AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 13th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
Booksmart introduced its two main characters as they danced to their own rhythm as they were headed to school, firmly identifying them as truly worthwhile and hilarious protagonists.

Other nominees:
Long Shot explained who one of its main characters was by showcasing his humorous unwillingness to even commit to the important undercover work of actively pretending to be a white supremacist, preparing audiences for a truly funny experience ahead. The Unorthodox combined historical photographs and anecdotes with a sentiment of frustration from a parent unhappy with the state of affairs, all accompanied by a superb score.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-second category of the 11th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

Runner-up: The Florida Project

The winner:
Molly’s Game didn’t need to dive right into its protagonist’s time spent as a poker game runner, choosing instead to have her introduce herself with a detailed breakdown of the end of her skiing career, culminating in an intense conclusion that set this film’s events in motion.

Other nominees:
The Greatest Showman got off to an energizing musical start with its title song, amping up the excitement from the beginning with a strong song and good beat to go along with it. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 frontloaded its action-packed runtime with a humorous opening scene and then a fantastic jam session featuring Baby Groot.

AFT Awards: Best Opening and Best Ending

This is the twenty-first and twenty-second category of the 10th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of these categories. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

This year, I did a poor job documenting my favorite opening sequences and memorable endings, so I’ll just be rewarding a winner in both categories, with “Equals” mentioned as the sole runner-up in the latter race. Beware spoilers for “La La Land.”

The winner:
La La Land, for all the backlash that it encountered, was incredible when it started and when it ended, with an unforgettable and amazingly-choreographed freeway dance scene that set the right tone and a heartwarming, heartbreaking picture of what could have been to send it off into movie history. I still think about both and have the music stuck in my head on a regular basis.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-first category of the 9th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
Beasts of No Nation started off on a wildly playful and optimistic note, with its protagonist eagerly talking about how he and his friends made the most of their lives before unspeakable events changed everything.

Other nominees:
99 Homes wasted no time in piling on the moral intensity with one of its two leads showing up to the scene of a suicide and treating it like a business meeting. Grandma revealed its title character’s true nature at the very start with her particular harsh brand of relationship-ending criticism. People, Places, Things sent its main character reeling with a hilariously awkward reveal that his life was about to change whether he wanted it to or not. Anomalisa began with an unexpectedly intimate innocent interaction aboard a plane that was certainly monotonous but not nearly as much as would later become clear.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 8th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
A Most Violent Year started off on the perfect note to capture its tone: a suspenseful hijacking of a truck on a highway entering New York City that left its victim irreversibly devastated.

Other nominees:
Cold in July may not have been the same movie by its end as it was at its start, but the brutal, unsettling first scene was a fantastically chilling and frightening introduction to its dark subject matter. Lilting opened with a nonchalant, warm reunion of a mother and son that subtly and powerfully revealed the weight of an absence still not fully felt. Listen Up Philip let loose its comedy from its first moment by explaining just the kind of person its protagonist is. Annie asserted its purpose with its first scene, proudly and unapologetically owned its remake status and its rewriting of a classic musical.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 7th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
The East used chilling narration from Ellen Page and disturbing visual imagery to announce its dark ecoterrorist thriller plot.

Other nominees:
Warm Bodies opened by defying convention and letting its very entertaining protagonist lets viewers directly into what was left of his brain. Fruitvale Station opted to show its climatic scene at the start as captured on a cell phone, providing a haunting but far from clear picture of things to come. Nebraska provided a slow but memorable beginning, finding its main character typically wandering around, thinking he could walk from state to state. Kill Your Darlings started at the end and peaked in that eerie moment when its title angrily tore across the screen.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 6th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Click here to see previous years of this category. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
Beasts of the Southern Wild started out with fascinating narration and a picaresque, visually dazzling introduction to its main character and its world.

Other nominees:
Anna Karenina set up its signature framework with a stunning series of set changes colorfully lit by the costumes and faces of its era. Headhunters used its protagonist’s dry sense of humor to establish a completely compelling and extremely layered narrative. Argo dove right into its tempestuous political situation and looked at its events from the fearsome inside. Skyfall didn’t waste any time waiting for the action, instead offering a thrilling foot chase within moments of its start.

AFT Awards: Best Opening & Best Ending

These are the twenty-third and twenty-fourth categories of the 5th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors.

This year, I did a poor job documenting my favorite opening sequences and memorable endings, so I’ll just be rewarding a winner in both categories, with “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” mentioned as the sole runner-up in the former race for its grungy, gritty introduction. Beware spoilers for “Take Shelter.”

Best Opening:
Drive was heavily stylized with its purple cursive font and a terrific beat by “The Chromatics” to score its opening getaway.

Best Ending:
Take Shelter was amazingly understated in its conclusion, realizing its protagonist’s worst fears with the pointing of a finger and a simple nod before fading to black. Astonishing, and incredibly lasting.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 4th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Note: This category is for opening sequences. Full scenes like those in “The Social Network” are represented in the upcoming Top 15 Scenes of the Year.

The winner:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World established its distinctive style with its visually-assisted musical performance of “We Are Sex Bob-Omb!”

Other nominees:
Please Give hilariously began with a montage of mammograms set to “No Shoes” by The Roches. District 13: Ultimatum offered a crash course in its universe with an exciting, pulsating introduction to its colorful characters. The Disappearance of Alice Creed started out as a taut thriller with a scored, silent assembly line preparation for an abduction. The Killer Inside Me was moody and old-fashioned fun in its splattered credits sequence.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-third category of the 3rd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Note: This category is for opening sequences. Full scenes like those in “Up” and “Inglourious Basterds” are represented in the upcoming Top 10 Scenes of the Year.

The winner:
Watchmen gloriously rewrote history to the tune of “The Times They Are A Changing” with an stunning and affecting montage of the Watchmen from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Other nominees:
That Evening Sun introduced its protagonist with a lasting chronicling of his escape from a nursing home and immersion back into the real world. Gentlemen Broncos perused science fiction novel covers to the tune of “In The Year 2525,” lending its opening far more cleverness than the movie. Bruno was flashy and exciting, to “Nessaja” by Scooter, before there was too much…flashing. House of the Devil invoked the 1980s in a fun, creative way and conveyed the naivety of its protagonist.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the twenty-second category of the 2nd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
Reprise wove a wonderful story with its opening hypothetical tales, fully describing the lives and intersecting paths of its characters in mere moments with a dazzlingly clever and brilliantly edited introduction..

Other nominees:
A Christmas Tale proved it really was a fairy tale with its fun and holiday-spirited opening play and musical accompaniments. Waltz with Bashir didn’t waste any time, rushing some pretty scared animated dogs at the camera. Slumdog Millionaire got right to it with exciting music and an intensely memorable title display. Tell No One started the way great thrillers do – with a serene night scene that was anything but calm and ultimately quite violent.

AFT Awards: Best Opening

This is the seventeenth category of the 1st Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order by film title. Winners will be announced in late February.

Who cares if the movie was good? At least the first few minutes were great!

The nominees:
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS
That grating song “Bad Day” was on the radio every single day for like a year and it got old instantly. Now, enough time has passed that the song can be played every once in a while without inciting hearing loss for everyone who listens to it. And what is more charming that the chipmunks singing the song while passing acorns amongst each other? That is the only time I can agree with my friends who kept nudging me during the movie and saying, “isn’t it cute?”

THE DARJEELING LIMITED
What is Bill Murray doing in this film, you may ask? Sure, he appeared in three out of four of Wes Anderson’s previous movies, but is he in this one? No, he is going to miss the train by just a few seconds, allowing for the priceless introduction of a sloppy Adrien Brody, who just beats him and grabs hold of the train shortly before it pulls away for good. This opening is great stylistically in relation to the rest of the film and prepares you well for it.

JUNO
A combination of both that couch on the grass and Juno chugging the jug mixed with those graphic novel-esque titles and drawings of Juno. This movie has its own independent spirit and this opening does a great job introducing the eccentric nature of the film. Bonus points for the comic book titles since that later becomes a part of the plot.

SUPERBAD
This movie is roaringly hilarious, but it is the opening titles that really got me into it. The silhouettes of Jonah Hill and Michael Cera dancing make for a surprisingly clean yet still completely awesome start to this raunchy comedy. It sends you back to earlier times before you realize that this is definitely hip, modern-day language once Hill opens his mouth for the first time.

SWEENEY TODD
I cannot describe the excitement that rushed through me when the gloomy neighborhood of Fleet Street appeared on screen to some decidedly wicked music. It is hard to get so into a movie without introducing any of the characters or showing any stars, but this is a perfect example of appropriate music set to some impressive titles. There is no way the movie can be quite as good after that pump-up right at the beginning.