FYC?
Dearest Readers, Nathaniel and Team Experience are requesting your memory jogs as we prepare our "best of the year" lists. We're particularly looking at the following fields of joy that are sometimes hard to keep a mental list of in the busy last months of the year.
So what are YOUR favorite...
• Line readings of the year?
• Best kisses or sex scenes?
• Favorite credits sequence?
• Action sequence or fight scene?
• Cameos or tiny roles?
• Individual scenes of any kind?
Reader Comments (57)
The moment in Hereditary where Annie discovers what's happened to Charlie is the moist brutal, shocking and affecting scenes I've ever witnessed in a cinema. I've never seen an actor do that in a film before. Bravo, Toni.
For Cameo/Featured Roles, I thought Joey Pollari, who was brilliant in the second season of American Crime, was equally impacting in Love Simon. He was my favorite potential Blue.
Line reading:
'Gucci!' or anything Elsie Fisher said in Eighth Grade
Rachel McAdams' 'Oh no, he died' in Game Night
Kiss:
Simon and Blue - 'Love, Simon'
Action:
Parachute sequence - M:I - Fallout
Scene:
The First Man - The Landing or The Crater
Cold War - the ending
Love, SImon - coming out to the parents
Crazy Rich Asians - the wedding (Can't Help Falling in Love)
Game Night - taking out the bullet
A Star is Born - The Shallow
Too bad that Gaspar Noe's Climax hasn't opened yet in the US because it would qualify (and win) for Best Dance Scene, Best Credits and Best Fight.
Cold War has the most devastating end in years. It is also incredibly beautiful.
Ryan Gosling throwing the bracelet into the abyss and reuniting with his wife in absolute silence are major scenes too.
Best Tiny Role: Jacki Weaver in Windows. I want her in a spin-off, a monologue or a talk-show
Best scene: Hereditary's end credits
Best kiss: Charlie and the pole
Best cameo: Jessica Tandy in Green Book
Best line reading: "Let me feel my Oats!" in Crazy Rich Asians
Best action or fight scene: Willem Dafoe vs madness in At Eternity's gate
Scariest scene of the year: every Rami Malek close-up in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Brown Cow, you are not only stunning, you are v funny. laughed so hard @ jessica tandy in Green Book!
The Favourite has so many, but Olivia Colman’s “I like when she puts her tongue in me” is my fave like reading.
Line reading: 'Oh no, he died' - Rachel McAdams, Game Night
Best kiss/sex scene: Shoplifters, a moment of familiar but not entirely expected pure enjoyment. It's a perfect beat in a story full of them.
Favourite credits sequence: Crazy Rich Asians, a perfect prelude to the brightly-hued concoction to come.
Action/fight scene: the bathroom brawl in Mission Impossible: Fallout
Cameos/tiny roles: Patrick Fugit and Christopher Abbott add much-needed human texture to First Man without being showy about it.
Individual scenes: The Tiergarten montage in Tully
@ Murtada, Jessica was my second choice after the ghost of a father talent in Blackkklansmann and the hope for good choices during Globes and Sag nominations.
Julia Roberts getting out of the car with unbridled joy at seeing her son in Ben is Back.
The slow revealing in Searching and John Cho falling to his knees.
The way Ryan Gosling kisses his lips and presses his hand on the glass-poetry.
The welcome mat in Hereditary.
Bonnie Aarons in The Nun
Statham Sea Shark.
Line reading - most things in "Eighth Grade" but particularly "...I dare you to put this quarter in your mouth." So unexpected but so in character, a very necessary break in the tension,
I think I remember the "A Simple Favor" credits as being good, but I might be confusing it with my memories of the trailer?
Action/ fight sequences:
- “Annihilation”, weird, strange, and compelling
- “Solo”, Phoebe Walker-Bridge’s droid fighting
- “Antman and the Wasp”, all of the cool miniaturized scenes, Evangeline Lilley running on the edge of a knife, the tiny car scenes
Small parts/ scenes:
- “A Simple Favor”, Linda Cardellini’s passionate sculptor
- “Game Night”, Sharon Horgan and Billy Magnussen
- “Ocean’s Eight”, Helena Bonham Carter’s woeful post-show designer, Sarah Paulson telling her kids that Mommy’s off to work
- “Tully”, Charlize Theron at the breakfast table. “Mommy, what’s happened to your body?”
- “Red Sparrow”, Mary Louise Parker realizing that she’s been compromised
- “Widows”, Elizabeth Debicki buying guns
- “Antman and the Wasp”, Michael Pena and David and Tip, explaining things
- “Solo”, Enfys Nest taking off her mask
Blake Lively gives a pretty amazing reading of the words "which one?" in A Simple Favor.
Best scene of the year is the Tarkovsky-like levitation in First Reformed. That's when you know the movie is taking no prisoners. And the best kiss is in First Reformed, too, when a pregnant woman named Mary saves the life of the oriest just by showing up like a miracle.
Philip Ettinger as Mary's tormented husband is pretty much amazing with very litlle screentime. His conversation with the priest in which he tells him all about his fear of the future is piercing, searing, devastating.
Line Reading: anything Awkwafina says in Super Crazy Rich Asians. “ypu wearing that?!” Michael B Jordan’s last line reading in the film. I feel like Isle of Dogs had some great stuff but i’d need a rewatch.
Best Action Scene: Mission Impossible, the whole god damn movie. Black Panther - the casino fight or the 1x1 combat.
Best Scene:
1. Annihilation - the monster with another voice. truly the stuff of nightmares.
2. Jack Jack gets lost on the ship or Jack Jack being baby sat by mr incredible (“here is a cookie, cookie, cookie”).
3. the Birth Scene in The Quiet Place (brilliant) or Roma
4. texting asian news scene in Super rich asians. news travels fast.
cameos or tiny roles: does Edna Mode count? Ann Dowd in Hereditary and Sterling K Brown or Winsten Duke in Black Panther may also be more than a tiny role?
Line reading it'd be hard to beat Olivia in the fave: "Did you just look at me? Look at me. How dare you?"
Pre& Post Credits: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
(as fun and beautiful as the rest of the movie)
Action sequence: You Were Never Really Here
(two separate action sequences with no action, only consequences)
Scene of the Year: You Were Never Really Here
("I've Never Been to Me" on the kitchen floor)
Eighth Grade
(the car)
I don't think these have been mentioned yet...
Best Scenes:
Chicken McNuggets date - Eighth Grade
Phoenix Buchanan musical number - Paddington 2
Rooftop scene - Support the Girls
Best Cameo/Small Role:
Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe, the dim Klansman in BlacKkKlansman
(Will you consider Charlie in A Star Is Born and Olivia in Widows?)
Best Line Reading:
Well somebody has to do something! - Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Line reading: Gemma Chan in CRA - "It was never my job to make you feel like a man. I can't make you something you're not."
Fight: Helicopters chase and crash in MI:FO
Kiss: The kiss on the ferris wheel - Love, Simon
Scene: Ally singing Shallow at Jack's concert - ASIB
Out of topic, but I must remind people:
FYC
Actress: Glenn Close in The Wife (IT IS TIME!!! No one is at her level and Gaga can win Song)
Supporting Actress: Elizabeth Debicki in Widows (Easily the MVP)
Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here!!
Foreign film: Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts - Indonesia!
It’s not a line, but I loved the noise Emma Stone makes when Rachel Weisz suggests she can be a monster to children in “The Favourite.”
Paddington 2: “if we’re kind and polite the world will be right.”
If Beale Street Could Talk: “Unbow your head, sister.”
Kisses/sex scene: If Beale Street Could Talk (the first time)
Opening scene of Widows with Viola Davis and Liam Neeson in bed
The Favourite (Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz)
To All the Boys i’ve Loved Before: (hot tub)
Credits: Paddington 2, Crazy Rich Asians, Suspiria
Action/fight scene: MI Fallout: men’s room fight; Black Panther-fight scene in Korea;
Cameo: Jane Curtin in Can You Ever Forgive Me; Patrick Fugit in First Man; Brian Tyree Henry in If Beale Street Could Talk; Chloe Sevigny in Lean on Pete
Individual scenes: Beale Street:Tish tells the family about her pregnancy, Crazy Rich Asians: wedding scene and mah jong scene; Eighth Grade: chicken nugget date; Hereditary: telephone pole and driving back; Widows: Colin Farrell driving back from campaign stop; Paddington 2: Paddington complains about prison food and Hugh Grant’s dance number; The Rider: Brady training the horse; Roma: Cleo gives birth; Burning: Ben talks about burning greenhouses; Cold War: dancing to Bill Haley; Can You Ever Forgive Me: Lee fesses up in court
Line readings
“Mom, what’s wrong with your body?” Lia Frankland in Tully
“Did you just look at me? Look at me! How dare you? Close your eyes!” Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Everything that comes out of Richard E. Grant’s mouth in Can You Ever Forgive Me? but especially “You're a horrid c***, Lee.”
Best kisses or sex scenes
Sex scene in Disobedience
*SPOILER* kiss at the end in First Reformed *End of SPOILER*
Action sequence or fight scene
Gemini 8 goes into a spin in First Man
Killmonger/T’Challa combat in Black Panther
Bathroom fight scene in MI: Fallout
The heist in Widows
Silo scene in A Quiet Place
Cameos or tiny roles
Jane Curtin, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Lola Dueñas, Zama
Philip Ettinger, First Reformed
Judith Roberts, You Were Never Really Here
Individual scenes of any kind
“Shallow” in A Star Is Born
The car scene in Eighth Grade
Making marmalade in jail in Paddington 2
Protest/shopping for furniture in Roma
Birth scene in Roma
• Line readings of the year?
"I am your mother" Hereditary
"Why was she up there all this time?" Okoye in Infinity War
"Look at me? How dare you!" Queen Anne in The Favourite
"Gucci!" Kayla in Eighth Grade
"Oh no, he died." Rachel McAdams in Game Night
• Best kisses or sex scenes?
Smooch on the ferris wheel, Love Simon
Tully's 'threesome' scene
• Favorite credits sequence?
Black Panther's closing credits
• Action sequence or fight scene?
Deadpool 2's truck chase/fight scene
The gas station sequence in Halloween
• Cameos or tiny roles?
Peter from Deadpool 2
the bunnies from The Favourite
Bradley Cooper's dog in A Star is Born
• Individual scenes of any kind?
Eighth Grade, car scene
"Shallow" from Star is Born
Everyone dying in Infinity War (I saw it opening weekend before the hype went out and MAN was the room tense and sad and like WTF)
Ah fudge how could I forget?!?!
The casino fight scene that leads to the car chase in Black Panther is one of the best action sequences of the year that may as well be one of my favorite scenes of the year. Can we do a line ready for Lupita when she 'woos?'
LINE READING OF THE YEAR:
"I am a King maker" - The Wife
"Grindewald speech" - Fantastic Beasts 2
"I free you" - Disobedience
ACTION SEQUENCE / FIGHT SCENE
Bathroom fight - M:I Fallout
Macusa scape - Fantastic Beasts 2
INDIVIDUAL SCENES OF ANY KIND:
All the runtime of ROMA
Nobel Prize scene in The Wife
Alessandro Nivola final speech in Disobidience
The ending of The Rider 😭
The ending of Leave no Trace 😢😣
Paris scene in M:I Fallout
Angela Basset "scalp" scene in M:I Fallout
Any scene of Charlize Théron in Tully
Best scene: Using science to find gold in The Sisters Brothers.
Best line reading: The entire script of The Favourite. The three ladies were all wonderful.
Off Topic:
Ralph Fiennes Life Achievment Award - European Film Awards:
https://youtu.be/4DxiD4bsrpk
Line Reading: “I am a kingmaker.” - Glenn, THE WIFE
“Is that a rabbit?” - Rachel Weisz, THE FAVOURITE
Sex Scene: Rachel Weisz & Rachel McAdams, DISOBEDIENCE
Credit Sequence: VOX LUX (Perhaps I’m cheating here, but I loved the chapter titles in MANDY)
Action Sequence: Nic Cage battling the demon biker gang in MANDY
Cameo: Elizabeth McGovern, THE WIFE
Scene of Any Kind:
1. The birth scene in ROMA
2. Regina King talking to her son-in-law’s accuser in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
3. Toni Collette at the dinner table in HEREDITARY
4. Glenn & Pryce’s final hotel room showdown in THE WIFE
5. Glenn on the plane at the end in THE WIFE
5. Sissy Spacek talking to Robert Redford about having raised her children and now living for herself in OLD MAN & THE GUN
My FYCs:
Limited Role/Cameo (male)-
Paul Bettney in Infinity War
Chris Evans in Infinity War
Tom Holland in Infinity War
Limited Role/Cameo (female)-
Elizabeth Olsen in Infinity War
They, alongside Zoe Saldana and Josh Brolin, are easily the best part of that mess of a movie.
Best Line Reading - Keira Knightley in The Nutcracker & the Four Realms - "Hello Boys" or "Fear" (Just delicious to see her leaning so full into the crazy of the Sugar Plum Fairy)
Limited or Cameo role - Ruth Wilson committing daylight robbery and stealing every scene in 'How to talk to Girls at Parties'
Best sex scene - How to talk to Girls at Parties has 2 fascinating almost sex scenes with singing 'Eat me Alive' and Abraham Lewis as Vic overcoming his prejudices and realising the only important thing is to have fun.
Best scenes: the camera on the car in Widows or the opening scene/feathering in Leave no Trace or when colour fades in Peter Jackson's They shall not Grow Old.
OH SHIT HOW COULD I FORGET?
Limited Role/Cameo (female)-
Cher in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Their entrance pulled the movie from being just a fun frothy bop to being a full-on genius work!
Best cameo was Meryl as Donna singing "My Love, My Life" in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again inducing genuine tears worldwide
Line Readings:
“Oh no he died” - Game Night
Kiss:
Ferris Wheel kiss in Love, Simon
Action/fight scenes:
Casino fight/car chase - Black Panther
Wasp fight versus black market dealers- Ant-Man and The Wasp
Edinburgh fight - Avengers: Infinity War
Scenes:
Mom’s you can finally breathe speech in Love, Simon
Taking off the suit - A Simple Favor
Shallow - A Star is Born
The Disney Princess scene in Ralph Breaks the Internet
“A Place Called Slaughter Race” - Ralph Breaks the Internet
If I remember more later I’ll add to it.
Individual scenes of any kind?
--Belafonte tells a story while the Klan watches Birth of a Nation - BlacKkKlansman
--Hawkins speaks to students and we see their faces rapt with attention - BlacKkKlansman
--Kayla and Gabe on their McNugget date - Eighth Grade
--Everything from the moment we hear 'Hi Ally, I'm Gail' to the performance of 'Shallow' - A Star Is Born
--Group therapy scene - Hereditary
--In the bathtub - A Quiet Place
--The Korean nightclub / wig fight - Black Panther
Actor in a Limited Role/Cameo:
- Dave Franco and Brian Tyree Henry in If Beale Street Could Talk. Both so memorable and so good in single scenes.
- Brad Pitt in Deadpool 2 for one of the funniest cameos of the year
- Stephen Root in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs as maybe the most memorably zany character in a film full of them
- Bashir Salahuddin in A Simple Favour as a canny, suspicious detective
- Unknown as Cockroach Man in Capernaum
Actress in a Limited Role/Cameo:
- Linda Cardellini and Olivia Sandoval in A Simple Favour, both memorably funny in one-off scenes as the bitter ex and smiling 'insurance guy'
- Ann Dowd in American Animals - too small for a Supporting nomination but crucially, authentically humanizes a key minor character in a way that the film would crumble without
- Bernice Stegers in Disobedience - another role just too small for Supporting citation, but conveys so much with so little screentime as the one supportive family member.
Best Credits Sequences:
- Assassination Nation (closing - band march)
- The Death of Stalin (closing - history erasure)
- Game Night (closing - the plan)
- Private Life (closing - sitting together)
- A Simple Favour (opening - old school)
Best Action Sequence:
- The aforementioned Casino Shootout in Black Panther and Bathroom Fight in M:I - F.
- Laurie vs. Michael in Halloween
Individual Movie Scenes:
- The Bear- Annihilation
- The Heist- American Animals
- Breaking in a Horse- The Rider
- Home Invasion Long Take- Assassination Nation
- The Accident and The Figure in the Corner- Hereditary
- Jack and Lee's last meeting- Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Labour- A Quiet Place
- Madelines' Meltdown- Madeline's Madeline
- Brian Tyree Henry's scene- If Beale Street Could Talk
- The Dancing- The Favourite
- Miles Davis' 'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud'- Burning
Line Reading -
"You can't" - "The Tale": honestly, the line reading of the year for me. Elizabeth Debicki is terrifying in this moment and I haven't been able to shake it. She's also wonderful in Widows.
"Oh no! He died" / "Oh...well... Thank you?" - "Game Night"
"AaaAHahahahAAAAAHaaaAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" - "A Star is Born"
"Actually we wanted to ask you about your eggs." "Scrambled is good, but however you guys do them is fine with me." / "She's got a BA in Journalism and Cinema Studies. No wonder she's selling her eggs. She can't get a job." - "Private Life"
Kiss -
"Border" had the most unforgettable kiss and sex scene and I really wish I could forget both of them. Wow too much.
Scenes -
Pop up book - Paddington 2
Credits - Paddington 2
"Tour of Chicago" - Widows
"Heist" - American Animals
"Escape Montage" - Old Man and the Gun
"You Can't Hurry Love" - Bad Times at the El Royale
"Super Trouper" - Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
The ending of Good Manners
Cameo/limited role:
Dolly Wells, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Harry Belafonte, BlacKkKlansman
Best scene:
Giving birth doesn't automatically make you a mother, Shoplifters
Best line reading: I can't remember the exact lines but Elsie Fisher's final response to the bitchy phone girl in EIGHTH GRADE and when Regina Hall is trying to get her boss to calm down in the vehicle in SUPPORT THE GIRLS.
Best kiss: Any of the ones in COLD WAR.
Best credits sequence: The old school simplicity of THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS's opening and closing credits.
Best action sequence: The bike chase in MISSION: MPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT.
Best small role: the lawyer in BURNING.
Best scene: It's a cross between the last father and daughter scene in LEAVE NO TRACE, the villain's final speech in SUPER DARK TIMES, and the bloody living room chase in REVENGE.
Best recurring joke: Julie Walters's distrust of Hugh Grant in PADDINGTON 2.
I'm going to have a think on the others but my votes for line reading:
"Do I make you sad?", Eighth Grade
“I have more hits than a 30-round AK 47 magazine”, Vox Lux
I will consider more thoroughly later to provide a list, and apologies if this one has already been mentioned (time-poor means I haven't read through the other comments yet).
But as soon as I read "best cameo/small appearance", my mind immediately went to CREED II and the joy I felt when Brigitte Nielsen unexpectedly appears!
CAMEOS
Widows . Jacki Weaver
Cold War . Jeanne Balibar
Disobedience . Bernice Stegers
The House That Jack Built . Riley Keough
Custody . Saadia Bentaîb
Let the Sunshine In . Gérard Depardieu
BlacKkKlansman . Harry Belafonte
The Tale . John Heard
A Star Is Born . Dj “Shangela” Pierce
Destroyer . Bradley Whitford
If Beale Street Could Talk . Brian Tyree Henry
A Wrinkle in Time . Michael Peña
ACTION SEQUENCE
Mission: Impossible – Fallout . bathroom fight
Hold the Dark . shooting
Black Panther . casino
Incredibles 2 . monorail
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom . volcano
Mission: Impossible – Fallout . parachutes
Annihilation . monster bear
First Man . fail test
Halloween . final confrontation
CREDITS SEQUENCE
Annihilation
Isle of Dogs
Incredibles 2
Halloween
BlacKkKlansman
Paddington 2
Vox Lux had the most memorable credits sequence by far.
opening and closing.
So much agreement with Rachel McAdams "Oh no, he died!" reading. The other one that gets my vote is Toni Collette in the dinner scene, but not "I am your mother" even if that is compellingly stated. The line that gets my vote is "And all I get back is that fucking face on your face."
• Best kisses or sex scenes- Anything Blake Lively in A Simple Favor.
• Cameos or tiny roles?- Corey Hawkins in BlackKklansman
Off the top of my head:
~Toni Collette (Hereditary): "I am your mother!"
~Toni Collette (Hereditary): "...that fucking face on your face!"
~Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace): "I don't have the same problem you have."
~Eva Melander's (Border) animalic sniffing
~Jeon Jong-seo's (Burning) tears & dancing
~when Alba Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro) kneels before Lazzaro and commands others to do the same
~the way Olivia Colman (The Favourite) says "badger"
~Olivia Colman (The Favourite): "Did you just look at me? Did you? Look at me. Look at me! How dare you! Close your eyes!"
~Helena Howard's (Madeline's Madeline) performance in its volcanic entirety
~the beatific countenances of Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) and Adriano Tardiolo (Happy as Lazzaro)
Limited role/cameo:
Shangela, Willem, Dave Chappelle, AND Ron Rifkin in A Star is Born. Especially Ron Rifkin. Felt instantly familiar as some therapist/coach I’ve had in another life. For a movie that’s essentially a two-hander love story, ASiB has a *lot* of memorable tiny roles (as well as a bonafide award-worthy supporting actor in Sam Elliot). I might have to reconsider my idea that it’s not “ensembly” enough to deserve best ensemble at SAGs.
Line reading: Bradley Cooper, “I’m sold. I’m solllld” when being told of the new treatment plan for his tinnitus. Something about the effortlessly natural idiosynchrasy of his gruff dialect and demeanor in this moment totally “sollld” me on this performance. Literally the line reading I remember most vividly from a year of ~100 films.
(What can I say, I saw A Star is Born 4 times)
Also, a lot of Aquafina’s line readings this year were gold.
As was everything that came out ot Toni Collette’s mouth in Hereditary.
Can’t say I remember “oh god he died” from Game Night - it was so long ago - but I’m sure it was very funny.
My favorite scene in "First Reformed" is the conversation scene with the environmentalist parishioner - all the best things about that performance are right there.
ALSO:
-The parking lot scene in "A Star Is Born"
-The father-daughter conversation at the end of "Eighth Grade"
Oh, and that "Disobedience" sex scene was wild to watch in a room of seniors.
The gift-giving scene in Eighth Grade is one of the most perfectly awkward scenes in film history. It’s a combined wallop of pain and pathos.
The sunset scene in Burning is also spectacular, an encapsulation of many of the film’s themes.
Are you still doing best musical scene in a non musical? FYC: You were never really here, singing with the dying cop.