# Movies that you thought you'd love but wound up hating. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900 "2010-04-04T11:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/21 "2010-04-04T16:26:42Z")
So far, _Inglorious Basterds_. I have this constant urge to fast-forward until something actually happens. I’ll start it back up again this weekend, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/22 "2010-04-04T16:44:36Z")
Neither _Donnie Darko_ nor _The Big Lebowski_ lived up to the hype I had been told. _Donnie Darko_ was an incomprehensible mess, especially. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/23 "2010-04-04T17:38:22Z")
_Ultraviolet_. Mostly because it was supposed to use a “purer” form of the “Gun Kata” martial art developed by the writer/director for his earlier film _Equilibrium_, but which was heavily modified by a choreographer for the latter. Turns out that a) The original fake martial art really _did_ look better when meddled with (tropes are not bad, kids!), and b) _nothing_ could have saved that movie. Well, maybe if you cut out all the dialogue and filmed it like an early Aeon Flux episode. _And_ had Milla Jovovich naked a lot more. And I mean a _lot_. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/24 "2010-04-04T17:40:48Z")
_Batman_ (the Tim Burton one) - Jack Nicholson as the Joker? How could it go wrong? I found out. Worst scene: The Joker pulls out a big pistol and shoots down the Batplane. Suuuuuure. My wife adds: _Forrest Gump_. Good choice. Also, _Enemy at the Gates_. We saw it in a theater for free, and it was still too much. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/25 "2010-04-04T17:59:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Umm, yes. > > You need to explain why you thought you were going to like it Well, when I read the book, ISTR that I wanted to keep reading on and on to find out what happened next and next and next till it was all over. Of course it was many years between the book reading and when the movie was made so nearly all the really stupid? details of the book had been forgotten. By that time I mostly just remembered that it kept my interest till the end. Maybe you could say for me the writing style was able to overcome the stupid in the book. In the movie, all I think all the big screen, the actors, and visuals (pretty much the whole package really) did was amplify it. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/26 "2010-04-04T21:04:07Z")
The **Star Wars** prequels (well, okay, I only really had hope for the first two). **Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull**. **Watchmen**. ETA: Cripes, how could I forget the granddaddy of this category, **The** fucking goddamn pusillanimous **Blair Witch Project**! ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/27 "2010-04-04T21:14:17Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Spiderman Seconded. Though I did really enjoy the second one (which I came thisclose to not seeing since I was so disappointed by the first one; though, in fairness, I must say that watching the [much] longer director’s cut on DVD a few years later significantly reduced my enjoyment of 2). ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/28 "2010-04-04T21:18:37Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Lost In Translation—I was SO ready for a great movie, and had heard how Bill Murray was acting on a level that was light-years above any of his previous roles—I suppose his acting chops were pretty good, but the movie itself made it impossible for me to care about any of the characters or what they might be going thru on-screen. > > A HUGE disappointment, and one of the most over-praised (both critically and popularly) movies that I can ever remember… Agreed. Between the critics and a couple of my (usually discerning) friends, I had been assured that this was akin to the Second Coming. I hated it so bad that I wound up getting physically angry at the fact that I’d just sat through the giant, pretentious turd. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/29 "2010-04-04T21:20:12Z")
**Waking Life**. People kept recommending it to me, but God, I fucking hate that pretentious pile of warmed-over pseudophilosophy nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/30 "2010-04-04T21:22:57Z")
**Aliens vs Predator** I love Aliens, I love Predator, surely both of them together was guaranteed to be a great time, right? No way they could screw this up, right? Right?! **WRONG** ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/31 "2010-04-04T22:53:15Z")
**Dark Water**. I liked the American remake of **Ringu** , and…I dunno, I just like horror movies. Ohhhhh boy was I wrong. It wasn’t scary, it was just fucking DEPRESSING. **Alexander**. Ancient Greek epic? Awesome! What could go wrong? Well…lots of things. Actually, I mostly hated it because it was long and boring, and I was so ANGRY at myself because of it. I’m not SUPPOSED to hate movies because they’re long and boring, dammit, those are the kind of movies I typically like! But alas, it was so. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/32 "2010-04-04T23:04:52Z")
Some REALLY good ones in here. I’ll add my two cents to: Lost in Translation Indiana Jones IV King Kong Star Wars III Donnie Darko ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/33 "2010-04-04T23:24:01Z")
Lost in Translation In Bruges Reservoir Dogs ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/34 "2010-04-04T23:35:22Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Some REALLY good ones in here. I’ll add my two cents to: > > Lost in Translation > Indiana Jones IV > King Kong > Star Wars III > Donnie Darko Star Wars - Episode III? You expected it to be good? _Really_? I know I have Episode II up and that itself is inexcusable… but at least that came right after a movie with Maul in it. But _Episode III_? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/35 "2010-04-05T00:04:34Z")
True. But we thought that all the bullshit tauntaun riding, lovey-dovey crap was done, there’d be an awesome lava pit fight scene, and we’d see great exposition on Anakin’s fall into the dark side. We got the fight scene, but nothing else. But yeah - Episode II was probably a bigger let down. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/36 "2010-04-05T00:46:28Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Lost In Translation—I was SO ready for a great movie, and had heard how Bill Murray was acting on a level that was light-years above any of his previous roles—I suppose his acting chops were pretty good, but the movie itself made it impossible for me to care about any of the characters or what they might be going thru on-screen. Totally agree. I have to add a few more Bill Murray movies: Life Aquatic, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums. And Donnie Darko. I’ve heard it makes sense on repeated viewings, but I don’t think it’ll do it for me. And I wasn’t expecting to LOVE Vanilla Sky, but I was surprised by the depth of my hatred for it. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/37 "2010-04-05T00:55:25Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > I have to add a few more Bill Murray movies: Life Aquatic, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums. Agreed. And they’re all Wes Anderson movies. I can’t for the life of me get what people think is so extraordinarily entertaining about his movies. IMO his films are quirky for quirkiness’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/38 "2010-04-05T01:04:13Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > Totally agree. I have to add a few more Bill Murray movies: Life Aquatic, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums. Amen, especially with The Royal Tenenbaums—again, just like with Lost In Translation, every self-styled “cinema critique” poseur this side of Sundance couldn’t wait to line up to sing undying praises to a very mediocre movie… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/39 "2010-04-05T01:12:30Z")
**2001: A Space Odyssey**. Here it was, science fiction at a time when filmed SF was rare, and by a director who did one of my favorite films of all time, **Dr. Strangelove**. I saw it in its original run at the Criterion Theater in New York (this was long before wide openings – it wouldn’t have reached me for at least a month). Found it visually fascinating, but duller than dirt, with a meaningless psychedelic light show at the end. A real disappointment. I’ve seen it more recently. It’s not as bad as I remembered, but still is badly flawed. Kubrick had painted himself into a corner in the end, so threw in some bright shiny lights to make it seem like the film actually meant something. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/40 "2010-04-05T01:34:56Z")
**The Mist** - Wow. Great director, but a horrible movie. Hated it. Just nothing good in it. Big surprise. \*\*Underworld \*\*- It looked good and I like cool movies like this, but it was terrible. **Annie Hall** - I saw 5 minutes on TV, thought it looked funny, and got the DVD. Wow, this was horrifying. Hated it entirely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900.md?page=3)