The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. It seems like a tropey romance-action flick, but is more a parody of genre clichés. The writing, acting, and humour are pretty good.
The 2009 Astro Boy movie was surprisingly decent. Had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
And since we are on the subject of Tezuka adaptations that punch way above their first impressions, the 2001 Rintarou version of Metropolis got mixed reviews at the time but kicks all sorts of ass.
Metropolis is one of my favorite anime, I saw it in a theater, and I still dont understand how it didn’t achieve cult status.
I watched Pig just recently almost as a joke. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
There’s a B movie that I really like but it’s name is off putting to say the least. It’s a solid movie, its funny and silly but most of the cast play serious characters just dealing with something absurd. It’s a cat and mouse detective story and the film is free to watch on places like Tubi.
It’s called Butt Boy
In the same b movie realm, I have a favorite that is so horrible, it’s good.
Dead snow
Basically about Nazi zombies, but it’s hilariously bad. And the best part? There’s a sequel, dead snow 2, which is phenomenal! Like a total 180 from the first one.
Hey Dead Snow is amazing! Norwegians having fun with American teen-slashers tropes and nazi zombies, what not to love?
In the same vein, Iron Sky is a movie about Nazis having secretly built a moon base and being accidentally discovered. The first one is dumb but actually an enjoyable movie. The second one is truly, truly awful and shouldn’t even be watched out of curiosity.
A movie made by a student of the film academy, and it was made with a ridiculously low budget of course, but still contains some wild special effects and a spaceship and an alien creature and a title song written especially for it. Looks quite a bit outdated (and I wonder if it looked that even then when it was new :)), but still a lot of fun, and even a message about artificial intelligence:
“Dark Star” by John Carpenter
Dark Star was fucking nuts but it was fun to watch with friends.
Lars and the Real Girl. Seems like a dumb boner comedy. Actually a weirdly wholesome film.
I was gonna say this one too. Especially for the time it was made, I really appreciate that it never punched down on the main character (or people experiencing mental illness), unlike a lot of its contemporaries.
Ryan Gosling has some fantastic early work in general actually. The United States of Leland was one of my favourites growing up, though I’m not sure if it’s aged well.
This was the first time I saw Ryan Gosling in anything. Later, I kept hearing about how he was considered extremely attractive, and I had only seen him in that movie, and it confused the shit out of me. You think he’s hot? Really?
I also thought that movie was going to be a stupid comedy. I don’t think I was mature enough for it the time and I’d like to see it again with fresh eyes.
Dog Soldiers.
It is known as the British Predator. You can see the low budget on the screen, but my god it’s excellent. Do not watch the trailer, it’s shit and will give you a bad impression of the film.
One of the best werewolf movies of all time
Not sure it fits your criteria, but Sausage Party was a complete surprise for me. I never wanted to watch it because it seemed dumb and purile. And it is, but also somehow it blew my mind and became one of my favourite movies.
It’s a funny movie as long as you skip the final scene. It’s a funny bit but goes on for FAR too long, Imo.
I honestly thought Wonka was going to suck, but it turned out to be a pretty good film!
The movie Battleship based on the board game is far better than I ever expected. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a solid action flick.
It was super dumb and full of action and I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Dude, Where’s My Car?
I thought it was gonna be a dumb stoner movie, but it is actually amazing and hilarious.
While simultaneously being a dumb stoner movie. Don’t tell me it wasn’t, cause I still am!
It was a genius stoner movie.
Moon. Fantastic mostly 1 man show.
The effects of the rider are amateurish, but the story and acting are awesome.
I was surprised by how Mickey 17 used a similar plot point.
The Jumanji remake was FAR better than I expected
This was going to be my pick. I went in with very low expectations which may be the reason it ended up being enjoyable. It was better than it had any reason to be.
Jack black is obnoxious but really nailed the high school girl impression.
The recent Dungeons and Dragons.
‘Upgrade’ is an excellent sifi B movie.
Upgrade was not a “B” movie by any stretch. Low budget doesn’t mean B. Upgrade was more well done than much of the “A” stuff that’s put out.
But obviously this is opinion and depends how you define B movies.
I totally thought Upgrade would suck. I’ve watched it 10 times now, and every time it gets better. Just stellar work.
The question was does it look like it would suck, at face value. I think Upgrade qualifies.
What we do in the shadows. The movie, not the show. If you like mockumentaries it’s a must watch. Looks like garbage at times but it works very well for what they were going for.
OMG YES +100 for What We Do in the Shadows
I still need to watch the latest season of the show though lmao
I have nightmares about baby Colin Robinson. Great show though!
The show is great too!
Yeah it’s really good in its own right but it feels a lot more polished
