Here were are, midway through the summer, ready to unveil another scholarly exam from the hallowed halls of SLIFR University, and we find that the season of Michael Bay and Pixar has apparently been hijacked by the sixth episode in the allegedly finite Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In addition to getting some very solid reviews, the movie is reaping untold fortune in the American movie market, making, according to the Variety ticker on my sidebar, a wizard’s whisker short of $22 million last Thursday alone, the second day of its release. If I kept track of things (or knew where to link to someone who does), that’d surely rank as some sort of record. My daughters are now old enough to be official citizens of the Harry Potter brigade as well—my eldest is reading the books while catching up on the movies-- and we’ll unveil Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban tonight, the last HP movie I saw before losing track of the series, in the hopes of being caught up in time to see HP&TH-BP at the glorious Vista Theater next weekend. In the spirit of this cultural avalanche of all things pubescently supernatural, we’re turning over the midsummer quiz to a staff member of Hogwarts School itself, on sabbatical from that castle of mystical education and hub of Quidditch competition and here with us to administer to you a mental grilling to match the one you get every time you step outdoors or into your car in this unspeakable season we call summer. (I definitely side with the pale Brit actors of the Harry Potters series and their glum, drizzly weather over that of the typical Los Angeleno.) If you will (and he insists), please welcome to the podium Professor Severus Snape, master teacher of Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts, with us here to offer up his very own Sorcerer-tastic, Muggalicious Midsummer Movie Quiz for your head-scratching delectation. As always, there is no deadline and no limit to the length of your answers—in fact, the more loquacious, the better. And there is only one rule, which Professsor Snapes assures me he will enforce with all the supernatural force he can muster (and if you’ve seen the movies, he’s no slouch in this department). He insists that when you answer each question, please cut and paste the question itself into the comments column along with your answer, so we may more easily see what it is you are answering rather than having to juggle back and forth between “Comments” and “Post.” Professor Snapes vows that if you follow this one simple rule, he will not feel compelled to alter your status as a humanoid via magical transformation by even one atom.
Before I hand it over to our esteemed guest educator, there is one more quiz I need to tell you about, one from Eric Nusbaum, curator of the fine baseball-themed blog Pitchers and Poets. (According to Eric, “The name Pitchers & Poets comes from Robert Frost, who said, ‘Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.’") Eric and his blogging partner Ted have offered SLIFR the sincerest form of tribute, not only in their words, but also by offering a quiz of their own, one decidedly less SL and much more IFR than the ones found here. Sample question: “Excluding Rollie Fingers, who has the greatest facial hair in the history of the game?”
My own answer will probably be Oscar Gamble, though that is admittedly a choice based more on the whole package—head and face—than just the 'stache alone. (I’m tempted also to choose Ryan Franklin, Cardinal reliever whose previously well-mowed goatee has come to resemble a whisk broom attached with little care to the pitcher’s chin.) Anyway, if you have an inkling for more questions, including a couple on baseball movies, jump on over, buy a box of Cracker Jack and check out Eric’s “Pitchers & Poets Not-Quite-Midseason Quiz.” It’s not nearly as long as Professor Snape’s ordeal, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by a lot of other good reading as a result. Thanks, Eric, for the very kind words and for the great quiz! I will be submitting my answers this weekend!
All right, wizards, put down your wands, pick up your pencils, and let’s begin.
******************************************************
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
4) Best Film of 1949.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
10) Favorite animal movie star.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
12) Best Film of 1969.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
21) Best Film of 1979.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
31) Best Film of 1999.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
*******************************************************
(Thanks to Peter Nellhaus and Rick Olson for inspiring and/or outright lending some questions to this quiz edition.)
*******************************************************
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001. (Fave is Strangelove).
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The use of fractured narrative/non-linear chronology is the most intriguing. It's for good and evil, really, as it can be either liberating or gimmicky.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oooooh...I like Twentieth Century a bit better as a film, but Jack Benny had the funnier part.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
In general, yes. Although I rarely would put my foot down on a matter like this and say "stop at once," since there are still many directors who utilize it in compelling ways (like Demme in Rachel Getting Married).
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
The Blue Angel, although I'm pretty sure I saw the dubbed version the first time. The first films with subtitles I can recall seeing were the Three Colors movies by Kieszlowski, which was a heady yet thrilling introduction to the world of European cinema.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Lorre.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Best Years of Our....aw hell, too early. I dunno.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
The marmot from Lebowski.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Turning the Pearl Harbor attacks into an excuse for cheap thrills action sequence, told from the point of view of the munitions. Bay and Bruckheimer are the guilty parties.
12) Best Film of 1969.
My Night at Maud's.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Public Enemies. DVD: Criterion of My Dinner with Andre.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville and Short Cuts are constantly switching places for the top spot on my list.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Film Comment.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Michelle Yeoh.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Tomei is a better actress, but Bullets Over Broadway is the superior film, by far.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (first murder sequence).
...continued (has something changed on this site? I'm usually able to get it all in one; my answers aren't that long).
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Zodiac.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Zodiac. Works for both the serial killer movie and the police procedural.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Manhattan.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
You Can Count On Me.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
I'm pretty deficient in horror movie knowledge. Does the fetus in Rosemary's Baby count?
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather. (Part II is my favorite).
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
I got nuthin'.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The end credits, 'cause it means the torture is over. Sorry, DePalma fans, but I've just never liked this guy's movies.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Can I just say the entirety of Renoir's The River?
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, which was a childhood favorite.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Matthau.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Bullets Over Broadway. One of the best he's ever made, I think.
31) Best Film of 1999.
The Thin Red Line.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Handcuffed to the girl who double-crossed him." (The 39 Steps)
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Ride Lonesome.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
My snarky answer is John Grisham, because the movies are all appropriately mediocre.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Sheesh. You don't make it easy. Hepburn's amazing and all, but I always have a soft spot for Lombard, ESPECIALLY in My Man Godfrey.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
For some reason I instantly thought of Elvis Costello as a bartender in Spice World.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Neither. I don't think it's homophobic, but the notion that Bruno (or Borat) represents some grand subversive art project is kind of ridiculous. It's just more-creative-than-usual shock humor, and it's usually pretty funny.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Preston Sturges, Robert Mitchum, Carole Lombard, Robert Altman, and Samson Raphaelson.
I'm checking, Daniel, all, on that length question. This marks two comments I've received today that were parsed in two. It might have something to do with the length of the posts currently on the main page. I'll try adjusting that down to see if it makes any difference.
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Shining.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The influx of remakes. The snake is officially devouring its tail.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill Cody.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man. I, cliche.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Sure. The odd exceptions prove the rule.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Fanny and Alexander.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Bridge on the River Kwai.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Francis the Talking Mule.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Michael Bay.
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Public Enemies; Race to Witch Mountain (Blu-ray)
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Nick's Flick Picks.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
A tie!
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Strangers on a Train.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Zodiac.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Adaptation..
21) Best Film of 1979.
The Muppet Movie.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Creature from the Black Lagoon.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Zero Effect.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Anything from Blow Out.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Either the penny arcade from The Band Wagon or the archery tournament in Adventures of Robin Hood.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Ghost Fever.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Husbands and Wives.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Eyes Wide Shut.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Truth Needs a Soldier. (Clear and Present Danger)
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I'm sadly only really versed in the A division.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Stephen King.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Irene Bullock.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
"Anything Goes" in Temple of Doom count?
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Subversive purveyor of stereotypical satire.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Martin Scorsese, Sam Peckinpah, Sylvester Stallone, John Huston, Jim Henson.
Wait, no: my answer for #7 is The Tin Drum.
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteDepending on the day it could be probably 5 or 6 different films. Today it's A Clockwork Orange, behind The Shining.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Movies aren't evil. Usually. I can't think of anything in the films themselves that represents much of a divergence from the past to the point that films are substantially better or worse for it, but the proliferation of films through Netflix seems to be the biggest thing around movies, and it's a force of pure benevolence in my mind.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I think I'd rather watch Altman's film, but it's hard to go against Mr. Eastwood. I'll be scratching my head on this one for a while.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man in a landslide.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
No idea.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Annoying cliché. They even used it in Tell Me You Love Me, which is what really turned me off to it since I didn't recall noticing it too much before then. What's wrong with setting up a shot on a static camera and pressing record?
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I'm thinking it might have been The Seven Samurai, or Andrei Rublev, or Three Colors: Red, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly when I first saw two of those.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto, because he's, well, Peter Lorre. (I haven't actually seen either character.)
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
English language would be The Bridge on the River Kwai. Otherwise it's Ivan's Childhood.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Animal, in The Great Muppet Caper. Seriously, I can't think of another good one. Maybe the killer rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
About 80% of the Oscar selections for Best Feature Film.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Andrei Rublev squeaks by Kozintsev's Karol Lir.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically was Sunshine Cleaning. (It's been a while.) On DVD it was André Malraux's L'Espoir/Sierra de Teruel.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye, right behind McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
David Bordwell's blog.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Female Prisoner Scorpion wins.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
After Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, any question involving Marisa Tomei will be answered with Marisa Tomei.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Just for the fun of it, let's go with Lon Chaney's The Unknown.
Part 2:
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
The Fall.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. I could also see Fargo as a possibility.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Looks like Life of Brian, though I feel like I'm missing a better (though not much better) answer somewhere.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Is there a non-depressing small-town film? The only ones I can think of are Stroszek, Wages of Fear and Winter Light. This can't be right.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Let's go with the Gremlins. They had a bit of a sense of humor as I recall.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Conversation.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
I don't know that I like sequels enough to come up with something here.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The Odessa steps sequence in The Untouchables.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Unless there's a good list of these around then I'm not going on complete information, but I'll say the Sorceror's Apprentice segment from Fantasia.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
What?
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Walter Matthau.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Match Point is the best that I've seen, though I haven't paid much attention to his more recent films.
31) Best Film of 1999.
I can't decide between Magnolia and My Best Fiend.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
I did a search and came up with "These Women are Serious about their Taste in Men," and I only picked it because the film is Cannibal Women of the Avocado Jungle of Death.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
How are you defining B-movie? Can I use Silverado?
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I think Shakespeare is the eventual answer, even with the bad adaptations included. In the contemporary category, both Ian Fleming and Mario Puzo seem like they would be unknown if it weren't for film.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
I hated Bringing Up Baby. Hated hated hated hated hated hated hated Bringing Up Baby. No one can be that annoying. This doesn't mean that Lombard wins. It just means that Hepburn does not.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
The Yardbirds in Blow Up.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Depends on where you're looking from. If it's designed to be subversive satire it seems to me like it's not going to accomplish much, and in any case I'm plenty fed up with the culture wars in general. I didn't find Borat very funny, and heard that Brüno was less funny, so I'll give it a miss.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Andrei Tarkovsky, Peter Greenaway, Max Aub (a bit of a stretch- he helped produce one film), Bert Brecht (not as much of a stretch as the last one), and in the actor category, Anthony Hopkins.
1) Clockwork Orange (favorite is The Shining)
ReplyDelete2) Color-timing movies into an unnatural sheen; Not just stylized action and horror movies, but even your standard romcom has been pasteled into some glazed icing look nowadays where everyone's face is the color of a twice-baked potato.
3) CLINT.
6) I love it. Also, there is NO SUCH THING as getting motion sickness from a movie. IE, I've never experienced anything of the sort.
9) CHRIS PLUMMER IN TRIPLE CROSS!
10) Clyde the Orangutan.
11) Showing how to build an explosive out of a light bulb in exacting detail in the JAMES GLICKENHAUS/KEN WAHL opus "The Soldier" probably isn't very responsible.
12) On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
13) Theaters: Bruno. Disc: The Unborn.
14) "The Long Goodbye." (first is McCabe.)
15) I DESPISE the opinions of every smug, elitist, movie-hating tool on Slant Magazine... and yet I can't NOT read it every week.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Megan Fox.
18) SUDDEN IMPACT, in which Clint MAGICALLY APPEARS mid-amusement park, framed in a contrived way holding his nonexistent 44 MAGNUM AUTOMAG (actually Bronson's WILDY from "Death Wish 3"), and everyone notices him at the exact same time, cue the DUH-DUH-DUH music. Also, the villain in that (Paul Drake) should've been in more stuff.
19) MIAMI VICE baby!
20) Once Upon a Time in the West.
21) Apocalypse Now. Then Moonraker. Yes, I know, Moonraker's no Being There or Kramer vs Kramer, but can I watch either of those EVERY SINGLE time they're on, even in four-hour time slots on Spike? Winner: Roger Moore.
22) A lot of people think Soderbergh's condescending a bit, but BUBBLE almost had me sobbing at how realistically it depicts small-town PA/WV.
23) Natassja Kinski in Cat People.
24) Godfather II (first is Apocalypse.)
25) Still holding my breath for TIE THAT BINDS 2: CARRADINE'S REVENGE. And they blew it by not spinning Wings Hauser as Ramrod off into his own series.
26) Any moment with Craig "Not Bill Maher" Wasson will suffice, so let's say the shopping mall stalking setpiece in BODY DOUBLE, ending with the kiss on the beach.
28) HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE.
29) Crash, except that speech about things he likes, I don't know... kind of embarrassing.
30) Match Point or, yes, Dennis, Whatever Works.
31) Extremely close between "Fight Club" and "Eyes Wide Shut." And "Varsity Blues." "I don't want... your life."
34) Elmore Leonard.
36) Ha! How about that horrible punk band that keeps annoying Reno in "Driller Killer"?
37) Hilarious satire.
38) Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Tony Scott, Tom Cruise and William Ostrander but only as Buddy Repperton.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteDr. Strangelove
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Major studios refusing to finance films by Steven Spielberg (his Lincoln project), David Fincher (Torso, an Elliot Ness drama to have starred Matt Damon), Steven Soderbergh (Moneyball), and Alexander Payne (Downsizing) in the past seven months. It's not just that I would have liked to see all of those movies, it's that in years past those are projects (or at least the types of projects) that studios would have found room for on their schedules - risky projects co-existing with no brainer tent pole action extravangzas. Outside of Warner Brothers (maybe), that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. It's especially troubling in light of what's being made instead, and what that means about what we all have to look forward to in 2010 and beyond.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Let me watch Bronco Billy and I'll get back to you (though I suspect Cody will win out in the end regardless).
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man. It's got to be The Third Man, right?
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
"ANATHEMA!"
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Oh yeah.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Probably The Red Balloon. I didn't really get into international cinema until college, mostly because the local video store didn't have a foreign film section.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Pass.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Stalag 17, maybe? I'm not a big war movie fan, though, so it's far from an informed answer.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Do the apes in Planet of the Apes count?
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
No thanks.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Once Upon A Time in the West, narrowly beating Le Boucher and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: Moon, a very promising debut for Duncan Jones.
DVD: White Dog. Amazing film.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
The NY Times.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Pass.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
"Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?"
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Nightmare Alley.
cont'd...
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Che.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Singin' in the Rain.
21) Best Film of 1979.
All that Jazz.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Oh hell, I have no idea. I've been staring off into space trying to come up with something, and it's not happening. Dazed and Confused is all I can come up with, so far, but that's really a different animal... How about It's a Wonderful Life?
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Thing from Another World
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Apocalypse Now
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World. That the first one got made is a miracle, and one that I did not expect to see repeated. Mostly, I just want Peter Weir to make another movie!!
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Any sequence from Body Double.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Pass.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Pass.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Never seen Bad News Bears (I know, I know).
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Deconstructing Harry in a squeaker over Bullets Over Broadway. Everyone Says I Love You, Sweet & Lowdown, Shadows & Fog, Small Time Crooks, Vicki Christina Barcelona, and Match Point are all excellent films, also.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Best film? Fight Club. Favorite film? Galaxy Quest.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Couldn't say.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I think I lack the historical perspective necessary to differentiate between B and other grade level westerns. I've heard the Boetticher/Scott westerns called B westerns. Does the same apply to the Mann/Stewart series? What about Rawhide, a terrific movie, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power at the height of his stardom? I just don't know. I guess I should read up on the subject a little more.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Stephen King. Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Stand by Me, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist, plus ace TV adaptations of It and The Stand.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Irene. Lumbard > Hepburn.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
"Puttin' on the RIIIIIIIITZ!"
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
On the TV show, the former. In the movie, the latter.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Sam Fuller, Sylvester Stallone, and Hal Ashby.
Everyone: The answer to the character limits suddenly being imposed on Blogger comments pages can be found here. It is apparently intended as a corrective or preventative measure to fight goddamn spammers and other hackers whosse only purpose seems to be to make other people's lives miserable and/or pointlessly inconvenient.
ReplyDeleteMost comments aren't going to be affected by this. Unfortunately, the comments for these quizzes will be. I'm sorry, but there is apparently a 4,096-character limit on what can be posted in here starting today, and this will be the situation for the foreseeable future.
My advice would be to compose your comments in Word to reduce the possibility of losing your copy, and then to please post your answers in two parts. I'm sorry about this, but there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done about it, outside of abandoning Blogger altogether.
Great questions, as always, Dennis. I look forward to answering these sometime this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'll start the revolution to abandon Blogger!
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteSpartacus
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
That seeing the movie is beside the point, and going to the theater to hang together is why kids are at the multiplex.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy. A more sincere showman, and a better movie.
4) Best Film of 1949.
Max Ophul's The Reckless Moment
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I'd rather take a long train ride with Ms. Lombard. Oscar Jaffe.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
That, and the video diary.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I can't remember. We're talking over forty years ago. I'll go with Juliet of the Spirits which I saw on a double feature with Red Desert.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Nils Asther as General Yen
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Bold and the Brave.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Mothra
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Giving Brett Ratner any credit for the success of Rush Hour.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Nagisa Oshima's Boy.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: Tony Manero. DVD: The Black Torment.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Besides my own? I shall not be a party to naming favorites.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Meiko Kaji because she'll do anything to win whether it's sexual seduction or tossing boiling hot liquid in your face. Plus she's always fashionably dressed.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Some Came Running.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Are you referring to a movie shot on Hi-Def or video within the film? Please clarify.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Johnny To's Exiled.
21) Best Film of 1979.
ReplyDeleteFrancesco Rosi's Christ stopped at Eboli.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
The Thai film Wonderful Town.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Barbara Steele.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Rug Cop by Minoru Kawasaki.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
In Sisters when William Finley takes what looks like a comic pratfall, and there's a close up of him that suddenly shuts the laughter.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The first glimpse of Maria Montez in Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Death of a Gunfighter. It got good reviews even though Don Siegel disowned the film, plus it has Richard Widmark and Lena Horne as lovers.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
For playing baseball or what? Matthau because he's funnier.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
VCB, although Sweet and Lowdown has a wonderful performance by Samantha Morton.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Eyes Wide Shut.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
from Singapore, Gone Shopping. "You never know what's in store."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Ride Lonesome.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
William Shakespeare. No matter what's done, it's usually interesting.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
I will more willingly serve Ms. Lombard. I might want Hepburn to be fed to Baby.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Count Basie in Blazing Saddles.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Tiresome annoyance.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
I'm too shy to meet anybody. Plus I've met Julie Christie and knew Martin Scorsese from when I was at NYU, and was introduced to Leni Reifenstahl, so who cares? Actually, I would have loved to have continued my conversation/interview with Henry King. I've seen more of his films since the time I interviewed him at Telluride in 1975.
part one:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. Probably Paths of Glory with Clockwork Orange at number one.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. Remakes, and what I find weird/interesting about it is that the horror genre seems to be the only 'viable' genre to these execs. Not only that but the throw back horror films that should get remade (due to scarce popularity or topical subject matter), such as Clark's brilliant, Deathdream, Martino's Torso, Serrador's Who Can Kill a Child?, or Romero's Martin are passed over in favor of Prom Night ect; movies that weren't even that great or loved upon original release.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)? Buffalo Bill (always bet on Newman).
4) Best Film of 1949. Weird, this was a year in which America was at the height of noir, but I pick a Japanese noir, Stray Dog. The American ones I'll name for argument purposes are: The Third Man, Gun Crazy, DOA, Criss Cross, The Big Steal, Alias Nick Beal. For arthouse fare tough to beat Melville's Les Enfants Terribles, Ozu's Late Spring, and Cocteau's Orphee.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)? Joseph Tura.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché? Gun to my head answer: Yes. But then I sit down and watch something like Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and I rethink. I guess I don't mind it from director's who do it for a specific project, when other's (Greengrass comes to mind) use it as a stylistic tool for every project.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? The first I consciously remember was The Crying Game, I think. Quite a way to jump into the pool, huh?
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)? Mr. Moto seems less offensive (barely).
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). For pure drama I'd say Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. For more traditional 'war' i'd pick Melville's Army of Shadows. For a more American machismo selection I'd pick Where Eagles Dare and to a lesser degree Decision Before Dawn.
10) Favorite animal movie star. Milo and Otis cast. But technically Humans are animals... so can I say Selma Blair? or Kirk Douglas? ect.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. Letting Ronald Reagan go so that he could go join politics (TV producers should have kept feeding him bogus TV roles till be died).
12) Best Film of 1969. For America I feel it's Medium Cool because that encompasses the 60's so well; and it feels like American Godard. For a less time capsule/universal appeal Maysles/Maysles/Zwerin's Salesman is as good as it gets. I'll add probably the most artistic/innovative film (that no one can see or find) is Yoshida's Eros + Massacre. Which I was recently reminded to see again.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. Theatrically was Bruno, DVD was Preminger's In Harm's Way which I thought was as stiff as John Wayne (not in a good way).
part two:
ReplyDelete14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. Probably Buffalo Bill and the Indians with 3 Women at number one.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Blogs, to many to name (of which this one is one).
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!) Pass again, draw.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)? Good question! Allen fanaticism aside, I have to pick Tomei--it's the Costanza in me. Both are terrific beautiful actresses though.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence. La Strada or much Fellini seems like the obvious choice, but after seeing the initial high wire practice scene in Wings of Desire again recently does it for me. in other words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvdlf4Gusfk&feature=related
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. Tough for me to pick against Speedracer. I will say Public Enemies high-def I didn't like, didn't seem appropriate to the subject matter in the slightest.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. Pretty much ANY new wave crime film, my favorites are Shoot the Piano Player, Le Doulos, Pierrot Le Fou, Dillinger is Dead. If I had to pick one I'd go with Dillinger is Dead because I think everyone needs to see that film.
21) Best Film of 1979. Lots of great foreign arthouse from that year, but I have to pick one of my all time favorite films, Petit's Radio On.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-tow life in the movies. Lynch's The Straight Story, or the documentary American Movie.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). I've always thought Pinhead is super creepy (in an S&M goth way), even though none of the Hellraiser films do him justice. For pure absurdity I'd pick the beast from 1988's The Unnamable seen here: http://llwyd.tripod.com/body/unnamable7a.jpg
Someone said Natassja Kinski in Cat People, wow. applause.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. Probably Rumble Fish with The Conversation at number one (which is how Coppola rates his career too, oddly enough).
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see. Since I just watched it again, Walter Hill's The Driver seems great because he gets away to end the first one, and the next film could do what most sequels do in character franchises; explain the lead more and give background. Plus, his job leads to countless adventures, in various locals.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film. Split screen murder aftermath from Sisters, still my favorite De Palma film. I like the first part more, seen here (sorry in French): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwGOBnuqGKw&feature=related
Completely effective, and done to assist plot-- not to show off.
part three (sorry, where my answers THAT long?):
ReplyDelete27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor. How about anything from the last movie that used the process, Suspiria? This scene works, and it glorious to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6zJGUUiG0c
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!) Fun question, from wiki: "Dune (1984) as extended and edited for broadcast television, directed by David Lynch; the writing credit goes to "Judas Booth", an inside joke for Lynch, who states the studio betrayed (Judas) and killed (Booth) his film". That's pretty great; I'll go with that.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Buttermaker in a landslide as a character, Davis was probably the better ballplayer though (slightly of course).
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. Probably Match Point, easy answer sure, but it is pretty fantastic. There are even some scenes that recall Crimes and Misdemeanors. After that I'd do a toss up between Deconstructing Harry and Celebrity. In all seriousness, Crimes and Misdemeanors is probably Allen's masterpiece, though not my personal favorite.
31) Best Film of 1999. Magnolia seems obvious, but it's fantastic, so great that it keeps The Thin Red Line from the top.
32) Favorite movie tag line. Tough to think of one (and I don't really like the point of tag lines anyway), so I'll say the classic, "In space no one can hear you scream." from Alien.
33) Favorite B-movie western. Is Johnny Guitar a B-Western? Probably not, how about Django then.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. Kobo Abe, the four books he wrote (and screenplays) that turned into Teshigahara films (Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, A Face of Another, The Man Without a Map) are all profound masterpieces.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? Susan Vance I guess.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds performance at the end of Wings of Desire in beautiful color.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? No other answer here fits but 'subversive satire', unless of course you are a tight ass. 'Comedy as potential riot-inducer' also fits (try and think of another comedy that can even claim that, let alone be as funny as Bruno is).
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!) 1. Louis Brooks (was beautiful, intelligent, and a depressive) 2. JL Godard (in my opinion cinema's ultimate intellectual among many others of course) 3. Woody Allen (I would like to talk art with him) 4. Jean Pierre Melville 5. Terrence Malick (my favorite American director probably).
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteBarry Lyndon.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Really comfortable movie theaters. Now if there was only something to watch in them.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill. The two or three Clint Eastwood-directed movies I really like will at times inspire me to give one of the others a shot, but I seldom make it more than five minutes or so.
4) Best Film of 1949.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, in a split decision over Orpheus and The Third Man.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe. Jack Benny was possibly the greatest straight man in history, and his genius was in surrounding himself with funny people and having the laughs revolve around him. But he was no kind of an actor, is not at all believable in playing one, and put in the center of a movie he tended to turn into a void. Plus he's one of those American actors you can't imagine as a European. To Be or Not to Be is the best movie he was ever in, of course.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Has the close-up? Hand-held shaky-cam is a tool that's useful in its place. If you use it so much that it becomes your "style" then you've made it a cliché.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Can't hardly recall. Maybe Beauty and the Beast.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
I love the Mr. Moto movies. Charlie Chan movies by the way were the repository not just of oriental racial caricature but racial caricature of all kinds. In the Mr. Moto movies the comic relief was a big American lug, Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom being the prime example.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Caine Mutiny.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Assuming picking characters from animated cartoons or stop-motion animated animals is cheating, I haven't got one. There's Asta, I guess, but I'm not that fond of Asta.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Birth of a Nation is probably the closest thing to a truly evil work of art in that it provided a respectable gloss for the Ku Klux Klan. This is a movie with a body count. It's worse than Triumph of the Will because whereas Birth of a Nation disguised the nature of the Klan, Triumph of the Will told you exactly what the nature of Nazism was. (But then, the strategy of Nazism was always to hide in plain sight, safe in the knowledge that if they told everybody exactly what they intended to do, nobody would believe them.) By now, however, it's like a poison that's lost it's potency, and the ongoing policy of suppressing public showings of it is wrongheaded.
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch. Not a great year for movies, really. Did produce some of the great sleaze titles, though: Horrors of Malformed Men, Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism. My fuzzy movie memory of 1969 was seeing Popi at a drive-in.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically Bruno. On DVD, Passage to Marseille, which has to be one of the great stinko follow-ups to a recognized classic (Casablanca), though probably not quite bad enough to beat out The Two Jakes. The last high-definition movie I saw was Pitch Black, which as they've told you is surprisingly not bad, and will probably lead me to try another Vin Diesel movie, which in turn will no doubt be sufficient to end the experiment. This was not on Blu-Ray but HD-DVD, and was one of the free ones that came with the machine (yes, I'm the one). Now that they've become extremely cheap, I've picked up just about every HD-DVD I'd care to have, which comes out to 25. Sic transit.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
ReplyDeleteMcCabe & Mrs. Miller.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Fishing, are we?
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
From what Google Images tells me, Angela Mao. I have no other basis for comparison.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
A couple of cupcakes. I'd be glad to lick the frosting off of Jennifer Tilly.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The Lady from Shanghai.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
You'll have to explain that one to me.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Pulp.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Alien. Still trying to decide whether Apocalypse Now is a good movie or not. My movie memories of that year were seeing Alien at the Egyptian, where they had some of the Giger props on display, and going to the midnight premiere showings of Apocalypse Now at the Cinerama Dome, when it didn't have any credits and they gave you a program instead. The best year for movies of the four on review here, I think.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Since I've hardly ever so much as stopped in a genuine small town, much less spent any time in one, I couldn't say. Small towns and their values are something Hollywood pretends to believe in, and when this pretense isn't insincere it's self-delusion. The other pole, in which the small town is the root of all evil is of no interest in me either.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather Part II.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Royal Flash, if it had been done right, which it wasn't. Tommy Lee Jones would have to be the king of aborted franchises, with both Men in Black and The Fugitive done in by crummy follow-ups. What they didn't realize in U.S. Marshals is that in the sequels the fugitive didn't have to be a good guy.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The part that says "The End."
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
ReplyDeleteThere's one where Technicolor begins and one where it ends. From A Matter of Life and Death, "One is starved for Technicolor up there." From the Tex Avery cartoon Lucky Ducky, the gag where the characters run into the "Technicolor Ends Here" sign.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Geez, I don't know, pretty much everything that guy made sucked.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Well, now, if you pick Kevin Costner over Walter Matthau in anything you go to movie fan Hell, you know.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Bullets Over Broadway. Featuring that cupcake Jennifer Tilly. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the Runyonesque.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Topsy Turvy, in an agonizing decision over South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
This is our repeater for this quiz?
33) Favorite B-movie western.
When the Daltons Rode.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
An Elmore Leonard book seems to be a good movie waiting to happen. The author Hollywood seems to have its most enduring love affair with is Alexandre Dumas.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Carole Lombard under any circumstances.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Bruno is such a complete cartoon that no rational person could be offended by him. Based on the exit polling I think he did more to turn off the homophobic portion of the audience than to reinforce their prejudices. The most vicious stereotyping in the movie is of German-speaking people, who we'll all be free to make fun of as much as we want for generations to come apparently. Bruno is like what Penn & Teller once wrote of Candid Camera: It's not people caught in the act of being themselves, it's people caught in the act of having a malicious prank played on them. Regardless of how you might object to their personal beliefs, I think the balance of audience sympathy ought to be with the marks. As I wrote in what was no doubt an unread comment earlier, I had a great time with it, and enjoyed it more than Borat.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
On the basis of who I would like to sit at a dinner table with, Groucho Marx, Preston Sturges, Alfred Hitchcock, W.C. Fields and Orson Welles. I realize these are all men, but I assume they'd bring women to dinner with them, and three out of five at least would be hot numbers. As far as sexual attractiveness goes I actually think the beauties of today would more than hold their own with those of classic Hollywood (not something you'd say about the men). Maybe it's because you get to see them naked a few times these days.
This is of course only theoretical meeting in which you assume you'd have some meaningful interaction. In any actual meeting, of course, I'd have some kind of fufumming comment about how much I admire their work and then they'd be looking for someone interesting to talk to.
Skipped one, didn't I, the musical cameo. I don't suppose this really counts as a cameo because Mick Jagger the actor one of the stars of the picture, but Mick Jagger the singer singing "Memo from Turner" in Performance. If it was non-musical cameo in a musical by a musician I'd say Frank Zappa in Head.
ReplyDeleteThis is great, here goes (I'll only answer those that I can without making stuff up):
ReplyDelete1.) Paths of Glory (favourite is Barry Lyndon)
2.) this is tricky, but I would say it's the digital intermediate / color correction
4.) probably "The Third Man", but posibly "Le silence de la Mer", Melville's debut, which I haven't seen yet
6.) yes, but it can be used really well when it's planned (Bourne films) or be an excuse for lazy film-making (Gomorrah, yikes)
7.) since I grew up in a non-english speaking country, probably the first film I ever saw - I find this category amusing: there's film and then there's "foreign-language film"
10.) the groundhog in "Groundhog Day"
11.) "Vanilla Sky" as a whole, it made me want to vomit throughout
12.) "Asphalt Cowboy", but I haven't seen "Z" (could we get a UK DVD release, please!)
13.) at the cinema: "Anything for Her", on DVD: "Les Choses de la Vie"
14.) I've only seen 3 (shame, I know), and it's a tie between "McCabe and Ms. Miller" and "Short Cuts", so second place goes to "The Player"
15.) "Sight and Sound", though they tend to cram as many adjectives into one sentence as possible. Online: my collection of film-blogs (all 45 of them) which I skim daily with the handy Firefox extension "Morning Coffee"
18.) "Amadeus"
19.) "Zodiac"
20.) Chabrol films
21.) "Tess" and "Alien"
22.) "Shadow of a Doubt" or "Little Children" (the latter might be a suburb, though)
23.) Giger's alien
24.) Godfather I (best being II)
25.) if this is mainly about characters/settings one would like to see more of: "La Haine"
26.) the shoot-out in "Scarface"
31.) "Run Lola Run" or "The Virgin Suicides"
33.) "Tombstone"
34.) Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, Ripley) Georges Simenon
(L'horloger de Saint-Paul, Les fantômes du chapelier, Monsieur Hire) Boileau-Narcejac (Les Diaboliques, Vertigo)
oops, missed the last ones:
ReplyDelete37.) subversive satire
38.) Kubrick, Bowie (cheating, but he did make some films, lol), Ludivine Sagnier (ahem), Jodie Foster, any really good editor
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. Paths of Glory
ReplyDelete2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. The continued resurgence of movie musicals despite the fact that the majority of new ones suck.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill
4) Best Film of 1949. White Heat
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)? John Barrymore
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché? If used in the wrong hands.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? I honestly can't recall.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)? Charlie Chan
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). The Dirty Dozen.
10) Favorite animal movie star. Mike as Matisse in Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. Those who allowed Pauly Shore to make movies.
12) Best Film of 1969. The Wild Bunch
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. Whatever Works; Easy Virtue
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. MASH
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Honestly, I read less and less.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!) Pass
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)? Mona Lisa Vito
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence. Strangers on a Train
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. Pass
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. Unforgiven
21) Best Film of 1979. Breaking Away
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies. Nobody's Fool
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). Adam Sandler in most of his films.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see. Buckaroo Banzai
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film. The train station shootout/chase in Carlito's Way
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor. The pullback on the wounded Confederate soldiers to the shattered stained glass in Gone With the Wind
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!) Pass
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Morris Buttermaker
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. Bullets Over Broadway
31) Best Film of 1999. Fight Club
32) Favorite movie tag line. The night HE came home.
33) Favorite B-movie western. Johnny Guitar.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. E.M. Forster.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? Susan Vance
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie. Morris Day in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? Pass
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!) Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Barbara Stanwyck
******************************************************
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
Lolita. Strangelove is my fave though.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil?
I know it's already been mentioned but the remake craze of both Horror films and old tv shows are out of control.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Clint Eastwood
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Jack Benny
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
If it is used well then no, but more often then not it isn't.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
This movie called China Cry and I had to watch it at my church. It was odd.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Peter Lorre
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Great Escape
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Dunston from Dunston Checks In
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
People want to break box office records and not make real movies anymore. I blame Titanic.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but the Love Bug was also really good.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Bruno, Back to the Future
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Popeye
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
I don't there are several.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I don't know.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Tomei!
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Shadows and Fog but I also love Gonzo getting carried away by the balloons in the Muppet Movie. Bob Hope on the tightrope in Road to Rio is great too.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
zodiac
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Wet Hot American Summer
21) Best Film of 1979.
The Muppet Movie
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
It's a Wonderful Life
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
CHUD
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Captain EO! (I'm kidding) probably the first Godfather film
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension!
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The split screen car bomb sequence in The Phanton of the Paradise
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
You got me there.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
I honestly don't think I have seen one.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker!
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Sweet and Lowdown
31) Best Film of 1999.
Toy Story 2
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"The Coast is Toast!"(from the film Volcano)
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Im not sure if its considered a B film but I am going to say War Wagon.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Chuck Palahniuk
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Hepburn.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Pee Wee Hermans dance sequence in Pee Wees Big Adventure.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Neither, just a comedian.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Woody Allen, Jim Henson, Groucho Marx, Charlie Kaufman, Lorne Micheals
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Shining is one that I have yet to revisit from my childhood, but that indelible impression is still there.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Commercials before movies in the theater is a sinister one, if only because I’ve gotten so used to it by now. They’ve at least had the decency in some cases to make movie ads specifically for the theater. I remember once when they first starting doing them in how they just recycled a dish washing detergent ad they had running on TV. Not only was the presence of an ad itself irritating, but it just seemed to clash with the surroundings. They’ve at least fixed that later problem (but it doesn’t make it any less evil).
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I’ve never seen the Newman film, but I grew up watching Bronco Billy on Saturday afternoon TV, so I’ll have to go with Clint (and Scatman!).
4) Best Film of 1949.
I’ll go with White Heat. I’ve been getting a James Cagney education lately from watching for the first time Public Enemy, G-Men and Yankee Doodle Dandy. That man had talent.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I really need to see To Be Or Not To Be.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
I think it’s still too early for that.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I really didn’t get into foreign films into college, though I do remember being shown Das Boot by my dad when I was still in High school. It was also one of my first lessons in the Roger Ebert philosophy: Good films are never too long and bad films always are.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
I haven’t seen either, so I’ll pass.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Does The Great Escape count?
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Tuck and Roll in A Bug’s Life.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
I just read about the history of The Wicker Man over at And You Call Yourself a Scientist and I would call the actions of John Bentley and British Lion both irresponsible and reprehensible.
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
In the theater, it was Up, which was sublime. On DVD, it was Blazing Saddles. I went out and finally bought a copy after running into it repeatedly on TV and hearing the butchered censored version. What were they dancing like, Mr. Pickens?
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
I thought Prairie Home Companion was a grand swan song.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Anywhere and Everywhere. Don’t have a favorite.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I say bring the late, great Anita Mui back from the dead to break the tie.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen either film, but I’d have to go with Jennifer Tilly.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Strangers on a Train.
(Part Two Forthcoming)
(Part Three)
ReplyDelete30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Match Point. I’ve never been a huge Woody fan to begin with. My favorite pre-Crimes film is Zelig, and I think that’s more to do with the format than the director. Match Point was just so completely separate from his previous work that I was bowled over. Too bad he had to follow it with Scoop (whose only merit was Scarlett Johansen in a red bathing suit).
31) Best Film of 1999.
The answer that immediately leapt to mind was The Matrix. But after looking through the IMDb listings for that year, at the award winners and so on, I have to go with…well, The Matrix (with an honorable mention for Being John Malkovich).
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Army of Darkness: "Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
It seems I give this answer in some form every quiz: Chato’s Land. There’s just something about that film for me…
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I think J.K. Rowling has been nicely served by her adaptations overall, and J.R.R. Tolkien would certainly have nothing to complain about if he were alive to see Peter Jackson’s trilogy.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
It’s gotta be Kate.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Can’t think of one.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I’ve not seen Borat or Bruno, and I don’t have a great desire to. I can see what he’s doing and I can appreciate it, but I’m not partial to it as entertainment (much the same way I don’t care for many of Ben Stiller movies where he is repeatedly humiliated and embarrassed).
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
I can count the number times I have been flat out drunk on one hand. Still, I think it would have been awesome to have spent a night on the town with Peter O’Toole, Richard Harris, Richard Burton and Oliver Reed. As for the fifth, I’d go a (sober) evening chatting with Martin Scorsese.
(And this is Part Two. Boy, we're just all discombobulated here).
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
I wish I had seen Speed Racer in the theater. That’ll teach me to trust bad reviews.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
I know there are numerous examples of this, but I can’t think of a favorite one right now.
21) Best Film of 1979.
The First Great Train Robbery.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Having never lived in one, I can’t really say. I am very enamored of Whistle Stop in Fried Green Tomatoes. The last scene that shows the town abandoned and grown over in kudzu is very haunting to me, because I’ve driven all through the south and I do know places like that.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Given how few horror titles are in my DVD collection, this is fairly simple. It would have to be a tie between zombies and the Thing (Ooh, now there’s a matchup I wouldn’t mind seeing).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Rumble Fish was gorgeous when I first saw it years ago and I keep meaning to revisit it.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
It would have been nice if Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League had actually gotten made.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
As much as I love The Untouchables, I’d say the most entertaining and memorable part for me are the opening credits, and that’s more due to Ennio than Brian.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The very first shot of the horns sounding off in The Adventures of Robin Hood. It always puts me in the right frame of mind when I watch it.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Let’s Get Harry has been on my “to see” list for awhile.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
I’m still not certain Oswald acted alone, but I’ll go with Crash.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeletePATHS OF GLORY
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
TOYS FOR SOURCE MATERIAL.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
BUFFALO BILL CODY.
4) Best Film of 1949.
I WAS A MAIL WAR BRIDE tied with THE BIG STEAL
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
JOSEF TURA
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Not yet, but it will be sooner than I’d like to think.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
ELVIRA MADIGAN or I AM CURIOUS, YELLOW—it’s been a very long time.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
CHARLIE CHAN
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
ASTA
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR. Execrable.
12) Best Film of 1969.
THE WILD BUNCH
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
THE HURT LOCKER. RIFIFI.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
NASHVILLE
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
SELF STYLED SIREN
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Not my world.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
OLIVE NEAL
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
PUBLIC ENEMIES
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
21) Best Film of 1979.
ALL THAT JAZZ tied with WINTER KILLS
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
PETER BOYLE as FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
THE INCREDIBLES
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
THE Eisenstein pastiche on the stairs in THE UNTOUCHABLES
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
EVERYTHING IN NOTHING SACRED
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Such a thing doesn’t exist.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
CRASH DAVIS
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
MATCH POINT
31) Best Film of 1999.
THE IRON GIANT
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“NOBODY’S PERFECT.”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
ANYTHING WITH JOHNNY MACK BROWN.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001, second only to Dr. Strangelove.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Three-D super-realistic animation - for good and evil.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill.
4) Best Film of 1949.
You know, IMDB makes it easy to cheat on these questions... The Third Man.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
That great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes, a delightful one. I can't imagine getting tired of it.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Knife in the Water. I saw it on an old TV set that cut off the subtitles. When I saw it much later with subtitles, I found that I hadn't missed much.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Think fast, Mr. Moto!
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Harp of Burma. Although it puts a spot of whitewash on Japan's role in the SE Asian theater, it speaks very clearly of the cost of war and how it is paid.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Asta. I wish I could say Baby, the leopard from Bringing Up Baby, but for this film and so many others, Asta.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
In Top Gun, a pilot dies doing a stunt, and they used the footage, claiming the pilot would have wanted it that way. Probably would have wanted to die for a better movie.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Gimme Shelter, filmed in Dec 69, released in 1970. The last film of the 60s.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
I drove 5 hours to see the premiere of Larry Blamire's Dark and Stormy Night at the New Egyptian. Turned around the next morning and drove back. On DVD, we're watching Cannonball Run now.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville, after Pret a Port.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
You are, sir.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Did Kimberly put you up to this?
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Pass.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Incredibly Strange Creatures Who...? The carnival scenes was lensed by Laszlo Kovacs.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Never mind Hi-Def video, how about three-D?
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
If Fellini-esque existential b&w comedy is a genre, then Stardust Memories.
Part II
ReplyDelete21) Best Film of 1979.
Rust Never Sleeps? The Kids are All Right? The Rose? And the winner is: Rock and Roll Highschool!
Or maybe Meetings with Remarkable Men - the first time I'd heard Tuvan throatsinging.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Santa Rosa in Shadow of a Doubt. Or is that a small city?
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Alien, especially in the Face Hugger and Chest Buster phases. Once mature, she might be considered giant.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
One from the Heart. The first favorite is, ah, I don't know. I don't like FFC that much.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Golden Compass. Not technically a one-off, since it is naturally part of a trilogy, with the second two books never filmed due to the first one didn't make much money. But I liked it a lot, esp. little Dakota Blue Richards. And the plans for the second and third films sounded really interesting, each one with it's own theme and style: the second concentrating on walking between worlds and done in a spy thriller style, the third about the War in Heaven and done with lots of CGI angels and cool fx.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The opening scene in Snake Eyes where Cage sees the killing. Actually, I've only seen the trailer, and it's the only memorable De Palma scene I can think of. Another not so favorite director.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Something from the Wizard of Oz, since it's the only one I can name.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Nude Bowling Party. Actually, this was Alan Smithee Sr. And he only has a bit part. And I've never actually seen it. OK, I pass.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Pass.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Marrying his step-daughter was neither a crime nor a misdemeanor, but I know what you mean. Small Time Crooks: it beautifully combines Henry James with the Honeymooners.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Buena Vista Social Club or maybe Genghis Blues, to continue my musical theme (and Tuvan throatsinging).
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Play It Again Sam" - not a real quote, but a real tag line.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
40 Guns with Barbara Stanwyck. If that isn't B movie enough, Gunslinger, with Beverly Garland.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Booth Tarkington? Worst served = P.K. Dick?
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
You are so cruel. Swinging Door Susie.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
The Yardbirds in Blow-Up. Or the Del-Aires in Horror of Party Beach.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Subversive satire showing the underlying hatred even supposedly tolerant people have for jerks and idiots.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
The Marx Bros, including Zeppo and Gummo. Just to watch them play cards and talk about Minnie.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Shining – Favorite is Strangelove
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The remake craziness … now they’re remaking Fellini. I would like to shoot Rob Marshall before he does, but I hear that sort of thing is illegal in most states (with the possible exception of Texas)
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Lady Takes a Sailor. I haven’t seen it, but I just like the title.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Hopefully, it will subside somewhat and take its place in a director’s tool-kit as another useful technique, to be pulled out when needed.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I can’t remember. I wish it had been The 400 Blows. But it wasn’t.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Bridge on the River Kwai
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Manis (as Clyde in Every Which Way but Loose)
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Borat
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Milky Way (Luis Buñuel)
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: Public Enemies DVD: 8½ (for the, like, umpteenth time)
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Geez … this is a tough one. Second favorite: The Long Goodbye or maybe McCabe and Mrs. Miller (favorite: The Player)
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
"Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule"
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Ok. I’ve not seen either of these women in a movie, so I have to choose on the most trivial, superficial of criteria. Meiko Kaji is hot. But so is Mao.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
I just watched this again last night (see a previous answer), and I know this is awful conventional, but 8½ is fabulous.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
ReplyDeletePublic Enemies looks really good.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Unforgiven. Nobody deconstructs his own shit better than Eastwood.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Oh, I get it: we’re going every ten years. What happened to 1959? Oh well … Apocalypse Now (Coppola). Actually, I think Redux is the best movie of 1979, even though it didn’t come out until 2001 or so … does that count? If not, Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog).
22 Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Places in the Heart (sincere, not especially realistic, I don’t think)
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Those little ear things they put in Chekov’s ears in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. But that might not really count as a horror movie … hmmm. Chucky, in Child’s Play, etc. … who got the extra added benefit of playing next to Jennifer Tilly’s,uh, … assets.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
This is a trick question, right? Can I call Godfather and Godfather II one movie so I can choose Apocalypse Now Redux as my second? I can? Good.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
See my favorite movie of 1949, The Lady Takes a Sailor. Seems to me it’s ready-made for sequels: The Lady Takes Two Sailors, The Lady Takes Three Sailors, and the grand finale, The Lady Takes the U.S.S. Maine
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The baby-carriage sequence from The Untouchables.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
God, I don’t know … the final moments of Gone With the Wind? “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”? The “Ballet” number from An American in Paris? That last, iconic scene, with John Wayne framed in the doorway, in The Searchers? (Actually, I think that’s a dye-sub print not 3-strip)
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Twilight Zone: the Movie, directed by John Landis, but the 2nd Unit Director on the segment where Vic Morrow was killed was good ol’ Alan. Did the actual 2nd-unit man not want his name associated with that?
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash Davis, Bull Durham being the greatest baseball movie evuh.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Vicki Cristina Barcelona
31) Best Film of 1999.
The Matrix? I don’t know … don’t think it’s the best, but it’s my favorite.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
I don’t know what my favorite tag is – I’ve got a mind like a sieve – but one I’d like to see is “Not as bad as it looks!”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
The Tall T (Boetticher, 1957)
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Why do you have these questions that make us think, he whined. Ok. Ya want serious? Mario Puzo. Coppola made silk out of a sow’s crap. Or something like that.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
I have no idea. Why do you keep persecuting me?
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I would like to propose a third category: “tired pandering to our taste for watching people get humiliated” comes to mind, but to choose one of yours, “stereotyping.”
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
You’re welcome – I’ll choose the same ones, too:
Robert Altman, Audrey Tatou, Jean Renoir, Bibi Andersson and Andrei Tarkovsky.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001. First being The Shining
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
So-called "torture-porn" or whatever you want to call it.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Clint. Of course.
4) Best Film of 1949.
White Heat, by Raoul Walsh.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
No, but it's been badly used quite a lot recently.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Since I'm from Québec, we're pretty used to seeing foreign (non-US) movies. The first one I remember was Seven Samurais, although there could have been some other before.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Army of Shadows, by Melville.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Generally hate them. I'd say the monkeys at the end of Aguirre - The Wrath of God.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The Reader. Enough said.
12) Best Film of 1969.
My Night at Maud's. Maybe not the best, but my favorite.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically : Bruno. On DVD : Anything Else, by Woody Allen (surprisingly not that bad, actually, I even liked Jason Biggs in it).
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Not a huge fan of Altman, I've seen only two, so I guess the one I liked the least was The Player (the other one being Short Cuts).
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
The Onion AV Club.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Angela Mao.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
It probably doesn't count, but there were fireworks in Lovers On The Bridge by Leos Carax (remains one of my all time favorite scene).
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Haven't seen anything that impressive yet.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Pretty much anything by the Coen Brothers, especially No Country for Old Men and Miller's Crossing.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Manhattan, by Woody Allen.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Fargo.
Part 2
ReplyDelete23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Freddy Kruger. Too bad that none of the movies really knew what to do with this great villain (first one included).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Not a huge De Palma fan. The only thing I can think of right now is the opening scene in Snake Eyes, a continuous 10 minute shot that introduces avery single character while Nicolas Cage bounces up and down.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Peter Pan, the animated version.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Haven't seen any.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Morris Buttermaker.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Husbands & Wives. My second favorite Allen, actually.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Fight Club. Without a single doubt.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
From last year's "Paschendale" (a Canadian second-rate Saving Private Ryan rip-off) : In love, there is only one rule : don't die.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I have nothing.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I guess Tolkien must be pretty happy about evrything...
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Kris Kristofferson in Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I'd rather say not-that-subversive satire. Buy you must be blind if you think it purveys stereotypes.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Orson Welles, Werner Herzog, Harmony Korine, Gaspar Noé, Stan Brakhage
Part One:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
2001
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Things like Netflix. I really CHOOSE what movies I want to see in the theatres now. Other than that, I wait.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill Cody
4) Best Film of 1949.
toss up between The Third Man and White Heat. Jimm Cagney's breakdown in the prison (and his command to director Raoul Walsh before filming that scene: "Just follow me ...") is an all-time high point for me in the history of movies. But boy, The Third Man!
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes. If used well, it's awesome. But if you don;t know what you're doing and why then, well, you shouldn't do it.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I believe it was The Vanishing.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Stalag 17
10) Favorite animal movie star.
That crazy dog in Awful Truth (who had a very fruitful career!)
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
I would say the entirety of Forrest Gump.
12) Best Film of 1969.
I'll go with Andrei Rublev.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatre: Harry Potter
DVD: Erin Brockovich
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
It hurts me to choose. I know I'm in the minority but I loved Short Cuts so I'll go with that.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
So many come to mind! Kim Morgan, Sergio Leone, my entire blogroll basically.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
angela mao
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive Neal
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Lady From Shanghai
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Zodiac, hands down
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Unforgiven
Part Two
ReplyDelete21) Best Film of 1979.
Breaking Away. Although Nosferatu haunts me. But I'll go with Breaking Away
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Hmm.
Realistic: "Hot Saturday" (1932) - it's chilling how this girl who is NOT a bad girl gets the reputation for being one and the scenes of gossiping neighbors and passive-aggressive shunning is really ahead of its time.
Sincere: I love "State and Main". May be a bit sentimentalized but I grew up in a town like that and have a lot of fondness for it - and although it is a cynical movie, the representation of small-town life and its regular rhythms is quite spot-on.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
that chick in the well in The Ring. I am thankful for caller ID every time I see that movie. Tell that beeyotch I'm not in!
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Rumble Fish
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Master and Commander. Dayum, I had hopes! Love those books, would have loved more movies like that.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Opening sequence of Blow Out. To quote within context: Untouchable.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Skipping up the yellow brick road towards the Emerald City
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Ha!!
I was coming up blank but then I saw someone else wrote Death of a Gunfighter so I will go with that. Love Richard Widmark.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Oh what the hell, I'll take Crash.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Manhattan Murder Mystery is my favorite Woody Allen film in general. Diane Keaton: "I'm gonna bust this case WIDE OPEN." Woody Allen: "What the hell has happened to you?"
31) Best Film of 1999.
Gotta go with Magnolia, although Blast From the Past is a sentimental favorite.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Garbo TALKS"
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Not sure of the definition of B movie. Johnny Guitar? I love that.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Dashiell Hammett. Shakespeare. Stephen King. Argh.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Gotta be Lombard.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Great question. Cameo. Hmm. This doesn't really qualify as a cameo since they both are in the movie but Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson singing in Rio Bravo.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I'm gonna go with neither.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Howard Hawks, Cary Grant, Gloria Swanson, Buster Keaton, and John Ford
Part One:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (Favorite is "A Clockwork Orange")
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Gearing movies towards film geeks at the expense of the rest of the audience which leads to the recycling of ideas out of cheap nostalgia. Remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, movies based on television shows, toys, games and comic books. Some of these movies are being made regardless of whether the property it's based on was genuinely popular in its time. Movie culture is in a rut and will stay there as long as the giant opening weekends conceal how ridiculous expensive these movies are.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Will go with Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman), though I can't say either role was my favorite from those actors.
4) Best Film of 1949.
"The Third Man". No contest.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Pass.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Depends on the director and cinematographer employing this style. Paul Greengrass' shots move and cut together fluidly and coherently. Michael Bay looks like he's shooting during an earthquake. That said, I do hope the use of digital cameras doesn't dissuade directors from using tracking shots or simply leaving it on a tripod. Throwing the camera over the shoulder can be too much of a crutch to make covering the action easier.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Really don't remember, but my best guess it might have been "Das Boot".
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Pass.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
"The Bridge on the River Kwai"
10) Favorite animal movie star.
I'm not into animal movies. That doesn't sound right, does it?
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The message of "Hannibal", which boils down to "Serial killers are cool." Though the heroization of Hannibal Lechter started back in "Silence of the Lambs" as well.
12) Best Film of 1969.
"Once Upon a Time in the West". Easy choice.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
In Theaters: A revival screening of Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha"
On DVD: Stephen Frears' "The Hit"
Both of these are terrific films.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
"Short Cuts" (Favorite is "Nashville")
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
The House Next Door
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?
Pass.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
"The Elephant Man". Seeing a carnival through David Lynch's eyes made it especially memorable.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
"Zodiac" which used high definition cameras in a way that made it feel it was shot with 70's film stock and lenses.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
"Chinatown", particularly because it works so well both ways as a private detective film and a deconstruction of it and still manages to transcend genre altogether to explore the true nature of power and money in this country.
21) Best Film of 1979.
"Apocalypse Now"
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
"Tender Mercies", which is a very low-key, no bull depiction of small town life. There are other genuinely sincere movies, though they are too stylized to be considered realistic.
Part Two:
ReplyDelete23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The thing from John Carpenter's "The Thing" (though it does get pretty big at the end).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
"The Conversation", though this one and the two "Godfather" films usually switch around as my top 3. (Current favorite is "The Godfather Part II")
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
"Zero Effect" could have produced a new modern private detective movie franchise.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The Odessa Steps sequence from "The Untouchables". May I add that this is a fitting question, as DePalma makes better sequences than he does films.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Pass. My memories of films during the time 3-strip was used are black & white. The most famous 3-strip I've seen is "Gone with the Wind", which I don't care for at all.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film.
Looking over his wide-ranging filmography as director, producer, writer, editor, cinematographer and even boom operator, I can say I never have seen a single film he has been involved in. Perhaps, he will finally get lucky on his next project.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash Davis (Kevin Costner)
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
"Bullets over Broadway", though my advice to Woody, after looking over his post-"Crimes" output, is that he shouldn't feel the need to make a movie every year when he doesn't have anything new to say.
31) Best Film of 1999.
"Fight Club", which is still rewarding after several viewings.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"This time... It's personal." from "Jaws: The Revenge" because, yes, the story is about a shark getting revenge by going after the family of the guy who apparently blew 2 members of his shark family to pieces.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Pass. Pretty sure the westerns I like would now be considered more than a B-movie.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
J.R.R. Tolkien for having 3 great movies based on his "Lord of the Rings" books.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Pass.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Rebekah Del Rio in "Mulholland Drive".
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Haven't seen the film, but Sacha Baron Cohen isn't funny or smart enough to be effective as satire based on his previous work. I simply think he is an empty provocateur who isn't worth the hype surrounding his "comedy".
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
Stanley Kubrick
Paul Newman
Martin Scorsese
The Coen Brothers
Errol Morris
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteClockwork Orange, I think. But I also think that if I watched The Killers a few more times, that might make it to #2.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
D-U-M-dumb comedies written by smart people, a.k.a. the Apatow effect. After the weary parody movies ("I recognize the original source material; ergo, this is funny!") and the devolvement of the Farrelly brothers, it was a comfort to have the dialogue be funnier than the situation once again.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
For watching? BBC. For fighing on my side? BB.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man, in an absolute walk.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
For character, Jaffe. For actor, Benny. (What can I say? The man makes me laugh.)
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
The dictionary defines cliche as "a trite or overused expression or idea." I'd say the shaky-cam qualifies.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
La Belle & La Bete. Lucky me, huh?
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Pass.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Patton juuuust squeaks in.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Mike the dog, in Down and Out in Beverly Hills. I don't even LIKE dogs, and he won me over.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Was America really that unenlightened?
12) Best Film of 1969.
Best: if... Favorite: Take the Money and Run.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: HP6. DVD: Storefront Hitchcock.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Oh God, this is tough. Um... Long Goodbye, I guess. But A Wedding keeps getting better and better for me.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Why, SL&IFR, of course.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
The kung fu viewing public.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive had nothing going for her beyond her looks. Mona Lisa can answer any question about any car and use sarcasm like a scalpel. This one's no contest.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The one that leaped to mind was Strangers on a Train. But then I remembered that Before Sunrise has the kiss in the Ferris wheel.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Couldn't even begin to tell you.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Long Goodbye again, for turning film noir on its Dutch-angled head.
21) Best Film of 1979.
ReplyDeleteManhattan, Being There, Breaking Away - there was some good stuff that year, wasn't there? Well, you can't go wrong with Apocalypse Now.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
All the Real Girls has stayed with me much, much longer than I ever expected it to.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Giger's aliens. Period.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Apocalypse Now Again. Less than Godfather 1, more than Godfather 2.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Dazed and Confused. I would follow those people anywhere. All right, all right, all right.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The part in Blow Out where John Travolta is playing multiple recordings at once and there are multiple different hums and clicks and pops to show they've all been erased. Very, very effective.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
When Dorothy walks out into Oz for the first time.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
The only one I've ever seen is Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, and it wasn't all that bad.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash got to sleep with Annie Savoy and set the home-run record. Buttermaker got to clean swimming pools and watch kids play badly. There is NO contest. NONE. Just to clarify: NO CONTEST.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Deconstructing Harry. Allen's wit was brutal here, but everything he did worked - special effects, imagined characters interacting with real ones, an underrated Robin Williams performance. Not to mention the self-examination that revealed more than a few ugly truths. It's no coincidence that he was never this funny again.
31) Best Film of 1999.
I'm convinced '99 is the new '39. There are at least a dozen movies released that year that have devoted followings and could pass as a best film, or at least a truly significant one. Me, I'm going to go with Being John Malkovich, for turning loose the imagination in a way that had never been done.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Naked Gun 2.5: "Frank Drebin is back. Just accept it."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Haven't seen enough to say.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I'd have to say Jane Austen. Not as many turkeys to her name as there are to Shakespeare's, right?
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Nick Cave in Wings of Desire.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I don't think it/he is subversive, nor is stereotype purveyed. It's just a comedy, and like Tom Lehrer said about life, it's like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Assuming you will permit those behind the camera as well as in front, I'll go with Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Harpo Marx, Quentin Tarantino, and Ed Wood.
Now to go back and read some of these other answers; my apologies for redundancies...
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Killing (Paths of Glory is first)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The glut of adaptations from suspect sources, especially bad TV shows.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I have to go with Newman, who did some weird shit with Altman.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man, which is unimpeachable.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Tura
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
It is definitely overused, but still effective when done well (Hurt Locker)
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I remember renting Seven Samurai on VHS.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Moto
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Army of Shadows
10) Favorite animal movie star.
I’ll go with Asta.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema
Introducing cocaine to Hollywood.
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch works for me.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrical: Public Enemies
DVD: Das Boot (209 min. version)
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Vacillates between McCabe & Mrs. Miller or The Long Goodbye (with
Nashville top dog)
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
I missed Hudson’s Daily round-up.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Not my area of expertise, but I’ll take Mao because she was in Enter the
Dragon
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Tomei
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Paper Moon comes to mind
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been watching a lot of Mann lately, so I’ll say Miami Vice
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
I’m going with The Big Lebowski here because it really does work as a
Chandleresque goof.
21) Best Film of 1979.
I have a soft spot for The Wanderers, especially after seeing a director’s
cut, introduced by Phil Kaufman (in requisite satin jacket) under the stars in
Telluride.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Dazed and Confused
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
That goddamn clown in Poltergeist.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Godfather II (the first one is my favorite)
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
One, Two, Three: even if it almost killed him, I loved Cagney in it.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
DeNiro with a baseball bat in The Untouchables.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
I’ll say the start of the journey down the Yellow Brick Road.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Slim pickings per Wikipedia; I’ll take Let’s Get Harry
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Boilermaker all the way
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Sweet and Lowdown
31) Best Film of 1999.
Lots to choose from, but Rushmore by a nose over Thin Red Line
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“In space, no one can hear you scream” caught my ten year-old attention
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I have to pick a Boetticher? Seven Men from Now for Lee Marvin’s scarf
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
How can it not be Mario Puzo?
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Lombard by a mile
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Tom Waits in Down by Law
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I thought it was a lame character on “Ali G” and the movie was really bad.
I think calling it subversive gives SBC way too much credit, but so does
getting worked up about the stereotyping aspect.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
Preston Sturges, Bill Murray, Myrna Loy, Grace Kelly, and Orson Welles
I can't believe I messed up the final question. Take out Howard Hawks and insert Groucho Marx.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the perils of release dates. I always tend to go by when they showed up in the U.S. and The Third Man didn't open here until February 1950. (Carol Reed was nominated for best director at the Oscars that year)
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete» Spartacus (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb would be my first)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
» remakes of good original films by talentless studio execs/producers
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
» Bronco Billy - I love both, but Clint on a saddle, with a six-shooter, is as it should be
4) Best Film of 1949.
» Twelve O'Clock High
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
» Joseph Tura (Jack Benny)
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
» So much so (not the least of which, causing me motion sickness while sitting still!)
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
» Seven Samurai
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
» Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) - though, I pick it because I like PL (not the practice of using stereotypes as performance art)
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
» Patton (years ago it might have been River Kwai, but then I read more about the Burma-Siam Railroad and it changed)
10) Favorite animal movie star.
» The Black Stallion
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
» Michael Bay for Revenge of the Fallen - the use of stereotypes/language for the twin characters Skids and Mudflap
12) Best Film of 1969.
» either The Wild Bunch or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - two diametrically different takes on the changing times in the West on those outside the law
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
» Theater: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Blu-ray: Serenity
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
» The Long Goodbye (MASH is first)
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
» IMDB
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
» Meiko Kaji
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
» Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei)
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
» Carnival of Souls
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
» Sin City
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
» Unforgiven
21) Best Film of 1979.
» All That Jazz
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
» don't feel qualified to judge as I've never lived in a small town, but ideally I'd like it to be It's a Wonderful Life
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
» Alien
Part II:
ReplyDelete24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
» The Godfather: Part II (The Godfather: A Novel for Television aka Godfather Saga would be first)
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
» Gunn
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
» Train station shoot-out (homage to Odessa Steps) from The Untouchables
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
» The move to color moment from The Wizard of Oz
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
» Dune (Extended Edition)
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
» Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) - sorry, but Morris didn't end up with Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon)
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
» Vicky Cristina Barcelona (I'm not a big WA fan)
31) Best Film of 1999.
» The Sixth Sense
32) Favorite movie tag line.
» Since I've been mentioning it lately, I'll go with the one from the highly underrated Hickey & Boggs:
"They're not cool slick heroes. They're worn, tough men and that's why they're so dangerous."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
» Raimi's The Quick and the Dead
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
» Shakespeare
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
» Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
» I agree with commenter Bill C, the Anything Goes music dance number from Temple of Doom (the best thing in that movie)
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
» sorry, but both
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
» Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Clint Eastwood, James Stewart
My responses with video and links, and all the superfluous goodies can be found on my blog.
ReplyDeleteHere's part one of my answers:
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
2001: A Space Odyssey
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The length of films – it’s both good and bad. It’ good because in this hyperkinetic, ADD society we live in I find it interesting that some of the most popular movies every year are 140+ minutes long (with a lot of comedies clocking in at 120-30+ minutes). It’s bad because a lot of those films don’t need that much time to tell their story. What ever happened to the art of making the 90-minute action or comedy film? I mean Passenger 57 was only 81 minutes long…
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy
4) Best Film of 1949.
The obvious answer is The Third Man, but I’ll go with the noir masterpiece Force of Evil by Abraham Polanski.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
In action movies, yes. Quantum of Solace would have been a lot better had they decided to film the action scenes by keeping the camera on some medium shots for more than half a second. However, the shaky-cam can still be an affective tool a la a Dardenne Brothers or Michael Mann film.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
John Woo’s The Killer
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Army of Shadows
10) Favorite animal movie star.
The Mogwai from Gremlins
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Michael Bay – not for his directing, but for producing the horrid remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which kick started the barrage of god-awful “re-imaginings” of classic horror films.
12) Best Film of 1969.
I don’t want to repeat myself (because Army of Shadows is already mentioned here), so I’ll say The Bird with the Crystal Plumage by Dario Argento.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Public Enemies
DVD: The Son
Here's part two:
ReplyDelete14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
3 Women
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Every blog I have listed under “what I read”.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona. Not even close.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Some Came Running. I agree with Scorsese that it remains one of the most brilliant and expressiveuses of Cinemascope.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Miami Vice.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Hmmm. I could just answer with my favorite film 8 ½, but I think I’ll go with a movie I just talked about on my blog: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Good year for movies (Alien, Breaking Away, Manhatten), but I’ll go with the obvious (and deserving) selection: Apocalypse Now.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Wow. Great question. Can I cheat? I’ll assume you said yes…anything by David Gordon Green, October Sky, American Movie, and Breaking Away.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Freddy Kreuger. But only when he was a serious boogeyman, not the sardonic caricature he became in the films sandwiched between the original Nightmare film and New Nightmare.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Jack…I kid, I kid…The Godfather.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Talented Mr. Ripley. I know there have been other adaptations of the Highsmith books about Tom Ripley, but I think it would have been amazing to see Matt Damon and the late, brilliant director Anthony Minghella continue telling their version of Ripley.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The homageto Argento in The Untouchables where the viewer gets the POV of the black-gloved killer made famous by Argento’s gialli films.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
I like Jamie’s answer of anything from Argento’s Suspiria, but I don’t want to copy him. So, I’ll go with the scene on the lake in Leave Her to Heaven where Gene Tierney’s femme fatale watches her fiancé’s paraplegic brother, one of the last people to stand between her and her future husband, drown. The scene is incredibly eerie and off-putting because we don’t expect these noir moments to occur in beautiful, vibrant thee-strip Technicolor. Video is here (go to about the 5:20 mark).
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Let’s Get Harry -- written by Samuel Fuller; starring Gary Busey, Mark Harmon, Ben Johnson, Rick Rossovich, and Robert Duvall.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
No question about it: the wisdom of Crash Davis.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Deconstructing Harry
31) Best Film of 1999.
This question is quite relevant to what I’ve been doing the last few months on my blog.
Anyway the best film of 1999 is The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Part three:
ReplyDelete32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills." For This is Spinal Tap.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
What a convenient question as I was just talking about this movie: The Last Hard Men.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Stephen King
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance. I fall in love with her every time I watch Hawkes’ masterpiece.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Meh.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
(In no particular order): Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, Cary Grant, Roger Ebert, and Keira Knightley of course…
Part 1:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
Hmmmm... probably "Eyes Wide Shut," which would have been my favorite Kubrick if I hadn't just re-watched "Barry Lyndon."
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
I think that I have found the movie industry's decision to transform old television shows and toys into film the most interesting development. Not that this hasn't been around for a long time, but I think it has--especially in regard to the recycling of old TV shows--picked up quite a bit in the last ten years. Why is it interesting? Because rather than constantly trotting out traditional/archetypal narratives--as, I would say, was done most often throughout Hollywood's classical period but also throughout film history--they're foisting pre-existing narrative on mass audiences. Say what you want about the potential for drudgery within the typical genre narratives, but at least there is some freshness to the characters and ways in which filmmakers tweak--even if ever so slightly--the narrative formula. At least there is some freshness there. And, moreover, there's something oddly comforting about the combination of a well-worn narrative and the new angles being presented. This recreation of television shows a general lack of ingenuity. There are rare cases where the film either transcends the show or at least lives up to its relative stature (Dennis, I didn't like "Speed Racer," but will give it credit for adopting a frequently arresting visual aesthetic that makes it about a million times better than the TV show). By and large, though, these "remakes"--more frustrating to me than remakes of earlier films perhaps because TV narrative and film narrative map poorly onto one another--eat it. I don't think it's simply laziness on the part of those working within the industry that has resulted in this trend either. I think it's indicative of a larger shift in the way those with the power to make films are thinking about big screen narrative. Or something. Sorry for the egregiously excessive and only half-cocked response.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
While I really like Clint's performance in that film, I'll have to go with Newman's Buffalo Bill. It might be my favorite performance of his (it's neck and neck with his Sully Sullivan).
4) Best Film of 1949.
I'll take "White Heat."
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Tura, naturally. "To Be or Not To Be" is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen and it owes a lot of it to Jack Benny. That, and, man, do I not like John Barrymore.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Cliché, I think, implies that something was at one point in time a worthwhile/interesting aesthetic choice. Since that's clearly not the case with the shaky-cam style: No, it has not become a cliché.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I recall watching "My Life as a Dog" with my parents when it came out. It might have been dubbed into English though, since I remember really liking it. (It totally tricked me into thinking, in later years, that I should check out Lasse Hallstrom's other movies. Big mistake that.) Since I liked it, I can't imagine that it had subtitles--I think it'd be quite impossible for a five or six year old to have kept up with reading them. So that's a foreign film without the foreign language. Does that count?
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
While I prefer Lorre as an actor, I've successfully avoided watching either of those series of films--a status I'd like to maintain--and so feel unqualified to answer.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
ReplyDeleteSo I don't think either of my favorite WWII movies count: "A Man Escaped" (not sure you'd really classify it as a WWII drama, though arguably you could) and "The Story of GI Joe" (it's too early). So, of the films that definitely fit the bill, I'd have to go with either "Hell in the Pacific" (Lee Marvin! Toshiro Mifune! John Boorman!) or "The Dirty Dozen" (can you tell I have a metaphorical hard-on for Lee Marvin WWII movies?).
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Definitely the titular Balthazar.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
"Mississippi Burning" comes quickly to mind.
12) Best Film of 1969.
It's a dead heat between Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev," Shinoda's "Double Suicide," and Downey's "Putney Swope."
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
I saw "Anvil!" in the theater, and, though my friends heartily disagree, it was only okay. On DVD, I watched Egoyan's "Exotica." It may or may not be the worst movie I've ever seen.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
"Quintet"--just kidding. In all honesty, I'm not sure. It depends on the day. Today, I'd say it's "3 Women" (reason #358 why self-indulgence is worthwhile for certain artists). But tomorrow it could certainly be one of the following: "Secret Honor," "Short Cuts," "McCabe," "The Player," "Tanner '88," "Brewster McCloud," "Images," "California Split," "The Long Goodbye," "The Company," "Cookie's Fortune,""Thieves Like Us," or, I swear, "A Perfect Couple."
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Well, I really like "The House Next Door" (MZS's stuff on Mann recently has been stupendous--glad to see you liked it too Dennis) and Slant Magazine (I think Nick Schager--whose "Lessons of Darkness" is also solid--writes some really great reviews for them and they cover SOOOOOOOO many films that it's a pretty indispensable read for me). I enjoy reading "Film Comment" and "Cineaste" when I can get my hands on them too.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I was going to say, "I don't know." However, having done a quick image search, I will respond: We all win.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive Neal!
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
"Wings of Desire," maybe, or "I'm Not There." However, if "media circus" counts as a "carnival setting," then "Ace in the Hole."
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Circa 2003 I got into an argument with a good friend of mine about the relative worth of HD video. I was adamantly against it because, fetishist that I was, I thought there was something lost in the shift from film to HD video. At the time, I hadn't seen anything to make me think otherwise. The scales fell from my eyes, though, in 2006. I think Mann's "Miami Vice" benefits amazingly from HD, and I think Mann knew how to use it. That said, I think Lynch bettered him with "Inland Empire." I think, visually, it's as good as if not better than "Mulholland Dr.," which up to that point in time had been my vote for "best looking movie ever."
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Well, "Chinatown" is the only reasonable answer to this question, as it's y favorite movie ever.
21) Best Film of 1979.
One of my favorite years for movies... The answer, after much hemming and hawing, is "The Marriage of Maria Braun," though I must give incredibly honorable mention to Ashby's "Being There," Tarkovsky's "Stalker," Ballard's "Black Stallion," Konchalovsky's "Siberiade," Cronenberg's "The Brood," and Ferrara's "Driller Killer."
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
"You Can Count On Me" pretty much nails the experience of living in rural upstate New York.
Part 3
ReplyDelete22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
"You Can Count On Me" pretty much nails the experience of living in rural upstate New York.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
I can't even begin to tell you how happy the incredibly f*&%ed up mutant thing from "Prophecy" makes me.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
I think I'll go with "The Godfather Part 2," which ranks a distant second not to its predecessor but rather to "The Conversation."
A1) “Paths of Glory”.
ReplyDeleteA2) The attempt to try to make movies that mean something again (remember the 70's?).
A3) Neither, so... Billy Barty?
A4) “Mighty Joe Young”.
A5) Again neither, so Tura Satana over Oscar Homolka.
A6) Only in the way that film makers feel the need to justify it. If film makers just used it without tacking on a rationale (i.e. a news story), audience would, for the most part, just accept the technique.
A7) I’m confident that it was “Journey to the Beginning of Time” when I was about 4-years old. My dad recognized that I loved dinosaurs... Thanks, Dad!
A8) Mmmmm... Lorre!
A9) “Bridge Over the River Kwai”.
A10) I’ll go with Ben, ‘cause he’s a real animal. Maybe not the best personality or acting chops, but he was the first animal actor I ever wanted to go see.
A11) Umberto Lenzi for filming and arranging real animal deaths in “The Man From Deep River”, which is credited as the first in the Italian cannibal cycle that mixed reel animal deaths with fake human deaths.
A12) “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage”.
A13) Theatre: Bruno, DVD: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A14) “Short Cuts”.
A15) Rue Morgue Magazine.
A16) Kaji, with full on Pinky support!
A17) Neal (Tilly) all the way.
A18) “Dumbo”.
A19) Ken Russell’s “Lair of the White Worm”. At the time, the tonal shift was jarring (I’m assuming just the effect he wanted).
A20) Goddard’s “Breathless” and its take on Film Noir.
A21) “Manhattan”.
A22) I part of me wants to say “Shadow of a Doubt”, but I’ll go with “The Last Picture Show” for its unsentimentality.
A23) Pazuzu/Reagan in “The Exorcist”.
A24) “The Conversation”.
A25) David Schmoeller’s “Tourist Trap”.
A26) So many... the museum chase in “Dressed to Kill”?
A27) The double murder that begins the mayhem in Dario Argento’s “Suspiria”.
A28) All the director’s I like are proud of their flicks no matter how shitty they might be!
A29) No contest... Buttermaker.
A30) “Sweet and Lowdown”.
A31) “The Blair Witch Project”.
A32) “Just when you thought it was safe to back in the water” -- Jaws 2
A33) Raimi’s “The Quick and the Dead”.
A34) Jane Austin. Glad the phase is over, however.
A35) Hepburn as Vance from my favourite comedy.
A36) I’m not going “fave appearance by a musical performer in a flick”, I’m going “fave cameo by a musical moment in a non-musical movie”, and it’s the dance scene in Goddard’s “A Band of Outsiders”. Awesome.
A37) Neither. More of an earnest attempt at the former, but doesn’t quite cut it. He/it’s funny though.
A38) Hitchcock, Goddard, Doris Wishman, John Waters, and Roger Corman.
and cleary i shouldn't smoke my crack pipe before i answer these quizes... after reading thorough the other answers (no fun to do BEFORE i've answered), i'd like to change may answer to #4 to "the
ReplyDelete3rd man", and #18 to "strangers on a train". thanks, prof!
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Shining (after A Clockwork Orange).
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Nothing new about this – been going on for probably 30 years – but one that drives me nuts even more lately is the apparent need to explain absolutely everything in dialogue. Maybe I just see the wrong films, but a movie that leaves something up in the air, for the viewer to think about or discuss with friends, seems harder and harder to find.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I’ve seen Bronco Billy.
4) Best Film of 1949.
That would be my favorite narrative film of all time, The Third Man. A fond (if distant) second is Kind Hearts and Coronets.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I’m not particularly fond of either character, but Benny’s portrayal seems to recognize the nature of his character and his own acting and go outside the film – I know this isn’t believable, but play along, it’ll be fun – so I’ll go with that.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
I don’t mind it if it makes sense to me, either within the context of the film or as some sort of analogue to the action/characters’ emotions, etc. It seems that there are too many films now where it looks like it’s simply a lazy way of adding visual excitement (or maybe I’m just too lazy to figure out what the heck the director had in mind).
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I saw it when I was about 12, and it’s still my favorite foreign film -- Mon Oncle. Can’t imagine a better introduction than Tati – you don’t even need the subtitles.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
I’m such a fan of mysteries, literary and cinematic, and I have neither seen nor read either one!
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Well, I suppose this would have to be The Bridge on the River Kwai, although to me it transcends the genre. Of more standard WWII films, my favorite of the era is The Guns of Navarone. Pretty thoughtful for an action movie, even if it hits you over the head with it a few times.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Mij, an unexpectedly charming otter in Ring of Bright Water.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The lack of substantial film roles for Lena Horne (generalizable to an irresponsible era).
12) Best Film of 1969.
Where Eagles Dare. OK, maybe not the best film of the year, but I love it. Great scenery! Nazis! Burton! Eastwood! That stubby little plane (before they started showing the opening in widescreen). The inscrutable “Broadsword calling Danny Boy” – who came up with that? Plot twists for an hour and a half, and then a mind-boggling hour and a half denouement as they escape, sans dialogue, while proceeding to destroy half the German army. How can you not love that?
Silver medal: Ring of Bright Water.
Bronze: Salesman
(I have Once Upon a Time in the West sitting on the TV, but haven’t watched it yet!)
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: Star Trek, which I enjoyed immensely. To be honest, I can’t name a better Star Trek film – by the time the classic and TNG ones were made, the actors had become iconic in their roles. Here, they felt fresh.
DVD: Australia. Man, was that long. Had its moments, and I liked the neo-40s epic idea – just needed something more to say.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
A Prairie Home Companion, with my favorite being Gosford Park.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
ReplyDeleteMy usual internet sequence is to check out Shawn Levy’s blog for The Oregonian, then Scanners, and finish up with SLIFR. : )
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Meiko Kaji. Anyone who can get onto the Kill Bill soundtrack gets my vote.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Miss Vito. She’s cute, too.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
I’m a sucker for Lili.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Probably in the minority here, but I really liked the look of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
I’ll pick one that hasn’t been mentioned yet, The Princess Bride.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Being There, with Apocalypse Now a close second. Strangely enough, Manhattan and The Marriage of Maria Braun are both sitting on top of my television, ready to be watched!
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Perhaps oddly, the one that jumps to mind is The Straight Story.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Oy, I just don’t watch many horror movies. How about the killer babies in It’s Alive?
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
I assume this means as a director (otherwise I get to count Koyaanisqatsi again!). I guess my second favorite would be The Godfather (yes, I finally watched it!), with Apocalypse Now as my fave. And yes, Rumble Fish is also sitting on top of the TV. What am I doing answering these questions when I could be watching what’s on top of my TV?
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Master and Commander -- since when is a best picture nomination not enough to guarantee a sequel? And I wouldn’t mind seeing what happened to The Dude and Walter.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
From Mission: Impossible -- Jim explains what’s going on while Ethan considers alternate possibilities. Fabulous music too.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Not sure exactly what this encompasses, but someone mentioned The Band Wagon as an example, so I’ll pick the “Dancing in the Dark” sequence. Not really about the color, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rEWKETrnPM
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Say, any of you boys Smithees? : )
Apparently I prefer to go to films where I know who directed it.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
I’ve seen Bull Durham. But I think unknown Matthau probably trumps known Costner.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
ReplyDeleteContinuing the other theme, Bullets Over Broadway is also my second-favorite Woody Allen film, after The Purple Rose of Cairo.
31) Best Film of 1999.
The Sixth Sense, with The Talented Mr. Ripley a close second. Thankfully, I have no 1999 videos on top of the TV.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
How about “The South’s Greatest Romance” for Jezebel (1938). They made that film just in time, didn’t they?
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I’m not a big western fan – the ones I really like probably aren’t of the B variety. I enjoyed Maverick, though – does that count?
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
John Steinbeck’s works have been turned into some pretty good movies, especially The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Lifeboat, even.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
I’ve seen Bringing Up Baby.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
I’m taking this to mean a surprising musical performance, not just a musician who shows up. Hmm … I really got a kick out of the 5678s in Kill Bill v. 1.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Subersive satire, but at times I feel like I need to go wash my hands. (This based more on Borat and Ali G.)
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Harpo Marx (a generous and funny man, and he plays the harp!)
Fred Astaire (dance and classiness lessons)
François Truffaut (I’d like to see movies a little more the way he did)
Joel and Ethan Coen (they only count as one, right?)
Cate Blanchett (just because)
I've posted my answers on my blog:
ReplyDeleteMark's Answers
Thanks for these quizzes, they're a lot of fun!
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteLOLITA kind of just gets funnier, huh? I recently realized it is funnier than STRANGELOVE and contains many more great performances than any other Kubrick. So LOLITA at #2.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The regular spending of over $100 million on pictures that could be made for... strike that: on pictures that don’t need to be made.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
BRONCO BILLY, in perpetual rotation on Encore! in the cable box in my memory.
4) Best Film of 1949.
Serial: BATMAN AND ROBIN
Short: LE SANG DES BETES
Animated short: PORKY IN WACKYLAND
Feature: And, after boiling this bad-ass year for Hollywood product, British film and World Cinema at large, we are left with: MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, THE THIRD MAN and...
Winner: STRAY DOG (US release date die-hards, feel free to sub in the gorilla movie)
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
TO BE OR NOT TO BE is funnier, and hinges less on the cast shouting.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
No moreso than, say, continuity editing or Stedicam shots; it’s a method of doing things. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it does not. I am, however, tired of walking out of theaters and passing sawdust-sprinkled piles of vomit.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I would guess that is a nigh impossible question for most of us to answer. My best guess is THE FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF UNICO.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
The Moto films are more exciting, but less classy and than the Chans. We’re not talking prime Lorre, but this is prime Oland. Chan takes it in a performance contest.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
WHAT? So from FLYING LEATHERNECKS to, what, CATCH-22?
THE DIRTY DOZEN, regardless of arbitrary yearspans.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Mushroom the dog as Barney the dog, GREMLINS (1984).
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Buddy Ebsen’s makeup test, 1938.
12) Best Film of 1969.
A junky year, but some beauts that push THE WILD BUNCH out of the way: VENUS IN FURS, THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, CHERRY, HARRY & RAQUEL!, BRITISH SOUNDS, THE MILKY WAY.
Top honors to: MONDO TRASHO
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically MOON, DVDally YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, Blu-ray THE X-FILES (FIGHT THE FUTURE). Like, hate, love.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
3 WOMEN, all gauze and symbol with little solid ground. Would that Altman made more impressionistic pieces like this.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
VIDEO WATCHDOG, 250 issues and counting.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Lady Snowblood, no contest.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Spare me.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
ReplyDeleteThe improbably star-studded and handsomely photographed GORILLA AT LARGE. There are carnivals of note in CHILDREN OF PARADISE, PINOCCHIO, POLLYANNA and other films I hold in higher regard, but “sequence”? That’s the lazy man’s out.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
SPEED RACER, and all other weak shit needs to get off the track.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
The cinema of Brian De Palma, reaching a high-point with BODY DOUBLE.
21) Best Film of 1979.
1978’s where it’s at, but between BEING THERE, MAD MAX and ZOMBI 2 bring up the rear behind ALIEN.
Just so everyone’s clear, BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE didn’t open anywhere until 1970.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
STEVIE (2002). THE SORROW AND THE PITY of the American Midwest.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Wolf-Man. I, like, relate, man.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Apparently SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. If Indiana Jones movies are supposed to be tributes or rehashes or whatevers of action serials, the lone SKY CAPTAIN picture is simply a large-scale recreation of the movies action serials wanted to be. And that shit was tight.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
ReplyDeleteWOAH, okay okay, that camera that won’t stop circling Jake and Gloria on the beach in BODY DOUBLE, William Finley’s introduction in THE BLACK DAHLIA, the opening shot of SNAKE EYES, the tunnel-cutaway battle in CASUALTIES OF WAR, the nearly silent museum and shopping mall scenes in DRESSED TO KILL and BODY DOUBLE, the heist opening of FEMME FATALE, any number of murders and murders upon murders – any die-never De Palma fan is loathe to even name a favorite. But I think I can do it.
There is a signature sort of De Palma sequence, requiring both baroque eye for weird detail and an inhuman ability with screen geography and temporality, in which a number of disparate events and circumstances draw together in a tightening net, creating an inexorable sense of dreadful excitement and terrible release. De Palma is simply unsurpassed at establishing screen space and depicting time flowing through invisible conduits and corridors. This amounts to a theme in his work, a metatheme about narrative cinema’s ordering of the universe’s impossibly large equations, about the noir thriller’s focused pilling of misery onto the unsuspecting Everyslob. There are a dozen of these in his films, all hair-raising and breath-stealing; a few: in split-screen, a bomb stashed in a prop automobile disrupts a Juicy Fruits rehearsal in PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, a bucket menaces a prom queen as she hits her mark onstage in CARRIE, a gunman takes his position, the bride boogies to the stage, the groom rises in a golden lotus, the monster gallops down the hall, all converging in violence in PHANTOM again, the final mad graveside fight in BODY DOUBLE, a spaceship repair with six things going on at once in MISSION TO MARS, and a metaphysical pool game which erupts in violence in CARLITO’S WAY. I’d be tempted to name that one, because Carlito explains the levels on which these sequences work, a rare self-awareness granted to a De Palma hero. De Palma’s protagonists squint in the darkness to comprehend the invisible geometry that dictates their fate, scramble along the dim, intersecting paths of unknowable forces, and then they are crushed from behind. Carlito explains that the game is one of angles and trajectories. And when you can’t see the angles anymore, it means they’re aimed right at you.
The most giddy, completely insane, and indefinably poetic of these sequences is the motel showdown climax of RAISING CAIN. Multiple planes of action across several floors of a building form a rough cube of action, everything is moving and important, from the weather conditions to the contents of a grocery bag to a symbolic sundial. Everything shifts into position for the split second the story requires, then keeps moving. Which is what movies do.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
5. Abu steals the All-Seeing Eye in THIEF OF BAGHDAD.
4. Kathleen Byron occupying the screen during BLACK NARCISSUS
3. Maria Montez ‘s sacred snake dance in COBRA WOMAN
2. “Blame It On the Samba” – MELODY TIME: this is like the most color you will see again until SPEED RACER!
1. Dorothy opens the door
Just so everyone’s clear, SUSPIRIA was not shot with a three-strip camera, but on normal Eastmancolor stock and printed with the dye transfer process.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
If one is combing through Smithee films, one is probably searching for the jaw-droppingest selection. HELLRAISER: BLOODLINES is both of the “what about outer space?” school of sequel desperation, and a period INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE rip-off, AND tries to create a definitive timeline and backstory for the Hellraise-verse. It’s an ambitious (impossible) attempt to expand and sew up such a useless, idiotic franchise, but still manages to fall on its face in spectacular, unexpected ways normally not seen outside of AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Jimmy Dugan.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
ReplyDeleteSHADOWS AND FOG, but this is like being asked to pick through a trashcan and eat the most appetizing piece of refuse.
31) Best Film of 1999.
1999’s finest films came in pairs of strange pairs of polarized genius and/or linked fascination:
Vicious Comedies of American Awfulness: SOUTH PARK / CRUEL INTENTIONS
Screw-headed Writer-Directors Explore the Outer Limits of Their Right to Final Cut: THE PHANTOM MENACE / magnolia
Bedtime Stories: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT/ THE IRON GIANT
Genre Subversion and Sick Jokes in Early America: RAVENOUS / SLEEPY HOLLOW
The Fucking of the Human Brain: eXistenZ / FIGHT CLUB
Experiments in Color, Light and Spirit: THE MATRIX / THE STRAIGHT STORY
And after ten years, I cannot deny that THE MATRIX is the most perfect film of 1999.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“He’s a cop that’s not. BELIEVE THAT!”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Oh, THE PHANTOM EMPIRE without even checking my notes. I want to be five years old again just so I can freak out over THE PHANTOM EMPIRE. I want Monogram to still be making movies, so I can go see more chapters of THE PHANTOM EMPIRE instead of Harry Potter movies.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Danielle Steel. 23 gems and counting.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
The love impulse in men frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict. Ms Vance, the girl born on a hill.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Ween serves hors d’ouevre to IT’S PAT.
37) Bruno: subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Neither in full, a little bit of the former. As satire, BRÜNO’s focus simply pops in and out of clarity. That’s okay, as it’s all very funny (the best of John Waters and Luis Buñuel are scatterbrained too). The character is all over the map in the film, the joke in some sequences being Brüno’s shallowness as snark-insulated pop icon, sometimes his lust for fame despite complete poverty of talent, sometimes his basic idiocy, bullying and clueless criminal behavior, sometimes his overactive sex-drive. The principal comic idea running BRÜNO, and its greatest potential for subversion and social comment, is the character’s unapologetic, unwavering flamboyancy and frankness. Much good liberal politeness tries to strip the sexuality out of homosexuality. Those who live, work, love, and socialize alongside (or ARE) the extremely loud, rude, sexed-out and fabulous might recognize that this mode of gay behavior is driven by anger, self-aware humor, a need to be one’s self in a culture that just wants you to shut up. Do straight men understand that the 7-Eleven has MAXIM and STUFF next to the Doritos rack? Does 90% of the population have to keep rubbing their sexuality in everyone else’s faces? Gay men who act like this understand what they are doing. Brüno, however, is apparently a moon-person, who does not grasp any basics of our Earth etiquette; he’s not being provocative, he’s an idiot. And still, Brüno should be allowed to be himself... except that it is impossible to applaud him as a freedom fighter when he’s also a racist, imports ivory, insults the developmentally disabled, and endangers a child. The film closes with a light parody of charity music singles, which aims to de-wind the sails of pop frivolity weighing itself down with overly impassioned, unearned messages. It serves the double-duty of helping us read BRÜNO: very silly, well-meant, and inconsistent in its mission.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
Hmm, do they want to meet me?
5. John Waters
4. Ed Wood, Jr.
3. David Lynch
2. Buster Keaton
1. Winona Ryder
1.) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteFull Metal Jacket.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy
4) Best Film of 1949.
I can't say I feel passionately about any of these but I did love The Sands of Iwo Jima as a kid.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
El Norte. In Spanish class. At least that's the first I remember.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Bridge on the River Kwai. asablanca of course comes to mind too, but it's even less a "War" film than Bridge, so I'll stick with it.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Russell Crowe
12) Best Film of 1969.
Easy Rider seems the most definitive to me, but I'll go with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Bruno
On DVD: Bonfire of the Vanities
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
SLIFR
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Tomei. Any Day.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
I don't know if it's my favorite movie with one, but I'm partial to the carnival sequence in The Sandlot.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Apocalypse Now.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Apocalypse Now.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
I hate to go this way, but I think the end of Scarface.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
This is tough. Morris though.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Mighty Aphrodite.
31) Best Film of 1999.
The Insider.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Gosh, Cormac McCarthy seems to be doing pretty well so far.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Springsteen in High Fidelity.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Both. That's the genius.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
Humphrey Bogart, Sergio Leone, The Coen Brothers, John Wayne
(Thanks, Rick!)
A slightly rejiggered mid-summer quiz (in three parts)
ReplyDeletehttp://czr-morealegendthanablog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for doing this again, Dennis. I know you've already read my answers but for everyone else, they're here.
ReplyDeleteDennis, this comment box didn’t allow me to post my answers. For the first time in my life, someone said to me, “it’s TOO BIG!” So, I’ve posted them at Flickhead.
ReplyDeleteentry here, too long otherwise:
ReplyDeletehttp://pinkmoose.blogspot.com/2009/07/1-second-favorite-stanley-kubrick-film.html
Due to your length issues, here's a link to my answers.
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteDr. Strangelove (2001 is my favorite)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
It seems like starting with The Usual Suspects (which is a little older than a decade) too many movies try to come up with some "clever" swerve at the end of the film. Thus, instead of trying to craft a good movie, everything revolves around tricking the audience somehow.
If that isn't the problem it used to be and I'm imagining it, then my second choice would be the whole "torture porn" genre of horror movies.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill Cody, by virtue of being less embarrassing for the actor.
4) Best Film of 1949.
I'll go with The Third Man, even though everyone else will put that down as well, but it's entirely due to the fact that while looking at a list of films from '49 I realize I haven't seen anything else. Yikes.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I'm a Jack Benny fan, personally, from the days when I heard some of his old-time radio bits. I've seen neither of the surely screwball comedies that these characters are from, so I have nothing to go on other than that.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes, extremely.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I can't think of anything before my freshman year of high school, when we watched Das Boot in German class.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Neither. The concept behind both is a relic I prefer just stays burried.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
You could expand that date out to present time and it would still be The Bridge on the River Kwai for me.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bart the Bear from David Mamet's The Edge. The movie just makes me laugh every time I see it, no matter how seriously I'm supposed to be taking it and Bart's role is a key part of that, especially when he eats Harold Perrineau.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Neil Diamond's The Jazz Singer.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Army of Shadows -- too bad it took so long for it to be recognized as such.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
If this means the last movie I saw both in the theater AND on DVD, then I'd have to go allll the way back to No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood to answer that. I've probably been to the theater less than 10 times since seeing those and tend to only watch movies at home anymore.
If this means simply the last movie I've seen in each venue, then: Theater -- Drag Me To Hell, DVD/Blu-Ray -- Miami Vice.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Why Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies, of course. I hear the guy who writes that has a really good looking older brother. I'd say that 90% of all of my film reading is straight from the movie blogosphere.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Now here's the type of esoteric question I love from these quizzes. Looks like both were in plenty of 70's kung-fu films, of which I don't have enough knowledge, so I pass.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
ReplyDeleteEasily, Mona Lisa Vito.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Darkman, where all Liam Neeson wants to do is win Frances McDormand a pink elephant, which leads to a great visual sequence from Sam Raimi and co. (and provides a line I use everyday in real life, "Didn't you hear me, weirdo").
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
I didn't see it on the big, big screen, but Zodiac made perfect use of hi-def to create the feel of 70's cinema
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Unforgiven. It deconstructs the Eastwood/Leone era of Westerns, which had in turn deconstructed the Wayne/Ford era of Westerns. So it's a deconstruction of deconstruction. Neat.
21) Best Film of 1979.
I'm biased toward Alien, but Apocalypse Now is the choice as it's definitely a better overall film.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
I'm not really sure if I know what true small-town life is like, but All The Real Girls is at least very sincere in its depiction of such.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Easy -- Giger's alien from Alien.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Again, it's probably cliche, but The Godfather.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Since I mentioned it earlier, I'd have paid good money to see a Neeson/Raimi Darkman series (yeah, I know they made some sequels, but I don't count them). If not that, than how about Casablanca 2: Rick's Revenge.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
All the ones he stole from more talented directors (zing!). My favorite stolen sequence was in Raising Cain, where he steals the ending reveal of the killer from Argento's Tenebre. Even before I had seen the source material for that shot it stayed with me long after. (I need to watch Raising Cain again, as well, to see if that movie ever was truly any good).
(Note that the reveal is a little more "exciting" in Tenebre).
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The pullaway crane shot from Gone With The Wind showing the wounded soldiers and the burning of Atlanta. Always sticks with me.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
I just looked at the list here and I don't see anything I've seen, so I'll go with Solar Crisis, due to the fact that it stars Tim Matheson, Corin Nemec, Peter Boyle, Charlton Heston(!), and Jack Palance(!).
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash Davis (just for Kevin)
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Pass
31) Best Film of 1999.
Magnolia
32) Favorite movie tag line.
ReplyDeleteI obviously have Alien on the mind, but its tagline so simply sets the tone of the film that I've always loved it -- "In space, no one can hear you scream."
If you want a chuckle from the tagline, then horror movies have always been the way to go, my favorite being The Mutilator -- "By pick, by axe, by sword. Bye Bye!"
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Pass. The Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott westerns are in the viewing queue, so perhaps then I'll have an opinion.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Mario Puzo, if the quality of the Godfather-based books is as bad as its reputation insists it is.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Pass.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Vanilla Ice in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Whatever you want it to be, because I don't care.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Alfred Hitchcock, Lucio Fulci, Jimmy Stewart, Sam Peckinpah, Marlon Brando
My answers can now be found here. Great quiz as usual, Dennis.
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteFull Metal Jacket
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Torture porn. Saw, Final Destination, etc. Evil.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy
4) Best Film of 1949.
White Heat
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
No.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Phoenix 2772
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Stalag 17
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Francis, the Talking Mule
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The person at Sony who green-lighted Roland Emmerich's "Godzilla."
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: Watchmen: Director's Cut. DVD: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, no Blu-Ray--YET!
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Player
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Roger Ebert's Blog
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Angela Mao
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The Greatest Show on Earth
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
300
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Shaun of the Dead
21) Best Film of 1979.
Alien
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
To Kill a Mockingbird
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Frankenstein's Monster
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Apocalypse Now
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Last Starfighter
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
In "Raising Cain" when the cops are interviewing Frances Sternhagen's character on the way out of the police station. She is in total control. The camera work is stunningly good and the dialog is fantastic.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Nuff Said.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Let's Get Harry (I should think this is pure Alan Smithee; a final release the studio tampered with, not a butchered TV version of a good movie).
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Morris Buttermaker
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Mighty Aphrodite
31) Best Film of 1999.
Eyes Wide Shut
32) Favorite movie tag line.
In space, no one can hear you scream (Alien)
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Any Hopalong Cassidy film
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
J.K. Rowling (the entire Harry Potter series is great)
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Irene Bullock
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Burt Bachrach and Elvis Costello in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Haven't seen it, won't comment
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
James Cagney
Oliver Hardy
Steven Spielberg
Alfred Hitchcock
Billy WIlder
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeletePaths of Glory
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Digitalisation
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Don't know
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Small Back Room
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Nosferatu (1979)
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Il Federale
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bodil Joensen's pig ;-)
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
All cinema is essentially irresponsible.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Frankenstein Must be Destroyed
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
The Trip / Malpertuis
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
My own website.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Mieko Kaji,
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive Neal.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Cabinet of Dr Caligari, closely followed by Vampire Circus
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Don't know
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Once Upon a Time in the West
21) Best Film of 1979.
Dawn of the Dead
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Shadow of a Doubt.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Candyman
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Can't think of any serious examples, because of the tendency to make unnecessary sequels and franchises.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Split screen murder in Sisters
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Opening 15 minutes of Suspiria
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Don't know
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Don't know
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Shadows and Fog
31) Best Film of 1999.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre: "What Happened is True. Now the motion picture that's just as real."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
40 Guns
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Shakespeare
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Irene Bullock
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Kool Thing sequence in Simple Men
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Purveyor of sterotyping
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Sergio Leone, Larry Cohen, Maya Deren, Lucio Fulci, Dziga Vertov
Oh, I loved this one. Fewer *blank stares*. :D I linked it at my place; here are my answers. Have a great Sunday Dennis!
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteFull Metal Jacket
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Bordwell's notion of intensified continuity.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
God, yes! When will it end?
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
"The Big Boss"
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Best Years of Our Lives
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bart the Bear
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Paul Haggis's "Crash"
12) Best Film of 1969.
Midnight Cowboy
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Collateral
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
The House Next Door
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Angela Mao
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
I can't choose.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The Lady From Shanghai
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Zodiac
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
It might be stretching, but Annie Hall and the rom-com. Does that count?
21) Best Film of 1979.
Alien
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
The Last Picture Show
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Outsiders.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Steve Wang's "Drive" with Mark Dacascos
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Carrie's revenge during prom
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
"The Wizard of Oz"
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
"Morgan Stewart's Coming Home"
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Morris Buttermaker
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
"Bullets Over Broadway"
31) Best Film of 1999.
"Magnolia"
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
"The Tall T"
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
William Shakespeare
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Oingo Boingo in "Back to School"
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Not even worth discussing
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
1. Billy Wilder
2. Martin Scorsese
3. Vittorio Storaro
4. Klaus Kinski
5.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThe Shining (However obvious, 2001 is my clear favorite)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The mad rush to digital everything: cameras, sets and actors. For good and ill alike.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Yes
4) Best Film of 1949.
Everyone is saying "The Third Man of course" but in a year where Cocteau's Orpheus was released I think they're all mad.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Damn, one movie away from being able to answer this question.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes? But the complaining about it has become more annoying than the cliche itself.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Gojira!
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Does Warner Oland play Charlie Chan in Shanghai Express? What? Not at all? Pass.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Cranes are Flying
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Toto
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
When that one guy made a movie I didn't like. Wow! What was s/he thinking?
12) Best Film of 1969.
Tom, Tom the Pipers Son
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Bruno
DVD: Sin City
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Player (First is The Long Goodbye)
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
My RSS Feed
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
The viewing public
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Pass
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Freaks!
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
ReplyDeleteSin City held up to my 15-year-old version's experience with it, which surprised me as much as anybody.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Breathless
21) Best Film of 1979.
All That Jazz
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
I can't vouch for realism, it's certainly through rose-colored glasses, but How Green Was My Valley is certainly the most sincere. Ford's best in my opinion.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Pod People
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
One of the Godfathers. I'll let you choose which.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
I'm still waiting for Sunrise: A Song of Three Humans
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Pig's Blood
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The ballet in The Red Shoes
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
I tend not to watch them
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
I'm sorry to say that I haven't seen The Bad News Bears, but I'll choose Walter Matthau because Walter Matthau.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Deconstructing Harry by a country mile.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Paul Thomas Anderson said that he'd never outdo Magnolia. I still think he's right.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
When Hell is Full, The Dead Will Walk the Earth
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Ride Lonesome
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
James M. Cain
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Vance
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
I've been racking my brain but I can't come up with anything.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
It's a bit of both. I think the problem that it has is that a lot of people come in expecting a satire of homophobia in America but it's not that for the most part, if it is effective at satirizing anything it's the cult of celebrity and generally the depths that people will sink to in order to achieve fame. Also, dicks.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
I'm imagining a long conversation rather than a handshake and an autograph, so Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Ida Lupino, Douglas Sirk and Andrew Sarris.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001: A Space Odyssey.
Barry Lyndon is my favorite
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The cinema is breathing its last.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy of course
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Reckless Moment
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
No. See Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Mon Oncle
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller)
9) Favorite World War II drama
(1950-1970).
Five Fingers
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Cheetah
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
ReplyDeleteJFK is the most irresponsible film ever made
12) Best Film of 1969.
If. . .
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Cheri.
DVD: Emergency Kisses
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
O.C. & Stiggs (Three Women is my favorite)
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Shadowplay
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Anna Mae Wong
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Neither
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Gorilla at Large
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Pass.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Synecdoche New York
21) Best Film of 1979.
ReplyDelete1941
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Alien
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Rumble Fish (One From the Heart is my favorite)
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Pass.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
John Cassavetes getting blown up real good at the end of The Fury. I dream of every Republican politician alive having the same fate.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
ReplyDeleteWhen The Aviator goes from 2-strip to three,
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Don’t be silly.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Neither
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Whatever Works
31) Best Film of 1999.
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“They’re Young, they’re in love, they kill people.”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
The Shooting
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Marcel Proust.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Carole Lombard of course. Hepburn is SO overrated. Don’t get me started.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
The finale of Ducastel and Martineau’s Cote d’Azur
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Neither. Just not very funny or smart.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Preston Sturges
Peter Watkins
Charles Laughton
Yasujiro Ozu
Robert Bresson
David: #21! Please come back anytime!
ReplyDeleteI don't usually do these, but this looked like fun. thanks for the op.
ReplyDelete1) Paths of Glory – although I often play with the order.
2) Frat-boy humor, for grossly ill evil – it makes me gag.
3) Buffalo Bill – the lesser of two evils.
4) The Third Man – narrow victory over Intruder in the Dust, White Heat, and Battleground tied for second.
5) Tura, by a nose.
6) It started as a visual cliché, AFAIC, and never stopping regressing into stupid.
7) Seven Samurai – I may have seen a French film before that, but I was too young to really remember.
8) Mr. Moto – drugs or not, Lorre beats Oland like a rented mule.
9) The Cranes Are Flying – single film. Kobayashi’s The Human Condition for a multiple segments.
10) Asta, from the Thin Man Films.
11) Never letting Charles Laughton direct another film.
12) Z
13) Theatrically: The latest Harry Potter film, (some decisions are out of my hands); DVD: Bob le Flambeur
14) Brewster McCloud
15) Self-Styled Siren – I like fun with my film discourse
16) Meiko Kaji – I seen her before, yup.
17) Mona – no contest.
18) Nightmare Alley, oh indeed.
19) Nothing comes to mind, sorry.
20) The Killing - inside out and upside down
21) Apocalypse Now
22) Come Next Spring (1956) Kings Row has moments of frightening clarity, tho.
23) The Gill Man – sex with scales
24) The Godfather – beaten by a nose by II
25) Fargo – Scandahoovian police procedurals!
26) Craig Wasson’s porn ”debut” in “Body Double”.
27) Any scene with Eleanor Parker in the ’52 Scaramouche
28) Death of a Gunfighter
29) Crash – it was a ballplayer’s movie and Costner’s Crash was the ballplayer.
30) Bullets Over Broadway
31) The Limey, and don’t care what anybody sez.
32) "There NEVER was a woman like Gilda!" They were right.
33) Face of a Fugitive – Fred MacMurrray was truly underrated.
34) Cornell Woolrich, followed by W.R. Burnett – they wrote filmic work.
35) Irene – no contest.
36) Charles Kemper sings a mournful ditty in the moonlight in “Yellow Sky”
37) Purveyor of stereotyping will be the ultimate result, no matter how hard you try to believe.
38) Louise Brooks, Orson Welles, Charles Laughton, Claude Chabrol, Graham Greene
Hey, a lurker coming out of the woodwork here to link to my answers: http://strictlyfromhunger.blogspot.com/2009/07/quiz-kid.html
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty fun!
Part 1
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
The Killing
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Festival growth and more outlets for young filmakers.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Cody
4) Best Film of 1949.
All The King's Men. A best film.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar, but close.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Y S
\ E /
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Yojimbo or Shoot the Piano Player...I think, but at the Bleeker Street for sure.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Lorre, but have more fun with the Chan series overall. And I leave the racial stereotyping to the time.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Pork Chop Hill
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bugs Bunny
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Sanitizing death.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Easy Rider - saw it in the theater in 69 and it overwhelmed me. A best film.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Public Enemies (theater), Sita Sings the Blues (DVD)
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Gosford Park
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
IMDB as a jump off point. And any number of blogs.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I only know Angela Mao, but as someone mentioned, I'd take Yeoh overall, in the action genre.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Marisa
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Strangers on a Train, though it scared the hell out of me seeing it as a seven year old - my aunt and uncle are to blame for that one.
Part 2
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
No clue.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Not a good film IMHO, but perhaps Lady in the Lake would fit here - not sure.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Apocalypse Now
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
A Family Affair, the first in the Andy Hardy series, and several others in the series.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The creepy dummy in Magic.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Nothing jumping out.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Sorry Brian, I've seen a number of your films, but nothing really stands out. Like lots in Blow Out.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Gene Tierney on the train in Leave Her to Heaven - luminous
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
As in least awful, or most awful, not sure, but Hellraiser would be a favorite to hate for being butchered.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Deconstructing Harry
31) Best Film of 1999.
All About My Mother
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Well one of my favorite noir films is The Narrow Margin so I'm going with "That Bullet's Meant For Me".
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Anything with Bob Steele in the 30's.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Dashiell Hammett
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Carole
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Debbie Harry in Union City (1980). Defined by me as a musician in non-musical role in non-musical film.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
sigh.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Fritz Lang, Martin Scorcese, Max Fleischer, Alec Guiness, Peter Sellers. Can I name another 50?
De-lurking here... I answered some of the questions on Self-Styled Siren's blog, here. Thanks for doing these quizzes; it's always fun to read the answers!
ReplyDeleteLike Iris, I'm delurking to say that I posted answers (here and here) over at the Siren's place.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a fun quiz!
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteDr. Strangelove, behind Paths of Glory, although I haven’t seen a Kubrick film for years.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Increased access. I often take it for granted, but it’s tremendously valuable that I can see so many movies whenever I want.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Haven’t seen ‘em.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I’m going with Tura because I’ve seen him.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
I suppose. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be used effectively, as in Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Not counting a dubbed version of The Little Mermaid, I think Das Boot, both of which were in my high school German class.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Haven’t seen ‘em.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Ivan’s Childhood
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Since the wording discounts the cast of The Lion King, that little fox from Grizzly Man.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The first thing that comes to mind is Brandon Lee’s death, and I’ve never seen The Crow.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Army of Shadows, unless Andrei Rublev counts (seeing as it wasn’t fully released until ’71)
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Moon by Duncan Jones, which I thought was a solid debut, if nothing ground-breaking.
On DVD: Not sure, but I just rented Tropical Malady, +so that’s next.
On Computer: Greaser’s Palace, surprisingly legally, at indiemoviesonline.com
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (after 3 Women). Shoot, The Player. No, McCabe.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Blogs like this one.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I wouldn’t know.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
I hate that I haven’t seen these. But Bullets Over Broadway’s on my docket.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
I’m trying to think of something besides the hyperpopular Strangers on a Train. I have a certain fondness for Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I saw in my third grade class. Ooh, Werckmeister Harmonies! I like the Hitchcock merry-go-‘round, but I love the dead whale.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
No idea.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
I hate to answer McCabe and Mrs. Miller again. So I’ll say Hot Fuzz.
21) Best Film of 1979.
ReplyDeleteIt’s close, but I’ll say Apocalypse Now.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
George Washington.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
If Bride of the Monster counts, then the squid, thanks mostly to Ed Wood (the movie).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather (after Part 2). But I haven’t seen Rumble Fish or his most recent outings.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I just really want to watch that universe carry on forever.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
I have yet to really like a De Palma film, but since I can’t remember anything specific about Blow Out, I’ll go with the hit on Sean Connery in The Untouchables.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Nothing jumps out at me. Maybe the first scene in color in The Wizard of Oz.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Haven’t seen any.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Haven’t seen them, and while I understand all genres are capable of transcendence, the “sports movie” label is a difficult one for me to overcome.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Vicky Cristina Barthelona.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Tie between Fight Club and Magnolia.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
The only one I know by heart is from El Topo: “What it all means isn’t exactly clear, but you won’t forget it.”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
The Shooting. Unless El Topo counts.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Shakespeare, who gets everything from Kozintsev and Zeffirelli to stuff like The Lion King and Godard’s Lear—at least, I think Godard’s Lear had some relationship to Shakespeare’s play.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance by far.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
“Locomotion” in Inland Empire! It beats the Club Silencio sequence from Mulholland Dr. thanks to its sheer suddenness.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I’m seeing it tomorrow, but there does seem to be a growing trend where people don’t distinguish between a movie featuring something and a movie glorifying something.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Wow, um, Orson Welles, Sergio Leone, Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn, and one Coen brother (their choice).
Hey Dennis,
ReplyDeleteFirst time I answer one of your quizzes, and it was quite fun.
If you choose, you can find my illustrated version here. Otherwise, here are my answers broken up into two comment posts:
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
Paths of Glory (1957)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The increase in American films that sacrifice adult content to submit to the PG-13 rating in order to gain a wider audience, and therefore make more money. Sellouts.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Altman and Newman? Buffalo Bill Cody.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man ... did you even need to ask?
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura for the same reasons bill r. put down.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
I don't think so. Just another tool in the toolbox.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
La niña de la mochila azul (1979)
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Great Escape (1963) is a drama, right? Right?
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Flipper, because he practically lived in my backyard.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
George Lucas' rehabilitation of Han Solo's mercenary image by having Greedo shoot first in his special edition of Star Wars: A New Hope (1997). This is further compounded by his decision to make it extremely difficult to find the original version released in the seventies.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Easy Rider
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically: Moon, Blu-ray: The Searchers (1956), DVD: Thief (1981)
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
The Long Goodbye (1973), with the first being a certain western.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Glenn Kenny's blog, Some Came Running
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?
I have no idea who either is, unfortunately. I'm inclined to go for Mao only because she's in Enter the Dragon (1973), but I don't remember her.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Definitely Olive Neal.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The Elephant Man (1980), which has that awesome dolly into the back of Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) just as he swishes around to face the camera... at the carnival.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Miami Vice (2006), because the night sky looks like it does in life, not like it does in other movies.
Again, folks can find the illustrated version at my site. Otherwise, here is part 2 of my response:
ReplyDelete20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
21) Best Film of 1979.
Apocalypse Now
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Lumberton in Blue Velvet (1986) is pretty close... until Dennis Hopper shows up.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Freudianly frightening alien from Alien (1979)
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Conversation (1974), and just to clarify... The Godfather Part II is my favorite. Coppola had a great year.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
This one's a tie between Dune (1984) and Nightbreed (1990). But studio interference with each doomed them to failure.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The subway station gunfight and chase in Carlito's Way (1993), for making me forget that we see Carlito Brigante shot at the beginning of the film.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Sister Ruth's descent into madness in Black Narcissus (1947), because Jack Cardiff was a genius.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film.
The extended television version of Dune, which fills in some blanks, but doesn't really do it for me even more than the theatrical version doesn't really do it for me. Also gets extra points for the writing credit: Judas Booth.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash Davis, but only because I haven't seen The Bad News Bears (1976)
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
31) Best Film of 1999.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
32) Favorite movie tag line.
In space, no one can hear you scream. - Alien
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Johnny Guitar (1954), and yes, despite it being rediscovered years later, it is a B-movie... a great one.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Larry McMurtry, but that might change depending on how good The Road turns out to be later this year. And I'm assuming we are leaving Shakespeare out of this.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance for much the same reason as question number 5.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Bluesman Mighty Joe Young in Thief
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Subversive satire in cities... purveyor of stereotyping in rural towns.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
I've met David Lynch and William Shatner, so those two are off my list now. That leaves Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly, Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, and Michael Mann.
Part 1
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
This week it’s Dr. Strangelove. Number one for me is (and always will be) 2001.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Good: that “direct to DVD” is less and less of a stigma and is becoming the new realm of the decent B-movie. J-horror, Franco-horror and kaiju don’t bother with theatrical releases in the US anymore, and quality genre flicks like The Burrowers or Starship Troopers 3: Marauder go straight to DVD, and I don’t mind.
Bad: It’s not new that practically every film covering social or foreign problem/issue needs to be filtered through the experiences of beautiful, young white people, but by now you would think that H’wood could do it better (or not make it so Caucasian-centric).
3) Bronco Billy or Buffalo Bill Cody?
Bronco Billy is a much better film, and has aged much better than Buffalo Bill & the Indians.
4) Best Film of 1949.
What can I say, sometimes everyone’s right: The Third Man
5) Joseph Tura or Oscar Jaffe?
I haven’t seen either flick, but I’ll go for the skinflint over the souse.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Absolutely, and to the point of ostentatious ridiculousness
I recently watched Half Nelson and The Hurt Locker, and with both, until the story and acting kicked in, the shaky-cam was distracting and actually distancing (I could never forget there was a person moving the camera—on purpose).
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
The first film in a foreign language that I can remember seeing was Forbidden Planet (on TV in Puerto Rico, dubbed into Spanish, no subtitles).
But I really consider The Godfather II to be my first foreign-language movie seen in a theater. More than half the movie is in a foreign tongue: All the De Niro scenes are in Sicilian, and Spanish is actually spoken in Cuba. And I swear I don’t remember the flick having any subtitles when it was released, but that could be because young me couldn’t see them, I was too short—jeez, what parent takes a nine-year-old to see Godfather II?
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Lorre rules, but I’m not sad to say I can’t remember ever watching a Chan or Moto film: how about Karloff’s Fu Manchu?
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Hmmmm…framing the years so we can’t include The Best Years of Our Lives, eh? And “drama” means a flick that’s not primarily considered an action movie, right? Ruling out The Train or Play Dirty, right? So:
From Here to Eternity beats out The Caine Mutiny and The Victors, and it’s because of its women: I find the romances in Eternity to be beautifully tragic, while Caine Mutiny’s romance is awful treacle. Meanwhile, Carl Foreman’s casting of only European beauties as his female costars in The Victors defeats the film’s grimy style. (And is The Victors ever coming to DVD?)
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Blood, from A Boy and His Dog (but Dug from Up is nipping at his heels: “I slept under the porch because I love you.”)
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Starting to use sound before it was perfected. Early sound recording forced film back to its theatrical proscenium roots and derailed what was shaping up to be a fluid and inventive artistic medium. Words became more important than images.
PART TWO
ReplyDelete12) Best Film of 1969.
Tie: Pontecorvo’s Burn! or Costa-Gavras’ Z. (Although I do love, love, love The Wild Bunch)
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theater: The Hurt Locker; DVD: Hitchcock’s Family Plot
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
McMabe & Mrs. Miller
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
When The House Next Door was under the rule of M.Z. Seitz, it was fabulous, but since then, it’s updated less frequently and it’s become much more esoteric than I remember (or prefer). Otherwise, I no longer have one outlet that sticks above the rest.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?
Audiences win!
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
I’ve only seen Bullets Over Broadway, so I can’t be fair.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Tie: Freaks or Killer Klowns From Outer Space
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Sure David Fincher’s Zodiac looked great, but what did you expect? Give Fincher a box of raw super-8 film from 1970 and he’ll do something visually interesting with it. Actually, I was more impressed with the number of lipstick-cams Mike Leigh & Co. hid inside the driving instructor’s car in Happy Go Lucky.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Tie: The Long Goodbye (of noir)/Starship Troopers (propaganda war movies)
21) Best Film of 1979.
All That Jazz.
Most influential film from 1979: Alien
Speaking of ’79, I was always disappointed that Mad magazine never did a spoof titled “Al Poops a Lot Now” or something equally retarded.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Dude, I grew up in Brooklyn. Uhhh, Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain? Dogville? Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner? (However, my pal Otto Mannix is from Des Moines, and he says Some Came Running.)
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The baby from It’s Alive: it taps into so many fears, it’s ingenious. And the scene with it crying in front of John P. Ryan (RIP) in the sewer is genuinely moving.
24) Second-favorite Coppola film.
The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
John Boorman’s Point Blank. (C’mon, Lee Marvin in all those Richard Stark books? Wow!) But “Lt. Zach Garber, NYC Transit Cop” would’ve been an awesome TV show—especially if Klugman again filled in for Matthau.
Part THREE
ReplyDelete26) Favorite sequence from a De Palma film.
The B&W nightmare/dream/hypnosis scene when Jennifer Salt learns the truth about the Siamese twins in Sisters. I caught this flick on the late show when I was in high school, and it’s Sisters that made me a De Palma fan.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
When the Martians begin to open fire in George Pal’s The War of the Worlds—a magnificent swirl of kinetic colors: beautiful!
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film.
Lynch took his name off the edited-for-TV broadcast version of Dune—as a nerd, I have to say that it was fascinating to watch.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Dennis, you only ask questions like this to see how ENRAGED we become, right? Matthau’s cameo in Earthquake is better than Costner’s whole career. If I may paraphrase young master Tanner Boyle, “Hey, Costner! Why don’t you take that Oscar, and shove it up your ass!”
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Nope, I haven’t seen much of Woody’s post-C&M work, but Deconstructing Harry is awesome. And I think the flick’s bitter core is the truest representation of what’s in the Woodman’s heart.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Fight Club (and there were many great films that year: Magnolia, Dick, Iron Giant, South Park: BLU, Topsy-Turvy, Bowfinger—and let’s not forget Deep Blue Sea!)
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“They were a nice American family. They didn’t want to kill. But they didn’t want to die.” The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
33) Favorite B-movie western.
High Plains Drifter (any flick that played at the Essex on Flatbush Avenue was a B-movie—and what parent takes their seven-year-old to see High Plains Drifter?)
Silver medal: Bullet for the General (fantastic spaghetti agitprop)
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Does anybody remember Alistair MacLean? Honestly, practically every film adaptation of his work (even Ice Station Zebra!) is more interesting than his novels. (And when is John Sturges’ film of MacLean’s The Satan Bug coming to DVD?)
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
My Man Godfrey is a much better movie that Bringing Up Baby.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Fave out-of-context musical moment is the boss recreating the Jerry Lewis musical number in Fassbinder’s In a Year with 13 Moons.
But my “favorite musician’s cameo” is Dwight Yoakam uglied up in Crank.
37) Bruno: subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Haven’t seen the flick, but Bruno on TV often made me laugh, but it was subversive satire in small doses. In larger amounts, I doubt it can hold.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
(This week’s list:) Stanley Kubrick, John Frankenheimer, Albert Whitlock, Derek Meddings, Ernest Borgnine
Dennis,
Once again, a great quiz! And a brilliant outpouring of opinions from all commenters, too.
May I make a suggestion for next time: a question on “Why all the ‘sister hating’/”enmity between females’ in contemporary rom-coms?”
I’m curious to hear what people say.
Thanks,
Ivan
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001: A Space Odyssey
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
DVDs and the internet making so many films available for so many people regardless of where they live.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine).
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man over Late Spring
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I really don't remember, it might have been The Seventh Seal if Dances With Wolves or The Gods Must Be Crazy don't count.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Lorre.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Great Escape over Cranes Are Flying.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bugs Bunny.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The elevation of Birth Of A Nation to a status far beyond its actual achievements.
12) Best Film of 1969.
A Touch Of Zen easily over Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid/
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Harry Potter VI, Made In USA, Zulu
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Nashville
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
davekehr.com
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Cheng Pei-pei.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa could fix my car.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans
Part 2:
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Still Life, I think.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Singin' In the Rain
21) Best Film of 1979.
<Manhattan over Apocalypse Now
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Jacques Tourneur's Stars In My Crown comes to mind.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Max Schreck in Nosferatu, A Symphony Of Horror
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather, Part II
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
the Sword Of Doom or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon probably shouldn't count, since they're based on longer works. But they're my pick anyway.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The end credits.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Kathleen Byron freaking out at the end of Black Narcissus.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
A Burns For All Seasons
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Sweet And Lowdown over Mighty Aphrodite.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Eyes Wide Shut over Magnolia and The Matrix.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"The smart one isn't wearing any pants" - See Spot Run
33) Favorite B-movie western.
The Quick & The Dead
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Daphne DuMaurier
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan!
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
The "Le Marseillaise" scene in Casablanca.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Not-especially-subversive satire.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
1. Orson Welles
2. John Ford
3. Yasujiro Ozu
4. Alfred Hitchcock
5. Jean Renoir
1. Favorite is Dr. Strangelove. I don't really have a second favorite.
ReplyDelete2. The blending of high and low entertainment. I wasn't around in the Sixties, but my general sense is that if you were a cinephile you were all-high-art-all-the-time, or you were a drive-in/blockbuster connoisseur. It's nice that people's film libraries/Netflix queues have the mingling of the two now -- sometimes within the same film.
3. Pass.
4. Disney's Alice in Wonderland. An animated masterpiece.
5. Barrymore.
6. Yes.
7. Well, I technically grew up in a foreign country, but I think the first foreign film I remember watching through my cinephile goggles and really enjoying was "La chateau de ma mere", based on a Marcel Pagnol novel.
8. I mean, you don't side AGAINST Peter Lorre.
9. Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers was a pretty layered examination of the conflict.
10. The shark in Jaws!
11. Anything where a director's vision ended up shredded to ribbons on the cutting room floor. "The Magnificent Ambersons" comes to mind.
12. Easy Rider. It holds up.
Second place: Take the Money and Run. That fumbling-under-the-covers scene was mighty suggestive.
13. In the theater: a double bill of (500) Days of Summer and Bruno; on DVD, My Summer of Love.
14. The Long Goodbye (Favorite is 3 Women.)
15. Sunset Gun or Not Coming to a Theater Near You.
16. Meiko Kaji. "The Flower of Carnage" is awesome.
17. I haven't seen Bullets Over Broadway. Marisa Tomei is a distant relative so I'm going to give her the edge on this.
18. Definitely the shooting demonstration in "Gun Crazy."
19. I'm not too aware of what movies were shot in HD. I'll pass.
20. Apocalypse Now. Worst movie was definitely Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair, (and yes, I've seen it...)
22. I know other people have said this, but Shadow of a Doubt really nails it.
23. See my response to question #9.
24. The Godfather
25. I agree with the Self-Styled Siren's nomination of Charade. Oh, I would kill for more stylish Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant thrillers. They could have done versions in Rome, Moscow, Rio...
26. Never seen his work. To the Netflix queue!
27. Any sequence in Fantasia.
28. I've never actually seen an Alan Smithee film, but this is inspiring me to create a screening series. The Birds II, here I come!
29. Pass
30. Match Point
31. The Virgin Suicides
32. From Badlands: "He was 25 years old. He combed his hair like James Dean...In 1959, she watched while he killed a lot of people." Like a great short story.
33. I haven't seen many westerns, and the only ones I have were more A-pictures. Another area I need to explore.
34. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I think the adaptations of Jane Austen's books have been pretty good. (I'm including Clueless, here.)
35. Susan Vance
36. Anything where Zooey Deschanel sings in a movie. I'm obsessed with her voice and her band (She & Him.) She's sung in most of her films.
37. I think his satire is still pretty subversive. He lays the stereotyping on pretty thick, but in a way that makes you think about it.
38. The panel I'd convene would be Auteurs Only: Godard, Hawks, Wong Kar-Wai, Orson Welles and Nicholas Ray.
Went ahead and answered at home. Hope that's cool. Here's a fat link in bold.
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteThat’s like asking my second-favorite method of root canal. Probably “Strangelove.”
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
CGI. It’s become as incapable of fooling audiences as rear-projection.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bill Cody
4) Best Film of 1949.
“Fast and Furry-ous”
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
That great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Less a cliché than a crutch.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
“Metropolis”
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Chan. Not even close.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
“The Longest Day”.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Asta.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Whoever greenlighted “Being John Malkovich.”
12) Best Film of 1969.
“Butch Cassidy”
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
‘Star Trek”
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
“The Player”
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Who?
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
“The Greatest Show in Earth”
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
I take the Fifth.
21) Best Film of 1979.
ReplyDelete“All That Jazz”
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
“It’s a Gift”
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Frankenstein’s monster.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
“Tucker”
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
“The Rocketeer”
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Oh, probably the Odessa steps in “The Untouchables”
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Vernon Dent sining "Rhythm in the Bow" in “Good Morning, Eve”
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
“Bullets Over Broadway”
31) Best Film of 1999.
“Sweet and Lowdown”
32) Favorite movie tag line.
“It’s terrific!”
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Gotta go with “The Phantom Empire.”
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Raymond Chandler.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Irene’s annoying, but I’d kill Susan, so it’s Irene.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
The closing credits of “Citizen Kane”
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Crap.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Martin Scorsese, Preston Sturges, Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant, Buster Keaton
Sorry, numbers aren't my strong suit!
ReplyDeleteThis was supposed to be my answer to question #21, best film of 1979:
Apocalypse Now. Worst movie was definitely Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair, (and yes, I've seen it...)
My answer to question 20, the genre film that deconstructs itself, would be Brick. (Veronica Mars, if it weren't a TV show, would also be applicable here.)
Just found you via The Siren (thank you). Enormous fun doing to quiz, thought provoking!
ReplyDeletehttp://strictly-vintage-hollywood.blogspot.com/2009/07/sergio-leone-and-infield-fly-rule-quiz.html
Hi. Full answers (with pics) are here: http://tinyurl.com/n4gxnj
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, Part I:
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
PATHS OF GLORY. There's a humanity and an intimacy in the film making I keep coming back to over more popular films like 2001 or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, which would tie for third place.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Oh, Lord...the flash-cut + the shaky cam = complete incoherence. 85% of the time it feels like an excuse to be lazy or an attempt to hide the inability to frame or block a scene properly. Not only are we subjected to scenes that last less than a second, but even that second is so jiggly you'd think the camera was tied to a rodeo bull.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Simply because it's the one I've seen, BRONCO BILLY.
4) Best Film of 1949.
I'm going with THE THIRD MAN, although looking over the Wikipedia list I have a real soft spot for THE SET-UP.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura/Jack Benny in TO BE OR NOT TO BE.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Guess I should read these questions in advance. Please see my answer to question #2.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
A rainy Sunday afternoon back around 1990...my friend and I drive to the local gas station/video rental store (does that happen anymore)...at his insistence we rent SEVEN SAMURAI. I remember sitting on our basement on the floor transfixed - It's one of the earliest memories I have of watching something that was considered "film" as opposed to just a movie, and retains a firm spot in my list of beloved films.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
On the "freaky" scale Mr. Moto's off the charts...
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
I can watch THE GREAT ESCAPE again and again...off our shores I'd pick ARMY OF SHADOWS.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Chuck the Wonder Dog from 1984's severely underrated ( in my mind only, I'm sure) UP THE CREEK. Is there another movie that borrows so liberally from every other 80s sex comedy yet still holds up in the laugh department? Probably, but I love this film, thanks in no small part to the joyous bond between Tim Matheson's Bob McGraw and his faithful pooch Chuck. Why this doesn't have a DVD release along with the sublime Tim Robbins vehicle FRATERNITY VACATION is beyond me...
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
You can blame everyone for this, but whatever mechanics that put into motion the idea that sexuality in film elicits our strongest ratings and opposition while the vast majority of violence goes unchecked is ridiculous.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Possibly EASY RIDER, though my heart cries out for ARMY OF SHADOWS.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Fittingly, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE in the theater; Jean-Luc Godard's MADE IN U.S.A. on DVD.
Hi x2. Full answers (with pics) are here: http://tinyurl.com/n4gxnj
ReplyDeletePart II:
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
NASHVILLE. I know, sacrilege, but there's something so watchable about M*A*S*H.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Dennis, do I get bonus points for saying Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule? No? Then I'm going with The House Next Door for online and Film Comment for print.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?
I admit I had to look up the names, but oooohh! Meiko Kaji...LADY SNOWBLOOD is a midnight movie favorite ever since they got a nice DVD release.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Am I crazy for preferring Jennifer Tilly? The older she gets, the crazier she gets, the hotter she seems to be in my mind.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Does THE THIRD MAN count for the scene on the Ferris Wheel? Is STRANGERS ON A TRAIN too obvious? Does any of this matter when you can chant "One of us!" along with the other FREAKS?
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Probably THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON over anything Michael Mann's done. Mann seems intent on accentuating the "video" aspect of his HD video films (for better or worse), but Fincher showed with BENJAMIN BUTTON and ZODIAC that HD video can be as sumptuous and "film-like" as the real thing.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
UNFORGIVEN. Instead of deconstructing the entire Western genre, Eastwood deconstructs the character he brought to life in the Leone movies and countless others. When we see Will Munny at the end of the movie, shaking in the rain and threatening to kill everyone, he's completely unhinged by the violence that's occurred around him, and it tears apart cold and callous shell of an anti-hero Eastwood excelled at playing for so long.
(Five minutes later...) Damn. maybe BREATHLESS though...I could make a case for that.
21) Best Film of 1979.
MANHATTAN. It forever hovers in my Top 10, making occasional stops in the Top 3.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE springs most immediately to mind.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The "Thing" from John Carpenter's 1982 remake, although a case could be made for Belial, Duane's "brother" in BASKET CASE (1982 also...what a great year for monsters).
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
It switches between THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER PART II, each one taking turns at the top spot.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Someone remake Clive Barker's NIGHTBREED so it's more closely aligned with the novella and spin some sequels off that sucker. So much squandered potential there. After seeing the "Straight Up" Director's Cut of PAYBACK, I'd also love to see further adventures of Parker, uh, I mean Porter.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
My favorite "recent" De Palma sequence is hands down the wonderful "Bolero Heist" sequence from the beginning of FEMME FATALE.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, when Robin approaches Prince John, the deer carcass slung across his shoulders. It may not be an obvious choice, but the contrast between the sumptuous feast, the dreary grey castle walls, and the sudden flash of emerald green as Flynn strides in has been implanted in my head since the first time I saw it as a child.
Last round (Part III):
ReplyDelete28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Untouched I'd have to go with MORGAN STEWART'S COMING HOME, which I watched incessantly as a kid. Re-touched and re-edited it's a draw between DUNE and THE INSIDER, both of which I love in their unedited versions.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker!!!
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
SHADOWS AND FOG gets a small edge over VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA. Kafka mixed with Brecht, and shot by Carlo Di Palma? Yes, please!
31) Best Film of 1999.
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, although THE IRON GIANT was the best at making me cry, and THE MATRIX was the best at making me jump up and down like I was a kid again.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Cort is about to know Lloyd Dobler" - SAY ANYTHING
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I have no idea if this was a "B" picture or not, but I love THE PROFESSIONALS. Anything with Woody Strode, actually.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
In terms of a winning record for books vs. films, I'd go with Harper Lee. One great book, one great film. If by "best served" you mean "most faithfully adapted" or at least "adapted in such a way that works great as film" I'd say JRR Tolkein's doing okay. And of course I'm referring to the wonderful Ralph Bakshi LORD OF THE RINGS...why, what'd you think I meant?
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance...that laugh...
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Elvis Costello, Courtney Love, and The Pogues all in Alex Cox's STRAIGHT TO HELL which, if you'll allow, could also function as my answer to question #33's favorite B-movie Western.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Not having seen the film, I'll guess a bit of both.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Hal Wallis, Ray Harryhausen, Stan Laurel, Orson Welles, and Stan Winston, but only if John Favreau were around to mediate and pick up the tab afterward.
I think I speak for everyone when I say we all love the blog, Dennis! Best to you and yours!
Per The Siren's instructions, I'm posting a link to my answers here.
ReplyDeleteI posted a link to my answers on my blog:
ReplyDeletePluck You, Too!"
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteLOLITA,(Barry Lyndon is favourite)
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Good - Manoel de Oliveira is making movies.
Evil - So is Michael Bay.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy.
4) Best Film of 1949.
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by King Vidor.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
John Barrymore.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Of course! As have long takes, montages, method acting and what-have-you!
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Les Quatres Cents Coups(if by foreign you mean film in a language I don't speak. I speak English, Hindi and Tamil and can understand Marathi).
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Peter Lorre.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Army of Shadows by Jean-Pierre Melville.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
The Leopard in BRINGING UP BABY
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The man who gave Michael Bay a job in movies.
12) Best Film of 1969.
TOPAZ by Alfred Hitchcock
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically - the new Harry Potter film.
DVD - The Revenge of Frankenstein
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller(ShortCuts is my favourite).
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Shadowplay by David Cairns.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
ReplyDeletePass.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Neither.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
THE TARNISHED ANGELS
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Aleksandr Sokurov's RUSSIAN ARK(if you mean films shot on HD)
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
The best f--kin' deconstruction in film history.
21) Best Film of 1979.
R. W. Fassbinder's THE THIRD GENERATION
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
I VITELLONI.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Nosferatu(Max Schreck) from Murnau's original classic.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
THE GODFATHER PART II(Apocalypse Now is my favourite)
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Vincente Minnelli's BELLS ARE RINGING, provided that director and star made all the movies.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
'Be Black Baby!' from HI MOM!
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The finale of FRENCH CANCAN
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
None.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Matthau any day.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
ReplyDeleteMATCH POINT
31) Best Film of 1999.
THE END OF THE AFFAIR by Neil Jordan
32) Favorite movie tag line.
Angel Face
- SHE LOVED ONE MAN ENOUGH TO KILL TO GET HIM -
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Samuel Fuller's RUN OF THE ARROW
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Edith Wharton.
Two masterpieces, out of two of her best works.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
There haven't been any quiet moments, so Susan it is.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Marianne Faithfull in MADE IN USA
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
Leaves me in total indifference.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Martin Scorsese
Buster Keaton
Roberto Rossellini
Barbara Stanwyck
and
John Ford(even if he decides to abuse me, it'd be worth it)
Great idea.
ReplyDeletepost response at The Stop Button.
Part 1:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
At this moment, "The Killing" is leaning in to the wire to be my fave, so I guess that makes "Clockwork Orange" the runner-up. Man, the field is in tight behind them though...
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Hard to deny the onset of DV and its use by major filmmakers, but I find the most interesting trend is the desire to make films (even comedies) longer than 2 hours - ie. typically way longer than necessary. A huge generalization of course, but I've been surprised at how the studios are allowing these longer films. The previous line of thinking was to keep them shorter to squeeze in additional showings, but I guess they've already given that up since each film is preceded by 15 minutes of commercials and 5 trailers. Perhaps their studies have shown that there's a benefit to the longer film? More snack trips due to the frequent bathroom breaks?
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Haven't seen either, but Altman and Newman just can't possibly be bad...Can they?
4) Best Film of 1949.
"The Third Man". Yep, boring answer. Don't care. Love the film. "Gun Crazy" is pretty dang wicked too.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Both great characters from two great comedies both starring the amazing Carole Lombard. Benny beats Barrymore for me though.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Only when the director doesn't know how to use it.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Some strange slapstick French comedy when I was about 8. I'd love to know what it was, it's just that I can't remember a single thing about it. Likely I would hate the thing now. Granted, French was my second language growing up and I was actually going to a French elementary school at that time, so perhaps that doesn't count...
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Neither - simply because I haven't seen a single one of their movies. Still, Peter Lorre would be hard to beat.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
"The Dirty Dozen" is way too much fun to be a straight drama, so I'll go with Frakenheimer's "The Train".
10) Favorite animal movie star.
The dogs who portrayed "Quill", the seeing eye dog (as puppy and as the older working dog). Not a great film, but far better than I ever expected it to be.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The ending of Julio Medem's "Chaotic Ana" when the heroine...
[gross spoiler ahead]
...defecates on the face of a U.S. Senator.
[/gross spoiler ahead]
How's that for subtle political commentary?
12) Best Film of 1969.
"Z" or "Double Suicide"..."Z" or "Double Suicide"..."Z" or "Double Suicide"...Um, I'll need some more time on this one.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Unfortunately, the last theatrical screening I saw was "Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs" - not terrible, but just not overly satisfying. On DVD it was the Danish film "How To Get Rid Of The Others" - pretty much the same reaction for that.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
"Nashville". "Short Cuts" is still at number one. Again, there's a lot of competition.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Blogs, blogs, blogs and more blogs. I like blogs.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Does it matter who the first name is? Kaji can wipe you out with a stare and a sneer.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
I'm quite fond of them both, but Mona Lisa is memorable in every scene she has.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
"Carnival Of Souls" is the first thing that jumped to mind so I'm sticking with it.
Part 2:
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
"Collateral" looks great (a good film too), but two others overtook it after some reflection: "Helvetica" (they made the font look good...) and "Russian Ark" (a single continuous, glorious-looking 90 minute shot).
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
"Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon". A mockumentary spoof of horror films that becomes its own horror film.
21) Best Film of 1979.
I can't help but think that so many of the "indie comedies" of this past decade are simply trying too hard to be "Breaking Away" - and they can't touch it.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
"A Gentle Breeze In The Village" is a beautiful sweet tale of a young girl transitioning from her one room schoolhouse into adulthood. I don't know how realistic this depiction of a small Japanese mountain village is, but it sure is sincere.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Damn, I love those Ju-On ghosts.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
Well, if you count "The Godfather" I and II as a single film, then "Apocalypse Now" would be my second favourite. If you don't count them as one, then I cannot fulfill the requirements of this question.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
"The Incredibles". How great are those characters?
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The car crash in "Blow Out" is pretty great, but I'd be lying if I said it was anything else but the "Odessa Steps" sequence in "The Untouchables".
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The ballet sequence in "The Red Shoes". Wowee.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
I like the fact that Michael Mann credits the "altered for TV" versions of his films (at least both "Heat" and "The Insider" anyway) to Alan Smithee.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
I like Crash Davis. I like Costner as Crash Davis. It's still not even close though.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
I was surprised by how much I really liked "Vicky Christina Barcelona". But that damn narrator allows "Husbands And Wives" to take top slot.
31) Best Film of 1999.
Helluva year. "Mr. Death - The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter Jr." is possibly my favourite documentary ever and "Being John Malkovich" is one of the most original films I've ever seen, but it was the year "Magnolia" came out and I love every one of its 188 minutes.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
I'm absolutely at a loss for anything except for "In space, no one can hear you scream".
33) Favorite B-movie western.
That Budd Boetticher set was great wasn't it? Any of those would do fine, so I'll pick "Decision At Sundown".
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I can't quite think of anyone else but Jane Austen right now..."Pride And Prejudice", "Emma" and "Sense And Sensibility" all have very good versions.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Easiest question of the whole set - Carole Lombard. OK, Irene Bullock, but I can't quite separate the two of them. Lombard makes a whiny, spoiled, rich girl endearing and attractive.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Jeff Beck and The Yardbirds in Antonioni's "Blow-Up".
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I've soured on the whole angle of putting people in awkward positions so that we can feel superior to them. It just lends itself to the wider issue of always looking for failure in others.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Barbara Stanwyck, Jacques Tati, Seijun Suzuki, Jodie Foster, Martin Scorsese.
Long-time lurker; first-time poster. Sorry to be late to the party on this one, but I just saw the quiz and had to stick in my two cents (and some). Part one:
ReplyDelete1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. Lolita
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. Using a popular song over a montage to forward the action and tell, rather than show, the audience what is happening. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)? Buffalo Bill Cody.
4) Best Film of 1949. Kind Hearts and Coronets
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)? Oscar Jaffe.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché? Can anyone justify answering “No” to that question?
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? The 400 Blows on PBS in the 1970s. First one I saw in a movie theater was Les Enfants du Paradis (at the Nuart, a revivial house in Santa Monica, in 1980).
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)? Mr. Moto.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). Tie: From Here to Eternity or Heaven Knows Mr. Allison.
10) Favorite animal movie star. Flika (as in My Friend...)
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. Progressively more gruesome slasher movies—making torture entertainment. Blech!
12) Best Film of 1969. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. Theatrical: Sex and the City (working mom, don’t get out much); on DVD, Tropic Thunder.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. The Long Goodbye
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Self-Styled Siren.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!) Have no idea.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)? Mona Lisa Vito.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence. Carnival of Souls
Part Two:
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. Since most of the movies I watch are on TV (thank you, TCM), I really wouldn’t know.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. Mandingo: Not a good film (at all) but it both bolsters the ‘moonlight & magnolias’ myth of the deep south and completely destroys it.
21) Best Film of 1979. Being There
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies. The Magnificent Ambersons: The town may not be “small,” but Welles perfectly captures the small-town ideas (personified in the son) that keep the lovers apart, even in their old age.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). The alien in Alien—especially when he first hatches out of John Hurt’s stomach.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. The Conversation
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see. Moonstruck, although how that would work, I’m not sure.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film. Carrie going nuts at the prom.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor. The lanterns burning while the woman kneels in the snow in Raise the Red Lantern.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!) Aren’t they so bad the directors don’t even claim them?
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Crash
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. Bullets over Broadway
31) Best Film of 1999. Office Space
32) Favorite movie tag line. “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water again.”
33) Favorite B-movie western. Johnny Guitar (I realize it’s in the pantheon now, but didn’t it start out as a B movie?)
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. John Steinbeck.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? Irene Bullock.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie. The Lovin’ Spoonful in What’s Up Tiger Lilly.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? Appallingly offensive, stupid, mean-spirited, and dumb. A little of “oh, look how moronic other people are, look how smart I am” goes a long, long way.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!) June Mathis, Dorothy Arzner, Louise Brooks, Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx. And one for luck: Ida Lupino.
Very late to the party, but I saw this at Laughing Wild (thanks, maurinsky) and couldn't resist:
ReplyDeleteSecond-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
Paths of Glory - I don't much like anything Kubrick did after Dr. Strangelove (which is my #1), so this was an easy choice.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The incredible availability of all of film history online, on DVD, and on cable. What I wouldn't have given for this kind of access when I was a film-obsessed teen back in the Paleolithic Era, when my only chance to see the great old or foreign films I read about was the occasional showing on PBS. When I got to college in New York City I spent endless hours catching up, and sometimes feel as if I still am.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Bronco Billy - I'm a major Altman fan, and Buffalo Bill and the Indians is IMO one of his most underrated works, but I love Bronco Billy, one of my favorite Eastwoods.
4) Best Film of 1949.
They Live By Night - I'm tempted to say The Set-Up, maybe the greatest boxing film ever, starring the least-recognized great film actor, Robert Ryan, and it's hard to argue with all those who chose The Third Man, but I have to say They Live By Night. It ranks with the best of the couple-on-the-run movies, a genre with more than its share of great ones: You Only Live Once, Bonnie & Clyde, Thieves Like Us. I once thought it was a foolproof genre, until Oliver Stone desecrated it (see Question 11).
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Oscar Jaffe - One of the great all-out comedy performances. Just the inflection Barrymore gives to a line like "you amoeba" destroys me.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if the director knows what he's doing.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I can't remember, too long ago.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Patton - The best is probably Paths Of Glory, and again I'm tempted tp pick a Robert Ryan film, Anthony Mann's Men In War, a movie that matchlessly shows the experience of war as long empty stretches of suffocating fear, punctuated by explosions of appalling violence. But I have to choose Patton, The Movie That Changed My Life (I wish AMC would bring that series back). I wasn't a movie fan as a child. I wanted to be an adult, and the children's movies I saw didn't fire my imagination. But I was interested in military history, and had read a lot about General Patton, including the book that was the basis for the movie. So, at age 12, when I saw it all dramatized on film, the impact on me was staggering. I'd never known anything could do that. Trying to understand how it was possible, I began to read film critics, finding Dwight McDonald's On Movies and Pauline Kael's collections in my public library. I began to think about how all art worked, books, plays, music, as well as movies. It's been my greatest interest ever since.
For decades after 1970 I avoided seeing Patton again (I saw it 4 times on its original release), afraid it would destroy the magic of it in my memory. A couple of years ago I finally gave in and watched it again. It's still great.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Daffy Duck
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Every frame of Natural Born Killers, as repellent, morally-bankrupt an experience as I've ever had in a theater.
12) Best Film of 1969.
The Wild Bunch.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Breaking Dawn.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
ReplyDeleteNashville - Very tough choice. Right now Nashville is second, with The Long Goodbye first, but ask me next month and both places could be taken by McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Secret Honor, Thieves Like Us, or even Buffalo Bill or Three Women.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Don't have one.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?
Pass.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito - I've been in love with Marisa Tomei since I first saw her on As The World Turns, and she's more attractive now that she's ever been. Also, I seem to be the only person alive who doesn't find Jennifer Tilly attractive at all.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
La Strada.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Pass.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
The Long Goodbye.
21) Best Film of 1979.
Manhattan.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
I Vitelloni - I'd love to say That Championship Season, which is about, and was filmed in, the town I grew up in, Scranton PA, but that's too cheap a shot, so I'll pick I Vitelloni, just ahead of The Last Picture Show.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
I'll go with the classic: Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather (Godfather Part 2 is #1).
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins - I was so hoping for the promised Buckaroo Banzai sequel, but now that I think of it, I don't see how they could have kept up the level of flakiness without becoming annoyingly precious, so I'll say Remo Williams.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Carrie at the prom.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Every second Moira Shearer is on screen in The Red Shoes.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film.
Pass.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Crash Davis - Not a Costner fan, but Crash is his best character and performance.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Sweet & Lowdown, just ahead of Husbands & Wives
31) Best Film of 1999.
The End of the Affair.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
The damnedest thing you ever saw! - Nashville
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Angel and the Badman, mostly for the presence of Gail Russell, who is somehow simultaneously sexy and virginal.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Jane Austen, not only for the direct adaptations, but also modernizations Clueless and even (in spots) Bridget Jones's Diary.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance - I love Lombard, too, but no one compares to Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
ReplyDeleteJohn Cusack, "In Your Eyes," Say Anything - At first I was stumped, but once I started remembering good ones, they wouldn't stop coming, so I have to cite a few here. I'm surprised no one brought up the ones from Tarantino films: Vincent Vega & Mia Wallace on the dance floor in Pulp Fiction, or "Stuck In The Middle With You" from Reservoir Dogs. Mel Brooks does great ones, not only the justly famous "Springtime For Hitler" in The Producers and "Puttin' On The Ritz" from Young Frankenstein, but also the hilarious Sinatra parody to the title track in High Anxiety. I also love songs put in just for atmosphere, like the singalong on the bus to "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" in It Happened One Night.
There are great ones where the actors get to show off their hidden vaudeville/music hall backgrounds, like Chaplin's nonsense song in Modern Times, Laurel & Hardy's soft shoe shuffle in Way Out West, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Edmund Gwenn, and Dennie Moore's song in Sylvia Scarlett, and, most unexpected of all, Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In one scene Holmes disguises himself as a music hall performer and Rathbone comes through with a snappy song and dance number.
But, as I'm a mushy romantic, my favorites are the confessions of love done through music: Amy Adams singing "If I Didn't Care" in Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, or Denzel Washington singing "Happy Birthday" to Sarita Choudhury in Mississippi Masala (I could feel the women in the audience melting around me). But surpassing them all is John Cusack holding up his boombox under Ione Skye's window as it plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" in Say Anything.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I haven't seen the film, or the character on T.V., so I can't say.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.
Preston Sturges, Orson Welles, and The Marx Brothers.
Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteWell, Dr. Strangelove (1964) is my favorite – so I guess it would be a toss-up between The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957).
Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Comedies that run more than two hours. You’d be amazed at how funnier a film can be by adhering to the old saw “Less is more.” (Examples: Duck Soup, It’s a Gift, Sons of the Desert, etc.)
Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I actually remember paying good money to see Bronco Billy (1980) when it came out and while the movie has enjoyed a renaissance of critical reappraisal, I still can’t embrace it because it features Sondra Locke, who’s the cinematic equivalent of nails on a blackboard. But it’s awfully hard to dislike a man who uses the endearment “little pardners.”
Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man.
Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Jesus, Mary and Joseph – five questions in and here’s one that’s impossible to choose an answer. The old-time radio fan in me wants to say Benny, since To Be or Not to Be (1942) is his finest hour on film…but I cannot ignore Barrymore’s peerless performance, so I won’t. (“I close the iron door on you…”)
Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Oh, it always has been. And a sure-fire way to get me to abandon a movie, because it makes me nauseous.
What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I’m thinking it was La ballon rouge (1956), which I saw in grade school.
Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
I love them both, but the Chan movies have a higher batting average than the Motos, so I’ll go with Warner.
Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Stalag 17 (1953).
Favorite animal movie star.
Bugs Bunny. (Show me where it says “live-action.”)
Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Judy Garland’s loss of the Best Actress Oscar to Grace Kelly in 1954. As Groucho Marx observed, “This is the biggest robbery since Brinks’.”
Best Film of 1969.
Medium Cool.
Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
It’s still Get Smart (2008), and the last DVD I watched was a re-showing of Targets (1968).
Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971). (MASH [1970] is numero uno.)
What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
“Why, this very blog,” he said, apple-polishing as if his grade depended on it.
Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I do, because I’m unfamiliar with either of these actresses and therefore do not have to answer the question.
Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Tomei, without a doubt. (I always ask how the Chinese food is when I’m out-of-town as well.)
Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Ace in the Hole (1951).
Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Couldn’t even begin to fake an answer for this.
Part Deux:
ReplyDeleteFavorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
His Kind of Woman (1951).
Best Film of 1979.
Manhattan.
Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Stars in My Crown (1950).
Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Wolf Man.
Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Rain People (1969). (First is The Conversation [1974].)
Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985).
Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The reconstruct-the-assassination sequence from Blow Out (1981).
Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
Well, it would have to be in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), but I can’t come up with one single moment. Any scene with the extras wearing those eye-popping color costumes would probably suffice.
Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Death of a Gunfighter (1969). (His career was never really the same after that.)
Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Not even close. When Matthau cracks open that beer during Bears’ opening credits, pours a little of it out on the ground and fortifies it with “the hard stuff,” he establishes everything you need to know about the character.
Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
I’ve just fallen out of my chair with laughter because apparently I’m not the only one who thinks Crimes is the last decent Allen film. I’ll go with Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993).
Best Film of 1999.
Cradle Will Rock.
Favorite movie tag line.
“It took God six days to create the earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up” – The Meaning of Life (1983).
.
Favorite B-movie western.
The Tall T (1957).
Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
I’m not certain what you mean by “best served” but it’s a toss-up between Elmore Leonard and Cornell Woolrich.
Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Another tough call, but I’ll go with Kate.
Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Robert Goulet in Atlantic City (1980)
Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I’m one of the few individuals who thinks Sasha Baron Cohen is about as funny as Mildred Dunnock taking a trip downstairs in a wheelchair, so I’ll decline to answer on grounds I might be prejudicial.
Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Orson Welles and Humphrey Bogart.
(Fuller version at my blog. Pictures, you know.)
ReplyDeletePart 1
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
A: The Killing
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
A: I think I have to say, the change in media. The shift from film to digital video; and the shift from film for exhibition to, again, digital forms of exhibition and distribution - from DVDs to digital projection to the internet. In fact - yes - this is what matters most, I think. I don’t know what it is going to do to the art form - but art follows technology, and I expect what emerges from the new systems of production and distribution will have its own value.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
A: Buffalo Bill - when in doubt, it’s always Altman.
4) Best Film of 1949.
A: Late Spring, easily.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
A: Jaffe - that’s one of the great characters of the 30s.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
A: as much as anything, no more than anything else. It is, but you can say than about almost everything.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
A: I don’t know for sure. Some of the earliest ones I remember were Seven Samurai, the Seventh Seal - I think I saw them on TV somewhere, but I don’t remember when. I definitely saw Ivan the Terrible in 1986 or so, but I was used to subtitles by then, so I must have seen something. Seven Samurai and Seventh Seal were two of the earliest I deliberately sat down to watch, I know that.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)
A: Probably Lorre, though I haven’t seen much of either.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
A: I would say Kon Ichikawa’s Fires on the Plain.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
A: I thought this would be harder, but - a bunch of us were talking about the Thin Man at work - that’s the answer! Asta!
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
A: Not sure what this means, exactly. I suppose I might as well take the opportunity to express, for the first time in a couple years, just how godawfully insultingly stupid Life is Beautiful is. It's all right, kiddies, just pretend it didn't happen and it will be like it never happened! hooray!
12) Best Film of 1969.
A: A Touch of Zen?
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
A: Since it's taking me most of a month to answer... when I started - 7/17/2009 - the answer was: Tetro in the theater; Happy Feet on DVD... As of 7/25/09: In the Loop in theaters; Lang's Spiders on DVD. Today? 8/5/2009: Hands Over the City on DVD; The Lost World (1925 of course) in a theater; Up new in a theater (though that's almost second run, too...) [Just a coincidence, by the way, seeing Up and the Lost World so close together... a nice one of course. You can work Spiders in there as well - hot air balloons flying to South America?]
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
A: Nashville
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
A: CinemaScope? Or Bordwell and Thompson’s blog?
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
A: I can’t really say, I don’t know how many times I have seen one of them (especially Mao) without knowing it - but I remember Meiko Kaji, so I’ll say her.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
A: Lean toward Tomei; in fact - it’s almost always Tomei, who is gorgeous, and wonderful, in everything she does.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
A: I’ll say Some Came Running.
PART 2:
ReplyDelete19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
A: Zodiac? Che? Both are first rate. Zodiac, I suppose, gets the nod for being more specifically built around DV - the lighting possibilities and so on. Che is just gorgeous, but it would be just as gorgeous or more on 35. Zodiac would kind of have to be a different looking film.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
A: There are probably lots of these - I might as well say McCabe and Mrs. Miller - which is and subverts everything it is exquisitely.
21) Best Film of 1979.
A: Kieslowski’s Camera Buff
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
A: Not sure. The art film division probably starts with Hou Hsiao Hsien and Wu Nien-jen - City of Sadness, A Time to Live a Time to Die, A Borrowed Life.... though if I wanted to be perverse, I could say Satantango... American - Some Came Running is in there; so are Preston Sturges’ small town films - Miracle of Morgan Creek, Hail the Conquoring Hero. Or maybe it’s Local Hero - or better - Whiskey Galore?
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
A: A really good question - Brigitte Lin?
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
A: The Godfather Part I.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
A: Darkman comes to mind. Though actually - just about any of the Coen brothers’ films would count - Marge? The Dude? Ulysses Everett McGill? Hi and Ed McDunnough? You bet I’d pay to see more of any of them. Given their obvious fondness for cartoons, animated and comic strips both - I think the transition would be quite easy...
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
A: I can’t really answer this
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
A: Probably something from The Adventures of Robin Hood.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
A: I’m not sure how to find this - I don’t think I’ve seen any of the classics listed on IMDB . . .
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
A: Buttermaker, of course.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
A: Husbands and Wives is actually pretty good. The only one since then that counts as a genuinely good movie (of those I have seen.)
31) Best Film of 1999.
A: Charisma - Kurosawa’s... (where’s 89? City of Sadness, is that answer.)
32) Favorite movie tag line.
A: I can't answer this on demand. I will think of it sometime tomorrow, in the middle of a meeting or walking home... if I did pick one, I'd change my mind by tomorrow anyway...
33) Favorite B-movie western.
A: I'm not sure what counts as a B - but if it is, Seven Men from Now seems like an obvious choice. And 40 Guns, especially given the final question below...
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
A: Well - why not Dashiell Hammett? The Thin Man films, Maltese Falcon, all the various versions of the Glass Key and Red Harvest - why not?
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
A: I’ll have to say Susan Vance.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
A: I could probably come up with more, but it’s hard to beat Ricky Nelson and Dino in Rio Bravo.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
A: satire - whether it works or not, I don’t know.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
A: Nice question.... Well? 1) Barbara Stanwyck, for I am a groupie. 2) Sam Fuller, of course. 3) Boris Karloff, because not only was he in so many great films - he’s supposed to have been a really nice guy. 4) Speaking of Karloff - Val Lewton. 5) Jean Luc Godard - because - you gotta have Godard. And Jacques Rivette. They’re both alive, so I get the extra one, right?
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. It’s a tie! Spartacus and Paths of Glory.
ReplyDelete2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. The level to which studios now rely upon the ‘summer blockbuster.’
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)? Always Paul for me.
4) Best Film of 1949. Adam’s Rib
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? Honesty, I don’t remember.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). Stalag 17
10) Favorite animal movie star. Lassie is hard to beat.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. Does the fact that Keanu Reeves has a movie career count?
12) Best Film of 1969. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. Theatrically The Hurt Locker DVD
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. Kansas City. In looking over the list of his films, I didn’t find too many that I liked, so I picked this one. The best part about it is Robert Downey, Jr. Every time he was on screen, it was as if the lights came on in the room and everyone had had a shot of espresso. He has incredible presence on screen.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Call me a suck up but I gotta go with Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. It’s great!
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. Not sure I get the premise of the question, so I’ll pass.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. Huh?
21) Best Film of 1979. Breaking Away
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). Since I don’t see horror movies, I got nothin’.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. Tucker: The Man and His Dream
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Crash Davis – he’s yummy!
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. I don’t like Woody so I have nothing to add here.
31) Best Film of 1999. Toy Story 2. Brilliant.
32) Favorite movie tag line. Despite George Lucas’ attempt to destroy my love of all things Star Wars with those horrific prequels, nothing compares to the wonder that unfolded after the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” glowed upon the screen. Good times!
33) Favorite B-movie western. Is Silverado considered a B-movie western?
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. J.K. Rowling. Thus far, with the exception of the first two movies, the Harry Potter films have done a great job of taking very complicated books and turning them into quite watchable and enjoyable films.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? I’ll go with Kate, mainly because I’m more familiar with her work
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have) subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? I can best describe it as an attempt at subversive satire. From what I’ve heard (I’m not planning to see it myself), he did not succeed.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!) Paul Newman, George Lucas, George Clooney (of course!), Spike Lee
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. "Eyes Wide Shut"
ReplyDelete2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. Digital projection. I wasn't a believer until I saw "Ratatouille" at the El Capitan in Hollywood. A theater near me here in suburban Chicago now has DP on all 18 of its screens, and it's glorious.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)? Bronco Billy.
4) Best Film of 1949. After browsing IMDB, it would appear I have not seen a single film released in '49. Does that mean I'm excommunicated from this site?
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)? See above answer.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché? Yes, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? I have no clue. The first one I saw in a theater was probably "Life is Beautiful."
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)? Gotta go with Peter Lorre.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). "Kelly's Heroes"
10) Favorite animal movie star. Jonesy the cat.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. In "Hostel Part II," Eli Roth hung a naked Heather Matarazzo over a tub, in which a naked woman sliced her open and masturbated in her blood. That's about as awful as it gets.
12) Best Film of 1969. "Midnight Cowboy"
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. "Julie & Julia," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. "A Prairie Home Companion."
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Jeffrey Wells' hollywood-elsewhere.com, mostly because it makes me so damn angry.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? No clue. God. I am uneducated.
ReplyDelete17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)? Olive Neal, by far.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence. Here's another answer that will make me look bad: "Watchmen."
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. It's certainly not "Public Enemies," which looked just awful. "Zodiac" wins, especially after seeing it at the Cineramadome.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. "Dancer in the Dark"
21) Best Film of 1979. "Apocalypse Now"
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies. As a big city/suburban boy, I would have no clue.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). John Carpenter's vision of "The Thing."
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. "The Godfather"
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see. "The Incredibles"
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film. The bathroom tryst-cum-heist in "Femme Fatal" comes to mind.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor. When Dorothy opens the door and sees Oz for the first time.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. The TV edit of "The Insider."
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Crash!
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. "Deconstructing Harry"
31) Best Film of 1999. "Magnolia," by far.
32) Favorite movie tag line. "If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all ..."
33) Favorite B-movie western. I regard most Westerns as B-movies, so I'll say "Shane."
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. John Irving.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? The great Kate
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie. Ethel Merman in "Airplane!"
37) Bruno: subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? Both.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. Spielberg, P.T. Anderson, Meryl Streep, James Newton Howard, Stan Winston
Hiya Dennis! A bit late, but here are my responses to your latest quiz:
ReplyDeletehttp://cinebeats.blogsome.com/2009/08/16/mid-summer-movie-quiz/
I posted them at my own blog because I tend to be long-winded and I thought my answers would probably exceed the comment limits at blogger.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDeleteIt's something of a tossup, but I'll go with A Clockwork Orange.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Thankfully, the gross-out comedy hasn't lasted a full ten years (American Pie is now a decade old), and really that was only a revival of Porky's and other 80s stuff, but for a while there it was the biggest thing around. And while I know the whole story is much older than ten years, I think the way the American independent film has been developing is fascinating. In the past ten years, it's become more and more a selling point to be an indepedendent production, which has lead studios to set up or co-opt their own independent divisions. I love the incongruousness of a company that is named Warner Independent Pictures without a shred of irony.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I haven't seen either performance. In general though, I have no preference between the two gunmen. A while back I would have taken Newman over Eastwood, but I've been coming around on Clint.
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man.
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
I won't pretend to know what you're talking about.
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
It became a cliché long ago, even before The Blair Witch Project. I remember NYPD Blue was using it so much it started to feel like a gimmick. Blair Witch was an easy target for a lot of spoofs, but at least there, it was called for, necessary even. That said, in The Bourne Supremacy, which got a lot of flak, the shaky-cam didn't bother me as much as the editing.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Well, I'm guessing you mean foreign-language-for-me, or the answer would be however old I was when I saw my first ever movie. At what age I saw my first English-language movie, I have no idea but probably five at the most. I was brought up on mostly original-language films and TV. Aside from kids' stuff, nothing is dubbed here, and even then you get a choice. Subtitled saturday morning cartoons taught me English.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
I can't say. I'm guessing both are terribly offensive racial stereotypes by today's standards?
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
Hell in the Pacific. Though if Catch-22 counts as a drama that edges it out.
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Bruce the shark is very much a movie star, but not quite an animal. Blofeld's cat is a contender, though he's a bit interchangeable to be a star. I might say Balthazar or Umberto D.'s dog if I had seen either, but alas. With a shout-out to the stag from The Queen for its movie star scene-stealing, I give up.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Jud Süss. Twilight Zone: The Movie.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Z.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatrically, I saw Mr. Klein tonight. Wonderful movie that I haven't quite got a handle on yet. I haven't been watching DVD's lately. The last was Garden State, which I hadn't seen since it came out. I think I mostly remembered the funny, somewhat touching bits (and the soundtrack, which I have revisited many times). It was much more serious than I thought (or tried to be, I'm not sure yet whether it really works).
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Of the few that I've seen, I think Short Cuts is the second best. My favorite being The Long Goodbye.
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Independent from what, exactly?
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
Kaji has more familiar-looking titles, but still none that I've seen.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
ReplyDeleteSo far, Olive Neal is more memorable. But maybe that's just because it's not as long ago. Can I go for Tilly's Violet?
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Off the top of my head: Strangers on a Train. After some searching: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. After looking at the other answers: Freaks.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
The only ones that spring to mind (that I've seen on a big screen) are Collateral, Sin City and Public Enemies. And I'd have a hard time choosing which one makes the best use of it. I saw Man on Wire in a theater shown from BluRay, does that count? It looked glorious. Especially the decades-old 16mm footage.
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Funny Games US? Let the Right One In? Hot Fuzz? Shaun of the Dead? Come to think of it, can Dawn of the Dead be deconstructionist if it's only the second entry in its genre? Femme Fatale, in spite of its flaws? My favorite though has to be The Limey, with its cryptic editing that deconstructs the very generic plot and construct something emotionally resonant from its parts.
21) Best Film of 1979.
I don't know about best, maybe Apocaypse Now. My favorite is definitely Manhattan.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Having never lived in a small town, I couldn't say. Unless I'm misreading your question, in which case I'll say: State and Main.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
Frankenstein's monster. Because he's human and inhuman. He's like a lumbering, rotting Pinocchio.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather, Part II. And that's in my top three.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
I love that Zero Effect has already been named - twice! My next choice is History of the World Part I.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The first murder in Sisters scared the shit out of me and it uses split-screen very effectively, and I love it for that. Equally chilling is the slashing in the elevator in Dressed to Kill. But for nostalgic reasons my favorite is the scene on the marble stairs in the station. Its great building of momentum through delaying of the action and the slo-mo climax had me at the edge of my seat way before I'd heard of Potemkin and the Odessa steps.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
I think all I've seen is The Wizard of Oz, which was wasted on me. So my favorite moment right now is next weekend when I plan to catch The Red Shoes.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Death of a Gunfighter for serious movie where due to unfortunate circumstances, no director deserved sole credit. Burn Hollywood Burn for hilariously failed comedy where due to deeply ironic circumstances, the director didn't want credit because the movie was taken away from him. Probably isn't a coincidence I've mentioned the very first and last Smithee movies.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen The Bad News Bears, but I think I'll prefer Morris. Although Bull Durham is a nice flick.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
Of the ones I've seen (11 out of 21), Vicky Cristina Barcelona, followed by Sweet and Lowdown.
31) Best Film of 1999.
There's some stiff competition there. In fact, I think you can tell a lot from a person's answer to this question. So many extremely popular, influential films were release that one year, someone's favorite of that bunch could be a good indicator of his/her overall taste. Or maybe I'm full of crap.
My favorite: The Limey.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
For some reason, it seems taglines are required to have puns. I think puns are mistaken for pithiness. Since most puns are bad, and they certainly wear thin fast, there are many, many bad taglines. Most of the good ones don't have puns. But the best tagline has a very good pun and although I haven't seen the movie yet, I know it's relevant to the plot as well, which is what makes it great. The Royal Tenenbaums:
Family isn't a word. It's a sentence.
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I doubt I've seen any.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
To really answer that question I'd need to read the books as well, but three classic movies were based on stories by Daphne Du Maurier.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
I haven't seen either one. Or anything with Lombard, in fact.
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Val Kilmer as Elvis Presley in True Romance. (It's musical because he plays Elvis. It's non-musical in that he doesn't sing, and True Romance isn't a musical. By any stretch of the imagination.)
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I haven't seen the movie because I suspect it's mostly the latter.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Donald Sutherland, Grace Kelly, Boris Karloff, Martin Scorsese, Emma Thompson.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
ReplyDelete2001
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
The most interesting to me is the trend of movies that mix romance and sci-fi to explore love from a metaphysical point of view. These include Solaris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Birth and The Fountain.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
Buffalo Bill
4) Best Film of 1949.
The Third Man
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
Joseph Tura
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Seeing as most of my film is hand-held, I sure hope not! Actually, yeah, it has become a visual cliche, though I still think it's a valid way to shoot a film. They key, I think, is not to purposefully shake the camera but to try to hold it as still as possible, which better recreates the sensation of seeing through our own eyes.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Dubbed Godzilla and Pippi Longstalking movies aside, I think it was Ran.
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Mr. Moto, but I'm not a big fan of either.
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
The Bridge on the River Kwai
10) Favorite animal movie star.
Philip Marlowe's nitpicky cat in The Long Goodbye.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
Breakfast at Tiffany's is a lovely film that I can't bring myself to buy because of Mr. Yunioshi.
12) Best Film of 1969.
Satyricon
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
In theatres, Halloween II - some interesting ideas sandwiched between a whole lot of ridiculousness, but I won't count Rob Zombie out yet. On DVD, Woyzeck.
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Glenn Kenny's blog is indispensible, and becoming an independent outlet has made his writing far more eclectic and entertaining.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I'm not familiar with Meiko Kaji - looking at her IMDb page, it's time to get familiar.
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Olive Neal. Rarrr.
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
The Elephant Man
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
I loved the inky blacks and sharp contrasts of Public Enemies (though it's worth noting that even Michael Mann and David Fincher, easily the best directors working in HD right now, still rely on celluloid for some scenes).
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
Kill Bill
21) Best Film of 1979.
Apocalypse Now. Great year.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
The opening scenes of A History of Violence did a great job of evoking average, peaceful small-town days to the point where I could almost smell the autumn leaves, making the rest of the movie much more disturbing.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The chestburster.
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather Part II
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Still waiting for Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
The buildup to the bloody baptism in Carrie. I love how De Palma prolongs the inevitable to the point of frustration, the slow motion coupled with Pino Donaggio's score toying with the conflict between our empathy for Carrie and our desire to see the prank played out. I love how Sue's attempt to stop it is thwarted by the gym teacher who assumes Sue is there to hurt Carrie - one of many examples in De Palma of terrible things happening as the result of miscommunication. And the close-up of Chris Hargensen licking her cherry-red lips, turned on by her sadistic plan, is probably my favorite in the De Palma canon.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
From Vertigo: Judy emerging from the hotel bathroom, bathed in green light and reborn as Madeliene, as Bernard Herrmann's score swells on the soundtrack.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes (Smithee was co-director)
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker, no contest. I always thought Crash Davis was sort of a douchebag.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
I have a soft spot for Sweet and Lowdown.
31) Best Film of 1999.
In a year almost as competetive as 1979, Eyes Wide Shut
32) Favorite movie tag line.
"Man is the warmest place to hide."
33) Favorite B-movie western.
I used to love watching B-westerns with my grandfather, but I have to admit that the titles and movies are blurred together. For some reason, the only one I can distinctly remember right now is The Shakiest Gun in the West.
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Both Mario Puzo and Peter Benchley were lucky to have their biggest hits immensely improved on film.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Susan Vance
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Robert Goulet serenading a distraught Susan Sarandon in Atlantic City.
37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I don't know if I'd go with subversive, but anything that creates gay panic in super-straight dudes is okay by me.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
I could name five hundred, of course, but if I had power over life and death to arrange a meeting, I'd love to have dinner with five wildly different directors and let the sparks fly. Let's go with Martin Scorsese, John Waters, Sam Peckinpah, Jean Cocteau and Dario Argento.
Finally finished this. I'm just going to post the link, what with the character limit and the formatting issues and whatnot.
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Way, way late to the party, as usual for me. I too will avoid the possible length-restriction issue by linking to my answers. Speaking of length, I had to divide the quiz into two posts, mainly because of my own long-windedness.
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