Tag Archives: Scenes I Love

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: The Opening of the Godfather

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I was recently lucky enough to catch a showing of the classic film The Godfather at the Cinemark West Plano theater down here in DFW and, in honor of that occasion, allow me to present this scene that I love.  This is the opening of The Godfather and it’s one of the best first scenes in cinematic history.  In just a matter of minutes, director Francis Ford Coppola tells us everything that we need to know about Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his business.

Add to that, I love the cat!

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.

Scenes That I Love: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since February is Oscar month, I figured why not start things off with one of my favorite dance scenes of all time?  When Danny Boyle won his Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire (which, of course, was also named the best picture of 2008), he specifically thanked choreographer Longinus Fernandes for creating the “Jai Ho” dance sequence that is used to punctuate the film’s finale.  Indeed, the credit was deserved because that dance sequence not only served as a perfect coda for Boyle’s kinetic vision but it also elevated the entire film and transformed an otherwise grim little story about poverty and crime into the “feel good movie of 2008.”

To me, this scene epitomizes everything that caused me to fall in love with film in the first place.

Scenes I Love: Oldboy

Posted on by Arleigh

The month of January has always been a slow one in regards to quality films being released in the theaters, but this weekend a good one comes out with Joe Carnahan’s latest, The Grey.  I plan to see this film over the weekend, but tonight I decided to pass the time and feel better from a bout of the flu by watching one of my favorite films of the past decade: Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy.

The latest “Scenes I Love” pick takes a scene from this classic film of revenge. It’s a scene where we have our film’s protagonist, Oh Dae-su, tracking down one of those responsible for keeping him locked up for 15-years without reason or cause. The scene starts off with some DIY dental work that still makes me cringe every time I see it. Once Oh Dae-su finishes with said dental work he has to get through a gauntlet of thugs and goons with just a claw hammer.

This scene is not just great because of how action-packed it was but how Park Chan-wook ended up shooting the whole scene. A fight scene begins which looks to be shot using just one long take and made to look like those classic side-scrolling action games like Double Dragon and the like. Whether the intention of how the scene was shot was to pay homage to such games or by accident doesn’t diminish the fact that the fight scene ended up becoming one of this film’s iconic sequences that continues to be talked about by new and old fans alike.

Scenes I Love: Tombstone

Posted on by Arleigh

Kurt Russell I consider one of the biggest badasses of Hollywood and his work in 1993’s Tombstone showed just how much a badass he was and still is.

This scene from that film was one of the best scenes in the entire film. It shows Russell channeling his inner-Wyatt Earp and bitchslapping Billy Bob Thornton (who probably deserves it both in and out of this film). I just love how his demeanor was so confident and how well he judged Thornton’s character as nothing but a blowhard and a bully. This scene even has some killer lines from Russell. How often have we wished we could do what he did in this scene to our own douchebag bosses at work. I know I have imagined it many times.

One cool thing about this scene is how it doesn’t end in the saloon, but continues outside with Val Kilmer just killing it as Doc Holliday. Love how Doc and the Earp’s just ignore Thornton’s Johnny Tyler and how he just stands there looking like the idiot he is. Good thing he said thank you in the end or he may have just gotten another bitchslap session from Wyatt.

Some people love this film. Some people don’t like this film, but I’d be hardpressed to find anyone who didn’t think this scene was the epitome of cool and badassery.

Scenes I Love: “Faster! Play it Faster!” from Reefer Madness

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

One reason that I love the old school grindhouse and exploitation films is because they’re often a far more honest reflection of their times than more mainstream films.  If you want to learn about history through film, don’t waste your time watching whatever film won best picture in 1936.  Instead, watch the movies that were specifically designed to exploit the times by presenting a somewhat more honest portrait of them.

So, what can we learn about 1936 from watching a classic exploitation film like Reefer Madness?  Reefer Madness, of course, tells the story of what happens after a group of clean-cut high school students are introduced to marijuana, the weed with roots in Hell.

Well, from the clip below, we can guess that, in 1936, high school was full of people in their 40s.  That and the marijuana of the 1930s was apparently laced with speed.

For giving the audience this unexpected insight into the past, this is truly a scene that I love.

Scenes I Love: Maniac

Posted on by Arleigh

With news that the remake of Maniac has finally gotten it’s Frank Zito in the form of Elijah Wood I thought it was high time that I shared my favorite scene from the original film by William Lustig. it’s this scene that I hope will make it intact and with little to no CGI to make it happen in as glorious a fashion as the original scene.

The latest “Scenes I Love” comes courtesy of the make-up FX magic by Tom Savini. In fact, this scene actually has him doing double-duty roles as not just the make-up FX artist but as an actor in the scene. This particular scene has been dubbed the “Disco Boy” scene and Savini ably stands in for the role of Disco Boy. We have him and his Disco Girl making out in their car when suddenly we see Frank Zito peeping in like some sort of Son of Sam copycat. Well, Disco Girl freaks out and Disco Boy attempts to act cool and protective. Little does Disco Boy know that he will soon be immortalized in a few seconds of blood and gore that goes down as one of the best “kills” ever put on film.