Sunday, March 27, 2011

My 100 favorite movie moments

In no particular order.

Warning: I tried to keep them to a minimum, but there are spoilers below. Can't help it.

1. Rushmore "These are my O.R. scrubs." "Oh are they?"
2. Unforgiven Delilah recites William Munny's criminal biography to him. Munny begins to drink.
3. Blowup David Hemmings rolls a quarter between his fingers while listening to two girls.
4. Rocky III Clubber Lang interrupts Rocky's statue's unveiling.
5. Jackie Brown Sam Jackson menacingly enters Max's office at night.
6. Patton George C. Scott's opening speech.
7. The Third Man Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles talk on the Ferris wheel.
8. Five Easy Pieces Jack Nicholson gets mad while ordering at a diner.
9. Don't Look Back "I don't read Time, I don't read Newsweek, I don't read any of those magazines. They just got too much to lose by printing the truth. You know that."
10. Glengarry Glen Ross Alec Baldwin's performance.
11. Black Swan Natalie Portman brags to her mother about what she was up to last night.
12. Deep Blue Sea Sam Jackson is eaten by a shark.
13. Anchorman The brawl.
14. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World "Bread makes you fat?"
15. The Odd Couple Jack Lemmon makes two British lushes feel sorry for him as Walter Matthau prepares drinks. (fun fact: I originally included the scene in Swingers in which Jon Favreau tries to call his ex-girlfriend while in the girl's trailer, until I realized it was just an homage to this.)
16. Vanilla Sky Good Vibrations plays as Tom Cruise runs around.
17. Jurassic Park The first shot of a brontosaurus.
18. Toy Story 3 The toys approach the incinerator.
19. Clockwork Orange Alex's droogs fight Billyboy's gang.
20. Full Metal Jacket Private Pyle shoots his drill sergeant.
21. The Godfather Sonny's death.
22. The Godfather II Fredo's death.
23. On the Waterfront Marlon Brando tries to fit his hands into a pair of gloves while talking to Eva Marie Saint.
24. Jerry Maguire "You had me at hello."
25. The Shining Danny sees the two girls in the hall.
26. The Last Kiss Zach Braff waits outside the front door.
27. The Virgin Suicides Peach schnapps at Homecoming.
28. Bonnie and Clyde Warren Beatty tries to charm Faye Dunaway's mother as he eats an ice cream sandwich.
29. Inglourious Basterds The stand-off in the bar.
30. True Romance The stand-off/John Woo homage.
31. Predator Billy challenges the Predator on the bridge.
32. The Wizard "I love the Power Glove. It's so... bad."
33. Reservoir Dogs Mr. Orange kills Mr. Blonde.
34. The Departed Mark Wahlberg kills Matt Damon.
35. The Warriors The montage of all the gangs coming out to look for the Warriors.
36. Once Upon a Time in the West "Did you bring a horse for me?" "Well... looks like we're... looks like we're one horse shy." "You brought two too many."
37. I <3 Huckabees Mark Wahlberg argues with his wife as she leaves him.
38. The Good the Bad and the Ugly Tuco runs through the graveyard to Ennio Morricone's The Ecstasy of Gold.
39. A Gunfight "You stay the hell away from me, you hear?"
40. Return of the Jedi Wedge blows up the Death Star.
41. Bullitt The car chase.
42. Fast Times at Ridgemont High "You know Damone, I always stick up for you. They say 'oh, Damone that loud mouth' - and they say that a lot. I say 'oh, no you just don't know Damone.' I mean when they call you an idiot, I say 'Damone's not an idiot.' Well, you know something maybe they know you pretty good."
43. Goodfellas Joe Pesci gets whacked.
44. Star Wars: A New Hope Red Leader's attack run.
45. Clerks "He's right... I love her." "So that's it; he doesn't love you."
46. Igby Goes Down Jeff Goldblum beats up Kieran Culkin.
47. Night of the Hunter The children see their uncle dead in the river.
48. Almost Famous The bus ride after William and Russell's long night before.
49. Seven Brad Pitt opens the box.
50. The Other Guys The Rock and Sam Jackson aim for the bushes.
51. Death Proof The girls kick the hell out of Kurt Russell.
52. Annie Hall Christopher Walken drives Woodie Allen and Diane Keaton to the airport.
53. Manhattan The opening.
54. Rear Window Grace Kelly climbs the wall.
55. Rosemary's Baby The baby shower.
56. The Life Aquatic Bill Murray fights back against the pirates.
57. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas "Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. A normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow. But he won't know what to make of your blinker signal that says you are about to turn right. This is to let him know you're pulling off for a proper place to talk. It will take him a moment to realize that he's about to make a 180 degree turn at speed, but you will be ready for it."
58. Cool Hand Luke Luke eats 50 eggs.
59. The Royal Tenenbaums "Here I come!" moments before Owen Wilson crashes his car in the side of the house.
60. Paths of Glory "You can go to Hell before I apologize to you now or ever again!"
61. Oldboy The reveal.
62. Ocean's Eleven Sammy Davis Jr. sings Ee O Eleven.
63. X2: X-Men United The shape of a phoenix appears in the lake.
64. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid "Guns or knives?" "Neither?" "Pick!" "I don't want to shoot with you, Harvey."
65. Planet of the Apes Charlton Heston sees that his friend has been lobotomized.
66. The Devil's Rejects Diamond Dallas Page beats up the Firefly family.
67. Brian's Song "I love Brian Piccolo."
68. Good Will Hunting Matt Damon argues with a Harvard student at a bar.
69. The Social Network "I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me."
70. They Live Roddy Piper sees Reagan-alien on television.
71. Pulp Fiction The dance contest.
72. The Bridge on the River Kwai Alec Guinness realizes what he has done.
73. The Seventh Seal Max von Sydow accidentally reveals his strategy to Death while in the confessional.
74. Heathers "Football season is over, Veronica. Kurt and Ram had nothing left to offer the school except date rapes and AIDS jokes."
75. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back "I love you!" "I know."
76. Wonderboys "People don't think, James."
77. Johnny Got His Gun Joe is unable to communicate while in his hospital bed.
78. Rocky Rocky first starts to train, and gets his ass kicked.
79. Knife in the Water The young man plays a game of quickly stabbing a knife between his fingers.
80. The Graduate The opening scene as Dustin Hoffman makes his way through the airport.
81. Aguirre: The Wrath of God Monkeys overtake the boat.
82. Let the Right One In Cats attack the vampire.
83. Unbreakable The flashback montage of Sam Jackson learning the weaknesses to different buildings and trains.
84. Goldfinger "That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"
85. The Darjeeling Limited The slow spanning shot of different passengers in their rooms.
86. North by Northwest Cary Grant is forced to drink bourbon and then drive.
87. 2001: A Space Odyssey Apes start to use weapons.
88. Dr. Strangelove The president explains the situation over the phone to the Soviet premier.
89. Lost in Translation Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and Airsoft.
90. Texas Chainsaw Massacre Leatherface waves his chainsaw around in frustration at the end of the movie.
91. The Last Temptation of Christ Jesus begins to become more confident as a public speaker.
92. Spinal Tap The limo driver rants about Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. The window is rolled up on him.
93. Munich One of the Jewish Olympians has an opportunity to escape through his room but turns around, takes out a terrorist, grabs his gun, but then gets shot to death.
94. Fantastic Mr. Fox Every scene involving the animals eating food.
95. Dogma "Raining down sulphur is like an endurance trial man. Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, outside of soccer."
96. Help! The Beatles go to bed in their home.
97. Saw The ending.
98. Cruel Intentions Every time Ryan Phillippe drives his Roadster.
99. The Great Escape Steve McQueen tries to get away on motorcycle.
100. Mean Streets Harvey Keitel walks through the bar, greeting everyone he sees to the Rolling Stones' Tell Me.

2 comments:

  1. I recognize a lot of my own favorites here. And several movies I apparently need to see.

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  2. Lot of great moments... Reservoir Dogs, Don't Look Back, Jurassic Park...

    I have to say, though, my favorite moment in Return of the Jedi is in the middle of the epic battle between Luke and Vader at the end, when there's a slow tracking shot as the camera moves left just as Luke and Vader are in battle and also moving left, the pass along a stairway with the camera on the opposite side, obscures the view for a few seconds. I just think it's the most brilliant shot in the whole series, really, although Jedi isn't my favorite of the films.

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