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Perfect Movie Shots
TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadSometimes in a film, the perfect single moment, a combination of writing, filming, acting, and directing manages to convey more emotion and story information than all the dialogue ever.
Two come to mind
X-Men 2.
Pyro, the punk kid mutant is in Iceman's family's house. The shot starts on a smiling family picture of Iceman and family, then the focus shifts to show a surly Pyro's reflection, staring at the picture.
The one, three second shot tells more about Pyro's character than anything else in the movie. You FEEL for him in that moment, and it adds so much to the movie while in no way really being part of the plot.
Julie and Julia
Julia Child and her husband are walking along. A woman with a baby carriage walks by. Julia looks at it and becomes briefly sad. Her husband tightens his arm around her.
That shot, maybe eight seconds, totally defines that childlessness was one of the central tradgedies of Julia Child's life, despite that the entire movie doesn't have a single line of dialoge about it (although it's briefly touched on nearer the end of the film when Julia's sister is pregant).
What other movies have single moments that achieve this much? Any thoughts?
captainsolo
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Tauntaun herder-Damn Fool Idealistic CrusaderRaiders-Indy drinking in the Cairo bar after Maron's "death". Also, the Frankenheimer-esque shot of Indy and Belloq's conversation in the bar.
Lawrence of Arabia: Ali coming out of nothingness, The shot where Lawrence stands on top of the wrecked train in his flowing robes and is blacked out by the sunlight.
The Third Man-every damn shot.
Blade Runner-tears in rain.
OHMSS-opening and ending.
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
"George didn't think there was any future in dead Han toys."-Harrison Ford
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Warbler
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South Jersey Devilhow about the scene in Gone With the Wind when Scarlett is walking around the wounded soldiers trying to find a doctor for the pregnant Melanie Hamiton. The camera slowly pulls further and further back revealing more and more dead and wounded Confederate soldiers, until you see an uncountable number. It finally reveals a badly tattered and torn Confederate flag and a sad mournful version of Dixie plays. I don't think I've ever seen a more powerful depiction of a defeated army in any movie. My words don't do the scene justice. You have to watch it.
Akwat Kbrana
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Token Linguistics NerdIn Fellowship of the Ring, check out the look on Gandalf's face during the Council of Elrond when he first hears Frodo say, "I will take it! I will take the ring to Mordor!" First scene I thought of upon reading the OP...
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Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusThere is one shot in the Exorcist III that will make you jump out of your whatever you are sitting on even if you if you have seen it before, it's not so much a jump scare (though it is that) but it's also perfectly composed.
Blatty used to work as a Political cartoonist and it shows with many of his shots.
The scenes (all in one fixed camera shots) where an asylum inmate dressed as a nun is exorcising a drinks machine and where a black guy dress as Superman is guarding a door into which a troop of Shakespearian actor dogs of various breeds go in right of shot followed by a man in a jet pack flying left of shot (to crash off screen) in The Ninth Configuration are other examples.
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- Anál nathrach,
- orth’ bháis’s bethad,
- do chél dénmha
Nanner Split
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Troublemaker Without ScruplesApocalypse Now -
The whole opening scene, up until the end of the song. I honestly think this is one of the greatest opening scenes ever filmed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4WJlLNIsyY
Star Wars - I never get tired of watching the Rebel attack on the Death Star.
Leon - Several scenes, but the one that immediately comes to mind is after the shootout, and Natalie Portman is walking by the apartment and sees what happened, and she walks up to Leon's door and there's a really tense minutes or so where she's waiting for Leon to open the door. Always gives me chills.
A B C
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OUTTHE DARKNESS - The very last minute makes the whole movie. Incredible (in the positive meaning).
Warbler
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South Jersey DevilNanner Split said:
Star Wars - I never get tired of watching the Rebel attack on the Death Star.
its a great scene, no doubt about it. But I don't think it qualifies in this topic as it has dialog.
Sluggo
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is automatic for the people.The end sequence in Raiders. The music is perfect as the Ark is rolled into the giant warehouse. That huge wide shot of the ark being wheeled left and out of sight always gives me the chills.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish memes.
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TV's Frink
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Ointment FlyThe shot in The Simpsons where Professor Frink reveals there is...
...
...a third dimension!
PSYCHO_DAYV
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CAPITAL PunishmentTV's Frink said:
The shot in The Simpsons where Professor Frink reveals there is...
...
...a third dimension!
YOU LIE !!!
"I'VE GROWN TIRED OF ASKING, SO THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME..."
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EyeShotFirst
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Return to Form, or Forum in this case!!Immortal Beloved - When Beethoven is on his death bed relieving his nephew from his custody. The silence in the seen makes it the best scene in the movie. You would have to see it in context, but it proves Gary Oldman is the greatest. Also the scene where the audience bursts into applause at the end of the Ode To Joy and Beethoven doesn't know it, not just because of his deafness, but because he is used to a lack of appreciation. The moment he is assisted by the conductor to look at the audience, I just bawl. The movie is a little cliche at times, but Gary Oldman is the force that keeps it from failing.
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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Warbler
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South Jersey DevilI may have to see Immortal Beloved.
EyeShotFirst
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Return to Form, or Forum in this case!!Warbler said:
I may have to see Immortal Beloved.
It's a good movie, when it isn't weighed down by cliche, but Gary Oldman saves it.
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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doubleofive
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Chief Architect of Cynical MoralityMe too. Love Gary Oldman, and my wife loves classical music and Gary Oldman.Warbler said:
I may have to see Immortal Beloved.
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