Hello, all!
Since we’re on the cusp of Heupel’s second year as our football coach, and also because I’m finally finished with my post-grad studies and have time for yet another self-indulgent film recommendation “series,” I thought it was apropos to spend this month suggesting flicks that fit quite well with the admittedly on-the-nose theme of second installments in a series. To wit, I’ll be recommending sequels that are better than the original movie.
Admittedly, the proverbial pickings are kinda slim here, as a great many of the movies that follow a movie that did well enough in the theaters to warrant a second installment are piles of hot garbage. It’s hard to catch lightning in a bottle once, let alone twice; but, throughout this month, I’m going to list one sequel per day that is better than the original. Here’s hoping that this upcoming football season follows the same trend!
Anyway, a couple quick qualifications. In compiling this list, I restricted my choices to flicks that are direct sequels to the original film. For example, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III was better than MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE; but, since John Woo dropped the ball bigtime with the second film in that series, I won’t be including any of the films from the “MI” series… even though the recent ones, especially FALLOUT, have been pretty good. Also, I had to take my cues from popular opinion on occasion and include some sequels that conventional wisdom says are better than the original, though I might actually prefer the original. Like I said, there’s just not a lot of actual sequels that are better than the original. Far too many are franchise-crushing cinematic turds like RINGS, CADDYSHACK II, or SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL.
Just... oof.
So, now that the overlong explanation is out of the way, let’s get to the first film in the series, THE DARK KNIGHT.
Yeah, you probably saw this one coming a mile away, but man, Nolan really hit it out of the park with this flick. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Heath Ledger pulled out all the stops in his iconic portrayal of The Joker in the film, but his performance is just one great part in a film that is thoroughly brilliant all the way through. If you weren’t hooked after the spectacular opening scene, then I’m not quite sure what to tell you. Maybe you’re a New Wave kind of person and Truffaut is more your gig… and that’s fine – great cinema is great cinema, after all – but Nolan still made a great film here that I’m guessing the mere mention of has at least one or two of you saying, “Why so serious?” in your heads right now.
For me, this scene never fails to amuse.
I’ve written enough already, I’d say, and that’s especially true since you’ve probably already seen today’s flick. Whatever I have to say has probably already been said, after all. So, to close out today’s write-up, I’ll jump on the coattails of this great video from the Honest Trailers people.
If you happen to be one of the three people on the planet that hasn’t seen this film, though, then watch BATMAN BEGINS first [it’s pretty good in its own right] and then pepper thy angus for an even better cinematic experience. Speaking of pepper, tomorrow’s pick is muy caliente.
Enjoy!
Since we’re on the cusp of Heupel’s second year as our football coach, and also because I’m finally finished with my post-grad studies and have time for yet another self-indulgent film recommendation “series,” I thought it was apropos to spend this month suggesting flicks that fit quite well with the admittedly on-the-nose theme of second installments in a series. To wit, I’ll be recommending sequels that are better than the original movie.
Admittedly, the proverbial pickings are kinda slim here, as a great many of the movies that follow a movie that did well enough in the theaters to warrant a second installment are piles of hot garbage. It’s hard to catch lightning in a bottle once, let alone twice; but, throughout this month, I’m going to list one sequel per day that is better than the original. Here’s hoping that this upcoming football season follows the same trend!
Anyway, a couple quick qualifications. In compiling this list, I restricted my choices to flicks that are direct sequels to the original film. For example, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III was better than MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE; but, since John Woo dropped the ball bigtime with the second film in that series, I won’t be including any of the films from the “MI” series… even though the recent ones, especially FALLOUT, have been pretty good. Also, I had to take my cues from popular opinion on occasion and include some sequels that conventional wisdom says are better than the original, though I might actually prefer the original. Like I said, there’s just not a lot of actual sequels that are better than the original. Far too many are franchise-crushing cinematic turds like RINGS, CADDYSHACK II, or SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL.
Just... oof.
So, now that the overlong explanation is out of the way, let’s get to the first film in the series, THE DARK KNIGHT.
Yeah, you probably saw this one coming a mile away, but man, Nolan really hit it out of the park with this flick. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Heath Ledger pulled out all the stops in his iconic portrayal of The Joker in the film, but his performance is just one great part in a film that is thoroughly brilliant all the way through. If you weren’t hooked after the spectacular opening scene, then I’m not quite sure what to tell you. Maybe you’re a New Wave kind of person and Truffaut is more your gig… and that’s fine – great cinema is great cinema, after all – but Nolan still made a great film here that I’m guessing the mere mention of has at least one or two of you saying, “Why so serious?” in your heads right now.
For me, this scene never fails to amuse.
I’ve written enough already, I’d say, and that’s especially true since you’ve probably already seen today’s flick. Whatever I have to say has probably already been said, after all. So, to close out today’s write-up, I’ll jump on the coattails of this great video from the Honest Trailers people.
If you happen to be one of the three people on the planet that hasn’t seen this film, though, then watch BATMAN BEGINS first [it’s pretty good in its own right] and then pepper thy angus for an even better cinematic experience. Speaking of pepper, tomorrow’s pick is muy caliente.
Enjoy!
