It happens to the best of us. Sometimes we're wrong the first time around. We saw the the movie when we were in a bad mood, or maybe there was too much hype surrounding it and the hate grew because it didn't live up to the expectations. Then, on a late night on cable, we see the movie and think...eh...maybe it's not so bad. Or maybe we got caught up IN the hype and later realized...eh...maybe it's not so good.

even Gene Siskel changed his mind on what he thought of movies like "Slap Shot" and "Apocalypse Now"...

so here are some from me:

Movies I Initially Recommended/Liked that I don't now

"Semi-Pro" - I think I was in a really good mood and saw this on a nice Saturday morning and was in the mood to laugh. While I still don't think this was as bad as some critics said, I don't think it was very good now that I think about it. Somewhere on this board I have a review of it recommending it. I'd like to retract that. It wasn't that good. But I did like the line "I wanna hang myself with an extension cord...sexy..."

"Where the Wild Things Are" - I don't know why I recommended this hipster garbage from the getgo. The more I thought about this movie the more I hated it. What I really hated most was the pretentious soundtrack, and pretentious is the best word I can describe this movie. It's made solely for Portland Parents who name their kids after obscure minerals and elements and are strict vegans. But the movie itself is meandering, pointless, and the characters are annoying as hell. I think I wanted to like this movie initially because it seemed like it was a movie that was going to be universally praised anyway. Well, I'm not really into all that anymore and I never ever want to see this movie again.

"Wolverine" - I didn't really recommend it on my review on my website but I did here and I want to retract that with extreme prejudice. This movie, outside of Liev Schrieber's wasted performance, is a total dud.

"Spider-man 3" - it took a while, but I think I've come around. No, I didn't dislike it for the "emo scene"--which I still think people too way too seriously (it was a joke!!). BUT...this movie's overstuffed. In the worst way. It's like the title spoke for how many movies the movie actually was because it FELT like it was 3 movies. I've defended the movie for years but I give up. You're right. It's just not that good. It didn't suck but it's not good enough to recommend. The series should have begun and ended with "Spider-man 2".

"Kill Bill" - some of volume 1 is still, in my opinion, some of the best action I've seen captured on film. But this movie on the whole, including part 2, really sucks the life out of you. It's just too thin of a plot to stretch so long and there isn't enough philosophy or interesting characters that can get you through it. Unlike bubbling movies like "Inglourious Basterds", "Jackie Brown", and "Pulp Fiction", "Kill Bill" just seems to be a bit lifeless after a while. Uma Thurman's great but especially with the draggy dialog driven Part 2, "Kill Bill" disappoints overall. I gave it all the excuses when I first saw it. But now I consider it Tarantino's worst film that he's directed...although "Death Proof" isn't far behind...however...

Movies I Initially Didn't Like That Now I Like Or Am Relatively Indifferent To

"Dawn of the Dead" remake - I *hated* this movie when it was first released. I wanted to walk out of the theatre. I couldn't get over how this movie was just SCREAMING "This ain't yo daddy's 'Dawn of the Dead'!" I really resented James Gunn and anyone involved with this movie because I felt it was such an insult to the original DotD. Then, a few years ago, I had it on as background noise while I was probably watching porn--and I found myself watching it and actually enjoying it. And now, I don't mind it. I still consider it "fun bad" but I don't take so much offense to it now because I realize that, apart from the title and setting, it's not REALLY "Dawn of the Dead". It's just a fun, stupid, violent zombie movie with some really hilarious scenes. And after all the other remakes that have come out in the past years, it's one of the least offensive by comparison.

"Star Trek: Nemesis" - I think I consistently had this ST movie at the bottom of the list when ranking the movies...after careful consideration and seeing it again a few months ago..."Insurrection" was way worse. And so was "The Final Frontier". This wasn't as bad as I guess I thought it was when I first saw it. It's still not good but it's not the WORST ST movie ever. it had some good things about it. I just wish the TNG cast would've been put to better use in the ST movies because after "First Contact", it looked like they could've *beaten* the original cast films. Where the fuck was Q in the movies??? What a missed opportunity.

"Death Proof" - I didn't like this movie when I saw it as "Grindhouse" because by the time it got good, I was bored out of my mind. However, seeing it by itself, it's not so bad. Kurt Russell is still outstanding and the car chase sequences are amazing. But this movie, I think, could've been better. It's a total homage to old 70's drive-in movies but the initial scenes when the girls are just talking were really subpar; and considering Tarantino's so good at writing dialog, that was disappointing. This could've been a lot of fun but instead it just goes halfway. Because it's half as long as "Kill Bill", I put it just above it but it's not very impressive. Still, not as bad as I originally thought. I will say this: the best parts of "Grindhouse" will ALWAYS be the fake trailers.

so how about you?



all right, FF!! good for you man! cool.

Stop trying to get me to admit Sin City is good. It's not.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Scintillating thread idea, chap.


American Beauty--When this came out I was 17 or 18, same age as the kid characters, and thought it was a deep dark satirical study of American suburban life. Now, I'd tommy gun every character in the film if given a chance.

Gangs of New York--I think the fighting scenes won me over initially to thinking this film was good. This still has value as Daniel Day-Lewis overacting camp hilarity but it is otherwise a poorly edited mess with terrible acting from Leo and Diaz.

The Dark Knight--Seemed like an entertaining action movie at first. But it's long, meandering and drawn out. Ledger's performance saves the movie a bit but Maggie Gyllenhaal is awful, especially in her death scene.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

I hated The Dark Knight because of Heath Ledger. I know it's a comic book movie and the Joker is supposed to be waaaayyyy over the top, but Ledger's acting was too over the top for me. I'm glad he's still around though, and I look forward to his next endeavor.

Even Spacey? I mean his character is legit. I understand the other ones.


Gangs of New York--I think the fighting scenes won me over initially to thinking this film was good. This still has value as Daniel Day-Lewis overacting camp hilarity but it is otherwise a poorly edited mess with terrible acting from Leo and Diaz.
[i]
Great movie and Daniel Day Lewis is awesome. How dare you.

Not to mention that the ending was horrendous with a terrible payoff.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

What did you want the end to be Rick?

Its loosely based on a true story. Bill had to die.

The whole movie setup a battle between Bill the Butcher and Leo's character. Then, that basically never happens. The move shouldn't have been made if that is the ending. Terrible.

It would be like if a Rocky movie ended with him not fighting someone and instead the person falls into an empty elevator.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

They did fight. Leo killed Bill after Bill nearly killed him in the Toast to the Priest scene.

abbreviated version with poor explanations...

About Last Night- Initially thought the first scenes with Belushi and Rob Lowe were hilarious. Upon further review, it's ok, and the rest of the movie is been a painful reminder how dumb I was in my youth.

St. Elmo's Fire - When it first came out I liked it a lot. Watched more than once and still liked it. Got out of college and kind of grew up. It sucks. Can't deny it. Had to question my sanity on several occasions after realizing this mistake.

both include demi moore. I don't believe there is any correlation other than she was in a couple of hits when I thought bad movies were good.

I haven't seen it in a while, but didn't they both just get lit up by cannon fire?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I liked this one when it first came out. It was the 2nd best movie with the TNG cast, and besides First Contact, it was probably the best Star Trek film made in a 20 year span. V, VI, Generations, and Insurrection were bad. Insurrection was absolutely terrible. It was like a bad episode that someone decided to turn into a big budget Hollywood move. How that ever got made still baffles me.

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No they find eachother thru the smoke and Leo stabbed him


There is no long drawn out fight, but for me I thought the toast scene and that combined was enough.

I just found the youtube clip of it. He does stab him, but Bill was already about to die. That's what I didn't like. Leo didn't really kill him. The cannons did.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

American Beauty is still my favorite movie of all time, and I highly doubt anything will top it for me anytime soon. I enjoyed it that much.

In regard to the thread title, I initially hated The Patriot, but over time I have grown to regard it as a pretty good movie and worth a watch on TNT on a Sunday afternoon.

Conversely, I thought Monsters Ball was great the first time I saw it, but now just realize it is kind of a shitty movie (with the obvious exception of Halle Berry getting turned out for 10 minutes).

I do generally enjoy the work of Daniel Day-Lewis but I think a DDL fan like yourself would agree with me that he can get ham-handed with his performance art like in There Will Be Blood. There is a such a thing as a wonderful subtle acting performance and DDL has provided several examples of that with his work in [i]My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, and The Ballad of Jack and Rose. But don't think I am being negative. I respect the religious zealotry of his devotion to the craft. And I love overacting. It provides great entertainment value.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Zack-

I know some day that you'll eventually come around to The Phantom Menace










still waiting for pig to fly by.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

Is the "Phantom Menace" the movie filmed with an HD camera? It looks amazing on a HD TV.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

I actually enjoyed The Phantom Menace... sans the jar jar thing, and please note that me not liking jar-jar has nothing to do with my hockey-ness...

Good actors, decent acting, good bad guy, not a horrible plot, and most importantly: no Hayden Christensen... good movie.

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I thought The Matrix Revolutions was awesome when I left the theater after seeing it the first time....oops...

Conversely, really didn't care for Thunderball the first time I saw it...now it's one of my favorite Bond movies...

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"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."

Good call on the Bond films... I use to hate The Living Daylights, cause of Dalton, but as I grew older, I can appreciate the movie for having a good plot, and Dalton for his portrayal of Bond. License to Kill still blows though. Never say Never use to be a favorite of mine, despite having the greatest Bond Villian, as an adult( ) I can't get past the whole no bond music thing...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

i meant to say this--good call on "monster's ball". that was definitely one that I watched and thought "yeah it's good" but the more i thought about it the more i found it overtly silly for being SO goddamn pretentiously depressing.

i still think "american beauty" is a good film and almost a companion piece to "six feet under", the show that was created by the screenwriter, alan ball. it's stood the test of time.

however, in that little subgenre of suburban pastel dystopias i think a better movie is "the ice storm". it's a darker, more subtle film but it's one of my favorites in modern years. it predates "american beauty" by 2 years and i wouldn't say the two are exactly alike or anything. the premises are different. but it's all about detachment and the lie of the white suburban life. well directed by ang lee, and a great cast including kevin kline, sigourney weaver, joan allen, tobey mcguire, elijah wood, and christina ricci.

Oh man I can't stand Dalton, and LTK was god awful ... although Connery is my favorite Bond (I guesh I won't be needing theeshe.... motioning to raw oysters ) my favorite movie is gonna be A View To A Kill... its got it all my second favorite bond, an AWESOME villian in Christopher Walken and a scary ass hottie with a flattop who looks like she'd fuck the shit out of you then kill you just for sport. The plot sucked but one of the better title songs.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I still don't understand how they messed up those sequels so badly. The end of the first movie was so awesome because you were under the assumption that Neo was just going to destroy everything as a one man wrecking crew(with the help of love!). Then, they make a large portion of the movie about a war that happens without Neo being there.

It should have been another 6 hours of Neo killing agents and computers and then setting everyone free.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

i never understood the massive interest in the sequels. the first "matrix" film wrapped itself up nicely. you could kind of figure that neo was going to win the war since he was the chosen one. i hated "reloaded" a lot more than "revolution" because it bored the shit out of me on top of being totally unnecessary. took a long time for people to come around on that trilogy.

worst thing is that those sequels kinda ruined the original too.

Isn't that true of most trilogies? I had a pretty good idea what Frodo was going to do and what Harry Potter was going to do too. I don't want to think about it. I want the pictures to tell me about it so I don't have to think what happened. Using your imagination is for grade school kids. That part of my life is over.

I think the Matrix guys started to believe their own hype that they had some deep philosophical meaning behind the Matrix because they stole most of it from older stories like the Bible.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

but at the end of "fellowship" frodo hadn't destroyed the ring. there was at least a journey to be set. the journey was over for neo. he had the whole thing figured out.

you're right on your second point. they had definitely bought into themselves. the sad part is for a few years so did a lot of people.