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Best Appreciative Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of appreciative cinema — measured across 3,107 indexed frames from 33 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Appreciative films over-index on tactical vest, soldier and rifle — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    American Sniper (2014)

    Clint EastwoodDP Tom SternIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) was nothing more than a Texas man who dreamt of becoming a cowboy, but in his thirties he found out that maybe his life needed something different, something where he could express his real talent, something that could help America in its fight against terrorism. So he joined the S.E.A.L.s in order to become a sniper. After marrying Taya (Sienna Miller), Kyle and the other members of the team are called for their first tour of Iraq. Kyle's struggle isn't with his missions, but about his relationship with the reality of the war and, once returned at home, how he manages to handle it with his urban life, his wife, and kids.

  2. 2

    13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

    Michael BayDP Dion BeebeIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Libya, 2012. At an unofficial CIA base in Benghazi, a group of ex-military contractors are providing security. In the aftermath of Gaddafi's downfall, a power vacuum exists and the climate is volatile. Military weapons are freely available. The US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, makes a visit to the area, staying in a compound near the CIA base. On the night of 11 September, 2012, the Ambassador's compound is attacked by hordes of heavily armed locals; the only forces willing and able to defend it are six CIA contractors.

  3. 3

    Three Kings (1999)

    David O. RussellDP Newton Thomas SigelIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    A small group of adventurous American soldiers in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War are determined to steal a huge cache of gold reputed to be hidden somewhere near their desert base. Finding a map they believe will take them to the gold, they embark on a journey that leads to unexpected discoveries, enabling them to rise to a heroic challenge that drastically changes their lives.

  4. 4

    The Living Daylights (1987)

    John GlenDP Alec MillsIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    James Bond 007's mission is to firstly, organise the defection of a top Soviet general. When the general is re-captured, Bond heads off to find why an ally of General Koskov was sent to murder him. Bond's mission continues to take him to Afghanistan, where he must confront an arms dealer known as Brad Whitaker. Everything eventually reveals its self to Bond.

  5. 5

    Snowpiercer (2013)

    Bong Joon HoDP Hong Kyung-pyoIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    Set in 2031, the entire world is frozen except for those aboard the Snowpiercer. For seventeen years, the world's survivors are on a train hurtling around the globe creating their own economy and class system. Led by Curtis (Chris Evans), a group of lower-class citizens living in squalor at the back of the train are determined to get to the front of the train and spread the wealth around. Each section of the train holds new surprises for the group who have to battle their way through. A revolution is underway.

  6. 6

    Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

    Jeff WadlowDP Tim Maurice-JonesIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    After Kick-Ass' insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, led by the badass Colonel Stars and Stripes, our hero joins them on patrol. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mist -- reborn as The Mother F%&*^r -- only the blade-wielding Hit Girl can prevent their annihilation. When we last saw junior assassin Hit Girl and young vigilante Kick-Ass, they were trying to live as normal teenagers Mindy and Dave. With graduation looming and uncertain what to do, Dave decides to start the world's first superhero team with Mindy. Unfortunately, when Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, she's forced to retire, leaving her to navigate the terrifying world of high-school mean girls on her own. With no one left to turn to, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster named Colonel Stars and Stripes. Just as they start to make a real difference on the streets, the world's first super villain, The Mother F%&*^r, assembles his own evil league and puts a plan in motion to make Kick-Ass and Hit Girl pay for what they did to his dad. There's only one problem with his scheme: If you mess with one member of Justice Forever, you mess with them all.

  7. 7

    True Lies (1994)

    James CameronDP Russell CarpenterIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a double life. At work he is a government agent with a license to do just about anything, while at home he pretends to be a dull computer salesman. He is on the trail of stolen nuclear weapons that are in the hands of fanatic terrorists when something more important comes up. Harry finds his wife is seeing another man (Bill Paxton) because she needs some adventure in her life. Harry decides to give it to her, juggling pursuit of terrorists on one hand and an adventure for his wife on the other while showing he can Tango all at once.

  8. 8

    Boyka: Undisputed IV (2016)

    Todor ChapkanovDP Ivan VatsovIMDb 7.0TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    In the fourth installment of the fighting franchise, Boyka is shooting for the big leagues when an accidental death in the ring makes him question everything he stands for. When he finds out the wife of the man he accidentally killed is in trouble, Boyka offers to fight in a series of impossible battles to free her from a life of servitude.

  9. 9

    The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

    Stephan ElliottDP Brian J. BrehenyIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Two drag-queens (Anthony/Mitzi and Adam/Felicia) and a transgender woman contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. En route, it is discovered that the woman they've contracted with is Anthony's wife. Their bus breaks down, and is repaired by Bob, who travels on with them.

  10. 10

    About Time (2013)

    Richard CurtisDP John GuleserianIMDb 7.8TMDB 7.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time... The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life-so he decides to make his world a better place...by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think. Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They fall in love, then an unfortunate time-travel incident means he's never met her at all. So they meet for the first time again-and again-but finally, after a lot of cunning time-traveling, he wins her heart. Tim then uses his power to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional disaster and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter, despite a nasty traffic jam outside Abbey Road. But as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift can't save him from the sorrows and ups and downs that affect all families, everywhere. There are great limits to what time travel can achieve, and it can be dangerous too.

What appreciative films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a appreciative frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — tactical vest is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • tactical vest7.1×
  • soldier3.4×
  • rifle2.9×
  • concrete wall2.0×
  • sunglasses1.9×
  • beard1.6×
  • tie1.5×

How appreciative films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate appreciative from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 17%high keyvs 12% baseline
  • 84%eye levelvs 69% baseline

What breaks the pattern

What Lies Beneath (2000) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 3,107 frames from 33 films carrying the appreciative label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/appreciative

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used