Biggest Film Surprise of 2003

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

I have two:

 

 

1. Phone Booth. I really didn't know what to expect from this, I hate Schumacher, Farrell on his best day isn't bad, and although I like Kiefer Sutherland a great deal, unless he suddenly revealed he was from CTU, a presidential candidate was about to be murdered, his wife and daughter had been kidnapped, and the people he worked with may be involved with both, I didn't think he was going to be able to carry the movie.

 

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

 

Schumacher went out and decided that he was going to spend $5 making a movie apart from salaries and god bless him for it. It's one of the tightest, most gripping thrillers in YEARS, and does something that I think American films have foriegn ones beat dead to rights at: Getting over characters and character traits very very quickly with good dialogue. Kurosawa could take 20 minutes to SHOW you how each of the Seven Samurai relate to each other, but Tarantino could get the same ideas across in a 5 minute dialogue scene. There's a WONDERFUL Rod Serling homage in the opening, the pacing is fucking awesome, the dialogue is great, the deul of wits between Kiefer and Colin is awe-inspiring. It's one of the ten best American films released this year BAR NONE.

 

2. The Matrix Revolutions sucking. How could ANYONE fuck up such a can't-miss movie? How?

[Ravenbomb 0]

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean:

I wasn't expecting a lot from the movie in general, but DAMN he was great in that movie

[NYU 0]

I have two:

 

 

1. Phone Booth. I really didn't know what to expect from this, I hate Schumacher, Farrell on his best day isn't bad, and although I like Kiefer Sutherland a great deal, unless he suddenly revealed he was from CTU, a presidential candidate was about to be murdered, his wife and daughter had been kidnapped, and the people he worked with may be involved with both, I didn't think he was going to be able to carry the movie.

 

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

 

Schumacher went out and decided that he was going to spend $5 making a movie apart from salaries and god bless him for it. It's one of the tightest, most gripping thrillers in YEARS, and does something that I think American films have foriegn ones beat dead to rights at: Getting over characters and character traits very very quickly with good dialogue. Kurosawa could take 20 minutes to SHOW you how each of the Seven Samurai relate to each other, but Tarantino could get the same ideas across in a 5 minute dialogue scene. There's a WONDERFUL Rod Serling homage in the opening, the pacing is fucking awesome, the dialogue is great, the deul of wits between Kiefer and Colin is awe-inspiring. It's one of the ten best American films released this year BAR NONE.

Completely agree. Phone Booth may be my favorite movie this entire year. Just an awesome time, and was much much better than what I had expected.

 

Daredevil was another movie that surprised me. When I saw the commercials, the movie looked boring as hell to me - and I figured Ben Affleck would ruin the Matt Murdoch character. It turned out to be a pretty fun time.

 

As for negatives.....I didn't expect the Hulk to be quite so mind-numbingly boring. But there's another thread dedicated to that.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean:

I wasn't expecting a lot from the movie in general, but DAMN he was great in that movie

As soon as I saw a million PotC icons popping up on my LJ friend's list, I knew it was a movie to avoid. Why? Because I have enough fandoms going on as it is. But, my class saw it, soo..I saw it. Not only did the movie amaze, but so did Depp and the CG-quality of the skeleton pirates. Of course, I can see why there are so many fangirls of it; the slash-quality between Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner is simply outrageous.

 

My Film Surprise of '03 would be Willard. I haven't even heard of it till I saw it my sister's. They found it 'psycho' and 'boring', but I personally very much enjoyed it. The trailer on the DVD is really cool to watch. And Ben is simply evil. He mustn't have been kissed on the nose much

 

That saying....the 'Ben' music video by Crispin Glover is just plain weird. It's on the DVD for anyone who wans to see it.

[CanadianChick 0]

Well, I personally would have never thought Finding Nemo would be that good.

[razazteca 0]

Matrix tried too hard to be like LOTR.

[Guest Anglesault]

Phone Booth and Nemo were so much better than they had any right to be.

 

Me and an ex girlfriend of mine actually CALLED Gigli bombing when we saw the trailer in the theater, so go us.

[Ravenbomb 0]

I called Cold Mountain being one of the Oscar Buzz movies before any of the trailers came out, do I get points for that?

[Mole 0]

I knew Nemo would be good, it's a Pixar movie.

 

School of Rock was A LOT better than I thought.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Terminator 3 being very entertaining was a huge surprise. Obviously it wasn't a fucking classic like T2, but frankly, it was the most fun I had in any movie this year which didnt have the initials ROTK or X2. Pirates was also a fun surprise, as i didnt really know what to expect.

[Guest SP-1]

Matrix tried too hard to be like LOTR.

I fail to see how they attempted to emulate LOTR in any way, shape, or form. Mind, I don't think REVOLUTIONS did what it was supposed to do and I left disappointed, even having seen it for the first time in IMAX. It seemed as if the Waichowski's wrote themselves into a corner as soon as we find ourselves in the pit in the road. Boom. End of goodness.

 

I'd say the big surprise for me would be PIRATES. I expected a good film but I didn't expect one of the few movies that I was absolutely and completely satisfied with when I walked out of the theater.

[Guest Just J]

The HULK. Going in I thought it was just another poor attempt at an all out action/comic movie. Well when I got a well thought out, well directed, well everything movie, I was surprised. By far the biggest surprise.

[2GOLD 0]

Mine wasn't a big surprise film, but a big surprise IN film

 

Paul Walker is STILL getting work??? HOW?!?!?!

[Brocklock 0]

Bad Santa - Even with the talent involved I expected it to both suck and bomb at the box office and it did neither. It ended up being my second favorite movie this year only behind T3.

[Sonic Reducer 0]

I can't believe how much Reloaded absolutely fucking sucked. I actually felt myself getting dumber as I watched it.

 

For fucks sake, Gigli was probably a better movie.

[DMann2003 0]

Terminator 3

 

It screamed desperate Arnie comeback. No James Cameron or Linda Hamilton. Mostow hadn't impressed me yet.

 

It actually worked. By no means was it great, but I really enjoyed it.

[CanadianChris 0]

How they took such an interesting concept as The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and FUBARed it so spectacularly is beyond me.

[spiny norman 0]

Yes, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was surprisingly bad, but then I think "What was Sean Connery's last classic film?" and I realised that since Hunt For Red October in 1990 he's been in crap, so it's to be expected.

 

X2 shocked me. I expected it to be good, but it was still just so amazingly awesome.

[CanadianChris 0]

Yes, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was surprisingly bad, but then I think "What was Sean Connery's last classic film?" and I realised that since Hunt For Red October in 1990 he's been in crap, so it's to be expected.

I thought The Rock was pretty good, but for the most part, yeah, you're right. Hard to believe that stretch where he did The Untouchables, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, and The Hunt For Red October in succession was so long ago.

[Guest hhheld_down]

i had a feeling that Phone Booth could of been really good if given a chance and I was right so that didnt suprise me.

 

Matrix Revolutions being terrible was the biggest shock to me.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I expected nothing from Pirates of the Carribean. Even skipped it in theatres, then I saw it on DVD and was blown away.

 

I never expected to like Phone Booth & Identity as much as I did.

 

Biggest negative surprise was S.W.A.T. A kick ass cast and a sweet trailer with a good plot hitch("$100,000,000 to who ever gets me out") and it blew horribly and had no excitement or entertainment to it.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Freddy. Jason. Goodness.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Biggest surprises for me:

 

Pirates of the Caribbean (come on it's based on an amusement park ride...going in I thought it would be dumb, but boy was I wrong.)

 

Identity (Looked like just another movie, but I loved it.)

[Dangerous A 0]

Bad Santa ruled the winter season, IMO.

 

 

And none of you have seen the best movie of 2003, (although technically it was released late 2002) City of God. Best foreign film I've ever seen. City of God is the film Gangs of New York wishes it could be. See it if you get the chance.

 

It will 0wn your fucking faces!

[Cran Da Maniac 0]

Mystic River. I went to the movie really knowing nothing about it. Was really just wanting to go see the new Texas Chainsaw movie, but had to watch this one instead, and really really enjoyed it.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Most of the movies I've seen this year have been rentals of backstock movies that I always meant to see so I'm not too up to date with modern films. I don't think really any 2003 movies shocked me with their quality besides maybe...

 

 

The Matrix Reloaded- I kept waiting and waiting for it to become a good movie but it just didn't. That prolonged segment where all the humans were grinding with each other just bored the shit out of me and pissed me off. Grrr...

 

 

Scary Movie 3- Having seen Scary Movie 2 just weeks before seeing this movie, I was expecting a suckfest (I saw Scary Movie 3 on a date because SHE wanted to see it). However, the movie was freaking hilarious, surprisingly witty, and a good old time. I would actually want to see it again, I enjoyed it so much.

 

I know I saw Daredevil, Finding Nemo, School of Rock, Pirates of the Caribean, X2, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Scary Movie 3, LOTR: The Return of The King, Kill Bill, Bruce Almighty, and I rented a bunch of movies like Phone Booth, Anger Management, Head of State, The Recruit, Punch-Drunk Love, and a few others. I can't remember every movie I see.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

X-2. I expected it to be good but it was a lot better than I thought it would be.

 

Freddy vs. Jason. Wasn't expecting much but as far as those types of movies go it was good.

 

PotC. Just an awesome movie.

 

 

Matrix Reloaded. So horrible to me that I didn't even bother with the last movie.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Pirates of the Caribbean. That's all...

[Guest The Midnight Rocking Warrior]

Pirates of the Carribean, the best pirate movie ever made

T3, I thought it would suck without Cameron and it didn't

Freddy vs. Jason, I pretty much knew would kick-ass, and it did.

[Mole 0]

I forgot about Idenity.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

When it was revealed that John Cusak was just one personality of 9 others or whatever it was, I had to watch that part again. I was like, what the fuck just happened? It was awesome. Plus the ending was pretty sweet too. I LOVE it when the bad guy wins.