Best run of 3 movies by a director?

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

John Woo
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow II
The Killer

Gun ballet.

Chow Yun-fat was awesome in those

[Coach]

Danny Boyle has had some good stints. I've never seen Millions, I'll have to check it out.

28 Days Later
Millions
Sunshine
Slumdog Millionaire

[Elkyiv]

David O. Russell's The Fighter, Silver Lining's Playbook, American Hustle

[Coach]

Not to throw a grenade into the mix, but how about the Russo Brothers?

Winter Soldier
Civil War
Infinity War
Endgame

Collective gross: $6.7 BILLION

Say what you want about Marvel, these are awesome Sci-Fi/Action movies and that dollar level is absolutely ridiculous.

EDIT: I see KTrain got there first. Either way I'll leave my stance in support.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Coach

Not to throw a grenade into the mix, but how about the Russo Brothers?

Winter Soldier
Civil War
Infinity War
Endgame

Collective gross: $6.7 BILLION

Say what you want about Marvel, these are awesome Sci-Fi/Action movies and that dollar level is absolutely ridiculous.

EDIT: I see KTrain got there first. Either way I'll leave my stance in support.

Yeah but you could basically parachute almost any director in there and they'd make a billion. The director is pretty irrelevant. Feige gets the credit for that template imo. Or maybe Favreau and Whedon for setting and cementing the style.

[Harry Lime]

John Landis : Spies Like Us, Three Amigos, Coming to America (the Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London has already been mentioned)

Ben Stiller : Cable Guy, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder (he directed parts of two TV specials inbetween, but these three were the motion picture releases. One of the specials is Heat Vision and Jack, which was never released but is absolutely bonkers)

Jonathan Demme : Married to the Mob, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia (Philadelphia a bit of a weak link for me, but the other two are fantastic)

Martin Brest : Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run, Scent of a Woman (not much output, but a great run)

Guillermo del Toro : Blade II, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth (yay!)

It's really hard to find three in a row. I really wanted to put in some more classic directors, but a combination of the rate of output due to the studio structure, and not having seen some of the movies in a row, really put a damper on that. So many director are two and then a dud.

[looooob]

14 year old Looooob would declare Ivan Reitman the runaway winner for


Meatballs
Stripes
Ghostbusters

[Nadal Fan]

Brian De Palma

Dressed to Kill
Blow Out
Scarface
Body Double

[Coach]

Originally Posted by nik-

Yeah but you could basically parachute almost any director in there and they'd make a billion. The director is pretty irrelevant. Feige gets the credit for that template imo. Or maybe Favreau and Whedon for setting and cementing the style.

I really disagree with this. Winter Soldier is a turning point for the MCU in terms of tone and direction. Russos come from TV comedy and Feige put a billion dollar bet in their hands and it paid off. If they had stuck with Whedon, it would have stayed in his (IMO) outdated style. I agree with Favreau but he didn't stick around to play with the MCU outside of acting.

The additions of the Russos, Waititi, and Gunn to the MCU were big gambles that defined the tone of the whole universe going forward. Without them, I think we would see a very different MCU that is not nearly as fun or interesting and probably would have completely fell on it's face.

[Stud_McCool]

Michel Gondry

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Science of Sleep
Be Kind Rewind

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I don't think the Marvel movies are actually good movies, by and large, so it doesn't really matter who directed them. Thor Ragnarok was pretty good, though, so here, Taika Waititi:

-What we do in the Shadows
-Hunt for the Wilderpeople
-Thor:Ragnarok
-Jojo Rabbit

... And the streak is alive, so maybe "Next Goal Wins" is what determines if it's a fiver?

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't think the Marvel movies are actually good movies, by and large, so it doesn't really matter who directed them. Thor Ragnarok was pretty good, though, so here, Taika Waititi:

-What we do in the Shadows
-Hunt for the Wilderpeople
-Thor:Ragnarok
-Jojo Rabbit

... And the streak is alive, so maybe "Next Goal Wins" is what determines if it's a fiver?

Put a vote in for the great Taika.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't think the Marvel movies are actually good movies, by and large, so it doesn't really matter who directed them. Thor Ragnarok was pretty good, though, so here, Taika Waititi:

-What we do in the Shadows
-Hunt for the Wilderpeople
-Thor:Ragnarok
-Jojo Rabbit

... And the streak is alive, so maybe "Next Goal Wins" is what determines if it's a fiver?

I think he's already there. Boy is an excellent movie. I still need to watch Eagle vs Shark.

[Matata]

Originally Posted by nik-

Yeah but you could basically parachute almost any director in there and they'd make a billion. The director is pretty irrelevant. Feige gets the credit for that template imo. Or maybe Favreau and Whedon for setting and cementing the style.

Good points, but in the Russo's defence they cut their teeth on Arrested Development and Community, where they really over-performed.

Their job in the MCU really just amounted to fitting in and not screwing up, but it's hard to imagine another director doing a better job and easy to imagine them doing a worse job.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

What’s interesting to me is how rare it is for even the best director to make three great movies in a row. Lots have some real stinkers and some just are good but not great. It’s so hard to get it right 3x in a row.

There’s a lot of good directors but I also see a lot of close but no cigar. Jackie Brown is a weak link for Tarantino, Spielberg has a few weak ones mixed in that ruin his streak, Flags of Our Fathers was boring and one of Clint’s weakest, ROTK was clearly the weakest of the LOTR trilogy, PTA’s best weren’t consecutive etc.

It might be their best run individually but none of them were able to produce three consecutive amazing movies.

Alien
Blade Runner
Legend

For Ridley Scott. Legend is a bit weak but I love that movie.

Like I said earlier with respect to Spielberg, in some cases there are two movies that are so overwhelmingly great that the third one acting as bookend, even if just 'good', is enough to push them collectively over the hump as three "great" movies in succession.

I thought about Ridley Scott and immediately my mind went to Alien and Blade Runner, arguably either of which could be considered the greatest sci-fi movie of all time, but then Legend as the bookend rounding out the trio is... kind of 'meh' at best. His strongest run may have been The Duellists—Alien—Blade Runner, but to be honest I've never actually seen The Duellists.

Other than that Alien—Blade Runner couplet with one of The Duellists or Legend completing the threepeat... I don't think Ridley Scott has had a run of more than a couple of good movies in a row. I thought about Gladiator and Black Hawk Down about 20 years ago, but I forgot that he directed Hannibal in between.

Jonathan Demme:

Silence of the Lambs
Philadelphia
Beloved

Love all three but Beloved is clearly the weak link.

Married to the Mob
The Silence of the Lambs
Philadelphia

?

[rustycana]

Penny Marshall

Not sure what others think about the quality of all 3 but I think I've seen each of them 10+ times so they make my list!

Big
Awakenings
A League of Their Own

William Friedkin

I've seen Wages of Fear which Sorcerer is a remake (?) of but I haven't been able to find it anywhere to watch it yet. I'm not including the Fritz Lang interview in this list

The French Connection
The Exorcist
Sorcerer

[Nadal Fan]

David Fincher

Seven
The Game
Fight Club

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Not a huge fan of either, but I think Richard Linklater and Woody Allen might have 3 in a row that could compete.

Slacker/Dazed and Confused/Before Sunrise?

Broadway Danny Rose/Purple Rose of Cairo/Hanna and her Sisters?

[Wormius]

I assume the Peter Jackson mentioned before was for:

Bad Taste
Meet the Feebles
Dead Alive

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by timun

His strongest run may have been The Duellists—Alien—Blade Runner, but to be honest I've never actually seen The Duellists.

The Duellists is an excellent film. So yes, Ridley Scott’s best run was:

The Duellists
Alien
Bladerunner