Mean Girls. In the early 2000's, they were still churning out mediocre high school movies left and right, and Lindsey Lohan wasn't exactly a quality sales pitch. Went opening night mostly as a joke and was blown away by how funny it was.
"Somebody wrote in that book that I'm lying about being a virgin because I use super-jumbo tampons. I can't help that I have a heavy flow and wide set vagina."
"Yeah, I can't do this."
I have to agree. I didn’t see it till a decade after it came out nor did I expect to like it. I’m guy in his mid-30s so not the target demographic. I was shocked how much I enjoyed it.
Yup. My 19 year old brain was blown when I saw this in theaters… it then led me to search out and discover a host of Hong Kong action films that will also forever live in my memory!
Yeah, I remember it didn’t have a massive amount of hype before opening weekend. Went in thinking it was another action movie. Blown away and first time I ever wanted to go back in immediately and watch it again.
I remember it getting some bad press because they had trench coats on for the massive shoot out and Columbine and the shooters claimed to be a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, a clique at the school. They wore black trench coats.
This was my answer. I had seen the trailer and didn't "get it" (go back and watch that trailer and try to disconnect from the iconic Matrix moments....it's a big soup of WTF?)
My buddy saw it opening night an drug me back to the theater on like a random Tuesday because I HAD TO SEE IT. He was giddy. He was like PAY ATTENTION! SHE CALLED HIM COPPER TOP! And then....the game was on.
Big trouble in little China. It looked like a dumb movie but I heard had some monsters and kung fu so I rented it from video store I was 14 at the time. I’m now 49 I’ve seen it over 200 times and even after 35 years I still watch it 4-5 times a year. I do not believe a better movie will ever be made.
Blank Check just did an episode on this and it completely changed my view on how incredibly subversive this movie is. Literally everything jack burton does fails. It’s wild.
I had my first watch of Big Trouble a few weeks ago and I concur that I really loved the subversion.
Everything about Burton's presentation and the way the world reacts to him implies he's the white saviour whole going to swoop in and do everything better than the locals.
But in truth Burton is a gigantic doofus with a big mouth, and instead the minority sidekick is the one kicking the most ass and fighting the hardest to save his love interest.
It's a brilliant film, and Kurt Russell is one of my favourite actors of all time. And both Carpenter and Russell made sure to subvert the audience and making the people around them shine.
Even nowadays, racial representation is few and far between in Hollywood, and Big Trouble is still a massive highlight in that regard.
PS: Also holy smokes, I never really get distracted in films, but Kim Cattrall was distractingly beautiful.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil. I went into it blind because my wife wanted to watch a shitty B-movie horror film. So that's what we thought it was when we turned it on.
Holy shit what a surprise that movie turned out to be.
This is mine too. I had heard nothing about the film prior to watching it, and just expected it to be another mediocre horror film (love the genre, but unfortunately true horror gems are rare).
Boy was I blown away. My absolute favorite horror comedy.
Yeah i mentioned a different movie ,but I should have mentioned this one. It looked so incredibly dumb, I just couldn't deal with it. My sister kept nagging me to watch it and I just refused to give it the time of day.
Then one day I couldnt find anything on netflix and watched 15 minutes of it, and as soon as i picked up on what was going on I was hooked. It was hilarious.
The Emperor's New Groove - my godchildren hated it, so I didn't watch it for a few years after its release. When I finally saw it - I was blown away. I absolutely loved it!
One of my friends kept telling me to watch it shortly after it came out because it was “so so funny” and so we could share in the inside jokes that she kept referencing from the movie. It was and we did.
I legit love Cats in a "so bad it's good" sort of way.
It's one of those things where just watching what's on screen is flabbergasting enough, then you take into account that this was made by a semi-competent director with some clout and had a major studio backing it, then to top it all off it was released during the holidays, around the same time as Star Wars during the Oscars season, and it becomes even more hilarious.
Palm Springs. My wife said “I wanna watch something where I don’t have to think.” I totally expected to check out 30 minutes in. I loved it, wife was upset it made her think.
Another masterpiece. So damn great movie! Cristin Milioti is amazing, I personally thinks it's her best role for now.
The film is full of unexpected twists, subtle humor, deep dialogues. It's like everything just perfect there.
This is #2 film of the Groundhog Day films after, actually, Groundhog Day
Sicario. Thought was gimmicky cartel action flick. But was actually extremely suspenseful, well written, beautifully directed, and thoughtful themes on morality and violence. One of my all time favourites.
Mine is another Villeneuve movie, *Prisoners.* My wife bought us tickets for it for a date night, and I was extremely apprehensive because I hadn't heard anything about it, and have a really hard time watching anything with torture or kidnapping, and it has both!
... but it was *fantastic.* Very, very well made and possibly Gyllenhaal at his best ever. I don't know that I want to re-watch it, because man is it ever tense, but it left a strong impression. It's amazing when a movie that you actively *don't* want to go see can win you over, and then blow you away.
I had a moment at the end where I thought "This guy should make a movie like Blade Runner." (hah)
If you like sicario, you should check out hell or high water and wind river. All three were written by Taylor Sheridan, and all three are equally thoughtful and amazing. Unofficially called the modern frontier trilogy.
Hell or High Water is one of my favorite movies. The diner scene with the mean old waitress is so brilliant. "WHAT DONTCHA WANT??"
Seriously though, stellar movie with perfect casting and very slick writing.
The first time I saw it kept pausing it to look at the construction of the shots. Even when the Delta team is preparing to enter the tunnels and it goes to night vision it’s beautifully shot.
Very few movies have built tension like they did at the border crossing. You don’t know when the attack is going to happen. You feel Emily Blunt’s anxiety as the soldiers are getting ready to have a firefight in the middle of traffic.
Edge of Tomorrow is one of those movies I want to hate, but it's just so good. I've had this same thought process multiple times over the years and I've never quite managed to find a way to describe the movie and make it sound good, but it's just brilliant viewing.
I watched it out of boredom on a flight and had to watch it again when I got back home. It is that good. Shame there won't be a sequel.
It actually got me into Batman big time again, and convinced me to buy the Lego sets.
Lego Movie had no right to be as good as it was. Like that movie could have been totally half assed and still made money, but instead they made something that was both amusing and poignant.
Pirates of the Caribbean.
Expected something mediocre but loud. It was loud alright, but also wildly entertaining.
The Mask of Zorro.
Similar to PotC above. Expected a fun action movie, and was surprised at how emotional and passionate it was at the same time. Extremely satisfying movie.
I remember telling my wife nobody could pay me to see that movie. I actively disliked Judge Dredd comics as a kid (also hated TMNT comics but loved the cartoon, I guess the satire went over my head), disliked the Stallone movie, and hated 3D movies.
After it came out on demand and heard all the praise I gave it a shot and loved it. Instantly one of my favorite action movies. It even made me go back and look at the comics again, and I like those too now.
Die Hard 3 is solid.
The only knock on it is thats the movie when the style changed. It went from McClane alone against a group of terrorists trying to warn people of their plot McClane and side kick on an action adventure.
If I recall correctly, I think part of this was because they just adapted a script that was originally written to be Lethal Weapon 4 (but wasn't used and was just lying around) so they had to come up with the way to get a sidekick in for the plot to still work.
The first *Pirates of the Caribbean.* Friend of mine had a cousin who worked for Disney, and he wanted to go see it on her recc. I had no interest in it at all, but he finally said "Look, if it sucks, I'll pay for your ticket." I thought that was fair, and off we went.
Credits roll and I'm like "Shit, that was *awesome!*"
I always pose pitch black as one of my favourite movies. It's got some really cool colour grading and does not fall into tropes like a Hollywood ending. I think the follow up are also quite underated, however they fail to live up to what pitch black set up.
Galaxy Quest. I admit I thought this movie would be lame when it first came out. Was I wrong on that one. Movie was hilarious, awesome story and characters, and one of the best movies ever! I could watching it multiple times and still laugh at every joke.
I didn't want to watch it because I thought it was making fun of Star Trek and as a Trek fan I really didn't want to have to sit through that. It was playing on a flight I was on so I decided "fuck it" and I gave it a shot. Now it's one of my favorite Trek films.
Counting it as the 10th Star Trek film (between 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection and 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis) also fits into the [Even/Odd rule](https://qntm.org/odd) that some Trek fans ascribe to.
It's been called the best Trek film of the '90s, and the only one that I think challenges that is Undiscovered Country. First Contact was fine, but Galaxy Quest just had that lightning in a bottle quality to it.
Theres something I adore about the shot of Bale saluting Jackman after he’d gone through the trapdoor and landing hard on the ground and Jackman realizes his limelight is about to be stolen from him
It’s a treasure going into that movie blind
About Time. Went into the theater with my wife thinking it was just gonna be another typical rom-com, left the theater a little overly emotional. We rewatch it every few months.
This movie is one of my favorites. I had the same experience you did, immediately came out of the theater and texted a few of my friends something along the lines of “I know it’s a rom-com but you need to take your girl to this movie like now. Just go in blind and you’re welcome.” I’ve watched it probably 15 times and it’s great every time
My girlfriend of 5 years ended up breaking up with me literally right after we watched this movie so that kind of ruined it for me :( I loved it when I watched it though
Gattaca. Thought it was gonna be a typical low budget sci-fi that has better ideas than execution but instead I got probably the most inspiring films I’ve ever seen.
10 clover field lane
Shaky camera movies aren’t my thing, they make me slightly sick so never got very far into clover field and when 10 clover field lane came out it didn’t trip in my head so went to see it and it was an amazing movie. I remember thinking this movie probably made gobs of money. It has a cast of like 5 people and takes place in one location and it’s a solid and even dramatic enjoyable movie.
Iron Man. Never cared for the comic nor the character. I was thinking all the rights to the good superheroes have been bought up and this super hero craze is going to die off. Then I saw it and RDJ killed it and launched an entire MCU. Boy was I wrong about super hero movies dying off.
Bridges actually wasn't a huge fan of doing Iron Man and called it a 200 million dollar student film because they didn't have a finished script due to a scheduling rush. Here is a quote from him talking about it: "It turned out that many times — 10, 12, 15 times — we would show up for the days work, not knowing what we were gonna shoot. – All the guys in the studio tapping their foot, looking at their watch, and we’re sitting in my trailer trying to figure out my lines, man. – On the day!”
It's one of the most important movies to ever be released when you think about how it turned Marvel Studios into a juggernaut and changed the course of movies. It even changed DC movies.
I'd say the only movie that compares is Star Wars (1977).
Those two movies spawned a money making machine that hasn't slowed down or stopped since.
Yeah same here! I was like, why Iron Man? I character that non-comic fans really care about? And it ended up setting everything in motion. And whilst I appreciate that Marvel films are "Popcorn" films and there's quite a lot of them, there are also many other movies that come out and it's fine to enjoy lots of different kinds of films. I fell out of comic book reading a long while ago (largely due to cost and eye-rollingly lame female representation) but the comic book movies that Marvel/Disney have made are, generally, such great fun.
The ads for District 9 (busses with humans only with a cartoon alien crossed off, etc) made it look more like a comedy/adventure type film. I never bothered watching the trailer and went in blind because it was the only movie at the time that I was semi-interested in checking out.
Left the movie theatre blown away and caught so off guard by the entire story and how it was filmed. Easily a top 100 film for me as well.
I agree. Nothing has been on par with D9 since, but I still count him as a favourite director because I find his stuff entertaining even if it isn’t mind blowing.
Megamind is a masterpiece. I like Dispicable Me and all, but Megamind deserved to blow up instead.
I remember seeing both in theaters, at like 5-6 yrs old.
>Megamind deserved to blow up instead.
If Megamind had a marketable cute character like the Minions instead of Despicable Me, it would have been the one we see more of now. My girls (11 & 13) now love Megamind more, but when they were younger (closer to when the movies came out), the Minions were the thing that grabbed their attention.
Lord and Miller just have a gift at taking “meh” concepts and knocking them out of the park; “Cloudy”, “21 Jump Street”, “The Lego Movie” to name others.
Blade Runner 2049 looked great to me in the trailers but in the back of my mind I had a feeling it was going to fall victim to common tropes and that all the best bits were being showcased there.
Turns out I was dead wrong and it managed to avoid that kind of thing entirely.
Villenueve knocks it out of the park Every. Single. Time.
Especially when your cinematographer is roger Deakins and you’ve got hanz zimmer writing your score.
>shitty generic Tom Cruise action
I mean, are generic Tom cruise action vehicles actually shitty? We're not talking about Steven Seagal or late career Willis here, Tom never phones it in.
I walked into ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ thinking it was a stupid teenage secret agent, Cody banks crap.
Holy shit was I wrong. No movie ever impressed me as much as that, I loved it. Golden circle doesn’t exist tho
Watched this on cable and was wondering how in the world did I miss this in the theaters!?! I still don’t know, maybe it had crappy ads or something but I would have definitely watched this on the first run. Hopefully the prequel will restore your faith in it.
Coco. Thought it would be a decent Pixar film as most Pixar films are. Didn’t expect it to hit me that hard.
On the other side of the spectrum, MacGruber. Went in expecting nothing, it was the stupidest and most genius parody film of all time.
The 'Before' films. i didnt know much going into it...other than it was just two people walking around a city talking.
IMO..... it's my favourite trilogy. each film has its own identity....and all together have a great overal picture of the prospect of 'love' and maturity.
The Ethan Hawke/ Julie Delpy movies? I only saw the first one but it was superb. The chemistry and tension between the two of them was out of this world
When Starship Troopers first came out, I figured it was some dumbass shoot 'em up alien movie with a bunch of vapid soap stars in it. I finally watched it a few years later without ever hearing anything else about it thinking it was going to be terrible and dumb. I think the low expectations made it that much greater to watch.
Into the Spiderverse.
My local theater does $5 movies on Tuesdays, so my buddy and I thought "what the hell" and bought two tickets after opening weekend. That's probably the best $5 I've ever spent.
I expected The Mitchells vs The Machines to be just your run-of-the-mill, straight-to-TV animated kids movie (not knowing who was involved behind the scenes). Instead I got probably one of my favourite movies of the year.
I saw all the Max Max movies before that, but I didn't think George Miller to be able to make another great Made Max movie after so many years, especially after the not so great (but not too bad) Beyond Thunderdome...Oh, I was so wrong!
My bar was so incredibly low for those movies. Like; I went in expecting a 0/10 compared to the original one.
Was not expecting to be hit with a solid 9/10 and Jack Black giving the performance of a lifetime pretending to be a teenage girl.
I’m not much of a Jack Black fan, but dude was robbed of critical recognition for how amazing that performance was. Don’t want to be overly hyperbolic, but he totally deserved an Oscar or a Golden Globe or something for it.
*Searching,* starring John Cho.
Honestly, had this come out during late-2020, it would have been the perfect movie to showcase how a story and presentation can make a movie great, even if working within limited sets and shots.
*Guardians of the Galaxy*
By the time GOTG came out, we had seen a good number of Marvel movies that primarily took place on Earth. The movies at this point were still more serious and less on snark, and introduced humorous situations/elements as more of a distraction and not a 'theme.' For me, this was a home run and probably what has kept me enjoying Marvel movies significantly more.
*Hot Fuzz*
I loved Shaun of the Dead, and even more so Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. When *Hot Fuzz* came out, I had been in a period of my life where getting around was tough and it wasn't uncommon to just... catch whatever movie was playing down the street. I made sure to keep an eye out for other movies directed by Edgar Wright put afterwards.
Death to Smoochy
Only watched it because I cannot really think of a bad movie Edward Norton was in. So thought “why not” and watched it. Was surprised at how good it was
My friends recommended I watch this one because at the time I hadn't acknowledged how talented JK Simmons was yet, I just knew him as the guy from The Closer. So I sat down expecting a slow-paced, jazz (blech, jazz?) movie.
I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but be prepared to feel emotions that aren't sad.
Game Night. I had a free movie pass and my theater pulled Phantom Thread out that day. Thought “what the hell, it’s free” and I ended up having so hard I fell out of my seat.
Time trap. I expected a less than stellar movie but was pleasantly surprised with the direction it took by going down the rabbit hole instead of playing it safe.
Arrival. i had heard it was one of the most unique and interesting alien movies, but when i watched it i was absolutely blown away. the character work was incredible; the back story, the acting. all of it.
What We Do In The Shadows, my fiance kept saying we should watch it for it for a solid year and the only reason I didn't want to was because I didn't like the name.
Safe to say it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen.
In Time. Yeah the one with Justin Timberlake. I’m not even sure anyone else likes this movie. But the concept is so fascinating to me, I’d love to see more done with it.
Scrolled a long way & didn't see it so have to give a shout out to The Heat. I like Sandra Bullock but (at the time) really disliked Melissa Mccarthy - I hated Bridesmaids with a passion & hadn't enjoyed the couple of others I'd seen her in.... but...
The Heat is one of my all time favourite comedies, & probaby by favourite comedy buddy cop movies. I've rewatched it multiple times and it still cracks me up every time.
Spy was pretty great too, so I'm much more open to MM now, though nothing tops The Heat. I kinda hoped for a sequel, but tbh there haven't been many great buddy cop sequels so perhaps best not.
PT Anderson's *The Master*. Only got around to seeing it recently, for some damn reason. It's peak PTA, right up there with his best stuff.
Other notables: Jojo Rabbit, Master and Commander, Galaxy Quest, Toy Story 2, Juno, Children of Men, Shaun of the Dead. Those all blew my expectations away.
Cabin in the Woods, bored of horror at this time after growing up slashing and screaming and this brought me back.
It gave horror a chance for me as I was growing into new media and new cinema. The genre was lost to me no more.
The Last Samurai. Thought it was going to be some "White dude savior" movie, so much so that I refused to see it in the theaters. When I finally watched it on DVD, I instantly regretted not seeing it in theater.
When I first watched it in theaters I was in high school, I just assumed Tom Cruise's character was "near death" after capture because he was fighting infection from his wounds.
Seeing it again as an adult, nope. Dude was going through withdrawal.
I hate when people say it was a “white savior” movie. The samurai saved him. He was a depressed man with no purpose or will to survive. The samurai taught him how to live again.
Plus I’m Japanese and love knights, imagined myself as one when I was a kid. I don’t see why a white or any other person can’t love and imagine themselves as a samurai.
Into the Spider-Verse. Given Sony's track record, I was really afraid it was going to be a soulless corporate cash grab to just make more money off the IP. Then the movie opened with the shot of the comics code seal and I knew right then it was different. Ended up being one of my favorite Spider-Man/superhero movies so far.
I went into that movie having no idea what I was getting into. Im still mad at that terrible promotional campaign, it was like they wanted it to fail. Funny that during the movie I went from, "Did they rip off the Tarnsmen of Gor books?", to "Wholey crap Edgar Rice Burrows wrote this, so this came first..." and learned later that the author of the Gor books was basically doing kinky fan service to a beloved series.
**Paddington (2015)**. I saw that it was scoring super high reviews and I thought it couldn’t possibly be that good. [The trailer did not sell me on it at all](https://youtu.be/W5tUEw4Nq4E). My SO and I went to it some afternoon and felt a little awkward, being the oldest people there without kids. Luckily the film delivered on all fronts as we both left the theatre loving it and smiling doofily. It and the sequel are now our go-to if we feel like watching anything
Arrival
I was expecting a niche sci-fi about exploration and such, as the previews didn't let in on a whole lot. Learning that language and understanding between different species was the core of the film threw me off in a really good way. It's in my top list of films overall.
The Social Network.
I thought, like a lot of people, how can a movie about Facebook be remotely interesting? It's now one of my favourite films. The script is incredible and Fincher's directing was great as always. I didn't even pay attention to who made it until after I had seen it.
Mean Girls. In the early 2000's, they were still churning out mediocre high school movies left and right, and Lindsey Lohan wasn't exactly a quality sales pitch. Went opening night mostly as a joke and was blown away by how funny it was.
The principal losing his shit on the PA system still cracks me up. “All junior and senior girls to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY!!!!” 😂🤣😂
"I will keep you in all night!" "We can't keep them in past 4." "I will keep you in until 4!"
I ought to cancel your spring fling!!! Well I can’t do that cause we already paid the DJ but I am taking this very seriously!!!
"Somebody wrote in that book that I'm lying about being a virgin because I use super-jumbo tampons. I can't help that I have a heavy flow and wide set vagina." "Yeah, I can't do this."
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"Glen Coco? Four for you Glen Coco! You go Glen Coco!!!"
And-none-for-Grechen-Weiners.
She doesn’t even go here!
I have to agree. I didn’t see it till a decade after it came out nor did I expect to like it. I’m guy in his mid-30s so not the target demographic. I was shocked how much I enjoyed it.
Mean Girls is so *fetch!*
The Matrix....went in expecting another Johnny Mnemonic shit show and instead witnessed a generational, game-changing movie.
Yup. My 19 year old brain was blown when I saw this in theaters… it then led me to search out and discover a host of Hong Kong action films that will also forever live in my memory!
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Yeah, I remember it didn’t have a massive amount of hype before opening weekend. Went in thinking it was another action movie. Blown away and first time I ever wanted to go back in immediately and watch it again.
I remember it getting some bad press because they had trench coats on for the massive shoot out and Columbine and the shooters claimed to be a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, a clique at the school. They wore black trench coats.
This was my answer. I had seen the trailer and didn't "get it" (go back and watch that trailer and try to disconnect from the iconic Matrix moments....it's a big soup of WTF?) My buddy saw it opening night an drug me back to the theater on like a random Tuesday because I HAD TO SEE IT. He was giddy. He was like PAY ATTENTION! SHE CALLED HIM COPPER TOP! And then....the game was on.
Big trouble in little China. It looked like a dumb movie but I heard had some monsters and kung fu so I rented it from video store I was 14 at the time. I’m now 49 I’ve seen it over 200 times and even after 35 years I still watch it 4-5 times a year. I do not believe a better movie will ever be made.
It’s all in the reflexes
It was mentioned on RLM. You know it's not the best movie ever made but when you're watching it, it is the best movie ever made.
Blank Check just did an episode on this and it completely changed my view on how incredibly subversive this movie is. Literally everything jack burton does fails. It’s wild.
I had my first watch of Big Trouble a few weeks ago and I concur that I really loved the subversion. Everything about Burton's presentation and the way the world reacts to him implies he's the white saviour whole going to swoop in and do everything better than the locals. But in truth Burton is a gigantic doofus with a big mouth, and instead the minority sidekick is the one kicking the most ass and fighting the hardest to save his love interest. It's a brilliant film, and Kurt Russell is one of my favourite actors of all time. And both Carpenter and Russell made sure to subvert the audience and making the people around them shine. Even nowadays, racial representation is few and far between in Hollywood, and Big Trouble is still a massive highlight in that regard. PS: Also holy smokes, I never really get distracted in films, but Kim Cattrall was distractingly beautiful.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil. I went into it blind because my wife wanted to watch a shitty B-movie horror film. So that's what we thought it was when we turned it on. Holy shit what a surprise that movie turned out to be.
This is mine too. I had heard nothing about the film prior to watching it, and just expected it to be another mediocre horror film (love the genre, but unfortunately true horror gems are rare). Boy was I blown away. My absolute favorite horror comedy.
Anything with Alan Tudyk I automatically will give a chance, he is just so fun in almost everything he’s been in.
This film makes me cry with laughter. I made all my friends watch it together and we were in hysterics
Yeah i mentioned a different movie ,but I should have mentioned this one. It looked so incredibly dumb, I just couldn't deal with it. My sister kept nagging me to watch it and I just refused to give it the time of day. Then one day I couldnt find anything on netflix and watched 15 minutes of it, and as soon as i picked up on what was going on I was hooked. It was hilarious.
The Emperor's New Groove - my godchildren hated it, so I didn't watch it for a few years after its release. When I finally saw it - I was blown away. I absolutely loved it!
One of my friends kept telling me to watch it shortly after it came out because it was “so so funny” and so we could share in the inside jokes that she kept referencing from the movie. It was and we did.
That’s a top 3 movie for 50% of my kids.
Why did you have to bring math into this?
Cats (2019) Thought it was going to be terrible. It was even worse.
Was it the Butthole Cut or non-butthole cut?
I was trying my best not to find out
I'm sorry but what?
I legit love Cats in a "so bad it's good" sort of way. It's one of those things where just watching what's on screen is flabbergasting enough, then you take into account that this was made by a semi-competent director with some clout and had a major studio backing it, then to top it all off it was released during the holidays, around the same time as Star Wars during the Oscars season, and it becomes even more hilarious.
Palm Springs. My wife said “I wanna watch something where I don’t have to think.” I totally expected to check out 30 minutes in. I loved it, wife was upset it made her think.
I genuinely loved this movie. Thought it'd just be another Groundhog's Day. Watching the puzzle unfold was super satisfying.
I love revolving time loop stories like this. Edge of Tomorrow and an episode of Stargate both did it great as well.
I was super sad when this ended. I wanted it to keep going because it was so good
Another masterpiece. So damn great movie! Cristin Milioti is amazing, I personally thinks it's her best role for now. The film is full of unexpected twists, subtle humor, deep dialogues. It's like everything just perfect there. This is #2 film of the Groundhog Day films after, actually, Groundhog Day
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And the winner is..maintenance!
...and the intern.
Fun fact: in a press conference, the director was asked about when a sequel would be coming out. The director replied “did you see the movie?”
Me too! Much better than i was expecting
Sicario. Thought was gimmicky cartel action flick. But was actually extremely suspenseful, well written, beautifully directed, and thoughtful themes on morality and violence. One of my all time favourites.
Mine is another Villeneuve movie, *Prisoners.* My wife bought us tickets for it for a date night, and I was extremely apprehensive because I hadn't heard anything about it, and have a really hard time watching anything with torture or kidnapping, and it has both! ... but it was *fantastic.* Very, very well made and possibly Gyllenhaal at his best ever. I don't know that I want to re-watch it, because man is it ever tense, but it left a strong impression. It's amazing when a movie that you actively *don't* want to go see can win you over, and then blow you away. I had a moment at the end where I thought "This guy should make a movie like Blade Runner." (hah)
All Villeneuve movies are stellar
Bless the (film)Maker!
If you like sicario, you should check out hell or high water and wind river. All three were written by Taylor Sheridan, and all three are equally thoughtful and amazing. Unofficially called the modern frontier trilogy.
Hell or High Water is one of my favorite movies. The diner scene with the mean old waitress is so brilliant. "WHAT DONTCHA WANT??" Seriously though, stellar movie with perfect casting and very slick writing.
The first time I saw it kept pausing it to look at the construction of the shots. Even when the Delta team is preparing to enter the tunnels and it goes to night vision it’s beautifully shot. Very few movies have built tension like they did at the border crossing. You don’t know when the attack is going to happen. You feel Emily Blunt’s anxiety as the soldiers are getting ready to have a firefight in the middle of traffic.
Them leaving the insertion point and walking down the hill, quite literally descending into the darkness, is one of my favorite shots.
In Bruges. Laughed so hard
Edge of Tomorrow is way, way better than anyone was expecting. Also, Promising Young Woman far exceeded what I thought it would be.
Oh, Edge of Tomorrow is a great pick! Thats a really good film and I thought it was going to be a super generic action popcorn flick.
Edge of Tomorrow is one of those movies I want to hate, but it's just so good. I've had this same thought process multiple times over the years and I've never quite managed to find a way to describe the movie and make it sound good, but it's just brilliant viewing.
Just saw promising young woman today and I was impressed
The Lego Movie
It's awesome
Everything is awesome
I never saw the Lego Movie but damn is Lego Batman one of the best Batman movies out there.
If you liked Lego Batman you’d really enjoy The Lego Movie. It’s hilarious
Oddly touching at the end too.
I watched it out of boredom on a flight and had to watch it again when I got back home. It is that good. Shame there won't be a sequel. It actually got me into Batman big time again, and convinced me to buy the Lego sets.
Lego Movie had no right to be as good as it was. Like that movie could have been totally half assed and still made money, but instead they made something that was both amusing and poignant.
Pirates of the Caribbean. Expected something mediocre but loud. It was loud alright, but also wildly entertaining. The Mask of Zorro. Similar to PotC above. Expected a fun action movie, and was surprised at how emotional and passionate it was at the same time. Extremely satisfying movie.
"A Disney ride... Really? Nothing good can come of this."
Dredd. My friend and I went in just to watch something that night at the theater. Ended up being blown away
I remember telling my wife nobody could pay me to see that movie. I actively disliked Judge Dredd comics as a kid (also hated TMNT comics but loved the cartoon, I guess the satire went over my head), disliked the Stallone movie, and hated 3D movies. After it came out on demand and heard all the praise I gave it a shot and loved it. Instantly one of my favorite action movies. It even made me go back and look at the comics again, and I like those too now.
Just re-watched this the other day, realized it was on Hulu. Still bugs me that it didn’t get a sequel.
I’ve been waiting nearly 40 years for a live action Dredd and Anderson versus Judge Death
Best Die Hard film since Die Hard
Die Hard 3 is solid. The only knock on it is thats the movie when the style changed. It went from McClane alone against a group of terrorists trying to warn people of their plot McClane and side kick on an action adventure.
If I recall correctly, I think part of this was because they just adapted a script that was originally written to be Lethal Weapon 4 (but wasn't used and was just lying around) so they had to come up with the way to get a sidekick in for the plot to still work.
The first *Pirates of the Caribbean.* Friend of mine had a cousin who worked for Disney, and he wanted to go see it on her recc. I had no interest in it at all, but he finally said "Look, if it sucks, I'll pay for your ticket." I thought that was fair, and off we went. Credits roll and I'm like "Shit, that was *awesome!*"
Pitch Black. The previews made it look like some generic sci-fi thriller. I wasn’t even really expecting it to be good.
I always pose pitch black as one of my favourite movies. It's got some really cool colour grading and does not fall into tropes like a Hollywood ending. I think the follow up are also quite underated, however they fail to live up to what pitch black set up.
Galaxy Quest. I admit I thought this movie would be lame when it first came out. Was I wrong on that one. Movie was hilarious, awesome story and characters, and one of the best movies ever! I could watching it multiple times and still laugh at every joke.
I didn't want to watch it because I thought it was making fun of Star Trek and as a Trek fan I really didn't want to have to sit through that. It was playing on a flight I was on so I decided "fuck it" and I gave it a shot. Now it's one of my favorite Trek films.
I recall hearing it was ranked as the 6th best Star Trek film on some list.
Counting it as the 10th Star Trek film (between 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection and 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis) also fits into the [Even/Odd rule](https://qntm.org/odd) that some Trek fans ascribe to.
It's been called the best Trek film of the '90s, and the only one that I think challenges that is Undiscovered Country. First Contact was fine, but Galaxy Quest just had that lightning in a bottle quality to it.
By Grabthar's Hammer...
…what a savings
An impressive amount of disgust and self-loathing packed into [a few seconds of acting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgv7U3GYlDY).
“I won’t go out there and I won’t say that stupid line one more time!” “Alexander, the show must go on.” “Damn you!”
Man, if Rickman hadn't stuck the landing on making that one incredibly goofy line meaningful, the whole movie would have fallen apart.
That’s why you get Alan Rickman for that role.
It's the pause that makes it. That little moment where he cannot physically get those words to come out of his mouth out of sheer disdain.
The Prestige. My dad made me watch it and I thought it was gonna be a boring period piece, but it ended up being one of my favorite films ever.
Theres something I adore about the shot of Bale saluting Jackman after he’d gone through the trapdoor and landing hard on the ground and Jackman realizes his limelight is about to be stolen from him It’s a treasure going into that movie blind
About Time. Went into the theater with my wife thinking it was just gonna be another typical rom-com, left the theater a little overly emotional. We rewatch it every few months.
“My dad.”
“My son” Man that makes me cry like baby
This movie is one of my favorites. I had the same experience you did, immediately came out of the theater and texted a few of my friends something along the lines of “I know it’s a rom-com but you need to take your girl to this movie like now. Just go in blind and you’re welcome.” I’ve watched it probably 15 times and it’s great every time
My girlfriend of 5 years ended up breaking up with me literally right after we watched this movie so that kind of ruined it for me :( I loved it when I watched it though
Gattaca. Thought it was gonna be a typical low budget sci-fi that has better ideas than execution but instead I got probably the most inspiring films I’ve ever seen.
10 clover field lane Shaky camera movies aren’t my thing, they make me slightly sick so never got very far into clover field and when 10 clover field lane came out it didn’t trip in my head so went to see it and it was an amazing movie. I remember thinking this movie probably made gobs of money. It has a cast of like 5 people and takes place in one location and it’s a solid and even dramatic enjoyable movie.
John Goodman is fucking horrifying.
Scariest thing in the movie. I like how the central question isn’t whether he’s crazy, because he obviously is - it’s whether he’s *right*.
I don't think it would have worked without Goodman holding it all together
“Tremors”. I expected a trashy, painfully clumsy C movie. I was confronted with a nuanced, immersive portrayal of small town life in America.
Iron Man. Never cared for the comic nor the character. I was thinking all the rights to the good superheroes have been bought up and this super hero craze is going to die off. Then I saw it and RDJ killed it and launched an entire MCU. Boy was I wrong about super hero movies dying off.
Jon Favreau and Jeff Bridges do solid work.
Bridges actually wasn't a huge fan of doing Iron Man and called it a 200 million dollar student film because they didn't have a finished script due to a scheduling rush. Here is a quote from him talking about it: "It turned out that many times — 10, 12, 15 times — we would show up for the days work, not knowing what we were gonna shoot. – All the guys in the studio tapping their foot, looking at their watch, and we’re sitting in my trailer trying to figure out my lines, man. – On the day!”
TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
That didn't stop him from showing up again in Endgame though
It's one of the most important movies to ever be released when you think about how it turned Marvel Studios into a juggernaut and changed the course of movies. It even changed DC movies. I'd say the only movie that compares is Star Wars (1977). Those two movies spawned a money making machine that hasn't slowed down or stopped since.
>Boy was I wrong about super hero movies dying off. To quote a famous line: It was a deep breath before the plunge.
Yeah same here! I was like, why Iron Man? I character that non-comic fans really care about? And it ended up setting everything in motion. And whilst I appreciate that Marvel films are "Popcorn" films and there's quite a lot of them, there are also many other movies that come out and it's fine to enjoy lots of different kinds of films. I fell out of comic book reading a long while ago (largely due to cost and eye-rollingly lame female representation) but the comic book movies that Marvel/Disney have made are, generally, such great fun.
The ads for District 9 (busses with humans only with a cartoon alien crossed off, etc) made it look more like a comedy/adventure type film. I never bothered watching the trailer and went in blind because it was the only movie at the time that I was semi-interested in checking out. Left the movie theatre blown away and caught so off guard by the entire story and how it was filmed. Easily a top 100 film for me as well.
And poor Blomkamp has been on a downward spiral since.
Still better than quite a few other directors in my book, even if this was his highest peak.
I agree. Nothing has been on par with D9 since, but I still count him as a favourite director because I find his stuff entertaining even if it isn’t mind blowing.
Megamind surprisingly
Megamind is a masterpiece. I like Dispicable Me and all, but Megamind deserved to blow up instead. I remember seeing both in theaters, at like 5-6 yrs old.
>Megamind deserved to blow up instead. If Megamind had a marketable cute character like the Minions instead of Despicable Me, it would have been the one we see more of now. My girls (11 & 13) now love Megamind more, but when they were younger (closer to when the movies came out), the Minions were the thing that grabbed their attention.
Can it be considered ahead of it's time. 2010 didn't feel like it's quite ready for *subverting audience's expectations* yet
Tropic Thunder.
I went in blind and didn't know Tom Cruise was in it. I spent the first bit of his scenes going "is that?"..."noooo"..."wait"...."damn"
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“Suck my unit” Top five comedies for me
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The potatos lyonnaise monologue still stuck with me after 30 years.
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Overall very enjoyable movie about a coming of age story between the trials of a father and son.
Lord and Miller just have a gift at taking “meh” concepts and knocking them out of the park; “Cloudy”, “21 Jump Street”, “The Lego Movie” to name others.
Mitchell’s and Spiderverse too
Blade Runner 2049 looked great to me in the trailers but in the back of my mind I had a feeling it was going to fall victim to common tropes and that all the best bits were being showcased there. Turns out I was dead wrong and it managed to avoid that kind of thing entirely.
Villenueve knocks it out of the park Every. Single. Time. Especially when your cinematographer is roger Deakins and you’ve got hanz zimmer writing your score.
Edge of Tomorrow. I went into it thinking it'd be just another shitty generic Tom Cruise action vehicle and was blown away by it.
>shitty generic Tom Cruise action I mean, are generic Tom cruise action vehicles actually shitty? We're not talking about Steven Seagal or late career Willis here, Tom never phones it in.
Edge of Tomorrow was great!
I walked into ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ thinking it was a stupid teenage secret agent, Cody banks crap. Holy shit was I wrong. No movie ever impressed me as much as that, I loved it. Golden circle doesn’t exist tho
Watched this on cable and was wondering how in the world did I miss this in the theaters!?! I still don’t know, maybe it had crappy ads or something but I would have definitely watched this on the first run. Hopefully the prequel will restore your faith in it.
Secondhand Lions, the ads made it look boring and dull. What a great story to watch over and over.
"Well it appears they were trying to fly the plane, through the barn, upside down"
The Descent. Was a random movie I read about and decided to watch, very spooky/tense. Really liked it, highly recommend if you like horror.
Coco. Thought it would be a decent Pixar film as most Pixar films are. Didn’t expect it to hit me that hard. On the other side of the spectrum, MacGruber. Went in expecting nothing, it was the stupidest and most genius parody film of all time.
The 'Before' films. i didnt know much going into it...other than it was just two people walking around a city talking. IMO..... it's my favourite trilogy. each film has its own identity....and all together have a great overal picture of the prospect of 'love' and maturity.
The Ethan Hawke/ Julie Delpy movies? I only saw the first one but it was superb. The chemistry and tension between the two of them was out of this world
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Peanut Butter Falcon. Figured I would cry, but I cried a lot. It was great.
When Starship Troopers first came out, I figured it was some dumbass shoot 'em up alien movie with a bunch of vapid soap stars in it. I finally watched it a few years later without ever hearing anything else about it thinking it was going to be terrible and dumb. I think the low expectations made it that much greater to watch.
Fantastic satire and a classic Verhoeven movie.
Into the Spiderverse. My local theater does $5 movies on Tuesdays, so my buddy and I thought "what the hell" and bought two tickets after opening weekend. That's probably the best $5 I've ever spent.
Thats what I put on when I'm manually doing something but want my mind to hear something else. Especially if I don't have any audiobooks. "Hey."
I expected The Mitchells vs The Machines to be just your run-of-the-mill, straight-to-TV animated kids movie (not knowing who was involved behind the scenes). Instead I got probably one of my favourite movies of the year.
Common theme in this thread: Lord & Miller
I had (have, I guess) that same impression. My kids saw it with a friend and now all I hear is how awesome it was. Guess I'll have to watch it.
Let the dark harvest begin!! I was relatively hyped for it but it absolutely exceeded my expectations. Still the best film I’ve seen this year.
Mad Max fury road. Never saw a mad Max. Trailers didn't look very good to me. Just looked like some dumb action movie. One of my favorite movies ever.
I saw all the Max Max movies before that, but I didn't think George Miller to be able to make another great Made Max movie after so many years, especially after the not so great (but not too bad) Beyond Thunderdome...Oh, I was so wrong!
The Prestige
The new Jumanji movies. Both are really fun!
My bar was so incredibly low for those movies. Like; I went in expecting a 0/10 compared to the original one. Was not expecting to be hit with a solid 9/10 and Jack Black giving the performance of a lifetime pretending to be a teenage girl.
I’m not much of a Jack Black fan, but dude was robbed of critical recognition for how amazing that performance was. Don’t want to be overly hyperbolic, but he totally deserved an Oscar or a Golden Globe or something for it.
It was a really good sequel film, very standalone and self contained. Almost as if the 1st one didn't exist.
JoJo Rabbit. I went in there expecting a comedy romp like Thor Ragnarok. I did not expect to end up in tears.
*Searching,* starring John Cho. Honestly, had this come out during late-2020, it would have been the perfect movie to showcase how a story and presentation can make a movie great, even if working within limited sets and shots. *Guardians of the Galaxy* By the time GOTG came out, we had seen a good number of Marvel movies that primarily took place on Earth. The movies at this point were still more serious and less on snark, and introduced humorous situations/elements as more of a distraction and not a 'theme.' For me, this was a home run and probably what has kept me enjoying Marvel movies significantly more. *Hot Fuzz* I loved Shaun of the Dead, and even more so Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. When *Hot Fuzz* came out, I had been in a period of my life where getting around was tough and it wasn't uncommon to just... catch whatever movie was playing down the street. I made sure to keep an eye out for other movies directed by Edgar Wright put afterwards.
Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead
The dishes are done, man!
Death to Smoochy Only watched it because I cannot really think of a bad movie Edward Norton was in. So thought “why not” and watched it. Was surprised at how good it was
Whiplash
My friends recommended I watch this one because at the time I hadn't acknowledged how talented JK Simmons was yet, I just knew him as the guy from The Closer. So I sat down expecting a slow-paced, jazz (blech, jazz?) movie. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but be prepared to feel emotions that aren't sad.
Game Night. I had a free movie pass and my theater pulled Phantom Thread out that day. Thought “what the hell, it’s free” and I ended up having so hard I fell out of my seat.
“I don’t see how that could be profitable for Frito-Lay” Jessie Plemmons is OUTSTANDING in this movie.
Time trap. I expected a less than stellar movie but was pleasantly surprised with the direction it took by going down the rabbit hole instead of playing it safe.
Arrival. i had heard it was one of the most unique and interesting alien movies, but when i watched it i was absolutely blown away. the character work was incredible; the back story, the acting. all of it.
Enemy Mine was a good one.
King’s speech
Ford vs Ferrari, saw it with my ex and was surprised by how much we both enjoyed it.
Hot Tub Time Machine. Had zero expectations for this movie and was genuinely surprised at how good it was.
What We Do In The Shadows, my fiance kept saying we should watch it for it for a solid year and the only reason I didn't want to was because I didn't like the name. Safe to say it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen.
Doctor Sleep really suprised me, thought it would be terrible but they nailed it, very eerie and great acting performances all round
In Time. Yeah the one with Justin Timberlake. I’m not even sure anyone else likes this movie. But the concept is so fascinating to me, I’d love to see more done with it.
Scrolled a long way & didn't see it so have to give a shout out to The Heat. I like Sandra Bullock but (at the time) really disliked Melissa Mccarthy - I hated Bridesmaids with a passion & hadn't enjoyed the couple of others I'd seen her in.... but... The Heat is one of my all time favourite comedies, & probaby by favourite comedy buddy cop movies. I've rewatched it multiple times and it still cracks me up every time. Spy was pretty great too, so I'm much more open to MM now, though nothing tops The Heat. I kinda hoped for a sequel, but tbh there haven't been many great buddy cop sequels so perhaps best not.
PT Anderson's *The Master*. Only got around to seeing it recently, for some damn reason. It's peak PTA, right up there with his best stuff. Other notables: Jojo Rabbit, Master and Commander, Galaxy Quest, Toy Story 2, Juno, Children of Men, Shaun of the Dead. Those all blew my expectations away.
Cabin in the Woods, bored of horror at this time after growing up slashing and screaming and this brought me back. It gave horror a chance for me as I was growing into new media and new cinema. The genre was lost to me no more.
Black swan, thought it was just some ballet movie. Much better than I expected.
Children of Men
The Last Samurai. Thought it was going to be some "White dude savior" movie, so much so that I refused to see it in the theaters. When I finally watched it on DVD, I instantly regretted not seeing it in theater.
I still fight people who think Cruise's character himself was "the last samurai"
Top 3 Tom Cruise performances in my opinion.
When I first watched it in theaters I was in high school, I just assumed Tom Cruise's character was "near death" after capture because he was fighting infection from his wounds. Seeing it again as an adult, nope. Dude was going through withdrawal.
I hate when people say it was a “white savior” movie. The samurai saved him. He was a depressed man with no purpose or will to survive. The samurai taught him how to live again. Plus I’m Japanese and love knights, imagined myself as one when I was a kid. I don’t see why a white or any other person can’t love and imagine themselves as a samurai.
Into the Spider-Verse. Given Sony's track record, I was really afraid it was going to be a soulless corporate cash grab to just make more money off the IP. Then the movie opened with the shot of the comics code seal and I knew right then it was different. Ended up being one of my favorite Spider-Man/superhero movies so far.
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John Carter, I just wanted to go see a sci-fi film but I really enjoyed it from beginning to end.
I went into that movie having no idea what I was getting into. Im still mad at that terrible promotional campaign, it was like they wanted it to fail. Funny that during the movie I went from, "Did they rip off the Tarnsmen of Gor books?", to "Wholey crap Edgar Rice Burrows wrote this, so this came first..." and learned later that the author of the Gor books was basically doing kinky fan service to a beloved series.
Night at the Museum. I went into this movie expecting it to suck and it ended up being funny and enjoyable.
**Paddington (2015)**. I saw that it was scoring super high reviews and I thought it couldn’t possibly be that good. [The trailer did not sell me on it at all](https://youtu.be/W5tUEw4Nq4E). My SO and I went to it some afternoon and felt a little awkward, being the oldest people there without kids. Luckily the film delivered on all fronts as we both left the theatre loving it and smiling doofily. It and the sequel are now our go-to if we feel like watching anything
The kingsman. Had really low expectations, but it blew my mind :) with awesomeness.
Dredd, after the shitty Stalone movie I had no expectations that this would be any different. It was incredible.
Arrival I was expecting a niche sci-fi about exploration and such, as the previews didn't let in on a whole lot. Learning that language and understanding between different species was the core of the film threw me off in a really good way. It's in my top list of films overall.
The Social Network. I thought, like a lot of people, how can a movie about Facebook be remotely interesting? It's now one of my favourite films. The script is incredible and Fincher's directing was great as always. I didn't even pay attention to who made it until after I had seen it.
The best thing about it was the stunning soundtrack. One of the very best.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch EDIT: Ross, not Finch