I've been coming across a lot of interesting film surveys lately on some of my favorite movie sites. While I read the questions and then the answers that various web users had posted and then reflected on what my answers would be and then wondered how some of my friends or family would answer, I realized something. I think I enjoy talking about movies a little bit more than I do actually watching them.
That's a hard fact for me to swallow. Me, the guy who loves movies and can't get enough of them. I accept that I don't have as much free time to just watch a movie when I feel like it; getting married and working for a living has cut down on my viewing time dramatically, not that there's anything wrong with that.
In college I hosted screenings at the house I lived in and watched at least two or three more movies on my own in only a week's time. Now I'm down to one new movie a week, sometimes none. I find myself carefully selecting the next film I am willing to devote time to and setting a time when I'll be able to watch it. Occasionally I'll catch up with friends and family and that's when I really seem to enjoy movies as of late, when I'm talking about them.
So here are a few of my favorite questions from other surveys that I'm throwing out there (modified with some questions of my own design).
1) What film made you angry, either while watching it or in thinking about it afterward?
2) One of your favorite movie lines
3) Describe a perfect moment in a movie
4) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
5) Is it possible to know with any certainty if you could like or love someone based partially on his or her taste in movies? If so, what film might be a potential relationship deal-breaker for you, or the one that might just seal that deal?
6) The scene you most wish you could have witnessed being filmed
7) Ideal pairing of actors/actresses to play on-screen siblings (or parents and children)
8) Your favorite movie poster/one-sheet, or the one you’d most like to own
9) 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 you’d actually be interested in seeing?
10) Your favorite political movie
11) Favorite special effects moment
12) What is the movie you’ve encouraged more people to see than any other?
13) Your favorite movie theater
14) Your favorite film made for children
15) Your favorite character name
16) Your favorite film of 1970s, -80s, -90s
17) Your favorite movie based on a book you've read
18) Your favorite book you'd like to see as a movie and who should direct and star
19) Describe a moment in a movie that made you weep
20) 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)
Post your answers as comments or email them to me at filmnarrative@yahoo.com
6 comments:
wow, that' s going to take time processing all those questions even if only two people respond. Maybe you planned it that way...:0) I might be able to answer some but not all and not now!-Mom
5) When you told me two years ago that you'd been looking through Brandon's movie collection and saw he had "Almost Famous" and you told him I'd just bought the special "Untitled" edition, and you told me he said he'd be really interested in watching that, basically I was like, I wanna go out with that guy. So, the answer to #5 is yes! More answers to come via e-mail, but that question jumped out at me.
And by the way, I kind of noticed what you were talking about, how you really enjoy talking about film but don't always have the opportunity to go see movies, when we were camping last weekend. You talked for at least an hour about movies, but you said you were kicking yourself for not seeing "Pirates" yet.
1) What film made you angry, either while watching it or in thinking about it afterward?
- American History X, I’ll just say the ending, and the whole movie in general. I am angry that the movie depicts a culture, a way of thought that actually exists in this world. That it isn’t fiction except in story alone, if that makes sense.
2) One of your favorite movie lines
- “You either surf or you fight.”, “Charlie don’t surf” – Colonel Kilgore, Apocalypse Now Redux
- “Now listen up, you primitive screwheads. See this? This... is my boomstick! The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You GOT that?” – Ash, Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness
3) Describe a perfect moment in a movie
- Colonel Kilgore standing on the beach in Apocalypse Now with bomb shells going off around him, unwavering in his orders and unwilling to take cover from the enemy fire. He cannot be harmed.
4) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
- Passau, Germany – The Three Rivers Theater. It had three theaters, each named after one of the three rivers that converge at Passau. I saw Shrek II there in the Donau (Danube) theater.
5) Is it possible to know with any certainty if you could like or love someone based partially on his or her taste in movies? If so, what film might be a potential relationship deal-breaker for you, or the one that might just seal that deal?
- Partially? I’d say yeah, partially. Any Wes Craven movie/ that style of horror movie. Why? Cause they are crap, and I couldn’t be with someone who watches the Halloween movie marathon and not laugh cause they are so terrible.
6) The scene you most wish you could have witnessed being filmed
- The helecopter strike on the beachhead in Apocalypse Now Redux
7) Ideal pairing of actors/actresses to play on-screen siblings (or parents and children)
- I assume this is excluding ACTUAL sibling or parents and children, thus excluding the likes of Douglas’s and Baldwins.
8) Your favorite movie poster/one-sheet, or the one you’d most like to own
- I don’t know enough to really say. I wouldn’t mind an original Star Wars one. My cousin in WV has one.
9) 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 you’d actually be interested in seeing?
- Forrest Gump, base the sequel on the book Gump and Company. Also, the book is set at the right time that you could still use Haley Joel Osment for the son.
10) Your favorite political movie
- Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb
11) Favorite special effects moment
- In Big Fish when young Ed Bloom is walking across the circus tent when time is stood still and he pushes the popcorn out of the way. That was just wow. Partly because of the lead up to it and partly because of the look of the movie.
12) What is the movie you’ve encouraged more people to see than any other?
- Blues Brothers, they don’t make car chases like they used too.
13) Your favorite movie theater
- Carmike 8 by East Town Mall in Knoxville, TN
14) Your favorite film made for children
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
15) Your favorite character name
- Nigel Tufnel (This is Spinal Tap) , it’s a play off of Eric Clapton
16) Your favorite film of 1970s, -80s, -90s
- 1970s = Apocalypse Now & Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1980s = Blues Brothers & This is Spinal Tap & The Abyss
1990s = Jackie Brown & The Big Lebowski & Clerks
17) Your favorite movie based on a book you've read
- Silence of the Lambs, a great adaptation
18) Your favorite book you'd like to see as a movie and who should direct and star
- I’d like to see The Hobbit done as a film, but the cast is set up pretty well already with several major roles filled in the LotR trilogy. I will first suggest a series of books that actually could be done in two films. Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles consists of 5 books about a father and 5 books about his son. The first 5 would be this film, the Amber Chronicles.
- Book(s)= Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos
Director= Terry Gilliam, strange enough imagination to bring forth the world transitions and world that exists.
Cast = I would have to reread the books in order to properly decide what the cast would be, since it involves 9 princes, plus about 10-20 supporting characters.
19) Describe a moment in a movie that made you weep
- When the store owner shoots the locksmith’s kid in Crash and the end of Big Fish
20) 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)
- Almost Famous, the t-shirt fight and the ensuing 10 minutes of argument and partying. That scene, I think, shatters William Miller’s perception of the rock star lifestyle. The movie isn’t the same after that. It goes from a boy fulfilling his dream, which was fine, to being a movie about coming of age. William falls in love, experiences loss, anger, near death, betrayal. Thats a transendent moment.
1) What film made you angry, either while watching it or in thinking about it afterward?
The only thing I can think of is American History X, because the ending was so frustrating.
2) One of your favorite movie lines
“Joe… is it okay if I leave the couch now? I’m gonna leave the coach…” -Empire Records
3) Describe a perfect moment in a movie
I love the scene in Eternal Sunshine when Jim Carrey is explaining to Kate Winslet (in his memory) in the abandoned beach house why he left. The house is deteriorating as his memory is erased, and she sayd, “What if you stay this time?” And it makes me so happy. =)
4) Most exotic or otherwise unusual place in which you ever saw a movie
One time at our house we set up a projector and watched Kill Bill (vols. 1 and 2 back to back) on a big white wall in our living room.
5) Is it possible to know with any certainty if you could like or love someone based partially on his or her taste in movies? If so, what film might be a potential relationship deal-breaker for you, or the one that might just seal that deal?
Definitely. See comment of original survey post. Basically I fall for people’s taste in movies.
6) The scene you most wish you could have witnessed being filmed
I love the scene in My Best Friend’s Wedding where everyone in the room starts singing “Say A Little Prayer For You.” Judge me not.
7) Ideal pairing of actors/actresses to play on-screen siblings (or parents and children)
Brooke Shields and Keri Russell as mother and daughter. They look an awful lot alike.
8) Your favorite movie poster/one-sheet, or the one you’d most like to own
I really like the creativity behind the elaborate Elizabethtown promo poster, and the style it is done in reflects the scrapbook/map Kirsten Dunst creates in the movie. Very well done.
9) 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 you’d actually be interested in seeing?
Maybe the Royal Tenenbaums? Maybe not.
10) Your favorite political movie
Stealing this from Owen, All the President’s Men.
11) Favorite special effects moment
I thought the effects in the latest Pirates movie were pretty darn good.
12) What is the movie you’ve encouraged more people to see than any other?
Waking Life
13) Your favorite movie theater
The Quaker Theatre in New Philadelphia, OH.
14) Your favorite film made for children
The Lion King
15) Your favorite character name
Penny Lane
16) Your favorite film of 1970s, -80s, -90s
Star Wars, the Terminator, and Empire Records, just off the top of my head.
17) Your favorite movie based on a book you've read
To Kill a Mockingbird
18) Your favorite book you'd like to see as a movie and who should direct and star
Many Waters, by Madeleine L’engle. Two very attractive male twins would need to star, and Rosario Dawson could be the swarthy desert girl they meet.
19) Describe a moment in a movie that made you weep
The very END of 21 grams when Sean Penn is giving his voiceover monologue about the weight of the soul. “Five nickels… a chocolate bar…” and the sad, sad instrumental music playing.
20) 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)
Hmm. I know what this question is asking, but I can’t think of an example right now. Maybe Eternal Sunshine? At first it seemed pretty weird but then I really got into it and it’s one of my favorite movies. I’m not sure at what point I decided it was genius instead of weird.
I got an addition to make to my post, since I didn't really answer #7. My answer is that i don't have a clue who looks enough alike to pass as parent/child or as siblings. Thats the real stumper for me.
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