What movie did you have low expectations for but ended up blowing you away?
Thursday, 13 Mar 2025
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The Lego Movie. I thought it was just going to be a silly kids’ movie, but it turned out to be smart, hilarious, and so creative.
JARNATHAN!
The first Pirates of the Caribbean. I had low expectations for a movie based on a ride at Disney World. But that movie was genuinely good
Original Austin Powers movie. The now ex-wife made me watch it when we were dating…I loved it she hated it LOL
Tucker and Dale VS Evil
Underwater. I watched it at the cinema on a whim, hadn’t seen a trailer or any marketing for that matter, but I really enjoyed it
Edge of Tomorrow
Palm Springs
Kingman: The Secret Service.
No major advertising, trailer wasn’t amazing. Saw it in theaters and it blew me out of my seat. I couldn’t believe how fun that movie was.
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. Went to the theatre as it was the only thing playing at that time. So much funnier than I thought it would be.
Dungeons and dragons
Speak no evil (2024)
Game night
Dredd
Upgrade
Tropic thunder
A shame this movie didn’t do well in the box office, a truly fun movie.
21 Jump Street. The trailers made it seem like it was a very dumb movie (not in a good way). Ended up being a very dumb movie (in the best way)
About Time. Was expecting a cheesy time travel rom com but man oh man. I cried. Hard.
I am not a big D&D fan but this movie is really good, the only thing I would have added was an end credit scene with actors/actresses that are know to play D&D
Speed Racer
Into the Spiderverse
Free Guy and Game Night.
Pacific Rim
The Fifth Element
Saw it in theater with my fellow HS percussion after one of our concerts downtown.
The whole movie threw all my expectations out the window
The original “Guardians of the Galaxy.” My son was visiting and I took him to see it, thinking it was just going to be a silly, cartoony romp. My other half and I were blown away by how good it was.
Jumanji with Rock and Jack Black. I hard-passed when it was in the theater but thought I’d give it a shot later. I usually don’t like Black but I thought he deserved all the awards for his performance as a teenage girl.
Bullet Train.
I went in expecting a visually colorful but perhaps by-the-numbers action film. It turned out to be a fun, hilarious, entertaining movie front-to-back, with lots of twists and turns. By the end I genuinely liked or loved a lot of the characters and was rooting for or was sad for them.
The scene with the obese dragon in DnD made me cry with laughter
I saw Elf for the first time in theaters on a date and I thought it was going to be terrible…I’ll never fall out of love with that movie
A Knights Tale and Galaxy Quest both which are in my favorite movie lists.
Kingsman The Secret Service
I have no idea what the hell is this when I entered the cinema and I thought it was just a spy wannabe movie. But it ended up one of the best action movies I watched.
I wanted to hate Battle Angel Alita so much due to the delays, being a fan of the manga and etc. but ended up thoroughly enjoying the film and hoping that there would be a sequel because of how much story/lore the series potentially has to tell on the big screen. I also couldn’t stand the idea of making her CG but it genuinely worked.
Recently-
Transformers one
Prey was immensely better than almost anyone predicted it would be.
Honorable mention for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish since by now everyone knows it’s a masterpiece, but man was that unexpected at the time.
Puss in Boots- The Last Wish
Cabin in the Woods
Blade runner 2049, despite liking the director I didn’t believe it could meet expectations, but it did in spades and had a satisfying ending too instead of some annoying cliffhanger.
Once Jarnathan gets here I’m firing it up again!