Happy Feet (2006)

Mambo/Mumble

A tapping was heard from inside a penguin egg, and two feet popped through the shell.

The unhatched egg began to dance/slidestep energetically forward, and burst open when the feet slipped and somersaulted onto the ice.

A blue-eyed, golden-beaked baby penguin chick, dubbed Mambo by father Memphis (voice of Hugh Jackman), immediately began to soft-shoe dance on the snow, explaining that he was "F-f-f-freezing!" but that his feet were "happy."

Later, Mambo would be dubbed Mumble by his peers due to his inability to sing, and 'Happyfeet' by the disgusted elders who exiled him for his forbidden dancing ("It's just not penguin").

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Harold Crick

There was the brilliant introduction in the film's opening of neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, numbers-infatuated IRS auditor Harold Crick (Will Ferrell).

Narration by blocked writer Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson) was accompanied by on-screen numbers:

This is a story about a man named Harold Crick, and his wristwatch. Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations, and remarkably few words, and his wristwatch said even less. Every weekday for twelve years, Harold would brush each of his 32 teeth, 76 times. 38 times back and forth, 38 times up and down...

Venus (2006)

Jessie/"Venus"

Crotchety has-been thespian Ian's (Leslie Phillips) pretty, sensual, but foul-mouthed precocious grand-niece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker in her film debut) made her entrance in a close-fitting pink jogging outfit while slurping down ramen noodles directly out of a carton.

Intrigued, septuagenarian best friend Maurice (Peter O'Toole) attempted to make conversation ("I'm Maurice. Maurice. You?") before entering the kitchen and pouring himself his accustomed drink of whiskey:

Can I? You will find I usually call around this time for a little drinkie. I like whiskey with a whisker of water. No more than a whisker, mind you. That ruins it. It's called drowning. Drowning. Do you know how to mix drinks? Once acquired, it's a talent that will serve you for life, like typing.

The aging lothario lustfully watched her youthful femininity (closeups showed her mouth) while she slurped down the noodles without saying a word. He followed her into the living room where he attempted to engage her in conversation, as she watched television and munched on chips. The irrepressible provocative teen finally responded that she was attempting to find work in modeling, although hard-of-hearing Maurice mis-heard her, thinking she had said "yodeling," in the amusing scene.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, Fr./US), (aka Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon)

Jean-Dominique Bauby

Almost all of the first 40 minutes of this Julian Schnabel-directed film were the subjective, POV sights of Elle French magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who suffered a debilitating stroke (a "cerebrovascular accident") in 1995.

He was left with "locked-in" syndrome (except for being able to blink his left eyelid) even though he was fully conscious.

As he slowly came out of the three week-long coma, the film presented disorienting images shot from behind his eyes -- all he could see were blurry, unstable and dim images, flickerings, puzzling and distorted shapes, and extreme close-ups as he heard doctors asking him: "Do you remember what happened?"

He could only respond with thoughts heard within his own head, such as: "What's going on?"

When his right eye (with a non-lubricating cornea) was sewn shut, the remarkable first-person camerawork showed the stitches being horrifyingly administered to his septic eye from the inside.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Joker

The first appearance of the Joker (Heath Ledger) was during a bank robbery in the film's opening.

He was revealed to be the mastermind behind the holdup of a mob-owned bank with his clown-masked accomplices, whom he had instructed to kill each other -- leaving him as the only surviving criminal.

The Joker's reveal was similar to Lon Chaney’s Erik having his mask removed in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) by Mary Philbin.

Removing the Joker's clown mask only revealed another painted-on clown mask (with a grinning red scar) as he affirmed to the injured bank manager:

I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger.

Twilight (2008)

Edward Cullen

Handsome, immortal, animal-blood-eating vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) was first viewed suspiciously and intriguingly by mesmerized 17 year-old new-girl-in-school Isabella ("Bella") Swan (Kristen Stewart).

She stole glances at him after seeing the aloof, mysterious boy for the first time, in the Forks, Washington High School cafeteria.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Colonel Hans Landa

In the opening of director Quentin Tarantino's war film set during the early war years of 1941, sadistic SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) (nicknamed the "Jew Hunter") arrived at the rural farmhouse of French dairy farmer Perrier LaPadite (Denis Ménochet). After shaking hands, he invited himself inside for a "discussion." He politely introduced himself to the farmer's "lovely" young daughters, and instead of wine, he asked for a glass of milk.

Then, he deftly questioned LaPadite about the location of the final unaccounted-for Jewish family in the farming neighborhood - the Dreyfus family - who had vanished in the last year. They had either successfully escaped into Spain or were being hidden in the area. Under intense and determined interrogation, the farmer was forced to confess that the Dreyfus family was hidden under his floorboards.

With orders to shoot and kill the hidden Jews, soldiers fired their guns into the floorboards, killing the entire family, except for teenaged Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), who fled and was allowed to live.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

T-800 Series Terminator

This fourth film in the franchise series, set in 1984, included the dramatic entrance of the new prototypical T-800 Series Terminator (a combination of CGI and composite shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator (1984)) with a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 living-tissue covering.

The camera panned up from its bare legs along a massive naked body to its head.

The cyborg glared at Resistance leader John Connor (Christian Bale), who was within Skynet Central in San Francisco, looking for his future father, young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin).

Kick-Ass (2010)

Mindy Macready / Hit-Girl

Director Matthew Vaughn's action superhero comedy film was adapted from Mark Millar's hyper-violent comic book, and was very edgy and controversial for its brand of violence and a profanity-laden script that pushed the limits. It was a film heavily indebted to Quentin Tarantino and his Kill Bill films.

Average and unlikely New York teenager and comic-book nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) wanted to fight crime and gang warfare as an aspiring costumed superhero ("In the world I lived in, heroes only existed in comic books"). He adopted a new persona as Kick-Ass (with a green scuba outfit), although he admitted: "My only superpower was being invisible to girls."

Meanwhile, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), an ex-cop named Damon Macready, was training his eleven year-old daughter Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz) in crime-fighting skills. (Cage played the role as an imitation of TV's Batman, Adam West.) He had her equipped with a bullet-proof vest, and shot at her at close-range, so she could feel what it was like ("You're gonna be fine, baby doll. (gunblast) How was that? Not so bad. Kinda fun, huh? Now you know how it feels. You won't be scared when some junkie asshole pulls a Glock"). Soon after, she asked for "a Benchmade model-42 butterfly knife" for her birthday.

Shooting Practice With 11 Year-Old Daughter Mindy

In Kick-Ass' first attempt at real crime fighting against two thugs breaking into a car, he ended up severely injured (with a knife-stab wound in the abdomen, and then was struck by a car which turned into a hit-and-run, and caused multiple fractures). After he recovered, he reprised his crime-fighting duties as a "Real-Life Superhero" by intervening during a vicious, gang-related street attack, thereby becoming the "latest Internet phenomenon" as "a costumed vigilante." The video recording became the most-watched YouTube clip on the Internet. He began to field numerous requests for help on his MySpace internet account.

Vigilante Hit-Girl's (also Chloë Grace Moretz) first appearance came when she rescued Dave/Kick-Ass from another potential beating. After Dave's girl-friend Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) made a request for help against bullying drug dealer Rasul (Kofi Natei), Dave/Kick-Ass (as Kick-Ass "Version 2.0") confronted Rasul with a taser in his heavily-guarded apartment, but was quickly overpowered.

To his surprise, Hit-Girl came into view (with a black cape, mask, and purple wig) after impaling Rasul from behind, and then she challenged all of Rasul's thugs with a foul-mouthed sentence:

"OK, you cunts, let's see what you can do now. Eenie... Meenie... Miney... Moe."

With a combination of martial-arts skills and the use of a kitana sword, she then slaughtered all of them, and afterwards left with her father, who helped her out by shooting the final gang member - an obese bodyguard who snuck up on her from behind. They were to become a lethal father-daughter crime-fighting duo, targeting local underworld mob thug Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).

Shame (2011, UK)

Brandon Sullivan

British director Steve McQueen's uncompromising NC-17 rated drama (his second feature film) about sex addiction starred Michael Fassbender as Brandon Sullivan, a miserable and lonely bachelor whose hollow life consisted of quick-and-dirty meaningless one-night stands, sex with prostitutes, Internet pornography, and online chat rooms.

Although the film was bold, it never portrayed pornographic sex, and the sex itself was quite joyless, shameful and self-destructive.

He had a fantastic job and luxury apartment (although sparsely decorated) in New York City, a handsome physique, and great clothes, but was incapable of real love, affection, and intimacy. The graphic yet respectful unsexy film (with full-frontal nudity) examined his self-loathing, shame, compulsive masturbation, and flirtation with homosexuality.

The startling opening image of the film was of a passive, almost lifeless and sterile Brandon, only a stiff shell of a man, lying in his bed, unmoving and staring directly into the camera (the ceiling). His pale white skin was contrasted with the blue bedsheets that he was wrapped in. The next images were of him waiting for and taking a subway from the 28th Street station. His morning routine always found him walking around his apartment naked. The flaws in his character were completely telescoped in the first few minutes.

Skyfall (2012)

Raoul Silva

This 23rd film in the long-running franchise introduced its main villain in a long introductory scene. Blond-haired, vengeful cyberterrorist Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) now lived on a foggy and deserted island - located off the coast of Macau. The hideout was abandoned, and full of crumbling buildings.

007 agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) was seated in a chair with his hands bound behind his back in a giant decaying room full of servers and a few computer stations. The camera was stationary behind Bond.

As he slowly approached after descending in an elevator into the room, Silva introduced himself with a story about his childhood (when he lived with his grandmother), a time when his earlier small island home had become infested with rats. A buried oil drum with a hinged lid was set up, with coconut as bait, to lure the rats into the drum - where they would be trapped after a month. The hungry rats would then cannibalize themselves. The two surviving rats would be caught and released into the trees - where their only diet now consisted of rat ("You have changed their nature"). Silva compared the two of them to the two last surviving rats: "We can either eat each other, hmmm?, or eat everyone else."