movie meme thing

Two things before I start. Adverts, actually. Firstly, check out Emma's upcoming blogathon . Nope, I've no idea who I'm gonna write about...and secondly, check out this blogathon I missed and can't be bothered to rush a reply for today. I'd have picked one of M Night's scripts and gushed unintelligably about it.

And now. I found this on the total film forum - any excuse to talk about me! And it'd be cool if anyone else who happens to be reading this, and wants a go, had a go, because I want to see what other people put. So comment, and try it on yer own blog!

How old were you when you first went to the cinema and watch did you watch?:
No idea. The earliest things I recall seeing are Toy Story and the first Mr Bean film. And, bizzarely, Empire Strikes Back, though that can't possibly be right. I'm not old. Perhaps it's me subconsciously inventing memories for things that should have happened. Did they ever re-release Star Wars et al in the cinema?

Three films about films and/or cinema: Ed Wood and Bowfinger taught me everything about direction. I broken a few moral laws here or there; I've even attempted a giant octopus (no, seriously. With stuffed tights and selective camerawork)

Favourite Actresses: None really...Monica Belluci is pretty...

A film that changed your life and why: The Sixth Sense. Before that, I didn't have any conception of films as art or even anything intelligent.

Great directors but which film of their's is your favourite? Kubrick, Hitchcock, Powell & Pressburger, Kurosawa, Lang. Ach! OK, well I don't get on with Hitchcock and I've only seen Vertigo. Ditto Kurosawa on the strength of Seven Samuri. Powell & Pressburger...heard of them...did they do A Matter of Life and Death? I haven't seen it...Fritz Lang, I have seen Metropolis which is amazing. And my scattering of Kubrick (Full Metal Jacket, 2001:ASO, Barry Lyndon...Spartacus...a bit of Dr Strangelove...). Can't pick. I'm indifferent to them all equally. Not indifferent, perhaps, they're all great. But I don't truly love any of them. Either FMJ or 2001. 2001 I think...

Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Laurel And Hardy, who's the best?
Erm...gosh, it's a good day for embarassing confessions, isn't it? It'll be Buster Keaton very soon. We're going to see two of his films screened, with a real pianist accompanying them, a la how they would have screened silent movies. He will, presently, be the only one I've seen, and thus favourite by a long shot!

You're remaking a classic, which one and who's your new stars?
Never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miscast actors happens quite a bit, what's the worst you've seen?
The one I can think of which always annoys me is William Hurt in the Village. I love that film, can't stand him. I don't like his voice or face; is it just me or can't he act? I simply don't believe him. Which is a pity since he's playing a character who I'd love in the hands of almost anybody else. Except Kevin Costner.

Most overrated good movie?
At the moment, Pulp Fiction. It's just a great film, get over it! Seriously, I adore it, but it's not what I'd call a classic.

Most overrated bad movie?
Vertigo and Seven Samuri. Two of the greats, eh? Sorry...

Worst movie ever? Heat and Dust and The Odyssey stick in my mind as so insanely boring I couldn't sit through them to the end.

Favourite British films: That's hard, because I don't really notice. But oooooh Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are great!

Best road movies? Stand By Me. Is wonderful.

Favourite Actors: I'll go out of my way to see things with Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Robert Redford and (at the mo) Tim Roth. They're all cool.

Who Would Play You In A Biopic Of Your Life? Sienna Gullory.

Most Irritating Cinema Advert Ever: The trailer for A Good Woman. It makes me MAD. Stuffed with people delivering epigrams in an attempt to be witty (actors seem to think that just speaking Oscar Wilde lines makes them funny. It doesn't. They have to be placed in a particular way to make them sparkle) made worse that, for a two minute trailer based on an Oscar Wilde play, there isn't a single whole line I recognise ("Crying is the refuge of ugly women..." comes from it, but I assure you the original answer wasn't the lame "...pretty ones go shopping"). I just hate people who think they can make Wilde funnier - because they never succeed, and because aside from Importance of being Earnest, his stories are more than strings of clever lines. And lets not get me started on Lord Darlington (originally a decent fellow) being called an "international playboy..." Just when it can't get any worse, cue syrupy music, editing which gives away half the plot and a totally unecessary VOICEOVER MAN, er, voiceover. Also, the Spy Game trailer, which is guilty of criminally misrepresenting the film.

Which Film Magazines/Forums Do You Read? I got an Empire subscription; Friend 3 gets Total Film and we share them both. I haunt the Empire forums, and live on certain imdb talk pages. I'm losseolisia on there...

You Have To Swap Your Life With A Movie Plot, Which One Do You Choose?
Easy. Return of the King - I want to be Eowyn.

A film that scared you at the cinema/home?
Stuuuupid question. Never seen anything scary at the cinema, but at home Sixth Sense and Picnic at Hanging Rock stand as bastions of "approximately how scary I can handle"

Your favourite silent movie? I haven't seen that many. In fact, I think I've only seen two. Shame on me! But Metropolis is absolutely mindblowing.

A crap film that you know is crap but you love? People keep telling me that Lost Boys is a bad film. It's not Kubrick. But it's way better than you give it credit for!!!

Favourite Directors: Terry Gilliam and M. Night. I'm fond/obsessed with Tarantino, but that's mostly because he sounds like a great chap, not because I worship his style. I like Tim Burton (obviously, as I'm a teenager), and Sergio Leone (only seen one film, so it hardly counts).
I'll go out of my way to see Tony Scott films, not because I particularly like them, but just because I do. No idea why. And Warner Herzog is a family in-joke. Never seen any of his films.

Recommend three films that will change the way you view film: Brick. It's clever, pretty, pretty and very pretty. Hero - because there's more to cinema than Hollywood. A Birth of a Nation - it invented the close up, the tracking shot, and by half way through, you'll be greatful that some other, different film, invented the sympathetic character arc and gripping plot. Seriously, I wish I had three really good ideas for this, but I don't.

On Screen Love Stories: This is where I cite Casablanca, right? Grosse Pointe Blank is sweet...I don't do romance very well, because it's rarely believable on screen. Paul Newman said this of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - "It's a love story between two men - the woman's just incidental really." He meant it in a platonic non-Brokebacky way, before people start making a fuss. So, platonically, see every film in my top ten for examples of unspoken friendy-love.

Met Any Movie Stars? Nope. I was almost going to meet the Dutch director of the film Nu, but unfortunately my parents think my career would be better served by looking around Cambridge on that day.

What's your favourite period of cinema? e.g. 20s German expressionism, French New Wave etc You kidding?! Seriously...my movie watching, and to an extent taste, is far far too wide to pick on a period. I like lots of stuff.

Favourite Soundtracks: In no particular order - Moulin Rouge, The Village, Spy Game, Lost Boys and at the moment Brick.

What Films Need A Sequel: Unbreakable was concieved as a trilogy, and I'd happily sit through two more films if they were that good quality.

The film you’ve seen the most times Probably something strange like The Addams Family. Could be Fellowship of the Ring, though I'm generally too respectful of it to rewatch it endlessly. In a few years, if things continue as present, it'll be R+GaD or Res Dogs.

The films you can quote ad infinitum The Lord of the Rings, especially Fellowship. I can talk my way through all three hours of it. The Wayne's World movies are endlessly quoted by me and my sister. And R+GaD.

Who’s your favourite cult film hero? Obi Wan Kenobi XD. Seriously, don't get started on what is or isn't cult. Erm...the origami guy from Blade Runner.

Pick one genre and give us five of your favourites from it e.g. Comedy, film noir, romance, musical etc: Again, I can't think of anything...

Two scenes that flood your tear ducts: Only two? I'm an easy cry...The end of Signs...the end of Glory...those are films I've wept over more than once. And Stand By Me made me cry for about 6 hours.

You're an interviewer, who do you interview and about which film? Anyone from R+GaD who, under pain of having to watch Birth of a Nation, will be forced to tell me every minute detail about all things relating to it.

Three great acting performances: Al Pacino in The Godfather. Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys. Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential.

Who is your sex god/goddess? Ach, I don't know. Looks like I've got through the crushy hormones phase...though Robert Redford is still hot...