Films that turned our WAY better than you thought...

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I saw Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol in IMAX last Saturday, and all I can say is wow. I thought it would be just another popcorn movie, but frankly, it's really up there with Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars on the entertainment scale. I don't know how, but there were no moments when I wanted them to fast-forward or "get on with it". It was totally engaging -albeit a little absurd, as all MI movies are- the whole way through. It's the perfect model of how a big budget action movie should be.

The thing I found interesting was the director; Brad Bird. I know him only because he made The Incredibles and Ratatouille at Pixar. Turns out, this is his first live action film. I just think that's cool. Perhaps more Pixar people should start making some live action stuff?

So, are their any movies that surprised you in recent years?

Fight Club. Because it wasn't about Fight Club. You know I'm not even joking

I saw the topic, thought 'Fight Club' and then saw the second post. Like minds. I had low expectations, and then got to see the best movie ever.

There are some movies I liked that I wasn't expecting to be any good because they were just torn apart by critics. Good luck finding a single critic who has anything nice to say about Dracula 2000. Not that I think it's a masterpiece or anything, but I found it to be a solid horror flick with a pretty brilliant twist ending that it never got any credit for. I also wasn't expecting anything good at all when I watched The Cry of the Owl, which has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I loved it.

I wasn't very excited when I learned that Guy Ritchie would be making Sherlock Holmes: Action Hero, but both of his Holmes films turned out far better than I expected. There are several other Holmes films that I enjoyed despite low expectations because of the awful reviews that they got, particularly the 2002 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

You can add The Thing to this list. The 1982 film is my second favorite movie, and I wasn't expecting much from the new prequel. It was from a first-time director, filled with CGI, and it got terrible reviews. I loved it. Also, I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed Alien vs. Predator a bit. Not enough to want to own the DVD or anything, but after reading tons of very harsh reviews, I was surprised when I found it to be a decent enough movie.

I was pleasantly surprised with Puss in Boots which I went to see this week. I was expecting it to be 'yet another Shrek film' filled with ridiculous cameos, superstars and terrible storyline, but it actually turned out to be a brilliant film. One of the carers who came with us didn't even know that Puss was a character from Shrek but still really enjoyed it.

Mission Impossible 4

Cowboys & Aliens

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Yes. Another surprising one. I believe that was also a first feature film for the director.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

When I saw the previews for this I thought it looked really dumb. I had never heard of it, and since I like comic books I decided to check them. After reading them I didn't think the movie would be as good as the comic books, but I was pleasantly surprised, I really liked the movie and bought on blu-ray after I watched it.

I thought the first part of Atlas Shrugged was a lot better than I expected. Not perfect, but it "got" a lot more than I thought was possible.

Yes. Rise was surprisingly excellent.

I also recently saw Incredible Hulk in preparation for Avengers (may Joss Whedon roast in hell if he screws it up like Alien 4 or Serenity ) and found it to be very entertaining.

I found The Incredible Hulk to be surprisingly decent, but it's dead last on the list of other Marvel Studios films I've seen. I would rank them Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk. I haven't seen Thor and have no desire to.

One funny thing about The Incredible Hulk is that they tried so hard to distance themselves from the previous Hulk film and insisted that it was a reboot, and yet it picks up right where Hulk left off. The details don't match up perfectly, but it's more or less a sequel.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I was expecting it to be really rubbish, imagine my surprise when it turns out to be instantly watchable. Andy Serkis shows that he is the go-to guy for motion capture moments.

Thor - A lot of people knocked it before it was released, how wrong they were. Sometimes it's the ones that come out of left-field that surprise you.

The Social Network - I avoided seeing at my local cinema, but via the power of Lovefilm and strong recommendations from a few reliable sources, it turned out to be a really really entertaining flick.

March of the Penguins. I thought it would be a boring documentary on penguins, but then I saw it and saw those cute little babies chubby pengies and that instantly changed my mind!

The remake of 3:10 to Yuma.

I am not a fan of Westerns, but this one
I liked a lot. Russell Crowe was perfect as Ben Wade.

X-Men: First Class

I thought this was going to be a horrible prequel,
but I was surprised when this turned out to be
very entertaining.

All of my favorite musicals. I used to be one of those people who thought that since musicals appeal to a niche audience, then they must not be very good. Seeing Sweeney Todd completely changed my mind, and shortly after that, I saw Repo! The Genetic Opera and Rocky Horror Picture Show and thought they were awesome too. I don't like every musical I've seen, but I won't automatically refuse to see a movie just because it's a musical anymore.

Same here considering it was directed by the same guy that did Shrek the Third. In a way I actually prefer this film to any of the Shrek films altogether. The same can be said for Megamind.