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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wow! The movie wasn’t terrible after all!
One of my favorite experiences at the movies is when one surprises me by being good when I didn’t expect it to be.
I try to go into every movie with a positive frame of mind, but there are some I can’t help but dread. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and many of Michael Bay’s films spring to mind.
A few movies, however, clear the air of dread and end up being rejuvenating. The first example that I always think of in this situation is The Brady Bunch Movie, which totally blindsided me.
I was never a fan of the TV series, which was aggressively chirpy for my taste, so I wasn’t looking forward to a long version of it. But that’s not what I got. It turned out to be a smart, funny parody. Director Betty Thomas cleverly filmed the scenes in the house with the show’s flat, overly bright TV lighting, which amusingly contrasted with the “real” world outside. The movie kidded its subject, but did so affectionately, much like Disney’s Enchanted did last year.
On top of all that, the cast included some standout players, including Christine Taylor (Marcia Marcia Marcia), who later became Mrs. Ben Stiller, appearing alongside him in Dodgeball and Zoolander, two other pleasant surprises.
And speaking of Monsieur Bay, The Rock was a surprise too, at least in retrospect. That was my introduction to him, and while I found his style to be over the top (of course), Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris compensated for that by giving the story some humanity.
Then Bay made Armageddon, and he’s been pulverizing humanity ever since. The Rock remains his one decent movie. I would welcome another, but I shan’t hold my breath.
So tell me about films that exceeded your expectations. What movies had you convinced they were going to be mediocre at best, and then they turned out to be quite a bit better? Surprise me!
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