Setpieces/Cinematic moments of the year 2013

krudler

Since there's only a few weeks left in the year and it might jog people's memories, anyone got standout moments from films this year, be it an action scene, comedy beat or dramatic moments No lists or choices without reasons please. Possible spoilers for the movies listed so if you haven't seen them skip over.

In no particular order

World War Z: The opening chaos. While it's a bit far fetched that in an absolute panic with thousands of people on a crowded street only Pitt's family thinks of taking an abandoned RV, there's a great moment where he sees a guy get attacked by a zombie and starts mentally counting how long it takes for him to change. Accompanied by a kids toy counting the seconds it was a unique take on the zombie cliche, "train's in the station" indeed.

Man Of Steel: There's two moments for me, when the young Clark pushes the crashed schoolbus out of the river, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's nicely understated score (at that point in the film anyway). It's simple, it's not overblown and it's the polar opposite of the ludicrous levels of destruction in the climax of the film with some dramatic weight behind it.
The other is the first time he puts on the suit and flies, Zimmer's score is majestic and again it shows how much something with a bit of weight behind it will always trump endless overblown CGI explosions and collapsing buildings.

Elysium : the facial reconstruction effect, absolutely brilliant mix of prosthetics and CGI, and really shows what can be achieved when CGI is used properly.

Blackfish: Even though it's a documentary, the story of Tilikum the Orca and how he came to be in Seaworld is heartbreaking. Previously kept in basically a box floating in seawater which was shut at night with the lights off while being attacked by the other whales, no wonder he acts like he does.

Only God Forgives: "Wanna fight?" Gosling offers up a simple question, then proceeds to get his ass kicked. As a movie it's extremely flawed but it's never unstylish. Bonus points for extra karaoke.

The Lone Ranger: The climax. As a setpiece it was probably the most fun thing in the cineplex this summer. The movie may be overlong and bloated but it was nowhere near the failure it deserved to be nor deserved the critical savaging it recieved especially in the climactic fifteen or so minutes. I had a huge grin on my face throughout the train sequence. Two locomotives , one in reverse and both criss crossing tracks and different parts of a railroad, a gunfight across them running parallel while one of the patricipants is on a horse and the William Tell Overture blaring throughout, fun isn't the word. The film itself had a ton of throwbacks to everything from Sergio Leone to Buster Keaton, and they all come into play during the final action sequence.

The Act of Killing : It's hard to pick one scene in a film full of compelling ones, but how Anwar describes various methods of killing people while on a rooftop, from beating them to death to choking them with wire, and then laments wearing white pants upon seeing the footage himself, it's a disturbingly fascinating film throughout.

Gravity: The opening setup/debris shitstorm. Absolutely breathtaking to see on a big screen, a visual experience unlike any other this year in the cinema. A free flowing camera pans around, over and under the astronauts working on some equipment outside a shuttle, until they recieve word that a hail of debris is headed their way and to abort, once the shuttle is hit and Bullock is sent spinning off into space it becomes dizzying to view, and it's all one prolonged sequence with little to no cutting away.

The Conjuring The brilliantly old school credit roll, yellow on black with menacing music. And the scene with the two daughters in their room, one is describing exactly whats standing in the corner of the room gawking at them in their beds, the other can't see a thing and goes over to prove there's nothing there...

Rush: the montage showing Hunt's race up the leaderboard as Niki Lauda is recovering in hospital from a horrific crash with facial and internal burns, having his lungs vacuumed out and only the rivalry with Hunt keeping him going, brilliant stuff.

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Pacific Rim - The scene inside Mako's memory, for about 2 minutes the film went from thrilling to scary as ****.

Before Midnight - The opening car scene, a dazzling long shot that actually becomes tense in how it's not being broken up at all.

Only God Forgives - I'm tempted to say the whole film but props to the shootout and the end karaoke scene, which ended the film on a beautifully pure and redemptive note.

The Act of Killing - The ending. Another critic compared it to

an exorcism and I think that's a brilliant analogy, as if the filmmaking process has Anwar's demons forcibly removed from him.

Like Someone In Love - Pretty much the whole opening 30 minutes. From the bar scene that is just so full of detail that you don't even know where to look in the frame, and the taxi scene which was the most quietly heartbreaking thing I've seen all year.

That's just a few moments that jumped out at me, most of my favorites though didn't really have highlights per se. They were just great as a whole.

delbertgrady

Frances Ha - Frances running/dancing/skipping down the street to the sound of Modern Love by David Bowie. Absolutely joyous. One of the best uses of an existing piece of music in a recent film.
Frozen - The sequence with Elsa singing Let It Go. The cynic in me thought the critics were overstating it when they said it was destined to be the next big showstopper. I was wrong. See it before future X-Factor contestants start doing it in their audition.
Springsteen & I - Bruce reassuring the fan who's just been dumped that he's been there too: "They're regretting it now. They left too soon. They left before the record company advance money..."
The Way, Way Back - Pretty much any time in the entire film when Sam Rockwell does his rapid fire schtick: "Oh, the park? Um, I've always been there. Ever since I was a small Cambodian child. Of course, that was after 'Nam. I was in the ****. Then I joined the circus to become a clown fighter. I know about 46 ways to kill a clown. I hate clowns. I'm kidding except for the part where I really do hate them".
We're the Millers - the outtake during the closing credits where

the other cast members all embarrass Jennifer Aniston by singing along to the theme from Friends.

Duggy747

The climax in Lone Ranger was fantastic, made all the better with the accompanying Overture tune.

brevity

Captain Phillips
The scene where the pirates are trying to get on to the ship is gripping and extremely well done.

Gravity
When George Clooney comments on the view and the camera centres on Earth turned me into a 10 year old boy. It was wonderful.

TheMollusc

Spring Breakers - What I can only describe as the 'shotgun ballet' that takes place against the background of the beautiful sunset and of course Britney Spears' 'Everytime' was one of the most memorable moments of cinema for me this year. Unforgettable.

The Place Beyond The Pines - The short scene of Gosling's character riding his motorcycle along the winding road with the camera above him and that haunting score was fantastic. The dance with the dog while Bruce Springsteen's 'Dancing in the Dark' plays also put quite a smile on my face, I have to admit.

johnny_ultimate

Upstream Colour - I'm reluctant to pick a single sequence in a film that is one complex 'whole', but the (near) final stretch - let's just call it 'revelations and revenge' - is absolutely breathtaking. It's a perfect realisation of everything the film does so spectacularly right: pure cinematic storytelling, the information being transmitted to the audience through associative editing and rich visuals, as well as its experimental soundscape. A narrative comes full circle, and it's breathtaking.

Wolf Children - playing in the snow (Yuki). The score bursts to life, the animation captures a sense of absolute joy as two children and their mother rush out on a snowy morning. It's also the most elegant articulation of the film's theme of embracing one's inner nature. The best scene in the best animated film I had the pleasure of seeing this year.

Spring Breakers - Everytime. I don't need to elaborate other than “This one's by a little-known pop singer by the name of Miss Britney Spears, one of the greatest singers of all time."

The Great Beauty - the end credits. It's not every day a film demands you sit through a complete credits roll, but the final moments of The Great Beauty - a soothingly aimless camera drift down the Tiber - is a beautiful comedown after the sensory and thematic feast the viewer has just gorged on.

Like Someone in Love - the taxi ride through Tokyo. This could also act as a captivating short film, but it also sets us up for the strange, surreal aftermath of this cab ride. Kiarostami's dreamy presentation is perfected here, though, and for a sequence that simply has us observing an emotionally charged phone call it's hypnotic and impossible to look away. The magic of Kiarostami's work is that you often can't describe exactly what makes it so captivating, and this extended scene is a particularly vibrant illustration of that.

The Act of Killing - again, hard to pick out one moment. But the village recreation scene is terrifying and devastating. It's a sequence that really gets to the heart of the film's ponderings on the roles of authorship & recreations in documentary and the way people remember and distort history. And then there's the wailing civilian 'extras' and the former, barely mobile soldier casually joking about sexual abuse. Jaw dropping, disturbing and provocative stuff.

Computer Chess - Too many gems here, but the flashback scene where one of the researchers has a bizarre conversation with a computer had me in stitches. Especially since it offers the most inspired, surreal punchline Bujalski could have possibly settled on.