man you forgot betty blue - go on post a pic post a pic

and JFK has a fantastic building recretion - but i'm a sucker for JFK from start to finish

and recently Harry Brown - fuck me but that was an opener

Fellowship of the Ring, Pulp Fiction and Black Swan come to mind right away, will need to think about the rest.
 
lol @ sandy.

X2 or Inglourious Basterds would get my vote.

Up in the Air had the best opening title sequence I've seen in a while.

Funny you mentioned the Coens, I almost included O Brother Where Art Thou? That's my favourite musical opening in a film, followed by The Lion King.

'Up'- The sadest beginning for any Disney film Expect for maybe Bambi.
'It's Kind of a Funny Story'- the kid contemplates sucide then admits himself into hospital. Well played out beginning.

Here's just a few, off the top of my head.

Spiderman 2

A brilliant little montage which showed us, in fantastic artistic form, the events which brought us to Spiderman 2. In all honesty, I think the similar opening for the third movie was better, but I really hate the third movie.

Star Wars III

Yes, there were better movies in the Star Wars double trilogy (this probably being 3rd or 4th best, depending on how much people hate Ewoks) and yes, definitely the first Star Wars movie released (IV: A New Hope) would have been iconic for it being the first one. But in this, I'm looking past the iconic scroll of words that we've associated with Star Wars, I'm looking to the first 5 minutes of the movie as well, and for that Star Wars III wins. We get our text scroll, we then follow two aircrafts in the abyss of space until they come up and we see one, if not the largest battles to take place in out of space. Watching this at the cinema, and not being a huge Star Wars fans (only enjoying IV and V) I was almost breathless and 100% mesmerized. A fantastic opening.

Wall-E

Simple, majestic, beautiful and eerie all at the same time. I consider the opening, until the fade out to show the current state of the Earth. Beautiful yet haunting at the same time. This is also due to some amazing, yet again, simple music.

Forrest Gump

Majestic and iconic, set to a beautiful and yet again, simple piece of music that manages to connect with the viewer. Everyone knows the setting, everyone knows the line and of course it is followed by a marathon of a movie.

Up

Again beautiful and simple. Tells us a beautiful story of something like 70-80 years in the space of 2-3 minutes. And in that time, we laugh and we cry. Shows true love, the beauty of marriage and the connection between a partner.

Casino Royale

That opening scene showed us a new, revitilised Bond and the kick into the usual Bond opening/gun shot was brilliantly done.

[font="comic sans ms"]Here’s mine:-
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[font="comic sans ms"] ‘ Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)- Okay, so technically its not the opening shot, its about the third or fourth scene but the incredible and innovative shot of the lighted match changing to the spectacular shot of the desert sunrise was a landmark of cinema. And it MUST be seen on the big-screen to get the full effect. I was fortunate to see the restored version in a cinema back in about 1989 and even as a 19-year-old I was blown away by that image.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘Up’ (2009)- The opening montage was brilliant and truly moving. In terms of emotional impact, it was worth an entire film in its own right. Ditto the comments made by other forumers.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"]‘ Contact’ (1997)- I know that thanks to South Park and Family Guy, this film has become cool to mock but the opening shot of the camera pulling back from the Earth, slowly at first but then getting faster until we are heading out beyond our galaxy and the radio signals get older and fainter I found thought-provoking and awe-inspiring.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘The Player’ (1991)- Robert Altmann’s masterly expose of Hollywood begins with a long tracking shot which swerves back and forth in between multiple conversations in the studio lot and within the first minutes expertly establishes the personalities on display and the tone of the film. Martin Scorsese did a similar thing with the opening shot of his 1993 film ‘The Age of Innocence’.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘Lord of War’ (2005)- What could be a better way to start a film about an international weapons dealer? A montage of shots from the viewpoint of a bullet showing its journey from being born in a arms factory in the West right through to it ending up in the forehead of a young African boy-soldier.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘Enemy at the Gates’ (2001)- Yuri the sniper is flung into battle in the hell-hole that was Stalingrad. Take note of what the Russian officer handing out the rifles to the new arrivals (only one between two) says- “When the one with the rifle gets killed, the one without the rifle picks up the rifle and shoots!”.  That’s ‘when’ not ‘if’.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] “Four Weddings & A Funeral (1994)-  “Fuck! Fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck! Fuck!”
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (2004)-  Wait, have the Zombies over-run London already? No, that’s just the half-asleep, lethargic, bored-witless workers of London commuting to whatever drudgery this day holds in store for them.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘King Kong’ (2005)-  Deserves a mention for Peter Jackson’s amazing re-creation of Depression-era New York.
[font="comic sans ms"] 
[font="comic sans ms"] ‘I am Legend’ (2007)- Not sure about the rest of this film but the opening minutes of Will Smith chasing deer with his sports car through a deserted New York was a stunner.
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[font="comic sans ms"] Other mentions:-  Star Wars III: revenge of the Sith
[font="comic sans ms"]                              Saving Private Ryan
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I reckon Snatch lays a claim. Come on, was that not one of the coolest heists ever?

I would say definately The Two Towers - Gandalf Vs The Balrog
Return of the King - Smeagol's Transformation into Gollum
Back to the Futue 2 - "Roads?...Where we're going, we don't need roads!
The Dark Knight - Bank Robbery w/Joker
Memento - Polaroid fades in reverse
Fellowship of the Ring - BEST PROLOGUE EVER!!!
INDY 3 - Indy's Very First Adventure
Superman - Zod on trial
Revenge of the Sith - EPIC Coroscant Battle
Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Maroon Cartoon

agree with pretty much everyone above!

specific mentions: who framed roger rabbit, A new hope, casino royale, dark knight, X2, and every Tarantino film!

some to add:

Pineapple Express - government testing weed for the first time. Bill Hader being awesome. as usual.

ET - the dark forrest with spaceship and the aliens collecting plants, they stop and all their hearts light up. then the government chases em out!

Watchmen - the comedian gets murdered.

Big Lebowski - whether its drinking milk from the carton in the supermarket or searching for his glasses in the toilet bowl.



I could go on, as everyone could.