What movie(s) exceeded your expectation?

Live Die Repeat /Edge of Tomorrow

As much as I hate Tom Cruise as a person this movie was one of the most fun sci-fi action flicks I have seen in a very long time.

Into the Spider-Verse.

I was kind of aware of that sort of plot line in the comics. And I loved The live action Spider-Man movies.

Was blown away at how complete a package it was: visuals, score, writing, voice acting. It was just an all around great movie.

Tropic Thunder. Went in knowing it was a new Ben Stiller movie and nothing else.

The new Dungeons and Dragons movie. It was a blast

Dune

Bullet Train was fun as hell.

Edit: I just realized that I saw John Wick based on, "Hey I want to see a movie today. John Wick? No idea what this is, but if it's in IMAX it might be fun!"

It was.

The new Puss In Boots. I went to see it mostly for my husband who likes Puss, but oh my goodness it was actually REALLY good. The animation was really interesting.

The New Jumanji. The first one, I never saw the second. I expected it to be a dumb, corny movie made just to fill the years reboot quota, but it was a VERY enjoyable movie.

Train to Busan. Shit was INTENSE.

Free Guy! I had very mediocre expectations for that movie, but I ended up loving it.

Both Prey & Bullet train I was expecting average action movies, and both ended up being some of my favourite movies last year with great rewatchability.

2 movies immediately come to mind, and I think it's because I went in with an expectation that the movie is gonna suck.

Pacific Rim
District 9

It's probably been 10 years since I watched either of those movies so I'm not sure how they have aged...

They Cloned Tyrone was an unexpected gem from Netflix of all places.

Zoolander. Thought it looked bad from the trailers. I was wrong.

At first Asteroid City got my attention with it's title. But after watching the movie I am amazed and wondering why are movies like this not more successful.

Bullet Train. I didn't know what to expect going into it really, but it turned out to be a super fun movie.

12 Angry Men - the original b&w one. I read a quick review and it sounded interesting enough to at least try.

Started slow and a bit dull but so well written and shot that it quietly builds the tension and kinda sneaks up on you.

Based on the trailers and ads, I thought Kung Pow was gonna be a piece of crap. I only went because my parents made me take my younger siblings who wanted to see it.

Turned out to be one of the funniest fucking movies I have ever seen.

The Super Mario Bros Movie. I pretty much put it on expecting to be disappointed, as video game based movies are almost universally terrible, but ... I actually had a good time and really enjoyed all the reference humor.

Wolf of Wall Street. Mainly because I saw it on a whim pretty much as soon as it came out, and didn't really have any expectations. Holy fuck what an entertaining and hilarious film, three hours long and not a single boring minute. I've not seen it since but I consider it my favourite film regardless.

The Suicide Squad

The first one was so bad, was surprised the sequel was watchable haha

Demolition Man - I was expecting a dumb violent scifi action flick - which it was, but it also had a great scriptwriter and some really funny, witty lines in it which was an unexpected treat

Kung Fu Panda

Snowpiercer - I was expecting typical scifi channel fare, and got to watch an elaborate and thoughtful science fiction movie.

Rise of Skywalker - after the previous one, I expected to hate it, and was only seeing it to be done with the series. But I actually loved it.

I know it's goofy as hell, but it just felt like a proper Star Wars movie to me, it was fast, fun entertainment and it undid a lot of things I hated in Last Jedi.

Pleasantville. Talk about a movie the trailers did NOT prepare me for…

Basically half of the films with Dwayne Johnson. Everytime I see a film with him I am like: "yeah, this won't be good, but at least funny", but some of them are really enjoyable

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. I was cautiously optimisic about this movie, and I had one hell of a fun time watching it.

I just finished Host last night.

I had low expectations because of the Zoom format of the movie. I expected it to be real cheesy and low quality.

But man, I was blown away. The Zoom video chat made the whole thing feel more real and once the scares started, they really didn't stop. It's only a 50 minute runtime, so it's short and sweet. Even when I knew what scares were coming, they still got me.

Renfield was hilarious in an Army of Darkness kind of rediculous horror way. If that's your thing.

Prisoner -2013 The movie that got me into thriller movies

The unbearable weight of massive talent - 2022 Wasn't expecting much but turned out to be my favorite Nick Cage movie

The vvitch - 2015 I've never been big on horror movies but this one ended up being one of my favorite movies

Babylon... I watched it recently and was pleasantly surprised.

Grosse Pointe Blank - I was expecting a cheesy action movie. That is in there, although it's a better than it has any right to be. And at the same time it manages to be a good romantic comedy. The script and the cast nail the human side of the story. (Except for Dan Akroyd, who I have never liked in anything.)

Frailty. Starring and directed by the late, great Bill Paxton. 20 years later this one still sticks with me. Best to go in without knowing anything about the plot.

The Raid 2. I thought I know what it would be like but it blew past every expectation. Amazing action film that's arguably better than the first.

Recently,

Infinity Pool by David Cronenburg

and

Psycho Goreman. It's everything it should be and more, but doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't.

Barbie

It was everything I expected it to be and I love it.

Run Lola Run

It's one of a handful of non English films (subtitled) that I've watched... I forget how I ended up watching it, but it really was an awesome flick.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

I loved the original videos, but doubted it would make a good movie.

I don't have any. Just don't be boring.

Mostly it's the ones I didn't hype for. Didn't watch trailers or knew any plot.

Like when I watched some of the IMDb top 250 just one by one without really looking what the movie is about except its setup (the Good the Bad the Ugly - Western, Twelve Angry Man - court case etc).

After big let down of suicide squad i stopped caring about trailers and now enjoy much more movies.

Not a movie, but digimon adventure 1. I loved it as a kid watching all the digimon fights. I watched it again later in life and it was even better when I noticed all the character development.

True Stories. After 40 years I still watch it every few years to make sure it's still wierd. Excellent social commentary.

The movie 1917. I watched it going in blind. I knew it was praised by many, but then again, so are many other war movies. Now it's my favourite movie. I cannot help but cry at the scene in the basement, even thinking about it gives me goosebumps.