And now Martin took one of my answers. Okay, let's try the short version. (Sorry Junior, my response to your answers is lost to the dataverse.)
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies? The Terminator is the one that made me wonder how they made movies.
2. The film that defined your generation? I'm from the Star Wars era, but I would say Pulp Fiction, which was the pinnacle of 90s independent cinema. Often imitated but never duplicated.
3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see? When I was early teens my neighbor and I started watching A Clockwork Orange. We didn't get far before my mom came in and put an end to that. I didn't see the film in its entirety till college.
4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own. This happens all the time now. (
Angst.) But the first one was The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. It was the first NC-17 film I saw in the theater
5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be? Living in Oblivion is a comedy, but it's a scary accurate look at filmmaking through a neurotic prism.
6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre? My double feature of Hanna-Bi and Sonatine blew open my perimeters for action films by emphasizing stillness, contemplation and the aftermath more than the action.
7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era? What the hell. Another chance to mention Dixie, the most honest and unapologetic film about Blackface entertainment there will ever be, starring Mr. Entertainment, Bing Crosby.
8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny? Fight Club, though I probably laugh more with Trainspotting
9. A modern movie that proves they still make 'em like they used to? To me, the films they used to make overall have better dialogue than films today, and more emphasis on that part of the film. So, I'm thinking Aaron Sorkin. A Few Good Men is a modern day Caine Mutiny, but The American President is like classic Frank Capra.
10. A film that made you rethink your life? I'm posting the link because my answer is ironic considering where this list came from. When I saw
Big Fan I wrote...
Watching Big Fan has made me think about this obsession I have with movies and my need to talk about it incessantly and with an abundance of passion. I need to reconsider how I'm spending my time.