Star Trek: The Motionless Picture is a magnificent movie. From "Decker-unit" and V'Ger and the uniqueness of the sensibilities it shows, including skirts, though, nothing saves it from being one of the biggest sleeping pills in movie history.
I know it was already mentioned but my top vote goes to Mad Max 2, which was way more entertaining than the original.
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Hmmm, that's tough as many of the films that I loved when I was young were R rated, then had sequels that were PG-13 or even PG. For example, I think Conan the Barbarian (rated R) was one of the best fantasy films ever, but the sequel seemed very tame as a PG rated film. Also, Mad Max and the Road Warrior were R, Thunderdome was PG 13. The later films also suffer from too much money being thrown into them and getting away from some of the more artistic stuff in favor of big explosions.
I enjoyed Aliens more then Alien, although I don't recall thinking much of the later films in the series.
Airplane and Airplane 2 (the sequel) were both great.
And they're the two worst films, besides the Abrams abominations.Oddly enough, they're the films with the most Roddenberry in them.
Next time your away team visits an M class diner, try the Roddenberry pi.
I am probably in the minority but I thought Poltergeist 2 was a decent sequel. It had the prerequisite creepy antagonist, humor (such as a reference to one flew over the cukoo's nest), and just being a fun follow up. Though poltergeist 3 was horrible beyond belief and I don't know why I had even watched it.
In my opinion, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the best of the Sergio Leon spaghetti western trio. The others lean more heavily on , while intensifying the violence of, standard western tropes -- but TGTB&TU expands outwards and builds this whole fantasy west in an almost archetypal pastoral that is like no other western.
The "Ecstasy of Gold" theme, "The Good's" theme (Dadadadada...Wa-waaa-wa), and the standoff scene are right up there with the Odessa Steps scene in Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin as a defining moment of cinema.
I also agree that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is better than the other two films that precede it. The 4th Indiana Jones film...<shudder!>
I agree the The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly was the best in the trilogy. However, Fistful was an adaption from Japanese story Yojimbo which made it uniquely not typical western trope. The sequel Few More though fits that description well. Also, agree with your assessment of TGTBTU.
While I really enjoyed the first three Indy films, I still feel like Raiders was the best. I enjoy Temple and while not the best Indy film it takes more flack then it deserves. There is no amount of vitriol that is too much for crystal skull.
Yeah, but if you dig a little farther back? Yojimbo is actually an unofficial adaptation of either Red Harvest OR The Glass Key both of which are Dashiell Hammett stories.
I'm not a fan of THE LAST CRUSADE and find it poorly edited, rushed and just way too goofy for me to enjoy now. I used to love it and just fell out of love with it upon repeated viewings. That being said I still adore the tank chase near the end which is my favorite sequence in the movie.
RAIDERS is still my hands down favorite of the bunch with TEMPLE OF DOOM being my second favorite as it's closer to it's pulp roots than any of the other Indiana Jones films. Raiders and Temple of Doom are like your two kids who you love without question but for different reasons.
There are parts of CRYSTAL SKULL that I really, REALLY like. The opening in chase/fight in the warehouse right up to the rocket sled was great. The fridge? not so much.
The truck chase through the jungle? THe pacing is great and everything is flowing right up until...the monkeys. UGH. The fight in and around the fire ants kinda made up for it but yeah the mood was already kinda ruined.
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Yeah. Despite my opinion of the film overall, Crystal Skull does have some great moments.
My rankings for the Indiana Jones films:
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Last Crusade
3. Temple of Doom
4. Crystal Skull
Crystal Skull could have been improved immeasurably by cutting out the Transformers kid and his entire subplot. If they did that, I'd actually probably put it ahead of Temple of Doom.
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Arguably Dawn of the Dead is a superior sequel to Night of the Living Dead.
I dont / can't compare ALIEN and ALIENS because they are effectively two very different films. ALIEN is a horror movie and ALIENS is a siege/action movie with very different expectations in the way that they approach entertaining their respective audiences. I love them both but to me one isnt better than the other. It's like comparing THE GODFATHER to GOODFELLAS both are well regarded period mafia movies but that's where the similarities end.
BLADE II is a better crafted film than the first one and I tend to watch it more than the first.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER is a much better film than the first one although a very different film almost due to necessity. The first is an enthusiastic, nostalgic 1940's adventure movie with a protagonist who just keeps getting bad breaks (I mean aside from the super soldier serum does Steve ever really catch a break? He's constantly loosing people who are close to him but still presses on to do what he feels is right often at great sacrifice. Which is on course why we love him.).
WINTER SOLDER is a pretty cynical spy thriller / man out of time story with the same character in a modern setting still trying to do the right thing in a world that's even less black and white than the one he left in 40's. Not to mention it's really the only movie in the MCU that shows Cap being the ABSOLUTE BADASS that he is.
If you only count the opening sequence in X-2: X-MEN UNITED? it would already be a better movie than it's predecessor. But you also have the attack on the mansion and that entire final set piece at Alkali Lake makes the first movie look like a big budget afterschool special.
SPDER-MAN 2. The Spidey vs. Doc OCK fight on the building then on the speeding train. Never mind that there's NO ELEVATED TRAIN IN MIDDLE OF MANHATTAN. Still awesome. That and you have the montage of EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT FOR PETER to Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head which is hands down my favorite part of the movie after all of the CRAP that kept hitting Peter. I mean Harry slapping him at that party was just BRUTAL. It's the one Spider-Man movie that go Peter's life absolutely right. Being Peter Parker often...mostly...SUCKED.
There is ONE good DIE HARD movie and that's the 1st one. None of the others have recaptured the feel and excitement of the first one. Even when the 3rd movie was directed by John McTiernan who directed the first film it was still a hot uneven mess.
T2 is just bigger louder and and more explody. Not that I dont like that but it's in no way the better film of the first two Terminators. There's an OH CRAP desperation during the last 20 min of that first film that's really not recaptured in any other films since. The lack of budget shows in that first movie but in a weird way it really sort of helps the movie sell the grit and verisimilitude.