“ Director Terrence Malick's use of Smetana's Moldau, a piece about a flowing river of life, is a moment where peace, memories and light fuse and become alive as much as anything I've ever seen in film and brought me to unexpected tears. ”

“ Steven Spielberg uses all of his talents to create a memorable center piece in War Horse wherein Joey, the shell-shocked, noble creature of the title runs between the German and British trenches, getting himself hopelessly tangle in barbed wire. It is a technical marvel and a terrifying one at that. ”

“ In Drive, though you know that Ryan Gosling's character has a seedy past and a damaged soul you don't know what he's capable of until you see him approach the dressing rooms of a strip club and watch the hammer slip out of his jacket, presaging the violence and the vengeance that is about to be unleashed. ”

“ When Ron and Hermione finally, passionately embrace, after destroying one of the Horcruxes, audiences cheered the world 'round in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, proving that good things do come to those who wait. ”

“ The sequence in Rise of the Planet of the Apes where the hyper-intelligent ape Caesar gains the respect of the fellow apes in confinement, is a marvel of story-telling by director Rupert Wyatt', leading to a comeuppance to one of the best villains of the year, the cowardly keeper Dodge Landon, well-played by Potter-baddie Tom Felton. ”

“ Charles Xavier knows that Holocaust-survivor Erik Lensherr is a powerful mutant who can be even stronger if he can control his powers in X-Men: First Class. To move a huge satellite dish Xavier asks him to call on a strong memory and the future Magneto, as wonderfully played by Michael Fassbender envisions a time with his mother and father, killed by the Nazis, lighting a menorah with him. After the last candle is lit, Xavier (also well assayed by James McAvoy) is in tears, the dish has been rotated, and both men understand each other is deeper fashion. ”

“ Director Woody Allen's conceit in Midnight in Paris that while we imagine other eras were the peak of creativity and life, we never fully appreciate what we have in the here and now, is wonderfully realized in the "belle epoque" sequence. Midnight is one of Allen's most captivating movies in years. ”

“ There's a moment in Hugo where the young boy, Hugo, accidentally pulls down a case, uncovering the drawings of the strange old man he works for. That man *SPOILER ALERT* turns out to be the fimmaker George Melies, who in real life, went from being a creator of original film fantasies like "A Trip to the Moon" to being a destitute recluse with a magic shop in the Paris train station. The entire film is an ode to the movies and this one moment crystallizes that love perfectly. ”

“ When the inveterate drunk, Captain Haddock, crash-lands in the desert with intrepid boy reporter Tintin he begins to sober up. As he does he is able to recall the terrible fate of his ancestor, who captained the Golden Unicorn in The Adventures of Tintin. Director Steven Spielberg uses the medium to its utmost as he flits between the two storylines and galleons crash into sand dunes filling the screen with adventure and romance. ”