Hi All,
I know this movie has been discussed for the entire month of November - but I can't get over how surprised I was on how good All Quiet On The Western Front was....
I assumed it would have been another "Meh" war movie on Netflix, but this was one of the best war movies of all time! At least in my opinion.
Regardless, this had me curious to see what recent movies you all have seen that completely caught you by surprise, and for the better?
Barbarian. Went into it completely blind and it turned out to be incredible.
I also went in completely blind. The first half was the best horror movie I've seen in a long time, but it lost me in the second half.
I completely agree. So weird and strangely terrifying. But as soon as >!the milk bottle appears beneath the bars and she starts drinking from it!<, it completely jumps the shark. The second half isn’t so much scary as WTF. Like in >!how a 5th generation inbred cave dweller somehow has super strength to break through a metal wall and tear a man in half!<. Seriously - WTF?
One of the best film experiences I’ve ever had, so glad I went in blind and saw in it a theater, the collective “WTF” experience I had with everyone in there was amazing.
I could also say Barbarian, in that I went into it expecting to enjoy it based on all the glowing reviews and ended up massively disappointed and shaking my head in bafflement.
Mind if I ask what you didn’t like about it? Personally, I loved it but I always like hearing a contrasting view!
I share a similar sentiment
>! It was a fairly typical monster horror movie. It was okay. Not particularly scary, humor wasn’t particularly funny. The philosophical question of ‘who is the real monster?’ isn’t anything new or profound.!<
>!I didn’t hate it, but everything it’s trying to do, other movies have done before, and some better. !<
The Black Phone. Knew nothing about it but wanted to watch something along the lines of that type of movie. Assumed it would be bad but was actually pretty good.
Bullet Train. Initially thought it would be a standard action film, but while it wasn't groundbreaking in any way, the plot and characters were far better than the trailers made it seem.
I enjoyed that movie from beginning to end. And while all the actors do a great job, Brad Pitt once again stole the show.
Clerks III. I have been disappointed by pretty much every movie I’ve seen in theaters the past couple years with very few exceptions. I didn’t really expect to like the movie as much as I did, but I loved it. It has this charming simplicity to it that reminded me of why I really love movies. Guess I have to admit that I’m kind of a sucker for Smith’s more sentimental dialogue, especially of his earlier movies, and Clerks III legitimately hit me harder emotionally than a movie has in a very long time.
That movie made me weep. 😭
I actually really disliked clerks 3, being such a fan of 1 & 2 with the more "day in the life" aspects and just how dark humored those films were. Clerks 3 felt like it was trying really hard to be funny with only a few moments landing and was too meta for a clerks movie
Of course, I absolutely loved Jay and silent bob reboot while many others hated it, but I feel the meta humor works better there as strikes back was already super meta before it, and reboot was actually continuously funny to me unlike clerks 3
Meta, funny, nostalgic, and the feels. Good movie.
I thought 'Lightyear" was a much better sci-fi movie than it had any right to be. Totally expected something silly, but it had a solid sci-fi premise and I really enjoyed it.
I liked it, too!
Triangle of Sadness is wild, ridiculous and fun.
Yeah, what did I just watch?
Aftersun. It turned out to be a truly beautiful and heartbreaking film that stayed with me for a while after. The performances by Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio are wonderful and the cinematography is stunning. I wasn't expecting that emotional gut-punch of a movie and I loved it.
The Menu
I knew I'd like it based on the trailer/concept/actors, but it superceded my expectations & left me unexpectedly thinking about for a few days.The vibe is so unsettling & tense but darkly comedic.
The Chef does make some thought provoking commentary about our culture albeit a bit extreme. Probably would see it again.
The Menu.
Expecting a over the top horror and silliness. This one came out of nowhere and blew me away. It made me laugh a lot but was also unnerving without been over the top. Ralph Fiennes was amazing in it.
When Nope hit theaters i couldn’t catch it. Then some people i listen to their opinions didn’t like it at all, so i skipped for a bit. Randomly put on with a couple of people the other night and Loved it. Don’t know if it was i wasn’t expecting to like, or our group dynamic, but really enjoyed.
Barbarian was WTF good
It Follows. I assumed it would be another workman quality horror film. Found myself genuinely enjoying the plot and even a little bit frightened by a few scenes. Solid 9/10.
The Wonder. I was bored with it ngl. Then I started to think this must be true. Just such a random story. Turns it out it's based on a true story and the movie is really interesting once you look at it from a historical perspective
A tad overlong and the fourth wall breaking did jar me a bit. But worth it for Florence Pugh excellent performance.
so you only liked it because it could be real. weird way to like a film.
Have you seen it? It's a dry , long , very slow burn type of movie. I definitely lost interest and wanted to look up why it was #2 trending on Netflix. Once I did, I went down the rabbit hole of the real cases. So yeah it made it way more interesting. Crazy concept I know.
Smile 😁
yikes. care to say what it was you found good about it because i thought it was straight to dvd trash.
JoJo Rabbit. Had no idea what to expect, the first 15-20 minutes was a little uncomfortable, but the rest was amazing. Brilliant black comedy with a few real depth of emotion moments
It was nominated for 6 Oscars (winning one) including Best Picture though..
It has slipped under my radar, never even heard of it.
Earth Girls Are Easy. Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans are all fantastic. I’m currently watching every Jim Carrey movie and I’d never even heard of this one but it flew towards the top of my favorites of his. Will absolutely make you laugh throughout
Palm Springs
The People we Hate at the wedding. They constantly subverted tropes, and had some surprisingly important points to make about life and love and family relationships.
I started to watch it about a half an hour ago and just couldn't get into it. I'm going to try it when I have more time.
Prey
What surprised you about prey?
Coming off The Predator, I think anyone would be surprised
“The Thing” (1982). I recently watched it in the cinema and it really blew me away. It might be my favourite movie of all time, and it’s certainly the most disturbing movie I’ve ever watched.
“The Banshees Of Inisherin.” I was expecting it to just be a fun movie, but found it to also be a deeply profound masterpiece.
“Terrifier 2.” I went in knowing it would be brilliant, but somehow it still managed to surpass my expectations.
Finally watched Benedetta. I'd been putting it off because I assumed it would be mostly a forbidden romance heavy drama. But I underestimated Paul Verhoeven. It was way more wild and layered than I thought. Lots of deception, violence, sex, hallucinations, torture and mystery. And I thought the dialogue in it was excellent. It was a really nice surprise.
Blown away from 1993 with Corey haim
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Under The Silver Lake
I went in not knowing a damn thing about it, and it was a very enjoyable surprise. A trippy film noir style adventure with many a turn and a plot that involves numbers and conspiracies, but I wouldn't get hung up on that, because the film is so beautifully shot.
Also loved BJ Novak's Vengeance
Barbarian, Prey, and All Quiet on the Western Front. I attribute it mostly to not watching trailers anymore so I go into all movies blindly now.
Hellraiser surprised me by how kinda mediocre it was. Good movie but had the potential to be so much better.
Let the Right One in. 2008
Yes!!!
A random movie I clocked in Tubi called Crush the Skull. It was a fantastic horror comedy version of Don't Breathe/The Collector. Where a team of thieves break into a fancy house that is actually the home of a serial killer. And it's really secure so once they are in they can't get out. It has suspense, alot of laughs. Very good movie
God’s Country
Wasn’t expecting much going in but I really loved it
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Surprised for the better: Emily the Criminal. Fantastic movie, great peformances and characters. Surprised for the worse: Smile. Everyone hyped it up so much and it was the most generic, boring horror I've seen this year. Just my opinion.
Luckiest Girl Alive. It went down some roads I was not expecting.
You Won't Be Alone.
Incredibly touching and human story, totally unexpected.
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Why would you expect it to be “meh.?” It got very good reviews.
Of course it did...
I didn't read anything about it beforehand...
Went in completely blind about it the night or two of its release and loved it. Watched in three times now. Lol
By the way, reviews in general should be taken with a grain of salt. So many movies that got highly rated end up being terrible, and so many movies get poorly rated and turn out being excellent.
We’re very, very different people. I always research things beforehand and rarely do the same thing twice.
The beauty of choices!
I recently saw Jojo Rabbit and it was much better than I thought it would be (a comedy about Hitler youth, what?). It was funny and endearing at the same time, and very well played by the young actor. Taika Waititi even cracked me up, which is rare.
Catherine Called Birdy looked so obnoxious in the preview but was actually so so sweet. It had the double effect of me thinking how many young girls went through what she went through over the centuries.
Tropic Thunder. Never seen it before and it was really funny.
Tony Stark in what amounts to blackface wouldn't fly today. The absurdity of it though. Half-Squat at the end was my favorite part. Lol.
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I've been very pleasantly surprised recently. Weird Al was great, Barbarian and Smile were both super scary, Bros was funny, and I totally agree with you on All Quiet. I'm not a fan of war movies usually, but this was so...I don't know, compelling? It stayed with me and I wasn't expecting much.
Everything Everywhere All at Once.
RRR, the most refreshing over the top action movie I've seen in a long time. Probably since edge of tomorrow
Bardo was sublime, third favorite of the year so far behind Tár(2) and Banshees(1)
looks like a huge malick rip off
it did have the feeling of a Malick film but with the essence of Mexico if you can imagine that, I enjoyed it. not as good as "A Hidden Life" but better than lesser Malick's imo
Athena. Knew nothing about it went in blind. Well worth it. First French film I’ve seen too!
Thetimmybaby t1_ixanzos wrote
The Weird Al movie had no business being that good