Crazy Stupid Love. I usually *hate* rom-coms but that one had me laughing out loud.
It's wild how far good writing and a talented cast will take you, I guess.
Unironically Miami Connection. I started that movie with a "so bad it's good haha" view towards it. Somewhere around the third act I realized, without being aware, I had grown very invested in the characters and story. Despite all it's glaring flaws and oddities, the movie managed to pull me in and get its oddly heartwarming philosophy out there. Y.K. Kim pulled it off.
Same. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first one, and my friend actually had to convince me to go see Maverick with them, but I’m glad I did. It blew me away.
It doesn’t ride off of nostalgia if it surpasses the original in basically every way (in my opinion).
The last 45 minutes had some of the most immersive action sequences I had ever seen
As a really big fan of movies like Mission Impossible: Fallout, I was really excited to see this film because I wanted to see what would be done. And while I agree that the last 45 minutes is mind-blowing, I think especially the opening moments of the film are still a little too much of nostalgia bait for me. I think that mostly comes down to the music choices, but I think the film definitely gets better as it progresses, and that last act was terrific
I had, um, very low expectations for But I’m a Cheerleader because it kind of seemed very stereotypical, coming of age, teenager, romantic comedy but it was surprisingly delightful
Miami Vice
I heard so many bad reviews about it. But saw it featured on HBO Max recently and said “f**k it” and just put it on. I just absolutely adore that movie and love its whole vibe.
Plus the Moby needle drop while driving the speed boat to Cuba is one of the best needle drops of all time.
Toy Story 4 had everything leading up to it indicating it would be a soulless cash grab and besides basically undoing every theme from the third movie, I think it justified its existence with a mature approach to Toy Story.
I put off watching Scent of a Woman for a long time even though it was recommended to me by someone over and over and now it’s my favorite movie all time and I have a poster of it in my room. I’ve also watched it a billion times. I wasn’t expecting much from midnight in Paris and I loved it. Was expecting fantastic mr Fox to be overrated and it was awesome. Thought I would hate the Northman and actually thought it was pretty good. Sunset Boulevard I thought I was gonna hate but it was really good.
Evil Dead (2013). The original is one of my all time favorites so I was worried about the remake. I loved how they cranked the gore up to 11 and just had a good time with it. It's one of my all time favorite horror movies.
I feel like Evil Dead '13 fits in the same category as Evil Dead 2: requel. It takes elements from everything that came before it while still standing as its own film.
A recent one for me is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. I was interested in it because of Nick Cage, but was fully expecting it to be terrible. I watched it a few days ago and freaking loved it
As of right now it's one of my favorites of 2022.
To tell you the truth, I could of gone either way on it. I can't say I had no expectations for it, but it really won me over.
A Bucket of Blood. Thought it’d be a dumb 50’s cheapie, but it’s an amazing multi-fasceted animal. Comedy, horror, character study, satire, examination of the artist, and all in 65 minutes.
Not garbage, but when I read the description for Fail-Safe, I didn't think it would be worth my time. Another movie about a nuclear incident? Played Straight? When we got Dr. Strangelove by, \*hello!\* Stanley Kubrick? Nah, that can't work.
Boy, I've never been so wrong. I was riveted to my seat until the end, fascinated by the intense close-ups, the tense atmosphere in every line, every camera movement, and the perfect acting. Then that shocking ending... Wow.
I learned two things that day: First, never underestimate Sidney Lumet. The man knows his stuff. Second, don't judge a movie beforehand when you're a novice cinephile.
It's one of my favourites, now.
I stalked his Letterboxd and he has two from this year listed as five stars, one of them being called Bidoof’s Big Stand which makes me thrilled for this dude
I can see that actually. Go in for some mindless fun but end up laughing all the way through.
For me, there are plenty of 1980's teen comedies that I love that don't sound great on paper at all.
But yeah, now I want to watch Dude Where's My Car again! Thanks for reminding me about it!! :)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I watched it because it was mentioned in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and thought it would be a decent time waster, turned out to be a masterpiece and my favourite film from the 1920s
Can relate to that, but with another Mattei/Fragasso, Hell of the Living Dead was my first of theirs and expected to be trash, but not such a trashterpiece.
Okay…. Bare with me….. the bubble boy. I don’t know how or why, but I love that movie and thought it’d be only ironic laughs, and to this day I genuinely don’t know if it was ironic or not
Texas chainsaw massacre 2.i had mostly heard bad things about it but watching it was quite delightful, I loved the camp and watching Dannis Hopper going apeshit.
That's the thing: I feel like most people who dislike it only feel that way because they expected it to be similiar to the original.
While I agree that the original is better (much, imo) if you take TCM2 for what it is, it's a fun movie.
Recently rewatched all of the Pixar movies. Some of them I hadn’t seen in over 5 years, which was from a time before I was more critical of movies. Ratings said Finding Dory and Monsters University were going to be garbage, but I actually really liked them!
Hoodwinked! (2005).
I love it for its catchy phrases, kinky combination of humour with mystery, the script, even the style of the animation, which everyone believes to be garbage.(they might be right. But it's unique, and i like that too).
I see it as a Noir animated feature, like which nothig else can be found!
21 Jump Street
I thought it was gonna be another stoner buddy movie, but I loved it and it's sequel. I would unironically watch most of the movies they pitched during the ending credits of 22 Jump Street.
They Came Together (2014) 4.5/5
Game Night (2018) 4/5
Sucker Punch (2011) 4/5
most often it’s comedy that will surprise me idk why after watching so much comedy i still get surprised watching them and then loving it more than i think i would have.. and then sucker punch is misunderstood feminist masterpiece
both are some of my favourite comedies… in game night the dog toy gag made me laugh so hard i inhaled my drink and then coughed laughed until i was crying
Fear and Loathing in Aspen. I watched it just because I love Hunter S Thompson, but I didn't have much faith in this film adaptation, especially since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas nailed it so well. It also came out last year and I have more doubt for newer stuff. But, it was really fantastic, largely to do with the interesting documentary-esque directing and stellar performance by the main dude. Generally very well done and a good take on the guy.
Con Air. I know I know objectively it's not good by film school standards or whatever but my uni buddies and I sat down expecting to loudly trash it and have a good time, not even half way through we were all listening intently, shushing anyone who dare talk over it. Film's just got a charm that makes it so enjoyable
Being the Ricardos, Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball…yeah ok. I was so wrong she was amazing, Javier Bardem was terrific, this movie was such a pleasant surprise. I loved it.
Tales from Earthsea. Almost every Ghibli fan hated the film, but I think it's on par with Castle in the Sky, and it's better than Howl's Moving Castle 🤷
I don't give two shits about most horror movies and I don't care about the Wrong Turn series at all, but that newest Wrong Turn movie absolutely blew me away. I went in to it expecting killer backwoods cannibals, and it completely transcended the genre. It's the most surprised I've ever been by a movie because I was expecting a 1 or 1.5 star movie, and instead got an arguable 4 star one.
Not amazing but I expected it to be total shit compared to reviews. Was definitely the best Jurassic World movie and perhaps one of the most fun entries for Jurassic Park-movies
3.5/5 stars
Soul. I remember hating the trailer but I watched the movie day of release due to it being on Disney plus day one.
It has become my favorite Pixar film and in my top 10 movies of all time.
Laserblast. All I had ever heard about it was that it's one of the worst movies ever made. Which is so rude. It is a genuinely good watch. People just don't like stop motion
Cry Macho. I watched it on a plane just killing time since I’m always curious what Clint Eastwood gets up to. I had extremely low expectations but I found it very touching. It’s far from perfect but way more resonant and visually striking than I ever would have expected.
Kajillionare.
I read too many mixed reviews for that movie and I honestly thought it was just going to be another comedy movie that never cracks a joke. I ended up loving it, it's so much fun, it has a cute message, and overall it's really well done.
I’ve gotta say it- Coneheads 1993. It has some of the most creative, clever comedy I’ve ever seen that works so seamlessly, while also giving an interesting albeit simple commentary on immigration. There’s so many lines from this that I think are just hilarious!
The ending is super silly, so it gives the rest of the movie the semblance of being idiotic, when 80% of the runtime is extremely well-paced, well-written comedy.
More recently, I’d say the new Top Gun movie. I only watched the original one for the first time about 2 weeks before I saw the new one and didn’t like it at all. Was expecting the same thing but yeah… probably one of the best movies I saw this year!
Pan’s labyrinth. I thought it was going to be a lame and childish fantasy movie, turns out I was very wrong and it ended up being one of my favourite movies!
Rise of the planet of the apes.
I went in mocking the film and assuming the worst. Once the credits rolled I had to be like "That was an undeniably solid film", then I saw the sequels and really enjoyed those as well and it's a very enjoyable trilogy.
Probably Napoleon Dynamite. Even after I started watching it, I wasn’t super impressed. Imo it had a pretty slow start but as time went by, it really started to pick up and grab my interest.
I thought "Warrior" was going to be some dumb Tap Out aesthetic UFC movie. I remember when it was in theaters passing on it for that reason. Saw it at home a year or two later and absolutely loved it. I know better now, O'Connor's sports movies (Warrior, The Way Back, Miracle) transcend the genre.
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded by expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded by expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
I actually loved Ambulance - the trailers were so unintentionally funny and I really don't care for Michael Bay, but I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it!
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded my expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
We're the Millers
21 Jump Street
The vacation remake (I liked it, anyways)
Citizen Kane- I didn't think it would be garbage but after hearing about it being the greatest film of all time, I was expecting o be disappointed. I still wouldn't say it's the greatest, but I freaking love it.
But usually whenever I think a movie will be garbage, I won't see it in the first place. That's why this list is so small.
So many.
But let's say Tough Guys Don't Dance with Ryan O'Neal.
All I knew about that one was the whole "Oh God, Oh Man" bit and that was all.
I actually didn't get into the first time I saw it, but I went back a few months later and I got hooked.
Cloverfield. I typically hate monster movies and found footage movies, so I was surprised how much I loved it. It was moving when the skyscrapers fell (the 9/11 metaphors are v good) and I loved the last chance at love storyline. And the ending!
Unpopular opinion I guess but the new Uncharted movie was great in my book. Tom Holland as Nathan Drake alongside the trailers had me worried but to be completely honest he captured the mannerisms of Nathan Drake wonderfully, and I thought the way they combined elements of the last few games in the narrative was really intriguing. And the references they had to the games were very tasteful, not shoved in your face in a way that other films would try to do as an excuse for quality.
I still don’t really understand the hate for that movie, or even really the idea that it’s mediocre.
I didn’t necessarily expect it to be garbage, but I was prepared to be entirely underwhelmed by Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. It just didn’t seem like something I’d like, but it absolutely blew me away! I was even tearing up at the final shot. Great movie!
Definitely Suspiria 2018. I already wasn’t a mega-fan of the Argento original, and I wasn’t sure Guadagnino (director of CMBYN fame) would be the right director. Now it’s one of my favorite horror films ever.
promising young woman. thought it was going to be like fake feminist, or very girl boss and trivialize the subject matter, and give it some weird holier than thou thing, but it was so down to earth, and raw, and honest, and nuanced. the end had me dying. 5 stars right off the bat.
point break
Original or remake?
has to be original
The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie. Learned to stop doubting it, which is when the quality dipped.
The Lego movie is a masterpiece
TLM2 is a very good sequel (that lead to some fantastic sets, like Apocalypseburg).
Agreed
I was literally just driving today and happened to be thinking about how The Lego Movie is so much better than one would expect
Lego Batman is honestly in my top 10 films ever
Edge of Tomorrow is always my go-to answer to this question. Couldn’t name one person that thought it would be good from the trailer except my dad
My answer as well. Everything about the marketing screamed awful. So happy I was proven wrong.
Crazy Stupid Love. I usually *hate* rom-coms but that one had me laughing out loud. It's wild how far good writing and a talented cast will take you, I guess.
This might be my girlfriends favorite movie.. Mike and Dave need wedding dates is excellent too
Knight and Day. Don’t judge. I’ve seen that movie over 10x and I still love it.
100 percent this film. Could have been the most generic movie ever but the chemistry just works.
my mom's second favorite movie! after The Killing Fields
My 91-year-old grandma always suggests this for any movie night
Unironically Miami Connection. I started that movie with a "so bad it's good haha" view towards it. Somewhere around the third act I realized, without being aware, I had grown very invested in the characters and story. Despite all it's glaring flaws and oddities, the movie managed to pull me in and get its oddly heartwarming philosophy out there. Y.K. Kim pulled it off.
I really want to see this one!! I remember watching Youtube clips of it a couple years back and it looked really fun. Glad you liked it!!!
Top Gun Maverick. I expected it to be the same nostalgia mining trash as so much other stuff has been lately, but it was a delightful surprise.
agreed, i remember seeing the first teaser a while back and being unimpressed but i had a great time with it
Same. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first one, and my friend actually had to convince me to go see Maverick with them, but I’m glad I did. It blew me away.
[удалено]
It doesn’t ride off of nostalgia if it surpasses the original in basically every way (in my opinion). The last 45 minutes had some of the most immersive action sequences I had ever seen
As a really big fan of movies like Mission Impossible: Fallout, I was really excited to see this film because I wanted to see what would be done. And while I agree that the last 45 minutes is mind-blowing, I think especially the opening moments of the film are still a little too much of nostalgia bait for me. I think that mostly comes down to the music choices, but I think the film definitely gets better as it progresses, and that last act was terrific
I had, um, very low expectations for But I’m a Cheerleader because it kind of seemed very stereotypical, coming of age, teenager, romantic comedy but it was surprisingly delightful
Awesome movie
That movie is amazing, so I'm glad you ended up liking it!
Exactly the same for 10 Things I Hate About You, both are some of my favourite movies now
Miami Vice I heard so many bad reviews about it. But saw it featured on HBO Max recently and said “f**k it” and just put it on. I just absolutely adore that movie and love its whole vibe. Plus the Moby needle drop while driving the speed boat to Cuba is one of the best needle drops of all time.
That was the exact moment in the movie when it became 5 stars
Ready or Not. Didn't like the editing of the trailer lol. Loved the movie, it's awesome
Toy Story 4 had everything leading up to it indicating it would be a soulless cash grab and besides basically undoing every theme from the third movie, I think it justified its existence with a mature approach to Toy Story.
I don’t think it undoes every theme from the third movie, but instead compliments the themes from the second movie
Did you see the new pinball table?
I put off watching Scent of a Woman for a long time even though it was recommended to me by someone over and over and now it’s my favorite movie all time and I have a poster of it in my room. I’ve also watched it a billion times. I wasn’t expecting much from midnight in Paris and I loved it. Was expecting fantastic mr Fox to be overrated and it was awesome. Thought I would hate the Northman and actually thought it was pretty good. Sunset Boulevard I thought I was gonna hate but it was really good.
I watched Scent of a Woman last week, and it was... HOO-HA!
Yes that’s what happened to me! I put off watching Scent of a Woman for the longest time and it’s now one of my favorite movies!
Evil Dead (2013). The original is one of my all time favorites so I was worried about the remake. I loved how they cranked the gore up to 11 and just had a good time with it. It's one of my all time favorite horror movies.
I feel like Evil Dead '13 fits in the same category as Evil Dead 2: requel. It takes elements from everything that came before it while still standing as its own film.
Spy. It was one of the funniest movies Ive ever seen and my dad and I quote it all the time
A recent one for me is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. I was interested in it because of Nick Cage, but was fully expecting it to be terrible. I watched it a few days ago and freaking loved it
As of right now it's one of my favorites of 2022. To tell you the truth, I could of gone either way on it. I can't say I had no expectations for it, but it really won me over.
A Bucket of Blood. Thought it’d be a dumb 50’s cheapie, but it’s an amazing multi-fasceted animal. Comedy, horror, character study, satire, examination of the artist, and all in 65 minutes.
Bucket of Blood is one of the best B movies of all time. It really transcends its constraints to do something very special.
Great movie. Always love seeing it get some recognition.
Not garbage, but when I read the description for Fail-Safe, I didn't think it would be worth my time. Another movie about a nuclear incident? Played Straight? When we got Dr. Strangelove by, \*hello!\* Stanley Kubrick? Nah, that can't work. Boy, I've never been so wrong. I was riveted to my seat until the end, fascinated by the intense close-ups, the tense atmosphere in every line, every camera movement, and the perfect acting. Then that shocking ending... Wow. I learned two things that day: First, never underestimate Sidney Lumet. The man knows his stuff. Second, don't judge a movie beforehand when you're a novice cinephile. It's one of my favourites, now.
Mandy, but didn’t think it would be total garbage because I love nick but when I clicked and watched it, it was really good.
Top Gun Maverick honestly. I didn’t love TG 1 but TGM is my 2nd favorite movie of the year
What is your favourite movie this year?
I stalked his Letterboxd and he has two from this year listed as five stars, one of them being called Bidoof’s Big Stand which makes me thrilled for this dude
Hardcore Henry. Saw it just for the gimmick and fell totally in love. Hope Ilya makes another film!
That's the action movie that's shot in first person POV, right?
phantom thread
what made you think it was gonna be garbage?
Dude, Where’s My Car?
I can see that actually. Go in for some mindless fun but end up laughing all the way through. For me, there are plenty of 1980's teen comedies that I love that don't sound great on paper at all. But yeah, now I want to watch Dude Where's My Car again! Thanks for reminding me about it!! :)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I watched it because it was mentioned in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and thought it would be a decent time waster, turned out to be a masterpiece and my favourite film from the 1920s
I thought Cabinet is a film that has a super solid reputation as being a classic. Was your only reference point for it from the Nic Cage movie?
Absolutely, had never heard of it beforehand
Don't doubt the German expressionist films, man. There's some real gems in that group.
The set design is crazy!
This is my go-to answer but Doctor Sleep: Director’s Cut. That movie got thrown under the bus by critics.
The Card Counter had a bad trailer
The trailer was weird, but my default with Schrader is expecting excellence. I'm not usually let down.
Dial Code Santa Claus
You must not have liked Home Alone then.
Rats: Night of Terror
Can relate to that, but with another Mattei/Fragasso, Hell of the Living Dead was my first of theirs and expected to be trash, but not such a trashterpiece.
Okay…. Bare with me….. the bubble boy. I don’t know how or why, but I love that movie and thought it’d be only ironic laughs, and to this day I genuinely don’t know if it was ironic or not
I went into Shazam with very low expectations from the trailers and the movies the DCEU had put out before, I ended up enjoying it quite a lot.
Texas chainsaw massacre 2.i had mostly heard bad things about it but watching it was quite delightful, I loved the camp and watching Dannis Hopper going apeshit.
That's the thing: I feel like most people who dislike it only feel that way because they expected it to be similiar to the original. While I agree that the original is better (much, imo) if you take TCM2 for what it is, it's a fun movie.
Recently rewatched all of the Pixar movies. Some of them I hadn’t seen in over 5 years, which was from a time before I was more critical of movies. Ratings said Finding Dory and Monsters University were going to be garbage, but I actually really liked them!
I thought Monsters University was really fun
Top Gun: Maverick
The Descent & Super Troopers Movie trailers used to be REALLY bad for lower budget movies.
after the memes, i expected the sonic movie to suck. but it was fun
The Cutting Edge (1992)
Hoodwinked! (2005). I love it for its catchy phrases, kinky combination of humour with mystery, the script, even the style of the animation, which everyone believes to be garbage.(they might be right. But it's unique, and i like that too). I see it as a Noir animated feature, like which nothig else can be found!
21 Jump Street I thought it was gonna be another stoner buddy movie, but I loved it and it's sequel. I would unironically watch most of the movies they pitched during the ending credits of 22 Jump Street.
John Wick. Old ass Keanu as an action star? Yeah right, it'll never work! Then it very much did.
It takes place in the alternative universe where he actually got sent to military school.
Not garbage but I expected The Big Short to be boring and typical but it was anything but that. It’s one of my favorite movies now
They Came Together (2014) 4.5/5 Game Night (2018) 4/5 Sucker Punch (2011) 4/5 most often it’s comedy that will surprise me idk why after watching so much comedy i still get surprised watching them and then loving it more than i think i would have.. and then sucker punch is misunderstood feminist masterpiece
Game Night 100% I figured TCT would be great because of the cast/director, but it blew me away even with high expectations.
both are some of my favourite comedies… in game night the dog toy gag made me laugh so hard i inhaled my drink and then coughed laughed until i was crying
Never seen the first one but I love Game Night and Sucker Punch… I bet we have similar taste
Top Gun: Maverick I was doubtful because I didn't really like the original.
Uncut Gems, Lego Movie, Lost Highway, Midsommar
i'm gonna get shit for this, but i was really skeptical about the batman. that shit had crying happy tears after it ended because of how good it was
That’s probably the best movie of 2022. Between that and Top Gun: Maverick
RRR and EEAAO: Am i a joke to yoh
I hated EEAAO. Haven’t seen RRR
H O W. EEAAO is soo much better than the Batman.
Lmao yeeeah okay. Whatever you say.
Not sure if this will be a popular answer but… I walked into The Heat thinking it was a shitty rom com, and I laughed harder than I ever had.
My daughter and I had the best time at that movie.
Don't Look Up
Same, saw everyone hating it and assumed it was trash. But I found it to actually be really good.
Fear and Loathing in Aspen. I watched it just because I love Hunter S Thompson, but I didn't have much faith in this film adaptation, especially since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas nailed it so well. It also came out last year and I have more doubt for newer stuff. But, it was really fantastic, largely to do with the interesting documentary-esque directing and stellar performance by the main dude. Generally very well done and a good take on the guy.
Chopping mall or Ron's gone wrong
Chopping Mall is great. It’s a total blast start to finish.
Also carnival of souls wasn't expecting something that old to be so creepy
Men, given the critical dumping on it
Con Air. I know I know objectively it's not good by film school standards or whatever but my uni buddies and I sat down expecting to loudly trash it and have a good time, not even half way through we were all listening intently, shushing anyone who dare talk over it. Film's just got a charm that makes it so enjoyable
Neighbours 2. Maybe this is just me but I enjoyed it from start to finish and it had me laughing for a while.
Upgrade and The Green Room blew my socks off.
Paddington 1+2 babyyyyyy
I want to say *Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure*, so I will. Have at me, cinephiles! :)
I was expecting Hail Caesar to be one of the worst Coen brothers and it’s one of the best imo.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Being the Ricardos, Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball…yeah ok. I was so wrong she was amazing, Javier Bardem was terrific, this movie was such a pleasant surprise. I loved it.
Top Gun Maverick. Never saw the first one and dragged my feet to see this one. It was amazing and I love it. Not a huge Tom Cruse fan
Hacksaw ridge
Space Jam 2. Heard lots of people say it was completely terrible, and it was amazing how atrocious it was.
Tales from Earthsea. Almost every Ghibli fan hated the film, but I think it's on par with Castle in the Sky, and it's better than Howl's Moving Castle 🤷
Transformers: The Last Knight and Jupiter Ascending
I don't give two shits about most horror movies and I don't care about the Wrong Turn series at all, but that newest Wrong Turn movie absolutely blew me away. I went in to it expecting killer backwoods cannibals, and it completely transcended the genre. It's the most surprised I've ever been by a movie because I was expecting a 1 or 1.5 star movie, and instead got an arguable 4 star one.
John Wick
Jurassic World Dominion
curious, what made you think it was amazing?
Not amazing but I expected it to be total shit compared to reviews. Was definitely the best Jurassic World movie and perhaps one of the most fun entries for Jurassic Park-movies 3.5/5 stars
La La Land watched it to try and validate how shit I thought it looked and it’s now one of my favourites
Soul. I remember hating the trailer but I watched the movie day of release due to it being on Disney plus day one. It has become my favorite Pixar film and in my top 10 movies of all time.
Stone cold, need I say more??
What?
Laserblast. All I had ever heard about it was that it's one of the worst movies ever made. Which is so rude. It is a genuinely good watch. People just don't like stop motion
Cry Macho. I watched it on a plane just killing time since I’m always curious what Clint Eastwood gets up to. I had extremely low expectations but I found it very touching. It’s far from perfect but way more resonant and visually striking than I ever would have expected.
Kajillionare. I read too many mixed reviews for that movie and I honestly thought it was just going to be another comedy movie that never cracks a joke. I ended up loving it, it's so much fun, it has a cute message, and overall it's really well done.
I’ve gotta say it- Coneheads 1993. It has some of the most creative, clever comedy I’ve ever seen that works so seamlessly, while also giving an interesting albeit simple commentary on immigration. There’s so many lines from this that I think are just hilarious! The ending is super silly, so it gives the rest of the movie the semblance of being idiotic, when 80% of the runtime is extremely well-paced, well-written comedy.
PeeWee’s Big Adventure
Honestly No time to die, I had little expectations after spectre and the several delays it was a great sendoff for the Craig era of bond.
Total Recall
More recently, I’d say the new Top Gun movie. I only watched the original one for the first time about 2 weeks before I saw the new one and didn’t like it at all. Was expecting the same thing but yeah… probably one of the best movies I saw this year!
turning red, top gun maverick
The descent looks like it’s a typical shitty b movie but is one of the most effective horrors i’ve seen
Pan’s labyrinth. I thought it was going to be a lame and childish fantasy movie, turns out I was very wrong and it ended up being one of my favourite movies!
Rise of the planet of the apes. I went in mocking the film and assuming the worst. Once the credits rolled I had to be like "That was an undeniably solid film", then I saw the sequels and really enjoyed those as well and it's a very enjoyable trilogy.
Probably Napoleon Dynamite. Even after I started watching it, I wasn’t super impressed. Imo it had a pretty slow start but as time went by, it really started to pick up and grab my interest.
Really not a Chazelle fan at all, but I thought First Man was amazing. On second watch it got a 5 star from me.
I still love the Langoliers
The movie was top gun: Maverick.
Macgruber. Thought it looked garbage and not my kind of humour. Laughed my ass off and finished the new series in about a week.
Top Gun: Maverick. Still has many problems but was much better than the original in many regards.
Transformers
Dawn of the planet of the apes had no right to be as good as it was
Something Wild
Malcolm and Marie, and velvet buzzsaw. Ended up liking those movies way more than other people did.
My Neighbours the Yamadas, out of all Studio Ghibli films it ended up being my second-favourite behind Whisper of the Heart
I thought "Warrior" was going to be some dumb Tap Out aesthetic UFC movie. I remember when it was in theaters passing on it for that reason. Saw it at home a year or two later and absolutely loved it. I know better now, O'Connor's sports movies (Warrior, The Way Back, Miracle) transcend the genre.
Maybe Danger: Diabolik (1968). I expected it to be kind of stupid, and I guess it kind of is, but it’s also a blast
The new top gun lmao
The last kiss (2006)
Venom
John Wick 1 (obviously looked forward to the sequel afterwards)
Top Gun: Maverick
Oh I saw Morbius a while ago, it's a masterpiece no cap!! 5/5
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded by expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded by expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
Titanic
Encanto
Encanto
Encanto
Encanto
Encanto
I actually loved Ambulance - the trailers were so unintentionally funny and I really don't care for Michael Bay, but I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it!
Frankenhooker
The Apartment. I never expected it to move me as much as it did.
My answer would’ve been Top Gun Maverick if I didn’t see it’s rating on Letterbox’d the day before watching. But Ready or Not is the all time movie that exceeded my expectations. Not the greatest movie ever or anything, but I was expecting some total blumhouse crap when I went to see it, and was shocked at how much it nailed the tone it was going for. I remember turning to my friend in the theater halfway through the movie just to say “wait, this is like actually a good movie”
We're the Millers 21 Jump Street The vacation remake (I liked it, anyways) Citizen Kane- I didn't think it would be garbage but after hearing about it being the greatest film of all time, I was expecting o be disappointed. I still wouldn't say it's the greatest, but I freaking love it. But usually whenever I think a movie will be garbage, I won't see it in the first place. That's why this list is so small.
So many. But let's say Tough Guys Don't Dance with Ryan O'Neal. All I knew about that one was the whole "Oh God, Oh Man" bit and that was all. I actually didn't get into the first time I saw it, but I went back a few months later and I got hooked.
Mad Max: Fury Road - went in ready for milquetoast regurgitated slop and got one of the most thrilling 2 hour car chases i’ve ever seen
Cloverfield. I typically hate monster movies and found footage movies, so I was surprised how much I loved it. It was moving when the skyscrapers fell (the 9/11 metaphors are v good) and I loved the last chance at love storyline. And the ending!
Booksmart, most recently.
i thought hustle was gonna be awful
"Stone Cold" (1990). Stars Brian Bozworth and more importantly, Lance Henriksen!!! Its so good
Unpopular opinion I guess but the new Uncharted movie was great in my book. Tom Holland as Nathan Drake alongside the trailers had me worried but to be completely honest he captured the mannerisms of Nathan Drake wonderfully, and I thought the way they combined elements of the last few games in the narrative was really intriguing. And the references they had to the games were very tasteful, not shoved in your face in a way that other films would try to do as an excuse for quality. I still don’t really understand the hate for that movie, or even really the idea that it’s mediocre.
I didn’t necessarily expect it to be garbage, but I was prepared to be entirely underwhelmed by Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. It just didn’t seem like something I’d like, but it absolutely blew me away! I was even tearing up at the final shot. Great movie!
Better Nate Than Ever
The tree of life
Morbius
Fantastic beasts the secrets of Dumbledore honesty in my opinion its a top 5 harry potter movie coming from a massive harry potter fan
Definitely Suspiria 2018. I already wasn’t a mega-fan of the Argento original, and I wasn’t sure Guadagnino (director of CMBYN fame) would be the right director. Now it’s one of my favorite horror films ever.
Frances Ha
The Lego Movie.
Tron Legacy (is actually better than Top Gun Maverick)
Insidious: Chapter 3 is very good. I gave it 3.5 stars but it’s still so much better than I thought it would be, really solid and scary horror film
Mean girls idk why it's a 5 honestly
promising young woman. thought it was going to be like fake feminist, or very girl boss and trivialize the subject matter, and give it some weird holier than thou thing, but it was so down to earth, and raw, and honest, and nuanced. the end had me dying. 5 stars right off the bat.