Category Archives: Scenes I Love

Scenes I Love: Clannad After Story

Posted on by Arleigh

After people see this scene they will think I’m either crazy or a glutton for heartache for loving this scene. It’s hard to disagree with that statement. There’s a reason why I love this scene from the anime series Clannad After Story and it has less to do with the tone of the scene, but a major reason why anime is not just for kids or about boobs, tentacle rape and all the other things adults in the Western media dismiss the art form for.

This scene from Clannad After Story happens between the series’ main lead in Tomoya who has now come to the realization that he must now make amends to the daughter he left behind to be cared for by his wife’s family. It’s a powerful scene that has brought many to tears from young teen girls to grown-ass men who probably bawled more than the former. One doesn’t even have to have seen the previous season to this anime or any episodes leading up to this scene. The moment itself has enough of a backstory that one cannot help but get caught up in the moment. It’s also a scene that does a great job of emphasizing that bond between parent and child even when the former hasn’t lived up to their responsibilities.

I think if more people watched anime like Clannad After Story their opinions of anime would change for the better and see it in a new and positive light.

Scenes That I Love: Clint Eastwood Gets Results

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

(This is not a political post but if it was, it would solely reflect my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of anyone else who writes for this site.)

The big news tonight seems to be that former President Bill Clinton is giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention.  After being told by several people on twitter that Clinton is “one of the greatest speakers of all time,” I listened to a few minutes of “America’s greatest politician” and you know what?

I still prefer Clint Eastwood. 

That’s not meant to be an endorsement of any political position that has or has not been advocated by Clint Eastwood over the past few weeks.  This is not a political statement as much as it’s just an acknowledgement of the fact that Presidents give speeches but Clint Eastwood gets results.

And that leads me to tonight’s scene that I love.  From the classic 1971 crime film Dirty Harry, here’s the famous scene that explains why so many people love Clint Eastwood in the first place.

Scenes I Love: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Posted on by Arleigh

I finally got around to checking out Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky over on Netflix Instant and It’s as great as the first time I saw it on VHS almost 15 years ago. It’s during the second fight Ricky finds himself in that I’ve picked the latest entry in the “Scenes I Love” feature.

This scene has Ricky in just his second day in prison (for a crime he did commit) and already gaining the attention of the prison gang leaders who control the different cell blocks. This scene has him fighting it out with Oscar who happens to be the leader of the gang that runs the North Cell. It’s a fight that has Ricky fighting unarmed against Oscar who wields a custom machete/saw-toothed sword. One would think that Ricky would be at a major disadvantage, but one would be oh so mistaken.

Ricky is not just a master of kung fu, but he’s got powers that Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon would kill babies and cook kittens to acquire. The scene best explains it all and having it dubbed in classic martial arts style makes it even better: “Alright! you got a lot of guts Oscar!”

Scenes I Love: Spy Game (R.I.P. Tony Scott)

Posted on by Arleigh

[SPOILERS]

The world of cinema lost one of it’s own with the death of British filmmaker Tony Scott (brother of filmmaker Ridley Scott). The circumstances of Tony Scott’s death has now been confirmed and could be found and read easily on most on-line news site.

This post is not to focus on Tony Scott’s death but on the life he lived and how his contribution to the art of filmmaking. Tony Scott has been a major influenc on me and those who grew up during the 80’s and 90’s. His films were huge commercial successes but also unique in that he tried to advance the genre of action filmmaking beyond the bullet point steps on how to make them that other filmmakers could never get beyond.

Tony Scott experimented and innovated with the action genre these last ten or so years to mixed results, but no one could ever say that his visual style was ever boring. Just like his brother Ridley, Tony Scott was a visual director first and foremost, but he also had a way in getting the most out of the cast he was given. It didn’t matter whether they were award-winning veterans like Denzel Washington or up-and-coming stars like Keira Knightley and Chris Pine. His action films weren’t just all about the visual and auditory overload his contemporaries only focused on. Tony Scott used his actors and got from them good to great performances which raised what would’ve been your typical action film to something more.

One of my favorite scenes Tony Scott ever did was also from one of his films I consider one of his best. It’s the last main sequence for his 2001 spy thriller, Spy Game, which starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. It was a film that was the passing of the torch from one blue-eyed star of Hollywood’s yesteryear to the current blue-eyed star. This film could’ve been all about action and explosions and techno-spy babble, but it instead became a great exercise in how to create an action-thriller that allowed for dialogue to become the engine that moved the action.

This scene is a favorite because it was the culmination of the machinations and secret plannings of Redford’s aging spymaster, Nathan Muir, to try and save his wayward protege in Brad Pitt’s Tom Bishop. While it would be best for people to watch this scene having watched the rest of the film beforehand, even just watching Redford take control of the room is a clue to how well Tony Scott allowed his actors to work the scene instead of forcing them to do it his way. It’s no wonder that Denzel Washington, considered to be the best actor of his generation, kept working with Tony over and over for the past decade.

 

Scenes I Love: Apocalypse Now

Posted on by Arleigh

It’s been awhile since I put up a scene I love from a film I love. Time to change that and what better way to do it than pick a favorite scene from one of the best films ever made: Apocalypse Now.

This particular scene occurs in the last act of the film which finally puts Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) face-to-face with his target in the off-the-reservation Special Forces  commander Col. Kurtz. This is the first time we actually see Marlon Brando in the role of Kurtz in a film that’s been obsessed with his character right from the very beginning. The glimpses we get of Kurtz are fleeting as he remains in the shadows with only his rumble of a voice giving weight to his presence in the scene. I have to admit that even after seeing this film for over a hundred times through the years it’s still pretty difficult to understand some of what he is saying. Yet, when such an occurrence would be a death for a scene it doesn’t for this scene. It only helps highlight just how far down the abyss this former paragon of American military might has put himself in to accomplish a mission given to him by people he dismissively call “grocery clerks”.

There’s no soundtrack to try and manipulate the scene for the audience. It’s just the ambient noises of the jungle and the ancient temple Kurtz and his people have called home. Even the dialogue in the beginning of the scene where Kurtz inquires about where Willard was from was full of menace and hidden dangers. It’s very difficult not to get hypnotized by this scene. There’s not a fake beat to the dialogue between Sheen and Brando. The way the scene unfolds almost acts like a metronome that lulls the viewer until the reveal in the end when we finally see Kurtz’s face in full for the very first time.

Coppola has done great work before this film with hi first two Godfather films but this scene in this film I consider the best he has ever put on celluloid.

“Kurtz: Are you an assassin?

Willard: I’m a soldier.

Kurtz: You’re neither, you’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill”

Scenes I Love: The Shootout from Michael Mann’s “Heat”.

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

The shootout in Michael Mann’s “Heat” (1995) remains one of the best ever filmed, in my opinion. Mann himself even tried topping it in Miami Vice (which is good in it’s own right), but this scene (which occurs some minutes in) is so loved, Rockstar Games actually developed a mission in Grand Theft Auto 4 to mimic it.

A group of bank robbers, led by Neal McCauley (Robert DeNiro) finally take down their score, only to find that the police squad out to get them has been tipped off. The video starts as the robbery begins. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), along with his team arrive just as the crew is coming out of the bank with the money. The rest is mayhem, with the gunfire sounds echoing all around. Elliot Goldenthal’s score for the piece sets the tone for the robbery, a piece called Force Marker (along with Brian Eno).

What I wouldn’t give to catch this in a theatre somewhere. Enjoy.

Scenes I Love: “The Orange Man” from Unbreakable.

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

There’s a part of me that really wants to see M. Night Shyamalan come back into his own again. I think somewhere between The Village and Lady in the Water, he started this strange descent. But back in 2000, he had “Unbreakable” which wasn’t bad at all. The story of a man who discovers he has abilities far beyond normal people, Unbreakable could be considered one of the first ‘every person superhero’ films. As with some origin stories, Unbreakable’s David Dunn has to come to terms with what he can do. Once he’s put on the path by a Comic Book aficionado (played by Samuel L. Jackson), he heads off to do some good.

The above is David Dunn taking down a home invader with a simple choke hold. Enjoy.

The first time I saw this scene was on DVD, with my little brother. This part in particular left us with smiles. It’s not so much what takes place, but the music behind it. James Newton Howard’s score takes what would normally be a quick action theme (for a story like this) and uses a dramatic piece to cover the scene. I thought it worked really well here. It also reminds me that as he wasn’t working on The Dark Knight Rises score with Hans Zimmer, you might not find a lot of those softer themes. Then again, with Gotham in turmoil, maybe that’s not the kind of music it needs right now.

Dance Scenes That I Love: Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem from Jesus Christ Superstar

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, Arleigh and Pantsukudasai have left town to attend the Anime Expo and I find myself momentarily alone here at the TSL Bunker, curled up on the couch in my beloved Pirates t-shirt and Hello Kitty panties, and cursing my asthma.  As I lay here, it occurs to me that it’s been a while since I’ve shared a “scene that I love” here on the site.  So, why not rectify that situation now?

Norman Jewison’s 1972 film version of Jesus Christ Superstar is a film that I’ve been meaning to review for a while but for now, I just want to share my favorite scene from that film, the performance of Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem.

There’s several reasons I love that scene but mostly it just comes down to the fact that it captures the explosive energy that comes from watching a live performance.  Larry Marshall (who plays Simon Zealotes) has one of the most fascinating faces that I’ve ever seen in film and when he sings, he sings as if the fate of the entire world depends on it.  That said, I’ve never been sold on Ted Neely’s performance as Jesus but Carl Anderson burns with charisma in the role of Judas.
 
Mostly, however, I just love the choreography and watching the dancers.  I guess that’s not that surprising considering just how important dance was (and still is, even if I’m now just dancing for fun) in my life but, to be honest, I’m probably one of the most hyper critical people out there when it comes to dance in film, regarding both the the way that it’s often choreographed and usually filmed.  But this scene is probably about as close to perfect in both regards as I’ve ever seen.  It goes beyond the fact that the dancers obviously have a lot of energy and enthusiasm and that they all look good while dancing.  The great thing about the choreography in this scene is that it all feels so spontaneous.  There’s less emphasis on technical perfection and more emphasis on capturing emotion and thought through movement.  What I love is that the number is choreographed to make it appear as if not all of the dancers in this scene are on the exact same beat.  Some of them appear to come in a second or two late, which is something that would have made a lot of my former teachers and choreographers scream and curse because, far too often, people become so obsessed with technical perfection that they forget that passion is just as important as perfect technique.  (I’m biased, of course, because I’ve always been more passionate than perfect.)  The dancers in this scene have a lot of passion and it’s thrilling to watch.

Scenes I Love: The Eyptian Feast Conversation From Blood Feast

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, last week, our newest contributor here at the Shattered Lens, The Trash Film Guru, posted his wonderful review of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s The Gruesome Twosome.  Reading that review got me thinking about the unique cinematic vision of Mr. Lewis.  Though I’ll be reviewing Scum of the Earth and Something Weird later on this week, I would like to first share with you one of my favorite scenes from the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Below, in all it’s glory, is the famous Egyptian feast conversation from Lewis’s 1963 epic, Blood Feast.  The caterer here is played by Mal Arnold, who appeared in several of Lewis’s films.

Scenes I Love: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Posted on by Arleigh

[spoilers]

Tonight’s latest episode of The Walking Dead had a climactic scene which mirrored something similar in one of my favorite films ever. I’m not talking just favorite horror film ever, but just favorite film in general with George A. Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead that was released in 1978.

This was the film which codified what to me was what every zombie apocalypse stories and films should be. It was epic in scope despite having such a small leading cast. The film’s story expanded on the rules of the zombie apocalypse but also expanded on the idea that its not even zombies who are the biggest threat to other survivors. It’s almost become a cliche in zombie films nowadays that every major threat to the main group of survivors would be bikers and/or raiders who used chopper bikes to get around.

The scene I always saw as one of my many favorites in this film occurs around the 7:00min mark after the video starts. It’s the raiders and bikers finally getting their comeuppance for bursting into the secured mall compound the survivors sacrificed so much to make their own. This scene matches the same scene spiritually since make-up effects work had improved from 1978 to 2012 where The Walking Dead lives in. the effects work may look cartoonish and fake, but it still doesn’t minimize the impact of seeing someone disemboweled and eaten while still alive and screaming.