Surprise!What film was your most pleasant surprise?
Panelist: T-Rav
Rat Race, the 90s comedy with Jon Lovitz and company. It sounded really stupid and cheap when I heard of it--and frankly, it is kind of cheap--but then I watched it two or three times in a row when our dorm was snowed in once, and a lot of it was very, very funny. They say that's why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this was a movie, not a book, so I don't know about that.
Panelist: Tennessee Jed
Probably The Usual Suspects. I mean who could see that one coming? More recently Winter's Bone - Jennifer Lawrence takes a very bleak depressing situation and keeps you glued to your chair rooting for her grit.
Panelist: ScottDS
A friend of mine showed me Joe vs. the Volcano a few years ago. I had heard of it but I didn't know what to expect. I loved it. I loved every second of it. I couldn't believe I had gone that far in life without seeing it! Simply a beautiful movie and one that I needed at that point in my life.
Panelist: AndrewPrice
Jed and T-Rav both stole my answers. :( So I'm going to say Ninth Gate. I went in expecting just another cheap horror movie and I found a truly smart, psychological thriller with layer upon layer of depth. OR... Pirates of the Caribbean, which I thought would totally suck and turned out to be an excellent film!
Comments? Thoughts?
95 comments:
The original "Star Wars".
Walked into a fairly empty theater for an early show without any prior knowledge whatsoever about the movie besides the cool title. Result: gobsmacked.
I once saw an anime movie called Grave of the Fireflies about two Japanese orphans during WW2.
I won't say how this very sweet, very sad movie affected me, but I will say as a guy I'm glad I happened to be alone when I watched it :).
The original "Robocop".
I was in flight school at the time, and about the only thing we had to do on a Saturday night in lower Alabama was to go to the movies. We had seen just about everything else at the theater and after looking at the poster for the film I really thought "this movie is really going to suck". Not so.
I guess if you set the bar low enough just about anything can be a surprise.
I never saw "Army of Darkness" in the theater, but happened upon it as it was playing on a TV in Kuwait, that was a nice find as well.
Well....compared to the sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty good. I wouldn't say excellent. It had certain plot holes and ridiculousness of its own, but good enough. They weren't grating yet.
I haven't seen Joe Versus the Volcano except once when I was very young. I didn't like it then, if I recall, so maybe I need to watch it again.
I also want to see Winter's Bone at some point.
"Mean Girls" -- seriously. My bride had just started it last week and I sat down with her out of curiosity. Normally not my cup of tea, but it was well written, acted, etc.
"MI:III" -- I wasn't a fan of the first two Mission Impossible flicks, but the third was surprisingly good -- especially because of Philip Seymor Hoffman (?) as the villain. He was chillingly cold and evil, and would have made a great Bond villain along the lines of Goldfinger.
Run, don't walk, to put the movie "Homeroom" into your Netflix queues. A forgotten little independent gem from the early 2000s.
It begins with the aftermath of a high school shooting. Busy Phillips plays the Goth girl with more issues than the London Times and she is browbeaten by the Principal to visit one of the shooting victims, the "Teen Princess" (stereotype alert, in the hospital.
The first 20 minutes are full of "Gee I wonder if the two girls will become friends despite their differences............."
But then it goes off in ways you would never expect.
Richard Roeper called it a "forgotten classic," a wonderful film that Hollywood really had no idea how to market or let if find an audience.
My expectations were pretty high for Star Wars so I didn't choose it. However, it was one of those films that still surprised at how good it was. Interestingly, the original Raiders was closer to a gob smack on that score for me. There had been almost no hype. That reminds me, I think the internet has made it harder for films to sneak up on people these days.
Anthony - I think it's great when there is a film that grabs you, particularly one that is clearly outside the normal big Hollywood mainstream.
Outlaw, I enjoyed Robo cop as well, and yes it did qualify as a pleasant surprise because who could honestly say we had high expectations for that one going in.
Scott - Joe vs. the Volcano came at a time when Hanks and Ryan were riding high. It was something of a pleasant surprise. I am not as high on it as you, but people were expecting a lot out of that movie when it came out. As such, it did disappoint, BUT it wasn't awful, and it was prepared to be very disappointed, so in that sense, it was a pleasant surprise.
Andrew - I agree with you about 9th Gate, but personally, I was disappointed in Pirates. I felt like all the money went into production values (costumes, effects, etc.) and the plot was kind of blaah for me.
Rav - Winter's Bone is a showcase for great acting, particularly Dickey and Lawrence.
Drop Dead Gorgeous. Nothing could have prepared me for the utter hilarity of damn near every second of this wickedly politically incorrect movie. Ellen Barkin's trailer trash tour de force ... Will Sasso making Leo DiCaprio look like a chump in the playing a mentally challenged department ... Kirstie Alley's Minnesohta accent ... the creepy pedophile ending up as a pageant judge ... Kirsten Dunst's plucky naivete ... the guy who plays Chandler Bing's boss torching the landscape by not Jewing down his furniture store customers ... even Denise Richards (Denise Richards!!!) rocks as the girl you do not want to cross. Phenomenal soundtrack, too.
Thanks as well to T-Rav on the Rat Race tip. Bumping up in my Netflix queue once done typing this.
Mo - I agree with you about Mean Girls. It was, quite simply, a surprise--much better than expected. It was, as an aside, my first intro. to Lohan.
I don't know, I have actually been a fan of all the MI films. I was a huge fan of the television show, and I thought the original film, in particular, gave a reasonable head nod homage to that without totally changing the concept.
Pike - thanks! It is always good to get a strong endorsement tip on one that has slipped under the radar.
Eric - ditto what I just said to PikeBishop. I know the title, but have never seen it. Now, I want to! :)
Oh, Rav - I didn't see the Rat Race, but I do like Lovitz. Now, my respect for him has grown immensely because of the courage he has shown in actually speaking about things political with something less that total reverence for the Obama administration. My point here is, that might color my judgement into "over-liking" his work. (Much like liberals start to trash anyone who they disagree with. Let's see how many re-evaluations of Clint Eastwood begin to emerge painting him in less glowing colors.)
Jed - Good point about the net making films nuch harder to sneak up on you.
The net can also change a film before it even comes out, like "Snakes on a Plane" -- which was changed for the worse.
Eric: Agreed with you on "Drop Dead Gorgeous." One of my Top Ten comedies of all time. Loved the part with The guys from COPS showed up.
I was most pleasantly surprised by Tropic Thunder. Up front, it looked like a package comedy with a bunch of big names to fill seats. I didn't expect it to be a parody within a parody. Nor did I expect Tom Cruise in a fat suit and bald cap!
Second most pleasant surprise was Hamlet II. I thought the concept was abyssal and I don't even recall what kind of coercion got it in front of me. I'm not saying it was great, but it was a heck of a lot better than I anticipated.
I'm gonna be out for a while but I just wanted to say that it warms my heart to see such films as Hamlet 2 and Drop Dead Gorgeous mentioned in the comments. :-)
One of the actors in Hamlet 2 was in a student film I co-wrote a few years earlier. He plays the A/V geek in the film, if I recall.
K, What's funny is that I grew up in that era, so I just assumed that all films were as good as the ones I was seeing -- Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters. It wasn't until a few years later that I realized that a lot of films stink.
In the theater? Hmmm... since I've had kids I don;t money to gamble on flicks. :-)
Back in the late 90s my wife and I went and saw (we had seen everything else -- which is the genesis of most of these stories) That Old Feeling with Dennis Farina and Bette Midler. Loud? Check. Brassy? Check. Hilarious? Double check in parts. We had a good time at that movie -- just a fun non-serious time at the movies.
One of the joys of life is exposing folks to pleasant surprises...
My wife's would be Wedding Crashers. She went with me as the good long-suffering wife and she loved it -- a lot more than she thought she would. I catch her watching the TNT version every so often still. I had as much fun watching her watch the movie as I did at the movie itself.
Video surprises? The movie "Once" with Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova... sweet love story and killer music.
In Bruges with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hitmen on assignment in Bruges... sweet, violent, sad, and funny. Ralph Fiennes kills too.
Emilio Estevez's film "The Way" -- on Netflix... awesome film about fathers and sons -- religious devotion, Spanish pilgrimages and a good buddy/road pic as well.
Anthony, I've seen some surprisingly good anime. A lot of crap, but also some surprisingly good ones.
Outlaw, I had the same thought. I thought that Robocop was going to be really stupid, but it turned out to be pretty good. And it's proven to have quite a bit of staying power over the years too!
Army of Darkness is great, but I didn't see that one in theaters either.
T-Rav, The original Pirates really exceeded my expectations by a mile. It's been lessened by the sequels, but it did impress the heck out of me at the time.
Big Mo, I liked Mean Girls a lot. It was a really well done film, even despite the subject matter and the star.
I agree with all the choices! Nicely done.
PikeBishop, I've never heard of Homeroom. It's sad how great independent films get ignored but the huge crappy blockbusters still make a billion dollars.
Jed, I think the internet has take a lot of the fun out of films. It's very hard to stumble upon known films these days and its even harder to keep the secrets in the films. There is just too much publicity today and too much discussion of every aspect of every films. I think the days of being surprised by anything except an independent film are over.
Eric, I've reviewed Rat Race before. It's hilarious. There are moments in that film which I still laugh about years after first seeing them.... like "the Barbie museum." ;)
Big Mo, Snakes on the Plane is the classic example of a film not respecting its audience. They thought they could hype the hell out of it rather than make it entertaining and they ended up making a poor film that was quickly forgotten.
Robocop? Oh, yeah! Since I've already mentioned on occasion that I'm not a big movie buff, most of the movies I have seen were in the 80s, and I saw this one at the theater. I haven't seen anything else mentioned here except Star Wars.
I told a woman I was working with at the time that I liked it. She saw it, and hated it. :( Oh well, I usually don't give out movie recommendations anymore. I happen to be a chick who likes action flicks. :) I don't care for chick flicks.
Oh, I forgot Raiders/Indiana Jones I, II, and III--they were fun to watch.
Oh, and I thought of another. I know I've tooted the horn on this film several times before, but I was very pleasantly surprised by Doubt. I was expecting an anti-religious screed but when it just happened to be on one afternoon (on a broadcast network, no less) I took notice and was surprised to find a very stirring but atypical drama. It didn't play by the rules of liberal victimhood, but it didn't play against them, either.
"2010" was a nice surprise. Much better than expected, and it holds up well. Best part is the space walk between the Leonov and Discovery by John Lithgow, who plays a Russian scientist. He nearly panics while looking "down" on Jupiter, and just about the only sound is his rapid breathing. Superb.
BIG MO -
I actually recently asked Andrew if he could review 2010, if only because he already reviewed 2001 and this would complete the Peter Hyams sci-fi trilogy, which also includes Capricorn One and Outland, which he also already reviewed.
I like the movie and the model effects still look great but I'm not a fan of how Hyams handles his exposition, most of which is done in voice-over via Roy Scheider's correspondence. But it's still a very interesting movie.
You know what movie was a HUGE surprise? Take Me Home Tonight, which was released in theaters either earlier this year or last year, I don't remember. It only played in theaters for about five minutes. It stars Topher Grace and is a wonderful homage to 80s teen movies. The parties, the music, even the casting of Michael Biehn as Grace's dad... it's not the best movie ever or the funniest but I was genuinely surprised and disappointed that it didn't do better at the box-office.
Jen, Yep, those were all good movies.
tryanmax, That's another one I need to see, but I haven't gotten to it. Life has been too busy lately! Grrr.
Big Mo, I enjoy 2010, but it's absolutely not a sequel to 2001. To me, it feels like a completely unrelated film.
Scott, It's on my list. I do want to finish the trilogy... unofficial though it may be.
I haven't seen Take Me Home Tonight. I wonder if that's come to HBO yet?
EricP -
I'm eternally grateful Drop Dead Gorgeous was released in the 90s and not today, otherwise the critics and the talking heads would be comparing the characters to the likes of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, thus politicizing a movie with no politics in it.
Or, as Andrew put it to me once, the "deconstructionists" who have nothing better to write about! (Slate, Salon, etc. and I say that as a fan.)
I remember seeing the film with a friend of mine - we were late to the theater which meant we missed the opening Adam West cameo. But I do remember thinking, "What a funny movie!" And for the longest time, no one I knew had ever heard of it. Coincidentally, it was on FX last Friday morning.
I miss Mike McShane - I think he still does improv in the UK but his presence in movies is needed!
Andrew -
It's on Netflix - I don't know about HBO. Again, not the best ever but a wonderful surprise.
And yes, the "Hyams sci-fi trilogy" may or may not have been my own invention, but the logic is sound. :-)
Scott, I don't have Netflix at the moment because I just wouldn't use it. I really am spending so much time doing things that I just don't have the time to sit and watch anything.
Manhunter by Micheal Mann based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I hadn't read the book at that time, and all I knew about Micheal Mann was he created the tv show Miami Vice. What a great pychological thriller. Plus it gave us the best Hannibal Lector: Bryan Cox.
And as stated by several others, Robocop. I remember seeing the trailer and production company tag of Golan Globus- known for most of the really, poorly made B-movies of the 80s and me and my friends laughed and thought it would be good to go and make fun of, ala Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Holy smokes were we stunned.
shawn -
RoboCop was produced by Orion, not Golan-Globus, though Orion may have distributed other Golan-GLobus movies.
Trust me, if RoboCop WERE produced by Golan-Globus, I doubt we'd be talking about it! :-)
Eric and Jed, I didn't think much of Rat Race until our dorm got snowed in for a couple days straight, and someone played their DVD of it like three or four times over the duration. I don't like it that much, but I was very pleasantly surprised all the same.
tryanmax, I have to say, I liked Tropic Thunder as well. Not really my thing, but it was too over-the-top not to laugh at, especially Cruise and RDJ.
Incidentally, I just saw Coraline most of the way through this morning, and it lives up to what your film review said. So congrats. :-)
tryanmax, Sorry, I missed your comment on Tropic Thunder. I was pleasantly surprised, though I didn't enjoy the movie enough to want to see it again very often. But it was indeed much more than I had come to expect from Stiller and I thought Cruise was fantastic.
Floyd, There are a couple films on your list that I haven't seen yet. They are on my list, but I've been bad about getting to my list. :(
Shawn, Golan-Globus was indeed the sign of B-movie schlock, but I have to admit that I enjoyed most of it. :)
T-Rav, See! Our reviews do have value. :)
Re: Rat Race - like T-Rav, I was in college at the time, or rather I had just started. This was at FSU and I was pretty lonely in the dorm. I made a new friend and we went to see the film, even though I'd seen it already. I still enjoyed it, she enjoyed it very much, and I'm still surprised by how entertaining it is, especially everything with Seth Green and his buddy.
Re: RoboCop - I grew up after it was already part of the pop culture but I guess I saw the film uncut for the first time only in the last 10 years or so. I think it's close to a perfect movie. Everything about it works, from the script to the effects (give or take) to the cast. The second film is merely okay while the third is obviously watered down for kids, plus the absence of Peter Weller doesn't help.
I've seen pictures from the remake... I couldn't care less. In fact, I can't think of a more unnecessary movie!
Re: Hamlet 2 - I was a fan from the first time I read the plot synopsis and I was glad that the film didn't disappoint. I think it's a lot of fun, Steve Coogan has some great reactions, and like I said above, one of the actors in the film actually starred in a student film we did just a few years earlier.
Re: Mean Girls - Again, just a well-written comedy (by Tina Fey, adapted from a book by Rosalind Wiseman). Lindsay Lohan in her prime... man, what a shame, and I'm not just talking about her looks. She's talented but, to quote Bill Paxton in Aliens, she's "on the express elevator to Hell - goin' down!"
Mean Girls was a surprise. I also like Rush Hour and other Jackie Chan movies. They are surprisingly entertaining.
Bev, Jackie Chan is always fun. He seems like such a nice guy and that comes across in his films. Plus, he does some amazing tricks.
Mean Girls was surprisingly good, and apparently quite a few people here enjoyed it.
Scott, Here's a strange thought for you. Robocop is the better film, but I enjoy Robocop II more. Weird.
Wow, great picks! Some I haven't seen but I'll rectify that,
Gorgeous, starring Jackie Chan was a surprise.
I always like Chan's films for the top-notch action and comedy but Gorgeous has Chan in a drama role and he surprised me with some good acting.
It still has action and comedy, but that's not the focus of the film.
I guess I would describe the film as a dramedy/romance/action.
Chan also sings in the credits. I had no idea he was a hit singer in China and he certainly can carry a tune.
ScottDS-
You are right, Robocop was indeed an Orion film. I just remember seeing the preview for it and thinking quality wise, it was a Golan-Globus production.
Another one that took me by surprise, The Terminator. I saw it at one of the lower end theaters that didn't get A-level movies as first-run. And no-one new who James Cameron was at the time and while Arnold was known for Conan, that was it.
Shawn - I had red the book Black September by Thomas Harris and picked up Manhunter in the late 80's at a video store. William Peterson long before CSI or Silence of the Lambs, of course, but it definitely had a Michael Mann/Jan Hammer 80's feel to it. Can't remember the actor who played Dollarhyde without looking him up, but he recently played the role of an alcoholic preacher in AMC's series Hell on Wheels.
Speaking of Silence of the Lambs, an attaboy to first person to correctly state the answer to this question: "What singer had a minor speaking role in Silence of the Lambs.?"
Jed, That would be Chris Isaak.
Ben, I had no idea that Chan did anything other than action comedies in decades. I know that when he started, he tried to be more serious, but for decades now I thought he'd only done comedy.
Actually, I could have put down Robocop as a surprise movie, come to think of it. Always thought it sounded pretty stupid, then watched it and got quite a kick out of it. I love that one of the main villains was Red from "That '70s Show."
Andrew, aye, that's why I was so surprised. That and Chan makes it work, as does the supporting cast.
All around it was a good, solid film and I would like to see Chan do more stuff like that (with the action included, of course, but not necessarily the focus).
Jet Li is another guy that can act. He did a great job in The One, which is a scifi film with martial arts action. Very underrated film.
Ben, I'm a big fan of Jet Li. A lot of his Chinese films are fantastic. I liked him in the Matrix films too. The One was a good film too.
Andrew -
I think I know why you enjoy RoboCop II. I don't think it's bad - it's perfectly entertaining, but it can't hold a candle to the first one. Besides, while I know he's a villain, that drug-dealing kid is so annoying! And the mayor is so over the top. "I hate labels!!" :-)
The 2-disc DVD for the first film is jam-packed with extras, but I think the second film also deserves a Special Edition with all the bells and whistles. I think there's an interesting story in the making of this film, from the hiring of Irvin Kershner (he was a last-minute replacement) to the original rejected script written by the first film's writers to Frank Miller's original draft which was heavily re-written.
Fascinating stuff!
Have you ever seen any of those TV movies they did? I think they also did a short-lived series, all in Canada.
Me too, Andrew! Li also played a fantastic villain in Lethal Weapon 4, which was his American debut and what a debut!
"If this was Hong Kong You'd already be dead." LOL!
Scott, I can't say for sure, I just think the second is more entertaining. It's more fun to watch.
I do agree about the kid, but I like the mayor. LOL! And who would have guessed that the real Detroit would use him as a model for their real mayors?
On the series, nope, I never watched it.
Ben, I skipped Lethal Weapon 4 because I thought 3 was horrible and 4 looked like more of 3.
By the way, let me ask again, anyone who hasn't reviewed my book, please do. I need reviews because I'm sliding down the Amazon search engine.
Andrew, LW3 was a real letdown after 1 and 2. But LW4 was much better. Besides, it was fun to see Jet Li kick everyone's ass, including Riggs. LOL!
I was very surprised by House Bunny.
I expected it to be stupid, but it was SO funny!
Also, that tooth fairy movie with Dwayne Johnson. I expected it to be a dumb kids movie, but it was well acted and had a great story.
RE: Robocop -- I just can't get past the whirring Ford Taurus. Sorry.
Taurus? Never heard of it. You mean the 6000 SUX.
Cheryl, I was surprised by House Bunny too. That was a really funny film. And Anna Farris did a great job of selling you the character.
I haven't seen The Tooth Fairy.
8.2 miles per gallon, baby!
My parents had a van in the 1970s that did that. :) And a friend of mine had a '79 Thunderbird which did that too.
Heck, I'd buy that for a dollar. ;)
I accidentally ended up seeing Spy vs Spy (recent chick flick pretending to be a shoot-em-up soy movie). I was expecting chaos and inanity. It was actually enjoyable. Low bar, but still...
I went to see Act of Valor to be supportive, not expecting a good movie - and it was GOOD. Similar thing with Battle LA - I wanted it to be good, it was supportive of US military, saw it and it exceeded my expectations.
*spy - not soy! (read THEN post!)
rlaWTX, I'm glad you clarified! I thought I'd missed some new term... a soy movie. Or you were using mind control on us. That is what you're learning, right? ;)
Battle Los Angeles is definitely a film that far exceeded expectations!
Late to the show here, internet was down.
My most pleasant surprise was Forrest Gump. When it was released I didn't see, I loved Pulp Fiction and thought that FG was pap aimed at baby boomers and when it beat out PF for the Oscar I refused to ever see it.
Years later as a guest at a friends house I had to see it and I loved it. As I get older I've grown to really like feel good movies and it really is a great movie. I've seen it more often then I have PF.
Scott.
Scott, I've only seen Forrest Gump once. I recall enjoying it, but not much else. Pulp Fiction was fantastic and still is. I should go back and watch Forrest Gump again at some point.
rlaWTX, buy more soy. Got it. Thanks!
Jed and Andrew, the "Tooth Fairy" in Manhunter, who recently was in Hell on Wheels, was Tom Noonan.
And speaking of Tom Noonan, check him out in a bizarre, but very interesting, little film about a first date from hell called "What Happened Was" (speaking of unexpected pleasures) I believe Noonan also wrote and directed it.
tryanmax, Soylent Green is good for you.
PikeBishop, Noonan was Cain in Robocop 2 as well. I haven't seen What Happened Was.
I have to go with Walk the Line, the story of John and June Cash. I saw it at a midnight showing at the base theatre in the desert in 2006. I grew up in Memphis, around some of these folks, and I was expecting something really stupid and trashy, but it was a good movie. The other movie that surprised me was Winter's Bone....a really good well done movie....
Hey all--longtime reader, and I decided to jump in the conversation!
My most pleasant out-of-the-blue surprise in recent memory has to be Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I had a friend visit while I was in grad school, and we went on a lark because Robert Downey, Jr. was in it, and boy, was that a good call. Hilarious, trashy, tense, yet somehow avoided sinking into cynical nihilism. Well worth the ten bucks.
Hi Alex, Welcome to the conversation! :)
I enjoyed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as well, even though I was sure I wouldn't. It was just an all around funny, enjoyable film.
Critch, I liked Walk the Line as well, even though the subject matter wasn't all that interesting to me. I like Phoenix a lot as an actor and I thought he did a great job.
What's up Andrew? You guys run a great site here.
A lot of love for Winter's Bone. As Jennifer Lawrence is my celeb crush (the wife understands), I'll have to see it for her alone.
Thanks Alex! I'm glad you like the site. :)
I enjoyed Winter's Bone as well. And I agree about Jennifer Lawrence, she's very cute.
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