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Movies you want to give a second chance?

Started by Rev. Powell, January 25, 2008, 05:33:13 PM

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Rev. Powell

In the spirit of the "movies you thought you'd love" and "movies you thought you'd hate" threads, does anyone else have movies that you hated or were lukewarm about when you first watched them, but think you might like to give them another try to see if you were missing something?

Sometimes you're just in the wrong mood when you sit down to watch a movie.  Sometimes your tastes change over times.  Sometimes you thought a movie was REALLY bad, but other people whose opinion you respect keep praising it and you wonder if you missed something.

A few that come to mind for me:

FEMALE TROUBLE:  Found it bleak and depressing, and not nearly funny enough to compensate for the bleakness.  But some of the images stuck with my, and last year I saw PINK FLAMINGOES and thought that there was the core of a good black comedy there, if Waters had stripped away some of the carnival geek-show atmosphere.  If he had, that movie would probably look a lot like FEMALE TROUBLE.

MEET THE FEEBLES:  I thought the irony of kids show puppets acting like complete moral reprobates was too easy and cheap, and again, not funny enough to overcome the queasy feeling it gave me.  But Andrew (and just about everyone else on here) seems to love it, and that goes a long way with me.

2000 MANIACS: I remember thinking this was too unsavory and sadistic when I first saw it, and not campy enough to be enjoyable.  It seemed to me that Lewis sympathised more with the torturers than the tortured.  I saw BLOOD FEAST after this.  I loved that one, and people keep praising this one, so I feel I should give it a second chance.

The common thread to all these, I guess, is they're all "shock" movies, and I went through a period where I got tired of directors aiming at nothing more than pushing the limits.  I think I'm over that now and ready to revisit some of these cult classics I dismissed the first time.

A few other movies I was lukewarm on, but want to see again because others seem to love them: ACCIONE MUTANTE, AKIRA, ANDY WARHOL'S DRACULA (loved the Frankenstein one-go figure), BADLANDS, BAD TASTE, THE BLOB (1959), BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON, COFFY, DOG EAT DOG (1964), FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, HALLOWEEN, JACOB'S LADDER, MOMMIE DEAREST, ONE FALSE MOVE, ROBOCOP, SANTA SANGRE, SIX-STRING SAMURAI,  SWITCHBLADE SISTERS.

How about you?   

I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

Derf

I don't know for sure that I can exactly answer your question, but if it helps you any, Meet the Feebles was one I thought I would like. I watched it once and felt dirty. A few years later, I gave it another chance. As best as I can describe it, the movie makes my soul feel dirty. I can't say that I utterly hate the movie, but I know I can't watch it again. Same with Bad Taste to a lesser degree. I love Braindead/Dead Alive, but the other early Peter Jackson films just leave me feeling dirty.

I also seem to be in the minority on From Dusk Til Dawn, and I feel no compulsion to give it another chance. It was a muddled mess of a movie that needed to focus either on the criminal caper or the vampire element. Switching into a vampire movie halfway through just doesn't work for me.

I am currently planning to give two movies a second viewing (though not at the same time  :tongueout:): The Dark Backward, which I actually enjoyed the first time through, though I am a little nervous at watching it again, fearing that my memories are faulty or that my tastes have changed. Same with Shakes the Clown. I've never been a big Bobcat Goldthwait fan, but this movie was very fun in a very freaky way. I'll have to see if I still feel that way when I watch it again.
"They tap dance not, neither do they fart." --Greensleeves, on the Fig Men of the Imagination, in "Twice Upon a Time."

Bmeansgood

From Dusk till Dawn is a prime example of a movie that I didn't like the first time I saw it, but I gave it a second chance and now love it.  I think it was almost 10 years between the first and second time I watched it.
It is kind of scary to think that I have regressed that much in ten years time.

JaseSF

AVALON: was a bit disappointed by this first time out which I didn't expect to be given it was directed by Mamoru Oshii.

THE BRAIN EATERS: to see if I would still like it again a second time as much as I did the first time around. Only the somewhat silly conclusion and over the top Walter K. Powers character dampers its sometimes creepy effectiveness.

KAFKA: just recall really enjoying it at points but not so much so at others. Think it's worth another look.
"This above all: To thine own self be true!"

Rev. Powell

Quote from: Derf on January 25, 2008, 09:32:39 PM
I don't know for sure that I can exactly answer your question, but if it helps you any, Meet the Feebles was one I thought I would like. I watched it once and felt dirty. A few years later, I gave it another chance. As best as I can describe it, the movie makes my soul feel dirty. I can't say that I utterly hate the movie, but I know I can't watch it again. Same with Bad Taste to a lesser degree. I love Braindead/Dead Alive, but the other early Peter Jackson films just leave me feeling dirty.

I also seem to be in the minority on From Dusk Til Dawn, and I feel no compulsion to give it another chance. It was a muddled mess of a movie that needed to focus either on the criminal caper or the vampire element. Switching into a vampire movie halfway through just doesn't work for me.


Wow, my thoughts exactly on FEEBLES and BAD TASTE, and I also loved DEAD ALIVE.  I guess there's just a sort of nihilism in those early Jackson films that puts me off, whether it's cloaked in humor or not.  DEAD ALIVE is equally over-the-top, but it's done in a spirit of fun, even joy, whereas I remember the earlier films coming off as bitter and hateful.  Maybe I should trust my initial reaction, but I still plan to give FEEBLES another chance, since I have a copy sitting around.
I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

Rev. Powell

Quote from: JaseSF on January 26, 2008, 01:53:47 PM

KAFKA: just recall really enjoying it at points but not so much so at others. Think it's worth another look.

That's another good candidate for me to add to my list.  I haven;t seen it since it was first released.  I remember being impressed by the visuals but I don't remember much else about it.
I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

JaseSF

Parts: The Clonus Horror: it's interesting this film looks at the potential dangers of cloning years before it became a reality.

The Mind of Mr. Soames: recall this being very good and it's surprisingly very overlooked. Just want to see if it's still as good as I recall it being.
"This above all: To thine own self be true!"

threnody

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

When I first watched it, I was vehemently against drugs. I only recently developed a sense of humour about them.
"To be bitter is to attribute intent and personality to the formless, infinite, unchanging and unchangeable void. We drift on a chartless, resistless sea. Let us sing when we can, and forget the rest..."
-H.P. Lovecraft

Hollis

 I am not a lukewarm person, but Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory was neither here nor there for me, a rare happening. I guess I could watch it again, I do love the puesdo-science in films like this one.
"If you break it down, movie magic is just a bunch of people moving s**t."

Pilgermann

I'd like to watch A History of Violence again.  I just wasn't very impressed even though I was looking forward to seeing it.  I've been tempted to buy 'cause I've seen it in Wal-Mart's 5 dollar bin.
 

hellbilly

Dead End (2003) was a movie I didn't like on my first viewing. I fell in love with it on my second.

I gave Cold Creek Manor several chances but I always end up hating it even more.