Top Movie Scenes

I still don't really have anything timely to say. Also I had a hand injury and couldn't type much. But I guess I'm reaching into the bag of things anybody could do, and I'm going to write a list of my favorite movie scenes ever.

This conversational style might be more effective if anybody was actually reading...

Anyway, here is my list. It's not ranked, because Roger Ebert hates that (and I kind of agree with him).

On a side note, I could barely read that whole article. I felt so guilty knowing that I'm taking up about as much web space as Ebert is and I'm such an inferior writer to him. I'll stop moping and start my list now.

Rushmore - The scene where Max first meets Miss Cross
The blocking of this scene is brilliant, certainly the best of any on this list, and that's what makes it so great. This is the scene where Max first speaks to his love interest, first grade teacher Miss Cross. She is smoking on the bleachers, and he on the other side of them. But as the conversation shifts in tone, he physically moves closer to her. When Max gets into a good topic, he slides towards her. And when he thinks he's offended her, he slides away again. This scene inventively puts into images what anybody on an awkward date feels like doing, and once again director Wes Anderson does a fantastic of subtly turning emotion visible.

I couldn't find a video of just this scene, but it is in this video, just around 4 minutes in. But of course, if you haven't seen Rushmore yet, then you should just see the movie because it is that good.


Inglourious Basterds - Opening scene
This is just a wonderful torture scene. Christoph Waltz is soooo good as Hans Landa, the "Jew Hunter", and when he's drinking the milk... chills run down my sping. It's fantastic. By the way you're going to be seeing a lot of Tarantino on this list. Just warning you.

Also, apparently I'm a terrible Youtube researcher, because I couldn't find a video of this scene. If you have anything, please put it in the comments and I'll add it.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Final scene
Until this scene, I was pretty indecisive about my feelings on "Eternal Sunshine". I was confused by it and didn't really feel like there was a point. But all of the point came from this scene. This one scene carried out the message of the entire movie, that it's worth it to have good times with somebody even if you know that the relationship won't end well. It's a beautiful message, and this is a beautiful scene.

I did manage to find a video for this scene, but the quality's absolutely awful (as, if you go to the video's page on Youtube itself, you could see I commented). I can't really understand what anyone's saying, but I'll post it here anyway and wish you luck.



Napoleon Dynamite - Final scene (tetherball)
I suppose this one really isn't too unique. But it's made really sweet just because of who the characters are. Two awkward kids, who had only been gradually drifting together throughout the movie. The shot is really well-done, it stays at the same wide angle the whole time, slowly zooming out. And I love that something so mundane like tetherball can be made into such a romantic experience, actually the climax of this romance as we see it in the movie.

This video is also pretty bad quality, and with this scene more than any I wouldn't think it would make too much sense without the context of the whole movie. But here it is regardless.


Pulp Fiction - Royale with Cheese/Bumping off Brett
This scene is also not that unique, it's just really, really incredibly well done. The dialogue, as it is in this whole movie, is so well-written, and John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, as they are in this whole movie, are at the tops of their respective games. Also there's a really funny parody of this scene with Bert and Ernie.
I have videos of the two parts of this scene plus the Sesame Street one. These all seem to be in pretty good quality. Then again I didn't watch them all the way through, but they seem alright.





Wayne's World - Bohemian Rhapsody
Need I say more? This scene, which brought Queen's fantastic song back to popularity, is a classic, and it's really funny.


So that's basically the list right now. There are scenes from "Midnight Meat Train" and "Lost in Translation" which deserve honorable mention as well.
Stay tuned, don't forget about the blog because I will write stuff on here. At some point, eventually, yeah.