Robocop. I was dragged to see this film with a group of college friends, and all I knew about it was that it was going to be a hyper-violent revenge fantasy film. Which it was, but it also managed to be clever, and witty, and show some excellent world-building, and great character acting.
Last Action Hero. Marketed as another Ahnold movie, I was expecting same old same old, and it was a very witty, intelligent satire of the action movie genre. Great fun, and a movie that I think failed largely because of a poor advertising campaign.
Footloose. The first ~45 minutes are freaking hilarious. It gets a little touchy feely after that, so I just watch up until that point. I definitely did not imagine that movie would make me laugh my ass off, but it did.
Oooh Idle Hands - almost forgot about that one! I thought it was brill. Empire records was also another one for me. Glad to see Im not the only one who thought they may not like it. Both of these were recommendations of my flatmate who has pretty much the complete opposite taste in movies give or take a few.
When I first saw the ads for Dodgeball, I thought “this is the most ridiculous, unfunny premise I have ever heard and I will never see it if I can help it”. A friend pushed me into going, and I freaking loved it. The complete irreverence, the goofball moments, the strangely likeable characters, and the innuendo-driven humor brought out the kid in me. Watched it another hundred times after it came out on DVD.
Music and Lyrics and Just Like Heaven, too. Both seemed like awful romcoms with lamer-than-usual plots, but they’re both very sweet, with some great chemistry between the leads.
Nice one Stauderhorse. I don’t even like some of the main actors, but I loved the movie. ESPN the Ocho. That’s classic.
I just thought of another one. I thought The Incredibles was not going to be worth watching, I was most certainly wrong. It turned out to be one of my favorite animated movies ever.
Some really great ones here folks. I share many of them with you.
Dogma. Years ago, my brother was watching it on television and called me into the family room saying it looked like my kind of movie. He was right, although I didn’t think I’d like it at first.
I’m also a fan of A Knight’s Tale, but I’d say it’s surprisingly good rather than a movie I was surprised I liked.
Clueless. I was in my 20’s when I saw it and thought it would be a boring teen comedy. How wrong I was. My friend who I went to see it with and I still talk about the movie. I’ve seen it many times since then.
Kung Fu Panda. I don’t like Jack Black, it looked dumb, and it was made by dreamworks (who’s CG efforts I don’t care for, Shrek 1 & 2 aside). Yet I was laughing my ass off almost the entire time. Hilarious movie; I saw it twice!
The first time I saw Double Indemnity I was awed by the fact that Fred MacMurray could act. Prior to then,I’d only known him as a typical clueless Sitcom Dad.
I, too, liked Tuscan Sky, finding it a lot less chick-flicky than most.
Of course, I also love the cheese. Any of the Travolta Trilogy of Cheese: Saturday Night Fever, Stayin’Alive, or Urban Cowboy, especially.
And, after years of leaving the room when the wife hadDirty Dancing on, I found that it ain’t too bad after all.
Tropic Thunder, Superbad, and The Wedding Singer are the three that immediately come to mind. The first time I saw Shaun of the Dead, I thought it was okay, but not great. So I didn’t really have any interest in Hot Fuzz, but my sister insisted I go see it, and it became one of my all time favorite movies. And I learned to love Shaun of the Dead, too.
I was surprised to like Raising Arizona - I was thinking it was another along the lines of 3 Men and a Baby, etc. My girlfriend, now wife, implored me to rent this one. So we got it at the local video store and popped it in the VCR.
I did not stop laughing until sometime during the opening credits.
V for Vendetta. I thought it was going to be okay, it didn’t really seem like my kind of movie but I had heard it was good. It’s now one of my favorite movies ever.
Also, Singles. I bought it because it was cheap and I was really into Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam (still am). I didn’t even know what it was about. It’s also now one of my favorite movies.