# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/41 "2011-06-01T21:38:12Z")
I just got around to watching Kick Ass last night. Wow! ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/42 "2011-06-01T21:41:04Z")
Stopped by sweetie’s brother’s place once for what was supposed to be a few minutes and we all ended up watching _Beerfest._ It’s stupid absurd drunk fratboy humor, which I normally hate, with just enough cleverness to leave me actually admiring the damned thing. It sold me when they had the nerve to kill off a character - and then bring in his heretofore unmentioned identical twin, who conveniently had been told all about his dead brother’s friends, and it’s almost like he knew them himself, and perhaps he could take his dead brother’s place on their team, and, y’know, they could even call him by his brother’s nickname if they wanted, and it would be like he hadn’t died. Over-the-top ridiculous scene, that. I’d probably watch it again if I caught it on TV. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/43 "2011-06-01T21:48:22Z")
> [@Dietrich\_K](#): > > I have to say that I was presently surprised by how much I enjoyed [_Terminator Salvation_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/). In fact, I ended up enjoying this orders of magnitude more so than I did _Terminator 3_. Same here, but mainly because I was fortunate enough to fall asleep partway through _Salvation_ whereas I was awake throughout _T3_. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/44 "2011-06-01T21:52:49Z")
“Hellboy”. I went into it never having heard of, let alone read, the comic book. It was summer and my AC was broken and I just needed to sit someplace cool for a couple hours. I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the movie so much. It had heart, humor, evil Nazis, and action. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/45 "2011-06-02T02:17:00Z")
[The Rocker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031969/) was way better than it had any right to be. Another vote for [Scott Pilgrim vs. The World](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/) and another for [Role Models](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430922/) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/46 "2011-06-02T02:30:33Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > 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. I came in to say this. What surprised me most is how they balanced poking fun at the material with respect for it, and how they weren’t afraid to make the nerds (briefly) viewpoint characters, and treat them as at least somewhat fleshed-out characters as opposed to a series of one-note jokes. In short, I wasn’t expecting a character-driven comedy with humor naturally flowing from realistic people in bizarre situations. [_Häxan_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4xan) is foreign, silent, and at least something of a documentary. It also had the misfortune of coming on TCM late at night when I was suffering from a bad head cold. I was _riveted_. I honestly did not want to turn away from the screen. I rarely have that reaction to any film, but _Häxan_ bewitched me that evening. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/47 "2011-06-02T02:50:45Z")
I was bored one night and decided to watch a random horror movie on Netflix, ended up picking **Triangle**. Based entirely on the cover and title i assumed it was your standard Bermuda triangle ghost ship slasher film, turned out to be one of the best movies i’ve seen the past few years and a total mind fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/48 "2011-06-02T05:20:52Z")
_Pirates of the Caribbean_. C’mon…a movie based on a **theme park ride**? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/49 "2011-06-02T05:56:28Z")
TCM was playing \*On the Waterfront, \*which I had never seen. I’ve never had a taste for “crime” or “gangster” movies, but this movie won eight Academy Awards. I figured “How bad can it be?” and Tivo’d it. In spite of not being my “type” of movie, I found it one of the most riveting movies I’d ever seen, and well deserving of all the awards. I wound up watching it three times. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Story/Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing . . . plus four additional nominations. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/50 "2011-06-02T21:49:38Z")
**Paycheck**. Better written than the other John Woo films I’ve seen. Tprotagonist was supposed to by a briiliant engineer and he actually acted intelligently most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/51 "2011-06-02T23:00:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > TCM was playing \*On the Waterfront, \*which I had never seen. I’ve never had a taste for “crime” or “gangster” movies, but this movie won eight Academy Awards. I figured “How bad can it be?” and Tivo’d it. In spite of not being my “type” of movie, I found it one of the most riveting movies I’d ever seen, and well deserving of all the awards. I wound up watching it three times. > > Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Story/Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing . . . plus four additional nominations. That reminds me. I had the same sort of experience with _Gone With the Wind_. I figured, “how bad can it be?”, so I finally consented to watch it, and I was absolutely blown away…it was \*so \*much more than i was expecting. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/52 "2011-06-02T23:23:58Z")
> [@Dr.Rieux](#): > > **Paycheck**. Better written than the other John Woo films I’ve seen. Tprotagonist was supposed to by a briiliant engineer and he actually acted intelligently most of the time. Not only that – it’s a rare case of Hollywood adapting a Philip K. Dick story and actually being pretty faithful to it. Not everything Dick wrote was about drugs, paranoia, or the way we can’t truust “reality” to be “real”. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/53 "2011-06-13T14:37:06Z")
**Grown Ups**. Really. If you recall the TV commercials that aired endlessly during its initial release, it was about a group of overgrown man-children who pee in public pools. Ha Ha! Turns out the pool-peeing scene was a very very brief throwaway gag, and it’s really a surprisingly sweet film about friendship and family. There aren’t a lot of big laughs (there are a couple though) and it’s an entirely predictable plot, but I found myself just smiling throughout the whole movie. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/54 "2011-06-13T14:42:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > …going in a completely different director… Coming, going, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/55 "2011-06-13T15:32:46Z")
Snakes on a Plane. I had expected it to be one of the most terrible films of all time, but it managed to be much more fun than I had expected. It wasn’t stellar by any stretch of the imagination but it was better than I had anticipated. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/56 "2011-06-13T15:57:48Z")
_The Matrix_. The trailers were pretty vague on what it was about and I went into it expecting very little. I was blown away. ---
**Author:** ![Troutsqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Troutsqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troutsqueezer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/57 "2011-06-14T19:09:36Z")
Toy Story 3. I thought…What? Number 3? How good can that be? It was pretty damn good. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/58 "2011-06-14T22:27:25Z")
Spaceballs. I was about ten and only went to see it because my friends insisted. It’s now one of my favourite movies and I think it was actually one of the reasons I started picking up more and Sf books that I would previously have ignored. Gattaca. It sounded mediocre, but was actually a beautiful movie that explored the issues very well. The OP mentioned Office Space, and I think I’m one of many who found that to be really funny; Stapler Guy is a genius creation. It’s worth watching the film just for him. The 40-year-old virgin is another that a lot of people seem to like more than they expected, including me; even though I do like that sort of comedy sometimes, this one looked terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/59 "2011-06-14T23:11:49Z")
[Frailty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264616/), with Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. Directed by Paxton. I like Bill Paxton okay, but he’s not the greatest actor out there. Same with McConaughey. And the plot seemed kinda cliche: Guy thinks God has spoken to him, and tells him to kill other people. I wasn’t really expecting much; I got free passes to its premiere, and went just too have something to do. I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s creepy, fairly well-acted and well-written, and is just about plausible. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808/60 "2011-06-14T23:29:32Z")
Me too for: **The Terminator Time After Time Pirates Of The Caribbean Three Amigos** Never would have expected these to be as good as they were. Not mentioned yet (I don’t think): **Ghostbusters**. For some reason I had low expectations when this came out. Wrong. **Bridges Of Madison County**. I never read the “book”, which by all accounts was a crime against literature, but I’ve always liked Clint Eastwood, and Meryl Streep needs no introduction. So when it got decent reviews, I rather skeptically saw it, and thought it was great. I’d expected Eastwood to make a fool of himself acting alongside Streep; instead, for the first time (IMO) he showed he can in fact ACT, and he at least held his own with her. And I thought the movie just plain told the story well. **Tremors**. Posters and trailers fooled me. I expected low-budget schlock, and got a comic treasure instead. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-you-thought-they-would-be/583808.md?page=4)