Films that exceeded your expectations

Just watched Looper. Much better than I thought it had any right to be.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young Bruce Willis was particularly good.

Got me thinking, which other films were better than you expected them to be?

WTF??? I just watched that too – thought it was good

Yeah, but it’s a contraversial choice. I fully expected ‘attack the block’ to be absolutely awful but it wasn’t half bad to be honest.

Moving on, after the absolutely god-awful bat man series of films, I fully expected the dark knight to be utter bilge and yet… it totally blew me away. Who played batman, I can’t remember, who played the joket? Heath Ledger, ..absolutelyt stunning performancxe and totally owned the film. I was entranced. That guy could act!

Lilo and Stitch. I was dragged along to see it, it was amazing.

Lilo and Stitch. I was dragged along to see it, it was amazing.

This. One of my favourite films.

Before Sunrise

Thought it was going to be soppy romantic pish….actually it probably is but despite that it really struck a chord with me…the sequel Before Sunset is just as good, 2 of my favourite films.

Apocalypto- Mrs dragged me along to see a film directed by Mel Gibson, about the native mayans in the rainforest, completely subtitled and to top it off its over 2hrs long. I didn’t expect to be conscious by 10 mins in, but it was bloody brilliant.

I agree with Looper also:

Up
Wild Bill
City of God (Probably my favourite film ever)
Life of Pi.

Sweepy , I have to agree ‘Apocolypto’ was **** awesome . I think most of my favourite films are subtitled. The fact you have to pay attention and read subtitles makes Oldboy , Life Is Beautiful and Lives of others all the more enjoyable.

Obviously this is all subjective.
City of God (Probably my favourite film ever) I personally thought this film was rubbish.I just didn;t get why it was popular.

^^^ I dont know . Personally I thought It was stunning , deemed as a Brazillian ‘Trainspotting’ but I thought so much better and not In many ways **** all like Trainspotting. In my mind well written , stunningly shot and a great soundtrack and I actually felt for the characters unline many popular films.

My usual answer to this question is “In Bruges”

Argo

+100 for apocalypto, just **** awesome.

Weird, I read the title of the thread before clicking on it, and thought ah Looper, saw the trailer and it being likened to The Matrix and insta-wrote it of as being shoite, really enjoyed it though.

+1 for Argo!

Argo just needed sympathy for the devil or gimme shelter to start belting out like in Flight….to be truly epic.

But then again, I’m a Stones fanboi.

The Hide – tv film, 2 people in a mudflat birdwatching hide, gf wanted to watch it, I didn’t – ever so glad I did

Robot and Frank – watched on a flight recently and loved it. A beautiful film.

Black Swan. Thought it’d be worth putting up with a chick flick to earn some brownie points, but was thoroughly amazed. I’m an emotional retard and am almost never moved by films, but that is one powerful film. I couldn’t even say what emotion it elicited, it was just powerful.

A good year

Watched it a few times and it just grows on me every time

The music is amazing, interesting mixture of story lines love the comedy and acting.

Not my usual choice of film but now rate it as one of my all time favourites.

The Sweeny. expected it to be crap especially after what I had been told by friends. It was crap, but was enjoyable trashy no brainer crap. If I had watched it with high expectations I would have been disappointed though.

Snow White & the Huntsmen. Nephew chose this I palmed it off as rubbish based on the fact it was a 12 & had that miserable looking vampire girl in it. Really enjoyed it, it reminded me of Willow. The big white deer reminded me of something I saw in a studio ghibli film.

+another for Apocalypto. Way better than it has any right to be.

For me though it’s Moulin Rouge. Hated Strictly Ballroom, tolerated Romero & Juliet so went to see it under duress. At the end of the running time I had a new ‘top 5 films ever’ entrant.

Having seen Django Unchained recently and also loving that, I’m realising more and more that I just love films that are about loving cinema.

The Hobbit. No, really. I thought it was going to be pants tbh but loved it.
In Bruges.
Lock, Stock etc. Watched it for the first time about 2 months ago and loved it.

TS

Stardust. Love it.

Ransom!

Changeling

Expected it to be a chick flick for some reason as Mrs Wilko recommended it. Good god how wrong I was and was completely blown away by it – no film has ever had such a lasting impact – the fact it’s a true story too. Unreal

Wizard of Oz.

First saw it a couple of years ago in my early 40’s.
Managed to avoid it up till then.

It’s actually quite good, isn’t it?

the human centipede, what an amazing film!!!

The Mission and Moulin Rouge – two films my better half wanted to see and I got dragged along to see. Very glad I did, sadly through he film choices tend to be a little poor, so these were the exceptions

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Lots of worthies up above, but on a more mundane level, if some reason it’s advisable for you to sit through a rom com, I’d recommend this one, even though Russell Brand grates on me dearly.

Oh, and Hot Tub Time Machine. With a name like that how can it be anything but utter crap, but really quite enjoyed it.

Stardust. One of my favouritest films. Due another watch.

Narnia was pretty bloody awesome too.

Despicable Me is another.

Dredd

+1 forgetting Sarah Marshall – love that film

2 films I really enjoyed recently that I wasn’t expecting much from

Another Earth

Crazy, Stupid Love

How to train your dragon.

Got it in as we were babysitting our 9yr old niece. She fell asleep, we didn’t 🙂

Wall-e

The diving bell and the butterfly. Its a french film about a bloke with locked in syndrome, nothing happens pretty much. It’s amazing, and had me in floods by the end of it

Reign over me..

Adam Sandler does a serious film, bound to be rubbish??

Err, no. Briiliant

I thought I’d give El Mariachi ten minutes on Lovefilm late last night to see if it might be worth watching another time. Ended up watching it all the way through there and then.

+1 Reign over me

Also really enjoyed Stardust