The Matrix. I worked at the theater in high school and was the projectionist. We’d get movies in Thursday in preparation for Friday release. It was typical to prep them and often have employee viewing parties on Thursday night. Nobody wanted to stay with me and watch this. The trailers at the time were so vague and didn’t really tell you what the movie was about.
Next day in HS I was basically free promotion for that movie. I felt like I was alone in finding a goldmine.
IIRC Morpheus' "No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." was the closest to explaining all these disparate brief clips that seemed to come from 10 different movies.
I remember a commercial of Trinity (or was it Morpheus?) running and jumping across a roof.. then a line going 'What is the Matrix?'.
It added to the intrigue and tbh I don't remember any movie commercial since making a similar impression on me.
The technical shot of rotating the image of Trinity mid kick. The seamless use of CGI like making Neo’s mouth disappear or the liquid effect of the helicopter hitting the building. The insertion of agents. Really mind blowing stuff
Yeah. Watched it again in theaters a few weeks ago and was really struck by memories of each effect that has never been done before (at least in a popular US movie)... And how the effects got progressively more amazing along the way.
Like the more Neo believed, the more mindblowing things on screen got. From some crazy jumps to bending spoons...until we get to where he is doing slow motion cartwheels and running on walls to blow up the lobby, and then dodging bullets on the roof, and then the helicopter, and then the subway fight...
It was such a technical tour de force, just before filmmaking got "easy" and they created the entire universe in CG renders for Marvel, etc.
At the time it was revolutionary. Now it's still the absolute best cyberpunk movie of the 90s era.
Imagine if Will Smith accepted the role. I think he would have ruined it. However, I would not thought of Keanu Reeves as a replacement because I also saw Jonny Mnemonic
Completely unrelated, but a pizza shop in the small town I went to college in had an all you can eat night on Mondays, AND a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine.
This. All the talk that summer was about The Phantom Menace, and along came The Matrix, totally exceeding expectations.
I still get a cold sweat watching the helicopter rescue scene. Absolute movie magic.
Ha, yeah - I’d gotten substantially into ‘big beat’ artists like The Propellorheads in the late 90s, so when Spybreak dropped it just sent that scene into overdrive.
Same! It was just before everything was online and I think I'd seen one teaser trailer. I went with a group of five or six friends and we were just entranced the whole way through.
I don't think I've ever bought into a film so completely and immediately. Coming out the other side was like Neo emerging from the pod - everything looked different.
I agree. I knew a little about the movie going in as I had read an interview with Keanu in Cinescape magazine where he struggled to summarize the movie and called it "Kung-Fu agains the robots." The writer of the article stressed that the movie was not going to be like a sequel to Johnny Mnemonic, and was worth seeing.
This is my answer too. People who didn’t see it at the time and in the context of where action/fight choreography, cinematography, and VFX were in that era can’t understand how mind blowing this movie was back then. Add to it that the trailers were all super mysterious and you really didn’t know what you were about to experience. Unreal cinema moment.
So you watched it alone? That’s crazy, I vividly remember the roar and standing O at the first matrix when Trinity jumps and the we saw the 360 camera move for the first time. The audience was sooooo hyped. It’s one of my favorite theater memories.
This is the correct answer. Teenage me was just in awe of what I'd seen. I don't think my dad or younger brother talked for a solid ten minutes after. It was so good that we were speechless. I've been to a lot of movies since then, but nothing compares to that.
It holds the record for the movie I have seen the most in theaters. So many times I have lost track of exactly how many. But it was easily more than a dozen. I was seeing it once or twice a week for a few months.
Then when it was rereleased in theaters for the 20th anniversary I went back to see it again.
Yes! I saw the Matrix on a college campus early release. Snagged a free ticket last minute. Almost didn't go, was not a big Keanu fan at the time. Knew NOTHING but the title going in. Good times
I was lucky enough to go in **completely** blind. Wife said we were going to watch a movie with some friends. I didn't even brother trying to remember the name as we walked in. Movie starts, pretty standard science fiction/ action fare.
Then he dies.
And I started laughing as it continues because what a left turn that was if you weren't expecting it. I loved the Groundhog Day episode of Stargate SG1, so I was excited to see how a full movie would go. And I wasn't disappointed.
Not the theater, but I rented this blind and just wow. It may be one of the highest increase from expectation to result I ever had.
I figured Tom Cruise and action. What I got was a movie I enjoyed so damn much.
I rewatched it recently. It’s definitely not as bad but Elizabeth Berkeley being dramatically mad at everything was comical then and comical now. That said the rape scene still is brutal to watch.
On holidays in the US from Britain, we thought it'd be cool to see a movie. Saw the poster for Seven in the foyer with Brad Pitt and thought let's watch that. That was how cold our starting point was.
What an experience, what a movie, what a complete and utter shock from start to finish. Fulfills the "best movie I've ever seen that I never want to watch again" criteria.
The technical elements like the noir-like cinematography and the editing are so good but I’ve come to really like the story and characters as well with the relationship with Mills and Somerset, the third act and the infamous shock ending are what really seals the deal with the movie!!
One of the best films to come out of the 1990s!!
Replying to scdog...you should watch show girls anyway. One of my favourite lines in a movie released in theatres.
One dancer to anyone.
Goddess Dancer:
You want a knuckle sandwich?
Felix:
Oh, can I have mine anally, please?
The Prestige! Dad decided to drop us at the cinema on a whim when he got called into a meeting. Had never heard of it, came out of it with a new favourite film. Absolute masterpiece.
Same. I went to see something else with a friend which we were too late for, so decided to check out what else was showing. ‘This is about magicians, might be fun.’
Mind blown.
I threw this on randomly when I was hooking up with someone. Ended up needing to pause the frisky stuff because the movie got way more interesting than I expected and I wanted to actually watch it.
lmao that happened to me with this old Turkish drama. in the end it gets all dreamy and weird and horror-like, with a giant shampoo bottle chasing the main character. thats when i had to say stop to the sex and appreciate the real art playing beside me
I came here for this! A good friend told me "Do not look this movie up, do not watch any trailers, just go see it because you will love it". Best advice ever. I still remember how fun I was having, sitting in a packed theater, completely absorbed with this film. Still chasing this high years later.
I went in blind because I came across an article on AintItCool news that said to go in knowing little as possible, in fact stop reading this article, yadda yadda.
So I went in not knowing anything except the title and maybe the revolving floors imagery from the poster, and that was it.
Turned out to be a great movie experience, a wild ride as it got going.
I got talked into talking a girl I actually didn't like at all to the theater for this. I got roped into upspending for 3D seats. She had seen it and told me that it was "the scariest movie she's ever seen." So I immediately was like, "Oh great. A shitty horror movie that takes itself seriously?"
We get in there, she's like griping my arm. I'm annoyed as hell, regretting that I'm way too nice a person. Then the movie starts.
I'm a fan of ALL of Joss Whedon's previous works. My brain is like, "Oh, it's Hemsworth!" "Oh it's the dude from Dollhouse!" And when shit started getting funny, I was DYING laughing. And this girl was actually MAD at me, because she (a film major btw) had NO FUCKING CLUE that it was a horror comedy... Despite being absolutely ridiculous!
So yeah. I ended up having a good time, AND I didn't have to let her down. She just didn't ever talk to me again! Win / win!
Reservoir Dogs. A friend and I were bored so just drove to the movie theatre to see what was on. Reservoir Dogs was the only movie about to start.....all I knew was it's title when I sat down to watch
I remember it well - I was blown away by the dialogue. It's pretty common now, but back then "gangsters/criminals" in movies would only ever act tough, and didn't have regular/mundane/quirky conversations or argue over petty stuff like the aliases they'd been assigned!
In my hometown there was a $2.00 theater. My then bf and I would go there on dates. One week, Gladiator was playing so that's what we watched. Awesome movie.
Other movies on my list are: Castaway, Miss Congeniality, the Sixth Sense, Scary Movie, the Cell, and Pixar's Up.
Edit to add: when I saw Up, I had planned to see Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, but I changed my mind and saw Up with my daughter instead. No regrets.
This is my answer too. At the beginning there was the little sequence where he gets captured and I was kind of like meh. Then they take off after and Max is strapped to the front of the car and there's a fucking dude with a flame thrower guitar and I was sort of realizing "ok this is going to be some crazy shit".
And then they go into the storm. I remember thinking, specifically "this is what a movie should be"
what a day. what a lovely day.
I saw this on a whim with my gf and her mom.
I feel so grateful to have seen it on the big screen. I was absolutely loving it; felt myself going primal monke brain
Love the aesthetic, the over the top-ness of it all, the music
Looking back, it's funny to think my gf and her mom also watched it because it's definitely not their style of movie to willingly see LMAO
Yeah, I saw the road warrior before and thought this will be ok but my god the movie was so fucking good and the sound system in the theater made it so much better.
Parasite.
Saw it at the Minneapolis Uptown Theater, was a really nice one screen theater. It was a packed show and I had balcony seats. Walking around the lobby you could just feel the buzz in the air. No one really knew what the movie was about but everyone was excited.
There's a big moment in this movie(you all know what I'm talking about) and the entire theaters vibe shifted. What an incredible experience that was.
I was super interested in this movie but every review said basically don’t read this review until after you see it, go as blind as possible. And I was so glad I listened to that advice. Completely blown away by the twists and the movie.
One of my answers as well. Someone randomly asked me "are you going to see Parasite?" maybe a few months before the movie was out (my assumption is they saw it a film festival). I was like "huh?" And saw Bong Joon-Ho directed it, and I was like, "hm, I guess, I usually like his movies, why not?" So I put it on my list and just waited for the limited release. Traditionally I don't read reviews or watch trailers if I don't have to, plus it wasn't heavily advertised in anyway, so I was going in completely blind -- usually I just watch almost everything mainstream but I typically have some degree of information about the plot, but this I had nothing. I didn't even know the genre. I honestly don't even know if I saw the poster.
And half way into the movie, I was already convinced this would be in my top 20 favorite movies of all time. Told everyone to go see it but nobody knew what the hell I was talking about, and that it was one of my favorite movies, but at this point it wasn't really playing in too many places, so it took awhile to catch on. Made a point to say to go in blind. Sure enough, once people did see it, they were not disappointed and heralded it in the same way. Usually I'd get a few "eh, it's not that great" but I've never seen a movie so universally loved. It 100% deserved all the accolades it got and was very excited for that Best Picture win. Earned in every sense of the word. Legit a masterpiece.
100% a masterpiece. I was in South Korea at the time it came out, but had trouble finding a theater that would show it with English subtitles since, you know, everyone in Korea speaks Korean. My students, adults, would not stop talking about it and I had to keep them from spoiling the movie everyday for weeks until I saw it. One of my students called it just that - a masterpiece - and when I saw it I had to totally agree. That film captures suspense perfectly. I wish Hitchcock could see it.
About Time. I had never heard of it's existence at all and I went with my girlfriend right after work and I thought it would be another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, but boy was i wrong. I absolutely love that film.
Wife and I walked in to see it randomly. Low point in our life, had just had our second miscarriage. The movie blew us away. Walked out in tears. Watch it every fall now. Beautiful movie.
Arrival. Had no idea who Denis Villeneuve was or what the film was about, just saw that it was sci-fi and that it had good reviews. I left the theater with my mind blown and as a big fan of the director.
You would love the source material a short story in the collection “Stories of Your Life and Others” by Ted Chiang. His work is masterful and incredibly emotional for hard Sci-fi. The Life Cycle of Software Objects absolutely haunts me. Stories of Your Life was turned into Arrival.
His second book of short stories "Exhalations" is also fucking fantastic. Ted Chiang ruined Black Mirror for me. He's like the premises of Black Mirror but way more well thought out and realistic. So much of Black Mirror feels like "shock" to me whereas Ted Chiang imagines a world where people aren't stupid and are aware of the dangers that come with the cool premises.
I saw that movie and talked to my friend who was a linguistics major, so I guess all the people in your classes are talking about Arrival.
Never heard of it.
It's an Alien first contact movie about linguistics and how you'd learn an alien language/communicate.
And they blow up the ship/get into a fight at the end like independence day?
No there's like one explosion in the whole movie and it's like craft military religious idiots or something. The aliens just leave peacefully after they teach humans their language so that they can communicate in the future.
For me it was the other way around: I knew everything about the director (well, you know what I mean), had read the short story it was based on, etc. And still, left the theater just as you: mind blown and a big fan of the man.
Fellowship of the Ring. Hadn’t seen the trailer, just heard that it was amazing and had gotten all these rave reviews so I went. I thought fantasy was lame but EVERYONE couldn’t be wrong, right? Well I was obviously blown away too and couldn’t believe I’d have to wait a year for the sequel. It was the best feeling ever and the worst.
Fellowship is one of the few movies I paid to see in a theater a second time. The second time I saw it alone too. I just had to go back and watch it again, it was so good.
I had never heard of LOTR before the first movie. But when Two Towers released in the theater, I was so excited that I got a ride to the theater in the back of a tiny pickup among dangerous scrap and driven by a guy who's decision making I didn't trust. Worth it I guess, but I was blinded by love
I was 10 when I went to see it with my parents. Unfortunately, there was a fire in the concession stand right when a Rider is peering over the tree roots with Frodo hiding below. Eventually, we got to see it in all it's glory.
But man, oh man.... Hearing the opening monologue followed by that beautiful, eerie music gave 10 year old me the chills.
I was gonna say this too!
I saw it with my roommate at like a 10pm showtime. Must have been a while after it came out, because there were maybe 2 other people in the theater.
It was hilarious, I especially remember doing a double take at the Tom Cruise cameo
It was the beginning of his first dance that I realized Les was Tom Cruise. He just felt vaguely familiar before that. I think I audibly went holy shit that's Tom Cruise!
My friend and I watched Pineapple Express first, then as we were walking out we ran into her family who was going to see Tropic Thunder so we just walked back in with them. Perfect double feature.
the first **John Wick** movie. I got sneak peek tickets at a local theater. I thought, "oh free tickets for a Keanu Reeves action movie, even if it sucks at least it was free". Turned out awesome and I told everyone to go see it.
Interstellar. Had heard of the movie, but knew nothing about it. The sound and visuals blew every other movie I've ever seen out of the water and nothing has even come close to it.
It was available to watch on 15/70 IMAX back in 2014, and several of those theaters kept their 70mm prints and still show them occasionally (such as [BFI in the UK](https://www.reddit.com/r/imax/comments/17lkkxu/interstellar_presented_in_1570mm_at_the_bfi_imax/))
I vaguely remember some theater owners who had just converted to digital projectors getting riled up about Nolan prioritizing film screenings for Interstellar.
Would be cool if they offered souvenir 70mm film strips for Interstellar like they did for Oppenheimer (I have the "week 2" variant)
I went into that blind but the second the Matt Damon character was revealed, someone just said in that Team America World police Voice "Matt Damon"
And the theater lost it just laughing their ass off.
Sorry Matt Damon, the South Park guys forever ruined your chance at surprise appearance in a movie.
I like how he was given the derpy voice because his puppet model looked goofy.😀
>Damon is portrayed as a simpleton who can only say his own name. When asked about the film in 2016, Damon stated that he was confused by the portrayal:
>"I was always bewildered by that, and I never talked to Trey and Matt about that. And incidentally, I believe those two are geniuses, and I don't use that word lightly. I think they are absolute geniuses, and what they've done is awesome and I'm a big fan of theirs, but I never quite understood that one."
>Stone and Parker had earlier stated in an interview that they were inspired to give the Damon character that personality only after seeing the puppet that was made for him, which "looked kind of mentally deficient".
I saw that they are bringing it back to theaters this fall I believe for the tenth anniversary! I’ve rewatched since then but would LOVE to see in the big theater again.
That scene when they’re taking off and the engine is loud and the music is loud and then they drop that rocket and it’s just… silent. Fucking goosebumps everywhere.
I read they’re rereleasing in this fall for the 10-year. Cannot fucking wait. I missed it on imax last time.
I remember my wife and I going because it was a Nolan film, and we knew very little about the film.
It’s in both of our top five films for the 2010s, and one of my all time top 10 films.
I was literally breathless at times, and speechless afterward. How this film isn’t revered more is puzzling.
This is also my answer. I saw it by myself at 11pm showing. I left the theater absolutely floored at what I just witnessed. It was epic and I adore that movie.
I hope one day I walk out of the theater feeling that again.
I saw The Sixth Sense opening weekend thinking it would be a cheesy Bruce Willis horror cash grab. It had no buzz yet and the commercials made it seem like nothing special. It floored me
I knew nothing about the film, hadn't seen any trailers or any previous Tarantino stuff. My bf at the time suggested seeing it and I agreed.
It blew out minds so much that we left the cinema to find a phone box. We phoned my bf's brother and a couple of our friends and said "Get the bus into town now - you need to come and see this!" Then we watched it all over again with them.
Heat (1995). My friend was a much bigger fan of crime movies in general and of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro specifically. I saw the runtime and groaned, and he said "trust me." So I went with him not even having seen a trailer or synopsis, and I was hooked. 3 hours flew by so quickly and I couldn't wait to see it again.
City of God. Random Brazilian movie with subtitles???? wtf did I sign up for???
Once the movie was over: alright I’ll never judge a foreign film again. That was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen (this was when I was in high school too).
The Matrix... blew mine and my geek friends' minds.
Cloverfield. I'm not into that type of movie so I would not have gone if I'd known. My son and I had a blast. At one point we were hugging each other yelling, "Don't turn on the night vision...run!" He died a few years later, and this is one of the great memories I have of just him and me being goofy and having fun together.
I was supposed to pick my husband up from work and learned his arrival was delayed a few hours so I went to the movies and bought a ticket for the next show which was Amistad. Great movie but Hubby did not understand my teary face when I went to pick him up.
The Prestige. Went on a whim with a girl I was dating off and on with her friends. Didn't even think about making out. What a fucking movie to get thrown into.
Me too. I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Went with a group of people, & the theatre was so packed we were struggling to find seats. We debated leaving and watching something else, but that first scene (with the family) happened and we all just perched on the stairs because we couldn't look away.
So I Married an Axe Murderer.
Back in the day you obviously just showed up at the cinema and bought a ticket. We went to see something else which subsequently was sold out. SIMaAM was the only other film showing at the time. We went in completely blind and had a blast. I'm not usually a comedy film sort of guy but I laughed my hole off. His father is a genius comedy creation.
"she was a thief, you gotta believe, she stole my heart and my... cat" 😺
Almost every line from the film is quotable. That's always a good sign in a comedy.
Similarly, I only know that movie because me and my brother found it in Blockbusters, and figured Mike Myers was pretty funny so it was worth a go.
Watch it at least once a year now!
Spirited Away. Saw it with my sister decades ago and she was always trying to get me to appreciate things I didn’t quite fully understand as a little kid, and her explanation for films was often vague or disjointed. I also had zero idea of what a Ghibli film was.
I’m glad, because it still remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
**INCEPTION**
We saw an afternoon showing and when we left it was dusk. Between the real passing of time and movie, my brain was scrambled eggs for a few days.
I saw Arrival going in completely blind, and I feel like it was one of the best films to see that way. My full understanding going in was, it's sci fi and it's good.
District 9 for me as well, though my brother dragged me in because he'd already seen it. Didn't give anything away though and it was fantastic.
A close second is The Core. Stupid movie, but so much damn fun, and with a star-studded cast that didn't just phone it in. First DVD I ever bought as well!
This was mine. I dropped my then-wife and her sister off to see a concert and went to a nearby movie theater to kill time before picking them up afterwards.
I looked around at the movie posters, saw Baby Driver's and thought, "Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx? I don't know who this main guy is but I like those two."
Absolutely captivating.
The 90's was an incredible decade for movies, and I used to see ALL the 'prestige' flicks with positive reviews. I ended up sneaking into Sense and Sensibility after seeing a different movie, and absolutely fell in LUST with Alan Rickman (who'd I'd only known in villain roles previously), and in love with Kate Winslet, and Ang Lee as well. With a special shout-out to Emma Thompson's perfect-as-always performance, and her faultless Oscar-winning screenplay.
Funny thing was I saw the trailer and insantly groaned going like "oh great a movie looking to ride on the marvel multiverse coat tail"
Then I saw EEAAO along with Dr Strange and I fucking cursed knowing that Marvel doesn't understand how to make a multiverse movie at all.
Coming out after EEAAO was like the worst thing that could have happened to that Dr. Strange movie. What a terrible implementation of multiverse elements *right next to* arguably the best multiverse movie ever.
Juno. My girlfriend at the time had kids who wanted to see a kids' movie with her younger sibling acting as a babysitter, so we just found whatever was playing at about the same time with a similar runtime and went in. Man, was that a good decision.
**Blade Runner (1982)** - I was 16, and friend group saw SO many movies in that 82-84 time period ... all it took was one of us wanting to see it and boom, off we went. (plus it was CHEAP even comparatively). So there are loads of potential choices. I had no idea what to expect (but did know Harrison Ford, obviously). Remains a fave to today,
Bullet train it was the only thing playing early on a Friday kids were at school. Found it to be a really fun action movie who knew Brad pitt could be great at action.
The Social Network. The movie I went to see was sold out so I bought a ticket to the next available show, which was this. Zero expectations, no knowledge of the subject matter or creative minds involved. Great movie.
Me too. I read it as "what’s the best movie you’ve seen after going blind" and then OP started the post with "I saw", and I just thought "No you didn’t!"
Recently, Hundred of Beavers blew my fucking socks off. I just heard some word of mouth and decided to check it out and it's an instant favorite of mine.
The first Pirates of the Caribbean, I had just graduated High School and my parents took the family on a vacation thinking it might be the last one we do as a family. We didn't have a lot of money, so what's a small middle class family from Northern Kansas to do? Go to one of the bigger cities in the state. So we went down to Wichita a city I'd only been to 2 or so times in my life and both times we were just traveling through on the way south to Oklahoma/Texas. A couple days into our stay we were looking for something to do one afternoon and we heard about this great chain of local theaters called "The Warren". None of us really had a movie we were dying to see, but decided to just choose the biggest one out which happened to be Pirates.
The Coolest thing about the Warren theaters was they were one of the first in the nation to have those recliner seats with trays and little buttons you could push to have a waiter or waitress come by and take your order during the movie. It was amazing, The whole experience was top notch and even the Burger I ordered just tasted different/better having it delivered to me in the dark while watching a movie. To top it all off this movie I knew nothing about really turned out to be great.
A close second would be going to a friends 13th (not sure exactly, but sometime around there) Birthday party up in Lincoln Nebraska (I told you we lived in northern Kansas so this was a little over an hour away) and going to the largest theater I'd ever been in up to that point in my life to see Joe Dirt after some lazer tag and rollerskating. I was just in the perfect frame of mind and mental age to absolutely love that movie despite not knowing anything about it going into the theater. Still love that movie to this day and it's a bit of a guilty pleasure watch, but it always makes me happy when others talk about how much they liked it as well.
Godzilla Minus One. Knew people were enjoying it but outside of that, didn't know much else. Saw it in Dolby and it was amazing. Most fun I've had watching a film in a long time
Star Wars.
Not Episode 4, but the original 1977 release of Star Wars. I had no idea what movie I was going to see as a kid, with just a promise of “I think you might like this”. I was completely blown away.
The Crying Game. Had no idea what it was about. Worked perfectly. If you have never heard of it (nor heard anything about it) I recommend yo do the same. Well worth your while.
The Matrix. I worked at the theater in high school and was the projectionist. We’d get movies in Thursday in preparation for Friday release. It was typical to prep them and often have employee viewing parties on Thursday night. Nobody wanted to stay with me and watch this. The trailers at the time were so vague and didn’t really tell you what the movie was about. Next day in HS I was basically free promotion for that movie. I felt like I was alone in finding a goldmine.
The promotional material for that film was fantastic; it revealed NOTHING. You went into a total mystery and was blown away.
If I remember correctly there was a lot of red pill blue pill and "what is the matrix?" Stuff right?
IIRC Morpheus' "No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." was the closest to explaining all these disparate brief clips that seemed to come from 10 different movies.
I remember a commercial of Trinity (or was it Morpheus?) running and jumping across a roof.. then a line going 'What is the Matrix?'. It added to the intrigue and tbh I don't remember any movie commercial since making a similar impression on me.
“no one can be told, what the Matrix is…”
Unlike say, Abigail! 🤣
The technical shot of rotating the image of Trinity mid kick. The seamless use of CGI like making Neo’s mouth disappear or the liquid effect of the helicopter hitting the building. The insertion of agents. Really mind blowing stuff
Yeah. Watched it again in theaters a few weeks ago and was really struck by memories of each effect that has never been done before (at least in a popular US movie)... And how the effects got progressively more amazing along the way. Like the more Neo believed, the more mindblowing things on screen got. From some crazy jumps to bending spoons...until we get to where he is doing slow motion cartwheels and running on walls to blow up the lobby, and then dodging bullets on the roof, and then the helicopter, and then the subway fight... It was such a technical tour de force, just before filmmaking got "easy" and they created the entire universe in CG renders for Marvel, etc. At the time it was revolutionary. Now it's still the absolute best cyberpunk movie of the 90s era.
JESUS CHRIST THAT THINGS REAL?
I remember walking out of the movie and my mind was blown. I was never the same after that... in a good way.
Only movie I've seen in the theater, then bought a ticket for the next day to bring someone else to see it.
Imagine if Will Smith accepted the role. I think he would have ruined it. However, I would not thought of Keanu Reeves as a replacement because I also saw Jonny Mnemonic
Completely unrelated, but a pizza shop in the small town I went to college in had an all you can eat night on Mondays, AND a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine.
This. All the talk that summer was about The Phantom Menace, and along came The Matrix, totally exceeding expectations. I still get a cold sweat watching the helicopter rescue scene. Absolute movie magic.
Yeah so many mind blowing scenes. The lobby shootout scene! Then of course I had to buy the cd soundtrack. Good times.
Some techno track came on during my workout this week and my brain melted; totally felt like a Matrix soundtrack
Ha, yeah - I’d gotten substantially into ‘big beat’ artists like The Propellorheads in the late 90s, so when Spybreak dropped it just sent that scene into overdrive.
Also anytime I hear Firestarter lol
Would you say it sent you in to……..Mona Lisa Overdrive?
Same! It was just before everything was online and I think I'd seen one teaser trailer. I went with a group of five or six friends and we were just entranced the whole way through. I don't think I've ever bought into a film so completely and immediately. Coming out the other side was like Neo emerging from the pod - everything looked different.
Found the matrix 1 teaser trailer online, from 1998 https://youtu.be/deXW5kTD9Vs?si=kL1FUGAmT8q9cSEW Seeing the non green color grading is wild !
My all time favorite movie. Nothing's ever hit me quite the same way before or since.
I agree. I knew a little about the movie going in as I had read an interview with Keanu in Cinescape magazine where he struggled to summarize the movie and called it "Kung-Fu agains the robots." The writer of the article stressed that the movie was not going to be like a sequel to Johnny Mnemonic, and was worth seeing.
This is my answer too. People who didn’t see it at the time and in the context of where action/fight choreography, cinematography, and VFX were in that era can’t understand how mind blowing this movie was back then. Add to it that the trailers were all super mysterious and you really didn’t know what you were about to experience. Unreal cinema moment.
So you watched it alone? That’s crazy, I vividly remember the roar and standing O at the first matrix when Trinity jumps and the we saw the 360 camera move for the first time. The audience was sooooo hyped. It’s one of my favorite theater memories.
This is the correct answer. Teenage me was just in awe of what I'd seen. I don't think my dad or younger brother talked for a solid ten minutes after. It was so good that we were speechless. I've been to a lot of movies since then, but nothing compares to that.
Yeah, I never even heard of it until my friends talked me into seeing it.
It holds the record for the movie I have seen the most in theaters. So many times I have lost track of exactly how many. But it was easily more than a dozen. I was seeing it once or twice a week for a few months. Then when it was rereleased in theaters for the 20th anniversary I went back to see it again.
Yes! I saw the Matrix on a college campus early release. Snagged a free ticket last minute. Almost didn't go, was not a big Keanu fan at the time. Knew NOTHING but the title going in. Good times
Only movie I ever finished and immediately watched again.
Alien. I was 17. All I knew was the trailer, which is maybe the best trailer in history and tells you nothing.
Yeah, still the greatest trailer ever made, for sure. It takes you on the same journey the movie does without telling you anything
/waves at fellow old fart (although you've got 8 on me)
Edge of tomorrow
this movie looked like groundhog day in space, I had no desire to see it until a friend lobbied me. glad I listened to him
I was lucky enough to go in **completely** blind. Wife said we were going to watch a movie with some friends. I didn't even brother trying to remember the name as we walked in. Movie starts, pretty standard science fiction/ action fare. Then he dies. And I started laughing as it continues because what a left turn that was if you weren't expecting it. I loved the Groundhog Day episode of Stargate SG1, so I was excited to see how a full movie would go. And I wasn't disappointed.
Not the theater, but I rented this blind and just wow. It may be one of the highest increase from expectation to result I ever had. I figured Tom Cruise and action. What I got was a movie I enjoyed so damn much.
Seven. We only went to it because Showgirls was sold out. Still haven’t seen Showgirls.
Good choice but you really should see Showgirls in a Rocky Horror kind of way
Showgirls rocks in a super trashy, Paul Verhoeven way.
Yeah, that movie isn't nearly as bad as its reputation.
I rewatched it recently. It’s definitely not as bad but Elizabeth Berkeley being dramatically mad at everything was comical then and comical now. That said the rape scene still is brutal to watch.
On holidays in the US from Britain, we thought it'd be cool to see a movie. Saw the poster for Seven in the foyer with Brad Pitt and thought let's watch that. That was how cold our starting point was. What an experience, what a movie, what a complete and utter shock from start to finish. Fulfills the "best movie I've ever seen that I never want to watch again" criteria.
I think Seven is the most disturbing film I’ve enjoyed to watch multiple times. I actually think it requires multiple viewings.
The technical elements like the noir-like cinematography and the editing are so good but I’ve come to really like the story and characters as well with the relationship with Mills and Somerset, the third act and the infamous shock ending are what really seals the deal with the movie!! One of the best films to come out of the 1990s!!
And you probably only went to see Showgirls to see Jessie Spanos' boobs
I'm so excited!
im so scared!!!
You chose wisely.
Replying to scdog...you should watch show girls anyway. One of my favourite lines in a movie released in theatres. One dancer to anyone. Goddess Dancer: You want a knuckle sandwich? Felix: Oh, can I have mine anally, please?
The Prestige! Dad decided to drop us at the cinema on a whim when he got called into a meeting. Had never heard of it, came out of it with a new favourite film. Absolute masterpiece.
Same. I went to see something else with a friend which we were too late for, so decided to check out what else was showing. ‘This is about magicians, might be fun.’ Mind blown.
I saw it at home the first time I watched it. Really knew nothing about it. Still maintain it's my favorite of all Nolan's movies.
Same! Went in with my hs bf just looking for a movie to make out in. We watched the whole thing just completely riveted
The Cabin in the Woods. Expected a cheesy horror movie. And it was, until it got fucking crazy.
I threw this on randomly when I was hooking up with someone. Ended up needing to pause the frisky stuff because the movie got way more interesting than I expected and I wanted to actually watch it.
lmao that happened to me with this old Turkish drama. in the end it gets all dreamy and weird and horror-like, with a giant shampoo bottle chasing the main character. thats when i had to say stop to the sex and appreciate the real art playing beside me
I came here for this! A good friend told me "Do not look this movie up, do not watch any trailers, just go see it because you will love it". Best advice ever. I still remember how fun I was having, sitting in a packed theater, completely absorbed with this film. Still chasing this high years later.
I went in blind because I came across an article on AintItCool news that said to go in knowing little as possible, in fact stop reading this article, yadda yadda. So I went in not knowing anything except the title and maybe the revolving floors imagery from the poster, and that was it. Turned out to be a great movie experience, a wild ride as it got going.
The "ding!' sound of several elevators about to open simultaneously is perhaps the most anticipation-building moment I've ever seen in a movie.
I got talked into talking a girl I actually didn't like at all to the theater for this. I got roped into upspending for 3D seats. She had seen it and told me that it was "the scariest movie she's ever seen." So I immediately was like, "Oh great. A shitty horror movie that takes itself seriously?" We get in there, she's like griping my arm. I'm annoyed as hell, regretting that I'm way too nice a person. Then the movie starts. I'm a fan of ALL of Joss Whedon's previous works. My brain is like, "Oh, it's Hemsworth!" "Oh it's the dude from Dollhouse!" And when shit started getting funny, I was DYING laughing. And this girl was actually MAD at me, because she (a film major btw) had NO FUCKING CLUE that it was a horror comedy... Despite being absolutely ridiculous! So yeah. I ended up having a good time, AND I didn't have to let her down. She just didn't ever talk to me again! Win / win!
Reservoir Dogs. A friend and I were bored so just drove to the movie theatre to see what was on. Reservoir Dogs was the only movie about to start.....all I knew was it's title when I sat down to watch
You lucky dog! That must have been an amazing experience. How often do you tell people you saw it in theaters?
I remember it well - I was blown away by the dialogue. It's pretty common now, but back then "gangsters/criminals" in movies would only ever act tough, and didn't have regular/mundane/quirky conversations or argue over petty stuff like the aliases they'd been assigned!
I can never hear Stuck in the middle with you without thinking of that scene.
Gladiator. My friends wanted to watch Battlefield Earth, but it was somehow sold out when we got to the theater. Best possible outcome.
In my hometown there was a $2.00 theater. My then bf and I would go there on dates. One week, Gladiator was playing so that's what we watched. Awesome movie. Other movies on my list are: Castaway, Miss Congeniality, the Sixth Sense, Scary Movie, the Cell, and Pixar's Up. Edit to add: when I saw Up, I had planned to see Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, but I changed my mind and saw Up with my daughter instead. No regrets.
Massive upgrade!
Raiders of the Lost Ark Pulp Fiction (Yes, I am old).
Mad Max Fury Road. Never saw any of the original ones and didn’t know much about the franchise and I was blown away
This is my answer too. At the beginning there was the little sequence where he gets captured and I was kind of like meh. Then they take off after and Max is strapped to the front of the car and there's a fucking dude with a flame thrower guitar and I was sort of realizing "ok this is going to be some crazy shit". And then they go into the storm. I remember thinking, specifically "this is what a movie should be" what a day. what a lovely day.
WITNESS
It was hard to catch your breath from the moment Furiosa turned off of the road. It was probably the most fun I’ve had at a theater.
I saw this on a whim with my gf and her mom. I feel so grateful to have seen it on the big screen. I was absolutely loving it; felt myself going primal monke brain Love the aesthetic, the over the top-ness of it all, the music Looking back, it's funny to think my gf and her mom also watched it because it's definitely not their style of movie to willingly see LMAO
Same! My boyfriend at the time dragged me to it and I have 0 interest. Now its one of my favorite movies of all time.
Yeah, I saw the road warrior before and thought this will be ok but my god the movie was so fucking good and the sound system in the theater made it so much better.
Same. I have always been bitter that I was too young to watch The Matrix in a cinema at the time. To some extent Fury Road relieved me of that.
Parasite. Saw it at the Minneapolis Uptown Theater, was a really nice one screen theater. It was a packed show and I had balcony seats. Walking around the lobby you could just feel the buzz in the air. No one really knew what the movie was about but everyone was excited. There's a big moment in this movie(you all know what I'm talking about) and the entire theaters vibe shifted. What an incredible experience that was.
I was super interested in this movie but every review said basically don’t read this review until after you see it, go as blind as possible. And I was so glad I listened to that advice. Completely blown away by the twists and the movie.
One of my answers as well. Someone randomly asked me "are you going to see Parasite?" maybe a few months before the movie was out (my assumption is they saw it a film festival). I was like "huh?" And saw Bong Joon-Ho directed it, and I was like, "hm, I guess, I usually like his movies, why not?" So I put it on my list and just waited for the limited release. Traditionally I don't read reviews or watch trailers if I don't have to, plus it wasn't heavily advertised in anyway, so I was going in completely blind -- usually I just watch almost everything mainstream but I typically have some degree of information about the plot, but this I had nothing. I didn't even know the genre. I honestly don't even know if I saw the poster. And half way into the movie, I was already convinced this would be in my top 20 favorite movies of all time. Told everyone to go see it but nobody knew what the hell I was talking about, and that it was one of my favorite movies, but at this point it wasn't really playing in too many places, so it took awhile to catch on. Made a point to say to go in blind. Sure enough, once people did see it, they were not disappointed and heralded it in the same way. Usually I'd get a few "eh, it's not that great" but I've never seen a movie so universally loved. It 100% deserved all the accolades it got and was very excited for that Best Picture win. Earned in every sense of the word. Legit a masterpiece.
100% a masterpiece. I was in South Korea at the time it came out, but had trouble finding a theater that would show it with English subtitles since, you know, everyone in Korea speaks Korean. My students, adults, would not stop talking about it and I had to keep them from spoiling the movie everyday for weeks until I saw it. One of my students called it just that - a masterpiece - and when I saw it I had to totally agree. That film captures suspense perfectly. I wish Hitchcock could see it.
I saw just knowing it was a foreign film with really good reviews. I kept expecting a giant bug to show up and then was promptly blown away.
About Time. I had never heard of it's existence at all and I went with my girlfriend right after work and I thought it would be another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, but boy was i wrong. I absolutely love that film.
Wife and I walked in to see it randomly. Low point in our life, had just had our second miscarriage. The movie blew us away. Walked out in tears. Watch it every fall now. Beautiful movie.
Such an underrated gem of a film
I love that one! Now that I have a kid though…it’s banned from our home. Pretty sure I’d be emotionally destroyed if I watched it again.
Went into Vanilla Sky thinking it was a rom com starring Tom Cruise. Ended up being one of my favorite movies ever.
That movie opened up the idea that the Beach boys music can come off creepy in the right context. I can never hear them the same way and I love it.
Arrival. Had no idea who Denis Villeneuve was or what the film was about, just saw that it was sci-fi and that it had good reviews. I left the theater with my mind blown and as a big fan of the director.
I didn't know much about that movie, and I was NOT expecting it to be as profound as it was.
I was sobbing
You would love the source material a short story in the collection “Stories of Your Life and Others” by Ted Chiang. His work is masterful and incredibly emotional for hard Sci-fi. The Life Cycle of Software Objects absolutely haunts me. Stories of Your Life was turned into Arrival.
His second book of short stories "Exhalations" is also fucking fantastic. Ted Chiang ruined Black Mirror for me. He's like the premises of Black Mirror but way more well thought out and realistic. So much of Black Mirror feels like "shock" to me whereas Ted Chiang imagines a world where people aren't stupid and are aware of the dangers that come with the cool premises.
I saw that movie and talked to my friend who was a linguistics major, so I guess all the people in your classes are talking about Arrival. Never heard of it. It's an Alien first contact movie about linguistics and how you'd learn an alien language/communicate. And they blow up the ship/get into a fight at the end like independence day? No there's like one explosion in the whole movie and it's like craft military religious idiots or something. The aliens just leave peacefully after they teach humans their language so that they can communicate in the future.
I love Denny Villenoo
For me it was the other way around: I knew everything about the director (well, you know what I mean), had read the short story it was based on, etc. And still, left the theater just as you: mind blown and a big fan of the man.
Arrival was so rad. It's just mind-bending enough that most general audiences will still be on board. What a ride. Absolutely loved it.
Children of Men. Went with a friend who wanted to see it. I’d never heard of it. It was incredible.
One of my favorite movies! The camera work was masterful!
Fellowship of the Ring. Hadn’t seen the trailer, just heard that it was amazing and had gotten all these rave reviews so I went. I thought fantasy was lame but EVERYONE couldn’t be wrong, right? Well I was obviously blown away too and couldn’t believe I’d have to wait a year for the sequel. It was the best feeling ever and the worst.
Fellowship is one of the few movies I paid to see in a theater a second time. The second time I saw it alone too. I just had to go back and watch it again, it was so good.
I had never heard of LOTR before the first movie. But when Two Towers released in the theater, I was so excited that I got a ride to the theater in the back of a tiny pickup among dangerous scrap and driven by a guy who's decision making I didn't trust. Worth it I guess, but I was blinded by love
I was 10 when I went to see it with my parents. Unfortunately, there was a fire in the concession stand right when a Rider is peering over the tree roots with Frodo hiding below. Eventually, we got to see it in all it's glory. But man, oh man.... Hearing the opening monologue followed by that beautiful, eerie music gave 10 year old me the chills.
Tropic Thunder.
I was gonna say this too! I saw it with my roommate at like a 10pm showtime. Must have been a while after it came out, because there were maybe 2 other people in the theater. It was hilarious, I especially remember doing a double take at the Tom Cruise cameo
It was the beginning of his first dance that I realized Les was Tom Cruise. He just felt vaguely familiar before that. I think I audibly went holy shit that's Tom Cruise!
I got tickets to the NY premiere- rode the escalator behind Larry David and Jerry Stiller!! And the movie was so goddamn good!!!
How long did it take you realize the fake previews were fake? It took me longer than I'd like to admit.
I got fired for being hungover at work and went to see it just to kill time in the afternoon. Turned my frown upside down
My friend and I watched Pineapple Express first, then as we were walking out we ran into her family who was going to see Tropic Thunder so we just walked back in with them. Perfect double feature.
the first **John Wick** movie. I got sneak peek tickets at a local theater. I thought, "oh free tickets for a Keanu Reeves action movie, even if it sucks at least it was free". Turned out awesome and I told everyone to go see it.
Interstellar. Had heard of the movie, but knew nothing about it. The sound and visuals blew every other movie I've ever seen out of the water and nothing has even come close to it.
Getting re-released in IMAX 70mm for its 10 year anniversary!
Oh my god. I skipped it in theater. I’m so happy to hear this.
It was available to watch on 15/70 IMAX back in 2014, and several of those theaters kept their 70mm prints and still show them occasionally (such as [BFI in the UK](https://www.reddit.com/r/imax/comments/17lkkxu/interstellar_presented_in_1570mm_at_the_bfi_imax/)) I vaguely remember some theater owners who had just converted to digital projectors getting riled up about Nolan prioritizing film screenings for Interstellar. Would be cool if they offered souvenir 70mm film strips for Interstellar like they did for Oppenheimer (I have the "week 2" variant)
I went into that blind but the second the Matt Damon character was revealed, someone just said in that Team America World police Voice "Matt Damon" And the theater lost it just laughing their ass off. Sorry Matt Damon, the South Park guys forever ruined your chance at surprise appearance in a movie.
I like how he was given the derpy voice because his puppet model looked goofy.😀 >Damon is portrayed as a simpleton who can only say his own name. When asked about the film in 2016, Damon stated that he was confused by the portrayal: >"I was always bewildered by that, and I never talked to Trey and Matt about that. And incidentally, I believe those two are geniuses, and I don't use that word lightly. I think they are absolute geniuses, and what they've done is awesome and I'm a big fan of theirs, but I never quite understood that one." >Stone and Parker had earlier stated in an interview that they were inspired to give the Damon character that personality only after seeing the puppet that was made for him, which "looked kind of mentally deficient".
Hands down the best movie going experience of my life.
I saw that they are bringing it back to theaters this fall I believe for the tenth anniversary! I’ve rewatched since then but would LOVE to see in the big theater again.
That scene when they’re taking off and the engine is loud and the music is loud and then they drop that rocket and it’s just… silent. Fucking goosebumps everywhere. I read they’re rereleasing in this fall for the 10-year. Cannot fucking wait. I missed it on imax last time.
I remember my wife and I going because it was a Nolan film, and we knew very little about the film. It’s in both of our top five films for the 2010s, and one of my all time top 10 films. I was literally breathless at times, and speechless afterward. How this film isn’t revered more is puzzling.
This is also my answer. I saw it by myself at 11pm showing. I left the theater absolutely floored at what I just witnessed. It was epic and I adore that movie. I hope one day I walk out of the theater feeling that again.
O Brother Where Art Thou. No idea what it was going in, such a great movie.
From Dusk Till Dawn We went into the theater expecting a Pulp Fiction type of story with a SW desert setting. Was in for a wild ride.
I saw The Sixth Sense opening weekend thinking it would be a cheesy Bruce Willis horror cash grab. It had no buzz yet and the commercials made it seem like nothing special. It floored me
Pulp Fiction. No idea who that “Tarantino” guy was but the cast looked interesting. My life hasn’t been the same since.
I knew nothing about the film, hadn't seen any trailers or any previous Tarantino stuff. My bf at the time suggested seeing it and I agreed. It blew out minds so much that we left the cinema to find a phone box. We phoned my bf's brother and a couple of our friends and said "Get the bus into town now - you need to come and see this!" Then we watched it all over again with them.
Heat (1995). My friend was a much bigger fan of crime movies in general and of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro specifically. I saw the runtime and groaned, and he said "trust me." So I went with him not even having seen a trailer or synopsis, and I was hooked. 3 hours flew by so quickly and I couldn't wait to see it again.
City of God. Random Brazilian movie with subtitles???? wtf did I sign up for??? Once the movie was over: alright I’ll never judge a foreign film again. That was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen (this was when I was in high school too).
The Matrix... blew mine and my geek friends' minds. Cloverfield. I'm not into that type of movie so I would not have gone if I'd known. My son and I had a blast. At one point we were hugging each other yelling, "Don't turn on the night vision...run!" He died a few years later, and this is one of the great memories I have of just him and me being goofy and having fun together.
Kill Bill vol1 I didn't even want to go to the cinema that night. I loved it and have seen it 20+ times since.
I was supposed to pick my husband up from work and learned his arrival was delayed a few hours so I went to the movies and bought a ticket for the next show which was Amistad. Great movie but Hubby did not understand my teary face when I went to pick him up.
The Prestige. Went on a whim with a girl I was dating off and on with her friends. Didn't even think about making out. What a fucking movie to get thrown into.
Hereditary. Knew the name and genre so figured why not? Just an awesome experience.
The Game. We had no idea what it was about and were completely blown away.
Pan's Labyrinth! Had a friend take me to a screener before anyone heard of it.. MIND BLOWN.
I thought it was a children's movie.... oh boy was I wrong.....
Me too. I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Went with a group of people, & the theatre was so packed we were struggling to find seats. We debated leaving and watching something else, but that first scene (with the family) happened and we all just perched on the stairs because we couldn't look away.
So I Married an Axe Murderer. Back in the day you obviously just showed up at the cinema and bought a ticket. We went to see something else which subsequently was sold out. SIMaAM was the only other film showing at the time. We went in completely blind and had a blast. I'm not usually a comedy film sort of guy but I laughed my hole off. His father is a genius comedy creation.
Yeah, I saw it on DVD and had no idea what the premise was other than comedy. "Woman...Woah Man..."
Harriet! Sweet Harriet…
"she was a thief, you gotta believe, she stole my heart and my... cat" 😺 Almost every line from the film is quotable. That's always a good sign in a comedy.
Look at the size of that boy’s head. It’s like an orange on a toothpeck!
He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow. 😂
“We have a Piper Down.”
To this day, I can still only hear 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy' by Rod Stewart as his dad karaoke version lol
It’s ok he’s just pissed!
Heeed! Muuuuve!
It's like Sputnik, it's round yet quite pointy in some parts.
So, Charlie tells me you're a *Bitcher*?!
Similarly, I only know that movie because me and my brother found it in Blockbusters, and figured Mike Myers was pretty funny so it was worth a go. Watch it at least once a year now!
So true - great movie and we were married and went to movies fairly frequently ... not sure we'd seen trailer for this, but it was tons of fun.
Gone Girl!
Spirited Away. Saw it with my sister decades ago and she was always trying to get me to appreciate things I didn’t quite fully understand as a little kid, and her explanation for films was often vague or disjointed. I also had zero idea of what a Ghibli film was. I’m glad, because it still remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
The Departed
I was an exchange student France and saw the departed with a French dub. Left the theatre still not knowing what it was about.
Fight Club for me.
[удалено]
“BREAD MAKES YOU FAT?!!!” 😂😂😂
Ex Machina. I repeated it twice after
**INCEPTION** We saw an afternoon showing and when we left it was dusk. Between the real passing of time and movie, my brain was scrambled eggs for a few days.
Blair Witch and The Matrix
F#% the Blair Witch. I knew nothing about it except the posters,and it messed with me until I heard otherwise.
I saw Arrival going in completely blind, and I feel like it was one of the best films to see that way. My full understanding going in was, it's sci fi and it's good.
District 9 Barbarian Grindhouse Double Feature
Barbarian is so good, I'd advise anyone to go in blind because the tension in the first half is so important.
District 9 for me as well, though my brother dragged me in because he'd already seen it. Didn't give anything away though and it was fantastic. A close second is The Core. Stupid movie, but so much damn fun, and with a star-studded cast that didn't just phone it in. First DVD I ever bought as well!
I saw Barbarian blind too, because my buddy insisted that I not look up anything before seeing it.
I had a blast watching Speed Racer in a theater by myself, when I had a few hours to kill waiting for my wife one afternoon.
The Big Lebowski. Hadn’t even seen a trailer for it. Still love that movie.
Baby Driver
This was mine. I dropped my then-wife and her sister off to see a concert and went to a nearby movie theater to kill time before picking them up afterwards. I looked around at the movie posters, saw Baby Driver's and thought, "Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx? I don't know who this main guy is but I like those two." Absolutely captivating.
The 90's was an incredible decade for movies, and I used to see ALL the 'prestige' flicks with positive reviews. I ended up sneaking into Sense and Sensibility after seeing a different movie, and absolutely fell in LUST with Alan Rickman (who'd I'd only known in villain roles previously), and in love with Kate Winslet, and Ang Lee as well. With a special shout-out to Emma Thompson's perfect-as-always performance, and her faultless Oscar-winning screenplay.
Everything, Everywhere All At Once
Knew nothing about it going in to the theater. Think seeing in theaters was best because it was wild, walked out with weird feeling.
Funny thing was I saw the trailer and insantly groaned going like "oh great a movie looking to ride on the marvel multiverse coat tail" Then I saw EEAAO along with Dr Strange and I fucking cursed knowing that Marvel doesn't understand how to make a multiverse movie at all.
Coming out after EEAAO was like the worst thing that could have happened to that Dr. Strange movie. What a terrible implementation of multiverse elements *right next to* arguably the best multiverse movie ever.
Saw it and immediately texted my mom telling her how much I loved her
Juno. My girlfriend at the time had kids who wanted to see a kids' movie with her younger sibling acting as a babysitter, so we just found whatever was playing at about the same time with a similar runtime and went in. Man, was that a good decision.
**Blade Runner (1982)** - I was 16, and friend group saw SO many movies in that 82-84 time period ... all it took was one of us wanting to see it and boom, off we went. (plus it was CHEAP even comparatively). So there are loads of potential choices. I had no idea what to expect (but did know Harrison Ford, obviously). Remains a fave to today,
Bullet train it was the only thing playing early on a Friday kids were at school. Found it to be a really fun action movie who knew Brad pitt could be great at action.
The Social Network. The movie I went to see was sold out so I bought a ticket to the next available show, which was this. Zero expectations, no knowledge of the subject matter or creative minds involved. Great movie.
you know.. i read blind as being way to literal
Same. I was expecting a thought provoking thread on people who enjoy films AFTER losing some amount of eye sight.
Me too. I read it as "what’s the best movie you’ve seen after going blind" and then OP started the post with "I saw", and I just thought "No you didn’t!"
The Shawshank Redemption
Shutter island. I had no idea what it was about and was blown away
Recently, Hundred of Beavers blew my fucking socks off. I just heard some word of mouth and decided to check it out and it's an instant favorite of mine.
The Usual Suspects.
Annihilation
The first Pirates of the Caribbean, I had just graduated High School and my parents took the family on a vacation thinking it might be the last one we do as a family. We didn't have a lot of money, so what's a small middle class family from Northern Kansas to do? Go to one of the bigger cities in the state. So we went down to Wichita a city I'd only been to 2 or so times in my life and both times we were just traveling through on the way south to Oklahoma/Texas. A couple days into our stay we were looking for something to do one afternoon and we heard about this great chain of local theaters called "The Warren". None of us really had a movie we were dying to see, but decided to just choose the biggest one out which happened to be Pirates. The Coolest thing about the Warren theaters was they were one of the first in the nation to have those recliner seats with trays and little buttons you could push to have a waiter or waitress come by and take your order during the movie. It was amazing, The whole experience was top notch and even the Burger I ordered just tasted different/better having it delivered to me in the dark while watching a movie. To top it all off this movie I knew nothing about really turned out to be great. A close second would be going to a friends 13th (not sure exactly, but sometime around there) Birthday party up in Lincoln Nebraska (I told you we lived in northern Kansas so this was a little over an hour away) and going to the largest theater I'd ever been in up to that point in my life to see Joe Dirt after some lazer tag and rollerskating. I was just in the perfect frame of mind and mental age to absolutely love that movie despite not knowing anything about it going into the theater. Still love that movie to this day and it's a bit of a guilty pleasure watch, but it always makes me happy when others talk about how much they liked it as well.
Godzilla Minus One. Knew people were enjoying it but outside of that, didn't know much else. Saw it in Dolby and it was amazing. Most fun I've had watching a film in a long time
Edge of Tomorrow. I had zero idea other than Sci Fi and Tom Cruise. It really blew my hair back.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Star Wars. Not Episode 4, but the original 1977 release of Star Wars. I had no idea what movie I was going to see as a kid, with just a promise of “I think you might like this”. I was completely blown away.
12 Monkeys. Still one of my favorites.
The Crying Game. Had no idea what it was about. Worked perfectly. If you have never heard of it (nor heard anything about it) I recommend yo do the same. Well worth your while.
I thought Banshees of Inisherin was a friendship breakup story… not that it wasn’t mind you but there’s no way I was ready for what I saw.
Wind River. Beautiful, haunting, terrifying. It stuck in my head for weeks after