38 questions-questionnaire

Wow, this won't be easy. But everyone who tries to be cool, like I do, should do this. I fetched it from Matthew Coniam's blog Movietone News (that at this moment has pretty interesting discussions on cigarette cencorship in the media).

1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.

God, I hate rating films. Especially by a director who has done so many different types of them. But since I got my nickname Lolita from my favourite one (Lolita, 1962), I might be able to decide upon a second favorite. It's A Clockwork Orange (1971). No, The Shining (1980). No, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

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

Are there any interesting trends in movies of today? If I can count in Quentin Tarantino's own trends in 1960-ish homage films to blood splattering Asian films, I'll do it. Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill vol.2 (2004) and Death Proof (2007).

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

Never was a huge fan of Clint, but always fell for those bright Newman eyes. Answer: Buffalo Bill Cody.

4) Best Film of 1949.

The Third Man, with that haunting theme and the wonderful Orson Welles. The pig.

John Lennon's cover of The Third Man theme.

	The Beatles - The Third Man Theme
	Found at The Third Man Theme on KOhit.net

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

Barrymore. Who can win over The Great Profile, seriously?

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

Did Andy Warhol do drugs?

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

I guess I don't have to count English speaking films. Could it have been Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai, 1954)? Can't really remember.

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

Peter Lorre!

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

Would have wanted to answer The Best Years of Our Lives, but that one is from 1946... I'll be forced to answer Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Which is a pretty good film, actually. (Never mind the underestimation, I just try to sound laid-back and uncaring.)

10) Favorite animal movie star.

Asta in the Thin Man movies. Or Harpo in the Marx Brothers movies.

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

ONE irresponsible moment in cinema? Try every romantic drama from the 1990's. More examples: Julia Roberts, Macauley Culkin, Keanu Reeves, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg getting the God complex, Barb Wire (1996).

You get the picture. I'll get a bucket to throw up in.

12) Best Film of 1969.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.


Newman, Redford and Ross rob banks in South America. Look at this chase scene, and turn up the volume - it's not the stereotypical stressed out chase scene music! The choir seems to have eaten some interesting mushrooms.

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

Do I really have to answer that one? Okay, last theatrical movie - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). (My sister had nobody to go with, okay?) Last on DVD - Equilibrium (2002). ("In a relationship you have to compromise...")

14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.

Oh no, don't do this to me! This is the director of Dr T. and the Women (2000), for crying out loud! No. I won't do it.

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

Well, look at the blog list in the right column and take a wild guess!

16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji?

I wouldn't remember these names if you pulled out my nails, but an IMDb search told me Angela Mao was in Enter the Dragon (1973). That's good enough for me - Mao it is.

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

Oh please. I don't know anything about new actresses like these. But Marisa Tomei played Mabel Normand in Chaplin (1992), so I'll go for her.

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

Freaks (1932). They're so cute! Like puppies.

Favourite freak - Koo Koo.

The frightening last scene from Tod Browning's Freaks (1932).

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

Eeh... qoui? No idea.

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

Hard one. Can't really answer that one, I find it difficult to put films into genres at all.

21) Best Film of 1979.

Life of Brian (1979). British humor is what keeps the world going.

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

Pleasantville (1998).


Trailer: Or what do you say?

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

Fredric March's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.

Apocalypse Now (1979), after The Godfather (1972). Or maybe The Deer Hunter (1978). But he has a tendency of being pretty slow sometimes, hasn't he?

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

Good Burger (1997). See why it's so lovely here.

26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.

John Travolta in Carrie (1976). I don't like Brian De Palma. Or Sissy Spacek. She gets covered in pigs blood. He hee.

27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.

Gene Kelly singing in the rain. A true delight that never gets boring.

28) Favorite Alan Smithee film.

Isn't there a reason why directors chose that alias? Like not being connected to crappy movies? But I'll choose The Shrimp on the Barbie (1990), just for the splendid title.

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

Kevin Costner could never, I mean naehver, win anything like this, with that window glass personality. Walter Matthau, without a doubt.

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

Everyone Says I Love You (1996), for all the grouchy bits. And for being a 1950's musical in the late 1990's.

Scene: Edward Norton (remember him from Fight Club? Jeez, his parts differs like night and day) singing a cute little song for Drew Barrymore (who is the only one in the film miming).

31) Best Film of 1999.

American Beauty. Me and my mother caused a chainsaw massacre in the neighborhood when we realized that Kevin Spacey was gay.

32) Favorite movie tag line.

"Makes Ben Hur look like an Epic" - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

33) Favorite B-movie western.

A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari, 1964). Okay, Clint is pretty cool.

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

Dan Brown. Just kidding, he's on my black list. (He'll be sorry the day I get my hands on him.)

I don't know. At least it's not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (I won't even think about the latest Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr... Oh, damn it - I did it. Now I have to hurt myself.)

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

The choice would have been harder if the Hepburn character was Tracy Lord. I'll go with The Profane Angel Carole Lombard.

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

Clark Gable singing Puttin' on the Ritz in Idiot's Delight (1939), perhaps?

Scene: Clark Gable makes his singing debut in this scene. Gorgeous. (Anyone who understands the choice of wig on Norma Shearer?)

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, even though the Baron has a tendancy of going a liiittle bit over the top...

38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet.

Gloria Swanson, Lauren Bacall, Groucho Marx, Myrna Loy and William Powell.