Movies you appreciate more on multiple viewings?
 

Are there movies for you that you like the first time you see it, but the more viewings, the more you appreciate and see things that you didn't notice before?

Sometimes you pop in a DVD, just because you like it and sometimes you don't turn on your brain because you've seen it before and though you enjoy it, you kinda just watch for the sake of watching.

But, then sometimes there comes a movie that you liked, maybe not loved, the first time and on repeated viewings you discover and become enraptured by the movie. You keep your brain switched on and notice things that you could swear wasn't there prior. I think those are the rare movies that you truly think about and appreciate and begin to love them on multiple viewings where you may not have the first time.

"V For Vendetta" is such a movie for me. I liked it when I saw it in theaters. Didn't know the history or read the graphic novel, but I liked the depiction in the movie. Now, I don't watch movies over and over, but some I will because there are certain scenes or elements that I find so fascinating that I want to watch again with sometime urgency.

I've seen V now probably 3 times since release and believe me that is a ton for me. Just saw it again last night and was once again in giddy delight as I heard new things and saw new things that I didn't notice before. I loved it. I watched the featurettes which I also rarely do just to get more satisfaction and I did.

Truly, special movies like this come every so often, maybe not often enough, but when they do, you sit back, keep the mind switched on and delve deeper than you ever have before.

For those are the really great ones.

I'd have to say Death Proof for me...I saw it initially in theaters during the first run of the in-tact Grindhouse and absolutely hated it, Tarantino's cribbing of himself was unbearable and I flatly hated everything about it sans the awesome soundtrack. Although, I recently revisited the film in its extended version on DVD and while still not loving it, I do find it more tolerable and more enjoyable. I believe the first time around I was expecting a lot and then the second time I went in expecting to despise the film all over again. Although, if I watch it a third time it will be interesting to see how I respond to the film going into it minus any extremes in my expectations.

Shaun Of The Dead

Sam Raimi's The Gift first comes to mind for some reason.

Airplane! - if only to catch all the jokes.

All of them.

I disliked Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" the first time I saw it...and so did a lot of critics. I came to appriciate it upon multiple viewings and now it's one of my favorite Westerns.

Totally agree with V For Vendetta. That was the first movie I thought of when I saw this thread title. It went from being a very good movie from when I saw it in theaters to one of my all time favorites after I watched it on DVD a few times.

Here is the list of other movies that I appreciate more after watching them again:

Groundhog Day
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Donnie Darko
Lost in Translation
Signs
The Family Man

Dark City. Hated it the 1st time I saw it, really really dug it the second time.

(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (I loved it when i first saw it but it just gets more perfect and watchable with each viewing, a fascinating stuffed with beautiful little touches)
American Psycho
Dazed and Confused

Out of Sight

Cujo. I really didn't dig it much the first time I saw it, recently rewatched it after the SE came out and now I consider it one of my favorite King adaptations.

The first two Austin Powers movies. I hated them the first time (the first moreso than than the second), but they ended up growing on me. I actually liked the third movie right away.

I agree with Groundhog Day, too. Though that had more to do with me being young when I first saw it and expecting a comedy that would appeal to me at that age. I think you have to be a little older to appreciate that movie.

Old School

American Psycho... I didn't like it at first and now it's like my 2nd favorite comedy ever
Goodfellas... I liked it much more the second time
Blade Runner... I wasn't mature enough (both in general and in film) the first time I watched this

I had the exact same experience with V For Vendetta.
Liked it in the theater, Loved it upon re-watching it at home in HD.

Blade Runner was defintely a movie that took time, maturity, and several re-watches before I began to appreciate it- although it may not have taken so long had the original marketing for the film not dropped the ball so disasterously.

Bullitt took a few viewings to appreciate. It left me completely cold the first time I saw it, maybe because I was viewing it thru the prism of 80s action movies at the time. Viewed as simply a police procedural, it's one of my favorite films now.

Network is a film that just seems to get better and better for me.

Two-Lane Blacktop is movie that got under my skin. It was somewhat interesting the first time I saw it, now it seems like soul food.

Mutiny On The Bounty ('62) took several viewings to get over the prejudice from having read nothing but negative things about it over the years. It was re-run locally on PBS several times within a week, and since I didn't have cable and PBS was the only channel that came in well- that station got most of the play when I wanted background noise. The second time they ran it, I found myself stopping what i was doing to watch it- and the third time I devoted my full attention to it.
I think it is a hell of a movie now- right up there with the original.

Notorious took a couple viewings to fully appreciate. It was OK the first time around, but I recently watched it again and I would say now it's probably my favorite Hitchcock movie behind Shadow Of A Doubt.

The Fifth Element defintely falls into this category for me too. It took a lot of resistence to get over just to watch it once (I had seen clips of Michael Tuckers character and didn't want anything to do with the film). Each time I've watched it, I've liked it more and more. The last time I watched it on Bd I was stunned how much I enjoyed it- even Tucker. I would take this over any of the prequels or Return of the Jedi, any day of the week.

Starship Troopers also improved greatly on multiple viewings. I liked it ok at the theater, but thought it was just another riff on Aliens (firepower vs swarms of aliens). The levels of satire didn't come thru for me until a second or third viewing. One of my favorite films now.

Most Scorsese movies, Eternal Sunshine for me, also In The Bedroom. Unforgiven, definately.

"Eternal Sunshine" for me too. i was meh when i first saw it, then it festered with me, like no other. i love the movie now and have it in the que to watch again.

Memento

I saw this film about a dozen times when it first came out so when I decided to pop it in again last month I figured I had it all planned out. But the movie blew me away again! There was so much more I noticed after seeing it again. The film is a classic.

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My favorite movie of all time. Every viewing has been a different experience. I tend to see something new with each viewing.

I don't re-watch many movies, but The Shawshank Redemption I've seen countless times. It's by far my favorite movie of all time.

A movie that I thought was only okay when I first saw it, but I find pretty funny now is Anchorman.

Groundhog Day came to mind when I first saw the question. Interesting a few people thought the same. Funny because the movie itself deals with living the same day repeatedly and yet there is something about that movie that makes me appreciate it over and over and over.

Also You've got Mail

Jackie Brown. I think a lot of people (myself included) were expecting Pulp Fiction 2 when it first came out and were let down. The more I watch it, however, the more I am in awe of it. It's a really mature piece of work, the characters are so well defined, and I think all of the actors deliver some of their best performances.

Each time I see it, I become more and more convinced that it is Tarantino's best film. (Not to mention it's his best soundtrack.)

Shadow of a Doubt did nothing for me on initial viewing. Repeat viewings have bolstered that film in my mind to its rightful place near the top of Hitchcock's hierarchy.

The Magnificent Ambersons similarly did little for me on first viewing. Now I view the film's bastardized form as almost fitting to the elegiac story about ruined beauty and the end of an era.

Blade Runner's stunning visuals, I think, overpower your senses to such a degree that you don't fully appreciate all the elements until multiple viewings. Of course, studio interference, like with Ambersons, obviously didn't help matters.