Ten most effective editing moments of all time

[Irish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtkbQkURCI

Films referenced:

10. City of God
9. Bonnie and Clyde
8. North by Northwest
7. The Godfather
6. Battleship Potemkin
5. Psycho
4. Un Chien Andalou
3. Apocalypse Now
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
1. Lawrence of Arabia

Curious what the folks here think of these choices, and what substitutions and additions they'd make.

[megladon8]

I still haven't seen City of God.

Is it as good as "they" say?

[Qrazy]

Yes, you'll love it.

[amberlita]

I don't think I would have put North by Northwest on that list, but maybe I just don't appreciate the impact it had at the time. The rest is gold.

I would have included the Harry Lime entrance from The Third Man. Or maybe that edit when Popeye narrowly avoids hitting the baby carriage in The French Connection, since I feel like I've seen that edit in some form in a dozen other movies since then.

[Sven]

Pretty boring. Save me from film lists that feature the same goddamn movies all the time.

[Sven]

Jeez. Didn't mean to sound so mean. Good choices I guess. Wish there was more choosing-outside-the-box.

[Dukefrukem]

No Citizen's Kane. Hmm

[Ezee E]

I still haven't seen City of God.

Is it as good as "they" say?

It's quite masterful.

[Watashi]

No Citizen's Kane. Hmm

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls4vyvSYPN1qapjw4o1_500 .png

[Skitch]

I still haven't seen City of God.

Is it as good as "they" say?

Yes. And its streaming Netflix, I believe. Get on it.

[baby doll]

I don't think Sven was being mean enough. Clearly whoever made this list wanted to show off how film savvy he is, but he merely revealed to the world not only his completely superficial understanding of cinema (which doesn't surprise me anymore) but that he has startlingly unoriginal taste in movies (all of his picks are straight out of Ebert's Great Movies essays). It's already silly enough to simply isolate a bunch of snappy cuts from different movies, but this jerk-off can't even think of any original titles from which to extract snappy cuts from their narrative contexts. David Bordwell he ain't.

[Watashi]

Well, it's labeled as the "most memorable" editing moments, not the "best" or "most effective".

[Dukefrukem]

I don't think Sven was being mean enough. Clearly whoever made this list wanted to show off how film savvy he is, but he merely revealed to the world not only his completely superficial understanding of cinema (which doesn't surprise me anymore) but that he has startlingly unoriginal taste in movies (all of his picks are straight out of Ebert's Great Movies essays). It's already silly enough to simply isolate a bunch of snappy cuts from different movies, but this jerk-off can't even think of any original titles from which to extract snappy cuts from their narrative contexts. David Bordwell he ain't.


This is 101% pure MC.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It's hard to level too much criticism at this, since they are memorable editing moments and the actual video itself is appreciably to-the-point, but sneaking a couple more offbeat choices would've made things more interesting. There's a weird "Film 101" vibe to a lot of these videos that slightly annoys me. Like someone read a single book on cinema history and said, "Time to share my insight with the world."

[Ezee E]

Time for a Match Cut list.

[Yxklyx]

Well, how about the final 10 or so minutes of Requiem for a Dream.

[Dukefrukem]

Well, how about the final 10 or so minutes of Requiem for a Dream.

Good pick.

What about the last 10 minutes in any Nolan film?

I always loved those cuts because Nolan wraps up everything so quickly.

[Ezee E]

Good pick.

What about the last 10 minutes in any Nolan film?

I always loved those cuts because Nolan wraps up everything so quickly.

Neither are really editing moments though.

Requiem's "montage" could probably be considered one with its super closeups and use of sound, even if it's used throughout.

[Russ]

Soderbergh's Out of Sight?

[Milky Joe]

JFK????

[Ezee E]

What moment in these movies?

[Spinal]

What moment in these movies?

Sally Menke.

[transmogrifier]

If we did a list, it would be cooler to have it based on single cuts. I kind of wish that's what this video would have done.

[max314]

Jurassic Park was just on TV and I loved the cut from Grant confirming, "You bred raptors?" and the high-pitched screech of the newborn raptor to the roar of the full grown raptors in the paddock.

Not saying it's the best cut ever, but it's certainly a great one on account of its thematic resonance and plot foreshadowing.

Particularly noteworthy is its use of sound.

[Milky Joe]

JP is also home to one of the worst edited moments ever: when Goldblum is in the Jeep and hears the Rex approaching ("I'm very alarmed here.") cuts directly to Dern and the Other Guy being chased. It's so obviously missing a scene, namely, their discovery of the destroyed vehicle at the bottom of the ravine.

[Dead & Messed Up]

JP is also home to one of the worst edited moments ever: when Goldblum is in the Jeep and hears the Rex approaching ("I'm very alarmed here.") cuts directly to Dern and the Other Guy being chased. It's so obviously missing a scene, namely, their discovery of the destroyed vehicle at the bottom of the ravine.

It's also home to one of the most simultaneously inexplicable and glorious. When Spielberg cuts to an exposition scene about power grids, and the first image he shows us is a wide shot of a shirtless, glistening, Grandma's romance novel Ian Malcolm.

http://drinkingcinema.com/uli/e03.jpeg

Obviously once it's been spliced into place, the shot must remain, because it's amazing, but who would've ever thought to put it there to begin with?

[DavidSeven]

Soderbergh's Out of Sight?


JFK????


What moment in these movies?

He's probably referring to the the scene at the hotel bar that's intercut with provocative shots of Clooney and Lopez getting undressed.

When I think of the editing in JFK, the climatic courtroom scene always comes to mind. But I watched it too long ago to remember the details.

[Milky Joe]

JFK: the whole movie. All of it. If I had to pick one moment, one that's coming to mind right now is when they are inside David Ferrie's apartment after he's been found dead and there are quick cuts to b&w shots of Ferrie being assaulted by unknown persons, images projected by Garrison's imagination as he's examining the evidence. Gives me goosepimples.

[Gittes]

JP is also home to one of the worst edited moments ever: when Goldblum is in the Jeep and hears the Rex approaching ("I'm very alarmed here.") cuts directly to Dern and the Other Guy being chased. It's so obviously missing a scene, namely, their discovery of the destroyed vehicle at the bottom of the ravine.

There is a shot of Ellie and Muldoon discovering the vehicle that the Rex tossed over the edge of the paddock. I believe Malcom's trepidation about the "impact tremor," as he so memorably puts it, comes after. The cut from this to Malcolm hurrying Ellie and Muldoon into the jeep has definitely struck me as somewhat awkward, though. Still, after revisiting this film so many times, I'm inured to the peculiarity of the cut, which I never thought was terribly egregious. After all, there's something kind of electrifying about that brisk movement from Malcom's quiet, steady dread to the sudden inrush of motion, panic and tension, as Spielberg sprints straight into the chase scene. These two shots chafe against each other, despite the causal link, but the forceful cut from gradual dread to overwhelming terror works; it's a bracingly abrupt shift of gears.


It's also home to one of the most simultaneously inexplicable and glorious. When Spielberg cuts to an exposition scene about power grids, and the first image he shows us is a wide shot of a shirtless, glistening, Grandma's romance novel Ian Malcolm.

Obviously once it's been spliced into place, the shot must remain, because it's amazing, but who would've ever thought to put it there to begin with?

This is a hilarious description of one of Jurassic Park's small marvels.

Continuing with this theme, I would be remiss if I did not mention this spectacular match cut from The Lost World:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3841/14711788324_9e31ee69b8_b.jpg

I can actually remember at least two examples of people throwing shade on this part of the film, as if it's some kind of directorial misfire, a bit of failed humour, or an unwelcome incongruity. The dissonance is deliberate, of course, but it's hardly unwelcome, and the humour works. The wit of the editing lies in the sprightly shift from the screaming mother, appalled by some offscreen horror involving her daughter and a peckish group of Compsognathus, to Ian Malcom's gaping maw, who is found yawning against a jungle backdrop at a subway station. (Like Jurassic Park's shot of Malcom in repose, Goldblum's yawn is something of a small cinephiliac treasure).

With impressive economy, Spielberg, and editor Michael Kahn, offer us this potent introduction (or reintroduction) to Malcom: this guy is certainly no stranger to traumatic close encounters with prehistoric predators. This is conveyed with remarkable concision and levity, as the abject horror of the scream swiftly changes into the most blasé of yawns. The editing thereby facilitates a very lucid bit of wry, extradiegetic commentary (i.e., here's someone who has been around the park, who has been there and done that, and who is already well acquainted with Hammond's genetically engineered beasts). As a result, a lot of what is significant about Malcom's character is made readily legible. After all, he'll go on to spend a lot of this film commenting on the forthcoming and ensuing horrors with the perspective of a seasoned veteran ("I'll be back in five or six days" / "No, you'll be back in five or six pieces!" or, the classic, "Oh, yeah. Ooh, ahh. That's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming.").

This may also have something to do with the hazards of mounting a sequel and careful showmanship. Spielberg, always sensitively attuned to his audience, may have anticipated a bit of indifference to the introduction of the Compsognathus. His fans have seen larger and ostensibly scarier beasts, and these little critters may have struck some as being a far cry from that terrifying Velociraptor attack at the beginning of Jurassic Park. Following this, Malcom's yawn establishes a kind of comity between artist and viewer. More specifically, it's a winking nod to the more jaded and expectant fans, a way of acknowledging their doubt and indicating that the real horror is yet to come. Sure enough, later in the movie, the Compsognathus are recast as one of the franchise's most horrifying threats, as their kinetic hordes amass themselves onto Dieter (Peter Stormare), and devour him with voracious tenacity. Dieter, of course, is being punished for his earlier hubris, when he underestimated the Compy as one of the most trifling dinosaurs. Following this, Spielberg delights in taking both Dieter, and sections of his audience, by surprise.

[Raiders]

Thank you for mentioning that bit from The Lost World. I remember being awed by it years ago in its bizarre irreverence. It simultaneously seemed to be a straight, but strange, match-cut and to also give off some weird impression of a Giant Goldblum yawning back at the screaming woman.