Best Scene

Smeagol vs. Gollum
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Even bad movies can have moments that make you stand up and shout. It's in this spirit that we present the Best Scene award, for that portion of films that sent spirits soaring irrespective of whether the films they were in were any good.

The top two spots both went to moments from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In a category that's normally as divisive as a political conference, a consensus rose pretty quickly about the number one scene for the year. It wasn't the obvious choice from the Lord of the Rings tale that won, as a smaller, quieter moment of contrasts between the personalities in Gollum/Smeagol grabbed six first place votes and the win.

The centerpiece of the film, a 45 minute battle sequence (albeit split up) about the defense of the mountain fortress of Helm's Deep was a close second place finisher. This just goes to show how rich an experience the films are and the variety of experiences present within.

Continuing the general love for About a Boy, the staff voted for six scenes from the film (the most of any movie) and awarded a third place finish to the talent show near the end of the picture. Hugh Grant's willful embarrassment, singing Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" to backup Marcus was a cathartic culmination of the themes of maturity in the movie. Also, it's tough to resist seeing Hugh Grant pelted with fruit.

The raison d'etre for this category is highlighted with the fourth entry here, as it comes in a film that we voted at the same position in Worst Picture of the year. One of the most purely entertaining sequences of the year was when Yoda finally showed us why he's the Jedi Master of all Jedi Masters. Sure it's a little silly, but it was something no one could ignore.

A musical number won this category last year, but the highest ranking one this year came in at fifth place, the position of the opening musical number for Chicago. One of the more visually dynamic sequences this year, it set the stage for the rest of the numbers in the film.

Missing the top five by just that much was a scene from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where potential Dating Game contestants are warned by an official from the "FCC." Hysterical and off-putting, the stern delivery by the actor made it an unforgettable sequence.

Next on the list was a centerpiece sequence from Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, with the sweep and search of a run down building by mechanical spiders. Another action sequence followed this, that of Peter Parker's first experience as web-slinger in Spider-Man, as he chased down the carjacker who killed his uncle. An action sequence of a very different sort finished ninth, in the Inuit language film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). A chase of a nude man across the Arctic landscape was a haunting image and thrilling sequence that was impossible to forget, for those that ventured to see this film.

Rounding out the top ten was the closing scene from About Schmidt, an extremely touching moment as Warren Schmidt reads the response from his foster child's caretakers in Tanzania. A strong counter-point to the cynicism prevalent in the film, it makes for a surprising coup de grace at the end of the film, including Jack Nicholson's reaction. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)

Top Ten
Position	Actor	Film	Total Points
1	Smeagol vs. Gollum	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	89
2	The Battle of Helm's Deep	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	72
3	Killing Me Softly Talent Show Performance	About a Boy	53
4	Yoda Gets His Sabre On	Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones	43
5	All That Jazz	Chicago	36
6	Dating Game Contestants Are Warned	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	35
7	Spiders Searching the Building	Minority Report	34
8	Peter Chases the Carjacker	Spider-Man	33
9	Chase Across the Arctic	Atanarjuat	33
10	Letter from Tanzania	About Schmidt	32