# Great moments in otherwise mediocre movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252 "2009-10-18T22:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/41 "2009-10-20T19:13:26Z")
Hopefully, I don’t have to tell anyone how bad Highlander 2 is. I mean, it’s Highlander 2, nuff said. But this exchange was clearly from a better draft of the script: Doctor: They were both dead before the car stopped. I’m amazed they got as far as they did. Gosh, I’ve never seen a mess like that. They must have taken about a hundred bullets or so. [Connor and Ramirez sit up] Conner MacLeod: One hundred and eight. Ramirez: One hundred and twelve, myself. Conner MacLeod: Aw, come on. You’re not counting that little scratch, are you? Ramirez: Scratch? What are you talking about? It passed right through me. Just look at my splendid waistcoat. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/42 "2009-10-20T19:24:42Z")
_Under Siege_ wasn’t a great movie, but damnit, Erika Eleniak popping out of that cake is great. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/43 "2009-10-20T20:00:07Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > [DC Cab](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085387/) wasn’t good for much, but it was good for a scene in which the cabbies have, with some trepidation, agreed to form their own cab company. As the decision is reached, Gary Busey jumps up on the hood of a cab and says to the assembly (in grave earnest): > > "I just want to get one thing straight: I don’t work on January 8… > > …'cause that’s Elvis’s birthday." > > (At which point Busey commences Elvis-style gyrations and the other cabbies burst into laughter.) > > I use that line in every job interview. My favorite line was when Adam Baldwin tells his wife that he’s made the cabbies partners in the company. He adds somsthing like, “Honey, you’ve got to have faith in people.” She replies, “No. You have faith in God. You have faith in your country. You do \*not \*have faith in the _eight stooges_!” Busey firing up his new sound system and preaking every window in his cab is funny too (IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/44 "2009-10-20T20:03:10Z")
_A Night at the Roxbury_ does not rise to the level of a mediocre movie. But in the spirit of the thread, it featured about the best pratfall ever, on the part of Chris Kattan. He’s this nerdy little schlump who’s all PO’d about something or other, and he’s marching into the office of the bigshot villain in some fancy skyscraper. He unexpectedly goes completely ass-over-head-over-heels wiping out on a slick hallway floor. Only afterwards do we notice that there’s a janitor mopping the floor in the background and a CAUTION: WET FLOOR sign posted inconspicuously near the wall. This was actually good film-making, despite the movie being… well, _A Night at the Roxbury._ The typical approach in a stupid comedy like this is to get a couple seconds of a close-up shot of the CAUTION sign to tell us all that the guy is about to slip and fall and completely destroy the element of surprise. These guys actually did it right, and it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/45 "2009-10-20T21:07:29Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > The Matrix: Reloaded was pretty meh. > > But the scene where Neo fights hundreds of Agents Smith in the park? Genius. I can’t agree with the word _genius_. The fight in the park makes no sense, because neither Neo nor Smith’s actions make no sense. It goes on far too long given the fact that Neo can fly, while the Smiths cannot. It’s stupid for the Smiths to ambush him outside, where he has room to build up enough momentum to launch; and it’s equally stupid of him to keep brawling once it’s clear is opponents numbers are endless, when all he really wants to do is to leave. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/46 "2009-10-20T21:45:55Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I hated the movie Ghost except for the 5 minute scene where Vincent Schiavelli played the ‘Subway Ghost’. THAT was brilliant! By definition, pretty much everything the late Mr. Schiavelli did was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/47 "2009-10-21T03:40:28Z")
Back To School- A thoroughly mediocre movie except, when Dangerfield passionately recites Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/48 "2009-10-21T03:45:40Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I can’t agree with the word _genius_. The fight in the park makes no sense, because neither Neo nor Smith’s actions make no sense. It goes on far too long given the fact that Neo can fly, while the Smiths cannot. It’s stupid for the Smiths to ambush him outside, where he has room to build up enough momentum to launch; and it’s equally stupid of him to keep brawling once it’s clear is opponents numbers are endless, when all he really wants to do is to leave. I think we can all agree that the best two things about The Matrix 2 was [Monica](http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/mojuice/Sci%20Fi%20Babes/monica-bellucci.jpg) [Bellucci](http://wallpaperspictures.com/albums/userpics/monica_bellucci.jpg). And tied for third would be [The Twins](http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2003_The_Matrix:_Reloaded/2003_poster_twins.jpg) and [Seraph](http://api.ning.com/files/28cnadnQY1QTugI6-h7DvDBMDO8WKk7nxiQLaxRVfMMOlW141MqKzTQDgQBw0C5AT8w5b1V7LZSUwvjMbnRBPisgJ4W1ibYN/seraph.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/49 "2009-10-21T03:52:34Z")
The movie is utter crap. They had a lot to work with and wasted it all. But, Tom Baker has a minor part as an elf cleric and does a truly magnificent job. It’s just him talking, but he does a vastly superior job conjuring up dragons with his voice than the film makers did with CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/50 "2009-10-21T04:19:57Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Back To School- > > A thoroughly mediocre movie except, when Dangerfield passionately recites Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. I dunno. [This scene with Sam Kinison](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfi4s8cjLFI) was pretty damn funny. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/51 "2009-10-21T04:44:57Z")
In the _War of the Worlds_ Spielberg remake, I particularly loved 2 scenes: The initial discovery scene in the street, where the Tripod emerges from the ground and the mayhem and vaporization ensues. Even right after when Ray (Cruise) gets home, and he’s in shock, with people-ash all over him. All the people gaping in morbid awe as a train rolls through the railroad crossing, in flames. Actually, the Tripods in general were pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/52 "2009-10-21T04:49:29Z")
## I thought **Five Easy Pieces** was a crummy movie, but I loved the diner scene where he orders a chicken salad sandwich: Bobby: I’d like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee. Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else? Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/53 "2009-10-21T05:09:23Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > [Street Fighter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111301/) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme is a pretty crappy movie, but Raul Julia’s performance as the evil general was some awesome scenery chewing. There was one line that really deserved to be in a better film and Raul Julia delivered it perfectly. Long live the Pax Bisonica! ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/54 "2009-10-21T10:59:07Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’m not a fan of slapstick and I sit through National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation with a vague sense I’d rather be doing something else. But Chevy Chase’s frustrated speech near the end is a marvel! [This one?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlfV1Q2eSkE&NR=1) That’s always been my favorite part anyway. My father loved the Vacation movies and I have fond memories of them as a result. > [@](#): > > The Cable Guy with Matthew Broderick and Jim Carrey is pretty bad, but right in the middle is this great scene in a Medieval Times restaurant. Janeane Garofolo is their disaffected serving wench and they end up in the arena fighting each other as Jim Carrey “sings” the Star Trek fight scene music. That one is great, but I love the meltdown in the satellite dish at the end. “I learned the facts of life! From watching! _The Facts of Life_!!!” I think that movie is overall much much better than people give it credit for. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/55 "2009-10-21T11:18:59Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > One great scene made the rest of the movie even worse for me. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow opened with giant robots shooting lasers from their eyes. Wow! This is gonna be a great retro action-adventure! > > No. No it’s not. Yes, yes it is, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/56 "2009-10-21T11:24:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I can’t agree with the word _genius_. The fight in the park makes no sense, because neither Neo nor Smith’s actions make no sense. It goes on far too long given the fact that Neo can fly, while the Smiths cannot. It’s stupid for the Smiths to ambush him outside, where he has room to build up enough momentum to launch; and it’s equally stupid of him to keep brawling once it’s clear is opponents numbers are endless, when all he really wants to do is to leave. The movie previously showed that he needed a few seconds of concentration (kneeling on the ground) before getting airborne. The Smiths were trying not to give him those few seconds. Still doesn’t make sense why they attacked outdoors. > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Yes, yes it is, IMHO. On paper, it was a great movie. In practice it was Exhibit 1 on why films should be directed by directors and not by special effect technicians. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/57 "2009-10-21T11:30:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > On paper, it was a great movie. In practice it was Exhibit 1 on why films should be directed by directors and not by special effect technicians. I still really enjoyed it. It was retro. It was pulpy. It was knowingly A Bit Silly. In fact, if I’d been given a trainload of money with which to make a Retro Pulp Adventure Film, the result would be something fairly similar to _Sky Captain_, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/58 "2009-10-21T11:40:59Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I still really enjoyed it. It was retro. It was pulpy. It was knowingly A Bit Silly. In fact, if I’d been given a trainload of money with which to make a Retro Pulp Adventure Film, the result would be something fairly similar to _Sky Captain_, I think. It is a fantastic movie to look at; the design and the style are great (and Gwyneth Paltrow is quite fetching). The first time I saw it was on a big screen, dubbed in German, and I liked it. I saw it again on a small screen in English and wasn’t as impressed. The action sequences are too video-gamey; 8,000 robots and flying down city streets and through unfinished buildings is too much. It’s like a swarm of gnats, lots of activity, things buzzing and moving in all directions, but it doesn’t tell a story. And as I’ve said before, Gwyneth played her character all wrong. She’s clearly supposed to be the spunky girl reporter type; confient, smart, fast-talking. (Think Rosalind Russell in _His Girl Friday_.) Instead, Paltrow plays it pensive, hesitant, indecisive. I don’t know how much of that was her decision, and how much was from the director. Maybe they’re both too young to have seen the kind of character she was supposed to be. Strangely, I think her mother, in her prime, could have nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/59 "2009-10-21T14:33:30Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Back To School- > > A thoroughly mediocre movie except, when Dangerfield passionately recites Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090685/quotes:](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090685/quotes:) [after Diane gives Thornton an ‘F’ for his report, which was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut] Diane: Whoever _did_ write this doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut! [cut to Thornton’s dorm suite] Thornton Melon: [on the phone] … and _another_ thing, Vonnegut! I’m gonna stop payment on the cheque! [Kurt tells him off] Thornton Melon: Fuck me? Hey, Kurt, can you read lips, _fuck you_! Next time I’ll call Robert Ludlum! [hangs up] ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252/60 "2009-10-21T16:20:54Z")
Cloris Leechman’s scene as the mother in the horrible Meg Ryan/Diane Keaton/Lisa Kudrow vehicle “Hanging Up” Explaining why when she divorced their alcoholic father, why she left the three girls in his care. “Motherhood… it just didn’t take.” “Daredevil” is 80% utter shit, 10% ‘meh’, 10% awesome. That 10% is the scene where Daredevil comes home from a night a heroing and you see what life would really be like for a hero. His body is covered in scars, he non-chalantly removes a loose tooth, he downs handfuls of painkillers. Being Daredevil-with super hearing and all- must sleep in a sensory deprivation chamber as he can hear all the sounds of the city and the cries for help and sirens and he sighs because he knows it will never be enough. Best “what it would be like” scene in a super hero movie. But then we get Daredevil incapcitated by the sound of a subway train rolling by but a gunshot going off right next to his ears, doesn’t faze him. Oh well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-moments-in-otherwise-mediocre-movies/514252.md?page=4)