Saturday, July 13, 2013

Weekend Weigh-in: What's the Best Sequel (That Only You Like)?

Summer is the time for sequels! Just ask Adam Sandler and his lazy friends.

Just asking what the "best" sequels are for the Weekend Weigh-in is kind of pointless, because everyone says "The Godfather Part II" and "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid!" What's way more interesting is what the sequels are that only YOU (and maybe a few other like-minded people) think are great. HAVE AT IT!

45 comments:

  1. A quick one off the top of my head would have to be Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. I actually liked the fact that there was someone who could push Jason around a little bit, nice change of pace from the usual last victim who just barely survives, this Carrie clone has some powers. Also sleeping bag death but that's a very personal thing for me.

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  2. Hellraiser IV: Bloodline.

    For me, part of the fun of non-stop movie franchises with diminishing returns is the world building aspects that tend to occur after the "lets do that again but worse" sequel or the "we dont really understand what worked the first time so lets do it all wrong" sequel. Bloodline spans over 400 years focusing on the creation of the puzzle box and how it is a portal to hell and a trap for the demons. I love the history and retrospective world building. Of course it does what all good retrospective world building does and ruin all the mystery left in the characters myth, but screw it I like the mythology as a whole.

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  3. There are 2 part 2's that immediately spring to mind. As much as I love the first Iron Man, when given a choice I'll almost always go for Iron Man 2. Yes, it's a mess, but Good Lord is it a FUN mess. Downey Jr. and Paltrow's verbal sparring never gets old (I have a feeling Howard Hawks would have loved to direct a comedy featuring these two). And the finale is far superior to that of the first Iron Man.

    The second part 2 is Back to the Future 2. Now I'm not going to go full-on crazy and suggest it's better than the first one (Patrick would probably try to get me blackballed from the Internet), but I still really like it. It features Zemeckis's take on "It's a Wonderful Life" with the hellish alternate-universe version of Marty's hometown. I also like the goofy future version of Hill Valley, and the loopy finale that piggybacks on the ending of the first movie.

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  4. Ill also throw in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
    No!

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    1. Another great movie! I think the filmmakers were genius in telling a compelling story while also keeping the budget down. If only they didn't wimp out on the ending...

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  5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

    Most people think Dead Man's Chest is the better Pirates sequel, and it's defiinitly more action oriented, but At World's End has always fascinated me more. I really buy into the mythology the sequels set up, so I really latch onto the idea of the Nine Pirate Lords, Davy Jones' Locker, and the pieces of eight. The maelstrom battle is even exciting enough to make me forget that there are about three hundred other ships in the fleets not doing anything (in the naval battle to determine the fate of the world, no less). I think Jack is more interesting (possibly because he's finally been had?) and I love Chow Yun-Fat. It's a shame about Lone Ranger.

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    1. I second Pirates At World's End. Even though the details are a bit off (double- and triple-crosses galore), the sheer spectacle in addition to the fully fleshed out world always wins me over. Plus it embraces the entire ensemble - every character gets their moment.

      Finally, it is one of the few times Hans Zimmer has written a score that is epic but also complex and textured. (cough cough Man of Steel cough cough)

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    2. I love the Pirates sequels (not On Stranger Tides), so it's nice to hear I'm not alone.

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    3. Does anybody love On Stranger Tides?

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    4. On Stranger Tides? Never heard of it, it doen't exist! (lalalala not listening)

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  6. Care Bears II. DON'T JUDGE! Okay it totally breaks canon established in the first movie (a thought I couldn't express as a 10-year-old but whatever) and it also relies on the third act Tinkerbell save. But the music is really good for a kids' movie and it still stands up today if my daughter's any benchmark here. :D

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  7. Ok, this is definitely a more well-liked sequel but still one that's shit on (even by some FThisMovie contributors. Well you guys didn't shit on it but you're not fans) and it bugs me that it's shit on: Clerks 2. I love Clerks 2 ALOT. I think it says some stuff about being 30 (which I don't relate too, because I'm 16. Which, I always feel like I have to say to add some perspective to my comments) and it's very funny and the ending makes me cry and.....I've said too much. But, I just really love Clerks 2.

    Fun Fact: I'm actually more excited for Clerks 3 than I am Star Wars: Episode VII. I don't know why, maybe because the original Clerks was one of those transitional films that showed me a new side of cinema (how pretentious do I sound?). I also just love Kevin Smith as a person/filmmaker, so to see him wrap up his career is kinda sad.

    I'm still excited for Star Wars: Episode VII cause well...It's STAR WARS, man.

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    1. I'm with you there Mike. Clerks 2 is very good. He nails the ending and I enjoy Elias a lot. And I'm 33 so lick nuts haters! ;-)

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    2. I'm not a big fan of the "funny" stuff in Clerks 2, but I like the movie and think the non-comedy moments are some of the best stuff Kevin Smith has ever done. So I'm with you.

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    3. Alright, you won me back. Here I was about to swear off Fthismovie for good! No, I'm kidding. But, I totally agree that all the more emotional beats work very well. Again, that ending is kinda perfect. Obvious? Maybe. But it completely works and that ending is a big reason why I'm unsure about Clerks 3. Sure, I said above that I was dangerously excited for it and I am but more-so because I love those characters and that world (and to add to what Brad L said, Elias is one of the best things about Clerks 2 IMO and I'm excited to see more of him in "3".) I'm interested to see how Kevin Smith ends it is what I'm saying.

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  8. Jackie Chan's Project A 2
    The story is tighter, and the production values are far and away better. Some of the action/comedy isn't as strong, but I like the second one better overall.

    I also like Mission Impossible 2 (or M:I-2 as the dvd has it) better than the first one, but I like Ghost Protocol better than most things that have come out in the last ten years. I can't defend liking MI2 though, I really can't. I know it's garbage, and that it's John Woo forgetting who the hell he is, but I still have fun when I watch the movie.

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  9. Easy answer - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. If you can remember the ending of Halloween 2 and yet not take it literally (Bullets to the head through both eyes and an explosion fed by pure oxygen? Eh, just walk it off, you wuss) it's great.

    Real answer - C.H.U.D. II - Bud The Chud: It features Gerrit Graham and that's enough for me.

    (Maybe whoever owns the rights to it can make a deal with Fox and put this out on Blu-ray as a double feature with Phantom of the Paradise, dammit!!!)

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  10. I'm going out on a limb and say Home Alone 3 (1997). Since it doesn't have either Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci or Daniel Stern in this movie, they added a new kid in Alex D. Linz and some international criminals to this plot where they were trying to steal something that is in one of Alex's toys while he is home sick with the chicken pox. I know it doesn't live up to the first two films, but that was the first of the three I was exposed to when I was a young kid and I now I own the trilogy on VHS. Plus, it has a very young Scarlett Johansson playing Alex's older sister and was the directorial debut of Raja Gosnell, who has brought out such gems as Big Momma's House, the Scooby-Doo movies, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and the two live action updates of The Smurfs.

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  11. I'm very fond of the love Halloween 4 and Saw VI get around these parts, and I totally agree with Tom on Friday the 13th VII (as you can see from my review back on Slashers! day). To keep the horror franchise love going, I gotta say I really dig Bride Of Chucky. I love the way it embraces the inherent silliness of a killer doll franchise and just goes all the way nuts with it. It's dopey, sure, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. It was so fun that they tried to run with that tone for the next entry, Seed Of Chucky, but forgot to include any actual fun.

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    1. Yes Bride of Chucky forgot about that one, great one JP

      "Who the F is Martha Stewart?!"

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  12. I'll keep up my streak of posts proving I am a moron and a terrible person but I really enjoyed Journey 2: the Mysterious Island. The soundtrack's beautiful (for a blatant Avatar ripoff) and I'm a sucker for ridiculous gimmicky 3D and ridiculous gimmicky titles. (So Piranha 3DD should, in theory, be my favorite movie).

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  13. I'll throw out two: First is X-Men: The Last Stand. I've taken a lot of flack for defending it and I'll happily acknowledge it has some major flaws, but I don't think it's nearly the disaster that everyone makes it out to be, particularly in light of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The anti-Ratnerian sentiment seemed to have people out for blood before it had even been released.

    I like the fact that the film is willing to kill off or at least de-power major characters, which gives things a bit more of an edge of danger, as well as the fact that the central issue in the film, the mutant cure, isn't vilified but portrayed as a reasonable option for some characters. It also helps the film if you realize that the original X-Men trilogy is, fairly or unfairly, Logan's story. Viewed in that sense, it does make a nice resolution to his arc through them as he finally settles on being with the X-Men as his place in the world.

    The other one may not technically count since it's a prequel rather than a sequel, but I also really like the Thing from 2011. Yes, the computer effects aren't great but it's nice to see a strong female protagonist who uses her wits rather than just strapping on a bunch of guns. It also has some nice commentary on xenophobia and foreign relations as we see how the nationalistic differences of the characters add to their mistrust and paranoia and affect their ability to work together.

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  14. Back to the Future Part III. That's right.

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    1. Yeah, it's probably BttF III for me, too. The original is obviously the best, but part III gets a bad rap.

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    2. Yeah, I still like the original more, but BttF III is my favourite sequel in the trilogy fo sho.

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  15. I never miss a chance to bring up Highlander 2 The Quickening. Three words, folks: The Planet Zeist.

    Look at it this way, it's an ambitious incompetent failure that is so jaw-dropping bad you can't help but watch it. The other Highlander sequels(The Final Dimension, Endgame)are just boring cookie cutter movies.

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  16. Is Jaws: The Revenge (I recently realized it technically has no "4" in the title) a good movie? Hell, naw! Have I watched it at least 25 times in my life? Cock, yeah!

    Anyone would give 8-year-old Jaws-loving Sol a pass for loving this movie, the fact that I was still watching this regularly after watching Pulp Fiction and shit like that? Inexcusable. That I'll still watch it all the way through any time I stumble upon it? Certifiable!

    Nothing in this movie makes sense! The dialogue is terrible! The "Jaws Mythology" that should never have existed in the first place and is driven completely off the rails here is insane! I love every minute - gimme blu-ray now!

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    1. Jaws the Revenge and Jaws 3D while they can't be defended as good movies are hilariously awful. Jaws 3D taught us that Sea World doesn't know how to promote their parks. (Its like if Disney approved the shooting of Breaking Bad to take place at the Magic Kingdom.) And of course Jaws the Revenge taught us that sharks do indeed ROAR when they are being attacked and that the sexiest thing by far in a marriage is to make love to an angry welder, we've dreamed of nothing else since we were young boys.

      So I'll join you Sol, brave choice:)

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    2. Best line in Jaws the Revenge is when mother and son Brody argue about how Martin Brody died. "It was a heart attack, Mom." Michael says. "It was the FEAR, THE FEAR killed him." Ellen Brody retorts.

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    3. Sol, you've inspired me to change my avatar to my secret shame as well. I watch Jaws: The Revenge every time it is on TV.

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    4. Ha - awesome guys! Let's start a weekly support group. And by support group I mean get together and watch Jaws: The Revenge!

      I hate to bring up another (inferior) podcast, but Patrick actually recommended it to me awhile back - "How Did This Get Made?" dedicated an episode on this and they touch on every awesomely terrible bit of it, including the two references you guys made.

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    5. I'll be up in Chicago in a month or so I would totally be up for that.

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    6. I'm not a real person. I'm like the Jeff Fahey avatar in The Lawnmower Man.

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    7. I'm watching it as I type this and, g-d help me, I'm enjoying it in its own incompetent way. Whatever happened to Lance Guest? That dude was really likable AND he defeated the Ko-Dan Armada!

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  17. -Batman Returns: Best superhero sequel ever (yes, better than "Spider-Man 2"), but you wouldn't know it from the lack of hype. The perfect middle-ground between the amateur hours that were Burton's "Batman" and the Schumacher one's.

    -Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth: I know the first two are way more polished/better, but there's something about how cheap the production is, the stiff acting and the flashbacks to how WWI Capt. Elliot Spencer became Pinhead (which allow Doug Bradley to act w/o make-up) that thoroughly entertain me from start to finish. Guilty pleasure.

    -Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Or 'How Capt. Sparrow Got His Own Cool Theme Song.' It gets shat on for the cliffhanger ending, but I think this is the pinnacle of the series story, action and character-wise (with "At World's End" getting saddled with the bloat). I love it.

    -Friday the 13th: Part 2: For my money the best "F13" movie, with the scariest-looking monster (sackhead Jason) and most likable heroine (Amy Steel).

    -The Dark Knight Rises: It's fashionable to bash it for its flaws (which are many), but I think this is the peak of the franchise because it doesn't become 'The Joker Show' that "The Dark Knight" is, which makes any scene w/o Ledger feel wanting. "Rises" is a dramatic superhero chamber drama in which Batman's (deliberate) absence through large portions of the screen is filled with good thesps (Oldman, Hathaway, Hardy, Gordon-Levitt, Cotillard, etc.) doing excellent work.

    -Airplane II: The Sequel: For the life of me I cannot understand why this sequel to "Airplane!" isn't loved or held in as high regard as the first. No, ZAZ didn't work on it and Ken Finkleman never wrote/directed another movie again (for good reason), but most of the gags still work and the chemistry between Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays is the real deal. Plus we get a hammy-but-restrained Shatner poking fun at himself. What more does anyone want?

    -Another Stakeout: KIDDING! Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. :-P

    -A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Pink Panther Strikes Again: The first "Panther" movie gets all the glory and the stand-alone Blu-ray. It ain't a bad movie by any stretch but it's rather tedious and long walk for very little payoff. "Shot" gave the Clouseau character its full legs plus Kato & Dreyfus, and "Return" & "Strikes Again" are the apex of the series' cartoony slapstick.

    My NEW-TO-ME MOVIES (yes, we're back on the wagon for my year-round new movie everyday New Year's Resolution) that were not part of last month's 'JUNESPLOITATION' festivities.

    -Alejandro Jodorowski's FANDO AND LIS (1968) on DVD and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) at the midnight theater, epic mind fucks from my favorite just-discovered filmmaker.
    -LA CONSTELLATION JODOROWSKY (1994) on DVD, a French documentary about the man.
    -Jean-Paul Belmondo and Omar Sharif take a vacation in the entertaining heist flick THE BURGLARS (1971) on TMC-HD.

    CLICK HERE


    -Why doesn't The Blu Raja paint his silverware blue? MYSTERY MEN (1999) on HD-DVD.
    -Who the hell is Jay Baruchel? Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg's THIS IS THE END (2013) in theaters.
    -"Somewhere," something got "Lost in Translation." Sofia Coppola's disappointing THE BLING RING (2013) in theaters.

    CLICK HERE

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  18. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

    I've already stated my like of the basterd children of the Spider-Man and Indiana Jones movies, so I'll go with this. I actually have watched this more than "The Naked Gun". The last good movie David Zucker has made. Leslie Nielsen and all of the cast are hilarious(even O.J.). Richard Griffiths'(RIP) scenes are great also.

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    1. JP FUN FACT: That was the movie we went to on my very first date when I was 15. Who says romance is dead?

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    2. (slaps forehead)

      Totally forgot about "Naked Gun 2.5," for my money the 2nd best ZAZ movie (after "Airplane!"). Would have put it on my list too since most people think to only like and remember the first "Naked Gun."

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  19. Lethal Weapon 2, I like the original better, but the sequel is a better film. Caddyshack 2, I know, I know, but personally I love it! Breaking 2 Electric Boogaloo, nuff said. Sticking with Cannon, Nina 3 the Domination, (does that count?) Hands down the best sequel of all time is Bad Boys 2 - but only when watched with the F This Movie! commentary track! (My wife and I we're in tears listening to that!)

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    1. Uh??!! There is no "Bad Boys 2" commentary track with the 'F This Movie' crew. Heck, there's not even a "Bad Boys 2" podcast!

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    2. Oooops! You are correct. My fault. I Visit F This Movie often enough that I assumed it was from here.

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  20. Under Siege 2 – I’ve never understood the amount of hate I’ve seen and heard about this film. It’s got some great action sequences, a truly detestable villain and rattles along at such a pace that it never outstays its welcome. I’d say it’s only slightly below Under Siege, yet for some reason most people seem to be extremely negative about it.

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