Best Opening Title Sequence in Movie history

[Whiskey]

I am reminded of watching the premiere of Batman in 1989...


The opening credits roll... a hush falls over the audience...

JACK NICHOLSON

(The audience cheers)

MICHAEL KEATON

(Dead silence)

KIM BASINGER

(The audience cheers again :lol)


Kevin

Still...Keaton was a better Batman/Wayne than Clooney or Kilmer

 

[CTF]

I really like the Quantum Of Solace Title Sequence.

But the title cards throughout the movie are horrible!

 

[El Duderino]

I'm going to have to go with Zombieland as well. I never got so pumped to see a movie before.

 

[outlander]

Modern days, the two best I've seen were Zach Snyder's Dawn of the Dead and Watchmen. Of the two, I prefer DotD. It perfectly ushers in the collapse of the modern world and sets the table for the movie to follow. And shows the credits without boring anyone. AND is the best use of a Johnny Cash song ever committed to film.

While I admire the Watchmen title sequence hugely, it is too dang slow. I hate the way it portrays what happened at Kent State in an idealized hippy moon unit way and I love the way it absorbed the Zapruder film sequence into its own mythos with the explanation for the puff of smoke at the fence on the Grassy Knoll.

Two small notes:

1) I consider the Raiders of the Lost Arc to be one of the all time great intros for a classic character ever, but as Titles? :confused

2) Even though they are not really movie related, I do love the intros to Left4Dead I and II. I actually think the second one is better than the first.

Nick:"Cheer up, Coach! <pant> Maybe that rescue chopper is made of chocolate!"

Coach: "Ffffuuu---"



My personal nomination as one of the best, I love the Fight Club. Edwad Norton's narration is classic. "People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden...."

 

[outlander]

Still...Keaton was a better Batman/Wayne than Clooney or Kilmer

Thanks for quoting blocking that entire unwieldy post. :thumbsdown

 

[CTF]

The opening of Close Encounters is largely overlooked but awesome.

Close Encounters is overlooked, period.

A shame.

 

[micdavis]

Close Encounters is overlooked, period.

A shame.

Not by me. It's one of the few I will only watch if I can sit down, turn out the lights and allow no interruptions.

 

[CTF]

Nor me.

But it truly is a forgotten Spielbergian masterpiece.

Dunno why, either.

 

[agent5]

Hijack:
The one thing that really bothers me about CE3K is that Spielberg said if he filmed the movie today he would not let Roy Neary get on that ship and leave his family behind because he now has a family and could never leave them. :rolleyes
It's a movie, not a documentary about the director. It's a fictional character, not a vehicle for the directors personal feelings.


Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[Pauleysolo]

Hijack:
The one thing that really bothers me about CE3K is that Spielberg said if he filmed the movie today he would not let Roy Neary get on that ship and leave his family behind because he now has a family and could never leave them. :rolleyes
It's a movie, not a documentary about the director. It's a fictional character, not a vehicle for the directors personal feelings.


Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

to reinforce- and slightly hijack a thread I started-- Tha't also why- many years later-- Spielberg used CGI to take guns out of the hands of the Feds at the end of ET and replace them with walkie talkies...bad move. He said he became aware of the damage guns do and didn't want to show guns and kids in the same sequence--jeeeesh

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Close Encounters is overlooked, period.

A shame.

Absolutely.

And Spielberg says he wouldn't have Neary go on the ship if he made the movie today, eh? Just unbelievable. I always liked it that Neary seemed to have only a platonic interest in Melinda Dillon, that his libido was crushed by his obsession with the UFOs. Neary's desertion of women and family in favour of the other-worldly subtly emphasises the bliss-state spiritual transcendency which seems to be on offer from the aliens. This lends the film meat; Neary's journey obliquely mirrors monastic attempts to find God through asceticism. Spielberg would be mad to throw out such a provocative idea. Hell, it makes and completes the story. What the heck does he imagine he'd be left with if he chucked that out!?

These once-masters have gone soft in their old age. Han can't shoot Greedo first; kids mustn't see guns in ET even though they're visible on every real cop in the street; Tom Cruise's son has to be found alive at the end of WotW so we won't be sad. Sheeziz...

Right, then. Titles:

Once Upon a Time in the West,
All Saul Bass Hitchcock
Goldfinger
Barbarella
Orson Welles' Touch of Evil

And I want to open up a TV category:my entries will probably be fairly meaningless to all but the Brits: Thunderbirds, Stingray, and surprise contender: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

 

[The Hopkinator]

I AM LEGEND..

New York desolate and decayed , The Shelby Cobra GT500 ,, . I thought they did a pretty good job of posting the title after Will Smiths watch goes off to tell him the sun is going down .

 

[niennumb1]

Aside the many who complain about Bay, I love the tone and introduction to "The Rock":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z176N5lh7w

I like the music build up and Ed Harris is awesome along with the whole infiltration to get the rockets with VX gas. It was a cool movie setup and probably one of my favorite action films.


I remember near crapping my pants when I saw this for the first time when I was younger:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub1UoiU6lVU&feature=PlayList&p=9A5E8ABD1BE802DC&index=59

Seeing the foot clan in the flesh near the beginning I was just like a kid in a candy store going, "WOW!!!!!" Hahah! Also love Jim Henson's work.

Star Wars of course, can't deny that.

I love the Goonies introduction.

As far as TV Shows I have 2 that stand out:
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
- Thundercats (They are on the loose! What are they doing? We don't know, but the Thundercats are loose!!!!! Let's all get pumped, cuz it's THUNDER THUNDER THUNDER THUNDERCATS HOOO!!!!!!!!!)


Okay sorry I got a bit excited there...

 

[outlander]

Well, if you're going to talk animated title sequences, I ran across this gem from the 80s the other day. Had completely forgotten the show even existed.

But back in the day, that theme ROCKED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMpsAmWbSJg

 

[niennumb1]

Well, if you're going to talk animated title sequences, I ran across this gem from the 80s the other day. Had completely forgotten the show even existed.

But back in the day, that theme ROCKED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMpsAmWbSJg

Is that Jermaine Jackson in the intro near the end of it?

 

[outlander]

I don't know, is he a space cowboy? :lol

 

[CTF]

The one thing that really bothers me about CE3K is that Spielberg said if he filmed the movie today he would not let Roy Neary get on that ship and leave his family behind because he now has a family and could never leave them. :rolleyes

So you're bothered by something that he didn't do?

It's a movie, not a documentary about the director. It's a fictional character, not a vehicle for the directors personal feelings.

Spielbergian.

Ever heard of it? Of course, you have... and for good reason! It can be used in a variety of ways -- too much schmaltz, moments when his genius shines through, etc. -- but the term came to be 'cause his films are, for the most part, always able to be recognized as his (this one, in particular).

Directors -- the good ones, anyway -- put their heart and soul into their films: you know, the auteur theory.

"It's just a theory that I happen to... agree with."

 

[Darius Alucard]

Conan the Barbarian.
I put this movie on from time to time just for the title sequence and opening scene.

"Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook. Fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. We who found it are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts...(points to sword) This you can trust."

 

[Kris]

I liked the Sherlock Holmes Typography and titles.

The studio credits in the London floor tiles, great!

And the end credits style, very nice!

 

[agent5]

So you're bothered by something that he didn't do?

You are correct that I didn't word that quite well. I see nothing wrong with the movie except that it is a bit dated but the effects by Trumbull and his team are ahead of their time as they were with Blade Runner.