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Topic: Crybaby!

Hey. First topic post here! I've just read a bit of the Iron Giant subject thread, and saw some mentions of tears and stuff. It's also mentioned in the commentary.
Which got me wondering about all of you fine, tough, strong people in this community:

What are movies that make you cry?

For me, it's really hard to move me to the point of tears. I'm never resistant to crying in front of people, really. Doesn't bother me when it happens. But it takes a lot to move me like that.
Some movies can just do it.
I tear up a bit at the end of the Return of the King (the second-to-last ending with the ship), and the Lego Movie gets me similarly when the kid is basically telling his dad that he's the coolest person on the planet (I have some minor dad-issues).
But, oh man, the one movie that really gets me is Alfonso Cuaron's (yep!) A Little Princess, which is an excellent movie even if you're not little or a princess. Run! Don't walk.

So how about it, guys? Movies that make you cry? Particularly for reasons that may only make sense to you?

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Re: Crybaby!

I have cried at exactly three movies.

The first was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Not a good movie all around, but the moment when Amos Diggory is weeping "That's my son! That's my BOY!" is just heartwrenching.

The second was Les Miserables, during Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" (which also made me tear up just listening to the soundtrack).

The most recent is Gravity. It happened two times. The first was when Stone has her breakdown while talking to Aningaaq and his dogs and realizes how utterly pathetic she's being; the second is shortly thereafter, when she says "I'm gonna die, Aningaaq... I mean, I know, everyone has to die. But I'm gonna die today." Aaagh, it still gets me.

I have a feeling that I'll be tearing up at some point during Episode VII just because I'll be my childhood on screen again.

Last edited by Abbie (2014-11-17 17:49:59)

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Re: Crybaby!

The Wizard Of Oz brings me to tears every time. Luc Besson's Leon (AKA The Professional) also had that effect on me.

So honor the valiant who die 'neath your sword
But pity the warrior who slays all his foes...

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Re: Crybaby!

Marty J, any particular part of Wizard that makes you cry?

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  • Rob
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Re: Crybaby!

My version of crying is not all-out weeping but tearing up some and getting an overwhelimg the-universe-really-is-like-that feeling. So the movies that get me going are ones that have endings that mirror the imperfection and melancholy of real life. Storybook endings don't get me. The movies that do are sometimes embarrassing. The first ROCKY movie, for example, gets me every time because

SPOILER Show
instead of an unrealistic ending in which the hero triumphs against the villain, ROCKY 1 ends with the hardscrabble guy from Philly with a heart of gold getting his ass kicked just like everyone thought he would. He fought well but lost. He's still technically a "loser." But he's the one raising his arms in triumph. Getting his ass kicked was the final indicator that he wasn't a loser, that he was fully self-actualized. The "Yo Adrienne" thing that is so often parodied is actually a lovely bit of screenwriting--the sound of the announcer reading the all-important scorecards falls to the background. The movie's big question--will he or won't he win the big fight--likewise falls to the wayside as we realize with the main character that the fight doesn't matter because along the way he formed meaningful relationships with a love (Adrienne) and a father figure (Mickey, Burgess Meredith) like he never had before. The self-loathing underdog gets his ass kicked in order to realize he's not a loser.

Last edited by Rob (2014-11-17 18:59:17)

@caravaggiorob

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Re: Crybaby!

Rob, I'm with you, though I'm susceptible to both endings.

  Show
A Little Princess (for example) is about a very rich girl who ends up losing her father and becomes a slave. There is a storybook ending, but that's not even what gets me, really.
The story isn't about the ending, it's about the rich girl who falls hard but ends up being selfless for the sake of people even slightly worse off than she is. That (not her high-born status) is what makes her a princess. And not in the Barney Adventures kind of way, but in the someone-else-is-closer-to-hopelessness-than-I-am kind of way.

There's a couple of moments to that end that TEAR me up.

Yeah I spoiler-warned A Little Princess. Seriously, people. Check it out.

Last edited by Writhyn (2014-11-17 19:08:37)

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Re: Crybaby!

Ah, hell.  Like Ringo, I'm just a sentimentalist.  Some random ones of many off the top of my head...

The end of Men In Black -- the "Man Awakes From Coma" newspaper

The Muppet Movie -- Kermit The Frog's 'Who are your friends, Doc?' speech to Doc Hopper in the ghost town

A couple of times in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but particularly when the kids bully young Joel into killing the bird and young Clementine comes to console him.

I've even been known to cry at the climactic scene in Spartacus, which no amount of parody can diminish.

For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

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Re: Crybaby!

sellew, I understand the Spartacus thing. And isn't that how it usually works? Only the good stuff makes good parody material, and if you can enjoy the riff without the original being ruined, you know it's the best.

I forgot. Taken makes me tear up when Mills finally finds his daughter.

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Re: Crybaby!

Writhyn wrote:

Marty J, any particular part of Wizard that makes you cry?

It's not any particular part... The whole movie is a very charming story with adorable characters and pleasant songs. Just like Star Wars, it's an archetypal fairytale. Why did those storytelling archetypes become archetypes? Because they work, even for straight men (contrary to popular belief, liking The Wizard doesn't make you gay big_smile ).

I can't explain why, but a likable girl protagonist (like Dorothy, Mathilda and Hit Girl from Kick-Ass) can make any story more moving to me (everything that happens to a little girl, especially tragedy, just feels more intense somehow). A girl like Dorothy will grow up to be Katniss or Ripley, not Bella (and we REALLY don't need more Bellas in fiction).

So honor the valiant who die 'neath your sword
But pity the warrior who slays all his foes...

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Re: Crybaby!

The last scene of Defending Your Life.  Every time.  Godammit.

And if you've never seen or heard of that movie, then fair warning - it's a strong contender for my next curated movie.  Get on it.

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11 Reply by Phi

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Re: Crybaby!

The ends of Monsters Inc. and Lilo and Stitch. And that was before I had a little girl of my own.

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Re: Crybaby!

End of Monsters Inc for sure.

Also, several moments in films, such as the new Trek films at the beginning, end of Cool Runnings, among others off the top of my head.

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Re: Crybaby!

The end monologue in Serenity.

"Life is about movies; anything else is a bonus!"- Me   cool

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Re: Crybaby!

I know it's not a movie, but in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in Tales of Ba Sing Se, when Iroh starts crying while singing Leaves from the Vine, I lose it every time.

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Re: Crybaby!

Marty J wrote:

I can't explain why, but a likable girl protagonist (like Dorothy, Mathilda and Hit Girl from Kick-Ass) can make any story more moving to me (everything that happens to a little girl, especially tragedy, just feels more intense somehow). A girl like Dorothy will grow up to be Katniss or Ripley, not Bella (and we REALLY don't need more Bellas in fiction).

Dude, watch A Little Princess RIGHT NOW. Not the one with Shirley Temple. Watch Alfonso Cuaron's version.

Haha. Anyway...

And  I can't believe I forgot about the animated movies.

How to Train your Dragon 2 is awesome and makes me tear up.
Toy Story 3 (the furnace scene)

Last edited by Writhyn (2014-11-18 13:18:39)

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Re: Crybaby!

-Ending of The Iron Giant
-Ending of Monsters, Inc.
-"When She Loved Me" Toy Story 2
-hospital scene of Marley & Me (Why I thought seeing this movie was a good idea, I'll never fucking know. I bawled reading the book.)
-My Dog Skip. I tried watching it recently on-demand and started breaking down as soon as he got the puppy, then turned it off immediately.  Our middle school showed this movie to us one day (grades 3-8). They had to pass around boxes of Kleenex. It was a horrible idea.
- "I'm Lost" scene of Lilo & Stitch. I blame Silvestri's score for this one. (Psssst Teague, if you guys ever do a commentary for this one, fly me over because I know this movie's production history like the back of my hand and I know the creator)
- Annie (the '82 one). Purely nostalgia-tears.
-Hedwig in HP: Deathly Hallows PT 1
- Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis "I Can't Stop Loving You" (THIS DESTROYS ME)
-ending of The Firebird Suite in Fantasia/2000, purely for the breathtaking beauty of the animation and the uplifting nature of the visuals and music. Disney's Paperman for a similar reason, too.
-"Baby Mine" in Dumbo

There's probably others that my brain is blocking out. I've learned as of late that I'm more emotionally-invested in the fate of animals than humans in movies.

ShadowDuelist wrote:

I know it's not a movie, but in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in Tales of Ba Sing Se, when Iroh starts crying while singing Leaves from the Vine, I lose it every time.

Ditto. Doesn't Mako's name fade in on the last shot, too? Knife to the friggin' heart.

TV for me is the ending of Sailor Moon S, with Moon trying to transform. Heartbreaking and yet powerful.

Last edited by Morgan (2014-11-18 14:17:11)

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Re: Crybaby!

ShadowDuelist wrote:

I know it's not a movie, but in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in Tales of Ba Sing Se, when Iroh starts crying while singing Leaves from the Vine, I lose it every time.

I can't even think about that moment without sobbing.

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Re: Crybaby!

Morgan wrote:

-
-"Baby Mine" in Dumbo

There's probably others that my brain is blocking out. I've learned as of late that I'm more emotionally-invested in the fate of animals than humans in movies.

Agree on most of your list, but the Baby Mine in Dumbo impacts me pretty hard.

Anything involving the loss of a child, either lost or the threat of death etc, or the loss of a parent will make me sob buckets.

Heck, I just watched an old episode of Law and Order: SVU and one of the main's wife's was in a car accident and went in to labor due to the trauma, and so both mother and child were in danger. Yep, the tears came.

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Re: Crybaby!

I'm struggling to remember anything. I've cried in movies, or at least I well up quite a bit, but I've got a mental block on naming anything specific.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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