My 3 favorite movie trilogies of all time
There are a lot of trilogies out there and some are better than others even though this is completely subjective. I have some that I really like and then there are others that I have seen dozens of times and will likely watch dozens of times more in my lifetime.
These aren't in any particular order but they are all absolutely fantastic in my book.
Back to the Future
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Back to the Future was one of my first interactions with something I was truly passionate about and I saw it several times in theaters when it was first released. The Huey Lewis songs in it especially "Power of Love" ended up being my favorite songs for a while. I even performed that song very poorly at at a lip syncing competition at the local pool youth group. I still cringe when I think about how badly I did in that competition but it was just a bunch of kids and I would imagine we were all pretty bad, mine is just the one I remember the most.
The first one was pure genius in my mind and it didn't have much of an indication that it was going to be a trilogy either. If the film had been the only one in the series it would have stood on its own because it already achieved a conclusion. Part 2 was pretty wild although I don't like how they ditched Crispin Glover over a salary dispute and instead used and upside down likeness of him that Glover later sued them for using his likeness and won. That's actually a long story and something I may dedicate some time to understanding more fully at a later time.
Part 3 was my least favorite of the bunch, but I did like the way that all 3 of them ended up tying together and it all just simply worked. These films are incredible and there is a reason why they are considered to be some of the best movies of all time... and not just by me.
Lord of the Rings
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I'm sure this is on most people's lists as a top trilogy of all time. I'm kind of disappointed in myself that I had never read the books or even knew there were books with this title until the films were released. I did later read them and realize that I probably was too young to have stayed interested in those incredibly long tomes anyway.
Unlike Back to the Future, these episodes relied really heavily on the episodes that would follow and it was a very frustrating year or two wait between films for me and most of the people that I know. I have seen the extended versions and director's cut of all three and I'll go ahead and say that both of those, while entertaining, are simply too long.
It's a damn shame that Amazon has been ripping the lore to shreds with The Rings of Power which I think is absolutely terrible and I am hopeful that they either cancel it, or go back to the drawing board as far as storytelling and writing is concerned. The total budget for all 3 films was just under $300 million. It ended up grossing nearly $3 billion in global revenue. Talk about a good ROI!
Star Wars
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To be clear, I am referring to the original trilogy that screened in the 70's and 80's. I feel as though the two follow up trilogies, especially the latest ones that Disney seemed to be interested in dismantling the fandom, were absolute disasters.
The original trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are films that I have probably watched over a hundred times and if given the opportunity I would do so again right now. They are timeless in my mind even though some of the CGI looks outdated these days as they should considering that we barely had computers when they were made, let alone lifelike looking special effects.
The remastered versions of these films including CGI "after-effects" were rather stupid IMO and the addition of creatures made by computers in the background and especially the scene where Han Solo is speaking to Jabba the Hutt were unnecessary and stupid.
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Considering that we already had a pretty great idea in our minds about what Jabba looked and acted like, this was just annoying that they put this in the film at all. I guess they needed a reason to re-release the films into cinemas in the 90's but I only went to see 2 of them since the additions and updated graphics were completely unneeded if you ask me.
Star Wars will live in my mind as being something that was all-encompassing as a kid. I had dozens of the toys and I really wish that we hadn't sold them for what was probably 10 cents at garage sales later on in my childhood. Even a semi functioning Millennium Falcon original toy is worth up to hundreds of dollars - not the mention the priceless nostalgic value.
So those are my favorite trilogies of all time. There are several more that I can think of and maybe I'll talk about them next.
What are your favorites?