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Great one-off movies

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Batman, May 29, 2016.

  1. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Just got done watching the end of Training Day on cable. Such a great movie, and one that hasn't (nor could, nor shouldn't) inspire a sequel or a remake.
    So what are some other great one-off movies in this era of endless remakes and sequels? I'd have put Point Break on there until they raped my adolescence for Christmas.
     
  2. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Usual Suspects
     
    cjericho likes this.
  3. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    'The Usualer Suspects' has been trapped in development for more than a decade since Spacey withdrew from the project.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I'm surprised there's never been a serious push for a sequel to "The Shawshank Redemption."

    Although the movie wraps up pretty neatly with the beachfront scene, you could see some sequel storylines: would Red and Andy still be running the hotel 20 years later, or would Andy have moved most of his Shawshank loot into offshore accounts in the Caymans and made a bundle?

    What if Hadley served 15 years or so, got paroled, and came after them? He'd be 60-65ish, but Hadley would still be pretty badass.

    Would Andy have figured out a way to dig up the evidence to get his original conviction thrown out?

    Tommy Williams' baby girl. That seems like a character who could figure into the story 20-25 years later.

    I could see a story where she grows up to her mid-late 20s, decides she wants to exonerate the father she never knew, and bumps into 65ish Andy Dufresne, who is working incognito to pull off his long planned project to clear his name once and for all. (A vengeful senior-citizen Hadley could be a great villain in this storyline.)

    None of these sound like a super compelling storyline, but certainly no flimsier than a lot of premises for sequels.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2016
  5. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Speaking of 1994 Best Picture nominees, Pulp Fiction.

    Until this year, I would have said Independence Day. Instead, I would also add Gladiator (sandals, not boxing gloves), Bull Durham and True Lies.
     
  6. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    They are making a tv show out of Training Day. An article I read called it a sequel.
     
    Starman likes this.
  7. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    I always thought a prequel about the rise of Keyser Soze could be great if done correctly.
     
  8. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    Browsing through my collection....

    Looper
    Falling Down
    LA Confidential
    The Wrestler
    Silver Linings Playbook
    Big Trouble in Little China
    Event Horizon
    Awakenings
    Unforgiven
    Open Range
    As Good As It Gets
    Interstellar
    Big Lebowski
    Blind Fury (kidding, maybe)
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    An interesting question - do you go for great movie you would like to see continue or characters you wonder how they ended up?
     
  10. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    The King of Comedy and Barfly are two of my favorites.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    The window has come and gone on this one because Robbins could no longer pass for 40, but I always thought a good sequel to "Bull Durham" could have been made with Crash Davis as a 15-year .500 journeyman-manager type who finally gets a shot with a World Series contender, and he adds the 38-40 year-old, Tommy John surgery survivor, former 100-mph fireballer now getting by as a soft tosser, Hall-of-Pretty-Good-level Ebby Calvin LaLoosh as the last guy in his bullpen.

    It comes down to Game 7 and Manager Crash is faced with a choice (of course) between crafty old veteran junkballer Nuke and an airheaded 23-year old 102-mph whiz kid with a thunderbolt right arm.

    I don't know how Annie would have fit in, if at all; I don't really see her and Crash becoming a happy old married couple.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2016
  12. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    It hadn't really occurred to me, but really Costner's role in "For the Love of the Game" was pretty much the role of the "older veteran Nuke" I envisioned in my "Bull Durham" sequel, although Billy Chappel had a better career than I envisioned for Nuke. (They had Chappel as a sure shot HOFer, even before the final-game perfecto, while I pegged Nuke as one of those guys who win 10-15 games a year for a decade or so, but never really an ace. I guess I figured Nuke as a guy who might have approached All-Star status in his magical age 27-30 career-peak period, then gotten derailed by TJ surgery and finished out his career as a No. 3/4 innings eater.)
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2016
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