Friday Five: Movie Magic

It's not secret I love movies. For this week's installment of Friday Five, I am going to list five moments of movie magic. What is movie magic? It's when you walk out of a theatre thinking you've seen the best movie of the year, or get on the phone and call everyone you know and tell them to watch a movie you've just seen, or a scene in a movie that movies you. These aren't my all-time favorite movie moments, just five recent ones. I do have that memory issue.

1. Once - The "Falling Slowly" music number. What a great scene.! The music is great (the song won an Oscar!) and everyone - the directors, actors, musicians and editors - gets what happens when people connect for the first time.
   
   
2. Moulin Rouge - The "Elephant Love Medley" number. I saw this movie with Janie, and halfway through this song, I turned to her and said, "I love this movie!" The eagerness of Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman's complete dedication to her role won me over. The whole movie is fabulous, but I still remember my reaction to this moment in the movie.
   
   
3. Before Sunrise - The opening train scene when Jesse and Celine meet for the first time. I was freaking out when I started watching this movie because I experienced what I was watching. Well, not exactly. I didn't get off a train with a guy I just met before telling him my name, but I did ask a guy to eat dinner with me before I knew his name. Many Americans watching this movie probably rolled their eyes at how far fetched this scene was, but it's authentic. Backpackers are a sub culture in Europe. If you meet someone on a train or in a hostel that speaks your language, you pursue the relationship, even if it's only a two hour train ride. You share personal things and exchange travel stories. And sometimes, like Jesse and Celine, you ask for more, and have a great experience. I actually like the sequel, Before Sunset, better than the original, but it was the opening train scene that stayed with me.
   
   
4. Little Miss Sunshine - The pageant scene. I have never laughed so hard at a movie as I did while watching Little Miss Sunshine. The whole movie is funny, but Olive's performance in the pageant tops it all. Once I started laughing, I couldn't stop. I was laughing so hard, I started to sweat. I walked out of the theatre laughing. I got on the phone and called Rachel, Janie and Megan (I think) to tell them to stop what they were doing and watch this movie. I couldn't go so sleep that night because I kept playing parts of the movie over and over in my head and laughing. If that isn't movie magic, I don't know what is.
   
   
5. The Constant Gardener -The entire movie. The performances were great (Oscar awarded to Rachel Weisz), the method of jumping-around-in-time story-telling technique was effective, the "liberal" message of giant corporations covering up wrongdoing was timely, the visual style of the movie - all of these things combined to make a movie I loved. I walked out of the theatre thinking this was the best movie I'd seen all year. I later found out the director also directed City of God, one of my all-time favorite movies.
   

I did not list these movies in any particular order. I had this idea on my drive back from Lubbock last week. When I thought of a movie, I would write it down. When I looked at the list, I realized I owned all the movies on it. What would make your list of magic movie moments? Share in the comments!