Quiz answerz

[Sorry these quiz answers are going to suck.  As I mentioned on Facebook, I had lengthy answers for most of these questions, and then I lost them all when my computer died.  I'm extremely fucking upset about it and don't feel like writing the same shit again.  Again, sorry to Brando for the brevity here].

1. What film hit you at the right place and right time, pertaining to and illuminating things that were happening in your life the moment you saw it?

A SINGLE MAN.  I had a lot written on why it hit me so hard at that particularly time, but don't feel like going into it all over again.

 
2. What would be your top 5 ranked Pixar films?


1. WALL-E
2. RATATOUILLE
3. UP
4. TOY STORY/ TOY STORY 2
5. THE INCREDIBLES

3. To reiterate Cheddar’s question…. What movie/movies had the biggest negative effect on you?


I may have mentioned this before but FALLEN.  That demon-possession film with Denzel Washington where the evil spirit is passed to a person merely by touching them.  I watched it when I was a kid and still believed in God and the Devil at that point.  It had an even more negative impact on me than JAWS because instead of not wanting to swim, I was terrified of touching anyone for the longest time.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM definitely bummed me out, but I think it ultimately had a positive impact on me because I saw it when I was 13 or so and still a movie novice.  It was instrumental in helping me see film as an artistic medium at the time.

4. What seasons seem to inspire you to see and write about films the most and least?

December and January are usually when I see the most Oscar hopefuls and try to catch up on the foreign films from earlier in the year so that I can make my year-end top 10 list.  Probably when I feel most inspired to watch and write, though I think I watch the most films during the summer due to having so much more free time to do so.


5. What are five movies that you love that you feel comfortable never seeing again?


I'm surprised no one else caught this, but you had this question on the last quiz too.  I said AUDITION, MARTYRS, ANTICHRIST, and IRREVERSIBLE last time, so I'll stick with them again.

6. What anticipated 2012 film/films are you feeling the most uneasy about expectation wise?


ONLY GOD FORGIVES and TO THE WONDER are great examples here.  MAN OF STEEL for me too.

 7. Likewise, what former favorite actors are trudging down dangerous territory for you, also what actors have already strayed down the path to the point in which their name now means nothing? I’m realizing now that this is a mean sounding question.

I understand the Gosling trepidation.  I'm hoping he gets back into immersive acting roles like HALF NELSON and BLUE VALENTINE soon and stops repeating the laconic tough guy role for every other film.  He's too great an actor to limit himself in such a way.

Johnny Depp is just a straight-up mercenary at this point, no?  He'd probably admit it to you bluntly too, if you asked him.

I remember loving Edward Norton as a teen, but can't think of anything of note (apart from MOONRISE KINGDOM) that he's done in over ten years.

To reiterate something John mentioned via twitter – why is Ethan Hawke in every other shitty horror film these days? $$$, I'm sure (though, hey, as long as he continues to pump out BEFORE films every 9 years, I honestly don't care what else he does).


8. What is your take on a screenwriter’s impact on a film’s success, in other words how much of an auteurist are you?

Ugh.  I had a lot written here.  I'll try to briefly summarize through my frustration:  a great director is responsible for providing the visual language that is filled with meaning and amplifies what a screenplay is only a blueprint for.  This is the most important part of the filmmaking process for me because film is primarily a visual medium.  I take nothing away from the Charlie Kaufman's, Ben Hecht's, and Waldo Salt's of the world though, and I love and appreciate many unbelievably well-written screenplays from screenwriters who are not director.  They are still an integral part in the process.


9. What types of “provocative” cinematic trends/ideas still feel fresh, which seem to be losing their oomph in the modern age of self awareness?


The sort of docu-realism miserablist films post-KIDS have lost whatever steam they had.  Fuck that entire lazy way of making films.

Von Trier still seems fresh and provocative to me, however.  It's probably because he's got a great sense of humor and is borderline insane.

I think the most provocative modern films are the ones that are so unabashedly a product of their director's vision with little to no concern over mass marketability (e.g. THE MASTER, LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE, THE TREE OF LIFE, THE TURIN HORSE, INLAND EMPIRE, etc.)

10. What’s your favorite horror film of the 1990s (that isn’t SCREAM Cheddar!)?

I'll proudly add to the SLEEPY HOLLOW pile.  Easily my favorite of the 90s.

I used to really love JACOB'S LADDER at one point in time.  Haven't seen it in forever though.

I still love the gaudy decadence of BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA.

SEVEN isn't really a horror film per se, but it's the best near-horror film of the 90s.