Thursday, March 14, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks:Movies You Thought You'd Hate But Ended Up Enjoying


That title was lengthy and it made me think....if you saw some fireflies flicker before they died, that was my brain cells....see, does that make any sense?  Anyways let’s get to it and then go and visit Wandering Through The Shelves and see what everyone else chose as their pleasant surprises. Here are my 3...or 4

1. SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-1994


I can’t believe I actually didn’t care to see this film which means I was one of the many who was turned off by the title...ughhh was I wrong! This film is now one of my all time favourite films ever. It stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, whom you know is not guilty but is sent up the river to the horrible prison called Shawshank. There, he meets God....yes...God, you know, Morgan Freeman, who becomes his best friend  and we see how Andy calmly gives the finger to the bad cops especially the crooked Warden. To find out why Redemption is in the title is to give away the whole film but, once I saw it, I realized this is the best title this film deserved and it was robbed at the Oscars by the nice watching but insipid film, Chocolate boy aka ..Forrest Gump.

2. HELLBOY-2004


I hear there is a remake in the works this year and I will see it but I really enjoy this film and the sequels which surprises me because I made fun of this flick and now I am eating crow and feel humbled by my snootiness. This Stars Ron Perlman, who always played someone behind tons of makeup and is most famous from the TV Show, "Beauty and the Beast" where he played beauty..nyuck, nyuck. Where was I...oh yes, it starts off with the nasty Germans, aka Nazis, of course, who open a portal to bring some evil entity through, with the help of Rasputin, to this reality. Thankfully they are thwarted by the Americans but not before a cute little red demon baby comes through. The baby grows up knowing right from wrong and does what he can for good. Of course the evil Rasputin and the 2 main Nazi bitches are back but they have to go up against Hellboy and the other people with powers who are working for the good. Yes, this sounds like WTF?? But the director is Guillermo Del Toro and he creates quite a fun movie.

3.  DISTRICT 9-2009


I was asked to watch this by my niece and I did..begrudgingly but I was taken with the unique story and the message behind this story. A spaceship comes to earth and the aliens, really big flies that look quite ugly but are harmless, come to greet us but we, through fear and bigotry place them behind a huge chain link fence(do your best Trump impersonation) and they are kept within there where they are now living in a big slum. They become dependent on the humans and the humans look at them with contempt. There are police who go through this area and one is bit by an alien and he slowly mutates into one of them. As he mutates, everyone begins to shun him and his long held beliefs are slowly changing as a result. I found this film quite brilliant and worth a viewing.

4. THE TOOTH FAIRY-2010


There was nothing on the other night as I was making some cards and a scrapbook so I put this film on. Is it dumb? Oh yes it is, but I was surprised at how funny it was and engaging. Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson plays a down on his luck hockey player dating this wonderful woman, played by Ashley Judd, who has 2 kids. Anyway, his nickname is The Tooth Fairy since he separates the other hockey players' teeth from their mouths. He dashes the dream of one kid saying tooth fairies don't exist and he is now in deep doo doo with the tooth fairy world run by the elegant Julie Andrews. He is now a tooth fairy for 2 weeks much to his chagrin. It's predictable and won't win any awards but I was pleasantly surprised by how fun and endearing it is.

Which films did you think would suck or you thought you would dislike only to find the exact opposite?

Oh, My dad's birthday is today and he would have been 106 years old. Happy Birthday Daddy!

48 comments:

  1. Hellboy was great! Looks like the reboot will follow in the same vein.
    I can't think of a movie I thought I'd hate. I wasn't crazy to go see Titanic when it came out (despite it being Cameron) because there would be no surprise - we know the boat sinks! And boy, was I wrong. We went to see it twice.
    My wife also drug me to see the third Madagascar movie. I did not like the second one and was pleasantly surprised by the third.

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    1. The boat sinks? Please, Alex... don't be a spoiler! :)

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    2. Titanic would be the opposite for me....looking forward to it and being disappointed. The love boat sinking.

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  2. My momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

    Hi, Birgit!

    Right off the bat, you mentioned two of Mrs. Shady's favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption and Forrest Gump. She has watched both films a couple dozen times and usually coaxes me into watching them with her. I confess that I have grown tired of both, but I do recognize Shawshank as a great movie about an ingenious plan to escape from prison.

    I haven't seen the other three, but you have me interested in them. As I watched the clip from Hellboy, I was reminded that Jeffrey Tambor ran into trouble recently when he faced allegations of sexual misconduct and verbal harassment. I think I would also enjoy District 9 although the story line would surely upset me. I love the tagline for the third movie: "You can't handle The Tooth!" I could imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in that role. Based on the trailer it is a clever, charming and funny movie, and I love anything with Ashley Judd in it.

    Thank you, dear friend BB!

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    1. Tooth Fairy is quite dumb but since I had low expectations, I could only go up an I was laughing and it took my mind off of troubles. Hellboy was fun and so was the sequel. I was so surprised at how good District 9 is ...worth checking out.

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  3. I've only seen Shawshank and I loved it. I don't usually watch movies I think I won't like. Now, movies I thought I'd like and hated? Forrest Gump.

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    1. I can think of a few I thought would be good and was disappointed. Forrest is ok but not worth all those awards

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  4. I never saw The Tooth Fairy but I have seen your other picks. District 9 and Shawshank I liked. The first Hellboy I wasn't crazy about but I thought it's sequel was spectacular.

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    1. Glad you saw the movies I picked. The sequel to Hellboy was great

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  5. That’s a good film for my list the tooth fairy.......we all need light relief here at the moment we are doing news avoidance as it’s all too depressing...the Shawshank Redemption is a favourite with both of us and we seem to whatch it whenever it’s on....
    Hope all is well with you hugs xxxx

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    1. Yes...Brexit...ughhh. The Tooth Fairy is sweet, d7mb and funny which is a good combo to forget ones’ troubles.

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  6. i LOVE Shawshank Redemption, and as far as that You Can't See the Forrest for the Gump flick, I may never see it. I recall people quoting that stupid box of chocolates line like it was the secret to the universe. Yeah, right, really profound. Makes me think of a purposely-stupid line from -- IIRC -- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: "Life is like a merry-go-round. They both have horses."

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    1. Glad you love Shawshank too. It is one of my all time favourite films. I hate that line from Forest Gump and it is not worth all those accolades.

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  7. I've only seen Shawshank and I was resistant to it at first as well but a friend at the time insisted it was great so I sat down to watch with her and it was quite good.

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    1. Hi Joel...hope you read this because I had a hard time to come up with films this week. I would have had a much easier time if it was the other way around..looking forward to a movie only to be disappointed. Titanic.or The LoveBoat Sinking. Atonement..aka Aborement. In the Bedroom or In Boredom. Next week is a whopper of movies...Humphrey Bogart anyone?

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    2. Bogart? This oughtta be good! I'm pretty sure you'll stay away from the predictable choices, instead giving us, oh, I dunno... The Return of Doctor X or The Oklahoma Kid, perhaps?

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  8. Shawshank Redemption is the only I've seen and I loved it.

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  9. I knew I'd like Shawshank, haven't seen the others.

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  10. I still haven't seen the Shawshank Redemption, even though I heard a lot of good things about it.

    Here’s my Thursday Movie Picks!

    Ronyell @ The Surreal Movies and TV Blog

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  11. I never have seen Hellboy and I couldn't make it through District 9. (I tried. I failed.) I think I'd probably pick Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I did not, no how, no way want to see those movies. My father dragged me to them. (What can I say? I had awful taste as a child.)

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    1. Oh my..I really liked District 9. You hated the 2 Star War films...for shame

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  12. Love your first 3 picks, not so much on your last. Glad to see District 9 getting some love. For me that was an out-of-town nowhere surprise for me. I went to see it in theaters on a whim, without knowing anything about it at all and I was blown away.

    And yes, happy birthday to Daddy, indeed.

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    1. It was such a good film and a nice surprise. Thank you for giving a shout out to my Daddy

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  13. The Shawshank Redemption is the only one of your choices that I've seen, and I love it. X came home with rental movies from time to time that I absolutely would not watch because they were so trashy. I can't remember a single title, however.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Oh yes, there are some truly trashy films and some are bad and some are good because they are bad.

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    2. Some bad movies are quite funny.

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  14. I haven't seen District 9, but given that you thought it sucked and didn't, I'll go look for it. I saw the other 3 begrudgingly and like you was surprised with how much I liked them. I've seen Shawshank Redemption several times, all the way through.

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    1. I have seen Shawshank many times and just keep loving it. Love the actor who played the Warden who should have been Oscar nominated in my book. I was surprised by how much I liked District 9.

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  15. I never saw The Tooth Fairy, but the others I did see and enjoyed, though I didn't go into them with any preconceived negative notions about them.

    I'm usually open minded about movies before seeing them, but I'm sure that there have been movies that I didn't think I'd like that surprised me. Just the other night I watched Hidden Figures and was very pleasantly surprised--loved it! The King's Speech was another and I'm sure I could think of more if I thought on it long enough.

    In recent years I've become kind of bummed about sci-fi films. District 9 was a very pleasant surprise from this genre. They took a very different approach to the subject.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  16. Hello Brigit, I've only seen the Shawshank redemption, and quite a few times at that as it's in my opinion a brilliant film, Kate x

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  17. All the movies you mentioned - I liked. I'm not too hard on the flicks, as my critic vein leans towards things I can joke about predominately.

    Hubzam and I went to see "Solaris" long ago, assured that it had to be great - it had George Clooney! Ugh, what a dog of a movie. We compare all bad movies to Solaris...and if we really hate it, we always say "worse than Solaris."

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  18. Except for the tooth fairy,which I have not seen, I agree with you about the others. You'd think you'd hate them, but you don't. And I think your mention of the Trump impersonator and the aliens and the fence is quite funny and so maybe a little foreshadowing. Maybe that's where he got his idea. I don't remember that part of the film. Hope it's a great weekend and that you dad, wherever you believe he is, had a super birthday too! hugs-Erika

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  19. The Tooth Fairy is silly but yeah, it's endearing and funny. It's not like a great film but it's still watchable.

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  20. The Tooth Fairy was enjoyable enough. I didn't mind the Hellboy movies. Shawshank Redemption sure is a top one. I can think of plenty I hated that I thought I might like, but not sure on any the other way.

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  21. "Shawshank Redemption" is, by far, my coworker's favorite movie.
    I really liked "Hellboy," although I'm somewhat loathe to admit it.

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  22. Birgit,

    The first movie that comes to mind that fits this category is Quigley Down Under with Tom Seleck. For years I pushed seeing this off. Generally westerns take the back seat in my viewing interests but one weekend DH asked about it and after watching the trailer again I thought why not? It turned out to be surprisingly good. If you haven't seen it, then I recommend you catch you. We streamed it from Amazon Prime. Thanks for sharing your picks. I think the only one of these we've seen is 'Tooth Fairy' but I can't remember much about it.

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  23. I'm back and will play catch-up as best I can. This has been a very trying time being without internet, but I HOPE this has been the cure. I'll explain on Wednesday, because it's too
    convoluted to explain here. I also want to t hank Susi for linking me. I never realized I couldn't link, or I wouldn't have prescheduled those posts. Thanks for visiting while I was offline. It means the world to me.

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  24. I didn't think I'd like Shawshank, but once I saw it, I thought it was amazing.

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  25. Shawshank is the most beautiful movie. I, too, felt it was totally robbed by Forrest Gump. I think that's what made me stop watching the Oscars. What I love about it most is it's Stephen King's writing, word for word, proving once and for all that anyone who thinks he's a hack can suck eet.

    Movies I didn't think I would like but did? That's a tough one, as I normally don't watch movies I think I won't like. I got dragged to the sequel of The Incredibles, and it was way better than I thought it would be--one of the best movies I saw last year.

    All of my boyfriends have been huge (sigh) Tarantino fans, and I have to admit, I liked one of the Grindhouse shorts and Kill Bill more than I thought I would, mostly for their kick-ass girl power themes. In general, I find his gratuitous and over-the-top violence off putting.

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  26. I never saw Hellboy. I may need to rethink that one.
    Nice of you to remember your dad:)

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  27. The Shawshank Redemption was an incredible film. As for films I didn't fancy from their titles... three billboards outside ebbing missouri springs to mind because I thought it was such a clunky title. Yet it was superb!

    Susan A Eames at
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

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  28. The Tooth Fairy sounds like fun. I love Dwayne Johnson.

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  29. Shawshank Redemption is one of those movies that everyone loves and I think...it was okay... :)

    I've been wanting to watch Hellboy but never got around to it and now there a new one coming out.

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  30. The Shawshank Redemption was a great movie but I love the actors in that film.

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  31. i am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
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    i am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
    or
    call/whatsapp:+2349057261346

    ReplyDelete