Friday, August 12, 2011

100 Things I Love About My Favorite Movies (Part 2)


See the details of the meme and how I came to take this on in my previous post.

Warning: if you haven't seen the movie, it may not be safe to play the clip or read my comments due to SPOILERS. Proceed at your own risk. Also, some NSFW language.

Chased by Reavers in Serenity


I had to force myself to just get the clip and eject the disc. No matter how many times I watch this, I just get sucked in.

Malcom was expecting to meet with the War Committee from In the Loop


H/T Kevin at Ghost in the Machine for reminding me of the urgency of including something of Peter Capaldi's performance here.


The Hinckley Cold Storage Job from Bottle Rocket


I clipped this just a bit too short! I didn't get Kumar standing in the freezer, shivering. Dang.

Dennis the Constitutional Peasant



The ending of Brazil


Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind


What can you say?

Brick: the note-perfect homage

Image via Movies Online
I'm so irritated right now that I can't my Brick DVD! I brought it into the office when I was working on the first post and now I don't see it anywhere. So there's this picture to remind me of the scene in the basement of The Pin's mother's house. Every bit of dialogue, just about any the scene in the movie could've made this list. Not recommended if you didn't care for The Maltese Falcon, but absolutely essential if you did.

But if you didn't care for The Maltese Falcon, I doubt you got this far.

Grocer and Blank in the diner in Grosse Pointe Blank


I haven't been talking about movies that hit all the right notes in score and soundtrack, but this was one that worked well for me. It's also got a fight scene with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, who was the baddie in one Jackie Chan's greatest fight scenes. But I chose this diner scene because it never fails to crack me up.

Erin Brockovich



Julia Roberts knocked it out of the park.


Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish Called Wanda



The funny thing is, I don't really care much for Kevin Kline. But I loved Otto.


Mozart's laugh in Amadeus


Kevin put the Commendatore scene in his recent post, but in this case I didn't need the reminder, I had already planned to include a snippet of Hulce doing the Mozart laugh, it just didn't make it into my first post because I've got a clumsy, time-consuming method of snagging clips from my DVDs and wanted to focus on getting that one filled out with scenes I could embed from youtube.

Khan!!!!!!


Brick Top from Snatch


Vicious. That ridiculous shirt and those glasses make him perfect.

The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when Do The Right Thing tears it down.



"I'm your huckleberry."


Tombstone is not a great western. I'm not sure you can call it a good movie, period. But I still find myself saying "I'm your huckleberry," because of this scene.

The NHL 93 scene in Swingers


I played so much NHL 93, there was no way I couldn't love this scene.

Kevin Costner in Silverado


Costner's bloated epics taint, I think, our memory of his better performances. He's a wild kid here, but when he turns to those to fellows he told Paden with supreme confidence he could take, and says boom, it's such a calm, steady voice ... that voice of his puts a foundation under Jake's arrogance and puppy dog playfulness.

Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton


It's Clooney's movie, a damn good one, but Swinton is the most vulnerable, sympathetic, heartless, evil villain I can remember.

Frances McDormand in Fargo






I know that viewed on its own, this clip is going to be all accent taken out of context, but I can't put the whole movie in so I may have to remind you that your ear gets used to that nasal bleating over the course of the full length. The point here is Frances McDormand is able to convey both Margie's charm and sweetness, as well as her competence and unflappability. She's as nonplussed as a slaughterhouse worker at the sight of blood and wrecked flesh, but her humanity is undiminished. It's a great performance in what may be the Coen Bros. finest movie.


Chevy Chase in Fletch


Chevy Chase ... too smarmy by half, he's never been able to fully capitalize on that comic genius. He's at his post-SNL best in the Fletch movies though.

Lloyd Bridges in Airplane!



The long tracking shot fight scene from Tony Jaa's The Protector



There's a scene early in Ong Bak where Jaa leaps up and knees a motorcycle riding baddie on the head, cracking his helmet that I thought of first, for me it was the moment you know you're looking at the first shot at a legitimate heir to Jackie Chan. Jaa is great, but his movies range from uneven at best, to almost unbearable at worst. He keeps teasing with flashes of that acrobatic brilliance ...




Myrna Loy and William Powell in the The Thin Man




I'm not sure there's been better dialogue for, or chemistry between, a husband and wife since Nick and Nora Charles graced the silver screen.


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Again, I could keep going all night, but I'm tired and it's been a long day. 32 more here means I've done 41 total. I've got Bill Murray, Robert Downey, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Michael Moore, Simon Pegg, and Chris Farley at the front of my mind for next time. And I haven't gotten to my favorite monsters yet!

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