Favorite movies that were once panned, now loved

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Wasn't Metropolis (1927) panned when it first came out?

Other than that it's hard to say since a lot of my favorite movies were praised when they came out it seems.

What changed when it came to people's opinions of Alien? I understand why people's opinion of Blade Runner changed, cause the Director's Cut came out later, which was a lot better, but Alien seemed to stay pretty much the same, so what changed for people?



Wasn't Metropolis (1927) panned when it first came out?

Other than that it's hard to say since a lot of my favorite movies were praised when they came out it seems.

What changed when it came to people's opinions of Alien? I understand why people's opinion of Blade Runner changed, cause the Director's Cut came out later, which was a lot better, but Alien seemed to stay pretty much the same, so what changed for people?

They said it wasn't scary and lacked substance.



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Oh okay. I thought it was scary enough.



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Why was The Thing panned at first? I mean I might not think it's perfect or anything, but it's not terrible or even bad at all. Was it really because people did not want to see aliens as villains after E.T. and that was the reason for panning it, or were there other reasons?



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I think it was more than just E.T. - even without those expectations, The Thing is still a fairly hard watch (especially back in 1982). You've got endless grotesque alien designs plus a generally dour and miserable tone throughout a film that ultimately concludes on an extremely bleak and uncertain note. That would explain why critics and audiences alike hated it - it's relentlessly dark and disgusting (even in comparison to more successful horror films like Halloween or Alien that showed a bit more restraint).



Tombstone... panned before it had even been made...
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Leonardo DiCaprio is an extremely specialist. He takes something that nobody else can: dreams and thoughts. They consider him the thought extractor, which makes him a standout amongst the most needed men in the realm of modern reconnaissance. This time around, he has an alternate task: Inception, not extraction. The beginning isn't just a single of the most unique movies as of late, however, it is likewise completely riveting stuff. Go, get interested and push the limits of your brain.



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I think it was more than just E.T. - even without those expectations, The Thing is still a fairly hard watch (especially back in 1982). You've got endless grotesque alien designs plus a generally dour and miserable tone throughout a film that ultimately concludes on an extremely bleak and uncertain note. That would explain why critics and audiences alike hated it - it's relentlessly dark and disgusting (even in comparison to more successful horror films like Halloween or Alien that showed a bit more restraint).
But how come a movie like The Fly (1986) was met with critical praise even though that one is really gory like The Thing, and also relentlessly dark? What was the difference for critics?

I thought that maybe the gore in the The Thing gave too much away, and took some of the mystery away by showing too much. Could that be the difference, is that the gore on The Thing, gave away too much mystery of the creature, where as the gore in The Fly, enhanced the mystery more so?



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You can make the case that The Fly is grounded in more respectable territory by the fact that it's a tale of tragic romance whereas The Thing is a far simpler story of a bunch of men facing off against a killer alien. In the former's case, the horror is justified as an extension of the film's established romantic drama - in the latter, it's easier to treat the horror as a point and disregard the drama.

I think "giving too much away" works in The Thing's favour because the fact that it never appears/attacks in the same way twice only adds to the film's paranoid atmosphere - you never know what it's going to do next or when it'll do it. The Thing itself isn't that mysterious in the first place - characters don't really care about where it came from or what it really looks like because they're ultimately irrelevant when it comes to killing it. The actual mystery comes from which characters will prove to be infected. Its gore is constant whereas The Fly largely keeps it to the back half while instead building the aforementioned romantic drama that'll ultimately make what little gore or mystery it does have more effective.



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Yep that makes sense, good points .

Another movie that was panned on release was Fight Club, wasn't it? It's one of those movies I didn't know what to think of when I first saw it, and even now. I just think what the heck, after every time I watch it, and cannot decide if it's a good movie or not.

Do you think that if Tyler Durden and his gang's terrorist acts were more ambitious that the movie would have struck a deeper chord with critics at the time of release?

SPOILER


I mean all Tyler wants to do is destroy some credit card companies, and people were probably thinking big deal, and maybe the terrorist attacks were just not enough to hit a chord?



You can make the case that The Fly is grounded in more respectable territory by the fact that it's a tale of tragic romance whereas The Thing is a far simpler story of a bunch of men facing off against a killer alien. In the former's case, the horror is justified as an extension of the film's established romantic drama - in the latter, it's easier to treat the horror as a point and disregard the drama.

I think "giving too much away" works in The Thing's favour because the fact that it never appears/attacks in the same way twice only adds to the film's paranoid atmosphere - you never know what it's going to do next or when it'll do it. The Thing itself isn't that mysterious in the first place - characters don't really care about where it came from or what it really looks like because they're ultimately irrelevant when it comes to killing it. The actual mystery comes from which characters will prove to be infected. Its gore is constant whereas The Fly largely keeps it to the back half while instead building the aforementioned romantic drama that'll ultimately make what little gore or mystery it does have more effective.
I would guess the status of the two directors at the time probably played a role with Cronenberg being viewed as the artier of the two. You could argue perhaps that The Fly benefited from The Thing's popularity and credibility growing in the years in-between as well. By that point people were more willing to accept body horror as having some weight to it.

With the recent discussion Lost Highway seems like its gone in that direction. I don't remember as much overt hostility to it at the time but it certainly seems to have grown in reputation in the years since. You could perhaps argue it suffers from being less playful than films like Blue Velvet or Wild At Heart but has benefited from the positivity around Mulholland Drive which was arguably an easier introduction to a similar style/story, had Lost Highway been released in the mid 00's I suspect it would have gone down better.

Following my avi I'd mention Jonathan Glazer's Birth, maybe the subject matter was an issue or perhaps th expectation that it would be a more overtly supernatural thriller rather than a drama.



If I remember correctly, Empire Strikes Back received a good bit of criticism when it came out. The New York Times called it, "as impersonal as a credit card from a bank." Now it is revered as one of the best Star Wars films.



The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a box office flop when it was first released and now millions all over the country go to movie houses at midnight to watch it and participate in it.