Professor Serverus Snape’s Sorcerer-Tastic, Muggalicious Mid-Summer Movie Quiz. Long anticipated. Questions are awesome, thought-provoking (your SECOND favorite Francis Ford Coppola movie? Love it!) – and the answers are even better. I was unable to participate in the last two quizzes because of everything that has been going on – but I gave this one a shot. I put my answers in the comments section over there, but true to form, I have put my answers below – in pictorial form. It’s fun for me that way.
1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Things like Netflix. I really CHOOSE what movies I want to see in the theatres now. Other than that, I wait.
3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
4) Best Film of 1949.
Toss up between:
and
Jimmy Cagney’s breakdown in the prison is an all-time high point for me in the history of movies. But boy, The Third Man!
5) Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) or Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore)?
6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Yes. If used well, it’s awesome. But if you don’t know what you’re doing and why then, well, you shouldn’t do it.
7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
I believe it was
8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
9) Favorite World War II drama (1950-1970).
10) Favorite animal movie star.
That dog had a quite a fruitful career.
11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
12) Best Film of 1969.
My thoughts here. There are other movies from that year that I love more, but in terms of scope and accomplishment, I have to go with this one.
13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
Theatre:
DVD:
14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
It hurts me to choose. I know I’m in the minority but I am going with a movie I absolutely loved:
15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
So many come to mind! Kim Morgan, Sergio Leone, my entire blogroll basically.
16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
Hands down:
20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
21) Best Film of 1979.
I must go with:
which is, frankly, one of my favorite films of all time, but I am also forever haunted by:
so I feel I should mention it.
22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
Hmm.
Realistic:
it’s chilling how this girl who is NOT a bad girl gets the reputation for being one and the scenes of gossiping neighbors and passive-aggressive shunning is really ahead of its time. More thoughts here.
Sincere:
May be a bit sentimentalized but I grew up in a town like that and have a lot of fondness for it – and although it is a cynical movie, the representation of small-town life and its regular rhythms is quite spot-on.
23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
I am thankful for caller ID every time I see that movie. Tell that beeyotch I’m not in!
24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
Although there is this, so perhaps there is hope.
26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
Opening sequence of
To quote within context: Untouchable.
27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Ha!!
I was coming up blank but then I saw someone else’s choice:
Love Richard Widmark. Good ol’ Allen Smithee. What underrated work he does.
29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Oh what the hell, I’ll take Crash.
30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
It is my favorite Woody Allen film in general.
Diane Keaton: “I’m gonna bust this case WIDE OPEN.”
Woody Allen: “What the hell has happened to you?”
And then of course there’s the homage to Lady from Shanghai that makes up the ending.
31) Best Film of 1999.
… although
is a sentimental favorite. Right, Bill? More thoughts here.
32) Favorite movie tag line.
It’s gotta be:
33) Favorite B-movie western.
Not sure of the definition of B movie. How about:
34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Dashiell Hammett. Shakespeare. Stephen King. Argh.
35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
Sorry, Susan! I love you, you ditzy heiress, but I have to go with:
36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Great question. Cameo. Hmm. This doesn’t really qualify as a cameo since they both are in the movie but here we go. Glorious.
37) Bruno (the character, if you havenât seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I’m gonna go with neither.
38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
Now I feel compelled to watch Manhattan Murder Mystery for the eleventy-billionth time.
“Maybe Mrs. Haus is a twin!”
“I’m your husband! I forbid you!”
“Try giving her the present!”
“Is that what you do when I’m forbidding? ”
“We don’t have a response for that.” (Ron Rivkin)
“Funeral ashes? Did you wash your hands?”
“Don’t give me Ted!”
“The dead woman passed you on a bus? Which bus was this, the bus to heaven?”
I love this one — the whole setup to it:
“I did damage!”
HAHAHAHA “I did damage!!!”
“HELEN!!! HELEN! Duck, duck …”
Wandered into Barnes & Noble, & the Criterion Collection’s 50% off. Short Cuts was one of the ones I had to pick up.
Good call on The Ring girl, too.
Tommy – good tip on barnes & noble – i’ll have to go check it out. I actually don’t own Short Cuts which is ridiculous!!
Is the woman behind the veil Joan Crawford? I’ve never heard of Garbo Talks, what a cast, I’ll definitely check it out.
Gloria Swanson!
Actually, I realized that I grabbed the wrong image. Garbo Talks is a really fun movie – but I was looking for the film where Garbo first spoke in a talkie, and the tagline was “Garbo TALKS”.
But yes, you should check it out – totally great cast!
Shock! Awe! Wow!
The movie you were looking for was Anna Christie with the famous tag line. (In case you were still looking.)
Peter – ha!!! I THOUGHT that poster looked a little, shall we say, MODERN for anna christie!
I totally agree with you on Master and Comander. I love Peter Weir and Paul Bettany but don’t care for Russell Crowe or period pieces so I was suprised by how much I loved that movie and him in it.
Jessica R – I know, it was such a wonderful and rich accomplishment. Especially for fans of the book – those books are MARVELOUS – and that movie really knew what was REALLY important: the relationship between Maturin and Aubrey – that is the heart and soul of the series – and the movie just GOT that. But it got everything else, too. I loooove Peter Weir – so it was all just a match made in heaven – amazing that it came off so well.
‘Breaking Away’ does not get nearly the amount of props it should. I can remember my whole family being entranced when we watched it on network TV in the wayback times.
1979 was a really good year for movies – it was hard to choose – but Breaking Away just gets better with each viewing. I consider it a classic.
#36 – Wow, that’s great…have never seen that Dean clip before.
Before that one I would’ve probably chosen The Three Degrees in The French Connection.
#38 – And, of course, I would’ve loved to have a conversation with Buster about com…no,…Life. :)
~phil
Phil – Rio Bravo is awesome! Funny: Howard Hawks got a lot of flak for that scene – which “made no sense” – why do these broke-down cowboys suddenly start singing? His answer was along the lines of, “I figure if I find something entertaining, others will too. It seemed ridiculous to have Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson in a movie and NOT have them sing.”
Best answer ever. “I like it. Figures others would too.”
Now that I think of it though – I wish that I had said the scene in the abandoned theatre in Mulholland Drive with Rebecca del Rio’s incredible a capella cameo. CRAZIEST SCENE EVER.
Really wish there was something worth seeing at the movies this summer. Sorry, prequels, sequels and re makes just don`t cut it. And, when you are in your 50s, super heroes and Harry Potter just don`t interest you. It really seems like Hollywood has finally run out of ideas- and given up on the adults as well.
Bad hat – I think you left your comment on the wrong post so I moved it.
I suppose if you judge only by the blockbusters or what is headlining at the multiplexes then yeah, you have a point. But there are so many other wonderful (and perhaps smaller) movies that are out there – you sound pretty bleak, but I don’t think it’s as bleak as you make it. Let’s see. Away We Go, Public Enemies, 500 Days of Summer, Il Divo, Up (one of the best movies I’ve seen all year), and others.
Success is NOT measured by the box office. I think most blockbusters are crap. But there’s plenty out there I make sure I see.
Jennifer Tilly as Olive Neal! She really stole the show in Bullets Over Broadway! Histerical!
Breaking Away! I love that movie. Dennis Quaid is so hot. :) Plus, my dad rode in the Little 500 when he was at IU, so there is sentimental value too.
Jen – he did?? Oh wow!!!
Yes, he rode on his fraternity’s team. I have this hilarious photo of his team with a bike. Great story.
How cool! So your dad wasn’t a “cutter”, huh? :)
The movie makes the whole event look just so appealing, so much fun – a real community-bonding thing.
Man, I am feeling the need to see Breaking Away RIGHT NOW.
Sheila: I love your answers AND the way you choose to post them. You really honor my humble little enterprise by your participation. And it IS Manhattan Murder Mystery, hands down!
Dennis – your quizzes are so much fun, and I look forward to the re-caps too – must be so much work – but God, everyone’s answers are so diverse and I always have the sensation of DOH, why didn’t I think of that one??
So nice to see someone else appreciate Manhattan Murder Mystery – I honestly don’t know why it gets such short shrift in opinion polls – it’s like nobody ever brings it up. It is one of the few times I can remember when I saw a movie in the movie theatre and laughed so hard I almost had to get up and leave. We were HOWLING. And it is STILL funny to me. Without sacrificing depth. LOVE that movie.
“Save some craziness for menopause, jeeeeezus!”
No, definitely not a Cutter! Probably one of the frat boy a-holes who made fun of them. HA!
Jen – even better!!