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Movies that aren't so great upon a second viewing...

post #1 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
From Dusk till Dawn. I thought it was a classic when I first saw it years ago, but recently I picked it up again and found it to be merely good. The screenplay is Tarantino's most mediocre, as Clooney's character isn't very, uh, 'characterized' and the first half is just a typical criminals on the run flick until the vampires arrive. Overall, it felt like a series of leftover ideas from Rodriguez and Tarantino, though entertaining enough.
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post #2 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:23pm
Spider-Man 1 and 2. I can't even watch them anymore. And Hellboy.
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post #3 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:30pm
Batman Begins.
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post #4 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EL Wack View Post
Spider-Man 1 and 2. I can't even watch them anymore.
But 3's like a fine wine, right?
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post #5 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:34pm
With regret, I'd have to say that 'Iron Man' has diminishing returns upon a second viewing.
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post #6 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:37pm
Transformers. Went from loving to hating.
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post #7 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:41pm
Equilibrium's camp value is diminished severely when you know what's coming.
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post #8 of 44
9/18/08 at 12:59pm
I knew going in, it would be a one shot deal:

Borat
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post #9 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
I knew going in it would be a one shot deal:

Borat
That's the winner.
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post #10 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:05pm
Most comedies fall into this category, especially if the humor is 'of the moment' rather than timeless. How many people do you see raving about Disney's 'Alladin' now?
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post #11 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:05pm
Quote:
That's the winner
Chicken Dinner
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post #12 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreary louse View Post
From Dusk till Dawn. I thought it was a classic when I first saw it years ago, but recently I picked it up again and found it to be merely good. The screenplay is Tarantino's most mediocre, as Clooney's character isn't very, uh, 'characterized' and the first half is just a typical criminals on the run flick until the vampires arrive. Overall, it felt like a series of leftover ideas from Rodriguez and Tarantino, though entertaining enough.
Ya see, I liked it MORE the 2nd time.

Going in, I was "Where are all the vampires? This is bullshit. The trailers promised vampires..." Now after my expectations have been tempered, I can appreciate it for what it is, and not for what I thought it was gonna be.
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post #13 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:22pm
Borat is a perfect example but I also knew it the second it was over.

The Blair Witch Project, man I wish I never watched this again. It was such an easy move to get caught up in the hype in theaters. The same could be said for Cloverfield but I've made a concerted effort to not watch it again.
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post #14 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:27pm
I fell in love with Raymond Chandler after seeing the Philip Marlowe series on HBO. Just saw the DVD a few days ago and other than a really cool opening sequence (designed by Maurice Binder!) , Powers Booth ans the woman playing his girlfriend, the series is rancid. Way over the top acting by everyone ecept Booth and friend, and the DVD transfer is the worst I've ever seen. Oh and the audio is REALLY LOUD!

Edited to add: Ok I know it's a TV show not a movie. Movies that don't hold up? War of the Worlds, Saving Private Ryan spring to mind. WOTW was uneven in the theater: on DVD I flip through the set pieces and ignore the rest. Oh and second for Batman Begins
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post #15 of 44
9/18/08 at 1:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cylon Baby View Post
I fell in love with Raymond Chandler after seeing the Philip Marlowe series on HBO. Just saw the DVD a few days ago and other than a really cool opening sequence (designed by Maurice Binder!) , Powers Booth ans the woman playing his girlfriend, the series is rancid. Way over the top acting by everyone ecept Booth and friend, and the DVD transfer is the worst I've ever seen. Oh and the audio is REALLY LOUD!
Hey, watch the closed captions. I did them.
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post #16 of 44
9/18/08 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd View Post
But 3's like a fine wine, right?
No, but I didn't think it was applicable to the thread because it sucked on the first viewing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cylon Baby View Post
Oh and second for Batman Begins
Agreed. I tried watching it again before TDK came out and it was like pulling teeth. It's so goddamn slow.
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post #17 of 44
9/18/08 at 2:44pm
Superman 2 was that way for me. Of course there was a 20 year gap between viewings but man it really didn't hold up for me. Also, Phantom Menace didn't hold up on second viewing but alot of that could be denial on the first viewing.
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post #18 of 44
9/18/08 at 2:58pm
Repeat viewings often work best when you're rewatching a film with someone who's seeing it for the first time. Watching someone else react to a film (like BWP) the way you did upon the first viewing helps bring back some of the magic, even when you know what's coming.
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post #19 of 44
9/18/08 at 3:25pm
A good recent example for me is 300. Saw it on a big screen when it first came out and was thoroughly entertained. I appreciated the visuals and thought it had a good pace to it.

Revisited it a few months later on video and thought it was a piece of shit. Awful plot, silly characters, slower than Christmas and the visuals don't impress as much on a 32-inch screen.

Plus it all seemed just a bit plastic and repetitive to me.

That's probably the steepest appreciation decline I can think of.
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post #20 of 44
9/18/08 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
Ya see, I liked it MORE the 2nd time.

Going in, I was "Where are all the vampires? This is bullshit. The trailers promised vampires..." Now after my expectations have been tempered, I can appreciate it for what it is, and not for what I thought it was gonna be.
For myself, part of the thrill of its first viewing was having little idea where the movie was going.
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post #21 of 44
9/18/08 at 5:43pm
300 for me too. A lot of these other ones to a lesser extent, but I actually hated 300 upon my second viewing. I don't want to get into all those childhood favs that blow now.
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post #22 of 44
9/18/08 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreary louse View Post
For myself, part of the thrill of its first viewing was having little idea where the movie was going.
I can see that being a kick for the uninformed. Alas, I was one of the informed.
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post #23 of 44
9/18/08 at 5:56pm
Dead wrong about Iron Man. I enjoyed it more the second time. That film is a class act.
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post #24 of 44
9/18/08 at 6:55pm
Joe Somebody
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post #25 of 44
9/18/08 at 6:58pm
I haven't been able to sit through Transformers since the first time. 300 I've seen twice, but the second time was a real slog.
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post #26 of 44
9/18/08 at 9:20pm
Tombstone.
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post #27 of 44
9/19/08 at 8:58pm
Thread Starter 
I knew 300 sucked the first time. I win.

Also, I second Tombstone.
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post #28 of 44
9/19/08 at 9:40pm
The Departed and Sin City are the two that immediately came to mind. I'm glad Scorsese finally got his Oscar, but it's definitely one of his weakest works.
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post #29 of 44
9/19/08 at 11:32pm
Face Off
Forrest Gump (yes I really liked it the first time)
King Kong (Jackson's)
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post #30 of 44
9/19/08 at 11:33pm
Yeah, King Kong is a big one. I can't even watch it now. Only the T Rex fight.
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post #31 of 44
9/20/08 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarant View Post
Transformers. Went from loving to hating.
Bingo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nekkerbee View Post
Repeat viewings often work best when you're rewatching a film with someone who's seeing it for the first time. Watching someone else react to a film (like BWP) the way you did upon the first viewing helps bring back some of the magic, even when you know what's coming.
Especially true when exposing a child (heh) to a movie for the first time. I watched Ghostbusters with my friend's nine-year-old son. Seeing him react to it, it was like a brand new movie.

My vote: Jurassic Park. Coming out of the theater, it was one of the coolest things ever. Getting through it on home video is a slog of epic proportions. Just an endless parade of poorly-written speeches from barely-defined characters broken up by the occasional dinosaur mauling.
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post #32 of 44
9/20/08 at 2:04am
Jungle 2 Jungle
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post #33 of 44
9/20/08 at 2:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
My vote: Jurassic Park. Coming out of the theater, it was one of the coolest things ever. Getting through it on home video is a slog of epic proportions. Just an endless parade of poorly-written speeches from barely-defined characters broken up by the occasional dinosaur mauling.
Time's been extremely friendly to it for theatrical viewings, though (largely for the increased geek status of the supporting cast. I'm looking at you Samuel L. Jackson and Jeff Goldblum). I went to a midnight show a few weeks ago, and the audience just ate it up.

V for Vendetta would have to be my pick. It's still a pretty good movie, and a decent but not great adaptation of the source, but each time I watch it, the little details that are off rub me the wrong way just a little bit more.
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post #34 of 44
9/20/08 at 2:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
With regret, I'd have to say that 'Iron Man' has diminishing returns upon a second viewing.
Very very true. Especially when you saw SPEED RACER for the first time the day before seeing IRON MAN the second time. The performances hold up wonderfully, as do some of the testing and action sequences. But man oh man, this film's musical score is absolute bullshit, as is the amount of retarded nonsense the characters have to do in order to move the story forward in spots. "Hey, I'll run towards my captors firing bullets into the ceiling instead of at them! I don't want to kill them, just distract them so Tony can escape!" I have high expectations for the sequel; that they managed to turn this script into an enjoyable movie at all is amazing. I'm expecting the next one to represent a massive leap in quality.

That so many people here found anything at all to like about TRANSFORMERS, even after only one viewing, never ceases to amaze me.
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post #35 of 44
9/20/08 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarence Boddicker View Post
The Departed
No. It holds better the second time. There's even more tension this time around.

My pick: the weeding crashers. I found myself just waiting for the Will cameo and that's all.
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post #36 of 44
9/20/08 at 5:33pm
Thread Starter 
On the flipside, Heavy Traffic never gets old. I have seen that movie seven times.
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post #37 of 44
9/20/08 at 6:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feral Akodon View Post
My pick: the weeding crashers. I found myself just waiting for the Will cameo and that's all.
Yes. I loved that movie in the theater, but at home, it just bored me. I suppose you could chalk that up to the comedy trap. Then again, I never seem to get tired of Talladega Nights.
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post #38 of 44
9/20/08 at 6:45pm
Iron Man, 300, and Transformers. All good picks. Though with Iron Man, I still like it, just not as much. 300 and Transformers, I didn't like much on the first viewing. Anything afterwards was bad.
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post #39 of 44
9/20/08 at 10:13pm
It's not in the same category as most of these picks but Matchstick Men was that way for me.
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post #40 of 44
9/20/08 at 10:32pm
It didn't make much of a splash outside of Hong Kong (though Sony did it justice with a good US DVD release), but TOKYO RAIDERS was something I liked when I first saw it, but wondered what the hell I was thinking on the second go-round. Because it's fucking lame. The semi-sequel SEOUL RAIDERS, also starring Tony Leung and directed by Jingle Ma, is slightly, slightly better, but not nearly enough to make it good.
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post #41 of 44
9/21/08 at 8:13am
The Boondock Saints I thought it was pretty cool... Now I despise it.
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post #42 of 44
9/22/08 at 10:19pm
Underworld
Equilibrium
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post #43 of 44
9/22/08 at 10:21pm
I cannot fathom Underworld being enjoyed even on the first viewing. Heheh. But that's the way of this thread.
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post #44 of 44
9/23/08 at 3:10pm
Superbad.

I actually enjoyed Borat on a second viewing, but I can see why some people wouldn't.

But Superbad's still a good teen movie - and there are still flourishes of brilliance on the repeat viewing. But for some reason I just can't enjoy it a second time round.
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