Which movies have grown on you (or aged poorly) over time?

You probably noticed there are certain movies where, especially once you hit adulthood, your whole perspective just flips on its head.

For me, one of the best examples is "Blade Runner".
The first time I saw it, I was just a kid and I absolutely hated it. Thought it was too dark and honestly kind of stupid. I used to wonder why my older brother was even obsessed with keeping that VHS tape around. Thank God for that. Once I grew up, I decided to give it another shot... and wow, total shocker! I ended up loving it! Suddenly, I couldn't wrap my head around why I thought it sucked before, because the movie is pure genius.
That’s how I realized how much I'd misjudged it back in the day.

It's one of those rare cases where a movie went from bad to good for me.
More often than not, it’s the opposite—stuff I loved when I was younger (like old comedies, for instance) ends up being total shit later on.
I'm curious, do you guys have any examples like this? Movies you haven't touched in ages, but when you finally rewatched them, your opinion did a complete 180?

M.A.S.H.
I first watched this as a kid and thought it was just dull and mindless. Now? I think it’s pure genius.

"Wild at Heart"—ten years ago, I didn't think much of it. Re-watched it last week, though, and it actually hit home.

Here’s a fresh take on the Empire of the Sun—honestly, I couldn't even make it past the 30-minute mark yesterday, which is wild because I used to think this movie was an absolute masterpiece.
Now, it just feels super cliché and honestly pretty tedious... plus, the soundtrack is just straight-up terrible.

From dusk till dawn... honestly, when I walked out of the theater, I was absolutely buzzing, totally swept up in the experience. But now? I have no idea what actually happened to me. It’s highly probable they spiked my popcorn with something 😁

Irreversible.
It’s gone from being just "great" to being nothing more than some sensationalist hype, only to eventually be recognized as pure genius.

Great -> nothing special (sensationalist) -> genius

Mozda might not be the right spot or timing for this, but I haven't actually sat down to watch that movie yet. So, just curious... could someone give me a paragraph or two explaining what makes it "genius" in the context of that specific film?

JFK

used to hate -> used to despise -> honestly, I absolutely love him today

Meryl Streep—now that’s a powerhouse actress.😁

"Red Corsair," that 1960s adventure flick starring Burt Lancaster: I remember seeing it constantly on TV growing up and absolutely loving it back then—but then I tried revisiting it once as an adult, and honestly? It was just terrible.😢

When I was ten, Dirty Dancing felt like the greatest movie ever made. I just lived for the music and the dancing... it was everything! Then, about a year or so ago, I saw it popping up on TV again and decided to give it another watch. After thirty minutes, I was just sitting there, completely let down... I honestly thought it was way better than it actually is.

Hold on a second... I think you might be missing the point here. You can't really compare movies that felt incredible when you were just a kid to how they actually hold up now, mostly because back then, you didn't truly know what makes a movie good. To be honest, I watched Tango & Cash a million times in the early nineties and thought it was absolute perfection. But I rewatched it about a month ago, and yeah, I’m convinced it’s pretty much total garbage.

Take a look at the discussions over on the Blade Runner Forum: you probably won't get into Blade Runner if you're still a kid. Sure, there are always those "special" kids who think movies like this are the greatest thing ever when they're only ten, but for most, it’s just going to be a drag. Most kids around fourteen are really just looking for tension, action, or a good laugh. I'm not saying Blade Runner lacks those things, but anyone who's actually seen it knows exactly what I mean. To be honest, I still find the movie pretty slow even today.

I’d single out two movies specifically: Donnie Brasco and The Truman Show. To be honest, I was on some pretty heavy stuff at the time, but when I saw those two in theaters, I actually wanted my money back—I thought they were absolute garbage. Then, I watched them again on video, and both turned out to be much better than that first viewing. Well, with one exception: Donnie still has a stupid ending.

I’m putting my vote down for Mulholland Drive. Honestly, I made up my mind a long time ago—back when I was just some obsessed teenager—that I couldn't stand David Lynch. Not the guy himself, obviously, but his whole vibe as a director. His movies always felt so twisted, morbid, and just... gross, you know? But then I sat down with Mulholland Drive and it totally floored me. It’s easily his best work, hands down; he takes all those weird themes and symbols he's obsessed with and executes them perfectly, plus it’s got that gripping mystery element that keeps you hooked. So, I ended up rewatching it online and realized, yeah, it really is better than almost anything else he's touched (aside from maybe Twin Peaks), but at the same time, the guy just irritates the hell out of me. I’ve decided I’m officially done with his filmography for good.
So yeah, that's how my opinion on the movie shifted. Obviously, this is just my own take, though.
But man, I still can't get over that guy who's absolutely terrified of some hallucination from his own dream.

redowl90 said:Hold up, just a second... I think you're totally missing the point here. You can't compare movies that seemed AMAZING when you were just a kid, because back then, you didn't actually know what a good movie looked like...

Or, take an example from this forum: there's no way you'd dig Blade Runner while you're still a kid... Honestly, even today, I find that movie pretty damn boring...

You've got a point there, but I was more interested in how growing up shifts your whole taste in cinema... and I wasn't talking about stuff you watch when you're ten. Back then, our go-to legends were Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill.😁

But either way, it's more interesting to look at those cases where your opinion flips once you grow up and hit a different stage in life—maybe you finally "get" a movie in a way you couldn't before.

As for Blade Runner... I didn't see it as a little kid, maybe more like 14 or 15... back then it felt way too dark and gloomy... though I'll admit I missed a lot of the nuances then that I catch now. I brought up that specific movie because I used to absolutely hate it, only to end up respecting it immensely later on. Maybe it is slow, but the film has a depth I just couldn't see before.

To be honest, I found Fisher King a bit bizarre when I was just a kid—I actually rushed to see it the second it hit theaters—but looking back, I can appreciate it much more now.

redowl90 said:To be honest, I still find that movie pretty boring even today...

It surprises me, though, since you don't usually strike me as someone who goes for "shallow" movies. Blade Runner is such a beautifully dark, humorless experience... perfect for your taste. Plus, you can spend ages just debating whether Deckard is a replicant or not. 😁🙂

Gerald Barrett25 said:Mozda isn't really about the location or the opportunity, but look, I haven't actually sat down to watch that movie yet, so I'm curious—could you give me a paragraph or two explaining what makes it so absolutely genius?

It was only after I finally finished watching it that I realized just how good it actually was. But then, once I had some time to sit back and deconstruct it, I started feeling like the plot itself was almost trivial—just incredibly straightforward. It felt like the director relied on two specific "tricks" to make the whole thing feel more unconventional (namely the camera work and that retrospective narrative style), and honestly, the entire movie seems to be built upon just two central pillars: a murder and a sexual assault. Because of that, it left me with this lingering sense that it was leaning into pure sensationalism. At the time, I couldn't quite grasp what the director was actually aiming for...

So, why do I consider it a masterpiece now? Because it is quite literally the only film I have ever seen where the viewer experiences violence in such a visceral, uniquely unsettling way (it feels almost personal). In almost every other film, when you witness violence on screen, it doesn't truly touch you on a deeper level; it’s just a matter of being alive one second and dead the next, right?
Once you experience this film, you will find yourself looking at cinematic violence through an entirely different lens. It hits you as if it were happening to you, or perhaps to someone very close to you.

silentpuma25 said:Here’s a fresh take on the Empire of the Sun—I actually couldn't even finish it yesterday after just 30 minutes, and I used to think it was such a masterpiece.
Now it just feels incredibly cliché and honestly just plain boring. Plus, the soundtrack is absolute trash...

The soundtrack is trash?!?!?!?

It seems perfectly natural that our tastes in cinema shift as we age—I mean, who wouldn't change their mind after a decade or two? But then there are those specific films where my entire perspective flipped on its head in what felt like the blink of an eye, leaving me staring at the screen wondering how I could have ever seen them that way before. It’s almost jarring, isn't it? To go from one mindset to a completely different one regarding the same piece of art in such a short span of time? Here are a few examples of when that happened to me:

Things to do in Denver, When you're dead.
I remember the first time I sat through this in a theater; honestly, I was completely bored out of my mind. I couldn't get past Andy Garcia’s over-the-top acting style—it just felt like he was trying way too hard—and then there was Christopher Walken, who seemed to be playing the exact same character he’s played in a dozen other movies. It felt repetitive, didn't it? But then, about a year later, I caught it on TV, and good grief, what a total shift in perspective! I was absolutely floored by how much better it landed once I actually gave it a chance. Suddenly, everything clicked: Steve Buscemi was brilliant as mister Shhh, Treat Williams delivered a knockout performance as Critical Bill, and the supporting cast was nothing short of phenomenal. And don't even get me started on that soundtrack—having Warren Zevon, Freddy Johnston, and Morphine all contributing to the score? It was pure perfection. How can a movie go from being a complete snooze-fest to a masterpiece in just one viewing?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like the whole vibe around Amelia is constantly being debated? It’s one of those things where you can't seem to get a straight answer out of anyone, and frankly, it’s exhausting! You look at one side of the conversation and they’re praising every single detail, then you turn around and the critics are tearing it to shreds, leaving you stuck somewhere in that frustrating middle ground of "maybe" or "maybe not." Why is it always such a polarizing mess? Is it possible for a film to be both a masterpiece and a total disaster depending on who you ask, or are we all just losing our minds over the same thing?
After catching my first viewing in a packed theater—surrounded by some truly top-tier company, I might add—I find myself sitting here, still trying to process everything. 😉 Honestly, the entire movie just kept spinning around in my head like some kind of fever dream, wouldn't you say? It was absolutely relentless. I couldn't shake the feeling, so naturally, a few days later, I went out and tracked down the soundtrack just to make sense of the madness.
Honestly, after only a few short months, I sat down to watch it again, and let me tell you—halfway through, I was practically living on the fast-forward button. It was like, "Come on, just get to the end already!" I don't even have the slightest desire to give it another shot right now... though, who knows? Maybe in a year or two, if my patience isn't completely depleted, I might revisit it. But for now? Absolutely not. 😁 😁

jmo, let’s be real here. Have you ever absolutely trashed a movie during your childhood, only to spend years counting down the days until you could finally rewatch it, only to be met with total, crushing disappointment?
In my case, it was Boorman’s Excalibur. I first saw it back in first grade in a small town outside of Chicago, and by the end of it, I was sobbing like it was a rainy Tuesday. Fast forward to when I finally got my hands on a DVD player, and I practically sprinted to the first shop I found to grab a copy, totally primed for an emotional revisit. Well, it didn't go well. Not only was I personally repulsed by how much sheer banality was used for cheap comedic effect, but on top of everything, I had to endure the cynical commentary and muffled snickering from the man of my dreams sitting on the other side of the couch. I mean, I had specifically warned him ahead of time that we were watching "one of the greatest films ever made."
Of course, feel free to chime in if you’ve had the opposite experience—if a movie actually grew on you over time and pleasantly surprised you... though I highly doubt a change of heart can ever be quite as radical as pure disillusionment.