This took a lot of work and was a hell of a lot of fun. I’ve been expanding my blog-reading a bit … clearing out some dead weight on the blog-roll to make room for sites I actually READ … and I have found a ton of movie sites that I am now addicted to.
One is Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule (go read his most recent post on Angie Dickinson and you’ll see why I’m in love with this new blog).
Here is a quiz I found on that site – and my answers. (I will be updating it periodically with pictures. You know, cause I’m obsessive.)
1) What film made you angry, either while watching it or in thinking about it afterward?
I remember being in a rage after seeing Sophie’s Choice. I wanted to kill those who would force anyone to make such a choice. I hated mankind.
2) Favorite sidekick
I’m thinkin’ I gotta go with R2D2 although there are so many other great ones to choose from.
3) One of your favorite movie lines
“I’m hard to get, Steve. All you have to do is ask me.” — Slim (Lauren Bacall) in To Have and Have Not — love that line. Howard Hawks put it in a couple different films (also in Only Angels Have Wings) – so obviously it really resonated for him … I think about that line a lot.
4) William Holden or Burt Lancaster?
William Holden. Love Burt … but Holden’s got something extra. For me.
5) Describe a perfect moment in a movie
There’s a scene in Running On Empty (one of my favorite movies ever made) when Martha Plimpton comes over to the house for the mother’s birthday party. Martha is River Phoenix’s character’s girlfriend. He’s never had one before. His parents are fugitives. They are suspicious of outsiders. Judd Hirsch plays the protective father … who … is subtly won over by this unassuming young woman. Just watch his face when he sees the present Martha Plimpton brought for his wife. He takes it in … So subtle, though. After dinner – they start to clear the table … and someone puts on James Taylor “Fire and Rain” … and just watch the following scene. It’s all in one shot. There’s no cutaways. If you’ve seen that scene, you will know the one I’m talking about. The clearing-away-of dishes and the singing-along-to-James-Taylor scene. The movies don’t get more perfect than that. That’s why people MAKE movies … to capture moments like that one.
6) Favorite John Ford movie
Maybe Stagecoach.
7) The inverse of a question from the last quiz: What film artist (director, actor, screenwriter, whatever) has the leastdeserved good reputation, artistically speaking. And who would you replace him/her with on that pedestal?
Well … Guy Ritchie immediately came to mind … but I think his “good reputation” has pretty much plummeted already without my help.
So I now must go with:
Renee Zellweger. How that woman has duped the American public and also everyone in Hollywood is something that I will never understand. It’s an interesting case. I’ve been following her for years, merely because the whole thing confuses me. How a star has been MADE, not BORN. She had some charm in Jerry Maguire but other than that? She seems WAY over-praised to me. Especially in Chicago where I thought she was especially terrible. Don’t even get me started on the travesty that was Down with Love. She simpered and flounced her way through it, I didn’t believe a word, and yet … she was in an untouchable phase at that point. Nobody called her on her bullshit. The industry was too pleased with itself for having anointed her. But mark my words, her time is coming. Her work is too self-conscious, too pleased with itself, and too NERVOUS-looking. It’s like she understands that she’s on thin ice as well. She doesn’t have the rock-hard LOVEBOMB support of, say, a Julia Roberts … which doesn’t seem to ebb and flow, but just IS. Renee was “anointed from within” after Jerry Maguire and that kind of success just can’t compare to the sort of success when an audience decides that they love you. Renee is supported by the industry – and her smirky sad-happy face on the red carpet shows that anxiety. When they decide she’s “out”, she’ll be WAY “out”. Nobody could decide Julia Roberts was out. Whatever you think of Roberts’ work, in terms of acting or talent, is irrelevant. The woman is BELOVED by an enormous public. That gives her huge freedom. Renee’s career seems extremely bureacratized to me, in a way that Julia’s does not – Renee’s career needs a lot of HELP to keep it going. Julia Roberts can take over 2 years off at the very HEIGHT of her popularity and all anyone can say is: “When is Julia Roberts coming back????” You cannot create that kind of momentum. It just happens, and Renee knows, somewhere, that this has NOT happened to her. Renee thanked her “image consultants” during her Oscar speech – which gives you some idea of how managed this woman is. That over-management of her career shows in her acting which is eager-to-please, and therefore somewhat empty.
I’m not sure about the replacing thing.
One thing I will say: I think Sandra Bullock is a fantastic actress and I wish she got better parts. I mean, hell, her career is fine … but still. I wish she got to REALLY show her stuff. Anyone see Murder by Numbers? I LOVE her work in that. And it’s the kind of acting that doesn’t call attention to itself. But it’s damn fine work. It’s not flashy. And it also shows that Bullock is uninterested in being liked (unlike Renee – who begs us with her every simper to love her, love her). Bullock is more interested in the craft of acting than the other stuff … and she’s damn good at it.
More props to Bullock. I think she’s one of the most solid actresses working today.
8) Barbara Stanwyck or Ida Lupino?
Stanwyck Stanwyck Stanwyck. She’s just about the very best there is.
9) Showgirls– yes or no?
Hell, yes. LOVE that unintentionally campy trainwreck. HYSTERICAL. I love it when Elizabeth Berkley “acts”. Omigod. Glory.
10) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
Nothing comes to mind, although I first saw Empire Strikes Back at a drive-in movie – piled in a huge station wagon with my cousins.
11) Favorite Robert Altman movie
Oh boy. I kinda love them all. Even Dr T and the Women, which everyone else in the entire galaxy despised. What can I say. I’m a diehard fan. But in terms of impact? And sheer loving EVERY STINKIN’ SECOND on the screen? I’m gonna go with Gosfard Park. But … Nashville too … I love them all. But Gosfark Park has a real special place in my heart, so I’ll stick with that one.
12) Best argument for allowing rock stars to participate in the making of movies
Hard Days Night.
Also: Jon Bon Jovi’s ass. More of that, please.
13) Describe a transcendent moment in a film (a moment when you realized a film that just seemed routine or merely interesting before had become something much more)
Sean Penn’s entire performance in the otherwise formulaic and rather boring Carlito’s Way. I would love to hear the story behind what happened there – because I wonder if the power of what Sean Penn was doing kind of took everyone by surprise … Penn was supposed to be the sidekick … but he’s pretty much all I can remember about the film. I watched the movie – whatever – I like Al Pacino – it’s okay – nothing I haven’t seen before … and through the course of the movie, something kind of amazing happens: You suddenly start to realize that Sean Penn is giving the performance of a LIFETIME. It’s a performance that deserves its own film. It’s completely beyond anything he’s ever done (in my opinion – and I’m a huge fan of his acting) and it makes it look like Al Pacino was phoning in his performance from down the block. It’s not a good movie, I don’t think … not totally … but every time it’s on, I have to watch it … just to watch how Sean Penn’s work totally transcends the entire film. I’m tellin’ ya – it’s his best work. It sneaks up on you … because he’s not even in that many scenes … but he’s the only reason to see that movie. SEE it. The guy is a master, and roles like that are why.
14) Gina Gershon or Jennifer Tilly?
I kinda love them both. But on the power of my sheer undying LOVE for the movie Liar Liar – I’m going with Tilly.
15) Favorite Frank Capra movie
It Happened One Night. Hands down.
16) The scene you most wish you could have witnessed being filmed
Goosebump-territory now: Paul Henreid making the crowd sing La Marseillaise to drown out the Germans in the nightclub in Casablanca. It gives me goosebumps every time I see it. It’s a cliche, it’s a formula, but no matter how many times I’ve seen it – and no matter how much I think Viktor Lazslo is a big stick-in-the-mud bore, I am moved almost to tears by that scene. It just flat out WORKS, and I would have loved to have been there that day. Apparently, all of the extras (many of whom were real-life refugees from Europe) were in tears as they sang. And if you notice — Hal Wallis (producer extraordinaire) knew that this scene needed one extra punch – and so he made the music director have the Rick’s Cafe band suddenly SOUND like a full symphony orchestra. It’s not realistic – no bar band would ever sound that huge … but when you hear that orchestra kick in … it hits you, the audience member, on a visceral level. You want to stand up and sing with all of those people. One of the most purely powerful scenes ever filmed. Manipulative? Sure. Whatever. It WORKS. I would love to have been there that day.
17) Robert Ryan or Richard Widmark?
hahahaha Tough choice. Going with Richard Widmark.
18) Name a movie that inspired you to walk out before it was finished
Only one. 36 Fillette. What a piece of crap. My boyfriend and I watched 20 minutes of it, looked at each other, and without a word stood up and left. Catherine Breillat has gone on to MUCH better things (I liked Romance a lot) after that horrible movie.
19) Favorite political movie
Election.
20) Your favorite movie poster/one-sheet, or the one youd most like to own
woman under the influence
Goosebumps.
21) Jeff Bridges or Jeff Goldblum?
BRIDGES. Best (and most under-rated) actor in America. Nobody can even come CLOSE to doing what he does.
22) Favorite Ken Russell movie
Tommy.
23) Accepting the conventional wisdom that 1970-1975 marked a golden age of American filmmaking in which artistic ambition and popular acceptance were not mutually exclusive, what for you was this golden ages high point? (Could be a movie, a trend, the emergence of a star, whatever)
Oh, there’s so much to say here. Argh. Names just float through my head … because I do accept “the conventional wisdom that 1970-1975 marked a golden age of American filmmaking in which artistic ambition and popular acceptance were not mutually exclusive” … Not only do I accept it, I REVEL in it.
So I’m gonna give my answer as this: the fact that Jack Nicholson made the following films in between 1970 and 1975, films which helped cement his reputation:
Five Easy Pieces
Carnal Knowledge
Last Detail
Chinatown
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest …
I mean, that is one HELL of a run. And the 70s boom in American film-making completely suited the emergence of a star like Nicholson … It might not have happened at any other time. Thank God he got his chance and ran with it. He’s one of my favorites.
24) Grace Kelly or Ava Gardner?
I must go with Grace Kelly even though I think she is a bit over-rated. The only performance where I really forget that Grace is an actress, is in Rear Window. I love that movie, and I love her performance in it. She is sensuous, smart, loving, teasing … It’s a wonderful mix. Everything else is a bit STIFF and self-conscious for my choice. Cary Grant loved her, said that working with her was like working with Buddha (yes, those were his words) … and I can see her appeal – but Ava just seems more comfortable in her own skin, and I prefer that kind of persona to the other. But I’ll give the acting props to Grace.
25) With total disregard for whether it would ever actually be considered, even in this age of movie recycling, what film exists that you feel might actually warrant a sequel, or would produce a sequel youd actually be interested in seeing?
First and foremost: The Breakfast Club. WHAT HAPPENED ON MONDAY????
Next choice: Lost in Translation. The ending was perfect as it was … I loved its ambiguity … its bittersweet taste … but I have thought more than once: “I wonder if their paths ever crossed again …” I try to imagine it out in my mind, what such a meeting would be like.
I’m too lazy to answer all of these myself, but #3 favorit movie line:
In the opening credits of The Great Muppet Caper when Fozzie, Kermit and Gonzo are floating in a hot air balloon and Gonzo looks over the side and says “I wonder how far you could plummet before you blacked out?”
hahahaha Gonzo. I love Gonzo. Like … he always had this kind of outsiders humor … he wasn’t REALLY part of the group … I love him for that. Like: what IS he?? so funny.
Sheila — I’ve often wondered that, too, about “Lost in Translation.” It seemed unfinished to ME — or maybe I just didn’t want it to finish because I loved their relationship, how their souls just connected.
And, really, Jeff Bridges or Jeff GOLDBLUM? The wonderful Jeff Bridges or THE FLY?? I admit I’m occasionally *amused* by Jeff Goldblum, but he seems so SELF-conscious when he acts, not awkward, but more of a “look at me, dammit, I’m quirky and impactful” kind of vibe.
To me, those Jeffs are virtually opposites. NO contest!!
sheila — gosford park. mmm! such a good film.
it’s hard to pick one part that stands out as better than the rest [so many good scenes], but i do really like the scene where he kisses her, and then says, “Ooh. I’ve been wanting to do that ever since i set eyes on you.”
also,
“You British really don’t have a sense of humour, do you?”
“We do if something’s funny.”
bwa ha haaa!
Quirky and impactful … Tracey, I like the words you chose there! I like Jeff G, too – he’s funny (very funny in Big Chill) – but to me, Jeff Bridges is like … He stands alone. He really does!!
When I started reading this there were only 2 comments.
Ok, I can only comment on two things right now.
1. Showgirls? YES I love this movie and I can watch it over and over again. I think what I enjoy most is how it takes itself VERY seriously. It’s my guiltiest pleasure…well almost…
2. Lost in Translation. WHAT DID HE WHISPER TO HER???? I have GOT to know!!
Favorite line – soooo many to choose from but I think I’d have to go with Han Solo in Empire Strikes…
“Hey… it’s me.”
I just saw Lost in Translation a few days ago and I’m still sorting through it.. but Scarlett’s portrayal of utter loneliness was heartbreaking. More of her please.
I first saw Empire Strikes Back in college. I did a little strong-back-weak-mind work for some friends at a small sci-fi/gaming convention at the University of Akron. After we finished we went into a room and watched a VHS bootleg of Empire someone had scrounged up (it was in first-run at the time). That probably tops the list, unless you want to count seeing Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at a theater in Uxbridge in 2001.
While I will always pick Jeff Bridges over Jeff Goldblum, Jeff G was great in one of my all-time favorite films: Mr. Frost. But, I mean, come on, against The Dude? No chance.
The ending of Lost in Translation ruined the whole movie for me, and I get that it was kind of point, but I just was enjoying it so much that the end profoundly disturbed me. Did make me fall in love with Scarlett though.
Oh, Dan … I love that line from Empire!!!
DeAnna: I especially love when Elizabteh Berkeley really thinks she’s doing an awesome job, and storms out of the dance studio or whatever, having a big acting moment. IT’S SO BAD it’s awesome.
And about Lost in Translation: I love to sit around with friends who loved that movie and discuss what he whispered. There’s no right answer and everyone has different thoughts and feelings about it – coming from their own life experience. It’s so … awful and wonderful … that we won’t ever know!!! But still: a lot of fun to talk about. I know what I think he said!! :)
Oh, Dan … I love that line from Empire!!!
Nnnggghhh…mustnotbeanerd, mustnotbeanerd, mustnotbeanerd…ah, screw it; not like it’s a secret.
That line is from Jedi, not Empire.
Oh lord, nerd, of course you are right.
Listen, man, I type this shit so fast and in my spare time you can’t expect accuracy. If you do, then you’re insane.
But NEVER be ashamed to be a nerd on this blog! I embrace it.
Movie Quiz
His Honor has hung up the Gone Fishin’ sign, so I have time to do Sheila’s quiz. 1) What film made you angry, either while watching it or in thinking about it afterward? Independence Day. To think that I wasted
I can’t believe I cited the wrong Star Wars movie.
In my defence I plead the fact that Empire does have most of the best lines.
You are all hereby put on warning that any further infringements against the Crimes Against Star Wars Act of 1998 will result in stern penalties.
Favourite Ken Russel movie, Sheila?
The Lair of the White Worm of course!
Amanda Donohoe is on my dinner party guest list after all.
Oh and other, random answers/comments – Bridges, Widmark, Penn’s performance in Carlito’s Way.. wow!, Showgirls? Well.. why not?
peteb –
Lair of white worm!!! Amanda Donohue! hahahaha Of course!!!
Sheila! So glad to have you involved in the good professor’s quiz! Your answers are great, and I especially appreciate the shout-out and the link in your post. Would you consider pasting your answers into my comments column as well? What I do is, a month or so after the post date, and after everyone who is interested in posting answers has had a chance to do so, I round-up all the answers (and that’s gonna be a hell of a chore this time around, since the answers have been so many and so good) and present them in a sort of digest form, with some of my own commentary on them. It’s a good, less cumbersome way to see what everybody said, without having to scroll through the comments again, and fun too because by then most everybody has FORGOTTEN a lot of the answers that wree given, even by themselves! And one thing I will say is, I’m pretty proud of the fact that my site is not one where people get burned or otherwise humiliated for their opinions– discussion is great, but everything has remained remarkably civil, so don’t fear that you’re steeping into some kind of snark pit or something by posting your answers there. So please consider joining us on my site, and even if you don’t I shall certainly provide a link to yours so that everyone can check your answers out anyway. Thanks again for becoming part of SLIFR!
Dennis – omigod, you’re on my blog!! Your site is so cool!!!
Yes, I was shy. Okay … I’m going over there now and will post my answers!!
I also loved to see how many people over on your site chose It Happened One Night as Capra’s best … how totally awesome. :)
Well.. Amanda Donohoe may be on my freebie list too, Sheila.. but that has nothing whatsoevah to do with the choice of my favourite Ken Russell movie.. at all. *ahem*
Re Renee, to me she always looks like she just woke up from a nap.
peteb – have we discussed this before? What is Amanda Donohue up to now?
okay, call me shallow peterb and Sheila, but I will always remember Amanda Donohue and Michele Greene kissing on LA Law (Was that the first lesbian kiss on network TV?).. As I thought both were hot at the time, the incident is seared, seared in my mind.
To go COMPLETELY off topic, isn’t it strange that some heterosexual men (uh, me) have very little problem with actors playing lesbians (e.g. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in Bound; to get slightly on topic)… whereas we freak out about actors playing homosexuals (the surprise kiss between Michael Caine and Christopher Reeves in Deathtrap still gives me the willys)… ummm, did I say that guys like me are shallow??
10) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
yeah, i guess mine was a drive in too: we saw “holy grail” when it first came out in a drive in. It was a misty night, and in the car in front of us the couple was making out and the guy kept hitting the brake pedal…which really started to tick us off as the red light would blossom on our windshield. So we got one of our friends to go knock on their window and ask him to quite hitting the brakes so we could see the screen!
JFH: I am shallow right with you. I first knew of Amanda Donohue when she took LA Law by storm too!! And yes – first lesbian kiss!
Love that you said “seared” twice. hahahahaha
Re:Sandra Bullock. I saw an interview with her. She said after doing “Crash” she will NEVER do another picture she doesn’t feel 100% invested in. She had always felt pretty much like that before, but that picture just sealed the deal. She said if she didn’t stand behind it – comedy, tragedy, whateve,- she just wasn’t gonna do it. I respect that. I love her.
I loved Grace Kelly in “Rear Window”. I thought she was very believably impulsive and foolish. The plot would have bombed if she had not been.
But Sheila, have you seen “Night of the Iguana”? I think some time ago you said that you had not. Richard Burton, you know, played the drunk priest. I thought Gardner was superb in that, and it’s the movie I always think of when I think of her.
But NEVER be ashamed to be a nerd on this blog!
Pffft! As if.
What I should have said was “must not be a pedant.”
I think we have, Sheila, discussed ‘What’s Amanda doing?’ before.
Currently, that would be the lead role in a new TV series Murder City.. which I haven’t actually watched yet.. my bad.
As for the kiss in LA Law.. well I had the advantage of seeing all the hype much earlier for her appearance in Castaway with Ollie Reed.
I love it when you talk about Renee Zellweger.
10) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
When deployed to Afghanistan, we watched movies on our computers and laptops all the time, but that’s not too unusual, I guess. While there, we made friends with the UAE detachment and would go to their compound to have dinner and watch movies.
So, out there, in the middle of all the tents and hastily built structures, the UAE guys had built a lovely compound with tiled floors, a pool, hotel-like two-man rooms for their soldiers, and a huge TV room. They had a HUGE big screen TV in there.
The most exotic/unusual place I watched a movie, then, would be there, in the UAE compound, watching The Guru on this huge screen in a huge room filled with large floor cushions. There were only three soldiers: me, my boss and one of our troops, and about 20 UAE guys, smoking so much that the place was like a pool hall.
Good times.
I love the image of that, Cullen!!
mere – I literally GUFFAWED when I read your comment … hahahahahahaha
I try not to go off on her too often but in this case I felt I just HAD to!!
Damn–I love this quiz. I hope you will allow me a few answers.
Film that made me mad–Oliver Stone’s JFK. The scene that showed someone putting L.H. Oswald’s dead fingerprints on the gun was so irresponsible and absurd that I about had a brain hemorrhage.
Favorite sidekick–Strother Martin, in anything. He is my alltime favorite character actor. Many of his performances elicit joyful laughter from me.
William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Jennifer Tilly, Richard Widmark, Jeff Bridges(one of my favorites), Grace Kelly(Rear Window is a great movie, and she is resplendent in it).
Favorite Ford movie–I’d say The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but The Searchers, The Quiet Man, The Grapes of Wrath, or even Donavan’s Reef might hear about it, sneak in some night, and pummel me while I sleep.
Least-deserved good reputation–I think George Clooney is grossly overrated.
Most exotic movie viewing–I saw The Midnight Express while I was living in a small village outside Bogota, Colombia. My surroundings weren’t much different than some of what I saw on the screen. At the time, it had a huge impact on me. Interestingly, the movie was in English, with Spanish subtitles.
I love Robert Altman, but McCabe & Mrs. Miller is my favorite. I can’t imagine anyone in Hollywood making a movie like that today.
Capra film–I like Lost Horizon and It Happened One Night, but, even after all those viewings, I am still a sucker for It’s A Wonderful Life.
Scene I wish I could have seen filmed–Marlon Brando, as Vito Corleone, being shot down on the street in The Godfather–for a lot of personal reasons.
Political movie–The Candidate.
Your comments on Jack Nicholson re 1970-75 are perfect–I loved everyone of those movies.
As for sequels–Well, a couple of weeks ago, my best friend’s wife said her favorite movie of all time was Pretty Woman, which I found unbelievable and depressing. Her young daughter(10 years old) has seen the movie many, many times. There’s a great role model for young women–become a prostitute, and you are bound to meet rich, interesting, successful men who will take you away from it all. Yeah, sure. We got into a “discussion” about it, and I said I would love to see the sequel wherein the two of them begin to run into her former clients, and she discovers that he is a vapid, soulless loser.
Finally, thanks for the link to Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. It immediately went on my Favorites List.
DBW – I just saw the preview for Prairie Home Companion the other night and … it looks adorable. I am so excited for it.
And about the “movie making you angry” thing – it looks like I interpreted that question differently than almost everybody else who took the quiz.
And I know, right, about Sergio Leone … I need a good DAY to just browse thru the archives – there’s so much there!!
“I am so excited for it.”
Yeah, I bet. Me too.
Movie quiz
Wait, I lied. Here’s a meme. Via Sheila. I warn that I am so totally ignorant of any movies not actually made during my lifetime that there are some questions I just don’t have answers for here, and I’m not