Aw, candy, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. No, I’m not referring to John Candy, Candy Crush, or a girl named Candy. I’m talking about sweets, the confections, desserts, and snacks that help make life worth living. And like most foods, candy has had its place in the spotlight in many, many movies. Thus, before I raid my secret stash, it’s time to count down my favorite uses of candy in movies (No cookies, cakes, pies, or baked goods allowed, for that is another list and shall be told another time.)

12. Die Hard

Only true fans of the famous actioner would probably remember this tiny but laughable scene. Right before the SWAT team invades the Nakatomi building, one of the baddies named Uli takes his position at a food counter and can’t resist the free candy bars on display. It’s a Crunch bar so I don’t blame him. It’s funny that the actor Al Leong also proved his sweet tooth the next year as the Twinkie-eating Genghis Khan in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

11. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

This movie has no shortage of food, but among the many of types of candy on display is the monkey Steve’s obsession with gummy bears. When giant gummies attack the flying car like buzz droids, Steve goes psycho on them.

10. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Did anyone know what Turkish Delight was before this book/movie? It looks like some kind of rugalach, but no, it’s “a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar,” according to Wikipedia. I’m still not sure what it tastes like, but it’s obviously addictive enough to make Edmund betray his brother and sisters to an evil witch. Enchanted or not, I’ve got to try some of that stuff!

9. Up

Apparently large South American cryptid birds are partial to chocolate. Russell’s chocolate bars serve to attract the giant colorful bird he names Kevin and even play a role in the vertiginous climax.

8. Caddyshack

 
In a scene that made you rethink what exactly a Baby Ruth looks like, a swimming pool is quickly cleared when people see an unidentified candy bar floating around and leap to the worst possible conclusion. Bill Murray, you slob you.

7. Chocolat

I haven’t seen most of the movies with candy in the title, like Hard Candy, Candyman, Like Water for Chocolate, or Looking for Mr. Goodbar, but Chocolat’s place on this list should be self-explanatory. While I have some issues with the film itself, it’s a true love letter to the seductive power of chocolate.

6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

 
A classic example of product placement, Elliott lures E.T. out with a trail of Reese’s Pieces. If I visited a strange planet with treats like that, I’d be happy too. Mars, Inc., no doubt regretted their decision to not allow M&M’s to be used instead.

5. Grave of the Fireflies

On a much more sober note, the Sakuma Drops in Grave of the Fireflies serve as a slowly depleted vestige of Seita and Setsuko’s life before the war. Eventually, the fruit drop tin takes on far sadder and more bitter contents. Commemorative tins like the one in the film are now collector’s items.

4. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 
Two words: toot sweets. This underrated childhood classic features an entire musical numbers dedicated to Dick Van Dyke’s newly invented confection. Let’s not forget also the Child Catcher, who lures children with promises of lollipops.

3. Wreck-It Ralph

In the world of the Sugar Rush racing game, ruled by King Candy, there’s all manner of sweets as part of the landscape and the population (Laffy Taffy, Sour Bill). Many elements seem suspiciously similar to the Candy Kingdom in the cartoon series Adventure Time, but both are a sweet tooth’s dream.

2. Forrest Gump

“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” Enough said.

1. Willy Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 
Was there ever any doubt? The late Gene Wilder brought Willy Wonka to life, and his incredible edibles did justice to Roald Dahl’s candy-centric book. From the Wonka bar that holds the Golden Ticket to the Everlasting Gobstoppers and the entirely edible Chocolate Room, it’s enough to make any candy lover drool. For all its missteps (ahem, Johnny Depp), the remake does get the candy side of the story right. As Charlie Bucket says, “Candy doesn’t have to have a point. That’s why it’s candy.”

Runners-Up (though I’m sure I’ve missed some so feel free to mention others):

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Lex Luthor’s weird Jolly Rancher scene

Bedtime Stories – A lame Adam Sandler movie made memorable by raining gumballs.

The Breakfast Club – What goes well with white bread, butter, and Cap’n Crunch? Pixy Stix!

Empire of the Sun – “Would you like a Hershey bar?”

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “Gummi bear? It’s been in my pocket; they’re real warm and soft.”

The Garden of Words – Beer and chocolate for breakfast? Someone’s depressed.

The Goonies – Still need to see this movie, but I know there’s a scene with a Baby Ruth.

Hop – Why did this movie ruin jelly beans?!

The Hunt for Red October – I’ve heard that the jelly beans being eaten were a reference to President Reagan’s love for the candy.

The Iron Giant – Hogarth tricks Agent Mansley with a laxative chocolate bar.

Little Shop of Horrors – In Bill Murray’s hilarious cameo, he gleefully cheers for a candy bar during his dental appointment.

Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker – Jirachi can be annoying when it says “Candy!” over and over.

This Is the End – Everyone claims the world’s last Milky Way bar.

Tootsie – Dustin Hoffman tries to regift the chocolate-covered cherries he received as “Dorothy.”

Two Brothers – Guy Pearce comforts one of the tiger cubs with lemon drops.

For the record, here’s a list of my personal favorite candies, and those of my VC. What are your favorites?

My Favorites                                              My VC’s Favorites

12.  Mr. Goodbar                                       12.  Jelly beans
11.  Kit Kat                                               11.  Nestle Crunch
10.  York peppermint patty                        10. Snickers
9.  Hershey bar (preferably Dark)               9. Chocolate-covered potato chips
8.  Truffles                                                8.  Mounds
7.  Nestle Crunch / Buncha Crunch              7.  York peppermint patty
6.  Cherry cordials                                     6.  Bridge mix
5.  Chocolate-covered potato chips              5.  Reese’s peanut butter cups
4.  Twix                                                    4.  Cherry cordials
3.  Reese’s peanut butter cups                    3.  Truffles
2.  Chocolate-Covered macadamia nuts       2.  Sno-Caps
1.  M&M’s (Peanut or Pretzel)                      1.  M&M’s (regular or dark)

You can probably tell I love chocolate, and to conclude, here’s the reason why I enjoy screaming the word “Chocolate!” every now and then.

Rain – the soothing sound that lulls us to sleep or the raging downpour that frightens cats and children. Except for the desert, rain is a world-washing constant everywhere, especially England and Seattle, and thus makes for popular movie weather. It can be a symbol of rebirth, a mere annoyance, a passionate setting for a wet kiss, or a dramatic backdrop for a climactic fight. With so many examples of precipitation to choose from and because it’s rained a lot lately where I live, I’ve made up my own list of twelve favorite moments caught in the rain.

(These are only for movies I’ve actually seen all the way through, so apologies to anyone missing famous scenes from Road to Perdition, Say Anything, Magnolia, Garden State, Unforgiven, and Blade Runner. Feel free to suggest any others I missed.) Here goes….

12. The Truman Show (1998)

Have you ever felt like there’s a rain cloud hovering over your head, raining only on you? Probably not as literally as Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), who experiences such a technical malfunction in his reality show life.

11. Cast Away (2000)

The waterworks don’t just come from the sky when Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) finally escapes his island and finds his girlfriend (Helen Hunt) remarried. They reunite in the driving rain, yet both know that the past is as unchangeable as the weather.

10. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

For all the flak that the Star Wars prequels get, they do boast some of the best action sequences around. For instance, when Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) visits a water-covered storm planet in search of a certain bounty hunter, he finds the perp as well as a thrilling scuffle on the landing platform.

9. The Garden of Words (2013)

Rain plays a prominent role in Makoto Shinkai’s slow but exquisitely animated The Garden of Words. A high school student and an older woman meet by chance during rainy mornings, and since both are lonely and in need of support, they begin hoping for rain to again bring them together.

8. Holes (2003)

Spoiler warning, I suppose. After being sent to Camp Green Lake, “a magical place where it never rains,” Stanley (Shia LaBeouf) endures manual labor and uncovers his own past and that of the lake, leading to a climactic curse reversal.

7. Jurassic Park (1993)

How many times have you seen someone eaten off a toilet in the rain? At least once, I’d bet. Our first introduction to the T. Rex is made all the more memorable by the pouring rain that makes its entrance even scarier. Not to mention, the Dilophosaurus attack on Wayne Knight happens in the same rainstorm.

6. Seven Samurai (1954)

Akira Kurosawa definitely loved rain in his movies. There’s the beginning and end of Rashomon, for instance, and it’s never just a shower but a full-on atmospheric assault. Speaking of assault, the final battle between his seven samurai and the attacking bandits occurs in a raging storm, distinguishing it as an even more impressive feat of classic cinematic warfare.

5. The Notebook (2004)

Sure, Nicholas Sparks movies tend to be sappy and formulaic, but romance is romance. The Notebook is certainly a flawed story, but that passionate kiss in the rain is among the most iconic scenes of modern romance.

4. Spider-Man (2001)

Speaking of iconic passionate kisses in the rain, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson share a uniquely inverted smooch after he saves her from some thugs. I’ve heard Tobey Macguire could hardly breath while filming, but the end result was worth it (says this uninvolved viewer). The Andrew Garfield movies never had anything this good.

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Of all the battles in the rain (and there are many), none is as awesomely epic as the siege of Helm’s Deep in the second Lord of the Rings movie. With their trapped forces hopelessly outnumbered by the approaching Uruk-hai, Aragorn and the men of Rohan just can’t catch a break, and it starts raining even without someone saying “It can’t get any worse, can it?” It pours through the entire night, a wet and messy melee of good against evil.

2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

After crawling through a sewage pipe to escape Shawshank Prison, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) could use a good shower, and the rain that aided his escape acts as a symbolic cleansing from all the dirty deeds he did and saw behind bars. Such a powerful scene!

1. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

When it comes to famous scenes in the rain, nothing can compare with Gene Kelly’s marvelous musical number to the title song. Even though he was sick with a fever at the time, Kelly joyously splashes through puddles and revels in the sheer joy of wet contentment. Who needs an umbrella when you have love, right?

Runners-Up (as you can see, it was tough narrowing the list to twelve):

A Bug’s Life – The rainy season can be a big problem when you’re as small as an insect.

Aliens – It’s pouring when Ripley and the Marines land on LV-426.

Back to the Future Part II – It’s pouring when Marty gets a 70-year-old telegram from Doc and actually tries to read it as it gets soaked.

Bee Movie – Rain and insects again – you get the picture.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – It’s pouring during the touching final scene. Animal cruelty is rarely this romantic.

Beauty and the Beast – It’s pouring during Gaston’s confrontation with the Beast.

The Day after Tomorrow – It’s pouring (and I mean pouring!) when New York is swallowed by a massive tidal wave.

Forrest Gump – “One day, it started raining, and it didn’t quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain… and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night.”

The Goodbye Girl – It’s pouring when Richard Dreyfuss is in the phone booth.

The Hunger Games – It’s pouring when Peeta throws some bread to a starving Katniss.

Inception – It’s pouring when Cobb and his team first enter Fischer’s dream world.

Jumanji – It’s pouring even inside houses, thanks to that board game.

Les Miserables (2012) – It’s pouring at the beginning when Valjean and the other prisoners are hauling in a ship.

The Matrix Revolutions – It’s pouring during Neo’s climactic fight with Smith.

Midnight in Paris – Gil prefers women who don’t mind getting wet since after all, “Paris is the most beautiful in the rain.”

My Neighbor Totoro – Not the biggest fan of this movie, but I do love certain scenes, like the picture at the top.

Noah – Forty days and forty nights – that’s a lot of rain.

The Outsiders – It’s pouring when the Greasers and the Socs have their big rumble.

The Perfect Storm – It’s in the name.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – It’s pouring during the huge whirlpool battle.

Poltergeist – It’s pouring when corpses appear in the swimming pool. Seriously scary.

The Quiet Man – It’s pouring when John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara share a kiss in the cemetery.

Raising Arizona – It’s pouring when the Snoats brothers dig out of prison, pre-Shawshank. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Rashomon – It’s pouring during the entire frame story.

Shadowlands – It’s pouring when C.S. Lewis and Joy visit the Golden Valley, which is more wet than golden.

Tarzan – It’s pouring during yet another Disney villain fight.

Thor – It’s pouring during Thor’s free-for-all with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Time of Eve – It’s pouring during a silent example of robot prejudice.

Wolf Children – It’s pouring both at the end and during the traumatic moment when Hana realizes she’s on her own.

Wuthering Heights – It’s pouring when Heathcliff departs and Cathy runs out on the moor after him.

I can’t tell you how much this Raising Arizona scene in reverse made me laugh. You’re welcome. 😀

After a full month of poetry, it’s about time for another list. Doors are among the simplest components of a building or room, but they offer many different functions: an entrance, an exit, an obstacle, a trap, a measure to keep something in or out. Naturally, movies have incorporated doors and all their uses and created some memorable door scenes over the years. Of course, almost every film has some kind of door, whether it be big, small, round, square, wood, or metal, but these are my favorite from film, not to forget great TV doors like the Get Smart intro or various doors in Star Trek (like the Guardian of Forever or that revolving door spinning on its own). Without further ado, here are my top 12 door scenes in movies.

12. The Abyss (1989)

Ships and submarines often have doors that close in the event of a flood. While Titanic had some close-call scenes with such doors, The Abyss outdid them years before. After angrily throwing his wedding ring in the toilet and grudgingly retrieving it, Ed Harris’s Bud is very glad he reclaimed it. He almost gets trapped behind an automatic flood door, and only his wedding ring jams it long enough to save his life.

11. Ghost (1990)

What does the inside of a door look like? Well, newly deceased Sam (Patrick Swayze) finds out when his first experiment with intangibility involves slowly phasing through a door. Plus, there’s the famous penny scene, where he convinces Molly by dragging a coin up the same door.

10. TIE: The Wizard of Oz (1939) / The Truman Show (1998)

These two films don’t have much in common, but both feature a visually significant door to a new world, one at the beginning and one at the end. Dorothy’s transition from black-and-white Kansas to the Technicolor Oz will always be one of the most magical moments in cinema, while Truman’s farewell to his life as a reality show ends The Truman Show with a perfect wink.

9. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

A magical castle would understandably possess a magical door, and while Howl’s moving castle stays safely in the mountains, its front door can lead to any of four locations depending on a knob and a color wheel. I’d love a door like that!

8. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

The Matrix sequels were definitely flawed, but they still incorporated cool concepts. The second movie added a lot of lore to its digital world, including hidden corridors lined with doors and the character of the Keymaker, whose keys can make a door lead anywhere. Warning for some language and violence in this video:

7. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)

Originally titled The Black Door, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die is the kind of laughably cheesy disembodied-head B-movie that Mystery Science Theater 3000 thrived on. It’s mainly known to me as the film that traumatized my mom, who at a young age saw the scene where someone’s arm is torn off by a mad scientist’s monster hidden behind a locked door. That same door is ripped off its hinges when the creature finally attacks the mad scientist.

6. TIE: The Others (2001) / The Conjuring (2013)

Both of these atmospheric horrors are filled with doors: closing doors, opening doors, doors that play with knocks. In The Others, Nicole Kidman’s protective mother insists on keeping curtains and doors closed to protect her photosensitive children, while The Conjuring’s restless spirits have a field day with their haunted house’s doors. Both films also have a drawn-out scene involving a door slamming shut unexpectedly.

5. TIE: King Kong (1933) / Jurassic Park (1993)

This placement mainly goes to Jurassic Park, in which too-intelligent raptors learn how to open doors. There’s also the giant main gate (echoed in Jurassic World too) that leads into the park, which is very similar to the gate in the original King Kong (I thought I’d heard they were the same), and of course Ian Malcolm had to make a reference.

4. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

It seems like the most intriguing doors are those that open to someplace unexpected. When Matt Damon’s romance with Emily Blunt is not approved by the fate-enforcing Adjustment Bureau, he uses their supernatural hats to teleport through doors and escape.

3. The Incredibles (2004)

Don’t you hate it when you close a door on yourself? That might happen more often if you could stretch across a room like Elastigirl, like in this awesome scene from everyone’s favorite animated superhero movie.

2. The Shining (1980)

One of the most classic horror scenes is Jack Nicholson’s taking an ax to the bathroom door, where Shelley Duvall cringes in terror. Heeere’s Johnny!

1. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Pixar claims the top spot with a film chock full of doors! The only safe way for monsters to enter the human world and reap the fuel of screams is to sneak through children’s closet doors and scare them. Those doors are all kept in an industrial-size vault, the setting for one of Pixar’s most imaginative action sequences. No movie has as many doors as Monsters, Inc.

Runners-Up

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”

A Christmas Carol – Scrooge’s first hint of ghosts afoot is when Marley appears as his door knocker.

Alice in Wonderland (1951) – Alice drinks the shrinking potion to get through that little talking door.

Alien (1979) / Aliens (1986) – Both films qualify if an airlock can be considered a door, but Aliens also has that reveal scene where Paul Reiser gets it.

Beetlejuice (1988) – How to reach the afterlife waiting room: draw a door in chalk and don’t forget the doorknob.

The Breakfast Club (1985) – The vice principal just couldn’t keep that door open, not with a screw missing.

Coraline (2009) – Don’t crawl through every spooky little door you find in your house.

Elizabethtown (2005) – Drew’s boss is obsessed with the number two, so of course he had to have two Tunisian doors imported for $762,000…each.

Fantastic Four (2005) – Mr. Fantastic’s first test of his powers involves stretching underneath a door.

Forbidden Planet (1956) – No door can stop a “monster from the id.”

Funny Farm (1988) – Those country doors that split in the middle are slapstick gold.

Get Smart (2008) – The original series’ famous opening showed Maxwell Smart walking through a series of perfectly timed doors, which the movie had to use for homage and parody (see below).

The Godfather (1972) – The final scene illustrates that a door has closed on Michael Corleone’s old life.

Godzilla (2014) – Early on, Bryan Cranston makes a hard decision with a radiation door.

The Lord of the Rings (2001-3) – From the round doors of Hobbiton to the besieged gates of Minas Tirith, Middle Earth loves its doors (see above).

The Maze Runner (2014) – Doors are often ripe for squeezing through at the last second.

Monster House (2006) – I never thought of a door as a house’s mouth until this movie.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – A door drawn in chalk; where have I seen that before?

Prince Caspian (2008) – I liked how the exit from Narnia was changed from a simple door frame in the book to a door within a tree in the film.

The Prince of Egypt (1998) – Any account of the Exodus includes the Biblical blood on the doorposts during the first Passover.

Room (2015) – “It can’t really be Room if Door’s open.”

Signs (2002) – Don’t get too close to a door when an alien’s trapped on the other side.

The Sixth Sense (1999) – The big red church doors and the red handle of the cellar door served as early clues to the supernatural.

Stuart Little (1999) – For some reason, I’ve always remembered the doors in the Little household because they’re strangely covered in wallpaper and blend into the wall when closed.

Twister (1996) – That first scene proves that holding the cellar door in a tornado doesn’t do much good.

What’s Up, Doc? (1972) – All the people going back and forth between a hotel hall’s doors is just one of the great elements of this screwball comedy, perhaps reminiscent of the door hopping during those Scooby Doo cartoon chases.