Thanks to Kyle at The Movie Scene, Ethan at A Reservation at Dorsia and Anna at Defiant Success, I’ve been gifted the Liebster blog award, an interesting meme that has been floating around recently. Since I know you’re all insatiably curious, the rules of the blogathon are:
1: Each person must post eleven “things” about themselves.
2: Answer the eleven questions each person has given you.
3: Create eleven questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
4: Choose eleven people to award and send them a link to your post.
5: Go to their page and tell them.
6: No tag backs.
Right, well let’s not fuck around. Here are eleven “things” about me:
1: My favorite song of all time is “And You and I…” by Yes.
2: My favorite movies to watch while drunk are Evil Dead II and Delicatessen.
3: I am an avid cyclist.
4: Very few things please me more than finding an incredibly rare but great movie on YouTube, like this one.
5: My favorite movie five years ago was The Green Mile. My second favorite was Jerry Maguire.
6: I firmly believe Sex and the City 2 is the worst movie ever made and that nothing will ever beat it (and no, that’s not a challenge). It is the only movie to have ever made me vomit.
7: I would trade every movie I own for a thirteenth episode of Fawlty Towers.
8: If I see someone doing something they shouldn’t be in the cinema without good reason, I will speak up. In my lifetime I’ve asked at least a dozen people to leave.
9: I watched an unusually high amount of horror movies when I was a teenager, then fell out of love with the genre, and am only just now falling back in love with it again.
10: Once took a girl to see Ocean’s Twelve. Can’t remember if the relationship ended because the movie was terrible or I was acting like an asshole. Probably the latter, but you never know…
11: I’m a sucker for a good long take or tracking shot in a movie. Throw a few in there and no matter how bad the movie is, it’ll gain some favour from me.
Now to answer the total of 33 questions Kyle, Ethan and Anna have asked me.
Kyle’s Questions
How has film influenced your day-to-day living?
Well… hugely. I try to watch at least one or two films a day, so yeah it does affect it greatly. It also influences the things I talk about and do.
What film has had the most impact on who you are as a person?
Werckmeister Harmonies. Easily. There is just no question about it. Every single facet of my personality was refined by that film the moment I first saw it last December.
Godard or Truffaut? Why?
I love The 400 Blows and Day for Night, but I have to defend Godard since I know most people will go for Truffaut. Truffaut is the great filmmaker, Godard is the genius.
What is your favorite era or wave in film?
The seventies. So much greatness emerged during that decade and refined itself.
What is a film you wished you liked more, but for some reason can’t?
Brief Encounter. I love British movies, I love classic romances… I don’t like this movie.
If you could remake a film, what film would it be, who would you cast for the leads, and what would you change about it?
I don’t like remakes, I don’t see the point in them, I wouldn’t remake any movie.
What is the best remake of a film you’ve seen and what did they do right with it?
Probably Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear. I prefer it to the original and think it’s one of the scariest movies I’ve seen. Fucking fantastic remake.
Are you a proponent of the auteur theory?
Certainly. The director is always the most important part of a film crew.
If you could collaborate with a director on a project, who would it be and what would the project be?
Michael Haneke on whatever he decides to do next.
Do you prefer black-and-white cinematography or colour?
If you’d asked me this a while back I wouldn’t have been so sure, but now my answer is definitely, without any doubt, black-and-white. That’s one preference I’m absolutely certain of.
What is the most number of films you’ve watched in a single day?
Feature films? Seven.
Ethan’s Questions
Which do you prefer: foreign or English-language films?
Foreign films, but not by as wide a margin as you might think.
Black and white or colour?
As I said earlier, black and white, always and forever.
Has any film changed the way you look at something? If so, which one and what did it change?
Yes. Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing made me change my mind about the death penalty. I may change it back at any time though.
What part of the filmmaking process interests you the most?
Cinematography. Easily.
Have you started working on creating your own films?
I’ve made a few arthouse shorts, and I put one of them online, but I’m reluctant to share them because I know they’ll immediately be described as “pretentious arthouse trash” (which they probably are).
Did you discover film on your own or did someone expose you to it?
The latter.
What’s your favorite genre?
Ingmar Bergman. Just kidding, it’s arthouse/avant-garde.
Do you just enjoy watching films, is it actually a career path that you want to pursue, or do you already work in the film industry?
At the moment, I just enjoy watching movies.
When a novel is adapted to film do you read the book before watching it or vice versa?
Sometimes. My girlfriend’s a huge book buff so I read some of what she reads. Interestingly, the worst book I’ve ever read is The Da Vinci Code, which I read before seeing the movie but couldn’t finish. Dan Brown should put down his pen and pick up his crayons.
What do you think is the most powerful creative medium? Why?
Either music or film. It’s so impossible to choose between those two. Probably film.
What’s the best use of music you’ve ever seen in film?
Oh that’s easy. This scene right here (the music kicks in at around six minutes, and lasts until the end of the clip):
Anna’s Questions
Any actors you show promise for?
That aren’t already famous? No, not really. I could think of a few directors, though.
Anyone you’re hoping makes a comeback soon?
No, not really. Most of my favorite actors are either still working or dead. Same with directors.
Name someone in Hollywood you find overrated?
Jeremy Renner. There, I said it, have at me.
What do you do apart from blogging and watching movies?
I work, I sleep, I cycle, I read, I listen to music and I talk to people.
What TV shows do you watch?
Fawlty Towers, Spaced, Open All Hours, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I know three of those are history now, but I still rewatch my DVDs of them often.
Your most prized DVD?
The Seventh Seal. Criterion Collection reissue.
Do you watch movies in theatres more or at home?
At home.
You have the chance to go back in time to see a film premiere. Which film would you see?
I’d love to be at the premiere of Erich von Stroheim’s now infamously-cut Greed. Is there any other acceptable choice besides that?
Dog or cat person?
Cat.
Whose movies have you seen the most of?
As of writing this I’ve seen 41 Ingmar Bergman movies. So yeah, that guy.
Name your guilty pleasure.
I don’t really have one, but if you paid me a hundred bucks to write “masturbating” in this space I would. Just kidding. Oh come on, it was a bad joke, lighten up.
Now to pass this “thing” on to another eleven people. Don’t feel like you have to do it if I choose you because it is quite a difficult task:
Jessica @ The Velvet Cafe
James @ The Cameraman’s Revenge
Scott @ Front Room Cinema
Steven @ Surrender to the Void
Mark @ Marked Movies
David @ Taste of Cinema
Cherokee @ Can You Dig It
Nostra @ My Filmviews
vinnieh @ vinnieh
Shantanu @ U, Me and Films
Sam @ Duke and the Movies
And my eleven questions are:
1: What’s the best film your favorite director has made?
2: What’s your favorite pre-1930 film (if you don’t have one – and you really should – what’s one you’d like to see?)
3: What’s the best movie you think not enough people have seen?
4: What’s your favorite musical album of all time?
5: Gus van Sant said he remade Psycho “so nobody else would have to.” Do you think this is an acceptable reason?
6: Rank these decades for film: 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s.
7: If you only had a few hours left to live and chose to spend them watching a movie, what movie would you watch?
8: Citizen Kane or Vertigo? (if you haven’t seen one or either, the question for you is Alfred Hitchcock vs. Orson Welles).
9: My Dinner with Andre is a film which consists of nothing but two people talking. Le Quattro Volte is a film which contains not a single word of dialog. Would you rather watch a completely dialogue-free movie or one that’s non-stop dialogue?
10: Think carefully about this one: what is the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
11: What’s your favorite film score (not soundtrack)?
