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PROFESSOR PEABODY'S HYSTERICAL HISTORICAL WAYBACK SPRING BREAK FILM QUIZ
For most good, dedicated students, and yes, even for some of the studious young men and women featured floating on a houseboat on Lake Havasu in the latest Girls Gone Wild volume, finals week before Spring Break usually means an increase in the intensity of studies, a sudden spike in the academic mercury that measures just how hot the classroom kitchen gets before putting down the #2 on that last exam and beginning the pleasurable experience of prepping for some well-deserved time off. And so it is with Your Humble Narrator. I had at least four different ideas for posts, all of which will not be making their way onto your screens this week due to my own study week coming to a head like a pustule on the nose of one of Basil Wolverton’s agonizingly detailed portrait subjects. And academic agony is nothing if it cannot to be shared.
After my big test tomorrow I’ll be taking a break from posting for about a week and hitting the Oregon Trail, all paths leading to Eugene and the big premiere of Earth Day happening Wednesday, April 22. (Those of you in the Eugene area this week should be advised, there are some seats available for the 9:00 p.m. showing, but they are increasingly few.)
But while I’m gone it would not be nice if I did not leave you with something to do to while away your Spring Break hours in my absence. So then, it is my pleasure to introduce the newest member of the SLIFR University faculty, a lecturer of prestige and passionate following who may be more familiar to the older members of our congregation than the younger, but who should be no less revered for his age and /or irrelevance to current pop culture. He is the esteemed Professor Peabody who, along with his trusty sidekick Sherman, will guide you through the ins and outs of his Hysterical Historical Wayback Spring Break Film Quiz. There were some amusing complaints of musty references and deliberate obfuscation lingering about the Kingsfield quiz last Christmas from a few frustrated quiz-takers. Those participants, and any others like them, should steel themselves for more of the same, as Professor Peabody is nothing if not cognizant of some of the lesser-known of screen talents, and he’s here to talk about them today.
It is time. Sit back, relax, and enjoy yourselves. Though I will undoubtedly be present in the comments column, I’ll be back with fresh posts staring the week of April 27 (unless something hits me with urgency before then), including word on the upcoming drive-in season, and special plans therein for SLIFR readers, and some other surprises which I hope delight you as much as they have already delighted me. Before you start the quiz, take a moment and watch this special introductory film Professor Peabody has prepared just for you, and then start whacking away. There is, as always, no time limit, and but one simple request—please copy the questions along with your answers in the comments column so readers can more easily understand to what your answers are referring. Have a great spring break!
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1) Favorite Biopic
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
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See ya when I get back from Oregon (and some of you I'll see there)! Yee-haw!
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52 comments:
1) Favorite Biopic
Probably one of these:
THE SCARLETT EMPRESS
PAPILLON
TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAMS
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Dyan Cannon, if only for HEAVEN CAN WAIT.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
My god, there are so many. It's one of the reasons I love Sci-Fi so much. The all time champ has to be turning the biggest cultural and financial center in the U.S. and possibly the world into a prison in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in the way-off future of 1999. But for me, it's social norms that were never taken into consideration. FORBIDDEN PLANET takes place far, far into our future but women are condescended to and non-white people don't exist.
Also STRANGE DAYS gets a special honor for predicting too much would happen just a couple of years after the movie was released.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee. I guess.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Lordy, he has so many great ones and I haven't even seen 25 percent of his output. I'll go with WHITE HEAT.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
BOOGIE NIGHTS
Also, I'd mention THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, not because one could improve much over CITIZEN KANE but it definitely proved the debut was no fluke.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube. STRAIGHT OUT OF COMPTON was the first rap album I ever bought.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Two: ONE TRICK PONY and GET CRAZY
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
ROBIN HOOD DAFFY...
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Right now I'm not sure. I can't think of one that is excellent that isn't getting praise from the bloggers already. Right now I don't know. Let me think about it.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
BLITHE SPIRIT
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
BARNABY JONES
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Haven't seen as many as I should have by this point. From what I have seen I'll say GRAND ILLUSION.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
if... because it's ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! It even has ellipses for the viewer to fill in his or her blank. If what?! If the kids take over? If anarchy reigns? If revolution succeeds? Who knows! What a brilliant title!
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone for being the best nemesis Errol Flynn ever had.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I never have expectations one way or the other. I avoid the summer movies in the theatre and catch them on DVD later. So... in about six months I will actually have expectations, but not now.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Well, I am a parent and I can't remember what the first was. I honestly think this question will be easier for non-parents because then it will exist purely in the hypothetical. In reality, your kids see dozens of movies before they can understand them and the first several you watch together have no lasting impact on them. By five or so they can start appreciating story lines and characters. By seven and eight it's a lot better. Our youngest is now fully conversant in the language of thirties movies after years of watching them with us. So I wouldn't pick a first movie, but a first period and make sure it's old. In other words, all the new stuff on cable is unavoidable to them anyway so best to get them well-versed in the flow and pacing of older movies at a young age when they can build a lifelong appreciation for them.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin, if only for explaining that when a man's mother dies he gets to thinking.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: Earrings of Madame de...
DVD: Casino Royale
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Most at home. 99 percent of movies I see in the theatre are older films from the silent era through the fifties. I am blessed to have the AFI five minutes away meaning I can see classic Hollywood and Foreign films on the big screen regularly. But we've got four kids, three living at home, so most are seen on DVD.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Pretty much anything by Jack Black. He really should have been nominated by now. And honestly, as great as Robert Downey jr was in TROPIC THUNDER, Black made me laugh more.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I am not the person to answer this question.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I can't think of any. I revel in movies that make me want to turn away because of the horrors of life or death that they are showing me and try to return to them often. So if it's painful, I WANT to watch it again. Now, there are plenty of comedies that I liked enough to not watch again because I'm afraid they will lose their appeal.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
BEYONCE, if only for that damn video Flickhead put up.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
OUT OF THE PAST
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
PETULIA (several different bands)
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O’Connor, an all-time favorite.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Too many and it changes too often. Let's just say many of his movies are among my favorites ever.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
FLOODS OF FEAR
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Agnes Moorehead.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
I have several but they're all because of achieving inside joke status between my wife and I. For instance, that horrid line of Gloria Stuart's in TITANIC, the one about "he saved me, in every way that a person can be saved." Well, my wife and I laughed at the line instinctively together the first time we heard it and have used it ever since. Bad day at work? "My boss screwed me over, in every way that a person can be screwed over." Sick the night before? "I vomited. In every way that a person can vomit." And so on. Also, you have to say using Stuart's voice.
Also the line by Claudette Colbert in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT where she says "I'll get us a ride and I won't use my thumb." Using her exact inflection my wife and I have gotten extraordinary mileage out of the last part of that line, especially if the reference is off-color. Example: I have to go take a shit, and I won't use my thumb. Oh man, it can be used for anything, again and again and again.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Elliot, by a hair's width.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Orson Welles as Hank Quinlan in TOUCH OF EVIL. He's magnificent.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Changes daily. For today, let's say... um... BALL OF FIRE.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I love history. I read up on it whenever I can and have begun to incorporate it into Cinema Styles. For now, it's History and the Movies posts but it's really just an excuse to write about the past. I find knowledge of the past invaluable. There's nary a phrase in existence that can ruffle my feathers more than "I don't that, it was before my time." The idea of only knowing what is in your time makes me cringe. The past is there and so much of what has happened is already forgotten, lying dormant, waiting for someone to rediscover it and take away the proper lessons.
HOORAY!!! I was the first!!!
Sorry.
For timeliness and general excellence of responses, you get an apple and a pat on the head, Gregory. Now quiet down, because others are still working. :)
-- Professor Peabody
1) Favorite Biopic
A: “The Long Day Closes”, an entirely different kind of biopic.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
A: Tuesday Weld (“Lord Love a Duck”, “Pretty Poison”, et al, and for looking like Debbie Harry [or vice versa].)
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
A: “Robot Monster”.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
A: Annette & Frankie because of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Xmas Special”.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
A: “White Heat”.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
A: Wes Craven.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
A: Missy Elliott.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
A: “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
“One Froggy Evening”. No Daffy or Bugs, but fantastic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhq0N4ORYjM)
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
A: Joe Dante.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
A: Ruth Gordon (“Carpet… hack, hack.. carpet…”)
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
A: “Cabaret”.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
A: Ebsen.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
A: I’ve only ever seen “Rules of the Game” and it bored the hell out of me. And I watched it a second time, and it still bored the hell out of me.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
“Jaws”. Evocative title, excellent movie.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Ernest Thesiger for “Bride of Frankenstein”, and for being an early, obvious and much needed gay presence.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest: “Inglorious Basterds”. Lowest: 80% of what’s headed our way.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
A: No kids of my own, but if I were to take one to an intro movie, it’d be “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” when the child was around 8, because Ray Harryhausen movies are one of the keys to unlocking imagination.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
A: Both, but I’ll go Martin.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
A: Theatre: “Observe and Report”. DVD: “Taste the Blood of Dracula”
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
A: Home, because I’m catching up on all kinds of Euro stuff I’ve yet to see (Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, etc.).
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
A: Nicolas Cage, back when he was good in either “Raising Arizona” or “Vampire’s Kiss”. He didn’t deserve it for “Leaving Las Vegas”.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
A: I like Kristen Stewart, but I wish that Pattinson guy would stop with all the eyebrow posing… yeech! Plus he looks like a skinned rabbit. I’ll go with them though, because Stewart’s so good.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
A: I don’t have one… yet.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
A: The Knowles woman.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
A: “Night of the Hunter”.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
A: See #8.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
A: Both are great, but I’ll go with Una for her sense of humour.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
“Witchfinder General”… no wait, “Theatre of Blood”… no, “The Tingler”, uh-uh, “Edward Scissorhands”…I mean, “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”… Okay, “Witchfinder General”.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
A: “Death Laid an Egg”.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
A: Bea for “Notorious” and for the LT Granny.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
A: “Not unless round is funny.” from “Raising Arizona”.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
A: Yay, CanCon… D. Sutherland for screwing Julie Christie (Though Elliott Gould should get a medal for doing it in real life with Barbra Streisand.)
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
A: I hate to go all wishy-washy Charlie Brown on this, but either John Huston in “Chinatown” or Roman Polanski in “The Tenant”. Ummm, Huston!
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
I do not get the allure of this woman, but I’ll go with “Double Indemnity” because it’s great.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
A: It’s all connected, isn’t it? Seriously, everything from nutritional labels on food, blogs, porn, advertising…
i guess #6 should have read "the hills have eyes" being a big leap from "last house on the left".
1) Favorite Biopic
Topsy Turvy. As it happens, I was listening to Bill Condon’s commentary for Kinsey last night, and he said that he believed that the best approach to biopics was to focus on a specific period of the subject’s life (he also said that he was unable to do so with Kinsey, but I wish he’d tried harder). That’s what Mike Leigh does with his film about Gilbert and Sullivan. By narrowing his story to the creation and production of The Mikado, he’s able to bring out a lot more detail, and paint a fuller, richer portrait of the men and their world than he ever could have done had he gone the birth-to-death route. And Topsy Turvy is, of course, immensely entertaining.
Furthermore, the film sort of inspired me to, not write, but think of the idea for my own biopic project, which I will never actually make, but which I’ll also not tell any of you about, because you’d just steal it.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld. I mean, come on. Anthony Perkins was gay, and he still killed people for her.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
I don’t know about a specific film, but I do think that filmmakers are asking to be laughed at when they set their futuristic films in a specific year. Blade Runner is great, but what year does that take place in? 2011, or something like that? No one is even working on a flying car, and here it is 2009 already. Just say “The Future”, and leave it at that.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
No thank you.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat. It’s my favorite gangster movie, because it’s perfect.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
I’m tempted to go with Herzog’s Even Dwarves Started Small. It’s not his best film, but I think his first time at bat, Signs of Life is pretty limp and tedious, while Dwarves is a shot of pure Herzogian insanity, and bizarrely riveting. Most of the best Herzog films that followed could be similarly described.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def. Ice Cube just postures on-screen, but Mos Def can really act. He’s sliding a little bit towards caricature lately, but look at him in The Woodsman. He’s genuinely good.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
This is Spinal Tap. I would say there’s no other acceptable answer, but there is, of course, A Mighty Wind. So everyone has a choice between those two.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
“Favorite” might be pushing it a little, but I’ve always been partial to Robin Hood Daffy. My link wasn't working, but you guys all know what I'm talking about.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Otto Preminger. Suck it, Greg!
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon. I don’t know that I can say she had an amazing range, but working with the skills she did have, she was tremendous.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
I’m a broken record on this, but Glengarry Glen Ross. The more you watch it, the more you can shift your focus from Lemmon, Baldwin, Pacino and Harris, and start to realize how terrific Arkin, Pryce, Altman and Spacey are.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Oh, I don’t know. Buddy Ebsen, I guess. He seemed like a nice guy.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Mmm…Rules of the Game, I guess. I haven’t quite clicked 100 % with Renoir yet, but that’s the one I most want to go back to.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Chinatown. It’s mysterious, and yet somehow a perfect symbol. Perfect, probably, because no one ever talks about it.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone. I like Thesiger, and I suppose he had more character, but I like Rathbone’s efficiency. Whatever that means.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Do you mean this summer, or overall? If you mean this summer, then my highest, in a walk, is Inglorious Basterds. My lowest is Transformers 2 or the Pelham remake.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Man, I don’t know. 10 Rillington Place? Is that good for kids? I’m bad at judging these things.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Jones, I think. Martin could be a little cartoony for my taste. Plus, Jones is so heartbreaking in A Prairie Home Companion, and he directed A Boy and His Dog.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters…eesh, it’s been a while. Oh, it was Watchmen. Which I didn’t like, and I explain why in my blog, but I won’t provide the link, because that would be rude.
On DVD, I think it was The Red Shoes, which I think I can safely say I liked considerably more than Watchmen. Favorite line, from Anton Walbrook: “…Charming!”
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. Because I’m lazy, is why. But also because the films that I really want to see available to me only for home viewing far outnumbers those in the theater I’m interested in at any given time.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Parker Posey in Waiting for Guffman, or Catherine O’Hara in A Mighty Wind. Or Michael McKean in most things. I’m a fan of the works of Christopher Guest, by the way.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
No. I beg you, no.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
If I think a movie is truly good, painful or not, I tend to not have much problem going back to it. So I don’t really think I have an answer to this one, but, okay, second viewings of The Piano Teacher or See the Sea would take some gearing up for.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Holy smokes. Must I?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Hunter. Or Out of the Past, but I’m going to stick with Night of the Hunter, because I was obsessed with that movie for a while. I do think it’s Mitchum’s best performance, and plus, it’s so good for so many bizarre reasons. Sally Jane Bruce!!!
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
What’s Up, Tiger Lily?, featuring the Lovin’ Spoonful. Or maybe that should be featurin’.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Ouspenskaya. That last name alone carries a certain amount of significance, doesn’t it?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Ouch. Wait, no, it’s Witchfinder General. That’s a great movie, and Price is at his best there. The only really tough competition, I think, would be Theater of Blood, in which Price is also outstanding, but there’s quite a bit of dated camp in that one, which knocks it down a peg or two in my book.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Crap, I don’t know. I don’t want to go with one of my fall-back answers, so I’ll go with a movie that’s truly great and unique, but which may already have a rabid cult following: Saul Bass’s Phase IV. If it doesn’t have a rabid cult following, that’s only because it used to be so hard to find. Not so hard now, because I saw it via Netflix, even though somebody claimed I was mistaken, and that I must have seen something else, which I was confusing with Phase IV. But no, it was Phase IV, all right. Super ants, Michael Murphy, etc.
Anyway, amazing film.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Benaderet, because she used to be on Fibber McGee & Molly.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
To be honest – and this isn’t a single line, but it’s going to be my answer anyway – the “Afternoon Delight” scene from Anchorman makes me laugh, out loud and at length, every single time. And all those single times add up to quite a lot over the years. If I’m not laughing immediately, I will at least begin laughing when Carrell and Rudd go into their duet, and Will Ferrell looks at David Koechner as if to say, “Hey, they’re pretty good!”
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
I think I generally prefer Gould, but Sutherland has two great horror films under his belt -- Don’t Look Now and Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- so my choice has to be him. We horror fans must show our support.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Um…honestly, boring anwers, but Scorsese in Taxi Driver. Terrifying and funny. He’s never acted so well since.
And I’m not a fan of either Takashi Miike or the film Hostel, or even of Miike’s delivery of his one line in that film, but I do like the line: “You can spend all of your money in there.” Ten times scarier than the rest of the film.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
My favorite movie that she’s appeared in is Double Indemnity, but my favorite performance from her is in The Lady Eve.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Literature. They share a lot in common, but are still completely separate and distinct artforms. To be honest, literature probably means a bit more to me than film, but both, in their own ways, have given me an appreciation of the art of saying something, or showing something, in just the right way. Nailing a moment, or a sentence, or a thought, or a turn of the story, or a line of dialogue. The great artists in both mediums know that the smallest touches can be the most important thing, and can connect the work to the audience in a way that no amount of showboating or grandstanding can ever accomplish.
1) Favorite Biopic
American Splendor (modern)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (classic)
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?Dyan Cannon, purely for her role in Heaven Can Wait
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Le voyage dans la lune. It didn'treally happen like that, right?
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Frankie and Annette hands down. Annette was the shit!
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?White Heat
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
David Lynch. I liked Eraserhead but I still haven't figured it out. At least in The Elephant Man, I knew what was going on.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def. I loved Bamboozled
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Phantom of the Paradise, no contest. The coolest movie I ever saw (when I was 13).
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
What's Opera, Doc?(Spear and magic HEL-met!)
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Tim Burton. I know, he makes commercial films, but the guy is a total nut in a totally nutty business.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
That's a tough one, but I go with Ruth Gordon, based on versitility.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen. The Tin Man to Breakfast at Tiffany's to Jed Clampett...Jeez! How can you beat THAT?
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Not familiar enough with his work
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Frogs! Compelling, yet a head-scratcher.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone. Sherlock Holmes, fer crissakes!
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Summer movies are for the masses and most of them suck. No expectations at all.... maybe "Up"
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
The first movie I saw with my son was Disney's Beauty and The Beast. Still very fitting
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Aren't they the same person?
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
The Dark Night(in theater)
Beware with Loius Jordan (DVD)
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home. I do not like sharing theaters with people. People don't know haow to behave in theaters. Plus Turner Classic Movies is at home.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. A role that Tom made great.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
You won't hear from any of them a year from now.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Requiem for a Dream
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer Hudson seems to have more talent
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie? Night of The Hunter
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Hold On! with Herman's Hermits. A total hokey Beatles rip-off
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Maria Ouspenskaya. She warned Larry Talbot.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Too many to narrow down, from The Ten Commandments to The Tingler to Witchfinder General to Edward Scissorhands.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
The Arisocrats
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Irene Ryan (although Benaderet was Betty Rubble)
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"Well, when did you become the physical type" - Back to the Future II (my son does the "Biff" voice)
"I want the same amount of blueberries in every muffin." - Casino
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland, based on Animal House alone.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Roman Polanski in Chinatown AND The Fearless Vampire Killers
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity. (Everyone said my mom looked like Barbara Stanwyck.)
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Death. I love reading about death and unusual way people have died.
Otto Preminger. Suck it, Greg!
...
I don't have to. Preminger sucks enough for all of us.
(I don't actually think he sucks but I had to provide a retort to Bill).
1) Favorite Biopic
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Why, it must be Tuesday.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
None of them had the internet. Just thought I would put that out there.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Pass
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
I know that it's not a very “Walshy” movie besides a general sense of adventure, but The Thief of Bagdad is really a nearly perfect movie. It's full of adventure, romance and fantasy in the best possible sense. It's the kind of movie that would have been my favorite at the age of ten, and it's able to transport me back to all the best and truest parts of childhood instantly without condescension, without dumbing it down. It's a fantastic movie.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Targets is a lot better than Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. Trust Me.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube never really had a role like he did in Boyz N the Hood, but he's the best part bar none in that movie. Mos Def has been better than Ice Cube on average, but has never been truly impressive to me. And their rap careers are both very good, but in very different ways. But my gut instinct is to go with Ice Cube, if only because I find myself listening to him most often.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Does Gimme Shelter Count?
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
I have never laughed as hard as I did when I first saw Duck Amuck, and I doubt I will again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEihY6wSbwI&feature=related
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
The problem with questions like this is that you'll be able to find a lively cult for basically any filmmaker you can think of, and your sense of who is and who isn't respected gets a bit out of whack. One filmmaker who is a cult figure now but who deserves everything that he can get is Anthony Mann, who has even seemed to take the backseat to (the wonderful) Boetticher nowadays. He's my favorite director of westerns, and his world view is far more complex than the “redemptive violence” box that many of his admirers have put him in.
Also, Mervyn LeRoy and Robert Aldrich
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Gordon
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
12 Angry Men
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Ebsen
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Of the two I've seen? Rules of the Game by a country mile.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
The very name Airplane! (with the exclamation point or course) lets you know exactly what the movie is going to be like. Exactly.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
While the camp in Thesiger's character has been wonderfully explored, I don't think people give him credit on just how scary he could be at the same time. The same line reading makes me laugh and sends chills down my spine. There's talent.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
When does Summer start again? They keep moving it up. Ah well, I'm looking forward to Drag Me to Hell, Up, The Hurt Locker, Public Enemies, Bruno, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea and Inglourious Basterds. I'm dreading the new Transformer's movie, the Pelham 1 2 3 remake, and just about everything else.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
As Johnathan said, it would have to be something old. I do think that early exposure to something like black & white or silent really helps you understand it as an adult. The Thief of Bagdad wouldn't be a bad choice actually, it's unlikely to bore the kids at least.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Pass.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: The Reader. Piss. Poor.
DVD: The Orphanage: Solid horror film.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
DVD. I am lazy, cheap and more films are out on DVD than are at the theatre.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Buster Keaton forever
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
God damn kids and their boom-bang music.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Calling Triumph of the Will “great” gets into troubling territory, but it is definitely a formal masterpiece. And god does it drain your very soul away.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
The music video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” is a better piece of film or acting than anything in Dreamgirls.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Goddamn Hunter.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
I know you hate it, but the Yardbirds scene in Blow Up is amazing.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Pass
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
The Pit and the Pendulum. It's the most crazily effective of the Corman films I've seen, and Price just rolls with it.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Although I hate metaphors like this, Attack does for war what Kiss Me Deadly did for the private eye. It eviscerates it, lays it bare and takes out every sense of glory dignity or beauty in it. It's stylish, powerful and has its own very specific world view. I'm crazy about it.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
When you ask us to pick between people I don't know, I die a little inside. Pass.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
The entire “and two hard-boiled eggs” scene in A Night at the Opera
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Sutherland in general, but Gould in The Long Goodbye is unbeatable.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Welles is really anything, but I'll go with his Falstaff at the moment.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
You are cruel. Double Indemnity.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Recently I've really gotten into political theory. I think it's incredibly important to question your basic assumptions about these kinds of things, to actually read and try to understand thinkers who have completely different viewpoints than you. I can't really tell you how much I've rethought about society this year, or how much reading people like Burke, Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Hobbes, Mill or many others has helped me make sense of society just a little bit more, either by pointing new ideas out to you or by your violent disagreement with them. It's also interesting in that you understand the arguments of your opponent and your own so much better by understanding the underlying assumptions and presuppositions in their and your arguments. It's actually helped me to become less polemical and more understanding of other viewpoints. What this has to do with movies I don't know, but its become one of my passions.
I don't actually think he sucks but I had to provide a retort to Bill...
And that's what you came up with?
That question from the guy who started the whole thing with the erudite "suck it Greg." Bill always does entertain.
1. Biopic. Tucker, love Jeff Bridges & Joan Allen.
2. Cannon or Weld. Dyan Cannon
3. Sci-fi future...Dead End Drive-In
Drive-ins become internment camps for the
undesireables.
4. Frankie & Annette all the way.
5. Raoul Walsh film ... White Heat
6. Sophomore film...can't choose, but Boogie Nights is a good choice.
7. Ice Cube or Mos Def. Mos Def, he has that tender vibe going on.
8. Music industry film... Get Crazy
9. Looney Toons... Barber of Seville
10. Director reassessment... Gregory Hoblit
11. Ruth Gordon or Margeret Hamilton...Ruth
12. play adaption...Chicago
13. Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan...pass
14. Jean Renoir....pass
15. 1 word movie title...Porky's
16. Thesiger or Rathbone...pass
17. Summer movies. this year: High, Basterds Low,
Pelham.. Overall: High, Indy 4 Low, Spy Kids
18. First film for kids... E.T.
19. LQ Jones or Strother Martin.... Strother for
making Slap Shot.
20. last film in theater...Duplicity along with Knowing at the drive-in On DVD... The Many
Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, I kid you not.
21. theaters vs. home. I watch more movies at home but that changes during the summer.
22. Comic performance worthy of Oscar... Bill Murray, Groundhog Day
23. You've got to be joking
24. Painful movie, We Were Soldiers
25. Beyonce' or Jennifer....Beyonce'
26. fave Robert Mitchum...Night of the Hunter
27. 60's music film...Ferry Cross The Mersey
28. pass
29. fave Vincent Price...Abominable Dr. Phibes
30. new cult film...Rat Race
31. Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson...Lucille
32. fave movie line to cheer you up... Reasoning with a woman is like eating soup with a fork.
Drive-In & Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride.
33. Elliot or Donald.... Donald
34. fave director as actor... Sydney Pollack in Tootsie
35. Barbara Stanwyck film... pass
36. Death...Stephen King's The Body pretty much sums it up for me.
As Johnathan said, it would have to be something old.Greg said it too. Oh, that damn pseudonym.
1) Favorite Biopic
Tucker:The Man and His Dream
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Weld.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Pan-Am in Space: 2001:A Space Odyssey.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
The former. Their movies were funnier.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
High Sierra, easily.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Ride the High Country
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Cube. Mainly for Trespass. I don't think I've seen Def in a movie.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Rabbit's Kin (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3342568522676731960&ei=mljpSeLXPIGyqALDouHbBA&q=+%22Rabbit%27s+Kin%22&hl=en)The one with Pete Puma.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Delmer Daves
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Gordon.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
The Miracle Worker.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buchanan.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Between The River and Rules of the Game I have to say Rules, but I have that Lionsgate boxed set to look at yet.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
BURN! And why not?
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
It's an unfair comparison because Rathbone did so much, but Dr. Pretorius is one of the very greatest movie villains ever, so i say Thesiger.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I just got the Entertainment Weekly summer preview and was unimpressed. I guess I go with Public Enemies as highest and Transformers 2 as lowest.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
I was thinking of something like The General that would be funny and easy to follow and would get the child used to older formats.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Jones impresses me every time I see him from Buchanan Rides Alone to Casino.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theater: Gomorrah.
On DVD: Pizza, Beer and Smokes.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home, because I have so many. Nothing against modern theaters, but maybe against modern movies.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Both Jeff Bridges and John Goodman in The Big Lebowski
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Who????
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I know I haven't watched Irreversible a second time, so maybe that's why...
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Knowles.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Cape Fear (1962)
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Blow-Up (Yardbirds)
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Both annoying, O'Connor more entertainingly so.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
I really dig him in His Kind of Woman, as the ham actor who talks the talk, then actually walks the walk. He steals the picture from Mitchum.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Hudson Hawk.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Benaderet. I remember her fondly from Burns and Allen when CBN used to run it at night.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make you laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"Hey, you big bully. Stop picking on that little bully." From A Night at the Opera.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Sutherland.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Welles in The Third Man.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Meet John Doe. Also my favorite Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan and Frank Capra movie.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
History puts it all in perspective.
1) Favorite Biopic
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Most of what happens in the movie...was true...
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld. Not even close. Once Upon a Time in America, and the cover to Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" album.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Tron
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Frankie and Annette. Muscle Beach Party--a classic.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Jaws
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube. Don't care for either of them as an actor, but NWA was huge in high school.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
8 mile
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Baseball Bugs
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/210704/bugs_bunny_baseball_bugs/
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
George Roy Hill: Butch and Sundance, Slaughter House 5, The Sting, Slapshot, The World According to Garp
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Margaret Hamilton, cause I'm melting...I'm meeeeelting...
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
neither
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Grand Illusion. Unfortunately the only one I've seen.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Unbreakable. It's evocative, thematically coherent with the film. The film itself is outstanding.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
RATHBONE!!!!!
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
At best, I hope to entertained. At worst, I expect to be bitterly disappointed ;)
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Irreversible. Just kidding. Star Wars. It's so much fun for a kid. It's scary, but not too scary. It's the first movie I saw when I was 2 years old, and I still remember the experience (up until I fell asleep).
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin with a bullet!
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theaters, Sugar. DVD, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Theatrically. Usually when I try to watch a movie at home, I fall asleep.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Ben Stiller in "There's Something About Mary." Still without a doubt one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And it's a humor born of sympathy and pathos, not just gags. Although the gags are great too. And how did he get the beans above the frank?
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Kill them all...
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Boys Don't Cry
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
In general, Beyonce. If this is about acting. Then Hudson...
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Out of the Past
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
I'm going to combine Annie Hall and Carnal Knowledge to get Simon and Garfunkel...
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Who?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Laura
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Beautiful Girls.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Irene Ryan
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
You're Wudy da Wabbit. You're Wudy da Wabbit the winner. Bill Murray as Tripper in Meatballs. Why? Who knows?
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland. "I'm serious. This is my job!"
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Francois Truffaut, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Baseball. Baseball is life. Constant failure. Constant need to drag yourself to your feet and try again. Constant need to forget the past and not think about the future, and focus only on the present.
1. Either Young Mr. Lincoln or The Puppetmaster,
2. Tuesday Weld, one of the axioms of cinema. Ms. Cannon is a fine actress not in the same leage.
3. Don't understand the question.
4. Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee achieve pure plastic unreality on a higher level of ersatznes I guess.
5. Difficult to choose of course, but I have a special feeling for a femme centred soap called The Man I love starring the always sublime Ida Lupino playing a tough broad visiting her straight family members and discovering they've got a lot of problems that only she can solve. Great movie.
6. Kiss Me Deadly (of Aldrich) a world shatterng improvement on The Big Leaguer. Bertolucci's Before the Revolution a huge improvement on La Cammere Secca, Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces a big improvement on Head, The Birthday Party (Friedkin) a huge improvement on The Sunny and Cher Movie
7. Mose Def can really act.
8. Hard Days Night, Gimme Shelter
9--dunno
10. Edward Yang--it's not that he isn't highly regarded--but due to distribution snafus his gigantic influence on everything good in Asian cinema is insufficiently acknowledged or appreciated. His early death two years ago makes matters worse. Brighter's Summer's Day is the least seen master piece of the last 30 years.
11. Ruth Gordon, multi talented, the other a one hit wonder
12. Othello, Throne of Blood, Ordet (I think is an adaptation of a play)are masterpieces--on a more conventional level--Long Days Journey into Night, Night of the Iguana,
13. Buddy Ebsen, more good performances.
14. Though one hates to confirm received wisdom it's got to be Rules of the Game.
15. Pickpocket--not sure why but--
second fave is Notorious.
16. Basil Rathbone, more good performances.
17. I think that Star Trek will be blast that JJ Abrams has found his milieu.
18. This occurred fairly recently, and the two earliest that were the most fun were Buster Keaton's The Navigator and Singin' in the Rain.
19. Strother Martin gave more good performances (and also got outside the Peckinpah universe more)
20. Theatre State of Play, DVD Taxidriver.
21. I see more movies in theatres because a) that's how they should be seen b) I don't have adequate home viewing circumstances, and with a small child being able to watch what I want to watch when I want to isn't really possible.
22. This list is tragically endless: MIriam Hopkins in Design For Living Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach, Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in The Shop Around the Corner Cary Grant in His Girl Friday, Joel McCrea in Sullavan's Travels, Eddie Bracken in Hail the Conquering Hero, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot, Bill Murray in Tootsie, Jack Nicholson in The Fortune, Jeff Daniels in Purple Rose of Cairo, Kristin Scott Thomas in Four Weddings in a Funeral, Alan Alda in Crimes and Misdemeanors, Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski,
23. Mr. Pattinson and Ms. Stewart can act. Enough said.
24. Not the profoundest painful movie, but a very unsettling one,
I've been reluctant to see a second time was Sluizer's original Dutch The Vanishing.
25. Tough call, so far Ms. Hudson has shown more chops as an actress,but Ms. Knowles seems to have greater potential, range etc.
26. Hard to choose between OUT OF THE PAST and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
27. PETULIA (someone else suggested) is a terrific choice--
but honorable mentions, O Lucky Man,
Blow Up, Gimme Shelter, Medium Cool,
28. toss up
29. I like him before he became an icon, in Laura
30. CRANK 2 which I saw tonight, which took cartoon/porn aesthetics to some interesting new places.
31. No opinion.
32. Ryan O'Neal at the end of 245 degree pan holding a gun on Rudy Ramos in The Driver, and he says: Give Up. Also Mitchum to Greer in Out of the Past--"Would you mind getting out of here, I have to sleep in this room." Also Bogart responding to Lorre's complaints about his always having a clever answer for every situation: "What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?" And of course Bridges as the Dude, "My thinking about this case has gotten very uptight." and "it's like Lenin said man, who benefits from the crime."
33. Elliot Gould has done a lot of good work, but Sutherland has given five or six GREAT performances. He can be terrible too--but Sutherland has been GREAT a lot. To go from the madness of Attila in 1900 to the normality of the dad in Ordinary People indicates creative genius. Gould's real gifts don't go that far.
34. Of course all the Welles performances in the films he directed are wonderful, as is true of Chaplin and Keaton, but I will still say, my fave is Renoir as Octave in Rules of the Game.
35. So many, so hard to make up one's mind--but my fave is her in Meet John Doe. A great comic performance I should have put in the earlier question on that subject. I think she's neat in Fuller's 40 Guns.
36. Hate to be obvious but the great theoretical texts about literature like Aristotle's Poetics or Frye's Anatomy of Criticism, give still-valid terms for classifying narrative cinema, and give you solid reason to skip Syd Field and those other hucksters giving the watered-down version of Frye's and Aristotle's ideas.
1) Favorite Biopic
BIRD
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
DYAN CANNON
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
THINGS TO COME.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
TROY DONAHUE & SANDRA DEE
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
THE ROARING TWENTIES
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
TOO MANY POSSIBILITIES.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
MOS DEF
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
AMERICAN HOT WAX
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
WHAT’S OPERA, DOC?
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
MICHAEL CURTIZ
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
MARGARET HAMILTON
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
RICHARD III, by IAN MCKELLEN
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
EDGAR BUCHANAN
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
GRAND ILLUSION
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
BEATS ME.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
BASIL RATHBONE
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I’M WAITING FOR JOHN CARTER OF MARS IN 2012.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD—THE PERFECT LIVE ACTION FAIRY TALE.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
STROTHER MARTIN
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
OBSERVE & REPORT
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
I WATCH TELEVISION ON TELEVISION, WITH VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS—although I did get to see ARMY OF SHADOWS RECENTLY.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
ANNA FARIS IN HOUSE BUNNY
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I HAVE NO IDEA OF WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE, BEYOND WHAT I READ ABOUT THEM IN THE PAPERS AND BLOGS, AND I’M WAITING TO CARE.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
TOP SECRET
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
WHO CARES?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
THE BIG STEAL
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
SEE ANSWER TO 25
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
UNA O’CONNOR. NO CONTEST.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
THEATRE OF BLOOD
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
NOT A CLUE.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
BEA BENADERET.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
THIS DOESN’T EXIST FOR ME.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
ELLIOT GOULD. AGAIN, NO CONTEST.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
MARTIN SCORCESE IN AROUND MIDNIGHT.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
THE LADY EVE
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
JAZZ CRITICISM
RICHARD T. JAMESON
1) Favorite Biopic
Young Mr. Lincoln. Partly because it's barely a biopic at all, in the conventional sense.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Weld's magic and mystery endure. Cannon was of the moment. If even then.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
I shall look forward to reading the answers to this, but I don't have one myself.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy and Sandra, but mostly because of production values (and Delmer Daves). Warners Technicolor beats AIP Pathe Color.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Me and My Gal, closely followed by Gentleman Jim.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Would you settle for great debut followed by a prolific career containing nothing of any interest whatsoever? Namely, Edward L. Cahn's Law and Order.
Other not-quite-right answer that comes to mind is the vast superiority of For a Few Dollars More to A Fistful of Dollars ... but Fistful wasn't actually Leone's debut, even if nothing earlier matters much.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos def Mos Def.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
A Hard Day's Night.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
One Froggy Evening.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
For years – decades -- I would have said Anthony Mann, but he seems to have been taken up at last. Probably it's more a matter, for me, of reclaiming some figures who may have been highly esteemed at some point but have been relegated to the museum cellars -- Borzage, say, or Carol Reed. But wait, I've got one: Jerzy Skolimowski. Mostly, he makes either searing masterpieces or what-the-hell-did-you-think-you-were-doing! disasters. Among the former is the great, great, woefully underknown Deep End (1970). And his marvelous first film in something like fifteen years, Four Nights with Anna, has yet to find a U.S. distributor.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Margaret Hamilton, more of a working actress than a moonlighting scribe.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play.
Night of the Iguana, maybe? I have a nagging feeling that the best answer is some movie we don't even think of as being adapted from a play -- a Lubitsch, maybe.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Edgar Buchanan, who brought a whole world to his every performance.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Le Crime de M. Lange.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
The temptation is strong to say M (Lang's, of course). Or Él. But I'll go long and say Stagecoach, because it's the archetypal movie, and the title not only denotes the vehicle and invokes the genre the film helped exalt -- it testifies to and celebrates the glory of movie as journey, journey as movie.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone. Thesiger's wonderfulness was mostly confined to the bent universe of James Whale (not that there's anything wrong with that!), whereas Rathbone – "that young man with two profiles for a face" -- might turn up anywhere, in stellar or character parts. Even looking out of a Xanadu pool-party photo in Citizen Kane.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Yes.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
If I went by my own biography, it might be a Hopalong Cassidy picture: Class A program-picture making. And I was very dubious about being taken to Ivanhoe, but loved it for the next twenty years. But the first film I always think of, when the idea of showing something good to kids is mentioned, is Gunga Din. Exotic setting (which is really that most inexhaustible of movie-movie locations, Lone Pine, Calif.), exhilarating action comedy (later on you can introduce the kid to the Keaton influences), epic bromance (not that there's anything wrong with that!), genuinely frightening (but parentally manageable) villainy, and as Leo McKern would say, "the value of blood well shed" (anticipate showing the little nipper Help! sometime down the road).
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother is on Parnassus. So is L.Q., but he wouldn't have got there without Strother.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters?
Observe and Report.
On DVD/Blu-ray?
Seven Days to Noon (do home-recorded DVDs count?).
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. The company's better, and my 56-inch DLP displays a better image than most multiplex screens. Better movies most of the time, too.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, Twentieth Century; Cary Grant in The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, and supremely His Girl Friday; Rosalind Russell, too, in HGF, as well as a special Oscar ensemble award for the criminal-courts reporters. We could fill this category with performances from Richard Lester movies: Victor Spinetti in the Beatles films, Leo McKern's Clang, Michael Crawford and Donal Donnelly in The Knack, Zero Mostel in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (though I have an aversion to awarding actors for roles they created on stage), Michael Hordern in the same movie. Beyond the Lesterverse, Colm Meaney was robbed (by a rules change) for The Snapper. William Demarest in almost any of his Preston Sturges roles. Luis Alberni as Louis Louis of the Hotel Louis in Easy Living, plus why not Jean Arthur? John C. Reilly, especially for Boogie Nights (he did get one of Chicago's few merited nominations). And for a recent supporting gem, Brad Pitt's hanging Chad, Burn After Reading.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Haven't seen and probably won't see the former. Twilight was charming, though I have more hope for Stewart than for Pattinson.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I don't think I have one, but there are some great/good movies I have never seen, or craved to see, a second time, even as I remember them very well and continue to value them.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Nina Mae McKinney.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Out of the Past.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Catch Us If You Can (aka Having a Wild Weekend).
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O'Connor – but after all, she worked with Ford, Whale, Lubitsch, and Wilder, whereas Ouspenskaya ... Sam Wood?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Witchfinder-General (aka The Conqueror Worm). However, he never topped the way he said "Truuuuuuue!" in The Pit and the Pendulum. (Let's stipulate that Laura isn't a "Vincent Price movie.")
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Again, Me and My Gal. Also the Mann-Alton-Menzies-Yordan The Black Book (I hope the new DVD is decently BLACK-and-white). And can we get a release, or even a few TV runs, for Sidney Gilliat's The State Secret?
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Can we go back to Una O'Connor, please?
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
In My Darling Clementine, J. Farrell McDonald's response to Henry Fonda's plaintive "Mac, you ever been in love?": "Noooooo, I been a bartender all me life!"
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Nothing for Tom Skerrit?
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
John Huston in Chinatown. Honorable mention: John Huston in Winter Kills.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
The Bitter Tea of General Yen.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
It's not quite the answer your question deserves, but at this point I'd have to say politics. Not so much local politics (indeed, hardly at all), but national politics. Especially politics-as-show-business. Ultimately, for better or worse, we're talking about history.
1) Favorite Biopic
"Malcolm X"
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
As much as I love Dyan Cannon in "Deathtrap", I'll have to go with Tuesday.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Hmm. Uh, let's say turning Manhattan into an island prison.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
No preference.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
"White Heat"
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
I can't think of any that fit right into the "Sophmore" category, but I'm guessing that nobody imagined that after making eight so-so films that Curtis Hanson would make a masterpiece like "L.A. Confidential".
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
It was an unusual piece of casting, but I have to say Mos Def did just dandy as Ford Prefect in the "Hitchhiker's Guide" movie.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
"Almost Famous"
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
I don't know the name of it, but during it one of the characters suddenly stops what he's doing and yanks at a hair on the film strip that's been flitting around and bugging him. When I first saw that as a kid, I didn't even know the meaning of the word "Meta", but I thought that was the funniest and coolest thing I'd ever seen on a cartoon.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
How about Tony Gilroy.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon and her shotgun in "Every Which Way But Loose".
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Being that "The Lion in Winter" is my favorite film, I could say that, but I think I'll go with "12 Angry Men".
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
"Rules of the Game".
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
"Sleuth", because it does a perfect job of communicating the feel of the film itself.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil for "Adventures of Robin Hood".
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Lowest: "Transformers 2". Highest: "Up" (apropriately enough).
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
I'm about to become a parent in two months, and that's a question I'm still working on.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Really? I have to choose?
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
"Sunshine Cleaning", which was quirky and entertaining. On DVD, it was "Hoodlum" starring a young Lawrence Tierney. And though you wouldn't think it to look at him in "Reservoir Dogs", when he was a young man he resembled a bulkier, pissed-off Professor from "Gilligan's Island".
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home. Conveniece, mostly. DVR combined TCM are the most blessedly paired acronyms in my entertainment universe.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Can we get a group nomination for the cast of the "Ocean's Eleven" remake?
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I'm...... not really getting the urge to care.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
"U-Turn" was well made, but I couldn't watch it a second time because I ended up not caring for ANY of the characters.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
I don't have a preference, but my wife just yelled out a vote for Jennifer.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
"Out of the Past"
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Does "That Thing You Do!" count?
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O'Connore for, again, "The Adventures of Robin Hood".
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
"Laura".
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
I'd say the work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Brick", "The Lookout").
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Huh?
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
There are many, but the one that comes to mind is from the third Harry Potter film: "You get those spiders, Ron". You have to see it to get it, plus Radcliffe does a great job delivering the line.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald, for "The Great Train Robbery" (bloody screwsman).
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Would Eastwood count? If so, I'd say Will Munny in "Unforgiven".
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Stanwyck has always been one of those actresses I've never fully gotten why she was so beloved. But the other day, my wife and I caught "Remember the Night" on TV. There's a scene near the beginning where her lawyer is weaving together a defence in the courtroom completely unknown to her. She sits there and suddenly gives a little smile in response to it. THAT'S when I got it.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
American History.
Is the commenter two steps above me THE Howard Chaykin of comics fame, or merely "a" Howard Chaykin, I wonder....
Anyhow, time I thought I'd step up for one of these. My apologies for accepting incompletes prior to this.
1) Favorite Biopic
“Lawrence of Arabia” – an obviously great film and a rather pedestrian choice given that I really like biopics, sometimes the cheesier and and more ridiculously fabricated the better. Therefore, quasi-demi-honorable mention is alluded this triumvirate of absurdly wrong biopics – “The Jolson Story” (it’s amazing how much Al Jolson’s life was just like the plot of “The Jazz Singer”!), “They Died With Their Boots On” (the love affair between Custer and the Indians your socialist history teacher doesn’t want you to see!) and “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story” (he didn’t just appear in action movies…he lived them!).
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
It’s close, but I give it to Dyan Cannon for being hilarious onscreen and genuinely wacky offscreen.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
The Jetson’s treadmill? I’m drawing a blank here.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Frankie & Annette – I grew up watching those movies on channels 5 & 9 (I think) out here up to age 10 or so. Not that those movies are in any sense “good” (I wonder if I could sit through any of them now?), but F&A at least have a certain amount of charm and sense of humor, which I really can’t say about Troy Donahue, at least.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Not really “White Heat,” and no, definitely not “They Died with Their Boots On”… The winner is “The Roaring Twenties” – by far. Just a magnificent entertainment. I need to see that one again some time soon.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
This is tough, but I guess I’m going to say Polanski’s “Repulsion” as it’s brilliant and “Knife in the Water” left me feeling merely 90 minutes older after it was done. Though, that was in college and I might have a very different reaction now. (Another possibility is “Rushmore” – though I loved “Bottle Rocket” quite a bit, so it’s dicey.)
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def – because he convinced me he was actually English in “Hithchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
8) Favorite movie about the music industry.
Many, many fun movies in this category, but I guess I’m going to have to with “Nashville.”
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible).
This is easy. "Duck Dodgers in the 24th½ Century".
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment.
He’s already revered in many cinephile quarters, but that’s not good enough! Michael Powell with and without (but mostly with) Emeric Pressburger. Definitely deserves to be viewed at least on the same level as Hitchcock, Ford, Hawks, Wilder, Capra, etc. and to be seen an enjoyed by as many people.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Tough call, but I gotta go with Ruth, since she was also a pretty good writer.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play.
Non-musical devision, I’m thinking Richard Lester’s version of “The Knack and How to Get It” though the great score by John Barry almost renders it a jazz musical; actual musical division, probably “Sweet Charity.” (Several great musicals of the classic era are theoretically based on plays, but most of them took such liberties or were so loosely tied to the originals, that I’m pretty much disqualifying them). Also, a quick shot out here to Polanski’s underrated film of “Death and the Maiden.”
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
I definitely gotta go by way of Edgar here. The man talked like a frog – how can you not love that?
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Another easy one as it was my official “favorite movie” for decades. “The Rules of the Game.”
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
“Kill!”…and do I really need to explain why? Odd, somewhat funny little samurai flick….
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone all the way. One of the greatest of character actors and probably the finest swordsmen in all of Los Angeles in his day.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations.
Because of my famed gore-phobia, I have some qualms, but I have to go with Tarentino’s “Inglorious Bastards” and just hope that Quentin doesn’t decide it’s time to do the full Fulci on this one.
On the other hand, “Year One” which looks to be some form of spoof of cave man movies starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, David Cross, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, directed by Harold Ramis sounds really, really funny to me, though.
As for lowest expectations, I’ve gotta go with the “Transformers” sequel, as I was unable to sit through the first one.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Depending on the age, I’d say “Pinnochio,” because it’s the most beautiful and in some ways truthful animated fairy tale ever made. When they get a bit older, I’m thinking “Singin’ in the Rain” or “Rio Bravo” – because, if any movies can seduce people into loving my two favorite troubled genres as much as I do, it would be those two.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Gotta go with Strother, mainly for his amazing work in “The Wild Bunch.”
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
I’m behind on my theatrical movies – so, the last one I actually saw in a theater was “Slumdog Millionaire” (second time…it’s a long story though I did like it). On DVD – we weren’t paying proper attention and talked through the whole, but me and a cartoonist of my acquaintance were checking out the “Danger: Diabolik” DVD last night. I’m doing a project on Tom Hanks for Bullz-Eye, so the morning before I had just properly seen “A League of Their Own”, which I actually never saw before. Kind of drippily directed and way too long, but definitely funny and a great performance from Tom Hanks in a supporting role (so what if he was top billed)
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
These days at home largely because of all the DVD I reviews and so on I’m obligated to do, I still greatly prefer theaters when possible, but the home entertainment/theatrical DVD is narrowing because of better home technology and often crappier movie-going experiences. Before DVD, I saw almost everything theatrically except in dire cinematic emergencies (a bit easier to pull off when you live in L.A., as I did back then).
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Were do you start? Nearly all of them, but why don’t we go with Jame Cagney for “One, Two, Three”?
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Huh? Who?
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club).
"The Andalusian Dog"...no one warned me about that opening shot when I saw it projected at age 13 or so, and I've never recovered.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer Hudson – I like the big voices.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
I’m thinking “His Kind of Woman.”
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Monterey Pop.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Maria!
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
“The Abominable Dr. Phibes”…or maybe “His Kind of Woman.”
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
A Dirty Carnival. Absolutely. Also "Save the Green Planet .
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
I’m more than a little foggy about the other two, so it’s Ms. Ryan by default.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
I’m sure I’ll think of more – but we could worse than “Casablanca” and “Life of Brian.”
“Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.”
“I'm not a roman mum, I'm a kike, a yid, a heebie, a hook-nose, I'm kosher mum, I'm a Red Sea pedestrian, and proud of it!”
“How shall we f*ck off, O Lord?”
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland, though from what I’ve heard about the guy, it pains me to say so. Still, he’s generally pretty amazing.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role.
Probably Orson Welles in “The Third Man”, but how about Sydney Pollack in just about everything he did, but maybe especially “Eyes Wide Shut.”
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
A toss up between “Double Indemnity” and “Ball of Fire,” I’d say.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I’ve actually read relatively few books about film – until recently I always figured I spent enough time on that in the rest of my life. I’d say world and U.S. history and politics, but I need to get back into eastern philosophy and various esoteric matters.
1) Favorite Biopic
Patton/32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday, for Lord Love a Duck, Pretty Poison and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (although I’m really a fan of Martine Beswick, especially Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde).
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Can’t think of any—probably because I think of good sci-fi flicks as metaphors: Just because Escape from New York, Death Race 2000, Metropolis, 2001, etc. are “dated” (i.e. their predictions didn’t come true) doesn’t mean they still are not fun, food for thought or good science fiction.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Frankie & Annette—because they partied with Eric Von Zipper, Boris Karloff, Buster Keaton, ghosts, Martians, surfers and Don Rickles. And AIP rules.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Tie(s):
The Wind & the Lion/Meet the Feebles/Alien/Used Cars
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Even though the ads for his family movies look HORRIBLE, Ice Cube is still pretty cool.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Privilege, then Decline of Western Civilization, Dig!, End of the Century
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short
Bugs & the gremlin: “Falling Hare”
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Ted Post (especially for The Baby), James B. Harris, Buzz Kulik (the TV movies he directed—Bad Ronald and Brian’s Song to name only two—influenced a generation! I mean it!)
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Hamilton—she played a witch with a castle and an army; Gordon was just a disciple.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
I’m still mad a film in general for sticking to closely to its theatrical roots: too many movies look like badly filmed plays.
But if you must know: Olivier’s Richard III or Grigori Kozintsev’s 1969 Russian language version of King Lear.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buchanan, despite his TV roles, is in my mind a film actor, while Ebsen is only associated with that Hillybilly show. That’s what I call it, hillybilly.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
I’ve only seen Boudo Saved From Drowning.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Gojira---because it’s one of my favorite movies.
Honorable mentions: Jaws, Deliverance, Attack, Crank, Cache, Psycho, Viy, Quarantine, Sanjuro, Klute, Bamboozled, Martin, Unforgiven, Them!
And because it’s great to write: Zardoz
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
I’ve seen Rathbone sleepwalk through too many roles. Meanwhile, I’ve only seen Thesiger in Bride of F. and Old Dark House, and his performance as Dr. Pretorius is fantastic! So: Thesiger
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
High expectations: The Limits of Control, Land of the Lost and Bruno.
Low: Star Trek, the Tarantino movie (which looks SO boring to me), The Soloist, Wolverine
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
I’d want something that I think a small child would love, be completely entertained by, but also a film that I respect philosophically and artistically. So therefore, Baby Dumpling gets to see The Incredibles.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Yes, please.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: Watchmen
DVD: Dear Zachary
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home: Movies cost too damn much these days and I routinely despise the people around me. I have a much more relaxing and fun movie event at home.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Buster Keaton, for “The General” (but it was really a consolation Oscar for losing two years earlier with Sherlock Jr.).
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
No.
How about Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland. In the underrated and still unavailable on DVD “From Noon Till Three”?
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time.
Dear Zachary
Straw Dogs
Cannibal Holocaust
Titticut Follies
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer gets my sympathy vote.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Until it comes out on DVD and I can verify my memories of how awesome Friends of Eddie Coyle was/is, I’ll go with Thunder Road. I think Mitchum’s performances in Night o’Hunter, Cape Fear and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison are better, but those movies all have scenes that annoy me and I fast-forward through now. Thunder Road isn’t flawless either, but I can plop my ass down and watch it front to back without reaching for the remote (except to rewind that awesome scenes where Mitchum wrecks a rival’s car using his cigarette!).
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Cliff Richard and the Shadows in Thunderbirds are GO. Rent the flick just for their appearance: your mind will explode. (BTW, Thunderbirds are GO is a perfect double-feature with Team America: World Police.)
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Ouspenskaya, because she was sympathetic to Larry Talbot. O’Connor (although hilarious) was a thorn in Dr. Griffin’s side.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Witchfinder General, then Tim Burton’s Vincent. Then Vincent’s work with Alice Cooper, followed by his performance in Corman’s The Raven. Check out the scene where the skeleton falls down—Price’s reaction is, heh-heh, priceless.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Please cut me some slack, but I’m going long:
The Love God? (1969) is written and directed by Nat Hiken (a vet of the Sgt. Bilko show and Car 54 Where Are You?). This flick is an unholy mess that’s worth renting for weirdness value alone. The brightly colored mutant love child of Walt Disney and Russ Meyer, The Love God? is squaresville trying to make sense of the sexual revolution—and becoming schizophrenic for its efforts.
Don Knotts and his brand of goofball-loser comedy is The Love God?’s greatest asset and liability. In some scenes, Knott’s comedic acting is transcendent: totally brilliant.
But in others, he pulls out the now-stale Barney Fife routine.
But The Love God? is hardly a dumb movie: lots of topical issues are satirized, some better than others.
Not only does The Love God? poke fun at sex itself, the flick makes fun of student unrest, First Amendment rights advocates and abusers, women’s lib, the ACLU, media manipulation of public opinion, and the corporatization of the mob. (Speaking of the mob, B.S. Pully’s performance as J. Charles Twilight is fantastic! Gee-whiz, rent the movie just to watch him.)
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Okay, pops, I’m getting off the lawn…
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
“I got this badge, I got this gun, and I got the love of Jesus right here in my pretty green eyes.”
--Clint Eastwood, The Gauntlet, 1977
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Sutherland—he’s made an excellent transition into elder statesman, whereas Gould is really off my radar.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Huston, Chinatown,
Welles, The Third Man
Most recent seen that I liked:
Eastwood, Gran Torino
Lucio Fulci, Cat in the Brain
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Ball of Fire/Double Indemnity—but I need to see Forty Guns again.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Non-fiction, not usually biography, though. More about science, history and technology. The history of food, Lovecraftian horror, cookbooks, Don Westlake, too.
1) Favorite Biopic
Ed Wood
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - in that Khan was supposed to have taken over Africa, been defeated, and exiled to space sometime in the last decade. It's not actually the best example, I just love the hell out of that movie and will take any opportunity to bring it up. Okay, not really, but I'll take *this* opportunity to bring it up.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Couldn't say.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
High Sierra.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
If we're talking acting, then Mos Def. If we're talking music, then neither, since I don't like the hip hop.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
A Mighty Wind
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Woody Allen's career since 'Crimes and Misdemeanors.' It's been 20 years, and he's made a lot of good to great (and yes, a couple truly bad) movies since then. He's been out of fashion for a long time, but the work is still there.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Gordon
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross. I think Foley overdoes it with the camera movement, but the cast and the writing cannot be denied.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy!
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Rules of the Game is hard to deny, but I was really bowled over by his pre-noir noir La Bete Humaine.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Help!
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone. Come on...
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I have high expectations for Up, Public Enemies, Whatever Works, Star Trek, and The Hangover, the new Todd Phillips film. I'm hoping that Hangover will be the film I wanted Pineapple Express to be.
I have low expectations for Wolverine and Year One, though I really hope I'm wrong w/r/t the latter.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Babe. It's a perfect kid's movie. It's a perfect movie, period, but especially for kids. I've already shown it to my little cousins and they loved it.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: Adventureland, which hit way closer to home than I thought it would.
DVD: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. I absolutely hate hipster NYC kids, but it's a charming movie.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home, because I watch more old movies than new, and if I want to see, say, King of Kings or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Hardcore, to name three recent examples, home on DVD is the only option I have. But I see at least one movie, new or old, in a theater each week.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Oliver Platt in The Ice Harvest. He steals the film.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I'll just cheat and go with Efron and Stewart.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Irreversible.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Knowles.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Hunter.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
I suppose I could look at someone else's answers and take one of them, but instead, I'll just admit that I can't think of anything and move on.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
I have no idea.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
I've never seen a Vincent Price movie from start to finish.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Zardoz.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
I have no idea.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
I'm not sure any single line has that power, but I do like, "Fuck you! That's my name!"
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland, because he might be the coolest man in the history of the world.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Otto Preminger in Stalag 17.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
History.
1) Favorite Biopic
Kinsey. (because it reworked his reputation, esp the scenes with Lithgow as the father)
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Cannon. (the late television work,esp the 17 episodes of Ally McBeal i like to see the caftan wearing, too thin, leather faced woman, speaking vague wisdom in highly fashionable anonymous american offices, there is something Ballardian about it)
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Logan's Run maybe, because people do not need to be killed when they are 27 anymore--surgery and diet, and the general idea of money has replaced eugenics, plus the aesthetic has been used and abused, so maybe not catching up, but the idea of pleasure and leisure are similar, though those ideas have not changed much since the 70s.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy Donahue for this: http://users.skynet.be/jaguar/andy/troy.gif
(for their movies, i enjoyed the blank, bland handsomeness of Donahue, and Sandra Dee was in Imitation of Life, with that great opedial obsession over Steve, that required acting)
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Saskatchewan. Shelley Winters, Alan Ladd. best movie about mounties perhaps ever
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Badlands, Malick.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
both choose roles poorly, both have wasted their dramatic skills on silly comedies, neither have done work as interesting as ice t or but mos def tries the most work, on stage, television and screen, from cadilliac records, to top dog and under dog, sitcom work and proceduals, and i look forward to more of Def's work.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
the honky tonk's, long roads, isolation, exhaustion, and at the end, the disappointment of making it, in Coal Miner's Daughter.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Duck Amuck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Os_sDDDXro
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Brett Ratner.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Angels in America. (perhaps better, because the show is so ambitious that it almost needs to be filmed)
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Diary of a Chambermaid
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Them, because it encorpated all of the paranoia and xenophobia that surrounded the cold war, and made an already stretched metaphors absurd.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes is one of Cinema's most refined pleasures.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest--I Love You Man, because I have seen two or three Rudd movies a year for the last 3 years, and have never gotten sick of him, and have never been disappointed, so the time is coming.
Lowest--Crank II, i know exactly what i am getting, i know that I will love it, and i will work v. hard not to pay attention to the politics
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Pinocho, because people have to feel fear and the uncanny, and awe, and to be safe at the end of it, and the early Disney films do that, Pinocho being the prettiest.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray? Man on the Wire in DVD, Corlaine on the DVDs.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Jason Seagal, in Forggeting Sarah Marshall
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I hate Robert PAttinson on a gut level, I cannot consider him critically, have not seen adventure land, think Efron has a capability of making fun of himself, and never cared about Hudgens.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Irrevesible. The formal conceit does not suprise after the second veiwing, and the fercious, furious violent intensity of the work
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer Hudson is basically Jennifer Hudson, but Beyonce is so slippery, so well crafted, her personae elegant in its seperation from reality. But Hudson has one great film role under her belt, and I do not think that Beyonce can extend past 3 minutes
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Cape Fear or the Lusty Men (the lusty men is pure shit and spit, with great aeiral shots, and i think he actually rode in it)
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Gimme Shelter
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
don't know enough
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Witchfinder General, Edward SCissorhands, the Poe movies.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Gigli (more weird then bad)
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Irene Ryan
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
But You are in that Chair, You ARe
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland (but only because I saw him in Outbreak the other day, and he was so smooth in his pyschosis, plus i really loved how he interacted wiht Peter Krause in that Darling show, that he is excellent, almost Lear like in roles that require simple coasting, and he has worked consistently) (Elliot Gould's three or four movies in the 70s that are indespensible)
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
John Waters on Homicide
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
too many to name
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Art History, Art Theory, for the formal visual working thru of narrative ideas
1) Favorite Biopic: Raging Bull. For so many reasons.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?: Dyan is cute, but Tuesday Weld was in some better films, especially Pretty Poison and Bachelor Flat.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction: How about me being silly, thinking that the world would end based on George Pal's version of The Time Machine.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?: Troy and Sandra have Delmer Daves' A Summer Place and Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life on their resumes. Case closed.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?: Only one? The Roaring Twenties.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut: Repulsion, primarily because it set the stage for Polanski's career as a major, English language filmmaker.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?: Mos Def, mostly for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry: Grace of my Heart.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible): Booby Hatched, by Frank Tashlin, about an unhatched egg named Robespierre.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment: Gordon Douglas is getting better with age. If nothing else, he was a solid craftsman.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?: This Bud's for you - Margaret Hamilton, based on her appearance in Brewster McCloud.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play: Roman Polanski's version of the Scottish play.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?: "Petticoat Junction" wins here. Edgar Buchanan.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?: Boudu Saved from Drowning.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why: Dick. Just no way you can improve upon the use of this title for a film about Nixon.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?: Rathbone, more for the horror films he showed up in during the end of his career.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations: I expect to enjoy the coolness of my apartment watching DVDs. I am looking forward to Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?: I didn't see it with her, but the first movie I bought for my niece was Babe. Something a child could enjoy on her level but that an adult could watch and enjoy as well.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin: Jones, for directing A Boy and his Dog.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?: Theater: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. On DVD: Frank Borzage's Lazybones.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?: Home is where I range. Less distraction, comfortable seating, better food, better choice of films.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.: Eddie Murphy in The Klumps: Nutty Professor II. Not only were there several distinctly different characters, but Murphy reminded me how laugh out loud funny he could be.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart : Twilight of the high school musical? I'm going Hong Kong old school with Linda Lin Dai and Peter Chen Ho.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club): William Wellman's Island in the Sky is a pretty good film with a performance by John Wayne that is worth noting. However, I almost tore my eyes out at the dorsal view of Andy Devine in swim trunks. At least he wasn't wearing Speedos.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?: Beyonce is my dreamgirl.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?: The Yakuza.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees: Petulia, featuring The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company in performance.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?: O'Connor is in more movies I like.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?: Tomb of Ligeia.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.: John Woo's Red Cliff. A huge hit in Asia, but only available as an import DVD stateside. It's the top nominee for the Hong Kong Film Awards for good reason.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?: Bea Benaderet, for providing a voice for many cartoons including one titled Puss n' Booty. The perfect cartoon to be shown with a movie titled Dick.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.): "This coffee's so thick a mouse can dance on it." from Convicts 4.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?: after MASH. Gould worked more with Alman as well as Ingmar Bergman. Sutherland was in more good films by more good directors with Don't Look Now and 1900 among the high points, plus Animal House. Sutherland also played Homer Simpson in Day of the Locust.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role: Suzuki Seijun in Sleepless Town.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?: Young Babs: Bitter Tea of General Yen. Never ask a woman her age Babs: Forty Guns.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?: Buddhism.
From jim emerson:
1) Favorite Biopic
"The Scarlet Empress." You know, for its historical accuracy.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
If this is effin' Belgium, it must be Tuesday.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction.
Any movie with corded phones.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy and Sandra.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
"Gentleman Jim" -- because it's the first one I saw that I knew was a Raoul Walsh movie.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
"Stranger Than Paradise" (a long way from "Permanent Vacation")
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
No pref.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
"This Is Spinal Tap" (with "Phantom of the Paradise" and "Grace of My Heart" close behind -- and the docs "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" and "Dig!")
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
"Duck Amuck": "Thankth for the thour perthimmonth, couthin!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEihY6wSbwI
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
I'm with RTJ on Skolimowski. And Zanussi needs to be (re-)discovered in America, too.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
There is only one Minnie Castevet... who also co-wrote "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike" with her husband Garson Kanin.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is pretty damn good. Years later, "Angels in America."
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Edgar Buchanan, please.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
"French Can Can." Because I lived with it for weeks when we played a gorgeous restored print at the Market Theater in Seattle.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
One syllable: "El." Because it could be a thing or an article.
More than one syllable: "Sunrise." If you've seen the movie, you know why.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil, my dear Cozzalio.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
My highest expectations are low.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
They're a team.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theatres: "Watchmen." On DVD: "Control Room."
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. Theatrical standards (projection, facilities, audience behavior) are not what they used to be, and it makes me sad. But also, after years of having my daily dictated by screenings, I treasure being able to watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it -- on a good-sized screen, with first-rate sound, and in a decent print.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
There are no doubt quite a few between Buster Keaton in "Our Hospitality" and Jams Franco in "Pineapple Express," but I'll stick with those.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I am ignorant of them all.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
"Salo: 120 Days of Sodom."
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
I saw "Dreamgirls," but I laughed all the way through it and don't remember anything.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
"Night of the Hunter."
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (Strawberry Alarm Clock -- and, of course, the Carrie Nations).
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
No sprechen.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Tim Burton's "Vincent."
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
"Deep End." "Moonlighting." "Winter Kills." "Psycho III." "Brain Candy." "How to Get Ahead in Advertising." "Housekeeping." "The Long Day Closes." ...
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Granny was also in "Bonzo Goes to College."
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"I hate you" -- W.C. Fields, "It's a Gift."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Impossible!
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
John Huston, "Chinatown."
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
"Ball of Fire."
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Neuroscience.
1) Favorite Biopic
Goodfellas
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
I'll take the eyes of Tuesday Weld and the breasts of Dyan Cannon
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction.
Escape From New York. In 1998, Manhattan Island is turned into a maximum security prison. And Ernest Borgnine as a cabby? Come on.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
This is where I draw funny little characters on the side of my test sheet.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Wes Anderson with Rushmore.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Despite his recent rash of films, I would have to say Ice Cube.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Phantom of the Paradise
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
One Froggy Evening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGE8wVTvHF0
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Alan Parker. No one talks about him.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Always Ruth Gordon.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Edgar Buchanan
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Rules of the Game with Woman on the Beach as a close second.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Serpico. Because it cuts like a knife.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I can only hope that Transformers 2 is so horrible as to guarantee that we never hear from Michael Bay again. Ditto with H2 from Rob Zombie.
I will have to admit, I'm excited to see what Pixar does with Up. Are they going to stay the course, or are they going to go for easy Summer gold?
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
It would have to be Star Wars. I always think about my son when I think about watching a movie again (but with him for the first time.)
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin for no other reason than he was in Slap Shot.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters: Adventureland.On DVD: Point Blank On Blu-Ray: The Fifth Element
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
I have waves of seeing several movies in the theater. And then waves of seeing them at home. I tend to fall asleep less if I'm watching a movie in a theater. I fall asleep easily.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I like Kristen Stewart. That's all I'll say here.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I can't see why anyone would want to see Schindler's List for a second time.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Beyonce Knowles
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Not a huge Mitchum fan. El Dorado.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Gimme Shelter
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Maria Ouspenskaya
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
He was fantastic in that episode of The Muppet Show.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Does After Hours count? Not enough people think of that film when they think of Scorsese. I would also like to add that Adventureland is excellent, despite its poor showing in the B.O. and it deserves a following.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Lucille Benson
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
M*A*S*H
Trapper John: "No. No booze. Sex. I wan sex. That one. The sultry bitch with the fire in her eyes. Bring her to me. Take her clothes off and bring her to me. "
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Elliot Gould
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Sydney Pollack in anything.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I would have to say history. These are terrible times, but they are fascinating times as well. Things like 9/11 and this recent economic downturn make you realize just how young the United States is in the scheme of things. While we're all running around with our heads cut off, all of Europe is saying "yeah, yeah, been there, done that." I take comfort in that.
1) Favorite Biopic
THE MUSIC LOVERS
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld for her irresistible, dangerous self in I WALK THE LINE.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – which declares that all cats & dogs were eradicated by disease by 1983
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Funicello & Avalon, if only because I came later to Sandra Dee (and GIDGET in particular) and always thought Deborah Walley to be the superior surfer girl
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
BAND OF ANGELS
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
GREETINGS after THE WEDDING PARTY for De Palma
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube, if only because of Mos Def’s vocal choices in 16 BLOCKS
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
I’m drawing a blank, but CADILLAC RECORDS wasn’t awful as some of the more recent musical biopics
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
I LOVE TO SINGA (Tex Avery, 1936) – okay, it’s a Merrie Melodie, but still
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28hk97-vZdQ
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
J. Lee Thompson
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
THE ICEMAN COMETH by Frankenheimer
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
THE RIVER
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Hitchcock immediately comes to mind, for their simplicity and immediate ability to infer what the picture will be about: PSYCHO, NOTORIOUS, SUSPICION, SABOTEUR, SABOTAGE, TOPAZ
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I have no highest – I’m not looking forward to TRANSFORMERS 2
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
PINOCCHIO
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Tough one, but I’ll go with Strother Martin on account of that raspy voice. Incidentally, Martin’s one of the best episodes of “The Rockford Files” (a two-parter!)
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters: CRANK 2. On DVD/Blu-ray? LITTLE ODESSA
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
I go to the theater more often than not now, for both preview and press screenings. Despite nothing being able to combat the theatrical experience, I’ll admit it’s mostly because of availability. I almost never rent movies.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Dick Van Dyke in THE COMIC, though that’s a performance not without its pathos
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I couldn’t really care less – can’t I have Efron and Stewart?
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
As much as I’ve admired them upon first viewing, I’ve never gone back to rewatch anything by Paul Thomas Anderson. I don’t know what that says about the films in question
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Knowles?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
OUT OF THE PAST
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Criminally underseen THE GIRLS ON THE BEACH with The Beach Boys (though the plot deals with The Beatles)
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Ouspenskaya
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
OBSERVE & REPORT
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Irene Ryan
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
“So what – you’re gonna jog broke?” (Bob Einstein in MODERN ROMANCE)
I’m pretty sure I say it daily
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
I prefer Gould, though I’d like to contend that Sutherland’s probably the better actor
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Pollack in EYES WIDE SHUT (a popular choice? I haven’t read over anyone else’s answers)
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Nothing compares with FORTY GUNS
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I read a lot of crime fiction, so I suppose that gives me a different form of understanding and appreciation over film noir or crime films, if not necessarily life.
Is it that time again? It is! My answers are posted at my site.
1) Favorite Biopic
Hmmm… I have generally taken major issue with biopics because, let’s be honest, they mostly suck. That said, there are some notable exceptions. As for my favorite… I’m trying to put off answering that… Let’s go with the “Superstar.” Todd Haynes has really nailed the biopic form, I think. Both “Superstar” and “I’m Not There” understand their subjects with such depth, nuance, and playfulness that they put dreck like “Walk the Line” or “Ray” or “Kinsey” to shame. I have to give honorable mention, though, to “The Puppetmaster,” “Baaaadddddaaaassssss!!,” “Scarlet Empress,” “Auto-focus,” “Young Mr. Lincoln,” “Secret Honor,” “Bound for Glory,” “Ed Wood,” and “Cobb.” So, okay, maybe they don’t suck as much as I like to remember.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld, if only for “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” which is, perhaps, the most troubling movie I’ve ever seen (it’s at least up there with “Cruising” and “A Clockwork Orange” in terms of problematic representations of sexuality).
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
“Jaws 15” (or 18 or whatever the hell it was) in “Back to the Future II”—I guess it seemed like the series would go on forever in 1989 what with the smashing success of “Jaws the Revenge” two short years earlier. Oh wait…
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy & Sandra, hands down. I always found Annette and Frankie so … irritating.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Tough one… I’ll go with “They Drive By Night” because it’s my favorite movie about truck drivers starring Ida Lupino. “Pursued” is a close second, though, because it’s my favorite Western supposedly about vengeance but actually about incest.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
I think I’ll go with “Rushmore.” “Bottle Rocket” still bores me, but Anderson’s follow-up? Transcendent. And it gets better every time I watch it. (I might also have gone with “Drugstore Cowboy” since, though “Mala Noche” is a wonderful film, Van Sant’s second effort is a truly essential piece of work and avoids many aspects of “Mala” that made it seem like the work of someone just starting out.)
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Are we talking acting or rapping? If rapping, give me Cube any day. Mos Def’s good and all, but Ice Cube, when he’s angry (see “Straight Outta Compton” or “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” or “The Predator” or his verse on PE’s “Burn Hollywood Burn!”) he’s amazing. Mos might be more conscientious, but Cube’s got a better voice and better flow. If we’re talking acting, I guess I’ll go with Cube too. Why? See question 30.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
“Velvet Goldmine” is one of my favorite movies ever, and it’s ostensibly about the music industry, so I’ll choose that. If I were to choose something that is specifically about the business side of the industry, then I’d choose “24 Hour Party People.”
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
I was always fond of the one wherein Bugs and Elmer were doing battle but their personalities changed every time they donned a new hat (why there were so many hats around I can’t remember). The internets informs that it’s called “Bugs’ Bonnets.”
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
I really love Hal Ashby’s work from the 1970s. I know he’s not exactly critically neglected, but I think he’s due a lot more respect than he gets. The seven films he directed in that decade (from “The Landlord” to “Being There”) is an amazing run, and I can’t think of anyone that ever had one quite like it during that same period (maybe Scorsese, who produced fewer films and “The Last Waltz,” which is a coke-addled stinker). I don’t even know that I can think of another director that put out seven wonderful films in a row (maybe Herzog). Anyway, Hal Ashby needs more people to take notice of his work. He’s awesome. Maybe Matt Zoller Seitz’s article about his influence on Wes Anderson’s oeuvre will get more people to see his films.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Given my answer to the previous question, the answer is obviously Ruth Gordon.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
The two that jump immediately to mind are both recent and both directed by Mike Nichols: “Wit” and “Angels in America.” I think he did an amazing job with both, but particularly the latter, since I love the play and found the movie just as wonderful.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy! I started watching “Barnaby Jones” because the Beastie Boys referred to it in some song or another, and I was, like, totally down with him.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
“Rules of the Game” might be my favorite movie ever. I think it’s gorgeous and heartbreaking. And that scene with the skeletons? My favorite cinematic moment. Ever. So, although that has to be my choice, I want to give him credit for some other magnificent work: “Boudu Saved from Drowning,” “La Bete Humaine,” “Les Bas-fonds,” and “The Southerner.” And “Grand Illusion” isn’t bad either. Nor is “French Cancan.” Or really anything he did.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
“Trash” because it’s anything but
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
I loved “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” as a kid (perhaps the source of my undying love for Ida Lupino?), and Basil was in “Captain Blood.” Plus, when I have a child, I intend to name him Basil, cuz it’s an awesome name.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
I always just hope that there will be at least one movie that I really really like that shows up during the summer. That didn’t exactly happen last year, but I also didn’t get to the theaters enough. So my highest expectation is that I’ll find something to love. My lowest expectation is that I’ll miss seeing something that I’ll love in the theaters.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Hmmm… I think “The Wizard of Oz” because it’s my favorite “children’s” movie. It means so much to me and always will, that I’d want to share that with my own child. And when they’re 12, I’d make them watch “400 Blows” with me because I’m eternally grateful to my father for having done exactly that.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
IMDB tells me that I’ve seen both several times, but I’m totally drawing a blank. Strother’s name is familiar, but… I’ll have to pass.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theaters: “Two Lovers” (awesome); DVD: “The Hole” (Tsai Ming-Liang’s—it too was awesome)
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home… I’m a grad student, and so movie-watching is usually something I do late in the evening when I’ve put the books to bed. That said, I live within walking distance of two decent theaters now and see more movies theatrically than I have in, say, six years.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Anna Faris in “Smiley Face” & Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Silver Streak,” and “Willy Wonka” (OK the GGs nominated him for the latter two films…) & Steve Martin in “The Jerk,” “LA Story,” “The Man with Two Brains,” and “Bowfinger” (how the GGs nominated him for “Father of the Bride 2” and not any of those other ones is beyond me… At least they gave him one for “All of Me”)
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Robert & Kristen because I saw “Adventureland” and like Ms. Stewart a lot in it.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
The only movie that I can think of off the top of my head that I absolutely loved but will forever refuse to watch again is “Grave of the Fireflies.” It’s much much too draining.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Beyonce is a better actress. And a better singer.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
I’ll specifically avoid “Night of the Hunter,” because that’s really the only answer that’s possible here, and go with “Farewell My Lovely,” since it’s nearly as good and probably the best cinematic Marlowe (sorry Bogie).
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
“Gimme Shelter”
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Her name’s Una, and she’s in both “The Sea Hawk” and “Adventures of Robin Hood”?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
I do love “The Abominable Dr. Phibes,” but I’ll have to go with “Witchfinder General” (aka “Conqueror Worm,” which might be the best movie title ever)
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Well, there’s “The Edge,” which is, you know, David Mamet’s movie about bears. And also “Anaconda,” which is pretty much the best movie about snakes ever.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Irene. I always had a soft spot for the “Beverly Hillbillies.”
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
The “nice knockers” exchange from “Young Frankenstein” always makes me laugh.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
I was going to say: How can you make me choose? But then, thinking more, I realize that as good as Elliot is in “The Long Goodbye,” I can’t really think of anything else by him that I really like (aside from his cameos in both “Nashville” and “Kicking and Screaming”). Donald, on the other hand, has “Don’t Look Now,” “Klute,” “Animal House,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” etc. So Sutherland by a landslide.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Sam Fuller in “Pierrot le Fou”
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
“The Lady Eve”
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I’m a literature student. I read a lot. It’s what I do. I’m paid to do it. My worldview is so governed by the texts that I’ve read, that I pick a single area would be futile. I can say with some certainty that the way I interact with and understand the world derives in large part from Roland Barthes. Seriously. It sounds a little pretentious, but his willingness to perceive the ideas that lie behind quotidian things (Mythologies) blew my mind when I was 20. And the way in which he examines the erotics of reading (or encountering any text) is also important to me. Barthes is intellectually a guiding light for me and someone I enjoy reading to boot.
1) Favorite Biopic
Lawrence of Arabia, though I hold a great deal of affection for Tim Burton's Ed Wood movie.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld. Mostly for the Matthew Sweet album cover.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
I saw the 1960 version of The Time Machine with Rod Taylor recently on TCM, and it was pretty amusing on this account.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Don't care.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
The Usual Suspects.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Hmmm. Mos Def is a better actor, though Ice Cube's music has meant more to me.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Almost Famous.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
What's Opera, Doc? (Too obvious?)
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
In these blogging times, it's hard to think of any director who isn't overly reviled (or overly praised) in certain quarters. Dunno.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
I like Fred Schepisi's Six Degrees of Separation quite a bit. I don't mind if something remains a little "stagy" onscreen, as long as it holds my attention.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Ebsen.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Haven't seen them all, but I tend to prefer Boudu Saved From Drowning.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Wayne Wang's Smoke. I don't have a reason; I just think it's an underrated picture that more people should see.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Fun, and not much else.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version). The most imaginative children's picture I've seen.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Martin.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: Wendy and Lucy.
DVD: Synecdoche, New York
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home. Hell is other moviegoers.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
I think Tea Leoni in Flirting With Disaster is pretty amazing. She reminds me of the great nutty screwball heroines, and it's a shame she is so rarely in any worthwhile movies.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I could give a shit.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
The Japanese film Nobody Knows.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Hudson.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Out of the Past.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
What's Up, Tiger Lily? with the Lovin' Spoonful.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
I plead ignorance.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Laura.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Wendy and Lucy!
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Ryan.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
Since Flirting with Disaster is on my mind, I'll say "a third eye is a sign of enlightenment."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Elliot Gould. Terrific in The Long Goodbye.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Scorsese in Quiz Show.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
The Lady Eve -- no competition.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Hmmm. Hard to think of anything broad, but Foucault's The Order of Things revised the way I examine and analyze any number of subjects, up to and including film.
D'oh! I read #3 too quickly and got the idea backwards. Disregard.
Answered here. Great blog, BTW.
Hope I'm not handing this in too late.
1) Favorite Biopic
Not generally my favorite genre, although I've enjoyed some of the musical ones, like "Three Little Words". "Lizstomania" would qualify, I guess. Then there's the awesome "I'm Not There". But I'm going to go non-musical, with "Mongol".
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
I'm very weak on the films of both. Can I go with Jacqueline Bisset, or does it have to be a blonde?
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
"2001" is the obvious choice. I suppose "All of them" works too.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
I like Frankie better than Troy, Sandra better than Annette. Oh, must I choose?
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Everyone's going with "White Heat", so I wanted to take "High Sierra". But no, "White Heat".
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Either a trick question with an obvious answer or just too hard. Pass.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
I've seen more of Mos Def, and he was Ford Prefect, so I'm going with him. Maybe if I saw more Cube, I'd have to change my answer. This applies only to their acting work - Mr. Cube is definitely a stronger rapper then Mr. Def.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
"Almost Famous", the story of my life.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
"Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century!" They're making a feature film of this, aren't they?
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
How much respect does Corey Yuen get? Because he is awesome.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Sweet or tart? I like Margaret Hamilton.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead": Maybe just because it was such a great play, but it's also a great movie.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
A man called Jed.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Must go with "Rules of the Game", but I have a lot of love for "Picnic on the Grass". Maybe I could answer "French Cancan" for the music industry question.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
"If...": What could be simpler?
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone, for his villains more than his Holmes.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Last year was the summer of comicbook movies. This summer it looks like just Wolverine. So that's what I pick, for both high and low expectations.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
"The General", at least for boys who like trains. I have no kids, but a friend's son loved it, and watches it every time he visits, from ~3 years old to ~12.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
I've heard of Strother Martin, but can't place him. L.Q. Jones - I got nothing. Martin, unless there are points deducted for guessing.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: Like the last few quizzes, nothing. On DVD, the Abbott and Costello confection "The Noose Hangs High".
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. Convenient show times, cocktail service, pauses for potty breaks, no unwanted conversation.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Cary Grant for "Bringing Up Baby". Admittedly from the fertile year of 1938, but still - one of the funniest movies of all time.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
No. Just... No.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
"The Crying Game". After all the twists are revealed, only the heartbreak remains.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
I'd go for both, but either one at a time is too much for me to handle.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
His best is probably "Out of the Past", but my favorite? "The Big Steal" - Ramon Novarro chasing William Bendix chasing Robert Mitchum chasing Jane Greer chasing Patric Knowles through Mexico.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Have you ever seen "The Ghost Goes Gear", starring the Spenser Davis Group, with Aker Bilk and a few never-weres? Well I have. It stinks.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O'Connor - unless I'm thinking of Una Merkel. No, the old biddy.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Maybe it's because I'm thinking of Basil Rathbone, but how about "Tower of London"? Or does it only count if he is starring?
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Larry Blamire's "Lost Skeleton of Cadavera" and the sequel "The Lost Skeleton Returns Again". I think they have a cult, but I'm not sure they are rabid.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Well, I picked Jed, so I guess I'll go with Granny.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
See next question.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
I'm sure Gould deserves it more, but Donald Sutherland, for Oddball. "Stop with the negative waves, Moriarty."
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo in "Frenzy". Really pulls the whole movie together.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
"The Lady Eve" is currently my second favorite movie of all time. She's had better roles, but this movie has everything: Henry Fonda in a sexual fog, Charles Coburn AND Eugene Palette, Eric Blore, William Demerest. "Definitely, the same dame."
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
About the only non-fiction books I read outside of cookbooks are film and music books. So, music criticism, because it is almost exactly the same as film criticism.
1) Favorite Biopic
I'll have to say Goodfellas. The fact that it's based on a true story is almost entirely irrelevant to the enjoyment it gives me, but a true story it is.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
I say Tuesday Weld for starring on two Matthew Sweet album covers.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
The only answer that springs to mind are all the companies featured in neon in Blade Runner that have since gone bankrupt.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Where's Troy & Sandra's equivalent of Back to the Beach?
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
I was all set to say Sixth Sense, but apparently that's MNS's third. Hmmm... I'm going to say that Slacker was Richard Linklater's first film and Dazed & Confused was his second. Takes out the self-awareness, gives us multidimensional characters, and immortalizes Matthew McConaughey. All right, all right, all right.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube, for the wider range.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Get Crazy, about a night in the life of the (thinly disguised) Fillmore. It is CRIMINAL that this is not available on DVD.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
There's an eighty-way tie for first, but for you... I'll say "Rabbit Seasoning," the middle part of the Bugs-Daffy-Elmer hunting trilogy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEmLaQJtWo
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
George Roy Hill. He only did 14 films over a quarter centry, but they include Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Slap Shot, The Sting, The World According to Garp, and the ultimate impossible-to-adapt adaptation, Slaughterhouse-Five. Attention MUST be paid.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
RUTH GORDON RUTH GORDON RUTH GORDON. Not just for Harold & Maude & Rosemary's Baby, but for Pat & Mike & Adam's Rib.12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross. It's spread around a little bit more, locationwise, and it has Alec Baldwin's killer turn at the start, absent from the stage version.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen, in sympathy for losing his chance to be the Tin Man.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
N/A
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Oh, great question. I'll treat this as a great one-word title, as opposed to a great movie with a one-word title, and say... Patrick. I don't care how bad it is - it's really cool to have a movie with my name.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone, but only because I like Sherlock Holmes more than Frankenstein.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest: I'll forget the world as much on my third viewing as I did on my first. Lowest: during the running time, I won't think about the cost of my ticket once.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
A Charlie Chaplin movie. They wouldn't have to ask what everyone is saying, and they'd get exposed to his brilliance at an impressionable age.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin, for the delivery of the line "cozy up to the Finkelstein boy" in Up in Smoke.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Movies: I Love You Man. DVD: Final Justice, by way of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home, strictly because of my lack of spending money.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Bill Murray, Groundhog Day. Enough said.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Light or dark, eh? I guess by that criteria I'd vote for RP & KS, if I could bring myself to care.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I'll give you two: Schindler's List & Leaving Las Vegas. Both tremendous movies that I have no intention of ever seeing again.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer's got a much, much better quality/fluff ratio.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
"Chilllllll....dren?"
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
The Kids are Alright, the 1979 documentary on the Who. A high-energy jumble with some incredible performances, and it's a treat to see Keith Moon at his best.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Pass.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Does Laura count? If not, The Conqueror Worm.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Said it before, say it again - Get Crazy. All it needs is a DVD release for people to become aware of it. Anyone? Anyone? (Runner-up: Three O'Clock High.)
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
*yawns, checks watch*
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' motherfucker, motherfucker!" - Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction (like you needed me to tell you that).
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Gould, for The Long Goodbye.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Sydney Pollack in Tootsie. It never entered my mind that he was appearing in his own film - to me, he WAS Dustin Hoffman's agent.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
The Lady Eve.36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
1) Favorite Biopic
Young Mr. Lincoln. Some cows ought to be sacred.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Once again I dishonor myself and defame the profession of actress by treating these questions as "which one would you rather go to bed with." Obviously this is a choice between two first prizes, and there is no doubt that Weld had a far higher level of talent and a far more interesting career, Cannon's career being essentially junk cinema, but Dyan Cannon, I mean, this is the woman Cary Grant wanted. There's a lot of meat there, and all of it is cherce, and she just looks like she'd be enthusiastic about it . . .
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
It's a curious bit of perversity that after 150 years of being wrong people were still putting their bets on Thomas Malthus, as we see in Soylent Green. The error here is not in sounding an alarm over environmental decay but in selecting overcrowding as the primary menace. The Malthusian theory is essentially a bourgeois fear, the idea that the value of one's holding is going to be degraded and then eroded by the lumpen masses produced by irresponsible breeding of the lower orders.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
I would drink Annette's bathwater. Honestly, I think I'd rather do her than Sophia Loren, and I have exactly the same desire for Sophia Loren that any decent human being does. Frankie? Well, okay, we'd have to have somebody to go out for pizza. Besides, I like their supporting cast: Harvey Lembeck, Don Rickles, Buster Keaton . . .
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
The Roaring Twenties, but there are a lot of Honorable Mentions: High Sierra, Gentleman Jim. They Died With Their Boots On. You have to be impressed with somebody who had 50 movies under his belt before directing his first talkie, began his career during the Wilson adminstration and ended it during the Johnson administration. One of the more strangely interesting bad movies is The Horn Blows at Midnight, with Jack Benny as the angel assigned to blow the final trump. It's one of those plots that's supposed to produce endless hi-jinks but doesn't -- how many gags can you build around stopping a man from blowing a horn, and it displays the usual stilted unease Hollywood applied to philosophical fantasy. But there are tremendous production values brought to bear, including the A-list director. Its complete commercial failure was a running gag on Jack Benny's radio show for years thereafter.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
In certain ways, The Magnificent Ambersons.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube, as an actor. I'm no judge of rapping. A lot of those rap guys do seem to make good actors, though.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
The Girl Can't Help It.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
One Froggy Evening. Some cows ought to be sacred.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhq0N4ORYjM&feature=related
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Now here's a comparison I can make solely on the basis of their respective talents. Ruth Gordon seems a lot more accomplished, doesn't she? I would think Margaret Hamilton's appeal is at least 70% sentimental. I mean, didn't Una O'Connor do her kind of thing better?
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Chimes at Midnight. Most filmed plays that stick in my mind are just filmed plays, with no appreciably successful effort to turn them into cinema -- Butley, Steambath, The Man in the Glass Booth, Secret Honor, June Moon, Knuckle.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Woo doggies, Edgar Buchanan. Ebsen's big number in Born to Dance is the most strangely gay looking thing I've ever seen in the movies.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
This is a subject I have to look into more deeply. Of the two I've seen, Rules of the Game.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Zotz! I don't know why. By critical acclamation, this is one of the worst motion pictures ever made, but I was really taken with it when I was a little kid. I think I was just taken by the concept. Haven't tried to watch it again since.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, icon beats character actor, Rathbone beats Thesinger.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
The fact that I'm almost entirely ignorant of what's coming out this summer, as opposed to the half dozen or more I was at least half planning to see last year, would indicate that my lowest expectation is for summer movies. Up I see as a late spring movie and Inglorious Bastards (however misspelled) as a Quentin Tarantino movie, but if those are considered summer movies then those are the summer movies I'm looking forward to. There are so few newly released movies I have any expectations for that when one comes out I'm on it like a wolf on a porkchop, and it's down the hatch that quickly.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
The trouble with this question is that you're limited to what a very young child is going to appreciate, but even so there's a good answer, and that's Pinocchio. You have someone whose inner life is about 75% make believe to begin with, and ideally you're going to a surviving movie palace like the El Capitan, so you're taking the kid to a magical place to see a magical thing done in a magical way with transcendent craft. To reframe the questin slightly to which movies you would most relish introducing the kid to when the proper time came, what comes to my mind are the Marx Brothers, the Korda/Powell Thief of Baghdad, 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, and Alien. The latter I imagine sitting there next to the kid with my hands folded over my chest, invisible halo over my head, knowing what's coming while the kid doesn't . . . I don't have any children, but I have a niece now college age who likes the books I give her at Christmas, which is gratifying. I think I really won her over when I gave her Cat's Cradle when she was a junior in high school. Last year it was South Wind by Norman Douglas, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, The Circus of Dr. Lao and Gascoyne by Stanley G. Crawford.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Unless you can show me the Ken Twitchell L.Q. Jones mural, Strother Martin. Really, this is like Finals 2002 Lakers v. Nets.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theaters, Monsters vs. Aliens. DVD, Hitchcock's Sabotage. Blu Ray, Pinocchio.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home, because I keep buying DVDs. It has something to do with the everybody-I-like-is-dead-or-not-feeling-very-well phenomenon, something to do with middle aged energy deficiency, and something to do with not wanting to think I wasted my money on the DVD. However, I do still make a point to see a movie I'm really interested in on the big screen first, which is why I haven't seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers or Kwaidan yet.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Easier to name an award-worthy comic performance that wasn't, isn't it? Ignoring comic performances is what the Oscar is about.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
The fact that I had such a fulsome answer for the Annette Funicello question will tell you why I have no answer for this one.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Beyonce Knowles by the usual criterion. I don't think I've seen either in a movie.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Out of the Past. See No. 32.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
The strangely ambitious Having a Wild Weekend, by the strangely ambitious Dave Clark Five. It's practically neo-realist.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
So I guess the winner of this one is matched up against the winner of Ruth Gordon and Margaret Hamilton, with Gordon ecking out a decision over O'Connor.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Theater of Blood.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
The Fifth Element.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Based on the icon beats character actor principle (and the icon beats half-assed icon principle), Irene Ryan.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"Then I want to die last." See No. 26.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
As Bill James might say, peak value Elliot Gould, career value Donald Sutherland.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Among those who are primarily directors as opposed to actor/directors the one I enjoy the most as an actor is John Huston. Best performance would be Noah Cross in Chinatown. Roman Polanski does a nice turn in that as well.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
The Lady Eve, but then Sullivan's Travels is my favorite Veronica Lake movie, Miracle of Morgan's Creek is my favorite Betty Hutton movie, Palm Beach Story is my favorite Carole Lombard (and Mary Astor) movie, Easy Living is my favorite Jean Arthur movie . . . I don't know if there's a writer/director who gave women more good things to do onscreen than Preston Sturges. Maybe Lubitsch.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Everything I love the most has a strong element of humor to it.
Whoops - somehow missed the last one...
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I'm all about the gift of laughter. It's the oil in the machine of life. So, comedy, in a walk.
PS - I didn't go through the answers until after I posted mine, and I was psyched to see I'm not the only Get Crazy fan out there.
Two questions I inadvertently skipped (wouldn't want to get an Incomplete):
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
If as I read in this David Thomson book that Rene Clair's reputation is in eclipse, then Rene Clair. For myself, I've lately been reassessing Bob Clampett, whose work I was mostly lukewarm about, mostly from a fixation on the classic postwar Looney Tune. Now that I have developed more of an interest in pre-war squink I see him as Tex Avery in a minor key, though where Avery mostly rode the road of excess, Clampett was a genuine surrealist.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time.
No great or good movies come to mind, but two I found excruciating were the last two Terry Gilliams, The Brothers Grimm, which was like having nails driven through my hands, and Tideland, which was like having my skin pulled off. This is a career that's gone completely off the rails.
1) Favorite Biopic
Good Night and Good Luck (2005).
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Well, of the two I’ll have to go with Tuesday if only for Pretty Poison (1968) and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Just Imagine (1930).
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
It’s Frankie and Dee Dee, baby!
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat (1949).
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
The Young Savages (1961).
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
A Mighty Wind (2003).
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Rabbit of Seville (1950) (http://video.yahoo.com/watch/42703/964406)
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
It’s a tossup between Phil Karlson and Joseph H. Lewis.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
After Where’s Poppa? (1970) and Harold and Maude (1971), Gordon got typecast as the cutesy old dame that made you really want to just hit upside her head with a shovel (and no jury would convict you). I think Hamilton’s movie appearances (even though she was typecast as the nosy harridan) are far more interesting…not just Oz, but films like My Little Chickadee (1940) and The Red Pony (1949).
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
This is kind of a tough call but I’ll go with Buchanan on the strength of both his movie and television work. I know Ebsen had a lengthy film career but outside of Attack! (1956) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) I couldn’t name any additional ones without some help from the IMDb. (Among my favorite Buchanan flicks: The Talk of the Town [1942] and Ride the High Country [1962].
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Of the tiny number of the ones I’ve seen, La grande illusion (1937).
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Slacker (1991). It describes…well, me!
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Rathbone, but only because I’ve seen more of his films than I have Thesiger’s.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest expectation: Maybe this one won’t have as many explosions as the ones in the past.
Lowest expectation: It’s air-conditioning for two hours.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
The Wizard of Oz (1939). I can’t think of another strong contender to top what may very well be the most entertaining family film of all time.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother, of course. (“What we have here is…failure to communicate…”)
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Um, it’s still Get Smart (2008). DVD, Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978).
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
I see more movies at home only because I prefer classic films to the sludge currently being piped into the theaters today. (Fogey, thy name is Ivan.)
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Spring Byington in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941).
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Um…yeah.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Titicut Follies (1967). (Pretty much a gimme, don’t you think?)
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Truth be told, I’ve not seen any of their performances, so it would be presumptuous for me to speculate.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
It’s His Kind of Woman (1951), but I saved that for my favorite Vincent Price movie—so I’ll go with Out of the Past (1947) instead.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Blowup (1966), with the Yardbirds.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O’Connor.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
His Kind of Woman (1951). Granted, it’s a tough choice between this and The Witchfinder General (1968) but his hammy motion picture idol in Woman is an outstanding comedic performance of the first water.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
If a movie deserved cult status, it would have already obtained it by now.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Oh, Bea wins this one in a walk if only for her radio work alone. A superb comic actress who worked alongside Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, Lucille Ball (My Favorite Husband), Dennis Day, Jim & Marian Jordan (Fibber McGee & Molly), Mel Blanc, Harold Peary (The Great Gildersleeve), Red Skelton, Ozzie & Harriet Nelson—not to mention dramatic turns in The Mercury Theater on the Air, Grand Central Station, Lights Out, Suspense, The Cavalcade of America, etc. (I’m going to chalk up your inclusion of Benson among these two as temporary insanity, Dennis.)
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
“Oh, Jesus…pigs!” (From The In-Laws [1979].)
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
I’ll go with Sutherland only because he seems to have a bit more range than Gould (Start the Revolution Without Me [1970], Klute [1971], Don’t Look Now [1973], The Day of the Locust [1975]—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.)
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
John Huston as Noah Cross in Chinatown (1974).
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Ball of Fire (1941) gets my vote.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I’m so sorry…we’re out of time. But we hope to have you back again on the show real soon.
1) Favorite BiopicI’m going to name three: Patton, Good Night and Good Luck and Reversal of Fortune. I’m not sure the latter qualifies, but like the other two, but I have all three reaction to all three.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld? Dyan Cannon
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the predictionJet packs for everyone
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee? Annette and Frankie, mainly because I’m more familiar with them.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie? Not familiar with him.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def? Mos Def has done a wider variety of roles
8) Favorite movie about the music industryThe ones I’ve chosen are set in and around the music industry, if that’s what you mean.
Grace of My Heart, set in the waning years of Tin Pan Alley, continuing through the ‘60’s
RayDreamgirlsNow that I’ve listed them, I sense a theme. All of them center around artists working in through the period when artists and songwriters were used and abused by the record companies and their efforts to overcome.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible) I’m picking three. Why, you ask? Just ‘cause!
Rabbit of Seville
Duck Amuck
One Froggy Evening
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessmentThis is always a type of question with which I have difficulty. I don’t feel ‘qualified’ to access the relative merits of directors. What am I looking for in answering this question? Since I don’t know, I’ll pass.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton? Since the only performance of Margaret Hamilton is The Wizard of Oz, I’ll go with Ruth.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan? Since this is a film quiz, I’ll choose Buddy since I’m more familiar with his film work.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie? Not familiar with his work
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and whyBound because I loved the movie.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone? Basil, again because of relative familiarity.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectationsHonestly, other than a couple of the tentpole movies (Wolverine and Harry Potter come to mind), I’m not sure what else is in store for the Cineplex this summer. That said, my goal is always to go into a movie with the lowest expectations possible. I try to avoid at all costs the previews and trailers, because they give away way too much. If you see someone fleeing the theater as the previews start, there’s a good chance it’s me! I don’t read reviews or watch interviews beforehand. The less I know, the fewer if not lower expectations I have, the better the chance that I’ll actually enjoy the movie when I finally see it.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why? Toy Story because the good folks at Pixar really know how to tell a story, and I think any small child can relate to the predicament of Woody, Buzz and all their pals.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother MartinTruly a toss up for me.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray? I saw State of Play and 17 Again last Saturday. And on Dennis’ recommendation, I watched The House Bunny on DVD over the weekend. Really, Dennis, WTF?
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why? Theatrically. Despite the talking and chair-kicking people that insist upon sitting next to me, there’s nothing like the immersive experience of sitting in the darkened theater and allowing myself to be engrossed in the world unfolding before me. I’ve yet to truly replicate that elsewhere.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals. Too many to name, but I’ll throw out Madeline Khan in What’s Up, Doc?23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen StewartZac and Vanessa. I thought one of top problems with Twilight was the lack of heat between the leads.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club) I’ve never been able to watch Sophie’s Choice or the original version of A Raisin in the Sun after that first time.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson? I know Jennifer won the Oscar, but based upon her dull performance in Sex and the City, I’ll have to go with Beyonce.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie? Home from the Hill27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the MonkeesI got nothin’.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor? Who?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie? Since the vast majority of his film work seems to be in the horror genre and I don’t ‘do’ horror, I got nothin’ again.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status. Galaxy Quest31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)? Lucille Benson
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.) 33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland? Donald Sutherland.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role Sydney Pollack in Tootsie comes to mind.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie? You know, I realized in looking over her body of work that I’m not that big a fan.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies? Well, for me – Uh-oh, looks like time has expired and Prof. Peabody tells me it’s time to put down my pencil. I hope this question was only for extra credit!
credit!
My theory is that recommending The House Bunny was an experiment to see how many people would watch The Brown Bunny by mistake.
Here's my list with some omissions because I simply wasn't smart enough to answer all of them...
Favorite Biopic?
This is a difficult one since it is far and away my favorite subgenre of film -- I'll go with Quiz Show...even though I'm sure they took liberties with the actual story for dramatic purposes, but hey, what biopic doesn't?
Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction?
Gotta go with Blade Runner on this one.
Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
Because I'm a big cheater I'll go with a tie: The Roaring Twenties and Colorado Territory.
Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut?
well, the easy pick would be Pulp Fiction (Tarantino) or Boogie Nights (PT Anderson), but I'll go with Ridley Scott as his second feature was one of the most influential sci-fi/horror films ever made. Alien came after his so-so debut film The Duellists.
Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def. Have you ever seen that guy on Bill Maher's show? He's crazy. Also, his performance, even though it exists in an average action film, from 16 Blocks is an amazing piece of acting.
Favorite movie about the music industry?
Well I was thinking I would go with movies more about the art of making music, like Hustle and Flow or something along those lines (sorry most of my picks lean towards modern films), but then I though I thought about the brief scenes in Boogie Nights that are about the music industry.
In addition that amazing scene I love when Dirk and Reed try to get the master tapes back from the record studio and they can't seem to grasp the idea that they signed them over to the studio when they signed their contracts. "YP, MP, I don't know your record lingo...all I know is, granted you own the tapes, but the magic, the magic that is on there...that is ours!" Such a great scene. "I know karate."
Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment?
Oh boy I'll get killed for this one...but I have to say Tony Scott. I think Quentin Tarantino said it best on the commentary track for the True Romance DVD that Scott is a director who makes films where you as the viewer know what you're getting; not only that he has a distinct look that is solely his -- aped by many other directors, but it is uniquely and unquestionably his look (I'm speaking of the rooms drenched in blue and the thickest cloud of smoke you've ever scene). The man can film people smoking like no one else and make it look arty as hell. I remember being the only one in the theater thinking Domino and Man on Fire were any good. The élan of those films are exactly what I mean by films that actually succeed in being entertaining that solely rely on style over substance. Sure, his films aren't groundbreaking or even necessarily memorable, but they are always entertaining and they are always a feast for the senses -- even if sometimes his visuals dizzy you into closing your eyes and rubbing your temples. The man can direct, people! It's time we all gave him his due.
Best filmed adaptation of a play?
I really should see more plays...but I'll go with Mike Nichols' adaptation of Wit, a play I read in high school and absolutely loved. The film was an amazing adaptation and just as powerful and moving as the play.
Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
The Lower Depths . Maybe not his best, but my favorite.
Favorite one-word movie title, and why?
Gummo. The title basically dares you to not watch it. You don't think...oooh Gummo! That sounds like fun.
Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations?
I don't know if this means in general or this year...I don't follow summer movies as closely as I used to, but I would say high expectations is definitely Michael Mann's Public Enemies (on a campier not it's hands down G.I. Joe). Lowest expectations: Terminator 4. "McG...McG!!!"
Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Anything by Chaplin. The pantomime is a universal language, and I think kids, since they haven't been turned into cynics yet, can appreciate those films the way they are meant to be appreciated. You can throw Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd in there, too. This is why Wall-E works as such a great kids movie, too. It's essentially about getting across the emotion through pantomime the way Chaplin did.
Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Saw a lot at the Salem Film Festival. So I'll go with the best of that bunch, Atom Egoyan's Adoration.
Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. Thanks to Brandon's set up it's more fun to watch a movie in the setting of a home theater than a regular theater with all of the usual distractions.
Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Cameron Diaz in two totally different kinds of comedies: There's Something About Mary and Being John Malkovich.
Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Tim Roth's The War Zone.
Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Beyonce. Not even close.
Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
It's predictable, conventional (my choice that is, not the movie), but hey, it's the best of the bunch : The Night of the Hunter.
Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Not a movie, but I have fond memories of him as Egghead from the old Batman show.
Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
I don't know that it's officially 'out' yet, but I just saw Jeffrey Goodman's brilliant neo noir The Last Lullaby at the Salem Film Festival. If people get out to see it, it will turn the man into a go-to director for these kinds of thrillers. It's really a brilliant film.
Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."
Sorry, I know that you only asked for one line, but that first line makes me think about the rest that follow, and well, they all make me smile.
Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland. Especially for his role as X in JFK.
Best performance by a director in an acting role
Eric von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd. as Max von Mayerling
Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
I have an affinity for postmodern literature...authors like Rushdie, McEwan, Amis, Coetzee, Swift, Winterson, and the like. Since I went to school to study literature I usually find myself reading a lot of literary theory like Lyotard and Baudrillard; Umberto Eco's book On Literature is one of the best ever written on the topics of semiotics and why we interpret things the way we do. I also am intrigued by world cultures and their religions. So I read a lot of stuff that varies from Joseph Campbell to Thomas Merton. All of the above help me better understand myself and life, and allow me to view life through a variety of lenses.
On the coat-tails of my brother in the previous comment, here we go...
1) Favorite Biopic
Lawrence of Arabia works fine for me. Amadeus is also a favorite.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Dyan Cannon for the "special" brownies she prepares for the Laker players and coaches.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Hasn't everything in Gattaca actually happened?
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
I'm guessing this is connected to #23 below...
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
The only one of his movie's I've seen is White Heat, so White Heat.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Sergio Leone (The Collossus of Rhodes --> A Fistful of Dollars)
or
Sam Peckinpah (The Deadly Companions --> Ride The High Country)
or
Ridley Scott (The Duelists --> Alien)
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice Cube, for no reason whatsoever.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
This Is Spinal Tap
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Am I that young that I can't remember any in particular? I grew up in a Disney house, apparently.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
As odd a choice as this sounds, I'm going to go with William Peter Blatty. I've always thought Exorcist 3 was a good underrated thriller and I just watched The Ninth Configuration last week and found it to be quite good. In both films, the only two he ever directed, Blatty seemed to have a good eye for the camera and a good feel for pacing and tension.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon, since I've seen her in several things and don't care about Wizard of Oz.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Wasn't Casablanca based on a play? If not, then Glengarry Glen Ross.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
As far as sheer stupidity in a TV show goes, Petticoat Junction > The Beverly Hillbillies. Neither were my cup of tea. So, I'll pick Edgar Buchanan for "moving kind of slow."
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
I've only seen Rules of the Game.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Sssssss. It sums up all you need to know about the movie (Also, it stars Dirk Benedict and Strother Martin -- I need to rewatch this on late night cable once again).
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes, so he wins.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Lowest - GI Joe (I have no delusions that it will actually be any good, yet I'll probably see it). Highest - Up
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Robocop. But assuming Tricia nixes that, I'll go with Wall-E.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Ooh, that's a toughie. Both are/were awesome character actors, but I'll give it to L.Q. Jones by a hair due to my fondly remembering his turns in Pat Garrett and Casino.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters - I Love You, Man. On DVD - Well if a torrent of the public domain Messiah of Evil counts, then that. Otherwise...wow it's been a long time since I've rented anything.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
Home. I'm cheap.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Christopher Guest in Spinal Tap?
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Best question on this list :P I'll take the High School Musical duo any day by virtue of the fact they are prettier to look at and have a modicum of facial expressions and charisma. And, I don't begrudge them their fame. For some reason, with Pattinson and Stewart, I begrudge.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Schindler's List
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Let me upgrade, upgrade. Beyonce.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Hunter.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
The Wall is fun, and The Song Remains The Same is hilariously entertaining, but I'll go with The Last Waltz because it finds a way to combine The Band and Scorsese into one movie.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
um...
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Too bad the word "movie" is in there, because his job on the Batman TV show as Egghead was legendary. I'll go with The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Invasion USA. I think a lot of conservative talk show hosts would find it eerily prescient and latch onto its "message" (that communists are taking over the country and are out to kill us all!). Me, I just find it amazingly silly and awesome.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Again with the Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction...I'll give Irene Ryan the win here to even things up from above.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
So, so many...so I'll choose the first one that came to the top of my head -- Nick Cage from Wicker Man, "How'd it get burned, how'd it get burned, HOW'D IT GET BURNED!" Bad acting at its finest.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland by a hair, although this question makes me realize how criminally underrated Elliot Gould is.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. I made that too easy, didn't I -- okay as far as non-acting director's go, Roman Polanski in Chinatown.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Well, I also love reading about sports, TV, and comic books...although the extent to which any of those things significantly help me to appreciate life more is questionable.
Oh, I thought of a better answer for this one:
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Fearless. A movie with the kind of moral clarity that gets people crucified.
BTW, Jeremy Brett is Sherlock Holmes. (My bet is that Robert Downey, Jr. isn't, but we'll see.)
1) Favorite Biopic
Lawrence of Arabia
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
"2001: A Space Odyssey". We are totally not near Jupiter yet.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Annette and Frankie
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
P.T. Anderson from "Hard Eight" to "Boogie Nights"
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
"Almost Famous"
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Pretty much any of the three from the "Rabbit Season" trilogy.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Joe Dante
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
I love both of these women, but Ruth Gordon takes the cake for "Rosemary's Baby" and "Harold and Maude".
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
"A Streetcar Named Desire" probably.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
I like Buddy Ebsen but I can't say I've seen much of Edgar Buchanan so I would have to say no comment.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
"Rules of the Game"
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
"Once" it's as powerfully simple and straight forward as the movie itself.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
I would have to go with Ernest Thesiger for being "Dr. Pretorious" from "Bride of Frankenstein".
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest-New Woody Allen film
Lowest-The fact that my city will not be getting the new Woody Allen film
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Charlie Chaplin in either "City Lights", "The Kid", "The Gold Rush", "The Circus", or "Modern Times". I always thought Chaplin was the perfect character to show to children. He's childlike himself, he's a comic hero, his humour reaches everyone of all ages. The fact that he's from the silent era also makes him perfect to introduce your child to the film language.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
I just looked up L.Q. Jones on IMDB and nothing came up, and since I've never heard of the name I would have to go with Strother Martin.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theatres-"The International" DVD-"Destry Rides Again"
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home since I have an extensive movie collection. Plus if I wanted to I could watch films with audio commentary and special features, you just get more for your buck!
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Just one? Steve Martin in "All of Me"
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I'd have to go with Pattinson and Stewart, since they look to have the most potential to go beyond they're superstar roles.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
So far I have only been able to watch "Sansho the Baliff" once.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer Hudson
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
I'm sorry I cannot just pick one, there must be a tie between "Out of the Past" and "Night of the Hunter".
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Does "Woodstock" count?
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
I can't say Maria Ouspenskaya stuck out for me, but again Una O'Connor was in "Bride of Frankenstein" and that's awesome to me.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
"Laura" although that's not really his movie, so in that case I'll say "The Fly"
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status."In Bruges"
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Can't say I have an opinion on them.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
Groucho in "Horse Feathers" "I'm the plumber, I'm here in case something goes wrong with her pipes. That's the first time I used that joke in 20 years."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
I guess Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" would be too obvious so I'll put some foreign flavour in here and say Francois Truffaut in "Day for Night"
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Unfair to be able to pick just one, therefore I'll declare a three way tie and say "Double Indemnity", "Ball of Fire", and "The Lady Eve"
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies? The subject I enjoy reading other than film would be philosophy. It has been a major subject in my life as of late. It's an interesting subject to discuss as you find out everyone has their own personal philosophy, and in that way, that helps me understand and appreciate film more.
1) Favorite Biopic
My favorite movie about a real person is Lawrence of Arabia. Biopics tend to be way too formulaic for me, so I generally prefer ones like I'm Not There and Mishima that purposefully break the mold.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld. Pretty Poison was actually filmed in the town and county where I live.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Any of the early-'90s virtual reality-themed thrillers that tried to paint cyberspace as a dangerous alternate reality capable of turning mentally challenged lawnmower men into all-powerful daemons or unleashing a wisecracking Russell Crowe into the world.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Annette and Frankie - my, was Back to the Beach in heavy rotation on HBO when I was a wee lad.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
White Heat
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
The Terminator has less flying pirahnas than Piranha II, but is otherwise superior.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
My first thought was "Nashville" as a default answer, but a quick glance shows that few have mentioned it so far, so perhaps it isn't considered a movie about the industry (it is, but it's about everything). So honorable mentions to Almost Famous and Phantom of the Paradise, respectively the sweetest and most acidic takes on the music industry.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
The ending of "What's Opera Doc?" shocked me when I was a kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDwDo_hTs2Q
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
I think Sam Mendes is one of the best new directors of the last 10 years, but he's also
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Oh, Maude!
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Amadeus
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
I laughed the first time I read the story of how Ebsen was the original Tin Man but had to be hospitalized because of aluminum dust inhalation. Am I a bad person?
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
I've only seen a few Renoir films so far, and while they were all inarguably brilliant, I have yet to truly fall in love with one. But The Rules of the Game is hilarious and, as I said, inarguably brilliant.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Alien. It sums up everything that fuels the movie's scares in the most elemental way possible.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
I must admit that I didn't recognize the name "Ernest Thesiger." But after looking him up and realizing he played Dr. Pretorious in Bride of Frankenstein, that alone puts him ahead.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest: That Inglorious Bastards will be as insanely entertaining as a decade of Tarantino's hyperbole promises.
Lowest: That Transformers 2, which will surely be the highest-grossing movie of the summer, will do anything other than further confirmation of my most pompous, elitist assumptions about the horrible taste of most moviegoers.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
I'm hoping that my daughter will be ready to go to the movies by the time Where the Wild Things Are is released. I think about this subject quite often. When my wife was pregnant with Luna, I read an article in the New York Times (I think) about how kids are becoming increasingly "platform agnostic" - a movie, a tv commercial and a video game on a cell phone all have the same value. So besides wanting to pass on my geekiness, I actually think it's important for parents to encourage an appreciation for movies, books and all stories that inspire curiosity and wonder.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Probably the closest call on this quiz. I'll go with Strother Martin - I was delighted by his performance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when I revisited it a few weeks ago.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters, Adventureland, which completely surprised me with its warmth and subtlety. On DVD, Brazil, which gets funnier and scarier every year.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home - we don't have much of a social life, but we have a pretty sweet home theater setup.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Though it's looking more and more like a one-ff, Adam Sandler's performance in Punch-Drunk Love was the best of its year.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
To be fair, I haven't seen High School Musical 3 or Twilight, so who knows, they could be really good. Kristen Stewart showed surprising depth in Adventureland, so I'll go with her and Babyface Nelson.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
I've never been able to rewatch Boys Don't Cry. The film's second half is brutal not just for the violence and simulated rape, but because Kimberley Peirce and Hilary Swank do a frighteningly strong job of putting you in Brandon Teena's shoes - I left the movie feeling violated and emotionally drained. I tried watching it once on cable, but when Brandon and Lana kiss for the first time I decided to change the channel and leave the movie on high note.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
I truly don't have an opinion. Hudson, because who doesn't like to root for an underdog?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
My favorite movie featuring Robert Mitchum is Dead Man. His best performance, of course, is Night of the Hunter.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Blow-Up (featuring the Yardbirds)
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Maria Ouspenskaya
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
His performance in Edward Scissorhands was one of the first to make me teary-eyed. As far as leading roles go, Theatre of Blood is one of the best black comedies.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
Due to rights issues, The Beaver Trilogy is one of the few cult films left that can basically only be seen on seventh-generation bootlegs. And it's well worth the effort - check out this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kULU1Vw93Pw) and other YouTube clips and you'll see what I mean. Sidenote: I've just found out, through the comments on that page, that Groovin Gary died in February. That totally sucks - RIP, Olivia Newton Dawn.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Lucille Benson
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
"Well, Wildcat was written in a kind of obsolete vernacular...Wildcat...wild...cat...pow...wildcat...I'm going to go."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Elliot Gould's performance in The Long Goodbye is one for the ages, but Donald Sutherland is maybe the most underrated '70s-era actor. MASH, Don't Look Now, 1900, Animal House, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ordinary People...
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
David Cronenberg is frighteningly convincing as a killer in To Die For and Nightbreed. It's also fun to see him get killed by Jason Voorhees in Jason X.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Good question. I read a lot of philosophy, particularly the existentialists. It's all in the mind, you know.
1) Favorite Biopic
Walk the Line
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
The Stepford Wives, maybe?
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
I don't know their, er, oeuvres well enough to judge.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
See #4.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
"Take the Money and Run."
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Mos Def (mostly because I think he's cute)
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
"Almost Famous"
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short
anything involving Bugs Bunny
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Gregory LaCava or Jean Negulesco
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon, because of "Harold and Maude". And the tannis root.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
The Shape of Things. Also, any David Mamet adaptation.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
?
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
"Rules of the Game" is the only one I've seen thus far, so I guess that'd be my favorite.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Charade, because it captures the playfulness and intrigue of the film so well.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Excited for "Julie and Julia" and, strangely, for the Transformers sequel.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Fantasia, because it's so imaginative, and would introduce them to great classical music to boot.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Sorry I'm blanking out on so many of these, but who? And I thought I knew my character actors!
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theatres-"Valentino: The Last Emperor"
DVD-"Single White Female"
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home thanks to Netflix/Hulu/living across the street from a performing arts library
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Anna Faris in "House Bunny"!
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I like both duos for different reasons, however I didn't enjoy Twilight. I think Kristen Stewart is bound for greater things.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
The Squid and the Whale
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Jennifer Hudson
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Out of the Past. Also, I just saw him in a strangely uncharacteristic performance opposite Shirley MacLaine in "What a Way to Go."
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
"Rock and Roll Circus"
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Maria Ouspenskaya
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
"Laura"
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
"Hot Rod". I thought it was really funny, in a zany way of course.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
I'm not familiar...
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
Anything from "The Apartment" that ends in "-wise" (it's a running gag, as in, "How are things going, Kubelik-wise?" and Fran Kubelik is the name of Shirley MacLaine's character. Also, any number of the lines in Noah Baumbach's "Kicking and Screaming," including "There's food in the beer." I've made use of the line: "I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory, and I didn't have a good time."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Just saw Klute, and Donald Sutherland rocked it, so I'll have to say him. Definition of the strong, silent type. However, I did enjoy Elliot Gould's meandering turn in "The Long Goodbye."
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
The director of the movie?. Alfred Hitchcock's cameos.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
I like her performance in "The Lady Eve" but I think the movie's a little uneven, so I'll say "Ball of Fire."
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Science, literature, history (esp. American history) and fashion.
I'm a little late to the party, but I've posted my answers on my blog:
Mark's AnswersThanks for these quizzes. I really enjoy them!
1) Favorite Biopic
I love biopics so I'll mention a few favorites: Lawrence of Arabia, Camille Claudel, The Elephant Man and The Music Lovers.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Tuesday Weld, but I also like Cannon when she gets the right roles.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
In Thunderball, James Bond straps on a jet pack and takes to the air. It has to be the coolest invention that has never been made widely available. I want my jet pack, damnit! When I was a kid I was sure that I'd own one by now.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
High Sierra
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
I'm probably in the minority, but I think David Lynch showed much improvement between Eraserhead (1977) and his second feature film The Elephant Man (1980).
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Ice because he was in NWA and I have no idea who Mos Def is.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
Velvet Goldmine and This is Spinal Tap are two favorites that come to mind.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
Only one? Impossible! Too many to link to but here's a few of my favorites: Hair-Raising Hare, Water, Water Every Hare, Hyde and Hare, Ali Baba Bunny and Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (I own a Marvin the Martian cookie jar). I think some of these might be Merrie Melodies instead of Loony Tunes so does that discount them? Is anyone taking notes?
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
There are many, but I'll mention Jack Cardiff today since he just passed away recently and I seem to be one of the only people on earth who liked his directing efforts.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
For me it's a three way tie between Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Streetcar Named Desire and Prospero's Books.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Buddy Ebsen
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
Grand Illusion
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
If.... Because it's long been one of my favorite films and it happens to have a one word title.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Highest: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Looks like the sequel I've been waiting for since credits rolled on the first film)
Lowest: Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Why are they remaking this and why will people buy tickets to see it?)
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
Bambi. Beautiful animation with some great messages for kids, but never preachy. My reasons are mostly sentimental though since this is the first film I remember seeing.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
I really like both actors but I'm going with Strother Martin.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
Theater: I haven't entered a theater in 2009
DVD: Farz
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home only because I can't afford to see movies in theaters.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Off the top of my head I can remember being really pissed that Bill Murray didn't win the gold statue for Lost in Translation in 2004, but generally speaking I think it's pretty shameful that great funny men like Cary Grant and Jerry Lewis were ignored until the Academy handed them Lifetime/Honoray "we're sorry we neglected you" awards later in life.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
I have no opinion about any of them since I've never seen them in anything.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988). Once was enough for me. If I sat through it again I might just throw myself in front of an oncoming train.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Neither. I'm afraid that they both bore me.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Hunter
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
Antonioni's Blowup, which featured The Yardbirds.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Una O'Connor
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
That's rough but it's probably a toss up between The Haunted Palace and The Last Man on Earth.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
The excellent Belgium horror film Linkeroever. It was released in 2008 and it was easily one of the best films released that year and one of the best horror films I've seen this decade, but I'm the only person who seems to think so.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Bea Benaderet
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
One of many: "Insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops."
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Both! I refuse to select Donald over Elliot because my father would rollover in his grave.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
My personal favorite is probably Roman Polanski in The Tenant.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Generally speaking my interest in History and music/photography. My appreciation of horror/fantasy film has also greatly benefited from my long time interest in gothic fiction and all things esoteric & fantastique.
1) Favorite Biopic:
Of any subject, 'Mishima: Life in Four Chapters', does 'Talk Radio' count? on the subject of rock and roll (which we've had a glut of recently) I like 'Great Balls of Fire'.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?:
Tuesday Weld (for 'Once Upon a Time in America', 'Thief', 'Falling Down', 'The Cincinnati Kid' and 'Looking for Mr. Goodbar'. thats a good movie from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Not many actresses can say that.)
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction: As good as it is, 'Back to the Future II'.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee? Not a fan of either pair.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie? 'White Heat' is probably his best. But I like three of his more. They are 'They Drive by Night', 'Gun Crazy' and 'The Enforcer', with 'High Sierra' just below 'White Heat' to me.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut: Hard for me to name a better answer then Ridley Scott, but personally I've never liked 'the 400 Blows' that much, and 'Shoot the Piano Player' is one of my all time favorite films. So I could argue Truffaut.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def? I don't consider either serious actors. As rappers i like Ice Cubes 'The Predator' more then anything by Mos Def. plus Mos Def on 'Real Time' a few weeks ago was embarrassing.
8) Favorite movie about the music industry: I like the made for tv movie 'the Jackson 5: an American Dream'. it can really make me laugh, and it's really long and fun.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible): Not a huge fan as a kid. Now if the question was about 'Tom and Jerry'... but i could name a Coyote and Roadrunner as a Looney Tunes. But I don't have any titles off hand, but I loved those.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment: John Carpenter. 'Christine' is a formal masterpiece. Sort of adding to the question, I think Nicholas Ray's films should get better DVD release in America, same for Godard's 70's films made on video.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton? Ruth Gordon.
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play: I know 'Glengarry' is the popular safe pick, but why none of Pinters adaptations? but how about 'Play it Again, Sam'? or Neil Labute's recent under appreciated 'Shape of Things'? Also, I named it earlier but Oliver Stones best movie (IMHO) 'Talk Radio' was a play first.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan? Buddy Ebsen, I think.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie? Really surprised by the answers for this question. So many 'Not sure' or 'Not seen enough'. Renoir was once considered one of the three greatest directors ever. His 'The Rules of the Game' and 'Grand Illusions' are landmarks, but my favorite is 'La Bete Humaine'. Amazing to think these three films came out in three years 1937-39, what a streak!
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why: 'Hud', because I can hear his father say it as I type it. also funny to think it was the start of paul's three one word H films. ('Harper' and 'Hombre' being the others) 'Hud' also features the boy for 'Shane' as a young adult, another pretty good one-word title movie.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone? Rathbone.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations: Highest, are new Woody Allen, Tarantino, and Von Triers' 'Antichrist' film. generally i look forward to summer for DVD releases as well, this summer we get 'My Dinner with Andre' and Robert Mitchum (the subject of another question) unseen gem 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' from criterion among others. also this summer i am excited for theater re-releases of 'Z', Godards 'Vivre Sa Vie', and Ferreri's 'Dillinger is Dead' all under seen stone cold masterpieces of 60's european cinema. (and all three will be better then anything new in theaters, especially 'Dillinger is Dead' as cruel irony to the upcoming 'Public Enemies' about Dillinger)
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why? As a child no movie did more for me then Cronenberg's 'Scanners', but I'd assume most parents would deem that inappropriate. So I'll say something 'techincolor glorious' like 'The Red Shoes' or 'Bonjour Tristesse' a child wouldn't know whats going on, but at that age it's not really the point. Jean Seberg is hypercolor is.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin: Martin.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray? Theaters: 'Hunger' which is fantastic. DVD: last night watched Jarman's 'Caravaggio' and french Horror 'Calvaire (The Ordeal)', both great by the way.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why? Home, because number of available titles is exponentially larger.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.: Many answers would fit, but Rick Moranis as Lewis Tully in 'Ghostbusters' should have gotten the Best Supporting Actor.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart:
Ask me in five years, all four have yet to make one serious film between them. I'll judge then. I will say I think Hudgens will have the shortest career, Elfron the longest.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club): 'The Sorrow and the Pity' because sure it's depressing, but also it's a monster 381 minutes. It also makes all the above answers of 'Shindlers List' obsolete and absurd.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson? Neither.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie? 'Dead Man' or aforementioned 'the friends of Eddie Coyle'. I wanted to make it tough and not name one of his classic Noirs (which are all Great; I agree with others)
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees: surprised I didn't see 'the Kids Are Alright' not named. I feel the Who is the greatest of the great 60s bands, and this is the quintessential Who film. This is also my I can't name 'Blow Up' as the smashing of equipment was supposed to be the Who in that film (seriously, look it up). 'Woodstock', 'Monterrey Pop' and 'The Last Waltz' all are good answers too. Also where are all the answers for 'Tommy'?
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor? Pass.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie? 'The Last Man on Earth' (the best of the three or four movies about that book). Very tough question, as I love Horror and all his Poe films as well.
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status: Easy, stuart gordon's new to DVD in the last year or so 'From Beyond'. One of the greats for a number of hilarious reasons, please everyone see this film.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)? Again pass, Not a huge fan of these questions as you can see.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.) "In Philadelphia it's worth fifty bucks" from 'Trading Places', really any line from that film would do.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland? Sutherland, because of the number of great films, and range. As others have said.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role: Jean Pierre Melville in Godard's 'Breathless'. sorry, 'Chinatown' or any Welles is just WAY to easy.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie? Personally I love 'Sorry, Wrong Number' the most, but 'The Lady Eve' is probably her best film.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies? Painting. The book 'Random Order: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant Garde' by Branden W. Joseph is required reading I think.
1) Favorite Biopic
Amadeus - hands down.
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?
Who?
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction
Moonraker. For the opposite (a film that predicted the future too well, and we haven't caught on yet) - 2001 a space Odyssey.
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?
Who??
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?
High Sierra.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut
Probably Darren Aronofsky. Pi wasn’t a bad film, but there was nothing to even hint that he could make a film as powerful as Requiem for a Dream. Possibly also Tim Burton.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?
Err… Ice cube?
8) Favorite movie about the music industry
I don’t suppose we can mention Amadeus again? Otherwise – This is Spinal Tap.
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)
I find that One Froggy Evening, is the cleverest but Duck Amuck is the funniest.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment
Slobodan Šijan.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Who are they now?
12) Best filmed adaptation of a play
Easy. A tie between 12 Angry Men and Amadeus.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?
Edgar has a better name…
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?
La règle du jeu – which isn’t saying much as it is also the only one I have seen.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and why
Amadeus. For defining both the topic (i.e. Mozart) and the theme.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?
Basil Rathbone.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations
Lowest – Sherlock Holmes. Highest – Public Enemies.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?
101 Dalmatians (the cartoon not the live action travesty).
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother Martin
Strother Martin
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?
In theaters: the Watchmen. On DVD: Colour of Magic.
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?
At home. Because it’s cheaper and more comfortable.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and Michael Keaton in Beetle Juice.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Oh you have to be kidding me…
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)
Requiem for a Dream.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?
Why?
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?
Night of the Hunter.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the Monkees
The Doors. Well it’s about a 60s band anyway…
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?
Eh?
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?
Theatre of Blood
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.
UHF
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?
Not really, no…
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)
“I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings.” – Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?
Donald Sutherland.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting role
John Huston in Chinatown.
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?
Double Indemnity.
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?
Robinson Crusoe. As one might say “Such a book as Robinson Crusoe never was written, and never will be written again.” ;)
2) Dyan Cannon or Tuesday Weld?Tuesday Weld. If nothing else, she's got a much cooler name.
3) Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the predictionI'm watching this old Flash Gordon serial now, and it cracks me up that the Hawk Men's flying city is kept aloft by an anti-gravity beam--that is powered by slaves shoveling radium into an old-fashioned coal furnace!
4) Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon or Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee?Oh, Frankie and Annette obviously. Troy and Sandra are so dull in comparison.
5) Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?White Heat, with a second-place trophy to They Drive By Night.
6) Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debutWell, George Lucas' first movie was a really dopey dystopia film called THX-115, which I really hate even though I know it has it's fans. So I reckon American Grafitti is a pretty massive improvement over tha. I really had a tough time coming up with any kind of answer to this.
7) Ice Cube or Mos Def?As a rapper, Cube. As an actor, Mos.
8) Favorite movie about the music industryI'm going to exclude Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, since it's about the music business that exists in Russ Meyer's fantasy life. Probabloy a Julian Temple/Sex Pistols double feature of The Great Rock n Roll Swindle (giving the industry's side of the story) and The Filth and the Fury (giving the musician's side).
9) Favorite Looney Tunes short (provide link if possible)My all-time favorite is probably Fritz Freling's Three Little Bops. Beyond that, I've gone through some changes in my favorites over the last decade. For Chuck Jones' stuff, my favorite was always What's Opera, Doc?, but now I'd probably say his masterpiece is One Froggy Evening. But then there's Bob Clampett. 10 years ago, I had minimal knowledge of Clampett, but thanks to the Looney Tunes DVD's, and the advocacy of John Kricfalusi (particularly during the night of his favorite cartoons that he presented at The Egyptian one year) and Jerry Beck, Clampett now looms over all the other Warner Bros. directors. And there are a lot of great Campett cartoons in my mind, but I think my favorite is one called The Hep Cat, mostly for the little song the cat sings near the beginning ("The leans and the fats all think I'm the cat's, I must have an awful lot of Oomph!"). As for Tex Avery...well, I really think of him more in association with his MGM stuff, but Porky's Duck Hunt might be my favorite of his Looney Tunes. Or one of his Daffy shorts, anyway.
10) Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessmentI've given this answer before, but it seems to me that Ralph Bakshi, for all his faults, is a much more interesting and important filmmaker than he's ever given credit for.
11) Ruth Gordon or Margaret Hamilton?
Ruth Gordon all the way!
12) Best filmed adaptation of a playGlengary Glenn Ross? That's the only one that really jumps to my mind.
13) Buddy Ebsen or Edgar Buchanan?Jed Clampett beats Uncle Joe.
14) Favorite Jean Renoir movie?Well, seeing as I've only seen two, I'm probably not qualified to answer, but Rules of the Game is pretty amazing.
15) Favorite one-word movie title, and whyBaffled! I don't really know why, thta title just always used to crack me up when I saw it in the video store back in the 80's.
16) Ernest Thesiger or Basil Rathbone?OK, that's a tough one. I generally like wacky character actors like Thesiger better, but Rathbone did so much cool stuff over his career that I have to go with him.
17) Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations Meaning this summer? My highest expectation is for Ingloroius Bastards, despite being underwhelmed by the trailer. Soul Power! is pretty high on my list, with Raimi's Drag Me To Hell following up. Lowest expectations are kind of incalculable in this environment, but if Wolverine were to prove marginally entertaining, it would exceed my expectations by a huge margin.
18) Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?God, after thinking about this for a long time, I come back to the obvious answer: The Wizard of Oz. It's the movie I associate with childhood, and I think it makes a great zero-point for children's movies.
19) L.Q. Jones or Strother MartinI'll go with Stother Martin, since Google can't even tell me who I.Q. Jones is. Google and I are having a failure to communicate.
20) Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?Theater, While the City Sleeps at the Egyptian. DVD, The Wrestler, which was much better than I expected (number 2 on my 2008 list, right after Let the Right One In). (It's been about a month since I typed that answer, but I'll let it stay.)
21) Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?Many more at home. Always been that way, but now days I can honestly claim that it's because I just don't have much time.
22) Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.Well, we could go all the way back. Did Groucho or Harpo ever get a nod? Who got awards the year Duck Soup came out? I don't feel like looking it up right now, but I bet the answer is pretty embarrassing.
23) Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens or Robert Pattinson & Kristen StewartI honestly have no idea who these people are.
24) Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)I don't think it's a bad movie (far from a great one, for sure), but there's no way I could emotionally take watching AI again.
25) Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?I have to say, I think Beyonce has more acting chops.
26) Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?Night of the Hunter. Not even much of a contest.
27) Favorite movie featuring a ‘60s musical group that is not either the Beatles or the MonkeesI like The Rhythm Masters' performance in Get Yourself a College Girl.
28) Maria Ouspenskaya or Una O’Connor?Ouspenskaya, so great in The Wolfman.
29) Favorite Vincent Price movie?Theater of Blood
30) Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.The documentary Capturing the Friedmans got a lot of attention when it came out, but has since disappeared from the popular consciousness. It really shouldn't have--it's one of the most fascinating stories committed to film in years.
31) Irene Ryan or Lucille Benson (or Bea Benaderet)?Oh, I'll go with Irene Ryan. So funny that that's her name, it sounds so odd for a woman that I always think of as a jug-toting hillbilly.
32) Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)The trick to a great comedy is filling the cast with great comic actors. Then the funny lines aren't just the ones the writers intended to be funny, but every line one of them says. You may not catch them on the first viewing, but if it's one of those comedies that you end up watching over and over, you start to catch them around the fifth viewing, when you're starting to memorize the entire dialogue. I'm sure there are better examples than this one, but John Candy always cracs me up in The Blues Brothers when he is sitting in the club with two cops waiting for the band to come on, and orders drinks for the table. "Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips." There's no reason why that line should be funny, but it just kills me every time.
33) Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?Sutherland by a very narrow margin.
34) Best performance by a director in an acting roleJim Jarmusch smoking his last cigarette with Harvey Keitel in Blue in the Face (or was it Smoke?)
35) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie?Oh, that's easy. Definitely The Lady Eve. Or Double Indemnity. Or Ball of Fire. Or Babyface. Or 40 Guns (not a very good movie, but she's fantastic in it). Or...
36) Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?Reading about the history of American music in the 20th century gives me a great insight into who we are as a people and a country.
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