Oh, sequels. Sometimes they're as good, or even better, than the originals (see: Toy Story 2 and Terminator 2), and sometimes they mean that you have to watch another 90 minutes of Transformers. But what about the movies that, while not really sequels, just kind of belong together anyway?
In response to this post about the movies that you just don't want a sequel to, a discussion began about the movies that, while technically unrelated, somehow still were best experienced as a group:
I love The Matrix trilogy. Just like The Three Colors trilogy by Kryzysztof Kieslowski, I love how these three self-contained stories all explore in different ways that most fundamental question of human existance: "What is real?"
...oh, did I mention that I like to pretend the "The Matrix Trilogy" is a thematic trilogy consisting of these three films? (The Matrix, Dark City, and Inception) ...because I've never heard of these movies claiming that The Matrix got Reloaded, or had any Revolutions or anything like that.
Meanwhile, a similar conversation was taking place about Casablanca, which despite ending with Rick and Louis walking off into the fog promising that theirs was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, generated no sequels, buddy-cop flicks or otherwise. It may, however, have a spiritual successor in To Have and Have Not:
MweyerDespite the fact the opening seems a sequel set-up, there should NEVER be one. There were attempts now and then but thankfully, nothing came of it and that's good. I don't want to know what Rick and Louie got into after leaving; I don't want to see if Ilsa and Lazlo make it with the Resistance; I don't even care much to know if Rick and Ilsa ever got back together again. This entire story, so simple and yet so epic, should stand on its own as we know all we need to know in this one adventure and no need for a follow-up for more. That's especially true as no way in hell anyone else could play these roles. No, let this stand as the classic it is as the fact we know nothing of what happened next just makes it all the better.
Completely agree on all counts. (Especially since I once saw the tv-movie where David Soul of Starsky & Hutch played Rick.)
The funny thing is, "To Have and Have Not," is a spiritual remake of Casablanca, despite being technically based on the Hemingway novel, and it's very nearly as good as Casablanca itself. Of course, it had the advantage of being directed by Howard Hawks.
So, what do you think? Do you have a set of otherwise-unrelated movies that you like to pair up as the perfect compliments to each other? Tell us about them now.