First impressions are important anywhere you go, but especially at the movies. And for as wide and varied as film can be, every single movie ever made has a beginning. So how do filmmakers go about starting a movie? Where do they begin? For this CineFix Movie List, we're looking at Cinema's 10 Best Beginnings of All Time.

Some, like The Fellowship of the Ring or There Will Be Blood, offer a prologue to give the viewer context for what's to come, while others flash forward to start with, leaving you wondering how we ended up there, like Citizen Kane and rosebud or Fight Club and the narrator with a gun in his mouth. Some movies drop you in the middle of action that's already happening, like Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach or even Deadpool and his hilarious bullet riddled opening. The point is, a movies beginning can do any number of things, meet people, meet places, introduce themes or motifs, and how they go about it sets the tone for the entire movie that follows.

The Picks
0:24 Prologue Rear Window dir. Alfred Hitchcock
2:04 Flash Forward Goodfellas dir. Martin Scorsese
3:48 Inciting Incident Don't Look Now dir. Nicholas Roeg
5:30 In Media Res (Action) Narc dir. Joe Carnahan
7:36 In Media Res (NonAction) Flowers of Shanghai dir. Hao HsiaoHsien
9:28 Introducing People Son of Saul dir. László Nemes
11:31 Introducing Place Soy Cuba dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
13:42 Thematic / Tonal Werckmeister Harmonies dir. Bela Tarr
15:48 Mysterious Persona dir. Ingmar Bergman
18:16 Poetic Sans Soleil dir. Chris Maker

This Movie List was written by Billy Jackson and edited by Chris Del Padre.

Be sure to subscribe to IGN Movies & TV for more CineFix Movie Lists, and more great film analysis like this!

Toy Story, Akira and the Top 10 Animated Movies of All Time    • Top 10 Animated Films of All Time  A...  
Inglourious Basterds, Hook and the Top 10 Meals of All Time    • Top 10 Movie Meals of All Time  
Moonlight, The Sopranos and 4 Brilliant Moments of Offscreen Death    • 4 Brilliant Moments of Offscreen Death  
Star Wars, Raging Bull and the Top 10 Opening Shots of All Time    • Top 10 Opening Shots of All Time  
James Bond, Alfred Hitchcock and the Top 10 Title Sequences of All Time    • 10 Best Opening Title Sequences of Al...  

#IGN #Cinefix #Top10