What Blew You Away?

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I had this thought having a discussion in another thread. Think about those instances where you first watched a movie (or show) that just blew you away from start to finish so much that you’re reminded of that excitement any time you rewatch said movie/show?

I’ll share some of mine.....

Breaking Bad
The Americans
Goodfellas
Forrest Gump
About half of Tarantino’s movies

I’m sure there is more I’m not thinking of yet. At the risk of suffering from recency bias I was so blown away by Mare of Easttown that it might stick on the list when I rewatch it in the future.
 
The Muppets Take Manhattan
 
I've done what the OP describes.
I've also done the opposite, really liked it the first time, but can't seem to watch it again.


Not sure what that is.
 
Piggy-backing what I said in the other thread, I watched The Exorcist for the first time ever within the past year and absolutely loved it. Immediately jumped up to top 2 if not #1 in my favorite Horror movies and just a really great movie overall.

I recall thinking that The Hangover was going to be absolutely terrible, but was incredibly surprised at how much I was laughing throughout. Ignoring the sequels, this movie is really good and really funny. So I went in with really low expectations and it blew me away in that regard. Could say the same for Tropic Thunder, though I had higher hopes for it than The Hangover.

Christopher Nolan is probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite, director and most things he does blow me away in terms of the direction, perspective, timeline, camera-work, sound design, etc... truly a great director. When you watch something like Tenet, which I am not a big fan of that movie btw, but when you watch it... it screams like a movie that only Nolan can make lol.
 
I think you could also say that the first Matrix movie was pretty awe-inspiring. I mean, you don't spawn all of those parodies, copies, etc... if it wasn't pretty incredible at that time.
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
I had this thought having a discussion in another thread. Think about those instances where you first watched a movie (or show) that just blew you away from start to finish so much that you’re reminded of that excitement any time you rewatch said movie/show?

I’ll share some of mine.....

Breaking Bad
The Americans
Goodfellas
Forrest Gump
About half of Tarantino’s movies

I’m sure there is more I’m not thinking of yet. At the risk of suffering from recency bias I was so blown away by Mare of Easttown that it might stick on the list when I rewatch it in the future.
Click to expand...
Star Wars (original trilogy)
Pulp Fiction

No other movies moved the needle to the max for me. There's a lot of next-level awesomeness, but those two were pure untouchable transcendence.

South Park

The only TV show I ever cared about.
 
RP-29 said:
Star Wars (original trilogy)
Pulp Fiction

No other movies moved the needle to the max for me. There's a lot of next-level awesomeness, but those two were pure untouchable transcendence.

South Park

The only TV show I ever cared about.
Click to expand...
Good share. I put “half of Tarantino’s movies” because it’s a succinct way to say it. What I’ve found with his movies (and true for many that were either very good or blew you away) is expectation walking into it.

Pulp Fiction isn’t even in my top 3-4 Tarantino movies for me. I know, not a popular opinion. I think I waited to see it and my expectations were way too high going in.
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
Good share. I put “half of Tarantino’s movies” because it’s a succinct way to say it. What I’ve found with his movies (and true for many that were either very good or blew you away) is expectation walking into it.

Pulp Fiction isn’t even in my top 3-4 Tarantino movies for me. I know, not a popular opinion. I think I waited to see it and my expectations were way too high going in.
Click to expand...
Agree on expectations.

I was about 16 when Pulp Fiction hit the theater. My older cousin happened to see it in the theater and told me it was a great movie, but I didn't know anything about it. When it came out on video, I rented it. To this day, it's the only movie that ever wowed me so much that I immediately watched it again... Then went out and bought it the following day after I returned it to the video store... Then watched it every night that week... And still love watching it to this day.

For me, Tarantino set the bar so high with Pulp Fiction, that it's impossible for anyone - including himself - to beat it. Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained... absolutely love all those movies; but they're all in the tier right below Pulp Fiction for me. And expectations play a role in that; I didn't know Tarantino before Pulp Fiction (and not many did back then).
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
Good share. I put “half of Tarantino’s movies” because it’s a succinct way to say it. What I’ve found with his movies (and true for many that were either very good or blew you away) is expectation walking into it.

Pulp Fiction isn’t even in my top 3-4 Tarantino movies for me. I know, not a popular opinion. I think I waited to see it and my expectations were way too high going in.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on Pulp. Its obviously very good but I think its very overrated with how often its referenced in peoples top handful of movies ever.

I like Reservoir and Django better forsure.
 
Mr.Hockey said:
I'm with you on Pulp. Its obviously very good but I think its very overrated with how often its referenced in peoples top handful of movies ever.

I like Reservoir and Django better forsure.
Click to expand...
Were you influenced by the movie hype (expectations) before you saw Pulp Fiction, or did you get into it with a rather blank "Tarantino" slate?
 
Stalker
A Clockwork Orange
 
RP-29 said:
Were you influenced by the movie hype (expectations) before you saw Pulp Fiction, or did you get into it with a rather blank "Tarantino" slate?
Click to expand...
the hype was built up for me for pulp fiction when i watched it and didn't care for it. gave it another try a few years later to see what i was missing and still didn't get it. meh, as long as people like it, good for them.

i had seen reservoir dogs, true romance, natural born killers, and from dusk till dawn before that, which i dug, so was hoping for the best, that one just didn't hit me, though. guess i don't get it.
 
Bender said:
Stalker
A Clockwork Orange
Click to expand...
oh, i see i missed the point where you're talking about rewatching films. these ones just stuck with me after the first time of watching them.
 
Mr.Hockey said:
I'm with you on Pulp. Its obviously very good but I think its very overrated with how often its referenced in peoples top handful of movies ever.

I like Reservoir and Django better forsure.
Click to expand...
I do as well.

I never catch movies on first release. As such I can get a lot or a little hype that plays into when I do watch it.

A Tarantino movie that is converse to Pulp is OUATIH. Peoples expectations were sky high. Many were disappointed against that. The feedback wasn’t great. So, that knocked my expectations down. I loved that movie. Funny how it can work both ways.
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
I never catch movies on first release. As such I can get a lot or a little hype that plays into when I do watch it.

A Tarantino movie that is converse to Pulp is OUATIH. Peoples expectations were sky high. Many were disappointed against that. The feedback wasn’t great. So, that knocked my expectations down. I loved that movie. Funny how it can work both ways.
Click to expand...

Nowadays, if I'm interested in watching something, I make a strong effort to watch it as early as I can to shield myself as much as possible from armchair movie critic influences. Every person on this planet with a moderately-functional brain and internet access can now spew whatever they want about a movie and it can instantly reach a global audience.

I want to enter a movie with a blank slate so the movie can unravel itself for me. Otherwise, the movie experience gets reduced to an exercise of validating what you read about it - making the movie much less entertaining and the movie experience much less enjoyable.
 
RP-29 said:
Nowadays, if I'm interested in watching something, I make a strong effort to watch it as early as I can to shield myself as much as possible from armchair movie critic influences. Every person on this planet with a moderately-functional brain and internet access can now spew whatever they want about a movie and it can instantly reach a global audience.

I want to enter a movie with a blank slate so the movie can unravel itself for me. Otherwise, the movie experience gets reduced to an exercise of validating what you read about it - making the movie much less entertaining and the movie experience much less enjoyable.
Click to expand...
Damnit. You’re absolutely right on this. I would say I work to not read the hype before I get a chance to see it, but I don’t.

Im just not going to the theater. That’s not post pandemic nonsense, I’ve never enjoyed the theater. Of course, there was new movies hitting streaming right away the last year and the $20 to get it was limiting to me in its own right.
 
RP-29 said:
Nowadays, if I'm interested in watching something, I make a strong effort to watch it as early as I can to shield myself as much as possible from armchair movie critic influences. Every person on this planet with a moderately-functional brain and internet access can now spew whatever they want about a movie and it can instantly reach a global audience.

I want to enter a movie with a blank slate so the movie can unravel itself for me. Otherwise, the movie experience gets reduced to an exercise of validating what you read about it - making the movie much less entertaining and the movie experience much less enjoyable.
Click to expand...
i feel like i'm pretty good about avoiding noise on a movie, but i went to a theater for the first time in forever last week and i remembered what i hated about going to the movies, the trailers. i feel like i saw 10 trailers before the movie. they either give away the entire plot, every funny moment, or scary scene, depending on the genre. i don't get why they do this. i do realize most of the trailers are for popcorn blockbuster movies where it doesn't make a difference, but still. so annoying.
 
RP-29 said:
Were you influenced by the movie hype (expectations) before you saw Pulp Fiction, or did you get into it with a rather blank "Tarantino" slate?
Click to expand...

I definitely didn't watch it right when it came out, I was relatively young at the time.

I try not to let hype influence me too much so I don't think it played a huge role. Pulp was still ultimately one of the first Tarantino movies I have ever seen. Definitely saw it long before movies like Django and Inglorious.

The movie is very, very good. Its just not one that I ever mention when discussing my favorite movies ever. Some of it may have to do with the cast. I love Samuel always but overall I like other Tarantino casts better. I've just never been a big Willis or Travolta guy regardless of the movie.

A good cast is a big influence for me, much more than word of mouth(good or bad).
 
Bender said:
oh, i see i missed the point where you're talking about rewatching films. these ones just stuck with me after the first time of watching them.
Click to expand...

A Clockwork Orange is the only movie I can recall that I sad "WTF?" and immediately watched it again.
 
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