Continuing in the same vein as the recent movie and TV threads…
What are some movie or TV moments that were sort of unoriginal, done before, shouldn’t have been anything special… yet, they worked?
What made me think of this was a 30 Rock show from season two called “Episode 210”. Medium/good episode which ended with the cast doing a version of “Midnight Train to Georgia”.
The song was a little hokey and silly, maybe even trite. But I suddenly burst out laughing because they really sold it, and it worked. Absolutely a charming moment in the series, and I couldn’t imagine the most cynical media critic not enjoying it.
Upon further reflection, I remembered the airplane scene in Almost Famous. How many times have we seen this? A plane going down, passenges terrified. They begin shouting out their worst misdeeds from life and beg forgiveness.
But they made it work, and it didn’t seem contrived at all. One of the best moments in the film.
For me it was Boondock Saints. Everything about the movie had been done before, but it was done perfectly there and it all fit together, even the most ridiculous parts.
It’s the movie Tarrantino would have made if he actually had some talent beyond being a self-obsessed hack.
Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers movie. I thought it was a brilliantly campy take on the book and a wonderfully fun movie. Bring it on, Heinlein fanboys, I can take it!