Movies that were a lot better than you expected (SPOILERS LIKELY)

[Martian Bigfoot]

Or maybe movies that were more interesting than you thought they would be, or movies that turned out to have more to them than what it said on the box.

Sort of the opposite of this thread.

(To have it out of the way: I suppose some spoilers are inevitable in this sort of thread. You are hereby warned.)

I have a few:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:
What I expected: A romantic comedy with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Yeah, that sounds like it should have "meh" written all over it.
What I got: One the weirdest, quirkiest, best written and most intelligent movies I'd had the pleasure to see in ages. Still one of my all-time favorites.

Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man:
What I expected: A Discovery Channel nature documentary about bears.
What I got: 103 minutes of pure WTF. This was the first Herzog movie I saw, so... yeah, exactly, mind blown all over the TV screen.

Let the Right One In:
What I expected: A Swedish vampire horror movie with kids. Sounds like some kind of Twilight crap, right? I fully expected to hate it.
What I got: Well, you've all seen it by now, so you know, and anyway, it's no longer a secret what a wonderful piece of filmmaking it is. But when I first saw it, it took me by complete surprise.

[Frazzled]

Fight Club
What I expected: A macho movie about guys beating each other up.
What I got: Something completely different

Being John Malkovich
What I expected: Not much - I didn't even know who John Malkovich was
What I got: A quirky fun movie with a story and twists that were so unlike any other movies that I never saw them coming.

[TreacherousCretin]

Bridges Of Madison County.

Never read the book, but heard enough about it to expect a horrible movie. Nope. Movie was actually pretty good.

.

[Krokodil]

Titanic had all the earmarks of a massive dumb indulgent Hollywood bomb. It's one of a small handful of movies I can actually watch again and again.

I had high hopes and low expectations for the first Spider-Man movie, and it blew out all the stops.

[Elendil's Heir]

A similar thread from May: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=610586

[panamajack]

Repo Men - Went to see this during a ski trip for a break from skiing, and there wasn't much in the theaters. Expected an action-y thriller with some mild sci-fi stuff that might be fun. Instead it's a deeply satirical thriller that provides plenty of action too. I really liked it and feel it's highly underrated. It's on par with Robocop, in my opinion.

[Sevastopol]

Pink Panther with Steve Martin, a big gulf between the tetchy reviewers who demanded no less than Peter Sellers, and what was actually a pretty good film.

[Mosier]

Originally Posted by Martian Bigfoot

Let the Right One In:
What I expected: A Swedish vampire horror movie with kids. Sounds like some kind of Twilight crap, right? I fully expected to hate it.
What I got: Well, you've all seen it by now, so you know, and anyway, it's no longer a secret what a wonderful piece of filmmaking it is. But when I first saw it, it took me by complete surprise.

Thank you for this. I had never heard of that film, and just finished watching it on netflix because of this thread. It's been a long time since I saw anything like it.

[Sigmagirl]

Originally Posted by Sevastopol

Pink Panther with Steve Martin, a big gulf between the tetchy reviewers who demanded no less than Peter Sellers, and what was actually a pretty good film.

Well, it really was pretty stupid, but my husband and I were both majorly stressed out at work and needed to relax, and he is a big Pink Panther fan, and he was not at all disappointed. We laughed and got our money's worth 100%.

[Gyrate]

Thor - Admittedly I went in with very, very low expectations but I really enjoyed this. It still wasn't a great film by any standards but Loki turned out to have a lot more depth than you'd expect from a cartoon supervillain and the plot had some interesting twists. Portman and Hopkins phoned it in, but not enough to ruin it for me completely. I might even venture to say that I liked it more than Iron Man.

[Prelude to Fascination]

Sideways I expected nothing, hadn't heard of it, wasn't a big fan of Thomas Haden Church, but liked Paul Giamatti. Rented the DVD, and my wife and I loved it. It was funny, thoughtful, sentimental, and fun.

Soul Kitchen: Again, no expectations, but I found this on my cable's free on demand channel. Like Sideways, it was funny, sentimental, and just plain a fun movie to watch.

[Electric Warrior]

I just went to see Contagion last night.

What I expected: an apocalyptic survival thriller, with lots of graphic disease imagery, and probably they'd find some way to shoehorn in explosions. So like a Nic Cage vehicle without the Nic Cage.

What I got: a smart, tasteful, slow burn of a movie about science and exploring the consequences of events in the 21st century, with funny moments and really likable characters.

[Snickers]

I've always thought that the football movies Necessary Roughness and The Replacements were better than they had any right to be. Yeah, they're pretty much paint by numbers uplifting sports comedies, but I was expecting more raunch (a la screwball comedies of the 80s) and less heart. These two are really well done - I watch 'em every time I happen across them in idle channel surfing.

[Annie-Xmas]

Time After Time--H.G. Wells following jack the Ripper to modern day San Francisco in his time machine? Excellent movie.

The Blues Brothers--Much better than I expected.

[FriarTed]

Real Steel- Expected movie about fighting robots with a bit of estranged father & son bonding. Got a movie about estranged father & son bonding with fighting robots on the side.

The Smurfs- Expected extended commercial for Smurf toys & rape of 1980s-kids fond childhood memories. Got cute movie about fatherhood, family, trusting ones better instincts than the path of least resistance & hilarious Gargamel scenery-chewing.

The Doors- Expected a quality movie with Val Kilmer doing a decent Jim Morrison impression. Got a quality movie with Kilmer channelling Morrison.

[tdn]

Legally Blonde

I didn't expect much at all, as I had nothing better to do and just wanted to sit in some AC for a couple of hours. What I got was a very clever and fun movie that I've watched a hundred times since.

[RealityChuck]

Mean Girls. It really didn't sound promising, but it was at the drive-in, and we went anyway. Very good comedy with something to say and Lindsay Lohan showed she could have been a very successful actress if she hadn't been a train wreck in her personal live.

[BubbaDog]

Temple Grandin

Autism, Cows and Claire Danes magically NOT looking sexy.

Has all the ingredients to be a great movie for taking a nap.

Turns out it was one of the best movies (and performances by Ms. Danes and supporting cast) about a remarkable woman that I've ever seen.

[Elendil's Heir]

As I posted in the May thread:

I went into Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, with kinda low expectations, and it just blew me out of the water. A really, really good technothriller with a great cast, nifty plot, unexpected twists and turns, and an ambiguous moral. A helluva ride that kept me guessing.

The 1987 sf thriller The Hidden, starring Michael Nouri and Kyle MacLachlan, was better than it had any right to be. Cops hunt an alien fugitive in L.A. and get more than they bargained for - wow! Really a great movie.

[Glory]

Stranger Than Fiction. I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I really liked this movie.

[TreacherousCretin]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

Time After Time--H.G. Wells following jack the Ripper to modern day San Francisco in his time machine? Excellent movie.

Yes. A much better movie than I expected.

[Push You Down]

Originally Posted by FriarTed

Real Steel- Expected movie about fighting robots with a bit of estranged father & son bonding. Got a movie about estranged father & son bonding with fighting robots on the side.

I agree. Very enjoyable.

Another one.... Spiderman. I am a huge comic fan but had low expectations for the movie. I didn't even see it until it was at a second run theater. I ended up smiling the whole time and loving every minute of it.

[JustinC]

I was out of the country and not keeping up with any of the recent releases, but had heard Tron was being remade or there was a sequel or something. I downloaded the original late last year and watched it, and realized it had dated pretty badly after enjoying it a lot about 25 years ago when I was a kid. I could've watched it (the new one) in 3D at a cinema I'm not into gimmicky things or paying out to see a kids film in a cinema filled with kids (my assumption - it was made by Disney, after all).

So, I watched Tron: Legacy a couple of nights ago at home, with the sound turned way up because I'd heard the Recognizers made the cinema shake and there was a pretty decent soundtrack too.

Oh.
My.
Og.

I've been a massive Daft Punk fan since the early 90s, I like films with a bit of subtext, I dig sexy, clinging, shiny costumes on the ladies, plus I'm not tech-savvy enough to question how a laser can put a person in a pc. I also enjoy a respectful wink and a nudge to other films of a similar ilk and don't view that as stealing or lacking in imagination. I'd have laughed if Jeff had turned around and said "Great kid, don't get cocky" but I still was grinning from ear to ear throughout every scene inside the mainframe.

Donkey Punch was loaned and recommended by a (younger) friend, so I thought I'd have a watch even though it's full of kids and they probably just have some angst about hair and clothes. How wrong was I!

[Krokodil]

The Dream Team with Michael Keaton. It was badly promoted, but what a tight, fun little comedy.

[CalMeacham]

As I've said before, The Terminator really took me by surprise. I expected it to be people running around LA in cheap makeup shooting each other up. What I saw was an incredibly literate, witty, and informed piece of science fiction. I still think that, overall, Cameron has never topped this. I loved T2, Aliens, and was blown away by the visuals of Avatar, but nothing beats the cold, gritty, sarcastic wit and hard-edged storytelling of the original Terminator.


I expected Robocop to be a really stupid, hackneyed bit of popular SF. again, Ed Neumeier's script was a piece of well-informed science fiction dark comedy, referencing C,M, Kornbluth's The Marching Morons and skewering SDI, modern "newsbreak" culture, and other icons while telling a coherent, touching, yet far-out story. The sequels couldn't come close to this.

[TreacherousCretin]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

As I've said before, The Terminator really took me by surprise... I still think that, overall, Cameron has never topped this.

Agreed.

.

[madsircool]

Peking Opera Blues

What I expected: It was the first film in a Hong Kong Film Festival here in Los Angeles. I expected some kung fu/action mishmash that would be entertaining and commercial.

What I got: A wonderful amalgam of comedy, action and suspense...starring 3 wonderful actresses. Great film. One of the few unexpected movie orgasms Ive experienced.

[Snowboarder Bo]

I think I mentioned both of these before, but:

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: EXPECTED crappy teen movie about a nerd somehow winning the girl of his dreams GOT really niftily-crafted movie about a not-so-repressed nerd having awesome manga/video game style battles to win the girl of his dreams

The Rocker EXPECTED somewhat meh movie about a loser discovering how to be an adult while helping teens grow up GOT a terrific (and funny) movie about how growing up isn't all that great and how staying true to yourself is the shiznit

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

...I still think that, overall, Cameron has never topped this....

I must beg to differ. As good as T1 is (and it's awesome!), T2, Aliens and True Lies are all better IMHO.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by Elendil's Heir

I must beg to differ. As good as T1 is (and it's awesome!), T2, Aliens and True Lies are all better IMHO.

De Gustibus non disputandum est




The original Terminator may have been rougher around its edges and not as polished in its effects, but it was a purer and less "commercial" story, I thought. Finally, I thought, someone made a story about an unstoppable killer thing where it isn't converted by "the power of love" or somesuch.. He was a pure and simple killing machine, and the story played it straight. With T2 we had the Killer Robot Learning the Meaning of Love, dammit. Cameron did a creditable job with it, but it felt like compromise.

Mind you, I loved T2 and Aliens (not True Lies), but the original was The Real Thing.

[Joey P]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but a quick Control-F revealed that Hot Tub Time Machine hasn't been mentioned yet. I was bored, it kept showing up on Netflix instant so I decided to put it on in the background one night. It very quickly became the foreground, it was funny as hell and I plan to watch it again one of these nights. As I like to tell people, I went in expecting Bill and Ted and ended up with Back To The Future. It's the name that scares people away from it. I have yet to convince anyone in my family or a single friend to watch it, simply based on that alone and if their sales are hurting at all, that's probably why (and Darryl from The Office isn't that great of an actor).
When I mentioned this movie in pretty much an identical thread, another poster said one of their friends called it "much better than a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine has any right to be"

I also just recently watched Sex Drive since it was on TV when I turned the TV on. It was good enough that when I had to leave the house I recorded the last 45 minutes of it so I could see how it ended. The thing is, it's my understanding that there's a lot of this type of movie out right now so it may be no better or worse then any of the others. But considering this is one of the few I've seen, I thought it was pretty funny.

[Surbey]

Up

What I expected - Old, crogidy Ed Asner learns to love kids from this fantastic balloon ride.

What I got - One of the most heartfelt, emotionally satisfying introductions I've ever had. Without saying a word, Pixar made me care about drawing. Honestly, it only took 10 minutes into the film for me to realize I'm watching something completely different than I expected.

[Reno Nevada]

Not exactly a movie but Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV).
I expected a cheesy horror-comedy like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie).
I got a deep and warm story about living and dying and loving and high school and not being ready for the world and a whole lot more.

Another one would be Love, Actually. I thought it would be a barely tolerable paint-by-numbers rom-com to take the wife to. It turned out to be funny, witty, and touching.

[Love Rhombus]

Your Highness.

Kidding, kidding. It was crap.

Flash Gordon. I expected cheesy 80's fantasy. I got so much more.

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by tdn

Legally Blonde

I didn't expect much at all, as I had nothing better to do and just wanted to sit in some AC for a couple of hours. What I got was a very clever and fun movie that I've watched a hundred times since.

That's a good one. I have no idea why I watched it the first time, but it's now one of about 8 DVDs I own.

[mack]

A couple of Nicholas Cage movies from the '80s: Valley Girl and Peggy Sue Got Married. Just nice touching movies. I was driving cross country and saw Valley Girl, which I hadn't even heard of, in some crummy hotel in Indiana or someplace. I guess I liked it as much for the escape than anything else.

The Joy Luck Club. I heard it was good, but didn't expect to like it as much as I did and the ending was very moving.

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by Frazzled

Fight Club
What I expected: A macho movie about guys beating each other up.
What I got: Something completely different

I had less then zero interest whatsoever in watching that movie. None at all. For exactly the reason you stated. I was in college and some friends and I had ingested some, well, magic mushrooms and were wandering around the campus and at some point made it back over to my dorm/apartment were my roommates and a couple of other people were about 10 minutes into it. We hung out for a while in the common area and we went into his bedroom to say bye and my friends (I think it was me and two or three other people) all kind of did that 'stand in the doorway with our coats on to see what everyone is watching' thing for about 2 minutes and we slowly all sort of migrated over to the bed and couch. About a half hour later I think I melted into the couch and gave up trying to leave the apartment.
I'm glad I didn't. It turned out to be a pretty great movie. It wasn't even until I had been watching it for 20 minutes or so that I even asked what movie it was. If I had asked as soon as I walked in and was told it was Fight Club, we probably would have just said 'bye' and took off. I probably still wouldn't have seen it.

[Chronos]

12 Monkeys:
The ads for it all made it look like some pretentious art-house piece of trash by folks who haven't a clue about science fiction. I only watched it because I was at a friend's house, and he was watching it. But it turns out to be the best time travel movie I've ever seen, and the folks who made it knew exactly what they were doing.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl:
I don't think anyone expected this to be anything other than a forgettable two-hour ad for Disneyworld, but of course, it turned out to be a great, fun, funny, sexy adventure romp.

[MrDibble]

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - went because it was Heath Ledger's last movie and because Terry Gilliam, but I didn't have such high expectations because Ledger died only 1/3 through filming and The Brothers Grimm was only so-so. Got a dark, wonderful story, great stand-ins, and Lily Cole was surprisingly great.

Wild Target - was expecting another in the current line of decidedly British crime movies a-la Lock, Stock.. or Snatch, for some reason. Got delightful black comedy that reconfirmed my lust for Emily Blunt and also had good turn by Rupert Grint (Bill Nighy was excellent as always, as was Rupert Evert)

Actually, that reminds me - 51st State, the Samuel L. Jackson-in-Britain movie, was universally panned, but I quite enjoyed it.

[Annie-Xmas]

The Shawshank Redemption. It didn't do well in theatres, mostly I think cause of the title, but it is regarded as one of the best movies based on a Stephen King work.

[don't ask]

Originally Posted by BubbaDog

Temple Grandin

Autism, Cows and Claire Danes magically NOT looking sexy.

Has all the ingredients to be a great movie for taking a nap.

Turns out it was one of the best movies (and performances by Ms. Danes and supporting cast) about a remarkable woman that I've ever seen.

Great call. Since it is not a real movie but an HBO production I had never heard of it.

Loved it and have recommended it to everyone else I think will enjoy it.

[lost4life]

Galaxy Quest - I didn't pay any attention to the movie when it first came out and assumed it was just another bad sci fi romp. In actuality, it is a hilarious movie that has found the perfect role for Tim Allen (basically playing William Shatner).

RV - As a parent, you sometimes have to watch incredibly bad movies. I'm not a fan of Robin Williams and I was planning on the worst for this film. I'm not saying RV was good, I was just surprised that it did not suck as bad as I expected.

[well he's back]

Chronos took one of my picks -
"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl:
I don't think anyone expected this to be anything other than a forgettable two-hour ad for Disneyworld, but of course, it turned out to be a great, fun, funny, sexy adventure romp. " - so true. I totally ignore the awful sequels & enjoy this movie so much. originally went just for Johnny Depp. but everything came together & it's certainly one of favorite films ever now.

[Suburban Plankton]

I'm going old-school on this one:

Gone With the Wind

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a classic...but it was a classic I had no real interest in seeing. Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler not giving a damn, and a dress made from the draperies. Fine, I guess I have to watch it just so I can scratch it off my list.

I was floored. It was 4 hours of absolutely brilliant filmmaking.

[typoink]

Wet Hot American Summer

Expected cheesy sex comedy of the general American Pie formula or awful parody-comedy ala Scary Movie.

Was not expecting a witty, cynical, surrealist satire of teen ensemble comedies. Probably my favorite "pure comedy" of the last decade or so.

[typoink]

Also, also a cheat: Casablanca.

I mean, I expected it to be GOOD, but I didn't expect it to be Casablanca good.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Joey P

I had less then zero interest whatsoever in watching that movie. None at all. For exactly the reason you stated. I was in college and some friends and I had ingested some, well, magic mushrooms and were wandering around the campus and at some point made it back over to my dorm/apartment were my roommates and a couple of other people were about 10 minutes into it. We hung out for a while in the common area and we went into his bedroom to say bye and my friends (I think it was me and two or three other people) all kind of did that 'stand in the doorway with our coats on to see what everyone is watching' thing for about 2 minutes and we slowly all sort of migrated over to the bed and couch. About a half hour later I think I melted into the couch and gave up trying to leave the apartment.
I'm glad I didn't. It turned out to be a pretty great movie. It wasn't even until I had been watching it for 20 minutes or so that I even asked what movie it was. If I had asked as soon as I walked in and was told it was Fight Club, we probably would have just said 'bye' and took off. I probably still wouldn't have seen it.

You think mushrooms are special? Try watching it four-nights sleep deprived

An amazingly good film, but not one you want to watch whilst in an altered state of consiousness.

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by Namkcalb

An amazingly good film, but not one you want to watch whilst in an altered state of consiousness.

It wasn't on purpose. Like I said, I just sort of melted into the couch. If I was watching it on purpose, it also wouldn't have been in a tiny bedroom with 6 people and half of them wearing jackets because we were actually just stopping in to tell them we were leaving. Luckily I either took a low enough dose or I was at the beginning or end of the trip and I didn't have a hard time following the movie.

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by typoink

Also, also a cheat: Casablanca.

I mean, I expected it to be GOOD, but I didn't expect it to be Casablanca good.

That's where "Casablanca good" came from!


I was more impressed by The Fifth Element and The Long Kiss Goodnight than advanced knowledge would have suggested, and I use to deliberately seek out cheesy-looking movies at the video store, finding Circuitry Man and The Blood of Heroes to be unexpected gems.

[Bosstone]

I watched the new Get Smart movie last night. I'd expected a dorky, painfully humorless attempt at cashing in on an old franchise. What I got was a surprisingly funny and decent-hearted comedy action movie with some fantastic cameos.

It was a very pleasant surprise especially given that The Other Guys, which I tried to watch a little while ago, has a similar plot (even Dwayne Johnson in a similar role) and was so repulsively unfunny that I couldn't watch more than 20-30 minutes. Steve Carell is a vastly better comedic actor than Will Ferrell.