Ground Breaking Films

johnnynolegs

Another thread on this board gave me an idea for this one - what was the last groundbreaking film u saw - i.e. The Matrix would be the last one i can think of?????

Krusty_Clown

Blair Witch Project - A very good scare, for such a low budget
The Matrix: ground-breaking special effects
Toy Story/Shrek/Monsters Inc/Ice Age - Ground breaking Graphics
Lord of the Rings I -Ground breaking visual effects/story-line/ conversion from a book.

One Night at McCools - Ground-breakingly boring.

johnnynolegs

well another one i was thinking of was Jurassic Park

satchmo

Originally posted by Krusty_Clown
One Night at McCools - Ground-breakingly boring.

Couldn't disagree with you more. What's wrong with your hormones boy?!

Sposs

Shawshank Redemption : Proved you dont need a big budget with loads of special affects to make a great movie.

johnnynolegs

true and yeah i have to say i liked one nite at mccools

ObeyGiant

Originally posted by Sposs
Shawshank Redemption : Proved you dont need a big budget with loads of special affects to make a great movie.

Uh..
Just so you know, the budget for Shawshank Redemption was around the $25M mark.
That's a pretty big budget. Not huge, but definitely big.

Sposs

Originally posted by ObeyGiant
Uh..
Just so you know, the budget for Shawshank Redemption was around the $25M mark.
That's a pretty big budget. Not huge, but definitely big.

well considering the average blockbuster costs in excess of €150M i'd SAY €25m is fairly cheap.

johnnynolegs

cheap enuff - in ratio to how much money it took in at the box office aswell

ObeyGiant

Originally posted by Sposs
well considering the average blockbuster costs in excess of €150M i'd SAY €25m is fairly cheap.

No matter what you compare it to, $25M is a big budget. In the same year as Shawshank came out (1994), there was also uh.. Leon (~$20M), Pulp Fiction ($8M), The Mask ($18M), and Clerks ($230,000).By 1994 standards, $25M was in no way "cheap".

I know what you're saying though - I just don't think the Shawshank Redemption was a groundbreaking film for those reasons.

roar_ie

star wars when it was first released.

Spiderman and the CGI used was a first for me.(i think star wars II might of had it as well ).

johnnynolegs

yeah i know what u mean obey

well let me think is there anymore - ben hur!

spooky donkey

Well for me ground breaking films had to be tremours or earthquake, Volcano ( with tommy lee Jones ) they all broke the ground!

kaimera

The Good, the Bad n the Ugly for the final shoutout.
Showed how they should be done.

Matrix obvious reasons.

Blair witch's success was due to the media.
the film itself was pure ****e tbh.

Pugsley

The 1st 2 alien films and predator - they showed how aliens should be done
shawshank - best prison movie ever IMO
Lord of the Rings - CGI on a grand scale done well, and an a great storyline (but thats because of the books).

ykt0di9url7bc3

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...changed Westerns forever, yet to be equalled

Carrie...Re-invented the horror genre, (great end sequence that is forever echod in todays horror)

Blair Witch...proves IMHO that pure minimalism to the point of view of the actors/characters combined with a good plot results in a good film...

Jaws...Again changed the horror genre but was it by accident?

2001: A Space Odessey...First film to encompass mans place in the Universe

Star Wars...ground breaking space Opera!

Resivoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction....First films to work a non-linear approach to story telling?

Dustaz

Sorry, this madness has to end.

Originally posted by everybody

The Matrix: ground-breaking special effects

There was nothing groundbreaking about the effects in the matrix. "bullet time" or Time Slice as its known has been in use for the last ten years or so. It was a common part of the pop video and commercial world and bringing it to a feature cannot be considered ground breaking. The matrix was notable only for how bad a lead actor can be and still be an entertaining film.

Obviously The Jazz Singer has to be acknowledged for being the first 'talkie' and The Wizard of Oz was the first film to use color effectively (actually, was it the first film to feature color? certainly the first big one). Citizen Kane and a few hitchcock films stand out (take your pick )

For more subtle breaking of the ground. check out the Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein. He practically invented most of the editing techniques in use today over 70 years ago. Even if you havent seen this film, youve seen it. Baby in carriage falling down the steps in The Untouchables? Yep, thats from a movie made in 1925.


Also have a look at Koyaanisqatsi , While im not sure how original an idea it is (most things have been done before, altho i cant think of a film like this). One of the most amazing films youll ever see. No dialogue, no plot, no actors, very very VERY loose narrative and yet its still 20 times better than most of what you see in your local multiplex. Phillip Glass' score is pretty incredible too.

For a laugh, try Derek Jarmans "Blue". An entire film consisting of whats more or less a radio play set against a single blue screen. Not for everybody, but hey its an interesting idea

-edits for dates and unpronouncable titles -

curlywee

The good the bad and the ugly unequalled ?

How about Once upon a time in the west
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven
and in my opinion Pale Rider

Not to mention
Jerimiah Johnson
A man called horse
The Long Riders
Lonesome Dove

There maybe fewer westerns made since the 60s but they are nearly always good

And as for you dustaz

Koyaanisqatsi - Annoying 80s Crap

Battleship Potemkin - Annoying 20s crap
yes eisenstein may have been the father of modern cinema buts its still a load of cobblers De Palme did it much better and again in Carlitos way

Agree with Citizen Kane and Jazz Singer


Derek Jarmans films were nearly all pretentious rubbish

For me the most ground breaking film of the last few years has to be toy story both in terms of its technical and entertainment achievements

And thats a bit sad when you think about it !

Dustaz

Originally posted by curlywee
Koyaanisqatsi - Annoying 80s Crap

I guess its a matter of taste. Ive never been an enourmous arthouse fan, but like it or not its a pretty enourmous achievement.

Battleship Potemkin - Annoying 20s crap
yes eisenstein may have been the father of modern cinema buts its still a load of cobblers De Palme did it much better and again in Carlitos way

You seem to have misunderstood the topic. Its not about what you like, but what was ground breaking, what was considered a new departure in cinema. De Palma re-shooting an 80 year old scene doesnt quite fit that bill. Next youll be saying that Gus Van Sant re-shooting Psycho in its entirety was a good idea

Would the montage have been invented without Eisenstien? Probably, but he was the one that did it, therefore he must take the credit. Without him, Brian De Palma would be serving you fries and a large coke

Derek Jarmans films were nearly all pretentious rubbish

No argument here

Again, it doesnt come down to taste, just acknowledgement. Personally, i find westerns boring and cant think of a single one that could be considered groundbreaking in any way.

Gordon

This thread reminds me that I really want to see Tron again.

curlywee

Ok so the russian geezer gets in on ground breaking purely on a technical point though a bit like the first use of dry ice in a lon chaney movie or something

You are wrong about westerns though not been ground breaking

The Searchers - has to be up there with Citizen Kane in terms of film making at least

The Wild Bunch not only ground breaking in terms of the screen violence but also in the characterisation of the leads ( ie they were all anti heros and complete bastards)

Rio Bravo - how many times has that been remade unofically

High Noon etc etc etc etc

I dont agree about DePalma as a lot of serious film buffs dont like his work as they always harp on about the plagarism etc but sure everybody has been does that Esenstein didn't invent editing he just refined it

Kurosawa robbed everybody for ideas for his films etc

DrizztIE

Here's my list:

Soldier
TripleX
Tron
The Matrix
Lord of The Rings
Star Wars
Star Trek
Shawshank Redemption

CodeMonkey

Here's my list:
Spice World,
He-man: the Movie,
Titanic,
Showgirls.

What do you mean they're not ground breaking films or the last ground breaking I've seen? Like anyone else here cares, everyone is just listing personal favourites. Mind you, the movies I listed are probably the worst films I've ever seen but that's beside the point. I am just following the trend of listing random movies and ignoring the original post. Maybe when starting a thread like this, a few guildlines on what would be considered to be a ground breaking film would help but if the original poster is giving The Matrix as an example then he probably doesn't have any clue himself.

kaimera

a few guildlines on what would be considered to be a ground breaking film would help but if the original poster is giving The Matrix as an example then he probably doesn't have any clue himself

ehhh...does "Bullet Time" ring a bell?

maybe you've seen it in Spice World or Showgirls b4?:rolleyes:

Dustaz

Originally posted by Kaimera
ehhh...does "Bullet Time" ring a bell?

Yes, its a buzz word coined by the makers of Max Payne.

If your thinking of Time Slice Photography, and i think you are, then maybe you should read all the posts in the thread before posting any more. I completely agree with Codemonkey, most people are just posting thier favorite films.

kaimera

otay, fine...maybe "time slice photograpgy" may have been used prior to the Matrix.
I canent seem to ever remember seeing it however. [I never saw any music video with it done b4. Maybe some eg Dustaz?]

Putting that aside so...

I dont think the whole camera tricks done in the Matrix were doen b4 were they?
[rotating around the subject while rising n falling]

That would make it somewhat groundbreaking

Dustaz

Well the technique was first used sometime in the early 80's by a photographer called Tim Macmillan , but the first example of it being seen by the masses was for the The Rolling Stones video for Like a Rolling Stone (circa about 95/6 i think). I saw an ad for capital radio that was made about the same time that used the technique and since the Stones video it was used in a fair amount of comercials and videos.
some examples


The first appearance of the technique in feature films that i remember was in Lost In Space which was released a year before the Matrix.

CodeMonkey

Originally posted by Kaimera
I dont think the whole camera tricks done in the Matrix were doen b4 were they?
[rotating around the subject while rising n falling]

That would make it somewhat groundbreaking

Errrm, Lost in Space did it a year before. And at least when they used in Lost in Space, it was to visualise the instant they went into hyper space or something to that effect. The Matrix just used it as part of its many gratuitous special effects.

If you must argue The Matrix was ground breaking in any way, you should really mention the use of the hong kong wire-fu on screen fighting style. It popularised it and made it acceptable to western audiences and paved the way for films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

kaimera

Originally posted by CodeMonkey
If you must argue The Matrix was ground breaking in any way, you should really mention the use of the hong kong wire-fu on screen fighting style. It popularised it and made it acceptable to western audiences and paved the way for films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

There's my arguement then!:p

Honestly tho, I'd never have thought of Lost in Space [dispite the fact I can still remember the music to it!]

sorry that I couldn't see that the effects were done before. The Matrix was the obvious BIG film that brought the effects to the fore and tis why it sticks out as having done them first..

IN MY MIND.

not any more tho

btw...the fighting scenes "the use of the hong kong wire-fu on screen fighting style."
wasn't that done in a Jet Li flick out prior to the Matrix?
The Black Mask or somthing to that effect?

Dustaz

Yeh, the fighting has been done before to different extents.

Lets just agree that the Matrix broke ground in that it was the first film to prove you can have a hugely popular film starring a plank of wood

irishgeo

Jurassic Park as i the special effects were the best ever at the time and i know its been mentioned before.

CodeMonkey

Originally posted by Dustaz
Yeh, the fighting has been done before to different extents.

Lets just agree that the Matrix broke ground in that it was the first film to prove you can have a hugely popular film starring a plank of wood

Naa, not true Dustaz, the same plank of wood also starred in other hugely popular films like Speed. The Matrix didn't break new ground at all

kaimera

dispute this...:p

Toy Story

hamster

I thought Apocalypse Nowwas cool. Remember Martin Sheen at the start of movie? Apparently, Kubrick, got him drunk for the purpose of the start of the movie.

Dustaz

Also gave him a heart attack/nervous breakdown. Go rent Hearts Of Darkness, its a Documentary made by Coppolas wife on the set of A.N. Its a great watch.

festivala

Groundbreaking?

Donnie Darko

DiscoStu

Waking Life. incredibly pretentious, full of the kind of chasing amy navel contemplation that almost made me hate kevin smith. but the way it was filmed or animated, whatever was amazing.