Pleasant Surprises and Awesome Surprises

[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:

Here are mine:

Special

No Such Thing

Superman Returns

Terminator: Salvation

Role Models

40 Year Old Virgin

Slums of Beverly Hills

Judge Dredd

The Straight Story

May

[goochspot]

Lets see...

Slumdog Millionaire

Eyes Wide Shut

Diner

The House Bunny

Foot Fist Way

Strange Days

Citizen Kane

Sin City

Iron Man

The Devil's Rejects

[shuah]

Originally Posted by goochspot

Lets see...

Slumdog Millionaire

Eyes Wide Shut

Diner

The House Bunny

Foot Fist Way

Strange Days

Citizen Kane

Sin City

Iron Man

The Devil's Rejects

The Devil's Rejects is a good pick. The first half of the movie had me wondering why I was still watching it. The second half had me wondering if I wanted to buy it.

I'd say that Iron Man was a pleasant surprise, because I never liked the Iron Man comics and I wouldn't expect an Iron Man movie to appeal to me. And, honestly, that was my attitude . . . until I saw the trailer. Unfortunately, the trailers sucked me in and had me totally pumped to see it. Fortunately, it delivered, but the surprise was ruined by my wanton anticipation. I'd still stand by anybody's statement, however, that it was a surprisingly good movie. Who'd ever think that a concept as goofy as Iron Man would work so well on the big screen? What a fun movie.

[JamesKurtovich]

Can't remember, but a recent pleasant surprise was Terminator Salvation.

[shuah]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

Can't remember, but a recent pleasant surprise was Terminator Salvation.

I agree. I didn't have super-low hopes for it, but I have to admit that I walked into it expecting that they threw Christian Bale in to give it more credibility with moviegoers. But, really, it was just a good movie.

[CHERRYGARCIA]

I know its as popular as all hell...but the first time I saw The Shawshank Redemption in 1998...avoided this like the Plague when it first came out because I thought I was going to be utterly bored with it, then my younger brother saw it and demanded that I watch ASAP..now my brother is far from a movie watcher..he watches like 10 movies a year..and hates EVERYTHING!..anyway I rented it from BB on VHS (ahh those were the days!), and was blown away..about 150 viewing later it has become one of my top 4 or 5 films ever...and to think how many more years I could have gone before I finally saw it!

[spolcyc]

Iron Man
Rambo
Batman Begins-B&R left a bad after taste
Max Payne
Mummy 3
Indiana Jones IV
Eagle Eye
Star Trek (2009)
X3
Twilight

[Azyiu]

One of the pleasant surprises I experienced in recent years include: The Dark Knight. I am never a big fan of the so-called superhero genre, but this film blows me away on many levels!


Also, I bought Dr. Strangelove a few days ago. I heard so much about it but never seen it. Now I must say I really enjoyed it!!!

[bongzilla]

It took me weeks to finally make up my mind on,
Linkin Park- road to redemption, now is one of my favorite concerts.

[shuah]

Originally Posted by bongzilla

It took me weeks to finally make up my mind on,
Linkin Park- road to redemption, now is one of my favorite concerts.

I'm not trying to be a jerk but . . .

1) That wasn't a surprise. That was a decision or a realization.

2) That wasn't a movie. That was a concert DVD.

[P@t_Mtl]

Some of the movies I saw not expecting much and was surprise by them

The Matrix
Pirates Of The Caribbean The Curse Of The Black Pearl

These 2 were big surprises, I wasn't expecting them to be as entertaining as they were.

I was also surprise by V For Vendetta

[goochspot]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Some of the movies I saw not expecting much and was surprise by them

The Matrix
Pirates Of The Caribbean The Curse Of The Black Pearl

These 2 were big surprises, I wasn't expecting them to be as entertaining as they were.

I was also surprise by V For Vendetta

Good answers.

[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

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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