Holy shit, that was actually good

[The_Blue_Rider]

So earlier this year I saw the posters for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes come out, and I thought to myself, "wow, another one? As if the first one wasnt dumb enough".
I then thought to myself, I havent actually seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it'll be good for a laugh I guess. What followed was a very swift backpedalling on my part, as Rise of the Planet of the Apes wasnt just decent, it was actually really good. What had one of the dumbest premises ever for me, actually turned out to be a very engaging and emotional film, and its made me think twice about dismissing other movies due to their premise as well.

So Escapists, any films/games/books etc out there that you were expecting only bad things from, but were pleasantly surprised?

 

[Barbas]

Oh yeah. A recent one was Edge of Tomorrow. That was highly enjoyable, not least of all thanks to the performance of Sergeant Farrell.

A film with a tolerable Tom Cruise in it. I must be getting old...

 

[Casual Shinji]

Tangled

The promotional material made it look like your regular pop-culture referencing Dreamworks snarkfest. And for Christ's sake, it's called 'Tangled'. I mean, we need a hip title for a fairy tale, right guys? We can't just call it 'Rapunzel' or something, that'd just be stupid.

Lo and behold though, the movie was actually very good. Really good to honest, and I got quite smitten with it. It's got great characters, a great villain, actual growth in the relationship between Rapunzel and Flynn, and a animated comic relief animal that genuinely adds to the narrative. The script is so freaking tight you could bounce a quarter of off it, and the songs and music are terrific.

 

[Queen Michael]

I felt the same about Edge of Tomorrow. I'd read the light novel it was based on, and expected some half-decent cookie-cutter Hollywood flick that didn't manage to capture the spirit of the book at all. Turns out that I was right about that last part. It didn't capture the spirit of the book, but only because it did its own thing instead and was damn good at doing its own thing.

Another time, thirteen years ago, my cousin, my little brother and I were going to the movies. They wanted to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I didn't think that sounded like a good movie, but I was outvoted and couldn't think of any other movies that seemed good, so I put up with their decision. It turned out to be the greatest live-action movie I'd ever seen.

Well, apart from Star Wars, of course.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh yeah. A recent one was Edge of Tomorrow. That was highly enjoyable, not least of all thanks to the performance of Sergeant Farrell.

A film with a tolerable Tom Cruise in it. I must be getting old...

What he said.

I thought the film looked pretty good, but I still enjoyed it more than I expected too.

Thought the climax was a bit meh though. And the ending felt like an arse-pull, but it wasn't that bad.

 

[Flutterguy]

The Iron Giant. I was in the preteen phase where you denounce all things kiddie, which animation was to me at the time. That and Princess Mononoke changed my mind.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Oh boy, I'm right there with you about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, to the point where I'm actually inclined to say it changed me as a person. I was so cynical about that movie when its biggest selling point seemed to be the CG effects being by Weta digital, but holy shit was I proven wrong.

Most of the times I've been pleasantly surprised hasn't been due to myself expecting bad things, but rather not expecting anything at all. That's how I felt about both Game of Thrones and Kingdom of Heaven.

Game of Thrones I'd heard so many people rave about, but I'd given up on fantasy a long time ago as a zombified genre with nothing but regurgitation of the same cliches to offer. But when I started watching it, half an hour into the first episode my brains had been blown out of my skull, through the roof and into the upper atmosphere, and I was hopelessly in love.

Kingdom of Heaven I'd almost forgotten ever existing, but since I was on a long flight and it was in the complimentary film selection, I thought "What the heck" and put it on. I was really pleasantly surprised. Utterly gorgeous visuals, a really good feel of an epic journey and an overall sense of adventure really grabbed me. I bought the Director's Cut on DVD some time afterwards, and it's even better. It has problems, sure (mostly due to Orlando Bloom having the acting range of a brick), but it still grabs me.

There have been even times where I've already known things to be good, but have blown me away anyway when I've rewatched them: The Truman Show, Coraline and Spirited Away really dropped my jaw to the floor when I watched them for the first time in years. It's actually scary how intelligently and accurately Truman Show depicted the future of celebrity, Coraline was terrifyingly creepy and staggeringly atmospheric, and Spirited Away is now my favorite film of all time. Ah, so good to write positively about things for a change.

 

[Silvanus]

I had a similar reaction to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I'd assumed it would be a bit of an unnecessary mess, and was surprised by a very enjoyable movie.

Still, I don't much like the explanation they gave for how the power shift took place-- it robs it of its power to rest responsibility on one super-awesome ape and his hatred of Draco Malfoy. I would have preferred a wider, species-driven explanation.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

I had a similar reaction to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I'd assumed it would be a bit of an unnecessary mess, and was surprised by a very enjoyable movie.

Still, I don't much like the explanation they gave for how the power shift took place-- it robs it of its power to rest responsibility on one super-awesome ape and his hatred of Draco Malfoy. I would have preferred a wider, species-driven explanation.

Probabaly one of my only gripes with the film is that such assholes run an Ape sanctuary. Like, you think PETA would have been all over that shit

 

[Casual Shinji]

Still, I don't much like the explanation they gave for how the power shift took place-- it robs it of its power to rest responsibility on one super-awesome ape and his hatred of Draco Malfoy. I would have preferred a wider, species-driven explanation.

I don't really think it's that. Caesar had the oppertunity to go back with James Franco, but declined because he knew he'd just be a sub-species again. That's his ultimate reason for doing what he did. It wasn't so much 'strike back against the humans', but 'find a place where we can be free'. Caesar for instance takes great care in that no humans get killed in a blind rage by other apes.

The only part of this movie that I'm a bit iffy about is Caesar just rolling a bunch of intelligence canisters down the ape pound to instantly get smart apes. It makes his own intelligence and discovery of who he is a bit less unique. I also would've liked it if it was more a jump in evolution and less human engineered.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Caesar for instance takes great care in that no humans get killed in a blind rage by other apes.

Except in all the instances he allows it. Oops.

To be fair, I suppose those are instances where the screenplay broke character in favour of doing some dumb shit like "looking cool".

When the hell is that? If you're talking about the helicopter, that's basically an act of self defence. And when Caesar kills you-know-who, he does so by accident and has a conflicted look on his face when he realizes what he's done. I think there's one instance where a guy gets thrown of the Golden Gate Bridge, but beyond that there's zero human fatility caused directly by the apes.

 

[Vandenberg1]

So earlier this year I saw the posters for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes come out, and I thought to myself, "wow, another one? As if the first one wasnt dumb enough".
I then thought to myself, I havent actually seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it'll be good for a laugh I guess. What followed was a very swift backpedalling on my part, as Rise of the Planet of the Apes wasnt just decent, it was actually really good. What had one of the dumbest premises ever for me, actually turned out to be a very engaging and emotional film, and its made me think twice about dismissing other movies due to their premise as well.

So Escapists, any films/games/books etc out there that you were expecting only bad things from, but were pleasantly surprised?

Have you ever seen the Original Planet of The Apes? Lots of social commentary and people in bad make up but a damn classic film. I would have to say Game of Thrones blew me away. I kinda lost my love of new fantasy after R.A.SALVATORE grew stale on me, but damn did I want human intrigue with giants.... and I got it. I am half way into book one and I love it as much as when I first read The Hobbit

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

I enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars (movie) a lot more than I thought I would've. Granted, it wasn't exactly subtle, but I found its optimism heartfelt as opposed to cloying, and the character of Gus endearing and refreshing as opposed to the typical "quirky yet charming dream boat" I was expecting him to be (and what some of the work's detractors accuse him of being).

 

[Silvanus]

Probabaly one of my only gripes with the film is that such assholes run an Ape sanctuary. Like, you think PETA would have been all over that shit

I'm unsure how realistic or unrealistic that element of it was, really.

I don't really think it's that. Caesar had the oppertunity to go back with James Franco, but declined because he knew he'd just be a sub-species again. That's his ultimate reason for doing what he did. It wasn't so much 'strike back against the humans', but 'find a place where we can be free'. Caesar for instance takes great care in that no humans get killed in a blind rage by other apes.

But that's precisely my issue-- it all comes down to Caesar. It's not the story of a species, it's the story of one member of it, and the explanation rests on that single individual rather than anything... broader.

My explanation was a bit unclear.

 

[92Sierra]

My wife recently asked me to watch Naked Weapon with her (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0341495/?ref_=nv_sr_1).

I was going to it expecting nothing but naked women fighting each other. But it turned out to be a pretty decent film. Not great, but decent. The fight scenes were AWESOME and badass!

 

[Valkrex]

For games it was Fire Emblem: Awakening actually. I had never been into that kind of tactics game much before (aside from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but that's a very different kind of turn-based tactics) but a friend of mine annoyed me into getting it.

Now I have 3 completed playthroughs with 60+ hours on each and I'm starting up another one soon and I cannot thank him enough for the recommendation. Its EASILY one of my favorite games ever now, and I'm trying to find copies of older entries in the series.

Film-wise it was How to Train your Dragon. It looked alright, but not like something I NEEDED to see, which was odd for me because I ADORE Dragons. It must have been the title. Seriously that title is just garbage, and you DON'T TRAIN A FUCKING DRAGON! THAT IS NOT HOW DRAGONS WORK!

Anyway, I eventually saw it and rather enjoyed it. Enough so that I went and saw the equally awesome sequel!

For TV shows right now I have two, the first being My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The day I was pointed in the direction of this show was about the time the first season had ended, so the fanbase around it was a relatively small niche group compared to how it is today.

A friend over skype mentioned it, I was all "wtf?", he linked me to the first episode and I figured it would at least be worth a laugh. Next thing I knew I had watched 10 episodes and was singing along with the musical numbers. If you had come to me several years ago and told me I was going to be a fan of MLP, I would have laughed my ass off. (yes its not perfect and many dislike it for their own valid reasons, but its one of my favorite cartoons right now)


The other was Kill la Kill, which was another friend recommendation. All the knowledge about this show I had going in was a few screenshots of Ryuko and Senketsu in "battle mode" for lack of a better term, and for anyone that HAS seen this show you can probably guess my impressions about it and wouldn't be wrong in assuming that I thought it was a very stupid show relying solely on fanservice to gain attention.

Boy was I wrong. It went on to become one of my favorite animes, with some amazing action scences, a surprisingly gripping plot, excellent use of music, and some very well done characters, all the while actually poking fun at (possibly even satirizing) the idea of fanservice along with many other common tropes in anime.

 

[Vigormortis]

When it comes to films in recent years, the following thoroughly surprised me:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Captain America
X-Men: First Class
Edge of Tomorrow
Maleficent
21 Jump Street
Hunger Games: Catching Fire

All of these I went into expecting either a mediocre affair or a train wreck. I'm glad to have been summarily proven wrong on all counts. And in fact some, particularly in the cases of Rise, First Class, and Edge, are among my favorite films over the past few years.

Now, if we're talking recent games, I will happily say the following surprised the hell out of me with how good they were:

FTL
Terraria
Outlast
Portal 2 (now bare in mind I expected quality, but not THAT high)
Spec Ops: The Line
Dishonored
Deus Ex: Human Revolution

In some cases I expected some bare-bones, pretentious, bog-standard indie affair. In others I expected the usual over-hyped, over-promised triple-A drivel.

My gods am I glad I was wrong. Those games have become some of my favorite games that I've ever played.

Granted, my 'Favorites Ever' list can be a bit lengthy, but even so they still deserve a spot on it.

 

[Scarim Coral]

That would be the lastest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon especially when I first saw the trailer-
Yeah I was originally not impressed by changing Mikey cowabanga to Ali G catchphase!

When I did watched an episode to see it myself, I was suprised how good it was. It had combine the old 1980's cartoon elements (updating the 1980's themesong, Splinter was a human, not a pet rat, Kraang is back in a new way and the turtle loved for pizza has return but not in a obsess way) while adding in some dark like elements to it (night time and the turtle become pupilless and the fight scene were nicely done in a choreography sort of way)!