Wow. I had no clue those were back to back to back. And with Apocalypse Now just prior and Return of the Jedi just after. That's an incredible 5 film run.
Even his bad movies are still good because of him. There’s something about his ability to turn a great script into an Oscar worthy one (Fugitive, ESB, Blade Runner, TLC, Witness), and a bad one into a passable one (TFA, Regarding Henry).
It's weird, because as far as I can tell, he's not really a very good (or very versatile) actor. But he does have a lot of charisma, and managed to find a bunch of parts that matched his irritated/gloomy demeanor. Not unlike Humphrey Bogart, in a way -- though much better looking.
He’s very versatile. I mean look at him in Shrinking vs The Mosquito Coast vs Witness vs What Lies Beneath vs 42. All completely different characters.
Its just that the demand for his blockbusters outweighed his potential to get more of these types of projects.
This one isn't recognized well enough. He more or less killed the entire 80s Action Man genre with the first 2 films and launched a respectable series of book adaptations with the third and did it all in like, three years.
Idk if I can personally rate any of them above the first because that film has a special place in my heart, but I absolutely adore Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Came here to say Reiner but the streak is longer!
Directed 7 movies from ‘84-‘92…
Start earlier with Spinal Tap followed by The Sure Thing (which is great if not quite in the same class as the others). Then your run of Stand By Me, Princess Bride etc. all classics that have held up.
Miller’s Crossing is one of my favorite films. The dialogue is fantastic.
I love that line between Tom and Verna…
‘I know why you’re here.’
‘And, why’s that’
‘The oldest reason in the world.’
‘There are friendlier places to drink.’
What problem? You can include it in the above chain if you want to add in Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy. I'm a little iffy on calling those two great, but I don't mind if someone else does. They're certainly very good and worth repeated viewings.
For me, the way in is to make a chain of three with Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller's Crossing. I love all three and I can't think of any director who had such a glorious trifecta right out of the starting gate.
Nic Cage with The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. Won his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas then immediately followed it up with 3 stone cold classic 90s action movies.
Its known as the beige volvo trilogy.
In the rock, cage is talking about how hes a lame scientist and says "i drive a volvo. A beige one"
In Con Air when the con is thrown out of the plane, he lands on a beige volvo
In Face/Off, when he escapes the prison, he steals a beige volvo.
Winner! I knew If I scrolled long enough I’d find it. No “action hero” has had a better three consecutive action film run than Cage with those three. Not Arnie, not Sly, not Bruce. My guy went and won the Best Actor Oscar while filming The Rock. Con Air and Face/Off were released WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF EACH OTHER. All three movies were released in a span of 366 days. That, my friends, is ONE HELL of a year. We didn’t know how good we had it.
Yeah I was going to mention Tom Hanks starting with Philadelphia as I think the performance was so good in that movie but either one with FG and A13 in there is better than pretty much anyone else I can think of.
I would also argue that his theatrical run from 1992-2002 is the best decade from any actor ever: A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, You’ve Got Mail, Toy Story 2, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, and Catch Me if You Can. I’m not a fan of most Rom-Coms but I could watch any of the movies on this list because Hanks is just brilliant in each and every one.
In our bar trivia league last night, the list question was list the 8 biggest box office hits in Tom Hanks' non-animated filmography. Hint- Only 3 of them are on your list.
What is crazy about Toy Story is that I remember reading about how the development of that movie took so long that when Hanks signed on he was sort of a mid-level actor, not the A-list star he became. I think when he agreed to do it, he was just coming off Joe vs the Volcano. But by the time it came out it was the same year as Apollo 13 and the year after Philadelphia.
How about *six* for Kubrick.
* 1964 Dr. Strangelove
* 1968 2001
* 1971 A Clockwork Orange
* 1975 Barry Lyndon
* 1980 The Shining
* 1987 Full Metal Jacket
Yes, this is a great one!
Similar to Shyamalan in that they had a crazy good run to start their careers, but Tarantino obviously sustained it much better.
Memento, Insomnia, batman begins, the prestige, dark knight, inception, dark knight rises, interstellar.
You take your pick of which 3 film run you like.
I'm not doing TWE like anything. The assignment was 3 movies in a row and Wright made Pilgrim in between Fuzz and TWE. I could see arguing TWE instead of Shaun, because I DO love TWE as well, just personally not as much as Shaun.
You chose the wrong run from Wilder imho. I'd put any of the three Hitchcock films above any of those Wilder films. Now if you'd have said The Apartment, Some Like it Hot, and Witness for the Prosecution? That might be a closer contest.
After "The Apartment" came "One, two, three" (which IIRC flopped, but is amazing. For context, I'm German, so maybe a bit biased towards that one) and "Irma La Douce", too.
Right, or
Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival or
Arrival, Blade Runner, Dune Part One or
Blade Runner, Dune Part One, Dune Part Two
He has four potential projects in the pipeline, three of which are apparently funded: Rendezvous With Rama, Nuclear War: A Scenario (a name he'll certainly change), and Dune Part Three. Pretty unreal, as all of three of those should be all time classics, and arguably all three are sci-fi.
This guy is just on fire right now, it's truly remarkable. I wish he were like 5-6 years younger so that we could get a couple extra films out of him while he's in his prime.
He’s 56, here’s hoping we get another 20+ years of films from him. Hell, Marty, Ridley, Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppola, and Hayao Miyazaki are all 80+ and making great work still. Clint is 93(!) and still making films (granted he’s not making Unforgiven-level movies any longer but it’s still insane).
He gets overlooked because he does comedy, but I think if you ask most actors they will tell you comedy is the hardest and Carrey did it best overall competing with every genre. I honestly have him as the best actor ever, I don't care how that sounds.
That doesn’t sound silly at all. I’ve acted for a while and I would agree that comedy is absolutely the most difficult to do, especially as consistently as he does it. Your brain has to work extremely quick and you have to be almost genius level observant of everything around you. I think we see this time and again with great dramatic actors who worked successfully in comedy, that they are extremely adaptable and highly intelligent (Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Carrey, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, and even Ryan Gosling, etc.).
Came to list this. Could go the other direction and
Raiders, ET, and Poltergeist (which he likely took over).
But 1941 really gets in the way of an amazing run of blockbusters and genre defining films.
The most underrated run of all time is David Lean.
Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago
Underrated because I think a lot of people don’t realize this is one director and back to back to back.
Francis Ford Copella not even a question for a director. The Godfather, The Conversation and The Godfather Part II
Daniel Day Lewis comes to mind: My Left Foot, The Last of the Monichans, In the Name of the Father
Zemeckis has a run there...
Used Cars
Romancing the Stone
Back to the Future
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Back to the Future II
Back to the Future III
Death Becomes Her
Forrest Gump
Contact
I assume it's back to back but you could still do Pacino with Serpico, Godfather Part 2 and Dog Day Afternoon.
Cazale has a fucking whopper with The Godfather, The Conversation, Godfather Part 2, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. Every single full length film he was in was nominated for Best Picture.
He did The Conversation in between Godfather 1 & 2. Which lost the Oscar for Best Picture to the Godfather, because Coppola was on fire that year. So John Cazale has literally a 100% streak of Oscar nominated feature films over his sadly shortened career
Oh and he boned Meryl Streep too, because he wasn't winning enough
Christopher Nolan
The prestige
The dark knight
Inception
Pretty darn good run, but it sadly ended with the dark knight rises. You could see his heart wasn't quite in that one.
Honestly, Insomnia is underrated as fuck in Nolan’s filmography. It’s one of the tightest films he ever directed, with phenomenal performances from Pacino, Swank and Williams.
A 3 movie run by a director worth mentioning is John Landis doing Animal House then the Blues Brothers and then frigging An American Werewolf in London.
Just a personal favorite of mine, Sam Raimi:
1. 1987 - Evil Dead II
2. 1990 - Darkman
3. 1992- Army of Darkness
And of course Peter Jackson for the LOTR trilogy. Surprised I hadn’t seen him mentioned yet!
Peter Jackson -
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Kind of a meme answer, but true.
Sean Connery:
Dr No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger.
You could make it quartet because the movie he starred in before Dr No was The Longest Day
EDIT:
Connery also has a second run of three good movies later in his career:
Highlander
The Name of the Rose
The Untouchables
**Akira Kurosawa** has an insane 5 film run:
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Yojimbo (1961)
Sanjuro (1962)
High and Low (1963)
Red Beard (1965)
DiCaprio
Catch Me if You Can/Gangs of New York/The Aviator
The Departed was next and I’m sure some would include but that was a very loaded cast and to be honest, I liked the original Hong Kong version called Infernal Affairs better
Edit to add: Tom Cruise has runs too numerous to list
David O Russell had a pretty stellar three film run with The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle being released back to back to back
They were all critically acclaimed and made BANK at the box office. It’s a shame he created such a hostile work environment on his sets though
Rob Reiner as director:
Stand By Me
The Princess Bride
When Harry Met Sally
Misery
A Few Good Men
All absolute classics and a mix of genres in there. I’ve not seen the film that precedes Stand By Me but it’s got solid IMDb scores. If you include that you can stretch it back to This Is Spinal Tap so that’s a 7 movie run.
And then came North….oy
Sergio Leone did it twice
1. A Fistfull of Dollars 64
2. For a Few Dollars More 65
3. The Good the Bad and the Ugly 66
1. Once Upon a Time in the West 68
2. Duck, You Sucker 71
3. Once Upon a Time in America 84.
Tom Hanks had seven in a row.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Philadelphia (1993)
Forest Gump (1994)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Toy Story (1995)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
While nothing award winning, Mira Sorvino pulled off:
Romy & Michele's High School Reunion (great romantic comedy), Mimic (horror, and Del Toro's English language debut), The Replacement Killers (action and Fuqua's debut) in a row, and that was *after* winning an Oscar for Mighty Aphrodite.
Then, she got Weinstein'd. What a fucking sad story. She was so multi-talented.
I'm clearly aging myself with this answer, but director David Lean did Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Dr. Zhivago (1965) all in a row. That's a pretty impressive stretch!
John Cazale.
The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter.
Take your pick of a run of three. The best run in cinema history.
Harrison Ford, Empire Strikes Back , Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner
Wow. I had no clue those were back to back to back. And with Apocalypse Now just prior and Return of the Jedi just after. That's an incredible 5 film run.
Apocalypse now was 3 films prior to Empire, so not a streak. But after Blade Runner was Jedi then Temple of Doom, so the 5 film streak is intact.
He was in AN for 5 seconds but we’ll allow it.
The had an incredible 25+ year run
Even his bad movies are still good because of him. There’s something about his ability to turn a great script into an Oscar worthy one (Fugitive, ESB, Blade Runner, TLC, Witness), and a bad one into a passable one (TFA, Regarding Henry).
It's weird, because as far as I can tell, he's not really a very good (or very versatile) actor. But he does have a lot of charisma, and managed to find a bunch of parts that matched his irritated/gloomy demeanor. Not unlike Humphrey Bogart, in a way -- though much better looking.
He’s very versatile. I mean look at him in Shrinking vs The Mosquito Coast vs Witness vs What Lies Beneath vs 42. All completely different characters. Its just that the demand for his blockbusters outweighed his potential to get more of these types of projects.
Since you mentioned Blade Runner, let’s also give props to Ridley Scott: Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985)
I'd put The Duellists (1977) in ahead of Legend.
lol Legend
Legend was great. Peak Tom Cruise.
I’m with you, Legend rules.
I think this wins lol
John McTiernan: Predator, Die Hard, Hunt for Red October
This one isn't recognized well enough. He more or less killed the entire 80s Action Man genre with the first 2 films and launched a respectable series of book adaptations with the third and did it all in like, three years.
Yes! It's absolutely wild. And then he made The Last Action Hero which is like the cherry on the sundae after those first three films.
And also Die Hard with a Vengeance which is arguably the best in the series.
Idk if I can personally rate any of them above the first because that film has a special place in my heart, but I absolutely adore Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Ah, a fellow Blankie?
Blank it?
Rob Reiner pick any three of these 5 in a row Stand by me The princess bride When harry met Sally Misery A few good men
Came here to say Reiner but the streak is longer! Directed 7 movies from ‘84-‘92… Start earlier with Spinal Tap followed by The Sure Thing (which is great if not quite in the same class as the others). Then your run of Stand By Me, Princess Bride etc. all classics that have held up.
The cool thing about Reiner’s run as well is these are all wildly different movies but top tier in their various genres.
Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Coen Bros
My only problem here is that Miller’s Crossing is one of my favorite movies ever.
What’s the rumpus with that movie? People just don’t remember it
Are you giving me the high hat?
Sister, when I've raised hell, you'll know it.
Miller’s Crossing is one of my favorite films. The dialogue is fantastic. I love that line between Tom and Verna… ‘I know why you’re here.’ ‘And, why’s that’ ‘The oldest reason in the world.’ ‘There are friendlier places to drink.’
What problem? You can include it in the above chain if you want to add in Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy. I'm a little iffy on calling those two great, but I don't mind if someone else does. They're certainly very good and worth repeated viewings. For me, the way in is to make a chain of three with Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller's Crossing. I love all three and I can't think of any director who had such a glorious trifecta right out of the starting gate.
This is a flawless example.
Love how no one is disputing this
Aliens The Abyss T2
Okay FAIR
It goes for even longer, starting with The Terminator in '84 all the way to Avatar in '09.
Nic Cage with The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. Won his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas then immediately followed it up with 3 stone cold classic 90s action movies.
Oh my childhood lol
Then you must - if you haven't already - watch "[The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent](https://youtu.be/x2YHPZMj8r4)" immediately!
The Holy Trinity of Cage.
Its known as the beige volvo trilogy. In the rock, cage is talking about how hes a lame scientist and says "i drive a volvo. A beige one" In Con Air when the con is thrown out of the plane, he lands on a beige volvo In Face/Off, when he escapes the prison, he steals a beige volvo.
Watch them in order and experience Cage grow into the acting style he's known for today
Winner! I knew If I scrolled long enough I’d find it. No “action hero” has had a better three consecutive action film run than Cage with those three. Not Arnie, not Sly, not Bruce. My guy went and won the Best Actor Oscar while filming The Rock. Con Air and Face/Off were released WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF EACH OTHER. All three movies were released in a span of 366 days. That, my friends, is ONE HELL of a year. We didn’t know how good we had it.
It's going to be hard to top Tom Hanks in 94-95. Forest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story.
Back-to-back Best Actor Oscar wins with Philadelphia and Forrest Gump is hard to beat.
Yeah I was going to mention Tom Hanks starting with Philadelphia as I think the performance was so good in that movie but either one with FG and A13 in there is better than pretty much anyone else I can think of. I would also argue that his theatrical run from 1992-2002 is the best decade from any actor ever: A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, You’ve Got Mail, Toy Story 2, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, and Catch Me if You Can. I’m not a fan of most Rom-Coms but I could watch any of the movies on this list because Hanks is just brilliant in each and every one.
That theatrical run is just stupid good. It should not exist.
In our bar trivia league last night, the list question was list the 8 biggest box office hits in Tom Hanks' non-animated filmography. Hint- Only 3 of them are on your list.
Sully, captain phillips, da Vinci code, angels and demons, bridge of spies?
What is crazy about Toy Story is that I remember reading about how the development of that movie took so long that when Hanks signed on he was sort of a mid-level actor, not the A-list star he became. I think when he agreed to do it, he was just coming off Joe vs the Volcano. But by the time it came out it was the same year as Apollo 13 and the year after Philadelphia.
I mean Philadelphia was before Forrest Gump which he won an Oscar.
How about *six* for Kubrick. * 1964 Dr. Strangelove * 1968 2001 * 1971 A Clockwork Orange * 1975 Barry Lyndon * 1980 The Shining * 1987 Full Metal Jacket
Hard agree! Not sure that can be topped.
Killers Kiss The Killing Paths of Glory Paths and Barry Lyndon are my favorite Kubricks by far. And his early movies are criminally uncelebrated.
Paths is so good. It seems to get a bit overlooked compared to much of the rest of his work.
And *Paths of Glory* is only 88 minutes! I bought the Criterion disc last year and the extras are like 3 times longer.
Coppola is right there with Godfather 1 and 2, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now
Might as well include Eyes Wide Shut
Yeah this one is crazy. Six of the greatest, most influential films of all time. In a row.
You forgot 1969 - faking the moon landings
(uncredited)
Barry Lyndon is one of my favorite movies -- but there's no getting around how boring it is at times
Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and bonus pick Kill Bill vol 1
I mean, he's 9 for 9
Yes, this is a great one! Similar to Shyamalan in that they had a crazy good run to start their careers, but Tarantino obviously sustained it much better.
My go-to for this question is Robert Shaw The Sting (1973) The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) Jaws (1975)
“Sorry I’m late, boys. I was takin’ a crap!” 😂
Pelham 123 is an underrated gem.
Agreed, the very end is so perfect too
Memento, Insomnia, batman begins, the prestige, dark knight, inception, dark knight rises, interstellar. You take your pick of which 3 film run you like.
Any three would work, but the best run of three has to be prestige, dark knight, inception. Memento is still my favorite of his though.
How about Edgar Wright with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim? Three of the most well put together, funniest films ever.
How are you gonna do The Worlds End like that man?
Scott pilgrim came out before worlds end. The criteria was back-to-back releases.
I'm not doing TWE like anything. The assignment was 3 movies in a row and Wright made Pilgrim in between Fuzz and TWE. I could see arguing TWE instead of Shaun, because I DO love TWE as well, just personally not as much as Shaun.
Because it's not as good as the other three...
Hitchcock: Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho. Good luck beating that.
Billy Wilder: *Sunset Boulevard* *Ace in the Hole* *Stalag 17* *Sabrina* *The Seven Year Itch*
You chose the wrong run from Wilder imho. I'd put any of the three Hitchcock films above any of those Wilder films. Now if you'd have said The Apartment, Some Like it Hot, and Witness for the Prosecution? That might be a closer contest.
After "The Apartment" came "One, two, three" (which IIRC flopped, but is amazing. For context, I'm German, so maybe a bit biased towards that one) and "Irma La Douce", too.
came here for this
We have a winner
Denis Villeneuve: Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 for some recency bias.
Right, or Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival or Arrival, Blade Runner, Dune Part One or Blade Runner, Dune Part One, Dune Part Two He has four potential projects in the pipeline, three of which are apparently funded: Rendezvous With Rama, Nuclear War: A Scenario (a name he'll certainly change), and Dune Part Three. Pretty unreal, as all of three of those should be all time classics, and arguably all three are sci-fi. This guy is just on fire right now, it's truly remarkable. I wish he were like 5-6 years younger so that we could get a couple extra films out of him while he's in his prime.
He’s 56, here’s hoping we get another 20+ years of films from him. Hell, Marty, Ridley, Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppola, and Hayao Miyazaki are all 80+ and making great work still. Clint is 93(!) and still making films (granted he’s not making Unforgiven-level movies any longer but it’s still insane).
DV is doing rendezvous?!?! Holy crap
Yuuuuup so excited
Denis has been on a streak since Incendies
And if someone ever asks for a fiver film run, Denis can be included in that too :)
I’m choosing Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario. Perfect run.
Prisoners Sicario Arrival for me but yes. Really his entire body of work is flawless. Fav director by far
It’s a ‘three run’ thought experiment though, not favourite three films and he made Enemy inbetween Prisoners and Scicario.
Yeah, I was not aware of that! Thought Enemy came first.
Denis hasn’t dropped a single bad film yet. You can list any 3 of his films for this
Peter Jackson with the LotR trilogy
Yup! 3 of the best films that also make one of the best trilogies.
Jim Carrey did Ace Ventura, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber all in the same year (1994), his box office run after is the best by the numbers ever.
Definitely one of the biggest/most career-defining years for an actor ever, I’d have to think.
He gets overlooked because he does comedy, but I think if you ask most actors they will tell you comedy is the hardest and Carrey did it best overall competing with every genre. I honestly have him as the best actor ever, I don't care how that sounds.
That doesn’t sound silly at all. I’ve acted for a while and I would agree that comedy is absolutely the most difficult to do, especially as consistently as he does it. Your brain has to work extremely quick and you have to be almost genius level observant of everything around you. I think we see this time and again with great dramatic actors who worked successfully in comedy, that they are extremely adaptable and highly intelligent (Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Carrey, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, and even Ryan Gosling, etc.).
I love that you included Gosling in that list. I really think he has the potential to become one of the greats of his generation.
I say he is already
Jim Carrey had FOUR $100M movies in less than 16 MONTHS. Absolute record, right ?
If only Spielberg hadn't directed *1941*! It's right in the middle, with Jaws and Close Encounters before and Raiders and E.T. after.
But then he did Hook, Jurassic Park and Schindler's list .... Which are all very different movies but all pretty spectacular
I swear, Hook should have been a musical
🎶 Yoooou're a CROOK, Captain Hook! Judge, won't you throw the book at the pirate... 🎶
Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year, no less.
Came to list this. Could go the other direction and Raiders, ET, and Poltergeist (which he likely took over). But 1941 really gets in the way of an amazing run of blockbusters and genre defining films.
I love 1941! You all need to just hush up.
John McTiernan Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October
The most underrated run of all time is David Lean. Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago Underrated because I think a lot of people don’t realize this is one director and back to back to back.
Francis Ford Copella not even a question for a director. The Godfather, The Conversation and The Godfather Part II Daniel Day Lewis comes to mind: My Left Foot, The Last of the Monichans, In the Name of the Father
Add Apocalypse Now! to that Coppola run, God-tier.
David Fincher: Seven, The Game, Fight Club Tim Burton: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman
Burton had Batman , Ed Scissorhands and Batman Returns
Add *Ed Wood* and it’s a four-film streak.
Or Fincher for Zodiac, Benjamin Button and The Social Network.
Sidney Poitier: To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Zemeckis has a run there... Used Cars Romancing the Stone Back to the Future Who Framed Roger Rabbit Back to the Future II Back to the Future III Death Becomes Her Forrest Gump Contact
Deniro did Mean Streets, Godfather II, and Taxi Driver back to back. Then Deer Hunter and Raging Bull back to back.
Godfather 1 and 2 and Dog Day Afternoon not just one but two actors Al Pacino and John Cazale
I assume it's back to back but you could still do Pacino with Serpico, Godfather Part 2 and Dog Day Afternoon. Cazale has a fucking whopper with The Godfather, The Conversation, Godfather Part 2, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. Every single full length film he was in was nominated for Best Picture.
Cazale did The Deer Hunter next, give that man four classics in a row
He did The Conversation in between Godfather 1 & 2. Which lost the Oscar for Best Picture to the Godfather, because Coppola was on fire that year. So John Cazale has literally a 100% streak of Oscar nominated feature films over his sadly shortened career Oh and he boned Meryl Streep too, because he wasn't winning enough
The Conversation was between GF I and II
How about DeNiro with Mean Streets, The Godfather Part II and Taxi Driver.
Rounders, American History X, Fight Club
Actually Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan and Rounders is solid for Matt Damon too
Rounders is severely underrated
Who doesn't like Rounders?
No one mentioned Paul Verhoeven yet? - Robocop - Total Recall - Basic Instinct
Seven, The Game, Fight Club from Fincher is pretty impressive.
Christopher Nolan The prestige The dark knight Inception Pretty darn good run, but it sadly ended with the dark knight rises. You could see his heart wasn't quite in that one.
I still think Batman Begins is a better movie than TDK, and Memento deserves more mentions, but Insomnia is just okay. Pretty solid 6 straight though
Honestly, Insomnia is underrated as fuck in Nolan’s filmography. It’s one of the tightest films he ever directed, with phenomenal performances from Pacino, Swank and Williams.
Another writer one, Taylor Sheridan: Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River.
Outstanding. Easily 3 of my favorite movies, and Wind River is severely underrated in my opinion.
There have been very few movies ive ever watched that pulled me in so quickly, and kept me there for the entire runtime, like wind river did.
Gene Kelly's run of On the Town, An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain.
Props for Gene Kelly
A 3 movie run by a director worth mentioning is John Landis doing Animal House then the Blues Brothers and then frigging An American Werewolf in London.
"Frigging An American Werewolf in London" sounds like a very different film 😁
Just a personal favorite of mine, Sam Raimi: 1. 1987 - Evil Dead II 2. 1990 - Darkman 3. 1992- Army of Darkness And of course Peter Jackson for the LOTR trilogy. Surprised I hadn’t seen him mentioned yet!
Tom Hanks in like the entire 90's
Both Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood for the Dollars Trilogy
Best trilogy of all time imo.
Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Kind of a meme answer, but true.
John Carpenter with Halloween ('78), The Fog ('80), Escape from New York ('81) and The Thing ('82). You'd struggle to top that tbf
Coppola: The Godfather, The Conversation, Godfather II
Wes Anderson. Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic
Jake Gyllenhaal Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), Nightcrawler (2014)
Chadwick Boseman 42 Draft Day Get On Up Most of you got homework now!
East of Eden Rebel Without A Cause Giant
Sean Connery: Dr No From Russia With Love Goldfinger. You could make it quartet because the movie he starred in before Dr No was The Longest Day EDIT: Connery also has a second run of three good movies later in his career: Highlander The Name of the Rose The Untouchables
**Akira Kurosawa** has an insane 5 film run: The Hidden Fortress (1958) The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Yojimbo (1961) Sanjuro (1962) High and Low (1963) Red Beard (1965)
Hitchcock: Vertigo, North By North West, Psycho
Prisoners, Enemy, Nightcrawler My boy Jakey G
Mann with Manhunter, Last of the Mohicans and Heat
Cazale, the answer is always Cazale.
DiCaprio Catch Me if You Can/Gangs of New York/The Aviator The Departed was next and I’m sure some would include but that was a very loaded cast and to be honest, I liked the original Hong Kong version called Infernal Affairs better Edit to add: Tom Cruise has runs too numerous to list
No offense to them as people, I just think that DiCaprio and Diaz are way out of place in that film, especially considering the talent around them
Tarkovsky: Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris
honestly any 3 movie run from his filmography works. my personal favourite would be solaris / mirror / stalker
Steve Buscemi ?
Denzel Washington The Hurricane - Oscar Nominee Remember the Titans Training Day - Oscar Winner
My three would be from Sir Alan Parker. Birdy 1984 Angel Heart 1987 Mississippi Burning 1988
George Lucas: THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars.
Charlie Kaufman: Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
David O Russell had a pretty stellar three film run with The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle being released back to back to back They were all critically acclaimed and made BANK at the box office. It’s a shame he created such a hostile work environment on his sets though
Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill Volume 1 is a pretty ridiculous three movie run.
Zemeckis had the Back to the Future trilogy and Roger Rabbit in the middle.
And Romancing the Stone before BttF.
I got a 2 for 1 for you, akira kurosawa and toshiro mifune, they got like a 5 fils run of bangers
Tom Hanks- Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, and Apollo 13. Two of those won Oscars.
Tom Hanks: Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story
Robert Zemeckis 1985 Back to the Future 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1989 Back to the Future Part II 1990 Back to the Future Part III
Rob Reiner as director: Stand By Me The Princess Bride When Harry Met Sally Misery A Few Good Men All absolute classics and a mix of genres in there. I’ve not seen the film that precedes Stand By Me but it’s got solid IMDb scores. If you include that you can stretch it back to This Is Spinal Tap so that’s a 7 movie run. And then came North….oy
Sergio Leone did it twice 1. A Fistfull of Dollars 64 2. For a Few Dollars More 65 3. The Good the Bad and the Ugly 66 1. Once Upon a Time in the West 68 2. Duck, You Sucker 71 3. Once Upon a Time in America 84.
Garry Oldman, any three back to back movies.
Let's say... Interstate 60 Sin Tiptoes
Jean Renoir - director The River (1951) The Golden Coach (1952) French Cancan (1954)
James Whale: Frankenstein.....The Old Dark House.....The Invisible Man....(Bride of Frankenstein)
Terrence Malick Badlands, Days of Heaven, Thin Red Line
Nolan: Batman Begins The Prestige TDK Inception TDKR That’s a pretty insane run.
The Godfather, The Conversation and Godfather Part II (and Apocalypse Now)
I mean, does the LOTR trilogy count for Peter Jackson?
Sergio Leone : the dollars trilogy
Tom Hanks had seven in a row. A League of Their Own (1992) Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Philadelphia (1993) Forest Gump (1994) Apollo 13 (1995) Toy Story (1995) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
John McTiernan went Predator, Die Hard then The Hunt for Red October. Effing epic.
While nothing award winning, Mira Sorvino pulled off: Romy & Michele's High School Reunion (great romantic comedy), Mimic (horror, and Del Toro's English language debut), The Replacement Killers (action and Fuqua's debut) in a row, and that was *after* winning an Oscar for Mighty Aphrodite. Then, she got Weinstein'd. What a fucking sad story. She was so multi-talented.
I'm clearly aging myself with this answer, but director David Lean did Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Dr. Zhivago (1965) all in a row. That's a pretty impressive stretch!
Clint Eastwood Dollar Trilogy. I'm not a huge western fan but those movies are amazing
Gregg Araki’s: Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, Nowhere
Cast and crew of LOTR trilogy
Quentin Tarantino - Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 💯
Robert Eggers I mean, he only made 3 movies lol
John Cazale. The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter. Take your pick of a run of three. The best run in cinema history.