Saturday, June 4, 2011

Pencils Down!

Just finished the Film Quiz. Hope I can get partial credit on some of the questions.

1) Depending on your mood, your favorite or least-loved movie cliché
Least loved: Whore with heart of gold, even if it is Marlene Deitrich in Destry Rides Again.

2) Regardless of whether or not you eventually caught up with it, which film classic have you lied about seeing in the past?
Well, I've exaggerated about Knife in the Water. I really did see most of it on a black and white TV that cut off the subtitles. But honestly, I didn't watch the whole thing.

3) Roland Young or Edward Everett Horton?
E.E. Horton, of course. If only for Fractured Fairy Tales.

4) Second favorite Frank Tashlin movie
What makes you think my favorite is The Girl Can't Help It? Although it is. Second favorite is anything else that doesn't have Jerry Lewis or Doris Day. Porky Pig is OK.

5) Clockwork Orange-- yes or no?
Yes, but I don't know if I'll watch it again. (Fun fact: I can play I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper on the ukulele.)

6) Best/favorite use of gender dysphoria in a horror film (Ariel Schudson)
All I can think of is Rocky Horror Picture Show.

7) Melanie Laurent or Blake Lively?
Melanie Laurent, because I have vaguely heard of Blake Lively.

8) Best movie of 2011 (so far...)
I'm going to say Fast Five, although we haven't seen it yet. That's the way we feel about car movies.

9) Favorite screen performer with a noticeable facial deformity (Peg Aloi)
I say Rondo Hatton. Mrs. Spenser says that's too easy - How about Humphrey Bogart? It's subtle, but noticable.

10) Lars von Trier: shithead or misunderstood comic savant? (Dean Treadway)
I've always liked his Dogme. Never seen a movie, though. Never wanted to.

11) Timothy Carey or Henry Silva?
Henry Silva. Leave the Bronx!

12) Low-profile writer who deserves more attention from critics and /or audiences
I'd have to pick gritty fantasy author Glen Cook, although he has nothing to do with movies. For movie writers, I got nothing.

13) Movie most recently viewed theatrically, and on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming
Theatrically, nothing. On DVD, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - worthy, but not completely satisfying, like a decent BBC miniseries. Last movie on streaming was Call of Cthulu - a 2005 version of a 1920s silent Cthulu horror film. Not a joke, actually.

14) Favorite film noir villain
I just know everybody is going to say the same thing: Tommy Udo - Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death.

15) Best thing about streaming movies?
That they are streaming. Everything else stinks - low quality, poor selection, hard to rewind/ff, no features... But if the DVD you got from Netflix has a crack in it, at least there's something to watch.

All that said, we've been watching old TV shows on Netflix streaming. Our favorite now is Have Gun - Will Travel.

16) Fay Spain or France Nuyen? (Peter Nellhaus) 
France Nuyen, mostly for being on Star Trek, but also Operation Diamond Head.

17) Favorite Kirk Douglas that isn’t called Spartacus (Peter Nellhaus) 
The bad, beautiful one? The one called Einar? (Ok, I looked that one up.)

18) Favorite movie about cars
We are so in love with car movies - we even saw Ron Howard's directorial debut for Roger Corman, Grand Theft Auto. Not our favorite, though. Mrs. Spenser wanted me to say Two-Lane Blacktop as a good snobby answer, but I have to tell the truth - It's Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.

19) Audrey Totter or Marie Windsor?
Marie Windsor for so many reasons - Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy among them.

20) Existing Stephen King movie adaptation that could use an remake/reboot/overhaul
The Shining really cries out for a Mel Brooks style parody, with maybe Rick Moranis in the Jack Nicholson role.

21) Low-profile director who deserves more attention from critics and/or audiences
Is Carlos Saura considered low profile? He makes amazing movies about dance, mostly flamenco. I never hear anything about him, though.

22) What actor that you previously enjoyed has become distracting or a self-parody? (Adam Ross)
Mickey Rourke comes to mind, but we haven't seen The Wrestler. We did see The Expendables, but everyone in that was a self-parody.

23) Best place in the world to see a movie
At my house, because they know how to make a Margarita there. We don't have a video set up in our bedroom - yet.

24) Charles McGraw or Sterling Hayden?
Sterling Holloway. Or am I thinking of Earl Holliman?

25) Second favorite Yasujiro Ozu film
As it turns out I may have only seen one - Ochazuke no Aji. We actually moved to Japan because we loved Japanese films so much, but it was for the samurai films, not the home-drama.

26) Most memorable horror movie father figure
Here's Johnny... (Note: So you don't think I'm lying about films I've seen, I have not see The Shining.)

27) Name a non-action-oriented movie that would be fun to see in Sensurround 
Maybe one of those crazy Bollywood movies, where the dance numbers go from the marketplace to the Eiffel Tower to the Alps? And the movie is all dance numbers?

28) Chris Evans or Ryan Reynolds?
Mrs. Spenser hates Chris Evans for his Human Torch. I kind of like him.

29) Favorite relatively unknown supporting player, from either or both the classic and the modern era
We've got a million of them. How about Nat Pendleton, perennial dumb cop of the Thin Man movies? You recognize him immediately.

30) Real-life movie location you most recently visited or saw
Wakulla Springs Florida, where they made Creature of the Black Lagoon. Lovely park with a great boat tour that goes right to the place where the Gill-man surfaces. Gill was played by a park lifeguard who later went Hollywood.

31) Second favorite Budd Boetticher movie
You can ask a Budd Boetticher question every single quiz - I'm still not going to watch any of his movies.

32) Mara Corday or Julie Adams?
This one stumped me, but since Julie Adams seems to have been in the Creature from the Black Lagoon, then her.

33) Favorite Universal-International western
I don't think I've ever seen one, but I guess Winchester '73 is the one I'm most likely to see someday.

34) What's the biggest "gimmick" that's drawn you out to see a movie? (Sal Gomez)
I guess it would be stunt-casting, like Neil Young's cameo in Love at Large, or Jerry Garcia in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (he was the bum with the banjo and the dog).

35) Favorite actress of the silent era
Does Zasu Pitts count as silent era? She was pretty big in talkies, too, but great in Greed.

36) Best Eugene Pallette performance (Larry Aydlette)
Singing "Landlord fill the flowing bowl", then demanding "Where's my breakfast!?!?" in The Lady Eve. We love that scene. I quote itabout every morning.

37) Best/worst remake of the 21st century so far? (Dan Aloi)
Pass.

38) What could multiplex owners do right now to improve the theatrical viewing experience for moviegoers? What could moviegoers do?
Owners could set aside a theater or two for themed film-club style programs - fright night, samurai sagas, New Wave, what ever. Moviegoers could just shut up! Except where appropriate, of course.

1 comment:

le0pard13 said...

I will applaud every France Nuyen fan (especially when they cite her Star Trek work). And I agree that Tommy Udo will likely be a popular answer here. Enjoyed reading this. Thanks.