Well, it's like that feeling most of got when we saw Star Wars for the first time, where a movie kind of overwhelms our senses and we sit there grinning like an idiot for 2 hours or have to repress the urge to punch the air in excitement. When a movie not only meets our expectations but laps them several times.
And maybe the movies don't hold up to future scrutiny or a second viewing, but you felt like a giddy kid when you watched it. The type of movies that keep your brain buzzing for days, the ones you can't wait to tell everyone to go see.
My self-imposed rules (but feel free to substitute your own).
1) I had to see it in the theater
2) In the case of a franchise, I go with the flick which made the biggest impact. So no Empire, no F&F7.
3) Except in rare cases, my expectations needed to be high.
Star Wars... holy shit, I can't tell you how surreal this felt, especially as my dad didn't take me the first year it was released (it'll be on TV soon). He finally relented in '78... and I was denied again as it (and Heaven Can Wait) was sold out, until finally, finally, a week later I got to see it.
It was the greatest moment of my young life.
More recently...
Dark Knight... while it's tempting to throw Burton's Batman on the list, I was so late to that party that I just remember being caught up in Bat-Mania than I remember being wowed by the movie; but DK was glorious.Big, practical stunts; a great performance by Ledger with multiple quality supporting actors; a meaty intellectual theme. I would go on to see it two more times.
Star Trek... in hindsight, this isn't a great movie and I think Star Trek Beyond is a much better movie; but nothing prepared me for seeing Star Trek cool again. I know I saw this at least twice in the theaters (maybe three times) and Thor dying got me every time. And hearing the proper Star Trek music at the end for the first time since the original series was beyond awesome.
Speed Racer... I've mentioned this one a few times before, but this movie gets me every time I see it. I always sit through the entire credits every single time I watch it. The last time I watched it, I had tears rolling down my face because it made me so happy.
Fast & Furious 6... kind of breaking my self-imposed rule here as I didn't expect much of this flick going in, but this movie got me to watch Tokyo Drift. There is no good reason to watch Tokyo Drift. It's an awful movie, but I loved this movie so much, I had to watch every single chapter of the F&F Saga. This movie made me convert to Fast & Furiousism. I would watch this flick three times in the theater... or was that four. This was TRUE AWESOMENESS!!!!
Guardians of the Galaxy... yeah, I respect Winter Soldier more (and it's definitely the better movie), but this is the only Marvel flick I ever bothered to see more than once at the theater. It's still the only Marvel movie I've seen which made me feel like there was this huge universe out there with infinite delights instead of watching a carefully managed slow unveiling of the latest piece of the ever-dependable Marvel Universe. And truth be told, I might just be putting this up here because...
Suicide Squad, mother fuckers... yeah, I know. a bunch of youse don't like it and I'll happily argue with you for the next few weeks because I get to keep reliving this flick in my head. I know, the plot is forgettable; but it made me giddy with joy. Like Guardians, this is pure junk pop culture, but it was the first time a real fucking super-hero universe was up there on the screen with Batman and Flash cameos, not because they had to shoe-horn in some tie-in, but because these characters were captured by super-heroes and its part of their prison origin story. It was goofy and fun and dark and twisted and I didn't even realize this was over 2 hours long until I checked Wikipedia earlier today. The thing just flew by and I'll probably see it again later this week.
I'll probably remember more of these and share them later on, but I'd love to see what movies turned the rest of you into giddy children.
_________________ I reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong.
Raiders of the Lost Ark... I didn't want to see this one. Harrison Ford had already burnt me on a couple of crappy movies after Star Wars and it was set in WWII and my Dad wanted to see it and I expected this to be one of his boring war movies.
At the end of it, my dad turned to me and said, "aren't you glad I made you see it."
Bastard was right.
Terminator 2... I saw the first one on cable, so by self-inflicted rules, I won't include it (same reason I don't include Iron Man). This one I saw in the theater and... and FUCK!!!!
I think it was the first time I had seen an action movie which I would describe as truly intelligent. I remember rolling the plot over and over in my head for days afterward just marveling how almost everything in the film existed for a reason and how the movie just kept building and building.
_________________ I reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong.
Terminator (the first one) I didn't see it in the theater, because I was too young, but I'm counting it for the impact it had on me. Blew me away and I watched it about 20 times. Batman 89 - in retrospect not so much, but at the time, definitely Dark Knight Superman The Movie - see Batman 89, but still has the best Superman ever. Jurassic Park - Incredible Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan Empire Strikes Back - imposing the expectations had to be high rule here, and not including the original Star Wars because of that. I was only 6 years old and had zero knowledge of what the hell I was going to see beforehand on that one.
Star Wars Raiders -saw it at a Drive In with a lightning storm at the end The Untouchables - which I stole camera angles from it for my comic stories for years. Captain America - Got Cap's heart The Avengers - the movie I waited my whole life for.
Temple of Doom was the first Indy movie I saw, and I loved it. Still do. The only part that I find annoying is the entire dinner scene. In many ways it's better than Raiders, to me. Indy is more "larger than life" and awesome.
Pulp Fiction... I saw it twice in the theater, but multiple viewings on video.
I think what really hit me was the way it defined morality in abstract. Every character is immoral (and only Sam Jackson realizes he needs to change), but the movie is incredibly moral as it trusted the audience to know the difference between right and wrong. A fact reinforced by all the wannabe movies which followed in its wake which were just nihilistic.
And super fun to watch.
_________________ I reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong.
In 60 minutes, find and list great movies I'd recommend (by title and year of release) and make bold the top 12 in that list, and italicize the next dozen.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Song Of Bernadette (1943)
The African Queen (1951)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Seven Samurai (1954) Barabbas (1961)
The Longest Day (1962)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Father Goose (1964)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Von Ryan’s Express (1965)
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966) The Producers (1968)
The Shoes Of The Fisherman (1968)
The Call Me Trinity (The Series 1970)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
The Sting (1973)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975) Jaws (1975)
The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (The Series 1977) Circle of Iron (1978)
Superman (1978)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Series 1979) Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Alien (1979)
Airplane! (1980)
Windwalker (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (The Series 1981) Excalibur (1981) Escape From New York (1981)
First Blood (Rambo – The Series 1982) Tootsie (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
Conan The Barbarian (1982)
A Christmas Story (1983)
Terminator (The Series1984) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Ghostbusters (1984)
Back To The Future (The Series 1985) The Breakfast Club (1985)
Highlander (1986)
The Princess Bride (1987) Robocop (1987)
Die Hard (The Series 1988) Coming To America (1988)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Unforgiven (1992)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
Jurassic Park (The Series1993)
Groundhog Day (1993) Last Action Hero (1993)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Forrest Gump (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994) Léon: The Professional (1994)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Saving Private Ryan (1998) The Sixth Sense (1999)
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999)
Harry Potter (Series 2001) The Lord of the Rings (The Series 2001) A Knight's Tale (2001)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001)
Kill Bill (1&2) (2003) Pirates of the Caribbean (The Series 2003)
The Incredibles (2004) Sin City (The Series 2005) Stardust (2007)
Django Unchained (2012)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Sadly, I'm sure there are a lot more that are slipping my mind, or even if not bold or italicized, should be on that list, but my timer went off.
Star Wars,certainly. Also,Jaws. Fantasia--saw it on the biggest screen in town.The presentation was superb;at the film's conclusion,curtains were drawn across the screen.When I went outside,snow was starting to fall. Rear Window--Hitchcock movies are more fun when you're watching them with an audience.
_________________ What will be will be even if it never happens.
In the theater? That's tough because I've seen so many great ones on home video (like the Rocky series)... but I'll try to give it a go. I'll skip my early childhood ones because a lot of crap wowed me (like Superman IV and Bloodsport).
Rumble in the Bronx - This one might seem comical to a lot of you guys because it's such an awful movie, but what really wowed me was the introduction to Hong Kong fight choreography (particular that of Jackie Chan, who is far and away the best when it comes to athleticism without wire work, creative use of the environment, and doing his own stunt work). This sparked an obsession with HK/Jackie Chan produced movies for most of my late teens and early twenties -- in fact, when The Matrix came out, I said, "These fights look like a weaksauce version of Jet Li in Fist of Legend... yawn."
But yeah -- this fight really just blew me away and I rewatched it over and over again on VHS. It's a shitty movie with shitty acting -- but IMO, this effectively put guys like Van Damme out of business. No longer was watching guys throw massively telegraphed roundhouse punches and kicks acceptable -- now there had to be some art in the fight choreography.
And the other reason The Matrix didn't quote land as big for me as it did most other people is because I was already blown away by another black trenchcoat chop-socky flick with a hero that seemed like a true badass instead of a clueless goober -- Blade.
I wasn't expecting a lot from Blade and was totally blown away by the incredible fights and the mysterious underground vampire world that he fought in. Things had this vaguely post-apocalytic vibe to them, despite being set in our modern day world. I rewatched it a few years ago and it still holds up as one of my favorite comics adaptations of all time. Snipes was at his best and they created this mythology that felt like there was so much more than what we were seeing. Love it.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was another one. It was one of the few kung fu flicks that actually had a great story and the fights and cinematography were gorgeous. (For some reason, this fantastic scene is split into two.)
Adapt the rules as you like... as I said, it's mostly to get people to think a bit instead of just listing stuff they really like. I did the theater rule because home and theater are two very different experiences to me.
Such as I didn't put Transformers 2 on the list because my expectations were so low going in. It was a wonderful surprise but I don't really remember sitting in the theater watching it.
_________________ I reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong.
Reservoir Dogs. Didn't see it in the theater, but rented it my freshman year of college. You had a dorm room full of 10 college guys, and it was silent while the movie played (except for the ear cutting scene). Once it was over, one of my roommates quietly got up, hit rewind, and we watched the entire thing over again. For me, until that moment, people just did not talk like that in movies. The dialogue felt naturalistic ("naturalistic as hell"), like it was just real conversations the actors had before they started shooting. It was a true eye-opener.
Terminator 2. I saw the original Terminator on VHS, and yeah, it was cool, but the effects were hokey, even at the time. You saw the seams. This one felt like nothing that had ever been done before. My friends and I would cut yards in the neighborhood just to earn money to see T2 again in the theater. We stopped buying comics so we could spend that money on T2 for 5th or 6th time.
Back to the Future. This is a weird one because I saw this in Florida after my Dad's sister died suddenly. We went down for the funeral, and got there early. My parents were not movie people, so when they asked what I wanted to do to kill time, I was shocked when they agreed to go see this. I thought it was great (and still do), but the groundbreaking thing for me personally was that it was literally the first time I had ever considered what my parents were like as teenagers. I also started to realize that my Dad was a bit racist. He never told jokes, or used the N word, ever, but MAN did he laugh at the joke where Goldie Wilson says he's going to clean up the town, and his boss hands him a broom and says "Good, you can start by sweeping the floor." The old man ROARED when he heard that for the first time.
Biggest wow movies for me at the movies were Star Wars, Jaws, Planet Of The Apes (original), Posieden Adventure, Earthquake, Pulp Fiction, Brazil and Apocalypse Now.
_________________ "Every day a little sadder, A little madder, Someone get me a ladder."
ELP
“You can't have everything. Where would you put it?”—Steven Wright
I've been pondering this for a bit, and here's some of the WOW! movies that have made the biggest impact on my life:
Jaws - The movie that made me love movies, and be traumatized about sharks, all in one sitting. I still consider it my favorite movie of all-time, and the greatest movie ever made.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - I had watched black and white serials with my dad on television. We went and saw this one. Wow! I didn't have to wait for the next chapter! The only movie I ever consider flip-flopping with Jaws.
Star Wars - It's been a decade or two since I have revisited this one, the prequels sorta squashed my joy for the franchise. However, when I saw...
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - And the John Williams score hit, a little tear formed in the corner of my eye, and all was right with the world.
The Shawshank Redemption - When it's over, you sit there and realize you've just seen a very wonderful movie with possibly the most real characters you've ever seen on film.
Honorable mention goes to:
The entire Marvel Studios Cinematic Universe.
That they even exist, and they've all been good, both commercially and critically has been impressive. Special nods to Iron Man, The entire Captain America trilogy, Avengers, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy for giving a new generation their very own Star Wars.
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