Best Trilogy Ever (Redux)

[GL2k2]

Well, guess what folks, it's back. I saw LOTR (Return of the King) about oh three times already. I am still absolutely speechless. People ask me about it and I just start, but then have to say words can't describe. It was a damn experience. I hate when a movie can do that, but then, I guess my hard earned $5.00 (matinee baby, utilize it) was put to good use each time.

Anyways, if you old school members remember, we were doing a thread about the best trilogies ever. The masses united in favor on the one trilogy (at the time) that mattered and that was STAR WARS. But I gotta tell you people. LOTR IMHO may have just kicked STAR WARS arse, and hard. I mean really hard. Talk about flawless. I watched the previous films on DVD before going to the theater for "King" and it is absolutely breathtaking. I take it the reason it made so much was other people did the same. Although this method didn't work for Matrix very well, did it?

Well, here goes. I don't have time to explain what I think a trilogy consist of. But I will say I added two older ones I neglected from the previous threads that I think on merit deserve to be considered.

Those being "Karate Kid" and something I call "Once Upon a. . ." Trilogy. These being Sergio Leone's last movies.

[Vin]

What about Back to the Future? LOTR is my favorite trilogy, but I think Back to the Future should be up there, as well as Indiana Jones (despite the fact that a fourth is being developed).

But yes, LOTR is by far the best trilogy.

[Mynd Hed]

Hey kids, gather 'round, it's Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings: Round Fifty!

...oh, and there's some other stuff on the poll, too.

[Animation Otaku]

LOTR. But Back to the Future should be up there.

[Jimbo]

Even though I adore the Original Star Wars Trilogy, I felt "Return of the Jedi" was a weak finale. As most with most Trilogy's, the third act falls short of expectations (ie: Godfather Part III; Back to the Future Part III; Scream 3).

Where as "The Lord of the Rings" films were all consistently excellent from beginning to end.

The Godfather should be up there. What other Trilogy up there has won the Oscar for Best Picture for two out of three of their films?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Sergio Leone's only "official" trilogy is his Dollars trilogy. While all of them are fairly watchable, only one ("The Good, Bad, and Ugly") is the masterpiece--and the only ORIGINAL part of the trilogy. The first two movies were either remakes of other movies or just not great overall.

Once Upon a Time in the West is his other masterpiece, but it has no relation to his Once Upon a Time in America.

I would also rate Lord of the Rings highly, possibly even #1. But there are some foreign movies out there that probably should be considered, like the Red, White and Blue trilogy, as well as the Antoine Doinel series of films (400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, etc,.)

[Icer]

Star Wars is still at the top of my list, but LOTR would be #2.

[Dr Kain]

Anything is better than Star Wars. Not really, but here is my top:

1. LotR
2. Matrix
3. Prequel Star Wars
4. Original Star Wars

[MajorTom]

3. Prequel Star Wars
4. Original Star Wars

Blasphemy!

-Major Tom

[EinBebop]

What about Beverly Hills Cop?

What about Die Hard?

The Godfather?

The Terminator?

Evil Dead?

Back to the Future?

Austin Powers?

What about the Mighty Ducks?

[Salvor]

*At least* Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and Die Hard should be up there.

My favorite trilogy would be... either Star Wars (original of course) or Indiana Jones. I just love both so much.

While I thought the Two Towers was a great movie, I found Fellowship and ROTK to be rather dull (especially ROTK) so definitely NOT Lord of the Rings.

[GL2k2]

Sergio Leone's only "official" trilogy is his Dollars trilogy. While all of them are fairly watchable, only one ("The Good, Bad, and Ugly") is the masterpiece--and the only ORIGINAL part of the trilogy. The first two movies were either remakes of other movies or just not great overall.

Once Upon a Time in the West is his other masterpiece, but it has no relation to his Once Upon a Time in America.

I would also rate Lord of the Rings highly, possibly even #1. But there are some foreign movies out there that probably should be considered, like the Red, White and Blue trilogy, as well as the Antoine Doinel series of films (400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, etc,.)

Not true, I have the "Once Upon A Time In the West" DVD and in the interviews with collaborators of Leone's they explain that he envisioned these three movies as a trilogy. They have to do with the rise of America or something. Interesting tidbit, Leone originally asked Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach to be in the beginning of "Once Upon A Time in the West" where they would kick off this new trilogy.

[DianaGohan]

The only one I saw Fully was the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. I have seen parts of the others though, but I'm still going to have to go with LoTR.

[Hatter]

Star Wars is fun, but it just doesn't approach LOTR in terms of sheer beauty. Beauty of images, & dialogue, & music.
There's no denying that Attack of the Clones was a mess of a movie, compared to the others.

[Pepperidge]

LOTR was actually filmed as one, enormous movie and then spliced into three parts. That alone sets it apart from the others and creates far greater unity than can be achieved otherwise.

Indiana Jones and Back to the Future really should be on there.

[shogunthethird]

what about the naked gun trilogy? seriously though, I give it to LOTR if only because technically with six movies Star Wars is a saga

[Evil Dr. Reef]

Dead heat between LotR and classic Star Wars.

[MajorTom]

Star Wars is fun, but it just doesn't approach LOTR in terms of sheer beauty. Beauty of images, & dialogue, & music.
There's no denying that Attack of the Clones was a mess of a movie, compared to the others.

The choice of Star Wars, I believe, is referring to the original triogy (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of The Jedi), not the horrid prequels.

Indiana Jones should be up there, instead of the El Mariachi movies. Oh my God, those movies suck!

-Major Tom

[Dr Kain]

Blasphemy!

-Major Tom

Maybe to you, but I don't get bored with I and II like I do with EpIV. Besides, EpI and II had amardas of bots marching and shooting things. Then you had all the Jedi and Clones in Attack of the Corny Dialog, which made that movie the best of them all, thus far. Infact, AotC made me a bigger SW fan than I was.

[Jimmy Kustes]

BTTF ownz you all.

[Mynd Hed]

Maybe to you, but I don't get bored with I and II like I do with EpIV. Besides, EpI and II had amardas of bots marching and shooting things. Then you had all the Jedi and Clones in Attack of the Corny Dialog, which made that movie the best of them all, thus far. Infact, AotC made me a bigger SW fan than I was.

Oh, okay. You should've told us you were operating under the Cardinal Rule of Movie Goodness:

Shiny Things > Good Storytelling

[GL2k2]

Here's the results of of the other movies you've guys mentioned including Back to the Future, and whatever else. They all lost.


http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=82110

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=83005

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=83906

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=84756

[purplehairedwonder]

Lord of the Rings easily. While I loved Star Wars (Return of the Jedi was my absolute favorite), it just doesn't make LotR. LotR is just... art, an experience, whatever you want to call it. It is the daddy of all trilogies:p

[Dr Kain]

Oh, okay. You should've told us you were operating under the Cardinal Rule of Movie Goodness:

Shiny Things > Good Storytelling

Hate to tell you this, but the OT has an average story that matches every other space movie or series. The Prequel Trilogy has as good a story as the original.

[The Drizzle]

The Prequel Trilogy has as good a story as the original.

Wouldn't that mean that the prequel trilogy also "has an average story that matches every other space movie or series?"

[Mynd Hed]

Hate to tell you this, but the OT has an average story that matches every other space movie or series. The Prequel Trilogy has as good a story as the original.

I said storyTELLING, not story. I would say that-- unless Episode III does a LOT to change this-- the original and prequel trilogies were about equal in story-- that is, the actual events that happened-- but that the original outstripped the prequel by a very wide margin when it comes to storytelling-- that is, the manner in which the events were presented. Get the distinction? You could recount the events in all of the Star Wars movies chronologically, in prose in the style of a history textbook, and the story would be the same, but the storytelling would be far inferior.

For example, Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones have two similar love subplots about a man trying to win the affections of a lady above his station. There are, of course, some differences in that AotC is going for more of a tragic love, but the basic elements are there in both. So one might draw some pretty strong parallels in the story.
However, ESB told its story in an understated manner, with humor and warmth. The dialogue is witty thanks to excellent writers, and it is delivered with charm, grace, and chemistry on the part of two talented actors. A little goes a long way, as well: no long, drawn-out sequences are dedicated to this subplot, and it never interferes with the pacing and larger narrative structure.
AotC, on the other hand, has very awkward and stilted dialogue which is helped little by the delivery, which tends toward overacting at worst. Worse, the scenes dedicated to this subplot drag on long after the point has been made, and the direction is painfully overdone. ("I can't love you, Anakin, but in the very next scene I'll seemingly forget all that and romp lovingly with you in this supercliche, too-picturesque countryside!") It slows down the pacing of the movie dramatically and interferes with the more interesting A plot of the film.
Similar stories, vastly different storytelling.

[Dr Kain]

Wouldn't that mean that the prequel trilogy also "has an average story that matches every other space movie or series?"

Bascially.

[MajorTom]

I said storyTELLING, not story. I would say that-- unless Episode III does a LOT to change this-- the original and prequel trilogies were about equal in story-- that is, the actual events that happened-- but that the original outstripped the prequel by a very wide margin when it comes to storytelling-- that is, the manner in which the events were presented. Get the distinction? You could recount the events in all of the Star Wars movies chronologically, in prose in the style of a history textbook, and the story would be the same, but the storytelling would be far inferior.

For example, Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones have two similar love subplots about a man trying to win the affections of a lady above his station. There are, of course, some differences in that AotC is going for more of a tragic love, but the basic elements are there in both. So one might draw some pretty strong parallels in the story.
However, ESB told its story in an understated manner, with humor and warmth. The dialogue is witty thanks to excellent writers, and it is delivered with charm, grace, and chemistry on the part of two talented actors. A little goes a long way, as well: no long, drawn-out sequences are dedicated to this subplot, and it never interferes with the pacing and larger narrative structure.
AotC, on the other hand, has very awkward and stilted dialogue which is helped little by the delivery, which tends toward overacting at worst. Worse, the scenes dedicated to this subplot drag on long after the point has been made, and the direction is painfully overdone. ("I can't love you, Anakin, but in the very next scene I'll seemingly forget all that and romp lovingly with you in this supercliche, too-picturesque countryside!") It slows down the pacing of the movie dramatically and interferes with the more interesting A plot of the film.
Similar stories, vastly different storytelling.

Exactly. If the prequels were written in the same style as the original trilogy, I would love them.

-Major Tom

[GL2k2]

I think we all got the idea of what Lucas was trying to achieve with the prequels, but I also think he was wrong in doing it. It would have been jarring to do so, seeing how people have longed for the nostalgia of Star Wars, I think he should have took a different directing approach with Star Wars. I mean, something that bothered me from the beginning was the classic opening buffer scrolling up the screen in Episode 1. To me, there should have been no buffer, this is the beginning, I said to myself.

Well, that isn't that important in hindsight, as the film had way more flaws than that. Episode 2 trying to be Episode 5, failed in my humble opinion on that account. The highlight of the film was the lightsaber battle (as is every Star Wars film anyway) featuring a strong-in-the-force Yoda. Without the great direction of Irwin Kirshner and the writing of Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasden, it just didn't make the cut for me. Although it was probably the most entertaining of the entire saga. It was almost as if someone else was making a Star Wars movie, in the spirit of, ya know.

Episode 3, which Lucas proclaims to be the darkest of all the films, should be an interesting departure. So long as Lucas defies all media by not selling Happy Meals, Legos, and any other crap to make the film as dark as possible. I don't think it will garner a "R" rating, but I think it will be pretty heavy and we may even see a huge backlash from non-hardcore fans of the film, if Lucas is true to the story.

In the long run, I feel the OT is tremendously superior to the Prequels and not for nostaligic reasons. I was an advocate for Lucas stepping back for Episodes 2 and 3 letting other directors take a stab. But he pulled that corny, no one has the know-how of the technology. Yeah right, when Speilberg spoke up with interest in directing part 2, and possibly asking David Fincher for 3, there was a buzz going on and Lucas' feelings were hurt is what happened. He felt he had something to prove as a director. But seeing how he's not an actor's director, he will never acheive what he wants as a director.