FAQ
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
A:
That’s a really tough question. I’ve done hundreds of movie reviews in my blogging time, and I probably saw at least a thousand others before I became so obsessed. It’s difficult to narrow down to one film of them all, and I don’t know how so many with far more knowledge of film than I have are able to do it, let alone make a top one-hundred.
During my time as a film critic, I’ve usually stated that one of the following films is my favorite: Slumdog Millionaire, The Elephant Man, or Fargo. Slumdog Millionaire is great, but it’s far too recent to go against a number of other classics spanning more than a century before its time. I love David Lynch, but I’ve only seen The Elephant Man once. If you asked me now, I’d say Fargo, but it’s more comically pleasing than dramatic.
Also, I haven’t seen any of those titles more than twice. The Simpsons Movie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Gremlins, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and the original Psycho are all movies I’ve seen more times than I can possibly count. But none of those movies really say “favorite” to me. Maybe Psycho, but Hitchcock’s done better (that’s not saying it’s a bad movie, of course).
A simple answer would be, “I really don’t know.”
Q: What really made you love film?
A:
I usually say that Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock were the two filmmakers who parented my love for movies, but if I look back, Spielberg was the true founding father. What’s best about this is that Spielberg has directed such an eclectic variety of films. I believe it was the summer I entered fourth grade that I watched Jurassic Park; sometime during the winter when I was in fourth grade that I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark; and the summer I entered fifth grade that I watched Jaws. I can’t exactly say that they’re meaningless (and they aren’t), but they appealed to a kid like me because they were fun popcorn movies. Then I watched movies like Schindler’s List a few years later. A more sincere, moved reaction, but I was just as engaged.
Q: What’s your definition of a “long movie”?
A: Usually, I can sit down and watch a movie under two hours long if I’m looking for something. If it goes noticeably over two hours, and I have a choice between that and a two-hour movie, I (for whatever reason) go for the two-hour movie. If it exceeds three hours, I need to find a time when I feel willing. Most of this depends on whether the movie has an intermission. You can split it up in two discs all you want, but unless it says “intermission” on the screen (or “entr’acte”), it doesn’t count as an excuse for me to take five.
There are exceptions, though. Foreign films is one. If the movie exceeds two hours, I need to find time when I’m willing to keep my eyes open and read subtitles for that long (because I hate dubbing). As much as I’m dying to watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it’s just too damn long for me.
Another is silent movies. If it’s significantly more than an hour and a half long, I’ll get bored. Let’s just hope Birth of a Nation has an intermission.
Q: When do you watch movies?
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