03. ask me anything: favorite movie scenes/moments

Aaaaand back to our regularly scheduled programming, so sorry for the delay.

12_12_12 prompted:what are some of your favorite movie scenes/moments and why?


I AM SO BAD AT LISTS. I seem to hate making ~definitive~ statements about anything. What if I left something out!!!! I think this took so long (aside from the RL stuff) because I was frankly overwhelmed by the possibilities. I could just a favorite scenes post of every genre and every decade tbqh. So for my own sanity let's keep in mind that this is FAR from definitive, just a bunch of things that came to mind. :)

Even now I'm like, how is there no Winona in this post? No Brando? No Pfeiffer? I'm a horrible fan. Ugh.





There are few things I love like watching Natalie lose it spectacularly in this movie. This scene + I HAVEN'T ANY PRIDE are two of my faaaavorite scenes ever (unfortunately I couldn't find videos/gifs of the latter, if you can pls share in the comments). And I really love the lead-up to this scene because it's shot so fucking well, showing Deanie's (Natalie) detachment from her life and how overwhelming her parents are and how little they know how to handle her.

Her entire character arc in this movie is so great. I fucking love me some Kazan, but this is probably my favorite of his, and just. How did he GET IT. How did a bunch of dudes get the purity myth double standard nonsense!! Beatty's character (umm Bud, right? Bud) has got angst in this movie too and I appreciate it and everything, but it doesn't cut like Deanie – how she just cannot reconcile being a "good girl" like everyone tells her she is and wanting so badly to do the things "bad girls" do. So in this scene, after Bud has broken up with her and her mother asks if she's ~spoiled... Man. I will just let the clip speak for itself for the most part.

And then later, the scene I couldn't find but wish I could: Deanie cuts her hair and dresses all sexy in a scandalous red dress and tries to fuck Bud again but he turns her down again by saying something like, "Deanie, where's your pride?" It just SETS HER OFF. She just starts screaming I HAVEN'T ANY PRIDE and then runs off.






Linking instead of embedding for aesthetic reasons.

Okay, so, technically two scenes. BUT THEY ARE IMPORTANTLY LINKED SO IT COUNTS. The interplay of the two scenes is So Important to me: the chaos of Margot's montage with the Clash and the yellow and the kissing against Richie's slow Elliott Smith blue-tinged horror-dream of a suicide attempt. I never tire of this movie or those scenes. Especially Richie. I am very obsessed with characters looking at themselves in mirrors in movies. Usually they're getting ready or putting on makeup, but the opposite also happens a lot, characters deconstructing themselves. Deanie does so in Splendor. And watching Richie pull himself apart in every way is so heartbreaking. He takes down his defenses quite literally: the glasses, the hair, the beard, it all comes down and we get our first real look at who Richie is and his desperate sadness.





Just look at that fuckin' mise-en-scene. Beautiful. I have spoken about this scene before definitely, I love it so much. Brad's acting will always leave much to be desired (I have such mixed feelings about him in this movie) but he pouts and tosses his hair well enough, so. The great thing about Tom as Lestat is you can see how much he relishes the role, and how much he enjoyed playing it. I love that. You can always tell when actors are having a good time with the material. It's just a great scene – narratively speaking, it breaks down the dynamic between Lestat and Louis perfectly, and aesthetics-wise Neil Jordan knows what the fuck he's doing. The sets, the costumes, the framing. It's so beautiful. The actress playing the prostitute is both incredible and gorgeous. It just has great energy. I'm disappointed that the only clip I found is not the full scene; I think it misses something if you don't get to see Lestat flirting with the prostitute first. It's integral to his later cruelty in the scene to see his playfulness first.





Um definitely there are reasons I like this besides boobs. The Venus de Milo scene is the one that gets the most play on the internet but there's a weird thing about the song "La Mer" in this movie that's never really explained or anything, and I love it. It plays overs this scene and also when Theo is on his date, which makes Isabelle lose it for unspecified reasons. Probably just because it is very clearly HER song and he was polluting it by giving it to someone else. Anyway. There's just a freedom to her in this scene that I like a lot. You just felt like it was her favorite song and she was vibing it. You know? There's a weird mix of sexuality and control and freedom and, I don't know, untouchability. I don't mean that in a creepy way. She just seems so in control of her own awesomeness to the point of being more goddess than human. Am I overselling? Possibly.






I love this movie so much I cannot even stand it. I love basically all the scenes between Catherine and Morris so it's really hard to pick one, but I suppose I am partial to their first meeting and also the scene in the rain where they decide to run off. The acting in this movie really gets me because the body language is so incredible – the way Monty leans in and Olivia leans away, the ways he seduces her and sets her at ease. IT'S SO GOOD. WHAT IS ACTING.

Also there's this great line in the rainy scene where Catherine is listing all the stuff she bought for Morris in Paris and he says, "My dear girl, how happy we shall be!" with the true glee of a gold-digger all tied up in the facade of a real lover and it is so so so good. Such a good line reading from my dearest Montgomery.






Um definitely there are reasons I like this besides boobs. This movie is on Netflix so there's really no reason for people with Netflix to do anything except watch it. PAUL NEWMAN STANDS HALF-NAKED OUTSIDE JOANNE WOODWARD'S WINDOW AND SING-SONGS HER NAME WHILE SHE ACTS ALL FLUSTERED AND CUTE. IT'S AMAZING. Other great scenes in this film: they make out and she's annoyed by his hotness, Paul Newman looks rumpled and eats watermelon, Paul Newman wears a suit and eats pie, Joanne Woodward delivers amazing monologue after amazing monologue while serving eyebrow game so strong it burns.






Just too iconic.






I GET SUCH A RUSH FROM THIS MOVIE TO THIS DAY. There's a montage of sorts early on in the movie that sums up Arthur's (Señor Bale) past + his relationship with Brian Slade (Johnny Rhys Meyers) as a fan + the entire glam rock movement. And I just eternally love it. The music, the fun faux-documentary style of it, it's all just so enjoyable. It's like the most fun exposition one could experience. With glitter.






I think the scenes that stick out in your mind do so often because EVERYTHING is working so well together, so seamlessly. Aesthetics, music, acting – it just sparks. And the opening for Secretary sets the movie up perfectly. The score is so distinct. It starts in the middle before going back to the beginning and aside from hooking you as a viewer it also sort of previews where the movie will take you – it cuts immediately from Maggie all sexy and controlled to her looking awkward, frumpy, the exact opposite of what she was before. It's jolting in the best way. You know where she's going to end up and you love watching her get there.





I also wanted to put the scene from Hotel Chevalier but I have discussed that scene more than enough for everyone's liking, I'm sure. There are very many scenes in this movie to love, but I think I particularly adore the scene set to the Stones' "Play with Fire" where the three brothers and their mom try to express themselves without speaking. It's just their faces while the song plays but there's something very deep and wonderful about it. Anjelica Huston is so great in this movie even in her limited capacity; the scene right before this one where the boys are all WHAT ABOUT YOU BEING THERE FOR US and she says something like, "You're talking to her. You're not talking to me," ugh, so amazing. WEIRD BAD MOTHERS IN FICTION, I LIVE FOR THEE.






CHILDREN. I am quite literally haunted by Kate and Jimmy's chemistry. Forever bitter that they never made another film together. I have FOUR glorious Kate and Cary movies to enjoy that are all varied and wonderful in their own ways but ONE Kate/Jimmy movie WHERE THEY DON'T EVEN END UP TOGETHER. Kate's phenomenal dress! Their drunken flirting! Standing so close together! Kate's high pitched laugh that I do in my own life all the time! SUCH CHEMISTRY. One of my favorite things about old movies is just watching amazing actors chew the scenery and spit words at each other. Fucking unparalleled.






This is one of the ABSOLUTE CUTEST romcoms of all time. For those unfamiliar, in short: Jimmy Stewart is a straight-laced science professor who impulsively marries Ginger Rogers, an adorable nightclub singer, and then has to hide it when he brings her home because he fears his family's disapproval. Also he is sorta engaged to another girl. There are many lovely misadventures but the BEST OF WHICH is when Ginger and the other girl engage in FORMALWEAR FISTICUFFS. IT'S SO GREAT. GINGER IS SO SCRAPPY. SHE KEEPS SHUSHING THE OTHER GIRL AND THEN SLAPPING HER ACROSS THE FACE. I have never seen such precious, darling fighting in my entire life.

Second best scene: when Ginger signs up for Jimmy's science class and they flirtatiously look through a microscope together.






I think this is possibly the most convincing and loveliest falling in love montage I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Watching them enjoy each other's company is such an unmitigated delight.






Such a flawless movie beginning to end, but I'm a sucker for the incredible acting involved in this scene particularly. I hesitated putting any musical numbers on this list because I could do a whole post about musical numbers but, eh, had to be done. The fantastic animation coupled with the beautiful song coupled with John Cameron Mitchell's face – couldn't resist.





I almost posted this without this scene but then I gasped in horror that I could have missed it. SCREWBALL AT ITS FINEST.