My Top 10 Favourite Movie Scenes

This was one of the first instances I ever saw of characters being especially cunning and resourceful. There are two sequences in the film where a character is trying to sneak into Syndrome's lair without being seen. In Bob's case, I was on board from the moment he uses trees to break his fall while descending onto a moving train. The highlight of Helen's attempt is when she gets trapped in three doors at once, and the way she works around it and takes out the guards is brilliant! This is the standard to which I hold all smart heroes.

The crew of the Icarus II has to reach a critical decision here. They've picked up the distress beacon of the Icarus I, but aren't sure what kind of shape it's in or if its crew is still alive. The survival of all mankind rests on their decision, and the arguments from both sides are perfectly valid. Piloting the Icarus I might give them two chances instead of one to complete their all-important mission, but what if that turns out to be impossible? One line sums it up perfectly: "The question is: does the risk of a detour outweigh the benefits of an extra payload?"

This is Theodore and Samantha's first really intimate moment. Samantha starts comforting him, which soon becomes a hypothetical about how they'd share a moment if Samantha were a real person. While you might view it as disturbing that he's basically having phone sex with a machine, I view this as a beautiful moment of bonding, affinity and understanding. Not to mention, after Theodore's horrible phone sex experience earlier in the film, he really needed one that was genuine and affectionate. What clinches it is how the screen goes completely blank as the scene progresses, leaving us to use our imagination just like the characters are.

This takes place during the film's climax, so I don't want to spoil too much. The plot, if you don't know, is that Indy and his rivals are searching for the Holy Grail. Once they've found its location, they still have to get past these brain-teasing death traps that form its last line of defence. I think I can speak for all of us when I say, the first time I saw this, I had no idea what was coming: what to expect or how Indy would get through each trial. The first one is especially nail-biting, given what we've seen happens when you fail.

Doug Walker took the words right out of my mouth on this one: when I saw this scene as a child, I didn't necessarily understand it, but I could still tell it was important. This is near the end of the movie, when Mr Banks is walking to the bank, afraid he's going to be sacked. He's dedicated his whole life to this job, even more so than to his family, and now he's about to lose it. The atmosphere in this scene is perfect: the dark, empty streets and that amazing music – it all reflects the feeling of inevitability and self-reflection splendidly.

I think it's pretty obvious why this is on the list. :-) There's no shortage of fantastic action scenes in cinema that I could have picked from, but this really is one of the greats. Of course the whole spectacle of it is staggering, but what I love most is how the tides keep turning over the course of the battle: at first the bad guys seem unstoppable, then the good guys counter back magnificently, then the bad guys get their second wind… What's more, it doesn't happen so many times that it becomes tiresome; the pacing of the whole battle is just perfect.

While most people would point to the training montage (rightfully so – don't get me wrong), this is the moment that really sums up the movie for me. It's when Rocky first walks into the stadium where he'll be fighting Apollo, and it's so enormous that it makes him – and us – feel incredibly small. As he looks around the cavernous arena, he finally realises exactly what he's getting into. As he says in the following scene, he realises he can't win. But if he can at least make it to the end, or "go the distance", he'll have proved something to both the crowd and himself.

This is another moment that kick-starts and defines the romance central to the film. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (whose characters are never named) decide to play together in a music shop. He starts to play one of his songs – which turns out to be, of course, Falling Slowly – and she starts to learn the chords and join in on the piano, so that soon they're in perfect harmony. I just can't argue with a couple bonding over music! :-) The song itself deservedly won an Oscar, but that's beside the point. The way it's utilised in the film gives us something damn near magical.

This scene is incredible! :-D The Nostalgia Critic was absolutely right: it's about as perfectly paced and perfectly suspenseful as a scene can get. It's both exciting and terrifying at the same time. From the moment the T-rex steps through the demolished fence, the low camera angle makes you feel suddenly very small and vulnerable, like you would not want to be out in the open with that beast. Not to mention, the characters' actions prior to this feel so real and relatable that you're in their shoes every step of the way. It's ten glorious minutes of Steven Spielberg at the pinnacle of his talent.

I suppose it's only natural that my favourite movie of all time would also feature my favourite scene of all time. :-) This, quite simply, is probably the best verbal confrontation I've ever seen. The whole movie is chock full of compelling dialogue and quotable lines, but by far my favourite is when Juror Number 11 confronts Number 7 about the reason he's decided to change his vote. 7's only doing it because, at this point, the jury is at a tie about whether or not the convicted boy is guilty, and he's "sick of all the talking" that's going nowhere. At this, Number 11, who's been rather quiet and non-confrontational up to now, finally loses his temper because he's so appalled at the injustice in this way of thinking. As he says, "Who tells you that you have the right to play like this with a man's life?" I love this scene because I'm in complete agreement with Number 11: when someone's fate is in your hands, you should always make your decision for the right reason and not be so callous about it. My absolute favourite part is this exchange: ["Guilty or not guilty?" "I told ya! Not guilty." "Why?"] I could hear that "Why?" a million times, it's performed so perfectly! :-)