More movie geekery
1) What was the last movie you saw, either in a theater or on DVD, and why?
The last movie I actually sat through all of on DVD was, I believe, "Invasion of Astro-Monster"(Godzilla vs. Monster Zero). I haven't had much of a chance to watch anything.
2) Name the cinematographer whose work you most look forward to seeing, and an example of one of his/her finest achievements.
Probably Vilmos Zsigmond, a guy who started out as cinematographer on some awful, awful movies, but who would go on to shoot Close Encounters, The Deer Hunter, and my personal favorite of his, Heaven's Gate. Despite the dust, there are a few amazing sequences, particularly the Harvard sequence(shot at Oxford after principal photography had ended) and a roller-skating sequence.(yes, that's right.)
3) Joe Don Baker or Bo Svenson?
MITCHELL!!! Joe Don Baker is just so fun to see clogging up the scenery like too much cholesterol. Especially his spots in the Brosnan Bond films.
4) Name a moment from a movie that made you gasp (in horror, surprise, revelation…)
Hmm. I had to think about this for a while. I'd say that the biggest jump I ever had in a movie was probably in Halloween when Michael Myers pops up from behind the couch and Jamie Lee Curtis stabs him with the knitting needles.
5) Your favorite movie about the movies.
Day For Night.(also my favorite Truffaut film.)
6) Your Favorite Fritz Lang movie.
Bleargh. What to pick? Uh, I guess I'd say "M", though the Mabuse films and Fury are also really, really good.
7) Describe the first time you ever recognized yourself in a movie.
Probably Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles, though without the mouth hardware.
8) Carole Bouquet or Angela Molina?
Given that I had to look Angela Molina up on IMDb, and Carole Bouquet was a Bond girl, I think the choice is clear here.
9) Name a movie that redeems the notion of nostalgia as something more than a bankable commodity.
Uh... pass.
10) Favorite appearance by an athlete in an acting role.
Serious acting: Jim Brown in The Dirty Dozen.
Comedy: Kareem in Airplane! - "LISTEN KID. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes."
11) Favorite Hal Ashby movie.
Harold and Maude, definitely. Ashby was someone who sort of fell apart after Coming Home, but he did make a half-dozen great movies before he crapped out.
12) Name the first double feature you’d program for opening night of your own revival theater.
Fight Club and Battle Royale.
13) What’s the name of your revival theater?
The Grindhouse Arthouse.
14) Humphrey Bogart or Elliot Gould?
How is this even a question? Elliot Gould's a good actor, but come on.
15) Favorite Robert Stevenson movie.
This is kind of a funny question, because most people just think of him as the house live action director at Disney in the 60's, but he did actually do quite a few movies for other studios, including a version of King Solomon's Mines, and the delirious I Married a Communist for Howard Hughes. That said, I'd probably go with The Absent Minded Professor. (Ironically, he's also the only director ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar for directing a Disney picture(for Mary Poppins.))
16) Describe your favorite moment in a movie that is memorable because of its use of sound.
I had a hard time with this until I remembered my first experience with true surround in a theater: The T-Rex escape sequence in Jurassic Park.
17) Pink Flamingoes-- yes or no?
Strangely enough, I prefer the later, less transgressive Waters, so I'd say maybe, depending on the crowd and the mood.
18) Your favorite movie soundtrack score.
Phillp Glass - Koyannisqatsi.
19) Fay Wray or Naomi Watts?
I assume this is purely on the basis of King Kong, and frankly, I'm not familiar with much else that Fay Wray ever did, so I'd say Naomi Watts.
20) Is there a movie that would make you question the judgment and/or taste of a film critic, blogger or friend if you found out they were an advocate of it?
I don't understand why anyone would possibly like Irreversible, or Gaspare Noe for that matter, so there you go.
21) Pick a new category for the Oscars and its first deserving winner.
Best Comedy - though I don't know what I'd pick this year since I've mostly just seen kiddie stuff. (If it had been last year? The 40-Year Old Virgin.)
22) Favorite Paul Verhoeven movie.
Ouch. Showgirls has the pure camp, and Starship Troopers is such a great movie, but I'd have to go with Robocop. This is tough, because almost everything he's made has been fun and entertaining.
23) What is it that you think movies do better than any other art form?
Uh. Too deep for me.
24) Peter Ustinov or Albert Finney?
I suppose this is supposed to be a duel of Poirots. Finney was the better Poirot(though neither of them were anywhere near David Suchet), but Ustinov has the greater resume.
25) Favorite movie studio logo, as it appears before a theatrical feature.
20th Century Fox, of course.
26) Name the single most important book about the movies for you personally.
The book that probably opened my eyes to the business more than anything else was Steven Bach's "Final Cut", a fascinating look at the trainwreck that was the filming and release of Heaven's Gate.
27) Name the movie that features the best twist ending. (Please note the use of any “spoilers” in your answer.)
Wow. Well, given that Laurene guessed who Keyser Soze was 20 minutes into The Usual Suspects, and the twist in The Sixth Sense just seemed logical, I'll go cult and say that I definitely wasn't expecting the twist at the end of Sleepaway Camp. (Let's just say that it anticipates The Crying Game by almost a decade.)
28) Favorite Francois Truffaut movie.
See #5. (Everyone always says The 400 Blows, but I genuinely enjoy Day for Night much more.)
29) Olivia Hussey or Claire Danes?
Uh, neither? Okay, if I had to choose, I'd say Claire Danes, if only because she hasn't has the stretch of shitty movies that Olivia had after playing Mary in Jesus Of Nazareth.
30) Your most memorable celebrity encounter.
Drinking beers in the bar of the Tarrytown Hilton with Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen, David Hess (Last House on The Left), and Ted Bohus. Good times, good times.
31) When did you first realize that films were directed?
Early on. I understood at about ten that George Lucas didn't direct Empire, and even then I seemed to instinctively know that that made the movie better.
The last movie I actually sat through all of on DVD was, I believe, "Invasion of Astro-Monster"(Godzilla vs. Monster Zero). I haven't had much of a chance to watch anything.
2) Name the cinematographer whose work you most look forward to seeing, and an example of one of his/her finest achievements.
Probably Vilmos Zsigmond, a guy who started out as cinematographer on some awful, awful movies, but who would go on to shoot Close Encounters, The Deer Hunter, and my personal favorite of his, Heaven's Gate. Despite the dust, there are a few amazing sequences, particularly the Harvard sequence(shot at Oxford after principal photography had ended) and a roller-skating sequence.(yes, that's right.)
3) Joe Don Baker or Bo Svenson?
MITCHELL!!! Joe Don Baker is just so fun to see clogging up the scenery like too much cholesterol. Especially his spots in the Brosnan Bond films.
4) Name a moment from a movie that made you gasp (in horror, surprise, revelation…)
Hmm. I had to think about this for a while. I'd say that the biggest jump I ever had in a movie was probably in Halloween when Michael Myers pops up from behind the couch and Jamie Lee Curtis stabs him with the knitting needles.
5) Your favorite movie about the movies.
Day For Night.(also my favorite Truffaut film.)
6) Your Favorite Fritz Lang movie.
Bleargh. What to pick? Uh, I guess I'd say "M", though the Mabuse films and Fury are also really, really good.
7) Describe the first time you ever recognized yourself in a movie.
Probably Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles, though without the mouth hardware.
8) Carole Bouquet or Angela Molina?
Given that I had to look Angela Molina up on IMDb, and Carole Bouquet was a Bond girl, I think the choice is clear here.
9) Name a movie that redeems the notion of nostalgia as something more than a bankable commodity.
Uh... pass.
10) Favorite appearance by an athlete in an acting role.
Serious acting: Jim Brown in The Dirty Dozen.
Comedy: Kareem in Airplane! - "LISTEN KID. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes."
11) Favorite Hal Ashby movie.
Harold and Maude, definitely. Ashby was someone who sort of fell apart after Coming Home, but he did make a half-dozen great movies before he crapped out.
12) Name the first double feature you’d program for opening night of your own revival theater.
Fight Club and Battle Royale.
13) What’s the name of your revival theater?
The Grindhouse Arthouse.
14) Humphrey Bogart or Elliot Gould?
How is this even a question? Elliot Gould's a good actor, but come on.
15) Favorite Robert Stevenson movie.
This is kind of a funny question, because most people just think of him as the house live action director at Disney in the 60's, but he did actually do quite a few movies for other studios, including a version of King Solomon's Mines, and the delirious I Married a Communist for Howard Hughes. That said, I'd probably go with The Absent Minded Professor. (Ironically, he's also the only director ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar for directing a Disney picture(for Mary Poppins.))
16) Describe your favorite moment in a movie that is memorable because of its use of sound.
I had a hard time with this until I remembered my first experience with true surround in a theater: The T-Rex escape sequence in Jurassic Park.
17) Pink Flamingoes-- yes or no?
Strangely enough, I prefer the later, less transgressive Waters, so I'd say maybe, depending on the crowd and the mood.
18) Your favorite movie soundtrack score.
Phillp Glass - Koyannisqatsi.
19) Fay Wray or Naomi Watts?
I assume this is purely on the basis of King Kong, and frankly, I'm not familiar with much else that Fay Wray ever did, so I'd say Naomi Watts.
20) Is there a movie that would make you question the judgment and/or taste of a film critic, blogger or friend if you found out they were an advocate of it?
I don't understand why anyone would possibly like Irreversible, or Gaspare Noe for that matter, so there you go.
21) Pick a new category for the Oscars and its first deserving winner.
Best Comedy - though I don't know what I'd pick this year since I've mostly just seen kiddie stuff. (If it had been last year? The 40-Year Old Virgin.)
22) Favorite Paul Verhoeven movie.
Ouch. Showgirls has the pure camp, and Starship Troopers is such a great movie, but I'd have to go with Robocop. This is tough, because almost everything he's made has been fun and entertaining.
23) What is it that you think movies do better than any other art form?
Uh. Too deep for me.
24) Peter Ustinov or Albert Finney?
I suppose this is supposed to be a duel of Poirots. Finney was the better Poirot(though neither of them were anywhere near David Suchet), but Ustinov has the greater resume.
25) Favorite movie studio logo, as it appears before a theatrical feature.
20th Century Fox, of course.
26) Name the single most important book about the movies for you personally.
The book that probably opened my eyes to the business more than anything else was Steven Bach's "Final Cut", a fascinating look at the trainwreck that was the filming and release of Heaven's Gate.
27) Name the movie that features the best twist ending. (Please note the use of any “spoilers” in your answer.)
Wow. Well, given that Laurene guessed who Keyser Soze was 20 minutes into The Usual Suspects, and the twist in The Sixth Sense just seemed logical, I'll go cult and say that I definitely wasn't expecting the twist at the end of Sleepaway Camp. (Let's just say that it anticipates The Crying Game by almost a decade.)
28) Favorite Francois Truffaut movie.
See #5. (Everyone always says The 400 Blows, but I genuinely enjoy Day for Night much more.)
29) Olivia Hussey or Claire Danes?
Uh, neither? Okay, if I had to choose, I'd say Claire Danes, if only because she hasn't has the stretch of shitty movies that Olivia had after playing Mary in Jesus Of Nazareth.
30) Your most memorable celebrity encounter.
Drinking beers in the bar of the Tarrytown Hilton with Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen, David Hess (Last House on The Left), and Ted Bohus. Good times, good times.
31) When did you first realize that films were directed?
Early on. I understood at about ten that George Lucas didn't direct Empire, and even then I seemed to instinctively know that that made the movie better.