In this unruly and uncertain time people have clung to the familiar, to all the things that bring them joy and a chance to think about anything else except reality. On top of that list is movies. There are certain celluloid tales that you remember forever, the first time you saw them. For me... ET, Death Becomes Her, American Beauty, Moulin Rouge, Parasite.... just to name few, left an imprint on me I love to relive.
Redditor u/retrololita wanted everyone to share about the times movie magic has touched them so we know what to watch this weekend.... they asked.... What cinema moment/experience/scene blew your mind away?Dead People....
haley joel osment horror GIFGiphyCheesy I know, but I watched The Sixth Sense at the cinema when it was first released and nobody knew what the big twist was. There was a collective gasp in the audience when the big reveal happened, and I remember thinking I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it coming at all.
Happy B-Day!
In Signs when the Alien appears between the bushes in the birthday party, on the news. No matter how many times I've seen that movie, I still jump in that scene.
That scene in the movie is the reason why I do not watch scary movies anymore. I was like 10 when I saw it, and it was the very last scary movie I ever saw.
ROAR!!
jurassic park dinosaurs GIF by IFCGiphyWhen the dinosaurs appeared on Jurassic Park. I remember being in awe of how real it looked.
For all the hype building up to the movie, and as much as the critics lauded the effects, that one scene exceeded everyone's expectations. That music building to a crescendo, panning across the lush valley filled with dinosaurs, and that, "Welcome.... to Jurassic Park."
10 Hours of Brilliant....
LOTR: The Two Towers, near the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep, when Gandalf leads a wave of riders charging down a hillside toward the orc armies. On a big screen, it was fantastically epic. Pure goosebumps.
There are so many moments in the Lord of the Rings trilogy can be named here.
Seeing the city Dwarrowdelf in Fellowship. The beginning of Two Towers, also; the wide shot of Gandalf and the Balrog falling into the caverns. Absolutely breathtaking.
Simple Answer....
go go go GIFGiphyOn the lowest of keys, when Caesar shouted "GO" in Dawn of the planet of the Apes. It felt like the air was taken out of the theater.
Funnily enough, that was actually in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", not "Dawn". The movies are terribly confusing with their titles!
History
I still remember, 22 years later, sitting in the theater in enrapt silence for the entire 25 minute-long storming Omaha Beach opening scene in Saving Private Ryan.
I interviewed a gentleman who was the second wave in on Omaha beach, and he said when this movie came out, he and his buddies from the war went to go see it. He claims the movie is the most accurate representation of what it was like, and the only outstanding difference between the movie and the actual war was that they cussed way more in the movie then they did at war.
V....
darth vader GIFGiphyOne of my earliest cinema memories is from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
At the end of the film, Luke is back aboard the Millennium Falcon having had a new prosthetic arm attached. There's a very quick close shot of the prosthetic tendons in his arm moving before they flip the cover closed and get back to the story. That tiny glimpse below the surface blew me away as a kid and I still think of it 30-something years later.
Going Down
I've always liked the scene in Black Hawk Down (at the 40-50 second mark) where the sound fades as the helicopters approach the city. Like the calm before the storm.
As someone who's ridden choppers in like that, it kinda feels that way going in. In Blackhawks, the noise is so great, like a constant roar of wind and the turbines, it'll just deafen you with a wall of sound.
60 Feet of Magic
When the cruiser came on screen in the 1st Star Wars, episode 4. Saw it in a 35mm theater. The screen was 60 feet tall.
I bet that was brilliant. Just this week our local theatre/cinema decided to bring back episode V because there are no good new movies coming out right now and because it's the 40th anniversary and all. I dragged my husband to go see it because I love the original trilogy probably more than any of the other movies and I'd never seen any of them on a big screen before. It was pretty awesome and I can only imagine how good episode 4 was in theatre, especially when it was just out.
Genius Tension
inglorious basterds coffee GIFGiphyThe first scene of Inglorious Bastards. The tension just builds and builds and builds it's incredibly emotionally draining and unforgettable. And they create all this tension straight off the bat, all the character setup and introduction to the plot has to happen right there in that scene.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
