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Have you ever changed your mind about a movie?
The gambling film 21 comes out Friday, which reminds me of seeing Martin Scorsese’s Casino - but not just the first time I saw it. For this post the other times I’ve seen it are the key.
Why? Because I’m wondering: What movies have you changed your opinion about, after seeing them a second time or more?
When I first saw Casino in 1995, I was quite disappointed in it. Casino had been built up as Scorsese’s next sure-fire masterpiece, since he was working with much of his Goodfellas crew, including Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and co-writer Nicholas Pileggi. The problem was, it was too similar to Goodfellas.
Though Casino plays on a bigger scale, Pesci plays almost the exact same character. Heck, both movies even used the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” although Casino’s was a live version. (Scorsese must love the tune - he used it again in The Departed.) Worst of all, Casino’s excess of voice-over narration, which worked so well in Goodfellas, bogged the Vegas movie down. Overall, it was as close as Scorsese’s ever come to repeating himself.
Despite my disappointment, however, something kept drawing me back to the film. Maybe it was the bravura sequences that showed how a casino worked, or how the enforcers hammered cheaters. Maybe it was Sharon Stone’s best performance of her career. Even the way the film was so messy and sprawling was compelling. I wouldn’t rate Casino among the director’s great movies, but seeing it at a distance from the elevated expectations of any Scorsese movie, I can better appreciate the film as a whole.
Of course, changing your mind about a movie can work in the other direction too …
When I screened the sequel to Legally Blonde in 2003, I had a lot of fun with it. So I was surprised when the reviews came out and were not only negative, but sometimes downright nasty.
To understand where I’m coming from here, you have to consider the context. I saw Legally Blonde 2 the day after I screened Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, the most headache- and seizure-inducing sequel this side of Michael Bay. It so poisoned my perception (or fried my brain so badly), that any film that had even a smidgen of quality was going to be blessed relief. That’s why Legally Blonde 2 seemed fun at the time.
Catching it again on cable about a year later, I thought, “Mrrrph. I gave this an A-?” The passage of time, and of my seizures, had not been kind to the film. That said, I would still recommend the sequel, but I’d knock my grade down to a B-. It’s not nearly as entertaining as the original film, or the Broadway musical.
Those are my tales of movies that seemed better or worse the second time around, so what about you? What movies seemed better the second time around? Or what movies lost their luster?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Ask the Audience
Comments
By Mandy
March 24, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this
Zoolander. First time I saw it, “whatever.” Second time, laughed a lot. Don’t know why it was different for me.By SRCputt
March 24, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this
Casino should have been a miniseries. Its biggest problem is trying to cram too much information into one movie, and it feels rushed. If it had been in miniseries form, and had 4-5 hours to pack in its info, it would have worked better. As for a movie I changed on, when Eric and I were in school, I gave a negative review of My Girl, which I would like to take back. It’s not a great film, but it is a pretty good way to teach 10 year olds about death.By N Alexander
March 24, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
‘Escanaba in da Moonlight’ and ‘Evil Alien Conquerors’ are both ones that the more you watch, the more disturbed and funnier they are. The random non mainstream movies are the ones you need to see a few times to appreciate, and especailly watching movies from our childhood and seeing all the jokes that went over our heads when we were little. Sorry to be political, but try watching the Constitutional Peasant part of MP and the Holy Grail, thinking of Arthur as GWB for the scene. That movie is still relates even today.By Sir Critic
March 24, 2008 12:56 PM | Link to this
Allie: You may have another interesting opportunity to re-view “The Mist.” It’s out on DVD Tuesday, and I understand the two-disc set has a black and white version. Interesting ….By Kelle
March 24, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Great question! My husband and I are big science fiction fans so many years ago when the movie Dune came out we were excited to see it. After we did we were very disappointed. What was all the hype about? It was long and hard to understand. But as you were with Casino, we were pulled back to see it again, and again, and again. Now it’s one of our favorites. I think part of it was it was such a foreign world to us not having read the books the film was based on that once we were initiated the movie took on more meaning. It’s still one of those movies that every time we see it we see something we missed the first time.By Allie D.
March 24, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this
Great topic, Eric! I guess my most recent mind change came with The Mist, a movie that I didn’t love upon seeing and still really don’t. But I admit that most of my anger at the film came more from its poor screenplay and the fact that it was Frank Darabont’s weakest King adaption. The ending sent me into a complete tizzy. It was only upon re-examination of the film and its themes that I came to the conclusion I got the message of the ending wrong the first time, as I was blinded by my ire at the other misgivings in the film, and I gained sort of a grudging admiration for it. I adjusted my grade from a C- to a B- I believe, recommending it only just barely. A film that I loved when I saw it in the theaters and then went to thinking that it was just slightly overrated when I saw it on DVD was Lost in Translation. Sure, it’s a good film, but I think I was caught up in a moment during the first viewing that wasn’t there during the second. So I guess I could say that something was lost in translation from the big screen to the small. ;)