Post a Comment On: Cinema Viewfinder

[Image] So there's this wonderful site that you should check out, Dennis Cozzalio's Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, and from time to time he comes up with these wonderful exams for us cinephiles. My answers to his most recent quiz are after the jump. 1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film. Paths of Glory (1957) 2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil. The increase in American films that sacrifice adult content to submit to the PG-13 rating in order to gain a wider audience, and therefore make more money. Sellouts. 3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)? Altman and Newman? Buffalo Bill Cody. 4) Best Film of 1949. The Third Man ... did you even need to ask? 5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)? Joseph Tura for the same reasons bill r. put down. 6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché? I don't think so. Just another tool in the toolbox. 7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw? La niña de la mochila azul (1979) 8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)? Charlie Chan. [Image]9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970). The Great Escape (1963) is a drama, right? Right? 10) Favorite animal movie star. Flipper, because he practically lived in my backyard. 11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema. George Lucas' rehabilitation of Han Solo's mercenary image by having Greedo shoot first in his special edition of Star Wars: A New Hope (1997). This is further compounded by his decision to make it extremely difficult to find the original version released in the seventies. 12) Best Film of 1969. Easy Rider 13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray. Theatrically: Moon, Blu-ray: The Searchers (1956), DVD: Thief (1981) [Image]14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film. The Long Goodbye (1973), with the first being a certain western. 15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print? Glenn Kenny's blog, Some Came Running 16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? I have no idea who either is, unfortunately. I'm inclined to go for Mao only because she's in Enter the Dragon (1973), but I don't remember her. 17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)? Definitely Olive Neal. 18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence. The Elephant Man (1980), which has that awesome dolly into the back of Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) just as he swishes around to face the camera... at the carnival. [Image] 19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date. Miami Vice (2006), because the night sky looks like it does in life, not like it does in other movies. 20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre. The Godfather Part II (1974) 21) Best Film of 1979. Apocalypse Now 22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies. Lumberton in Blue Velvet (1986) is pretty close... until Dennis Hopper shows up. 23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division). The Freudianly frightening alien from Alien (1979) 24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film. The Conversation (1974), and just to clarify... The Godfather Part II is my favorite. Coppola had a great year. 25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see. This one's a tie between Dune (1984) and Nightbreed (1990). But studio interference with each doomed them to failure. 26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film. The subway station gunfight and chase in Carlito's Way (1993), for making me forget that we see Carlito Brigante shot at the beginning of the film. [Image] 27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor. Sister Ruth's descent into madness in Black Narcissus (1947), because Jack Cardiff was a genius. 28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. The extended television version of Dune, which fills in some blanks, but doesn't really do it for me even more than the theatrical version doesn't really do it for me. Also gets extra points for the writing credit: Judas Booth. 29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)? Crash Davis, but only because I haven't seen The Bad News Bears (1976) 30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 31) Best Film of 1999. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 32) Favorite movie tag line. In space, no one can hear you scream. - Alien 33) Favorite B-movie western. Johnny Guitar (1954), and yes, despite it being rediscovered years later, it is a B-movie... a great one. [Image] 34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work. Larry McMurtry, but that might change depending on how good The Road turns out to be later this year. And I'm assuming we are leaving Shakespeare out of this. 35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)? Susan Vance for much the same reason as question number 5. 36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie. Bluesman Mighty Joe Young in Thief 37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping? Subversive satire in cities... purveyor of stereotyping in rural towns. 38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. I've met David Lynch and William Shatner, so those two are off my list now. That leaves Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly, Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, and Michael Mann.