Merry Quiz-mas: Time for another SLATIFR quiz.

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 25^th 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.

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 4^th 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!

Your Summer Quiz is Due at SLIFR

Another brilliant quiz has been constructed by Dennis Cozzalio of the brilliant movie blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Head here to the take the quiz. My answers come after the jump...


1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.

The length of films – it’s both good and bad. It’ good because in this hyperkinetic, ADD society we live in I find it interesting that some of the most popular movies every year are 140+ minutes long (with a lot of comedies clocking in at 120-30+ minutes). It’s bad because a lot of those films don’t need that much time to tell their story. What ever happened to the art of making the 90-minute action or comedy film? I mean Passenger 57 was only 81 minutes long…

3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?

Bronco Billy

4) Best Film of 1949.

The obvious answer is The Third Man, but I’ll go with the noir masterpiece Force of Evil by Abraham Polanski.

6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?

In action movies, yes. Quantum of Solace would have been a lot better had they decided to film the action scenes by keeping the camera on some medium shots for more than half a second. However, the shaky-cam can still be an affective tool a la a Dardenne Brothers or Michael Mann film.

7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?

John Woo’s The Killer

9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).

Army of Shadows

10) Favorite animal movie star.

The Mogwai from Gremlins

11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.

Michael Bay – not for his directing, but for producing the horrid remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which kick started the barrage of god-awful “re-imaginings” of classic horror films.

12) Best Film of 1969.

I don’t want to repeat myself (because Army of Shadows is already mentioned here), so I’ll say The Bird with the Crystal Plumage by Dario Argento.

13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.

Theatrically: Public Enemies
DVD: The Son

14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.

3 Women

15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?

Every blog I have listed under “what I read”.

17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?

Mona. Not even close.

18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.

Some Came Running. I agree with Scorsese that it remains one of the most brilliant and expressive uses of Cinemascope.


Click here to watch video


19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.

Miami Vice.

20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.

Hmmm. I could just answer with my favorite film 8 ½, but I think I’ll go with a movie I just talked about on my blog: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

21) Best Film of 1979.

Good year for movies (Alien, Breaking Away, Manhatten), but I’ll go with the obvious (and deserving) selection: Apocalypse Now.

22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.

Wow. Great question. Can I cheat? I’ll assume you said yes…anything by David Gordon Green, October Sky, American Movie, and Breaking Away.

23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).

Freddy Kreuger. But only when he was a serious boogeyman, not the sardonic caricature he became in the films sandwiched between the original Nightmare film and New Nightmare.

24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.

Jack…I kid, I kid…The Godfather.

25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.

The Talented Mr. Ripley. I know there have been other adaptations of the Highsmith books about Tom Ripley, but I think it would have been amazing to see Matt Damon and the late, brilliant director Anthony Minghella continue telling their version of Ripley.

26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.

The homage to Argento in The Untouchables where the viewer gets the POV of the black-gloved killer made famous by Argento’s gialli films. Here it is:


Click here to watch video

27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.

I like Jamie’s answer of anything from Argento’s Suspiria, but I don’t want to copy him. So, I’ll go with the scene on the lake in Leave Her to Heaven where Gene Tierney’s femme fatale watches her fiancé’s paraplegic brother, one of the last people to stand between her and her future husband, drown. The scene is incredibly eerie and off-putting because we don’t expect these noir moments to occur in beautiful, vibrant thee-strip Technicolor. Video below (go to about the 5:20 mark):


Click here to watch video

28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)

Let’s Get Harry -- written by Samuel Fuller; starring Gary Busey, Mark Harmon, Ben Johnson, Rick Rossovich, and Robert Duvall.

29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?

No question about it: the wisdom of Crash Davis.

30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.

Deconstructing Harry

31) Best Film of 1999.

This question is quite relevant to what I’ve been doing the last few months on my blog.

Anyway the best film of 1999 is The Talented Mr. Ripley.

32) Favorite movie tag line.

"Does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills." This is Spinal Tap.

33) Favorite B-movie western.

What a convenient question as I was just talking about this movie: The Last Hard Men.

34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.

Stephen King

35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?

Susan Vance. I fall in love with her every time I watch Hawkes’ masterpiece.

37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?

Meh.

38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)

(In no particular order): Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, Cary Grant, Roger Ebert, and Keira Knightley of course…

Another Quiz is Due at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule...

One of the greatest of blogs that exists in the blogosphere is Dennis Cozzalio's Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Every now and then he hands out tests to his faithful readers. I'm looking forward to this one. You can see a previous example here. All of you should give it a go. None of these answers, of course, are definitive, but they're the best I could come up with at the present time. And once again I omit some of the questions because I have no idea how to answer them...


Favorite Biopic?

This is a difficult one since it is far and away my favorite subgenre of film -- I'll go with Quiz Show...even though I'm sure they took liberties with the actual story for dramatic purposes, but hey, what biopic doesn't?


Best example of science fiction futurism rendered silly by the event of time catching up to the prediction?

Gotta go with Blade Runner on this one.


Favorite Raoul Walsh movie?

Because I'm a big cheater I'll go with a tie: The Roaring Twenties and Colorado Territory.


Sophomore film which represents greatest improvement over the director’s debut?

well, the easy pick would be Pulp Fiction (Tarantino) or Boogie Nights (PT Anderson), but I'll go with Ridley Scott as his second feature was one of the most influential sci-fi/horror films ever made. Alien came after his so-so debut film The Duellists.


Ice Cube or Mos Def?

Mos Def. Have you ever seen that guy on Bill Maher's show? He's crazy. Also, his performance, even though it exists in an average action film, from 16 Blocks is an amazing piece of acting.


Favorite movie about the music industry?

Well I was thinking I would go with movies more about the art of making music, like Hustle and Flow or something along those lines (sorry most of my picks lean towards modern films), but then I though I thought about the brief scenes in Boogie Nights that are about the music industry and I just couldn't resist this:



Click here to view video

In addition that amazing scene I love when Dirk and Reed try to get the master tapes back from the record studio and they can't seem to grasp the idea that they signed them over to the studio when they signed their contracts. "YP, MP, I don't know your record lingo...all I know is, granted you own the tapes, but the magic, the magic that is on there...that is ours!" Such a great scene. "I know karate."


Director most deserving of respect or upwardly mobile critical reassessment?

Oh boy I'll get killed for this one...but I have to say Tony Scott. I think Quentin Tarantino said it best on the commentary track for the True Romance DVD that Scott is a director who makes films where you as the viewer know what you're getting; not only that he has a distinct look that is solely his -- aped by many other directors, but it is uniquely and unquestionably his look (I'm speaking of the rooms drenched in blue and the thickest cloud of smoke you've ever scene). The man can film people smoking like no one else and make it look arty as hell. I remember being the only one in the theater thinking Domino and Man on Fire were any good. The élan of those films are exactly what I mean by films that actually succeed in being entertaining that solely rely on style over substance. Sure, his films aren't groundbreaking or even necessarily memorable, but they are always entertaining and they are always a feast for the senses -- even if sometimes his visuals dizzy you into closing your eyes and rubbing your temples. The man can direct, people! It's time we all gave him his due.


Best filmed adaptation of a play?

I really should see more plays...but I'll go with Mike Nichols' adaptation of Wit, a play I read in high school and absolutely loved. The film was an amazing adaptation and just as powerful and moving as the play.


Favorite Jean Renoir movie?

The Lower Depths . Maybe not his best, but my favorite.


Favorite one-word movie title, and why?

Gummo. The title basically dares you to not watch it. You don't think...oooh Gummo! That sounds like fun.


Summer movies—your highest and lowest expectations?

I don't know if this means in general or this year...I don't follow summer movies as closely as I used to, but I would say high expectations is definitely Michael Mann's Public Enemies (on a campier not it's hands down G.I. Joe). Lowest expectations: Terminator 4. "McG...McG!!!"


Whether or not you’re a parent, what would be your ideal pick as first movie to see with your own child (or niece/nephew)? Why?

Anything by Chaplin. The pantomime is a universal language, and I think kids, since they haven't been turned into cynics yet, can appreciate those films the way they are meant to be appreciated. You can throw Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd in there, too. This is why Wall-E works as such a great kids movie, too. It's essentially about getting across the emotion through pantomime the way Chaplin did.


Movie most recently seen in theaters? On DVD/Blu-ray?

Saw a lot at the Salem Film Festival. So I'll go with the best of that bunch, Atom Egoyan's Adoration.


Do you see more movies theatrically or at home? Why?

At home. Thanks to Brandon's set up it's more fun to watch a movie in the setting of a home theater than a regular theater with all of the usual distractions.


Name an award-worthy comic performance that was completely ignored by Oscar and his pals.

Cameron Diaz in two totally different kinds of comedies: There's Something About Mary and Being John Malkovich.


Name a great (or merely very good) movie that is too painful to watch a second time (Thanks to The Onion A.V. Club)

Tim Roth's The War Zone.


Beyonce Knowles or Jennifer Hudson?

Beyonce. Not even close.


Favorite Robert Mitchum movie?

It's predictable, conventional (my choice that is, not the movie), but hey, it's the best of the bunch : The Night of the Hunter.


Favorite Vincent Price movie?

Not a movie, but I have fond memories of him as Egghead from the old Batman show.


Name a movie currently flying under the radar that is deserving of rabid cult status.

I don't know that it's officially 'out' yet, but I just saw Jeffrey Goodman's brilliant neo noir The Last Lullaby at the Salem Film Festival. If people get out to see it, it will turn the man into a go-to director for these kinds of thrillers. It's really a brilliant film.


Single line from a movie that never fails to make your laugh or otherwise cheer you up. (This may be obvious, but the line does not have to come from a comedy.)

"We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."

Sorry, I know that you only asked for one line, but that first line makes me think about the rest that follow, and well, they all make me smile.


Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland?

Donald Sutherland. Especially for his role as X in JFK.


Best performance by a director in an acting role

Eric von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd. as Max von Mayerling


Outside of reading film criticism or other literature about the movies, what subject do you enjoy reading about or studying which you would say best enriches or illuminates your understanding and appreciation of life, a life that includes the movies?

I have an affinity for postmodern literature...authors like Rushdie, McEwan, Amis, Coetzee, Swift, Winterson, and the like. Since I went to school to study literature I usually find myself reading a lot of literary theory like Lyotard and Baudrillard; Umberto Eco's book On Literature is one of the best ever written on the topics of semiotics and why we interpret things the way we do. I also am intrigued by world cultures and their religions. So I read a lot of stuff that varies from Joseph Campbell to Thomas Merton. All of the above help me better understand myself and life, and allow me to view life through a variety of lenses.