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Scenes That Bring You An Unmistakable Feeling of Joy


caley

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A counter-part to the Crying thread, what are some movie moments that bring you an unmistakable feeling of joy.  Not something that makes you laugh but something that fills your heart up with ebullient, thrilling, smiling-like-a-jackass pure joy!

 

I've got three. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0oTouF2roM

Ponyo: This is far from being one of my favourite Miyazaki film (Though I do love it) but this scene! When Kosuke's fish turns into a human being (Don't ask!) and runs down the street leaping into his arms with a hug after running on top of waves to get to him, it's just a departure from most film: just a moment of pure, unquestionable joy.  Always makes me smile.

 

The Tree of Life: What's really bizarre about this film, which is basically a story about director Terrence Malick growing up in the 50s, is it made me so completely nostalgic for my own childhood, even though I grew up much later than the 50s.  I remember walking out of the theater and people were grumbling to each other and I had this silly smile plastered to my face and it seemed to fill me up with this all-consuming joy as I drove home, everything-clouds, sunshine, trees, birds, people, cars- just seemed so beautiful to me.  The high lasted for several days.

 

Chungking Express: This is basically the whole ending, so SPOILERS ahoy, anyways there's this guy and he's pining after his ex-girlfriend and not noticing the cute girl who's sneaking into his place and cleaning it up every day.  When he finally figures it all out, he asks her to meet him at placed called 'California' but instead she leaves him a note and gets a job as a stewardess and flies to the real California.  One year later she comes back and is shocked to find him at the diner she used to work at, he asks about her and she says he probably never even read the note she wrote him, he brings it out, slightly water-damaged and says it looks like a Boarding Pass but not airline would accept it and there's no destination.  "Where to?" she asks him and he responds "Wherever you want to take me." *SWOOOON* (Ps this version's subtitles word it slightly different, so I prefer the ones on my copy) as a cover of the Cranberries 'Dream's kicks in on the stereo.  It's so perfect.

 

So whatchu got?

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One that brings joy to me is the scene in The Sandlot where the kids are playing against the team and just takes them out, especially the scene with Porter talking trash to the kids as they go up to bat.  And then every kid, even Smalls gets a good moment in that game.

 

From Doctor Who, a poster mentioned in the crying thread about him giving it to House, but, honestly to me that was a cheering moment for me, because you think all hope is lost, but then you realize that was the Doctor's plan all along.  And to add to it, The Eleventh Hour speech at the climax of the episode, it was Matt Smith's debut as the Doctor and you're worried, but then he gives that speech and I was like Yeah!

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In Casablanca where the Nazis are singing the Reich anthem and then Laslow strikes up "La Marseilles." Good shit.

 

Oh yes.  When everyone in the band turns to look at Rick, and he barely nods his head, just once.  So subtle. 

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Oh, also, in Shawshank when Andy gets out of the pipe and just stands there with his hands out in the rain. I do that every time it rains and I'm with family. Trying to get a cheap pop...

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I'm not being in any way facetious. It brought me a HUGE wave of joy today when I noticed this:

 

 You remember that episode where Bart skipped school and witnessed the Freddy Quimby/French Waiter incident? Remember when he made some fake bids at the art auction? Remember the guy sitting behind him in glasses and a bow tie?

 

Again, no fooling, I felt genuine joy when it hit me that the man in question is in fact:

 

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Joey Joe-Joe Junior Shabadoo!!

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I get all the criticisms of Braveheart (This shit never happened*, Dem Evil English R Evil, Why is your kilt on backwards, fookin' Aussie?), But that was like my favourite movie in the whole world when I was 16. The end of that film is sort of my answer for both of these threads that are going on.

 

 

(*Why I'm supposed to care about this for this movie, as opposed to 1000 other historical dramas and probably conservatively one million historical nonfiction books this is also true of, fucked if I know. If we applied this standard to books no one would be able to recommend reading a goddamn thing because "historical nonfiction" is a laughable oxymoron.)

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Fuck haters.  Aragorn giving the war speech of the decade and then charging into Sauron's army followed closely by two psychotic Hobbits in LOTR: The Return Of The King was movie magic.

 

 

 

Oh and this was awesome when I was a kid:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTiTh6ViNLY

 

Remember when it was okay to say that you enjoyed The Matrix?

 

 

Me too.

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Spinal Tap, when they make it in Japan. Then the drummer goes off. Perfect ending to my favorite flick.

 

I love when they switch to the backstage shot: Ian standing there with the biggest, most assholish smirk on his face and Janine is just exasperated.

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Fuck haters.  Aragorn giving the war speech of the decade and then charging into Sauron's army followed closely by two psychotic Hobbits in LOTR: The Return Of The King was movie magic.

 

 

 

Oh and this was awesome when I was a kid:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTiTh6ViNLY

 

Remember when it was okay to say that you enjoyed The Matrix?

 

 

Me too.

I'm more of a fan of the charge of the Rohan to shatter the orc lines my self.

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Damn, I've already mentioned most of my contenders over in the Crying thread.  But eh, I've got a few others.  Trying to avoid BLATANT spoilers, wherever necessary:

 

 

-Agreed on the first Matrix.  But while the last shot was cool 'n all, I think the real pinfall (as it were) was when Neo manages to look right through "reality" and see the code.  

 

-The "Wise Up" music video in Magnolia.  I got no articulate explanation why.  It just worked.  And damn near every moment between the whitebread cop and the damaged chick.  

 

-Several moments in The World's End.  The "Alabama Song" montage being my favorite one, it was one of those moments where I was seeing something so brilliant and perfectly-done that I literally couldn't believe what I was watching.  But nominations also go to the bathroom fight, Nick Frost's big headbutt, and when we finally see The Marmalade Sandwich.  

 

-The PERFECT last scene in Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, especially that beyond-perfect tracking shot which ends the movie.  It's kinda cheating, it won't resonate nearly so hard with anyone else who wasn't a big fan of Angel; but it's just unfairly happy, seeing Wesley and Fred basically dancing in heaven (along with Agent Clark, Captain Mal, Topher, and Andrew, just to add a different person from every Joss franchise).  And the artistry of the final shot itself is beyond gorgeous, even aside from all the massive heaps of meta-meaning.  

 

-Along similar lines, the outta-nowhere Bollywood dance number that ends Slumdog Millionaire.  Dunno where the hell THAT came from, the rest of the movie wasn't even trying to mimic the Bollywood style, but I loved it.  

 

-In Avatar, when she caps the villain; not the first shot, but the SECOND one.  He's already dying anyway, but she doesn't care and hits him again.  "Thank you sir, you may have another!"  I dunno if I've ever seen a purer expression of utter righteous rage in a movie kill.  Don't forget that she's got overwhelming reason to really hate this guy, on the most primal and visceral of levels.  This was like Hamlet getting his revenge on Claudius, free and clear and sans poisoned swords.  It was just "DIE!  MOTHERFUCKER, DIE!!!" in its most distilled form.  

 

-Too many Buster Keaton moments to count.  So I'll pick just one, and ironically it's a line of dialogue, from The General: "If you lose this war, don't blame me!"  

 

-Various moments in Office Space, with the "Damn It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta" montage probably at the top.  

 

-Toy Story 3: the whole final scene.  

 

-Jurassic Park, when the T-rex inadvertently saves the day.  We'd actually FORGOTTEN about that fucker, since the Raptors were so damn terrifying and such a nonstop on-your-ass threat, but he came back in a big way.  

-Kill Bill vol. 2: the following exchange.  "He... taught you... the Five-Finger Death Punch?"   "(almost tearfully)  Of course he did."  

 

-The medal ceremony at the end of Star Wars episode IV.  (Even if Chewie did get inexplicably snubbed.)  Sometimes, just sometimes, it's okay to have the whole damn world give your heroes a round of applause for a job well done.  

 

-When one guy grabs another guy's sword, right by the fuckin' blade, at the end of Rob Roy.  We have no idea where this scene is going, but once THAT happens, in an instant the inevitable outcome is very clear.  

 

-When Jason finally wakes up near the end of FvsJ, and for the only time in his life(?) Freddy fuckin' Kruger has an unmistakably terrified expression of "oh, shit!".  

 

-Scott Pilgrim: "Oh, we just shot the shit.  He's actually a really cool guy."  After the marathon overdose of fight scenes, that get-out-of-one-more-damn-fight-Free-card was the perfect comic relief.  

 

-Stalker: the last scene, when the glasses move on the table.  For the entire movie, we've kinda been suspecting that the Zone and the Stalkers and everything else are just one big con, that nothing unusual is actually happening.  Then we get that huge revelation in the tiniest of ways, and holy shit it's awesome.  

 

-At the end of the Korean flick The Host, when the heroes are mounting their (hilarious) final attack on the monster, and then the one unlikely guy basically steps up and says "Fuck you, I'm the hero, you die now!"  

 

-Tombstone: (steps out of the early-morning fog)  "...I'm your huckleberry."  

 

-The Dark Knight: when the semi truck flips, looking and sounding like a dying dinosaur; and the Batbike does that crazy little celebratory flip off the wall.  

 

-Michael Clayton: "DO I LOOK LIKE I'M NEGOTIATING?!  Say it!"  "...ten million dollars, your account, the moment this meeting is through.  You have a deal."  "You're so fucked."  "...what?!"  "You're fucked."  "What do you mean?"  "Take a wild guess."  "I don't understand!"  "Here, lemme get a picture while I'm at it."  

 

 

 

 In Casablanca where the Nazis are singing the Reich anthem and then Laslow strikes up "La Marseilles." Good shit.

Oh yes.  When everyone in the band turns to look at Rick, and he barely nods his head, just once.  So subtle.

IIRC, that scene was more or less constructed in the editing room.  On the set, Bogart didn't even know what the hell he was nodding at.  They just told him "we need a shot of you nodding at something, Action!" and that was it.  Now THAT'S a miracle.  

 

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