Movies you hated at first, but eventually loved

[happyninja42]

Have you ever seen a movie, that when you first saw it, you hated it, but then as time went on, you came to really enjoy the film? Not just tolerate it, but genuinely see good things about the movie, and list it in your Like category?

For me, that movie is V for Vendetta.

When I first saw this movie in the theater, I was still raw from the debacle that was Matrix 2 and 3, and I fully admit that I was giving the Wakowski Siblings zero slack in their movie style. So when I saw V for V, I had no patience for it, or it's style, and genuinely hated the film in the theater. But, as the years went on, I started to see it with more distance from the Matrix movies, and realized that I genuinely enjoy it. Maybe this is due to me changing as a person over the subsequent years, or possibly just not being pissed about the Matrix films let me see it unbiased. But I find now, that I genuinely enjoy the film on just about every level, and like the movie whenever I see it, even so much as to buy it on DVD.

Do any of you have a movie like this? If so, what movie and why?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Can't think of any movie I "hated" and then "loved". Never ran that extreme. I've been bored by the same movie that later entertained me and even later became a favorite of mine: The Big Lebowski.

 

[Illesdan]

I didn't like Crispin Glover's 'Willard' when I first saw it. It was just painful to watch. But, then a funny thing happened; I watched it a few years later, and genuinely enjoyed it. So much so, that when I used to get off work, and just wanted 'background noise' while I did stuff around the house, I would pop it in. I haven't watched it in awhile, come to think of it. Since October is almost here, I may have to rectify that soon.

 

[RexMundane]

I think a great many "So bad it's good" movies fall in to this category, where The Room for instance starts weakly and looks ridiculous, but as you keep watching you come to love it's insanity, the beauty of it's utter failings, the ridiculous greenscreening on the roof, the meandering pointless dialogue, the dubbed over lines, and the feeling that there's something actually sincere at the core of it that's just mired in Wiseau's utter inability to actually make a movie. Anyway, how's your sex life?

 

[Starbird]

Miyazaki Hayao's movies are like that for me. I watched a few when I was younger and just didn't like them.

Now they are pretty amazing, although I'm convinced the guy is on some pretty awesome substances when he comes up with them. They really require you to be on a different mental wavelength to get into.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Miyazaki Hayao's movies are like that for me. I watched a few when I was younger and just didn't like them.

Now they are pretty amazing, although I'm convinced the guy is on some pretty awesome substances when he comes up with them. They really require you to be on a different mental wavelength to get into.

Yes they do.

With every Miyazaki movie, apart from My Neighbor Totoro, my first viewing was always rather confusing. This is because I go into each movie expecting to get the regular, predictable 3-act structure, but Miyazaki really doesn't work that way. His movies snake into the most peculiar directions. A good example of this is No-Face from Spirited Away; That thing was just a bucket of eels, even after the movie ended I couldn't tell what was going on with that guy.

 

[TheWorstMuppetEver]

I didn't like Cloud Atlas until about an hour before it ended. I stopped trying to understand how the sequences were all fitting into place and just enjoyed it for what it was. It was pretty good.

 

[necromanzer52]

I found blade runner to be very meh the first time I saw it. I later rewatched it, and now it's one of my favourite films. This seems to be a common thing with this film, as I've heard a fair few people with the same story. Something about it just requires multiple viewings to really "get".

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Never full-on hated or even full-on loved, but Frozen fits this close enough for me. I considered it way overrated when I first seen it for a variety of reasons, but found myself warming up to it over time. This is especially true of "Let It Go", which just seemed very meh on my first viewing. I still have a good list of problems with that movie, but it has won me over somehow.

 

[Mareon]

Back during the summer of '96, When I was eleven years old, I went through an insane Stephen King-kick where I devouvered every book of his that the library had to offer. One fateful Saturday night the family went to the video rental place, and I recognized a title "The Shining". I somehow managed to convince my parents that I could see it and home we went.
And we watched.
And a tiny, but noticeable, part of my soul died.
...
Ten years or so later I had upgraded from "Book-nerd" to "Film-lover", and not just any film lover, but I had just left the "Everything Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith has ever done is AMAZING"-phase to that obnoxious stage that is "Movies are ART! All old movies are the BEST!"-phase. Citizen Kane, Ingmar Bergman, Casablanca, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sting (Yes, I concidered Sting to be on the same playing field as The Seventh Seal simply because it was old). And I watched A Clockwork Orange and fell in love with Kubrik. And I watched everything I could get my greedy little hands on (By the by: Barry Lyndon is a better film that Full Metal Jacket -- we as a species must just learn to deal with that) But I didn't watch The Shining, because fuck that movie.
...
Then last year I got hold of the Stanley Kubrik blu-ray collection on the cheep and I thought: Fuck it, a movie a night for a week could be fun. Then came day The Shining.
And I watched.
And I fell in love.

The Shining is AMAZING. The Shining is fucking terrifying. The Shining is the PERFECT Kubrik-movie.
But it is still the worst translation of a book to the screen I have ever seen.

 

[jhoroz]

Not so much hate, rather I found them to be pretty meh at first:

-Apocalypse Now
-Blade Runner

With Apocalypse I had made the mistake of watching the Redux version first, which is definitely the inferior experience, despite the individual scenes that were added there to be pretty decent on their own. Blade Runner is a similar case where I watched the version that had all those god awful Harrison Ford narrations which were completely divorced both tonally and narrative from what was actually happening on screen. So it all really boils down to watching the proper version for me, as well as being awake and aware of what's happening on screen, since I was sleep deprivated when watching both movies. A similar case happened when I first watched Pulp Fiction, but subsequent viewings didn't really make me "love it", just get why it's so popular.

 

[Insanityblues]

"Blade Runner". I was fifteen when I saw it the first time, I didn't HATE it, but I remember being really disapointed and bored.
I had expected a conventional, fast paced sci fi thriller. Instead I got a slow paced, thoughtful, philosophical drama.
It's only years later that I discovered William Gibson's "Neuromancer" and the games "Deus Ex" and "System Shock 2" and fell in
love with cyberpunk. That's when I remembered the alleged classic I hadn't really liked and decided to give it another shot...
Aaaaand now it's one of my favorite movies, I've seen it at least 20 times. Funny thing is, I love it a little bit more
every time I see it, in spite of finding a new plot hole with each viewing

 

[babinro]

Nothing as extreme as hate to love...but I have gone from disinterest/meh to awesome.

Stephen King's 'IT' is my prime example. The movie didn't catch my attention the first time and I never stuck with it to the end. A couple of years later I had the chance to watch the movie in full and I was hooked. I've probably seen this one 10 times since and it's awesome!

Rocky 5 - This movie was a total disappointment when I first watched it. I remember liking it more as time passed but never thinking it was a good movie. I haven't watched it in a decade so I don't know if I'd still feel the same.

Movies I LOVED upon first viewing in theater HATED on my second viewing:
- The Mask
- Snakes on a Plane

I have to assume I loved these movies because of the group theater experience.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Miyazaki Hayao's movies are like that for me. I watched a few when I was younger and just didn't like them.

Now they are pretty amazing, although I'm convinced the guy is on some pretty awesome substances when he comes up with them. They really require you to be on a different mental wavelength to get into.

Gotta say, I'm not a fan of equating pure creativity to being under the influence.

Not that it's impossible, but it seems to really discredit anyone's imagination.

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

For me it was Blade Runner I thought when I saw the movie when I was a teenager was all style and no substance, now that I'm older I'm able to see what Ridley Scott was trying to say. Also seeing the first version I saw was the Director's Cut version which in hindsight might have been the problem because I was unable too see the the original cut on until WB released all the multiple versions on DVD and Blu-Ray a few years back and as a general rule I like to see all the versions of films that have different cuts. While I'm not still not a big fan of the Director's Cut. I do love the Final Cut. The original cut is good, but not great and the workprint cut is what it is a workprint of movie like the rough draft of a novel.

 

[Scarim Coral]

That would be Forrest Gump for me. When I first watched it I was a kid who found it boring and lack any real action which needless to say I was immature back then. Weh I did mature more, I did started to appreciate what the film was trying to convoy and enjoyed it alot more.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

Does End of Evangelion count? That film traumatized me when I was younger, pretty much swore never to see again until recently. I have to admit, crazy psychobabble, incomprehensible plot, and the opening scene aside, the big middle-finger towards NGE's fanbase I actually kind of like. It's relatively well animated, the imagery (while absolutely fucked up) was vivid, and I just love the surrealism that was GIANT NAKED REI and people turning into orange Tang.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The only movie that I went from 'hate' to 'I can watch it now' would be Starship Troopers. I saw it when I was like, ten I think. Before it was released, it was advertized as a PG-13 movie. I thought it looked cool, so did my younger brother, and so did my dad. So we went and saw it.
That was not a PG-13 movie, as I'm sure you all know. It scared me to the point where I had my eyes covered for most of the movie. Now though I watch it and, while I don't love it, I enjoy watching it for the most part. Still can't watch the brain sucking part though. Makes me uneasy.

Other movies that I saw and at first I was disappointed in would be Rio and Rango. They just didn't seem like the good times I was expecting in the theater. I left both feeling rather let down. However, over the years, Rio grew on me to the point where I greatly enjoy that film now. Same with Rango, and when I saw the extended ending to that film, it made it even better.

 

[the December King]

Can't think of any movie I "hated" and then "loved". Never ran that extreme. I've been bored by the same movie that later entertained me and even later became a favorite of mine: The Big Lebowski.

I totally feel the same way about the Dude and his misadventures.

One that stands out for me is the prequel, The Thing(2011). At first I was EXTREMELY skeptical, as I consider the 1982 movie my personal favourite movie, and one of the greatest horror movies of all time by extension.

At first I was really just fighting that bias, and upon watching it again I saw that the movie was pretty good, had relatable if a bit shallow characters, great effects, and a story line that did it's nerdiest best to adhere to the findings and resulting mayhem of the 1982 movie.

Although there were some characters that simply weren't necessary. Carter should have been a 'not-Kurt Russell as MacReady clone', as it made it REALLY hard to believe that both arctic stations had their own Kurt-Russellian gruff cowboy pilots.

Ummm...

...unless I have missed something at once both horrendous and simple in the concept of the Thing narrative itself...

uh, anyways, I liked the prequel well enough on balance. It's not as good as the 1982 movie, but that's okay, because it had big boots to fill!