For some reason I disliked Through a glass Darkly a lot when I first saw it. I remember thinking " I hope the rest of the box set isn’t this dull" But after a rewatch a year later it became my second favorite Bergman right after Persona. I even watched it again the next night.
When I first saw Don’t Look Now I thought it was rather dull (but I was in my early teens and had wrong ideas about the movie) Now it’s one of my all time favorites.
I didn’t really care for Pecker the first time I saw it, but it has grown on me since.
All I can think of atm.
The complete title of this thread should be: “Films you absolutely hated the first time you watched them, only to love them later, but ended up hating them again in the end.” The answer is obviously " Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma".
Closer.
I don’t remember why I didn’t originally like it but I love it now.
I can’t imagine anybody ever liking Salo. My friend was given the Criterion as a gift and I laugh knowing that somebody paid like 30 some bucks for it.
I think one can appreciate and like the film from an intellectual point of view. The complex analysis of fascism and sexual perversion make it an important work, and I would definitely recommmend you to check out this very insightful discussion of the film. On the other hand the film doesn´t shy away from disgusting the viewer, that´s why I mentioned that one can easily end up hating it again. But nevertheless one can´t ignore Pasolini´s creation as one also can´t ignore the violence and perversions of the 20th century, that´s why I think the viewer needs to confront himself time and again with this trip into the lower depths of the human psyche.
I “like” Salo… a lot.
not an arthouse masterpiece or anything,but mine would be ….I’m embarrassed to say this u,u’…..kung pow ^^#,hilarious silly lines.
If I hated a film the first time, then there’s no reason for me to try it again. I trust my judgment.
There’s trusting your judgement, and then there’s just…you changing over time. I use to hate swiss cheese, now I like it. I used to love Eddie Murphy when I was really young, now I hate him. People change.
I hated Minority Report the first time I watched it. I was very young, and it was a little too intense for me (which is weird because I saw a lot of intense movies as a kid). A few years later, I watched it again. Now it’s one of my absolute favorites.
The Royal Tenenbaums
I saw it when it first came out in theaters, and having heard all the praise it was getting, I was shocked that I didn’t like it. To be fair, everyone else I saw it with hated it, and I felt sort of neutral about it… there were certain scenes I really responded to (the “Needle in the Hay” sequence is still one of my favorite scenes in cinema), but I don’t think I “got” a lot of the humor. I had to rewatch it a couple of years ago for a film class in college, and I absolutely loved it.
I attribute this almost entirely to growing older and becoming deeply cynical.
miami vice
probably my expectations were too high for this movie…
but somehow after my third viewing now i find the movie quite good.
Couldn’t stand Wings of Desire when I first saw it but now it is one of my favourite films and one of the most uplifting movies I have ever seen in its own weird way.
I was apathetic towards Innocence on my first watch and I now consider it one of the best of the decade and one of the most captivating movie I have ever seen.
Both of these I put down to my growing older, more patient and more experienced with films. Sometimes you just have to suck it in, admit you could potentially be wrong and go give a movie a second look in – it can reap some marvelous results.
I Usually like or dislike a film immediatly. But, i don’t know why, it happens to me that the Pixar movies don’t convince in the act. I always remember the case of The Incredibles. God. I hated it everytime i saw that intro. But i just love it now.
Rushmore is another in this list. Some Godard’s movies too =)
robocop. i must have been too young to get it the first time, because the second time i saw it, i felt like i had never seen it before, and i loved it.
I grew up watching RoboCop. Great film!
MAGNOLIA
NO COUNTRY
THIN RED LINE
i’ll second the thin red line! Absolutely hated the first time out! Took me a couple of viewings to realize how great it really was!
A.I. is the only one that readily comes to mind. Didn’t like it the first time I saw it, and now it’s inseparable from my list of the films of the decade. Actually, most of Spielberg’s films this decade would qualify (except that Indy business we shan’t discuss). I also used to regard Dazed and Confused as the lesser film compared to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to which it’s so often paired I actually bought a two-pack containing them. Now I see Fast Times as Crowe in training while Dazed is one of the most perfectly realized teenage movies around, though Crowe has at least one of those in Say Anything (not sure if Almost Famous quite fits that bill).
Dazed and Confused, Almost Famous, Fast Times…those are all movies I like but I can’t seem to love.
I don’t think I love Fast Times; it was just the one that, at the time, seemed more immediately funny (and breastier, which is nice when you’re a young lad) of the two, but I love the other two. Strange, since I’m too young for them to tug at any nostalgic threads.
I wrote Closer in my original reply. Not sure why only half my message was posted?
antonioni’s blow up!
‘Love’ maybe too strong of a word but I recently came to appreciate Gummo a little more.
I think Salo was brilliant, by the way.
gummo yay Jeff
great movie
watch julien donkey boy
American Beauty
BRAZIL by Terry Gilliam
Funny Games (1997). This involved resenting the hell out of Haneke, and later learning how impressive he can be.
Vocalities
For me, there are only a few that come to mind. I usually don’t change my mind when it comes to films but there are exceptions. Those exceptions are Brazil, Naked Lunch, and The Prestige.
Brazil…well, I think I had heard too much about it for my own good. I didn’t know the ending, and I didn’t know the little details that make the movie so brilliant, but I knew how cherished it was. And I knew the way people responded to it with this…certainty of it’s importance and how effortless it’s execution was. Then I saw it, and just didn’t get the big deal. I missed the mark, obviously, because I just didn’t seem to care one way or another. I even disliked the ending (and no, I didn’t see the Love Conquers All version first, though I did hear about it later). Once I found out about the LCA ending, I watched it and was so totally disgusted with it, I decided to watch the final cut of the film again. Having a new appreciation for the ending, and sort of being a little more aware of what the film wanting to say, it really grew on me. I bought the Criterion 3 disc, and have watched all of it with all the special features, commentary tracks, and have researched the film obsessively. Now it’s in my favorite films of all time list. This is the best example I can provide for my question because I so thoroughly was left unimpressed with my initial viewing, but am now so adamant about the film.
With Naked Lunch, well, it’s really my own fault. Not being familiar with Burroughs AT ALL other than knowing his name, and that he was a writer basically ruins your chances of getting this movie. I’ve heard some people say they understood the film just fine, but when I ask about much they know about Burroughs, they’ll say none, and I call bullshit. tIt’s like understanding a political cartoon AND finding it funny without any knowledge of the political figures it represents. After doing a lot of research and reading a few of his books, I rented the movie again and fell in love with it. I don’t have a lot more to say on this, but it’s another that came to mind.
The Prestige, well, there isn’t a big reason behind it. I can’t hide the fact that me knowing both twists the whole fucking movie, without being told, and then having my suspicions confirmed at the end just pissed me off. I’m not that guy, you know, the guy that always guesses the ending and bitches about predictability. In fact, I hate when people try and figure movies out before they see it. Why not just watch it and keep it fresh? But the fact that this movie was so hugely praised for the fact that the entire movie is a prestige in itself, and that it has such a brilliant twist, and that the MOMENT it’s possible I knew what it was, and I’m just supposed to float through the whole film acting like I don’t know? Ugh, it pissed me off. For whatever reason I watched it again, I think a friend wanted to watch it, and I just…really liked it. No idea why. Couldn’t even write a review for it. Just liked it.
Anybody else go through this kind of stuff?