Movie Questionnaire

Questions from here.

1) What was the last movie you saw theatrically? On DVD or Blu-ray?
Either Orange County or Recess: Schools Out, but it's been a while since a movie was in my DVD player.

2) Holiday movies— Do you like them naughty or nice?
There are times for both.
Really I like my classic more nice because the good ones aren't overly sentimental.
Modern holiday movies that try to be nice are way too cloying or else they're pretty mean-spirited with a "happy" twist at the end.
Modern naughty movies that don't get too sentimental tend to be really good.

3) Ida Lupino or Mercedes McCambridge?
I'm not familiar with the work of either of these ladies. From the pictures, though, Ida Lupino.

4) Favorite actor/character from Twin Peaks
Have never watched Twin Peaks.
Still, I bet I'd be fascinated by the backward talking dwarf.

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.
I'd kind of like a remake of Soylent Green, where the future is more dirty and the acting is less cheesy. (Although Edward G. Robinson was wonderful.)
Logan's Run would be another good candidate, especially if it's based more on the book.

6) Favorite Spike Lee joint.
I don't think I've ever seen a Spike Lee directed film.

7) Lawrence Tierney or Scott Brady?
Lawrence Tierney

8) Are most movies too long?
The ones I really enjoy never seem long enough, even if they clock in at over 2.5 hours. The ones I don't like a always too long.

9) Favorite performance by an actor portraying a real-life politician.
I'm going to bend this and say it's Emma Thompson playing Susan Stanton in Primary Colors. As anyone who has seen the film knows, Susan was basically Hillary Clinton.

10) Create the main event card for the ultimate giant movie monster smackdown.
The Cloverfield monster vs Chōjin, aka Overfiend

11) Jean Peters or Sheree North?
Sheree North

12) Why would you ever want or need to see a movie more than once?
Some movies just make you feel good. Some movies need to be viewed more than once to get the full effect. Some movies you see something new each time you watch it.

13) Favorite road movie.
Probably Vacation. At lest that's the first one that comes to mind.

14) Favorite Budd Boetticher picture.
I don't think I've seen any of his movies. I'm not much for westerns.

15) Who is the one person, living or dead, famous or unknown, who most informed or encouraged your appreciation of movies?
Probably my parents for showing me a variety of different kinds of movies as I was growing up. It wasn't so much about the genre as opposed to would we enjoy it.

16) Favorite opening credit sequence. (Please include YouTube link if possible.)
The first opening that pops into my head is the credits to Catch Me If You Can. The design and the music just meld together to create a wildly entertaining sequence that sets up the era of the film and also tells the story of the movie.

17) Kenneth Tobey or John Agar?
Kenneth Tobey

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.
I think that too often this statement is true. I can't imagine Paul Blart: Mall Cop ever being considered a great, or even very good, movie, but it was the top at the box office in the US for like three weeks. But then there are other films, like Pixar's Ratatouille or Wall-E, which made tons of money and seemt to be watched by nearly everyone, but were wonderful, thought provoking movies that everyone can enjoy together.

The popularity of a movie doesn't control the quality of it, just as the quality doesn't control how popular it'll become.

And based on that statement It's a Wonderful Life must have been an extremely great movie when it was released and hated and not watched, but it must be really awful today since it's on TV every year and is quite popular.

19) Favorite Jonathan Demme movie.
I think Philadelphia is a superior film on all fronts. Although, Silence of the Lambs is spectacular, too.

20) Tatum O'Neal or Linda Blair?
Linda Blair. Who out there could possibly choose O'Neal?

21) Favorite use of irony in a movie. (This could be an idea, moment, scene, or an entire film.)
As a film, all of Nashville, but the ending was the most ironic moment of a movie built on irony.

22) Favorite Claude Chabrol film.
I have never seen a Claude Chabrol movie. Oh, God, I am such a prole.

23) The best movie of the year to which very little attention seems to have been paid.
For 2008, probably Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was really funny, or Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was cute and sweet, not great, but I find myself thinking about it still..

24) Dennis Christopher or Robby Benson?
Robby Benson, for his voice work.

25) Favorite movie about journalism.
Network, although it's more about TV in general than journalism in particular, but it all starts with a news broadcast.

26) What's the DVD commentary you'd most like to hear? Who would be on the audio track?
Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski, and Deems Taylor on Fantasia with the directors dropping in for their sequences. That would be bliss to hear.

27) Favorite movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
Letters from Iwo Jima

28) Paul Dooley or Kurtwood Smith?
Seriously, do I have to choose? These are two of my favorite character actors who show up in, sometimes, the weirdest and most wonderful of places.

If forced, I'd probably go with Kurtwood Smith, but I'd do it grudgingly.

29) Your clairvoyant moment: Make a prediction about the Oscar season.
Heath Ledger will win, even though he shouldn't.
The death of Bernie Mac, as much as I liked him, will get more time in the telecast than the death of Eartha Kitt will.
Also, Hugh Jackman hosting will make me wish Billy Crystal was back.

30) Your hope for the movies in 2009.
That The Princess and the Frog will prove that people want a good story out of animation, not just 3D computer stuff that's "flashy."

I want Don Bluth back to making great movies with excellent stories and beautiful animation. I think, if he had been allowed to do his thing and not worry so much about pleasing suits and people weren't so locked in to animation-equals-for-kids thinking, he could have been the US's Hayao Miyazaki.

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.)
I can't. I didn't see all that many movies this year and I hate doing top 10 lists.

BONUS QUESTION (to be answered after December 25):
32) What was your favorite movie-related Christmas gift that you received this year?
I didn't get a movie-related gift for Christmas, this year. TV stuff, but not movie.