Tim Grierson wrote an article for Knot Magazine on his favorite moments from cinema in 2003.
He says When we think about our favorite movies from the last year, do we really think about the whole film experience? Probably not. Instead, we tend to think in smaller units: a great scene, a good performance, a funny line.
Grierson mentions some of my favorite moments the anime sequence in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, that Civil War battle scene in Cold Mountain and his article got me thinking.
Before the Oscars, let us remember the great individual scenes and moments that defined the past year in cinema (for me):
in city of god, when li'l zé sticks a gun in the hand of 10-year-old steak & fries, points to two small weeping boys and orders him to shoot the child of his choice
in old school, will ferrell's ribbon-twirling routine
in irreversible, when pierre smashes a man's head to pieces with a fire extinguisher
in irreversible, the anal rape of monica bellucci in a street tunnel that runs nearly ten minutes
in x2, when rogue flies out of the blackbird and nightcrawler teleports to get her back inside
in the matrix reloaded, when the pile-up of agent smiths erupts
in bruce almighty, when jim carrey controls what steve carell says
in 28 days later, when jim emerges from a coma to find london eerily deserted
in 28 days later, when the camera pans down and we see jim's thumbs pressed deep inside the army major's eye sockets
any scene with harry in spellbound
in hulk, nick nolte's over-the-top conversation with eric bana in a warehouse
the car chase in terminator 3: rise of the machines
in pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl, the seamless cgi as johnny depp and geoffrey rush duel up a cave path lit at places with moonlight
in american splendor, the discussion about revenge of the nerds
in once upon a time in mexico, when johnny depp says that the pork is so good that when he's finished, he'll walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook, and he finishes eating and walks straight into the kitchen and shoots the cook and some blood unprofessionally splatters on the camera lens
in once upon a time in mexico, johnny depp's blind shoot-out
in lost in translation, when two ladies sitting behind bill murray in a hospital waiting room try their best not to laugh when he finds himself engaged in a futile, linguistically-challenged conversation with an old woman
in the school of rock, jack black and the kids' battle of the bands performance
in kill bill: volume one, the gunshot in the first scene
in kill bill: volume one, the showdown at the house of blue leaves
in the texas chainsaw massacre, when the hitchhiker pulls a gun out of her vagina and shoots herself in the head and the camera pans backward from the front of the van through the hole in her head and out the bullet hole in the rear window of the van
in the texas chainsaw massacre, poor andy hangs from a meat hook with his toes and salvation wriggling just centimeters above the keys of a disused piano
in bad santa, when the hindian guy from office space assaults billy bob thornton
the ending of big fish
in the lord of the rings: the return of the king, when the giant spider stealthily re-appears