2. The Car Attack - Children of Men
This gut-wrenching sequence, in which Theo's (Clive Owen) car is attacked by an armed gang, results in the death of his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore). The four-minute, single-take scene is a masterclass in how to convince an audience of something they're not really seeing. CGI is too often employed over-emphatically, but here, Alfonso Cuaron blends numerous elements - apparently six individual segments filmed in four locations, joined with five digital transitions - into a wholly convincing final product, one we're never doubting is anything less than 100% authentic. It's the sort of scene that has you watching it again and again just to try and feel out the seams or eye some creaky CGI. It is utterly astonishing.
How It Changed Cinema: An evolution of Hitchcock's Rope, Alfonso Cuaron used a more modern bag of tricks to make us totally believe in the intense energy of this artificially-constructed set-piece. Never are we in any doubt that this is unfolding as we see it, and that is rare these days.