Pleasant Surprises and Awesome Surprises

[GLaDOS]

The Da Vinci Code

Angels & Demons

Frost/Nixon

Slumdog Millionaire

Changeling

Kung Fu Hustle

Star Trek

Iron Man

300

Vantage Point

The Bourne Ultimatum

[Barbie-Shrimp]

I Sell The Dead was quite a surprise. I went into it knowing that it was another horror/comedy, but was expecting it to be another one of those that's really average. At first I thought it was just ok, but the more I think about it, I love it more and more. This movie is getting better in my head the same way the Evil Dead movies did. I hope this comes out on blu-ray someday, so I can force shuah to watch it sometime.

Also, World's Greatest Dad, with Robin Williams. I knew it was a Bobcat Goldthwait movie, so I was expecting another Shakes The Clown. It turned out to be a great dark comedy.

You guys should check out both of them.

[Rovic]

my list:

Iron man - i wasn't interested since i know very little about ironman, ended up seeing it in theatres and was surprised.

Kung Fu Panda - missed it in theatres, blind bought (which i normally don't do) and glad i did.

Terminator Salvation - so many bad reviews, watched, loved it and ended up watching it twice.

Slumdog Millionair - checked it out to see what all the fuzz was about, wasn't expecting much and was surprised...

[Neil_Luv's_BLU]

Originally Posted by shuah

Since everybody seems to thing I hate everything , I thought I'd start a nice thread.
In stead of a thread about what we don't like or what our biggest disappointments were . . . how about a thread about our most pleasantly surprising movie experiences. List your top ten movies you didn't expect much from that ended up winning you over:

Die Hard 4 is my most recent pleasant surprise. Not great, but al ot better than I had anticipated

[Barbie-Shrimp]

The Hangover.

I was expecting another Will Ferrell-type movie, but Zack Galifinakis and the guy from the Office really saved that movie.

[Mike53421]

Batman Begins blew my mind because of Batman & Robin, and I had minimal expectations of it. Then The Dark Knight living up to the hype was just icing on the cake, I kept expecting it to slip but it never truly did. All the hype for the latter felt worth it in the end.

[FindYourWay]

Originally Posted by shuah

The Straight Story

That movie surprised me, totally and completely. So much heart.

Some more films:
The Station Agent
Once
Greenfingers
Big Night
The Kite Runner
Xanadu
The Man Who Copied
The Horseman on The Roof
The Price of Milk
Eagle vs Shark

[uziel5000]

The Matrix

I went to see this movie completely ignorant of what it was about. I made a concerted effort to find out as little about the film as possible. When I saw it and Neo finds out he is living in a computer generated world, I found out with him. I don't recall ever being as surprised watching a film as that. Not even on the Sixth Sense.

Batman Begins

having enjoyed the first two Tim Burton films and being extremely dissapointed with the Schumacher films, I was a bit worried when this came out even though this was made by the guy who made Memento and Insomnia which I both loved. I remember thinking: "Now THIS is how Batman should be done!". I knew they were going in a different direction but I never thought it would be THAT good. Sadly, the success of TDK has obscured Batman Begins. People forget this film is just as good.

[Steve46]

The Dark Knight - not a fan of superhero movies but this had depth and a plot
Batman Begins - had to see this after liking TDK
Bolt - genuinely funny and a great story
Casino Royale - Craig is superb as the new Bond and I had all but given up on the franchise
Seabiscuit - superb film about an unusual subject
Slumdog Millionaire - not at all what I expected
Die Hard 1-4 - expected mindless action but loved all of these
Speed - another action movie that was well done
King Kong - gave up on this after 45 minutes the first time, but now I love it
Gran Torino - didn't expect such a strong performance from Eastwood and a relevant story

[(Fe)Man]

The Hangover - I thought it would be funny, but not that funny. Going to go again soon with the GF.

Changeling - I thought this was going to be some lame ass sleeper drama, but turned into a nice murder thriller and blew me away and is now one of my favs.

Star Trek - I watched most of the TNG movies and liked them so I figured I'd checked this one out and OH... MY... GAWD! I was aw strucked. I guarantee it doesn't matter what the rest of the summer blockbusters are like this one will be my favorite.

My Bloody Valentine 3D - I thought it was going to be another crappy remake, but boy was I wrong. Great, fun movie. I had a blast seeing it.

[209Mason]

Lets see.. .

Sexdrive - I rented it because I wanted some mindless comedy, and man it was hysterical, but also just a really good movie I thought... Seth Greene and James Marsden are so funny. I had to buy it on Blu after that.

Sunshine - I remember wanting to see it in theatres, but it never came around here. I assumed it was pretty bad since it didn't do so hot. After a rental it was another immediate purchase... Probably one of my favorite movies in the past 5 years.

Rambo/Rocky Balboa - I wasn't expecting much being big fans of the originals... I was expecting a letdown... but I was very pleasantly surprised by both!

Top Secret! - I saw, "from the people who brought you Airplane!"... ... staring Val Kilmer, it was worth a shot... but it's better than Airplane! in my humble opinion.

Austrailia - my wife really wanted to rent this... I was like... eh... Wolverine riding horses...???? Anyhoo, I was expecting to fall asleep... it was actually very entertaining, and looks awesome on Blu.

Empire Records - I was a big fan of Mallrats... I don't know how I missed this movie, but it came up in discussion once and I was forced to watch it... usually when someone talks up a movie I'm let down pretty hard... however I loved it. sssssssugar high!

Rocky Horror Picture Show - ... okay story time... my brother and I used to rent movies during summer when we were younger... I was about 9 or so.... we'd always get scary ones (even though we weren't old enough, they let us rent PG13 stuff).... anyhoo, Rocky Horror Picture Show sounds scary to a 9 year old... right? My God were we wrong. Fast forward nearly 2 decades, I've seen it since expecting the worst.... but now that I understand what's going on, it's hilarious. Luckily I wasn't traumatized... I don't think... ...

Pretty much any 80's movie - I love all the 80's movies even though I was crawling around to start the decade. But you name it, Breakfast Club, Back to the Future, Goonies, Die Hard, Tango & Cash, Ghostbusters, They Live!.... I love them all... Typically when I see a new one I've never seen, I'm skeptical. I mean how many good 80's movies can there be? Well the answer is all of them if you ask me! For example, I just saw "Say Anything" for the first time this week. I knew all about that classic Cusack scene, but still figured it'd be a dumb movie... yet I was entertained. Gotta love the 80's!