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.
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).
Whereas I agree overall, I wouldn't say that all of the MCU movies are "good." Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3, Guardians 2, are more "okay" IMO, and Hulk, Thor 2, and Spiderman Far From Home are actually bad. Of course, I haven't seen anything since the last Spiderman (with Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield), which was pretty good, but there are not many people who claim that phase 4 is anything other than a train wreck.
I would also generally agree if we stick to certain stories in this franchise, especially what leads to the Thanos/infinity war story. But it’s too big and there are too many ok-subplots that I don’t believe contribute enough. If Spiderverse sticks the landing, I would easily name it as one of the best answers for this question.
Well, in the spirit of franchises-with-too-many-movies-also-have-too-many-sucky-ones, I’m going with Sherlock Holmes. It only has two movies so far (a third has been listed as in “pre-production” for yeeears), but the boss says that still counts as a franchise. And both are fabulous, which means it doesn’t have any crappy deductions yet. 😁
Let's see, what film franchise is the most durable... 61 years and 27 films. Yes, that would be Bond. James Bond.
The greatest action series of all time, whether you love the brutal Bond of From Russia With Love or the slightly silly Bond of The Spy Who Loved Me or the poignant Bond of Skyfall. Such an enduring character that has been made more rich by the variety of actors who have played the role.
Ok so I should go with Mad Max because I think every movie in that franchise is quality, even the very campy one. But because I’m a typical millennial and I’ve rewatched this series (and reread it) so often, I have to go with the Harry Potter series. Especially if I can specify HP and not the Wizarding World franchise because the Fantastic Beast movies suck.
Sure, various things were omitted to condense the story, but I think the movie series captured the world, characters, and overall story very well. A phenomenon like Harry Potter is very rare and I believe this movie franchise boosted its popularity instead of detract from it due to some misguided attempt at adapting a beloved story.
i love movie franchises lol even the bad ones lol. I agree with David but he beat me soooo..
Ok ive said it before, I'm inclined to say it again...
The Lord of the Rings, might I add, to include The Hobbit.
Though The Hobbit was stretched to 3 times the lenth it should've been, they made it work. & there isn't a movie in the LOTR series that I didn't love.
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).
Whereas I agree overall, I wouldn't say that all of the MCU movies are "good." Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3, Guardians 2, are more "okay" IMO, and Hulk, Thor 2, and Spiderman Far From Home are actually bad. Of course, I haven't seen anything since the last Spiderman (with Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield), which was pretty good, but there are not many people who claim that phase 4 is anything other than a train wreck.
I would also generally agree if we stick to certain stories in this franchise, especially what leads to the Thanos/infinity war story. But it’s too big and there are too many ok-subplots that I don’t believe contribute enough. If Spiderverse sticks the landing, I would easily name it as one of the best answers for this question.
Well, in the spirit of franchises-with-too-many-movies-also-have-too-many-sucky-ones, I’m going with Sherlock Holmes. It only has two movies so far (a third has been listed as in “pre-production” for yeeears), but the boss says that still counts as a franchise. And both are fabulous, which means it doesn’t have any crappy deductions yet. 😁
And the winner is David McDaniel with the MCU. Congratulations, David, you get to choose Monday's question.
Let's see, what film franchise is the most durable... 61 years and 27 films. Yes, that would be Bond. James Bond.
The greatest action series of all time, whether you love the brutal Bond of From Russia With Love or the slightly silly Bond of The Spy Who Loved Me or the poignant Bond of Skyfall. Such an enduring character that has been made more rich by the variety of actors who have played the role.
Ok so I should go with Mad Max because I think every movie in that franchise is quality, even the very campy one. But because I’m a typical millennial and I’ve rewatched this series (and reread it) so often, I have to go with the Harry Potter series. Especially if I can specify HP and not the Wizarding World franchise because the Fantastic Beast movies suck.
Sure, various things were omitted to condense the story, but I think the movie series captured the world, characters, and overall story very well. A phenomenon like Harry Potter is very rare and I believe this movie franchise boosted its popularity instead of detract from it due to some misguided attempt at adapting a beloved story.
Love your argument, LC, and it's probably worthy of a vote yet I've somehow managed to never have seen or read any HP.
I remember you saying this before. Gotta remedy that.
i love movie franchises lol even the bad ones lol. I agree with David but he beat me soooo..
Ok ive said it before, I'm inclined to say it again...
The Lord of the Rings, might I add, to include The Hobbit.
Though The Hobbit was stretched to 3 times the lenth it should've been, they made it work. & there isn't a movie in the LOTR series that I didn't love.
Each one memorable in their own right.
LOTR Hobbit Franchise, final answer