BLUMENKOHL 1,068 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 What are some of the best movies you've seen, at least for the first few minutes, before the entire film collapses or grinds to a halt?We rewatched Star Trek: Insurrection the other night, and a) I was struck by how much the overall movie had aged so gracefully, it's really better than I remember and b) what an awesome first 15 minutes it had. The film opens slowly enough, pastoral music, towns folk doing their thing. We pull back into the Federation duck blind, wonderful cinematography/camera work, eerie conspiracy music provided by Jerry Goldsmith. All of a sudden things go crazy, someone has started firing around these peaceful primitive people, chase occurs, a madman is ruining the study! Wait...who's the mad man?! Data!*Gasp!*Cut to glorious shot of the Enterprise where they're hosting a diplomatic party, the party is interrupted by the Data issue. Meanwhile Data takes on a huge cool looking alien ship with his puny shuttle and turns around. Fantastic cut to a flying camera shot of the Enterprise rip roaring through space, Goldsmith's incredible music pulsating along. Picard hammers home the urgency with his "You have two days to become experts!" Then comes time for Picard and Worf to go after Data. Again, fantastic stuff, GREAT music by Goldsmith, some of his best action of the 90s. Awesome shuttle chase on the planet....And then the crew beams down to the Ba'Ku planet. And the movie grinds to a slow crawl. What follows is a very good movie, but those beginning minutes were a few notches above. Jonathan Frakes had the same issue in First Contact, magnificent opening slowing to crawl by the end. Any other movies you can think of like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faleel 5,360 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Star Trek The Motion Piture, It starts out pretty good (not as well paced as it should be, but still) but once you get to the cloud yeaaaooomm...vveerrryyy ssllloooww aanndd boorrinnggg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkgyver 1,645 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 When they arrive at the cloud, that's where my favourite part of the movie starts actually.Slow images with some of Goldsmith's finest music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brónach 1,302 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Never seen ST:TMP, even though it sounds like a film I would enjoy.I'm in love with the music, that's for sure. DZZZinggg...oooOOMM, DIRIDIdiaddiriadaDADadIiiiOoooooOOOOOMMM!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy4 155 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 1941 is good up through the Jaws parody. I love the arrogance Spielberg must've had at that point to parody his own movie. Then it falls apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Brausam 215 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 The first part of Conan the Barbarian, perhaps up until just after the Atlantean sword sequence is excellent. After that it gets kind of terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datameister 2,044 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 The first 15 minutes of Raiders are my favorite 15 minutes from the entire Indy series, although I'd say it hardly collapsed until Spielberg and Lucas attempted to create a sequel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus 5,399 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Santa Claus: The Movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 WAR OF THE WORLDS (it goes a bit longer, but falters midway)THE HAPPENING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Penna 3,695 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I Am LegendWell, I wouldn't say the film is one of the greatest of all time during those first 15 minutes, but it certainly is way better than what came after that. CG zombies and all that crap.I really don't know why everyone constantly leaps on the zombies as being terrible. While the movement of characters like that is often a bit unnatural, there's little about their faces or expressions that shouts CGI to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Mark 3,631 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Woah...Star Trek Insurrection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedwig 5 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I loved the film as a whole, but the opening to 'Inglourious Basterds' is superb! The tension built up within the scene is perfect and of course Christoph Waltz's performance is also wonderful. The way they just talk about the milk the farmer makes, then slowly reveal the sinister side to where things are going is timed really well and gives the conclusion of the scene an extra bite. A great opening which sets up the film with a bang that really stays with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 It's not just the CG zombies. It's the tone shift that happens then. The first few minutes give us an awesome "end of the world" feeling, which few films have managed to transcribe so well, in my opinion. It's really atmospheric, in a great way. But from the moment we see the first zombies, the film turns into a random action flick.I'd say the tone shift happens when the woman and her child are introduced. Until that moment, the film is that "last man on earth" tale. I wouldn't necessarily call it a shift though, it feels like a natural step in the film's narrative. The CGI is bad, but I find the film to be quite solid overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wojo 2,453 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Woah...Star Trek Insurrection?Do you understand the point of Blume's thread? The first 15 minutes of the film start out with a really interesting premise, but after that it falls apart when we see it's Data going ballistic because of a moral hangup in his programming, or something like that. It's a bottle episode of the week stretched into a movie.As for I Am Legend, the idea of turning the zombified humans into pure bad guys undermines the book's original idea that the zombies themselves become the new human society, and Will Smith's character -- albeit responsible for the whole mess by creating the virus -- is an anti-hero that executes these zombies. In order to distance this translation from the Heston film, it turned the movie into just another movie about killing zombies, which significantly weakened it. I didn't care what they looked like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brónach 1,302 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 As for I Am Legend, the idea of turning the zombified humans into pure bad guys undermines the book's original idea that the zombies themselves become the new human society, and Will Smith's character -- albeit responsible for the whole mess by creating the virus -- is an anti-hero that executes these zombies. In order to distance this translation from the Heston film, it turned the movie into just another movie about killing zombies, which significantly weakened it. I didn't care what they looked like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corellian2019 386 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 DUNE, by David Lynch. Actually, for 45 minutes, I'd say it's one of the best movies w/ imagery unlike any I've ever seen...and then the film starts to feel REALLY condensed.And of course, the above opinion refers to the theatrical version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brónach 1,302 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I enjoyed parts of the book, I was thinking on seeing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corellian2019 386 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Trust me, those first 45 minutes will mesmerize you (even if it doesn't always make sense), but after Paul and Jessica flee to the desert, it's every man for himself. And I'd advise you stick with the theatrical version Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt C 455 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Saving Private Ryan - The opening Omaha assault is visceral, involving, and staged in a way that feels like one is experiencing World War II again. As soon as the action dies down, the movie slows down to a crawl and turns into atypical Spielberg fare. The last half is almost good enough to redeem the treacly nonsense that came before it, but I find the movie highly overrated. It has some searingly great moments, but it's not a great movie. (The Omaha sequence is longer than 15 minutes, but you get the idea.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy4 155 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Saving Private Ryan - The opening Omaha assault is visceral, involving, and staged in a way that feels like one is experiencing World War II again. As soon as the action dies down, the movie slows down to a crawl and turns into atypical Spielberg fare. The last half is almost good enough to redeem the treacly nonsense that came before it, but I find the movie highly overrated. It has some searingly great moments, but it's not a great movie. (The Omaha sequence is longer than 15 minutes, but you get the idea.)The only sentimental parts of the film are the very beginning, the very end, and the scene that "Omaha Beach" underscores. Overall the entire film is very restrained, quite different than most of Spielberg's films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krang 1 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 From Dusk Til Dawn. Captivated me within the first 15 minutes, and then.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 What were you expecting to happen? It's a great action comedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Brigden 7 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 That movie is great until they get to the pub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 A good example is Disney's Dinosaur. In fact, this was a common complaint. Everything was awesome until the animals started talking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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