2012's Great Movie Moments: June

At the end of each month, the Sound On Sight staff will band together to write an article about their favourite scenes in films released. Here are our favourite scenes from the month of May.

Warning: Of course, spoilers are in full effect here!

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Killer Joe – KFC Rape

Killer Joe marks an unshakeable return for William Friedkin, the legendary director of The French Connection, To Live And Die In L.A. and The Exorcist. This vigorous mix of sex, violence and family values gone wrong is a roller-coaster ride, designed for those who like their Southern neo-noir thrillers sprinkled with a heavy dose of black humour and an irresistibly bold dose of crazy. Take for instance the most shocking scene: Killer Joe’s KFC-flavored rape.

– Ricky D

Brave – Archery Scene

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The movie is not about the three suitors for Merida’s hand, so we have to be content with tiny glimpses into their character. (The film is almost exclusively Merida’s story. We learn very little about the suitors because Merida has no interest in them – in itself an illuminating insight into Merida’s character.) In their archery attempts, we see that Young MacGuffin is almost pathetically happy to hit the target while missing the rings, perhaps because he is such a terrible archer that he is happy to get that close, perhaps because he has no more interest in being forced into a marriage than Merida herself; Young Macintosh hits the ring but misses the bulls-eye and throws a fit, perhaps because he is so vain that he demands perfection from himself, perhaps because he is the one suitor who is excited by the idea of marrying Merida; Wee Dingwall hits the bulls-eye seemingly by accident, indicating that his gawky insanity is either a very clever I, Claudius front or that he is supernaturally lucky.

While they are shooting, Merida is busy cruelly heckling their attempts with her father, disappearing as soon as Wee Dingwall hits the target. When she appears with her clan’s standard it is a profoundly artificial moment – the kind that can only be constructed by a sulking teenager with a sense of the dramatic. Merida has put on a hood, just so that she can dramatically pull it off, a moment that could only happen/work in an animated film and even then getting Merida’s hair right was a massive challenge.

As Merida stalks down the row of targets, firing as she goes – to the increasing frustration of her mother – who recognizes what a diplomatic disaster humiliating the three suitors will be, Merida reveals herself to be perhaps the most complex of all Disney Princesses: proud, but cruel; beautiful, while literally unable to be confined within her Mother’s standards of beauty; an unruly child, but a disciplined, focused archer; and yes, Brave, while also secretly terrified of her future and the loss of her freedom.

– Michael “Llakor” Ryan

Magic Mike – Channing Tatum takes the floor

Every and any scene involving Channing Tatum busting a move on the stage is worth noting. Tatum is impressive and mesmerizing on the dance floor – for reasons other than his physique, and whatever his character and performance lack in terms of depth, he compensates for in sheer charisma, likability and dance skills.

– Ricky D

Moonrise Kingdom – Beach Scene

Director Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom has had mixed reviews, but just about every critic agrees that the goofy dance sequence to Francoise Hardy’s “Le Temps De L’amour” – which leads to an uncomfortable first kiss/first arousal, is by far the highlight of the pic. Moonrise Kingdom is tender, sweet, smart, low-key and yes sometimes awkward.

– Ricky D

Prometheus – Caesarean section

Prometheus may have had its share of problems but for my money, the most jarring thing to be found within the movie was the voluntary Caesarean section in a futuristic self-surgery med-pod. True to his legacy of sci-fi-horror, Ridley Scott peppered Prometheus with enough shocking elements, in particular, this sequence was both psychologically and viscerally terrifying.

– Ricky D

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Click here to see February’s releases

Click here to see releases from March

Click here to see releases from April

Click here to see releases from May