OT Surprisingly Good Movies

[nelsonmuntz]

The Firm and The Cotton Club. Both movies seemed to get universally panned when they came out. I think they are both pretty great and extremely watchable.

The Firm was a bad book made into a marginally better movie.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Stardust. Kind of like The Princess Bride, if it actually had a budget for special effects. Takes some fantasy/fairly tale tropes and has quite a bit of fun tweaking them.

Agreed for the average person. I had read Stardust the graphic novel, so knew the story. Neil Gaiman is pretty much brilliant, so it didn't surprise me. DeNiro is fantastic. Bad casting of Claire Danes however, she's just not very good or very attractive.

 

[vtmikeb]

Tremors

 

[CL82]

Evil Dead 3 Army of Darkness, for what that budget must of been. Would love a future remake

I am reading Bruce Campbell's second biography right now. It is thoroughly entertaining if you enjoy Campbell's Snark.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Evil Dead 3 Army of Darkness, for what that budget must of been. Would love a future remake

Army of Darkness has some of the best lines ever.

 

[auggie22]

Surf's Up - an animated movie that I had never heard of prior to a Netflix viewing earlier this year. The mockumentary style was a little odd for a cartoon but I think the movie was sneaky good. Jeff Bridges should be in literally every movie.

Hotel Transylvania 1 and 2 - one of the few things that Adam Sandler has touched in the last 20 years that isn't total, unwatchable dog-.

 

[ZooCougar]

Pacific Rim

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I am reading Bruce Campbell's second biography right now. It is thoroughly entertaining if you enjoy Campbell's Snark.

he lived two lives?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Kung Hustle

 

[temery]

Down Periscope with Kelsey Grammer. Slow paced, but fun to watch and easy to follow (for me, a huge plus)

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Kung Hustle

That movie wasn't surprising. It was clear that movie was awesome 10 minutes in.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past - good date movie with McConaughey and Garner, along with Michael Douglas and Emma Stone.

This is as "surprisingly good" as it gets, because the trailers look terrible and the plot is heavily recycled, with lots of romcom nonsense like a silly, overly dramatic and unrealistic chase at the end, that take away from some good scenes. McConaughey usually mails it in when he is in a romcom, which he did here, and Jennifer Garner is better in supporting roles than as a lead. Michael Douglas carries this movie through some rocky stretches. but he is really funny. I expected it to be terrible, and it is decent.

 

[Kolumbo]

Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past - good date movie with McConaughey and Garner, along with Michael Douglas and Emma Stone.

This is as "surprisingly good" as it gets, because the trailers look terrible and the plot is heavily recycled, with lots of romcom nonsense like a silly, overly dramatic and unrealistic chase at the end, that take away from some good scenes. McConaughey usually mails it in when he is in a romcom, which he did here, and Jennifer Garner is better in supporting roles than as a lead. Michael Douglas carries this movie through some rocky stretches. but he is really funny. I expected it to be terrible, and it is decent.

Speaking of the awesome Emma Stone...Watched Aloha recently and perhaps it should be listed in the Chick Flick thread. Given the cast - Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachal McAdams, Alec Baldwin, Bill Murry - the movie could have been better but Emma is always a pleasure to watch.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thought of another surprisingly good movie, that is also a cult classic. Big Trouble in Little China.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Thought of another surprisingly good movie, that is also a cult classic. Big Trouble in Little China.

I loved that movie! My brother and I used to quote it all the time.

 

[Mano]

Man on Fire

Reviews weren't great for this one, Denzel is at his most Denzeliest and Tony Scott's directing and cinematography is at its herky jerky, quick cutting peak. But, it all works and by the end I was bawling my eyes out (that part probably had more to do with the 10 beers I downed while watching... in fact my whole view of the movie might).

 

[superjohn]

Bottle Rocket- Knew nothing about it and hadn't even heard of Wes Anderson going in. It's still one of my favorites.

The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Layer Cake- Awesome Brit crime flick with Daniel Craig and Michael Gambon.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Bottle Rocket- Knew nothing about it and hadn't even heard of Wes Anderson going in. It's still one of my favorites.

The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Layer Cake- Awesome Brit crime flick with Daniel Craig and Michael Gambon.

Love Bottle Rocket, Wes is my favorite director but that's one of my favorites. If anyone hasn't seen it, check out Darjeeling Limited.

 

[Mano]

Bottle Rocket- Knew nothing about it and hadn't even heard of Wes Anderson going in. It's still one of my favorites.

The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Layer Cake- Awesome Brit crime flick with Daniel Craig and Michael Gambon.

Layer Cake was great. Matthew Vaughn is a great director, can't wait for Kingsman 2.

 

[Husky25]

It's not a good movie in an Academy award sense, but I've always enjoyed Diggstown.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Love Bottle Rocket, Wes is my favorite director but that's one of my favorites. If anyone hasn't seen it, check out Darjeeling Limited.

Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel are my 2 favorites of his.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Speaking of Tony Scott, "Spy Game" seems to be a somewhat unappreciated film he directed. It is as the title suggests, w/ Robert Redford and Brad Pitt both turning in good performances.

"Enemy of the State" seemed to be a prophetic movie about where we were headed w/ surveillance and information gathering, came out in '98. Stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Also seems to be underappreciated.

I'm on a roll with political thrillers/espionage films that deserve to be more well known than they are. I thought "State of Play" w/ Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams (and also Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels and Robin Wright Penn in smaller roles) was good.

 

[dbmill]

Bottle Rocket- Knew nothing about it and hadn't even heard of Wes Anderson going in. It's still one of my favorites.

The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Layer Cake- Awesome Brit crime flick with Daniel Craig and Michael Gambon.

Love Bottle Rocket, Wes is my favorite director but that's one of my favorites. If anyone hasn't seen it, check out Darjeeling Limited.

I’ve turned into a Wes Anderson fan as well over the past several years. I haven’t seen Bottle Rocket, but I’ve watched the rest of the movies he’s directed. Moonrise Kingdom is my hands down favorite of the bunch. It is a wonderfully entertaining film, and as an added bonus I love what is done with the music over the end credits in that one. Darjeeling Limited, as was mentioned, is quite good as well.

 

[storrsroars]

The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Brosnan was fantastic in that, probably because the role was totally out of character. That's one I'll always stop and watch when it's on.

 

[DefCONNOne]

The Firm was a bad book made into a marginally better movie.

The books ending was better, IMO.