I’ll start: “Happy Death Day”
Originally, Pirates of the Caribbean. A movie made because of a Disney ride seemed like a stupid idea.
The first one was fairly clever in that they had probably 50 years of collective ideas and inspiration to work off of. It’s a story that needed to push no boundaries and hold to established tropes, with no expectations because it was a ride: perfect for Disney.
Now when Disney gets their hands on an established franchise full of expectations…
Johnny Depp fucking carries that franchise.
He nailed Jack sparrow so damn hard I can’t picture anyone else in that role. It sets the pace of the movie too.
He not only nailed it so hard no one else can play the role, he nailed it so hard he became synonymous with the role.
I remember people thinking he was crazy when he first stepped into the role and was swaying and shit.
The balls it took to fully immerse yourself like that. Paid off in spades.
The first step off the boat sets the pace.
I just think of it as a live action Monkey Island.
Does that actually work? I have only played the 1st 20 minutes of Monkey Island lol
They have a lot of similarities.
According to wikipedia, Monkey Island was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and Pirates of the Caribbean was rumored to be based on a cancelled script for a Monkey Island movie.
The first one was my obsession when it came out in dvd
Wait…the movie is based on the ride, not the other way around?
Dude, way to make me feel old lol.
They updated the ride after the movies, so… It’s kind of circular at this point.
Clue
Movie based on a board game? Blegh
But it’s awesome. Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren
It is then we’re reminded of the ability of good writers and performers to take even a low-potential idea and fucking kill it. With a pen. In the study.
This is top 3 of all time for me. There is so much happening in every scene you can watch it multiple times and still catch little jokes or sight gags each viewing.
No matter how many times I see it I can never figure out if it was 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 or 1 + 2 + 1 + 1.
It was 1+2+1+1 or 1+2+2+1
Unless Scarlett is right!
I also expected a disaster. I wasn’t prepared for how entertaining it was!
Having John Landis write the story didn’t hurt.
Absolutely one of my favorite movies
Tremors
Looks like a B movie, cheesy horror flick.
It’s got a great cast with supurb acting. The script is easily one of the tightest ever written. Every line is important to the overall story. And it’s just fun to watch.
There’s also Tremors 2: Aftershocks.
Plus there’s Tremors 3: Back to Perfection.
Followed by Tremors 4: The Legend Begins.
Then Tremors 5: Bloodlines.
Don’t forget Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell.
One might think Tremors: Shrieker Island, AKA Tremors 7: Island Furry (I spelled that wrong on purpose, it has nothing to do with furries) would be enough for Michael Gross to quit his acting career but how else was he going to pay for his ludicrous railroad memorabilia obsession and also the railroad he owns and the ‘safety first when crossing railroad tracks’ campaign?
So no, it didn’t end there. They kept the franchise going, choo! choo! with the imaginatively titled television series, Tremors: The Series.
If you skip the credits, you can watch all of it in less than 24 hours.
If you skip the credits, you can watch all of it in less than 24 hours.
LMAO, any Tremors fan around here?
I’m still waiting for a Tremors vs Critters vs Gremlins movie. We have the technology to make it but what would Hollywood do after such a masterpiece? It would be pointless to make movies after that, none could ever top it.
No, but what else are you going to do stuck up power pylon.
The first sequel is so so, but the others that are all centered around Burt Gummer are plenty of silly fun too.
Came here to say exactly this. Only commented cause I can’t upvote twice.
Omg, Tremors…I haven’t watched it in years. That was such a good movie.
Tucker and Dave vs. Evil. Looks like another dumb Netflix original, but it was one of the best horror/comedies I’ve seen.
Speaking of the genre, big nods to another one - Little Evil.
It Follows - just read the premise of the film and tell me it doesn’t sound dumb… Then go watch it
Oh and Colossal!!! Ann Hathaway stars in this bizarre and very deep movie about a giant monster that can be controlled from a playground. Amazing movie. Trust me
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil! Amazing movie! I put it on one day just so I could check it off my list of new things out and, figured if I love the Evil Dead series (and also, as someone else mentioned in the thread, the Re-Animator) how awful could this be… it wasn’t. It was fantastic.
Enjoyed Little Evil too. So, I’m putting Colossal on my list right now!
I think Colossal will surprise you. It’s not exactly a horror comedy, but a very serious film wrapped in a ridiculous story
Similar vein: Slaxx. I’m not sure how vampire pants fits into things but boy does it start a conversation about using cheap labor for profit and the cost of life for that profit.
It Follows… Amazing
Colossal was weird, but i liked it. I could see where people would be thinking, what is this and why am I watching it, but it felt like real life to me. For a movie about monster avatars unwittingly being controlled from half a world away, anyway.
I think I wtched it follows, fully expecting to be awestruck and it just ended.
The Cabin in the Woods. Only seen it once so far and I’m still floored thinking back on it and how well it did its thing.
I was about to say the same, the purge was such a creative joy
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
I didn’t think the trailer looked good and it felt meh, but I ended up loving the movie a lot.
It was super attentive to d&d details such as almost all the classes of the party using intelligence as dump stats or the specifics of the spells mechanics while also not needing the audience to know any of that to have a good time and understand what was going on.
And the use of d&d lore and mechanics were woven into the characters and narrative, it wasn’t just hey remember this thing from d&d. Way underrated, probably bad marketing.
Osmosis Jones.
A half-and-half cartoon and live action film with Chris Rock as the titular character from the late-90s/early-00s. The movie was a flop, but I think it had more to do with lousy marketing. It was actually pretty good and a fun way to look at how things affect the human body.
David Hyde Pierce as the enormous Pill was a great choice, and Bill Murray was hilarious.
And Laurence Fishburne as Thrax. He was pretty horrifying when he would let loose and make people explode.
It was fantastic. The spin-off show was good too
I love this movie!
Around the time this came out, I, having had no idea about the movie or its premise, wrote a story that was along similar lines in creative writing. Specifically, it featured the immune system and other cells as characters and whatnot.
I was accused of ripping off the idea.
There are so many movies I could list but for now I’ll go with About Time (2013). Everything about it makes it seem like it would be a dumb sappy romcom but it manages to hit hard.
EDIT: This is the type of image they used to market the film, which is really misleading.
This was a great one.
This is my favorite movie. It’s the best that was ever written about mindfulness.
I’ve only ever watched it once, but this movie will haunt my mind until the day I die. Fucking amazing movie.
Absolute stealth hit. The last table tennis game… Man that hits hard.
It’s such a good time, one of my favourite films that I actually rewatch! Bill freakin’ Nighy let’s go!!
WWF wrestler discovers magic sunglasses and yuppie aliens. It’s a John Carpenter film and has one of the longest fist fights.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Renfield were absolutely amazing and I think they fit the bill
I’ll give you the first one, way better than it had any right to be. 2nd was ok.
For the direct sequel of the 1931 Dracula movie starring Nicholas Cage in a toxic boss/employee relationship in a gory B movie-esque film, I think it was pretty amazing !
Any movie where Cage “acts” mentally unstable is going to be the best fucking movie that year. I still can’t get over his role in Color Out of Space.
Nothing will ever beat Face/Off when he portrays Travolta’s character pretending to be him.
Renfield
I’m perpertually locked in Cage but both my s/o and myself passed out on two seperate watch attempts 🫠
The Long Kiss Goodnight
https://imdb.com/title/tt0116908
Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson. He said in 2019 that it was his favorite role. It was released after a flop for Davis and director Renny Harlin (then her husband), and may have had poor press related to that.
It has an unlikely hero, plenty of action sequences, some fun performances (I had to pause it after a funny line from Brian Cox cracked me up), and heart. Solidly entertaining. But low expectations might help.
I watched this movie when I was in middle school and thought it was badass. I completely forgot about it until your mention and now I gotta see if it holds up. All I remember is that it takes place in winter and Samuel L. says "Pussy is pussy " at some point.
It holds up. Geena Davis is a straight up bad-ass boss mutha fucka!
Tap for spoiler
“You’re gonna die screaming and I’m gonna watch” will never not be a badass line, and “I propose that whatever he is trying to dislodge is either gone for good or there to stay” will never stop amusing me.
I wouldn’t say those are definitely the best lines in the movie, but probably top 5, definitely top 10.
Spoiler
But that first line only gets better when she mows him down and punctuates it with, “Die screaming, motherfucker.”
That movie is so good, regardless expectations. One of my absolute favorites.
The dislodge line is where we had to pause for laughing. Delivered with such testiness.
Hilarious!
Con Air
It is absolutely not well written but I just love how the film and all the actors are completely aware of how dumb the entire thing is.
Oh, and casting Chief Engineer Miles O’Brien as the jerk that everyone hates is the icing on this guilty-pleasure cake.
I loved this movie when I was younger but it’s been a while… I’m sorry, WHAT?! O’Brien?! oh I need to see this one again
Con Air is an amazing “Sunday evening after eating too much dinner” film.
Disney’s “The Black Hole”. It came from a time just after Walt Disney had died and they were still figuring out their shit.
So they made an extremely dark SciFi flick with a cute robot that appeals to children which is such a weird combination, but I liked it a lot. I can’t even say why.
The U.S.S. Cygnus looks fucking badass, too. One of the best ship designs in a SciFi movie, change my mind.
Disney writer #1: Let’s make a Tower of Babel parable, but set it space!
Disney writer #2: Are we going to end the movie with the antagonist being sent to actual-factual Hell?
Disney writer #1: You fucking know it!
A space-ship that’s 60% glass, 20% stiffener bars and 20% normal space-ship stuff,
Then throw an air traffic control tower on top.
Yeah I can only imagine the number of untraceable air leaks in that thing, especially as it ages and the DAP around the glass starts to crack
Smallest of crack in the glass? Flex-Seal
Perhaps that was transparent aluminum, and not glass.
They were trying for their Star Wars.
Oh yeah that thing is a classic.
Free Guy
Generic video game movie stuffed with trendy references and fanservice is actually a really good singularity story
The Jumanji sequels. You are going to take a cult classic and “revive” it by changing the premise to be a video game? Stupid. But, it was much better than it should have been.
Idk, I thought the idea of the game changing itself to appeal to more people as time went on was a really cool idea.
That didn’t bother me at all, I just assumed the video game was a more recent release of the original board game, with the same weird properties.
The second one is more generic, but I agree with the first one
But I do love Kevin Hart’s Danny Glover impression.
“That… Is a mandrill.”
Oh yes. Jumanji 2 (3?) was mainly unoriginal callbacks to the previous movie.
