Best movie concept/idea/premise?

4,604 Views | 63 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by Quad Dog
The Marksman
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Do any of y'all have a particular favorite premise that a movie employed? Any movie concept you heard about and thought, hey that sounds pretty cool?
Personally, my favorite movie premise that I've seen was Tenet. I know many people didn't like that movie, but I really enjoyed it, and I thought that the premise of the movie was super cool. The trailers for that movie were great and really got me excited and interested in the film.
Quad Dog
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Many movies and shows have tried many different ways to show text message conversations. I think one of my favorite is in Ms. Marvel.

_lefraud_
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In Time

Such an interesting premise, but an incredibly **** movie.
Lathspell
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I really like the idea behind About Time, and really enjoy that movie. So many great lessons to learn through a movie where the main character can literally go back and relive or change anything in their past, but then loses that ability once the kids start coming.

On that same vein, one of my favorites of all time: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Having a movie literally work from the end to the beginning of a relationship, completely played out in one person's mind as those memories are being erased? The Gondry did such an amazing job of bringing that to life that I notice little things here and there every time I rewatch it. So cool when you start noticing all the background objects, book titles, and other things slowly disappear while the memories are still going on.
Brian Earl Spilner
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The Matrix
The Truman Show
Sex Panther
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Memento was an incredible premise and so difficult to make work. Showed where Christopher Nolan would be headed
Sponge
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Scott Pilgrim as an example of how to bring a graphic novel to the screen.
aTmAg
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Not a movie, but there was a show on FX called Tyrant that had a great premise, but poor execution in the final season (before it got canceled).

Where it was going was that an American doctor became dictator over a middle eastern nation. His father was the previous tyrant dictator. Long story short, this doctor couped his brother and became dictator himself. He went into it idealistic and thinking he would establish democracy George Washington style. But found out that reality doesn't always play nice.

It seems that the show was going to go down the path where the son becomes the father 2.0. And that we viewers would be totally on board and understand why. Sorta like how Walter White slowly became evil and the viewers were right there with them.

But they screwed up season 3 (or whatever it was), and the show got canceled. I forget what they did. Probably added a love interest or some crap like that.
aTmAg
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Sex Panther said:

Memento was an incredible premise and so difficult to make work. Showed where Christopher Nolan would be headed
Nolan has been doing that way too much. While it was great in Momento, it made no sense in movies like Dunkirk.
gggmann
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Rashomon

The story told by 3 different view points, none of them reliable.
fig96
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Gattaca is one of my favorite sci-fi concepts and a criminally underrated film, still holds up very well both as a story and concept over 25 years later. Interestingly enough, same writer/director as In Time and writer on The Truman Show (Andrew Nichol).

And The Matrix goes without saying, massive influence both in filmmaking style and as a concept.
jeffk
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The Usual Suspects has to be up there.
Head Ninja In Charge
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Boyhood
Zombie Jon Snow
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The Truman show was great and I'm really not criticizing it but a dark version of the concept was so doable. I get why they did not go that way for wide appeal and box office but a maybe more gritty and realistic version could also be done so well. I mean they glossed over anything sexual and avoided topics like masturbation, etc... and also imagine if they really wanted to **** with him besides just keeping him there and happy. You could go so may ways and present him with effed up situations. Lots of people think we are in a simulation anyway so play up that angle and stuff like dark conspiracies maybe. Blur the lines of reality, heck you could mess with physics itself and have a world that operates differently via CGI (think of the way some CGI was done in Hunger Games movies to mess with the contestants only this person is unaware it is possible).

PatAg
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aTmAg said:

Sex Panther said:

Memento was an incredible premise and so difficult to make work. Showed where Christopher Nolan would be headed
Nolan has been doing that way too much. While it was great in Momento, it made no sense in movies like Dunkirk.
What
PatAg
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Being John Malkovich
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Orlando Ayala Cant Read
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No Way Out had a great premise and a phenomenal twist ending nobody saw coming.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

No Way Out had a great premise and a phenomenal twist ending nobody saw coming.
What makes NWO so great is that is a rather familiar 70s-style political thriller, nothing that special, and then that ending that you mention comes along. Bam. An underrated movie with a stellar cast.
The Marksman
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I'd also like to nominate Edge of Tomorrow; such a good movie and awesome premise.
Win At Life
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Maybe not exactly on topic, and may have been surpassed since, but Bruce Almighty was by far the highest price paid for a script at the time, because multiple people knew it was such a great idea that they kept bidding it up.
AustinAg2K
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The Marksman said:

I'd also like to nominate Edge of Tomorrow; such a good movie and awesome premise.


I feel like the time loop isn't really that original of an idea, but the execution in EoT is excellent and makes it feel fresh.
Tonyperkis
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Totally agree on Gattaca. Truly underrated and timeless
evan_aggie
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AustinAg2K said:

The Marksman said:

I'd also like to nominate Edge of Tomorrow; such a good movie and awesome premise.


I feel like the time loop isn't really that original of an idea, but the execution in EoT is excellent and makes it feel fresh.


Exactly.

Ground Hog Day
Looper
Tenet (in a weird way)
theeyetest
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Downsizing with Matt Damon was such a great idea and the first 30 minutes or so were really good then it all fell apart and ended being one of the worst movies I've watched from beginning to end.
GoAgs92
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Hardcore Henry was an interesting concept but I think that POV for an entire movie would be nauseating.
aTmAg
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PatAg said:

aTmAg said:

Sex Panther said:

Memento was an incredible premise and so difficult to make work. Showed where Christopher Nolan would be headed
Nolan has been doing that way too much. While it was great in Momento, it made no sense in movies like Dunkirk.
What
NOLAN HAS BEEN DOING THAT WAY TOO MUCH. WHILE IT WAS GREAT IN MOMENTO, IT MADE NO SENSE IN MOVIES LIKE DUNKIRK.
fig96
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AustinAg2K said:

The Marksman said:

I'd also like to nominate Edge of Tomorrow; such a good movie and awesome premise.


I feel like the time loop isn't really that original of an idea, but the execution in EoT is excellent and makes it feel fresh.
Agreed, could have been a train wreck but was really well done.

Also interesting that all the successful time loop movies mentioned have really strong, charismatic leads.
Moral High Horse
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Yesterday deserved to be better than it was. Ditch the rom com crap and delve deeper into the protagonist arc.
maroon barchetta
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Monsters, Inc.

Great premise. The night terrors of children worldwide only occur because monsters from some alternate reality scare the kids into screaming to charge the batteries needed to run that reality.
Bruce Almighty
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The Toy Story movies and how they metaphor parenthood.
BCG Disciple
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Predestination

JCVD
aTmAg
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Just thought of one:

The Cabin in the Woods

No other movie like it (that I can think of).
Claude!
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Robocop.
HtownAg92
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Escape from New York -- the premise of the US just giving up on NY and walling it off into a fend for yourself prison is awesome.
Eso si, Que es
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Vantage Point was a cool premise, getting to see the same incident from multiple POVs
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