Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule Test

) Favorite movie featuring nuns
Black Narcissus

2) Second favorite John Frankenheimer movie
The Train

3) William Bendix or Scott Brady?
No Opinion

4) What movie, real or imagined, would you stand in line six hours to see? Have you ever done so in real life?
I think I would stand in line for any film festival involving Buster Keaton, The Marx Brothers, Yasujiro Ozu, or anything that sounds like fun. I stayed overnight at a theatre at the premier of Episode one The Phantom Menace. Nothing like camping out in a big city.

5) Favorite Mitchell Leisen movie
According to IMDB the only movie of his I've seen is "Easy Living" which is a film I love. Now I want to see more of his films.

6) Ann Savage or Peggy Cummins?
Peggy Cummins

7) First movie you remember seeing as a child
An American Tail. Whatever happened to Don Bluth?

8) What moment in a movie that is not a horror movie made you want to bolt from the theater screaming?
As a child and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as soon as he enters the temple. I was 8 and didn't know what to expect, the only time I left a movie early in fear.

9) Richard Widmark or Robert Mitchum?
Mitchum

10) Best movie Jesus
Willem Defoe.

11) Silliest straight horror film that you’re still fond of
The Return of Doctor X

12) Emily Blunt or Sally Gray?
Emily Blunt

13) Favorite cinematic Biblical spectacular
Probably still the parting of the red sea in The Ten Commandments, that film had a huge impact on me as a child.

14) Favorite cinematic moment of unintentional humor
Perhaps again in "The Ten Commandments", the self-important narration by Cecil B. DeMille or when Yul Breynner says out "His God, is God".

15) Michael Fassbender or David Farrar?
Michael Fassbender

16) Most effective faith-affirming movie
"The Decalogue"

17) Movie that makes the best case for agnosticism
"A Serious Man"

18) Favorite song and/or dance sequence from a musical
"Never Gonna Dance" from "Swing Time"

19) Third favorite Howard Hawks movie
"Only Angels Have Wings" I think. First two are "Rio Bravo", and "Ball of Fire"

20) Clara Bow or Jean Harlow?
Jean Harlow

21) Movie most recently seen in the theater? On DVD/Blu-ray/Streaming?
Theatres: The Three Stooges
DVD: Stage Door

22) Most unlikely good movie about religion
Quo Vadis

23) Phil Silvers or Red Skelton?
Phil Silvers

24) “Favorite” Hollywood scandal
Fatty Arbuckle

25) Best religious movie (non-Christian)
A Serious Man

26) The King of Cinema: King Vidor, King Hu or Henry King? (Thanks, Peter)
King Vidor

27) Name something modern movies need to relearn how to do that American or foreign classics had down pat
Flow.

28) Least favorite Federico Fellini movie
Of the ones I've seen I'd say Armacord, although that's not to say it's bad.

29) The Three Stooges (2012)—yes or no?
coitenly

30) Mary Wickes or Patsy Kelly?
Mary Wickes

31) Best movie-related conspiracy theory
Chinatown

32) Your candidate for most misunderstood or misinterpreted movie
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

33) Movie that made you question your own belief system (religious or otherwise)
The Three Colors Trilogy

The Seventh Seal

How often now do we get films that ask such existential questions such as "What happens to us when we die?" "Does God exist?" and "What's the meaning of life?" Do we still ask these questions within ourselves? Do we demand it in our films to ask them for us?

In 1957, Ingmar Bergman made his landmark film "The Seventh Seal" which dealt with issues such as life and death head on. There is no irony in the film, although today you can't help but think of the many parodies or homages other people have made of it. However, all that aside, "The Seventh Seal" has remained a powerful film, not only is it a deeply personal, and reflective work on life's great mysteries, it is also a scathing indictment of religious persecution upon God-fearing citizens.

The film begins at the edge of a desolate beach. A Knight named Antonius Block(Max Von Sydow) has returned home after ten years of fighting in the Crusades to a plague ravaged countryside. It is at this beach he sees Death (Bengt Ekerot) appear before him. Antonius' time has come to an end, but he is granted a reprieve from death as he challenges him to a game of chess; as long as they are still playing, Antonius will get to live.

The film then follows Antonius and his squire Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand) across the plague filled land. The early images of the film are filled with cold and empty landscapes, and shadows of death haunt the frame. The first sign of life is a man leaning against the rock, but when Jons goes to him to ask for directions, he discovers that it is only a rotting corpse, a terrible omen indeed.

They get to a village, and we meet other characters in the film, a kindly actor named Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson) along with their newborn child. Their lively performance in the village is cut short by the arrival of a religious caravan, and a God-fearing Monk who warns the villagers of the impending death coming to them and their only hope of redemption is if they repent. Bergman does not relent on the religious imagery in this scene, and how it is used to strike fear in the villagers. There is also a young woman seen in the village who has been captured and is scheduled to be burned at the stake for having relations with the devil; some accuse her of being the cause of the plague around the village. However, we see later, that even though she believes she is possessed by the devil, it's mostly due to her becoming mad with the fear of dying.

Now despite the thought of death hovering over the entire film, it should be said that "The Seventh Seal" isn't a depressing or even hopeless film. Bergman paints his film with sparse scenes of comfort, and warmth brought on by the goodness in humanity. Although Antonius is haunted with thoughts of death, he is given a peaceful tender moment with Mia and Jof where they sit at their camp enjoying life. "I shall try to remember this moment", Antonius says, it's statements like these where Bergman does see a point to life, enjoying the little bright moments that are given to us, because you never know how much time you got.

Bergman also plays with light comedy in the film, mostly coming from Jons, the squire, who makes up the antithesis of Antonius' frame of mind. Jons is seen as a cynic, who although he fears death like Antonius, does not take any pains to seek any answers of an afterlife. He is able to see the hypocracy of the church, which he sees as an institution that dwells on death more than anything. There is a scene where Jons has an amusing discussion with a religious artist. The artist has been commissioned to paint on the church walls, but they are images of death, Jons points out that it doesnt seem very cheery, but the artist says it's to remind people that they all die, therefore should repent before it's too late.

Jons also voices his complaints about the Crusades (A war which was started based on religion) and how futile it all was; but in contrast Antonius struggles more to find an answer. Antonius does not completely give up his faith and his pursuit in the movie is finding proof of the existence of God. But God remains silent in the film and Antonius' struggle becomes more and more futile as he asks more and more questions, all that is certain is Death.

But the film is never preachy or dismal, it remains entertaining, Bergman sometimes plays upon the type of superstition he discredits in the film to create a very atmospheric horror look to it. The film looks great in its highly stylized black and white, the use of dark shadows, dense fog and smoke add to the impending dread of the characters, it mostly resembles an old fashioned ghost story.

But like all great films, "The Seventh Seal" rises above any genre trappings, to become a great work of art. Ingmar Bergman was a man who grew obsessed with death and mortality in his films, but he was also a storyteller, and was able to work his themes into his films so they could be enjoyed to a broad audience.

For me personally, I've only just recently embraced Bergman's films, maybe it was because he dealt with such deep issues I would avoid him, but I found myself interested with his work more and more. Now I find his films much more accessible and not just for intellects who felt his themes important. Bergman made movies for everyone to enjoy on some level, they were never depressing because they were from the heart and emotion. "The Seventh Seal" shows that even though a man can be obsessed over death, doesn't mean he's not in love with life.

Rashomon

A film like "Rashomon" has become like comfort food to me, it is a film I watch when I want to be told a story, and it keeps my interst from beginning to end. "Rashomon" is a great story about one isolated incident, it's compact in its nature, and classical in its period, you feel it will be a story with a very traditional structure but that's when the wool is pulled from under you. "Rashomon" took leaps and bounds from past films by telling the same story through different points of view. In a way each scenario is true, and each one is false, but as one character points out in the film "I don't care if it's a lie, as long as it's entertaining."

The scenario in question has to do with the interaction between a samurai, his wife, and a bandit in the forest. The samurai is killed, but each person involved gives a different testimony at the trial as to what really happened. The film begins after the trial with a woodsman who, as the only witness to the death gives his own account, and a priest contemplate over what has transpired. After being joined by a drifter, they reveal to him the different testimonies of each person.

We see the scenario take place through flashbacks, first it is by the bandit's point of view as we see him kill the husband with cocky bravado after he rapes the wife. The wife's story is set up differently; her account shows the bandit leaves after she is raped, and after seeing her husband's look of shame, she seems to be overtaken by an uncontorllable urge and she kills him. The husband is able to tell his version through the possession of a medium, he is the one who ends up killing himself after seeing the wife wanting to leave him for the bandit. The woodsman's story is told last, as it bring about elements of all three previous stories together, but even his honesty is questioned after he is caught in an earlier lie about not actually witnessing the murder.

Since "Rashomon", we have seen films done through various points of view before, so much so it's almost become cliche. American films have adopted this technique for genre films mostly in the mystery/suspense mode, but unlike "Rashomon", they come out with a logical conclusion that can be thought of as "the truth". "Rashomon" keeps its real truth uncertain, it's an allegory about the dark side of human nature, how the truth can become clouded through our natural sense of embelleshing it. How can we know what is true and what is a lie in a world full of lies? How can we trust people when we are all prone to lie in order to protect ourselves?

The ending of the film offers an optimistic outcome, with the priest and the woodsman, as their faith in humanity is re established by a small act of kindness, yet we are still left with some of these uncertain questions.

When I first saw "Rashomon", I probably didn't fully understand what the film was all about. I was about fourteen years old and arthouse cinema was still new to me. "Rashomon" was among the first foreign films I did see along with "The 400 Blows", and "8 and a half", and it had a tremendous impact on my life even then. For me it was an opening up to a whole new culture, and a new form of storytelling. It was directed by Akira Kurosawa who has proven himself to me to be one of the master storytellers of cinema. "Rashomon" was a stepping stone for Kurosawa winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival which helped usher in arthouse cinema to popular culture.

Seeing "Rashomon" today is like looking at the definition of what a great movie should be, it's multi-faceted, commenting on human nature, and understands the use of storytelling. I can sense myself ease into its world, and feel its grasp on me, that's when I know I'm sucked in. It seems quiet and meditative at points, at others it's full of heightened drama and suspense, a woven tapestry of feelings and emotion.

I couln't help but think, as moviegoers, we naturally crave being told a good story, with "Rashomon", we have the same story told to us four times and it remains enthralling, and it looks so simple, so effortless, I can see how some people may think we have lost this in films being made today. Rashomon makes a simple thing like changing the point of view of a story seem like magic, as if it was by a flick of the wrist, how quickly everything changes, and how it could make a whole new world open up for you.