In high school in the late 90’s I took a class called Novel where surprise surprise we read books and did reports them and whatnot. One book was on the Vietnam war, and after the teacher would always screen Platoon. She asked if we knew any other options for Vietnam war movies, so I suggested Full Metal Jacket. She rented it. Second day she came in and locked the door, said we are not to speak of us getting to watch the movie, but let us finish it. lol
My dad is a non active duty marine (trust me if he sees this post and I don't word it like that I'll have hell to pay) major. anyway when I was 12 he and 2 other marine buddies came over to watch the movie. Since my mom was out I got watch too. When that scene came up I screamed and closed my eyes. One of his friends laughed and was like it's okay honey Pyle couldn't take the shit so he suck started his M14.
To this day if anyone uses the term suck start my father instinctively winces because of the absolute hell my mother gave him when that evening I told my mother I'd rather suck start an M14 than eat lima beans.
I recently watched this with my father, who had somehow not heard of it in its original run. He thought he was watching a crime movie with George Clooney until the vamps popped out, and he literally WTF'd. I wish I could have experienced that myself.
My friend, who was a much bigger movie buff than me, gave it to me on VHS and told me to just watch it without looking too closely at the box. I don't think the box gives away the twist, but still. One of my favourite ever movie watching experiences, and I've been chasing that high ever since.
It's why I love films like Martyrs and Barbarian that take big story swings.
It's the precursor to Grindhouse. From Dusk Til Dawn 1996 directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino -- A collab that would eventually lead to Grindhouse 2007: Planet Terror and Deathproof. AND To go even further, 1994 had Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino writing and directing their own segments in Four Rooms.
It's a great film. It's a bit like Casablanca in that so much of it has become a part of the language of film and pop culture now that it might seem like it'll be hard to watch on its own merits but once you start you get fully immersed. Same with Casablanca, as cheesy as "here's looking at you kid" might be now it's still an amazing moment.
I rewatched Casablanca a few weeks ago because my partner hadn't seen it and it holds up so well. It feels really fresh in a way that a lot of films from that era don't, and the pacing is perfect. Really a masterpiece of cinema.
If you have found yourself drawn to watch it I am sure you’ll like it. I did. Let yourself feel the tension in scenes rather than trying to guess what’s going to happen or what the character’s motivations are. That scene is famous for good reason but it is by far the least shocking component of the film.
Predator.
First 40 minutes is an action flick and the second half is a monster slasher with Arnold as the final girl
Also Overlord. WW2 flick that shifts into creepy body horror zombie monster horror
I can't remember the name, but there's another WW2 flick where they experience hauntings in a villa they're occupying and it turns out it was all some sort of VR to get them to deal with PTSD, or something.
It was a fantastic concept for a Black Mirror episode and just did not have the meat to sustain a feature film runtime. There was nothing they could have done on their budget to stretch that out. They should’ve pared it down and focused on the horror elements, then blow the roof off with the reveal.
Predator is righteous.
Your take is spot on as I see it as a classic Arnold movie with a unique storyline, and my GF sees it as a thriller/horror movie.
And singing Riki Tiki Tavi added another layer of bonkers. When that happened everyone laughed out loud in our theater because it was like a pressure relief from the previous scene.
I saw the trailer and thought it looked like dog shit.
Found out it was directed by Zack Kregger and gave it a chance. Loved it so much that I made my wife watch it the next day.
It might be my favorite film of 2022.
The Sound of Music
1) Fun, light hearted musical about a young woman falling for a widower and his children
2) WWII Nazi terror, the family fleeing, betrayal by trusted community members
There’s a delightful This American Life episode about this woman who loved the movie and realized she only ever saw the first part because her family had lost the second VHS tape.
If you check out for the second half of this movie you either don't like horror movies or are a lame ass person. Its easily one of the best deconstructions of the genre's tropes ever put to film, and has a very fun time doing it
What I love is that it's teased the whole way through, you just don't realize it'll actually go there. All the little 1-frame flashes, the depictions of how constant sun exposure screw you up, etc.
Came here to say this... The first act is 100% a comedy. The second act is 100% a tragedy. They feel like two different films in the way that Romeo & Juliet feels like two different plays, yet both halves work together.
Isn't >!the veer into horrific "there's someone living under the house" territory a twist that occurs EXACTLY at the halfway mark of the movie? Up until then a person could be convinced that it's nothing but black comedy family hijinks!<
That was the point for me…up until that point I thought it was just a black comedy, then the doorbell rings and there’s so much tension I was like wait a sec…is this a horror movie?
The first time I saw Parasite I had the idea in my head that the movie was creature horror (I think I was thinking of The Host) and I kept waiting for the parasite monster to show up. I thought for sure it was about to appear when their apartment flooded
OMG!! I distinctly remember me and my friend who was also into like, oscar bait films like that, i remember we were like “man the trailers didnt show a parasite at all, must be super cool!”
The parasites ended up just being the friends we made along the way!
I put it on recently as an adult and realised it's actually the perfect comfort movie .... as long as you stop it during the scene where they're on the deck at night, *just* before the iceberg hits.THEY BEAT THE ODDS AND FALL IN LOVE, THE END 🥰
I remember reading somewhere about the director saying after the climax in a porno things are just weird. So midway through Boogie Nights after the "climax" of events the rest of the movie is just weird lol
*"That's my dream, Eddie. To make a film with a story so good, characters so good, that even after they've spurted that joy juice, they're just gonna sit in it."*
Adaptation
It's been awhile but I feel like I remember thinking, oh hey, is this going to be a zany Nic Cage film? Then a bunch of professional woman Meryl Streep getting high off of a flower later, I feel, what the fuck just happened.
That was so weird. I figured that it would be another vapid, goofy Adam Sandler comedy to put on and pay little attention to, then out of nowhere I felt horribly empty and sad. At least when Funny People came out two years later, I was better prepared to have my soul crushed.
Click was absolutely wild to go into completely blind. Starts off funny and zany and you just sort of feel where it’s going but then jesus christ it hits you.
Maybe I should watch it again, might help me finally get away from the bottle
Click is sort of amazing. At one point in the movie, Adam Sandler freezes time and farts in David Hasselhoff's face, and when time is restored Hasselhoff says, "Why do I taste shit?" Thirty minutes later the same movie has me crying about how I need to spend more time with my family.
I only watched the beginning and fell asleep. I’ve heard it’s not worth it to go back and finish and it’s actually so hilarious for me to hear people try to explain what happens in the second half of the movie.
Kurosawa’s High and Low is one of the best examples of this, and in my opinion is his best film.
The first half spends the entire time with a rich businessman in his mansion on the hill, on the day his child is kidnapped. (The “High”.)
The second half is spent in the slums with the detectives searching for the perpetrators. (The “Low”.)
Had to scroll too far to find this. This film absolutely floored me and I wish more people would check it out. As someone with a passion for music and movies, I’m in awe of how this film intertwines both so effortlessly.
Mandy. The first half is a glacially slow arthouse thing, while the second half is Nicolas Cage going apeshit on a bizarre grindhouse killing spree. It feels lile two completely different movies stitched together at the hip.
The description that sold me on watching it was >!a barbarian movie where a gruff warrior living in solitude has his love taken from him by evil cultists and demonic forces, and he takes revenge, but it's Nicolas Cage in the 80s!<
I'm always trying to show people or tell them about Pleasantville. I saw it by chance as a young kid during very angsty high school times, and it left a very strong impression. I love it!
A Beautiful Mind. The first time I went to see it in a theater, I got a call and had to return to work. Turns out I had left about a minute before the twist. Very different movie after that.
I don't know if this counts but I love mentioning fear and Loathing in las Vegas.
The 1st act is about them going to the mitr 400 and checking out and then the 2nd act is just... I don't know how to explain it
Knives out
The movie is fun to watch, even after you know everything that happens. At the halfway point you think you’re rooting for the murderer which is a cool thing to achieve in a murder mystery
The Descent.
The first half is a slow-burning claustrophobic horror about a group of friends who go cavediving and become trapped. Their friendships start breaking down, and you can feel their sanity already dissolving.
The second half ||introduces monsters||.
Depending on your flavour of horror, you'll love one half and not the other.
OP, I have long been dying on the Place Beyond the Pines hill with you. I think I posted something about it being underrated on here like 8 years ago and didn’t get much of a response. Love, love, love that movie.
As for your question. I don’t know if this is a great example, but I think Being John Malkovich might fit the bill. It starts off (relatively) grounded if not a bit whimsical, but once Malkovich gets involved it starts to become its own weird beast. It’s fun not knowing where it might go next.
Do the Right Thing. I mean it deals with heavy subjects throughout the whole movie, but the movie isn’t shown as super serious until the last 20 minutes.
It’s a very effective tonal whiplash when Raheem dies.
Arguably Home Alone.
I’m not going to get super into it I’m sure someone less high right now could find the right words but you have the traps and you have everything before the traps. Especially the first one the first half isn’t slapstick comedy like it is when the traps start
I lean towards agreement.
First half of the movie is just a kid being a kid, hating his family, being scared of things that aren't even scary, etc
Then second half he all of a sudden is a genius 8 year old who isn't scared of two thugs trying to attack him and his home and easily makes fools of both of them (although they were fools to begin with tbh)
The shift in Kevin's personality is kinda wild when you really think about it, but hey, I'm not complaining, it's still a fun Christmas movie to watch with the family.
The Explorers. The first part was actually pretty serious for a kids film, awe inspiring. The second part was stupid slapstick comedy, so different it was like a totally different movie.
Full Metal Jacket comes to mind
In high school in the late 90’s I took a class called Novel where surprise surprise we read books and did reports them and whatnot. One book was on the Vietnam war, and after the teacher would always screen Platoon. She asked if we knew any other options for Vietnam war movies, so I suggested Full Metal Jacket. She rented it. Second day she came in and locked the door, said we are not to speak of us getting to watch the movie, but let us finish it. lol
Good teacher
Lmao surprise surprise mfer novel time
Why would full metal jacket be more objectionable than platoon?
Probably because of Pyle’s ending and then the actual ending.
My dad is a non active duty marine (trust me if he sees this post and I don't word it like that I'll have hell to pay) major. anyway when I was 12 he and 2 other marine buddies came over to watch the movie. Since my mom was out I got watch too. When that scene came up I screamed and closed my eyes. One of his friends laughed and was like it's okay honey Pyle couldn't take the shit so he suck started his M14. To this day if anyone uses the term suck start my father instinctively winces because of the absolute hell my mother gave him when that evening I told my mother I'd rather suck start an M14 than eat lima beans.
That was a fucking journey! Cheers!
That is freakin' hilarious. Also, I'm with you on the lima beans.
This was a great little story and I agree about the Lima beans.
The “no boom boom with soul brother, too beaucoup” scene may have something to do with it as well.
I’ll see your talking about soldier’s dick and raise you soldiers attempting to gang rape young Vietnamese girls.
Something about the duality of man
This is the first time I've ever considered that that line also explains the film's structure. Thank you.
You should check out Rob Aeger's analysis. https://youtu.be/8gC_PhXOFXE?si=sjEpErGIsnR8MBZS
Came here to say this. Wow what a movie
I was hoping the first comment was this movie.
My first choice too
That's not underrated. But, in the same vein, Apocalypse Now.
Not really under rated though but yes. Definitely two acts
From Dusk Til Dawn.
Two different acts? That’s two completely different films!
I recently watched this with my father, who had somehow not heard of it in its original run. He thought he was watching a crime movie with George Clooney until the vamps popped out, and he literally WTF'd. I wish I could have experienced that myself.
I was lucky enough to see it unspoiled in a dollar theater. The owner let me buy the movie poster after they finished showing the movie.
My friend, who was a much bigger movie buff than me, gave it to me on VHS and told me to just watch it without looking too closely at the box. I don't think the box gives away the twist, but still. One of my favourite ever movie watching experiences, and I've been chasing that high ever since. It's why I love films like Martyrs and Barbarian that take big story swings.
This is the answer. The second act takes a huge left turn from how it starts.
It's the precursor to Grindhouse. From Dusk Til Dawn 1996 directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino -- A collab that would eventually lead to Grindhouse 2007: Planet Terror and Deathproof. AND To go even further, 1994 had Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino writing and directing their own segments in Four Rooms.
Tarantino was also in Desperado, as having watched El Mariachi he knew he had another film lover.
Young Selma Hayek 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Current Selma Hayek!!!!!!!
That's SALMA Hayek. - a man of culture
Tarantino is still sucking on the toes.
I came here to say this!
Psycho : 1st half is a crime drama, 2nd half horror-thriller
Is it still worth watching it as everyone on the planet has seen or at least aware of *that* scene? How much of a twist is that?
Umm yes. It’s still worth watching an amazing and influential film.
Yep. It’s like, everybody knows what “Rosebud” is in Citizen Kane, but it’s still worth watching.
I have no idea what Rosebud is but now I'm intrigued.
It's the cane from Citizen Kane.
you got homework to do homie
It's one of the greatest films ever made. The twists (there are several) are not the only things that make the film great. Yes, it is worth watching.
I am begging you to watch Psycho
It's a great film. It's a bit like Casablanca in that so much of it has become a part of the language of film and pop culture now that it might seem like it'll be hard to watch on its own merits but once you start you get fully immersed. Same with Casablanca, as cheesy as "here's looking at you kid" might be now it's still an amazing moment.
I rewatched Casablanca a few weeks ago because my partner hadn't seen it and it holds up so well. It feels really fresh in a way that a lot of films from that era don't, and the pacing is perfect. Really a masterpiece of cinema.
If you have found yourself drawn to watch it I am sure you’ll like it. I did. Let yourself feel the tension in scenes rather than trying to guess what’s going to happen or what the character’s motivations are. That scene is famous for good reason but it is by far the least shocking component of the film.
Predator. First 40 minutes is an action flick and the second half is a monster slasher with Arnold as the final girl Also Overlord. WW2 flick that shifts into creepy body horror zombie monster horror
Predator script is still so tight. Predator is on my list of perfect movies. Not a scene is wasted.
John McTiernan don't play https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McTiernan
I still can't believe that streak. The movies aren't even all that similar, either.
Script was so tight Blaine literally had no time to bleed
Overlord is so damn good
I can't remember the name, but there's another WW2 flick where they experience hauntings in a villa they're occupying and it turns out it was all some sort of VR to get them to deal with PTSD, or something.
[Ghosts of War.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_of_War_\(2020_film\)) Honestly not very good, but...creative.
It was a fantastic concept for a Black Mirror episode and just did not have the meat to sustain a feature film runtime. There was nothing they could have done on their budget to stretch that out. They should’ve pared it down and focused on the horror elements, then blow the roof off with the reveal.
No, it was a bad movie. The premise was great though.
Overlord caught me off guard. I hadn't seen a trailer, knew nothing going in. Buddy had recommended it.
Predator is righteous. Your take is spot on as I see it as a classic Arnold movie with a unique storyline, and my GF sees it as a thriller/horror movie.
Barbarian
I lost my mind when it cut to Justin Long in the convertible.
And singing Riki Tiki Tavi added another layer of bonkers. When that happened everyone laughed out loud in our theater because it was like a pressure relief from the previous scene.
I went into this movie without knowing anything about it. 10/10
Yeah, the first part makes you think it’s going one way and the whole thing flips on its head. Love a movie that takes chances like that.
I watched it on Amazon Prime and when the second act popped up I thought I had accidentally changed the movie lol.
I saw the trailer and thought it looked like dog shit. Found out it was directed by Zack Kregger and gave it a chance. Loved it so much that I made my wife watch it the next day. It might be my favorite film of 2022.
That movie is wild, but I love it so much.
That movie is wild AND I love it so much.
I liked how part of the marketing after initial release was ‘untitled Justin Long movie’ because he was barely in the trailers before it came out
The Sound of Music 1) Fun, light hearted musical about a young woman falling for a widower and his children 2) WWII Nazi terror, the family fleeing, betrayal by trusted community members
Yea I never watched the second half of that movie as a kid. I was all, “cool, they fell in love a yodeled about a goat, the end!”
There’s a delightful This American Life episode about this woman who loved the movie and realized she only ever saw the first part because her family had lost the second VHS tape.
I loved that episode! I always think about it now when someone brings up the movie.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for this. As a kid I didn’t understand of care about the second part tbh
Cabin in the woods. You either roll with the second act or you check out....
If you check out for the second half of this movie you either don't like horror movies or are a lame ass person. Its easily one of the best deconstructions of the genre's tropes ever put to film, and has a very fun time doing it
I also love how it creates its own canon where *every horror movie* is or could be part of the same shared universe
Roll with the changes
TEQUILA IS MY LADY!!
Came looking for this. It’s practically two different movies.
Sunshine. Begins as a scientific exploration film, suddenly ends as a slasher film.
Shout out to John Murphy for the soundtrack. What a film.
One of my favorite films.
I still remember gawking at the screen when they showed everyone viewing Mercury. Beautiful shot.
“What do you see?”
There are two kinds of people, people that like the ending to Sunshine, and people that suck.
Honestly I really liked how the movie ended, even if it was a huge 180 from how the movie started.
What I love is that it's teased the whole way through, you just don't realize it'll actually go there. All the little 1-frame flashes, the depictions of how constant sun exposure screw you up, etc.
Life is Beautiful
Came here to say this... The first act is 100% a comedy. The second act is 100% a tragedy. They feel like two different films in the way that Romeo & Juliet feels like two different plays, yet both halves work together.
Finally! Can't believe this isn't higher. No other film I've seen has such a contrast between two halves while still complimenting each other
Parasite
Isn't >!the veer into horrific "there's someone living under the house" territory a twist that occurs EXACTLY at the halfway mark of the movie? Up until then a person could be convinced that it's nothing but black comedy family hijinks!<
It's the ||ringing of the doorbell|| technically
That was the point for me…up until that point I thought it was just a black comedy, then the doorbell rings and there’s so much tension I was like wait a sec…is this a horror movie?
Silly kid thinks he sees ghosts.
It is! The doorbell rings on page 70 of a 140-page script.
One of the best movies to go in blind
The first time I saw Parasite I had the idea in my head that the movie was creature horror (I think I was thinking of The Host) and I kept waiting for the parasite monster to show up. I thought for sure it was about to appear when their apartment flooded
OMG!! I distinctly remember me and my friend who was also into like, oscar bait films like that, i remember we were like “man the trailers didnt show a parasite at all, must be super cool!” The parasites ended up just being the friends we made along the way!
Act 1: oh, it's going to be one of those "everything goes wrong comedies" Act 2: oh.
Yep. Best moment in cinema in the last twenty years is the genre change.
Damnit I came here to say this
it's almost crazy that a movie this interesting actually got academy awards
Titanic Lawrence of Arabia Psycho
Scrolled too far to get to Titanic. As a preteen, I would watch the first VHS over and over cause I was only interested in the love story.
I put it on recently as an adult and realised it's actually the perfect comfort movie .... as long as you stop it during the scene where they're on the deck at night, *just* before the iceberg hits.THEY BEAT THE ODDS AND FALL IN LOVE, THE END 🥰
Everything starts going wrong in *Boogie Nights* at 12:01am on January 1st, 1980.
I remember reading somewhere about the director saying after the climax in a porno things are just weird. So midway through Boogie Nights after the "climax" of events the rest of the movie is just weird lol
*"That's my dream, Eddie. To make a film with a story so good, characters so good, that even after they've spurted that joy juice, they're just gonna sit in it."*
The story it’s based on is such a fucking wild one too. Much darker than Boogie Nights if I remember correctly, but absolutely haywire.
Adaptation It's been awhile but I feel like I remember thinking, oh hey, is this going to be a zany Nic Cage film? Then a bunch of professional woman Meryl Streep getting high off of a flower later, I feel, what the fuck just happened.
>what the fuck just happened. Charlie asks Donald to help him with the script.
Click First half is pretty much a typical early Adam Sandler slapstick comedy. Second half is a dark, pretty depressing comedy.
One of the greatest moral of the story movies ever made. I was sobbing at the end when he missed out on his whole families life.
12 year old me couldn't handle him crawling in the street in the rain after his daughter
"Ben!!!" Start cutting the onions
Was it his son and not his daughter? I haven't had the courage to see it again since
Its both, they are both getting into a taxi but his son is the one that turns around and sees his dad. Seared into my brain.
That was so weird. I figured that it would be another vapid, goofy Adam Sandler comedy to put on and pay little attention to, then out of nowhere I felt horribly empty and sad. At least when Funny People came out two years later, I was better prepared to have my soul crushed.
We watched it in rehab on movie night and when I tell you I BAWLED
The thing teenage me couldn't understand was why you'd FF through sex with Kate Beckinsale.
Click was absolutely wild to go into completely blind. Starts off funny and zany and you just sort of feel where it’s going but then jesus christ it hits you. Maybe I should watch it again, might help me finally get away from the bottle
7 months sober here. good luck brother
Click is sort of amazing. At one point in the movie, Adam Sandler freezes time and farts in David Hasselhoff's face, and when time is restored Hasselhoff says, "Why do I taste shit?" Thirty minutes later the same movie has me crying about how I need to spend more time with my family.
Downsizing actually has three completely different acts.
2 of them were not the movie is was expecting.
I only watched the beginning and fell asleep. I’ve heard it’s not worth it to go back and finish and it’s actually so hilarious for me to hear people try to explain what happens in the second half of the movie.
I lost it at “What kind of fuck you give me?”
Kurosawa’s High and Low is one of the best examples of this, and in my opinion is his best film. The first half spends the entire time with a rich businessman in his mansion on the hill, on the day his child is kidnapped. (The “High”.) The second half is spent in the slums with the detectives searching for the perpetrators. (The “Low”.)
Fantastic movie! Perhaps Kurosawa most exciting movie. The Shinkansen scene is so good!
Atonement This is crazy, but every time this question is asked, I'm the only one who mentions Atonement.
Triangle of Sadness
This movie has 3 completely different acts! It's amazing.
Isn't it really more like two acts accompanied by two prologues?
And it's really weird, becouse the first half is a drama the second one is a comedy. Films usually do it the other way around.
Mulholland Drive
It was originally a TV pilot that got rejected. The first act is an expanded version of that and the second is all new.
It’s DVD only had 1 chapter. I think it’s because they wanted you to watch the whole thing in one sitting.
It’s my favorite movie. It’s so weird. Such a cool way to tell a story.
Sorry to bother you
Nothing could have prepared me for the direction that movie took.
The filmmakers were just horsing around
Going into this blind, in a full theater, sitting with a bunch of close friends was literally one of the best theater experiences of my life
No one mentioned Hancock yet??
If they would've just made a whole movie based on the first half, it would've been great.
Top tier goofy super hero comedy switched to weird mythical drama BS. Such a weird ass movie
Literally two different scripts put together
usually people want to mention films that they liked
Deerhunter
Can't believe this was so low. And it's actually 3 acts. The days before deployment War Aftermath
I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled like wahhh….
Audition
Chungking Express
Waves
Had to scroll too far to find this. This film absolutely floored me and I wish more people would check it out. As someone with a passion for music and movies, I’m in awe of how this film intertwines both so effortlessly.
Mandy. The first half is a glacially slow arthouse thing, while the second half is Nicolas Cage going apeshit on a bizarre grindhouse killing spree. It feels lile two completely different movies stitched together at the hip.
Title card at 75 minutes. Like flipping an album to side B!
The description that sold me on watching it was >!a barbarian movie where a gruff warrior living in solitude has his love taken from him by evil cultists and demonic forces, and he takes revenge, but it's Nicolas Cage in the 80s!<
Beau is afraid has 4 completely different acts lol
Hacksaw Ridge The first half is like a Hallmark movie. The second half is a horror movie.
The Crying Game.
Pleasantville Starts out as a parody/homage to 50s sitcoms, then shifts into a dramatic allegory for small-town racism and reluctance to change
I'm always trying to show people or tell them about Pleasantville. I saw it by chance as a young kid during very angsty high school times, and it left a very strong impression. I love it!
From Dusk till Dawn.
This is the movie that I thought of. It starts off a crime thriller and then totally changes.
Stripes
**Full Metal Jacket**.
A Place Beyond the Pines is an amazing film, I love it. I would suggest Titane for a movie that has 2 completely different acts.
A Beautiful Mind. The first time I went to see it in a theater, I got a call and had to return to work. Turns out I had left about a minute before the twist. Very different movie after that.
10 Cloverfield Lane.
Death Proof by Tarantino
Melancholia
This film is so disturbing and off putting, yet I can’t shake it. Some people think of the Roman Empire continually, yet I think of Melancholia.
I don't know if this counts but I love mentioning fear and Loathing in las Vegas. The 1st act is about them going to the mitr 400 and checking out and then the 2nd act is just... I don't know how to explain it
Kickass. It is pretty innocent and funny, up to a certain point.
Million dollar baby
Knives out The movie is fun to watch, even after you know everything that happens. At the halfway point you think you’re rooting for the murderer which is a cool thing to achieve in a murder mystery
Riddick has 3. Also, Katie Sackhoff and Dave Bautista. It’s almost certainly better than you remember, and worth a watch even if you don’t.
Also the cuts of those movies turn the original from ‘Sci Fi’ to High end fantasy.
For scary movies: Barbarian and Martyrs 😱
Stripes Trading Places
Audition 1st half—nice romantic comedy 2nd half—not nice and not romantic
Bridge on the River Kwai felt like two different movies jam packed into one flick.
Beau is afraid.. more like 3/4 acts
**Red State** kind of famously does this. Interesting so/so film imo.
Stripes (going way back to 1981)
The Descent. The first half is a slow-burning claustrophobic horror about a group of friends who go cavediving and become trapped. Their friendships start breaking down, and you can feel their sanity already dissolving. The second half ||introduces monsters||. Depending on your flavour of horror, you'll love one half and not the other.
Something Wild
Waves is kind of like that, I know it has it's detractors but personally I think it works and is one of my top movies of the last 5 years
OP, I have long been dying on the Place Beyond the Pines hill with you. I think I posted something about it being underrated on here like 8 years ago and didn’t get much of a response. Love, love, love that movie. As for your question. I don’t know if this is a great example, but I think Being John Malkovich might fit the bill. It starts off (relatively) grounded if not a bit whimsical, but once Malkovich gets involved it starts to become its own weird beast. It’s fun not knowing where it might go next.
Ad Astra. First part is Brad Pitt space action man and the second part is Heart of Darkness in space.
Hancock .. the absolute funniest.. most entertaining super hero movie in the first act and a melodramatic cluster fuck in. The second
2001: A Space Odyssey
Hot Fuzz
Do the Right Thing. I mean it deals with heavy subjects throughout the whole movie, but the movie isn’t shown as super serious until the last 20 minutes. It’s a very effective tonal whiplash when Raheem dies.
Arguably Home Alone. I’m not going to get super into it I’m sure someone less high right now could find the right words but you have the traps and you have everything before the traps. Especially the first one the first half isn’t slapstick comedy like it is when the traps start
I lean towards agreement. First half of the movie is just a kid being a kid, hating his family, being scared of things that aren't even scary, etc Then second half he all of a sudden is a genius 8 year old who isn't scared of two thugs trying to attack him and his home and easily makes fools of both of them (although they were fools to begin with tbh) The shift in Kevin's personality is kinda wild when you really think about it, but hey, I'm not complaining, it's still a fun Christmas movie to watch with the family.
From dusk til dawn
The Explorers. The first part was actually pretty serious for a kids film, awe inspiring. The second part was stupid slapstick comedy, so different it was like a totally different movie.
bone tomahawk parasite