For me, the one movie that never fails to stop me surfing is Payback, with Mel Gibson. I never remember it even being in theaters, and yet it has great dialog and one-liners, an interesting bluish tint to the film stock, and great supporting characters, including Lucy Lui.
No quality requirement here. If it’s your favorite guilty pleasure, that’s fine by me.
I’m not sure if you mean movies we only saw after their theatrical run, but which we may may have been aware of during said run, or movies we’d never heard of before seeing them on DVD, tv, or whatnot.
If you mean the former, I’ll have to say Finding Forrester & What Dreams May Come. The latter I intended to see in theaters but never got around to; the former I deliberately skipped in theaters because I found the commercial annoying, and was happily surprised y how much I liked it when someone pressured me into watching it.
There’s one I saw recently called Body Of Lies. Leo DiCaprio, Russel Crowe, directed by Ridley Scott, written by William Monahan. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and was shocked to discover it came out in 2008. I’d never heard of it, and new movies don’t normally fall under my radar.
I didn’t see “28 Days Later” til literally years after it was in theatres. Hadn’t been aware of it then, don’t know why I picked it up at DVD rental place. But now, I love it.
The Last Seduction was a great modern noir flick.
It debuted on HBO, then went briefly into theatres and back to HBO. I rented it. Great flick.
Sorry if I was unclear. I meant that you completely missed the movie’s theatrical release, never heard of it, and discovered it by accident, either by renting it on a whim, catching it on HBO, or whatever.
For my example, I never saw a commercial about Payback, never saw a movie poster, a trailer, a preview… nothing. I never knew it existed. I loved it when I stumbled on it and now watch it whenever I get a chance.
Another movie that falls into this category for me is Confidence, with Ed Burns.
The first one that jumps to mind happened when I was pretty young, so my awareness of pop-culture and marketing was pretty meager. My parents and I were on a vacation somewhere, probably a crappy little town to visit relatives, and staying in some no frills chain motel and sharing a room. While killing time before bed we tuned the 21" Trinitron to the free HBO, which was a real treat back then, and settled in to watch a nifty little sci-fi/action film called Terminator. Needless to say I was impressed.
Oh, for me it’s Buster with Phil Collins and Julie Walters. I really wanted to see it at the theater, but it disappeared before payday! Then one day, a few years later, I saw it at the video store and watched it that night…and loved it. It’s one of the few movies I have actually purchased. It’s just a great little sweet love story at heart. With bank robbers.
I have two …
#1 “The Matrix”. I’m not sure what planet I was on when it was in theatres, but I rented it about a year later and LOVED it … and still do!
#2 “Ocean’s Eleven”.
Payback got slammed pretty hard by reviewers but I thought it was pretty good. Not spectacular, but pretty solid with some good dark comedy.
Mine is Spaced Invaders. I don’t think anyone saw this in theaters, but I love this movie.
Auto Focus. I didn’t hear of it until I read a review four years after it had come and gone. Rented it, loved it, found a used DVD for a song just down the street.
There’s been quite a few films that I discovered through the movie channels on cable. A recent one that I enjoyed very much is Inside I’m Dancing (aka Rory O’Shea Was Here).
Hmmm, most of them, I think. I don’t really LOVE most movies I see in theatres.
Fight Club is the one that first came to mind b/c I thought it looked stupid based on trailers but ended up loving it.
I was a bit young (around twelve) when the Devil’s Advocate came out, but I saw it on DVD a couple months ago and really love it.
Mike Leigh’s Topsy-Turvy. Never made it to my town (that I’m aware of). Bought it a few years back, and have watched it al least monthly since.
Oh, and for Stainz (re:The Matrix): today’s XKCD.
The Shawshank Redemption seems like it should be the #1 film for this category. Not one single person on the entire planet saw in the theater – anyone who claims they did see it first-run is a filthy liar who needs to be taken out back and given a good what-have-you – yet everyone has since seen it and loved it (some overpopularity backlash now, of course, but still…)
Yeah, that’s a very good one. I can’t recall if I watched it for the first time because it was so highly recommended or if I just stumbled onto it.
Star Trek IV turned me onto Trek movies in a huge way. I didn’t even know there were any movies based on the series when I discovered it, and only happened to catch this one night while I had insomnia, but I was instantly hooked.
Shawshank? Pshaw.
The Princess Bride.
Several years after it came out, a friend asked if I wanted to see “this fucked up movie I just rented”. It was Freeway, with Reece Witherspoon, who I only knew from Pleasantville. Somewhere around the time she asks Bob if he’s accepted Jesus, I knew I’d been let in on something amazing. It’s still one of my favorites, and I’ve seen it more times than I care to admit.
The Whole Nine Yards
My dad caught it on HBO and watched it all the time, he finally said “You have to see this movie, it’s hilarious!” I have since seen it about a thousand times since, and is one of my favorite movies of all time