Trilogies

Frequent commenter JHC made a comment yesterday when the discussion of trilogies came up during my post about Indiana Jones. He made the comment that all first movies are the best. I immediately had to speak to him about this as I was horrified. The first movies the best? That couldn't be! You see, it's been my opinion for quite a while that the SECOND movie in the trilogy is always the best (and yes, I do realize some of these aren't trilogies anymore, but they were at the time so shove it). Friends have immediately declared I was on crack when I have stated my opinion. That may be so, but I still think I am right anyways. When I formulated my theory a lot of these movies were trilogies, so please don't point out there are more than 3 Die Hard's. At the time, the 3rd one was supposed to be the last but some people can't leave well enough alone. Without further ado:

Godfather Part 2 - I remember seeing the Godfather Part 1 for the first time when I was about 12. I had to cover my eyes during they dead horsey part, but everything else was fair game. I didn't really understand it at the time being that I didn't really understand the inner workings of the Italian mafia in New York City in the mid-century, but I did see it again when I was about 19 and loved every second of it. The one critique I had of it was that it glorified a lifestyle that exploited honest people and honest workers. The emphasis of the movie was on the relatable inner-workings of the Corleone family, and the impact of their relationships with everyone. The result of this made me sympathetic with murderers, and that didn't settle all that well with me.

Now cut to the Godfather 2. Here we meet Michael again at the height of his power. He has a family, and a wealthy empire built on casinos, deceit, you know, murder. He stopped at nothing to get there, sacrificing all that truly mattered in this world to get there. In this movie you don't see an all powerful crime lord, but rather just a man who hates who he is and ultimately ends up alone at the end for the choices he has made in his life. Intertwined with Michael's fall from success shots of Vito's rise to power showing us the differences in the man Vito was and the man Michael has become. These are my favorite scenes, not only in this movie, but in any movie.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Long before The Return of the King came out, I read that The Academy was waiting to give Jackson the Oscar for Best Direction until the final movie of the trilogy came out. I remember watching The Two Towers in the theater and being transfixed. Despite the epic battle scene in the 3rd, The Two Towers is the movie about war. I saw it 3 times in the theater--a compliment I only afforded to Jurassic Park when it came out. Everything about the battle scene was perfection. It's good vs. evil in its finest form. For every honest man or elf, there is an evil orc with a personality of its own. The shot of Gandolf coming over the hill at the end is my favorite scene in any movie ever. If you didn't get chills watching it, then you're just not human. Maybe you're an orc? OMG stop reading my blog!

Back to the Future - I can't even tell you how much I want a hoverboard. I'm not even lying. Everything about this movie was great. The self hydrating pizzas, the fashion choices (self drying coats, self shoe-lace tying sneakers, hypercolor hats), Cafe 80's (oh the irony!). It had everything Back to the Future had, but more fun props and I loved it for it. And I'm still waiting for hoverboard technology to come out.

Terminator 2 - This one I can't even imagine anyone arguing me with. It's by far the superior movie in terms of suspense and story line. It comes with a total mind fuck too which leaves you utterly depressed at the end. No matter how hard we try to change our future, we can't. It's a scary thought to be faces with not only our own mortality, but the possible extinction of the human race. I remember being so relieved when 1998 hit and it turned out the movie wasn't prophetic....or was it? dum Dum DUM. (ok, I know)

Die Hard 2 - Yippy Kay Yay...Motherfucker. 'Nuf said.

Empire Strikes Back - It's darker than Star Wars, but doesn't have the ewoks of Jedi, but it's still my favorite. We're introduced back to Luke and Co immediately as the story begins being that we no longer need the initial character development needed in the first movie. Star Wars was great, but a little too happy go lucky with little struggle if you ask me. I mean, the only one that dies is fucking Obi Wan and he was like Father Time anyways. The actors feel more at ease in this film and I can't even tell you how much I enjoy Han Solo in this movie. Jedi is my 2nd favorite, mainly because of the ewoks and the coupling up of Han and Leia, but it still doesn't compare to Empire.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest - OK OK, this might not be everyone's favorite, but I remember sorta liking the first and not really understanding what was going on in the 3rd. The 2nd one was the only one that had me from beginning to end. None of these movies had great storylines, and really aren't my favorite movies to watch on TBS on a Sunday, but of the 3, I found Dead Man's Chest more entertaining, darker, and an even more lovable Jack Sparrow.

Look, I can go on all day about these movies, but I got shit to do, so I'm going to let the comment section take over. I do have some exceptions, like The Matrix and Indiana Jones, but for the most part I find my theory to hold true (please, I know what the definition of a theory is). Let's have at it.