FAVORITE MOVIE SCENES. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOURS!?

FAVORITE MOVIE SCENES

     I can’t believe that my 70 year old father in law beat me in recent movie trivia.  I mean I understand how he would know more about the oldies but he knew about a small detail in Brooklyn’s Finest that I didn’t even catch.  I thought I knew better but my DVR and the old man proved me wrong. 

     It was a great scene (spoil alert) where a corrupt cop, Ethan Hawk, breaks into an apartment looking to raid drug money.  He shoots all the unexpected drug dealers and then searches the entire place for any stragglers.  All the while a great Busta Rythmes song is blasting throughout the apartment during the bloody ordeal and then Ethan Hawk stops short to light up a stogie in the middle of his solo massacre.  He is all cool and collected and then he gets to work to find the hidden drug money.  He stuffs his pockets with all the cash he can fit and then unexpectedly gets one to the back of the head.  Darn! Just when you thought he was going to get away with it…someone got him.   At a quick glance I thought the shooter was a she (the do rag threw me off) but the actual assassin was just some random watchdog the drug lords had out-front to keep watch.  Ethan unknowingly passed him on his way into the building.

      My father in law and I debated this little intricacy at the dinning room table one night.  I, being a movie know it all, was relentless in the fact that the last shot indeed came from some chick hiding in the apartment when in fact I slowed mode the scene twice to see that the old man was right.  I’m impressed!  I mean…I thought he couldn’t even hear the TV let alone pick up on all the details.

            I love people who love movies!  Movies are awesome! Guess that’s why I always wanted to be an actress.  So I could dream about getting as close to a movie as possible.  There are some movie scenes that have stayed with me for a lifetime.  There is one scene in the movie Boogie Nights that I’m sure no one remembers but I consistently compare Mark Walberg to Jack Nicholson in that one particular scene.  It’s the one where Mark Walberg (Dirk Diggler J) is dragged to an eccentrically (shall we say) strung out dealers house to hopefully score some coke.  Mark and his porn sidekick have never met this lunatic before, they are stuck in his house and they are trying to concoct an idea to steal this guys drugs and make it out alive.  The camera cut’s to Mark Walberg’s stunned face while he is sitting on the couch in some type of trance.  That “look” he has on his face…it was so professional, so deep, so well acted that it reminded me of the same look Jack Nicholson had in a scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  

Jack finally had the opportunity to escape the looney bin.  He is sitting next to a wide open window.  The staff (evil nurse Ratched) is making her way in when they cut to Jack Nicholson’s trance like face…so professional, so deep, and soooo very well acted.  You don’t know why Jack didn’t fly right out of that window.  You can interpret it many different ways (our job as an audience) but that similar “look” Jack and Mark delivered certainly made the wheels turn.  

      Another great scene (according to me…but I’m sure you’ll agree) I just caught again on TV the other night was in The House of Sand and Fog.  (Spoil alert)The main character, Behranis’ son is shot.  Behrani (Ben Kingsley) runs to the hospital, covered in his son’s blood, screaming “I want only my son” over and over.  He finally makes it there and collapses on the ER floor praying, begging, and pleading with his god.  “I want only my son.” The acting is so moving that it tear’s your heart to pieces.  My face, like every other time I have seen this scene, is covered in tears.  I’m pretty sure Ben Kingsley won best supporting for that movie.  He sure as hell deserved it! 

      There have also been some great scenes on TV lately.  The hubby and I are big fans of The Big C.  If you don’t follow, I will just keep it short by letting you know it’s a dramedy (comedy + drama) about a pretty hip mother/wife going through stage 4 Cancer.  Its way more lighthearted than what you would find on lifetime but there are a couple of heartstring tuggers in there to bring you back to the reality of cancer. 

(Spoil Alert) In the last scene during season 1 her son was just recently told about his mother’s cancer.  The reality of his mother’s illness hasn’t fully hit home yet because she still seems very healthy (child rearing him like usual).  One day her teenaged son finds an envelope with his name on it and a key inside.  He somehow finds the storage room (can’t remember how) belonging to this key and inside the room is a dream car and stacks and stacks of presents.  He reads each card from his mother and every present is for every birthday he will have while she is gone…forever.   Her son breaks down and you can see the shock of death has set in.  I can’t tell you what a tear jerker that one was…especially if you watched all the episodes. 

     I have to say Boardwalk Empire has been really good this year! I am a lot more into it than last season.  Some scenes have been pretty awesome.  I bet Buscemi wrote those! I think I have a little understanding as to how he writes since I preferred the episodes he wrote for the Soprano’s.

     There is a great jail scene when Chalky white, the Mafioso authority figure of the African American community, has to share a cell with “let’s say” a bottom of the totem pole “trouble maker”.   This new guy has no idea of Chalky’s power and so he nievly agitates and antagonizes Chalky.  The scene draws you in because you just know this guy is going to get it, but you don’t know how and you don’t know when.  Until Chalky calls upon the other inmates to take care of business.  I know!  Sounds very familiar, but the dialogue is superbly unique.

     Another great Boardwalk scene was when a strong willed woman named Gretchen (main character’s mother) is taking care of her disabled husband.  She is feeding him soup in bed after he has just had a stroke.  Her concern and tenderness make you believe her love for him but then she see’s this is a perfect opportunity to confront her long ago rapist (her husband).  She tells him in detail of the trauma he had caused her over a lifetime.  The old man is paralyzed and forced to listen to every detail.  And then it is time for his punishment: She smacks the shit out of him, like a little bitch.  (The irony is prolific since the show takes place in the 20’s when women were the ones taking the beatings.)  Since the old man is paralyzed you feel slightly bad for him but you know he deserves it…and more! Great scene Buscemi!

            Oh! And I have to throw in what a fantastic job Leonardo DiCaprio did in The Basketball Diaries.  There is this one scene where he is started to go through terrible heroin withdrawal and his last resort is to go back to his mother to beg her for money.  He is pounding on the door, while completely falling apart, trying to get her to open up.  Every motherly instinct in her body wants to open that door for him, but she knows she can’t.  Leonardo screams, “I’m your son.” I am almost moved to tears just thinking about it.  You have to see this! It is the best acting I have EVER seen in my life.

**Warning: lots of cursing in this clip**

     I could go on and on about incredible scenes all day.  They move our hearts and minds, even though are behinds are nice and cozy J