The "This Movie is not What I Thought it was going to be" Thread

I went into Inglorious Basterds expecting a "Men on a Mission" flick (through the eyes of Tarantino) that the ads seemed to promise.

I didn't get that.  And I LOVED IT.

I went into Speed Racer thinking it'd just be some cheesy movie that'd be good for some fun car chases and crazy imagery.

Oh, I got fun car chases and crazy imagery, all right.  AND SO MUCH MORE that it has become one of my favorite films.  I came out of the film having laughed, smiled, grinned, teared-up, and inspired.

The trailer declared "On Earth...Everyone Can Hear You Scream" . What. The. HELL?!

A bitter disappointment.

Actually ended up being super creepy and dark but not at all what I thought.

Rented this in 2004 because I happened to be on a Western kick & it was all that left in stock on a Friday night. Hadn't heard anything good or bad about it & went in with middling expectations (based on the string of mediocre flicks Costner had done up to then). 2 1/2 hours later, my jaw was on the floor. I was completely unprepared for the greatness of Open Range.

From Dusk Till Dawn.  Knew nothing other than it being written by QT.

Happily chugged away for the first 40 and then BOOM, batshit insane vampire movie.

Loved it, but hot damn I did NOT expect it!

Be Kind Rewind defines this for me. The third act of the film just felt like a different thing altogether.

Second mcnooj's Speed Racer vote.

I thought Smokin' Aces was just going to be a fun, neo-Tarantino romp - sorta like Shoot 'Em Up.

They were going for something a little more deep than that; don't know that they ACHIEVED what they were trying to do, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. 

For me, I Love You Phillip Morris. I like Ewan MacGregor and, in some things, Jim Carrey.  I was expecting light hearted romp of comedically gay people. I was not expecting a hilarious, yet serious romance.  Even teared up a little.  My friends and family have blanched when I recommend it after I say "They play a gay couple," but it is a wonderful film.

Drive might be the movie of 2011 that best fits this category.

Sold as crime movie filled with car chases, it turned into a whole different story once you discover the Driver is this year's Travis Bickle.

The Swedish movie "Storm" (2005).

I thought it was going to be some kind of Euro Matrix rip off.

I don't think I could have been more wrong if I tried.

I went into Attack the Block thinking it was going to be an action-comedy with a British twist, the same way Shaun of the Dead was a horror-comedy. Instead I got a fairly straightforward (yet still great) alien invasion flick with serious action chops.

Flip the expectations a bit and the above also describes my Starship Troopers experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Rented this in 2004 because I happened to be on a Western kick & it was all that left in stock on a Friday night. Hadn't heard anything good or bad about it & went in with middling expectations (based on the string of mediocre flicks Costner had done up to then). 2 1/2 hours later, my jaw was on the floor. I was completely unprepared for the greatness of Open Range.

Guess you didn't read this site then. Been sexting this movie since day of release.

Land of the Lost was that movie for me.   Came in expecting Will Ferrel to sell out and do kiddie crap only the find out it's this weird stoner comedy that somehow got a tentpole budget.

Thirst. Asian movies have a way of blindsiding you, so I should have seen it coming, yet even so I expected a straightforward vampire movie. From the guy who did Oldboy. I had to watch it a second time just to appreciate its greatness because the first viewing caught me so off guard.

Singin' In The Rain

My first viewing was at age 17 on the big screen at the old-time Castro Theater in San Francisco. At the time, I thought old musicals were stodgy, boring, kitschy behemoths that doubled as relics from a time when people must've been easily entertained. Colour me shocked when I discovered that this old movie was funny as fuck & contained the most kinetically beautiful & powerful dance sequences I'd ever seen. I was also completely taken aback by how fresh the whole thing seemed to be, especially compared to the lumbering dustball An American In Paris (which I can appreciate now but have still never made it all the way through).

To this day, Singin' In The Rain ranks in the top 2 or 3 movie-going experiences. I was expecting just another boring old musical but the film took me by the scruff of my collar & burned away my angsty cynicism clean with the firehose of pure cinematic joy.

When we went to see Observe and Report we were expecting Knocked Up in a shopping mall.

How wrong we were...

Not as extreme a reaction as some of the ones I've had with films already mentioned here, but I was kind of blown away by how effective Warrior was when I went to see that last month. I'm big into MMA, so I just went to see it on that basis alone. The marketing certainly didn't make it seem all that promising, other then the presence of Tom Hardy. Walked out of the theater having teared up on more than one occasion, seeing the best thing Nolte has done in eons, and having a new favorite in the sports-drama genre.

Watched Green Lantern last night, I was expecting to be entertained, came away bored out of my mind.