"Yes!" Moment #6

Here's how I started this series of images, and here's "Yes!" Moment #6 from Magnolia (1999).


"This is something that happens." Yes, Stanley, you know this is something that happens because you know just about everything there is to know. (I knew this is something that happens, too, but with smaller frogs, I thought.) And the fact that you know you know so much is going to give you the self-confidence to stand up to your father. This is your triumph.

This appears in a climactic sequence that is full of "Yes!" Moments. And anyone who thinks Tom Cruise is not a good actor should watch this movie. Just posting this image is spurring me to watch Magnolia again. (My favorite Juilanne Moore performance.)

This series could go on forever. I haven't even gotten to classics like Hilts jumping the fence in The Great Escape or any single moment in the chariot race in Ben-Hur - and on and on. But this has been a fun series to do, and just doing it has pumped up my addiction for the thrill of cinema.

"Yes!" Moment #5

This series could be as infinite as space. Anyway, here's the beginning: "Yes!" Moment #1

"Yes!"Moment #5 - from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):


Much more than a "Yes!" Moment! I love cinema's power to blow your mind! I love the minimalist composition of this image.

But I'm thinking here that when I saw this movie in the 60s, I most likely said, "Right on!" or "Far out!" Definitely not "Yes!" or "Awesome!" because those are exclamations that were born at a later time. The 80s? I can think of kids in Spielberg movies - or in some of those really bad Spielberg-movie- wannabes of the 80s - definitely exclaiming, "Yes!" Can you think of a movie in which a character says, "Yes!"? Does Ferris Bueller say it? Does Matthew Broderick say it in WarGames (1983)? I know "Yes!" was big in the 90s. In Jurassic Park, the clever little hacker girl gets the locks working, and she and her brother cry out, "Yes!" What about "Awesome!"? When did that start?

"Yes!" Moment #4

Go to "Yes!" Moment #1 to start at the beginning.

Here's "Yes!" Moment #4:


from The Searchers (1956) - and it needs no explanation. I think you'll agree it's a classic "Yes!" Moment that always touches the heart. "Let's go home, Debbie."

"Yes!" Moment #3

Take a look at "Yes!" Moment #1 to find out what this is all about. (Moments are presented randomly and are not meant as a rating.)

"Yes!" Moment #3 comes from Aliens (1986):


Oh, my God! Ripley is so awesome! All alone, she's going back to rescue Newt, down into the nether regions of the station that is swarming with alien creatures, and the whole planet is going to blow up in like minutes! Here she has just loaded her combination automatic rifle/flame-thrower/grenade launcher, and she's stuffed her pockets with flares. Taking a deep breath, she shakes off her fear. We shake off our fear! We can feel it in our trembling knees. In her eyes we see stone-hard determination, and we know she has shifted into alien-butt-kicking mode!

"Yes!" Moment #2

Check out "Yes!" Moment #1 to find out what this is all about.

As a very Happy 15th-Anniversary to Heat (1995), here is my "Yes!" Moment #2:


This is it! They’re coming out of the bank. Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis. They’ve done it! We’ve gotten to know them, and even though they’re bad guys, we kind of want them to get away. So much is at stake for them, and they think they’ve done it, even though we know the police have arrived. We are tense in expectation of a titanic firefight. Any moment in the bank-robbery/shout-out sequence is a “Yes!” Moment. The whole movie – one of the most dramatic, most gripping films of the past twenty-five years - is a “Yes!” moment.

"Yes!" Moment #1

It's been both fun and visually dazzling following the meme started at The Dancing Image and Checking On My Sausages which involves posting a series of images unified by a common theme. This took me to images tracing The Fall and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker as well as images of Passion and Ressurection. Elsewhere I enjoyed a series examining Cinema and the Eye; a series showing John Ford's Doorways in The Searchers; and a look at images capturing moments of Dawning Realizations in various films.

My series of images is called The "Yes!" Moment. As this meme celebrates the "thrill of cinema," I can't think of a better contribution than a celebration of those "moments" in films we all love and yearn for - when imagery, plot, characterization, and theme all seem to come together in one thrilling "moment" when you feel awed - when your heart starts pounding - when you feel like jumping out of your seat - when you audibly cry out, "Yes!" - or you silently articulate in your mind that you are witness to a special moment in film.

Not having the time right now to get together a series, I plan to post a number of single moments over the next week or so. (The order in which they are presented is in no way an attempt to rate them.)

Here is my "Yes!" Moment #1:

From Planet of the Apes (1968)


Oh, man! I don't think I've been more surprised by an image! I saw this movie at the age of 16 when it first came out and I was floored. I know I uttered, "Oh, yeah!" Other similar vocalizations rippled through the cinema. My heart was pounding. This is a quintessential "Yes!" Moment.