in or outright fire an incompetent director.
- Extra-Long Episode: Most of his reviews run between ten and twenty minutes. His "Exploring" series, on the other hand, tends to run at least half an hour per episode, as he examines the entirety of the film from inception to reception, dissecting everything that went into making that film what it ended up being, before finally analyzing the film itself. For instance, his "Exploring Mortal Kombat: The Movie" goes back to the creation of the first game itself, and how it was basically a passion project that got shot down three times in favor of other games before finally getting the go-ahead.
- The Faceless: You never see his face. He was interviewed in the documentaries In Search of Darkness and In Search of Tomorrow.
- Fanservice:
- As many "So Bad, It's Good" films are low-budget B movies, and many low budget B movies rely on this trope to make money, Cecil doesn't shy away from pointing out when a film has nudity, especially gratuitous nudity. Lacking (or supplementing) actual nudity, he'll comment on costume and camera angle choices intended to invoke the trope.
- "5 Forgotten TV Shows Part 29 -- Sexy Shows" is an admittedly blatant attempt to "try to massage the algorithm," and covers 5 TV shows that were all about Fanservice. Though he notes that Co-Ed Confidential is actually a strong comedy series with sex and nudity, and Forbidden Science has a strong sci-fi concept that could have worked as a straight show without Fanservice (and might actually have Fan Disservice in service to the sci-fi story). And the video starts with Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which is both a great British comedy and serious look at the life of a sex worker.
- As many "
- Nice Guy: A very humble, easy-going, laid-back individual. His friend and colleague Mister X of Geek Juice has often described him as "the Tom Hanks of the internet".
- Pet-Peeve Trope: Trailers Always Lie and Trailers Always Spoil. Cecil is annoyed when movies are rebranded, retitled, or have misleading marketing to try and fool people into thinking the film is something other than what it is.
- A Rare Sentence: In his video about "Direct To Video Madness," one of the tapes he covers is "Fishin' with the Big 'Uns," which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The rather flimsy plot includes. . . well, let's just let Cecil tell you:Another girl, Jessie, spends some time in a hot tub stripping out of her bathing suit while thinking about fishing. There's something no one has ever said before.
- Real Men Wear Pink: In his review of Spice World, he unapologetically admits to liking the Spice Girls (with Sporty being his favourite). He also admitting to liking S Club 7, and implying that he might review S Club: Seeing Double one day.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: B-grade sci-fi and horror flicks are notorious for their shaky science. . . so it's really cool when Cecil shows that what sounds like scientific idiocy in the name of plot actually has basis in real science. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
- Running Gag:
- "Boom Mike!" Pointing out when a a boom mike is visible in the shot. Sometimes given a spin, such "Ah, it's everyone's favorite guest star: Boom Mike."
- "Is that a crew member?" or "They run past a crew member trying to hide," or some other variation, when crew are visible (sometimes barely) in a shot.
- "Meanwhile, in another movie" or "They escape into another movie" or somesuch for particularly jarring transitions between wildly different scenes.
- “Don’t look at the camera, don’t look at the camera-Shit! Looked at the camera!” whenever that kind of blooper is in play.
- Shared Universe: Because of his crossovers, he's part of the Reviewaverse.
- Shout-Out: Numerous ones to video games, such as the perfect use of the "what is a man?" quote from Castlevania in his review of America 3000.
- Shown Their Work: It's probably one of the most insightful reviewer shows out there since Cecil likes to go in depth about the movies production history,
Executive Meddling, etc. - So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, most of the movies he's reviewing. The videos expose the many factors that went into the showcased film getting its "bad" reputation and then Cecil explaining what he believes makes them "good". Even if the movie is objectively bad, there's usually something interesting in or about it that makes it a good watch if you're into that sort of thing. Some particularly disjointed, trainwreck "Frankenfilms" he highlights could be quite educational for aspiring filmmakers as examples of how not to do things. And there are many films that are genuinely good, even great, despite low budget, obvious sets, cheesy costumes, bad acting, or all of the above.
- Spin-Off: Good Bad Games and Netflix Instant Recommendations. Cecil also does a series on "Forgotten TV shows," often with a theme (such as shows about aliens, shows about time travel, the first year of UPN, and so on). He takes five forgotten shows and discusses each one individually, giving an overview of the premise, when and where it started and stopped airing, if its available to watch anywhere currently, and who was involved and what they did or did not go on to do.
- Title Theme Tune: A short one provided by Psychostick.
- Very Special Episode: His "Exploring Galaxina" video is effectively this, it's even subtitled "The Comedy that Ends with Tragedy," since star Dorothy Stratten was in an abusive relationship while filming, and murdered by her abusive husband not long after the film was released. It casts a pall over the entire discussion of the film, and Cecil especially notes how, whenever Stratten's husband was on set, everything was more tense and stressful for everyone, but when he wasn't, everyone was happier and more relaxed, especially Stratten. There were many red flags that were plain to see, but no one realized it until it was too late.
- The Voice: Cecil only narrates the videos.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: After covering the film's plot, budget, location, and ancillary information, he'll talk about the writers, director, producers, and actors involved, frequently giving a quick overview of their careers after this particular film. Some have gone on to great fame, others to moderate success, others to great success in less-visible portions of the film industry, some never worked on another film again.
