Some of My All-Time Favorite Movie Scenes

Certainly not all of them. This is just something I wrote up on a break. But I stand by all of them for the moments they provide, for what they teach me about writing, and for just being plain great.

And most of these are SCENES, with a beginning, middle and end. Anyway…

PULP FICTION, Jack-Rabbit Slims Conversation. The twist contest got a lot of notoriety, but the conversation leading up to the dance has the juice. It’s got playful interplay, sexual tension, lots of guarded responses. There’s serious subtext being conveyed, along with one of my favorite revelations in the movie, where Vincent tells Mia the rumor about Tony getting hurt by Marsallus because he gave her a foot massage. “You think my husband tossed a man out of a building because he touched me feet?!”

Grant Morrison Says “The Killing Joke” Ends With Batman Killing the Joker, Is Wrong

I’m not really a Grant Morrison fan, per se. I respect him, and I think I revere his ideas more than the actual practice of those ideas. I really dug his “Batman and Robin,” as well as “All-Star Superman,” but any other work has left me confused. He’s obviously a smart guy, and he thinks about everything in big, exciting ways, but that doesn’t always they pan out (see “Batman R.I.P.”). Sometimes I think he’s aiming big just to aim big, which I suppose is the point, but it can give mixed results.

Case in point: On a recent episode of the “Fat Man on Batman” podcast, Morrison claimed that Batman kills the Joker at the end of Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke.” Here is the (main) page in question:

That’s it.

And if you want to hear Morrison’s claim married to those visuals, some dude went to the trouble of making a video of it.

A Letter to Kevin Smith

Please verify my non-craziness with Misty Lee. I once got her and her husband to be part of a Christmas living nativity scene with me. No joke. Anyway… 

I’ve listened to “Fat Man On Batman” since inception because it’s right up my alley, which is probably the same alley* from which you conceived of the show: obsessing over Batman is fun. It’s the Bat-fan’s equivalent of ESPN for football fans. You can relive all the highlights, nitpick the fumbles and continue to live that world. For that, thank you. You’re an excellent dealer of this virtual crack cocaine.

However, while I’ve enjoyed the focus of the show as well, it seems to have been centered primarily on the “B:TAS” world and its off-shoots, and secondarily on recent comics, movies and the like. Don’t get me wrong: this makes sense. The Animated Batman is “my Batman,” as well, so I’ve enjoyed ever minute. But you have all but ignored the 90’s franchise, which is strange considering how much time you’ve spoken about the TRAILER to the 1989 movie (again, don’t get me wrong. That trailer is phenomenal). For some (and partly myself, a little) that is “Their Batman,” and the success of that first film cannot be denied. Also, it holds up better than people give it credit for. Sure, there are changes I’m not a fan of, but the general theme and tone of “Batman being super cool” is amazing to this day.

Making Pancakes In the Pancake Factory

As I semi-completed another screenplay, and I’ve been musing on my next career step, I’ve been contemplating the bigger picture of the World of Entertainment, and how a person can possibly survive in that world. I’ve been listening to podcasts again, been having lively critical(-ish) discussions with friends, and the ensuing stew has been brewing around in my head.

I’m going to attempt to make sense of this, despite the fact that I tend to ramble and things like this (may) only make sense to me.

Here goes:

I was discussing Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” with a group of friends, and the conversation ultimately turned into one of those “They don’t make them like this anymore” kind of chats, which has its merit because it’s largely true. This particular circle of friends is largely improvisers and comedians and wannabe filmmakers, and one of the group members brought up how “Manhattan” was so beautifully done and how it wouldn’t work today (in many ways). Yet a film like “The Hangover”  — which left most of the room cold — represented some kind of 21st century re-birth for major movie comedy for the masses.