Author Topic: Movie Questions For You to Answer  (Read 50158 times)

colonel_mexico

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #340 on: January 26, 2015, 08:50:14 AM »
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
BEN-HUR or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ton of old movies being watched when I was younger and these were my first film memories, can't remember which I saw first.  What's funny is PLATOON and THE SECRET OF NIMH are back there in the old memories of earliest films.

2. The film that defined your generation?
What 1SO said about PULP FICTION is spot on.

3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see?
Again PULP FICTION, it was turned off within 5 minutes, we were living in Germany when it came out on VHS and I remember sneaking up in the middle of the night to watch it.  I would spend an entire summer deconstructing it.

4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own?
CALIGULA 1979 yikes!

5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
A FEW GOOD MEN, though my service in the military was not within the legal realm.

6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?
AKIRA what an eye opener for anime and led me to the really cool COWBOY BEBOP series.

7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
I am unfamiliar with classic era comedy and don't really have one to offer, though as an aside BLAZING SADDLES was one of those didn't skirt any of those classic unsafe jokes and unloaded with both barrels.

8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny?
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS I'm not sure if this should go here, but bashing Nazi heads in and the ending were sure comical enough to make me smirk and feel slightly uncomfortable, very slightly. 

9. A modern movie that proves they still make 'em like they used to?
I'm not sure what this means exactly like Disney still can make great animated films like FROZEN or 3:10 TO YUMA or even TOMBSTONE from the 90s are a testament to great westerns?  ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was a fun musical though it is nowhere near anything great like they used to make 'em.  PRIDE AND GLORY was one of those films I really enjoyed just because I love those types of movies, but what would I compare it to?  Too many questions, I should not have even attempted this lol.

10. A film that made you rethink your life?
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, anybody who has a dream and the willingness to work hard can truly achieve anything. 
"What do you want me to do draw you a picture?! Spell it out?! Don't ever ask me, as long as you live don't ever ask me more!"

MartinTeller

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #341 on: January 26, 2015, 10:18:08 AM »
So first of all, I just did some searching because I wanted to learn more about why Patton made his choices (still waiting for the library to get the book).  I found this.  1SO, did you make the questions up to fit his choices, because I don't see them in the piece.


1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
I'm finding this difficult to answer.  Airplane! and/or The Muppet Movie were the first I obsessively watched over and over again, but that's not really a "love of movies" so much as it is love for particular movies.  When I really think about it, it was seeing Halloween (which my dad rented for me around the same time that he refused to let me read A Clockwork Orange) that made me chase down a bunch of other slasher films trying to find more of that magic.

2. The film that defined your generation?
It sure as shit isn't Slacker or Reality Bites or Singles or any of the other movies that tried to "define" my generation.  Since I'm only a couple years younger than Patton, I guess I'll just say Star Wars.  But he doesn't say it defines his generation, he says it "hit the sweet spot for our generation".  I agree with his assessment, anyway.

3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see?
go back a few posts

4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own?
I was going to say I Stand Alone but that's not really fair because it didn't exist while they were raising me.  I'll go with The Wicker Man but I don't know if it's "shocking" enough to be in the spirit of the question.  Female Trouble is a pretty great answer.

5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
God I hate to say it because it's so cliché, but Office Space.  As a programmer most of my other options are pretty ridiculous.

6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?
All That Jazz

7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
It's a Gift is not only very safe but a horribly unfunny movie.  I'll say Hellzapoppin', which completely throws the rule book out the window.

8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny?
Aaltra is a nice choice.  I'm gonna say Devils on the Doorstep.

9. A modern movie that proves they still make 'em like they used to?
Yeah I dunno what this means either.  Is it "as good as they used to" or "in the same manner they used to"?  I'll assume the former and say Once.

10. A film that made you rethink your life?
Scenes from a Marriage

1SO

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #342 on: January 26, 2015, 11:19:18 AM »
I was reading his list and noticed that each fit neatly into a different aspect of his life, which got me thinking of my own choices that run along parallel lines. So the questions have a small amount of extrapolation and are not a direct transfer.

1SO

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer - Junior & Bondo
« Reply #343 on: January 26, 2015, 02:18:58 PM »
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
A safe bet would be Aladdin, the first I saw in theaters and then about a bajillion times on VHS. I should revisit that. If it's the movie that kickstarted me taking films seriously, that'd probably be Pan's Labyrinth. I'm a slow starter.
Were you aware of the Disney hot streak at the time? This film follows Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. When did you go back and catch those? Did your love of Aladdin carry over into excitement for The Lion King, or did you not yet know this was from the same studio?

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2. The film that defined your generation?
It's gotta be something like The Sandlot, or maybe the recently mentioned The Mighty Ducks. There was a huge number of young-kids-playing-sports movies that my generation watched the crap out of.
One that I thought of from my generation was The Goonies, that has a similar attitude where the bad behavior of kids is almost rewarded. Difference being I like The Sandlot and hate The Goonies. It wasn't until Sin City that I realized lifeguard dreamgirl Wendy Peffercorn was played by Marley Shelton. Filmmaker David Mickey Evans also collaborated with Richard Donner on Radio Flyer, a very interesting fantasy drama about child abuse with spectacular direction.

I like that you went a different way with not picking a graphic film for your shocking selection.

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7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
The Lady Eve is the raciest movie with no sex I've ever seen. And hilarious for it.
Barbara Stanwyck usually had that effect on classic movies. Ball of Fire is right up there.



1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
I'm not sure about earliest movie, but Jurassic Park at 10 was definitely an entry point into the magic that movies could create.
I could see that being a popular choice. A movie that shows you something you've never seen in real life. Wonder if anybody will say The Matrix here.

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2. The film that defined your generation?
I've gotta go with The Matrix, and its unfortunate association with Columbine.
Interesting how you tie Columbine to this film, which is hardly the first to go with the long black coat.

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4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own.
I'm not even sure how to answer this as the list of great shocking films my parents didn't know existed is pretty vast. Shortbus I suppose.
Could you show Shortbus to your parents? Can you think of a film you watched with them where it was awkward?

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6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?
28 Days Later perhaps with the zombie label, or (500) Days of Summer with RomCom.
This is the most interesting question for me, and one of the hardest ones for me to answer. (500) Days of Summer is an excellent choice because you could argue it also upholds the narrow rom/com formula while playing as a subversion of it. Expectations vs. Reality is one of my favorite moments in recent cinema.

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7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
The Great Dictator
Nice. Doesn't get much more unsafe than that.

1SO

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer - colonel_mexico & MartinTeller
« Reply #344 on: January 26, 2015, 03:05:52 PM »
3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see?
Again PULP FICTION, it was turned off within 5 minutes, we were living in Germany when it came out on VHS and I remember sneaking up in the middle of the night to watch it.  I would spend an entire summer deconstructing it.
With only 5 minutes, I'm guessing it was the foul language, or did they decide in that amount of time that the film was probably not good?

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4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own?
CALIGULA 1979 yikes!
Yeah. That's the only film I can think of that's porn with movie stars. I saw the shorter cut, which was plenty. Bizarrely if you strip out all the sex, there's still the often sickening violence and occasional bits of good dialogue. Such a strange film.

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5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
A FEW GOOD MEN, though my service in the military was not within the legal realm.
What do you think of Jessup's argument that they had a duty to train this washout recruit. Things went bad in this case, but Code Reds save lives. I've never read a defense of that position, though it always stood out as a fairly logical argument, though a bit outdated in the modern day softer view of military training.

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6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?
AKIRA what an eye opener for anime and led me to the really cool COWBOY BEBOP series.
I love this question. If somebody said they didn't like Japanese animation, I would steer them towards Miyazaki. You go for perhaps the definitive example (though probably not the best of the anime genre.) Cowboy Bebop is so cool, I'm surprised there isn't a live action feature in the works.

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10. A film that made you rethink your life?
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, anybody who has a dream and the willingness to work hard can truly achieve anything.
I like the film, but the cynic in me doesn't believe the message.



1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
... When I really think about it, it was seeing Halloween (which my dad rented for me around the same time that he refused to let me read A Clockwork Orange) that made me chase down a bunch of other slasher films trying to find more of that magic.
Hard to reconcile this is the same Martin who to me has loved Bergman since grade school. Do you remember a particular film that developed your tastes more towards where they were when you joined the Boards? What was your first Bergman? What do you think of 80s slasher films now? Could you make a top 5 that you're still fond of?

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4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own?
I was going to say I Stand Alone but that's not really fair because it didn't exist while they were raising me.  I'll go with The Wicker Man but I don't know if it's "shocking" enough to be in the spirit of the question.  Female Trouble is a pretty great answer.
You have an appreciation of John Waters. Midnight movies were dying out right as I got big into cinema. I saw Rocky Horror that way and Pink Floyd: The Wall and I think that's it. Did you see anything this way? Like maybe Eraserhead?

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5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
God I hate to say it because it's so cliché, but Office Space.  As a programmer most of my other options are pretty ridiculous.
Don't see yourself in Hackers? Were you a fan of "The Office"?

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7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
It's a Gift is not only very safe but a horribly unfunny movie.  I'll say Hellzapoppin', which completely throws the rule book out the window.
Great pick.

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8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny?
Aaltra is a nice choice.  I'm gonna say Devils on the Doorstep.
Also a good pick, though I'm the only person on the planet who wasn't hot on the film. That makes me think of Woman in the Dunes, though calling it a comedy is a stretch.

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10. A film that made you rethink your life?
Scenes from a Marriage
Will this film have a different effect on you now that you're in a vastly improved and healthy relationship?

MartinTeller

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer - colonel_mexico & MartinTeller
« Reply #345 on: January 26, 2015, 04:06:55 PM »
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
... When I really think about it, it was seeing Halloween (which my dad rented for me around the same time that he refused to let me read A Clockwork Orange) that made me chase down a bunch of other slasher films trying to find more of that magic.
Hard to reconcile this is the same Martin who to me has loved Bergman since grade school.  Do you remember a particular film that developed your tastes more towards where they were when you joined the Boards?  What was your first Bergman?

I didn't see my first Bergman until I was 32.  It was Cries and Whispers, and then Seventh Seal.  I would say that's the movie that really steered me towards my current tastes.

What do you think of 80s slasher films now? Could you make a top 5 that you're still fond of?

Oh lord, no.  Now that list would pretty much begin and end with Halloween.  I was a kid into shocking and gross stuff, I grew out of it quickly.

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4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own?
I was going to say I Stand Alone but that's not really fair because it didn't exist while they were raising me.  I'll go with The Wicker Man but I don't know if it's "shocking" enough to be in the spirit of the question.  Female Trouble is a pretty great answer.
You have an appreciation of John Waters. Midnight movies were dying out right as I got big into cinema. I saw Rocky Horror that way and Pink Floyd: The Wall and I think that's it. Did you see anything this way? Like maybe Eraserhead?

The only "midnight movies" I remember seeing were Rocky Horror (which was thoroughly obnoxious, hated it) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I think wasn't even a midnight showing, just a somewhat late screening at my college.  I saw The Wall at a matinee.

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5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
God I hate to say it because it's so cliché, but Office Space.  As a programmer most of my other options are pretty ridiculous.
Don't see yourself in Hackers? Were you a fan of "The Office"?

I dunno if you're serious about Hackers but um, no.  Sure, I liked "The Office", but I wouldn't say any of my jobs were much like that.  Really, neither is Office Space, especially now that I work from home.

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10. A film that made you rethink your life?
Scenes from a Marriage
Will this film have a different effect on you now that you're in a vastly improved and healthy relationship?

I've been wondering that myself.  I don't want to show it to my fiancée and be like "hey, this movie really spoke to me".  Or worse, have it to speak to her.  Ditto for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer - Your Life in 10 Movies
« Reply #346 on: January 26, 2015, 05:02:21 PM »
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?

I really can't pinpoint it, but there were three things that made me love movies. First, when I was 5 years old, WCVB channel 5 out of Boston would air Charlie Chaplin shorts at 6AM on Saturday mornings. Second, my father bought a UHF antenna in 1968 and channel 56 in Boston aired movies every night of the week at 8PM. And finally, my father took me to watch the re-release of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1970 and that pretty much cemented it for me.

2. The film that defined your generation?

For my generation's time frame it is probably Star Wars, but I hated that movie, so I'll go with Repo Man, which shredded the Reagan political dogma and mass consumerism, while extolling the virtues of hardcore punk.

3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see?

My parents never stopped me from watching any films.

4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own.

Can't think of one.

5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?

I watched Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe and I fell in love with the thought of becoming a master cook.

6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?

Il Postino - I came to this film at the perfect time. I had just gotten a 35 inch TV and I could now actually read the subtitles at the bottom of the screen and this coincided with the release of films in a widescreen format. I fell in love with foreign films and have never looked back.

7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?

Monsieur Verdoux - I know a lot of Chaplin fans don't care for it, but it was a huge leap for deconstructing the legacy of the tramp by his creator.

8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny?

Withnail and IThe guy CINECAST!ing drank lighter fluid!!! He definitely had a severe substance abuse problem.

9. A modern movie that proves they still make 'em like they used to?

Sorry, they DON"T make 'em like they used to.

10. A film that made you rethink your life?

Two films which I watched within a few weeks of each other. 5 Centimeters per Second and Still Walking. The Japanese have such a somber way at looking at life and such a subtle way of highlighting its great moments.
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #347 on: January 26, 2015, 05:57:44 PM »
1. Your earliest movie that probably started your love of movies?
It’s a tie: Star Wars for the spectacular experience; Being There for it’s quiet, thoughtful comedy; The Ten Commandments (1956) for an epic classic film.
 
2. The film that defined your generation?
Easy- Star Wars.

3. The great film your parents didn't want you to see?
The Last Temptation of Christ.  My mother said, “But what if you see something blasphemous?” 

4. The great shocking film your parents didn't even know existed? One you came across on your own.
Does this mean as a kid?  I wouldn’t call Monty Python and the Holy Grail “shocking”, but they probably didn’t know about it, even after I started quoting it.  But they still wouldn’t know about almost any foreign language film, like Oldboy or Irreversable, both quite shocking.

5. The film that you closely identify with your career or what it is you wanted to be?
As a religious leader, The Mission (1986) and Calvary (2014).  The first points to a cross-cultural experience and the defense of the outcast.  The second is the lonely path of faith, and being blamed for what you did not do.

6. A genre breaker, that opened up narrow definitions of that genre?
Western—Unforgiven, which breaks the black and white morality
Gangster—The Godfather, which creates full characters full of questions
Romantic Comedy—Annie Hall, which changed the definition of what could be comedy.

7. An unsafe comedy from the classic era?
Hellzapoppin’- Insane comedy from 1941.  I notice now that it was chosen above, but really, it's the best choice for being something completely unexpected from the classic era.

8. A comedy about a subject that shouldn't be funny?
50/50—about terminal cancer.  But it’s really funny.

9. A modern movie that proves they still make 'em like they used to?
Blockbuster-- Gravity
Intense drama—The Selfish Giant

10. A film that made you rethink your life?
Apart from The Mission, perhaps Walker by Tsai Ming-liang.  I am so busy, this film made me wonder about what I miss.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #348 on: January 26, 2015, 06:35:39 PM »
I was answering this with an epic post when the computer froze and restarted. All was lost.



Feel for ya.  :'(

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Re: Movie Questions For You to Answer
« Reply #349 on: January 26, 2015, 08:27:26 PM »
10. A film that made you rethink your life?
Apart from The Mission, perhaps Walker by Tsai Ming-liang.  I am so busy, this film made me wonder about what I miss.

Nice!