#48: What’s the best movie franchise?
Last week we trashed remakes of classic films, and there were some doozies but perhaps none worse than the unfortunate remake of Red Dawn. That means I get to ask the question this week:
What’s the best movie franchise?
[You must take into account all feature films within the franchise and weigh it based on both its good and bad movies.]
The Rules:
Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
No profanity. No pornography.
Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out against other MFC members’ answers for the rest of the week.
Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight. You may like (heart, whatever) as many answers as you want.
The winner gets the honor of posting the next question the following Saturday.
In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.
Notes:
Only movies will qualify (no TV shows, or documentaries); however, films that air on television or streaming (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
Fight it out.
Would you like to join the fight?
Know someone who’d like to join as well? Let them know about us. The more fighters the better. Discounted rates are available for groups of four or more…perhaps sign up your family and friends as a gift.
Gonna go with the Rocky franchise here.
Many consider Rocky to be a masterpiece, all the more so given that Stallone wrote it so quickly. Rocky II wasn't great but was a solid sequel. Rocky III and IV are great and were culturally significant giving us themes of perseverance through struggle. The conversations between Rocky and Adrian are some of my favorite moments now in those later films. Admittedly Rocky V is a dumpster fire, subtract one point, but Rocky Balboa and Creed more than corrected for its failure.
Creed 2 was meh , which prompted me to write a better version of it https://vinceguerra.com/2021/04/06/the-nerd-cut-creed-ii/ and I haven't seen Creed III yet mostly because I don't want to be disappointed.
So doing the math I'd say the Rocky franchise is a winner.
Hands down the Marvel films from Iron Man to Avengers: End Game. 22 films over 11 years that tell ONE complete story with two clear story arcs in a definable three act structure.
Unbelievable! And even though not every film is great, every film is good.
The story arcs of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are, in many ways, the inverse of each other’s. Tony starts off selfish and self centered. His journey brings him to the place of making the “big sacrifice”. Steve begins his journey as a man of character and integrity, proving that he will give everything for the greater good. His journey of leadership and sacrifice lead him to realize that’s it’s finally ok to choose his own heart (after the bad guy is dealt with of course).
And that bad guy! Wow!
The best movie bad guys are always the ones who believe that what they’re doing is right. Thanos epitomizes this. Driven by the pain from unimaginable loss he sets about to “save” the universe in the most horrific way possible.
All in all I can’t imagine a better developed, more expansive, totally cohesive and yet solidly character driven (even with all of the cgi) story.
It’s too bad that the marvel properties generally suck since then (with the exceptions of Spider-Man and SpiderVerse).