I had an unexpected emotional response last night as I watched A River Runs Through It on Showtime. The scene at the end where the old man is fishing alone because all of his loved ones have passed ..... and that beautiful narration from the book. It got to me.

"Flash back" scenes to a better time after something bad has happened.

So many examples that make say "Yep,me too". One came to mind and for some reason it hit me pretty good emotionally when I saw the movie. In the what if the Beatles never happened "Yesterday." When the guy who made it big singing Beatle songs found an old John Lennon. And Lennon who was never in the Beatles and never knew fame or fortune told him about his life. How he had a happy life, a job he loved and a wonderful wife. I think because I always saw Lennon with the fame etc did not set well with him. He never seemed like a person who found happiness in his life.

Anything with kids realizing how much their family cares about them. Most recent example was in Onward when Ian realizes that while he didn't ever meet his dad, Barley was basically his father growing up. Everything he wanted to share in his life with his father, he shared with Barley. Coco gets me too, Hector never got to see his daughter grow up, and his family never knew why he never came home, which is why they didn't allow music in the house and didn't remember him on the day of the dead. So many Pixar movies.

Anytime a character is willing to sacrifice themselves for their friends or family. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Harry knows he has to let Voldemort kill him to save everyone else. Friends and family that died for him are there with him at the end, make sure he knows he's not alone. Then once Harry finds out what Snape did for him over they years and how much he loved his mother, kills me.

Sometimes the cavalry showing up when all appears lost. My favorite scene in the MCU is during Endgame. Cap stands up, straps on his shield, he's ready to take on all of Thanos's forces alone, he's the last hope. He hears Sam on the radio "On your left." Then the first portal opens, Black Panther and company walk through, they just give him a look, what they did worked, everyone's coming back, he's not alone, all his friends have his back.

Military stuff gets me all the time. "Tell me I'm a good man. Tell me I lived a good life." The end of Lone Survivor when they do the montage of pictures of everyone that died with their families, brutal.

Glory. Denzel locking eyes with Matthew Broderick when he's getting whipped. Powerful scene especially when he starts to cry

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I watched Deep Impact the other day, and teared up at the astronauts' sacrifice at the end, and Tea Leoni's reunion with her father on the beach.

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I teared up because a movie finally had the guts to kill Tea Leoni, making up for her disappointing survivals in Bad Boys and Jurassic Park III.

Pretty much anything involving family gets me emotional in films if it's done well. A lot of the Pixar movies mentioned I agree with but there was one Pixar film that really caught me by surprise at the end....The Good Dinosaur.

The movie itself was just alright. Nothing amazing but not terrible. But even at the end when the little boy finds a different family and the way the dinosaur communicates to him that he needs to stay with them just hits me square in the feels.

So I'm a cheap drunk for any emotional scenes that deal with family in films

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Sometimes the cavalry showing up when all appears lost. My favorite scene in the MCU is during Endgame. Cap stands up, straps on his shield, he's ready to take on all of Thanos's forces alone, he's the last hope. He hears Sam on the radio "On your left." Then the first portal opens, Black Panther and company walk through, they just give him a look, what they did worked, everyone's coming back, he's not alone, all his friends have his back.

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Dammit! Just reading that and remembering made my allergies flare up.

Any time there is a gut-wrenching scene between a dad and his daughter. The reference to Armageddon is a prime example.

When a character takes on the weight of an entire world in their struggle against an antagonist. Captain America standing alone against Thanos' army in Endgame was mentioned in the previous post. I'd add Rey standing for all the Jedi against Palps in The Rise of Skywalker as a scene that got me good.

Another is based on a known history where a film still is able to engender some suspense as to outcome. A good example of this for me was Apollo 13. We all know they make it back to Earth safely, but they drew it out so long with that great James Horner score, with reactions on the faces of the daughter, son, and wife of Jim Lovell, that also got me.

Film has a unique ability to render the majestic that I find moving. There are certain scenes, some in otherwise forgettable films, that because of their scope choke me up.

Two examples are the land grab sequence in "Far and Away" and the launch sequence in "Apollo 13". They could both be reduced to "characters striving for what they want" as types I suppose. But I really feel like I responded more to their grand cinematic nature. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for Ron Howard.

Genuine expressions of love, sacrificial love especially, would be another type. Rooster Cogburn carrying Mattie to the doctor in "True Grit" (2010). Or the ending of "Places in the Heart". It got me when I went to find the link just now.

Good call on Forrest Gump. For the whole movie he seems content with his simple nature. But in that moment you can see his pain and that he does not want the same for his son.

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Anything with kids realizing how much their family cares about them. Most recent example was in Onward when Ian realizes that while he didn't ever meet his dad, Barley was basically his father growing up. Everything he wanted to share in his life with his father, he shared with Barley.

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This got me good.

The graveyard scene in Steel Magnolias

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Anything with kids realizing how much their family cares about them. Most recent example was in Onward when Ian realizes that while he didn't ever meet his dad, Barley was basically his father growing up. Everything he wanted to share in his life with his father, he shared with Barley.

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This got me good.

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Another crusher for me is in the Bucket List when Nicholson reunites with his estranged daughter, meets his granddaughter for the first time, then scratches "Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off his list.

Michael Keaton was in a movie in 1993 with Nicole Kidman called "My Life". He is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is trying to stay alive long enough to see the birth of his first child, a son.

There is a scene towards the end of the movie with his father in the movie.

You have no soul if it doesn't make you cry.

Not mentioned yet from Saving Private Ryan:
"Earn this." That line gets me every time.

Ha! I watched that movie last week. The scene where Yondu sacrifices himself to save Quill & the subsequent "Ravenger Funeral" with the song by Cat Stevens playing really got me.