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catharsis, emotionally satisfying, GLADIATOR, great movies, great scenes, micro details, One Great Scene, scene work - July 10, 2019

One Great Scene: GLADIATOR

In this series of articles, we’re going to do a deep-dive on one knockout scene from a great movie. Today’s movie is GLADIATOR. The scene is when Russell Crowe’s Maximus reveals himself to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus (here’s a link to the scene as a refresher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKn-Agk-yAI). The scene starts with Maximus stashing an arrowhead in his hand. Commodus confronts Maximus in the Colosseum. Commodus praises Maximus and asks him his name. Maximus says his name is Gladiator and turns his back on Commodus. Commodus, offended, addresses Maximus as “slave” and demands he take off his helmet and tell him his...

One Great Scene: THE DEPARTED

In this series of articles, we’re going to do a deep-dive on one knockout scene from a great movie. Today’s movie is THE DEPARTED. The scene is when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character interviews to join the police force. Here’s a link to the scene as a refresher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vInFuLgwR1U). The scene is really about Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg recruiting DiCaprio to become an undercover cop. But they never say that out loud, throughout the entire scene. Matt Damon’s character interviews first, quickly. Dignam and Queenan speak to him briefly. Things are markedly different when DiCaprio’s character enters. Wahlberg asks about DiCaprio’s...

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