Well...it's that time again. Dennis Cozzalio of the fantastic Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule has asked the blogosphere to fill out one of his endlessly entertaining tests. I usually feel like a dummy after getting through with these things, but that never tempers my enthusiasm in doing them. Dennis has lobbed a whopping 50 question(!!) exam at us. I hope I at least get it out of the infield. Thanks again, Dennis, for such a fantastically fun exercise. My answers come after the jump...
1) Second-favorite Coen Brothers movie
Fargo
2) Movie seen only on home format that you would pay to see on the biggest movie screen possible? (Question submitted by Peter Nellhaus)
Fellini's 8 ½
3) Japan or France? (Question submitted by Bob Westal)
France gets the edge for their modern (post 50's) output – from the stellar crime films of Melville to the stark and powerful realism of the Dardenne's.
4) Favorite moment/line from a western.
Boss and Charlie's conversation before the big shootout in Open Range. I just love the way Costner's Charlie lays it all out for Boss (Duvall); the violence that will occur and how the others will react once the violence happens.
5) Of all the arts the movies draw upon to become what they are, which is the most important, or the one you value most?
Literature --- Film compounds upon all the things that make literature (or stories) great (mood, characters, symbolism, metaphor, subtext, et al) by using light and shadows and photography to make beautiful art out of these very basic elements.
6) Most misunderstood movie of the 2000s (The Naughties?).
Michael Mann's Miami Vice
7) Name a filmmaker/actor/actress/film you once unashamedly loved who has fallen furthest in your esteem.
Edward Norton. He had a great role in Primal Fear – a throwaway movie starring Richard Gere – and he was fantastic in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, but I feel like he's this generations Anthony Hopkins…an actor who rests on his laurels and too often produces the same performance film after film. His mannerisms, his way of speaking and delivering a line…it all just feels stale now. When you see Anthony Hopkins in a movie it's quite clear he's doing Anthony Hopkins (it doesn't matter if it's something as different as Amistad or The Edge or The Human Stain), and the same goes for Norton…his characters never feel realized or fleshed out, they're just shells for Norton to show off his Nortonisms.
8) Herbert Lom or Patrick Magee?
Pass.
9) Which is your least favorite David Lynch film (Submitted by Tony Dayoub)
Lost Highway. I was too scared of having my cinephile card revoked if I were mention Eraserhead…a film I really can't stand.
10) Gordon Willis or Conrad Hall? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)
Willis gets the nod thanks to his best Sven Nykvist impression with Interiors and for his great work in the The Goodfather.
11) Second favorite Don Siegel movie.
Coogan's Bluff. (The Beguiled and Escape From Alcatrraz are my favorites).
12) Last movie you saw on DVD/Blu-ray? In theaters?
DVD – The Limits of Control
Theater – Inglourious Basterds
13) Which DVD in your private collection screams hardest to be replaced by a Blu-ray? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)
Peter Weirs Fearless. Can someone explain to me why this film only exists in a shitty Pan and Scan, Snapcase version? It's a crime that this film – one of Weirs best, and one of Jeff Bridges' best performances – hasn't been given proper treatment on DVD.
14) Eddie Deezen or Christopher Mintz-Plasse?
Christoper Mintz-Plasse for his performance in Role Models.
15) Actor/actress who you feel automatically elevates whatever project they are in, or whom you would watch in virtually anything.
Actress – Catherine Keener: There's just something so sexy about her I just can't place it, and she's never not interesting to watch.
Actor – James Woods: Anytime I see the man pop up in a movie I become giddy. He's always doing something interesting or using some kind of odd quirk to make his characters overshadow the other actors he shares scenes with. Just watch how he immediately makes Clint Eastwood's ho-hum True Crime better, or how he elevates films like Cop and Diggstown. And watch how he does sleazy in Scorsese's Casino. He's always been one of the most unique actors in Hollywood.
16) Fight Club -- yes or no?
No.
17) Teresa Wright or Olivia De Havilland?
Olivia
18) Favorite moment/line from a film noir.
"Forget it, Jake, its Chinatown." I don't know if there's ever been a better ending at making the audience feel like they've just been rewarded for getting punched in the stomach.
19) Best (or worst) death scene involving an obvious dummy substituting for a human or any otherunsuccessful special effect(s)—see the wonderful blogDestructible Man for inspiration.
The end of Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City. At least Hugo Stiglitz made it out alive!
20) What's the least you've spent on a film and still regretted it? (Submitted by Lucas McNelly)
Well…I had a friend in college who used to work at a movie theater in Boise. I remember not paying anything to see Freddy Got Fingered and Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows. I wanted my time back.
21) Van Johnson or Van Heflin?
pass.
pass.
22) Favorite Alan Rudolph film.
Equinox.
23) Name a documentary that you believe more people should see.
It's pretty popular among cinephiles, but I never get tires of recommending American Movie. It's a beautiful, hilarious, and sometimes poignant film about having a passion for what you feel like you were meant to do…in the case of Mark Borchardt it's making horror movies. One of the best docs of the 90's.
24) In deference to this quiz's professor, name a favorite film which revolves around someone becoming stranded.
I freaking love that first hour of The Black Stallion.
25) Is there a moment when your knowledge of film, or lack thereof, caused you an unusual degree of embarrassment and/or humiliation? If so, please share.
Doing these quizzes. Also…I remember when I was in 4th grade or so and a cop came to visit our class. All I could ask him about was how realistic movies like Lethal Weapon were. Every question was about a movie. I was like Chris Farley when he did his "The Chris Farley" show bit on SNL. The teacher had to tell me to stop asking questions about movies. I was known from that time on as the movie nerd.
26) Ann Sheridan or Geraldine Fitzgerald? (Submitted by Larry Aydlette)
Pass.
27) Do you or any of your family members physically resemble movie actors or other notable figures in the film world? If so, who?
Some people think my brother Troy looks like Zac Effron. But I think that's more of a joke and the fact that he's over 30 and I'm 27 and when people see us together they think he's the younger one (some even think he looks like he just graduated from high school). He was blessed with youthful looks…I slouch and hunch over a lot…so I guess I could be mistaken for Paul Giamatti.
28) Is there a movie you have purposely avoided seeing? If so, why?
Napoleon Dynamite. When you work with high school kids for a living you hear the quotes all day long…after awhile you just convince yourself that you never want to see the movie. Plus, it never looked that appealing to begin with.
29) Movie with the most palpable or otherwise effective wintry atmosphere or ambiance.
Jokingly: Cliffhanger. Seriously: The Sweet Hereafter.
30) Gerrit Graham or Jeffrey Jones?
Ed Rooney.
31) The best cinematic antidote to a cultural stereotype (sexual, political, regional, whatever).
Pass. (I can't think of anything to write and I really want to get this posted.)
32) Second favorite John Wayne movie.
The Searchers
33) Favorite movie car chase.
To Live and Die in L.A.
34) In the spirit of His Girl Friday, propose a gender-switched remake of a classic or not-so-classic film. (Submitted by Patrick Robbins)
The Ocean films starring Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve as George Clooney and Brad Pitt's characters respectively.
35) Barbara Rhoades or Barbara Feldon?
Pass.
36) Favorite Andre De Toth movie.
House of Wax is the only one I've seen.
37) If you could take one filmmaker's entire body of work and erase it from all time and memory, as if it had never happened, whose oeuvre would it be? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)
I don't know that I would because that would be too much like censorship…but in the spirit of participation (and not being a fuddy-duddy) I'd say those jerk asses that made the Crank movies. They should be making video games, not feature films.
38) Name a film you actively hated when you first encountered it, only to see it again later in life and fall in love with it.
A small little gem of a film called The Ice Harvest. Harold Ramis directed and it had a pretty recognizable cast, but I still think it's one of those films that not a lot of people have seen. I loathed this film when I first saw it, but a friend of mine praised it highly and convinced me to watch it again, and since I've seen it three more times. It's a darkly wry and violent noir picture, and it's certainly the best thing John Cusack has done since the 80's.
39) Max Ophuls or Marcel Ophuls? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)
Max.
40) In which club would you most want an active membership, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the Cutters or the Warriors? And which member would you most resemble, either physically or in personality?
The Cutters. Daniel Stern's character because I'm always the one who looks like he doesn't belong.
41) Your favorite movie cliché.
The police Captain yelling: "I want your gun and your badge on my desk, and if it weren't for your reputation I'd have your ass out on the street issuing parking tickets! Now get out of my office!" The cop then investigates the case in spite of his Captain's orders and the cop's partner gets killed in the process leading to the Captain having sympathy and re-issuing the cop's badge and gun. Then the cop solves the case.
42) Vincente Minnelli or Stanley Donen? (Submitted by Bob Westal)
Got give the slight edge to Minnelli only because I just barely like Some Came Running more than Charade.
43) Favorite Christmas-themed horror movie or sequence.
Movie: Black Christmas
Sequence: Silent Night, Deadly Night 2. "Garbage Day!"
44) Favorite moment of self- or selfless sacrifice in a movie.
I have to copy an answer I saw another person give: Ed Harris in The Abyss.
45) If you were the cinematic Spanish Inquisition, which movie cult (or cult movie) would you decimate? (Submitted by Bob Westal)
I never understood the love for Peter Jackson's early stuff. I think Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Dead Alive (aka Braindead) are all horribly excruciating to get through. There bad in a way that low-budget, cult movies are supposed to rise above, and yet I've never been able to see the allure of these ultra violent yawn fests. But Jackson acolytes – and horror buffs in general – seem to think these films (especially Dead Alive) are some of the best of the genre.
46) Caroline Munro or Veronica Carlson?
Pass.
47) Favorite eye-patch wearing director. (Submitted by Patty Cozzalio)
Easily the best question on here, and one that really made me think. I think I have to go with Fritz Lang because of the fact the man had a monocle and an eye patch. That's awesome.
48) Favorite ambiguous movie ending. (Original somewhat ambiguous submission---"Something about ambiguous movie endings!"-- by Jim Emerson, who may have some inspiration of his own to offer you.)
An obvious one would be The Graduate. I also love A History of Violence and Miami Vice as recent examples.
49) In giving thanks for the movies this year, what are you most thankful for?
The blogging community for continuing to aide me in the ongoing quest to enrich my palette (especially in regards to world cinema).
Inglourious Basterds for making going to the movies fun again.
Sure 2009 may have not been the strongest year for movies, but I don't care…I'm always thankful for the opportunity to watch film and discuss it intelligently, regardless of the year's merits.
50) George Kennedy or Alan North? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)
George Kennedy!
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