Category Archives: Scenes I Love

Scenes I Love: Lighting the Beacons in Return of the King

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

We just received word that the Texas Branch is still currently down. It’s been six full days without power. I can’t even begin to imagine the impact, but we’re hoping that they back up and running soon. Case and I are keeping the fires lit here, but it also reminds us of Lisa Marie’s John Wick levels of legendary speed, sheer will, creative output and literary fortitude. We miss the Bowmans, and are rooting for their quick return.

In the meantime, we’re sharing some of our favorite scenes and films. It seems fitting that the Lighting of the Beacons sequence of The Return of the King is our focus here. With the city of Gondor under attack, the steward Denathor (John Noble) doesn’t wish to call for any help. With Pippin’s (Billy Boyd) help, Gandalf (Ian McKellan) gets word out to Rohan in a most spectactular fashion. Howard Shore’s score amplifies the sequence to epic levels.

Enjoy!

Scenes That I Love: Cillian Murphy in Dunkirk

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy birthday to the most recent winner of the Oscar for Best Actor, Cillian Murphy!

While Murphy won for his lead role in Oppenheimer, he’s been an intriguing cinematic presence for over two decades and, of course, he’s been a long-time favorite of director Christopher Nolan’s.  In 2017’s Dunkirk he had a small but pivotal role as a shell-shocked soldier.  Murphy’s haunting performance serves as a reminder that even the most heroic moments of a war often come at great cost to the soldiers involved.

Scenes that I love: Angels Live In My Town From Boogie Nights (Happy Birthday, John C. Reilly)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is John C. Reilly’s 59th birthday.  This provides me with a great reason to share a scene that I love from 1997’s Boogie Nights.  In this scene, John C. Reilly and Mark Wahlberg star in one of the best films never actually made, Angels Live In My Town.

Brock Landers and Chest Rockwell were quite a team.

Scene That I Love: The Casino Scene From Run, Lola, Run

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy 59th birthday to director Tom Tykwer.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Tykwer’s 1998 masterpiece, Run, Lola, Run.  Everyone has their own system when it comes to gambling but I don’t think anyone has ever come up with a system as effective as Lola’s.

Scenes That I Love: Laurence Olivier In Hamlet

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

117 years ago today, Laurence Olivier was born in Surrey.  The son of a clergyman, Olivier would go on to become one of the greatest stage actors of the 20th Century.  He would also have a distinguished film career, one that led to him frequently being described as being the world’s greatest living actor.

He is perhaps best-known for his Shakespearean performances.  He won multiple Oscars for directing and starring in 1948’s Hamlet.  Today’s scene that I love comes from that film and features Olivier at his best, as both an actor and a director.

Scenes That I Love: Mr. T Predicts “Pain” in Rocky III

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I saw that today was Mr. T’s birthday and, for a while now, I’ve been reviewing T and T, a Canadian detective show that he starred in for three seasons.  I figured I could have shared a scene that I love from T and T but there really aren’t any scenes from T and T that are worth loving.  Besides, we all know what we immediately think of when it comes to Mr. T.

For today’s scene that I love, here’s Mr. T as Clubber Lang in Rocky III:

Scenes I Love: Jimmy Stewart Sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow in The Philadelphia Story

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1940 film, The Philadelphia Story, and it features my favorite Golden Age actor, James Stewart, carrying Katharine Hepburn and singing a song that might sound a bit familiar to our readers.

This is the performance, by the way, that won Stewart an Oscar.  Stewart himself often said that he felt the Academy rewarded him to make up for not giving him the Oscar for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.  That’s probably true but still, this film features Jimmy Stewart at his most charming.  Teaming Stewart up with not just Katharine Hepburn but also Cary Grant makes The Philadelphia Story one of the best romantic comedies to come out of Hollywood’s pre-war era.

(Before the war, Stewart was Jimmy.  After he served bravely in World War II and returned to America, he was definitely James.)

Scenes That I Love: Pete Townshend and The Who at Woodstock

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Pete Townshend’s 79th birthday and today’s scene that I love features Pete Townshend (as a member of The Who) performing at Woodstock in 1969.

Roger Daltrey later said that this was the worst gig that they ever played and The Who did end up going on stage early in the morning, with the sun rising as they performed See Me, Feel Me.  The majority of The Who’s performance was not included in the initial release of the Woodstock documentary but the noticeably grainy footage would later be included in various rereleases.

Unfortunately, no cameras recorded the moment when Pete Townshend became the hero that 1969 needed by kicking a ranting Abbie Hoffman off of the stage.  But, audio of the incident survived.

Here is The Who at Woodstock:

Scenes That I Love: The Muppets Meet Dabney Coleman In The Muppets Take Manhattan

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the world learned the sad news that the great Texas character actor, Dabney Coleman, had passed away at the age of 93.

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan.  In this scene, the Muppets try to sell Coleman on their idea for a musical.  Coleman, meanwhile, does his best to cheat the Muppets out of all of their money.  It takes a truly great actor to give a convincing performance while acting opposite a very large group of puppets.

(I mean, we all know Kermit’s real but I’m pretty sure that the rest of them are puppets….)

Scenes I Love: Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt In Twister

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bill Paxton would have been 69 years old today.  As a lover of both films and eccentric Texans, I still miss Bill Paxton.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Twister and it features Bill Paxton showing off some wonderful chemistry with Helen Hunt.  One of the great things about Bill Paxton is that he was equally at home in both big blockbusters like Twister and Titanic and low-budget indies like Near Dark.  He was an artist who also happened to be a star.