BBM DVD WATCHING Habits and Reactions: THINKIN' OUT LOUD... POWERFUL FILM SCENES

[rtprod]

Hi guys,

I'm just curious how many times everyone has watched their DVDs since the release last month, and what reactions have been versus your theatrical experience(s).  How impcatful it has been may have to do with your home set up, but one thing I'm curious about is how often you jump to specific scenes versus watch the film straight through.  I usually watch straight through and have seen my DVD only twice since release (though I had an Academy screener since December so I got accustomed to the idea of having the film at my fingertips). 

I have found that I can't really watch scenes out of context by selecting individual chapters--I somehow feel like I am robbing myself of the cumulative emotional effect of seeing them play out as they were intended, and without the "build" it removes some of the power from the experience.  Anyone else experienced this?  And if you do jump to a specific scene most often, which one is it?  I know, I know, but let's try to forget about the first tent scene here for a moment guys....   

rt

[chefjudy]

  I agree with you on this one RT, I have watched it twice all the way through and cried both times - I think if I only watched certain scenes, it wouldn't have the same emotional impact as it would after having my guts torn out for two hours in a complete run-through.................imho

[DeeDee]

I know exacyly what you mean. You need to watch straight through or it loses alot of its impact.   I've watched my DVD 2 times with others and 4 times myself.  After watching 22 times in the theater, I noticed something I never noticed before.  In the second tent scene, right when Jack first kisses Ennis, you see Ennis' hand in between them like he doesn't know what to do with it.
I don't know why, but I found that adorable, and I don't remember noticing that in the theater.

The only scene I skip to once in a while is the lake scene.  The acting in that scene is so powerful, that each time I watch a new emotion emerges.  

[rtprod]

I have to confess that I have skipped directly to that scene a couple times but I have an interesting reaction.

I find myself, nearly each time I see this scene, looking away from the screen when Heath breaks into his "I'm nothing" line.  It gives me chills actually, the level of commitment he has in that scene and I feel as though I am eavesdropping on the private pain of another human being, and like it's something I should not see.  It also overwhelms me from an acting standpoint and I guess it just hurts to watch it.  Never once seen that moment without a few tears of my own.  That scene is unparallled in terms of writing and acting.  It just can't get better than that. 

I hate to digress here but this thread is bound to evolve as well and I have just thought of another angle to go on here.  Let's make a list of poweful film scenes that approach that level of emotional commitment and affect us that deeply.  Not just ordinary moving, but truly deep and profound.  The first that comes to mind is:

1. Meryl Streep's struggle with, and reaction to, her choice in "Sophie's Choice"

[ednbarby]

I have watched it seven times on the DVD.  Twice with others and five times alone.  The seventh and most recent time is the first time (and probably the last) I didn't watch it all the way through.  I stopped it after Ennis broke down in the alley.  For some reason, that night I just wanted to remember them as only having each other.  Which of course is what they always had, but I just wasn't up for seeing the women in their lives.  Except for the two walking by when Aguirre pulls up to the trailer, we never see a single woman in that first act of the film.  And that night, that was just the way I wanted it.

But I'm with you all that I don't think I could skip around, pick certain chapters and what-not.  And the next time I watch it, I won't just pick up where I left off - I'll start again from the beginning.  As you've all said, I think it would lose the full impact if I did.

To add to your list, rt:

2. Liam Neeson's reaction when he rides up over the ridge to see the mass graves of the Jews (and the little girl in the red coat on the top of one of them) in "Schindler's List"

[rtprod]

I have watched it seven times on the DVD.  Twice with others and five times alone.  The seventh and most recent time is the first time (and probably the last) I didn't watch it all the way through.  I stopped it after Ennis broke down in the alley.  For some reason, that night I just wanted to remember them as only having each other.  Which of course is what they always had, but I just wasn't up for seeing the women in their lives.  Except for the two walking by when Aguirre pulls up to the trailer, we never see a single woman in that first act of the film.  And that night, that was just the way I wanted it.

But I'm with you all that I don't think I could skip around, pick certain chapters and what-not.  And the next time I watch it, I won't just pick up where I left off - I'll start again from the beginning.  As you've all said, I think it would lose the full impact if I did.

To add to your list, rt:

2. Liam Neeson's reaction when he rides up over the ridge to see the mass graves of the Jews in "Schindler's List"

Gotcha.  Neeson's reaction was awesome in that moment. 

3. Oprah Winfrey's reaction to her grown children after being released from prison, returning home on Christmas in "The Color Purple"

[serious crayons]

I haven't bought the DVD, fearing I'd be tempted to overwatch and become desensitized. I hadn't seen it since it left theaters, so about two months. Then I rented it last week and watched it twice, beginning to end, because it was a two-day rental. Later, I realized my kids would be getting out of school in a couple of weeks, after which my viewing would be curtailed, so I rented it again yesterday and watched it once, beginning to end but FFing through a few parts because I was short on time. It has since become an eight-day rental, so I have it until next Friday and may watch it once again before returning it. (Always alone -- I've only seen the movie one time with someone else.)

I might be tempted to skip around more except that I a) agree that you lose impact that way, b) have lost my remote and c) watched some of the best parts time and time again on YouTube. Still, not surprisingly they are MUCH more intense on the DVD. Sometimes I do reverse and watch parts twice.

But rt, I think you should also ask how many times people saw it in the theater. I saw it "only" seven times there. If that number were different, it might affect how often I'd watch the DVD. Also rt, you didn't say how many times YOU have watched your DVD.

You expressed this really beautifully (though I myself CAN'T look away):

I find myself, nearly each time I see this scene, looking away from the screen when Heath breaks into his "I'm nothing" line.  It gives me chills actually, the level of commitment he has in that scene and I feel as though I am eavesdropping on the private pain of another human being, and like it's something I should not see.  It also overwhelms me from an acting standpoint and I guess it just hurts to watch it.  Never once seen that moment without a few tears of my own.  That scene is unparallled in terms of writing and acting.  It just can't get better than that. 

As for your other question, I'm sorry but I can't think of any. Either Sophie's Choice or Schindler's List might be a candidate, and I would hate to think I wasn't deeply moved by the Holocaust, but I saw those so long ago I can't remember my emotional reaction very well. I can tell you I haven't been tempted to watch any movie 10 times since I was a kid.

[rtprod]

I haven't bought the DVD, fearing I'd be tempted to overwatch and become desensitized. I hadn't seen it since it left theaters, so about two months. Then I rented it last week and watched it twice, beginning to end, because it was a two-day rental. Later, I realized my kids would be getting out of school in a couple of weeks, after which my viewing would be curtailed, so I rented it again yesterday and watched it once, beginning to end but FFing through a few parts because I was short on time. It has since become an eight-day rental, so I have it until next Friday and may watch it once again before returning it. (Always alone -- I've only seen the movie one time with someone else.)

I might be tempted to skip around more except that I a) agree that you lose impact that way, b) have lost my remote and c) watched some of the best parts time and time again on YouTube. Still, not surprisingly they are MUCH more intense on the DVD. Sometimes I do reverse and watch parts twice.

But rt, I think you should also ask how many times people saw it in the theater. I saw it "only" seven times there. If that number were different, it might affect how often I'd watch the DVD. Also rt, you didn't say how many times YOU have watched your DVD.

You expressed this really beautifully (though I myself CAN'T look away):

As for your other question, I'm sorry but I can't think of any. Either Sophie's Choice or Schindler's List might be a candidate, and I would hate to think I wasn't deeply moved by the Holocaust, but I saw those so long ago I can't remember my emotional reaction very well. I can tell you I haven't been tempted to watch any movie 10 times since I was a kid.

Hey latjoreme, thanks for commenting here.  Well, losing the remote is a new one but that certainly helps keep the film "itact" doesn't it?  LOL. 

I think I may have mentioned that I have only seen my DVD twice, and need to be in the right "head space" to watch it, meaning free from distractions and other obligations, and that hasn't happened enough lately. 

Come back when you can think of a powerful scene and make sure you add.  BTW, Streep was also very good in a miniseries named Holocaust, which I managed to see on video. 

rt

[Kd5000]

I agree with the other posters. I bought the DVD the first day it came out, yet I've seen it on the big screen more times then I've watched it at home on my tv, only 3. Go figure.   

Yes, it is dangerous to skip to your favorite scenes as now every scene in the movie can have both Ennis and Jack together. How much time would that be in film, a 50 minute film. Just a guess.  Maybe longer, maybe less. Anyone calculated that, total time in the film where Ennis and Jack are together.

By the way,l after Ennis and Alma get married, I did do some fast fwd to Jack and Ennis reunion kiss time period. Interesting to see Ennis waitin for Jack to show up. And the motel scene and the immediate scenes afterwards are quite good. 

I hope I didn't do anything wrong but DVD's make everything so accessible. Plus ppl are right, a powerful scene is usually something that doesn't happen right away. There has to be buildup beforehand so that it makes the reunion, other scenes I loved more worthwhile.   

[j.U.d.E.]

Ever since I got my DVD I watched it several times... But only ever until the 2nd tent scene (I hate the sudden jump everytime a little more, from when we see fun-wrestling Ennis and Jack change to Aguirre's face and the binoculars..). Then I fast forward to the reunion scene.. I haven't made it past that scene. So for over a month or more now, I haven't watched/seen the gut-wrentching scenes and other sad moments. Too scared..

However, I can watch the first very silent 8 minutes over and over...      From the very first notes of Santaolalla's score to when Ennis and Jack bond in the bar.

For 12 years now, I haven't dared to watch "Schindler's List" again. In 1994 I went the day it was released (in Madrid) in a packed! cinema. After the film, when the whole crowd left the theatre, there was not one single noise. The crowd was dead silent..

I never got beyond this one scene at the very beginning of "The Pianist" (with Adrian Brody) - spoiler ahead - when they push the old man in a wheelchair out of the window........... Just can't watch it again, or the rest of the film.

~ j U d E

[rtprod]

Ever since I got my DVD I watched it several times... But only ever until the 2nd tent scene (I hate the sudden jump everytime a little more, from when we see fun-wrestling Ennis and Jack change to Aguirre's face and the binoculars..). Then I fast forward to the reunion scene.. I haven't made it past that scene. So for over a month or more now, I haven't watched/seen the gut-wrentching scenes and other sad moments. Too scared..

However, I can watch the first very silent 8 minutes over and over...      From the very first notes of Santaolalla's score to when Ennis and Jack bond in the bar.

For 12 years now, I haven't dared to watch "Schindler's List" again. In 1994 I went the day it was released (in Madrid) in a packed! cinema. After the film, when the whole crowd left the theatre, there was not one single noise. The crowd was dead silent..

I never got beyond this one scene at the very beginning of "The Pianist" (with Adrian Brody) - spoiler ahead - when they push the old man in a wheelchair out of the window........... Just can't watch it again, or the rest of the film.

~ j U d E

Oh, yes, The Pianist.  This is the first moment when the impending storm becomes real to Brody and his family. 

Another one from me:

Timothy Hutton's reaction and conversation with Judd Hirsch after Dinah Manoff commits suicide in Ordinary People. 

[Front-Ranger]

One thing I noticed is that I can't watch the reunion scene without watching the four-year fourplay before it. The scene just doesn't work out of context.

Another scene in a movie that hit me the same way was the end of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, when Julie Christie smokes a hash pipe.

[j.U.d.E.]

Timothy Hutton's reaction and conversation with Judd Hirsch after Dinah Manoff commits suicide in Ordinary People

TOTALLY!! I was thinking about this too!! I love this movie! It was on again the other day here (but dubbed..) and so far I haven't managed to tape it (in English). I guess I'll order it over amazon very soon. It is a beautiful film, great performances. The scenes between Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton are excellent. Especially the one you mentioned!

And there is also "The Killing Fields".. Can't pick one single scene though.

~ j U d E

[j.U.d.E.]

One thing I noticed is that I can't watch the reunion scene without watching the four-year fourplay before it. The scene just doesn't work out of context.

So true! Funny, isn't this the scene that Heath and Jake had to do at the very beginning, when shooting started? Totally out of context there too. I'm amazed again and again by their stellar performance!

~ j U d E

[serious crayons]

I think I may have mentioned that I have only seen my DVD twice

Oops! Sorry, rt, you're right. I missed that detail in your previous post.

OK, I'll keep trying to think of equally moving movies, but I don't know if I'll be successful. As I said, I hate to pit Jack and Ennis' tragedy against that of genocide. Of course I was devastated by Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice, The Pianist, The Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda ... but in a different way. Maybe it's the difference between being heartbroken and being horrified.

If you limited it to love stories that are equally sad, I'm pretty sure there aren't any. (The ending of Sophie's Choice is sad in that way, but not as.) Or maybe I am just lacking in cinematic compassion?

[dmmb_Mandy]

I've watched it in full 3 times since buying the DVD and the experience is much different. Better in some ways and worse in other ways. I love the comfort of curling up on the couch by myself and turning the tv up as loud as I want and watching the movie completely by myself, with no kids a few rows behind laughing or random people talking..etc. The tears started flowing from watching the DVD for the first time during the scene when they first part after their time on the mountain. Their facial expressions are heartbreaking; just superb. I admit to skipping to the lake scene too, as well as - I must be a masochist - the closet scene with Ennis and the shirts... Nothing beats watching the entire movie though; what an amazing 134 minute experience.

Speaking of powerful movie scenes... Lisa Rowe's (Angelina Jolie) breakdown towards the end of Girl, Interrupted, when Susanna (Winona Ryder) responds "Because you're already dead, Lisa"; I loved it.

[Meryl]

rtprod, thanks for this and the many thought-provoking threads you have started.  I haven't had time to respond to most for one reason or another, but it's always great to see another pop up. 

I think I've watched the DVD straight through only twice:  when I first got it and when I watched it with my roommate.  Other than that, I've watched the scenes on the mountain most frequently--those, and the terrific scene at the Twist ranch.  Much of the time I'm watching to pick up small details to post about--colors of trucks, clothing, music, etc.  But it's all good.  Hurrah for the technology that allows us to get lost with Jack and Ennis in their world whenever we need/want to.

For other profoundly moving moments in film, I can thank Ang Lee for at least two:  At the end of The Ice Storm when Mikey's father cradles his son; and when Emma Thompson breaks into tears at the end of Sense and Sensibility, when, all unlooked for, her life is made whole by Edward's reappearance.

[Mikaela]

I've watched the DVD through a number of times by now, I'm not sure how many. I think this is the first time and the first film that has thoroughly given me problems in picking certain scenes that I'd like to watch more than others. (Though I admit to having seen the reunion and the NITs some additional times). Still, when I've gone straight to a scene it's nearly always been in order to verify something that happens there, or the look of something etc, mostly for discussion purposes. For instance, I just braved a slow-mo viewing of the bashing scene in the middle of Ennis's telephone conversation with Lureen for discussion clarification purpose. 


But otherwise I do watch it from the beginning - and I recently gave the following long-winded (light-hearted, but sincere) explanation as to why that is:

Well, I feel you *have* to start with the first scene, because how can you possibly *not* want to see Jack against the truck, and Jack glowering inside Aguirre's trailer, and Jack and Ennis being so completely adorable in the bar, and.... Then you *have* to see all of "life in camp" as the DVD calls it, because every little subtle part of their courtship counts. Plus, all the sheep-carrying and sheep-dragging that Jake did - can't let the poor guy have done it all for nothing.
Then there are both those tent nights that are the very core of the matter for any serious Brokaholic, and the sad descent from the mountain and the goodbye. **meep**. The getting on with life all goes so fast and suddenly it's the reunion **sigh** and the motel **sigh** and the never-to-be cow and calf operation **sigh** -  and there might be a scene or two after that which could be skipped in a pinch, but they're so few and far between, so why bother?
And anyway those scenes either lead up to the post-divorce meeting, or they lead you on away from it while you're still in an utter daze from it. Then there's the whole painful last meeting, - can't ever not see that, - though some of it sure *does* make you want to kick Ennis's horrible father where it hurts.
The scene at Jack's parents is even more painful than that, but it's *got* to be one of the most perfect film scenes ever made; such simple means and that spartan location and only 3 actors speaking so few actual words; it's absolutely and totally unmissable, a movie landmark if ever there was one. Once you've gotten to Ennis finding the shirts you're pretty much a wreck unable to move, and you might as well sit through his wedding talk with Junior anyway because there's a sorely needed glint of hope there, and otherwise you'd not get to see the shirts again in their closet and not seeing them is surely never going to be an option....

[ednbarby]

rtprod, thanks for this and the many thought-provoking threads you have started.  I haven't had time to respond to most for one reason or another, but it's always great to see another pop up. 

I think I've watched the DVD straight through only twice:  when I first got it and when I watched it with my roommate.  Other than that, I've watched the scenes on the mountain most frequently--those, and the terrific scene at the Twist ranch.  Much of the time I'm watching to pick up small details to post about--colors of trucks, clothing, music, etc.  But it's all good.  Hurrah for the technology that allows us to get lost with Jack and Ennis in their world whenever we need/want to.

For other profoundly moving moments in film, I can thank Ang Lee for at least two:  At the end of The Ice Storm when Mikey's father cradles his son; and when Emma Thompson breaks into tears at the end of Sense and Sensibility, when, all unlooked for, her life is made whole by Edward's reappearance

Also in Sense and Sensibility, Alan Rickman's face when Marianne says from her sickbed, "Colonel Brandon?  Thank you."

Another one that haunts me is Tom Hanks in "Saving Private Ryan," when he puts his helmet with a pool of blood in it back on after storming the beach, and the blood drips down his face while he stares blankly.  He totally captured what shell shock must look like.  I had thought he was vastly over-rated for years until I saw him in that scene.  I don't think he's done anything even remotely as stunning since.

Mikaela, I agree with all you've said except for the Alma, Jr. conversation.  There are a couple of stunning non-verbal moments in that one, too.  Ennis looking out the window, again, after he says, "This Kurt...  He loves you?" and she very thoughtfully and knowingly answers, "Yes, Daddy.  He loves me."  And Alma Jr.'s face opening up into the most amazing smile when Ennis says "You know what?  I reckon they can find themselves another cowboy.  My little girl... gettin' married..."

I find all of the last four scenes of Brokeback to be among the most powerful ever put to film.  The lake scene.  The post card and phone call to Lureen.  Lightning Flat.  Ennis' trailer.  It's like a one-two-three-FOUR knockout punch combination.  Instead of the usual arc of most movies, where you have, as my husband calls it, "The Inevitable Low Point of the Film" followed by some sort of hopeful (and often downright ridiculously happy) resolution, Ang Lee has constructed a film that builds to its crescendo - and stays there.  I think it's why so many people just feel like they've been struck by lightning at the end of their first viewing.  It's nothing you expect, because it's nothing that's ever been done before.

[serious crayons]

the Alma, Jr. conversation.  There are a couple of stunning non-verbal moments in that one, too.  Ennis looking out the window, again, after he says, "This Kurt...  He loves you?" and she very thoughtfully and knowingly answers, "Yes, Daddy.  He loves me."

The first few times I saw it, I thought this scene seemed kind of tacked on. Now it's one of my favorites. The myriad emotions that pass over his face when he looks out the window! The gentle and, as Barb put it, knowing way she answers indicating that she sort of understands what he's going through! So powerful.

Let's see, now for another sad scene. Well, the scene at the beginning of "Beyond Rangoon" when Patricia Arquette comes home to find her husband and son murdered by a burglar really got to me. Part of it may have been that I had a six-month-old son and was probably still surging with hormones. (It's actually not the most tragic part of the movie.) Any child death scene is pretty hard to take, though. Same with the end of "Hotel Rwanda," where they reunite with some of the kids, but it's clear that the others have been killed.

[Flashframe777]

I have not watched my DVD in a while now...but I look at, and caress the DVD Cover and Case every day.  BTW, I drove to a Mexican border town today.  I thought of Jack Twist all the way.  It occurs to me that Jack was externally feminine,  and internally masculine.  Ennis was externally masculine, and internally feminine.  Jack had a boy, and Ennis had a girl...just a train of thought.

[Sheyne]

Well, I have to confess, I don't even own an "official" copy yet - the release date for BBM in Aust was announced on Friday - 20th July... what's up with THAT?!?!?!?

But when I'm watching my bootleg, I get so wrapped up in the first 40 minutes or so. Its unthinkable to skip any chapters until they come down off the mountain, I can't do it.  I love watching them fall in love over and over again.  I get slightly itchy fingers after the wedding scene, but if I'm tempted to skip forward, its only to the reunion kiss.  I am in denial about the tragedy of the story, I love reminding myself about all the happy times the boys experienced together.

Also in Sense and Sensibility, Alan Rickman's face when Marianne says from her sickbed, "Colonel Brandon?  Thank you."

YES!  I love this too, Barb - watched it just the other night.

There are TONNES of favourite acting moments from my DVD collection. But the one that sprang to mind as I'm typing this was Guy Pearce in LA Confidential, when the Police Captain says "Rollo Tomasi?" Pearce doesn't say a word but with the slightest movement in his jaw and eyes, you understand that he knows the Captain murdered his co-worker and friend. One of my favourite films of all time.

rt, another cracker of a thread mate.. 

[isabelle]

I have watched my dvd 3 times in just under a month (I'm keeping the same rhythm as when it was in the theatre: once a week).
I cannot skip scenes. I thought I would do that, but I just can't . I need to see it all.
The only thing that really annoys me is that the first tent scene looks blurred to me. I went to the theatre to see it again there last night (YES, it was showing for 2 days), and that scene is NOT blurred there. So as I have the UK dvd, I shall buy the French release on July 17th and hope that scenen looks better (it will be the collector's dvd).

[kirkmusic]

I've only watched my DVD once because I keep seeing it in theatres here!  To be expected in San Francisco I guess.  Although I loved watching the 2nd tent scene at 1/4 speed on DVD. 

Now that I think about it, I like watching and pausing on still frames of the two of them being affectionate.  I am so going to meet my future partner this year.  Unless I don't I guess. 

Profoundly moving moments in film acting history: Glenn Close's reaction to the news that Valmont was killed in a duel in Dangerous Liasons.

Gloria Swanson descending the staircase and delivering the final monologue in Sunset Boulevard (that poor crazy woman).

Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: "I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine."

Fernanda Montenegro in the final scenes of Central Station - one of the great performances by any actress ever.

I remember loving Kate Winslet's Ophelia in Hamlet as she's sitting against a wall singing.  So tragic.

Call me crazy but my heart breaks for Clint Eastwood when he reaches for the whiskey bottle after hearing of Ned's murder and is pushed back over the edge in Unforgiven.

And you want to talk about emotionally effective subtlety?  How about Anthony Hopkins in every frame of The Remains of the Day?

And finally, the singlemost thrilling, joy producing movie moment I can recall: Dash's head thrown back laugh when he discovers he can run on water in The Incredibles.  I'm serious!  That movie shares the same being-true-to-yourself theme that Brokeback has, only it ends well, and that moment is the best example of the turnaround one experiences when one comes into themselves and starts living life to the fullest.   

[Sheyne]

And finally, the singlemost thrilling, joy producing movie moment I can recall: Dash's head thrown back laugh when he discovers he can run on water in The Incredibles.  I'm serious!  That movie shares the same being-true-to-yourself theme that Brokeback has, only it ends well, and that moment is the best example of the turnaround one experiences when one comes into themselves and starts living life to the fullest.   

Kirk, that is the cutest thing I reckon I've ever seen posted on this board!!! 

You know, I love it when people can actually draw emotion and connect with animated pictures. I know the scene you're talking about in the Incredibles and I love it.  I also love Violet's shy little smile at the end when she chucks out the forcefield and saves her family from the falling plane and her mum goes "That's my girl".. her little smile then just kills me.  Oh, and the look on Frozone's face as his wife starts her "i am more important than saving the world" rant.. the way the jaw sags and his eyelids droop... lol   

[ednbarby]

Fernanda Montenegro in the final scenes of Central Station - one of the great performances by any actress ever.

I remember loving Kate Winslet's Ophelia in Hamlet as she's sitting against a wall singing.  So tragic.

Call me crazy but my heart breaks for Clint Eastwood when he reaches for the whiskey bottle after hearing of Ned's murder and is pushed back over the edge in Unforgiven.

And you want to talk about emotionally effective subtlety?  How about Anthony Hopkins in every frame of The Remains of the Day?

And finally, the singlemost thrilling, joy producing movie moment I can recall: Dash's head thrown back laugh when he discovers he can run on water in The Incredibles.  I'm serious!  That movie shares the same being-true-to-yourself theme that Brokeback has, only it ends well, and that moment is the best example of the turnaround one experiences when one comes into themselves and starts living life to the fullest.   

I agree with all of this!  I love The Incredibles!  And for the very reason you cited - that it's about being true to yourself.  I laugh out loud with pure joy every time I see Dash realize he can run on water.  Buddy was bound to fail because he was always trying to be something he was not.  I loved Edna - "What are you talking about?!  YOU ARE ELASTIGIRL!!!"  She was like the Jack of the piece - the catalyst of everyone else's coming to terms with what they are.

My favorite bit was Edna's montage of all the superheroes who were killed by their capes - that last one "sucked into a vortex" makes me about spit I laugh so hard every time.

This movie is one of the reasons I'm so grateful to have a toddler right now - I may never have seen it if not for him.

On a completely different note, another one for me is Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show, when he's eating chocolate cake in his parents' kitchen at the height of his anguish over faking out everyone on Twenty-One and shaming his family's name and telling him that it makes him remember coming home from school, getting a piece of chocolate cake and a big glass of cold milk from the fridge, and how he can't imagine ever being so happy again.  And his father says, "Not until you have a son."  The look on his face right there - all the blood draining out of it.  The first time we watched it at home, Ed said "Fuck me in the heart."  He doesn't say much.  But he gets his point across.  

[Sheyne]

I agree with all of this!  I love The Incredibles!  And for the very reason you cited - that it's about being true to yourself.  I laugh out loud with pure joy every time I see Dash realize he can run on water.  Buddy was bound to fail because he was always trying to be something he was not.  I loved Edna - "What are you talking about?!  YOU ARE ELASTIGIRL!!!"  She was like the Jack of the piece - the catalyst of everyone else's coming to terms with what they are.

My favorite bit was Edna's montage of all the superheroes who were killed by their capes - that last one "sucked into a vortex" makes me about spit I laugh so hard every time.

Yes, Edna is one of the funniest characters in that film.. the line that will stay with me forever "this project has comPLEETely confiscated my LIFE, dahhling".. 

And:

"Go! Fight! WIN! And call me when you're done, dahhling, I miss our chats."

[serious crayons]

Oh, are we naming ANY powerful moments? Duh, I guess that's what the thread's title says. For some reason, I thought they had to be sad.

In that case, here's one. In "Casualties of War," Sean Penn's best buddy has just been gruesomely blown up on the battlefield as Sean watched. Now he's back at the camp, shaving in closeup, with the other soldiers talking behind him (the shot is set up like the bathing/peeling potatoes one in BBM, for different purposes). The other guys are talking about the dead buddy; I can't remember what they say. But overhearing it causes Sean, who is their sergeant, to change. As he listens, his face subtly but perceptively hardens before our eyes. We see him transform from a tough but basically honorable man into someone capable of committing a horrifying atrocity.

It was this scene that made Sean Penn probably my favorite actor ... until now.

[kirkmusic]

On a completely different note, another one for me is Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show, when he's eating chocolate cake in his parents' kitchen at the height of his anguish over faking out everyone on Twenty-One and shaming his family's name and telling him that it makes him remember coming home from school, getting a piece of chocolate cake and a big glass of cold milk from the fridge, and how he can't imagine ever being so happy again.  And his father says, "Not until you have a son."  The look on his face right there - all the blood draining out of it.  The first time we watched it at home, Ed said "Fuck me in the heart."  He doesn't say much.  But he gets his point across.  

Just went and watched that scene again.  Yep, that's a keeper.  Ed sounds like a keeper too.

[rtprod]

I love all of the scenes you great movie buffs have mentioned, particularly Emma Thompson's in Sense and Sensibility.

NOW HERE'S A KEEPER:

Annette Bening's extended close-up in Bugsy after learning that he's been killed.  She goes through EVERY emotion in the book in a shot that stays on her face, wordless, for maybe 50 seconds or so.  It's one of the great actor's moments of all time, and a director who trusted his actor to hold the camera and us.  Then later trusted her to hold everything. 

 

[rtprod]

Let's see, now for another sad scene. Well, the scene at the beginning of "Beyond Rangoon" when Patricia Arquette comes home to find her husband and son murdered by a burglar really got to me. Part of it may have been that I had a six-month-old son and was probably still surging with hormones. (It's actually not the most tragic part of the movie.) Any child death scene is pretty hard to take, though. Same with the end of "Hotel Rwanda," where they reunite with some of the kids, but it's clear that the others have been killed.

You have no idea how it pleasures me (was that the right expression?) to see that you have mentioned this all-but-lost film, not available on DVD.  There is a scene late in the film with Patricia Arquette crying and mourning the loss of her son, and it's raw as hell and she's so good in it.  This is one great movie. 

rt

[dmmb_Mandy]

I have yet to see Bugsy, but I like Annette Bening so I really should see it.

Well, I have to confess, I don't even own an "official" copy yet - the release date for BBM in Aust was announced on Friday - 20th July... what's up with THAT?!?!?!?

Sheyne, WHAT? I didn't realize that you didn't have a copy. What me to buy ya one and sent it to ya? Lemme know. And it's funny that y'all are talking about The Incredibles (which I LOVED), Sheyne and I were just talking about the other day.

Another scene I really liked was Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, when talking abour her condition, Virginia says to Leonard: "If I were thinking clearly, Leonard, I would tell you that I wrestle alone in the dark, in the deep dark, and that only I can know. Only I can understand my condition. You live with the threat, you tell me you live with the threat of my extinction. Leonard, I live with it too." I loved Ed Harris in the film too, as Richard Brown, and he has some great scenes; "I've stayed alive for you. But now you have to let me go."

[rtprod]

I have yet to see Bugsy, but I like Annette Bening so I really should see it.

Sheyne, WHAT? I didn't realize that you didn't have a copy. What me to buy ya one and sent it to ya? Lemme know. And it's funny that y'all are talking about The Incredibles (which I LOVED), Sheyne and I were just talking about the other day.

Another scene I really liked was Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, when talking abour her condition, Virginia says to Leonard: "If I were thinking clearly, Leonard, I would tell you that I wrestle alone in the dark, in the deep dark, and that only I can know. Only I can understand my condition. You live with the threat, you tell me you live with the threat of my extinction. Leonard, I live with it too." I loved Ed Harris in the film too, as Richard Brown, and he has some great scenes; "I've stayed alive for you. But now you have to let me go."

Yes, yes.  Um, the scene in The Hours that kills me is Meryl Streep collapsing in the kitchen after Jeff Daniels comes to visit.....

rt

[ednbarby]

I relate so painfully well to all the women in The Hours, but particularly Virginia Woolf and Julianne Moore's character.  That scene when the latter's husband leaves for the day on his birthday, and she turns to look at her son sitting there, and you know she's thinking, "What the hell am I gonna do with him all day?"  But not in the usual put-upon but otherwise content mother kind of way - in a clinically depressed kind of way.  I was going through it at the time I saw this movie, and though my son was only two months old at the time, she just really resonated there - so much so that I was filled with this dread like, "Oh, God - what if that's what my life is going to become?"

Also, Nicole Kidman looking in the mirror at herself at one point, with those blank, blank eyes, but yet with fear behind them.  She totally nailed what clinical depression looks like.  You look at yourself in the mirror, and you see someone you don't recognize looking back at you.  It's terrifying, but you're too numb to feel even terror fully.

[Lumière]

I try not to select chapters when I watch BBM, but I can't resist the urge.. .
Aside from the 2 tent scenes, I have watched the 'reunion' scenes over and over again..*sigh*.

As for scenes from other movies:
Priest - Anyone seen this film? I love it!  I can't pick 1 scene alone, but if I absolutely have to, it'd be the scene where Father Greg weeps on his knees, questioning God and praying for a helpless 14-year old girl in his parish who is being sexually-molested by her father. 
Also, I can feel Father Greg's pain, anguish and guilt in the scene where he returns home after a sexual encounter with a man at the local bar. 

Maurice -  The look on Maurice's face when Clive and his new bride drive off after their wedding; and the whole scene with Scudder going up to Maurice's room in the middle of the night.

[Sheyne]

Priest - Anyone seen this film? I love it!  I can't pick 1 scene alone, but if I absolutely have to, it'd be the scene where Father Greg weeps on his knees, questioning God and praying for a helpless 14-year old girl in his parish who is being sexually-molested by her father. 
Also, I can feel Father Greg's pain, anguish and guilt in the scene where he returns home after a sexual encounter with a man at the local bar. 

YES! Linus Roache is perfect in that movie. That scene right near the end, where you THINK everything is okay cause he's been accepted back into the church but then everyone lines up to accept communion from the other priest and the look on his face. But he holds it all in.  And then the young girl walks up to him, takes the communion and they both hold each other and cry. I cannot watch this part without sobbing. I love this film for the fact that it also has the always-brilliant Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle in it..

[twistedude]

Bridge on the River Kwai: "My God, what have I done?"
Angel Heart: "...my life has just begun:
                    yiou set my heart on fire,
                    and i really had my fun.

A Soldier's Story: "One less fool for the race to be ashamed of" (yeah, I stole it and modified it...I couldn't think of a better one.)

Dead of Night: "I've been waiting for you"

 Barbarian Invasions: The series of puns on the French word for "blow job" (pompier) beginning with "his heart stopped beating when his mistress, kneeling at his feet, bestowed upon him the blowjob to end all blowjiobs"

"The Silence of ther Lambs": I'm having an old friend for dinner."

Snow White: "Ho hum,. the tune is dumb
the words don't mean a thing;
Isn't this a silly song
For anyone to sing?"

Wings of Desire: "Not the station where all the trains stop; the station where all the stations stop."

Something: the whole scene surrounding : "..and you say you'll  kill me for needin' something I don't hardly never get."

 Since none of you recognied more than two, I better quit...such an old fogey...

[Lumière]

YES! Linus Roache is perfect in that movie. That scene right near the end, where you THINK everything is okay cause he's been accepted back into the church but then everyone lines up to accept communion from the other priest and the look on his face. But he holds it all in.  And then the young girl walks up to him, takes the communion and they both hold each other and cry. I cannot watch this part without sobbing. I love this film for the fact that it also has the always-brilliant Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle in it..

Agreed Sheyne! 
I think Linus Roache was superb in Priest!
The scene you mention always tears me up - it was amazing to see that the most forgiving,   non-judgemental, and most compassionate person turned out to be the young woman who had suffered so much at the hands of her abusive father.  That scene is so powerful too!  What an awesome film.   

[j.U.d.E.]

Agreed Sheyne! 
I think Linus Roache was superb in Priest!
The scene you mention always tears me up - it was amazing to see that the most forgiving,   non-judgemental, and most compassionate person turned out to be the young woman who had suffered so much at the hands of her abusive father.  That scene is so powerful too!  What an awesome film.   

Totally agree! I always thought the actress playing the abused teen-ager die a brilliant acting-job! Linus Roache is excellent!

~ j U d E

[ednbarby]

"The Silence of ther Lambs": I'm having an old friend for dinner."

My favorite scene in this one is when Lecter says to Clarice in the asylum, "You know what you look like with your nice bag and your cheap shoes?  You look like a rube..." and goes into that West Virginia impression while her face reacts.

My second favorite is when she turns around to look at Frederica Bimmel's body that's just been recovered - she's just braced herself looking out the window, and when she turns around, her face goes from artificially hard to naturally soft with compassion.  It's a beautiful thing.

The Silence of the Lambs is one of those movies that you either love or hate because of its violence.  I loved it because I thought Jonathan Demme was examining misogyny on a grand scale, but doing it very subtlely throughout.  On repeat viewings, I noticed how there were always men eyeing Clarice in the background, looking at her like an object.  Really, Lecter and Jack Crawford were the only men in the whole thing who truly viewed her as an equal, and even the latter had to come to that after being skeptical of her ability based only on the fact that she was a woman - he even used her, in fact, in the beginning, to get Lecter's goat.

[Sheyne]

On the Silence of the Lambs theme...

One unforgettable moment for me was the part toward the end where Lecter reaches the file through the bars and she grabs it and he just slides his index finger over hers.  That one gesture had more genuine chemistry than 90% of sex scenes in movies today.

[ednbarby]

On the Silence of the Lambs theme...

One unforgettable moment for me was the part toward the end where Lecter reaches the file through the bars and she grabs it and he just slides his index finger over hers.  That one gesture had more genuine chemistry than 90% of sex scenes in movies today.

Absolutely.  I couldn't agree more.  And I'm a student of genuine chemistry from way back.  It's so rare in movies, and nothing irritates me more in film (besides being patronized) than leads who are supposed to have chemistry... not having it.

That said, I keep coming back to this:  The reunion scene is *by far* the most erotic love scene I have ever seen put to film.  I know this because of what it, uh, causes in me every time I see it.  I've felt variations of it upon seeing a few others in my tenure, but nothing even remotely like that.  As belbbmfan mentioned in the publicity shots thread - Ennis knocking off Jack's hat so he can get closer to him, their hands, the grappling at each others' shirts and faces, the intensity of expression, the throwing of each other against the wall - GAH.  Nobody, and I mean *nobody* does it better.

Shite.  Time for another imaginary smoke break.

[serious crayons]

And I'm a student of genuine chemistry from way back.  It's so rare in movies, and nothing irritates me more in film (besides being patronized) than leads who are supposed to have chemistry... not having it.

That said, I keep coming back to this:  The reunion scene is *by far* the most erotic love scene I have ever seen put to film.

Hey Barb, I agree with you that the reunion scene is by far the most erotic on film ... that is, unless Tent Scene 2 is the most erotic ever on film. One or the other. Really, I have tried over these past few months to think of any scenes in other movies that even come close to these and can't.

If I can't think of any other movie as sad, and also can't think of any movie as sexy, I guess that explains why I'm here.

Back to chemistry for a sec. I don't want to go too OT, but Barb, you should start a thread about who in your studies you've found most lacks it. My vote would be Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts in that movie whose name I can't recall but it's something in first person. I love Nick Nolte and I'm fine with Julia, but together they made me cringe so much I could hardly look at the screen.

[rtprod]

And here's another powerful movie scene:

Miranda Richardson's breakdown at the end of Damage, confronting adulterous husband Jeremy Irons on his fling with Juliette Binoche, the fiance of their son Rupert Graves, who has just been accidentally killed after discovering the secret.



This scene vaults Louis Malle's film into something nearly Shakespearean in its tragedy. 

rt

[Sheyne]

Back to chemistry for a sec. I don't want to go too OT, but Barb, you should start a thread about who in your studies you've found most lacks it. My vote would be Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts in that movie whose name I can't recall but it's something in first person. I love Nick Nolte and I'm fine with Julia, but together they made me cringe so much I could hardly look at the screen.

Could you be talking about  *shudders that she even KNOWS it*  "I Love Trouble". Wasn't it just awful? Oh god, I needed to shower after sitting through it.

[serious crayons]

Could you be talking about  *shudders that she even KNOWS it*  "I Love Trouble". Wasn't it just awful? Oh god, I needed to shower after sitting through it.

YES! I think it's the all-time worst onscreen chemistry. BTW, Barb DID start a thread, I think in "Anything Goes."

[Mikaela]

I love the chemistry discussion. I've been trying to think of other films where the protagonists radiate something close to the level of what Jack and Ennis do in their scenes together, but there really aren't that many that spring to mind. Some of the Hollywood classics, perhaps. Neither is it to be seen in the various Heath Ledger/Jake Gyllenhaal movies I've watched by now.

I think that by chance and grace and actor/director dedication, BBM ended up a one shot thing in the chemistry department.

Chemistry cannot be fully defined or explained, but perhaps the fact that it's so obviously there betweeen Jack and Ennis  is one small part of the reason why interviewers could *never* stop with their inane questions about the kissing that the acors had to endure in each and every interview.


Now, about powerful film scenes..... I know this is not the kind of scene the thread is asking for, but take the closing scene of A Knight's Tale. The hero has overcome every obstacle and has gotten his girl, and they're kissing in the middle of the arena with all the spectators cheering them and while the camera swoops around them. I don't think it's an especially powerful or unusual scene until I do some fantasy alterations to it: Substituting the jousting arena for a rodeo arena, making the cheering spectators put on cowboy hats, and then substituting Shannyn Sossamon's midieval lady character with a young Jack Twist in his black hat. Now that's a fairy-tale happy ending scene that would have made an impression and that I sure *wouldn't* have minded getting to see just *once*, to offset the devastating impact of the real and perfect BBM.

[Sheyne]

We can dare to dream, Mikaela..  *sighs happily at the thought*


If you do happen to think of some good movie chemistry, then head on over to the "Anything Goes" forum - we've got a good discussion going there about good and failed chemistry..