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Any movies that you saw this year that you thought were going to suck and didn't or vice versa?

There will be blood-Sucked

27 dresses- didnt suck

Walk Hard-Sucked

There will be Blood- Awesome ( but I knew it would be so I guess that does not count)

Sweeny Todd- Though it would be decent, but surpased my expectations.

No Country for Old Men - amazing

Juno- spectacular

Michael Clayton - ehhhhhh blah

Michael Clayton. I could have told you that would suck. Junno? Got to see it. I missed that and I heard its ggod.

Michael Clayton was a bit of an indifferent affair at the end of the day (what is George Clooney's obsession with 4 star (out of 5) films!) but Sweeney Todd, disappointing.

You thought Sweeny was disapointing? hmmm.....what would you have changed?

The actors, the direction, maybe even get rid of the Sondheim songs, maybe even go for the Ray Winstone-vehicle adaptation a few years ago that was alot better.

Walk Hard looked like it was going to suck because for some reason I usually don't get the same kind of kick most people do from comedies but I saw it at the theater with my father and step brother and I couldn't stop lmao. Seriously, it was a riot and is the funniest movie I ever saw.

No Country for Old Men was exceptionally good.

There Will Be Blood was perfect.

The ending to Perfume definitely surprised the shit out of me. That is one ending i could not have predicted EVER.

As for surprising me because i was expecting gold or shit...

sweeney todd surprised me because i was, at the very least, expecting a decent movie. What i saw was complete shit.

There will be blood, i went in expecting a tightly directed movie with a stellar performance by Lewis and was given a near masterpiece.

Greenstreet Hooligans also surprised me. I saw this early last year. Not expecting anything, i was surprised with a new movie that landed in my top favorites.

Blades of glory surprised me because i had expected shit and actually laughed through out most of the film

Is it just me or did the original poster say There Will Be Blood sucked and was awesome?

when Leo had his head blown off in the Departed, I was like WTF? I spilled my popcorn.

Originally posted by The Hawk
Is it just me or did the original poster say There Will Be Blood sucked and was awesome?

Nope I noticed that but htought I tripping

Supertroopers surprised me thought it would be balls but was so funny

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi
when Leo had his head blown off in the Departed, I was like WTF? I spilled my popcorn.

When they all died fecksake I was shocked

I thought Juno was going to be pretty good, but it sucked. I also didn't have high hopes for Cloverfield, but came out of the whole experience enjoying the film thoroughly.

also Mortal Kombat 2, when Johnny Cage died. I alomst left the theatre, but then I saw Kitana's boobs.

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
I thought Juno was going to be pretty good, but it sucked. I also didn't have high hopes for Cloverfield, but came out of the whole experience enjoying the film thoroughly.

Yeah Cloverfield was a total mind f\/ck for me ,thought it would be crap...still not sure if I enjoyed it or not...too confused

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi
also Mortal Kombat 2, when Johnny Cage died. I alomst left the theatre, but then I saw Kitana's boobs. there are people that watched Mortal Kombat in the theater?

Originally posted by Bardock42
there are people that watched Mortal Kombat in the theater?

The hills have eyes (remake)...eventually I got around to buying it and it's now my favorite movie, I loved it

I thought Sweeney Todd was going to blow. Johny Depp is overrated by fangirls and I'm not too fond of musicals. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the film.

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi
when Leo had his head blown off in the Departed, I was like WTF? I spilled my popcorn.


The Departed has to be my favorite movie ever though sometimes I forget about it.. doh

I liked There will be blood. I am sorry if I confused. I meant that I liked it even more than I thought I would. Walk Hard was absolute crap. I was disapointed by Talidaga Nights as well. The only good part was with the baby jesus thing. I pray Babies Mama is not disapointing.

BABY Mama looks excellent.

Gone Baby Gone was a film I thought I wouldn't like last year, enjoyed it a lot.

Originally posted by moneyhoney
Michael Clayton. I could have told you that would suck. Junno? Got to see it. I missed that and I heard its ggod.

It is a good one to watch. Juno one came out on DVD today so it wont be hard for you to actually view that one. Do you know when 27 dressed comes out? I still have yet to see that one.

Michael Clayton was good, just not as brilliant as it was made out to be. Juno is fab though.

Juno was one that completely surprised me. I went with a couple of friends to watch it, and expected another horribly unconvincing teen drama, but I absolutely loved it.

Originally posted by chillmeistergen
Juno was one that completely surprised me. I went with a couple of friends to watch it, and expected another horribly unconvincing teen drama, but I absolutely loved it.

That is the same thing about JUNO that surprised me. It was not the typical American Pie or Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It still had to deal with sex (like the others) but there was more to it than that. It was about understanding "real" life and growing up. I thought it was very smart.

Well it was always going to be the nuts with Jason Bateman in it.

Originally posted by exanda kane
Well it was always going to be the nuts with Jason Bateman in it.

I LOVE JASON BATEMAN!

ever since I saw him in Teen Wolf I knew that was it for me. I think in Juno, his wife was not good for him. I would totally save him and marry him

Cloverfield was much better than I was expecting.

I need to see Cloverfield. I wonder when it is out on dvd?

What I liked about 27 dresses was that it was not ooober girlie. The sister in it was so good. She made that movie. Plus she's really hot!

Originally posted by moneyhoney
I need to see Cloverfield. I wonder when it is out on dvd?

What I liked about 27 dresses was that it was not ooober girlie. The sister in it was so good. She made that movie. Plus she's really hot!

CLoverfield made me so dizzy.

who is the sister in 27 dresses?

Originally posted by MildPossession


Gone Baby Gone was a film I thought I wouldn't like last year, enjoyed it a lot.

Totally agree same presumption and loved it

Originally posted by BackFire
Cloverfield was much better than I was expecting.

ja

Also enjoyed no country more than i thought i would and made myself watch REC which turned out to knock dawn of the dead (remake) off its number 1 zombie spot for me.

I thought semi pro wasn't going to be funny - but it was

Originally posted by Mairuzu
I thought semi pro wasn't going to be funny - but it was

Semi Pro was like every other Will Ferrel movie. silly laughs

Smoker4 - REC has a remake, there is a teaser going around I believe, yet to see REC. Looks good.

Jason Bateman was in Teen Wolf? I soooooo can't remember that, I use to love that movie, need to check it out.

Teen Wolf 2 definitely - I'm pretty sure he doesn't make an appearance in the first.

Originally posted by MildPossession
Smoker4 - REC has a remake, there is a teaser going around I believe, yet to see REC. Looks good.

Jason Bateman was in Teen Wolf? I soooooo can't remember that, I use to love that movie, need to check it out.

Teen Wolf 2. He is a boxer not a basketball player. I always thought he was a hottie, and he is even aging well

i mean look at him in JUNO, I would totally hit that.

Ah, Teen Wolf 2 was a bore, that's probably why I can't remember.

cant reaslly think of any THIS year but I know there have been others in the past that had that effect on me.

This past year, the movies that surprised me were Juno and Michael Clayton. I was not expecting either one to be nearly as good as they were even with all the hype around them. Very pleasantly surprised.

Originally posted by MildPossession
Ah, Teen Wolf 2 was a bore, that's probably why I can't remember.

i thought teen wolf 2 was so cool, but he was much better in JUNO.

maybe that is why I own Juno and not Teen Wolf 2

27 Dresses comes out April 29th and the sister in it was Malin Akerman. She is new, but she is really cute. Teen Wolf 2 was not as good as one, but still worht seeing. For a really long time I wanted to name my kid Styles...after his best friend.

Originally posted by MildPossession
Smoker4 - REC has a remake, there is a teaser going around I believe, yet to see REC. Looks good.

Jason Bateman was in Teen Wolf? I soooooo can't remember that, I use to love that movie, need to check it out.

The version i watched was spanish, lots of rapido followed by screams and gore!

Just watched Serenity, much better than i thought it would be.

So, last night I watched Junno and I it did surprise me! The teenager language was annoying but other than that I likes it. It was not as quirky as 27 dresses, but that fine.

Oh man, I adored the language used by Juno, wonderful to listen to.

Originally posted by moneyhoney
Any movies that you saw this year that you thought were going to suck and didn't or vice versa?

There will be blood-Sucked

27 dresses- didnt suck

Walk Hard-Sucked

There will be Blood- Awesome ( but I knew it would be so I guess that does not count)

Sweeny Todd- Though it would be decent, but surpased my expectations.

Um . . . . I think you . . . . . what did you . . . . . nevermind. Okay, you posted two different opinions on There Will Be Blood in the same post. What is this about?

Originally posted by MildPossession
Oh man, I adored the language used by Juno, wonderful to listen to.

I didn't. It was distracting, lazy, and tacky.

There's Something About Mary surprised me when I first saw it. I didn't think they would actually show the beans on top of the franks.

How was the language lazy and tacky in Juno?

Originally posted by BackFire
I didn't. It was distracting, lazy, and tacky.

Distracting, perhaps, but tacky? In the words of GOB: COME ON.

Originally posted by =Tired Hiker=
Um . . . . I think you . . . . . what did you . . . . . nevermind. Okay, you posted two different opinions on There Will Be Blood in the same post. What is this about?

Your right, i screwed up. I meant to say that there will be blood was good. Sorry about that. My brain was somewhere else.

Originally posted by exanda kane
Distracting, perhaps, but tacky? In the words of GOB: COME ON.

I agree. It was annoying, but not tacky. At least in 27 dresses, I expected to have some cheesy love talk. But Juno was written so well. I thought that was the one thing that took away credit form the film.

Originally posted by MildPossession
How was the language lazy and tacky in Juno?

Lazy because they used some very obvious and generic references to be 'quirky', - "Okay, something witty needs to be here, how about a ham-fisted thundercats reference, people will buy that as witty and clever, right?" It was just way too 'hipster' and it didn't really do a good job at being hip or cool. They tried, and you can't try, it just happens.

And tacky because they tried way too hard, and it made it seem gaudy and annoying and very very obvious. Like they said to the audience "HEY HEY LOOK HOW COOL OUR CHARACTER IS, LISTEN TO THAT SLANG, SHE'S COOL! "OH MY BLOG!" HAHAHAHAHA! What? How is a 15 year old familiar with Thundercats? She's just that cool, gimme an award"

The movie was decent outside of the poor dialogue, but it did not deserve any awards or nominations, except maybe Ellen Page, who did well. Diablo Cody should not have won for her screenplay. Lars and the Real Girl was infinitely more well written and more original to boot.

Originally posted by BackFire
Lazy because they used some very obvious and generic references to be 'quirky', - "Okay, something witty needs to be here, how about a ham-fisted thundercats reference, people will buy that as witty and clever, right?" It was just way too 'hipster' and it didn't really do a good job at being hip or cool. They tried, and you can't try, it just happens.

And tacky because they tried way too hard, and it made it seem gaudy and annoying and very very obvious. Like they said to the audience "HEY HEY LOOK HOW COOL OUR CHARACTER IS, LISTEN TO THAT SLANG, SHE'S COOL! "OH MY BLOG!" HAHAHAHAHA! What? How is a 15 year old familiar with Thundercats? She's just that cool, gimme an award"

The movie was decent outside of the poor dialogue, but it did not deserve any awards or nominations, except maybe Ellen Page, who did well. Diablo Cody should not have won for her screenplay. Lars and the Real Girl was infinitely more well written and more original to boot.

Stole the words right out of my mouth.

I didn't like the movie as a whole, but the dialogue bugged me especially.

Originally posted by BackFire
Lazy because they used some very obvious and generic references to be 'quirky', - "Okay, something witty needs to be here, how about a ham-fisted thundercats reference, people will buy that as witty and clever, right?" It was just way too 'hipster' and it didn't really do a good job at being hip or cool. They tried, and you can't try, it just happens.

And tacky because they tried way too hard, and it made it seem gaudy and annoying and very very obvious. Like they said to the audience "HEY HEY LOOK HOW COOL OUR CHARACTER IS, LISTEN TO THAT SLANG, SHE'S COOL! "OH MY BLOG!" HAHAHAHAHA! What? How is a 15 year old familiar with Thundercats? She's just that cool, gimme an award"

The movie was decent outside of the poor dialogue, but it did not deserve any awards or nominations, except maybe Ellen Page, who did well. Diablo Cody should not have won for her screenplay. Lars and the Real Girl was infinitely more well written and more original to boot.

No.

Ellen Page shouldn't have won over the others for the acting, screenplay I am happy won. It's just tacky to you. Definitely not poor dialogue.

When I heard her say the Thunderbirds part, I absolutely adored that part, brought a smile on my face to be reminded of that cartoon series that I use to watch.

And it's just not poor to you. We can only speak for ourselves here, and that's all I'm doing.

The movie really isn't all that well written. None of the characters outside of Juno were developed all that well, which is unfortunate because they were all interesting characters. The dialogue was quirky just for the sake of it, and as I said, ended up distracting from an otherwise decent story.

Objectively speaking, Lars was infinitely better in every single department as far as the writing went. The characters were all defined and developed much more wholly, the story was infinitely more original, and the plot moved along at a better pace and just flowed more fluidly. I think Cody only won because of her hype and her "interesting" backstory and the press she had been getting, nothing more. I could tell that Cody was relatively inexperienced while watching the movie, it showed. The writing was merely competent, not extraordinary. Lars' writing was extraordinary.

I thought "Spider-Man" would be like the god awful FOX cartoon. Ended up being one of personal favorite movies of all time.

Also, I expected "Dragon Wars" to blow my mind and be nonstop epic, but it turned out to be really terrible, and only delivering one memorable scene(when the Dragon descends from Heaven, which was indeed a fantastic moment). The rest of the movie? Poorly paced, poorly characterized, and poorly made action.

"Looney Tunes: Back In Action" I thought was going to be good, but ended up being a terrible stinker.

I didn't expect "The Professional" to be anything but time taking, but ended up being one of my favorite movies ever.

Originally posted by BackFire
The movie really isn't all that well written. None of the characters outside of Juno were developed all that well, which is unfortunate because they were all interesting characters. The dialogue was quirky just for the sake of it, and as I said, ended up distracting from an otherwise decent story.


Objectively speaking, the players in Juno are considerably better penned than those in Lars and the Real Girl. None of the "Lars" characters are able to transcend their blatant neccessity for the plot. None of those characters have the charm and depth that Juno can bring from the page. They are considerably well drawn and defined characters, with nuances to them that a lesser script like Lars cannot afford. "Dialogue quirky for the sake of being quirky"? What kind of a criticism is that? To analogise that, that is saying something like "Ghandi is being philosophical for the sake of being philosophical" or "Ben-Hur being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic." As far as pacing goes, it does get stuck in some places but they are resolved with little distraction to the overall successes of the screenplay, I thought that would be obvious to someone who is critiquing Juno on the basis of the undue hype thrown in its direction, rather than any failing of the script.

Personally I thought ALL the characters in Lars were more charming and had way way wayyyy more depth than Juno. The character was about as deep as a wading pool.

Lars had depth, he had a backstory that was absolutely essential to the plot, he felt like a real person; like someone you could see existing. I didn't feel that with Juno, she felt like someone made her after watching an episode of Freaks and Geeks. Her reaction to getting pregnant was just silly. She acted like it was a small, trivial event. Like "Oops, I forgot to feed the dog". Oh, but she cried at the end - complex character, obviously.

And the supporting characters, honestly, I have seen supporting characters in some amateur scripts that had been more developed and were more rounded than the ones in Juno.

The criticism of quirky for the sake of being quirky simply means that they didn't make that aspect feel organic. You could always tell that they were trying, they were constantly putting out the effort and they always failed to hide that. It felt like they did it just for the hell of it, not because it was necessary or because it added anything to the film. A film can have quirky characters that still feel real and believable, like Little Miss Sunshine. That film went beyond making weird characters and made them feel alive and real, I never got the impression that they were made with that intent, even though they obviously were, they felt like real people.

The difference between Juno and Ben Hur and Ghadi is that the two aspects you mentioned about those films were absolutely essential to the story and the plot. Ben Hur was a drama, so it had to be dramatic. Ghandi dealt with philosophy because the real person did as well. Juno's "quirkiness' was not necessary - the plot would have worked just as well, if not better, without it. No awkward, randomly strewn reference to blogging or thunderbirds helped the plot along. It took away from the plot, I felt, because it distracted.

The writing of Juno WAS the basis for the undue hype. We had Diablo Cody being plastered as some amazing prodigy. I had never before seen such publicity for a screen writer, hence why I bring up the writing. It wasn't nearly as good as the hype and the press would lead you to believe. Prior to watching it, I suspected that the hype wasn't because of her talent, but because she used to take her clothes off. After watching the film, I'm now positive that that's the case.

The actors pretty much saved the movie. It would have been extraordinarily easy for the dialogue to go over the top, because reading it from the page, without being worded by good actors, that's how it felt to me. The actors took the dialogue and made it workable. Particularly the actors playing the supporting characters. In the hands of lesser actors they would have felt like caricatures, rather than round, real, involving characters.

Honestly, I felt that this film winning for best original screenplay was as unjustified as Gladiator winning for best picture in 2000.

As long as you don't walk into the trap and try and tell it objectively when it blatantly isn't, I can respect that. The supporting cast of Juno were well drawn and developed and characters like Juno's dad & step-mum and Mark reminded of many people who I know; for that they seem real. Yes, it is true, there are people in the world who see the humour in their situation. As for the analogy of Ghandi and Ben-Hur, Juno is quirky in the same sense that both Bene-Hur is a drama and Ghandi, the man, was philosophical. It tries almost too hard to be the word I detest the most, quirky, but ultimately because the character just read off the page, it works.

Lars' script never quite dealt with creepy aspect of the doll being a sex doll. I can only assume they couldn't successfully deal with the subject.

Why would they deal with creepiness? That clearly wasn't their goal. And the point of the story was to not show Lars and his problem as creepy, but somewhat sad, but hopeful.

And when I said objective, I didn't mean to imply that I thought I was speaking of facts or anything like that. Obviously it's all my opinion. I simply meant that when I step back and be fair, and look at the sincere problems I felt the script had -- looking at it as objectively and fairly as possible....so on.

The doll is a means to an end in some respects, but the fact that it is a sex doll is creepy, and there is no going back from that.

Creepy or not, it would have wasted time to try and portray the situation as creepy, when it would have added nothing to the plot or characters.

Really though, that bit in the beginning when he first gets it and introduces it to the family could be seen as creepy. Some people saw it as odd and funny, others saw it as sad, and others saw it as creepy. It comes down to perception.

Oh, I see the funny side of it, I see the touching side of it too. But a sex doll is simply creepy. The fact that the family and his friends see his infatuation with a doll as the problem rather than the more sinister fact that it is a sex doll is a fundamental problem I have with seeing these characters as realistic.

I don't know how "sinister" it is. But I'd personally be more concerned if someone I knew was treating a life sized doll as a real person, than just using it to get off, which is what it is, a sex toy.

It is plain sinister because he is treating a sex toy as a real person; any other doll would no doubt lead to concern, but you have to wonder with a sex doll. It's not a case of 'just using it to get off,' he's taken it a lot further than that and not one person has the sense to mention that. That is not say it isn't an interesting idea that translated into an enjoyable film, but there is a fundamental problem with it.

Originally posted by exanda kane
Oh, I see the funny side of it, I see the touching side of it too. But a sex doll is simply creepy. The fact that the family and his friends see his infatuation with a doll as the problem rather than the more sinister fact that it is a sex doll is a fundamental problem I have with seeing these characters as realistic.

Because it was clear that he wasn't using the doll for sex.

The story was an amazing balancing act, it was really incredible to see.

Juno was quite amazing!

Juno was good but not great. Like everybody made it out to be.
But i would have to say What Dreams May Come, a must see movie before you die.

Originally posted by moviebuff1084
Juno was good but not great. Like everybody made it out to be.
But i would have to say What Dreams May Come, a must see movie before you die.


Thats interesting. How do you know when you are about to die? I guess than I could say that 27 dresses is a movie you must see before you are a bridesmaid. Or that Juno is a movie you must see before your get pregnant during your teen years.

Someone mentioned D-Wars/Dragon Wars, indeed that was one of the biggest pieces of crap I have seen in a long time. One big bore of a movie also. I believe a second is on the way, UGH.

Originally posted by debbiex
Juno was quite amazing!

in your opinion, what was so amazing about it?

I agree, I am just curious.

Watched Fracture last night and really enjoyed it. I was unsure about the pairing of Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling as the leads but it worked extremely well. I've always loved Hopkins and appreciated Gosling in The Notebook. Highly recommended movie

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, however, huge let down. Far too long winded and repetitive. Such a shame