Thegun

Halfway done in about a week. I hope the pace is ok with everyone. I'm not writing anything before hand. Just when I get a little time each day.

It was a major mistake to release it in June. If it had been in late November, it would have only dealt with Back to the Future Part II. It probably would have grossed closer to Wrath of Kahn and Search for Spock.

Star Wars: Fall From the Light Star Wars: A fight from the Past Star Wars: Resistance from the Dark

26. Hannibal (2001) It took 10 years for the followup to Silence of Lambs. Regarded as one the best films ever (The last film that has won the Big Five Oscars. Only two other films have ever accomplished such a feat) Silence of the Lambs often finds itself on my people's "Best lists." Hannibal Lecter is arguably one of the best movie villains of all time, expertly designed by Anthony Hopkins. Needless to say there was a lot of hype for this film when it came out. Sure there were some red flags along the way, Jodie Foster and Silence director Jonathan Demme had a lot of problems with the script no matter how much money they were thrown. Decent replacements in Julianne Moore and hot off the success of Gladiator, Ridley Scott were picked instead. The trailers were awesome, and there may be some Nostalgia in seeing Hopkins do his thing. Released in the rather dull February, the R rated Hannibal crushed the R OW record by over 15 million, adjusting today to nearly 90 million. Silence and Hannibal roughly adjust to the same final gross despite the 10 years difference, so the audience that loved the first definitely showed up for seconds. This movie is overly violent (disgusting at times, not that that's a bad thing) yet is never as terrifying as Silence. It's also pretty boring. The plot just kind of rolls along from simple police work, a lengthy subplot involving an awful french police officer giving Inspector Clouseau a run for his money . Gary Oldman is so ridiculous in his character that you can't help but laugh at him. Lector's portrayal goodish, but definitely not the same. Moore does her best, but Starling is pretty blandly written this time around. Ray Liotta's character is also pretty bad, though he does get to eat part of his own brain. Scott can clearly direct and has a great eye but in the end, it just doesn't cut it as even a decent follow up to Silence of the Lambs. Apparently Lecter and Starling fall in love in the original ending of the novel. I'm not sure which would have worked better to save this movie. In the end it comes down Thomas Harris. His book was just not up to the same league, and the studio wanted to be faithful to it. Apparently many agreed, the far superior Red Dragon, featuring a more convincing return to form from Hopkins, fell off significantly from the first two films.

I think this would have been higher. But always found The Voyage Home to be too light, and that film's success I've always kind of believed The Final Frontier never really had a chance. Both stories are equally ridiculous. But one just found a much better way to tell it.

27. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Only Star Trek fans can defend this film, and even the majority of them can't. This series has been solid overall after the failed experiment of TMP. 2-4 really work to the best of Star Trek, and the series was rewarded with some strong mainstream appeal in The Voyage Home. Where 2-4 were seen as an inside trilogy, they really had no where else to go after they made it home. The studio was also in a hole due to some strange contract where if Nimoy does something, Shatner gets the chance do the same. In the case of Star Trek V, he came up with the story, and even was given the chance to direct. What we have is a pretty big failure, on both the studio and the creative team. The cast is obviously still up to the task (They've been these characters for 23 years) but even they are knocked a few points for some excruciating dialogue. The villain is non threatening, and the dramatic moments are misguided. Then there is the action and effects. At this point Star Trek's action always been something a little more subtle, and by 1989's summer movie season, Final Frontier is easily the old dog in the race (The Next Generation happened between 4 and 5 and didn't help matters being very good.) Look at the other action movies released within 6 weeks of it: Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, License to Kill (Another franchise known for it's holiday releases also got lost in the shuffle. But LTK is a pretty awesome movie that at least could match the others.) And this is despite getting a huge uptick in budget and marketing support. The practical effects are really bad. Finally let's talk about the humor. The Voyage Home was a huge huge hit for everyone involved, and it's easily the most accessible to mainstream audiences until the reboot. The humor there works however because it's essentially a fish out of water comedy (literally, they're goal is to steal whales. I know they are mammals but for the purpose of that joke it stays) Once you put the fish back in the water, however, you can't up the humor even more. They ham it up to ridiculous proportions. A real low point in the series that it too would have ended the original cast's franchise. They even wrote new treatments involving the academy, but they wanted to use the 25th anniversary angle, and found the original cast would sell it better. Thankfully they went on a high note going back to what works. A true low point. Best Scene: Shatner gives DeForest one well directed sequence and he acts very well in it. A glimpse of a better film. God or fake God was just one bad journey.

28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) I was a kid right in the middle of the TMNT rise to glorious heights and fall to vomit inducing. I had the toys, the VHS of the first two films. And I'm sure to this day the reason I love pizza as much as I do probably has a lot to do with so much not so subtle advertising. There are many horrible films I got a chance to watch during this period that I have a soft spot for. And I tell you that at the ripe old age of six, I could tell this film was bad. The first film is great looking, and some darkness to it that really worked, and The Secret of the Ooze was way too toned down for kids (But it still have Vanilla Ice, and Super Shredder for all of 30 seconds ) But hey I grew up enjoying Surf Ninjas as well. But enough about the trauma of my childhood. You know your franchise is in trouble when you need to add time travel to what you know is going to be your final film. The Turtles have a good amount of villains they could have used, but for some reason they decided to try some botched G rated Seven Samurai abomination instead. The jokes are bad, the action choreography is a major step down. I mean it's like they just filmed the rehearsals, they are so slow. And my god this is a cheap looking film. At least they let them use their weapons again. The costumes and puppetry in particular are a major backstop for the series. At this point the studio didn't care at all and tried to just squeeze every bit of profit out of it. And they did actually. In fact it adjusts to 89 million which would beat the this year's sequel.

The action sucks, and total hack jobs. This is the movie: Rock Climbing- Cliffhanger knock off Car Chase- Goldeneye knock off 1 hour of people staring at each other Shootouts- Obviously a John Woo knock off of his better movies The old fake mask/switcharoo (Also I never can tell if that guy was in love with Dougray Scott) Motorcycle Chase- I'll give you a decently original sequence (But it's such an absurd sequence that doesn't fit with the rest of the series) Also take away Danny Elfman's most underrated score. The only good thing about Mission Impossible 2 is that it went over schedule enough that Hugh Jackman took over the role of Wolverine.

29. Mission Impossible II (2000) Forget everything that came before. The first Mission Impossible is a brilliantly directed film by Brian DePalma. You can take your Phantom Menaces, Reloadeds, even Crystal Skulls, but this is just such a shockingly awkward film, and a huge letdown Fortunately they took a different approach more towards the show with the next three films. I swear watch this movie again, and 70% of this movie is awful slow motion with people staring at other people. This film is trying desperately to turn it into a Bond film, and quite frankly it gives Die Another Day a run for it's money for how absurd it is. The whole film is an awkward love story that is completely ignored later, and Tom Cruise is his most unconvincing in quite some time. The action by John Woo just does not work with this film. This is easily the least impossible missions to boot. They need to copy a camera card, fake a dream, and thats it. Then there is a 10 minute action finale. Luckily the first was a highly regarded that this unfortunately joins many horrible sequels that did much better. The series was able to reevaluate and while Rogue Nation is just a best hits kind of film, this film is strongly forgotten for the better.

I'd say watch it again. But there is no reason for you to go through that. Just watch the original once in a while. The reboot is pretty bad too.

30. Jaws: The Revenge (1987) What? How did Jaws the Revenge not make it under 30? Trust me, you'll see when we get there. This movie is so fucking ridiculous from start to finish. Baumer actually already summarized my feelings. This film has just become legendary. But I'm still not sure it is the worst sequel even in the franchise. From dinosaur roars, to human/shark revenge. From Mario Van Peebles to Drug dealer Michael Caine's romance to Mrs. Brody (He is famous for missing the oscar he won because he was filming this) This series had gotten so screwed by this film that it's actually hard to really get mad at. You just kind of scratch your head how you can go from the first film to this one in 4 films. How could there have been four years worth of meetings about this movie? That this is the very best they could come up with? Oh and the Shark looks so fake here. The only really good thing you can say outside of a great drinking game, is this effectively killed the series. What's actually hilarious though is this still was in fact a hit, it's WW gross would adjust to about 100 million today. Audiences hated this ending so much that they reedited it where after she rams the shark it spontaneously combusts, and Mario Van Peebles lives. Make no mistakes, you can argue Jaws 4 is the worst sequel ever made. These next 29 though also have their arguments. Jaws 4 does however at least take bad to an art form. You could actually watch this many times, or even take a class on it.

31. Robocop 3 (1993) I'm not even sure I can do a write up on this. 2 already dropped the ball quite a bit from Verhoeven's classic original. It was dark, it was funny, it was violent, and managed to tell a lot about the cultural climate. Part 2 was stupid but still had some remnants of that and a couple of jokes, and good to decent action scenes. Robocop himself sat on the sidelines a little too long, and a lot of stupid went in there. This went into production immediately after that film was a success but then sat on the shelf, joining such gems like Clifford as Orion's final films were being bought. It's just awful. Peter Weller is sorely missed, and his replacement is completely weak. It's futuristic society is insanely bad with a new type of Gestapo-esque villains. Hey but for anyone that ever wanted to see him fight a robotic ninja in an awkward action sequence, here you go. This is a thud on arrival.

Well I knew you would probably feel that way. But no way is this better than 6 (Maybe you hate it for its meta humor) I can agree that 5 tries some better ideas then 7-X but it's just way too boring, the killer is weak, and it follows the best the of the series. 2,3,4,6 are the only ones that are solid horror films. I can at least laugh at the later ones.

The Mcguffin is Neo. No one is searching for batteries at all in the film film. Everyone (Morpheus, the machines, even Neo himself) they are all searching for the one.

32. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) Yuck. Follow up your supposed solid final entry with a possible reboot/continuation and this is what you get. If you watch the trailer here then you've seen all of Corey Feldman's role, easily the most interesting of the series outside of Jason. He cameo's his way out of the opening on his way to Goonies. First and foremost the acting is awful. And it tries to go back to the roots bringing more of POV style killings of the original, and after 2-4 made the series killings iconic at times and Jason came into real menace, these are just cheap. There's not a single character to root for outside of Jason, and spoiler alert, he isn't in it. The killer's motivation in this movie is weak. It's not fun. This is hands down the one you never have to see. Well, there are a couple, but they at least awfully hilarious with the way the films try new things.

33. Escape From LA (1996) Dam, this one is on here as a half-hearted choice. It's been 20 years, and this movie like many Carpenter films are starting to get its fans (Getting closer to fresh on RT, perhaps another 10 years, and this will continue to develop a legitimate following.) I do like this movie, but that's because I like anything Kurt and Carpenter. Just everything is completely frustrating about this film. Is it a bad remake of the far superior Escape from NY? If that is the case, it is pretty awful and such a missed opportunity. Is it a parody/ remake of Escape from NY that is in on the joke? Possible, but this needed a much better script, and more support to make it work. It's far too serious at times and the cheesiness doesn't mesh with it. The budget is huge and and you have Kurt Russell playing mother fucking Snake and still rocks the role. Obviously the 15-20 million of the film's 50 million budget went to him. Are the, at times, atrocious effects intentional or just Carpenter not knowing how to work on a big scale. It has a great cast that range from cheesy to plain awful. And Poor Pam Grier, thankfully she got Jackie Brown soon after, and works for maybe the first third of the film. It has torture by treadmill and execution by lack of basketball skills for God sake. It has a plastic surgeon gang. It has the worst surfing scene of all time. You guys that think Reloaded has interesting concepts, check out Escape From LA. This film is saying quite a bit, but gets lost in its trash. Though this film is much much better any day. Because let's face it, Snake is Snake. You don't want to punch him in the face like every actor in Reloaded. There were so many sequels you could have done, and you do this. Hell, if we show Snake traveling down south and takes up the identity of Captain Ron. Now you have something! Best Scene: Kurt makes a full court shot. (They say it was real, that is bad ass)

34. Be Cool (2005) More like Get Shorty Lite. There's nothing worse than the remake/rehash sequel. Be Cool is almost the same film as Get Shorty, but they take away the R rating, better cast and quite frankly the music business while can be good for satire, is just painful here. The movie industry setting seemed much more fresh. Chili was a master film buff, all of a sudden he is an expert what makes a good musician. None of the songs are memorable, and everything else just came before. Travolta's hair is ridiculous and he is definitely sleepwalking to his paycheck. The only thing I will give it credit for is The Rock finally had a breakout performance. He is the only thing to like about this movie. Outside of that you have gangster Vince Vaughn, uninteresting Harvey Keitel, Uma really only there to dance with Travolta as a Pulp Fiction reference. Not to mention the unbearable Cedric The Entertainer, trying some sort of comedic drama. This is a sin against Get Shorty. Was the novel as bad as this?

How would you compare it to the first though?

Totally rewatch Tremors II. Whoever was the Grady substitute in III and Jamie Kennedy are not any better. And turning Burt into a wuss in part 4 takes almost all of the fun out of it.

I think this will probably be the last one on this list that has still its hardcore fans.

35. The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Man oh man. 15 films in, and this one should obviously not surprise anyone. Hey it has a nice car chase (Which I always preferred T3s over) But it also has an awful plot that negates the original film's ending. Neo should be fighting like the guy at the end of Kung Fu Hustle. A stupid line reading of "Upgrades" ruins that. Add in bad CGI, an uninteresting plot that I'm sure was explained in the next film. The first film is an achievement of cinema that changed the face of most action/ sci fi films of the last 20 years. I remember getting my mom to buy 13 tickets for my friends at our first preview screening. The marketing was undeniably amazing. It might have been the most hyped film of all time since The Phantom Menace. This is a major letdown that involves Werwolves, queefing, and god knows what else the Wachowskis could throw at it. The non Matrix sequences are the cheap kind of cliched drivel you'd get in any low rent tv movie, filled with boring new characters. If this was my personal list, this would be much much lower. Mr. Smith is back and adds a little flair to it. But even his role is already on the self parody route. Oh and the Architect. To this day, I have no fucking idea what is happening in the final 20 minutes of this movie. And the twist is not good, almost everyone predicted that twist before the film even came out. Best Scene: This parody

Well 2 was planned as a theatrical film with Bacon as the lead, but he turned it down after getting Apollo 13. Then they reworked it, and cut the budget big time. And it worked because it still feels theatrical. The rest are TV movies that are overall solid, but they had very little to work with. I think the seriousness mixed with the fun worked the best. Also the twist with the Shriekers was a lot of fun. And Burt was fantastic in the movie. 4 just is way too slow, and I think only 2 people die in it. I love the series overall though. The first obviously has all the best elements of all the sequels, but they creators still kept them, fun lite, and overall creative. Much like the Phantasm series.

You can see it with the F&F films. People love likable casts and car stunts. They Should totally remake Cannonball Run. I love the trailer. You can definitely see Ron Burgundy and Taladega Nights being based on Burt's popular films. I mean the man was I think the #box office draw from 1977-82 If you had crazy stunts like this today with huge stars, it could definitely open over 100 million.

I'd argue that's one of the best DTV sequels ever made. 3 is better than it has any right to be, but it was obviously setting up the TV Series. 4 is very weak, and extremely boring. 5 was slightly better. Here's hoping Bacon comes back like he has been hinting. They just got too cheap.