Best NON Subwoofer Movie Moment?

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A little different to the usual thread.

Of course, there's much more to a film than subsonics, so what are your favourite film clips that really capture the reality of what's going on that isn't related to lower frequencies? It could be some ultra realistic dialogue, gunshots/gunfights, a plane flying overhead, a car crash, general ambience, a music track, a particularly punchy moment, or excellent effects placement. It can be anything that struck you as particularly impressive for any reason.

The gunshot towards the end of Fight Club has to be mentioned, as there's a few times I've watched it and thought that the intentional whistle afterwards was actually my own ears!

Also the gunfight at the hotel between Llewelyn and Anton in No Country For Old Men - Anton's silenced gun sounds lovely, but Lewellyn's shotgun is so punchy and dynamic - very impressive on a system that can handle it. The cattle bolt that Anton uses to punch out key barrels in doors sounds particularly dynamic when he does so.

I was watching Jaws tonight, and coming up to the bit when Hooper is in the shark cage and attacked for the first time, I glanced down at my phone to check something (no, not levels) and the shark slams into the cage with an almighty thump which sends me about a foot off the chair!

There's been a couple of films where something has suddenly happened or someone has said something in one of the rear speakers which has been so realistic it makes you jump in that way you do when you think someone has crept into the room. If I find out which films they were, I'll post them up.

I'm not expecting as large a response as the sub moments thread, but it is here for those that appreciate other aspects of movie soundtracks.
 
Ignoring the bass at the same time, the surround effects of cracking timbers and cannon balls in Master and Commander certainly impressed me last night having last watched it many year before on a much more basic system. It really gave that out of the room effect at times (cracking mast in the room above was one), though could well be as much an indication of the excellent surround sound field I get using fully matching MK 150 series speakers...can't beat tripoles IMHO.

There's a 'laser' type gun shot near the start of Terminator 2 that comes from directly behind (when running in 7.1 mode anyway) which has made me duck more than once. Also the effect of the chain link fences pinging each side of the sofa as Arnie blasts his bike through them.

I like the effect of the motorbikes at the start of Skyfall as they zoom from over my shoulders towards the front of the room (7.1 mode helping again here).
 
Gunfight in Book of Eli, superb surround effects.
Also Avatar, when the wheelchaired chap exits the aeroplane and one of the mechanical bodies walks past him, right behind to front, that's a reference for my speaker positions.
 
Saving Private Ryan - In the Church where they're chatting has a nice ambient effect with gunfire etc in the distance.

M.I.4 Ghost Protocol - At the beginning where Tom Cruise is bouncing a ball off his cell walls.

Riddick - A creature is circling around one of the Mercs and you can clearly hear it pan around the room.

Gladiator - Early on where Maximus escapes the Praetorians. He lobs a sword at one of them on a horse and the sound comes from behind and goes straight overhead on a 6.1/7.1 setup.

Monsters, Inc. Early scene where Boo giggles and the electricity surges. Also the scene where one of the monsters has a sock on his back that they remove, encase in a dome then blow up. The movie is full of great moments.
 
Jack Reacher, at the beginning the sniper shots sound awesome, with the shells landing to the side of you and you can hear the guy breathing, then distance screams as panic ensues. Also later on in the car chase scene, you really get the sensation of being in a V8 muscle car.
 
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I'd forgotten about that V8 in Jack Reacher, though to be fair a good part of the effect is due to the subwoofer.

I wasn't surprised to see this thread had moved though. ;)
 
This would probably be classed as a subwoofer moment, but you're also very aware of the movement of the object:

The opening scene in Drive where they're hiding under a bridge from a police helicopter, the helicopter is hovering above before flying off. The overall sound just puts you inside the car.
 
House of flying Daggers the scene where the girl has to pinpoint the drum sounds. When he throws the whole bowl of beans the sound is just immense.
 
Not so much a surround sound feast, but towards the end of Saving Private Ryan - as the German forces near the town, the creaky, mechanical sound of the Tiger tank as it trundles towards the square, I thought was brilliant - as something you can hear coming, but cant see it. It built the tension perfectly.

No Country For Old Men was mentioned above, I'd also include the scene where Moss is running from the pickup truck just as the sun comes up. The mixture of the truck's rough idle, and Moss' heavy breathing, was damn near perfect IMO. That film is full of those moments though, where what you hear builds tension as much as what you can see.

Skyfall - the surround activity of the helicopter during the aerial attack of the lodge. Quite seamless and plenty of clout. Surround activity I often feel is quite tinny, but this had some real meat to it from the speaker, not just the LFE.
 
House of flying Daggers the scene where the girl has to pinpoint the drum sounds. When he throws the whole bowl of beans the sound is just immense.
Myself and a colleague were the first to start using that as a demo disc on a Miller & Kreisel system, back when we were working for Sevenblokes in Birmingham in 2004 - it was then 'adopted' by a few manufacturers and distributors for demo purposes... :)

There's also the chase scene in the bamboo forest where you can hear the wind passing through the flying bamboo 'spears' as they fly through the air all around you. I haven't watched it in full for many years, so I'll have to revisit it soon.
 
No Country For Old Men was mentioned above, I'd also include the scene where Moss is running from the pickup truck just as the sun comes up. The mixture of the truck's rough idle, and Moss' heavy breathing, was damn near perfect IMO. That film is full of those moments though, where what you hear builds tension as much as what you can see.
The audio is pretty impressive throughout the film. There are a number of films I regularly watch, and this is one of them (along with Psycho, Jaws, Exorcist, The Shining, The Thing, Payback etc), and I always come back to this film as the most impressive sounding. I doubt there's much below 40/50Hz (I think the sound of the 4x4 engines is as deep as it gets), but the atmosphere and detail in the soundtrack is amazing - and the track playing over the end credits sounds phenomenal - at this point I have usually turned the PJ off, closed my eyes and I'm listening to the vast space that the sparse instrument arrangement reveals.
 
Kill Bill has some great sound - gunshots, thuds - i think it is a great disc for Audio.
 
Hello David - yes, you almost feel like you are in there with her.
I also like the bit where they're having a good ruck in the kitchen, there's loads of good thuds & the gun-shot through the cereal box sounds ace.
Really do like audio on the Blu-ray disc.
 
The Thin Red Line Criterion does it for me start to finish, from the start where the kids are swimming under water to the Melanesian Choir kick in "amazing" I also love when the troops go up the hill you actually feel like you are going up with them, with the wind swishing through the grass and the camera panning all over the hill takes you there "immense" also the chase scene through the river and jungle and Jim Caviezel getting surrounded with the Japanese soldiers and there is deadly silence. There are to many scenes to mention.


This is movie blows me away every time I watch it, it's a masterpiece in sound and vision, the soundtrack is mesmerizing ;)
 
The start of 'The Place beyond the Pines' follows Ryan Gosling walking through a fair ground. There are sounds all around from the various rides and crowd noise and it really feels like you are over his shoulder as he walks along. Not so much 'in your face' surround effects but great ambience making you feel like you're really there.
 
Monsters University - The Scare Team party. A music effect pans from front left along the sidewall to surround left, around the surround backs to surround right and back down the sidewall to front right then goes around again. Nice test for speaker imaging and surround placement. :)
 
Rise of The Guardians - Whenever Pitch Black/The Boogeyman is in a scene. His voice is panning all around the room from speaker to speaker. Excellent use of effects placement.
 
Gunshots in Open Range. Yes, there is a subwoofer component to the sound (as there is with all sounds) but the staggering leading edge crack, is a pure treble dynamics issue.

Russell
 
Rage of Fire when the convoy is stopped on the way to London and the Dragon is circling round the sound & panning is awesome.
 
Bladerunner - the complete movie! No big subwoofer moments, just the whole film sounds sublime - check-out the part where 'Pris' walking the streets to J.F Sebastian's apartment up to the point where they enter his place, amazing atmospherics and one of many great scenes throughout, and the Vangelis score that suits the film superbly - such a great movie, and when you think how old it is!
 
A few of the top of my head.

Heat – The bank robbery and shootout scene
Terminator 2 - T2/THX Intro and motorbike chase scene
Fight Club – Opening title sequence

Also of movies watched recently, Gravity and Hunger Games Catching Fire have impressive scores overall, great ambience and immersion.
 
Bladerunner - the complete movie! No big subwoofer moments, just the whole film sounds sublime - check-out the part where 'Pris' walking the streets to J.F Sebastian's apartment up to the point where they enter his place, amazing atmospherics and one of many great scenes throughout, and the Vangelis score that suits the film superbly - such a great movie, and when you think how old it is!
agree with everything you say: which of the versions are you specifically refering to?
 

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