Movies you hated the first time, but gave a second chance. (1 Viewer)

[Louis C]

Once Upon A Time In America

I can see how it would be hard to understand the VHS version or any version but the original.

It's amazing that we are only now seeing the complete film as Leone intended.

I liked it even as the 'hacked-up' version, though it was confusing at times -- I immediately bought to new DVD version and now I consider it my best DVD purchase of the year.

I didn't like "A Fish Called Wanda" when it came out. I just didn't find the dialog and jokes that funny. But after
getting the DVD years later, I found it hilarious. Excellent comedy.

 

[nolesrule]

Some people have mentioned Kubrick films. All the ones that I saw mentioned I liked the first time I saw them. But there is one that I didn't like the first time that took me 10 years to give another shot (but only because I had become a Kubrick fan by then).

A Clockwork Orange

Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was 15 the first time I saw it, but the next time I gave it a shot, I thought it was brilliant.

 

[Dan Shogren]

EVIL DEAD- watched it the first time, thought it was awful, watched it a second time with friends after seeing the sequals, loved it.

 

[Matt Butler]

Saving Private Ryan
X Men

I can think of a bunch that I used to love but really cant watch anymore cause Ive seen them so many times; or for other reasons. (Star Wars included).

 

[Nicholas Vargo]

I can only think of two:

"The Matrix": I only saw an hour of this movie mainly because I didn't want to see it, but my father dragged me along. After a little over an hour, in a packed house, I was getting bored and was beginning to fall asleep. I didn't get what was going on. I left around the scene where Neo was about to meet the Oracle. At the time, I wasn't the true movie buff that I am now. We left, and although I didn't hate it, the only scene I loved was the karate training scene, which was wonderful and action-packed. My dad flat-out hated what he had saw. Many months later, when the movie premeired on HBO, I was willing to give it a second chance. After seeing it on TV, it became one of my all-time favorite films. It just seemed more entertaining, and in a state of regret, I certinely regret missing the last hour because I enjoyed it immensley on TV. I now own the DVD and it was well worth the $10 I purchased for it.

"A Fish Called Wanda": After all of the glowing comments I had heard, watching it cut down on TNT was a disaster. I only laughed once (and that was when Kevin Kline shot his alarm clock out at the beginning) and John Du Prez's score sounded like it was written for a whole other picture. I was mainly seduced into watching it not because of the comments, but because of how much I had enjoyed "Fierce Creatures", which I thought was hilarious. I felt let down on my initial viewing. It wasn't until HBO received the rights again, and then I decided to give it another chance. After that viewing, it became one of my very favorite comedies of all time. The score sounded perfectly suited for the film, and watching the movie with all of its foul language intact made it even funnier.

There's two examples of movies I now love that I hated initially.

BTW, "The Matrix" is the only movie I walked out on, and I still regret it.

 

[Joe D]

There are quite a few movies out there that I didn't like very much the first time I saw them, but repeat viewings really make or break a movie.

Here are some I disliked first then liked:

Brazil - Visually complex, there really isn't much to the story, but it's so complex my mind went numb, it took a few viewings to warm up to it but not it's in my top 3 of all time.

Starship Troopers - Others have mentioned it, it was ok but too long the first viewing, now I love it for the satire and the incredible CGI effects. It still have the best blending of real action and CGI in film.

Chinatown - I have a hard time getting used to the pacing on many great films, and this is one of them. After I watched it the 2nd time and understood all the aspects of the film, I changed my mind from OK to excellent.

The Shining - Pacing.

Dr. Strangelove

Blade Runner - Pacing, a very visual, moody film. Much like great music, it gets better with the viewings, but the first viewing is always hard.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - The first time I saw the movie It felt like 5 hours of viewing, I hated it. But I saw it on TV a few years later on a couple different viewings and I really warmed up to it, especially the music. The movie is more about mood than the plot, which is a common thread with many of these movies.

The Third Man - Pacing

Movies I loved but now hate:

Terminator 2: This was already mentioned as well, but the movie has such an anti-violence message, yet the film has many incredibly violent action scenes, hypocrisy in a film. The action sequences are still excellent, but spare me the sermon.

Gladiator - Loved it the first time, but it's just a B movie with great action sequences, too long.

Alien 3 - I loved it the first time I saw it, watched it two more times and I couldn't stand it both times.

 

[Matt Pasant]

I recently gave Gods and Generals a 2nd shot, and had a much more enjoyable experience then when I saw it in the theater.

-- Matt

 

[Robley]

Austin Powers for me also...When it first came out on
dvd my wife and kids watched it 3 or 4 times..I would
get up and leave...but now I love it...

 

[Oliver Kopp]

I didn't like Men in Black very much when I saw it in the theater. It was boring and not very funny. But I watched The Fifth Element right before it and that probably was my mistake. I watched MiB again when it was released on DVD and absolutely loved it. The sequel is great too.

Matrix left me cold on my first viewing. The action scenes were cool but the story bored me and the revelations what the matrix is didn't blow me away. But after seeing it again, knowing everything, i really liked it and now it is one of my favourite sci-fi action movies as well as the sequel which is the best sequel ever next to The Empire strikes back.

 

[Bernhard]

I hated T3 the first time I saw it at the theatre.. gave it a second chance but still hated it.

 

[TommyT]

[rant]Natural Born Killers!!![/rant] HATED this one 1st time I saw it. Thought it was too overdone & it gave me a friggin' headache! (I think of it as a film you can actually overdose on w/out taking drugs!) Also couldn't believe how violent it was! Saw the director's cut on VHS several yrs later & still didn't care for it.

Recently, I actually [rant]bought[/rant] the DC vers following a hunch that I might like it this time & while watching the scene where Mickey throws the knife thru the window & actually kills the guy trying to escape it hit me: The flick is meant to be a farce!

A Fish Called Wanda - 1st time I saw it was on VHS about a year after it was in theatres. Didn't care for it. In the intervening yrs & became more of a Monty Python fan & the film made more sense.

Trainspotting - Thought it was just too grotesque & visceral at the theatre but I watched it a few more times & it became one of my absolute favorites. Has to be one of the funniest films I've seen. Probably the darkest humor ever!

 

[Nick Sievers]

Also couldn't believe how violent it was

You couldn't believe how violent a film called Natural Born Killers was?

 

[Ricardo C]

-Moulin Rouge: It seemed style had won the battle over substance on this one. Then I watched it a second time and I realized it runs deeper emotionally than it seems at first sight

-2001: I don't exactly LOVE it, but I'm definitely fond of it now

-Superman III: Sure, it's a stinkbomb, but a fun one

 

[TommyT]

Well, I'd heard it was pretty violent but that wasn't much of a warning as to HOW violent it was.

Eh, I was young & naive back then.

 

[ChrisCosmo]

I hated Fight Club the first time I saw it. I was over at a buddy's house and it was late at night and we really were in a comedy mood and not paying much attention at all. After watching it again on my own and actually watching it, I loved it.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

As a general rule, I never rewatch films I hated - unless I hear convincing arguments about why a film is worth revisiting and reconsidering.

There are films that I really like that initially I didn't hate, or even dislike, but I didn't really care about one way or the other. Then, when I rewatch the film, the films are a revelation on second viewing.

Vertigo is the main example of this - first time, I saw it expecting Hitchcock's greatest film, and finished it thinking "What was that?" A few months later, the restored version was on TV and I watched that, and it was like a different film. On first viewing, the film seems to wander aimlessly, and it's only on second viewing that you know where the film is going that it really seems to have a direction. I suspect that is deliberate - the wandering feel of the film matches the repeated mentions of character wandering, and reflects the aimless wandering of Scotty through life following the accident. And now, Vertigo is my favourite film.

The only film I have genuinely hated on first viewing and now enjoy is 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I first saw the film on TV, I was 13 years old, and was used to films where everything is explained fully. And I liked the film until Dave goes into the StarGate, and from there the film made so little sense that I hated it. In fact, I went to school next day and told everyone to never watch the film. But I wanted to understand what happened, and so I read the Arthur C Clarke book, and that gave me enough handle to understand what happened. Eventually, when I rewatched the film in the light of the book, I liked it. Now that my viewing habits have changed and matured, I can see that there is a lot more going on in that film that I didn't understand and that go much further than the book. But I am grateful that the book provided me enough of a hook to get back into the film.

 

[Mitch Stevens]

I absolutely hated "From Hell" the first TWO times that I saw it, but when I saw it a third time, I actually enjoyed it. It's not one of my favourites, but I can certainly tolerate it now.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Four films come to mind.

Natural Born Killers I saw this film in the theater and I just didn't get it. For whatever reason when it came out on VHS, I rented it and enjoyed it much more. Then a friend came over and I convinced him to watch it, and he immediately warmed up to it and we ended up watching 2 more times that weekend. Since then I've seen the director's cut a handful of times and think that it's one of the best films from the 90's

Magnolia I saw this film in the theater also, and it seemed like it was about to end on three seperate occasions but it just kept going. Once again, when it came out on DVD I hesitantly bought it at the used CD/DVD store and watch again only to find it much more enjoyable. Then I watched it again and again and again. It is hands down one of my top 5 favorite movies of the last 10 years.

Double Indemnity I'm actually embarrassed to admit this, as this film is an absolute classic. The first time I saw it it simply didn't do anything for me. A few years later as I started to watch all of Billy Wilder's films, I review this film and found it absolutely entrancing. I've probably seen it a dozen times in the past 5 years and it is currently in my top 5 all-time.

Vertigo Once again, I'm embarrassed. I agree with the sentiment above that seeing this film prior to it's glorious resurrection was an insult to this film. After seeing the restoration, I was absolutely blown away. While, I don't consider this Hitch's masterpiece it is still an absolutely great film.

 

[Joe Szott]

Oddly enough one of my very favorite films of all time I originally HATED:

A River Runs Through It

My Mom and I rented it once because it had recieved good reviews and looked nice enough. We both hated it not for what it was, but for what it wasn't. We kept looking for plot and where the story was going. Well the 'plot' never really goes anywhere and the story is in the telling, not the doing.

I watched it again later on cable and my expectations were properly set to enjoy this truly great american film.

 

[Steeve Bergeron]

Definitely Starship Troopers for me. I hated it when I saw it in the theater. It's now one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Gotta love those bugs!