Steven Spielberg opened Raiders with the perfect shot to introduce the tone of the film. And then, he created a cinematic icon (with the help of Harrison Ford) as Indiana Jones strides into frame with a bullwhip hanging off his belt, wearing his signature fedora. He’d be etched in audiences’ minds for deca

Raiders of the Lost Ark helped solidify Steven Spielberg as a legendary Hollywood film director , and the film's legacy can be felt to this day. Harrison Ford is currently in the middle of shooting the fifth film in the franchise and aside from a few setbacks, all seems to be going according to p

When James Cameron was hired to write and direct a sequel to Ridley Scott’s masterfully crafted sci-fi chiller Alien , he knew he couldn’t make a horror movie that would come close to matching the greatness of Scott’s masterpie

While Spielberg’s dazzling visuals and Ford’s charismatic performance go a long way towards creating the sense of escapism that Raiders of the Lost Ark has to offer, what really sweeps audiences off their feet and takes them along for the ride is John Williams’ mesmerizing sco

But his message is more complex than that. This movie isn’t necessarily anti-America, but young, unprepared, terrified boys were shipped off to war to fight for that flag. It’s also worth noting that this particular flag can be found at the cemetery near Omaha Beach where the film’s framing narrative takes place. The flag can be seen as a symbol of liberty anywhere else, Suggested Web site but in this cemetery, it can also be blamed for all those gra

This turned out to be one of Woo’s greatest movies, Hard Boiled , starring Chow Yun-fat as badass cop Tequila Yeun. The climactic hospital shootout is one of the most iconic action sequences ever s

Given how many comic book movies are around these days, it's easy to forget how difficult it can be to introduce a character no one has ever heard of and make the audience cheer for them almost immediat

Steven Spielberg doles out new information with every shot in the opening scene of Jurassic Park , slowly building up the suspense. It opens close on some trees, obscuring something. That something is tearing the trees out of the way, thundering towards us, bellowing booming noises. A couple of closeups then introduce terrified men wearing hard hats bearing the Jurassic Park logo. Some of them are ar

The love interests in Indiana Jones movies have been a bit hit-or-miss over the years, but surely everyone agrees that Marion Ravenwood is the best of them all by a wide margin. As heroic and fun as Indy is, Marion is just as entertaining and a true badass in her own ri

One of the most prized gems in the Amblin crown, Richard Donner’s The Goonies follows a group of down-on-their-luck suburban kids who decide to spend their last weekend together following a treasure map to a pirate’s lost fort

The totally black frame could be read to represent the bleak reality of living in Nazi-occupied Poland, while the match could be seen to represent the beacon of hope that emerges in the form of Oskar Schindler, when he comes to his senses, renounces the Nazi Party, and uses his resources to save 1,200 Jews from concentration camps. The majority of this three-hour epic is shot in black-and-white , but it opens in color. It only turns to black-and-white when that candle burns

Instead, the filmmakers used Mexican Redknees tarantulas for two possible reasons. First, they're native to Mexico, which is closer in geography. Second, Mexican Redknees are very docile spiders that rarely bite or kick up a fuss, making them much easier to han

George Lucas chose the perfect collaborators to bring his homage to the classic adventure serials of the ‘30s to life, from Steven Spielberg’s razor-sharp direction to the episodic plotting of Lawrence Kasdan’s uniquely structured seven-act screenp

What helps ground the action is that the sequences are well-edited and expertly paced, especially compared to contemporary films. In nearly every scene, with the possible exception of the Nepalese bar fight, it's simple to follow the characters and know exactly where they are in relation to one another and the objects around t

In truth, there's nothing at all to suggest this in the Bible. Ancillary materials have appeared now and again that suggests that the Ark was a source of power, but that's a far cry from what Brody is talking about. The Ark was a cultural symbol, not a weapon of mass destruction from the Bronze

John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the definitive cinematic portrait of the corrupting power of wealth, as a pair of hotshot young hustlers journey out into the desert with an aging prospector in search of a fortune in g

It feels somewhat challenging to articulate exactly what makes Raiders of the Lost Ark so enduring. It could be the remarkable sets and stunning locations, or the fun old-fashioned feel the movie embodies. It could also be the collaboration between the hundreds of people who poured their hearts and souls into making a generationally transcendent f