100 Film Facts About Me

Having been engrossed with all varieties of cinema for about 4 years now, I’ve learned a thing or two about my preferences, tastes, and habits.  Certain cinemas strike me in deep, thought-provoking ways, while others make me happy and excited. And some do all the above.  So I’ve compiled a list of things I’ve learned about myself through my adventures in film.

Here we go:

1.  I’ll watch any Japanese film in existence

2.  There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think “I’d love to watch Once Upon a Time in the West RIGHT NOW”

3.  I can’t find one Alfred Hitchcock film I haven’t enjoyed

4.  I watch Brick at least once a month

5.  Most days I want to be a samurai….

6.  …the rest of the days I want to be Clint Eastwood

7.  I always forget how great The Warriors is until I’m 5 minutes into it, then I grin from ear to ear

8.  I want Roger Deakins to light my house

9.  The Criterion Collection logo at the start of a film is more exciting to me than any Michael Bay action sequence

10.  I may not love every Lars Von Trier film, but I want to watch EVERY ONE OF THEM

11.  I associate Krzysztof Kieslowski with a mood and a state of mind

12.  I want Ennio Morriconne to score my life

13.  The Social Network should have won Best Picture

14.  More people need to see Blood Simple.

15.  I have a replica Maltese Falcon on my shelf  in between casts of Jay and Silent Bob

16.  I’ve seen films from 24 countries

17.  I want to know why more Kenji Mizoguchi films aren’t available on DVD….

18.  ….also Edward Yang

19.  I want my daily conversations to consist of Ingmar Bergman-ian monologues

20.  In this blog post James Cameron says Godard had cinema all backwards, which might be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard

21.  I enjoy Ichi the Killer way more than I should

22.  When I mention Kicking and Screaming I want people to think of Noah Baumbach, not Will Ferrell

23.  Peeping Tom  is immensely under-appreciated in the horror genre

24.  Just assume I’m talking about the original, not the remake

25.  My thoughts now have subtitles

26.  My Criterion Collection AK100 box-set is my most treasured film item

27.  On that note, Akira Kurosawa is the greatest of all time

28.  A Nightmare on Elm Street scared me until I was 25 years old

29.  Quentin Tarantino is the worst part of any movie he acts in

30.  My dreams aren’t as surreal as a Luis Buñuel film

31.  Every time I think about the deaths of Brandon and Bruce Lee I want to scream

32.  The longer the take, the better

33.  Episodes I-III do not exist as far as I’m concerned

34.  I found In the Realm of the Senses to be…..interesting

35.  Koreyoshi Kurahara’s The Warped Ones  is incredible in ways I can’t describe

36.  I haven’t enjoyed one M. Night Shymalan flick. Yup, even that one

37.  My “good mood” film is L.A. Confidential

38.  I could watch Orson Welles sip iced tea in a rocking chair for 3 hours

39.  My guilty pleasure is Sylvester Stallone movies

40.  I may have blacked-out the first time I saw Brigitte Bardot in Contempt

41.  I hated Chicago

42.  I have gambled on the Oscars

43.  Michael Haneke is a type of genius I will never fully understand

44.  Stanley Kubrick was pretty good too

45.  No Country for Old Men > There Will Be Blood

46.  I dislike almost every remake, reboot, and re-imagining

47.  I believe in the “show, don’t tell” principle

48.  I haven’t truly enjoyed a Quentin Tarantino flick since Jackie Brown

49.  I think Jean-Luc Godard was a pleasant balance of brilliance and insanity

50.  The Wire is probably better than 95% of all films in existence

51.  While I may not agree with Luis Buñuel’s religious point of view, I’ve still managed to enjoy every movie of his I’ve seen

52.  For a Few Dollars More is the most purely entertaining film Sergio Leone ever made

53.  Hugo Weaving’s performance in V For Vendetta is drastically underappreciated

54.  Spider-Man does not hold up well

55.  The Burmese Harp was so amazing all I could do was cry

56.  Stop reading this right now and watch Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang…

57. …seriously, how great was that?

58.  Fritz Lang and Stanley Kubrick are the most diverse filmmakers in the history of film

59.  I don’t care that the music in The Sting isn’t authentic for the era portrayed. I really don’t

60.  I slightly prefer The Godfather to The Godfather II

61.  Ranking Rocky’s: I > IV > III > Rocky Balboa > V

62.  I still like Tom Cruise

63.  River’s Edge is one of the 10 best films of the 80’s

64.  The theme from Stripes is permanently burned into my brain

65.  Here’s the ranking everyone wanted: Yojimbo > A Fistful of Dollars > Sukiyaki Western Django

66. A Hard Day’s Night is more fun than any other film ever…

67.  …except maybe Evil Dead II

68.  I wouldn’t mind living in Zombieland

69.  I wish Christopher Walken was the voice of my inner monologue

70.  From a theoretical stand-point, I think Andre Bazin had it right

71.  Watching Spaceballs when you’re 7 and watching it at 30 are two very different experiences

72.  My seasonal viewing traditions: Christmas – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Easter – The Ten Commandments, 4th of July – Jaws, Halloween – Halloween/Trick ‘r’ Treat, First Day of Summer – Summer School, St. Patrick’s Day – State of Grace/The Boondock Saints, Thanksgiving – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Any Friday the 13th – Friday the 13th

73.  I think Claire is, indeed, a fat girls name

74.  It’s impossible to deny the sheer energy of Hairspray, and I love it

75.  I’ve only seen one sneak-preview: Serendipity

76.  I used to say “you’re so fuckin’ money!” at an annoyingly high rate

77.  I don’t find Will Ferrell funny at all

78.  I saw Sin City in the theater twice on opening night

79.  The “crab walk” sequence from The Exorcist still eludes me

80.  All About Eve is the ultimate bitch movie

81.  The Samurai Trilogy  is the official trilogy. There, I said it

82.  David Fincher > Christopher Nolan

83.  I don’t ever want to watch Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left again

84.  I still don’t fully understand 2001: A Space Odyssey

85.  Irreversible was the most uncomfortable film viewing experience I’ve ever had

86.  I’ve never watched Black Hawk Down at less than maximum decibels

87.  Gary Oldman deserves something better than an Oscar for his role in True Romance

88.  I can’t bring myself to watch Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

89.  The mother’s song and the suicide scene in Sansho the Bailiff always gives me chills

90.  If I had a choice, I’d  want John Cassavettes to direct a movie about me, as only he could turn a slow, mundane, nuanced existence into a film

91.  The ironing scene with Juliette Binoche in Code Unknown is so perfect I can’t even describe it

92.  My film tastes tend to frighten and/or bore my friends

93.  Human Centipede 2 is the worst movie I’ve ever seen. This will never change

94.  “A Film By Steven Spielberg”  before a movie no longer excites me

95.  Toshiro Mifune has the greatest on-screen presence in film history

96.  I can’t believe Andrew Sarris tried to pawn off his “auteur theory” as a rightful companion to les politiques des auteurs 

97.  The moment when Orson Welles’ “Harry Lime” first appears in the doorway in The Third Man is a Top 10 film moment for me

98.  I actually believe the tagline for The Exorcist: it is the scariest movie of all time

99.  I didn’t think Louise Fletcher’s “Nurse Ratched” was THAT great in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (unpopular opinion alert!!)

100.  Film has been around for over 100 years, and I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer.  This is my favorite aspect of film: the unending possibilities of an art-form I love so dearly

Thank you to anyone who read the whole thing. It took me quite some time to extrapolate the peculiarities I have as a unique film viewer.  Whether you agreed or disagreed with some of these points, I do hope you enjoyed them.

Any thoughts?

 

Advertisements