Inspired by 21 JUMP STREET: Movies We All Thought Were Totally Going To Suck But Didn't

Javi here. I think the title explains it all. When Jonesy and I watched 21 JUMP STREET(her review here) yesterday, I was thinking of how apprehensive I was about this movie when I first heard of it. I didn't think the movie was necessary, it was a weird property to even be remaking/updating, and yet I have not laughed this hard in a while. So here's other movies (in no particular order) that we all thought were totally going to suck but didn't!

 THE SOCIAL NETWORK

This is the first movie that I thought about. Remember when it was not even two years ago that we heard that David Fincher will be directing "the Facebook movie"? I remember even on the /filmcast, the hosts were so skeptical and dismissive as I was. The humble pie at we all ate was enormous indeed. THE SOCIAL NETWORK ended up being a movie that will outlast Facebook itself as a topical and yet very transcendent look at friendship, ambition, betrayal. Between the stylish Fincher direction, the Trent Reznor score, as well as a great performance by Jesse Eisenberg, this movie rose to be one of the best of the year and if it hadn't been for the Weinsteins and their Oscar-bait THE KING'S SPEECH, it could've won Best Picture.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL

This one is a little dicier for me, only because of what happened to Johnny Depp afterwards (remember ALICE IN WONDERLAND?). But back in 2002 in my younger days, I was skeptical about a movie based on a freaking Disney ride. The sequels notwithstanding, this was and is still one of the most fun action adventure movies in a long time. The movie gave Orlando Bloom something to do and Johnny Depp is now busy for the next 10 years.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

The phrase "fool me twice..." came into mind because we had already gotten 2 back-to-back craptasitc X-MEN movies, alsmost doing away with any of the goodwill and great universe that was set up by director Bryan Singer. But what KICK ASS director Matthew Vaughn did with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS was make me forget about silver bullets and "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch" nonsense from the previous movies. Much like Ang Lee's THE HULK, it is a smarter look at the superhero genre with the back drop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr's ideological battle of a mutatan'ts place in the world is also a focus, where you see both sides of the issu in a way that they still had not been in the previous movies. Michael Fassbender was the best part of the movie as his portrayal of the future Magneto brought an emotional focus to the character to make him more compelling than the "heroes" of the story.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

The WTF prequel/remake/sequel? Whatevs, I am not a big PLANET OF THE APES fan like Jonesy is, and while I always have a soft spot for Tim Burton, I didnt like the remake. So when we got a screening for RISE, I had low expectations. Those expectations were blown away thanks to one Cesar aka Andy Serkis. His story is the only fully realized one and that is just fine with me. He is the main character of this story and his emotional arc shows his ascension as the leader of the apes that will one day rule the Earth. As an animal lover, this was a painful movie to watch, which is why I'm freaked to see PROJECT NIM, but it is an emotionally charged movie where you're technically rooting for the end of the world.

As you can see, a lot of the movies I listed were very recent, within the last decade. If you guys have any other potential bombs that ended up being amazing, let us know in the comments.

Tweet