Weekend Roundtable: Second Chances

Sometimes, we just can’t properly appreciate a movie on first viewing. Perhaps the marketing misled us into expecting something entirely different than what we’d actually get, perhaps we set impossibly high expectations that no movie could possibly meet, or perhaps we were just in a bad mood the day we first saw it. Whatever the reason, some films require a second (or sometimes third or even more) viewing before we can recognize their best qualities. In this week’s Roundtable, we revisit some of the movies that we just didn’t “get” the first time around.

Shannon Nutt

I remember that the first time I watched Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven‘, I was less than thrilled with what I saw. The movie seemed overly violent to me, and I was totally unprepared for an ending where the “reformed” Bill Munny turns back to his old, evil ways. After I saw the film, I heard an interview in which Eastwood said that he wanted to demystify the modern Western – that he’d seen hundreds of Westerns where the bad guy turned good, but wanted to do one where the good guy turned bad again. After listening to that interview and noting the Oscar buzz that was building for the film, I went back to the theater for a second viewing. Now knowing what to expect and what the movie was aiming to achieve, I liked it much more a second time. Over the years and with multiple viewings, I’ve come to realize that ‘Unforgiven’ is probably the best Western of the modern era.

Mike Attebery

James L. Brooks movies have gotten pretty rambly since ‘Broadcast News’, almost like he spends a decade enjoying that Simpsons money and jotting down anecdotes he hears at dinner parties and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf visits, then dumps a shoebox full of notes on his desk and starts fitting together all these strange half ideas. I’m actually pretty sure that’s exactly what he does, which results in bizarre, undercooked movies like ‘How Do You Know?’. But I also find that repeat viewings of those movies inevitably turn up some unexpected treats. ‘Spanglish‘ is the perfect example. The first time I saw it, I thought the movie was a total mess. I hated it, but my wife really loved the characters. A year or so later, she got me to watch it again, and lo and behold, I really enjoyed it. Now it’s one of our favorites. And the Spanglish sandwich is delicious.

Bryan Kluger

It’s not that I didn’t “get” it, but more so as the first time I watched it, I didn’t find ‘Step Brothers‘ funny at all. This was strange to me as I enjoy Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly quite a bit. I even looked forward to the movie when it came out. But as the credits rolled, I thought it was an unfunny and dull film. I only managed to get a couple of chuckles throughout the picture.

As time went by and ‘Step Brothers’ was released on Blu-ray, I decided to give it another chance. I had to be sure that my friends were wrong in saying that it was comedy gold. Needless to say, the next few viewings – some solo and some with friends – I found myself laughing out loud all the way through. Still to this day, every time ‘Step Brothers’ is on TV, I get sucked into watching it all the way through and continue to bust a gut. Hell, even a few friends and I quote this movie on a daily basis. It has since become a favorite of mine in the comedy genre.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

Fourteen years ago, I broke in my shiny new DVD player with a copy of ‘Blade Runner‘. This is a movie I’d seen bits and pieces of on cable for ages, and I even owned the first issue of the comic adaptation for reasons I don’t recall, but I’d somehow never quite managed to watch the whole thing before from start to finish.

As excited as I was at the outset, I dozed off pretty much immediately. In fact, it probably took me four or five attempts to finally slog my way through ‘Blade Runner’ in full. I’m not even the type to fall asleep during a movie, but ‘Blade Runner’ was like a glass of warm milk, making me nod off each and every time. I don’t think I even gave it another shot for six full years, but in rediscovering the film on HDNet Movies in 2005, I finally saw the light. I’m in awe of the film’s unparalleled visual style, its intermingling of science fiction and film noir, and studying within the confines of a genre film what it means to be human. I’d say now without hesitation that ‘Blade Runner’ ranks among my very favorite films, and I’m embarrassed that I was unable to appreciate it sooner.

Josh Zyber

As I recall, ‘Galaxy Quest‘ wasn’t terribly well received when it came out in 1999. The ‘Star Trek’ spoof received middling reviews and poor box office, likely the fault of casting Tim Allen in the lead. The trailers made it look like ‘The Santa Clause’ in outer space, which undersold its charms to both the actor’s usual fans (who weren’t so interested in science fiction) and to sci-fi fans (who were put off by his presence in it). When I first saw the movie on DVD, it didn’t register much of an impression with me. I think I found it mildly amusing but a bit strained. Years later, I revisited the movie on Blu-ray, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t laugh my ass off through the whole thing. The picture is a spot-on satire of all things ‘Trek’ and science fiction, but also a legitimately funny and exciting story in its own right, with well-developed characters and sharp dialogue. I can’t believe I dismissed it the first time.

One more example: I felt that Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town‘ was wildly overpraised during its theatrical release, especially here in Boston (Affleck’s home town, and where the picture is set). The movie, a crime thriller derivative of a dozen other, better films, frankly just wasn’t good or special enough to live up to the hype. My nickname for it is ‘Warmth’, because it’s like a tepid ‘Heat‘. However, watching the movie for a second time on Blu-ray after I was already well aware of its flaws, I set my expectations low enough that I found myself better appreciating the things that it does right, such as capturing the city’s local color. It’s still not a great movie, but it’s a solidly entertaining heist thriller that I’m not ashamed to own on disc.

Tell us in the Comments about the movies that you needed to see twice or more to appreciate.

39 comments

  1. Taxi Driver took me about 4 viewings before I realized its brilliance. I thought it was boring and overhyped the first time. I decided to give it another shot because I loved the director and star so much and I liked it a bit more the 2nd time. The third time I found even more things to appreciate and by the fourth time I was in love.

  2. Rcorman

    Citizen Kane. The first time I saw it I couldn’t understand why it was ranked as one of the top films of all times. It was ok, but not great. Then I watched it with Roger Ebert’s commentary track and now I know why it is ranked so high. What an amazing film.

    • Kevin

      Mark me down for “Citizen Kane” as well. I had been given the 2-disc DVD for Christmas back when that came out, and was, frankly, bored to death by it. I don’t think I ever touched the DVD again after that. However, when the film came out on Blu-Ray, I decided to check it out again, solely on the grounds of its status as one of the all-time classics. I don’t know it’s just because I’m older, or if it’s because I’ve seen so many more films since my initial viewing of it, or what, but that second time, watching it on Blu-Ray, it just completely clicked for me.

  3. Opinionhaver

    Every single movie named here by the staff, I loved instantly (well, I don’t LOVE Blade Runner). My first instinct is almost always the correct one, for me anyway. But strangely enough it took til my 3rd viewing of Jaws before I recognized it for the classic it is.

    Unforgiven, though? It’s hard for me to fathom the necessity of a second viewing for validation. The part where Will takes the bottle and just starts drinking still gives me goosebumps every time.

  4. I don’t really give movies second chances. Basically, if you make me snooze, then you lose. So if you sucked the first time I watched you, then I probably won’t watch you again. There’s so many movies I haven’t seen (or great movies I’d like to see again) that I’d rather watch before revisiting stinkers from my past.

    • I’m with you. I sat out on this roundtable because, after thinking all week, I couldn’t come up with a single bad movie that I’ve ever given a second chance. I just don’t have the time to watch something that I don’t like. If a movie is bad, I write it off forever. If a television series can’t hook me after two episodes, I walk away.

  5. Pedram

    I might get some flack for this, but it took me 3 viewings to actually appreciate The Dark Knight. I loved Batman Begins, and I guess I was expecting more of the same with the sequel, but it was quite different. I didn’t hate it, but I just liked BB a lot more than TDK. After the 3rd viewing (to get ready for TDKR) I tried to view it with fresh eyes, and I liked it a lot more.

    Maybe that’s also why I was so disappointed with The Dark Knight Rises. I have a feeling it’ll take a lot more viewings to appreciate that one though.

    • knuckles

      Nah, that makes sense. Similarly, I didn’t really care for Batman Begins (thought it was a bunch of unnecessary set-up that most audiences were already familiar with) then was completely unprepared for how much I enjoyed The Dark Knight.

      Then The Dark Knight Rises comes out and I expected it to take everything I liked about The Dark Knight and, not only refine it, but be even more daring and ambitious with it.

      First viewing of TDKR left me cold and I kept trying to re-calibrate my expectations to what I was watching but that didn’t happen. I left pretty disappointed thinking I saw a gloomy film that seemed to retreat to the safety Batman Begins.

      Watched it again and realized I was totally wrong. Collectively, the movies added up to one cohesive, satisfying superhero story and, instead of replicating the beats and mannerisms that made The Dark Knight so satisfying, The Dark Knight Rises was also going for something completely different and I liked it a lot more. Turns out, for a large studio driven mainstream sequel, it WAS kinda ambitious – it’s just my expectations that weren’t.

  6. JM

    Stanley Kubrick – None of his movies worked for me on the first try, most of which I blame on youth and vhs, but now I love all five of them.

    Kubrick’s ‘Napoleon’ script being HBO’d by Spielberg into a miniseries… I am not on board of. But. First we show up, then we see what happens.

  7. Matt A.

    I’m actually in agreement with Bryan about ‘Step Brothers’, and ‘The Other Guys’, for that matter. Both movies made me chuckle, and I didn’t hate them, but I also didn’t see why all my friends found them so funny.

    ‘The Fifth Element’ is another one. I had never seen a Luc Besson film before, and the quirky nature of the movie just didn’t jive with me as a teenager expecting to see Bruce Willis shooting aliens. Now I love almost everything about it, even its flaws (including Tricky, whose music I loved, and his terrible acting).

    Lastly, ‘Moon’ is yet another. My friend raved about it, and we generally have similar taste. Sam Rockwell is an extremely gifted actor, but I just didn’t appreciate it as much the first time as I did the second time.

    Now I own all of those films on blu-ray.

    Oh, and ‘Blade Runner’ is, was, and always will be my favorite film of all time. Even as a child, the first time I saw it, I was engrossed, if only by the stunning imagery and Vangelis’ hypnotically beautiful score.

  8. Ted S.

    I’m with Shannon, the first time I saw it I didn’t really care for it. Probably because I so young and expected big shootouts not a slow moving western with hardly any action in it. Years later when I was my 20s, I watched it again on DVD and loved it. I now consider it one of the best western/films ever!

  9. Cal R.

    There are a few movies that I like more each time I watch. Big Fish was a movie my mother took my family to when I was a teenager, and it didn’t do a great deal for me. Now it would make my Top 100.

    I’m curious to give Inglourious Basterds another try at some point. When I saw it in cinemas, I disliked it immensely. I found it drawn out, self satisfied and frankly an ordeal to get through. Everybody seems to think I’m crazy, though…

  10. Javier A

    I hated Inglorious Bastards so much it’s the only movie I have ever walked out of. I didn’t think anyone else disliked it lol

  11. Brandon Erwin

    Cabin in the Woods and Insidious for me. I’m a huge fan of all things horror, including comical over the top takes on it. The Evil Dead films are a favorite of mine, and when approaching Cabin in the theater I expected something a little more similar. I knew it had a spoofy element to it, but I wasn’t nearly as blown away as I expected to be. It was the first time I didn’t like Joss Whedon, until I bought the blu-ray and gave it another chance. Now I consider it one of the better horror films of the last decade! With Insidious however, I completely expected an actual scary horror flick. When I got another slightly comical take on the genre I was really upset. Only because I wanted a scary movie all the way through. After repeated viewings though, I’ve come to enjoy it.

  12. Daniel

    I still vividly remember some friends talking up a comedy called ‘Neopolitan Dynamo’ (they didn’t even get the name right) before making my wife and I sit through it with them. I just didn’t get it. It was so dry and deadpan. I didn’t laugh once.

    Yet, whenever my friends quoted the movie thereafter, I found it increasingly funny. I watched it again and, now knowing what to expect, found Napoleon Dynamite hilarious. My wife still doesn’t find it funny though.

  13. I’d pick The Town over Heat any day. Great performances and stylish direction don’t save Heat from its cliche-riddled story or its flabby three-hour run time. Haysbert’s subplot: totally inconsequential. DeNiro and Pacino meet face-to-face: more obligatory than a natural extension of the plot. The Town had its share of stupid plot contrivances, but it was funnier, its characters felt more like real people, and, above all else, it was shorter and better paced.

    My pick for a second chance movie would be The Wild Bunch. I rented it on DVD in high school, popped it in and started watching the two-sided disc from the middle. I questioned why the film would have no title credits, why these desperadoes were selling guns to the Mexicans, and whether they would flash back to the actions that brought them there. Then “The End” flew into the screen, and I thought that the film really zipped by. Out of curiosity, I watched the trailer in the extras and saw so many scenes that weren’t in the cut I had just seen. Then the appalling realization dawned on me that I had watched the film in the wrong order. I went ahead and watched the first half of the film, but was so bummed at having cheated myself out of the ending, I did not enjoy any of it.

    I’ve watched it several times since without it starting in media res and have loved it as if the first time was not totally spoiled for me. To be fair, it was the lazy reloading of the disc by the previous renter and my own stupidity that ruined the first viewing. As glum as I was for the rest of the day, I still realized that I had watched something extraordinary (perhaps its squandered extraordinariness made the situation worse).

  14. William Henley

    I can think of several

    Tron. Man, I hated this movie the first several times I saw it, but now I love it, and own the set on Blu-Ray.

    Dune. Hated this movie the first couple of times I saw it, I mean I HATED this movie. Then I saw the mini-series, and finally decided to read the book. After reading the book, I love the movie. Still think the mini-series is better, but I do have a huge appreciation for the movie now.

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have heard several people say the same thing – I think most of it was jus the shock of what was going on, but once you know the story, it is a MUCH better book and movie.

    Star Wars III: Rise of the Sith. Yeah, the first three Star Wars movies were major disappointments, and 1 and 2 really don’t have many redeaming qualities. However, Episode 3 has really grown on me. Still not as good as episodes 4-6, but episode 3 is clearly better than 1 and 2 put together.

  15. Ben

    Gangs of New York. The first time I saw this masterpiece I was utterly confused and disappointed. My thoughts(that of a dumbass 20 year old sitting in a movie theater) went in this order. ‘Liam Neeson!! -Man this marching music is annoying!-Best street brawl ever filmed!-Oh No Liam Neeson!- Is this supposed to be a comedy?-Daniel Day Lewis is WaLuigi!-Everyone is a shithead-Why does DiCaprio seem to like the guy who killed his dad?-no wait he doesn’t!-what the fuck Daniel Day Lewis is eating Dicaprio’s face-is that how people used to travel to California really?-Now this is an election movie?!?-finally another street brawl!-no such luck-Hey a U2 song!-The End-Im going to see Two Towers Again!

    It wasn’t until I was older and slightly wiser did I finally see what a multi-layered, multi-faceted work of art this film is. The tumultuous and very real relationships between the characters. The love between the fathers and sons, the set design, the re-creation of a time long past. It is cinematic perfection. I love it more each time I see it. Run, don’t walk!

    • “this is a wound, this is a kill”

      the only good thing about that movie. i personally think d.d.l. is overrated and boring, but i gave this a shot like all his movies and it put me to sleep 3 times before i finally made it through the whole thing and still thought it was boring and stupid.

  16. brett

    a few i can think of right off the top of my head would be:

    memento; didn’t really understand this one until i actually watched it at home on VHS (yep feel old now), then found a chronological fan edit version and was astounded at how different it was from the original.

    equilibrium; i think this movie i walked out of the theater in disappointment! after watching this movie probably twice a year for 10 years or so i have come to the realization that is quite possibly as good as blade runner. which of course is THE greatest sci-fi movie of all time.

    the pacific (HBO series; when this was airing on cable i was literally setting aside a day of the week to watch each episode (twice if need be). then i watched them and i was sorely disappointed. i felt that when i had finally connected with a character they died almost immediately after that. now a year or two after and several viewings later i have had an epiphany as to how good this series is; it may not be as good as band of brothers but it is still better than saving ryan’s privates lol

    the avengers; i know. i know. flame if you must. i did not see it in theaters so i think the hype had almost come to a rolling boil when i had finally seen it on blu-ray. i was soooo disappointed that i actually called off work the next day because something was wrong. it just didn’t feel right. i mean really? the avengers! joss whedon! hello! i’ve since seen it a dozen or so times and i finally see it for what it is; a gateway, a pilot. for bigger and better things. and i appreciate it for that. without the avengers there would be no big stupid popcorn heart attack movies this summer. and for that dear sir; i salute you.

    b

  17. John Burton

    I’m a huge baseball fan. “The Natural” I really hated when I first watched it. Robert Redford and Glenn Close as teenagers? Really? It was not until about 10 years later I watched it on TV, and something just clicked. Now I love that movie.

    • brett

      agreed. hated it the first time i watched it. now i love it. as well as For The Love Of The Game. hated that baseball movie as well, now anything nostalgic like that i own and watch religiously.

  18. I mentioned ‘Tron Legacy’ before (just last week in the Oblivion thread). Didn’t like the 3D in cinemas, found the story non-existent and thought the Sam-character was wooden. On Blu-ray, I could appreciate the extremely fantastic visuals and the music, in 2D. With every viewing, I like it a little more. Can’t wait for the third part.

    I also fell asleep during my first “Back to the Future”-viewing. It has since become my favourite movie of all time.

  19. Bryan

    I’ll probably be banned from the site for admitting this, and please don’t judge me 🙂 – but my “second chance” movie is “Vegas Vacation.” As a kid growing up in the 80’s, I had loved the Griswold’s and all of their exploits to Wally World, Europe, and even as they tried to enjoy a nice Christmas at home. I did miss the theatrical run of “Vegas Vacation” (was it even released?) but my wife and I rented it on video when it first came out. We thought it was the dumbest, most obnoxious, annoying movie on the planet. I don’t even think we got through it all.
    Sometime later (maybe a year) we saw it on cable, and for some reason, found it incredibly funny. We still quote it regularly to this day … “where’s the damn dam tour??” gets me every time… 🙂
    Needless to say, I’m probably the only one who pre-ordered it on Blu-Ray the day it was available at Amazon.

  20. Galaxy Quest has an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and made $71mil domestic on a $45mil budget.

    The movie was a critical and commercial hit. I remember seeing it in the theater because of how strong the reviews were.

    • William Henley

      I liked it when it first came out, but like it even better now. I hadn’t seen it for several years before the blu-ray came out, but I find it way more funnier now. I think it’s funnier now realizing that’s Allan Rickman, and knowing other roles he has been in since. He was playing a role in the movie that he could not escape from, and has been labled with every since, and, well, it seems almost as if, a couple of years later, the same thing happened to him in real life.

  21. Timcharger

    Would the reviewers on this site consider doing this practice on an OFFICIAL review?

    Reviews posted are a snapshot in time, right? And things do change over time, yes? I think this would be a brave and honest exercise. I’m not saying every review should be re-examined. But I would guess it must be true that some reviewers MUST have at least 1 opinion change over the years. So why not amend your review? That would be intellectually honest, and you’ll win much respect from many (maybe only me). Politically, “digging-in” is the modern American way of doing things. But on evolutionary scale, change and adapting is the better way. Do it. Do it. Amend your review. That’s the courageous thing to do. You’ll be doing the right thing.

    • This happens to some extent, but not in the way you’re describing. I’ve reviewed quite a few movies that I didn’t like in the theater, that I liked during my second viewing more. I usually make a note of that.

      The problem is it takes too much time to go back, rewrite, amend, publish, etc. Time that most likely wouldn’t be compensated for. It’d be nice if we had the resources to pull it off, but we don’t.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        Exactly. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to re-review movies we’ve already put the time and effort into reviewing once. This is most likely to happen when a movie we’ve reviewed previously is reissued in a new edition, which gives us the opportunity to revisit it. I’ve had to do that a few times, and occasionally find that my feelings about the movie have changed with another viewing, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

    • William Henley

      I personally feel that more people would prefer reviews of more movies than the site spending resources to go back and revisit old movies. There are a fair number of releases that I have to go read reviews of at other sites (or special intrests sites) – not because I prefer their reviews, but because this site simply can’t get to them. HDD is, by far, the best site for reviews and discussions out of all the sites I visit. I don’t think any of us SERIOUSLY would want less reviews so that the reviewers can take the time going back and reviewing a movie a second, third, or fourth time.

  22. EM

    It’s not unusual for me to have to see a movie more than once to be convinced of its place in the pellicular pantheon. However, I think I always start with some positive feelings for the film in question—films that seriously underwhelm me are not likely to get a second chance, and films that turn me off the first time around can just forget it.

    Still, there are some instances of movies that have underwhelmed me just enough for me to dismiss them for many years before finally welcoming them with open arms. I recently had that experience with Dial M for Murder. I saw it on video quite some time back—I’m guessing circa 1990, give or take a few years. At the time, I found the film entertaining, but I wasn’t especially impressed—if I wanted a stagy Hitchcock film adapted from a play with a cinematic gimmick, I’d take Rope…and there certainly were a few other Hitch films I’d rather revisit as well.

    But recently I decided to watch the film again. I wasn’t really interested in reëvaluating it. There was going to be a screening at a local theater—and in 3D, no less! I hadn’t seen it in 3D or even had the opportunity; and, well, I figured, Why the heck not? I ended up being very surprised by how much I liked the film this time, and not just because of the 3D. I even watched it again on video in 2D (cropped, alas) to make sure I wasn’t just imagining my newfound enthusiasm for the film. That experiment was successful, and now Dial M for Murder holds a permanent place in my personal video library.

  23. William Henley

    This week’s Blu-Ray releases made me think of a couple more movies – in particular, four different Star Trek movies.

    First Contact. I just could not see what everyone saw in this movie for the longest. I threw it down there with Final Frontier and Insurrection as worst Trek movies of all time. Saw the movie a couple of times again in college because everyone wanted to watch it, still unimpressed. Didn’t see the movie again for about 8 years, until I bought it on Blu-Ray, and finally got why people love this movie. It’s not my favorite Trek, but I went from hating it to really really liking it.

    Wrath of Khan. My story for this movie is similar to my story of First Contact. I just did not get it. Felt that the movie was plagued with horrible acting, horrible directing and a horrible screen play. Then I saw it again on Blu-Ray afer not having seen it in about 8 years, and was like “This movie is a heck of a lot better than I remember”. Now, I still don’t love this movie, but I do enjoy the movie now.

    The Motion Picture I feel that this is the most under appreciated film in the franchise. The movie just did not play well on small screens, and as I was just a few months old when the movie came out on the theater, all I had for years was the pan and scan VHS and later the over-compressed DVD release. Watching it on Blu-Ray, I finally understood what the director was going for – the movie is beautiful and visually stunning. The script is actually pretty good and actaully feels like an expanded Star Trek TOS script.

    So what would be my fourth Trek film? This may come as a surprise, but:

    The Final Frontier. Yeah, go ahead, hate on me for a few minutes. Yes, there are some REALLY bad scenes in here, such as Uhura’s fan dance, but there is actually a really good story here, and Shatner actually did a really good job directing, despite what he had to work with (script, time constraints, etc). Now I am not going to go as far as to say that this is a good movie, but I went from loathing this movie and going into convulsions even thinking about it to where now I can sit down and watch it and enjoy it.

    Insurrection and Nemesis are still turds. Funny, who would think there was a day that I would prefer 5 over 9 and 10.

    • EM

      My experience with First Contact is the opposite of yours: in the theater I enjoyed it enough to see it again a few days later, but then my enthusiasm cooled. While I wouldn’t say it was lousy—indeed, I remember it being fairly entertaining—I haven’t felt the desire to see it since.

      I have trouble even imagining not liking The Wrath of Khan, to the point of wondering if maybe you had a Ceti eel in your ear. 🙂 I’ve always liked it, a lot.

      I agree that The Motion Picture is seriously underrated. My reactions to my early viewings of the film (which did not include a theatrical screening, alas) were mixed but leaned toward the positive. Still, it was about a couple of decades before I came to accept the film as a classic. I can sympathize with those who would dub the film The Motionless Picture, because I’ve shared that feeling at times, though now I find it an exciting chapter of the Human Adventure. (As for it feeling like an expanded TOS script—there’s a good reason another of the film’s nicknames is Where Nomad Has Gone Before…but fortunately TMP is much better than “The Changeling”.) Since getting the original theatrical cut on Blu, I’ve watched this film even more than The Wrath of Khan. Perhaps this means TMP is my favorite Star Trek movie, or perhaps I’m just making up for lost time…I’m not sure, but I enjoy them both immensely. If I could watch only two Star Trek movies the rest of my life, these would be the ones.

      I’m not going to defend The Final Frontier as a great movie, but I like it…perhaps much the way I like Plan 9 From Outer Space. I agree that Final Frontier does have a good story at its core, a story in the best Roddenberryesque tradition. Most complaints about the film are about details which I am able to overlook enough to have a rollicking good time. And Uhura’s fan dance is one of the best parts. 🙂

      Insurrection was merely disappointing (it would have been better condensed into a series episode); Nemesis felt like an insult.

      • William Henley

        I consider Wrath of Khan now to be my fun film. I don’t know what shocks people more – when I say that I don’t care much for this movie, or when I say that Enterprise is my favorite series. I guess it all has to go with the fact that I probably look for different things in a movie than others. I mean, if we were to talk about my two FAVORITE movies, that would be the 2009 reboot and Generations.

        I can see why people would like Wrath of Khan. It’s just not my cup of tea (tempted to link to a Star Trek image meme there). I just no longer hate it – I now find it a fun movie, it’s just not my favorite.

  24. BambooLounge

    Interesting to see The Town mentioned here as I keep waffling on revisiting it. I saw it in admittedly less than ideal circumstances (opening night, crowded theater, got there too late, sat in the 2nd row), but I came away from it with all the same complaints Josh expressed. I felt it was way too derivative and the plot was far too contrived for me to keep suspending disbelief. Also, they wasted Jon Hamm and tried too hard to be Heat without ever pulling it off.

    I had high expectations for it since I love Gone Baby Gone, but walked out with the same, “Ugh, I can’t believe I just paid to see this reheated heist genre crap” feeling I had walking out of The Bank Job. But, part of me wonders just how much of my hate was due to the conditions and how much was due to the weaknesses of film.

    I think I’ll give it another shot at some point, but right now my queue is pretty lengthy. Such a hard decision to make between revisiting a film or seeing something I like or haven’t seen yet. Life is too short.