The first moments of a movie can set the tone, grab your attention, and let you know a movie is worthwhile. Here are our Top 10 Opening Shots in History!<br /><br />What did you think of the list? Do you disagree with any of our picks? Feel like we left out or mis-represented any of the films? What do you think are the best movie openings? Has the opening of a movie ever made you stop watching?<br /><br />What other topics would you like to see us cover in future editions of CineFix Movie Lists?<br /><br />Let us know in the comments!<br /><br />THE LIST<br /><br />Symmetry - The Searchers (1956)<br />Pushing through the doorway into the wild, capturing the frontier man as he approaches from afar.<br /><br />Beautiful - Raging Bull (1980)<br />The operatic shadowboxing of a hooded pugilist, bouncing in slow motion, glowing in the occasional snap of a flashbulb, completely at home in the ring.<br /><br />Beautiful - Apocalypse Now (1979)<br />A different kind of operatic violence in its serene ballet of smoke, fire, and helicopters.<br /><br />In Media Res - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)<br />Panning down from those iconic scrolling titles into an empty starscape, a rebel ship screams into frame throwing us into the middle of a chase we know nothing about.<br /><br />Space - Contact (1997)<br />A tour of our universe turns into a simultaneous retrospective of modern human history via the reach of our radio waves<br /><br />Movie Microcosm - Fight Club (1999)<br />A longshot tour through innerspace - in this case the brain of our hero.<br /><br />Movie Microcosm - Day for Night (1973)<br />Creating and subverting our expectations; defining the world we're going to inhabit in a way we don't understand until the next shot turns it on its head<br /><br />Long Scene - Flowers of Shanghai (1998)<br />An absolutely beautiful oil-lamp-lit 9 minute long shot that pans patiently back and forth across a table in a Chinese brothel following the complicated dynamic of an entire party.<br /><br />Long Take - The Player (1992)<br />A meticulously choreographed crane shot that comments on itself and its industry while simultaneously setting up the entirety of the plot.<br /><br />Long Take - Touch of Evil (1958)<br />Criss-crossing a moving bomb with our heroes time and time again, the audience has no choice but to wait anxiously for it to explode.<br /><br />Want to send us stuff?<br /><br />CineFix<br />c/o Mike Cruz<br />PO BOX 351213<br />Los Angeles, CA 90035
