Best Scene

Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves
Kill Bill Vol. 1

Best Scene is always a hotly contested award at the Calvins, with a huge number of moments fighting it out for which of them gets to be called the highlight of the year. A one vote win is a landslide, and more than one pick as Best Scene among our ballots is a ground swell of support. With that in mind, here are our picks for the most stirring, thrilling and memorable moments in cinema in 2003.

The choice for first place perhaps has a bit of an unfair advantage in that it's about 30 minutes long; however, The Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves in Kill Bill Vol. 1 has a power to thrill that is undeniable. As The Bride slices, dices and juliennes up the Yakuza gang known as the Crazy 88s, Quentin Tarantino throws every trick in his book at the screen, putting an exclamation on his blood-spattered opera. With swooping camera shots, a switch to black & white and a stunning silhouetted portion framed against a brilliant blue background (and of course, tons and tons of blood), filmmaking didn't get much more exciting this year.

In a complete 180 in tone for second place, we have Paikea's Award Winning Speech from Whale Rider. The young Maori girl played by Keisha Castle-Hughes delivers a speech about her heritage at a school recital hoping, praying for acceptance from her grandfather, who has always viewed her as at best a nuisance and at worst, a curse. The emotion in this scene is so powerful, even the most stone-hearted person couldn't fail to be moved by it.

Two scenes from Lost in Translation take third and fourth place in this incredibly close race. In the first, entitled "Karaoke Night," Bob and Charlotte spend a night roaming around Japan before finally settling at a karaoke party where Bob sings a heartbreaking rendition of Roxy Music's "More Than This" while Charlotte makes The Pretenders "Brass in Pocket" her own. It's a brilliant look into the characters as they discover that being along in a strange city isn't so bad, as long you have someone to share it with. Right after that, we hail the very last scene of the film, as Bob whispers a private message to Charlotte as they part ways. That message is is not for us to know, but the smile on Charlotte's face tells us everything.

One of the great entrance scenes in history comes next, a first appearance worthy of Keaton or Chaplin. As Johnny Depp's Captain Sparrow enters Port Royal for the first time, smart editing, directing and a brazenly confident performance by Depp build to a riotously funny reveal. It was the start of a comic tour de force that made Pirates of the Caribbean the special summer movie that it was.

The first of three scenes from Return of the King in the top ten comes next. Pippin's haunting melody cut over Faramir's charge into a suicidal battle was a powerful scene that, for a moment, made a person forget that he wasn't watching real people go off to die.

The high point of the two Matrix films this year for us was the Highway Chase that formed the core of Reloaded. A thrillingly kinetic sequence involving simultaneous battles between our heroes, the ghostly Twins and the malevolent agents, it was the action peak of the year until Kill Bill came along.

The second Return of the King scene appears in eighth place, that being the showdown between Lady Eoywn and The Witch King on the battlefield. One of the truly terrifying moments of the film, Eoywn (with the help of hobbit Merry) turns the tables on the frightening apparition and helps to win the battle against the orcs. Not a simple sword fight, real fear seems to appear of actress Miranda Otto's face that makes for a very dramatic moment.

A more light hearted moment comes in at number nine, which is where we placed the Sharks Anonymous scene from Finding Nemo. A trio of sharks adopt Marlin and Dory into their weekly recovery meeting as they try and stop eating fish, with predictably disastrous results. Remember, fish are friends, not food.

The tenth spot goes to the third Return of the King scene on this list. In Middle Earth, the Heavy Cavalry was really Heavy Cavalry and came riding on Oliphants that could squish an army without even trying. The first charge of these animals is what got our attention here, as they stomped through the defences of Men. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)

Top Ten
Position	Actor	Film	Total Points
1	Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves	Kill Bill Vol. 1	57
2	Paikea's Award-Winning Speech	Whale Rider	54
3	Karaoke Night	Lost in Translation	53
4	Bob Whispers in Charlotte's Ear	Lost in Translation	47
5	Enter Captain Sparrow	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	43
6	Pippin's Song	The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	42
7	The Highway Chase	The Matrix Reloaded	39
8	Eowyn vs. the Witch King	The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	38
9	Sharks Anonymous	Finding Nemo	37
10	Charge of Oliphants	The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	31