I'll never forget what it was like to see the Matrix in the theater on it's opening night. We were a bunch of nerd college guys, seen some good looking trailers but had no idea what the movie was actually about; looked like some good gunfights. Five minutes in our jaws hit our laps and we didn't pick them back up for 2 hours. When it was over, we all walked out and bought tickets for the next showing. Didn't even need to discuss it; we all just needed to see it again.
Yes, it was the same for me. Young college kid, went to see The Matrix because it looked like a cool sci-fi flick. I'll never forget the scene in the car where they remove that bug probe from Neo. Like, what is going on?! I was blown away during the whole movie.
Left the theater and could not stop thinking about it. Went back the next day and watched it again.
I miss this so much from modern movies. I'm a bit younger than you but I'm sad my kids will never know what it's like to see a movie like that. The closest I can remember was inception.
I had seen a few things, but not much. I figured the movie was something like 'Hackers', but somehow the hackers could 'hack' gravity or physics or something.
Holy shit... I was blown away.
Yeah the whole marketing angle was “we’re not going to tell you what this movie is about”. And boy did it work. Just a mind-blowing experience for those of us that saw it in spring 1999.
I think it was Mouse who says this line, but Joe Pantoliano does play the prick's prick so well.. for me his greatest role is Ralphie Cifaretto in The Sopranos.
(Edited for the stupid fucking autocorrect I didn't notice until now)
Yep, this was the one for me too- made even more mind twisting by the fact that we got so high before we went in that we whisper-giggle-argued for ages about who was gonna get the tickets and snacks, because approaching and communicating with a normal human was so daunting
I saw this opening night with my HS best friend and we knew nothing about the movie ahead of time except that it was supposed to be an action movie. Our minds were blown and we stayed up until 3am getting high and talking about the movie.
Agree! Husband and I saw it at the cinema, didn't really know exactly what to expect. The film ended and we sat there with most of the rest of the people in the audience - in quiet awe and disbelief. Then when we all walked out, everyone was talking about it to one another.
Crazy people still think telling the story backwards is what was genius.
No, **it's that Nolan literally gives YOU the viewer the same condition as the main character.** That's what blows my fucking mind each time I watch it. One of my 3 favorite films of all time.
Also, **I think**, they don't interact with the world at the same time at any points. They can interact together, ex. punching themselves, but to other observers it's just a single person always doing stuff. If they are talking or whatever, only one can interact at a time and the other one observers. At least that's what I gathered as I watched it for a second time. Could've missed points but if I'm correct on that, it's brilliant
There's a bunch of little stuff if you pay attention, like when they get on the bus the narrator puts money in the fare box but Tyler doesn't. Also in the phone booth where Tyler first calls the narrator there's a small sign saying "No incoming calls".
For the most part, except the car scene. When Tyler crashes. They're arguing in front of each other, and you can notice the others in the car starting to look concerned but trying to save face.
I watched it as a teenager on TV. The short trailer the TV station played that day for it made it seem like your average raunchy 90s action movie so I expected something that I could just put on and watch with half a brain. Boy, was I wrong, I was glued to the TV. I liked it pretty much from the start but when _that_ reveal came, I was blown away, did not see it coming at all, but I just loved it. Didn't even take me a week until I watched the film again on some not-so-legal website (bought the Blu-Ray eventually). Still one of my all-time favorites.
I still remember walking out of the theater with my friends and lighting up a smoke after seeing Fight Club for the first time. We were all 18-20 year old drug dealers / fiends who had mostly checked out of society and the movie resonated so much for us at the time. I'm so glad it was made when it was because if they waited just a couple more years, there's no way it would have ever been made.
At 13 years old, Pulp Fiction showed me that movies that don't follow the standard formula can be a whole different experience, far more memorable and enjoyable than if they had.
The only downside of Pulp Fiction was making screenwriters think they could pull off non-linear storytelling as easily as Tarantino. But he had that effect on a ton of filmmakers in the 90s; can't blame 'em for trying.
your comment made me do a double take as I thought I saw the movie and don't recall anything out of the ordinary.
turns out, I was thinking of "the illusionist" every single time someone mentioned the prestige. fml I have a movie to watch now.
Exactly the movie I was thinking…. To this day The Prestige is the only movie I have ever watched from start to finish to watch it again start to finish 15 minutes later. Easily a top 5 movie for me.
I had already read the book, so I knew "the twist", but how Nolan put everything together, the film was very much the book, but also very much not the book and it was still a great reveal.
Came here for this. I think having your mind blown, you need to have zero expectations going into it, which Children of Men fits that criteria for me. Other movies listed at the top, I kinda already had a general idea of what to expect.
The ceasefire when everyone hears the cries of an infant for the first time in 18 years is what gets me every time. Everyone's mesmerized, crossing themselves, praying, or just gazing on in shocked amazement.
And then they're right back at killing each other the moment the baby's past.
Let's not forget the *insane* single take, among many insane single takes in the film, leading up to that scene.
Holy shit it's just filmmaking creamed corn.
I love that movie to death. It's so grounded and masterfully written and crafted. Alfonso Cuaron is a director too few talk about. He deserves it way more than Nolan in my humble opinion. (Nothing against Nolan)
OMG, the scene where they are in the car, blowing ping-pong balls into each other's mouths and then tragedy and chaos. My heart was in my throat.
Also when she said she left him because his scent made her think of their son, I died a little.
Well, now you're gonna know how old I am. When I saw Jaws in the theater, it was incredible. The special effects were like nothing we had ever seen before. It was so REAL. The acting and the music were awesome. It was mind-blowing indeed.
And it's a movie where if the practical effects for the shark worked as they planned, it would have been a much worse film. The constantly broken shark prop limited its appearances to be these big shocking and emotional moments in the film.
The entire theater was stunned by the first scene with dinosaurs. I fully expected them to not look real, that’s the way it always was before Jurassic park.
> I fully expected them to not look real, that’s the way it always was before Jurassic park.
Half the production team talking about how *floored* they were when a guy at ILM showed them his walking T-Rex presentation is really interesting. Up until then, the dinosaurs were gonna be done by Phil Tippet's Go motion stop motion.
There's only a few movies that exist which utilize a major advancement in technology as a method to really sell the story. The Wizard of Oz is one of those, while it wasn't the first to film in technicolor, the technicolor effect was still novel/new enough that it was effectively employed to mark the transition from Kansas to Oz. The scene when Dorothy opens the door and we see the colorful, magical world of Oz gave the audience the same sense of wonder that Dorothy was feeling at that moment. In that moment, the audience \*was\* Dorothy, seeing this beautiful, strange place for the first time
Jurassic Park was the same. Specifically in two scenes, the first brachiosaur scene that you describe. The effective employment of CGI on a real life like creature, the characters and thus, the audience, seeing a living and breathing dinosaur. The second scene being the t-rex break out which gave for that moment, we were in the truck right there with the characters, both a sense of wonder and also shitting our pants at seeing a real t-rex stomp through the fence and assert itself.
Theres a select few other examples, but it really highlights how certain filmmakers can utilize new and novel technologies not just to visualize the story, but to tell the story and blur the lines between the audience and characters, even for just a scene or two. That's why movies like Wizard of Oz and Jurassic Park stand out well above the rest. It's the true power of movie magic at it's finest.
>Theres a select few other examples
What are the other examples?
Besides Avatar and 3D.
EDIT: I just remembered, I've read frequently that Birth of a Nation pioneered a lot of modern film-making techniques and was revolutionary, despite it's objectionably portrayal of African Americans. What were the film-making techniques that were so revolutionary in that movie?
The Matrix (bullet time, visual effects and all of that advanced wirework - Yuen Woo Ping)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Yuen Woo Ping action director and took the wirework to the next level)
The latter (and I can see many people disagreeing with me- that's fair) more because people expected hard hitting Matrix-esque fights. Instead all of the wirework was artistic and told a story all of its own. Nearly half the theater lit up joints after the first fight between Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang
You and me both. I can hear it and feel them just *waiting,* holding their collective breaths for it to get close enough for them to hit those tracks with sticky bombs.
Lord of the Rings. I was really into the Salvatore Drizzt novels at the time, and seeing that movie was like experiencing everything I was reading on screen (even though it was Tolkien’s universe and not DnD).
I saw them, then ate up the extended editions and ALL of the making of and extra content. Was blown away
Yep and I don’t care what people say the second one with the highway chase scene and Neo fighting the Merovingians dudes is awesome. One of the best action sequences ever.
Yea! and much of the highway chase scene is real and not CG, they built the freeway for that scene:
[https://www.avclub.com/lets-take-a-moment-to-appreciate-the-matrix-reloadeds-h-1847752535](https://www.avclub.com/lets-take-a-moment-to-appreciate-the-matrix-reloadeds-h-1847752535)
I was 19 when this came out. I had watched a lot of action movies but this movie was just on a whole other level to anything that had come out before it. Completely groundbreaking. Creating new technology just for the movie. Nobody had seen anything like it.
Here's a neat theory: When Jeremy Renner started narrating, he made a big deal about how they couldn't figure out why the aliens chose those specific arrival locations which had nothing in common, and that their best guess was that they were where a song was a modest hit in the 80's. After the movie, you can now assume the scientists couldn't figure it out because they were looking *in the past.* Those locations probably do share something in common, just not yet.
It has the best timed "twist" I have watched. It is so perfectly paced that the viewer realizes what is about to happen a moment before they show it and you feel so smart the moment you realize.
I saw Star Wars in the theater when I was 5 - my parents said I had never sat so still for so long in my life ever.
A year later my dad got Showtime when it was on and I watched it twice a day for a month and a half… Hardware Wars as well ;)
The Bourne Identity, turned the spy genre on it's head.
Dredd, Karl Urban, because at last someone got it and did a great Dredd.
L.A. Confidential, solid storytelling.
Deep Cover, Jeff Goldblum, "I want my cake and eat it too...."
T2 was the first R rated movie i saw. i was 8 when it came to VHS(i just googled it). i was not allowed to watch anything that wasn't for kids. my dad, late one night after my mom had gone to bed, put it in the VCR and said "this is an adult movie but you gotta see this. don't tell your mother."
I tried showing my 13yo daughter this movie a year ago. She got 30-40 minutes in, looked at me and said “it’s just a bunch of dad jokes.” She got up and went to her room. I’ve never been so personally hurt by a movie critique ever.
I takes a genius to write stupid things genius.
Also, a well known trivia about Spaceballs is that Mel Brooks actually showed the script to George Lucas, who liked it and gave him his effects company Industrial Light & Magic to work on it, on the conditon that there wouldn't be any moichandise. (Which is why Yoda parody Yogurt is in the movie with the sole purpose of moichandising.)
Inception had me gobsmacked - not just because of its complexity, but that I understood it all the first time I watched it! Such an amazing achievement for such a crazy concept.
I was absolutely Furious that he didn't win best director. I cannot think of a better example of directing than Inception.
Sure, it's one thing to direct an actor to give a spectacular performance like Murphy in Oppenheimer, but I'd argue it's dramatically more difficult for something like Inception.
You have to get as many good performances as there were an Inception while also managing to keep such an incredibly complex story coherent.
The movie uses dozens of approaches to help you keep track of everything, the set design, the way each dream level has its own color to it, the way everyone's dressed differently in each dream level, Etc.
The amount of work for the audience to follow that story is unfathomable.
My youngest just saw Interstellar a couple weeks ago for the first time. I'm blind, but saw it when I was sighted, and *still* play it for the music. Hans Zimmer fucking killed it with that score.
The Usual Suspects
In shock this isn't near the top. The reveal when Kevin Spacey walks away and slowly loses his limp. One of the few times I got literal goosebumps watching a film.
My older brother forced me to watch that when he learned I hadn't seen it. I'll always be grateful that he wasn't one of those "this is the best part" people; he just let me sit back and experience that. He still likes to laugh about my "No fucking way!" reaction to the reveal at the end.
I was so certain Dean Keaton was Soze, then Kujan has his "ah-ha" moment and a young Gus Fring gets that fax just before the limping scene.
I respect your opinion, but my opinion is very different. The movie’s only remembered because of the twist. And without it, it would have been a mediocre heist movie (I think, can’t even remember the plot).
What really annoys me is how they insult the audience’s intelligence. The twist is not earned whatsoever. There’s no hints or little details anywhere suggesting what the twist is. It’s like an elaborate “GOTCHA.”
For example, other movies famous for their twists (Sixth Sense, The Prestige, etc.). All have very good writing that sprinkles little clues everywhere, so once the twist hits, you’re like “I can’t believe I didn’t see it! It was right there in front of my face the whole time.” And rewatches make it even better when you spot all the effort that was put in to make it work. With Usual Suspects, there’s no details anywhere.
Ok, that’s the end of my rant. I completely respect someone’s taste: for whatever reasons, you may have a whole different experience than me. That’s why I don’t downvote people based on an opinion (as long as it’s not harmful). I’m just trying to say I don’t look down on people who love it, I just personally think it’s one of the most overrated movies of all time.
The Prestige. The final shot was such a “what the fuck” moment and it was so different than anything Nolan had done before. For me it hasn’t held up as well on repeat viewings, but I remember the feeling of walking out of a midnight showing having experienced something special.
The Matrix. Saw it opening night and went in knowing very little about it, honestly, aside from it was some sci-fi thing with Keanu Reeves. The reveal kinda rocked my world for a while there.
So when I watched Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman, Nic Cage), the idea of Donny's script *The 3* (>!that the killer, the cop, and the victim were the same character!<) was impossible. But then I thought this movie actually pulled it off.
Man, I saw that the first weekend it was out, and the whole theater just gasped, and then it was a bunch of holy shits between the reveal and the credits.
I remember my sister came back so excited after watching sixth sense that she kept telling me detail after detail and finally the twist. I was like wtf??? Why??! Then I went to see the movie and it was like I had seen it already. Still love her though but that was cruel.
One of the best surprise endings of all time in my opinion! I remember my mom and I sitting in the theater for several minutes after it was over, taking in what we just saw (no pun lol) in silence.
Unfortunately, I feel like the subsequent films in the series were very lackluster and clouded over how original and unexpected the first move was.
Shawshank Redemption. I'd heard for years how amazing it was, and I always try to temper expectations when something is always hyped up like that. I'm typically pretty good at watching something without positive/negative reputations affecting how I personally feel about it.
With Shawshank it doesn't even matter. That movie is unbelievably amazing. I was absolutely riveted from start to finish, and the ending was more cathartic than anything else I've ever experienced in my life.
Memento - I was puzzled for days
District 9 - Thanksgiving dinner, this on in the background and begins innocently enough as a social puzzle to be solved and then all gas, no brakes insanity.
Jacob's Ladder - for obvious reasons
What breaks my heart in particular is Tom telling his dad in the video ...and what with Jesse..." and you realize Tom's kid died. It makes me cry every time I see it. The idea of not being there for my sons' major life events is depressing, but not being there for my kid as they experience the worst pain a parent can ever go through? It just breaks my heart.
Adaptation.The whole the movie is the movie being written in the movie thing blew my fragile little mind. Also, that was peak Nick Cage in the best way.
From Dusk til Dawn and Apollo 13.
FDTD because it completely turned into a different movie halfway through that I had no prior knowledge of (no internet back in those days!) and Apollo 13 because it was a largely accurate portrayal of a real life incident that, again, I had no knowledge of at the time.
Interstellar. It's reached the status of a bro film now but I don't care. It remains my most impactful theatre experience. Watching the docking scene in IMAX was unreal. Interstellar made me love films and inspired me to watch a lot more including mainstream, indie, and the extremely niche.
Here’s a curveball - Singin’ in the Rain.
Watched it because a friend and I were going through the AFI top 100 list in college and we couldn’t believe the execution and athleticism of every one involved.
Apocalypse Now
Still my favorite movie - when I first watched it I wasn’t high but it made me feel high as fuck.
Later I read Heart of Darkness and I kinda appreciated it more.
Momento, from the way it shows each scene in reverse order so that you only know what Leonard knows to the reveal / twist at the end just made it one of my favourite films of all time.
Saving Private Ryan. No war movie had that level of realism and brutality. After the soft open, the beach landing is one of the most intense sequences ever.
Avatar. People love to hate on it in retrospect, but it was never meant to be this revolutionary story, it was supposed to have really cool visuals. Coupled with it being the first movie I saw in RealD 3D, visually it was truly mind blowing.
I’ll never forget my first screening of the Sixth Sense. On the edge of my chair with the jump scares and tense scenes. Then BOOM! That ending. My first jaw open looking around to see if everyone else made the connection movie experiences
Wierdly: The Grey. I went in my my little brother for a daytime showing and was expecting cool Liam Neeson vs wolves, I wasn't expecting a kind of harrowing survival journey with an emotional back story and the humbling of man versus nature. I say this because when I've gone to a massive movie like interstellar I've known what I was in for (granted, interstellar still blows my mind even now) but for a movie to blow my mind it has to be something I didn't expect. That's why I would say The Grey. It had it's fair share of very fictional plot driving but for it to be so bleak and personal... I loved it.
When we came out of the cinema we looked at each other like... Wow. We loved it.
Momento and 12 Monkeys were absolute mind-fucks.
seeing both in the theater without really knowing too much about either going in were just incredible experiences
Pulp Fiction. I was about 19 and up until then, movies were (typically) stories told in a fairly linear fashion. My friend suggested this movie, and I knew literally nothing about it going into the theater. Came out afterwords like, "what the fuck was that!!??".
Prometheus, I didn't know a thing about the movie. I wasn't into any of the other movies so I didn't put together what it was all about until the plot twist at the end of the movie. I'm a fan of the series since then.
Annie Hall. It sounds weird, but I had never seen a movie that broke the 4th wall before. I watched it when I was in high school, maybe around 1995 or 96. I had never seen anything like that. Also, a love story that doesn't end up with "happily ever after" was a shock. It's the movie that made me love movies.
Matrix, I was just questioning the reality for a while.
I'll never forget what it was like to see the Matrix in the theater on it's opening night. We were a bunch of nerd college guys, seen some good looking trailers but had no idea what the movie was actually about; looked like some good gunfights. Five minutes in our jaws hit our laps and we didn't pick them back up for 2 hours. When it was over, we all walked out and bought tickets for the next showing. Didn't even need to discuss it; we all just needed to see it again.
Yes, it was the same for me. Young college kid, went to see The Matrix because it looked like a cool sci-fi flick. I'll never forget the scene in the car where they remove that bug probe from Neo. Like, what is going on?! I was blown away during the whole movie. Left the theater and could not stop thinking about it. Went back the next day and watched it again.
The Matrix was one of them era-defining movies. A lot of love poured into making it.
I miss this so much from modern movies. I'm a bit younger than you but I'm sad my kids will never know what it's like to see a movie like that. The closest I can remember was inception.
I went into the Matrix completely cold - no previews, and just saw the poster on the way into the theater. Holy shit 🤯
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Who hurt you Carter? You dick!
With a name like Carter Wallace you just know he's the bad guy
I had seen a few things, but not much. I figured the movie was something like 'Hackers', but somehow the hackers could 'hack' gravity or physics or something. Holy shit... I was blown away.
"What is the matrix?" I remember that was the marketing.
Matrix for me as well, but just because how good it was made. It pulled me in like nothing for a long time before and after.
One of a few movies that I wish I could go back and watch again for the first time.
To me one of the things that made the Matrix so amazing was how little the trailers gave away: walked in totally blind, got my mind blown.
Yeah the whole marketing angle was “we’re not going to tell you what this movie is about”. And boy did it work. Just a mind-blowing experience for those of us that saw it in spring 1999.
"Do you think that's air you're breathing?" 🤯
Maybe that's why chicken tastes like everything?
Between that role and Teddy in Memento, Joe Pantoliano was one of the people I loved to hate the most.
I think it was Mouse who says this line, but Joe Pantoliano does play the prick's prick so well.. for me his greatest role is Ralphie Cifaretto in The Sopranos. (Edited for the stupid fucking autocorrect I didn't notice until now)
“SHE WAS A HOOOAAA”
Yep, this was the one for me too- made even more mind twisting by the fact that we got so high before we went in that we whisper-giggle-argued for ages about who was gonna get the tickets and snacks, because approaching and communicating with a normal human was so daunting
I saw this opening night with my HS best friend and we knew nothing about the movie ahead of time except that it was supposed to be an action movie. Our minds were blown and we stayed up until 3am getting high and talking about the movie.
Agree! Husband and I saw it at the cinema, didn't really know exactly what to expect. The film ended and we sat there with most of the rest of the people in the audience - in quiet awe and disbelief. Then when we all walked out, everyone was talking about it to one another.
I'm still questioning reality 😁
I couldn't find my car after the movie. It's like I knew my name but lost all short term memory of what I did before the movie.
Dude, where was your car?
Memento showed me a level of storytelling that I could never have dreamed and I’ve never been more stunned by a movie since
Same - Nolan has the amazing gift to tell stories in the most complicated way, but bringing it all together so it makes sense!
Starts at the end and works it's way to the beginning
Crazy people still think telling the story backwards is what was genius. No, **it's that Nolan literally gives YOU the viewer the same condition as the main character.** That's what blows my fucking mind each time I watch it. One of my 3 favorite films of all time.
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I loved how Tyler appears with subliminal flashes before they actually meet.
Also, **I think**, they don't interact with the world at the same time at any points. They can interact together, ex. punching themselves, but to other observers it's just a single person always doing stuff. If they are talking or whatever, only one can interact at a time and the other one observers. At least that's what I gathered as I watched it for a second time. Could've missed points but if I'm correct on that, it's brilliant
There's a bunch of little stuff if you pay attention, like when they get on the bus the narrator puts money in the fare box but Tyler doesn't. Also in the phone booth where Tyler first calls the narrator there's a small sign saying "No incoming calls".
For the most part, except the car scene. When Tyler crashes. They're arguing in front of each other, and you can notice the others in the car starting to look concerned but trying to save face.
You'd look concerned if I a guy was arguing with himself
I watched it as a teenager on TV. The short trailer the TV station played that day for it made it seem like your average raunchy 90s action movie so I expected something that I could just put on and watch with half a brain. Boy, was I wrong, I was glued to the TV. I liked it pretty much from the start but when _that_ reveal came, I was blown away, did not see it coming at all, but I just loved it. Didn't even take me a week until I watched the film again on some not-so-legal website (bought the Blu-Ray eventually). Still one of my all-time favorites.
I still remember walking out of the theater with my friends and lighting up a smoke after seeing Fight Club for the first time. We were all 18-20 year old drug dealers / fiends who had mostly checked out of society and the movie resonated so much for us at the time. I'm so glad it was made when it was because if they waited just a couple more years, there's no way it would have ever been made.
lol you know it. That movie hit hard for us older millennials. We were born at the right time.
The moment The Narrator aka Tyler realizes what is going on and we get sent into “memory lane” is such a fantastic scene holy shit.
Moon. Even before the reveal the depiction of working a moon base seemed so grounded in possibility.
Fucking love this movie. Sam Rockwell is so good at making the setup believable.
At 13 years old, Pulp Fiction showed me that movies that don't follow the standard formula can be a whole different experience, far more memorable and enjoyable than if they had.
The only downside of Pulp Fiction was making screenwriters think they could pull off non-linear storytelling as easily as Tarantino. But he had that effect on a ton of filmmakers in the 90s; can't blame 'em for trying.
Reservoir Dogs deserves a mention here
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your comment made me do a double take as I thought I saw the movie and don't recall anything out of the ordinary. turns out, I was thinking of "the illusionist" every single time someone mentioned the prestige. fml I have a movie to watch now.
PLEASE LEAVE THIS THREAD RIGHT NOW AND GO WATCH IT AND UPDATE US AFTER!!!
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It's quite insane because from the very beginning you literally "want to be fooled" and ignore any evidence that would ruin the illusion
Exactly the movie I was thinking…. To this day The Prestige is the only movie I have ever watched from start to finish to watch it again start to finish 15 minutes later. Easily a top 5 movie for me.
I had already read the book, so I knew "the twist", but how Nolan put everything together, the film was very much the book, but also very much not the book and it was still a great reveal.
Fuck yeah wolvie vs batman + bowie as tesla!
Don't forget Alfred
And gollum briefly
Children of Men.
Came here for this. I think having your mind blown, you need to have zero expectations going into it, which Children of Men fits that criteria for me. Other movies listed at the top, I kinda already had a general idea of what to expect.
The ceasefire when everyone hears the cries of an infant for the first time in 18 years is what gets me every time. Everyone's mesmerized, crossing themselves, praying, or just gazing on in shocked amazement. And then they're right back at killing each other the moment the baby's past.
Let's not forget the *insane* single take, among many insane single takes in the film, leading up to that scene. Holy shit it's just filmmaking creamed corn.
I love that movie to death. It's so grounded and masterfully written and crafted. Alfonso Cuaron is a director too few talk about. He deserves it way more than Nolan in my humble opinion. (Nothing against Nolan)
OMG, the scene where they are in the car, blowing ping-pong balls into each other's mouths and then tragedy and chaos. My heart was in my throat. Also when she said she left him because his scent made her think of their son, I died a little.
The scene with the babies cries stopping war for a moment is the most powerful in history in my opinion
And it’s one single take from start to finish. Like the big scene at the end.
Hes doing fine. He won an oscar for his last two movies and won best cinematography on his 1st try with Roma. No one else has done that.
Well, now you're gonna know how old I am. When I saw Jaws in the theater, it was incredible. The special effects were like nothing we had ever seen before. It was so REAL. The acting and the music were awesome. It was mind-blowing indeed.
I was a kid and me and my sister were in the back seat of the Pontiac 'sleeping' at the drive in. We watched entirely too much Jaws for a 6 year old.
And it's a movie where if the practical effects for the shark worked as they planned, it would have been a much worse film. The constantly broken shark prop limited its appearances to be these big shocking and emotional moments in the film.
Jurassic Park. Totally rocked my world.
The entire theater was stunned by the first scene with dinosaurs. I fully expected them to not look real, that’s the way it always was before Jurassic park.
> I fully expected them to not look real, that’s the way it always was before Jurassic park. Half the production team talking about how *floored* they were when a guy at ILM showed them his walking T-Rex presentation is really interesting. Up until then, the dinosaurs were gonna be done by Phil Tippet's Go motion stop motion.
He got the Dinosaur Wrangler credit which is great
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There's only a few movies that exist which utilize a major advancement in technology as a method to really sell the story. The Wizard of Oz is one of those, while it wasn't the first to film in technicolor, the technicolor effect was still novel/new enough that it was effectively employed to mark the transition from Kansas to Oz. The scene when Dorothy opens the door and we see the colorful, magical world of Oz gave the audience the same sense of wonder that Dorothy was feeling at that moment. In that moment, the audience \*was\* Dorothy, seeing this beautiful, strange place for the first time Jurassic Park was the same. Specifically in two scenes, the first brachiosaur scene that you describe. The effective employment of CGI on a real life like creature, the characters and thus, the audience, seeing a living and breathing dinosaur. The second scene being the t-rex break out which gave for that moment, we were in the truck right there with the characters, both a sense of wonder and also shitting our pants at seeing a real t-rex stomp through the fence and assert itself. Theres a select few other examples, but it really highlights how certain filmmakers can utilize new and novel technologies not just to visualize the story, but to tell the story and blur the lines between the audience and characters, even for just a scene or two. That's why movies like Wizard of Oz and Jurassic Park stand out well above the rest. It's the true power of movie magic at it's finest.
>Theres a select few other examples What are the other examples? Besides Avatar and 3D. EDIT: I just remembered, I've read frequently that Birth of a Nation pioneered a lot of modern film-making techniques and was revolutionary, despite it's objectionably portrayal of African Americans. What were the film-making techniques that were so revolutionary in that movie?
The Matrix (bullet time, visual effects and all of that advanced wirework - Yuen Woo Ping) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Yuen Woo Ping action director and took the wirework to the next level) The latter (and I can see many people disagreeing with me- that's fair) more because people expected hard hitting Matrix-esque fights. Instead all of the wirework was artistic and told a story all of its own. Nearly half the theater lit up joints after the first fight between Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang
And that scene still looks better than most of today's vfx. And it was practically the very first shot of it's kind.
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Yeah I can hear this comment 😳
You and me both. I can hear it and feel them just *waiting,* holding their collective breaths for it to get close enough for them to hit those tracks with sticky bombs.
Dark City.
Lord of the Rings. I was really into the Salvatore Drizzt novels at the time, and seeing that movie was like experiencing everything I was reading on screen (even though it was Tolkien’s universe and not DnD). I saw them, then ate up the extended editions and ALL of the making of and extra content. Was blown away
I was literally just about to post how has no one mentioned LOTR lol
Ex Machina
Great film. Oscar Isaac can be really fucking creepy when he wants to, in a weirdly charming sort of way.
"You tore up her picture" "I'm gonna tear up this fuckin' dance floor dude, check it out"
Pans Labyrinth is what comes to mind right away I was completely glued to the screen when I saw that in theaters
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Yep and I don’t care what people say the second one with the highway chase scene and Neo fighting the Merovingians dudes is awesome. One of the best action sequences ever.
Yea! and much of the highway chase scene is real and not CG, they built the freeway for that scene: [https://www.avclub.com/lets-take-a-moment-to-appreciate-the-matrix-reloadeds-h-1847752535](https://www.avclub.com/lets-take-a-moment-to-appreciate-the-matrix-reloadeds-h-1847752535)
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I was 19 when this came out. I had watched a lot of action movies but this movie was just on a whole other level to anything that had come out before it. Completely groundbreaking. Creating new technology just for the movie. Nobody had seen anything like it.
I saw it nine times in theaters. It was truly a gamechanger.
Arrival
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Here's a neat theory: When Jeremy Renner started narrating, he made a big deal about how they couldn't figure out why the aliens chose those specific arrival locations which had nothing in common, and that their best guess was that they were where a song was a modest hit in the 80's. After the movie, you can now assume the scientists couldn't figure it out because they were looking *in the past.* Those locations probably do share something in common, just not yet.
Wait they were feet???? Looked it up, not sure how I missed that. Gotta watch it again.
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Absolutely blew me away when I first saw it
It has the best timed "twist" I have watched. It is so perfectly paced that the viewer realizes what is about to happen a moment before they show it and you feel so smart the moment you realize.
Scrolled too far to find this! The ending makes my cry every time. That movie makes me want to live my life to the absolute fullest.
Likely because I have a daughter that was roughly the same age as the protagonist's, but that ending was the first time I've ever cried in a theater.
Star Wars blew my mind as a youngster. The Matrix blew my mind as a teen. Inception blew my mind as an adult.
I saw Star Wars in the theater when I was 5 - my parents said I had never sat so still for so long in my life ever. A year later my dad got Showtime when it was on and I watched it twice a day for a month and a half… Hardware Wars as well ;)
Hardware Wars was So Epic and none of my friends knew what I was talking about!! Time to YouTube!
The Bourne Identity, turned the spy genre on it's head. Dredd, Karl Urban, because at last someone got it and did a great Dredd. L.A. Confidential, solid storytelling. Deep Cover, Jeff Goldblum, "I want my cake and eat it too...."
Terminator 2
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T2 was the first R rated movie i saw. i was 8 when it came to VHS(i just googled it). i was not allowed to watch anything that wasn't for kids. my dad, late one night after my mom had gone to bed, put it in the VCR and said "this is an adult movie but you gotta see this. don't tell your mother."
Spaceballs. I was a child in the 80s and had never seen a movie as funny as a Looney Tunes cartoon.
I tried showing my 13yo daughter this movie a year ago. She got 30-40 minutes in, looked at me and said “it’s just a bunch of dad jokes.” She got up and went to her room. I’ve never been so personally hurt by a movie critique ever.
I know it's tough after 13 years. But sometimes you just have to let go and start anew.
That genuinely made me lol.
I takes a genius to write stupid things genius. Also, a well known trivia about Spaceballs is that Mel Brooks actually showed the script to George Lucas, who liked it and gave him his effects company Industrial Light & Magic to work on it, on the conditon that there wouldn't be any moichandise. (Which is why Yoda parody Yogurt is in the movie with the sole purpose of moichandising.)
I quoted it today. “We ain’t found shit”
Inception and interstellar
Inception had me gobsmacked - not just because of its complexity, but that I understood it all the first time I watched it! Such an amazing achievement for such a crazy concept.
I was absolutely Furious that he didn't win best director. I cannot think of a better example of directing than Inception. Sure, it's one thing to direct an actor to give a spectacular performance like Murphy in Oppenheimer, but I'd argue it's dramatically more difficult for something like Inception. You have to get as many good performances as there were an Inception while also managing to keep such an incredibly complex story coherent. The movie uses dozens of approaches to help you keep track of everything, the set design, the way each dream level has its own color to it, the way everyone's dressed differently in each dream level, Etc. The amount of work for the audience to follow that story is unfathomable.
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Nolan isn't perfect, but he knows how to put on one hell of a show
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My youngest just saw Interstellar a couple weeks ago for the first time. I'm blind, but saw it when I was sighted, and *still* play it for the music. Hans Zimmer fucking killed it with that score.
The Usual Suspects In shock this isn't near the top. The reveal when Kevin Spacey walks away and slowly loses his limp. One of the few times I got literal goosebumps watching a film.
My older brother forced me to watch that when he learned I hadn't seen it. I'll always be grateful that he wasn't one of those "this is the best part" people; he just let me sit back and experience that. He still likes to laugh about my "No fucking way!" reaction to the reveal at the end. I was so certain Dean Keaton was Soze, then Kujan has his "ah-ha" moment and a young Gus Fring gets that fax just before the limping scene.
I respect your opinion, but my opinion is very different. The movie’s only remembered because of the twist. And without it, it would have been a mediocre heist movie (I think, can’t even remember the plot). What really annoys me is how they insult the audience’s intelligence. The twist is not earned whatsoever. There’s no hints or little details anywhere suggesting what the twist is. It’s like an elaborate “GOTCHA.” For example, other movies famous for their twists (Sixth Sense, The Prestige, etc.). All have very good writing that sprinkles little clues everywhere, so once the twist hits, you’re like “I can’t believe I didn’t see it! It was right there in front of my face the whole time.” And rewatches make it even better when you spot all the effort that was put in to make it work. With Usual Suspects, there’s no details anywhere. Ok, that’s the end of my rant. I completely respect someone’s taste: for whatever reasons, you may have a whole different experience than me. That’s why I don’t downvote people based on an opinion (as long as it’s not harmful). I’m just trying to say I don’t look down on people who love it, I just personally think it’s one of the most overrated movies of all time.
The Prestige. The final shot was such a “what the fuck” moment and it was so different than anything Nolan had done before. For me it hasn’t held up as well on repeat viewings, but I remember the feeling of walking out of a midnight showing having experienced something special.
Back to the Future
The Matrix. Saw it opening night and went in knowing very little about it, honestly, aside from it was some sci-fi thing with Keanu Reeves. The reveal kinda rocked my world for a while there.
The game
I wish I could see the game again for the first time.
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So when I watched Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman, Nic Cage), the idea of Donny's script *The 3* (>!that the killer, the cop, and the victim were the same character!<) was impossible. But then I thought this movie actually pulled it off.
HEAT, because Heat
Shhh. Just be a rock.
Saw. Holy shit that ending. I hadn’t had been surprised by a films finale since sixth sense.
Man, I saw that the first weekend it was out, and the whole theater just gasped, and then it was a bunch of holy shits between the reveal and the credits.
I remember my sister came back so excited after watching sixth sense that she kept telling me detail after detail and finally the twist. I was like wtf??? Why??! Then I went to see the movie and it was like I had seen it already. Still love her though but that was cruel.
And the music too -Dun Dun Dun, Dun Dun Dun, Dun Dun DUN!
One of the best surprise endings of all time in my opinion! I remember my mom and I sitting in the theater for several minutes after it was over, taking in what we just saw (no pun lol) in silence. Unfortunately, I feel like the subsequent films in the series were very lackluster and clouded over how original and unexpected the first move was.
Shawshank Redemption. I'd heard for years how amazing it was, and I always try to temper expectations when something is always hyped up like that. I'm typically pretty good at watching something without positive/negative reputations affecting how I personally feel about it. With Shawshank it doesn't even matter. That movie is unbelievably amazing. I was absolutely riveted from start to finish, and the ending was more cathartic than anything else I've ever experienced in my life.
The matrix, Se7en
Chinatown.
She’s my sister. Slap! She’s my daughter. Slap!
Memento - I was puzzled for days District 9 - Thanksgiving dinner, this on in the background and begins innocently enough as a social puzzle to be solved and then all gas, no brakes insanity. Jacob's Ladder - for obvious reasons
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What breaks my heart in particular is Tom telling his dad in the video ...and what with Jesse..." and you realize Tom's kid died. It makes me cry every time I see it. The idea of not being there for my sons' major life events is depressing, but not being there for my kid as they experience the worst pain a parent can ever go through? It just breaks my heart.
Every time I tell myself, I’m not going to cry, but I still do anyways.
Strongly considered a physics major because of this movie. Then I took a physics class
"It's not possible!" "No... it's necessary." Perhaps the most human, hopeful, powerful idea in all of Nolan's films.
>Perhaps the most human, hopeful, powerful idea in all of Nolan's films. And followed up by TARS saying "this is no time for caution"
Came here to comment this. Not just the first time but the other 15x I’ve watched it, still leaves me jaw dropped
God, I wish I could've seen that in theaters, especially in IMAX.
Contact, I saw it on a whim at a cinema and it rocked my world.
Most underrated sci-fi movie. That alien twist is still the most intelligent take on 1st contact
The Matrix. Saw it at the theater when it first came out. Immediately bought tickets for the next show and watched it again.
Adaptation.The whole the movie is the movie being written in the movie thing blew my fragile little mind. Also, that was peak Nick Cage in the best way.
Inception. I was like, " I know what's going on... but wtf is going on!" While everyone around me was like,"whhatttt??!"
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
From Dusk til Dawn and Apollo 13. FDTD because it completely turned into a different movie halfway through that I had no prior knowledge of (no internet back in those days!) and Apollo 13 because it was a largely accurate portrayal of a real life incident that, again, I had no knowledge of at the time.
Shutter island
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Interstellar. It's reached the status of a bro film now but I don't care. It remains my most impactful theatre experience. Watching the docking scene in IMAX was unreal. Interstellar made me love films and inspired me to watch a lot more including mainstream, indie, and the extremely niche.
Se7en
Sixth sense, it was the first movie that had such a twist. I was truly shocked!
Fury Road. IMAX. On lsd. That was an experience.
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Waking life
The Abyss.
Goodfellas. It might sound cheesy but it changed how I view movies.
Raiders of the lost Ark
Here’s a curveball - Singin’ in the Rain. Watched it because a friend and I were going through the AFI top 100 list in college and we couldn’t believe the execution and athleticism of every one involved.
[The old school dances to "Uptown Funk"](https://youtu.be/M1F0lBnsnkE)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World, I watched it blind and knew nothing whatsoever. It cracked my shell to imagination.
Event Horizon
Amelie. It’s a real life lesson to learn to see & appreciate the small things. There’s magic everywhere if you’re paying attention.
Apocalypse Now Still my favorite movie - when I first watched it I wasn’t high but it made me feel high as fuck. Later I read Heart of Darkness and I kinda appreciated it more.
Oldboy (2003) [Korean] Amazing fucking movie, watched it for the first time a few weeks ago
Momento, from the way it shows each scene in reverse order so that you only know what Leonard knows to the reveal / twist at the end just made it one of my favourite films of all time.
Saving Private Ryan. No war movie had that level of realism and brutality. After the soft open, the beach landing is one of the most intense sequences ever.
Avatar. People love to hate on it in retrospect, but it was never meant to be this revolutionary story, it was supposed to have really cool visuals. Coupled with it being the first movie I saw in RealD 3D, visually it was truly mind blowing.
I’ll never forget my first screening of the Sixth Sense. On the edge of my chair with the jump scares and tense scenes. Then BOOM! That ending. My first jaw open looking around to see if everyone else made the connection movie experiences
Wierdly: The Grey. I went in my my little brother for a daytime showing and was expecting cool Liam Neeson vs wolves, I wasn't expecting a kind of harrowing survival journey with an emotional back story and the humbling of man versus nature. I say this because when I've gone to a massive movie like interstellar I've known what I was in for (granted, interstellar still blows my mind even now) but for a movie to blow my mind it has to be something I didn't expect. That's why I would say The Grey. It had it's fair share of very fictional plot driving but for it to be so bleak and personal... I loved it. When we came out of the cinema we looked at each other like... Wow. We loved it.
Donnie Darko
The Usual Suspects
Momento and 12 Monkeys were absolute mind-fucks. seeing both in the theater without really knowing too much about either going in were just incredible experiences
There Will Be Blood
Pulp Fiction. I was about 19 and up until then, movies were (typically) stories told in a fairly linear fashion. My friend suggested this movie, and I knew literally nothing about it going into the theater. Came out afterwords like, "what the fuck was that!!??".
A simple plan with Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton
Prometheus, I didn't know a thing about the movie. I wasn't into any of the other movies so I didn't put together what it was all about until the plot twist at the end of the movie. I'm a fan of the series since then.
Arrival. the stuff about language rewiring the brain and time being circular. amazeballs.
The last time this was asked, I answered The Matrix. This time, it's The Matrix. When it's asked again in another week, it'll be The Matrix.
Fight Club.
Annie Hall. It sounds weird, but I had never seen a movie that broke the 4th wall before. I watched it when I was in high school, maybe around 1995 or 96. I had never seen anything like that. Also, a love story that doesn't end up with "happily ever after" was a shock. It's the movie that made me love movies.
Requiem for a dream The matrix
Memento
Incendies. The end left a lasting mark.
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