I agree with a lot, but really disagree with the opening to Gangs of New York. I was set for an awesome battle and thought it was weak as hell. Terrible soundtrack choice, constant slow mo and flash editing obscured most everything I wanted to see. Could have been the highlight of the movie, ended up being the low point, for me.
Although, as we all know, Boogie Nights is the most awesomest movie ever made, the one-shot opening is a direct lift from Altman's "The Player" just a few years earlier. Although tone and feeling-wise Boogie Nights is better, The Player definitely has way more coordinated dialogue going on in its roving camera opening and, technically, was probably a little harder to pull off than the Boogie Nights shot - and, of course, it was first.
