Top 10 Favorite Movie Moments

I realized today two things … first, it’s been a while since I posted a Top 10 list for myself!  How can you possibly get to know me better other than my nuggets of wisdom?  Second, there are so many movie moments that are captured in my head.  Many of them are from crap movies barely worth the price of burning the DVD.  Others are cinema classics.  All of them are moments that I rewind over and over again when I’m watching them.  They stop me as I’m channel surfing, and they helped define my love of the movies and in many cases my own personality.  So, without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite moments in a movie …

1. Free Us or Die – BUM. BUM. Those brief bursts of brass from John Williams as Luke steps out onto the plank in “Return of the Jedi.”  R2-D2’s head opens up for some reason.  Luke jumps, turns, flips up and over back onto the skiff as R2 launches something into the air.  It’s only until it lands in Luke’s hand and the green lightsaber erupts that I go apeshit.  Every single time that scene just gets me up out of my seat ready to kick some ass.  Awesome from start to finish.
2. My Feelings Exactly – My tearjerker moment.  Gets me every time.  Steve Martin’s “Father of the Bride” is the only one to see, and I love the scene when he gives Kimberly Williams the espresso machine (in contrast to the new car the in-laws gave her).  “I couldn’t love anything more,” she says as she kisses the father she loves so much.  The look of love and happiness on Steve Martin’s face makes me think of what I’ll be like someday as a father of the bride, and my heart responds with tears.
3. I don’t believe in the no-win scenario – Lots of things to love in “Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan.”  I just love the whole scene when Kirk casually tells Saavik about his experience with the Kobashyi Maru and then reveals he had a plan all along.  Kirk, at his best, all time, hands down.
4. Are my eyes really brown? – I could probably fill an entire top 10 list with moments from “Casablanca” (and in fact I think I will make another list), so I’ll take one that always has me laughing.  Interrogated by the Gestapo, Ric Blaine shows about as much concern as a giant does to a fly.  His nationality?  He’s a drunkard.  I can sympathize.  Love it.
5. Strike outs are boring, besides that they’re fascist. – “Bull Durham” is by far my favorite baseball movie and possibly my favorite sports movie of all time.  When Kevin Costner tells Tim Robbins to throw the next one at the bull, their maniacal looks and laughs just have me rolling every time.
6. That still only counts as one! – When Legolas takes out an entire elephant-full of baddies in “The Return of the King” single-handed, I loved every moment of it.  The grace and ease of elven skills, coupled with great special effects.  Awesome.
7. I don’t know what those two ladies were singing.  - “The Shawshank Redemption” is one of the rare movies that actually improved on the book it was based on, and this one did in spades.  The scene in the book is moving.  The scene in the movie takes your breath away.  As the duet from “Marriage of Figaro” is piped over the loudspeakers, the camera lifts up and away from a prison-full of felons, transfixed, stone-still and all listening to some of the most beautiful music ever written.  Very moving.
8. Meow -  Ah, Michelle Pfeiffer.  As Catwoman flips and flips and flips her way right into our view, her gorgeous body tightly contained in black leather … yum.  Close runner-up Michelle Pfeiffer moment:  at the end of “One Fine Day” when she gets dressed to the nines for George Clooney.  When she comes out of that bathroom she is quite possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my whole life.  My heart stops beating.
9. Statement. One – Love.  “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” is such a great take on “Hamlet” in so many ways, and Gary Oldman and Tim Ross capture the two strange characters perfectly.  As they roam the castle and try to figure out who they are, what they’re there to do and exactly how to do it, they find themselves in a strange, inside tennis court and suddenly break into a game of questions, complete with changing sides as if we were at Wimbledon.  Brilliant.
10. Say Nothing – There’s no dialogue in the scene from “Say Anything” where John Cusack holds the ghettoblaster over his head as Peter Gabriel’s best song “In Your Eyes” blares out what his heart and his actions failed to express. Powerful.

Recent runner-up – When Neville Longbottom leaps into the air and chops the head of the snake at the end of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” my arms couldn’t help but strike out in victory.  Say what you will, Neville is the man.