Survey Says...

Dennis Cozzalio over at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule (one of the best blogs out there) offered up this quiz way back in December. I am just now responding to it. Here are my answers to some of the questions (some good videos below, too!):

Way late to the party on this one, but I'll give it a go, sadly I have to omit some questions due to lack of knowledge:

1) What was the last movie you saw theatrically? On DVD or Blu-ray?

Theatrically: Revolutionary Road
Blue Ray: The Fall

2) Holiday movies— Do you like them naughty or nice?

Nice. Like Die Hard 2: Die Harder.

3) Ida Lupino or Mercedes McCambridge?

Lupino. She was a hell of a brave director.

4) Favorite actor/character from Twin Peaks?

I'm ashamed to say that I never watched the show...

5) It’s been said that, rather than remaking beloved, respected films, Hollywood should concentrate more on righting the wrongs of the past and tinker more with films that didn’t work so well the first time. Pretending for a moment that movies are made in an economic vacuum, name a good candidate for a remake based on this criterion.

The most recent examples I can think of would be Atonement or, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Step Brothers.

6) Favorite Spike Lee joint.

Crooklyn

7) Lawrence Tierney or Scott Brady?

Tierney, especially for the time he did a voice spot on The Simpson's.

8) Are most movies too long?

Not if they're good. But comedies are getting harder and harder to sit through.

9) Favorite performance by an actor portraying a real-life politician.

Philip Baker Hall as Nixon

10) Create the main event card for the ultimate giant movie monster smackdown.

Emo/Goth-throb Johnny Depp vs Shirtless-Frat Boy Matthew Mcconaughey.

12) Why would you ever want or need to see a movie more than once?

Truly great films only get better. You can never have stop learning something about a movie; or yourself in relation to the movie.

13) Favorite road movie.

Stranger Than Paradise. But I also love Road House...


15) Who is the one person, living or dead, famous or unknown, who most informed or encouraged your appreciation of movies?

Mike Markee. Film teacher from high school. That man LOVED him some dutch angles.

16) Favorite opening credit sequence. (Please include YouTube link if possible.)

David Gordon Green's Undertow.


Click here to watch video


I love how green is so unapologetic about throwing every effect at you within the first five minutes of the film. The score by Philip Glass is pretty great, too.

18) Jean-Luc Godard once suggested that the more popular the movie, the less likely it was that it was a good movie. Is he right or just cranky? Cite the best evidence one way or the other.

Cranky! Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man, The Silence of the Lambs, etc.

19) Favorite Jonathan Demme movie.

Something Wild.

20) Tatum O’Neal or Linda Blair?

Tatum, because I just saw her in an amazing Lifetime original movie about corrupt cheerleaders. She played the principle who did nothing to stop them. Riveting stuff.

21) Favorite use of irony in a movie. (This could be an idea, moment, scene, or an entire film.)

Not in a movie, but this has been discussed already on Emerson's site...but I have to use it: Kate Winslet's performance on Extra's stating that there are too many Holocaust films, and they exist for the sake of raking in the easy Oscar. I hope she mentions this in her acceptance speech (if she wins).

23) The best movie of the year to which very little attention seems to have been paid.

Shotgun Stories.

24) Dennis Christopher or Robby Benson?

Christopher. "Do it for the cutters!"

25) Favorite movie about journalism.

Hands down, The Insider.

27) Favorite movie directed by Clint Eastwood.

High Plains Drifter

28) Paul Dooley or Kurtwood Smith?

Kurtwood Smith, of course! And here's why:


Click here to watch video


29) Your clairvoyant moment: Make a prediction about the Oscar season.

To everyone's dismay The Reader will win Best Picture.

30) Your hope for the movies in 2009.

Keep 'em coming...

31) What’s your top 10 of 2008? (If you have a blog and have your list posted, please feel free to leave a link to the post.)

My top 10:

Pineapple Express
Redbelt
The Fall
Frozen River
Let the Right One In
The Edge of Heaven
Rachel Getting Married
Wendy and Lucy
In Bruges
Shotgun Stories


BONUS QUESTION (to be answered after December 25):

32) What was your favorite movie-related Christmas gift that you received this year?

Sadly no film related gifts this year. I will buy myself Ebert's book on Scorsese, though.