Thursday, March 22, 2007

Jane Espenson: Show and Tell

For fans of Jane Espenson (Buffy/BSG/AndyBarker/Blogger). A reminder that her Andy Barker episode is on tonight (Thu. Mar. 22) and that she'll be posting comments about the action sequences on her blog afterward.

Coolio.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Opening Credits: TV Shows.

The AVClub has an interesting list of what they see as the Perfect TV Opening Credits.

Did they miss any?

Monday, March 19, 2007

Sergio Leone's latest Movie Quiz

1) What movie did you have to see multiple times before deciding whether you liked or disliked it?
Any Bergman film. I never like them at first. But when I go back to them... man.

2) Inaugural entry into the Academy of the Overrated
Paul Haggis

3) Favorite sly or not-so-sly reference to another film or bit of pop culture within another film.
Everything in Shaun of the Dead

4) Favorite Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger movie
The Red Shoes

5) Your favorite Oscar moment
After a streaker goes by David Niven quips about "short-comings"

6) Hugo Weaving or Guy Pearce?
Hugo Weaving

7) Movie that you feel gave you the greatest insight into a world/culture/person/place/event that you had no understanding of before seeing it
Although the movie as a whole isn't one of my favourites, the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan shook me up thinking what it must have been like to be there on the beach that day.

8) Favorite Samuel Fuller movie
Pickup on South Street

9) Monica Bellucci or Maria Grazia Cucinotta?
Monica Bellucci

10) What movie can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Duck Soup.

11) Conversely, what movie can destroy a day’s worth of good humor just by catching a glimpse of it while channel surfing?
Jerry Maguire

12) Favorite John Boorman movie
Excaliber

13) Warren Oates or Bruce Dern?
Tough. I first became aware of Oates after seeing him in Stripes, I love all his stuff. But Dern is a guy whose work has really grown on me as I've gotten older. Dern.

14) Your favorite aspect ratio
16:9

15) Before he died in 1984, Francois Truffaut once said: “The film of tomorrow will resemble the person who made it.” Is there any evidence that Truffaut was right? Is it Truffaut’s tomorrow yet?
I think it happened a long time ago.

16) Favorite Werner Herzog movie
Not fair to WH, it's been a long time since I saw Aguirre, I didn't like Incident at Loch Ness too much... so I'll go with Nosferatu.

17) Favorite movie featuring a rampaging, oversized or otherwise mutated beast, or beasts
Raging Bull

18) Sandra Bernhard or Sarah Silverman?
No. You cannot make me choose... But I ask if this if you had to live with either SB's character in King of Comedy or SS's character in School of Rock... which one would you choose?

19) Your favorite, or most despised, movie cliché
"You're fightin' for the guy next to you"

20) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom-- yes or no?
Sure.

21) Favorite Nicholas Ray movie
King of Kings

22) Inaugural entry into the Academy of the Underrated
Alan Arkin and Peter Falk as a team.

23) Your favorite movie dealing with the subject of television
I'll leapfrog over all the Network folks and choose Broadcast News.

24) Bruno Ganz or Patrick Bauchau?
Bruno Ganz

25) Your favorite documentary, or non-fiction, film
Thin Blue Line.

26) According to Orson Welles, the director’s job is to “preside over accidents.” Name a favorite moment from a movie that seems like an accident, or a unintended, privileged moment. How did it enhance or distract from the total experience of the movie?
"You never take an early lunch?" Peter Falk's line in The In-Laws. He's so funny he almost cracks up the uncrackable Alan Arkin but Arkin makes it a turning point for his character instead. Awesome stuff.

27) Favorite Wim Wenders movie
Wings of Desire

28) Elizabeth Pena or Penelope Cruz?
Penelope Cruz... just for the hair.

29) Your favorite movie tag line (Thanks, Jim!)
It always bugged my teenage self that the Alien tag line: "In space no one can hear you scream" didn't actually pay off in the movie. So I'll go with The Fly: Be ascaird. Be very ascaird.

30) As a reader, filmgoer, or film critic, what do you want from a film critic, or from film criticism? And where do you see film criticism in general headed?
I want my film criticism to be entertaining. I don't care if people thought a particular film was good or bad... I want interpretation, I want slagging, I want inside-scooping, I want personal reaction... even if it's bullshit. As long as it's entertaining bullshit.

EXTRA CREDIT: Do movies still matter?
Yes. If they ever did.

Dave's Yes/No Movie Review: Letters from Iwo Jima

If this review system of mine has any value it's in its brevity... However--

I just want to say that I know it might just be sour grapes, or the old Canadian Lobster Pot Syndrome, talking -- but I'm looking forward to watching a movie that DOESN'T have Paul Haggis attached as a writer.


Oh right, so a half-hearted, "Yeah, whatever."