Wednesday, July 29, 2009

MID-SUMMER MOVIE QUIZ

The always interesting Dennis Cozzalio over @ Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule throws these cinematic aptitude tests together every now & again for nerdy film types. This one is titled PROFESSOR SEVERUS SNAPE'S SORCERER-TASTIC, MUGGALICIOUS MID-SUMMER MOVIE QUIZ.. The questions & responses always make for an amusing read. Here's mines.










1) 
2ND-FAVORITE KUBRICK FILM?
DR. STRANGELOVE (1968)
Coming only after the SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).










2) MOST SIGNIFICANT - IMPORTANT - INTERESTING TREND IN MOVIES OVER PAST DECADE, FOR GOOD OR EVIL?

Didn't know if this meant on the technical front or something more contextual; but I'd say Digital filmmaking in general. Completely CG rendered enviros, green screen/blue screen, mo-cap, HDV replacing celluloid, etc.. So depending on how they're used: some good. Some very lazy + toxic to creativity. Therefore evil.











3) BRONCO BILLY (CLINT EASTWOOD) OR BUFFALO BILL CODY (PAUL NEWMAN)?
Buffalo Bill... sorry, Clint.
(take that, Dick Schickel!)












4) BEST FILM OF 1949?
THE BICYCLE THIEF. Technically a 1948 release in Europe, but it’s '49 in the States. Best American film of that year was King Vidor’s BEYOND THE FOREST.
1949 at 24fps













5) JOSEPH TURA (JACK BENNY) OR OSCAR JAFFE (JOHN BARRYMORE)?
Def John Barrymore













6) HAS HAND-HELD SHAKY-CAM DIRECTORIAL STYLE BECOME VISUAL CLICHE?
Only in the hands of certain filmmakers.













7) WHAT WAS THE 1ST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM YOU EVER SAW?
CINEMA PARADISO (1989), that I can remember. & Even though I couldn't read yet, I believe it was easy enough for me to follow the story. At least the childhood parts













8) CHARLIE CHAN (WARNER OLAND) 
             OR MR. MOTO (PETER LORRE)?
These character's are both very racially offensive to me. Yet Peter Lorre somehow hammed it up to such a degree as the stereotype that it's sort of a guilty pleasure to me that cracks me up from time to time. Lorre was such an odd odd little man.













9) FAVORITE WWII DRAMA 
                              (1950-1970)?
THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963).. No doyeeeee!














10) 
FAVORITE ANIMAL MOVIE STAR?
That pig from BABE because he could talk.













11) WHO OR WHATEVER IS TO BLAME, NAME AN IRRESPONSIBLE MOMENT IN CINEMA

Even if some of the things she shot have a shallow aesthetic brilliance to them, Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films for the Nazi party are particularly troubling... Also, BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)














12) BEST FILM OF 1969?
Peckinpah's WILD BUNCH  (1969 at 24fps)
Lol "69"












13) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW THEATRICALLY, AND ALSO ON DVD OR BLU-RAY
Theatrically: BRUNO
Dvd: CORALINE
Blu ray: FOR ALL MANKIND














14) 
2ND-FAVORITE ALTMAN FILM?
NASHVILLE (1975)










15) FAVORITE INDEPENDENT OUTLET 
FOR READING ABOUT MOVIES, EITHER ONLINE OR IN PRINT?
Sight & Sound magazine in print. Slant Magazine online.













16) ANGELA MAO OR MEIKO KAJI?
Meiko Kaji is more my type <3













17) MONA LISA VITO (MARISA TOMEI) OR OLIVE NEAL (JENNIFER TILLY)?
A tough one. But I'm gonna go with Marisa Tomei. Especially in MY COUSIN VINNY. She’s adorable.. (Even though she didn't deserve her Oscar that year)













18) FAVORITE MOVIE THAT FEATURES A CARNIVAL SETTING OR SEQUENCE?
Hitchcock’s STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)












19) BEST USE OF HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO ON THE BIG SCREEN TO DATE?
MIAMI VICE (2006). Those wide vistas of the city skyline would not have looked the same without it. Digital is perfect for shooting urban settings at night..














20) FAVORITE MOVIE THAT IS EQUAL PARTS GENRE FILM AND A DECONSTRUCTION OR CONSIDERATION OF THAT SAME GENRE?
MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971).. my favorite Altman.













21) BEST FILM OF 1979?
ALL THAT JAZZ. 1979 at 24fps












22) MOST REALISTIC OR SINCERE DEPICTION OF SMALL-TOWN LIFE?
John Sayles does small-town communities better than anybody. Favorite being LONE STAR (1996)












23) BEST HORROR MOVIE CREATURE? 
(NON-GIANT DIVISION)

George Romero-style slow zombies. And if those don’t count as “creatures”, than the ALIEN (1979) xenomorph.













24) 2ND-FAVORITE FRANCIS COPPOLA?
THE CONVERSATION (1974)













25) NAME A ONE-OFF MOVIE THAT COULD HAVE PRODUCED A FRANCHISE YOU WOULD HAVE WANTED TO SEE
THE INCREDIBLES (2004)














26) FAVORITE DE PALMA SEQUENCE?
Though not his best, the BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN stairwell shoot-out from the climax of UNTOUCHABLES (1987) always gives me chills.












27) FAVORITE MOMENT IN TECHNICOLOR
The "Munchkin Parade" Medley & "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" numbers from  WIZARD OF OZ (1939).. Elation.












28) 
FAVORITE ALAN SMITHEE FILM?
They are all pretty terrible. But SUPERNOVA (2000) had the most potential & was most tolerable of what I've seen.













29) CRASH DAVIS (COSTNER) OR MORRIS BUTTERMAKER (MATTHAU)?
Walter Matthau in BAD NEW BEARS. Any day.












30) BEST POST-CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS WOODY ALLEN FILM?
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994)












31) BEST FILM OF 1999?
Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT
1999 at 24fps














32) 
FAVORITE MOVIE TAG LINE?
“THIS SUMMER; GO APE-SHIT!” from Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of PLANET OF THE APES..

Just kidding. In all seriousness, "THE ULTIMATE TRIP" from the ads for Kubrick's SPACE ODYSSEY (1968). Because it was the truth.














33) 
FAVORITE B-MOVIE WESTERN?
THE SHOOTING (1967) by Monte Hellman.














34) OVERALL, THE AUTHOR BEST SERVED BY MOVIE ADAPTATIONS OF HER OR HIS WORK?

Elmore Leonard, off the top of my head.













35) SUSAN VANCE (KATHARINE HEPBURN) OR IRENE BULLOCK (CAROLE LOMBARD)?
Hepburn in BRINGING UP BABY. Still hilarious.













36) FAVORITE MUSICAL CAMEO IN A NON-MUSICAL MOVIE?

“Knights of the Round Table” sequence from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975). haha











37) BRUNO (THE CHARACTER, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, OR THE FILM, IF YOU HAVE): SUBVERSIVE SATIRE OR PURVEYOR OF STEREOTYPING?
I think it’s mostly really calculated satire.. It's funny regardless.











38) FIVE FILM FOLKS, LIVING OR DECEASED, YOU WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH

Living: Werner Herzog, George A. Romero, Agnes Varda, Christiane Kubrick, Terrence Malick

Deceased: Stanley Kubrick, Ingrid Bergman, Samuel Fuller, Orson Welles, Chris Farley