Movie Sequels & Trilogies

[daisho2004]

@massa_yoda: You have gotta watch Underworld I love the 1st. 3 movies the 4th. was a disappointment to me!

[DarthKato]

Here we go:

Star Wars: There's a lot of talk about the originals being overrated, but you have to understand that they broke the mold on what was possible in the 70s. Simple story, yes. But entertaining as hell. Ewoks vs. Jar Jar...it just depends on your P.O.D. aka, Point of Discovery. Since I watched the originals as a kid, I loved ewoks, and that stays with you i guess. Watch Barney's presentation about Ewok theory. It starts at 40 seconds in:

Underworld: Haven't seen them!

Twilight Saga: First film was enough for me!

You have got to see the Underworld films. All four are excellant films.

The first half of Twilight was all I could take. After that, I just continued looking at the screen as I felt my brain beginning to melt.

I love all the Star Wars films, but I do think that the original are a bit overated, while on the other hand I think the opposite is true about the Prequels.I talk about this subject on my Blog if anyone is interested:

DarthKato's Blog

[masterofoneinchpunch]

this was getting too long so I'll stop with what I have:

2001/2010: The first is in my top 100 films of all time, the second is underrated, but I haven’t seen it in years and I wonder if my feelings still will hold on it.

Aces Go Places: The second is my favorite, but the first two directed by Tsang are the funniest to me. I’ll try to ignore the fact I saw 97’ Aces Go Places or the fact I wrote a 1000+ word review on it.

Ace Ventura: Oh yeah, I liked both. Yes, I'm ignoring Jr.

The Antoine Doinel Series: one of the best “youth” film series. With the exception of the last film Love on the Run (which is good but has way too many flashbacks to previous films making it feel like a TV retrospective) every film from The 400 Blows to Bed & Board is among my favorite French films. How good is Jean-Pierre Léaud in this role?

Back to the Future: Enjoyed all three. Prefer the first which is by far the one I have seen the most.

Batman (Burton, Schumacher): I’ll argue until I’m blue in the face on how much I like and appreciate the two Burton films as solid cinematic art entertainment. I will not do the same for the Schumacher ones.

Batman (Nolan): Fun trilogy here. I prefer The Dark Knight out of all three, but really liked Tom Hardy’s Bane in the third.

Blade: The first two while completely different in the aesthetic take are among my favorite vampire films. I really wish they did not make a third. I have some serious hate toward the third – must be a Ryan Reynolds thing.

Bond: while I have not seen the last four, I have seen every single other film. I’m a huge Connery fan so Goldfinger is my favorite among the bunch. My favorite Moore is Live and Let Die. I never ever want to see Moonraker again.

The Bourne Series: I’m just not a fan of these. Don’t hate them and I will go see the upcoming The Bourne Legacy, but I prefer many other action films. The shaky-cam action and over-edited The Bourne Ultimatum just annoyed me. Typical action scene: Bourne poses against enemy. The camera shakes vigorously. Bourne appears to have dispatched his enemy.

Evil Dead: I’m a huge Bruce Campbell fan. I’m not as keen on the first, but the second and Army of Darkness I have watched many, many times (have on VHS, DVD). Give me some sugar baby!

The Godfather: two great films, superb acting and it comes with a third that might have not necessarily needed to be made. Probably the best though of trilogy with critics.

Harry Potter: Enjoyed the whole series to varying degrees. Wasn’t always thrilled with David Yates direction.

Hellboy: Loved both, seen both several times. When the hell are they going to make a third?

Indiana Jones: I’ll go with the consensus and state that I didn’t think they needed to make a fourth one.

Infernal Affairs: this series reminds me a bit of The Godfather where I love the first two, sometimes even like the second more than the first depending on my mood, but thought the third was a letdown (while still being a decent movie). Francis Ng gives an impressive performance in the second.

Iron Man: While the second did not interest me more than the first, I’m completely looking forward to the third film. 2008 was a great year for Robert Downey Jr.

LOTR: what can I say that others haven’t? Other than I completely prefer the longer versions of the film than the theater versions.

Matrix: I try to be in denial about the sequels and prefer to think they do not exist.

The Pink Panther Series (Peter Sellers): I have seen all of these films multiple times. This is one of those rare series where the first film is among my least favorite in the series (too much David Niven). The Pink Panther Strikes Again is easily my favorite comedy of all-time and a film I have seen at least 50 times and one I quote quite often. Does your dog bite? OK, Trail of the Pink Panther did not need to be made and feels quite a bit like Game of Death in its use of a dead star. I still have not seen any non-Peter Sellers Pink Panther films though.

Pirates of the Caribbean: I liked the first two quite a bit but lost more and more interest in the third and fourth.

Police Story: I can watch the first three over and over (and have).

Predator: I would say that the second film was underrated, though some will not agree. But watching the first in the theater as a kid was an awesome experience at the time. My ticket was crumbled from me gripping it through the intense scenes.

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone): I have seen all 14 films. I prefer the first two which are Victorian in setting, but still enjoy Holmes battling WWII villains. I can watch these anytime though as Rathbone (for me, I know there are many Jeremy Brett fans out there) as the consummate Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.): I also loved both of these. I know some give the second one (or both) flack, but I prefer the second to the first. A great villain in Moriatry (Jared Harris).

Spiderman: Enjoyed the reboot, but still like the first two Raimi films the best. I feel that the third in that series is overhated too much.

Star Wars (original): There are no films I have seen more times that the first three (episodes IV-VI). They are not underrated in my mind.

Star Wars (prequels): Not the biggest fan of these three. Watched the second and third recently and feel that they just don’t do the original series justice.

Superman (Christopher Reeve, reboot): how far did this series fall? The first two are among the greatest comic book movies of all-time and the most influential. I really do like The Richard Donner cut as well. I was so-so on the reboot.

The Thin Man: Still need to see the last film. The second in the series (After the Thin Man) is one of the most underappreciated comedic films. Nick Charles is one of the greatest “drunk” characters of all-time.

X-Men (trilogy, Wolverine): I still need to see First Class, but quite enjoyed the trilogy. I wasn’t as happy with Wolverine.

[massa_yoda]

this was getting too long so I'll stop with what I have:

2001/2010: The first is in my top 100 films of all time, the second is underrated, but I haven’t seen it in years and I wonder if my feelings still will hold on it.

Harry Potter: Enjoyed the whole series to varying degrees. Wasn’t always thrilled with David Yates direction.

The thing about 2010 is that it is very 80s, with it's cold war parable and visual effects. 2001 by contrast feels timeless, even the visuals fool people. A friend of mine thought it was made in the 80s cause the effects were so ahead of its time!

And yes Yates made some weird choices sometimes, but I thought his direction was solid in Order of the Pheonix. He was up and down from there. HP 7.1 was also very well done I thought.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The thing about 2010 is that it is very 80s, with it's cold war parable and visual effects. 2001 by contrast feels timeless, even the visuals fool people. A friend of mine thought it was made in the 80s cause the effects were so ahead of its time!

And yes Yates made some weird choices sometimes, but I thought his direction was solid in Order of the Pheonix. He was up and down from there. HP 7.1 was also very well done I thought.

It's was going to be hard to make a sequel for one of most revered films of all-time. 2010 is a film I look forward to revisiting. 2001 is timeless Dave.

I really liked HP 7.2 (sounds like a Hewlett Packard version number) more than 7.1 for the way it wrapped everything together. I didn't dislike any of the HP films (I own them all on DVD and several on BD), I just found it interesting that they kept with Yates.

[Takuma]

There’s too many… let me start with just some and continue later

Nolan’s Batman

Over-rated Batman Begins followed by one of the best Hollywood films of the 2000’s, and a flawed (terrible ending) but mostly very well made conclusion to the trilogy. While the first one is relatively uninteresting comic book film, the sequels introduce a level of realism and politics not typically associated with the genre.

The Bourne Trilogy

A good trilogy, but the original is the best due to the very refreshing, naturalistic winter Europe setting. The sequels are over-charged techno thrillers – good on their own, but not really as interesting the as the original.

Die Hard

Nice trilogy, with masterful original, prime example of 90’s Hollywood action of a sequel, and entertaining 3rd movie. The 4th one was instantly forgettable – no wonder being directed by such a bad director.

The Terminator

wo brilliant films followed by a silly third one, and a downright awful 4th one. I was nearly walked out from the theater during the highway chase scene because it was so terrible.

Fast & Furious

Headache inducing original followed by an enjoyably dumb 2nd film, a criminally worthless Tokyo Drift (what’s the point in shooting in Tokyo when re-writing about 4 lines the film could’ve been set in Paris). The 4th I haven’t seen, but the 5th, while too heavy on loud explosion stunts and short on real driving, is an enjoyable caper film.

Rambo

Four good films, starting with the down-to-earth original, an entertaining all-out-war sequel, and a very cool third film that is criminally under-rated for no obvious reason. The 4th, however, is the series best. While not necessarily considered an intelligent film it really shows Stallone’s skill in building on the character’s reputation, and skillfully mixing light real life commentary with shamelessly entertaining action.

Indy

In my books the original is the best movie ever made (divided 1st position with Taifu Club), and the 3rd film comes close to reaching the same level. The 2nd isn’t as good, but partly due to childhood nostalgia I must say I love that one two. The 4th, ok, it’s not great but I still think as an Indy fan it’s passable film despite numerous problems (Lucas style overly technical action, some terrible supporting characters, and a misfit alien theme as opposed to the religious myths of the original trilogy)

Bakuhatsu (Exlosion) biker gangs films (1975-1977) (4 movies)

An above average biker gang series, with Sonny Chiba's supporting role making the first one, and the memorable sequel an exploitation remake of West Side Story. The third film, which was the last one helmed by Teruo Ishii, is a dull melodrama only linked to the series by name, cast and crew. The 4th film, by Yutaka Kohira (Dragon Princess), however, restores the honor with excellent action sequences though there's more emphasis on car than biker action.

Truck Yaro (1975-1979)

Norifumi Suzuki + Bunta Sugawara x 10! A long running series of consistently good action comedies. There’s truck chases, there’s boobs, and there’s Bunta Sugawara doing low brow physical comedy. Rival truckers include Tomisaburo Wakayama (the 6th film) and Sonny Chiba (the 5th film) as the leader of the Jaws Gang (with trucks named as Jaws I, Jaws II, Jaws III etc.).

Red Peony Gambler (1966-1972) (8 movies)

One of the most famous yakuza film series ever made, with genre queen Junko Fuji in the lead and male supports Ken Takakura, Koji Tsuruta and Bunta Sugawara taking turns co-starring. As typical to studio era productions, the series has upwards quality trend, with cast and crew perfecting their roles film by film. Parts 3, 5 and 8 are the best. Not a bad film in the series, though part 7 is a bit mediocre.

Mikogami trilogy (1972-1973) (3 films)

Two messy and forgettable, though reasonably enjoyable revenge films, followed by a near-excellent, moody and nihilist third installment. The storyline is never wrapped up, though, as studio unexpectedly called it quits for the series. It’s a shame, not only for the series, but for the lead actor Yoshio Harada who never quite hit the stardom he deserved. His screen charisma always reminds me of Yusaku Matsuda.

Stray Cat Rock (1970-1971) (5 films)

Here’s a cool, but odd series for the installments having been churned out simultaneously by two different directors with very different visions. Yasuharu Hasebe’s films (1, 3, 4) are stylized girl gang flicks, while Toshiya Fujita’s under-rated contributions (2, 5) are youth films with strong social undertones. Part 4, Machine Animal, is the best in the series.

Sukeban (1972-1974) (7 movies)

A thoroughly entertaining girl gang series. While none of the films is a cinematic masterpiece, they are all well made exploitation films with beautiful leads, solid production values, and steady delivery of action. These type of films, while low budget affairs, greatly benefited from being studio productions and hence rivaling the technical quality of mainstream films – and unlike some of the more hard edged stuff, Toei’s pinky violence flicks were mostly semi-mainstream entertainment for the male audience.

Terrifying Girls' High School (4 films)

A high school variation of the Sukeban series. A strong opening film followed by an excellent sequel, both courtesy of Norifumi Suzuki. The last two, however, are increasingly mediocre with few memorable scenes. At least they had Reiko Ike with a machine gun...

Female Prisoner Scorpion (1972-1977) (6 films)

Quite possibly the best WIP movie of all time followed by quite possibly the best exploitation film of all time: the state of art masterpiece Jailhouse 41. The 3rd film is a strong one as well - a moody character study - and the under-appreciated 4th is a melancholic crime film departing from the WIP theme. After a brief break Toei produced two more films without Meiko Kaji - both flawed but solid entries, with the 5th movie (New Female Prisoner Scorpion) featuring some of the most stylish scenes in the series.