Scenes I Love: Saving Private Ryan

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Arleigh

Today marks the 71st Anniversary of the Normandy Landings on D-Day. As the day winds down I thought it best to share one of my favorite scenes from a film that tried to capture the chaos and death of the fateful day on June 6, 1944. The film in question is Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. This is the film which won him his second Best Director Oscar (I still think the film should’ve won Best Picture over Shakespeare In Love) and the film which helped redefine not just how war films were shot from 1998 on, but also de-glorify World War II on film.

This scene showed the opening moments of the D-Day Landings on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. It’s a scene that’s over 22-minutes in length and shows the utter chaos and destruction heaped on American troops as they attempted to land on the beach to take their objectives. While there have been war film before Saving Private Ryan that depicted war as the hell it truly is they were mostly about the Vietnam War. Rarely did we ever get a World War II-based war film which showed war in realistic fashion. Spielberg broke that taboo by making the battle scenes in his film — especially this extended opening sequence — done as realistic as possible without actually having people killed for real on-screen.

When this film first came out in the summer of 1998 no one knew what to make of it. This opening sequence became the talk of everyone who went to see the film. To say that they were shocked by what they saw was an understatement. Even now with over a decade since the film was released and people having seen this scene over and over again it still retain it’s impact. It’s not even the grand scale of the production required to film this action sequence which made this scene so memorable. It were the little things. Like a mortally wounded American GI crying out to his mother while trying to keep his blown out insides from spilling out. Then there’s the scene of another young soldier praying furiously with his rosary beads as men around him die by the score.

This scene also showed what most World War II films of the past failed to do. It showed both sides behaving barbarically. In the past, only the Germans were shown in a bad light. In Saving Private Ryan, we see that American soldiers were also prone at shooting surrendering troops and/or not mercy-killing enemy soldiers being burned alive (actions that have been well-documented by historians). This scene also showed just how courageous the young men of this generation which Tom Brokaw has called “The Greatest Generation”. Men who went off to war not for material gains, but for an idea that they had to stop evil (Nazi and Hitler) from taking all of Europe and, maybe, the world itself.

There’s a reason why Saving Private Ryan is in my list for greatest films of all-time and why this scene remains one of my all-time favorites.

Scenes I Love: The Road Warrior

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Arleigh

“…warrior of the wasteland, the Lord Humungus, [and] the ayatollah of rock-and-rollah.”

This past weekend saw George Miller release the fourth film in his classic Mad Max film series. Mad Max: Fury Road has been receiving critical-acclaim both from film critics and the general public. It’s a film that has shown the return of an action-film maestro to the forefront of a genre he helped create.

Leonard Wilson has made his thought’s known about Mad Max: Fury Road and all should check it out.

Yet, today I would like to share a favorite scene of mine from the second film in the series, Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior. This scene introduces the leader of the roving band of post-apocalyptic raiders who have besieged the small-community and it’s supply of precious oil and gasoline. Lord Humungus has become such an iconic figure in this series and in action-film lore.

The look of Humungus and his band of raiders would influence other post-apocalyptic films for years to come. It has even had a hand in creating the look for the Dr. Dre and Tupac music video “California Love.”

Dance Scenes That I Love: Ex Machina

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, Jeff and I saw Ex Machina and we thought it was brilliant! Now, before I (among others here at the TSL) get around to posting a full review later this week, I thought I would share a scene that I loved from the film. This is the scene that, when it happened, everyone in the theater suddenly realized that they were watching a movie that they would never forget.

I’m not going to go into the details of just why Oscar Isaac and his “friend” are dancing in this scene. For now, all that’s important is that they are.

See Ex Machina!

Happy Easter!

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Dazzling Erin

Happy Easter from the Shattered Lens!

Scenes That I Love: “And It’s a Beautiful Day” in Fargo

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I sit here typing this at nearly 2 in the morning, this is what our front yard currently looks like:

Now, admittedly, this is nothing compared to what fellow TSL writers Pantsukudasai56 and Leon The Duke are having to deal with up in Massachusetts. However, Erin and I live in Texas, where we consider 90 to be a cold front. So, to us, that is a lot of snow!

(Add to that, it’s still coming down…)

As I watched the flakes fall and I realized that our cat’s outside water bowl had now disappeared under a mountain of snow, I couldn’t help but think of one of the best (and most snow-filled) films ever made, 1996’s Fargo. Fargo is a film about many things: greed, love, home, fate, guilt, and innocence. It’s also a film that’s full of snow.

And tonight’s Scene That I Love comes from Fargo. When people talk about Fargo, they always seem to mention the woodchipper scene, the accents, and maybe the scene where William H. Macy flees the interview. However, for me, the film’s best scene comes towards the end. As Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) drives Gaer Grismund (Peter Stomare) to jail, she reflects on everything that’s happened.

Even though I’ve seen Fargo several times, this scene still always gets to me. First off, there’s always a part of me that’s scared that Grismund is somehow going to attack Marge from the backseat. But, beyond that, this is the scene where Marge reminds us that, for all the bad in the world, there’s still good as well.

And, of course, there’s all that snow…

Scenes I Love: Gladiator

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Arleigh

“ROMA VICTOR!”

While Lisa Marie watches Ben-Hur on TCM I decided to revisit one of my favorite films to start of the new millenium. This was a film that helped resurrect sword and sandals epic that had burnt out during the late 60’s. From the late 50’s and throughout most of the 1960’s we had such classic epics as Spartacus, Quo Vadis and Ben-Hur. Then we have the Italian-produced peplum films which ranged from memorable to awful.

In 2000, Ridley Scott released the film that would finally win Russell Crowe an Oscar for Best Actor (one he should’ve won for The Insider in the previous year). Gladiator was a return to the old-school epic-scale filmmaking that we hadn’t seen in decades and audiences ate it all up as it won in the box-office and charmed critics.

I wasn’t sure about Gladiator leading up to it’s release, but I was always up for some hacking and slashing in my entertainment. What changed my mind from just being interested to buying fully into the film was when I first saw it and the opening scene which I dub the Battle of Germania. This opening sequence appealed to my sense of adventure as a viewer and also as a student of history (especially military history). While the scene itself wasn’t as accurate as I would’ve liked it got enough of how the Roman Legions fought as an army correct that I was able to forgive Sir Ridley for some dramatic flourishes that wasn’t historically accurate.

In this scene we see the Legions form up in square ranks with their recognizable scutum (Roman shield) into their typical shield wall formation. There are also the auxiliries acting as long-range support such as archers, catapults and ballista (though the last two were rarely, if ever used outside of sieges). Then there were the Roman cavalry led by Maximus himself (a unit seen less as an elite formation as we see later in the Medieval era). Scott was able to combine all these elements and create a scene that probably was as close as we’d get to seeing how war was waged between the Roman Empire and the so-called barbarian hordes of Germania.

I think this scene would’ve been perfect if the Roman Legion formations remained cohesive and just meat-grinded their enemy in front instead of breaking apart and turning the fight into a free-for-all. Other than that misstep this scene was what I loved about Gladiator.

Scenes I Love: Happy Groundhog Day!

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Dazzling Erin

Happy Groundhog Day!

Scenes That I Love: Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni In The Trevi Fountain

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Anita Ekberg, RIP

This famous and iconic scene is taken from Federico Fellini’s 1960 film, La Dolce Vita. The film follows tabloid journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) over the course of 7 days and 7 nights. He spends the 2nd day pursuing a famous actress named Sylvia (Anita Ekberg). As the day comes to an end, he finds Anita wading into the Trevi Fountain.

As famous and celebrated as this scene is, it’s often forgotten that it ultimately ends with Sylvia being slapped by her loutish boyfriend, Robert (Lex Barker). That slap is not included in the video below but that’s okay. For today, at least, let’s allow Sylvia her happiness.

Scenes I Love: The Shining (HAPPY NEW YEAR)

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Arleigh

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What better way to end 2014 than through one of my favorite scenes from Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining.

For those who have watched the film they understand the impact of this scene. For those still needing to see this classic piece of horror filmmaking then what better way to open up the new year than making a resolution to finally sit down and watch The Shining.

Let’s Say Goodbye to 2014 with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, 2014 is nearly over.

Soon, it will be 2015.

Soon, the present will become the future.

2014 will not go down in history as one of humanity’s finest moments. Considering all that’s happened over the past year, it’s hard for me to be surprised by the fact that several of my favorite films of the year were films that I would normally describe as being entertaining escapism.

In 2014, we needed to be entertained. We needed to escape.

Will 2015 be any better? What will be the way of the future? It’s a question that Leonardo DiCaprio asked at the end of Martin Scorsese’s 2004 film The Aviator and it’s a question that we’re still asking today.