Firstly, weve only allowed one sequel per franchise to be included.

And secondly, weve ruled out reboots, although weve allowed sequels to reboots.

AndA Shot In The Dark.

But you wont find them here for that reason.

Without further ado, lets start…

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25Rugrats In Paris

Not the movie you expected to find on the list, right?

It also has Chuckie, one of the finest and most underappreciated animated creations of modern times.

Its a very funny film, that suffers slightly from a mawkish song right near the end.

But its a reminder of, when on top form, just how priceless theRugratscould be.

William Sadlers Grim Reaper playing a game ofTwisteranyone?

Or what about that game of Battleships?

(You have sank my battleship!).

We preferred its original planned title, though… Now granted, in most peoples hands thisd have direct to DVD stamped all over it.

But not del Toros.

His film is stylish, action packed, and comfortably tops the film that preceded it.

Take Jamie Kennedys speech on the rules of the sequel, that the film then happily starts adhering too.

Its tongue couldnt be further in its cheek if it tried.

No small feat, and a new trilogy is now in production to try and repeat the trick… Its also the peak of the franchise.

Seriously: can anyone on the planet snarl out a line with such sardonic comedy as Bill Murray?

When she goes into the happy hut and comes out attempting to grin, its sheer comedy gold.

High art it isnt.

We think you know where we stand on that one.

The Warrior of the Wasteland!

The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!

Gibson owns the title role completely, with the deliberately sparse script choosing its words carefully.

And heck, were still idolising it nearly 30 years later.

You cant say that aboutStar Trek V, can you?

Sean Connery, primarily, and the marvellous comedy partnership he strikes up with Harrison Ford.

And then theres Peter Parker.

Raimi won, Lucas didnt.

ButSpider-Man 2primarily scores in the entertainment stakes.

And Doc Ock really does rock… Sadly,Terminator 3andTerminator Salvationdidnt appear to be among them… And thats just what Singer did, withX2setting a standard that the franchise has hopelessly failed to match since.

So much of it works.

Take the excellent opening sequence, with an assassination attempt on the US president.

But most of all, its rollicking good fun, and a nigh-on perfect end to a terrific trilogy.

And Gollum really is something a bit special, isnt it?

The firstSupermanis an outstanding film, but its sequel, arguably, eclipses it.

Its a borderline masterpiece of a comic book movie, and an exceptional sequel.

No wonder director Christopher Nolan seems uncommitted to even attempting to follow it.

We all remember whatThe Godfather Part IIIwas like, after all…

The film where everything that Pixar does and stands for gelled spectacularly.

Hundreds of millions of dollars later, it did not regret the decision.

And what a film.

Heres hopingToy Story 3keeps the standard so high…

Theresthatrevelation.

Theres the heroes spending two hours getting a good kicking.

Theres the attack on the ice planet of Hoth.

Theres one of the heroes getting captured and frozen.

Theres some outstanding space battles.

Theres the training in the woods.

Theres the sheer evilness of Darth Vader, here at his dastardly worst.

Theres Han Solo chucking out quotable lines.

Theres the foreboding figure of the Emperor.

There are the snowspeeders.

Theres arguably the best lightsabre battle of the entire franchise.

And thats just a flavour of what George Lucas and Irvin Kershner manage to cram into under 130 minutes.

It is, simply, George Lucas masterpiece, and the highpoint of the entireStar Warssaga.

Not in the world of James Cameron.

But that does him a disservice.

Here, he gives a master class in putting a sequel together.

What Cameron then does is add fresh, interesting and fully rounded characters.

Try and name a character from any otherAliensequel, and wed wager you cant.

Thats no small feat.

And when the attacks came?

Before Sunset: A brilliant sequel toBefore Sunrise, and one of this writers favourite films.