As those who subscribe to our RSS, and picked up the somewhat vague post I made recently, may have understood, I’ve decided this blog could do with a bit of a shakeup of the norm. We here at OkToBeginWith have always considered this blog to be a collection of statements about society, popular culture, and the artistic industry.
So I decided I would take a time-out from being the usual pretentious wanker I am in my blog posts, and do a list: My personal favourite top five movie moments.
Fret not; unlike most blog lists, my list is truly my personal list. It has come the time that people should feel unashamed of their opinions. Perhaps you always thought that Aqua’s “Turn Back Time” was a poignant and emotional moment in the group’s artistic story and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” was a highly overrated album. Perhaps you believe Spiderman was a better movie than The Godfather, or that Dan Scott is a better artist than Jackson Pollack. Art is art, and emotional resonance is in the eye of the beholder.
My list is up for debate: it may be that you spark a memory of mine that shunts out one of the film moments on my list. But at the end of the day, popular opinion is not MY opinion, nor should it ever be YOUR opinion. When it comes to art, it truly is up to the individual.
So with no more ado, here is my top five movie moments, off the top of my head (note, I haven’t compiled any list, the points I list here are completely off the top of my head, as they should be – how could your top moments possibly be so if you need to spend hours thinking of them?):
>IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER<
1. Jurassic Park: The scene towards the start of the movie where they are in the jeeps, and first spot the dinosaurs. The camera zooms in on the characters, before showing a wide panning shot of dinosaurs. Sam Neil’s acting is wondrous, the visuals are astounding, and above all, the sound track is simply tremendous.
2. Independence Day: The presidential speech… You know the one. Even though it is charged with USA-specific patriotism, reading between the lines reveals the point of the whole movie – that we are far more than the sum of our parts
3. Starship Troopers: Basically the whole movie, but as a moment, the scene where humans touch down on Klendathu, and we see the media become so enthralled with the spectacle, that the journalists fail to see the danger they are in.
4. Planet of the Apes: “You blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!” – All the frustration of the individual person released in one explosive moment.
5. Young People Fucking: During act V. Orgasm, “The Best Friends” share a moment. The scene is charged with unspoken words that really resonated with me.
… It honestly has just occurred to me as I read back over this list, that these five parts sum up five different things about the human character (and obviously, mine in particular). The first sums up the wonder of something new, the second reinforces our duty to our fellow Man, the third shows the extremes our society has taken to entertain, the fourth sums up all the frustration of each of us at the stupidity of our species as a whole, and the fifth is possibly the most poignant of all; the final moment of acceptance and bliss we all find when we meet our life partner.
So take away from this what you will. Argue it to high heaven – everyone will feel the need. But at the end of the day, when you make your top 5 movie moments, I urge you to do it without considerable thought, and try to make the list your own. I was tempted for a moment to include instances from The Godfather, The Dark Knight, Forrest Gump, Casablanca, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and many others, but at the end of the day, my top five resonate more truthfully to me. What does your list look like?
Alright, I’ve given this absolutely no forethought whatsoever, but I’m going to hammer down my top 5 movie moments as I think of them, and try and give a brief explanation as to why.
Terminator 2. Arnie riding a motorbike into the aquaduct, dressed in leather, dark glasses, spinning the shotgun around his hand to single handedly cock it. – As a young kid I honestly thought this was the absolutely epitome of epic coolness.
Life as a House. Spoiler alert. “My father built you a house”. One of the only movie moments to bring a tear to my eye. And it does it every single time, on cue.
Star Wars: A New Hope. When Han shot Greedo. These aren’t ordinary heroes, this guy is bad ass. He’ll kill to protect his interests. Will he be worth the trouble, or jeopardize our entire mission?
Star Trek: First Contact. When Captain Picard is accused of being Ahab, and cuts mental. Mostly because he knows it’s true. If his chest had been a cannon he’d have shot his heart upon it.
Almost Famous. Singing ‘Tiny Dancer’ on the tour bus. I sing along every time I watch that film, and every time I hear that song because of it.
I tried to do what Drew did here, and shoot from the hip with this list, even now more moments come to mind (Across the Universe occurred to me about 2 seconds after Almost Famous, but I’ll leave them in the order I thought of them)
Great list, Dave. I’d even steal the ‘Tiny Dancer’ scene and the ‘Ahab and his whale’ scene for my own top 5. But that wouldn’t be the point of the exercise.
It is somewhat liberating writing a list like this with no forethought – you end up with items that may have been shunted out of a thought-out list, even though they are great moments. Perhaps ‘top 5′ is a misnomer.
Anyone else have a top 5? Remember! Don’t think, just do!
My turn! When I read the beginning of this post, I would have paid money that the closing scene in Terminator 3, when John Connor realizses that he is the leader of the resistance simply because he’s there, would have been in your list… I imagine on second thoughts it’d be pretty close. Here’s mine! In no particular order:
Almost Famous: Yes, I know Dave chose this film as well, but I’ve chosen a slightly different scene. At the beginning, after the concert that William goes to, he’s outside talking with Penny Lane. She says to him “I want to live in Morocco for one year…wanna come?” and William says “yes…ask me again”… I’m sure many of you remember the scene. I don’t know why, but that scene…I don’t know… I just love it.
Across the Universe: Bit of background needed. I was not a particularly big Beatles fan. I’d heard about a scene in this film of Bono singing “I Am The Walrus”, and wanted to see it. I was with Dave and Sarah from this blog and was going to show them the scene. For some reason, we decided to just watch the film from the beginning… And Holy fuck! This film is amazing. So now, one of my most memorable scenes is “I Am The Walrus”. The first few notes hit, and the wall behind Bono starts moving in all kinds of trippy ways… WOW.
A Scanner Darkly: The note from the author of the book as the credits start to roll. If you’ve seen the film, and STILL don’t understand why this bit’s memorable, do a bit of research. Every time I watch this film, and I’ve seen it at least 10 times, I get this huge tingling in my spine. It’s insane.
Into The Wild: The scene when Kristen Stewart starts singing at the hippy camp. Ok, by this point in my top 5 I have to acknowledge something. I have this thing of putting myself in the shoes of the characters involved. This scene, much like the scene I mentioned in Almost Famous, is something I want to have happen to me. I want to end up somewhere, and be completely blown away by the voice of some incredible girl, and I’ll fall in love instantly.
Almost Famous: Yes, the same film, again. With a slightly different scene… I know it’s around the same time as the Tiny Dancer scene, but i cannot remember off the top of my head if it precedes it or comes after. Anyhow. The point when William says to Penny “I want to go home”, and she simply says “shhh…you are home”, and leans her head on his shoulder… You have no idea how much I want to be in his place…
Interesting Top 5? I think so. But I have watched every single one of these films multiple times for the simple aim. To get to THAT moment.
And it’s worth it, and it’s what makes them memorable.
Another 5 that get to me – again, off the top of my head.
1. This scene in Gladiator: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
2. The Orphanage – What I think should have been the very last scene (SPOILERS ->) when the protagonist is dead, and is finally able to be with her son again. An ending that was creepy, crushingly sad and exultantly happy all at once.
3. Another Orphanage moment – there is a scene where the protagonist plays a game of “What’s the Time, Mr Wolf” with the spirits of children. Exquisitely drawn out and terrifying. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play that game again.
4. Saw – The movie itself is fairly meh (but far superior to the sequels), but the one redeeming moment is the end of the film, when he stands up, and closes the door behind the two victims. Spine-tingling.
5. As Tom mentioned, Terminator 3 is, in my opinion, the best of them all for that one scene. At the end of the film, we realise that Skynet is not what it appeared to be, and we also see how Connor became the leader of mankind. Brilliant scene. Too bad about the rest of the film.
So there’s another five, again off the top of my head. As Tom said, sometimes you watch a movie just to watch one moment. That moment can turn a dull movie into a great one.