Movies that were way better than you expected

Army of Darkness.
My friends dragged me to see it and I went in thinking it would be a stupid movie, and it was absolutely hilarious.
I still quote it to this day.

 

Palm Springs

 

A Quiet Place

 

I watched Die Hard because girlfriend at the time really wanted to go see it. I was thinking it was going to be a another brainless action movie and I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong.

 

I like #1. It is a good story, with a good character, and just the right amount of everything to make it what it is...even with the hard violence
#2 was still okay, maybe even good, but it seemed to be an extension of the first movie with a bit of semantics thrown in to attempt some weird kind of legitimacy.
#3 came off as an over the top, piling on of gore and violence for the sake of gore and violence. To me it lost the John Wick stripped down, direct, and to the point charm, while bordering on becoming preachy and careful.

 

This is exactly why movies can be great. When one grabs ahold of you, and you are invested in the movie, it usually is a good ride. The overall reasons why you got sucked in, while nice to talk about, are not really important so long as you go away having enjoyed the movie

 

This may be THE definative big screen movie. Easily one of the greatest grand scope epic movies ever made.

Some movies really should be viewed on the big screen.

 

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) - really incredibly well done. Didn't expect much going into it.
Every Humphrey Bogart movie I saw as an adolescent but especially The Big Sleep, Casablanca and To Have and Have Not all were astoundingly well acted.

 

All That Jazz - I had such low expectations because the hype was all about gyrating bodies and the sexual component. I thought the story, especially the abstract elements, was very interesting. Roy Scheider was excellent.

There Will Be Blood - I had seen what seemed to be over-the-top positive reviews, even one comparing it to Citizen Kane. I was surprised that the reviews were not at all far off the mark . . . IMO, of course.

Deuce Bigelow Male Gigolo - What a stupid, unfunny, sophomoric movie this must be! Actually, pretty funny. It had me at “man-whore bitch-slap”. (Can you say that here?)

 

Same here (but with a girlfriend who thought it would be awful and probably still thinks so). The “reluctant hero” angle was refreshing. After rolling my eyes at the few Moonlighting episodes I saw, I was impressed by Willis’ screen presence and likability.

 

I wasn't expecting much from Solo but liked it a lot. Also thought Doctor Sleep was good.

 

It sure counted for me. It grabbed me by the throat through a small black and white TV. How can such an old movie look so amazingly modern? I would love to see it on the big screen. It might be the only movie that could bring me back into a movie theater. (I haven’t been in a movie theater since I saw the Coen Brothers’ True Grit - 10 years and running.)

 

Same here

 

Yeah I remember sitting in an Airport reading Q magazine that summer and saw a half page ad in the back pages for this Keanu Reeves movie called "The Matrix". It was the first I had heard about it. I just thought "Hmmm looks a bit straight to VHS!" About three weeks later I was sat there watching it in the cinema with my new Gf (still with her...still a Gf) having my mind thoroughly entertained. It just destroyed The Phantom Menace from high orbit.

The rest is history. I just wish they had not done the sequels.

 

I wasn't expecting much from Salmon Fishing In The Yemen. But daggone if it didn't hook me and draw me in. An uplifting, positive, hopeful movie, notwithstanding the requirement for a certain suspension of disbelief about the ocean habitat requirements of salmon. (There were other plot lines in the film; it isn't to be confused with a nature documentary.)

In some respects the film reminded me of another pleasant surprise- a movie from the early 1980s, Local Hero.

 

Tomb Raider Cradle of Life

Even pulled the wife in, she thought it was going to be Angelina doing a 'look at me' role

 

Million Dollar Baby (2004)...the title doesn't fit the movie at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

My daughter went to the movies with her friends to see That Thing You Do, I'd never heard of it. I picked them up after and they were singing the title song. Soon after I bought her the DVD and was drawn into watching it. One of my favorite movies now. Just so much fun.

 

Highly quotable! I nearly pissed myself when I saw that whole "who want's some / boom stick" scene for the first time. Bruce is the man in that movie. At that point I had only seen the first Evil Dead where he is a total wuss.

 

Just goes to show that one's mileage may vary, so to speak. My wife and I both thought the movie would be good - it came highly recommended - and we gave up less than halfway through. I guess this belongs in the "movies you walked out on" thread, except it was a DVD.

 

some movies aren't even really seen unless seen on the Big Screen

 

Taking of Pelham 123 (the original) Exemplifies the importance of a good script, structured by clock-like and relentless logic and seasoned with humor

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - even the truncated original theatrical version, while a bit incoherent, was intensely elegiac and soulful. No idea I was about to see a version of what I now consider one of the greatest Westerns ever. The greatest of any genre will be an ongoing debate, but for me it makes lots of others seem rather superficial if not facile.

 

Great movie. I am surprised the lead actor what’s his name isn’t famous.