Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Movie Geek Quiz Time

Move geek quizes are entertaining and you can really learn about your psychological make-up by participating in them. Sometimes that's a scary prospect as your answers can point to some deep-seated psychosis or - at best - some low-grade neurosis.

Here are the answers to a movie geek quiz I took over at the great Mobius Home Video Forum:

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times:
JAWS

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater:
TAXI DRIVER

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie:
Actor: Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise; Actress: Cate Blanchett

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie:
Actor: Chevy Chase; Actress: Julia Roberts

5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from:
BLAZING SADDLES

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs:
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with:
Doesn't happen

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see:
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

9. Name a movie that you own:
Too many to list

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops:
John Cougar Mellencamp

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?
Yes. Too many to list but penultimate: THEY CALL HER ONE EYE (aka THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE; played at my local drive-in as HOOKER'S REVENGE - summer of 1977). Most played and seen at the Drive-in: CHATTERBOX with Candy Rialson.

12. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't yet gotten around to it: ZODIAC

13. Ever walked out of a movie:
Yes - intentional walk out: THE LAST STARFIGHTER. Unintentional - kicked out of YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE for "rowdy behavior."

14. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater:
LIFE IS A HOUSE, DRIVING MISS DAISY...

15. Popcorn?
Sometimes

16. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home): Once a week

17. What's the last movie you saw in the theater:
GRINDHOUSE

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of movie:
ACTION

19. What's the first movie you remember seeing in the theater:
WINNIE THE POOH AND THE BLUSTERY DAY

20. What movie do you wish you had never seen:
SALO

21. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed:
GATES OF HEAVEN

22. What is the scariest movie you've seen:
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

23. What is the funniest movie you've seen:
BLAZING SADDLES

GRINDHOUSE split in two

Lots of pissing and moaning about GRINDHOUSE - the biggest pisser and moaner being executive producer Harvey Weinstein, who was disappointed in "poor" box office after the opening weekend. His major complaint is that some members of the audience didn't "get" what directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino were doing. In other words - Weinstein theorizes - people didn't realize it was a double bill and started walking out after the Rodriguez film - PLANET TERROR, during the fake trailers. Weinstein's solution - rerelease the films on their own.

This is a major mistake since GRINDHOUSE is ONE FILM and should be experienced as a whole...

Quoting Weinstein: "I don't think people understood what we were doing. The audience didn't get the idea that it is two movies for the price of one. I don't understand the math, but I want to accommodate the audience." Which is bullshit - Weinstein could care less about accommodating the audience - he's pissed because it didn't rake in the cash he was hoping.

Splitting the film in half doesn't accommodate the audience - in fact, it rips them off because they'll have to pay for admission twice. Cha-ching.

GRINDHOUSE demands you sit through the complete 3 hours and 11 minutes, as you start to see how the films work together - that one without the other loses its inherent power. Characters intersect - Earl McGraw, Dakota Block, Cherry/Pam; themes collide (ie - castration fixation, female empowerment).

Sadly though, Weinstein may not be far off the mark regarding the audience. I was amazed at how many people walked out of the film during the "trailers" in search of bathroom or popcorn, only to come back at the start of the next film. Obviously their loss - the trailers are worth the price of admission and shouldn't be missed. This behavior could be Pavlovian in nature - we've been trained over the years of watching movies to retreat to the concession stand, the kitchen, the bathroom during trailers - why should this be any different?

Yet, ultimately, the trailers work as the glue connecting both films - keeps up the intensity of the total package vibe. Plus there's bumpers galore and nasty looking concession food ads. And who wouldn't want to see any of these pretend films. In fact, MACHETE is being produced but straight to video...But I'd love to see THANKSGIVING just to see what the fuck that's all about.

During the trailers, this is not the time to run out to the lobby...

Anyway - there's also talk of releasing the films separately on DVD - which is a shame because the package together would be so nice. Its probably not necessary to say but, overall, GRINDHOUSE works best on the big screen and the scratches and pops on disc may be annoying - its a tough call. There's also a rumor that there will be a second disc release with the "Criterion" approach, "cleaning up" the films, remove scratches, replacing "missing reals," etc.

Now that's funny...