Flickgrrl

I like the old-fashioned trilogies, the kind where the titles don't have numbers and the plots aren't congruent.

Think of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Or John Ford's "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Rio Bravo."
One doubts that these were envisioned as trilogies, and they certainly weren't marketed that way. But now we see them as unified works, each featuring an iconic leading man.

But then, the "Porky's" trilogy has its advocates, too. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Hard-core Carrie Rickey fans can go to BobRossMovies.com and hear her converse with the genial host on this very topic.

In reference to your review of POTC3 I agree with your comments about Orlando Bloom. The other part about Mr. Bloom that I find frustrating is the complete confidence in himself that he is lighting up the screen and stealing every scene he is in. I wonder in ten years if Mr. Bloom will be profiled on _What Ever Happened To?_ on VH1.

carrie,

i gather you're professional thoughts
reguarding this young thespian (sic)
range from dissapointing to "i told u so".
ok,so the lad can't carry a picture by
himself as his past efforts indicate
and in this trilogy when going up
against the likes of depp,rush and yun-fat
you're not going to be stealing too many
scenes either. he looked somewhat
promising in the opener but i guess he's
regressed since then,huh..hahah

anyways,i hope the crop of summer movies
this season are somewhat better than in
the past.

enjoy....

stuart

For my experience X-Men II was a better plot, better action and higher stakes than the first. Wasn't too sold on Number 3 though...

Wasn't the second (and third for that matter) Die Hard better than the first?

While reading your review of Pirates I could not get past your cruel, unecessary, and absolutely untrue comment about Orlando. (Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, the human Bermuda Triangle, sucking the life out of these action-adventure flicks). Orlando is a very charismatic actor whose luminous being fills the screen. I don't know where you get off with this ridiculous statement about this talented, exciting actor "sucking the life out of the flicks). I was so disgusted by your abuse of Mr. Bloom I could not even stomach reading the rest of your short-sighted and unprofessional so-called review. May you get eaten by the Kraken.

CO,
Didn't mean to harsh your Orlando. In my review I characterized him as an affable enough fellow who failed to carry his weight in Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Pirates. Your Kraken crack is v. funny.

How could you say that the Godfather 3 stank? I loved it. I thought that it portrayed the natural progression of the family. And possibly the future???

Lou,
Stink is too strong a word. I sit corrected. I do think 3 was not up to the same level as the prior two, largely because of Sofia Coppola's perf. She was an 11th-hour replacement for Winona Ryder, and while she has many appealing qualities, Sofia C is a great director but not a great actress. I did very much like the Pacino/Keaton sequences, though, and the opera house finale.

Most trilogies don't work unless they are either pre-conceived that way or the writers manage to bring new life and ideas into the 3rd act. Otherwise it is just riding on the coattails of the original and milking the original's ideas dry. It seems good threequels are the exception rather than the rule. I do agree with the one poster that your criticism of Godfather 3 was overstated and agree with your subsequent response. The first 2 were two of the greatest movies ever made and the third was simply good, not great, and it suffers by comparison.

A good trilogy not mentioned was the "color" trilogy (preconceived as a trilogy) by the Polish director Kieslowski (Red, Blue, and White). And another trilogy where I thought the first 2 were very good and by the third the idea had been stretched thin with nothing offered by said threequel was the Blade series. Threequels that were "opportunistic", as you put it, that were also good are very hard to find. The Mad Max series is one of the few I can think of. What about the James Bond series? Was it conceived as a series of movies based on Ian Fleming's books, or was it the success of Dr. No that propelled them to make more movies? I don't know enough about the history of the series to say. The third movie though was Goldfinger, correct? And many would consider that the best in the series.

I agree with your observations about Orlando Bloom. He started off well enough in the LOTR series but since then he has shown zero charisma and when placed in starring roles has deflated otherwise good pictures. Kingdom of Heaven comes to mind. I thought it was a very good movie that was held back by Orlando Bloom's underwhelming performance.

Two words: Evil Dead

I'm glad you cited Krysztof Kieslowski's "Red," "Blue," and "White." The James Bond films and the Harry Potter series are based on books (most of the Bonds were, in any event) and have a good structural foundation.

Carrie,
I admire your sense of humour. May I sugguest you view Ned Kelly, Haven and Extras on HBO to see my Orlando is not as lame as you perceive him to be. He has great potential that has yet to be tapped into. I agree he did not shine in KOH and Elizabethtown was difficult for even a die hard Bloomer like me to watch. As for the comments posted May,25@4:19 by some (where will you be in 10 yrs)I in no way observed Mr. Bloom to exhibit any of the pompous qualities mentioned. I would think every actor does his best to project confidence in their performance, may you be the Kraken's dessert.

Just to put my 2 cents in. I rather enjoyed the movie, much more than #2, but just like the Austin Powers movies, ugly and disgusting characters are brought in and actually turn people away from their popcorn. I never heard one person state they hated Davey Jones, he's just gross.
A couple of times during the movie I thought it would take a different turn. In the beginning when the young lad started singing I noticed he had braces. So I thought that at the end it would show dear Walt Disney reading a story book to kids and this kid put himself into the story. POTC was the very last thing that Walt planned before his death. Another part was after the Chinese Junk went over the falls and the screen went blank, you could hear the POTC ride in the background, so I thought that this might be a fantasy of a rider. Whichever.
I know it was a fantasy, but when I see three sailing ships heading for each-other at full sail and the wind at their backs coming from three directions, Homer thought better then this.
A good Quadrilogy is Star Trek 2-4 and 6. They fit very well together. Not perfect, but good.
I wish though that someone would make a movie of Lt. Stephen Decatur, the real USS Enterprise (schooner), and the Pirates of Tripoli. Believe it or not, it's a true story written out as a trilogy. That would be far better, as long as they don't get Orlando to play the part. Peace.

Carrie - Shocked that you'd say The Godfather Part III "stunk" even though you stepped off that word here in the email replies here.

That film made your top 10 for 1990 (correctly) and if I'm not mistaken was one of only a couple of films to make both your list and Desmond Ryan's that year.

It's not in the league of the first two but that just means it's not quite a masterpiece - there are long, glorious passages in that film - and scenes of such individual power that they're almost breathtaking (Michael's confession for example).

I love that movie.

Evan,

Absolutely agree with you about passages in the film (and cited them). But I've re-watched it several times and have re-evaluated it. (See entry below, Did That Movie Change, Or Did I?)

Best,