This is a fascinating thread. I always avoided Fight Club because I had no desire to see a film about people joining a club to fight each other (or someone else, I really have no idea). Now I guess I have to avoid it because it has a misleading title. 
So can junior modding. 
Fair enuf!
I agree that people are pushing things here. Silence of the Lambs, in particular, is not at all misleading if you’ve seen the movie.
I wanted to see some titles at random, and since A Clockwork Orange was mentioned, I went to Kubrick’s IMDb page. His last 3 films:
Eyes Wide Shut: How can they be shut and wide at the same time?
Full Metal Jacket: You mean like a suit of armor?
The Shining: Like the Sun?
And on and on.
Yet if you have seen those films or have read a good synopsis, they fit quite well.
Last but not least:
Star Wars: So, big blobs of fusioning gas battle each other?
These kind of title nitpickings are silly and waaay too common.
OTOH, Blade Runner does have a nonsense title. Although the phrase “blade runner” is used in the movie, it isn’t explained (since it really can’t be) and it makes no sense.
Ditto the cite of Brazil. But note that the song “Brazil” is played during the “happy ending”.
Reservoir Dogs (neither reservoir nor dogs)
The Plague Dogs (yes, there are dogs, but no plague)
The Dogs of War
Again, I think you’re missing the point. Nearly all the titles mentioned make sense after you’ve seen the movie, or even if you know something about it in advance. Both examples mentioned in the OP make sense once you’ve seen the film. But some titles are particularly enigmatic if you don’t know anything in advance. Those are the ones we’re interested in here.
Wag the Dog sounds like it might be about a friendly pet.
Straw Dogs
Dog Soldiers
What “blade runners” are is explained in the opening crawl. It doesn’t explain exactly why the name was chosen, but it seems appropriate enough for a unit designed to chase down and kill renegade replicants.
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And in “Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff,” Boris Karloff is not actually the killer.
More in line with the OP: “The Squid and the Whale” doesn’t exactly suggest a film about two intellectuals divorcing and the effect it has on their kids
I came here to mention this, but you beat me to it.
Note that the title is explained in the book, but even there it’s totally contrived and has nothing much to do with the story. (It seems to be a hallucinatory recollection of a childhood nursery rhyme that pops into McMurphy’s mind when he gets his first electroshock treatment. Or was it something that happened to Chief Bromden?) Anyway, the detail was totally lost in the movie.
Well, that’s part of the movie. There are about three distinct acts to the movie as I recall, maybe four. The fight clubs are in the middle.
Get Him to the Greek, while actually a very literal title given the plot, does not suggest the movie will be as funny, clever, and overall full of heart as it is.
In fact, I’ve always said if this movie had gotten a title like “Aldous Snow: Live at the Greek” or something it would’ve done much better.
(my editing)
Ah, but there is one Martian in The Martian, played by Matt Damon. He says something about planting crops means he’s populated the land which makes him a Martian, then says “In your face, Neil Armstrong!”
Although he also reckons he’s a space pirate so I can’t be sure he’s factually correct and not just losing his mind.
The Virgin Machine.
It is not about a machine that manufactures virgins.
The original German title is Die Jungfrauen Maschine, so the translation seems pretty literal. I have no idea whether the implication is more obvious in German or not. It probably is, because German is declined.
If it had been called “My First Movie,” no one would have seen it; The Virgin Machine is so much more provocative, but the idea is that the machine, or camera, is a virgin, because it’s the filmmaker’s first film. The emphasis should be on the word “machine,” not “virgin.”
As for Sorceror, one of my faves, did you see the title referenced in the flick? It’s the name of one of the trucks and is printed on the side of it, visible, as I remember, for only a few seconds.
Yeah, but the title makes it sound like a fantasy centered on a magician.
BORIS KARLOFF: “What do Abbott and Costello do in this movie?”
ACCURATE MAN: “Abbott and Costello meet the killer, Boris Karloff.”
BORIS KARLOFF: “Thanks ever so much for your polite and grammatical answer.”
ACCURATE MAN: “It was my pleasure, Boris Karloff!”
The Naked Gun
Die Hard (Isn’t that a battery?)
Kentucky Fried Movie
American Graffiti
The Green Mile
Gods and Monsters
Birdman
Octopussy
Hancock might have got plenty of Brits of a certain age thinking of the comedian Tony Hancock.