Post a Comment On: Cinema Viewfinder

[Image]by Tony Dayoub

And now for another extraordinary exam by that marvelous movie blogger, Dennis Cozzalio, up now at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Visit his site to post your answers.

1) The classic movie moment everyone loves except me is:
Forrest Gump sitting on a bench, "Life is like a box of chocolates..." Really dislike that movie.

2) Favorite line of dialogue from a film noir
"I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me." - Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), In a Lonely Place (1950)

More answers after the jump.

3) Second favorite Hal Ashby film
It's been a while since I've seen any Ashby film, but I was very fond of 8 Million Ways to Die, strangely enough.

4) Describe the moment when you first realized movies were directed as opposed to simply pieced together anonymously.
Very early on, since I used to subscribe to Starlog magazine to read about upcoming sci-fi films. Let's say, after I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, when I was 9 years old.

5) Favorite film book
Guide for the Film Fanatic by Danny Peary is far more than your average video guide, offering insight into a whole variety of films even before they were ever available on VHS. It's still a treasured reference source for me.

[Image]6) Diana Sands or Vonetta McGee?
Vonetta McGee, who was so gorgeous in Shaft in Africa (1973).

7) Most egregious gap in your viewing of films made in the past 10 years
A tie between the Twilight films and the Harry Potter series, for obvious reasons.

8) Favorite line of dialogue from a comedy
When William Forsythe's Evelle stops at a convenience store to get something to pacify a baby he's kidnapped, he asks the clerk if a selection of balloons he buys "...blow up into funny shapes..."
The clerk responds, "Well no... unless round is funny."

9) Second favorite Lloyd Bacon film
Pass

10) Richard Burton or Roger Livesey?
Richard Burton in the mid-60s. I'm thinking The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, etc.

11) Is there a movie you staunchly refuse to consider seeing? If so, why?
A Serbian Film (2010) because, metaphor or not, I find the violent and pornographic exploitation of children reprehensible.

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12) Favorite filmmaker collaboration
David Lynch and Kyle Maclachlan: Dune, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (and apparently he makes a cameo in Inland Empire, but I missed it).

13) Most recently viewed movie on DVD/Blu-ray/theatrical?
Blu-ray: Ministry of Fear (1944) Theatrical: The We and the I

14) Favorite line of dialogue from a horror movie
"I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies." - Ash (Ian Holm), Alien (1979)

15) Second favorite Oliver Stone film
Nixon (1995). It's really the most involving of his political pictures because it promotes Stone's personal agenda the least. Or at least it feels that way because most folks feel the same way towards Nixon as Stone does. That being said, Stone does surprise by looking for the humanity in the man. (My favorite Stone film is U-Turn (1997).)

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16) Eva Mendes or Raquel Welch?
Eva Mendes, because she's a better actress. And because, like me, she's Cuban-American.

17) Favorite religious satire
Does The Master (2012) count?

18) Best Internet movie argument? (question contributed by Tom Block)
I did enjoy the debate started by Dan Kois's bullshit "cultural vegetables" piece for the New York Times.

19) Most pointless Internet movie argument? (question contributed by Tom Block)
The recent unwarranted attack on the AV Club and Scott Tobias in particular, by an Internet troll who shall remain nameless. You can read up on it over at Bill Ryan's The Kind of Face You Hate.

20) Charles McGraw or Robert Ryan?
I like McGraw, but Ryan wins for The Racket (1951) and On Dangerous Ground (1952) among others.

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21) Favorite line of dialogue from a western
Yeesh, I can't boil down The Searchers (1956) into just one favorite line:

Ethan Edwards (John Wayne): Why don't you finish the job?
(shoots out the eyes of a dead Comanche warrior)
Reverend Captain Samuel Johnston Clayton (Ward Bond): What good did that do ya?
Ethan: By what you preach, none. But by what that Comanche believes, ain't got no eyes, he can't enter the spirit-land. Has to wander forever between the winds. You get it, Reverend.

Ethan: What you saw wasn't Lucy.
Brad Jorgensen (Harry Carey, Jr.): But it was, I tell you!
Ethan: What you saw was a buck wearin' Lucy's dress. I found Lucy back in the canyon... wrapped her in my coat, buried her with my own hands. I thought it best to keep it from ya.
Brad: Did they...? Was she...?
Ethan: What do you want me to do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out? Don't ever ask me! Long as you live, don't ever ask me more.

Ethan: Injun will chase a thing till he thinks he's chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that'll just keep comin' on. So we'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em. Just as sure as the turnin' of the earth.

22) Second favorite Roy Del Ruth film
Pass

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23) Relatively unknown film or filmmaker you’d most eagerly proselytize for
"Relatively" is the key word here, because with each passing year I find more and more fans of Cutter and Bone (a.k.a. Cutter's Way) (1981).

24) Ewan McGregor or Gerard Butler?
One I'm indifferent on, the other I can never do without: Ewan McGregor.

25) Is there such a thing as a perfect movie?
I find that the best films are made better because of their flaws. Extreme example: Can anyone follow what the fuck is going on in The Big Sleep (1946)? And yet...

26) Favorite movie location you’ve most recently had the occasion to actually visit
The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

27) Second favorite Delmer Daves film
Damn, you got me on three this time... Pass.

28) Name the one DVD commentary you wish you could hear that, for whatever reason, doesn't actually exist
David Lynch on Dune, not only to hear of all the production troubles he was up against, but also to hear of the different potential sequels De Laurentiis was hoping for.

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29) Gloria Grahame or Marie Windsor?
Gloria Grahame, if only for In a Lonely Place.

30) Name a filmmaker who never really lived up to the potential suggested by their early acclaim or success
M. Night Shyamalan comes immediately to mind. Although I like The Village, he began losing his way after the underrated Unbreakable. But he still has time to recover.

31) Is there a movie-based disagreement serious enough that it might cause you to reevaluate the basis of a romantic relationship or a friendship?
Not necessarily... but I have stopped reading certain film critics when a pattern of contrarian-ism develops which they can't adequately defend. At least Farber and Kael can back up their iconoclasm with some serious and well-expressed thoughts. But simply trying to get attention is cause for me to move on.