Movies that you thought would suck but were surprisingly good

[SteamWolf]

What gave you a pleasant surprise?
For me it was Life of Pi. I thought this would be another tedious pointless Ang Lee movie.
Turned out to be a well thought out story with a good kick at the end, with some really beautiful CGI.

[sc_rufctr]

The Next Three days.

I wasn't expecting much but a great movie.

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

I just saw this movie on Blue Ray.

I was at the video store and there was nothing I really wanted to see on the shelves.
Then I saw it sitting there I thought, why not? It's Russell Crowe so it should at least be entertaining.
The start of the movie sets up up beautifully.

It keeps youn guessing all the way through and the end is truly edge of the seat stuff. Your wives will also love it.

The best caper/escape movie I've seen in a long time. Well worth the rental fee.

The Next Three Days (2010) - IMDb

The Next Three Days

[Aragorn]

Oblivion.

I had some trepidation about seeing this flick but that all disappeared once I started watching. Saw the previews during the Hobbit back in December and thought I would like to go see it. It was gone in theaters before I knew it which usually means it's a dud. Rented it a few weeks ago on DVD and was truly surprised.

First off the visuals are amazing. The CGI work seemed to be seamless with the real life action shots and made it feel like they both were happening at the same time. Sometimes you can tell that something was added later in post and it takes away from the scene. All the CGI work here just added to the story like it should and didn't take me away from the film.

Second, the story and character development were exceptional. I don't want to go into too much detail here but I feel that this was one of Tom Cruise's best performances. His character had good storyline development and it fit his acting style well.

Like I said, didn't expect much when I rented it but was surprised.

[Sunroof]

Cloud Atlas

[matt711]

Olypus has fallen

[Flat Six]

Kick-Ass - Kick-Ass (2010) - IMDb

and

Searching for Sugar Man - Searching for Sugar Man (2012) - IMDb

[McLovin]

Just watched The Great Gatsby with Leo DiCaprio.

I thought it was going to be bad because it seems like most of the reviews of it are negative.

But I thought it was very, very good! I've read The Great Gatsby probably 5 times in my life, and I thought it was a very good adaptation of the book (and I almost never find that to be the case with novels made into movies).

[SteamWolf]

Agree with Oblivion and Great Gatsby! The reviews were completely unreasonable now that I got to see the movies.

[JavaBrewer]

Silence of the Lambs - had no idea what the movie was about...something about lambs...
Amadeus - I assumed it had something to do with that horrible "rock me amadeus" pop song

[M.D. Holloway]

Princess Bride

[Drdogface]

Harold and Maude

Cult flick from the early 70's

[Racerbvd]

The Notebook, saw it on a plane coming home from the SEMA show a while back, I wouldn't have given it a chance if I was home & had a choice, but it really was a good, moving, movie

[Nostril Cheese]

Hunger Games.

[epbrown]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

Princess Bride

That was a surprise to me. I thought it was a kid's fairy tale movie (which it somewhat is) but an aunt of mine raved, so I checked it out and have liked it ever since.

Quick Change with Bill Murray was a big surprise, as was Groundhog Day.

The biggest would likely just apply to me: The Bourne Identity. I read the first two books when they fairly new and they had some of the most turgid prose I've ever encountered; it's hugely over-written. When the tv mini-series came out, the bad taste of the books was too recent - I still have not seen the Chamberlain version. Everyone raved about the Damon movie, so I caved and checked it out with friends and was stunned how good it was. This further proves the maxim "bad books make good movies." (Jaws being the most famous example.)

[stuttgart46]

Percy Jackson Lightning Thief. Took the kids to see it and I enjoyed it. I would see the new one just based on how good the first one was.

[Bill Douglas]

One that comes to mind is December Boys. No way would I have gone to the movies to see it but I was on an Qantas flight and didn't have any choice. I loved it and have thought a lot about it since.

[romad]

Cars

[widgeon13]

Stealing Home.

[450knotOffice]

I'll be the third to mention OBLIVION. I wasn't expecting much, and was very pleasantly surprised by this very good movie.

[pavulon]

Big Lebowski
Empire of the Sun

stumbled into watching both and now they are top 5 for me.