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Thirteen Rule-Breaking Films

glipress.blogspot.com — Every once in a while, a film comes along that takes an assumption about how American movies are supposed to be made and changes it, sometimes resulting in something truly memorable. The reward for taking the chance is recognition for being a really interesting experiment, or, in some cases, taking your place among the greatest films ever made.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 13, 2008

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  • kevdotbadger, on 05/13/2008, -4/+95Terminator 2: Make a film better than the original.
  • RandomEyes, on 05/13/2008, -9/+63Reservoir Dogs - "Rule Breaking Idea: Make a heist film that shows everything except the heist"
    Tarantino definitely knows how to make a great film
  • SeaweedWater, on 05/13/2008, -12/+64-Time Code (2000)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Show four frames simultaneously on the screen

    -Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Rule Breaking Idea: The good guys lose

    -Russian Ark (2002)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Instead of making a film with 20-30 scenes, make a film with one 90-minute scene, shot in a continuous take.

    -Reservoir Dogs (1992)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Make a heist film that shows everything except the heist

    -Requiem for a Dream (2000)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Make a truly anti-drug film

    -Psycho (1960)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Kill off the main character halfway through the film

    -Memento (2000)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Show the entire film in reverse scene order

    -High Noon (1952), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Take one of America’s most sacred myths, the Western, and turn it on its head

    -Goodfellas (1990)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Look at organized crime from the bottom up

    -All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Paths of Glory (1957)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Make a truly anti-war film
  • hollycowlman, on 05/13/2008, -2/+56You also forgot "Blair Witch Project"

    Rule Breaking Idea: Shot with what appeared to be walking documentary with a home video camera. Plus a very low budget film that grossed millions of dollars in the box office.

  • kentborg, on 05/13/2008, -2/+40To budding film makers: Be careful!

    One of the quickest ways to make a bad film is to think you are supposed to "break the rules". Oppressive as they might seem, it is a lot easier to make a film by following "the rules" than not. Admit it: a lot of great films DO follow "the rules".

    So before you break the rules, understand them. Picasso made some freaky paintings--but he also knew how to draw a person that actually looked like a person. If you use "I'm an iconoclast artist!" as an excuse for not learning your craft you will probably produce crap. Heck, even if you do learn your craft, you are still likely to produce crap when you "break the rules".

    -kb, the Kent who breaks plenty of rules.
  • Mootabolife, on 05/13/2008, -4/+38They forgot Run Lola Run.
  • Grimdotdotdot, on 05/13/2008, -2/+33Aliens came first.
  • JonTheGoose, on 05/13/2008, -2/+28"ASS TO ASS!!!"
  • jennabunnykins, on 05/13/2008, -2/+26dugg for being on one page (and for an awesome list)
  • Shokker04, on 05/13/2008, -2/+26Actually I appreciated it. I'm at work and the blog is blocked by websense, so it helps some of us out. Don't assume he's trying to undermine the foundation of digg, he's actually doing a good thing :)
  • terrizance, on 05/13/2008, -1/+24Memento was one of the coolest films I've ever seen. As the article states, it really requires the audience to concentrate in order to understand how it all fits together.
  • kajoob, on 05/13/2008, -5/+29Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Rule Breaking Idea: The good guys lose


    What is this nonsense? The bad guy has been winning since nearly the inception of films! I mean, two quickies I can think of are The French Connection and the original Rocky. They both predate Star Wars.

    I'm sure you diggers can think of a bunch more films where the bad guy wins that came before Star Wars.

  • ronpaulblogscom, on 05/13/2008, -1/+19High Noon still amazes me at how much it is not a typical Western even though with the characters, cinematography, and actors involved you would think it will be so typical. Gary Cooper: "If you think I like this, you're crazy" Awesome and so unexpected for the lead to say to the damsel.
    Where is Citizen Kane? It broke tons of rules and is still considered one of the best American films ever. Lead characters talking with their faces in the shadows? Even today directors don't do that very often.
  • warispeace21, on 05/13/2008, -0/+15What about From Dusk Till Dawn? Changing up a film's genre halfway through is pretty rule-breaking.
  • bdbr, on 05/13/2008, -0/+15...and it was so effective, we've had to watch shaky cameras ever since.

    Its really interesting how this effect has since been used in Battlestar Galactica...on shots that are CGI, so there wasn't even a camera!
  • KaiUno, on 05/13/2008, -1/+15The heist is show in the game with the same name, but not the film. That's all pre and apres-heist.
  • mytruckhasdents, on 05/13/2008, -0/+12I think the another "rule breaking idea" was that they never showed the "monster".
  • inactive, on 05/13/2008, -7/+20Knew might be more appropriate, he deserves a place in history for Pulp Fiction if nothing else.
  • Asvetic, on 05/13/2008, -4/+16I would have said "Jesus Christ Superstar". Rule Breaking Idea: Take a predominantly homophobic religion and make it as gay as possible!
  • awtripp, on 05/13/2008, -0/+12Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). birth of the modern zombie -- and with an african american hero in a horror flick, which i believe was one of the first.
  • KaiUno, on 05/13/2008, -1/+14It's one of those films I bought but was never able to watch a 2nd time. Who needs a self-inflicted depression on a Saturday night eh?
  • KuJo6784, on 05/13/2008, -1/+12but he's not in any of the listed movies... So I guess you are surprised
  • inactive, on 05/13/2008, -4/+19I couldn't watch Requiem for a Dream... it was just too much for me. Memento was good...
  • Asvetic, on 05/13/2008, -0/+9God I hate Websense... it's only a matter of time before Digg is blocked. That will be a sad day indeed.
  • kevdotbadger, on 05/13/2008, -0/+11Still haven't seen Jackie Brown.
  • RoloTomasie, on 05/13/2008, -3/+13Umm...Trainspotting in no way glamorized drugs (except for the line, "Imagine the best orgasm you've ever had, and multiply it..."
  • AronT, on 05/13/2008, -0/+10What the author didn't note is that not only does the film happen in reverse chronological order, it happens in chronological order as well!
    *spoiler*
    The film's color scenes occur in reverse chronological order while the film's black and white scenes occur in chronological order. This goes on until the end of the film where the two scenes converge at the middle of the sequence of events! Oh, it's such a great film - I think I'm going to buy it again.
  • namelessXsilent, on 05/13/2008, -2/+11dugg for requiem for a dream and momento
  • Stonekeeper, on 05/13/2008, -0/+9The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...
  • wmelnick, on 05/13/2008, -3/+13Rocky is not a good guy - he is a street thug. He is merely the protagonist of the picture.
  • reuscel, on 05/13/2008, -1/+10Try reading the book. It makes the movie seem like a game of Candy Land.
  • reuscel, on 05/13/2008, -1/+9You're missing out. I think it's amazing, but I'm apparently in the minority on that one.
  • Skelly11, on 05/13/2008, -3/+11Mr. BabyMan....again, Seriously?
  • MKinSJ, on 05/13/2008, -1/+8it is not a top-ten list, just a list of 13 movies
  • houndeyex, on 05/13/2008, -1/+8The thing about Episode V is you know there's another one coming. How long are the bad guys honestly gonna win?
  • Neoanarchist, on 05/13/2008, -1/+9I have such a hard time watching RfaD. It is one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen. I've seen it 2 or 3 times, each time I have to just sit while the credits role and compose myself in order to get up and deal with social interaction after being so deeply moved (in what way, I don't know).
  • trollick, on 05/13/2008, -0/+7Memento FTW
  • TheKingInYellow, on 05/13/2008, -0/+7your mom came first.
  • Glinner, on 05/13/2008, -2/+11This is a hilariously terrible list. The guy must be all of sixteen years old.
  • BurningSky, on 05/13/2008, -0/+7The Seven Samurai

    This is the most innovative movie of all time. Full stop. From wide panning shots to slow motion to the infamous army of horsemen riding over a hill shot, this movie started it all. What would become cliche characters galore (most notably coward who redeems himself) are littered throughout, and the movie has been copied exactly tons of times (Magnificent Seven, A Bug's Life). Yes, Seven Samurai FTW...
  • Zandarrr, on 05/13/2008, -1/+7Too bad Ventura isn't running Minnesota anymore. I would have loved to see Minnesota vs. California in all out cage match.
  • egamipeaks, on 05/13/2008, -0/+5and Firefly did it before.
  • petethepanda, on 05/13/2008, -0/+5Pretty much. Regardless of one's opinion of how good the movie is, you can't deny the groundbreaking impact it had on filmmaking.
  • gametavern, on 05/13/2008, -3/+8American Psycho != Psycho, little one.
  • citizenchan, on 05/13/2008, -1/+6"Time Code (2000)
    Rule Breaking Idea: Show four frames simultaneously on the screen"
    .... Come on, I saw this in a "quad-vision" porno in 1995.
  • Synn, on 05/13/2008, -0/+5They forgot About Schmidt. It broke the movie rule of never showing Kathy Bates naked.
  • funkytaco, on 05/13/2008, -4/+11Memento is still the best movie ever. If anyone likes foreign movies, check out House of Fools as well. American Psycho should be on this list as well. Bale is a badass who wants to get caught but nobody really cares to, and we end up liking the villain of the story.

    Also, Memento transitions from black and white to color, but everybody seems to miss that.
  • Asvetic, on 05/13/2008, -0/+5I don't know, I didn't exactly NOT want to do heroin after watching Trainspotting.
  • bloogoo22, on 05/13/2008, -1/+6passion of the christ didn't even talk about what the dudes philosophies were, they just wanted to to portray how terrible his torture was. sadly enough Jesus wasn't the only one to be tortured back in the day, that undermined the whole film for me. now Jesus Christ Superstar, thats a f*&%ing masterpiece
  • Aquabat, on 05/13/2008, -3/+7For a 127 minute guilt trip?
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