Ghost World
Pieces of April
Batman Begins
Blasphemy!
Windtalkers. Silly me. I actually thought it would be about the Navaho Code Talkers. Instead, it was a big, dumb Nicholas Cage explosion fest.
Second for Watchmen. Loved the book, loved the first-look trailer with the Smashing Pumpkins song, loved the preview of the first 5 minutes seen at a convention, went on to hate the movie when it finally came out.
The Hangover. The trailer was great, as were all the reviews. I was really stoked. Unfortunately, I never laughed once. Any part that could have potentially been funny I had already seen numerous times in the trailer.
I know, but it is true. I was cheering for it and everything, but hated it.
Me 3! I just thought maybe it was too over my head because the A-hole I was with liked it. I didn’t like it at all. I can’t even bring myself to watch it again and give it another chance.
I won’t watch it again, ever, even though I’m even now slightly curious to see the director’s cut with the Black Freighter content and all. But I still won’t because sitting through the movie last year seriously endangered my previously near-unconditional love for Moore and Gibbons’ source novel. And I can’t have that happen.
Anyway, why on earth would I want to watch a cut that’s even longer than the already interminable, ponderous theatrical cut?
In short, fuck Zack Snyder, the hack!
Several of these responses seem to miss the point of the OP as I read it. Lots of movies get a ton of undeserved hype, especially Ocsar-bait crap and big dumb popcorn movies, but I’m not sure that qualifies as “movies you thought you’d like”. I mean I had heard a ton about Lost in Translation and decided to watch it to see what I thought but at no point was I particularly convinced that I’d necessarily like it. It was after all an unapologetic artsy nuanced character study which don’t always tend to be crowd-pleasers. I don’t think “my friend loved it” really gets at the point.
Alexander is a really good example for me. I typically love big sprawling heroic epics. I love swords and sandals type movies and Gladiator is one of my all time favorite movies. I really like Oliver Stone movies and I actually was pretty tolerant of Colin Farrell at the time on the heels of The Recruit and Minority Report. It was even R rated and promised nudity and sex scenes, a rarity these days in big budget movies. This movie absolutely should have been good, or at least entertaining as a popcorn flick. It was neither.
Hellboy 2 was the first one that leapt to my mind. I am usually a big fan of comic book stuff and I’m generally very tolerant of the quirkiness and occasional plot holes they contain. I really liked the first Hellboy and was one of the first people spreading the word on it, so when the sequel rolled around I was stoked. The addition of Guillermo de Toro was supposed to ensure a great sequel with even better monsters and visuals. Boy oh boy was I wrong.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: I love Kung Fu movies, I love Epic Movies, I’m a big fan of all the principal cast. I fell asleep watching it, and was so bored by it on a subsequent re-watch I switched it off, which is practically unheard of for me.
Also, In Bruges. It looked like a “Wacky Hitmen on holiday in Europe” film, with amusing hijinks all round, but it was (IME) a depressing, unfunny film in which I didn’t even smile once. Not even at the racist dwarf. I’ve found the film’s popularity on the SDMB to be quite baffling, actually…
Better Luck Tomorrow - I didn’t end up hating it, but it was sort of a letdown for me. Everyone was raving about it, and I read the synopsis and thought I would like it. In hindsight, though, I think I just didn’t get it.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
I had recently read the book, which has a lot of potentially great cinematic elements. Then I hear a movie is coming out, which supposedly is going to stick close to the book and is directed by Coppola. Awesome! How could it go wrong?
Easily, it turns out. Dracula gets turned into a crappy Hollywood action movie. The casting is horrible. Anthony Hopkins inexplicably decides to play Van Helsing as an over-the-top screaming madman instead of the voice of professorial wisdom. Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves turn in two of the most distractingly bad fake British accents in cinematic history. Dracula is given a sympathetic backstory so that he is not an evil monster, but just a troubled and heartbroken soul. Gahhhh!
The only thing I liked, and that I thought was true to the book, was the scene where Keanu gets attacked/seduced by the trio of female vampires. That was nice. (Well OK, Dracula’s independent-minded shadow was a nice touch too.)
Beyond that, the movie was crap. Instead of creeping tension, we get top-of-the lungs yelling, quick cuts and explosions. What a letdown.
Another one for Lost In Translation. I came in here with the intention of nominating that one and expected to catch hell for it, but I see I’m in good company. I felt like I’d done something wrong by not liking it. It’s Bill F’ing Murray, ferpetessakes! How can I not like it?!?! It’s the best performance of his career! Meh. Hated it. At least there were some boobies.
I don’t remember any boobies in Lost In Translation, and Mr. Skin says it contains no nudity.
Maybe he’s confusing it with Broken Flowers. I mean, they are the same movie, aren’t they?
Independence Day.
I love Scifi and I like Will Smith. I hated this movie. Hated it.
I remember waiting for years for the Godzilla movie, and then it came out. Although it was not the worst movie I have ever seen (it was bad, but not the worst) I cannot remember a time in my life when a movie so utterly destroyed my expectations.
Actually, del Toro directed the first one, too. (Hellboy (2004) - IMDb)
Agreed. But, visually, it’s a tour-de-force. I think it’s among the ten most beautiful-looking films I’ve ever seen.
Don’t remember boobies, but the opening shot was… niiiiiiiice.