Tuesday, June 24, 2014

10 Movie Series I Gave Up On

The Saw films started out so well...

While there have been many movie series I enjoy, some franchises I just can't endorse. Here are some I started and abandoned. Note: These are in no particular order.

Ice Age films (2002-present)


The first film was decent, but I gave up after the mediocre second one.

Twilight series (2008-2012)


I suffered through one and was done.

Resident Evil films (2002-present)


I saw the first film years ago and mostly enjoyed it. I never had any desire to watch the others though.

Saw films (2004-present)


While the first three films were solid, the awful fourth one put me off the series for good.

Madagascar films (2005-present)


I was never really invested in these, but the first two weren't terrible. Still, I doubt I'll ever watch the third or upcoming fourth one.

Alvin and the Chipmunks films (2007-present)


The first one could have been worse. The sequels probably are.

Scary Movie films (2000-present)


I made it through the first three before I moved on to better things.

Underworld films (2003-present)


The first film was campy fun, but I never bothered with any of the rest.

Final Destination films (2000-2011?)


I watched (and liked) the first two when I was younger. However, none of the others have been high on my radar.

Step Up films (2006-present)


I didn't mind the first two. The second film is actually one of my guilty pleasures. I've no interest in any of the other sequels though.

18 comments:

  1. Good post! I haven't watched any of these series, though I may have seen a few of the Ice Age movies with my younger daughter. I suffered through the first novel in the Twilight series and never felt moved to see any of the movies. So I am with you on the "one and done" thing. :-)

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    1. Thanks! Haha, I barely made it through the first Twilight movie. I couldn't imagine getting through the book. ;)

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  2. I know that's happened to me a few times. I'm a bit weird in that I'm a huge John Carpenter fan and yet ironically the one film of his I outright despised was Halloween. I found that to be painfully predictable and with a climax in which Michael Myers is suddenly invincible for no reason (seriously, he gets stabbed twice, shot multiple times, and falls out a second story window, and keeps just getting up like it's nothing) and I was left more confused than terrified. I mean, I didn't even like the first film. Why should I bother with any of the sequels? There wouldn't even be a lot of suspense since we already know now Michael Myers is invincible for whatever reason so he can't be defeated.


    I think I'm also in that state with the Dirty Harry films. The first one was okay, Magnum Force was a big disappointment in which I was able to figure out the twists a mile away, and The Enforcer almost won me over until it built up to a really disappointing and contrived climax. I don't have any immediate plans to bother with any of the later sequels.

    I could probably go on finding various franchises I gave up on at some point. I stopped following Shrek after the third one. With Ice Age and Madascar I saw the first installments but never any of the sequels.

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    1. I love the original Halloween, but I can see why the script doesn't work for everyone. I've seen bits and pieces of the sequels, so I haven't technically given up on the series. The same goes for the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and other horror series.

      I've only seen the first Dirty Harry, but I do want to see all of them at some point. Maybe I'll change my mind when I see a couple more of them.

      I stopped following Shrek after the horrendous fourth one. There are plans for a fifth one, but I left that series off since I've seen all of them so far.

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  3. ha, of these, I've watched the first Saw, Final Destination, Underworld, Twilight, and Scary movie. I quite liked several of them, but that was enough for me.
    When it's obvious financial gain trumps artistic expression, then a sequel has little interest. I guess I was wrong about Saw 2 and 3, worth seeing?

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    1. Despite their ups and downs, I'll stick with some long-running series (like Pirates of the Caribbean and, of course, the Bond films), but most of these are fairly forgettable franchises. I wouldn't call the first three Saw films forgettable, though. They'd make a nice little trilogy, and I wish the studios had stopped at three. If you're at all interested in it, I'd recommend giving Saw II a try. If you like that, then go with Saw III, but I'd stop after that.

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  4. Great list! I pretty much gave up on all of these too. Not that I ever intended to see more of Resident Evil or Twlight. The Saw movies frustrate me because I loved the first two so much. Same with the Final Destination movies, I liked the first two.

    Do not watch the 3rd Madagascar movie, it's awful. My son loves it.

    That's funny that you said Step Up 2 is your guilty pleasure, I actually really like the soundtrack from that movie.

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, some of these I never intended to stick with, but who knew they'd last so long? I loved the first Saw and really liked the first three as a trilogy. The first two Final Destination movies were fun, but the third one didn't look good, so I ended up staying away from the other sequels.

      Haha. I'll stay away then.

      I usually watch some of Step Up 2 whenever it's on TV. I really enjoyed that movie for some reason. It does have a good soundtrack, for sure.

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  5. Ahah, interesting list here Josh! Well thankfully I've never seen most of these but I gave up on Twilight even from the first movie! Underworld was quite fun but the sequels are horrible! But then again Len Wiseman is a hack director.

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    1. Thanks Ruth! Oh, Twilight is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I tried, but I couldn't stand that film. I figured the Underworld sequels were poor films. Glad I stayed away from those.

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  6. I'm a completist so something has to be really bad for me to give up on it. Of these, the only I quit on was the Scary Movie franchise. That first one was so totally unbearable I refused to subject myself to any further punishment. One qualifier is that I haven't seen any of the Resident Evil flicks (though I keep saying I will). Cool post.

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    1. Thanks. I'll stick with a series if it feels worth it. None of these are particularly engaging for me, though I did like the first three Saw films. Ha, I'll watch a Twilight reboot movie before I'll watch another Scary Movie.

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  7. Great list, Josh! All perfect choices. I have pretty much given on these as well. Underworld had a good run. I'm a RE fan, though, so they are my guilty pleasures. But that franchise, too, is very long in the tooth. Awesome job!

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    1. Thanks, Vic! I can see RE being a guilty pleasure, for sure.

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  8. interesting list. Fortunately the only one that interest me is only Final Destination 1, the rest are not interesting for me.

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    1. Thanks. I liked Final Destination 1. The second one was fun too, but I wasn't interested in the others.

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  9. Of the series on this list that I did start watching, I quickly gave up on all of them too. I think I suffered through three Twilight films (for whatever reason), what a waste. I have seen every Saw film though, but more for the sake of tradition. Still, those things got bad fast.

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    1. Haha, Twilight just felt like an awful show on the CW. Blah. Yeah, I love that the Saw films came out annually, but I honestly have no desire to find out what happened after the fourth one.

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