Wal Footrot and Dog in the 1986 film Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale Photo: NZ On Screen
"As a kid I thought it was the funniest thing that I'd ever seen and I was horrified by the end of it."
At the "risk of ruining their childhoods", Rob Johnson and Christopher Webb look back at their favourite films from decades past on the podcast Still Any Good?
For Johnson, the 1986 film Footroot Flats, which he'd "worshipped" as a kid growing up in Gisborne, has been the trickiest to review honestly.
"I almost felt like my New Zealand citizenship would be revoked or I'd get hate mail if I said it wasn't good," he tells Emile Donovan.
Rob Johnson (left) and Chris Webb are the co-hosts of the podcast Still Any Good?. Photo: Supplied
As a child, movies just "wash over you", Webb says, and can stay magical in your memory.
"Your disbelief is suspended so easily as a child and you just don't question the ridiculous plot holes or the over-the-top performances or the shonky special effects… When you're a jaded, middle-aged man, it's a little bit different."
When it comes to assessing old films, he and Johnson try not to be cynical and the only "cardinal sin" is when the politics are just too problematic to ignore.
Movies that are not well-made yet entertaining, like Jean Claude Van Damme's "testosterone-fuelled, highly ridiculous" 1986 film Bloodsport, win the podcasters' stamp of approval, Webb says.
"It's not a five-star film but I absolutely love it. I thought it was such fun to watch and it was even more fun to talk about. It was just brilliant."
He also recommends the 1985 Van Damme film No Retreat, No Surrender.
"It is so ridiculous. I just absolutely loved it. It was such a wonderful choice. It's one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen."
For both Webb and Johnson, the 1983 fantasy film Krull was an obvious choice for the first episode of Still Any Good?
Johnson and his brother would watch their VHS copy of the "slightly rubbishy, slightly cheesy sci-fi" film at least once a year, and he says revisiting was rather sobering.
"I just absolutely loved it as a child. It was, it was everything special-effects-wise, story-wise that I could have wanted… Revisiting it in the cold, hard light of 2017 was certainly a different experience."
For Johnson, the 1983 pirate comedy Yellowbeard has been one of the most painful movies to revisit.
"I just thought it was the funniest film I had ever seen. It was just an abomination rewatching that."
Webb says that for him, looking back at the 1976 disaster comedy The Big Bus was "just so, so disappointing".
"As a kid I thought it was the funniest thing that I'd ever seen, and I was horrified by the end of it."
