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"WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

post #1 of 15
1/19/07 at 10:19am
Thread Starter 
(Admin note - it's pretty much impossible not to spoil a film in this kind of thread, so tread carefully!)

Continuing the tradition started by Jordan_E and Chuck Mayer, here cometh the 2006 Edition of the "WOW!" Moments thread.

Previous installments:
All-Time Edition
2005
2004


Please be mindful of spoilers!

I shall start:

The Inside Man
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
- When the reason behind the uncharacteristically harsh interrogation of the hostages clicked into place.


United 93
- Passenger reactions and the sound of the airframe to every loss of control and dive of the aircraft.
- Female officer at NORAD on the verge of tears.
- The ranking officer at NORAD losing his composure and cursing out.
- The End.

The Departed
- The shoot out.
- The two, nearly wordless phone calls, minutes from each other. Simple, yet terribly effective editing. The single most suspensful moment of the year - I don't think I have ever held my breath longer!
- The elevator scene.
- The last scene.

Children of Men
- Kee revealing her secret to Theo. Knowing what was coming took nothing away from the power of that scene.
- The "Walk of Hope"? You know of what I speak. I have been struggling to find the words to describe that scene.

Volver
- Penelope Cruz singing, a sublime, unexpected moment of emotional power and beauty which I entirely attribute to Cruz's tremendous performance. This moment revealed to me both the literal meaning of the title (subs), and driving theme of the movie.

Babel
- Cate Blanchett's (and Brad Pitt's really) "potty break". A potentially ackward scene become one of the most emotionally rewarding moments of the year for me.
- The night club. A feat of cinematography - that scene cannot have been easy to properly light.

Flags of Our Fathers
- "They're not gonna stop" - *gulp!* (I wanna ask the experts, is that really true? Damn.)
- First person shot of Japanese machine gun nest and canon bunkers slowly opening up during the initial landing.
- Geek moment: Any shot from the aircrafts.

Letters from Iwo Jima
- The radio transmission from the general's hometown

Brick
- The conclusion - no real surprise there, yet one of the most intense scenes of the year.


That's it for now, there is bound to be more as I catchup.

Yer turn...

--
H
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post #2 of 15
1/19/07 at 10:25am

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition

The Departed-Elevator scene. Haven't jumped like that in a while.

Rocky Balboa-This had many of them for me. But Rocky talking with Paulie in the meat factory was one, and another was him standing looking at the crowd after the fight.
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post #3 of 15
1/19/07 at 12:10pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition

Superman Returns: Plane/Shuttle rescue scene.
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post #4 of 15
1/19/07 at 12:43pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition

Borat - Nude wrestling
Borat - Frat Boys
Borat - the Marraige
Borat - Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Bear's head

Perfume Story of a Murderer - the reveal of his masterpiece to the crowd
Perfume Story of a Murderer - the sequence involving the build up to, the actual murder, and the anguish after
Perfume Story of a Murderer - mixing a perfume for the master
Perfume Story of a Murderer - editing in general
Children of Men - The Walk of Hope (a perfect description)
Children of Men - attack on the car
Children of Men - Birth scene
Children of Men - Ending
Dreamgirls - Opening number by the Dreamettes
Dreamgirls - Steppin on the Bad Side
Dreamgirls - Love you I do
Dreamgirls - I'm Telling you (I am not going)
Dreamgirls - Listen
Dreamgirls - One Night Only
The Queen - Opening shot
The Queen - Tony Blair dressing down his speechwriter
the Queen - Visiting the memorial, seeing her people
The Queen - The Ending
Brick - beating up the drug dealer
Brick - standing down a car/bouncher
Brick - The party with the girl in red
Brick - pieces fall in place/the end
Brick - the dialogue
Monster House - mountain dew/pee
Monster House - pizza delivery boy
Monster House - concocting a sleeping draught
Monster House - exploring the house
Monster House - final battle / kiss
Monster House - 3D
The Departed - Dicaprio
The Departed - Wahlberg
The Departed - the script
The Departed - the soundtrack
The Departed - the shootout in the streets
The Departed - the shootout in the building Dicaprio is 'late' to
The Departed - the elevator
The Departed - the final scene (perfect!)
Rocky Balboa - pick a monologue, any monologue, especially Rocky to his son, Rocky to Paulie, Paulie to Rocky etc.
Devil Wears Prada - Harry Potter
Devil Wears Prada - opening scene
Devil Wears Prada - the editing in the scene where Hathaway 'gets' fashion walking into work
Devil Wears Prada - the script
Apocalypto - escape and the chase back to the village
Clerks II - the ending
Akeelah and the Bee - Akeelah learns 5000 words
The Proposition - Ray Winstone, any of the shootouts
Letters from Iwo Jima - reading the American's letter from Mom
Pan's Labyrinth - the first task, the mandrake and the second task
Twelve and Holding - Maelee gets a crush
Twelve and Holding - final confrontation
Pursuit of Happyness - solving the Rubiks cube
Pursuit of Happyness - the interview
Pursuit of Happyness - in the subway
Pirates of the Carribbean - escape from the island
Pirates of the Carribbean - water wheel fight
Superman Returns - airplane rescue
Little Miss Sunshine - the dance revealed
V for Vendetta - 10,000 Vs
Good German - The photography
Good German - the Score
Little Children - the photography, the football, the matter of fact approach to the sex, the way it resolves the core relationship.
Nanny McPhee - the Costumes
She's the Man - 'more nudity than the usual soccer game'
Snakes on a plane - just the fact of the movie, alligator teeth anaconda, various 'oh no not there!' snake attacks
Talladega Nights - Baby Jesus scene
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - Vengeance delivered
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post #5 of 15
1/19/07 at 1:38pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition

2006 was a great year...I won't count 2005 movies, although I saw The New World in 2006, and it was more WOW! than anything on this list. And this'll be a good list It might comes in pieces & parts, though.

United 93
One viewing only has made the film a single collage in my mind, but it had several scenes and sequences that overwhelmed me. As with Holadem, the end was staggering.

V for Vendetta
The domino sequence - awesome editing

Miami Vice
The first shot of the clear blue sky (on the way to South America)
The trailer scene (especially the exclamation point)
The final scene with Gong Li

Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut
The first shots of Jerusalem
The Knight's Oath of the citizens
"God wills it"
Any scene with King Baldwin

Pan's Labyrinth
Besides pretty much the entire film...
Ofelia telling her little brother (and her mother) a story - awesome shot
The entire ending

Children of Men
The "Walk of Hope" is top ten WOW! all-time for me (we love our "lists", don't we?)

Casino Royale
Parkour chase at the beginning
Bond and Vesper's train introduction
Bond and Vesper in the shower
Of course, the last scene

The Departed
Recruiting Costigan (Wahlberg just is great in this whole film)
DiCaprio's performance...his best, and that's saying a lot
The warehouse scene

The Fountain
The Xibalba effects
Tom losing Izzy
Future Tom's tattoo reveal
Future Tom realizing "I'm going to die"

As a bonus WOW, I probably watched the 300 trailer more than a dozen times, and seeing it on the big screen was awesome

More to follow from a great year...this year, it wasn't money that wowed me, as it sometimes is. And only one top ten grossing film on my list. Talented directors and performances were the mark of the year
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post #6 of 15
1/19/07 at 6:36pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

Superman Returns - The opening credits sequence, with John Williams' theme and the classic font... Such a wonderful nostalgia trip for me.

Children of Men - Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
The intense car sequence which results in Julian's death.
Masterful directing from Cuaron.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Davy Jones playing the organ. A really cool moment straight out of a classic monster movie.

X-Men: The Last Stand - Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Wolverine confronts Phoenix, with tragic results.
It's a messy movie, but this moment nearly elevates it to the level of X2.

Casino Royale - Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
"The name is Bond. James Bond."
What a great way to end the film.
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post #7 of 15
1/28/07 at 8:20pm
Thread Starter 

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

Added the last radio transmission in Letters from Iwo Jima and the conclusion of Brick.

--
H
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post #8 of 15
1/28/07 at 8:40pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

I have to agree with a couple I saw on here.

Children of Men: As it has been called on here, the "Walk of Hope" just flat out blew me away, an incredible, moving scene.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: I loved the water wheel fight so much...it was great.

United 93: That final shot blew me away and broke my heart all at the same time, even if I knew how it would end.

Superman Returns: The opening credits...gave me goosebumps, I loved it.
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post #9 of 15
1/29/07 at 7:31am

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

United 93

- As others mentioned, the end scene.
- The intensity of the scenes at NORAD and with the air traffic controllers.

Cars

- The visuals. I enjoyed the story and characters as well, but the animation of the race events was spectacular.

Wordplay

- The finals of the Crossword championship when
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
the one guy thinks he's won it, steps away from his board, removes his headphones and realizes he forgot to fill in one single square. You can't blame his reaction and even though it's just a Crossword competiton, you can't help but feel for the guy...

Yes, I just included a film about crossword puzzle solving in my WOW moments for 2006...

The Grudge 2

- I'm a sucker for Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on and Grudge movies (both Japanese and the U.S. remakes) and the great atmosphere he brings to them. In the sequel to the U.S. remake, there's a scene where the "ghost" (call it whatever you will) comes straight at the camera and seems to envelop it. Combined with the sound design (one of the strengths of many J-horror films), it provided one of the spookiest moments of the year.

Retribution

- Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest that I hope gets wider distirbution this year. Pretty much any scene where the lady in red shows up - both the subtle entrances and the sudden ones.

Borat

- Almost getting beat up on the NY subway.
- The rodeo.

Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

- The moment when you realize you've just shifted from a mockumentary style film into an actual horror film.
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post #10 of 15
1/29/07 at 8:17pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

I just saw Children of Men and I don't know which scene everyone is referring to as the "Walk of Hope". Please enlighten my thick skull.
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post #11 of 15
1/29/07 at 8:23pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnRice
I just saw Children of Men and I don't know which scene everyone is referring to as the "Walk of Hope". Please enlighten my thick skull.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
It's my understanding that the scene being referred to is the scene where Theo, Key and the crying baby are walking through the hotel and all the gunfire and chaos ends and everyone watches them walk out of the hotel in shock.
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post #12 of 15
1/29/07 at 8:30pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

OK: Spoiler here. Don't read if you haven't seen CoM








Walk of Hope = Kee & Theo carrying the baby out of the fugee's nearly destroyed building after Luke & Patric are shot. The fish and soldiers, amazed at the sight of a baby, stop firing as Theo & Kee walk down the hall, down the stairs, exit the building and walk out onto the street between the rows of British soldiers...past fugees (an African woman, bleeding from gunshot wounds) sings a lullaby, several fish (who were at the farm) race up the stairs past them without trying to stop the trio, two soldiers kneel and make the sign of the cross, people cry, jaws drop...and then as soon as Theo/Kee/child are a short distance into the street, a fish or fugee fires from the building into the soldiers and the battle resumes in full fury as Theo and Key flee the scene.
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post #13 of 15
1/30/07 at 11:39pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam_S
Dreamgirls - I'm Telling you (I am not going)


Yup.
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post #14 of 15
1/31/07 at 3:19am

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

I didn't see many films in the theater this year, but of the one's I did see...

Superman Returns The plane rescue of course, but I also loved the gatlin gun to the chest followed by the eye shot and finally the shot at the end when Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Supes lifted the island out of the ocean and the camera zooming in as the rocks fall away revealing Supes and the John Williams theme comes up
...WOW! His greatest act of strength ever!

The opening shot of the ship (because it was all digital except for Josh Lucas running) and the capsizing scene in Poseidon. Frightening and uber-realistic looking!

Rocky Balboa Pretty much the entire film because it was like "Wow! It was just as good as the first one!"

The racing sequences in Cars, mostly because i'm a NASCAR fan and PIXAR actually managed to faithfully capture the excitment of stock car racing in digital form!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning I believe my exact thoughts were "Wow! What a mean, hateful and torturous piece of garbage!"

Finally Talladega Nights but not for any positive reason lol.
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post #15 of 15
1/31/07 at 1:36pm

Re: "WOW!" Moments, 2006 edition (Spoilers!)

Pan's Labyrinth: the second task, the one with the evil white dude with the eyes in his hands.

Just a great example of perfect filmmaking on all fronts.
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