Movies You Thought Would Suck, But Didn't... (1 Viewer)

[Matt Pelham]

Yes, I'll second the 13th Warrior!

I'd also like to add Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis) to the list. Had NO interest in seeing this one, but now it's one of my favorite movies!

 

[Mark Palermo]

Bubble Boy.
Obviously this satire of a PC society which CHOOSES to embody the stereotypes associated with its subcultures flew over most peoples' heads. How could so many reviews not comprehend that the bubble boy was the only character not being made fun of? He maintains interest in the world, while the people he encounters hide behind righteousness to disguise their xenophobia.

Mark

 

[Patrick McCart]

Whenever a group protests a Disney film, it's usually a sign that it's crap. Remember Mr. Magoo? Snow Dogs? My point has been made.
Anyways...
I thought Moulin Rouge would be a really dumb movie. I was very wrong!
Others I wasn't sure if they'd "click" or not include Shadow of the Vampire, 8 1/2, The Elephant Man, Bride of Frankenstein, It Happened One Night, Some Like It Hot (I really though it was overrated at first), and even Citizen Kane.
Seeing a movie you're not too sure about for the first time is quite an experience.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I've mentioned this a couple places on the forum in the last few days but i'll repeat myself since it's on topic: I wasn't really intending to pick up Mothman Prophecies but saw the MPAA rating "PG-13 for Terror" which was a new one on me. I thought, what the hell, it's on sale. Popped it in and was astonished. This is one scary fricking movie. Not in 30 years has a movie made me want to leave the lights on when I go to bed, like this one did. Hugely effective and an absolutely great sound mix. It's too bad it was saddled with the notorious "Chap Stick" trailer that made it look stupid before it even got out of the gate at the theater.

 

[TheLongshot]

The Shawshank Redemption: I reluctantly saw it with my grandparents not thinking it was going to be good. I was pleasently suprised.
American Pie: with the rash of bad teen comedies out there, I thought this belonged in the same category. I was wrong.
The 13th Warrior: While I'm not a fan of it, it is a lot better than the critics say about it.
Gattica: was encouraged to see it when a lot of the panellists at the Baltimore WorldCon recommended it. I didn't regret it.
Enemy Of The State: A better than average Bruckheimer thriller. Too bad he can't make more of them.
Jason

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Freddy Got Fingered. This movie had me laughing my head off just because it's so bad.

 

[Jason_Els]

Fight Club - Way better than I thought it would be
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone - Exceptionally good. So good I ordered it off Amazon while watching it.
Donnie Darko - Sucks to be Donnie but wonderful performances and a good plot don't outweigh the holes. Still much better than I thought it would be.

 

[Bill J]

We Were Soldiers- I was mislead by the trailer.

 

[Dalton]

The Thirteenth Warrior
The Mothman Prophecies(creepy!)
Starship Troopers

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Hannibal! Had no interest in it. Saw it finally and quite enjoyed it!

 

[Kevin M]

I try not to judge a film before I see it But when I saw the trailer to X-MEN all I could think was "Oh Great! They made it into just another Mortal Combat!". However from the very first scene in the concentration camp I knew I wasn't dealing with a simple Mortal Combat clone. Oh, it isn't Citizen Kane by any means but for a comic book movie it was pretty damn good & had characters that had at least a little depth to them.

 

[Brian W.]

The only ones I can think of at the moment were Fight Club and Terms of Endearment. I remember seeing the trailer for Terms back in '83 and thinking, "This is not going to be funny." Then I saw it and thought it was one of the funniest movies I'd ever seen. (Except for the ending, of course.)

And the trailer for Fight Club (and Kathy Lee Gifford's subsequent badmouthing of the film) did not give an accurate impression of the movie at all.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Panic Room

 

[Caroline_T]

I thought Sum of All Fears would not measure up to the other Jack Ryan movies but I came away from the theater very pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it.

Also, O Brother Where Art Thou - I thought that would be terrible and I ended up laughing the whole way through it.

 

[Adam_S]

"You've Got Mail" I initially did NOT want to see this, then I did and the sharp, hysterical script and fantastic preformances won me over. I'd never seen the original or Sleepless in Seattle so I couldn't act like the jaded elite critic and dismiss it because of those two meaningless reasons. I find it to be a very funny, touching film.

I then saw "Sleepless in Seattle" after seeing You've got Mail and enjoyed it just as much.

(I must say though, that my favorite Tom Hanks Meg Ryan film is still Joe vs The Volcano)

Adam

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Cinema Paradiso - When I saw that this movie replaced The Godfather on our film class list, I was pissed off as hell. I kept thinking, "Why the fuck do I want to watch some artsy fartsy shit where the director just makes up stuff just to make himself look smart and the movie confusing just for the sake of it?" Then I actually saw it, and it's one of the best damn movies I've seen in a long time.
Andrei Rublev - I thought it would suck ass and be boring and consist of nothing but wailing and moaning monks and religious iconography. It actually turned out to be a pretty good film about a man who reconcilliates faith and art. Pretty touching really.
The Godfather - I was about ten when I saw The Godfather III. I hated it and vowed never to watch a Godfather movie again. Let's just say that ten-year old Dome Vongvises was stupid. Of course, this is meant as no slight to those who hate The Godfather (whether they have just surface tastes or have artsy, fartsy likings.

 

[Werner_R]

Moulin Rouge
13th Warrior

 

[Dean DeMass]

Moulin Rouge
Pearl Harbor
Titan A.E.
Billy Madison
Behind Enemy Lines
The Fifth Element
Legally Blonde

-Dean-

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Oh yeah, back in 1977, a friend dragged me off to this thing called Star Wars, which I had no interest in seeing since I expected it to be a feature film version of the execrable Space 1999 or something of that nature. Oh well. :b

 

[Greg_C_T]

Moulin Rouge -- Often overwhelming, but the actors really made this one for me.
Vanilla Sky -- They really managed to pull everything together in the last 20 minutes or so. A very thought-provoking film that still has me thinking even weeks after seeing it.
The Sweetest Thing -- This was actually much funnier than I expected. Diaz and Applegate work well together, and the car scene with the biker is priceless.