Inspired by (i.e. stolen from) this thread at the Auteurs. There are some beautiful images here.
What are the images that stick with you most strongly from your last ten years of movie watching? I’m actually a bit groggy at the moment and will post mine later, but I wanted to start this thread in the meantime.
Well, I know it’s not very deep or original, but for me it’s the image of Frodo crawling up Mount Doom. After seeing it in my mind’s eye for decades, it was a thrill, a thrill I tell you, to see it up on the big screen. It (along with many other memorable images from the LOTR films) will stay with me for a long time.
From LOTR, the long shot of the entire fellowship cresting a mountain pass. Also Gandalf riding towards Minas Tirith.
The bodies littering the road in Hotel Rwanda.
Bill Murray hitting a golf shot with Mt. Fuji in the background from Lost In Translation.
The trombone shot in Brick when Brendan see the mysterious black car parked in a lot he’s walking past.
The silhouetted fight scene in Kill Bill Part 1, black against blue.
The opening titles for Catch Me If You Can. (See it here)
The colors in Pixar films.
The bathroom embrace in The Piano Teacher - Erika’s incredible vulnerability and power.
The last few moments of I’m Not There - the amused, cryptic expression on Jude’s face in the cab.
Lots of moments from Werckmeister Harmonies, but especially the long shot toward the end in the ruined hospital.
A fantastic nighttime sequence from Woman on the Beach involving glorious lights reflected in water.
Too many close-ups of Maggie Cheung’s haunted face in Clean to name.
The play of expressions across Laura Dern’s face during her last scene prior to the credits in Inland Empire.
The opening of Trouble Every Day with Beatrice Dalle wandering along a desolate highway.
A smile appearing in a bowl of pasta in Friday Night.
The wonderful stuttering of a single frame in Where Has Your Hidden Smile Gone?
A scene under a kitchen table involving a cigarette between toes in The Wayward Cloud.
No Country for Old Men: Llewelyn Moss sitting in the hotel room staring at the doorway waiting for Anton.
There Will Be Blood: Daniel killing Eli Sunday with a bowling pin
Hunger: The long shot (duration).
Oldboy: The Hammer Fight
The Dark Knight: disappearing pencil trick
Mongol: Temugin in prison, on public display, with head-to-toe athlete’s foot
Pirate Radio: Philip Seymour Hoffman and the other DJ climbing the mast and deciding whether they need to jump off
Casino Royale: The chase scene on a crane
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban: Harry tries to fiddle with Hermione’s gadget and she slaps his hand away
Top hats strewn on the ground in The Prestige.
The Mulholland sign in Mulholland Dr, eerily lit by passing headlights.
Pirates of the Caribbean: skeleton pirates on the ocean floor; Davy Jones’s first appearance; Cutler Beckett walking down the stairs as his ship shatters around him.
In the Order, when Alex finds the loft covered in a stream of yellow paint, symbolizing
Mara’s blood, as she was a painter
Jurassic Park when they first enter the valley of the dinosaurs.
Rescuers Down Under - the eagle flight.
The Fountain- pretty much every scene. Ditto for many Terry Gilliam movies.
The Big Blue- the underwater dream.
Jurassic Park was 16 years ago. Rescuers Down Under was 19 years ago.
From the OP title: Most memorable images from the past decade of film.
“I am finished!” Cue classical music.
Rorschach enters a room (at 2:17 in Watchmen trailer #2). That’s the character right there.
As I recall Dr. Manhattan’s glass palace on Mars looked great also.
The scene establishing shot of the dusty crossroads from ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou?’. The minute I saw that I knew what was coming. There’s only one reason to see a lonely crossroads like that in a southern movie.
Kill Bill, vol 1: Oren Ishi’i and her gang walking into the House of Blue Leaves
Kill Bill, vol 2: Pai Mei indicating his emotional state by how he runs his finger through his beard.
Let the Right One In
Oskar seen underwater as Eli extracts her revenge.
“YOU CANNOT PASS!!”
Plus, the later scene where Gandalf fights the Balrog while falling. He’s definitely not the “squishy wizard” variety of wizard.
I’m actually kinda hard pressed to think of a really iconic film image in the last decade. I can think of plenty from further back, say, Trinity in the first Matrix film jumping up in the air to kick someone and getting freeze framed, or Tim Robbins character cleaning himself in the rain after escaping in Shawshank redemption, but not more recent.
Maybe a film has to be around for a longer period of time for a single frame to get established that way.
I’d say the opening shot of Jack on the sinking boat sailing up to the dock.
Yeah those first shots of Captain Jack Sparrow are very memorable. So much goodness in that first Pirates movie. Same for first Matrix movie - first bullet-time shot is quite memorable. (dang studios - always wanting more money and never leaving well enough alone and putting out crappy sequels)
Damn. Never saw that particular trailer. Spot on (and most of the rest of it gave me chills, too.)
