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Let’s face it, whether we’re talking about movies, music, books or whatever, we all think we have great taste. Because we only see things from our own perspectives, we usually use our personal tastes as a way to judge quality.

But even so, we all have our guilty pleasures. I’m talking about that song you stop humming when someone walks into the room. Or maybe it’s that movie you claim your significant other dragged you to. Whatever the case, we all have guilty pleasures and that includes me, of course. With this column I’m going to try to encourage people to stop being embarrassed for liking things they normally wouldn’t or that aren’t considered cool. I’m going to do this by celebrating movies that are my personal guilty pleasures.

Action movies have come a long way over the years by offering action that at least tries to make sense. As viewers, we demand to see some character development alongside all of the ass-kicking. And while most people would agree that this is a marked improvement, sometimes there is nothing better than seeing an old school action movie with no artistic aspirations other than to kick as much ass as possible. Proudly waving the flag for a subgenre that has long been past its prime, Lockout hit theaters this past spring like an old man ready to show these young cats how it’s done. The movie - directed by James Mather and Stephen St. Leger - stars Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace.

As is usually the case with this kind of movie, the plot of Lockout is barely worth mentioning. In fact the words “escape from New York…but in space” should be more than enough to tell you all you need to know about the movie’s story. But if that isn’t enough, the movie begins when a government operation goes terribly wrong. (They usually do in these movies.) It is believed that one of the agents; Snow (Pearce) double-crossed the mission. Because of this he is taken into federal custody.

Once in custody the officials holding Snow set about getting information out of Snow the only way they know…through a brutal interrogation. But if you’ve ever seen a movie before you can probably guess that Snow isn’t the kind of man that breaks in these - or any - situations. Just as Snow is about to be imprisoned for life it is revealed that the president’s daughter, Emilie (Grace) has been kidnapped while visiting a giant prison orbiting earth. Obviously the only man who can fix this problem is Snow so he is given the option to save the girl in exchange for freedom or rot in prison. At first Snow refuses because he’s that much of a badass, but when he finds out that this is his chance to clear his name, he accepts the mission.

Like I already mentioned the plot in a movie like this can be - very generously - described as secondary. Movies like Lockout live and die by the performance of its star and Guy Pearce definitely meets the challenge. Pearce portrays Snow as the world weary tough guy we expect so see. He has just the right mixture of grumpiness and charm. His performance is hardly original - a dash of Snake Plissken, a touch of John McClane there - but it sure does work. But no matter how much of a committed performance is given there is no way to overlook the preposterousness of it all. But luckily Pearce adds some comedic flair to the movie. At times it seems as if his contempt for the genre rises to the surface but that fits well with the "had it up to here" attitude of the character.

As far as the supporting cast is concerned, most of them do the bare minimum which is enough in this situation. Maggie Grace does surprisingly well, which is to say she isn’t annoying.

Although it never gets as silly or over the top as it could be, Lockout is an entertaining enough relic of a movie. The hero blows stuff and kicks ass while saying one liners, what else do you need? Although it doesn’t have even a tenth of the budget of a summer blockbuster, Lockout does have surprisingly high production values.

Another thing Lockout has going for is the fact that it is approached in a no nonsense manner. The directors know what the audience expects and give it to them without messing with the formula. There is no post-modern irony shoehorned into the movie and the forced nostalgia of The Expendables is avoided.

While there are plot holes the size of the orbiting prison the action takes place on, the movie is still enjoyable enough. There is nothing new here and other movies have done this better but if you’ve already seen Escape from New York too many times to count than you might as well give Lockout a try. It’s a movie that gives you something new and familiar at the same time.