Professor Larry Gopnik's Post-Hanukah, Pre-Christmas, Post-Schrodinger, Pre-Apocalypse SLIFL Holiday Movie Quiz

1) Favorite unsung holiday film "In Bruges"

2) Name a movie you were surprised to have liked/loved The remake of "Carrie", I only liked it, but still.

3) Ned Sparks or Edward Everett Horton? No contest, Horton by a mile.

4) Sam Peckinpah's Convoy-- yes or no? Regret to say I have not seen it.

5) What contemporary actor would best fit into a popular, established genre of the past I would almost put the entire cast of "The World's End" in an Ealing comedy.

6) Favorite non-disaster movie in which bad weather is a memorable element of the film’s atmosphere I love the look of snow falling in anything from "It's a Wonderful Life", to "Fargo", to "The Shining", so I will pick those three.

7) Second favorite Luchino Visconti movie Once again I regret I have only seen one Visconti film "Senso" which is brilliant, but another director I must "get to".
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8) What was the last movie you saw theatrically? On DVD/Blu-ray? Theatrically: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug", DVD: "Spring Breakers"

9) Explain your reaction when someone eloquently or not-so-eloquently attacks one of your favorite movies (Question courtesy of Patrick Robbins) I feel that there are two answers to this, one reaction would be when I am sober and one where I may have had a few. When sober I like hearing another person's opinion about movies, good or bad it's nice just to talk movies, which I don't get to do as often as I'd like. Drunk I would defend my favorite movie even after the subject would change, I would not only convince the person they are wrong, but anyone else who is within ear shot even if they agreed with me. This happened once from what I recall, apparently I was very entertaining.

10) Joan Blondell or Glenda Farrell? Joan Blondell for being Barbara Stanwyck's pal in "Night Nurse", and Bette Davies' pal in "Three on a Match", and for singing "The Forgotten Man" in "Golddiggers of 1933".

11) Movie star of any era you’d most like to take camping Jimmy Stewart, he's just so darned likable.

12) Second favorite George Cukor movie "A Star is Born" which would probably be my number one if it weren't for that little wonderful bit of perfection that is "Holiday". "The Philadelphia Story" would be a close third.

13) Your top 10 of 2013 (feel free to elaborate!) I can't reveal my true top ten until I'm caught up with films that are currently in limited release or not available yet, but for now I will go with my top ten movie going experiences which are films I've seen in the movie theatre this year that were worth the money I paid for. THIS IS NOT MY TOP TEN
1. "Gravity"
2. "Jurassic Park" 3-D re-release
3. "Iron Man 3"
4. "The Great Gatsby"
5. "Mud"
6. "The World's End"
7. "The Grandmaster"
8. "Blue Jasmine"
9. "Before Midnight"
10."Enough Said"

I will also add the remake of "The Evil Dead", "The Lone Ranger", and "You're Next" somewhere there.

14) Name a movie you loved (or hated) upon first viewing, to which you eventually returned and had more or less the opposite reaction A lot of Stanely Kubrick but more specifically "Dr. Strangelove" which as a young man of maybe 10 or 11 didn't understand the dark comedy aspect of the film and mainly viewed it to see the man who played Inspector Clouseau entertain me with his bumbling physical comedy, and also "2001: A Space Odyssey" which again didn't entertain me with its deliberate slow pace. I'm now older and love both films. I could almost say the same thing about "Barry Lyndon" if I didn't turn it off so early in my first viewing, but now watching it years later, I could see it becoming my favorite Kubrick. "A Clockwork Orange" is something I still debate over in my head. Also Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line".

15) Movie most in need of a deluxe Blu-ray makeover Can somebody please save "It's a Wonderful Life" from it's oh so sweetened DVD Blu-ray extras? This is a seminal film that at its heart has some very dark ideas, and the only special feature available is a Tom Bosley hosted "making of" featurette that looks like bottom of the barrel 1980s nostalgia. It's a beloved film that deserves the same box set treatment bestowed upon "Casablanca" and "The Wizard of Oz".

16) Alain Delon or Marcello Mastroianni? Mastroianni for his work with Fellini and Sophia Loren

17) Your favorite opening sequence, credits or no credits (provide link to clip if possible) For sheer excitement and anticipation the opening of "Superman" which sweeps me into its comic book world in a way no other movie has, I swear I become ten years old the moment that movie begins. Woody Allen's opening credits have that familiarity to it that take me into his jazz fueled world, and I appreciate that consistent feel. "Midnight in Paris" has that opening sequence of famous Parisian hotspots with that romantic glow which may not be Allen't most famous bit of pictorials but damned if it doesn't take me to that city. I don't know...so many to count. I love the opening sequence of "The Shop Around the Corner" with just a bunch of co-workers hanging outside their department store talking, waiting for the boss to open up the store.

18) Director with the strongest run of great movies Yasujiro Ozu I can't name a bad movie made by him, and his run in the 50s until his last film "An Autumn Afternoon" is pretty much as perfect as one can get.

19) Is elitism a good/bad/necessary/inevitable aspect of being a cineaste? I'm not sure if I consider myself an elitist, to me that word feels like I'm alienating myself in a way. What I love about movies is how they are such a popular artform and they are open to everyone to enjoy. I suppose it all comes down to taste, I like to think my tastes vary in a wide range, but just because I watch filmmakers like Ozu, Renoir, or Lubitsch shouldn't make me an elitist. If anything I would hope it would open up ways for people to enjoy new types of film they wouldn't think of normally. No I would say elitism is a bad thing, and I wouldn't want to be thought of that way.

20) Second favorite Tony Scott film "Top Gun", "Crimson Tide" would be number 1

21) Favorite movie made before you were born that you only discovered this year. Where and how did you discover it? "The Life of Oharu" I had heard of it for years and talked about by many film critics, most recently when Roger Ebert wrote a Great Movies review about it which I believe was one of his last entries. Then criterion came out with it, and I snatched it up. It's the kind of film that destroys you, it's utterly heartbreaking, but as a film it overtook me, it held me on and did not let me go. Simply one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

22) Actor/actress you would most want to see in a Santa suit, traditional or skimpy Amy Adams please and thank you.

23) Video store or streaming? I've had headaches with streaming, and I'm always paranoid that I'm not watching the right aspect ratio all the time, so I will go with the tried and true video store.

24) Best/favorite final film by a noted director or screenwriter Ozu of course had a great one, and Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion" is fitting in so many ways, but I will go with John Ford's "7 Women" which I think was his angriest film, but the ending of it says so much about going out on your own terms and being able to make a stand when everything seems to be lost. The last shot should be remembered as well as the last shot in "The Searchers" and it's Anne Bancroft's unsung masterpiece as an actress.

25) Monica Vitti or Anna Karina? Anna, lovely Anna.

26) Name a worthy movie indulgence you’ve had to most strenuously talk friends into experiencing with you. What was the result? Most of my friends steer clear of classic films, so I try not to stress the issue with them. I once convinced a girl I was dating once to watch "The Shop Around the Corner" with me, which she asked me to turn off ten minutes in because she couldn't stand the sound of their voices, that was something new to me. I convinced another girl to watch "Casablanca" which she politely told me she enjoyed even though she laughed through some of the melodramatic dialogue. Needless to see both of these relationships did not last.

27) The movie made by your favorite filmmaker (writer, director, et al) that you either have yet to see or are least familiar with among all the rest There is a great gap of unreleased films by Ozu, Renoir, and Mizoguchi that I have yet to see. From Orson Welles it would be "The Trial" "Chimes at Midnight", and "Othello" which I have seen when it was released in the 90s but haven't seen it since. I have yet to see much of Howard Hawks' early period most specifically "Twentieth Century" which was also written by Ben Hecht who is a favorite writer. Woody Allen's "Another Woman", Truffaut's "Two English Girls", from Hitchcock anything post-"Marnie", John Ford's "Two Rode Together", Buster Keaton's "The Cameraman", Bunuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire", Kurosawa's "Ran". Much of Robert Altman from the 80s. Plus any early Keislowski pre-"Decalogue" stuff, that's all I can think of right now. Oh Billy Wilder's "Five Graves of Cairo".

28) Favorite horror movie that is either Christmas-oriented or has some element relating to the winter holiday season in it If "Gremlins" can be considered horror then by all means. Also "The Invisible Man" had the element of snow in it, and that was a rollicking good time.

29) Name a prop or other piece of movie memorabilia you’d most like to find with your name on it under the Christmas tree A cigar by Groucho, or one of Fred Astaire's top hats, I know I would cherish them forever.

30) Best holiday gift the movies could give to you to carry into 2014 New releases from all the films I mentioned in question #27, and an arthouse cinema near by where I live, thank you Santa.