Smithee Awards

I used to work at the indie video store of all indie video stores, Liberty Street Video. Back in its Hey Day, a clerk from LSV was a hot item up for grabs at Facets — the mother of all video distributors — because we knew so much about movies. I can be a real nerd when it comes to films. I can be extremely snobby about a film but in the same breath be able to defend some of the most stupid movies ever made with flourish.
Which brings me to the Smithee Awards. If you know film, you know that «Allen Smithee» is a pseudonym used by directors if they don’t want their name associated with a bad film. A group of cats put together the Annual Smithee Awards back in the 90’s to pay homage to the absolute worst of the worst — and it’s still an annual event! It is a lot of fun, and as someone whose personal movie collection contains 90% obscure cult films, I couldn’t resist attending a couple of the ceremonies.
There are categories like «The Most Ludicrous Premise» and «Let’s Up the Rating to R», along with awards for bloopers, bad dialogue, and overkill. You don’t see too much mainstream in their lot (unless a Brooke Shields movie is involved). This is more about how bad The Vampire and the Ballerina was rather than how much J-Lo’s last flick was a disappointment. This is something the ultra movie geek like me can really appreciate.