Author. Journalist. Waffler.
50. Jagged Edge (1985)
The Case: Lawyer Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) is hired by Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges) when he’s put on trial for the murder of his wife.
Only In The Movies: A number of fun, tried and true courtroom conventions fire up Jagged Edge. Not only has Barnes not practiced criminal law in a while but, naturally, she also falls in love with Forrester. Who says law’s dull?
10. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The Movie: Ground-breaking sequel in which future saviour of mankind John Connor is targeted by a deadly new Terminator (Robert Patrick).
The Extreme Performance: Linda Hamilton went from poofy-haired wallflower in The Terminator to ball-busting warrior in T2. She trained for 13 weeks, three hours a day with former Israeli commando Uzi Gal. Her training included lifting weights, Judo and learning to pick locks. It was so extreme that she refused to do it all again for T3.
50. The Arena
The Scene: In Attack Of The Clones, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme are all tied to towering stone columns in a colossal colosseum. Then giant monsters are released into the arena. To think Russell Crowe only had to fight tigers…
The Awesome: It’s Episode II’s Rancor moment, and a neat little set-piece that includes Padme saving herself instead of waiting for the boys to rescue her.
49. Torture
The Scene: In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader and his evil minions hold Han Solo hostage and torture him with very pointy things. His screams will give you chills all over.
The Awesome: There’s no end to Vader’s evil, and this is just one example of how far he’s willing to go in order to acquire information.
Behaviour Management
The Moment: “SHUT UUUP!” Sometimes the only way to get a classroom-load of kids to stop smearing things, screaming, pulling hair and generally being a nuisance is to scream at them. Which is the approach Arnie takes in Kindergarten Cop.
Arnie Magic: The crazy eyes. The massive maw. The big hair. This would be painful if it wasn’t Arnie.
Aliens (1986)
The Poster: Sigourney Weaver’s survivor cradles Newt in her arms as she faces something horrific off-poster. Meanwhile, the eggs are starting to open…
Coolest Detail: Weaver, obviously – the coolest action chick there ever was.
Final Destination 5
The Death: Candice (Ellen Wroe) practises her gymnastics routine as numerous horrible hazards get our paranoia well and truly burning. Then all hell breaks loose and Candice flips off the high bars, landing, well, really awkwardly.
Look Away When: Candice lies in a crumpled heap on the floor, legs over head…
The Official One
The Poster: A chill-inducing one sheet that has the mighty Bane striding away from a shattered Bat mask. Couldn’t be cooler if it tried.
Cool Detail: The broken Bat mask, which hints that Rises could feature Bane’s infamous back-breaking comic-book moment.
50. Paddle Me This
The Moment: Ledger and Julia Stiles have a little paddle, and discuss why they’re so rebellious and stuff. It’s mostly good because of their fantastic chemistry, which really sparkles here.
Ledger Magic: Sure, Ledger has chemistry with a spoon, but he really works it with Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You.
The Needle
The Moment: Back in the castle, Aurora is drawn up to her doom in Sleeping Beauty, as she follows a magical green orb up into a tower, and is coaxed into touching a bewitched spinning wheel.
Disney Magic: Proof right here (if we needed it) that Disney can eke out tension like the best of them.
1. Severus Snape
What We Miss: Alan Rickman as the sneering, inscrutable professor, who kept us guessing right til the end who he was truly aligned with.
Why We Miss It: Snape was the character that everybody loved to hate, and hated to love. In short: he was perfect.
