Labor Day Movie Quiz
Brain Break. Film Quiz via Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule.
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
So is this a flick that I want to see? Or am I wanting to get sucked into a tornado to be deposited into the Land of Oz?
We live in a world where if I want to see something, I can usually see it within a day or two, given those fine folks at Netflix, and sometimes instantly.
Now, I would love to have some fine folk in this neck of the woods decide to show Seven Samurai on the big screen, or perhaps Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid....
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
I really dig the big Brazil collection I used up all my trade credit on at McKay's.
Though, when they went half-price back in August, I picked up Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and got to watch it on a decent television. I dug it a lot....
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
Maltese Falcon.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Basing it solely on film work, I'll say Paul Rudd. He just seems to have a better presence on the big screen.
If you count in Arrested Development?
Or the prestige that is The Hogan Family?
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
The only one that's popping to mind is Judy Garland and Liza Minelli. Though, I think I'll call them best at imbibing intoxicants....
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
There are possible parallels, but I just don't know if we have roles like that anymore. I guess the question that comes to the front of my mind is: Has society (and movies by extension) changed so that the Mitchum ideal of Manliness is shoved to the fringe? For Robert Mitchum, the guy that came to mind as the embodiment of the ideal and spirit (and possible sheer craziness), if not the starring or even supporting roles, is Danny Trejo. Two others that popped into my head were Daniel Craig and Eric Bana, though both lapse something into pretty-boy status. This one made me think.
Is the guy who embodies that so outside the norm nowadays? Or is it my perception?
For the Ida Lupino? I dunno. The two names that popped into my head as tonal compatriots, if not parallel embodiments were Chloe Sevigny or Michelle Rodriguez. Again, similar problems. Or, maybe I'm just not watching those type flicks.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
I've actually only seen a couple. My film geek pants ain't long enough.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Odette Yustman. Mainly as apology for thinking she's Megan Fox in every role she's in, and saying "Wow, maybe Megan Fox can act."
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
No, though there'd be a serious conversation if she was OK with Greedo shooting first, or the guns being taken out of E.T.
10) Favorite DVD commentary
Kevin Smith's and Scott Mosier's commentary on a special edition of Road House is comic gold.
And, the Strange Brew fan in me like's the Rutt & Tuke's commentary on Brother Bear.
For actual film making? Beyond the fartsy, I like Joe Dante's commentary on Gremlins, and Weird Al's commentary on UHF, just for the nuts and bolts of putting their movies together....
Foll
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
I just watched Away We Go this morning, and I'll be honest...it didn't hold my attention. Can't say why. I might be on Jon Krasinski burnout.
And Friday, I went to see The Expendables. Problem is, I reversed times in my head from what I'd read, so I arrived 50 minutes early. The theater I went to is in Bumfuck, and it was too hot to sit outside and read, so I ended up going to see The Last Exorcism instead.
The first 70 minutes are actually not a bad movie, and does a fair enough, though not great, job making you wonder whether there really is a case of demonic possession going on in rural Louisiana. The last 12 minutes, the movie goes flying off the rails in a fashion I have a hard time relating. You know, it's the coolest thing in the world when a movie throws a curveball that I don't see coming, but this one blindsided me with a Wrecking Ball of Craziness the likes of which you rarely see.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
I'll take the physical challenge.
13) Favorite DVD extra
First thing that pops to mind is the black & white version of The Mist...
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
No, and just stop. I've never been so worn out on a crappy movie getting so much attention outside of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
I may think of a better answer later, as I don't think Cabin Fever is a horror. Rather, it is the best black comedy to wander down the pike in a few decades. Still, the nonsensical "Pancakes/Karate Demo" is beautiful.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Edwige Fenech. And I'm proud to say so.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
I do not have one.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
OK. Robin Williams' son dying while masturbating actually turned me around on Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad. It's a tremendous bleak, black comedy, and I wish Bobcat would make more movies. It may not be the greatest, but it's what popped to mind.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
I just want to point to Winter's Bone, for making being poor from the south (Missouri is still the south, right?) integral to the story, without making it a story about being poor from the south. For making it neither comic nor tragic in and of itself. Just making it what it is.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Can I say neither? Do I have to choose? This is truly the lesser of two evils. I choose Chris Evans, though I warn that the Captain America movie looks like it just keeps getting worse and worse....
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
Eh?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Bah.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
How about old Donald and Kiefer Sutherland? I almost with Ron Howard acted more, so I could say Ron & Bryce Dallas...
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
They Came From Beyond Space.
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
The Awful Truth.
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Tina Fey, by a country mile. And I don't mean that as a slap at Kristen Wiig, who I do find funny, if overexposed. Tina Fey is a comic genius, and one of the funniest people on the planet.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Kurosawa...Hidden Fortress...Star Wars.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
The recent Micmacs is excellent, and I'd be loathe to ask anybody to remake it. But for some reason, I kept thinking of Tim Burton's Big Fish, and of Jody Hill's Eastbound and Down/Foot Fist Way, and how well the Micmacs would fit in a southern, small-town setting with Flannery O'Connor-type inhabitants, my previous comments about Winter's Bone notwithstanding....
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Can't find a decent one, but the moment Willie Hayes slides across home, and Harry Doyle goes insane "The Indians win it! The Indians Win it! Oh My God! The Indians Win it!"
As a guy who's never had his team win it all, in any sport, ever, I can relate very, very easily.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
All I got this morning:
Ralphie Gets a Gun: a Story Honoring the Birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ
*********************************************
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
So is this a flick that I want to see? Or am I wanting to get sucked into a tornado to be deposited into the Land of Oz?
We live in a world where if I want to see something, I can usually see it within a day or two, given those fine folks at Netflix, and sometimes instantly.
Now, I would love to have some fine folk in this neck of the woods decide to show Seven Samurai on the big screen, or perhaps Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid....
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
I really dig the big Brazil collection I used up all my trade credit on at McKay's.
Though, when they went half-price back in August, I picked up Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and got to watch it on a decent television. I dug it a lot....
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
Maltese Falcon.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Basing it solely on film work, I'll say Paul Rudd. He just seems to have a better presence on the big screen.
If you count in Arrested Development?
Or the prestige that is The Hogan Family?
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
The only one that's popping to mind is Judy Garland and Liza Minelli. Though, I think I'll call them best at imbibing intoxicants....
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
There are possible parallels, but I just don't know if we have roles like that anymore. I guess the question that comes to the front of my mind is: Has society (and movies by extension) changed so that the Mitchum ideal of Manliness is shoved to the fringe? For Robert Mitchum, the guy that came to mind as the embodiment of the ideal and spirit (and possible sheer craziness), if not the starring or even supporting roles, is Danny Trejo. Two others that popped into my head were Daniel Craig and Eric Bana, though both lapse something into pretty-boy status. This one made me think.
Is the guy who embodies that so outside the norm nowadays? Or is it my perception?
For the Ida Lupino? I dunno. The two names that popped into my head as tonal compatriots, if not parallel embodiments were Chloe Sevigny or Michelle Rodriguez. Again, similar problems. Or, maybe I'm just not watching those type flicks.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
I've actually only seen a couple. My film geek pants ain't long enough.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Odette Yustman. Mainly as apology for thinking she's Megan Fox in every role she's in, and saying "Wow, maybe Megan Fox can act."
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
No, though there'd be a serious conversation if she was OK with Greedo shooting first, or the guns being taken out of E.T.
10) Favorite DVD commentary
Kevin Smith's and Scott Mosier's commentary on a special edition of Road House is comic gold.
And, the Strange Brew fan in me like's the Rutt & Tuke's commentary on Brother Bear.
For actual film making? Beyond the fartsy, I like Joe Dante's commentary on Gremlins, and Weird Al's commentary on UHF, just for the nuts and bolts of putting their movies together....
Foll
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
I just watched Away We Go this morning, and I'll be honest...it didn't hold my attention. Can't say why. I might be on Jon Krasinski burnout.
And Friday, I went to see The Expendables. Problem is, I reversed times in my head from what I'd read, so I arrived 50 minutes early. The theater I went to is in Bumfuck, and it was too hot to sit outside and read, so I ended up going to see The Last Exorcism instead.
The first 70 minutes are actually not a bad movie, and does a fair enough, though not great, job making you wonder whether there really is a case of demonic possession going on in rural Louisiana. The last 12 minutes, the movie goes flying off the rails in a fashion I have a hard time relating. You know, it's the coolest thing in the world when a movie throws a curveball that I don't see coming, but this one blindsided me with a Wrecking Ball of Craziness the likes of which you rarely see.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
I'll take the physical challenge.
13) Favorite DVD extra
First thing that pops to mind is the black & white version of The Mist...
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
No, and just stop. I've never been so worn out on a crappy movie getting so much attention outside of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
I may think of a better answer later, as I don't think Cabin Fever is a horror. Rather, it is the best black comedy to wander down the pike in a few decades. Still, the nonsensical "Pancakes/Karate Demo" is beautiful.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Edwige Fenech. And I'm proud to say so.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
I do not have one.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
OK. Robin Williams' son dying while masturbating actually turned me around on Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad. It's a tremendous bleak, black comedy, and I wish Bobcat would make more movies. It may not be the greatest, but it's what popped to mind.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
I just want to point to Winter's Bone, for making being poor from the south (Missouri is still the south, right?) integral to the story, without making it a story about being poor from the south. For making it neither comic nor tragic in and of itself. Just making it what it is.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Can I say neither? Do I have to choose? This is truly the lesser of two evils. I choose Chris Evans, though I warn that the Captain America movie looks like it just keeps getting worse and worse....
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
Eh?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Bah.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
How about old Donald and Kiefer Sutherland? I almost with Ron Howard acted more, so I could say Ron & Bryce Dallas...
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
They Came From Beyond Space.
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
The Awful Truth.
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Tina Fey, by a country mile. And I don't mean that as a slap at Kristen Wiig, who I do find funny, if overexposed. Tina Fey is a comic genius, and one of the funniest people on the planet.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Kurosawa...Hidden Fortress...Star Wars.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
The recent Micmacs is excellent, and I'd be loathe to ask anybody to remake it. But for some reason, I kept thinking of Tim Burton's Big Fish, and of Jody Hill's Eastbound and Down/Foot Fist Way, and how well the Micmacs would fit in a southern, small-town setting with Flannery O'Connor-type inhabitants, my previous comments about Winter's Bone notwithstanding....
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Can't find a decent one, but the moment Willie Hayes slides across home, and Harry Doyle goes insane "The Indians win it! The Indians Win it! Oh My God! The Indians Win it!"
As a guy who's never had his team win it all, in any sport, ever, I can relate very, very easily.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
All I got this morning:
Ralphie Gets a Gun: a Story Honoring the Birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ
*********************************************
posted by Tommy at
10:42
1 Comments:
I keep a list of exceptional moments of personal achievements. Insanely pathetic and somewhat backhanded at those that have tracked their lives since birth. Like my asshole step brother, for instance.
Anyway, there are three items on the list at this writing.
One of them is never having been to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Andy
www.smokingtoaster.com
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