PROFESSOR HUBERT FARNSWORTH’S ONLY SLIGHTLY FUTURISTIC HOLIDAY MOVIE QUIZ
1) Best Movie of 2010
Twilight Eclipse... just kidding. While I'm still catching up with all of the end-of-year contenders, if the criteria were only restricted to something I want to see again and again, it would be a tie between these two imaginative and affecting films:
2) Second-favorite Roman Polanski Movie
If Chinatown is my #1 (and it is), then it's got to be the underrated Frantic from 1988.
3) Jason Statham or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
I enjoy watching them both, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson's self-deprecating humor clinches it for me.
4) Favorite movie that could be classified as a genre hybrid
Neil Marshall's Doomsday. It may be the epitome of derivative, but it's a bloody fun amalgamation.
5) How important is foreknowledge of a film’s production history? Should it factor into one’s reaction to a film?
Ultimately, no. The film has to stand on its own to be worthy of any merit it receives. While I enjoy reading about a film's production history, I'd rather have it make for fascinating trivia.
6) William Powell & Myrna Loy or Cary Grant & Irene Dunne
Cary Grant & Irene Dunne solely because Grant remains one of my all-time favorite actors, and Irene is My Favorite Wife.
7) Best Actor of 2010
8) Most important lesson learned from the past decade of watching movies
If it's not early matinee pricing and parking validation, then it has to be listening to blogging friends film recommendations.
9) Last movie seen (DVD/Blu-ray/theater)
DVD: The Ice Harvest Blu-ray: Knight and Day Theater: TRON Legacy
10) Most appropriate punishment for director Tom Six
A lack of notoriety would do just fine.
11) Best under-the-radar movie almost no one else has had the chance to see
Easy. This one:
12) Sheree North or Angie Dickinson
It has to be Angie, natch (especially for Rio Bravo, Point Blank, and Dress to Kill, among others). And as Patrick commented, "How many presidents did Sheree North sleep with"?
13) Favorite nakedly autobiographical movie
All That Jazz
14) Movie which best evokes a specific real-life place
Michael Mann's Heat for my hometown.
15) Best Director
Tie between Christopher Nolan and Lee Unkrich (see my answer to question #1)
16) Second-favorite Farrelly Brothers Movie
I like Fever Pitch (second to Kingpin), but not much else of theirs.
17) Favorite holiday movie
Even after all these years, it still remains It's a Wonderful Life
18) Best Actress
Has to be Natalie Portman in Black Swan
19) Joe Don Baker or Bo Svenson
Joe Don Baker, if for nothing else than his Darius Jedburgh and memorable pairing with Bob Peck in the original British mini-series, Edge of Darkness
20) Of those notable figures in the world of the movies who died in 2010, name the one you’ll miss the most
21) Think of a movie with a notable musical score and describe what it might feel like without that accompaniment.
Watched this film last month on TCM, The Big Country. Jerome Moross' score is magnificent. And while William Wyler's film would have remained exceptional without its contribution, it likely would not have been the sterling classic it remains without that grand soundtrack.
22) Best Screenplay
Joel & Ethan Cohen's adaptation of the Charles Portis novel for True Grit
23) Movie You Feel Most Evangelistic About Right Now
It would be Charles Ferguson's documentary, Inside Job (along with my answer to question #11, either will get your blood up).
24) Worst/funniest movie accent ever
Bronson Pinchot doing Serge in Beverly Hills Cop
25) Best Cinematography
I'd have to go with fellow blogger Bryce Wilson's selection of Shutter Island
26) Olivia Wilde or Gemma Arterton
Olivia Wilde. Damn, does the camera love her in TRON: Legacy!
27) Name the three best movies you saw for the first time in 2010 (Thanks, Larry!)
Inception
Toy Story 3
True Grit
28) Best romantic movie couple of 2010
With all due respect to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison, I'll take the older and lethal power couple of Helen Mirren and Brian Cox from RED any day of the week.
29) Favorite shock/surprise ending
I went back and forth with this one (with The Sixth Sense and Memento), but finally settled on the multiple surprise layers of The Prestige.
30) Best cinematic reason to have stayed home and read a book in 2010
Anything directed by Tom Six (ah crap... I invalidated by answer for question #10!)
31) Movies in 2011 could make me much happier if they’d only
... stop this man from making another Transformers movie:
Your answers leave me torn between wishing I'd seen more movies this year and happy that I didn't. :-D
ReplyDeleteI'm just always in awe. It feels like me trying to read French. I studied it three years in high school, so I can make a few words at a time, but never truly understand what I'm reading!
ReplyDeleteI was so excited at question #29 because I'd seen all those movies. THE PRESTIGE actually didn't surprise me, as I had it figured out, but I still loved it. So, I'd go with MEMENTO. :)
You amaze me, Michael!
Excellent answers, leOpard13! I missed THE TILLMAN STORY and need to rectify that soon. And I'm assuming that since IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is in your pantheon that my introduction above was an homage! Even if not, I've always liked the name! :)
ReplyDeleteThere are some great ones out there, Naomi. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYou are always so kind, Jen. And you've inspired me for another viewing for Memento. Many thanks, my friend.
ReplyDeleteI very much look forward to your movie quizzes, my friend. And I heartily recommend The Tillman Story doc, even Jon Krakauer's Where Men Win Glory book. Many thanks, Dennis.
ReplyDeleteNice choices. Interesting that you picked Heat over Collateral for capturing LA, as I've always thought it was the second movie that really nailed what LA feels like for me (were else can you see The Virgin Mary hawking laundry detergent?)
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just because Collateral spent more time in The Valley...
I can't disagree with you regarding Collateral and its perspective. I love Mann's viewpoint of the city in both films. I think in Heat he crisscrossed L.A. more though, and in areas I grew up around so I feel a little closer to it and hence picked that film. I once lived down the street from the old Centinela Drive-in where the money exchange ambush was staged for Heat, in fact. But thinking about it, I'm now not far away from the nightclub in Leimert Park (where the third killing takes place), so either would have worked for me. Thanks much for the comment, Bryce. I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteWould it please you to hear that I don't know who Tom Six is? AND I didn't google it to support you preventing notoriety. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother great list! I love when you put these together.
Confession: I didn't like Toy Story 3. Let's still be friends, though, k?
Are you going to do a Black Swan post?
Whoa! I must have angered your site; look at all those repeat comments. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteForgot that I did a cookie cleaning and so my name didn't show...
TS is the guy who came up with The Human Centipede. The less said, the better.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's perfectly okay that we disagree on TS 3. My son loved Happy Feet, and he still lives with me ;) .
I don't know if I could do Black Swan justice in a post like my friend Bryce did with his look at it. Thank you very much, Rachel.
Not a problem. I've delete the duplicates.
ReplyDeleteI love the choice of Shutter Island for cinematagrophy, and Robbie Robertson's score is also a good answer for the question about how a quality composition can add to the texture of a film
ReplyDeleteThanks, Colonel. Would you ever consider participating in one of these? I'd love to read your answers.
ReplyDelete