Crowning Moments of Awesome

Cafe Society
61

In Night of the Hunter, the mad preacher Harry Powell has tracked John and Pearl to the farmhouse of old Rachel Cooper, a shelterer of any orphan who happens along. All during the chase he has been singing the bass part of a hymn: “Leaning, leaning, leaning on the arm, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arm.” It’s night and he’s got the house under seige, sillhouetted against a hilltop with his razor in his hand, singing that hymn, while Cooper sits bolt upright in the kitchen holding her shotgun and watching him through the window . . . and then she joins in with the alto part: “Lean on Jesus, lean on Jesus . . .” perfectly in time and harmony.

You really have to see it to appreciate the awesomeness. It’s a cinematic moment of Zen.

62

Arrested Development:

Gob: Where am I? Am I still in prison?
Lucille: You’re in the hospital.
Gob: Ta-daa …

thwartme

63

I haven’t yet see the movie, but if there’s a better American novel I haven’t seen it yet (hyperbole . . . maybe).

Just reading the summary of that scene makes me cry.

64

Veronics Mars, Aaron Echols suspects that his daughter’s movie producer boyfriend has been beating her, and invites him to dinner (along with Veronica and his son, who are dating at the time). While preparing a rather large and intricate (and delicious-looking) dinner, he makes small talk, telling a story about how his dad used to beat his mother, and all the little things his mom would do to try and hide that it was happening (bringing to mind a lot of the things that his daughter had been doing lately). The producer guy not only fails to take the hint, but proceeds to try and pitch a movie idea for the dad to star in, wanting to cash in on the guy’s fame.

What proceeds is one of the most gloriously brutal beat downs ever, as Aaron beats the guy to a pulp, along the way destroying the entire dinner by smashing the guy through it, all while Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Amore!” plays. It also nicely reminds the audience what a psycho Aaron actually is.

End of the first season, there is a three-levels of badass scene, with Veronica being chased by Lilly Cane’s murderer (not to spoil the ending; the first season of Veronica Mars is a wonderful mystery story that you should all discover yourselves right now!), and ends up locked in an old fridge in a yard full of junk.

Keith Mars (her fat, balding, utterly awesome private-eye dad) shows up to help, Veronica having called him a couple minutes earlier on her cell, and ends up in a drag down fight with the bad guy before beating him into submission (bad ass level 1), only to have to let him go to save his daughter from a fire the bad guy started. Bad guy breaks into Keith’s car, and immediately finds his arm in the loving embrace of the Mars’s pet bulldog, Backup (level 2). He gets loose from the dog and jumps out of the car, just in time to get kissed by a fast-moving van (HONKHOOOONKSMACK level 3). :cool:

65

The Girl Genius strips from here to here, where Gilgamesh Wulfenbach lays down the law outside of Mechanicsburg. Also, a coronet of awesome for this, where, despite the fact that he’s currently bleeding to death from a gunshot wound taken in the previous encounter, he still takes the time to lay a beating down on a Frankenstein monster whom he feels is being condescending.

And he’s just the supporting cast.

66

In Silent Hill 2 the video game, there’s a point where you have to jump into a giant gaping blood-rimmed black hole which leads deep into an underground prison. You keep finding more and more holes, and though you don’t want to jump in, though you’re terrified to jump in, you have no choice but to jump in.

You end up umpteen-stories below the surface of the ground, walking nearly empty halls and occasionally running into silent, disfigured, horrifying creatures. The sense of isolation as you slide between the pulsating walls is impossible to describe.

And then–you hear it. A guttural, low moan, deep in some unintelligible language, that sounds as if Satan himself has come to claim you.

I despise the horror genre. But damned if I can’t do anything except fawn all over Silent Hill. That video game is a masterpiece. It is high art.

And holy fuck, I wish I weren’t sleeping alone tonight. :eek:

67

In A Few Good Men Wolfgang Bodison as Lance Cpl. Dawson had several great scenes. At the start of the movie, it was obvious he did not think much of his attorney (Tom Cruise), and is only giving him the respect due his rank. After the the two Marines are found guilty, they are meeting one last time with Cruise. As Cruise gets up to leave, Dawson (Bodison) leaps to his feet, ramrod straight and yells Ten-hut! Private Downey comes to his feet and looks questioningly at Dawson who says, There is an officer on deck*
It is obvious he has come to respect his lawyer.

*To the best of my memory, it has been a while

68

Oh god yes. Between Gil owning the walkers and owning Vole, I have a huge mancrush on him now.

69

I don’t think there’s many 24 fans here, but Jack Bauer has at least 6 moments like this in every season. At one point last season, another agent comes onto the scene of carnage where Jack has brutally killed at least 7 enemies. This battle-hardened hardass federal agent looks at the gore, and then looks at Jack, and sums up the whole situation with two words spoken with perfect inflections of awe, reverence, and a little bit of disgust. “Damn, Jack…”

70

The Galactica falling through the atmosphere. HOLY SHIT! :eek:

71

Bahahaha, that is truly a great scene in the comic. Gil is awesome. It reminds me of the crowning badass scene in Poolhall Junkies

Our hero is in a one-on-one pool tournament with a pool shark working for his old backer, Joe (Chazz Palminteri). The stakes: The money his little brother owes the backer after he gets hustled badly. His new backer is his girlfriend’s uncle Mike (Christopher Walken), a wealthy lawyer who has played pool with him once, and just generally thinks he’s a great kid.

Through the whole night, the hero keeps losing, partially from losing his nerve, and partially from a badly hurt wrist that the old backer slammed in a car door a week or two earlier. Every time he loses, Uncle Mike ponies up more cash to keep him going, eventually giving him a great Christopher Walken™ pep talk between rounds, about a lion tearing apart a pack of hyenas.

Finally, Joe gets fed up with how long the game is taking without any closure, and bets $80,000, declaring that the hero will choke, and taunts Uncle Mike thusly:

*Joe: Is this your first time in a pool hall, Mr. Backer man? Is that it? Your clothes getting a little mashed?

Let me tell you something. When you walk out of here, you’ll have the smell of this place on your skin for a week. Every time you put on that suit, you will think of me taking your money. 'Cause I’m the only one in this room who knows how fast your boy can run over there.

You want to know why? 'Cause I bred him. How the fuck does that make you feel? To be in that position, all your money on the table?

Mike: How much you got, Joe?

Joe: What?

Mike: Total. You put down eighty thousand like it didn’t matter. That’s a lot of money for a guy like you and him. I think it matters.

Joe: What’s the difference–?

Mike: I’m a millionaire! That’s the difference. I lose an eighty I get another eighty. For me it doesn’t matter. See, I think it’s you who’s sweating this. The both of yous. People in pool rooms don’t come across this kind of take but once in a life time. And now you’re gonna put it all on the line against John because you think he’s gonna choke? I don’t think so. points at pool shark I think he’s gonna choke.

You wanna shoot it all? Let’s shoot it all.*

And he basically proceeds to goad Joe into betting everything he has, including the cash in his pockets and the ring on his finger, matching all of it in cash he has with him. His intentions? To leave Joe with nothing when it’s done.

Just the look on Joe’s face when he realizes how far in over his head he is against Mike, it’s priceless. :cool:

72

Superman Annual #11, 1985 - “For the Man Who Has Everything” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Probably the single best Superman story ever, it is a crowning moment of awesome in itself. Choice segments:

*Batman [to Mongul, enormously powerful alien despot who has revealed himself as the one who incapacitated Superman]: What… are… you?

Mongul [addressing Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman]: If you don’t already know my name, then you’re not worthy of an introduction. I’m the new manager around here.

Naturally, I shall need time to settle in and adjust to your many interesting customs…

I know, for example, that your society makes distinctions on a basis of gender and age. Perhaps, then, you could advise me…

Which of you would it be polite to kill first?*

And…

*Robin [having just seen Batman incapacitated by the Black Mercy]: Oh, no. I can’t handle this. Bruce, wake up…

Please. Please wake up. I do’nt know if a human body can stand contact with this junk, even if it didn’t do any harm to…

[Robin looks behind him and sees Superman]

…Superman

Superman: Who… Did this… to ME?

Robin: I… I don’t know. A big yellow guy. He’s through there hurting Wonder Woman now…

Superman? Are you okay You look sorta, uh…

Superman: Mongul…

MONGUL*

And while I’m thinking of Superman, I’ll throw in a part from my second favorite Supes story of all time -

Superman #149, 1961 - “The Death of Superman” by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan

Lex Luthor pretends to renounce his evil ways in order to lure Superman into a Kryptonite death trap located in a satellite laboratory that Superman himself built for Lex.

He forces Lois Lane, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen to watch helplessly as he slowly tortures Superman to death with a Kryptonite ray. When Superman finally bites it, Luthor exclaims:

*Lex: At last!!! After all these years of vainly trying, I’ve finally succeeded in killing Superman! I’ve destroyed the mightiest man in the universe! What a glorious achievement! *

Luthor then dumps Superman’s body on the ground and tells Lois and the gang -

Lex: You can have Superman back, now that he’s dead! Ha, ha!

Awesome.

73

Speaking of “The Man Who Has Everything”, the Justice League animated version of that story is also great. The bad guy used some kind of alien parasite that telepathically projected what the victim perceived to be a perfect existence into their heads. Superman got growing up on Krypton with his family, marrying, having a child. As Batman attempted to pull the thing loose, the illusion began to fall apart, with Krypton suffering earthquakes until the entire planet is destroyed and everything Kal-El has being lost.

He proceeds to beat the bad guy almost literally to a pulp, frothing at the mouth and screaming “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU TOOK AWAY FROM ME?!”

Superman in a killing rage is something to behold indeed.

Oh, speaking of superheros, from The Dark Knight

Gordon putting a shotgun to the Joker’s head as Joker is about to kill Batman

74

I’m currently reading the ethnography “Yanomano” by Napoleon Chagnon, about a warlike Amazonian Indian tribe. It has quite a few moments of awesome for a non-fiction anthropology book!

Background: the author has been living with the Yanomamo for a few months, and is constantly bullied and intimidated into giving up his possessions and food to them. One day, he pays several of the men to resurface his canoe. The project takes several hours and he gives them many valuable goods in return.

Later, the tribe hears that the local missionaries have arrived and the men of the tribe sail off down river in their canoes to beg more goods. The author arrives at his canoe to find that the men have ripped off all the planks used for resurfacing and stolen them as paddles. Furious, he tracks them down, berates them for lousy, no-good, thieving, lying bastards. At the end of this tirade, as the crowning moment of awesome, he takes his machete and cuts the lines mooring their canoes, sending all the boats floating away downstream.

Hilariously, the Yanomamo all agree that this was the right thing to do, in fact, they totally deserved it! They treat him with greater respect from then on.

75

Well,
If we’re talking helicoptor scenes, then you must be talking about the helicoptor scene from Apocolypse Now.

Charlie don’t surf.

Of course the scene later at the bridge. It’s all crazy and Sheen keeps asking guys “Who’s in charge here?” Ususally he is sent in some direction. One guy responds in a panic “Aren’t you?!” But the awesome is the guy who quietly says “Yeah” and says nothing else.

76

OK, this might be the bestacted scenein cinema history, On the Waterfront

77

“My friends, you bow to no one.” {sniff}

Also, "YOU… SHALL NOT PASS!

Awesome, awesome movies.

78

The webcomic Order of the Stick has quite a few of these. My favorite is the culmination of Elan’s Taking a Level in Badass storyline, where he goes from being a lovable goof to surprisingly competent hero. Belkar’s shining moment is also pretty impressive.

The Discworld books also have a ton of these. My favorites are:

  1. Sam Vimes’ final confrontation with the werewolf in The Fifth Elephant.

“The hell with it”

  1. Vime’s “This is not my cow” scene in Thud!.
  2. Granny Weatherwax at the end of Witches Abroad when she is entrapped in the endless mirrors.

Really, every Discworld book has at least one of these moments. Usually many more than one.

79

‘Stand up Miss Jean Louise - your father’s passing’ is a heart stopper.
But - stand up and shout at the tv? - Randy telling the deputy principal anything he can to avoid being put in a group home in S4 of The Wire. I could see the shitstorm that would ensue and I did actually stand and shout at the tv. Like this.
‘NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!’

Awesome writing and heartbreaking acting.

MiM

80

Speaking of comics, there’s the scene from Thor where Thor and his fellow Asgardians have raided Hela’s realm to to rescue stolen mortal souls. They are chased to the bridge Gjallerbru by a huge host of demons. When Thor volunteers to hold the bridge , Skurge the Executioner bashes him unconscious and insists that he do so instead. He then takes two of the automatic rifles they picked up on Earth - his own axe being destroyed - and proceeds to do just that. A Norse god dual wielding automatic rifles against a demonic host is pretty badass. When he runs out of ammo, he wades in using a rifle as a club, and the final scene has him bashing away at a huge mass of demons piling over each other to get him, then fading out.