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We all have a short list of these movies. We thought they were going to suck when we walked into the theater or put in the DVD, but we ended up liking them. There are also some that we thought would absolutely rock but they were disappointing or downright sucked.

Shrek - I thought it was just a kid's movie and chose it because nothing else looked good in theaters that day. But I knew it was something else when the whole family behind me was laughing. Even the adults were laughing. Not in that "Good God I'm suffering through a kid's movie but will laugh to fit in" kind of way, but genuine laughter.

Road to El Dorado - It didn't do too well in theaters but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it had the humor in all the right places.

Iron Giant - I resisted watching it for so long because I was in high school when it was released, and I didn't want to watch cartoons. Then I finally got over myself and gave it a try. It's not just a good movie about a kid and his new friend, but a spoof on the 50s as well.

And now the other side of the coin....

Hulk (2003) - It had Sam Elliott (one of my favorite actors) and was directed by Ang Lee. To top it off, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby helped write the screenplay. By all rights it should have been a great film. But it was awful. The graphics made Hulk look like Shrek's angry cousin.

I liked Jackass 3D much more than I was expecting. I was really confused when my roommate picked it to see last weekend. It was really goofy and fun and not really at all annoying.

IronBrig4 said:

And now the other side of the coin....

Hulk (2003) - It had Sam Elliott (one of my favorite actors) and was directed by Ang Lee. To top it off, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby helped write the screenplay. By all rights it should have been a great film. But it was awful. The graphics made Hulk look like Shrek's angry cousin.

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Not to be a dick, but Jack Kirby died nine years before that movie came out. You sure that's right?

My surprisingly bad vote goes to Superman Returns. Bryan Singer did two (in my opinion) really good X-Men movies. He then proceeded to make the most boring Superman film ever conceived of by man. Seriously. Old episodes of Lois and Clark are more exciting.

For surprisingly good, and I know I will get some heat for this, but DOA: Dead Or Alive. The direct to DVD video game movie. Yes, the script was shitty. But the actors noticed that, therefore didn't take it too seriously. It was fun to watch, more fun than the theatrical release Street Fighter - The Legend of Chun-Li.

I remember early online opinions of The Bourne Identity and Speed Racer saying they were terrible, possibly ranking as the worst films of their respective years. I found both films to be highly entertaining. I also liked Titan AE and Surf's Up more than I expected, especially after my grand disliking of Happy Feet.

I liked Superman Returns. But I'm very biased.

The Fantastic Four movies. They are by no means good movies. But after hearing endlessly bad reviews on them, I went into both with low expectations and dug the heck out of them. They're simple and fun. Plus, one of my favourite actors (Michael Chiklis) is fucking awesome in it.

I turned both Napolen Dynamite and Nacho Libre off about a half hour in. Both times, I looked at my friend and asked, "So, when does this get funny?"

I remember back in High School, I convinced my girlfriend that we had to go to the opening show of a movie that weekend. I thought for sure it was going to sell out big time, so we had to get there ridiculously early (like an hour and a half). By the time the movie started, only about a third of the theatre was filled.

Spawn, as it turns out, wasn't as big a thing as I thought it was.

Bruce Almighty - I thought it was going to be another Jim Carrey slaphappy goofy yuckfest. And it was...but Carrey was exactly the guy to play exactly that character, and the movie takes a very serious turn with an extremely powerful message as an undercurrent.

Planet of the Apes (Burton) - Set dressing and costuming are all fantastic. Then the last 10 minutes completely ruin the film. No, not just the ending...the entire last 10 minutes or so.

Matrix II and III, for exactly the reasons you are thinking right now.

Inspector Gadget - I wanted it to be so good. And it wasn't. I could probably say the same thing about Daredevil and Elektra. Or Dead Heat.

Hmm. Think I need one more that I ended up liking. I'll go with Take the Lead. Kati saw how much I liked Bride and Prejudice and thought I'd like TtL. She was right. It's very Bad News Bears and very Hollywood, but the music mix is fantastic, and the dancers really get into it all.

--Patrick

Center Stage was another good one, I can't even remember why three guys decided to see it on opening weekend. It seems lots of us praised In Bruges (may have been on a previous message board).

Surprisingly bad list: Borat, Step Brothers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

IronBrig4 said:

Road to El Dorado - It didn't do too well in theaters but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it had the humor in all the right places.

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klew said:

Center Stage was another good one, I can't even remember why three guys decided to see it on opening weekend. It seems lots of us praised In Bruges (may have been on a previous message board).

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Agreed on both! I was completely uninterested in Road to El Dorado when it came out, but loved it once I saw it.

Center Stage I was mildly interested in and was surprised with how fantastic it was.

Norris said:

Not to be a dick, but Jack Kirby died nine years before that movie came out. You sure that's right?

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It is according to IMDB. But maybe they gave him writer's credit because he worked on the comic.

I almost forgot to put The Ant Bully on my list. It just couldn't compete with Dreamworks and Pixar so it did horribly in theaters. But I watched it on Netflix the other day just to kill time. I thought it was merely okay but then I heard a very familiar voice. I couldn't quite place it but then I recognized it as belonging to BRUCE FREAKIN' CAMPBELL. That guy stole every scene he was in. He single-handedly put that movie in the awesome category.

I was pretty surprised with Gamer. It was still pretty cheesy And some parts were clearly just done for the cool factor but other parts, mostly the "game" sessions were actually pretty well done!


While I knew I'd probably enjoy UP anyway, I was actually surprised with how good it actually was.

phil said:

While I knew I'd probably enjoy UP anyway, I was actually surprised with how good it actually was.

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I was surprised with how freakin depressing the first part of the movie was! I'm sitting there thinking "This is a kids movie??? /cry /cry /cry"
Fantastic movie, but so sad!

The Pledge - Jack Nicholson with Sean Penn directing. It was watching paint dry.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. What a surprisingly fun silly movie.

Yeah I'll have to agree about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. It had Bruce Campbell AND Mr. T in it. Putting those two guys together created an infinite loop of badassery.

Speaking of animated - How To Train Your Dragon. I really wasn't expecting a serious contender for Best Animated Movie that year.

300 - now hang on! Stay with me. I expected this to be a cool, over the top action movie and I got that, but ramped up to 11. It is an awesome movie. Sure there's not much of a plot and it's nowhere near historical accuracy, but if you're looking for either of those based on the trailers, then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.

Dark City - It appeared to be a dark noir film and it is, but with a great story and a nice scifi twist.

Rat Race - friends described it as a remake of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, so wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be really funny and well done.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth surprised me with how much I disliked it. Stargate SG-1 had gone out with a bang, and Stargate: Atlantis was going strong. I got StAoT thinking that it would be pretty awesome, but it was pretty meh. It just felt like a normal episode stretched beyond it's limit. (the only really good part was the commentary, Christopher Judge is hilarious)

Stargate: Continuum surprised me by being much better. I assumed that this one would be a flop like the first, so I didn't buy it on DVD at first and waited until it showed up on SyFy. Despite the basic storyline having been done before in an SG-1 episode, I still liked it a lot. Enough to get it on DVD, and I'll probably rewatch it soon now that I'm thinking about it.

I almost forgot about Dog Soldiers. When I saw it advertised on SyFy I thought it was just another crappy low-budget movie. But it turned out to be fun as hell. It was like Evil Dead 2, except with werewolves and foul-mouthed British soldiers.

One of the best lines of the film is said by one of the soldiers as two werewolves are about to eat him. "I hope I give you the shits, you fucking wimp."

Fact: Neil Marshall rules.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I wasso excited tosee this...only to come out HATING it. I liked no one in the whole fucking movie.

Brazil was recommended to me in my Inspire Me. thread...watched that too and really didn't like it. I guess maybe I just don't 'get' Terry GIllam?

UP. The way everyone went on about this movie, I expected something awesome. It turned out to be extraordinarily boring. Sure, there are poignant moments in the beginning. But that doesn't justify the snoozefest that the rest of the movie is.

Maybe this goes under "things I secretly like that everyone else hates", but I liked Armageddon. I'm not afraid to say it. Why, oh why do you ask? Bay did one thing well that he's never reproduced. He created a global feeling. It felt like this disaster was happening everywhere, not just in NYC and/or LA. Or just the US. I even liked that a bunch of blue collars went on the space shuttle and did the dirty work.

Surprisingly good:
Hot Rod
I absolutely LOVE this movie, but years ago, before my friend forced me to watch it, I was skeptical to say the least. But its one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It introduced me to the Lonely Island, Danny McBride and sold me on Bill Hader. I have so much to thank it for!

Toy Story 3
I can't be the only one here who was rolling their eyes and scoffing at the idea of turning Toy Story into a trilogy. But I'll be damned if Toy Story 3 didn't turn out to be the best of the series and a serious contender for the title of my favourite Pixar film. I am so excited for the DVD next week!

Surprisingly bad:
The Hangover
Zach Galiffinackis. Ed Helms. cameos by Rob Riggle, Dr Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson. There is NO reason this movie shouldn't be great. And for months all I heard was how this was the funniest movie ever. But they absolutely butchered what should by all rights have been magic. Zach Galifinackis is the only redeemable part of it. I hate this movie with the fire of a thousand suns.

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fade said:

UP. The way everyone went on about this movie, I expected something awesome. It turned out to be extraordinarily boring. Sure, there are poignant moments in the beginning. But that doesn't justify the snoozefest that the rest of the movie is.

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I disagree with your reasoning, but totally agree with you in your distaste for UP. I think its vastly overrated. Yes, those first 10minutes are beautiful, and they get tears every time. But the rest of the movie is slapped together.

But its a case of people mistaking "sad" for "good". People remember Up for the incredibly well done emotional opening, and not for the villain that has no place in the film, or the annoying as possible dog, the army of dogs that stylistically look like they are from an entirely different movie, or the fact that the movie breaks its own reality.

I dunno what y'all hatres are talking about with UP. I'll give you that when you think about it, yeah I guess the bad guy is like 100 years old, which is kinda weird. But it's still fun as hell and a pretty good movie!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - I admit when I saw the first preview of this, I expected it to be awful. I hadn't heard of the comic, and wasn't a big Cera fan, so it just looked cheesy as all hell. Then I heard good buzz about it, so I thought I'd check it out. It is now my favorite movie of the year, probably the most fun I've had watching a movie in the last several years.

I loved Up, probably because I was like Russel when I was a kid. I was in Boy Scouts, fat as hell, and actually went door-to-door asking if I could assist people in order to fulfill advancement requirements.

I also thought A Knight's Tale had some surprising depth for that type of film. I admit I almost walked out in the first ten minutes because of the crowd singing "We Will Rock You." There was a lot of cheese in it but I sat through the whole film and walked out feeling glad I did. It tied up a lot of loose ends (eg. the father) and left me feeling satisfied. Plus it had James Purefoy (Marc Antony from HBO's Rome) and Wash as supporting actors.

hey don't blame them for modernizing the incredibly pop-culture work of Chaucer!

Casablanca - So well known and so often quoted and homaged I figured there was no way I could watch this movie as anything but a cliche. I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the best movies I've ever seen.

A Knight's Tale was a lot of freakin' fun. And the overall concept, the interpretation of Chaucer and knights' tourneys as medieval pop culture, is quite sound.

checkeredhat said:

Surprisingly bad:
The Hangover
Zach Galiffinackis. Ed Helms. cameos by Rob Riggle, Dr Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson. There is NO reason this movie shouldn't be great. And for months all I heard was how this was the funniest movie ever. But they absolutely butchered what should by all rights have been magic. Zach Galifinackis is the only redeemable part of it. I hate this movie with the fire of a thousand suns.

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I was actually pleasantly surprised with The Hangover. When I saw previews, I didn't want to see it because it just looked like another stupid "Dude, Where's My Car" type of movie. Most my friends were excited to see it, it came out, and surprisingly I heard only good things about it. Usually movies like that get 50% LOVED IT and 50% HATED IT reviews from people you know...
I still held off on seeing it because I still absolutely did not want to pay to see it. My fiance's parents eventually bought the movie and we both said, "Hey, why not..." and immediately purchased it for ourselves afterward.