The Muriels: Best Cinematic Moment
Before you check out tonight’s Muriel award, have a look at the Heath Ledger-inspired tribute to a few other talents who received Muriel recognition this year but are no longer with us.
I think the Best Cinematic Moment is my favorite category, but it’s also one of the hardest to vote for. There are so many great moments throughout the year, even in bad movies (see the Cloverfield runner-up entry for example), that it’s hard to remember them all and then narrow them all down.
Nevertheless, I love looking over the winners and getting that pleasant little thrill of realizing I forgot a good one. It’s also fun to see how a disparate group of people, most of whom have never met, can independently share the same memorable moments in the dark.
Here’s the stab I took at it:
- Fix You – Young@Heart
- WALL-E and Eve define dancing in space – WALL-E
- The Elemental (giant living tree) battle – Hellboy II
- Randy’s first day at the deli counter – The Wrestler
- The Death of Che Guevara – Che
- A still image of Philipe Pettit standing on the wire 100 stories in the air with a beatific smile on his face – Man on Wire
- A poodle gnaws on Stephen Rea’s protruding leg bone – Stuck
- Rachel bathes Kym after the accident – Rachel Getting Married
- Nixon finally breaks – Frost/Nixon
- The deadly pool confrontation – Let the Right One In
For the record, it pained me to vote for Frost/Nixon for anything besides “Eventual DVD release that will make a fine drink coaster,” but that scene really stuck with me and it made an otherwise lackluster movie worth seeing.
Anyway, here’s how the winners added up…
Very difficult category. How does one even narrow these down?
Anyway, great choices. The winner is certainly deserving, but I have to say that the opening sequence of Wall-E is truly breathtakingly stunning. And I see the late-night disposal scene from 4-3-2 made it onto the list.
Well, as everyone knows, I’m super happy with the #1 choice. Craig’s list is awfully good, too. I was so happy to see Fix You up there, since that scene most definitely did send shivers up my spine.
Allison, I agree that opening sequence is stellar.
Fix You still makes me misty eyed.
RIP Fred.
Yeah, it’s difficult to narrow this down. Have to say, I’m a little disappointed the Speed Racer Grand Prix didn’t make the top 10. Oh well. Still a fine list.
Here’s how I voted:
1. Grand Prix Final Lap in Speed Racer
2. Rehearsal Dinner in Rachel Getting Married
3. Licking the Wound in The Last Mistress
4. Interrogation in The Dark Knight
5. Final RamJam in The Wrestler
6. The ending of The Edge of Heaven
7. Guevara’s U.N. rebuttal in Che
8. The seduction between Bardem and Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
9. “What are you spooks up to?” in Gran Torino
10. Poppy and the Homeless Man in Happy Go Lucky
Nice list, Craig, I should have put that scene from Stuck on my list. And that scene from Hellboy II really represented the best that Del Toro is capable of when he has a budget.
My picks were:
1. Late night disposal, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2. Hardcore match, The Wrestler
3. Sweding montage, Be Kind Rewind
4. Deranged penguin, Encounters at the End of the World
5. Sleepwalking, Step Brothers
6. Actors playing actors, Synecdoche, New York
7. Waltzing, Waltz with Bashir
8. Open-heart surgery, Iron Man
9. Nuclear test, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
10. Gynecologist office, Teeth
This is always an interesting category, and a popular one, as it speaks to how films linger in our minds weeks and often months after seeing them.
Jeff, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to vote for the nuclear test from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
I also had the final scene of The Wrestler (top turnbuckle Final RamJam as Ari notes) and the Batman-Joker interrogation from The Dark Knight (which seems to have been a favorite).
Terrific choices, Craig.
That nuclear test scene from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is memorable, and apparently ended up being quite controversial as well. There was a movement of outrage at the fact that it might give children viewing the movie the idea of climbing inside the refrigerator and locking themselves in. I actually received an email about it from somewhere.
I love your top two, Craig. I’m a little sad “Fix You” didn’t even rank in the top 10 over there. Same with any scene from 4M3W2D.
I think this was my favorite category to vote for. I just copied my list from the Best Scenes of 2008 post I did a few weeks back:
1. Phillippe Petit’s walk on the wire – Man on Wire
2. Andrew Garfield ecstasy tripping in a nightclub – Boy A
3. Unbroken underwater tracking shot of ice shelf – Encounters at the End of the World
4. Young Jamal covered in poop – Slumdog Millionaire
5. Suspicious spies trade cryptic proverbs – OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
6. Ending in the swimming pool (penultimate scene) – Let the Right One In
7. WALL*E’s outer space journey – WALL*E
8. Kimberly Roberts rapping “Amazing” – Trouble the Water
9. Time-lapse shot of Yangtze river rising – Up the Yangtze
10. Fred Knittle sings “Fix You” – Young@Heart
I was the only one who voted for 6 of those, and it looks like everybody was solo on a number of their own (and I was right – the winner of this category had the fewest votes of any category). My 11th vote would have gone for the last frame in Chop Shop, which I see somebody dutifully voted for.
Craig your #3 is a great pick – if not for Ben Button I think it’s the scene that would have won Hellboy the FX Oscar on Sunday.
Also like your #7, Jeff.
Looking back I think I surprised myself a bit – so few of my picks were from major movies like TDK, Indy, Iron Man, even The Wrestler.
I can only think it’s because I watch those movies with more of a “big picture” perspective, while some of the smaller films last for me specifically because of some less-than-spectacular scenes (my #2, 5, and 10). So goes my theory, at least.
Great choices from all of you. My number one would have to be the moment of pure cinema with the Joker hanging his head out of the squad car window, but any of these are contenders for this category.
Great choices, Daniel. I agree that the Amazing rap from TtW is an incredible moment. Also nice to see Up the Yangtze getting a mention here.
Joel, that Joker in the cop car scene was my favorite cinematic moment of 2008 as well. I remember seeing it the first time and I and my companions all simultaneously gasped aloud. It literally took our breath away. Beauty, symbolism, unbridled glee…all in a few scant seconds destined to become an iconic image.
One of the great things that sets TDK above the superhero movie crowd is the patience and confidence to have moments like that.
I’m different from most people on this sort of thing. Although some of the big moments mentioned I can certainly identify with, the moments that seem smaller on the surface often ring stronger for me.
Although the pool scene in Let the Right One In sure resonates, I also l like the moment we first sense the boy’s sad alienation.
Besides the Rachel/Kym bath scene, I like the concerned and caring look from Kym’s love interest or Winger’s silent entrance to the party.
In addition to Harvey Milk’s big speech, I go for the wordless moment when, at another demonstration, he’s hit with the realization that he really has power over all these people.
Instead of Randy the Ram leaping into the ring, I prefer his reaction to his daughter’s rejection or Tomei’s face during her final sex dance.
Or April Wheeler suddenly realizing, on the beach, that Frank has hedged on Paris. Or actor David Harbour’s heartfelt “I love you” in the front seat just before she coolly rushes him into 30-second intercourse.
See where I’m goin’ with this?
Where?
You like the subtle moments between the big moments I think Pierre.
For me, that was the bath scene in RGM. It’s not something that’s going to go in the trailer, but it’s the scene where I fell for the movie. Up to that point I was struggling with it…spending time with these people was not pleasant, but the wordless portrayal of the sister bond in the face of all the problems they have won me over. It didn’t feel like a “big” moment, more like one of your quiet ones, but it was important.
I think we share the same sentiments about that scene, Craig. It’s not the obvious choice — not the money shot.
I guess my preference is for moments that combine camerawork, performance, editing, music, etc. into something that could only happen in a film. Also, humor – most of the things I put on my list were funny in some way or another.
I didn’t go into the category with a definition of Best Cinematic Moment, but I tried to mix it up. Moments big and small. Things that I still think of when I think of the movies in question.
Though I hated the movie, I love your pick at #10.
I also loved the Penguin in Encounters.
“I guess my preference is for moments that combine camerawork, performance, editing, music, etc. into something that could only happen in a film.”
I am the same way when thinking of the year’s “Best Cinematic Moment(s)”; it’s why I thought, in 2007, a couple of the best moments of the year were the night train robbery in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and the nighttime oil fire in There Will Be Blood.
Obviously, this is arguably the most subjective “award” yet, but when you can render events and characters in cinematically exciting ways that could be otherwise routine, like the simple switching of the lights at just the perfect moment in the interrogation room of The Dark Knight, for but one example, I am impressed.
It’s all subjective, but the term “Best Cinematic Moment” to me connotes something different than “Best Acting Moment” or “Best Scene” or even “Best Moment.” Cinematic to mean means something that uses the unique power of cinema to the highest degree. Moments that feel entirely different on the big screen than they would in any other format. Theres a certain soaring sensation my best cinematic moments all give me.
That would be my criteria too, jennybee. Whether it’s a scene, a shot, or just a moment doesn’t matter to me although I tend to be drawn to character moments over dramatic moments.
I would consider Mizz Bee’s version of the category as MOST Cinematic Moment. For me, Best Moment and Best Cinematic Moment are synonymous, but I dig hearing everyone’s classifications almost as much as their actual picks.
Another thing is that sometimes all it takes to put a movie over for me are one or two such moments. A movie can be humming along and I’m into it to one degree or another, but I don’t want to take it home and make sweet sweet love to it or anything, but then something happens that knocks me out and the rest of the movie has me the whole way.
Pastoral idyll/horsing around – Man on Wire
Rehearsal Dinner – Rachel Getting Married
The disappearing pencil trick -The Dark Knight
Desert race – Speed Racer
Mad pengiun – Encounters at the End of the World
Negotiating – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 days …
Swimming Pool – Let the Right One In
FInal Match – The Wrestler
Do you have a Sledgehammer in your heart? (opening) – Snow Angels
Clearing out the house – In Search of a Midnight Kiss