# Movies you were greatly surprised not to like **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923 "2009-06-06T14:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/21 "2009-06-06T16:48:42Z")
Tropic Thunder. I did not laugh once. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/22 "2009-06-06T17:14:26Z")
The hype for _Withnal and I_ was just too much I guess. I came away trying to think of something, anything, that would give this movie the appeal everything kept saying it had. I couldn’t find it. And that is usally just my type of movie. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/23 "2009-06-06T17:20:11Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > The hype for _Withnal and I_ was just too much I guess. I came away trying to think of something, anything, that would give this movie the appeal everything kept saying it had. Yes! It’s supposed to be one of the best movies ever. I tried to watch it twice on tv and couldn’t get through more than 30 minutes. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/24 "2009-06-06T17:40:04Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I was fairly excited to rent Transformers. . I thought it would be good, too. It committed one of the biggest sins in summer movies. It was…boring. > [@Tangent](#): > > I thought I’d like _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button_. I’m a big fan of Fincher and Pitt’s other outings together, and I love Cate Blanchett. The film was pretty to look at, but the story and characters just didn’t grab me like I expected them too. My wife and I both disliked it, thinking it should have had about 30-45 minutes edited out of it. I also did not enjoy **The Mist** , which was directed by Frank Darabont and I had heard good things about it. I was disappointed it was just a cheesy, made for TV, horror movie with nothing particular well done about it. I know the ending gets a lot of negative attention, but I hated it even before that came along. It was just…dumb. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/25 "2009-06-06T18:45:45Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > _Lost in Translation_. I was traveling to Asia a lot when it came out and was really expecting to relate to a lot of it. Instead it was about a couple of the most assholish, self absorbed pieces of shit who totally missed the point of just about everything. I wanted so much to like this movie, but no matter how I tried to identify with the characters, I could not find any redeeming value in any of them… For a long time I thought Bill Murray must be the coolest actor around, I have since decided otherwise. ---
**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 6, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/26 "2009-06-06T18:53:17Z")
Anything based on a Tennessee Williams play. There’s something about his plays that demands the intimacy of a theater; I have to force myself to sit through a movie version. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/27 "2009-06-06T19:12:21Z")
**Network.** I generally enjoy satires and movies about the media and this sounded great. I was disappointed that the movie was so over the top with characters screaming at each other every five minutes. IMO over the top scenes work better if they are mixed with quiet stretches. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/28 "2009-06-06T19:13:38Z")
I’ve have enjoyed every single one of the Pixar flicks and own them on DVD. Even when seeing the previews of _Ratatouille_ in which I thought the premise looked boring, Pixar suprised me and made a beautiful interesting movie. Until _Wall-E_. Everyone loved that movie and thought it was the best Pixar flick thus far. It bored me to tears after the first 10 minutes in the theatre. Johnny Five chasing around an I-pod, zzzzz… I even gave it a second chance and rented it. Stopped watching after 20 minutes. I never bother to buy the DVD and probably never will. Haven’t seen _Up!_ yet but am convinced it will be as good as the old Pixar flicks. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/29 "2009-06-06T19:37:07Z")
Run Fatboy Run. I like everything else Simon Pegg has done, but this was just formulaic and booooring. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/30 "2009-06-06T19:43:52Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > _ **Tom Jones** _. It was on On Demand recently, so I decided to give it another shot. Classic, 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, comedy, sex romp, impressive cast . . . except it’s not funny. Like, at all. Nor is it interesting. About half an hour in, I decided I had more entertaining things to do with my time, and went and washed the dishes. Urgh. I had to keep watching that because my boyfriend was enjoying it. I was just this far on the side of “not bored to death” not to be able to seek refuge in sleep. I expected to love **Closer** - it had all those great people in it, it seemed right up my alley - but I was bored and annoyed and I hated every single one of them except Clive Owen. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/31 "2009-06-06T19:47:32Z")
I never really much cared for any of the five films I’ve seen by Stanley Kubrick. This surprises me because I generally like all sorts of films, and Kubrick’s work is widely considered to be very good. I think that it’s partly the [Seinfeld is Unfunny](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny) trope at work, and partly the way his films are paced. ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/32 "2009-06-06T20:30:55Z")
[quote=“Hampshire, post:28, topic:498923”] I’ve have enjoyed every single one of the Pixar flicks and own them on DVD. Even when seeing the previews of _Ratatouille_ in which I thought the premise looked boring, Pixar suprised me and made a beautiful interesting movie. Until _Wall-E_. Everyone loved that movie and thought it was the best Pixar flick thus far. It bored me to tears after the first 10 minutes in the theatre. Johnny Five chasing around an I-pod, zzzzz… I even gave it a second chance and rented it. Stopped watching after 20 minutes. QUOTE] Wow, far out. my experience is exactly like yours, except it’s exactly the opposite. i heard a lot of good things about Ratatoulle, and I generally like the Pixar/Dreamworks movies, but I hated this one. HATED it. Everything anyone did in this movie pissed me off. I bitched nonstop throughout the whole thing, and I never do that. WALL-E, on the other hand, more than lived up to the hype. i honestly think it is one of the best CGI animation movies ever made. How can they convey that much plot and emotion with virtually no dialogue??? The ending actually had me choked up. Huh, different strokes, eh ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/33 "2009-06-06T20:36:18Z")
_Prizzi’s Honor_. It had great reviews, friends, recommended it, so my wife and I rented it. Boy, did that suck! ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/34 "2009-06-06T20:46:01Z")
I really expected to like “Nancy Drew” from the trailers. It looked like it would manage to both capture the girly appeal of the original books while parodying them as well, but instead did neither (though I do expect to see Emma Roberts become a star) I also really expected to like “The DaVinci Code”. The whole time I was reading the books I kept thinking “this writing sucks, but it will make a great movie” but the movie sucked too. “National Treasure” did a much better job at the monument-a-minute crazy conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/35 "2009-06-06T21:04:33Z")
Oh and another vote for **Lost in Translation** which I had expected to like. I would struggle to think of another film so condescending towards a foreign culture. At one point the big joke appeared to be that the Japanese don’t speak English. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/36 "2009-06-06T21:11:15Z")
Agreed on Transformers, The Shining, and yes, Lost in Translation. The last one actively angered me though. Just give me a \*chance \*to explore Japan with money and free time. Goddamn bastards don’t appreciate what’s right in front of them. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/37 "2009-06-06T21:40:46Z")
Terminator: Salvation Christian Bale screamed at a lighting guy for this? I liked Terminator when I was a tweener; I liked Terminator 2 when I was a teenager. It had something my dad calls “Things blowed up real good” but they also had some real heart and story in them. I was expecting a reboot along the lines of the Star Trek one (which I **did** like). Now, things DID blow up real good in Terminator Salvation. But they had so much they could work with—and…it so SUCKED. No heart and no logic either. I dragged my boyfriend/male friend/ SO to see it. I usually get irritated b/c he will fall asleep in movies. He kept trying to at this one…then something would blow up. I now have to watch some damn Frank Zappa movie as payback. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/38 "2009-06-06T22:08:35Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > \ > I also didn’t like _The Princess Bride_. Given what I knew from pop culture about it I expected it to be great, only to discover there _weren’t_ any other good bits. You sir, I shall see in the pit! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/39 "2009-06-06T22:28:06Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > Lord of the Rings. > > My friends loved it, the internet raved about,and I think every nerd I knew blew a load in their pants during it. But I hated it. HATED HATED HATED it. They were so boring I fell asleep in the theater and have never watched a single one of them again. Ditto. So many fight scenes with our plucky band of, what, 6 tiny people? battling incredible odds and somehow coming out unscathed. And really, just SO MANY fight scenes in general. Loved the books, hated the movie (just the one since I couldn’t bring myself to see the other two.) ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923/40 "2009-06-06T22:30:56Z")
_Rent_. I spent years working in musical theatre, and I generally like musicals on screen, but good gravy, that movie was awful. They managed to strip every single character of any likeable traits they ever had and by the end of the movie I just hated them all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-greatly-surprised-not-to-like/498923.md?page=3)