labor day weekend tradition... slightly altered

Every year, I plan a group outing to the Hollywood Bowl on Labor Day weekend to say goodbye to summer with wine, cheese, and the movie music of John Williams. Usually, there are a ton of Star Wars nerds (myself included) with their light sabers at the ready, waiting for John Williams to conduct the LA Philharmonic in the playing of the Star Wars theme. This year though, John Williams is off writing and conducting new Star Wars music for The Force Awakens, so he was only at the Bowl in a videotaped intro (and in spirit, of course). 

Instead, this year, David Newman conducted the the LA Philharmonic as it played the entire score to my favorite movie ever, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, playing above on-screen. I was in movie music heaven because -- as everyone who goes to the Bowl with me each year knows -- if they don't play music from E.T., I consider the evening a bust, no matter how much fun I may have had pretending I was conducting the orchestra with my purple light saber. 

If you've never been to the Bowl, and love movies, these Movies "In Concert" nights are the perfect introduction to the Bowl experience. I also had a blast at Back to the Future In Concert back in June.

The two highlights of the evening (other than the Reese'e Pieces cookies my friend Linda made. Yum!) were both in the last 10 minutes of the film. 

First, my favorite scene tied to musical score in all of film history... the bike chase. The climax, as Elliott fears the end and E.T. saves the day, makes me both tear up and smile wide at the same time, every time. (Here's a link to the video Linda recorded and put on facebook.) It's just perfect -- especially now that they're back to showing the original version where the cops are trying to stop the kids with threats of rifles instead of walkie talkies. (Not that I'm for threatening to shoot kids and sweet aliens on bicycles with rifles. The walkie talkie "edit" just looked dumb.... like really, really dumb. Thank you Steven Spielberg for realizing this and restoring the scene to its original awesomeness / level of fearfulness followed by elation for its 30th Anniversary.) 

And then the finale, (spoiler alert) where E.T. goes home... I dare you not to tear up. This is why I love John Williams and Steven Spielberg.

things that make me smile

This being played at the Hollywood Bowl on Labor Day weekend :)



I also love seeing this every year when the Star Wars theme is played. (But one note to many of the lightsaber-carrying audience members in attendance Friday night: The theme from "Superman" is not a "Star Wars" song ;) 

things that make me smile: e.t. music at the bowl

Every August I arrange a group outing to the Hollywood Bowl for John Williams' annual concert with the LA Philharmonic, where he plays a selection of music from the many films he has scored, and we drink a lot of wine :) And every year I have a really fun time. However, whether or not I love the show is based on one thing and one thing only -- whether or not he plays music from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, my favorite movie of all time. 

Well, this year I LOVED the show! As this is the 30th Anniversary of E.T.'s premiere, Williams not only played music from E.T., but he played the score to the entire end of the film -- from the point Elliott escapes from the house, through the bike chase, until E.T. takes off on his spaceship... aka my favorite 10+ minutes of film -- while the film played on the big screen with its dialogue and sound effects in tact. It was awesome! 

things i think about when i'm home sick

I woke up all achy and tired and congested today, so I stayed home sick. I popped a Nyquil and took a good nap till texts about emails about work awoke me. After dealing with said emails, I checked out the Tivo guide and saw that my favorite of The Lord of the Rings trilogy -- The Two Towers -- was on, so I started watching that. Upon getting to the almost-end, I was reminded of how much I LOVE this scene...



I have seen that movie at least 20 times and I still get chills when Gandalf appears at the top of the hill at dawn "at first light on the fifth day" with Eomer, and they charge down the hill "To the Keep!" to save the day, as the sun rises behind them and blinds all the evil, icky Orcs and Uruk-hai, as the score crescendos. So awesome!

So then I started thinking about other movie scenes I love and can watch over and over and over again and still get goosebumps from. I'm sick and medicated, so I've only remembered two so far...

I call this one, "Neo and Trinity KickAss." I love this scene because it is the epitome of cool. Cool music, cool choreography, cool special effects, and not a single emotion shown by the two rebels on a mission.

 


And from my favorite movie of all time... "The Escape" from E.T. To quote a YouTube commenter, "5:30 = the most magical moment in cinema history." I LOVE this scene, have since I was 10, and get really ticked off at John Williams when he doesn't play this music at his summer Hollywood Bowl concerts.
(Sadly, the quality of this clip sucks, and it's from the special edition where Spielberg replaced the agents' guns with walkie talkies. But I have the original version on both DVD and VHS [and yes, I still have a combo VCR/DVD player to play it on], so I'm good ;)



More will come as my head clears and I think of them.

What are your favorite goosebump-enducing movie scenes?