1) Depending on your mood, your favorite or least-loved movie cliché
Favorite? When the guy gets the girl.(Even if it's thematically correct for the guy to lose the girl so he learns some valuable life lessons, it's still a gyp, in movie terms.) Least loved? When the plucky misfit underdog gets the girl/scores the winning point in the big game/beats up the bully/shows up the stuffy establishment types AGAINST ALL ODDS! ( You'd think the secret to success in life is to be a plucky underdog type. Why those 'life coach' professions don't give lessons in plucky underdog-ism is beyond me...)
2) Regardless of whether or not you eventually caught up with it, which film classic have you lied about seeing in the past?
Visconti's The Leopard. Don't know why I not only felt compelled to lie about that, but actually recommended it to someone! Then I got the blu-ray Criterion version, got fifteen minutes in, and realized, "Hang on. This is the Visconti that directed 'Death in Venice', right?" I'm at zero for two at staying awake during this movie. Molasses in January, that Visconti, is...
3) Roland Young or Edward Everett Horton?
Pass.
4) Second favorite Frank Tashlin movie
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (to be honest, I've only seen two of his films...)
5) Clockwork Orange-- yes or no?
An unequivocal yes. Kubrick's really gaining ground for me as one of my favorites. I'm still afraid to see 'Eyes Wide Shut', though.
6) Best/favorite use of gender dysphoria in a horror film (Ariel Schudson)
Psycho. It's the obvious one, but it works for me.
7) Melanie Laurent or Blake Lively?
Laurent, obviously. What a Basterd...
8) Best movie of 2011 (so far…)
Exit Through The Gift Shop. Well, I saw it this year...
9) Favorite screen performer with a noticeable facial deformity (Peg Aloi)
I want to say Tina Fey, but that's too mean-oops.
10) Lars von Trier: shithead or misunderstood comic savant? (Dean Treadway)
After his 'Hitler' stunt at Cannes this year, I'm now convinced Von Trier is a real-life version of Larry David, Euro-division.
11) Timothy Carey or Henry Silva?
Silva. Even when he's playing a 'good guy', he still gives me the creeps...
12) Low-profile writer who deserves more attention from critics and /or audiences.
Why Christopher McQuarrie isn't getting more 'props' these days is a true mystery.
13) Movie most recently viewed theatrically, and on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming
Haven't seen a theater film this year, and the year's half over. On DVD, 'Scott Pilgrim'.
14) Favorite film noir villain
Harry Lime.
15) Best thing about streaming movies?
Netflix Canada seems to have the type of movies that I'd buy, watch once, then feel bad for buying, even if I only paid five bucks for 'em. It's guilt-free trash!
16) Fay Spain or France Nuyen? (Peter Nellhaus)
Pass.
17) Favorite Kirk Douglas that isn’t called Spartacus (Peter Nellhaus)
Paths of Glory. Douglas can act with his neck!
18) Favorite movie about cars
I want to be cute and say, 'Cars', but I'd be full of shit. So I'll go with the original 'Gone in 60 Seconds'. 'Gumball Rally' works, too. Funny thing about them is, they're movies that were'nt made by real film directors, but by professional stuntmen back in the 70's. So they aren't real movies, in that the plot is simple-minded, there's no character development, and more thought was put into the stunts than anything else. It's car porn, actually.
19) Audrey Totter or Marie Windsor?
Pass.
20) Existing Stephen King movie adaptation that could use an remake/reboot/overhaul
Frank Darabont remakes 'Salem's Lot'.
21) Low-profile director who deserves more attention from critics and/or audiences
I'm biased because I'm in the middle of his latest 3 part series for the BBC, but Adam Curtis. Given his penchant for using licsened movie clips and sound tracks, there's a snowball's chance in Hell his stuff will ever be broadcast over here in the Colonies...
22) What actor that you previously enjoyed has become distracting or a self-parody? (Adam Ross)
Robert DeNiro. 'Analize This' was the nail in the coffin for me.
23) Best place in the world to see a movie
Ideally, Paris in the spring. Best place I've seen movies? Vancouver.
24) Charles McGraw or Sterling Hayden?
Hayden, naturally.
25) Second favorite Yasujiro Ozu film?
Pass. I've never seen an Ozu film. (I'm now afraid that Ozu might be like Visconti, above.)
26) Most memorable horror movie father figure
The Stepfather in The Stepfather.
27) Name a non-action-oriented movie that would be fun to see in Sensurround
Perversely, 'Irreversible'. Well, I wouldn't see it, but it would be fun to see an audience puke their guts out in unison. Not just because of the violence, mind, but also mainly due to Noe's disorienting soundtrack. Care of that Bangalter fellow from Daft Punk.
28) Chris Evans or Ryan Reynolds?
Ryan Reynolds.
29) Favorite relatively unknown supporting player, from either or both the classic and the modern era
Vincent Schiavelli. Aw, you know, that guy. The crazy ghost from 'Ghost'. Or one of Salieri's handlers from 'Amadeus'. Go look him up.
30) Real-life movie location you most recently visited or saw
Literally a block from my house. See, they were shooting a movie called, 'Boot Camp' with Mila Kunis, and I bummed a cigarette off her. I honestly didn't make the connection because, why would Mila Kunis be in Calgary? Then again, if you're making a low-budget thriller and shooting a scene in Denver, Colorado where the movie is set is too expensive, why wouldn't she be, in retrospect. Also, I drove by the location where they shot the 'Snow Fortress' scene in 'Inception'. Chills did not go down my spine.
31) Second favorite Budd Boetticher movie
That one with all the bullfightin' in it.
32) Mara Corday or Julie Adams?
Pass.
33) Favorite Universal-International western?
Pass.
34) What's the biggest "gimmick" that's drawn you out to see a movie? (Sal Gomez)
Ironically, this '3d' thingy that all the young people are talking about. I saw 'Avatar', and thought it was ok. I then saw 'Tron Legacy' and realized that putting '3D' at the end of a movie is a sure-fire way to keep me from seeing a film ever again...
35) Favorite actress of the silent era?
Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart! (Even though she was from Toronto...)
36) Best Eugene Pallette performance (Larry Aydlette)
Pass. You know, I'm starting to feel a littl inadaquate in regards to my understanding of Classic Cinema, here, folks...
38) What could multiplex owners do right now to improve the theatrical viewing experience for moviegoers? What could moviegoers do?
As grim as this sounds, I think multiplex owners are doing everything they can to get and keep viewers. Including the above-mentioned 3D gimmick which has the opposite effect. (Well, for me, anyways.) What could moviegoers do? SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP. AND. TURN. OFF. YOUR. GODDAMNED. CELLPHONES. And get off my lawn! Damned kids. Grumble, mumble, mutter.
On that topic, The famed Alamo Drafthouse just released a PSA mocking a jackass who left a whiny voice-mail to their phones. The moral to all this? The world doesn't revolve around you, especially in a movie theater, 'tard. So maybe theater franchises need to take a tip from the Drafthouse.
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