Films

My favourite films are not an artistic or revered selection, but I've never been enamoured of the critics' opinions.
1. Transformers: The Movie
It might just be a children's animation, but it gains from that: one's childhood tends to be a treasured time. Re-watching it doesn't reveal a pathetic and worthless storyline that could only appeal to a child, but a decent enough story, full of fantastic lines and climactic moments. Of course, a critic or English student would call this 'filled with cliche' and 'breaking the laws of physics'. I will admit that a transformer's strength varies somewhat depending on plot need, which is a bit galling for an adult, but can teach a lot about the way children's minds and games work.
On the other hand, the animation captures the emotions and power and movement, and the dialogue provides some hugely enjoyable moments that still stand as templates for similar moments in stories I've subsequently come across. I think that this isn't just coming first, but that Transformers really did portray moments and characters well.
I can see the counter-argument that standing as a template for a lot of cliches doesn't count as a great artistic achievement, and yet this ties into something I've thought for some time about cliches: that they're there for a reason, which is that they resonate with us, and they make for good stories. When I describe cliches like that, how can it be bad that something manages to do a number of them extremely well all in a row?
The death of Optimus Prime was one of the most shocking and sad moments of my leisure time, and the music's superb!
2. Gladiator
I like the story of revenge, I love the fight scenes (except the hard-to-follow one at the beginning) and I like the supporting gladiators. Commodus makes a truly evil villain, which, along with the well-judged spiritualism, makes Maximus' death almost bearable. I loved his companions and the comaraderie they had. It wasn't noisy or dramatic, but well done.
3-6. Lethal Weapon 1-4
These films are derided as being awful 80s trash, full of testosterone and little else. Well, given the option between something happening in a film and nothing happening, I'd go for something. Similarly, if the alternatives are critically acclaimed dramas full of oestrogen and little else, why would I choose the critics' films, just because they might require a little more detailed acting skill and a lot less stunt skill?
As for the acting, dialogue and plot, I find the portrayal of life in these films far more realistic than any of the popular dramas. Yes, Lethal Weapon flits over great life moments that other films would have dedicated themselves to. Yes, we don't arduously explore every nuance of emotion and every angle of view about each event until we're sick and tired of it, the people and emotion in general. In real life, special events come and go quickly: there's no time to dwell on them because in real life more stuff happens all the time.
The Lethal Weapon films portray perfectly a growing friendship between two men and their different backgrounds and lives. They portray the trust, the little disagreements, which gradually become a source of friendship rather than a source of mistrust. This way in which people who are very different come to trust and love each other, and that their differences give life to each other, is a beautiful message. Riggs needs a family and a real home; Murtaugh needs some fun and adventure.
So the tragedy that life flies by, and suddenly you're old and failing, with just your friends for sympathy, is very sharp in these films, and far better portrayed than the sledgehammer blows of an acclaimed drama.