Mid-Summer Movie Quiz

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 16, 2009

Categories | Rants & Raves

Over at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule you’ll find a new mid-summer movie quiz. Dennis Cozzalio regularly asks his readers and fellow film bloggers to share their thoughts and opinions about a variety of movie-related topics. Usually I just respond to his post, but new blogger comment limits have made that kind of difficult and I thought it might be wiser to share my quiz answers here.

1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.

A Clockwork Orange

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

Most annoying = the remakes. I’m incredibly tired of pointless and poorly done remakes. There are some remakes that I actually think are better or just as good as the original film such as John Carpenter’s The Thing and Cronenberg’s The Fly, but so many current remakes bring nothing new to the table and even degrade the original work. And even worse than that are the people who complain about remakes and still buy tickets to see them. Please Stop! If you don’t buy tickets the studios might start hiring writers again.

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

Bronco Billy

4) Best Film of 1949.

It’s a tie between Carol Reed’s The Third Man and Kurosawa’s Stray Dog. Two films that share a hell of a lot in common and would make for one spectacular double feature.

5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?

Since I haven’t seen either film I can’t answer this question.

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

Of course not. Any film technique that’s used well can be effective. The critical finger shaking going on about shaky-cam is much more annoying in my opinion. It’s like reading the reactions to sound when it first started appearing in silent movies. “It’s crude! It’s rude! It’s pointless and ineffective!” - I don’t agree.

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

Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon. I saw it on a rainy afternoon when I was in elementary school and only about 9 years old. I cried so much during the movie that my teacher threatened to send me to the school nurse.

8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?

I’ve got serious problems with the racial stereotypes in all the Chan/Moto films, but my answer has to be Mr. Moto. Peter Lorre will always get my vote no matter what contest he’s in.

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

Hiroshima Mon Amour

10) Favorite animal movie star.

The fez wearing monkey spy in Last of the Secret Agents? is pretty darn cool.

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

I’m not sure that there are any irresponsible moments in cinema. Only bad ones and good ones.

12) Best Film of 1969.

Impossible to select only one, but a few of my favorites are Fellini’s Satyricon, Venus in Furs, Blind Beast, Midnight Cowboy and The Damned.

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

Theatrically: I haven’t entered a movie theater all year. I’m saving all my pennies for my upcoming move.

DVD: Quarantine (2008)

14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.

Images

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

Print: Video Watchdog and Cinema Retro

Online: Too many to mention.

16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)

Meiko. She would pull out a gun or a knife and take out Angela Mao before she got close enough to touch her. Or maybe she’d just look at her and Angela Mao would drop dead? If looks can kill, Meiko’s eyes are a deadly weapon.

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

Not a big fan of either, but if I had to pick one I suppose it would be Olive Neal.

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

Santa Sangre

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

I have no idea. 28 Days Later (2003)

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

Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

21) Best Film of 1979.

Being There, Apocalypse Now and Alien were the first three that popped into my head, but I also love Herzog’s Nosferatu, Quadrophenia, The Wanderers, The Brood and Fulci’s Zombi.

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

Reality is completely subjective so I hesitate to answer this question. My personal favorite would probably be The Reflecting Skin.

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

Frankenstein’s monster of course.

24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.

The Conversation

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

I’m not very fond of sequels and I can’t think of an answer to this.

26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.

There are two sequences in Sisters that I really like. The use of a split screen when the cops arrive to question Jennifer Salt while Margot Kidder is cleaning up the crime scene and the dream sequence with Jennifer Salt and the psychiatrist is pretty nifty too.

27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.

It’s probably a tie between that wonderful moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy lands in Oz and her black and white world suddenly turns Technicolor. And just about every frame of Black Narcissus.

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

No fair with the trick question! But it would be Death of a Gunfighter.

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

No contest - Morris Buttermaker by miles and miles.

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

Shadows and Fog (1991)

31) Best Film of 1999.

Miike’s Audition, but I’m also really fond of The Limey, I Stand Alone and Polanski’s much-maligned The Ninth Gate. Ghost Dog, eXistenZ, Being John Malkovich and Eyes Wide Shut are really good too. I suspect Kubrick’s film will rate higher on my list when I get a chance to see it again from beginning to end.

32) Favorite movie tag line.

I have hundreds of favorites but I’ll mention The Mini-Skirt Mob tagline:
“They Play Around With Murder Like They Play Around With Men! They’re hog straddling female animals on the prowl!”

33) Favorite B-movie western.

20 years ago I could have said any Leone film. Things have sure changed. And for the better! Lucio Fulci on the other hand is an Italian director who is still misunderstood and often dismissed by the critical establishment so I will mention his excellent western Massacre Time (Tempo di massacro; 1966)

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

Bram Stoker

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

Susan Vance. I have a girl crush on Katherine Hepburn so she’ll often win out in a contest no matter who she’s up against.

36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.

Didn’t you ask this question before? I ask because I know I gave this answer before: Nick Cave in Wings of Desire.

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

Trying for subversive satire, but occasionally becoming a purveyor of stereotyping.

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

5 Deceased: John Huston, Klaus Kinski, Peter Cushing, Jean Cocteau and Peter Lorre.

5 Living: Jesus Franco, Ken Russell, Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg and Alain Delon.