2019 in Film Halftime Report: The Scenes

Nothing to Prove – Captain Marvel

“I have nothing to prove to you!”: This is a line from one of the most crucial moments in Captain Marvel, and one of my favourite movie moments to ever exist. Here’s why: The primary conflict throughout Captain Marvel is Carol being unaware of the extent of her powers. As she uncovers the truth about her identity, her past and about the Kree-Skrull war, everything she had believed in for quite some time, is suddenly uprooted. When it feels like all is lost, she decides to fight back, fight for what’s right.

Now, she is faced with Yon Rogg, a man she once thought of as a mentor, a friend, and he challenges her, says something like: Prove to me you can defeat me without your powers.” We expect this scene to turn into a hand-to-hand combat sequence, mirroring the one at the beginning of the film, instead she refuses, citing the line mentioned above. It’s a crucial character moment, because in just 7 words, we realize that Carol is finally free, free from the inhibitions of her past, from all the lies she was fed and from the need to impress anyone or prove anything, and also, she is a total badass.

It is also freeing to witness as an audience, that instead of succumbing to the expected notion of: A hero should be willing to prove his worth, the takeaway here is that your worth is in no way defined by your willingness to prove it, which is a positive and highly valuable message. Ultimately despite some of its flaws, its in moments like this, Captain Marvel becomes an extremely important film. — Pallavi @thegalwhorants

Suicides – Happy Death Day 2U

It’s montage time. The comedy slash slasher film sequel, written and directed by Christopher Landon, soon sees Jessica Rothe’s Tree Gelbman transported back to that darn dimension. Where, of course, she has to wake up and live a different version of the same darn day over and over again. To escape her loop, Tree acquires the help sci-fi geeks to determine the correct algorithm. The experiment ensues, with Tree committing suicide multiple times in the name of science.

The laughs come thick and fast. Tree electrocuting herself, wakes up with wacky hair; drinking bleach, waking up needing water like never before. And Paramore’s song “Hard Times” is timely used with “When I hit the ground” as Tree jumps from a plane in a bikini, and splatters on the ground in front of Carter and his new girlfriend. And the shot were we follow her fall from the bell tower and into the bed again is reflective of waking up from a very bad dream. Yeah, I bet. — Robin @Filmotomy

Keanu Reeves – Always Be My Maybe

“Do you have any dishes that play with the concept of time?”

As one of the greatest film moments from 2019, Always Be My Maybe’s Keanu Reeves brief appearance could have gone wrong in so many ways. It didn’t.

Reeves’ appearance in Always Be My Maybe wasn’t a surprise (though it worked that way in the film’s first trailer). And sure, his slow motion stroll into that insane high-end restaurant set to Awolnation’s “Sail” is the perfect jaw-dropping moment of the summer.

But it’s the dinner scene between Keanu, Sasha, Marcus, and Jenny that really speaks to the film’s larger themes of celebrity and home. Reeves’ heightened version of himself speaks to the more ridiculous aspects of celebrity while also showcasing just how far from “home” Sasha finds herself. Plus, the whole thing is timed perfectly to capitalize on the film community’s surge of love for Keanu Reeves. Not to mention, it spawned this. — Katey @kateypretzel

The Ending – Serenity

Amidst one of the worst films of the year comes an all-time ending that is so crazy that you just can’t believe you are watching. Without giving away this doozy of an ending, Serenity takes a pretty interesting thriller in the first half of the film and shapes it into a cult, B film by giving the zaniest ending in recent memory. And while the ending is nuts, it does have somewhat of a touching moment of embrace at the very end but you don’t know whether to get a little choked up over it or laugh at.

Dumbfounding in the best way, Serenity’s ending shows that even in this year’s worst films, they can offer something fascinating to talk about and leaves the audience thinking long after the credits roll, wondering if any of it makes sense. If you have two hours, and a new drinking game you want to try out, this film is going to be your jam for a long time. — Ryan @ryanmcquade77

Saying Goodbye to Childhood – Toy Story 4

The ending of Toy Story 4 was like my childhood saying it’s final goodbye (even after 3’s amazing ending). The end showcases Woody making an ultimate choice between going back with his friends and be with Bonnie or live his new life as a “lost toy” with Bo. But ends up choosing to stay with Bo, and saying goodbye to his closest friends (especially with Buzz).

This fully realized not only on the film’s themes of purpose and learning from your past to embrace your future, but also gives us a symbol of saying goodbye to a group of characters that millions of people like myself grew up with since our childhoods, and telling us it’s time to grow up with making the choices we make that will impact the rest of our lives. And as Woody and Buzz said their goodbyes, we are saying goodbye to them too. — Haydn @Haydn_E99

Pas De Deux – Us

Jordan Peele’s horror masterpiece – yes, masterpiece – Us will be most immediately remembered for its climactic dance-fight between Lupita Nyong’o’s Adelaide and her Tethered counterpart, Red. The sequence is accompanied by Michael Abels’ arrangement of “I Got 5 On It”, complete with sinister pizzicato strings, which provides the perfect backdrop to some of the finest visual storytelling I’ve seen in a long while.

By this point in the film, we have finally been allowed a glance behind the curtain, and given an understanding of the relationship between Adelaide and her homicidal doppelgänger. This beautifully choreographed, brutally violent final encounter signals an almighty shift in the story’s balance, juxtaposed with flashbacks to a fateful ballet recital in the characters’ youth. It’s a stroke of genius, and no other film this year has come close to matching this scene in its quality of acting, editing or direction. Lupita Nyong’o and Jordan Peele, take a bow. — Simon @Depressedmovie

The Barbie Dolls – Booksmart

The set up is quite simple: Amy and Molly are at a party, and they’ve just realized that they unknowingly consumed a powerful drug. They move into a secluded room and wait for the drugs to wear off. Generally, the payoff for this setup would involve the characters zoning out, or possibly having intense emotional reactions, or just lying on the floor. Booksmart however changes the norm. Within a few seconds of entering the room, Molly and Amy turn into Barbie Dolls (they’re hallucinating).

This shift in the scene is brilliant, because of three reasons, one is that it’s a reflection of the out-of-body experience the characters are having, second is because of the shift, the scene gets to dabble in physical comedy which traditionally wouldn’t be possible, there’s fighting, climbing and even stripping, and finally, the scene uses Barbie Dolls as a medium to comment on unrealistic beauty standards for women. Throughout the scene, Molly and Amy comment on how unreal and impractical their design is and how confusing and harmful this can be. Essentially this scene uses a conventional setup and then subverts expectations, to create comedy gold, while also managing to say something meaningful, and therein lies its brilliance. — Pallavi @thegalwhorants

Old Records – Fast Color

There is a scene in Fast Color that stands out to me, not because of any display of superhuman powers, or indeed those vivid shards of color. No, in keeping with the film’s impressive down-to-Earth tone, I’m talking about a scene about vinyl records. Often the quieter, magical moments in cinema. When Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) decides to hand over some records to her daughter, she touches on the stories abehind the albums. That Lauryn Hill defied criticism of her pregnancy when she recorded her brilliant debut album in 1998. That everyone is a Nina Simone fan, no matter what. And then that X-Ray Spex lead singer, Poly Styrene, pioneered one of the great punk albums after seeing Sex Pistols live.

I suspect one or both of Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz were huge fans, perhaps even taking this scene straight from their own lives and plonking it into their screenplay. Those reasons we love music can help generate some of the character we may have left behind to others. Fast Color succeeds in depth of character for this scene alone. And the movie’s candid handling of the themes are perfectly fitting to close out with Germfree Adolescents by X-Ray Spex in the closing titles. — Robin @Filmotomy