# Movies that were Better than You Thought They would be **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808 "2011-05-31T02:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/21 "2011-05-31T11:32:46Z")
Thor was also better than I expected. And going in a completely different director, so was Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/22 "2011-05-31T13:01:04Z")
PootieTang- my first experience of Wanda Sykes sealed the deal, but I thought the whole conceit of a hip-hop artist who spoke a gibberish that everyone understood was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/23 "2011-05-31T13:03:23Z")
> [@Teufelblitz](#): > > I don’t speak for all D&D, LotR or fantasy fans in general, but this movie actually delivered what I want to see as a fan of those genres. Most fantasy movies get butchered horribly and actually upset fans. Lord of the Rings was as close to right as Hollywood has come as far as I am concerned. I actually went expecting to see something in the line of the fantasy garbage that had been cranked out in the past, but was pleasantly surprised that they did the story justice. I think we are in agreement - perhaps my use of the term “fanboy” was unwarranted. Like you, I was expecting to see fantasy dreck, and instead saw a well-crafted movie that was true to the original work and a beautiful example of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/24 "2011-05-31T13:24:18Z")
Robocop. My brother and I saw it in a pre-release screening and went in thinking it was, based on the title, be some kind of kiddie movie. Boy were we wrong. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/25 "2011-05-31T13:35:59Z")
_Easy A_ - the recent high school flick with Emma Stone. We caught it at the local dollar theater on a weekend when we had nothing better to do. It was my wife’s turn to pick a movie and I went in expecting it to be your standard teenybopper fare. But it’s a quite clever, quite hilarious sendup of high school cliquishness. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/26 "2011-05-31T14:03:10Z")
Several movies pleasantly surprised me: **The Terminator** – based on the ads, I thought it would be a movie with people in rubber masks running around LA shooting each other up, with Hollywood’s usual disdain for good SF. Boy, was I wrong. It was darkly witty (the film is _filled_ with cynical little dark jokes), obviously very familiar with good written SF, and made the most of its limited budget. **Robocop** – I didn’t think it was going to be a kiddie movie (as **Scumpup** did), but the previews made it look puerile – another “Hollywood” SF film. Again, I was surprised. Even more openly satirical and dark than _Terminator_ (the movie gives new meaning to _the banality of evil_), but still informed and knowledgeable about classic SF. (It quotes C.M. Kornbluth’s _The Marching Morons_ – with inflation). Again, good effects (like [ii]Terminator\*, it makes good use, in that pre-CGI era, of some judiciously-applied animation), and a wonderful twist at the end. The sequels were awful. **The Adventures of Mark Twain** – I’m a big fan of Will Vinton’s animation, and of Mark Twain, but I wasn’t expecting much from this effort, which looked to be directed at kids. But the story took excerpts from several of Twain’s works and put them on-screen, which was a blast – I’d been expecting some half-assed original story. It included something from _The Mysterious Stranger_, which freaked some people out, but to me is quintessential Twain – show 'em something with some intellectual oomph behind it that’s a bit disturbing! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/27 "2011-05-31T14:34:03Z")
**Time After Time**. The story sounds so stupid–Jack the Ripper uses H.G. Wells’s time machine to go to the present day and Wells follows him. Superb movie. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/28 "2011-05-31T14:35:13Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Robocop. My brother and I saw it in a pre-release screening and went in thinking it was,\*\* based on the title\*\*, be some kind of kiddie movie. Boy were we wrong. I saw a making-of documentary on AMC once, and they mentioned that the cast hated the title and it was assumed that it would be renamed at some point. But apparently no one could come up with a better title, so they just stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/29 "2011-05-31T14:39:08Z")
**Courage Under Fire**. I expected a formulaic movie and in some respects it was, but Denzel was great, and I teared up when Meg Ryan died a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/30 "2011-05-31T14:43:00Z")
Snooty me was completely convinced I’d watch about 10 minutes of _There’s Something About Mary_ and _Dodgeball_ and get up in a highbrow huff. WRONG. I laughed like a loon through both of them! “If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball!” Har har har! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/31 "2011-05-31T14:48:04Z")
_The Runaways_. Caught it on cable recently. Very surprised by Kristen Stewart’s performance as Joan Jett. I had assumed she was a generic actor (like co-star Dakota Fanning), but she did a really good job. Really bumped up the quality of the movie quite a bit. (Interesting to see [Riley Keough](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2142336/) follow in her grandpa’s footsteps appearing in musical movies.) Story-wise it had issues though. E.g., band members like Lita Ford were given hardly any attention at all. As to the afore-mentioned _Easy A_. Not too surprised _in toto,_ I knew it was supposed to be good despite the topic. But I was surprised by _what_ was good about it. Very well made, some really top notch actors, etc. Just a second rate plot. In particular … If all these guys knew she wasn’t really doing anything for the gift cards, how did this “secret” not leak out to everyone? ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/32 "2011-05-31T15:04:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > As to the afore-mentioned _Easy A_. Not too surprised _in toto,_ I knew it was supposed to be good despite the topic. But I was surprised by _what_ was good about it. Very well made, some really top notch actors, etc. Just a second rate plot. In particular … > > If all these guys knew she wasn’t really doing anything for the gift cards, how did this “secret” not leak out to everyone? I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would too. As far your spoiler question: I assume the secret of what she was doing was passed around only to people who would have a use for it - the less popular people in the school. All those who would need to make use of her ‘services’ - and those who had used it successfully - had a definitive reason NOT to tell any of the ‘popular’ kids what was going on. Why would they, spoiling what they had gained? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/33 "2011-05-31T15:17:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > **Time After Time**. The story sounds so stupid–Jack the Ripper uses H.G. Wells’s time machine to go to the present day and Wells follows him. > > Superb movie. Yeah, I got hooked on that when it was shown in heavy rotation on HBO back in the early Eighties. I should see it again sometime. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/34 "2011-05-31T16:39:05Z")
I never liked Hans Christian Andersen’s _The Little Mermaid_, so I passed on the Disney movie when it appeared in the theatres. That was a mistaken. After discovering this movie on LaserDisc (hah!), I was floored. It instantly became my favorite movie of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/35 "2011-05-31T18:23:53Z")
_Lars and the Real Girl_ had the potential to be a sick comedy, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a heartfelt drama. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/36 "2011-06-01T20:55:05Z")
Back again … Watched _Scott Pilgrim vs. The World_ last night. I knew ahead of time that it had some nerdish fans and a little bit about the plot. Guy fighting the girl’s old boyfriends. But I was amazed and surprised. Did not know about the whole comic book/video game homage stuff. Very nicely done. Almost a great movie. (The last couple of “battles” were getting stale.) Why hadn’t I known that this was a film for “me”? I thought maybe I had been misled by Ebert’s review. (He’s my goto guy for reviews. I adjust for differences in taste.) Turns out he _hadn’t_ reviewed it at all since he was taking a month off at the time. All of which brings up the age old issue: How does one find out if a movie is something one would like? All too often we have read reviews/heard from friends/read on message boards stuff about movies that make them seem the right thing to watch and found them duds. (Cf. the current _Clerks_ thread. I like it a lot. But clearly not for everyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/37 "2011-06-01T21:11:01Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > _The Runaways_. Caught it on cable recently. Very surprised by Kristen Stewart’s performance as Joan Jett. I had assumed she was a generic actor (like co-star Dakota Fanning), but she did a really good job. Really bumped up the quality of the movie quite a bit. (Interesting to see [Riley Keough](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2142336/) follow in her grandpa’s footsteps appearing in musical movies.) Story-wise it had issues though. E.g., band members like Lita Ford were given hardly any attention at all. Apparently, she wanted nothing to do with it. Perhaps with good reason. A quick google search yields various explanations. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/38 "2011-06-01T21:19:50Z")
I thought **Armageddon** would really, really, really suck. When I found it was just lame, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/39 "2011-06-01T21:23:33Z")
I would have assumed **Galaxy Quest** would be barely watchable because… well, comedy starring Tim Allen about TV actors confused with real space heroes by aliens. What more has to be said? Great flick. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/40 "2011-06-01T21:30:37Z")
_Avatar_. I had read people slamming it here and elsewhere and I ended up really enjoyed the 3-D version, contrived plotline or no. It is everything I wanted a 3-D movie to be. It remains the most visually stunning spectacle I have ever had the pleasure to watch on the big screen. And I don’t care if other people didn’t like it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808.md?page=3)