One of those watch-then-rewind shots that comes out of nowhere. I never want to know how this was accomplished but Robert Zemeckis, hats off for the creativity.
Roger Deakins at is best, showing less is more. The beautiful sky, clear silhouettes, pulsing music and the gradual transition into the darkness makes for enchanting cinema.
3. The HALO jump- Mission: Impossible- Fallout
It is well documented how many times Tom Cruise jumped from that plane just to get the perfect shot, but this thrilling sequence has gorgeous twilight skies and is a phenomenal feat.
4. Koba hijacks the tank- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
https://youtu.be/XjV-wXc8-Fg
(skip to 38 seconds)
Mounting a camera onto the rotating turret of tank proves a genius move, showing vicious ape Koba take control over it whilst giving the audience a marvelous panoramic shot of the battlefield.
Probably the shot that won Deakins his Oscar, this is wallpaper material at its finest. Minimal yet dripping with colour.
6. The train- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
This entire sequence is Deakins at his best but the rippling light from the train, Brad Pitt's swaggering shadow and the symmetry of the tracks beautifully amalgamate.
7. Willard rises- Apocalypse Now
The slow movement, painted face, flashes of lighting and the mist: the apparent completion of Willard's fall. Or is it?
8. Flying past Saturn- Interstellar
This shot needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Here it just looks like a smear. But look closely and one will find a tiny silver speck: the Endurance, on its way to a wormhole. It's a beautiful sequence; calm and still yet filled with a sense of wonder and scale that reminds the audience just how alone and insignificant human life is. Wondrous.
9. The Planetarium- La La LandSome may be turned off by this fantastical shot but others will be mesmerised by the visual poetry on display. The dancing silhouettes and intergalactic back drop makes Mia and Seb the star crossed lovers for the 21st century.
Perhaps the most bittersweet sequences committed to celluloid, this shot sees our central hero singing about life whilst swinging alone in the snow in a park that he built just before dying. It is the closure to his story about only finding the power of life when faced with death. It's beautiful in every conceivable way.
The Last Jedi is one of the prettiest Star Wars films, and this unforgettable sequence is probably its zenith. It is a series of stunningly rendered shots that wow visually whilst the sudden depletion of sound makes the image that much more potent. In a full auditorium, the silence was so strong that a guy only whispered "Jesus Christ" and got everyone laughing.
More breathtaking action, but this time with added sound. The audiences is placed in Max's shoes, watching a car be swept up into a tornado and exploding, as lightning flashes and the crew are tossed to the wind. The whole film finds beauty in destruction, and this moment starts that trend.
A cleverly blocked shot, Fonda's Gil Carter reads out the final words of a wrongly lynched man. His friend's hat conceals the eyes, effectively explaining the blindness of those that did it and the failings of the system as a whole. It is not anything fancy, but it sticks.
The photo does not do it credit, but Gregory Peck drinks milk, with the camera shown looking down it. The milk slowly disappears to reveal the mysterious man before him. It is Hitchcock having fun.
14. Vader arrives- Rogue One
Few shots in modern blockbusters have elicited the same response in a cinema as this did for me. The darkness followed by Vader's breathing was already good enough. The sudden ignition of the lightsaber was godly. The red hallway acts like the elevator doors in The Shining, setting up the forthcoming bloodshed. It is just utterly satisfying.15. Billy the Kid riding- Pat Garret and Billy the Kid
Sam Peckinpah often creates imagery that just sticks to the brain but this slow pan might be his best work. Billy rides from the left before his shadow merges with the backdrop and is replaced with his reflection in the water. In a film about changing times and the demise of the old, this shot both acts as a metaphor for the whole film and, in many ways, the western genre.
There are too many paintings in this film to choose one, so here are three.
- valley zoom in
The camera starts what seems like miles away, gradually pushing forwards into this monumental landscape. A black spec gets closer and closer and Hugh Glass becomes visible. Much like Interstellar, I love shots that make people seem insignificant, and a love shots of nature. Masterful.
An absolutely gorgeous bit of eye candy. Emmanuel Lubezki crafts another wallpaper shot with this twilight photography. And for reasons I cannot quite describe, I have always loved the stick in this shot.
- reborn
Having spent the night in a horse, Hugh Glass is reborn under the dripping snow. The duration of the still is long, thankfully. Any shorter and I might not have been as aware of it. The sun shines down between two trees, another birth image. The fallen trunk from the night before aligns with the far background. I am running out of adjectives.
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