Filler Quiz from Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly

Late night doing and stuff... I look out for a quiz from Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule to kill my boredom when I can't entirely do a new review or article just yet.

1) Second-favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
A Clockwork Orange (favorite is 2001: A Space Odyssey)

2) Most significant/important/interesting trend in movies over the past decade, for good or evil.
Most significant is the darkness added to modern cinematic pictures. Most important is the ever continuing conversion to digital. I'm really holding out for film to survive.

3) Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) or Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman)?
I'm only familiar with Bronco Billy.


4) Best Film of 1949.
Tough call between artistically superior The Third Man and thrill-ride White Heat, but I think I'll go with The Third Man.

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

6) Has the hand-held shaky-cam directorial style become a visual cliché?
Most definitely. But every once in a while, it doesn't matter. The story works with it.

7) What was the first foreign-language film you ever saw?
Well, technically English would be my foreign language, but if we ignore that, the earliest I can remember is Kung Fu Hustle...

8) Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) or Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre)?
Charlie Chan. I actually know who that is... Man, I feel so behind on cinema from these things.

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

10) Favorite animal movie star.
The missing in action cat from Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye.

11) Who or whatever is to blame, name an irresponsible moment in cinema.
The deaths of Brandon Lee and Vic Morrow. Probably Morrow's is worse since it not only resulted in his death, but the death of two children.
One that probably doesn't involve a death would the Maria Schneider rape scene in Last Tango in Paris or the scene where they actually cut Marilyn Burns' finger in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

12) Best Film of 1969.
Easy Rider. No contest. The DEFINING movie of 69.

13) Name the last movie you saw theatrically, and also on DVD or Blu-ray.
The last film I saw theatrically was Zero Dark Thirty and on DVD is Rear Window (which I've come to the conclusion that I simply cannot go a month without seeing that movie - I need to add it to my collection soon!).

14) Second-favorite Robert Altman film.
Wow, that's actually pretty hard to say because to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Altman from what I've seen. I suppose since my favorite was The Long Goodbye (thanks largely to the coolness of Saul Rubinek's performance), my second favorite would be The Player (already we're on movies I'm indifferent to though I acknowledge their significance).
The only other Altman movie I've seen is Nashville.
I am somewhat optimistic for MASH, Short Cuts and Gosford Park, though.

15) What is your favorite independent outlet for reading about movies, either online or in print?
Movie blogs most certainly - in particular, film squish and Lost in the Movies decide what will be the next movie I watch really... I also enjoy various books, in particular naming Easy Rider, Raging Bulls. The only movie magazine I still read is Fangoria. It use to be Empire, but they're really sort of the People magazine of film to me now (sorry...), though I do enjoy them asking film professionals trivia questions on their own movies.
Every once in a while I read Variety and I do intend to read Premiere sometime soon.

16) Who wins? Angela Mao or Meiko Kaji? (Thanks, Peter!)
I suppose if you're more into the sexualisation of kung fu, you'd go for Meiko, but it's all Mao for me.

17) Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) or Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly)?
Mona Lisa Vito. This is totally based on looks, though I did like Tomei's performance. C'mon, she was beautiful!

18) Favorite movie that features a carnival setting or sequence.
Grease is the only good movie I can think of with one (albeit there are horrifying high theater related memories with it). Star Kid felt good as a child but not anymore and I have not finished The Notebook without sleeping (though I don't think it's necessarily a bad movie). I do wish I'd seen Strangers on a Train, Lady from Shanghai or Frankenstein and Me already.

Really, my favorite carnival sequence is not even film: It's the final battle between the Joker and Batman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

19) Best use of high-definition video on the big screen to date.
David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE, which brilliantly uses digital video effects to heighten the disorienting terror of his vision.

20) Favorite movie that is equal parts genre film and a deconstruction or consideration of that same genre.
I love Scream and Last Action Hero (terribly underrated that second one), but I'm going to give it to Starship Troopers. Very ballsy film to call out nationalism and modern propaganda. Well done, Verhoeven.

21) Best Film of 1979.
ALIEN!!!!!!! ALIEN ALIEN ALIEN!!!!!!! ALIEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

22) Most realistic and/or sincere depiction of small-town life in the movies.
I like to think of Blue Velvet, since there is somewhat a line between the wholesome neighborhood wonder and the gritty, shocking horrific underground...

23) Best horror movie creature (non-giant division).
The Wolf Man (Both Lon Chaney Jr. and Benicio Del Toro, although the Del Toro film was awful), Boris Karloff's The Mummy and Frankenstein and Elsa Lanchester's The Bride of Frankenstein.
Like I said, I'm a sucker for the Universal Horror Movie Classics.
I would give honorable mention to the Xenomorph, Count Orlock and The Thing.

24) Second-favorite Francis Ford Coppola film.
The Godfather, Part II (first favorite is Bram Stoker's Dracula - yea, I know I'm in the minority on that one).

25) Name a one-off movie that could have produced a franchise you would have wanted to see.
If they hadn't quickly ended the battle between Ness and Capone in The Untouchables, I would've loved to see their battle span a few more movies. They may have even extended Malone's life span, I want to see more of that bastard.

26) Favorite sequence from a Brian De Palma film.
It's a toss-up between Carrie unleashing her havoc on the prom or The Phantom of the Paradise confronting Swan.

27) Favorite moment in three-strip Technicolor.
The witch creating her poison apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Just a single interchanging sequence of the apple to showcase how it dooms one who eats it... so many colors and brilliant animations without being too excessive.

28) Favorite Alan Smithee film. (Thanks, Peter!)
Well, the only one I've seen was The Birds II, which was eh ugh meh. I've seen Heat on tv, but given it was tv in Algeria, they used the theatrical cut. So, I can't say Heat.

29) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) or Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)?
Buttermaker, man. C'mon, son.

30) Best post-Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen film.
I've taken more to sticking with earlier Woody Allen so far, so to my regret the only Woody Allen post-Crimes and Misdemeanors films I can admit to seeing are Small Time Crooks and Midnight in Paris. I'll go with the latter.

31) Best Film of 1999.
Ooo wow, very tough one. We got Fight Club, The Matrix and Being John Malkovich. We got Eyes Wide Shut, American Beauty and Ghost Dog. I'm more in the mainstream for what films occurred then...
My selection of Best Film of 1999 (not my favorite of 1999, though it's up there)... Julie Taymor's Titus. It's brilliant, you don't see things like that anymore today.

32) Favorite movie tag line.
'Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water' and 'In space, no one can hear you scream.'
If you don't know where neither of those come from, I can't help you.

33) Favorite B-movie western.
Really can't call out any western I've seen as a B-movie... Closest I can think of is The Wild Bunch and that is so not a B-movie.

34) Overall, the author best served by movie adaptations of her or his work.
Raymond Chandler or Elmore Leonard. I think Chandler would be the better in this field. Maybe Stephen King if some of his stuff wasn't so bad.
I like to think though some of Clive Barker's adaptations weren't very good, they all had the feel needed for his tales of the macabre.

35) Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) or Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard)?
When in doubt, always go with Hepburn. Susan Vance, sir.

36) Favorite musical cameo in a non-musical movie.
Aerosmith appearing at the last second of Wayne's World 2 to save Waynestock by performing 'Shut Up and Dance'. I was a child, had no idea who Aerosmith was at the time (my mom fixed that for me) and that was still a FUCK YEAH moment for me.
I don't know if Singles counts for Alice in Chains performing 'Would?' at the club while Matt Dillon talks about 'Citizen Dick'. It's a pretty awesome performance.

37) Bruno (the character, if you haven’t seen the movie, or the film, if you have): subversive satire or purveyor of stereotyping?
I haven't seen the movie but as a once devoted watcher of Da Ali G Show, he's my least favorite Baron Cohen persona. Purveyor of stereotyping in my mind.

38) Five film folks, living or deceased, you would love to meet. (Thanks, Rick!)
David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Dennis Hopper, Boris Karloff, Quentin Tarantino