8 Films That Are Worth Watching For The Cinematography Alone

Have you ever watched a movie and thought to yourself, "wow, I really like the way this thing looks"? If you have, then you're more than likely noticing the film's cinematography. For example, Watchmen has a truly crisp and beautiful look to it that was provided by one of the greatest names in the game, Larry Fong. Mr. Fong knows how to make art with the films he works on, and Watchmen was one of those films. But, besides the talented work that Fong does on a regular basis, what are some other truly amazing films with b-e-a-utiful cinematography? Read on to find out. 8) Pulp Fiction It can be debated wether or not this is Quentin Tarantino's greatest film (I mean, all of his movies are great, but this one stands out), but no one ever talks about how Pulp Fiction looks. It has a unique aesthetic that can still catch your eye even in the year 2015. It almost has a slight noir hint to it even though it's not in the standard B&W that you would see with most efforts in the genre. The saturation is also handled perfectly as well, as only primary colors pop, and the muted colors don't catch your attention nearly as much. One of my all time favorite scenes in the film, and I know this may come off as very typical, is the scene between Jules and Pumpkin, as they sit across from each other at a diner table and Jules points a .45 caliber automatic pistol in his face. The whole set-up just adds to the exchange the characters have, and what makes the scene even more memorable is how it was shot. It's absolutely beautiful, and if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend you watch it. 7) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Yes, this film's plot, acting, and directing are all complete garbage. Many people have expressed those thoughts about it before, and I feel the same way. However, not many people decide to bring up the cinematography in the movie. I may be attacked for this, but besides Captain America: The First Avenger, this movie is easily one of the few (if not the only) comic book movies to look exactly like a comic book come to life. Honestly, the way the film appeared on screen was the one reason I was able to sit through the entire thing, it's just that great. A prime example in the movie of what I'm talking about is the final scene and the final moment that we get to see Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, as he strikes against The Rhino. The music in combination with the shot is.....well, it's breathtaking. Spider-Man swinging a sewer grate with the Rhino charging at him as an explosion lights up behind them.....this scene is just awesome. It's the one shred of beauty in an otherwise utterly atrocious film. 6) Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Winter Soldier is on the list for a very different reason than TASM 2. Where TASM 2 is a living and breathing comic book, The Winter Soldier is a spy/thriller film with a superhero as the main character, and the cinematography shows this to the audience very clearly. It's very clean cut, which may sound rather boring to most people, but to me, and for the film, it was awesome. It matched up with everything we got and it made sense. If they had the same look to it as Green Lantern yet the plot was unchanged, then it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. And knowing the Russo brothers are going to be working on both Civil War and Infinity War (that's a lot of wars), I can't help but be excited to see how each of those movies will look. 5) Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is a film that sadly doesn't get the love that it honestly deserves. Not many people talk about it, and when they do, the grossly give it the short-end of a stick. To me, this is one of Tom Cruise's best effort to date, it was just that good. But, the cinematography in it was even better. It didn't look like how most run of the mill action thrillers tend to. It had character. If you want to know what I'm talking about, then look no further than the car chase scene between Tom Cruise and David Oyelowo (who plays a very good bad guy in this). It starts off with Cruise pulling up to a crime scene in his muscle car. He knows the person who was killed, and is hurt because he was trying to save their life. David Oyelowo is a dirty cop at the scene of the crime. He's simply walking by when his attention is suddenly caught by Cruise. He and Cruise then have this intense stare-down. As they look at each other, deep into each other's eyes (sounds like the beginning of a love story), Cruise begins to put his hand on the throttle as the car's engine rumbles quietly, and Oyelowo tightens his fist out of shear anger. And that's when I nearly passed out, as everything came to a climactic conclusion. 4) Suicide Squad No, the film is not out yet, and I know that. But based off of the trailer alone, I absolutely love what David Ayer and co. are bringing to the table with it. From the trailer alone I could tell he knew what he was doing filming this movie. Much like Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, it's apparently clear that he's making primary colors pop on screen, while the muted colors such as black, grey, and white, stay muted. It helps draw your eyes and attention to the important things, the things with color in them. 3) Saving Private Ryan We can go all night long about this, but I'll just make it short: this is the best war film ever made. It captures the sadness and fear of a disastrous event such as war unlike any other film has. And to compliment this, it's also beautiful movie. In an interesting turn of events, unlike some of the other films mentioned on this list and how they saturate primary colors, Saving Private Ryan seems like it has a light sepia filter over it. It works perfectly for the story though, as it makes the film even seem older than it is. 2) Interstellar My favorite Christopher Nolan film is Interstellar. There, I said it. For the most part, people don't think it's all that great, and that's fine. But this IS Nolan's best work. It is full from top to bottom with actors and actresses who bring their characters to life and make you feel for them, instead of them simply being 2D cut-outs that just walk and talk. Most of all though, it's outstanding in terms of how it appears on screen. If you wanted to, you could take a still from every scene in the movie and turn them into large print murals that you could change on your bedroom wall. Combine this with everything else we got and it brings out how intelligent and creative this movie is when you sit down and think about it. The cinematography is....oddly comforting. I know that may not be a word/term you'd normally use to describe something like cinematography, but that is exactly what I felt when I was watching this movie. Comforted. 1) Sin City Literally the only color that shows in this movie is red. And it's a noir film. And it's dark. And it has several scenes that are shot like a side-scrolling video game. Sin City is truly a masterpiece. It's look is unique because no other film has this look in any way-shape-or-form. That is a feat in itself. And when you combine this with the world that it exists in, a world that doesn't give people a break, a world that will kick you while you're down, it just adds even more depth to the movie's story. Seriously, Sin City is freaking dope, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at.