Best trilogy? This one is easy

The Dark Knight Rises is officially bad ass.

Every now and then we get weird topics on the show that take off with a life of their own. On Monday, in an attempt to avoid endlessly talking Penn State, the topic of The Dark Knight Rises came up. It evolved into a discussion on the best trilogies in movie history. 

If you haven't seen the Dark Knight and are a fan of the first two movies, Rises is a must. It's a shame that the movie will be forever linked to the sick, pathetic lunatic in Colorado.

That aside, the movie itself is fantastic. Critics who ripped it simply don't like or get the genre. The movie is 2:45 minutes long, and felt half that. It also was a perfect end to the Dark Knight series.

So the conversation moved to best trilogies. There can be only three movies in the series, not more. Some were intended to be trilogies; others simply evolved that way.

Here are my favorites. Feel free to disagree and share your own:

1) The Dark Knight trilogy. Simply put, the best three comic book movies ever made. Each stands on its own and features terrific acting, great story lines and a perfect three-part series. (Not to mention, Anne Hathaway in leather). Christopher Nolan built a three-part masterpiece that will be tough to outdo. The best part is the protaganist and antagonists are all believable; there is no magic here, only characters who are tortured psychologically. Political undertones run underneath all three but never hit you over the head. Simply brilliant.

2) The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was a clear No. 1 before Rises was released. All three movies are terrific, but it lacks the stand-alone performances of the Dark Knight, and as good as the acting is, there is no performance like Liam Neeson in Batman Begins and certainly not Heath Ledger in Dark Knight. Very strong and a clear No. 2, but Batman knocks it off the top of the list.

3) The Mad Max trilogy. This is old school, but the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max was subtle in its brilliance. Even with a young Mel Gibson being dubbed, the movies are fast paced, unique and wrap up the story. While Road Warrior is by far the best, the other two hold up well. Like Batman, all three stories stand alone. The good news is they are planning on remaking all three. With today's advances in technology, this ought to be interesting.

4) Star Wars, the original series. Some may dispute this because of the prequel trilogy, but the three Star Wars original movies were never supposed to be extended. I think the prequel should be treated as a different trilogy. If you disagree, toss this one out. It would rank higher if not for the silliness of the Ewoks in the final installment.

5) The Blade series. This was a tough one, but I do think the Blade series redefined vampire movies and made everything that happened since a hollow copy. (Yes, I am talking to you, Edward Cullen). Wesley Snipes was a complete badass, and Ryan Reynolds stole the show in the final installment.

If you don't accept Star Wars as a trilogy, then we would put The Godfather series in at No. 5. It should be higher, because 1 and 2 were two of the best movies ever made. But Godfather 3 is so awful it brings down the whole group. Sophia Coppola's awful performance and the emasculation of one of the great American characters in Michael Corleone, you could argue that 3 is one of the worst movies ever made.

And for the record, the Canadian votes for the Evil Dead trilogy.

What are some of your favorites?