"WOW!" Moments in the Movies (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Dinosaur: The whole entire opening sequence, especially when the scenes with the Pteredon flying over the cliff and through the dinosaurs legs (one of my favorite music score pieces)

Oh yeah! That was one of my reasons for buying a big RPTV. Since I hadn't seen it in the theaters, I got the DVD and kept wishing I had a bigger tv (than my 27") to experience such a wonderful opening. The big screen tv definitely enhances that scene beutifully.

 

[Greg_C_T]

Awesome thread!

The final dual between Luke and Vader in Return of the Jedi

When Neo fires up the chopper's chain gun and Agent Smith angrily says "No." in The Matrix

The batjet flying straight up and being framed by the moon in Batman

FOTR --the Balrog intro

The payoff of The Sixth Sense

The first fight scene in Brotherhood of the Wolf

The "wrath" sin from Se7en ... will he or won't he?

The intro of the Mariachi in Desperado...as he walks into the bar shrouded in shadows, part of the neon sign that says "Wrong Way" is blocked by him, so all you see is "Wrong". Nice touch by Mr. Rodriguez.

When Optimus Prime rolls in to battle to save the day. His rockets fire off, he flies into the air flipping and blasting the Decepticons the whole time in Transformers: The Movie. The song, "The Touch" is just perfect during the scene.

The "forest clearing" scene in Predator. Lots of ammo spent there!

The ending of Rocky

 

[ThomasC]

When Neo fires up the chopper's chain gun and Agent Smith angrily says "No." in The Matrix

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH yes.

 

[Simon Massey]

The entire courtroom speech by Kevin Costner in JFK. For me Oliver Stone's best film.

 

[Jacinto]

Bud and Lindsey in the leaking Cab 1; the subsequent drowning and resuscitation scenes from the Abyss. Incredible performances and powerful filmaking that leave me a quivering mound of goo everytime I see those scenes.

For those of us lucky enough to see the SE of the Abyss on the really big screen, the shot of the tidal wave behind the Golden Gate Bridge on a 3-1/2 storey high screen was breathtaking.

The movie theater sequence from Outbreak. I felt infected just watching it, and I was keenly aware of every little cough or sniffle in the audience around me from that point on.

The trainwreck in The Fugitive was one of the most awesome things I had ever seen in a movie.

As someone else has mentioned, the bank heist in Heat; I don't think I took a breath during that whole sequence the first time I saw it. Also from Heat, the big truck slamming into the armored car and the imagery of all the guys in the hockeymasks in that scene.

 

[Mark Kalzer]

No one's mentioned my favorite shot from The Fellowship of the Ring. It is chapter 20 of the EE. "The Caverns of Isenguard". For someone like me, who just over a year ago knew nothing about Lord of the Rings, that huge long shot was shocking. It's the one which begins behind the wall, and then rises over the inner ring, revealing the huge caverns, with Orcs working feverishly to prepare for what I could only imagine would be a war bigger than imaginable. Brought a tear to my eye really. And then the robin flies in and finds Gandalf.

Some great movie making!

 

[JamesCB]

Great thread.

Did anyone mention Resident Evil ? The hallway scene with the lasers.

How about Goodfellas ? The opening scene sets the atmosphere perfectly. One of my favorite movies of all time. Since I got the DVD I've watched it dozens of times.

Godzilla . The first time he enters city. WOW. That was cool.

 

[MarkHastings]

What about the end of RoboCop?

"You're fired, Dick" and the Prime Directive disappears...(you know the rest)

SWEET!!

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Raising Arizona - The Huggies robbery

Goodfellas - The long tracking shot into the restaurant

Magnolia - The long tracking shot into the TV studio

Magnolia - The whole rapid fire opening sequence showing the coincidences. Brillant and enthralling.

Grosse Point Blank - The fight scene at the lockers to the English Beat's "Mirror In The Bathroom"

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - The Indians all together pointing to the sky

Hard Boiled - The opening shootout scene

Halloween - The point of view shot from behind the mask at the beginning

The General - When Buster Keaton knocks the one railroad tie in front of the train out of the way using the other tie. Too many other astounding stunts by Keaton to mention (from all his films)

Koyaanisqatsi - All of it

Amelie - The pan over Amelie's back, over her head showing the river below and then back down in front

Royal Tenenbaums - The long tracking shot near the end across all the characters and ends with Ben Stiller saying "It's been a tough year Dad..."

The Legend Of Drunken Master - The lengthy final fight scene

Princess Mononoke - The Forest Spirit getting shot (the instant change in expression at that moment)

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Evil Dead, the first tracking shot through the woods.

 

[Dean DeMass]

Just thought of another "WOW!" moment:

Snake Eyes: The opening tracking shot in the casino. De Palma wonderfully takes us through the casino on one long continuous shot that lasts for many minutes. I still would love to see how that was done. After that shot, the film goes to bloody hell.

-Dean-

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Everyone mentions the Matrix "Chain Gun" sequence...but how about the same sequence in "True Lies" (Helicopter takes out entire floor of office tower with chain gun!)? Awesome, and probably inspired the Brothers.

Same movie, when the Harriets destroy that bridge...the fact that it was obviously a real bridge and not some miniature or CGI effect (though the missiles are CGI). I literally said "WOW!" in the theater when I saw that for the first time.

Robocop Director's Cut: Extended Murphy Execution. (More Ugh than wow, but memorable nonetheless.)

-Dennis

 

[Chuck Mayer]

A new summer, some new cool stuff, hopefully some new WOW moments!!

I would like to give respect to the opening attack on the Oval Office in X2. Brilliantly directed and extremely intriguing to watch.

And the addition of a new favorite movie must have a WOW moment. Reloaded was essentially one long WOW! moment, but I'll break it down to the core. Neo flying in to rescue (Morpheus & Keymaker, Trinity) was just incredible. I was also floored when Neo resurrected Trinity.

And I wanted to bump this thread.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Jordan_E]

I have to second the Oval Office scene, Chuck. The choice of music was inspired!

 

[oscar_merkx]

I will third that. Really fantastic introducing NightCrawler

Coolest Entrance

The opening sequences of Once Upon A Time in the West, Raiders of the Lost Arc.

The end battle of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly with Ennio Morricone's music

 

[Jordan_E]

I just watched Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo on AMC the other night and was spellbound (as always) by the showdown scene at the end! The music! The wide 3-shot, as well as the closeups. I've always loved the way Sergio Leone could draw out a scene and yet NEVER bore you!

 

[Tim Glover]

Will echo the opening Nightcrawler scene in X2. Loved the chorus music they played too!

 

[david stark]

firstly i'll second several already mentioend

star wars a new hope - the trench at the end, obi wan + vader squaring up
empire - I am your father
return of the jedi - final battle between luke + vader, in particular when luke reveals leia is his sister and turns to the dark side, albeit shortly to defeat vader

planet of the apes (original)

the matrix - first fight scene with trinity at the beginning.

then some i don't think have been mentioned

mad max - the option of the handcuffs or your hand.

gladiator - am i not merciful scene (interesting note on this on the special features of the dvd as well)

FOTR - boromirs death

batman (adam west one) - somedays you just can't get rid of a bomb

monty python and the holy grail - the killer rabbit, the huge wooden rabbit.

 

[Angelo.M]

not crazy about the movie cliffhanger, but the opening sequence is very well done

the train station scene in the untouchables

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

The opening of Apocalypse Now - the row of trees, the sudden napalm explosion as the Doors play over. Incredible scene, beautiful, terrible, devastating. I even prefer it to the Ride Of Valkyries scene.

SW, Episode 1 - the entire battle with Darth Maul. I especially love the moment where the battle stops as everyone is seperated, Maul paces like an animal, Qui-Gon stops to meditate, Obi-Wan revs up anxiously waiting to catch up.

The Matrix - Neo, Trinity, the helicopter.

Moulin Rouge - The Roxanne tango - As a classical music fan, I think I was the only one in the cinema who didn't know the original song, but it was a brilliant awe-inspiring sequence.

Psycho - the shower scene (I get more scared by that scene the more I watch it). Also the fruit cellar reveal.

Fantasia - Sorcerer's Apprentice (especially the axe scene - astonishingly disturbing for Disney). and also Night On Bald Mountain. And the dinosaurs from Rite of Spring. And the beauty of Nutcracker. And the pure joy of the dancing hippos and elephants from Dnace Of The Hours.

Fight Club - The Narrator fights himself and then blackmails his boss.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The bamboo fight. Beautiful and incredible. Just imagine being Chow Yun-Fat and Zyang Ziyi on top of those trees on that day of filming.

The Animatrix: Final Flight Of The OSiris - the opening fight (Are you telling me those AREN'T real people?)

Jackie Chan's First Strike (AKA Police Story 4) - Kung Fu on Stilts!

Donnie Darko - filled with great wow moments, my favourite is the cinema scene.

Brazil - I just love the "Paths Of Glory" move through the office with the key tapping forming the rhythm for the music. But I'll agree with everyone else, the ending is incredible, and that final shot

Halloween - The point of view shot from behind the mask at the beginning

Not so much the POV as the shot they cut to after the POV where you see Michael Myers with his parents. I first saw it a couple of years ago, and even having read in advance an entire description of the opening sequence, the shock of seeing Michael was incredible.