Emotional Reactions and Movies

When was the last time you had a serious emotional reaction to a movie? For me it was today. I saw a movie called "the Cure" for the first time, and someone might as well have punched me in the gut at the end. The movie is about two boys who become friends one summer. One is in his early teens, and the other is 11. The catch? The 11 year old contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. The movie chronicles their rather childish attempts to find a cure, culminating in a botched trip to New Orleans to meet a doctor who claims to have found a cure. The movie ends with the death of the 11 year old, and his funeral. I'll be the first to admit, I'm probably a bit desensitized, which I hate myself for, but about 30 seconds after the credits start rolling, my tear ducts just overflowed like mad, and I found myself crying my eyes out. This movie has officially been added to my list of "if you can watch this and not cry your eyes out at the end you have no soul" movies, along with the likes of AI, Pay it Forward, and Grave of the Fireflies.

I cry at the weirdest movies. Didn't cry at 'Titanic,' or any of those sobbing movies. I rarely cry when other people do. But I have BAWLED at the following films:
* Shallow Hal
* Kill Bill, Volume 2
* Transformers
* The Simpsons Movie

There are a lot more, but I'm pretty ashamed as it is, so I need to go away for a while.

After watching Pan's Labyrinth I just sat there and STARED at the credits for like ten minutes. That movie was intense.

Um, I don't usually cry at movies, but I do get very engaged with things I watch, so I have all sorts of other emotional reactions... most often frustration and anger, when the movies hit on pet peeves of mine, or triumph, when the movie/a character makes a point well that I agree with. I take watching movies to be like having a debate (or at least conversation) with somebody.

Apparently Grave of the Fireflies is one of those movies that "if you do not cry while watching you are not human".

Titanic was a soppy movie, my tear ducts did not fill for Leonardo Di Caprio in that film.

I once started a friday night out with watching "We Children from Bahnhof Zoo". I wouldn't say I cried, because I didn't, but I certainly started the evening on an emotional low.
As it was 22 years ago, and a wee bit younger tha today, I think I could be excused for the poor choice ;-)

I cried for something completely different in Titanic - if I remember correctly, the ship went down and the musicians were still playing on the deck. That got me.

I watched Fiddler on the Roof the other day and that elicits a whole range of emotions; it makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me nostalgic (I was in a stage production of it once).

cynical, I did the same thing after watching Pan's Labyrinth. I didn't actually cry, but jeez. Intense is a good word.

CoL, I remember watching The Cure years ago. Sad indeed. But I don't remember if I cried or not. It was too long ago.

In general, I'm more likely to cry while reading than while watching a movie.

I almost never cry at books or movies. The only time it happens is when I feel overemotional already and there's some sort of sweet scene going on - generally if it reminds me of the fact that I miss my boyfriend, I'll cry buckets, but not otherwise. I don't really get emotionally involved, I guess you could say.

Although, saying that, and this is kind of embarrassing, the first movie I ever cried at was Ever After when he rejects her. I was a pre-teen and I think the hormones got me. LOL.

I have never cried with a movie. Sometimes they make me feel terribly sad but I have never cried. I know that I have no soul, but I don't needed :)

With books the thing is quite different, I don't cry very often but the ending of Dragonlance's Test of the Twins and The Fionavar tapestry were too much for me.

I cried at pan's labyrinth and I was angry. It didn't matter that the girl went on to be a princess of the fantasy world. It was the brutal way....oh well no more.

The one movie that I sobbed my heart out thru was Love Story, with Ally McGraw and Ryan O'neal. My boyfriend had to run grab napkins at the snack counter for me after I soaked his handkerchief!
I'm dating myself I know That was 1971

I'm an equal opportunity weeper.

A "serious emotional reaction" could include other emotions besides crying, right? Yesterday I saw "Mysterious Skin" and I got pissed off and disgusted. It was about two severly sexually abused boys (they were 8 at the time) and their lives at 18. The movie spared no punches... at all! It was well done and I kind of want to read the novel, but I am almost afraid to.
The last movie I saw that made me cry was Sophie's Choice.
The last movie that made me laugh until my eyes watered was The Simpson's Movie.

The last movie that really affected me was The Departed. I didn't cry, though; it was more that I was intensely absorbed in it. Martin Scorcese totally deserved his Oscar for it.

I've heard that grown men cry when they see Optimus Prime die in the original Transformers: The Movie...

Also, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, will make you cry coz it's so BAD...

I think the only movie that has come close to making me tear up is Saving Private Ryan.

It doesn't quite make me cry, but I never want the see the opening battle sequence of Saving Private Ryan ever again. I've never had an issue with a movie upsetting me so much that I couldn't sleep...until I watched SPR.

#16 I didn't see SPR, but I did have a similar reaction to Trainspotting.

Patch Adams was pretty gut wrenching... and I am sucker for any movie with animals... did anyone see Eight Below? Sobbed. Even at the happy parts.

I don't usually cry at movies, but recently I bought Truly, Madly, Deeply, which proved itself to be a tear-jerker.

The movie Wit with Emma Thompson. She plays a professor who has terminal ovarian cancer. It hit me very hard and I was sobbing at the end. Emma Thompson is an amazing actress.

#19, fd, I love Truly, Madly, Deeply, it doesn't make me cry, but it's sweetly sad. Doesn't hurt having Alan Rickman in it :-)

#20 -- Oh, I love Wit (even though I can't get the touchstone to load) -- I saw it on stage several years ago. (I've seen the movie version as well, and I agree that Emma Thompson is incredible.) I memorized the opening monologue for a drama class in college. I'd love to play that role some day.

I am such a sucker, I cry at episodes of The History Detectives! The last movie I saw that had me crying was Pan's Labyrinth, if you have not seen that movie yet you should go rent it. It isn't just the ending that gets you, it is the entire movie.

>17 littlegeek:

I can't watch the crib discovery part of Trainspotting. It was fine when I was childless and, um, under the influence, but since then I've had to leave the room completely when the "mother" begins screaming. Apparently I'm a wuss now.

I would like to get the book, it's on my Amazon wishlist. I love the lecture on Donne. It's an awesome play.

The Fountain, granted I feel it was flawed in many ways, but still...

About 15 years ago a scene in Mother night had me bawling, primarily because the soundtrack for this one sequence was Fratres by Arvo Paert which I also heard performed live by Kronos Quartet.

I don't see many guys weighing in here - but I'm not ashamed.. A couple of weeks ago, I watched "Simon Birch" ... my tears were soaking my face, and it wouldn't stop.

(that never happens like that to me.. sometimes a few tears.. sometimes a light mist, but nothing like that.)

House of Sand and Fog. That movie made me cry and also made me so mad - I don't think I ever quite got over it.
Sense and Sensibility. I generally avoid romantic movies, and I hate movies that make me cry. That said, I've watched Sense and Sensibility at least 10 times, and each time I had a proper, thorough, very satisfying cry. It's one of my favourite movies.
A little off topic but I simply cannot listen to the song "Butterfly Kisses". I have a very close relationship with my dad - we love each other very much. He's 73 now and not a day goes by that I don't treasure him. The first time I heard that song I was in the back seat of a taxi. I started weeping uncontrollably, and as we were waiting for the traffic lights, a passenger in the car alongside ours noticed me. Poor man, he was trying his best to signal to my driver that something was wrong with me, and I did my best to hide my face, when the light changed and we drove off. I eventually got myself under control that day, but every time I hear that song I still cannot help but blubber.

I'm right there with Morphidae as an equal opportunity weeper. It would take far too long to list all the movies that have made me cry, let alone the number of books. I've even been known to tear up during previews.

Most recent movie to make me cry: The Waitress
Most recent book: The Deathly Hollows

Crap. I'm weepy right now because Asa Buchanan has died on One Life to Live. I'm blaming this on PMS or estrogen or something.

Asa was still alive? I haven't watched that show in 25 years and he was old then!

>did anyone see Eight Below? Sobbed. Even at the happy parts.

Get out of my head.

>It would take far too long to list all the movies that have made me cry, let alone the number of books. I've even been known to tear up during previews.

DAMMIT! I said OUT!

*mumbles something about old AT&T and Hallmark commercials*

Ah geez, Morph, how about the Church of Latter Day Saints commercials? And there used to be one with the family inside enjoying dinner with the dog out in the rain chained to a dog house...

I tend not to cry at movies, so:

Saving Private Ryan--Pure shock from the first 20 mins. the rest of the movie didnt matter much to me.

Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe (the French version, not The Man with the Red Shoe-- I laughed so hard I thought I would hurt myself.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers--the Beauty of these films overwhelmed me. Especially the colors in House.

Bridge at Terebinthia SPOILER WARNING I wish someone had told me that someone was going to die. I do death at work. I dont need it at the movies, not realistic death anyway. Not when I am not expecting. I had the most intense reaction at that film I since Schindler's List.

PixoteDo not, under any circumstance see this film. It is the most depressing movie I have ever seen.

There are scenes in movies which did it for me.

The part in Malcolm X when he is driving to give what would be his last speech. Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come is playing, and you know what is going to happen.

The second scene in 28 Days Later, where Jim emerges from the hospital. Nothing happens. It is truly creepy.

The first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

The battle scenes in Braveheart.

The dental torture scene in Marathon Man. ("Is it safe?")

I dont cry at movies, I tend to not really care, hence my friends say I have no soul, but oh well. Um, I almost cried when Sirius died in Harry Potter, but my dad was there, so I didnt. I cried for one movie, but I forgot what it was.

House of Flying Daggers is a VERY good movie. I saw it in China and was ECSTATIC to see it 3 times when I got home.

Depending on my mood I'll cry at the silliest little things in them and not even blink at the parts that are supposed to be heart-wrenching. Oddly, I can't think of even one example right now. Oh well.

Saving Private Ryan made me cry too, but that was because it gave me a migraine that lasted 3 days.

I watched the Crucible a few days ago. The last scenes are very impressing. Phew.

Like Morphe, I'm also an equal opportunity weeper, yes, I did to cry at Transformers, but not where you would think.

These are the movies I can think of which wrenched my guts in a good/bad way, and in no particular order.

Pan's Labyrinth
It's A Beautiful Life
Schindler's List
The Passion
LOTR - The Fellowship of the Ring. I started crying when Frodo took back the ring at the council of Elrond, and never quit until about 30 minutes after the film. My family left me while I sat weeping through the credits. I would have done the same in the Passion, but there were too many people around me I knew, so I went home to weep.
Awakenings - A Robin Williams film. Even more emotional than Patch Adams.

#25 The Fountain? That one left me feeling rather strange and out of body or something.

I tend not to cry in movies, but over the years I have amassed a small collection of movies that have made me shed a tear, although I usually don't find them at all sad when I rewatch them.

When I was a kid I used to watch Paulie a lot and every time he was taken away from Marie I'd end up crying.

I cried at the end of A Man For All Seasons.

I cried heavily in Ever After from the moment Danielle's book was burned to the ending. I'm still confused as to why...

I cried a little in The Four Feathers (the version with Kate Hudson in it.) when something terrible happened to my favorite character, Jack.

And once, and only once did I cry at Boromir's death in The Fellowship of the Ring. I must have been in an odd mood, because I've watched it a dozen times and it only ever got to me that one time.

And if television series count then the X-files/Lone Gunmen episode Jump The Shark certainly ranks at number one. I was completely grief-stricken, not only during it but for about a half an hour afterwards.

I walked away from Pan's Labyrinth several times -- so dang intense, talking to my son about it about a week later I got that creeped out feeling all over again...(shudders) I am very glad I saw it, but it will be a really long time before I watch it again...

I won't watch war movies any more -- I don't want to have an internal visual when the news announces people dying in firefights and war zones and stuff...

On the other hand, I saw Hairspray this week, and man was I in a good mood as I walked out of the theater. No tears, well, maybe a couple when John as the mom ***possible spoiler*** saw herself as hip and fabulous instead of fat. Or not...I can't remember. I am listening to the soundtrack right now. This is definitely one of those CD's that can make me feel better just listening (and possibly dancing) to it.

Oh, I'll add the anime series Haibane Renme, and the Firebird sequence from Fantasia 2000. Honestly, music is a big trigger for me. So I'm more likely to burst out sobbing over Philip Glass's score to the Hours or the use of Beethoven's 6th, second movement in Photographing Faeries than the actual movie.

I only cry at really corny, campy movies. My all time tear jerker is "The Long Gray Line" about Marty Maher. I didn't cry in "Saving Private Ryan". I just had a difficult time watching parts of it. So violent and brutal.

I think I win for weirdest crying jags during a movie.

I cry more often than not during movies. I never go to a movie without tissue.

I forgot to mention "It's a Wonderful Life" - that one gets me every time.

One movie I will always remember as making my sob like a baby throughout with hiccups and everything was My Life with Michael Keaton.

An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr -- because to a large degree, I lived it with a Grace Kelly doppelganger. Except there was no boat, and I can't draw to save my life, and I couldn't save her's either. Without a doubt, the most passionate and intense relationship I've ever had.

A picture of the actual Grace Kelly was posted on another thread here a couple weeks ago. Seeing it threw me into a ~MAJOR~ bout of depression. So yeah, I cry every time.

I just remembered - Million Dollar Baby. That one had me crying and utterly depressed for days. I think that movie had no point other than to be extremely depressing. I wouldn't recommend it at all.

And #38, I too cried at the X-files episode Jumping The Shark. I still don't see why they had to die :*(

I'm with GeorgiaDawn - many, many movies make me cry. On the other hand, it is very rare for a book to elicit any sort of outward emotional response (crying, laughing, whatever) or for music to effect me much.

I just watched Bridge to Terabithia and bawled. I don't think I've ever read the book, so I didn't know anything about the story in advance (or how faithful it is, or isn't).

Bridge to Terebithia made me cry, too, and I even knew what to expect going in. **Spoiler** The part that got me was when her father told Jesse how glad he was that she and Jesse had become friends. **end spoiler**
Good movie, though, and it stayed truer to the book than many do.

Harold and Maude is a feelgood movie, so you don't get too teary at the end (no spoilers here). Highly recommended. It's about a weird young man who has a relationship with an old lady. You'd think this would be unwatchable by the plot summary, but when you're watching it, you don't care. Soundtrack by Cat Stevens, so you KNOW you have to watch it.

#45 Oh my GOD. I saw that movie on late night TV, then turned on the news to stop crying, and it was the final interview between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Then it announced that they were both dead.

Yeah, cried all night.

Johnny's Got His Gun. Ultimate depressing War Movie Epic. Ever heard the Metallica song "One"? That movie/book is what the song was based on...

When I was a kid there were no dvds, not even VCR's. But there was a theatre that showed Harold and Maude regularly. I went every time. Once I remember watching it and crying through the whole thing. It was the first videotape I ever owned.

The part in LOTR that always makes me cry is when Sam says, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you."

Dumbo. When his mom is locked up and cradling him in her trunk and singing.

I didn't consider myself a cryer, but I went down to look at my movies and there are a few that got me:

Schindler's List - I first saw this one at a special screening and discussion event one Sunday night in high school. It actually made me cry in front of my friends. Thankfully, that didn't matter because they were all bawling, too.
Pan's Labyrinth - I was the only person in the theatre at the time, for which I am grateful.
Paragraph 175 - It's a documentary of homosexual persecution during the Holocaust. It's not very good as a documentary, but I dare you not to get teary.
For the Boys - Bette Midler, my O.G.T. if there ever was one. ;)
Children of Heaven - depressing Iranian movie.
Not One Less - depressing Chinese movie.
Salaam Bombay! - The single most depressing movie I've ever watched. It didn't make me cry, but just hate the world. The tagline should be "The grass is greener everywhere outside Bombay."
Waking Ned Devine - This is one of those movies where you're tearing up while your laughing. :)

#51 - You just made me cry with that post! O.K., I was laughing, but only in empathy, that is so like my life.

Artic....IF Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers got you...

Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine

will also do you in.....visual and sob inducing stories.

Another that got me was The Pillow Book
(again combo of stunning visuals and story)

AI and pay it forward hit me like a freight train. A couple friends of mine went and saw both and had no idea why anyone would cry, but I honestly don't get how you could watch either and not. I love Pay it Forward, but I honestly will never watch AI again. I like a sad tear-jerker once in a while, but A.I. was more like ultra depressing the human race are a bunch of heartless a**holes than just a tear-jerker.

>55 ExVivre:...Pan's Labyrinth alone in a theater? I was creeped out in my living room. I probably would have been curled up in the seat with my purse over my head.

And I love Waking Ned Divine. One of my favorites...

>59 randomarbitrary: Yeah, I like going to the early afternoon matinees at the theatre. It's just me, my snacks, and the local retirees. And I can do without the retirees - they totally ruined Hot Fuzz for me. :)

I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth, but the last time I went to a movie in the theater (Day Watch), I was the only person there, too.

It is both cool and creepy to be the only person in a movie theater.

#61 -- The creepier thing is to be one of two people, especially if you're a twentysomething woman and the other is a slightly scary-looking sixtysomething man. Fortunately, it wasn't a scary movie, but I sat on the other side of the theatre and kept trying to keep tabs on him out of the corner of my eye. Leaving probably would have been smart, but I did live to tell the tale.

62 foggidawn -

Yeah, that would be creepy (creepier). Although in my experience, the most normal-looking people can in reality be the creepiest *sigh* so for all we know, he might have been a nice guy. Not that I'm saying you should have gone and introduced yourself or anything.

I can't remember how old I was, but growing up in a Boy Scouting family (camping, hiking, conservation before the ecology & green terms came along)... When I saw Bambi, I was ashamed of being a m human.

My dad passed away while I was already felling sorry for myself over the first wife ditching me, and I turned some kind of emotional corner (called life, you sheltered dude!)... So the movie that I first remember openly getting weepy over was Hook (Robin WIlliams, Dustin Hoffman). Missing my recently departed dad, and knowing I needed to be a better dad for my daughters. Fortunately I was watching Hook on tape with She Who is now The Wife, she fell for me & married me anyway *Big Smile* *14 years this November*

I tended to be a say no first kind of grouchy dad, when I would get that way, The Wife would give me a signal to let me know how I was acting: She would make a Hook with her finger so I would realize how I was acting!

Very good memoir, cad_lib!

'She Who is now The Wife' -- SWintW (Swin-too)?

I refer to my ex as ThiMs (Thorn-in-My-Side), but our kids (on their own)
called her PiDa (Pain in Dad's A**) because she was so ruthless (before, during and after the divorce).

My current wife (of 6+ years) causes spontaneous big smiles (just thinking about her) also.

I don't know why but I hardly ever cry during movies. My mom will be bawling her eyes out and I'll just be sitting there, staring blankly at the screen. There were a few movies that got me 'teary' though.

The Return of the King- When Merry and Pippin separate. ::SOB!!:: When Frodo and Sam are along on the rocks of Mount Doom after they destroy the ring. At the end of the movie.

A Walk to Remember- Wow. I cried during the book and I cried during the movie.

Harold And Maude- TeenAuthor, I thought this was a moving story as well. The teenage boy in this movie is one of favorite characters from any movie.

Grave of the Fireflies- Wow. Sadsadsad.

-Books-

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- I'm not saying anything...just in case.

Because I'm a wimp I tend to avoid any movies that I even remotely suspect will have any sort of negative emotional effect on me. I swing that way so easily anyway, I don't need any help. However, one that snuck past my ever present guard was Casuaties of War with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. As a MJF fan with a completist mentality toward his movies, I "HAD" to see it. Ack! Never again. That one did NOT make it to my DVD library. :(

Where other strong emotional reactions are concerned... LOTR is #1 on my list. Although it had sad moments it was the ever present love and loyalty represented throughout the story that got to me.

Also... saw Hairspray on Friday and got teary *albeit smiling* through that one. Then again I cry during the Olympics and Disney commercials. :)

#66 -- Deathly Hallows has one scene in it that I definitely expect to sob through when they make it into a movie. I'll say no more. . .

#64 - you are very fortunate to have a wife who encourages you to be emotionally authentic with kids, it is so much better that "acting" ! Yea for you two.

Movies that make me cry - any movie with stirring, sad, emotional music. When a teen I could walk into the room with emotional music on the TV and start to cry, without having watched the show. But one movie that really did me in was Apocalypse Now. I no longer go to war/violence/bloody movies. Except when they are fantasy, i.e. The Hobbit, Star Wars and Stardust.

#68 -- One scene? Just one? I can think of at least half a dozen -- oh, just thinking about it is getting to me...

And I have been listening to the Hairspray soundtrack all week...that was such a feel-great movie for me. This week I am taking my daughter to it, and I can't wait to see it again!

#70 -- One that's guaranteed, for me -- several others that . . . yeah.

I won't say much because I don't want to spoil anything but...

foggidawn -- I wonder if we are thinking of the same one just killer moment...the worst one I think will be the one near the end of the book, although there are a couple near the beginning that are just so sad...

#72 -- I've left a comment on your profile, so we can stop tormenting these nice folks who haven't read the book yet!

Before children, I could sit through anything and not cry. Now, well, I too have been known to tear up for a commercial.

A different reaction for me: I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum yesterday with my boys. I got the strangest feeling when I went into the ladies room after. Going through the door without knowing what was behind it, no ladies visible, but all the stall doors closed except for one at the end. I almost turned around to get my 6'2" boy to come inside with me! All I can say is, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has it right. Always carry a towel. Those of you who have seen the Ultimatum know what I mean.

Did anyone else cry when Edmund gets stabbed by the witch in the new LWW? I've still got a pretty damn active imagination for a 20 year old, so I see Edmund down with a stomach wound, his head cradled in his brother's lap, and what I see is a hole in his stomach with blood gushing out, coughing up blood, and a look of excruciating pain on his face.

Finding Neverland. I didn't cry, because for some reason my tear ducts dried up in the period when that movie came out, not because the movie was sad, but for reasons unknown. But I bet you'll cry when you see it.

P.S. My tear ducts work fine now, but are erratic in release of tears.

I hadn't thought of Dumbo for a long time, but at the mention above I got misty eyed again. As a youngster I thought it was sad, but the first time I watched it with my toddler I sobbed - she thought I was crazy.

How about other emotional reactions?
Carrie scared the holy s#!t outa me! I was scared to get out of bed for months! Which was no option since I had a young baby waking up for nightly attentions!

I cried in Finding Neverland, too. That little kid outacted Johnny Depp, which is pretty hard to do.

Weird, because Barrie probably was a pedophile IRL.

#77 -- The Disney one that always got me was The Fox and the Hound -- that's probably the first movie that ever made me cry!

yes, that one was sad, as was dumbo, and bambi, but Unless I simply don't remember, I didn't cry, because they were cartoons and as a child I knew cartoons were not real and would come out alright in the end!

Saving Private Ryan really had me in tears at the beginning. Even though my dad hadn't been in that particular beaching he fought in the war and all I could think of was the horrible experiences he must have gone through. He was such a wonderful, kind, gentle man that it destroyed me to think of him suffering through such horror. I cried when I talked to him about it later and told him I did NOT want him to see it. He went anyways but didn't talk about it.

Alien left me so frightened I didn't want to go back to my apartment. I was living on my own then and was so terrified I left every light on in the place and watched tv all night. It took awhile for that movie to get out of my head.

My cousin saw Nightmare on Elm Street when she was in high school, and had to go home to an empty house because her parents were away for the weekend. And they lived on the edge of town so you could not see any other houses or sign of people -- other than a freeway at least a half-mile away...She slept with every light in the house on that night!

Similar thing for me with Hellraiser (the second one I think) -- I saw it when my husband was away, and slept with the dog right up tight against me that night, just because I was rather creeped out...

Speaking of being afraid to go home. . . I once went to a midnight screening of an indie film put on by friends of mine. The film was about an antique mirror that basically drove people to kill themselves in the most gruesome ways -- in the film, the current owner is trying to defeat the mirror. He fails. When I got home, I could hardly bear to go into my bedroom. I have antique furniture, you see, with a big mirror over the dresser. . .

I don't usually do scary movies, because they all have that effect on me.

#83 your poor cousin!!! I've learned that I can only watch scary movies when I know my husband is going to be beside me at night. When he goes away I do NOT watch scary movies. Thank goodness for dogs eh?

Our daughter went to a sleepover years ago and they watched Nightmare on Elm Street. Poor Amber had nightmares for a week after that. I was so angry at the parents 'cause we'd never allowed our kids to watch such scary stuff - she was pretty young at the time. She still won't watch scary movies now.

And our eldest daughter was curled up in bed with me one time when I wasn't feeling well and we were watching tv. She clicked around to see what was on and we saw just a few seconds of this movie that had dolls creeping up the end of a girl's bed. Rachel freaked out, changed the channel and 15 years later STILL hates dolls!

Usually scary movies don't get to me, but I watched From Hell when I was home alone and I was soooo glad when my husband got home.

Johnny is totally hot in that one.

btw, Moulin Rouge is La Traviata. It's Rent that's La Boheme, sorry. Why can't people make up their own stories anymore?

# 86

I haven't had any problem with Johnny's movies, Little geek. I didn't find them to scary to watch. Although Nightmare in Elm Street did make me feel a bit uncomfortable. And I will probably not going to watch Sweeny Todd.

Finding Neverland was a very sweet, pure movie. I loved the last scene when they are sitting on the bench. I got teary at that scene. The kid was indeed great.

Not to sound silly but when I watched The Blair Witch Project I was so freaked out by that guy that was standing in the corner of the basement. I had nightmares for weeks.

# 88 Oh, THAT was a creepy movie!

#88 - The Blair Witch Project terrified me. I'm extremely susceptible to scary movies and I now refuse to watch them. Psychological terror gets me more than plain horror does.

Stupid scary movie for me was The Ring... the American remake. Unfortunately the phone rang in my apartment at a rather ironic moment while I was watching this movie... I practically had to be peeled from the ceiling. And I had to turn all the lights on. And I couldn't be the last one to turn off the TV cause of the eerie glow it still had...

I've never seen Psycho, but I'm still nervous taking a shower when I'm alone in the house. And stairs. Why do they always go up the stairs?

92 MrsLee -

Gah, me too! And I have to take my glasses off to take a shower, and I'm practically blind without them, which makes me even more nervous...

reeet! reeeet! reeet!! (psycho music)

I think Psycho, with its clever editing and scary-as-hell music is much more frightening than the gory movies now that show everything. Those are just gross.

The Shining. The first time I saw it was with friends. It was shown in an old theatre previously used for showing adult movies and they had kept the furniture, which was big couches - each couch was like an alcove in itself. Lots of stuffing and lots of velvet. All four of us was stuffed into one couch, and we had brought our own beer.
This is NOT allowed in Sweden, but the theatre was run as some art student project, so...
Anyway, I think I managed quite well but that was up until the scene where the woman in the bathroom turns, eh, nasty.
That image has stayed with me since 1987.

Night of the Living Dead traumatized me for several years after I saw it. The scariest film in the world.

I haven't seen Pan's Labrynth yet, although we have the DVD. Now I'm not so sure I want to watch it.

I cry at just about anything in the movies. King Kong, lost it when they knocked him out and took him to NYC and watching Titanic I lost it when the ship started to sink and all those people were sliding down the deck. Another ape movie, Mighty Joe Young made me cry quite hysterically as well. My family laughs at me because I cry so easily.

#98 -- I kinda hate that we may have driven you away from Pan's Labyrinth, although I suppose I could look at it like we have stopped you from watching something you won't like...

In the end, I was glad I saw it, but I won't be watching again any time soon -- there was a really sadistic character and just a menacing undertone to the movie around him...did that make sense? Like if he was in the scene, you didn't know what kind of ucky thing might happen. I hate sadistic stuff -- gore, violence, sex, nudity, swearing, all that stuff doesn't bother me, but the sadistic -- torture, violence against the defenseless, that kind of stuff I hate, and that was a part of Pan's Labyrinth (not that many actual scenes of torture and sadistic violence -- maybe 3?, but I don't like any, and the hint of it was there...)

Hey, the good thing about it being on DVD is you can fast-forward...

I love the psychological thrillers -- like Psycho -- that use mood and the building of suspense. It's so much harder to pull off than gore.

I don't love watching them late at night when my husband is away, though...

>98 Jenson_AKA_DL: No! Don't be put off by our comments! Really, Pan's Labyrinth is a very lovely film.

I might just be weird, but I think Psycho is frickin' hilarious. That quirky smile that Norman Bates gets when the car finally sinks in the muck? Priceless!

Hitchcock said his movies were comedies. They are pretty funny, actually, even as they scare the bejesus out of you!

My son got two box sets of Hitchcock for his birthday -- somewhere around 15 movies, I think...

We are gradually working our way through them and enjoying it very much...He found The Birds very creepy, and it is all the way the suspense builds and builds and builds. Rear Window is one of my favorites, because you never know what's real and what's in Jimmy Stewart's bored imagination...

Hitchcock! The Birds - I truly still think of that movie whenever I see more than about two birds sitting together on a telephone wire. What are they thinking about us? I wonder especially now since much research is indicating crows, ravens, magpies, and jays are really very smart and communicate effectively with each other. Be careful out there, folks.

I have seen The Cure quite a few times and everytime it makes me sob like a baby. You'd think I'd be desensitized after awhile, but no.

I am a huge sap and often find myself crying at movies, sometimes (like at the end of Armageddon) I am annoyed to find myself crying because it was such a blatant tearjerker move, but usually it is just good catharsis.

Some others that always make me cry are Legends of the Fall, Somewhere in Time, and Terms of Endearment. Yep I'm a total sap. BUT my mom totally has me beat. She only has to hear the music to Somewhere in Time and she starts tearing up.

79>

Ironically, Barrie had "Peter Pan Syndrome" which essentially means that he had the mindset of a child all his life. This means also that his development sexually was hindered, thus ruling out the notion that he was a pedo. Weird, yes, child abuser, no.

Also, the end of the first Friday the 13th is terrifying. The bit where Jason jumps out of the water at the girl in the boat. My twin brother and I were watching it on cable, when it was put on for Friday the 13th. We both exclaimed "HOLY S&!+!" and almost jumped out of our skins.

Most recently: Mrs. Potter and Becoming Jane.

Gets me every time: Its a Wonderful Life, Ever After, and Finding Neverland.

I've been known to tear up at episodes of Star Trek or Friends depending on my mood

I made the mistake of seeing Midnight Express and The Deer Hunter in the same week. I avoided 'intense' movies for years afterwards, I think.

#108 -- I might have cried during Miss Potter, except I was a little jumpy and not entirely focused on the movie -- see post #62! ;-)

#106 Do we know these as facts, or are they nice ways of thinking about it? The same could be said about Michael Jackson, but I wouldn't want my kids anywhere near him.

I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

I'm with littlegeek on this stuff. How would anybody know who is not "in the room with him or her". I think there was a great deal more sexual and physical abuse going on historically than we could ever guess. The current focus means we hear about it more often but who really knows what lurks in the hearts/history of men and women of the past.

It's a fact that Barrie had Peter Pan Syndrome. Various scholars have devoted PhDs to it.

Just like we don't know what happened with Edgar Allan Poe when he died, screaming random names in delirium, we may never find out the truth.

>107 Jakeofalltrades: LOL! That reminds me of when I sat too close to the TV when watching Aliens. The TV was a big console model and I was plopped on a pillow in front of it when some random alien creature popped out of nowhere on the screen. I flipped backward off the pillow and hit my head on the floor. I've learned my lesson since then. I think. ;)

The Shining. My first and LAST Stephen King movie. Or horror movie for that matter. My imagination is too lively all by itself, it doesn't need Mr. King to prod it. I had real trust issues after The Shining.

#116: The Shining. Oh, yes...- I have never seen that film. Why? Because some moron at the cinema managed to put a teaser on-screen in the afternoon show of some childrens film I went to see at age 11 or 12. I am nearly 40 now, but I have no interest in seeing the film...

I didn't find The Shining movie scary, I found it more thrilling than terrifying. I mainly saw it because I wanted to see Jack Nickholson say "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!"

I'd never watch any Stephen King movie. The books don't scare me because I don't visualize much when I read and I'm good at separating books from life, but I think I'd run screaming from the movie theater if I was forced to confront them on-screen.

"I didn't find The Shining movie scary"
Because you are a grown-up, and expose yourself willingly to that kind of stuff. Believe me, as a kid growing up without a TV, I was *shocked*. Put me off horror for life.

In the 50s there was a Hitchcock TV show and I was supposed to be in bed...but I sat on the stairs and listened to this show about a guy in a car accident, paralysed, and taken to the morgue by accident. Only thing on the sound track - his thoughts! Oh man, was I scared.

#121, That reminds me of an original Twilight Zone episode of a little girl who falls out of bed and through a hole into another dimension. Her dog and father go in to look for her. I was terrified of falling out of bed for ages after that.

I remember that the parts in The Shining where people screamed the most were the little captions: "Thursday" that would come up suddenly after some horribly tense scene.

I loved Scatman Crothers' apartment.

There was an original Twilight Zone where a swimming pool was a portal was the gateway to a parallel universe... I wouldn't go swimming for a month after I saw that!

>120 GirlFromIpanema: I watched The Shining when I was in my 20s and it still scared the heck out of me! Anything with little kids acting possessed or weird like that creeps me out. My husband thinks The Exorcist is funny and I can't even look at it.

When I wanted to watch The Grudge (because Jason Behr was in it), I could only watch it with the cast commentary on so I wouldn't get too scared. It worked out well because the commentary was so funny :-)

>99 randomarbitrary: I guess maybe I will give Pan's Labrynth a shot at some point.

Thank you all very much...last night I was gonna take a shower, and sometimes when I take a shower at night I have it fairly dark in the bathroom (turn on the closet light and leave the closet door almost all the way closed...)

So. Last night, I turn on the shower, turn on the closet light, turn off the main bathroom light, open the shower door, and REMEMBER THIS CONVERSATION...and suddenly the shower is a little too dark...

I still enjoyed my shower, but just for a second, I thought, "I am never going to be able to shower in the dark again..." :)

#124 - Has anyone here mentioned Jaws? I saw that and could only swim in a pool or lake for years, then read a mystery where the shark was alive in fresh water! I do NOT like to swim in water where the bottom cannot be seen, and I inspect pools carefully before entering.

I saw Jaws when I was still an impressionable child and I hated even using the toilet for a long time... like Jaws was going to come out of the sewer system in Denver, CO! Stupid kid!

The first time I saw Jaws I just kept thinking, "they don't climb up on boats, people, please!" And I was like 14.

That first scene with the girl is scary, tho. And wasn't the actress in actual pain from the rig they had her in?

An easier question might be "What movie/book/tv show/newscast/commercial/CD didn't make you cry/rage/fear/love?" :-)

There are too many but I have to list Blackhawk Down as another intensely intense movies. It ended and I felt as though I could breathe for the first time since it started.

Alan Rickman's character's infidelity in Love, Actually, and Emma Thompson's character's reaction to it breaks my heart every stinking time.

#65 *shares a knowing, understanding smile with WHL*

#74 MrsLee, that could be used to start a new thread: Movies that scared you/Movies that creep you out!

My answer to that category would be Silence of the Lambs. Part of me is not sure why, but I was jumping at shadows after that one. I was so glad I was no longer a night-shift security guard by then!

Hah... I've seen that's where we've headed!

#128 januaryw--- I saw a movie a long time ago about this guy who battles a rat or a snake or something -- I have no idea what the movie was, all I remember is that it was a new house and his wife was away and the scene where the creature COMES UP OUT OF THE TOILET and attacks him.

Very occasionally I get up to go the bathroom in the middle of the night, and just about every time I do, I think of that scene...just for a second I reconsider using the toilet before daylight...

128 & 133 - I too have an unreasonable distrust of the toilet at night. Then I read an article about a person in Hawaii, of all places, who was bitten by a snake on the butt while on the toilet. Sorry for sharing, but turn the light on before you sit down! :)

Like on Snakes On A Plane? A guy in that gets his member bitten by a venomous serpent!

TeenAuthor - That is a movie I would never even contemplate watching. When the ads came on TV, my kids would warn me so I could close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and sing, Lalalalalalalalalla!

Brokeback Mountain - the short story itself made me quite sad, so I avoided seeing the movie until recently. As expected, when I finally watched it I teared up.

Orca The Killer Whale - saw this as a child and remember being scared stiff and feeling a little sick. I was too young to be watching that type of movie no doubt, but if I watched it now it would still get to me.

Brokeback Mtn made me cry twice. When he changes the shirts around....sob.....

Ah yes, that. That is indeed moving.

Still, I have gay friends, so when one of the two guys in the movie was attacked I felt concerned that some bigots could attack my mates... that was more emotional for me than the teariness for the sake of teariness...

I think Brokeback Mtn was one of those which had me crying in the preview, though I never watched the movie.

My wife cries while watching a fair number of movies. Some years back she took our small daughter, a van full of her closest friends, and another mother to see Spirit.

At the end the other mother had tears streaming down her face and asked my dry-eyed wife, "don't you cry at movies?"

"Yeah," my wife 'fessed up. "But not at cartoons."

I know this will sound ridiculous, and I know "Buffy" isn't really a movie, but...this situation built up over several episodes back to back, and that's how I watched it:

During last season, when all the Proto-slayers have been activated to defeat the... well, anyway, Buffy assumes she will be in charge of the group and the overall strategy, and has all sorts of, I guess you could say, 'management problems'. So the group tells her to get lost.

Now, for years she had basically been on her own, running her own show. She was the only one who COULD do her job, and knew it; lax responsibility on her part would get, had gotten, people KILLED. She'd recently lost her mother and several other friends. She'd been killed herself and was forceably resurrected by her friends (which did not please her).

So... she walks out of the house after getting 'fired' and just...loses it, totally breaks down..

And so did I...

>133 randomarbitrary: GHOULIES!!! Hahahaha! :D

Just to double-check, do you remember anything where they accidentally conduct a Satanic ritual in the basement using equipment left over by the guy's father? Because that's where the "toilet demon" came from. *snickers*

Scarey movies need to stay out of my bathroom. That stupid spider movie with John Goodman... Arachnophobia... had me freaking out about spiders in the bathroom sink for a long time.

>137 Phlox72: I remember watching Orca when I was a kid. It was a horribly sad tale and has really stuck with me over the years. I still find myself remembering different scenes on occasion for no apparent reason.

Of course the same thing happened when the theme song to "The Love Boat" popped into my head this morning which is really strange because I haven't even seen that show since I was a teenager.

#143 -- nope, it wasn't Ghoulies. It was a psychological thriller, not a demon movie...and it was made long before ghoulies.

I think the guy was fighting with a rat or other vermin in his house. It was not a demon-possessed rat.

And that's why it's creepy. A demon-possessed toilet is not scary. It can't happen. But rats can and do crawl up through toilets, and in a different part of the city I live in...

As far as disturbing movies go, I refuse to see Hellraiser. When I was very, very small, my parents took me to see An American Tail as my very first theatre movie. Hellraiser was playing at the same time. There was quite a line to get into the theatre, and we ended up spending about five minutes standing beside a poster for Hellraiser. It scarred me for life.

Willard?

#20 & #21 Yeah I saw "Wit" I think it was on PBS & I bawled. Emma Thompson is great! Has anyone seen 'Nanny McPhee' she was great in that & in Harry Potter as Prof. Trelawny at first I didn't reallize it was her!
#86 'There's nothing new under the sun'. Even Sheakspeare 'borrowed' a lot of his stories.
Agood story is agood story. The one I found hard to 'swallow was when they did 'Oedipus Rex' on TV in three piece suits! That was too much!
#130 I hated "Black Hawk Down" the way they kept going back & losing more people every time was just apalling to me. It brought to mind "Galipoli" one of Mel Gibson's first movies in which the British commanders, including Churchill' kept sending soldiors 'over the top' only to get mowed down by enemy fire. It seems that in niether case did they seem to to recognize that the plan was not working & it was time for a new plan. Add to that the fact that both were true stories--I bawled my eyes out over both of them cuz humans are so damn dumb!

Editted to correct ommision!

Re: the rat movie...It may have been made-for-tv. It was a guy, alone for the weekend - his wife went off to visit parents or whatever, and he starts a "war" with a rat (i think?). Single rat, just one guy, and the one scene I remember clearly is the rat coming up through the toilet during the night.

My brother and I watched a lot of movies when we were teenagers, and tended toward the obscure and non-mainstream...

did it have a micheal Jackson song in it? Ben was the song. Willard was a movie about rats...

142 wyrdchao

There are bits and pieces of Buffy and other similar tv shows that make me cry without fail...

The final (I think?) episode of Angel, when Wesley is dying and he asks Illyria to lie to him and pretend to be Fred.

This might sound a little silly, but one of the first Charmed episodes with Paige. Paige figures out that Piper is angry at Prue for dying and leaving her, and there is this scene where she (Piper) is yelling at Prue's grave and it always makes me cry - makes me think about how it would (will) feel if my mother or sister, who I depend on for emotional and other support, died.

>152 bluesalamanders: Illyria/Fred and Wesley

Yup, those last few episodes were pretty raw.

I don't watch much TV, mostly when I'm visiting my folks; I first watched "Buffy" and Angel when FX was syndicating then.

I seem to be addicted to movies with similar emotional load:

- The last scene in 'Remains of the Day', where Emma Thompson tries one last time with Anthony Hopkins, and he STILL doesn't get it...

- In 'Contact', where Jodie Foster is being grilled by James Woods about her 'experience' at Vega; he asks if she can PROVE that the Machine took her anywhere, and she just says: 'I can't'.

- Chani (in the SciFi Channel version of 'Children of Dune') comforting Paul while she is dying to give birth to the twins. (this is hard to take in the book version too.)

- and I'm a sucker for the Beatty/Bening version of 'Love Story'

Beats the crap out of Romeo and Juliet any day.

#151 - "Where Willard ended, Ben begins!"

That was the tagline, Ben was a sequel to Willard, and Michael Jackson did th e wonderful theme song!

A movie that scared me to peices when I was younger was "When A Stranger Calls." I was at home alone babysitting my brother in our brand new house and it was on HBO. I was maybe 13 and he was about 8 or 9. I couldn't sleep for a WEEK!

wyrdchao-

Yeah, I only saw those tv shows in syndication, too.

I agree about "Children of Dune" - I love that, there are several scenes in there that move me, to tears or other ways - and also "Contact". Actually, the part where she says "so beautiful - they should have sent a poet" gets me.

And I also agree about "Remains of the Day" but I seem to remember the scene differently - that he did 'get it', but when it came down to it, his duty was simply more important to him.

It was not Ben, not Willard...it was one guy and one rat, and I think he ended up destroying his dream home trying to kill the rat...

Mouse Hunt for Red October?

True Story. In high school, I dropped a hit of acid one saturday afternoon. At one point my friends decided to take me to a movie (I was peaking at the time, and dont remember much.)

I remember the end of the movie, specifically watching the white screen turn into an ice skater on a rink. Two men were discussing her, and one was talking about screwing her.

The movie was Carnal Knowledge, which is essentially about a man who tries to screw every woman in sight. (That much I figured out later. I never saw it in a way I could remember.)

Watching that movie did more to affect my sexual ethics than anything any Sunday School teacher, parent, teacher, or friend ever said or did. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my acid soaked brain, I became revolted by the way women were treated by the Lothario (played, I believe, by Jack Nicholson). I vowed I would never treat women that way, a vow I have mostly kept.

#158 - A movie that affected my sexual ethics a great deal was "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" So much for "free" love!

Mouse Hunter S. Thompson?

Hey, TeenAuthor! I think you are getting closer!

> 158 "I dropped a hit of acid one saturday afternoon"

AH! That explains EVERYTHING!!!!!

awww where did you drop it at Artic? Couldn't you find it? *blinks innocently*

So we have Mouse Hunt for Red October, the rodent thriller, Mouse Hunter S. Thompson, a tiny writer with a tiny typewriter that goes on the road, and of course, now I suggest Mouse on Hunted Hill, the terrifying horror flick that will scare small mammals (even Voles) everywhere!

Ratty jokes, all around!

You know there's a new Pixar film with a rat in it...

Wow there were so many movies ... love Contact and Emma T in most anything she does. There was a movie out a long time ago called "Back to Rangoon" that took me by surprise. We were practically the only ones in the theater and I sobbed through that movie...it was really the first time I ever cried like that in public.

For years I wouldn't go to movies that I thought would be emotional - I would just rent them. I'm over that now, thankfully.

The rat movie by Pixar is Ratatuille....I liked it.

Well, they're not movies perse, but I just rediscovered ZZ Top's old music videos, "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs". When I was a kid I can remember standing in front of the TV rockin' out to these guys. I must admit I found myself head-banging while watching 'em on youtube. I honestly think they were the masters of stage presence. The matching outfits, chest length beards, the two step. Who could forget the spinning guitars in the legs MV? I must have rewatched that couple seconds a dozen times.

Another tear-jerker I just remembered - Whale Rider, when Paikea is giving her award-winning talk about her "Koro" and that jerk couldn't even be there for her.

*mutters* Stubborn old bastard

I cry in about 25% of the movies I watch, at least small tears. (I really only watch drama though, occasionally thrillers, rarely comedies)

Big, huge, bawling tears are for:

What Dreams May Come
My Girl
Lord of the Rings (any of them)
The Notebook

I know there are lots more, but those movies, if I am alone, I have to pause because I am missing so much between wiping my eyes and blowing my nose.

Has anyone ever handed someone else in the theater a tissue? I've done that a couple of times, and had someone do it for me once. These are strangers I'm talking about.

I don't cry when I watch movies, ever. Same with books. But then, it takes a lot for me to cry. I do get choked up though. As a kid it was when watching Bambi and Dumbo.
The most recent movies I can think of that got to me were Finding Neverland, Brokeback Mountain and there are scenes in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? that get me every time.

I've cried at a few Simpsons episodes. Is that weird? But there's one where Homer says something sweet to Marge, and I bawl. Every time.
Finding Neverland wrecked me. I was just devastated. Also, Dead Man Walking, because I felt bad for EVERYONE.

And V For Vendetta, obviously, in all forms, makes me sob.

Scary movies? Those of you who read my blog know of my fixation with 'The Poughkeepsie Tapes.' Scariest movie I have ever seen in my entire life. And I like scary movies a lot. I still have nightmares, months later. Go on youtube and look up clips. Brilliant, terrifying... great, now I need to go lock the door.

It comes out in Febuary '08. Go see it, and we can all never sleep again.

As a guy, I find it embarrassing that I have to hold back the tears on occasion... here's a list...

Pan's Labyrinth
Children of Men
V for Vendetta
Paradise Road
Amelie
Babyon 5: Sleeping in Light
BtVS: The Gift
Mr Holland's Opus (?!)

I'm a bit of a sucker when if comes to heroic death scenes. Fortunately in most cases I can pull off a sad but tearless look for propriety's sake.

I'm a sook, I cry at lots at movies, I even cried watching home & away last night (for those that dont know its a silly Ausie soap that i'm hopelessly addicted to, its similar to neigbours)

I have cried at movies, but embarrasingly I've got sensitive eyes that water ANYTIME i go to a movie, so it's hard to tell th edifference sometimes!

I was shocked that I actually cried when Supergirl died in Crisis on Infinite Earths!

I just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth. I've had it for a while and this thread inspired me to finally watch it. Oh my God... I don't know why I expected a creepy fairy tale when I bought it. That they don't sell it to people below 16 here should have been a hint.
But, I love it. It's very intense, brutal and very sad and had me choked up towards the very end as well.

All-time tear-jerker for me:
Star Wars EP6 -
Luke: I am a Jedi, like my father before me.

Star Wars EP1 is a runner-up -
Anakin: I am not a slave! I'm human, and my name is Ani!

I also cried over

Awakenings
A Very Long Engagement
Cinema Paradiso
Malena

(Last books that made me cry: Atonement and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

dancer - I love Atonement! That ending is just heart-rending.

I never use to cry - didn't shed a drop for Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, La Vita e Bella, or anything else that I watched in that general time period 10 or so years ago.

Now, I'm such a sap I cry at practically everything! I can't even get through Lilo & Stitch without tearing up. Some movies I tend to watch alone so no one will see me cry:
Dead Poet's Society
Finding Neverland
Peter Pan (the recent live-action one)
Just about any chick flick

On stage, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Wicked.

Oddly enough, I didn't cry at Grave of the Fireflies, TeenAuthor. I just kept thinking throughout the movie, "But, But, they just .... die!"

Ok, maybe I'm not a true Star Wars geek or something, but I actually liked EP1. I didn't particularly go for 2 or 3, and I love the originals. I don't know, there was just something about the kid that played Anakin Skywalker as a munchkin (10 and under), that made it work for me.

I watched Stranger than Fiction today. Some parts were really waterworky, well they would have been if my tear ducts were capable of producing more than 2mm of tears per tearjerk reaction...

#179 Saw Phantom of the Opera the other day. I didn't lose it, but I can barely get through Les Miserables without it, even when I'm trying.

Grave of the Fireflies was a sad and beautiful movie, but it wasn't a waterworker for me.

As another guy, I find that movies are about the only thing I CAN cry about; guess it all has to do with repression and 'suspension of disbelief', hmmm?

Finding Neverland is tough. And the old TV version of Les Miserables (~1980?) got to me.

The death of Vladimir Kulich's character (and Antonio Banderas' prayer before the battle) in the The 13th Warrior are also 'good'.

#183 - but would you do it if there are other people about? And yes, it's repression.

>182 Choreocrat:, I've seen Phantom about 5 times over the years, and my reaction has progressed something like this:
First 2 times - not a drop
3rd time - sad, but still no tears
4th and 5th - Must...not....cry... oh, forget it. ;-D

Les Miserables gets me with Javert's death, even just listening to the music.

Yeah, Javert's soliloquy is a hard one to get through dry, but I can identify - I've had my world jolted out of its comfy place a couple of times, and it's not fun. The other ones are Bring Him Home, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables/Turning and, of course, the epilogue. Do You hear the People Sing moves me without fail, but not to tears; rather to action.

>184 Choreocrat: 'Would I....'

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I have to say, I don't go to theaters often, and when I do it's with people I know well. That probably says it all.

An interesting anecdote: I was listening to Jack Vance being interviewed by a radio host (this was in the 70's) and he said that he HATED going to movie theaters (to the point that he avoided them completely) because he didn't want to participate with other people in what he felt was a highly personal experience; I think he was worried that his own reactions would be swamped by the 'mob' response.

The interview is on YouTube; search for Jack Vance, radio interview. It's in twelve parts (about two hours).

I've got to say I agree with him, although it's taken me a long time to get there. I find my own tastes more and more idiosyncratic as I get older, and usually it's just easier to watch movies in private and keep my opinions to myself. Present company excepted, of course (heheheh).

#186 -- "A Little Fall of Rain" is the one that gets me. . . I guess it has to do with which characters you most identify with.

"A Little Fall of Rain" and "Empty Chairs" are my two favorite songs of the show, so the tears get held off by the "I LOVE this song" feeling.

The last movie I cried watching was the BBC adaptation of Fingersmith. It was so good!

I watched Sweet November with Keanu Reeves on the wknd & balled my eyes out...

I am a very emotional person and cry very easily - even more so since we have had kids. Some of the previous comments have struck a cord with me as well:

#12 - Sophie's Choice - I don't remember seeing the movie but I do remember the book. I will never watch the movie as of right now. Just thinking about it makes me cry.

#16 - Saving Private Ryan - I saw this in the movie theater and found the opening sequence extremely hard to watch. Since this happens often, that I can't stand to watch a particular scene in a theater, I have found a trick to help me. I focus on the lower corner of the screen so it appears to those with me that I am watching but I am really not. Unfortunately, when I did this I also was sort of looking at an older man in the row in front of me who looked about the right age to have fought in WWII. He was postively bawling and that was the end for me. I pretty much cried through the whole movie and even when I watched it on DVD later, remembered him and cried all over again.

#26 - My boys and I watched Simon Birch this summer and cried all over the place. That one line "I'M SORRY!!!!!!" nearly killed us all and we still say it to one another.

#54 - Dumbo - My kids think this is the saddest movie ever made and we all cry as soon as it starts.

When I watched Titanic I didn't cry for the love story/ending - I didn't really care enough about them I guess. I cried when the musicians kept playing until the end and when the old man and woman lay down in the bed together holding each other until the end (I just teared up while typing that) and when the husband and wife put the children to bed as if they were just going to sleep for the night (there I go again). Heartbreaking!

My Girl is on our list from Netflix - I am sure we will all be crying since I remember seeing it before and crying at the ending.

The boys and I tried to watch Arachnophobia this summer. My 12 year old son was on the couch with a pillow over his head yelling "Different movie! Please, can't we watch a different movie!" so we didn't finish it.

I guess we are a pretty emotional family.

The three movies that never fail to make me cry are What Dreams May Come, Big Fish, and Monsters Inc. Seriously. The part right at the end when he puts the last piece of her door in, and he gets to go through and see Boo again. He looks so happy! Gets me every time.

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 over the weekend. As the movie opens, Piracy has gone completely out of control. The beginning is set in a military base where around 100 men convicted of piracy are being executed. One of the "pirates" is a little boy, probably no older than 7 or 8. The only clue we are given as to why he's being executed is that he holds one of the pieces of eight the East India company believes indicates one of the (ten?) Pirate Lords. As he walks up onto the gallows, tears began rolling down my cheeks. He was so short the executioner had to get a barrel to stand him on. After he's lifted onto the barrel, we see a view looking down on him, the scene framed such that the noose is next to his head. He starts singing "Hoist the Colours," and I started openly weeping as the rest of the pirates joined in. The executioner then pulled a lever, the trapdoors under the boy and ten others dropped open, and the scene changes. The scene, to me, is extremely dark and emotionally disturbing.

After the opening scene, I continued crying for about 30 seconds before pulling myself back together. At the end of the movie, as we were walking back to the dorms, one of the friends I was with asked me why I was crying at the beginning. I tried to explain the outrage and grief I felt seeing a child being executed, but I don't think they really understood. Sure, I understand it wasn't real. I know the kid was just an actor that didn't actually die. I know it was probably just a plot device that was being used to show how out of control both the pirates and EIC had become. That still doesn't make showing the execution of a child on screen any less emotionally painful. To me you've got two levels of evil, one, actions perpetrated against adults, and, above that, worse by a number of magnitudes, are the same actions perpetrated against children.

>193 bazling: Hehe... my partner and I caught each other getting all teary-eyed at the end of Monsters, Inc. and started laughing. That little girl is so frickin' adorable!

All I have to say is....Where the Red Fern Grows.

194 - For me, it isn't that the movie itself is so sad, it's that fact that I know humans have done that, and much worse to each other in real life, and the movie brings that knowledge to me vividly for that moment. I had a hard time with that scene too.

Ever since becoming a parent, I find it so much harder to watch anything with violence against children. I didn't cry during the opening as you did, Child of Light, but have cried much more readily for other movies that show such things. The TV show Dexter got me towards the end of the first season, when they started going into what made Dexter into a monster.

#198 Oh GOD! Dexter broke my heart. The last episode, when he's looking at Deb and has to make that massive decision (I'm trying not to spoil it) and he expresses emotion? Cried.

I also recently LOST it over the newest episode of Ugly Betty. I called my mom up, because she was watching too, and we bawled over the phone across state lines.

And I cried at an episode of Heroes I recently watched.

TV is sad.

Well...I felt kinda silly today 'cause I started getting a little teary (emphasis on little!) while watching the Formula 1 race with my husband. A new driver ran into the rear end of a more experienced driver, taking them both out of the running - at the time they were in 2nd and 3rd place and we were cheering for them. The camera later showed the new driver in the pit, leaning on a pillar, his head cradled on his arms, sobbing his heart out. I felt so bad for him it did make me cry .... just a little. I just hope he stayed away from the guy he hit - 'cause that guy was REALLY mad!

I recently saw Djembéfola, a documentary about Mamady Keita and his journey back to the village where he was born after being gone for 26 years. He had been hamming it up for the camera a bit earlier in the documentary, I think, but when he got back home and saw his family for the first time since he was a very young child, he was completely overwhelmed. I felt like a dork crying in class watching this, but it was such a genuine response from him that I couldn't help myself.

I know this isn't directly related, but I've been crying a lot while writing "the Lost." When I'm writing I see everything thats going on in my head and, like most authors, tend to build close relationships with my characters. There's so much emotional suffering that the characters go through in the narrative, especially the little boy, that now that we're turning it into a movie, I'm beginning to worry about crying on set once we get to some of the heavier stuff (we've been filming some of the lighter "happier" stuff first to give the two "stars" time to build a relationship).