Sorry for not being clear. I’m a fan of both Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson and adore all the films they’ve done and yeah, both filmmakers fill their movies with wonderful moments. I do think Magnolia is a great movie btw, and not bloated at all.
I was just thinking of that.
Reading your post just made me mist up a little. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m overly-emotional today, or the stress of my own wedding planning is getting to me…but yes. The look on Elrond’s face was something that gets burned into your brain on sight. Peaceful, joyful and heartbroken all at the same time.
sniffle
Dammit. 
For me, when Gandalf comes back to the Shire, and asks Frodo, “Is it secret, is it safe?”
He throws the ring in the fire, and then asks Frodo if he sees anything. Frodo peers at the ring and says, “No…wait, there’s writing.”
Ian McKellan’s look of relief followed by an “oh shit” look is perfect.
There’s a couple *Law & Order * ones…in the first, people testified against the mob, and at the end of the show witnesses are mysteriously dying.
Adam listens on the phone as the police rattle off the laundry list, and when Stone asks, tells him “The little girl was picked up at school by her uncle.”
Stone says, “She doesn’t have an uncle.”
Schiff’s look of horror as we fade to black.
But, above all, his little whimper when he turned off his wife’s life support…excuse me…I have to go find a tissue.
There were two good moments with Ian McKellan as Gandalf in LOTR mentioned upthread. I agree he was spot on perfect in both of them, as he was for most of the three films. But I want to note that Elijah Woods as Frodo was simply excellent in both of those scenes as well. Nailed em.
One of my faves, from a trio of actors, in Brannagh’s Henry V. Henry knows of the three ‘false knights’ who plan to sell him out to the French. He gives them all high commissions in the upcoming battles, and then has a ranting fit about how much he trusted them. Anyway, there’s this little tiny moment… The moment after the three receive their commissions, and they suddenly realize, “Hm, we’re all traitors, and we all got commissions… I think he’s on to us…” It’s all in the brief look the three give to each other, sums it up perfectly.
This is what I was going to post as well.
Also (I’m like a broken record about this) Ben Kingsley’s cameo in Sexy Beast. It’s about five scenes, and none of them is better than another: they’re all absolutely stunning; he is the most horrifying human being ever committed to celluloid.
There are 3 errors in your post.
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You neglected to append “the great” to Emma Thompson.
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You called LA “otherwise forgettable” rather than “bloody wonderful.”
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You neglected to mention the just-as-wonderful scene in which Laura Linney silently dances with joy when she’s gotten the German designer home.
Otherwise I’m with you.
There’s a moment in Return of the King that I love.
There are some scenes in the very opening, which portray the fateful event between Smeagol and Deagol. Deagol has just found the Ring, and Smeagol approaches him from behind asking him what’s up. At this point, Smeagol is just another dumb, happy hobbit without a care in the world. When he sees the Ring in Deagol’s hand, his expression changes from jolly and friendly to murderously obsessed and lustful, and we know that everything’s changed in Middle Earth. And not for the better. Andy Serkis really nailed the Smeagol/Gollum character in that few seconds.
Good call!
A couple of my own recommendations. These both probably fall under the umbrella of spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.
Ciarán Hinds, best known as Julius Caesar in Rome, played Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert in the gritty 1997 BBC adaptation of Ivanhoe, and imbued the role with so much depth and intensity that every scene he is not in somehow suffers for it. At the end of the film, as he lies on the ground mortally wounded (and grimacing behind a rather poorly done prosthetic), he nods his head to the victorious hero and requests his coup de grace. The mixture of pain, self-loathing, and imminent release on his face is amazing to behold.
One of the most astounding performances I’ve ever seen was the slow, quiet submission to death of Augustus in I, Claudius. As played by a clean-shaven Brian Blessed, the emperor lies in his wife’s arms, gradually succumbing to the poison she has been feeding him, and as the camera closes in on his face and hold its position, he just…dies. His eyes remain open, and you can see as the light in them fades and they begin to glaze over. Unbelievable.
Assuming “small” is synonymous with “short”:
I’ve posted this before, but when Leo McGarry is informed of Mrs. Landingham’s death (The West Wing), John Spencer pulls off the most amazing 10-15 seconds of television I’ve ever seen. And does it without saying a word or making a sound.
For movies, I have another nominee from Network. Beatty’s scene in the boardroom still gives me chills. “And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!”
I remember and like this bit as well although I interpreted it slightly differently.
First of all I did not at all get the impression that, at the end of the movie, the Hugh Grant character thought his relationship with the kid (forget his name) was unsustainable or that he was still a bad influence. Quite the contrary, I get the distinct impression he intends to stay in the kid’s life.
What happens is the Toni Colette character realizes Hugh Grant invited the other guy as a potential romantic interest for her, period. He wasn’t a coworker of HG, (a big point of the movie was that he didn’t have a job), just some acquaintance of his from months earlier.
The look on her face reflects this realization, and I think also the possibility in her mind that the guy is just her type.
Andre Braugher in Homicide: Life on the Streets.
A fellow detective committed suicide. Braugher’s character was not his partner. The dead detective’s partner had been fighting with the higher ups to be able to wear their dress blues for the funeral procession. They said no because the detective had killed himself. Everyone else but Braugher goes to the funeral in plain clothes. The funeral procession passes the station and there on the steps in his dress blues is Braughers character saluting the casket.
I cried my eyes out. I hadn’t watched the show regularly before that but that scene hooked me on that show.
A few moments for the Godfather movies:
The small scene Brando plays in the hallway with Robert Duvall when Duvall’s character Tom tells him the Sonny is dead - Brando is just operfect there, in his tone. in his realization of who Vito is - and the subsequent scene at Bonnisegna’s funeral home, Brando pulls of perfectly, too.
The moment, in GII, where Michael gives Al Neri the high sign to kill Fredo. Wordless and perfect.
And in GIII where Michael “hijacks” Kay in the car. Just for one moment, you are preapred to believe he is not a monster - which is a hell of an acting job in such a short scene. Of course, consequent events remind us of the truth.
Once Upon A Time in America. Robert de Niro has just raped Elizabeth McGovern in the back of the limo.
The limo driver gets out, opens the passenger door, and Robert de Niro stumbles out. He tries to apologize, but the look the limo driver gave him was priceless…anger at what he did, shame for himself for not stopping him, disgust and some fear that he’s daring to stand up to his boss.
A “Family Ties” episode: Elyse’s drunk brother Ned (played by Tom Hanks) punches out Alex (played by Michael J. Fox). Playing opposite two such gifted actors, Michael Gross playing dad Steven tells Ned in a very soft voice to leave his house and leave his family alone. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a very effective scene.
Will Smith in I Am Legend.
In the scene after his dog was bitten by the vampire/zombie dog and he’s in his lab holding the dog when the dog starts to change and all we see is Will’s face while he is strangling his dog. The dog was his child’s pet and his only companion for those years after the “plague”. He had gone into a zombie infested dark building to rescue his dog. His dog had saved his life. The dog was everything to him and his last connection to his family. But he would rather hold his dog and choke the life out of him than let the horrid disease take him over. The dog was probably the one thing keeping him going every day and you could see all the pain, anger and fear of the past few years and the despair of facing life alone. As much as I hate scenes where things happen to animals, this was a very powerful scene and focusing only on Will’s face instead of the violence of what he was doing made it all the more powerful.
Les Nessman’s turkey comentary on WKRP in Cincinati. Remember, it’s all his voice. You never see the scene.
And Gordon Jump’s “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
In Serenity:
Right after Wash dies, the rest of the gang is preparing to make their stand against the Reavers. Kaylee looks around and asks “where’s Wash?” Zoe says “He’s not coming.” The slow slide into realization on Kaylee’s face is just so full of anguish and compassion. Beautiful.
Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) had some spectacular TV moments. There was one scene where is doing sports and pronounces Chi Chi Rodriguez as though he has no idea there even is a Spanish language. Johnny closes the mike and corrects him, but when Les gets back on the air he resumes his pronunciation and even adds a little sneer to it; as though to say, I say it it this way.
Not an Oscar performance, but definitely out of the park.
Oh, and the line “Who would fartels bear?” spoken on the ledge of the building. Very funny!
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The scene in The West Wing where Leo tells the President his daughter is missing, after she’s been abducted. We don’t hear the conversation, and for a moment we can’t see Bartlet’s face, but when the camera goes back to him, he does a horribly perfect job of looking like his greatest fear in the world has just come true.
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In Return of the King: “My friends, you bow to no one.” It should feel at best a little bit cheesy, but that line makes me tear up every single time. Viggo Mortenson’s delivery is perfect.