I just watched “Couples Retreat” in the background while I worked, and I can’t BELIEVE how bad it sucks. It was billed as a tropical fun comedy, it was all marital squabbling between generally unappealing characters. A pretty good cast, but who could read a script like that and think they had something fun going on? Jeebus, it stank on ice. Not only not funny, but not funny in an annoying way.
I watched “The Sweetest Thing” and expected it to suck – billed as a “gross-out comedy” it was insteady a raunchy chick flick. There were gross-out elements, but they weren’t all THAT prevalent, and I found the characters appealing. Maybe it was the actresses – Cameron Diaz handles “cute” very well, and Christina Applegate had a certain puckishness, and Selma Blair was really appealing in her role. I think the actresses helped a lot here, but there was a fun story for them to work with.
I’ll second this. I expected, from the ads, that it’d be a low-budget flick featuring people in rubber masks running around LA shooting each other up. The film was infinitely better than that, and very aware of SF and literate.
I had the same experience a couple of years later with RoboCop, which looked as if it was just going to be a one-note joke.
Charlie’s Angels had terrible pre-release “buzz” - people were predicting it was going to be an epic fiasco and some said it might not even get released. But it turned out to be a pretty good movie and quite popular.
I agree about Couples Retreat. Just saw it last night. Bunches of annoying people abrading each other in stereotypical ways != funny. There was probably an uplifting end but I never made it. Uplifting != funny either.
40 Year Old Virgin on the other hand was a hoot that I never expected.
Years ago I got dragged to see Three Kings by somebody who doesn’t miss a Marky Mark movie. It looked absolutely awful from the publicity, and of course it was a fantastic movie.
I know! Let’s make a movie about an abrasive New Yorker in the Deep South and point out cultural differences. We can hang it on some weak story about a court case.
That’s B-movie material at best. But not only was My Cousin Vinny a tight little flick, it won Marissa Tomei an academy award and is often used in law schools for it’s educational content.
I expected Jurassic Park 3 to be a run down retread with all the fun sucked out of the story. Instead it was a great little B movie! I still catch it on cable now and then. I wish they’d make a Jurassic Park 4 about a bunch of Central American villagers besieged by dinosaurs who swam over from the islands.
There’s been a few movies that have been trashed by critics and the masses lately that I somehow managed to enjoy thoroughly. I’m beginning to question my own tastes.
Clash of the Titans 2010. Plenty of mindless action in a straight forward story. No I don’t care how faithful it may be to the mythology. It just looks a lot better than the original which looks really campy nowdays.
Australia. Just big epic fun. I never took it too seriously and it was pleasant to watch.
Speed Racer. I really got into the story and the storytelling about this racing family vs. evil big business racing.
Piranha 3D, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Date Night were all recent pleasant surprises. I really, really enjoyed them. I thought The Hangover would be great, but it was the worst piece of crap I’ve seen in the past year.
yes, “The Hangover” sucked truly and completely. I watched it on cable after reading about it having this huge box office … and it really wasn’t a hell of a lot better than “Couple’s Retreat.” The only place I laughed is when the naked Asian guy jumped out of the car trunk and beat everybody up. Other than that, really predictable, trite and stupid. I had not watched it because the trailers looked stupid … and the trailers were right!
“Runaway Train” just sounds like a cruddy B-movie, doesn’t it? But it’s one of the most thoughtful, nuanced character studies I’ve ever seen … that just happens to take place on a train hurtling towards doom and explosions.
Who would have guessed that a movie based on a Disneyworld ride would be anything other than utter dreck? Yet Pirates of the Caribbean was great.
And I’ve said it many times before, but whoever did the marketing for 12 Monkeys ought to be… Well, not shot, maybe, but definitely fired. The commercials and previews all made it look idiotic, but it was the best time-travel movie I’ve ever seen.
Mr. Jennmonkye and I watched the Zac Efron comedy “17 Again” a couple of months ago on cable and BOTH absolutely loved it! There is not a chance that I would have ever thought that we would have even liked, much less loved that it…everyone was terrific in it!
To Chronos…I agree…I thought for sure that “Pirates of the Carribean” was going to be the worst, but I was watching it again the other day on cable and commented out loud to myself how great it was (no excuse for 2 or 3, though).
You cannot have a thread like this and NOT mention Iron Giant.
Superman
I did not cry, there was something in my eye. <sniff>
Sign me up for any Spongebob Squarepants you happen to find. (yes, there was a time I was certain it was crap).
Iron Man…how can they POSSIBLY make a good move about a second tier character…man, they’re really running out of ideas, and Daredevil STUNK…what makes 'em think Iron Man will be any good? He’s no Batman or Superman, that’s fer sure!
