OldBoy

after all the hate, i rather enjoyed Green Lantern quite a bit.

Dan

Personally, I'd go with Drive. It wasn't on my radar at all until release day, and I simply did not expect to love it as much as I did.

foofighters7

Yeah, I'd have to say Drive was my biggest surprise as well. I thought it would be good, but wasn't sure. Turns out it was great.

Gunde

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Really good movie.

Neeb

This and ATTACK THE BLOCK are a couple of my favorites.

Matthew Chmiel

Another for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Knowing Fox's track record of pillaging franchises to their last breath, I thought this was one was going to be another nail in the coffin for both the Apes franchise and Fox. Turns out, I was 100% wrong.

Mike86

I'll agree with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, really a lot more enjoyable than I expected and truthfully I was never much into the franchise but this was damn good.

Also 50/50 is another one. I expected to like it but I have to say it's probably one of my favorites this year so far which is a bit surprising as I don't really like Seth Rogen (thought he was good in this) and Joseph Gordon Levitt is good but I wouldn't classify him as a favorite but he impressed me.

One last one is A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. It was good fun and a lot better than I thought it was going to be as the trailers made it seem like it could be very cheesy. I liked it for the fact that it was over the top, but didn't take itself seriously and was just having fun. I can see this being a Christmas movie I'll watch yearly.

PopcornTreeCt

X-Men First Class

PenguinJoe

Win Win, well acted good movie.

Throwing Copper

Bridesmaids. I thought it would be terrible like most comedies and I loved it.

Defiant1

+1 for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was given a less-than-stellar release date of late summer, after all the other tentpole pics, so it was looking like an iffy prospect. Glad it turned out so great.

TheBigDave

Rango
Troll Hunter
Drive Angry
Source Code
I Saw The Devil
Insidious
Limitless

I know these are on a lot of people's Biggest Disappointment list. But after reading all the bad reviews, I went in with low expectations, and ending up really enjoying them.

Transformers 3
Super 8
Captain America

milo bloom

Apes absolutely.

bluetoast

Rango - This is one of my favorites of the year, and I wasn't that excited about it when going to see it. But it really was very good, and that reminds me, it's cheap on Amazon right now.

Planet of the Apes - I probably overpraised it in the official thread, but I still like it now, and it was much better than what usually comes out in late summer.

Quake1028

The Muppets

islandclaws

Film that flew under my radar, then I saw it and it wound up being the best of the year: Drive

Film that I expected to suck massive balls, yet it was great: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Mike86

I entirely spaced on Limitless. Way better than I was thinking it was going to be for a popcorn thriller. Really liked Bradley Cooper in the role and just a fun movie to watch.

Shannon Nutt

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

I think just about everyone thought this would be mediocre at best, and they knocked it out of the park. Of course, there were other great films like SUPER 8 and THE MUPPETS, but those weren't surprises because I EXPECTED those to be good at the very least.

SPiRAL

Warrior
I tought it was gonna be a little cheesy and predictable.....it was, but I loved every minute of it.

Raul3

This.

Matthew Chmiel

I'm just confused to what the fuck some of you are expecting. Do you people not research films before going to see them?

For example:

Bridesmaids: Apatow and Feig's first collabaration since Freaks and Geeks. The two literally created one of the best and most underrated television shows ever to air. I personally thought the film sucked and I was going in expecting to love it based upon that fun fact alone.

The Muppets: Here's a film that's written by two longtime Muppets fans who have a solid track record with comedy (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek) and music. Who does Disney pair them with? Two of the three creators of the television series Flight of the Conchords. The chances of the film sucking were slim-to-none.

Rango: Verbinski + Depp = goldmine, either creatively and/or financially.

Win Win: The third film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. You know? The Station Agent? The Visitor? No? He also helped write Pixar's Up.

X-Men: First Class: I still stand by the fact that Matthew Vaughn is now four-for-four on his directing efforts.

Like everyone expected Rise of the Planet of the Apes to be shit. Go read the thread to see all of our negative comments prior to the release. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas? Yes, because most thought Escape from Guantanamo Bay was a piece of shit.

You tell me Thomas McCarthy making a good film is a "surprise" leads to me thinking, "No shit, Sherlock?"

bluetoast

What does the "financial" part have to do with my being surprised at the movie's quality? Depp/Verbinski movies have made money in the past....therefore I personally will enjoy Rango (despite not having seen Pirates 2 and 3)? I'd like to see the formula for that.

And the creatively part is also up in the air, seeing as how many people debate the quality of the Pirates movies themselves.

My main concerns:

1.) Nickelodeon Movies as one of the producers. Especially considering they were coming off The Last Airbender. Though I admit when I saw Paramount up there, I wasn't as worried. That's also why I'm optimistic about Tintin.

2.) The fact that Verbinski was a first time director helming a big budget animated feature. Totally different animal than live action, and I was wondering whether he was up to the challenge. Yes, CG was involved in Pirates, but that will only get you so far.

What I was not expecting was a great western, some nice homages, and that was what I got. Oh and a co-worker said it was only "okay" so that was also in my mind going in. But perhaps that's not allowed as part of the "research."

Mr. Cinema

Apes. Even though I remained hopeful it would be good since production began, there was also part of me that knew Fox would find a way to destroy the film as only they can. And yet, it turned out to be the best movie I've seen in 2011.

PopcornBandit

I'll go with this. Crazy Stupid Love is a close runner-up though.

TheMovieman

I was surprised by Friends with Benefits, actually.