Movies that most exceeded your expectations in 2015

[spectre08]

I thought this thread would be a good converse to the most disappointing.

what movies did you see in 2015 that you didn't expect to like, or had mixed feelings about but ended up being really enjoyable?

No Escape
I thought this looked campy, and the cast was underwhelming, but when I finally saw it I was floored. Thrilling, exciting, and surprising. I hadn't heard any spoilers, and I wasn't sure of the outcome pretty much until the credits rolled.

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials
I like the first one ok, but I had diminished expectations for the second since these series have a bad habit of falling off. But I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Not in my top 10 movies of the year, but still very solid.

Tomorrowland
This one I unfortunately had been tainted by bad reviews, but I went to see it anyways because I thought at least it would be a visual spectacle. But I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I actually legitimately enjoyed the movie. George Clooney was underwhelming, but the performance by newcomer Britt Robertson was refreshing, I look forward to more of her in the future and I hope that this movie's relative failure doesn't hurt her career.

[jacobsever]

Mistress America - After seeing 4 Baumbach films previously, and disliking them all, I was ready to give up. I figured "why not?" and watched one more. Finally! I LOVED this film. Went in with less than 0 expectations, and ended up seeing one of my favorite films of the year.

Creed - Not too big of a fan of sports movies. Not really a big fan of these types of films. Was really happy with the end result.

Dope - Thought it was going to be a quirky Sundance type film. Like Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, etc. But instead I got a highly entertaining, fun, stylized, coming of age comedy drama.

[imsounoriginal]

Jurassic World
trailers didn't look great, seemed like a total cash-grab (could still say it was), but I was thoroughly entertained and ended up seeing it twice.

The Martian
trailers looked weak ("Gravity on Mars"), plus Ridley Scott has been off lately. But then I read the book and loved it, which convinced me to see the movie. Now I think it's one of the year's best.

Inside Out
haven't liked a Pixar movie since Up, they've all been either unremarkable (Brave, MU), overrated (Toy Story 3), or flat-out bad (Cars 2). But Inside Out was outstanding (no pun intended), loved every minute of it.

Mad Max: Fury Road
had never seen a Mad Max movie, but saw this because of all the hype and honestly didn't care much for it at first. Saw it again due to the insistence of friends/the Internet with a more open mind (and in a better mood) and really liked it. Still think it's a tad overrated but it is undeniably well-made and hugely entertaining.

[spectre08]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Inside Out
haven't liked a Pixar movie since Up, they've all been either unremarkable (Brave, MU), overrated (Toy Story 3), or flat-out bad (Cars 2). But Inside Out was outstanding (no pun intended), loved every minute of it.

I thought about including Inside Out as well, but I can't honestly say I walked into that movie expecting anything less than greatness.

[NP13]

Mad Max: Fury Road - Honestly, the trailers for this left me completely uninterested, I thought it looked like a generic, CGI filled blockbuster. But then I read about all the practical effects Miller used, and all the 5 star reviews, and I thought I'd have to watch it just so I could join in with the conversation. And it was incredible. Truly amazing. One of the speakers sounded like it was about to break as well [emoji38]
Interesting you mentioned Tomorrowland as that was one of my biggest disappointments.

[Leonidas King]

Easily.

[The Great Owl]

Mad Max: Fury Road
The trailers for this movie were so underwhelming, and I expected a lame CGI-heavy throwaway sequel. Much to my surprise, I loved the film.

[spectre08]

I couldn't in good conscience include Mad Max in this list, I was all aboard that hype train from day 1.

[Al_The_Strange]

Sicario: I expected a good thriller, but I didn't expect it to be so...Kubrickian, for lack of a better term. The mood, music, pacing, style, acting, etc all worked to the film's advantage to make it moving and disturbing on a deeper level than I expected. It's easily the most profound experience I've had all year.

Kingsman: The Secret Service: I knew it'd be enjoyable, but I didn't expect it to be this much fun. Everything about the style, pacing, action, and story made it a blast. And there's a few scenes that I felt pushed it over the edge. I can't deny the movie has its trashy parts that will upset people, but it is a near-perfect experience for me personally.

Man From UNCLE: I knew it wasn't going to have that much action to it, but what took me by surprise the most were the characters and how good the acting was. Plus how good the style and the production design was. It entertained perfectly on character and dialogue alone, and I found it refreshing that way.

Anything else - Jupiter Ascending, Tomorrowland, Crimson Peak, Chappie - are cases where the reviews have been so bad I expected them to suck, but ultimately didn't see much wrong with them.

[Leonidas King]

Originally Posted by spectre08

I couldn't in good conscience include Mad Max in this list, I was all aboard that hype train from day 1.

I don't see why not. It exceeded my expectations and I had never been introduced to a Mad Max movie before.

[bobbydrugar]

Great Thread. Although I admittedly did not see many films last year I have to say that the film that most exceeded my expectations was hands down Spotlight. I had only a feeling it would be a boring slow paced art house film (not meant to be derogatory to art house films just using it to describe smaller indie type film aesthetics) . But as it turns out it was my favorite film of last year surpassing Kingsman, Ant-man, and Star Wars.

Thanks,
T

[Tony208]

Creed

The Martian

Ant-Man

Cinderella

[Spencer_Kain92]

easily Ant-Man. a hero I never heard of and it turned out to be one of my favorite MCU movies. just like Guardians of the Galaxy

also Tomorrowland. I was a little wary by the negative reviews, but honestly I thought it was great.

[Jasonic]

Mad Max
The Martian
Creed
The Walk

[42041]

Star Wars. Coming from the Disney behemoth I was expecting something more like the Marvel films, something cynical and full of douchey fan service (okay, I could've done without Han's ceremoniously delivered "I've got a bad feeling about this" line, but I'll live), but it captured the spirit of Star Wars more than I could have hoped for. I'm sure it'll get there in a few sequels though.

Diary of a Teenage Girl. This wasn't something I chose to see myself and came in knowing nothing about it but the title, but it turned out to be a surprisingly original, ballsy and funny film.

[octagon]

caveat: I don't go to theaters so there's a lot of 2015 I haven't seen yet

Ex Machina - I'm always a little surprised when something lives up to the kind of hype/buzz this got here but in this case I even thought 'wow, they were actually kind of underselling it'.

Jupiter Ascending - I was expecting a visually impressive trainwreck but this was really, really good. It's a shame nobody else thought so cause I wouldn't have minded more.

The Force Awakens - In one sense this an obvious cheat since my expectations were so high. It's also a bit of a cheat because I wasn't 1000% totally blown away while watching it. So in that way it was almost a bit of a letdown. But in the roughly 24 hours since I've seen it I haven't been able to stop thinking about what this line of dialogue might have meant, where this plot point might go, am I too old for Dai...never mind that one...the point is it's engaged my imagination in a way I really didn't expect and that hasn't happened since Empire.

[stvn1974]

Star Wars The Force Awakens. After what Star Wars had become with the Prequels and the Special Editions coupled with how Abrams ruined Star Trek I was hoping for the best but expecting crap. Instead I got a film on par with the the theatrical cuts of the Original trilogy.

[Chaotic]

Originally Posted by octagon

Jupiter Ascending - I was expecting a visually impressive trainwreck but this was really, really good. It's a shame nobody else thought so cause I wouldn't have minded more.

[Chaotic]

Dope
In the Heart of the Sea
Creed
The Martian
Ant-Man

[chris_sc77]

Mad max 4
Bone Tomahawk
Chiraq
Hateful Eight