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Movies & Music: The never-ending series
In an effort to milk every last penny out of a billion dollar industry, the producers of the hit Harry Potter movies are splitting J.K. Rowling’s last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, into two movies. The first film is set for a November 2010 release, and the second for May 2011.
While the Harry Potter films have had nothing but success–worldwide the films have pulled in $4.5 billion at the box office–not all such sequels, trilogies, etc., can say the same. I was pretty disappointed with the later two Santa Clause movies and aghast at the editorial liberties taken in the third installment of the Anne of Green Gables saga.
But I’ve also seen a few excellent series–the Bourne and Spider-Man trilogies come to mind. What are the best and worst movie sequels/trilogies/series that you’ve seen?
back to top39 Comments to “Movies & Music: The never-ending series”
Best: Duh, Lord of the Rings
Worst: The last batch of Star Wars.
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I loved the first two Spider-Man movies, but the third one fell flat for me. I think they tried to do too much with it and ended up not being able to do justice to any of the major plot threads.
I am not a Harry Potter fan, but I’m not as cynical as Kirstin in that I don’t think splitting it into two movies is necessarily just about money. I’m sure that’s part of the decision, but we’ve all seen movies that try to boil a long and complex novel down into 2 1/2 hours and fail miserably. Splitting it may be a better choice for treating the material fairly.
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I find my life is much more interesting than movies
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Wow, superior much?
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SteveG beat me to the point on this quibble – the Potter books are very long and thickly woven. Some of the others should have been split into 2 movies in order to properly tell them (they really only worked because the audience has largely read the books). The split is fully justified on the needs of story telling alonealthough profit is always a factor in private business).
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Superior to what? The life that God gave me to live is not more interesting than entertainment, contrived reality? I find His revelation of Himself in all human interactions, because His words are true, something like Ps. 37:34, “Wait for Jehovah, and keep his way, and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” I find these things to be true in reality. And what I read on my personality type, Meyer-Brigg, INFJ, I have enough imagination to be content.
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#1. Sorry, I misspelled worse. I spelled it the way my son pronounces it.
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I have to say, I see Reg’s point here. Maybe that’s why I don’t watch too many movies, but I do watch some and there are some I’ve loved. And sometimes they were a wonderful tool with my children to help teach important lessons. I did especially like the TLOTR series. I don’t really like stuff like Bourne or The Matrix.
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I’m not much of a moviegoer, myself (just don’t care for that medium). But having read all of the HP books, it makes sense that book 7 would be split into two movies. There’s a lot there (good and evil, fall and redemption), and one movie would not do it justice.
Have read and reread and love LOTR but haven’t watched any of the movies. My LOTR-loving nephews and nieces have recommended the movies, though, and I found the first one at the dollar store the other day, so I may yet see it.
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Woman Who Willed a Miracle, Cloris Leachman, is my favorite. A true story. May’s Boy is the book.
Anne of Green Gables was good and I read all the books.
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My Myers-Briggs is INFJ also, but I’ve never connected that with watching movies. However, I see very few of them. I would rather read. I came to this thread thinking I would have no input. I suspect I that’s correct, however Reg’s comment made me say this. I doubt that the Myers-Brigg score affects it much.
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I personally don’t understand why someone would come to a thread on something they are not interested in, just to say they are not interested in it, unless they are trying to say you shouldn’t be interested in it either.
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SteveG is right on the HP split; I think it is about length and content more than money.
He is also right that Reg’s comment comes off snooty. It is like all the anti-sports people that go on a thread about sports and say how ridiculous it is that anyone cares. If you’re not a sports fan leave the sports threads alone. If you are not a movie fan, and that’s fine, leave the movie threads alone. The only thing accomplished by comment #3 was to make us feel small or to brag.
For my money, btw, LOTR was awesome, but Bourne and Matrix were excellent as well.
The worst for me, hands down, was any Rocky after the original Rocky. They became self-parody.
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KBells, yes, thanks. That’s what I was trying to say.
I don’t mean to read too much into Reg’s comment, but in my experience, whenever somebody says something like “I never watch television,” it usually carries the implication “because I’m smarter/better/more cultured than those who do.”
Going out of your way to say so in a thread that was created for discussion of that topic — movies in this case — seems to just about guarantee that that’s the subtext.
I think humans are natural storytellers and always have been. There’s nothing inherently superior about reading stories than watching them in a visual medium.
And it’s not that our lives aren’t interesting, Reg … but well-written fiction illuminates human themes and heck, even escapist fiction can serve a need (the need to take a break from reality now and then and have a little pure recreation.)
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Adios at #13: The worst for me, hands down, was any Rocky after the original Rocky. They became self-parody.
I agree, and tied with that I’d say any Jaws after the original. The first one was excellent, the second one was passable at best, and third and fourth were just ridiculous.
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Godzilla!
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SteveG, you are quite right on the story telling aspect of human nature.
And LOL I’d forgotten there were sequels to Jaws. Yes, they were awful.
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Ha! Travis, are you putting Godzilla in the best or worst category?
The one with Bambie is the Best:)
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Hi adios. Am i putting Godzilla in best or worst category?
Yes!
Our local UHF TV station “monster week” in the early 70s (remember UHF channels?). I’d race home from school every day to catch an entire week of action – mostly Godzilla stuff.
I was always sad when Godzilla went down, like when Mothra’s two larvae spray him down with all their cocoony stuff.
I loved the Pink Panther (original) series of movies with Peter Sellers.
A new release of Planet of the Apes series was always eagerly awaited. Hit and miss, some good some bad.
No one has mentioned Bond.
Clint’s Dirty Harry series was good.
My dad loved the Charly Chan series. I recall him sitting in his chair on a saturday afternoon, polishing his work shoes and watching Warner Oland in B&W.
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Of course the more I think about it, the more comes to mind.
The Terminator trilogy is excellent. They are making a fourth movie due out next year.
The Indiana Jones films are all good too (I even like the much-maligned Temple of Doom, though it is the least of the three.) I have high hopes for the new one coming in May.
I liked Alien a lot, but never really cared for any of the sequels.
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“Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring” — either of which is satisfying on its own but thoroughly completed by the other. Definitely one of my favorite paired films.
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In general it seems to me that the best series are the ones that were originally intended to be series. Which is why the HP series works. And with LOTR, it’s really all just one story, not even a trilogy proper. When they just come out with a 2 or 3 or… ugh 5 or 6 or something because they can’t think of a new set of characters, it’s bad.
However, I thought Spiderman III was pretty much the stupidest movie I had ever seen. I don’t know what the intent of the Spiderman movies was; were they intended to be a series all along?
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I agree that the Pink Panther series was great and Hubbie likes Bond and Jack Ryan. I go along because I like Pierce Bronson(sp?) and Harrison Ford. The Temple of Doom was gross.
#22. “I thought Spiderman III was pretty much the stupidest movie I had ever seen.”
You’ve obviously never seen Jurassic Park II. “Oh yea, we saved the baby T-Rex at the price of our dear friend and a dozen or so other unimportant people.” Stupid, stupid movie.
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I am one will that mention – in a conversation – that I don’t watch much television.
I do it so that people know why I don’t have an opinion on whatever happened in some show that “everyone” is talking about (and they don’t put me in the position of having ask things like “who’s [fill in celebrity's name here]?” which I find mildly embarrassing).
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KRM … Point taken, but that’s in a context where there’s a legitimate reason to say it … that’s different than seeing a thread here on television and posting just to say “I don’t watch TV.”
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I suppose LOTR is the best. Planet of the Apes III was terrible, but the other two were okay. Perhaps the worst series was the Love Bug movies (and the Anne of Green Gables after #1).
Galadriel (speking of LOTR) says: In general it seems to me that the best series are the ones that were originally intended to be series. To a point, yes. But when Lucas waited over twenty years to make the prequels to Star Wars, that was too long. I think there were origianlly going to be 9 movies, with the original 3 as the middle ones. After the disasters in the prequels, I hope he never finishes them.
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Favorite movie series:
1. LOTR
2. James Bond
3. Back to the Future
4. Indiana Jones
5. Harry Potter
6. Jason Bourne
7. X-Men
Least favorite movie series:
1. Jaws
2. Last 3 Star Wars
3. Spiderman
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Alien
6. Rocky
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The excellent Kill Bill was filmed as one movie and released as two for reasons of length. It isn’t always just about money.
Ditto Anlir’s lists, with additions:
Good: Godfather
The Thin Man series
Bad: Rush Hour
Spy Kids
Friday the 13th
Halloween (although Part 3 was in 3-D, with predictably disgusting but cool results)
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For my dime, Lord of the Rings is the absolute mountaintop. Nothing even comes close.
As for the worst, it’s a tie between Star Wars and the Matrix.
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Ooh, I’d forgotten about Indiana Jones. I liked those movies, though it was probably more a case of liking Harrison Ford.
I’ll have to see if my library has them.
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Good:
Star Wars I-VI
The Lord of the Rings
Among the best “movie trilogies” are The Lord of the Rings, and the six Star Wars movies (taken together) are great too. Granted, I hate Jar Jar Binks as much as anyone, but I still don’t really try to separate the two series. They’re meant to be taken together.
Fair:
Spiderman
Back to the Future
X-Men
Jurassic Park
Back to the Future was great for it’s camp and ability to be genuinely funny. Spiderman I and II were extremely well done, in my opinion. I don’t know what happened with Spiderman III, though. And to answer someone’s question, yes, Toby Maguire signed on to do three movies when they made the first one.
The first Jurassic Park movie was incredible, especially for it’s time. Everything after that was a shameless (and disappointing) grab for money that got progressively worse as the series went on.
Poor:
The Matrix
Rush Hour
The Matrix mostly because it struck me as very pretentious and self important, and partially because it was simply overhyped. By the third movie, they were just recycling special effects strung together by some dialogue.
The first Rush Hour was great too… after that, though, well, it went the way of most movie sequels. For shame.
Hmm… that was surprisingly incoherent.
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The craftsmanship of “Cannonball Run” was well-matched by “Cannonball Run II” {:~)
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I don’t watch movies.
OK, I just had to say it.
I actually don’t watch many, for a variety of reasons: no obvious person to see them with, few I want to see, and film not being the best medium for me since I’m less of a visual person than a word person.
I saw the first Harry Potter movie (after reading the first book or two)–hated it, didn’t want to see another. I saw the first two LOTR and had plans to see the third with a friend, but a new nephew was born right when the friend was ready to see it and I never have seen it, though I really should have. I saw “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and plan to see the others–though I was sorely disappointed by it after the hype. (The dialogue is almost all different from the books–that’s huge–and a major new scene is added. Plus it wasn’t anywhere near the quality, in any way, as LOTR, and it should have been.)
I never saw the Matrix, as it sounded like the kind of movie specifically made to drive people like me (non-visual people) absolutely nuts–it sounded like a movie I wouldn’t understand, wouldn’t enjoy, and would get a headache if I watched it. I once attended a party where people debated whether to rent the movie. I’d looked forward to the party for weeks, but quietly decided that if they rented the movie, I’d probably just go home, as discreetly as possible. Fortunately they chose not to rent any movies, and I stayed.
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Lord of the Rings was great. One of the few movies from books that I thought came close to being as good as the books. I am looking forward to seeing if the makers of the Chronicle of Narnia can keep their series going as well as it started.
Indiana Jones also makes my top billing. Enjoyed Bourne movies too.
I never really saw the attraction to the Star Wars movies, but that’s just me.
Worst: I don’t know. If I don’t like one of the series, I won’t watch the rest.
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Peter L:
Perhaps if you just don’t like that kind of movie you could label the Love Bug movies as the worst series, but in my opinion they all are pretty similar in terms of quality. There wasn’t the drop off in quality seen in many, if not most, sequels. (I’m talking about the first four, btw. Any actual “Herbie” movies made after the 80’s don’t exist as far as I’m concerned.)
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11-
I wonder, INFJ, WHY you, as I, would rather read a book?
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Thin Man! Thanks for the reminder, StuBob.
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No one’s mentioned the incredible Police Academy and America Pie series. A prime example of the superiority of American culture. A local UHF station used to show Not-So Great Movies on Sunday afternoon. Great entertainment – Godzilla in all its glory. Although I was partial to Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s Daughter.
Almost all sequels are worst than the original. The Matrix an incredible first movie with stimulating dialog mixed with special effects deteriorated to special effects only. Harry Potter movies work well since they originally intended to be a series whereas others were one-shot movies which were redone when they made impressive amounts of money. Many children’s movies have good sequels mainly because they still concentrate on the story telling whereas many other sequels are made to appeal to twenty soemthing males and story telling dips in proportion to the increase in violence/special effects.
Of all the slasher films made in the 80s, Nightmare on Elm Street was the only one which could make sequels without becoming a parody of the original.
Red (Liberty), White(Fraternity) and Blue (Equality) a Polish-French trilogy from the 80s is amazing.
Terminator is only action series I can think of that somehow keeps your brain working as well as your eyes. Just when you thought they reached rock bottom, they released an other Rocky or Rambo flick. I didn’t even like the first Alien.
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#36
I thought we already answered this question–because, apparently, your imagination is better than the rest of ours.
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