2013 - Three Surprises, Three Disappointments

[thenexus6]

Year is almost over, what are peoples top three films that surprised them, and alternatively three that disappointed?

I will post mine in a bit!

[Elandyll]

Good surprises (as in better than expected):
*World War Z
*Thor 2
*Hansel & Gretel

Bad surprises (as in not as good as hoped):
*Frozen
*Iron Man 3
*Elysium

[Batman1980]

Good surprises
Hansel & Gretel
Catching Fire
Now You See Me
Bad Surprises
Iron Man 3
Monsters University
Pacific Rim

[Scottie]

The biggest surprises for me were The Conjuring, Frozen, Now You See Me, Prisoners, and Spring Breakers.

There are too many films that I was disappointed with this year, but I'll just limit it to these: 2 Guns, Evil Dead, A Hijacking, The Lone Ranger, Olympus Has Fallen, Oz the Great and Powerful, and We're The Millers.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by iScottie

The biggest surprises for me were The Conjuring, Frozen, Now You See Me, Prisoners, and Spring Breakers.

There are too many films that I was disappointed with this year, but I'll just limit it to these: 2 Guns, Evil Dead, A Hijacking, The Lone Ranger, Olympus Has Fallen, Oz the Great and Powerful, and We're The Millers.

I lurved 2 Guns.

Exceeded Expectations (had more then made it 3 )

Ashley - poster tells you nothing about the film but by the end I loved it
Dear Dumb Diary - funny and a great musical? if only the ageism wasn't present
Safe Haven - a solid romance and beautiful film

Less Than Expected

R.I.P.D. - the main characters are tonally at odds creating a missed opportunity
V/H/S 2 - much less evocative than the original, excluding the zombie scene
Embrace Of The Vampire (2013) - good actresses can't save an undecisive script and confused ambition

[Visco.]

Surprises:
Pain & Gain
Spring Breakers
The Conjuring
42

Disappointments:
To The Wonder
Only God Forgives
Place Beyond the Pines
Prisoners
Warm Bodies
Gangster Squad
Man of Steel

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Visco.

Surprises:
Pain & Gain
Spring Breakers
The Conjuring
42

Disappointments:
To The Wonder
Only God Forgives
Place Beyond the Pines
Prisoners
Warm Bodies
Gangster Squad
Man of Steel

Ohhh, I forgot about Pain and Gain. That one was a big surprise, as was Warm Bodies for me.

[benderal]

I have to say that so far I don't think there has been one movie that really wowed me this year where I thought "That's a great movie".

Surprised by:
1. Pacific Rim (better than the buzz)
2. The Heat (Thought McCarthy would be annoying - found her hilarious.)
3. The Croods (More entertaining and unexpectedly touching)

Honorable mentions: The Conjuring and Evil Dead - not big into these types of horror movies, but both were well done. Also suprised how much I liked WWZ and Oblivion.

Disappointed by:
1. Die Hard 5
2. Gangster Squad
3. G.I. Joe Retaliation

Issues with the following movies:
1.Star Trek for not using a more original idea.
2. Mila Kunis was miscast in OZ.
3. The Wolverine was missing a sense of fun.
4. Armie Hammer's performance in The Lone Ranger.

[Chaotic]

Disappointments
Elysium
This is the End
Gangster Squad
Oz: The Great and Powerful

Surprises
Iron Man 3
42
Monsters University

[chris_sc77]

Surprised by:
1. Mr. Nobody
2. The Heat
3. Captain Phillips


Disappointed by:
1. Die Hard 5
2.Man Of Steel
3. G.I. Joe Retaliation

[Todd Tomorrow]

Surprises:

Primer didn't do much for me, so I was surprised that Shane Carruth's follow up Upstream Color ended up as my favourite film of the year.

Gloria, a film about a middle aged Chilean women who throws herself back into the dating scene is a film about a character who would be marginal in many other films and probably a figure of fun and ended up as the richly imagined and complex character of the year.

Inside Llewyn Davis broke my heart and I'm still not quite sure why. One of the Coen's best.

Disappointments:

Stoker, which looked like a magazine spread and was about as thrilling a thriller. No characters to speak off and a great cast wasted.

Only God Forgives. I loved Drive but this was a self-indulgent snooze.

Blue Jasmine, another supposed return to form for Woody Allen and another wildly overrated film by film-maker who has lost touch with a normal people speak or live. Go and watch 'Gloria', Woody !

Neither surprise nor disappointment: I knew I would enjoy Gravity and I did.

[remake]

Surprises
The Call (I found the first hour incredibly suspenseful)

Warm Bodies (the trailers looked good, but ended up loving the film much more than I thought. Ended up seeing it 4x in theatres)

You're Next (first half hour is a little slow, but once it got going, it blew my mind more than once. I was rooting for the protagonist so hard)

Disappointments
The Conjuring (after the brilliant first half of Insidious, and being a fan of James Wan, I had high expectations for this. I was disappointed because all the good stuff was revealed in the trailers so I sat in the theatre knowing every single thing that would happen. It's very well acted though)

Star Trek Into Darkness

Insidious: Chapter 2 (I don't recall one memorable scare. I liked when a certain character went psycho though)

[Todd Tomorrow]

Originally Posted by remake

Surprises

You're Next (first half hour is a little slow, but once it got going, it blew my mind more than once. I was rooting for the protagonist so hard)

Disappointments
The Conjuring (after the brilliant first half of Insidious, and being a fan of James Wan, I had high expectations for this. I was disappointed because all the good stuff was revealed in the trailers so I sat in the theatre knowing every single thing that would happen. It's very well acted though)

Star Trek Into Darkness

Insidious: Chapter 2 (I don't recall one memorable scare. I liked when a certain character went psycho though)

I agree with all of those. I loved You're Next, which I thought was the smartest horror film of the year.

[MrBlonde]

Surprises:
Pain & Gain
The Wolverine
About Time

Disappointments:
Kick-Ass 2
Man of Steel
Insidious Chapter 2

[Foggy]

Surprises

• Nebraska (literally almost talked myself out of going to see this one)
• Frances Ha
• Upstream Colour

Disappointments

• Man of Steel
• I'm So Excited
• Fast and Furious 6

[Cabby]

My biggest surprises were The Wolverine and Catching Fire because they were both films I really wasn't interested in and ended up thinking they were two of the only "blockbusters" to actually deliver a solid movie without being overblown and bombastic like (Man of Steel, Iron Man 3 (my top two disappointments).

[Hucksta G]

Three Surprises
The Conjuring
Rush
Spring Breakers

Three Disappointments
Oblivion
The Great Gatsby
Mood Indigo

[Hussun1]

Surprises
Oblivion
We're the Millers
Mud

Disappointments
Iron Man 3
Elysium
Pain & Gain

[NYGiants Fan]

Kind of hard to limit myself to just 3 disappointments, but I'll go with these:

1. World War Z - Being a huge fan of the book, I was afraid I would be disappointed. I was right, but I didm't think I would be THAT disappointed.
2. Pacific Rim - Great action and effects, completely glossed over by some of the worst acting and cliches I've ever seen. The only redeeming value is that you can fast-forward through all the crappy acting on home video!
3. Now You See Me - People were actually gasping at the "magic tricks" in the theater. Know how they did those? IT'S A MOVIE!!!!!!!!!

Pleasant Surprises-
1. Upstream Color - Slow and dreamlike, I was thinking/talking about this movie for days after watching it.
2. Place Beyond the Pines - By the title, I was expecting another Z rate crapola horror flick (like "Cabin in the Woods" or "House at the End of the Street"). Loved the movie flow and the "Ok, Ryan, you get this half of the movie, Bradley, you get this half" feel.
3. Only God Forgives - Lots of people hate this, and I understand that. I was absolutely blown away by the photography, the slow pressure-cooker atmosphere, and the evil that flowed out of my television like slime from the Ghostbusters.

[RaijinUT]

Surprises-
Mud
World War Z
The Conjuring


Disappointments-
Man of Steel
Pacific Rim
Iron Man 3