Yesterday I answered reader questions about film sets worth living in and all time favorite actors and I hope that conversation keeps going because I haven't heard from too many of you what your choices are. There were so many good question this week let's keep the party going for an extra day. Here's the next six questions featuring Guilty Pleasures, Oscar's Best Animated Feature and Unseen Classics. One question will be answered in a forthcoming theme week that's already been planned and one final question is getting its own post.
You can't say we've been slacking here at TFE.
LADY EDITH: Do you have a favorite Altman?
I do. And it's no contest. I just shout Nashville (1975) as enthusiastically and loudly as I can when asked. Which is not to dismiss the rest of Robert Altman's always at least interesting filmography. My other two favorites are Three Women (1977) for its psychosexual actressing and Gosford Park (2001) for the sheer pleasure of it but I love his movies... well, maybe not Dr T and the Women but I love quite a few of his movies.
JEFF: What's your biggest guilty pleasure movie? Or a movie that most of the readers would be surprised that you happen to love.
After so many years writing online about movies I fear I have no secrets left. I love the usual guilty pleasures and probably talk about them too much (Xanadu and Showgirls chief among them). I suppose in terms of things I rarely write about the #1 guilty pleasure would be that I do kind of have a (small) thing for B grade action movies and affection for the sometimes limited actors that star in them like Jean Claude Van Damme, Jason Statham, and Schwarzenegger of course. This is not a blanket genre appreciation; I never was interested if the movie starred Steven Seagal or Sylvester Stallone. I've seen Highlander (1986) with Christopher Lambert several times because my brother and his friends loved it. I loved Universal Soldier (1992) for some reason. One truly terrible movie that I used to enjoy with an old friend was Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee. This actually happens in it...
This B action picture fixation* disappears for long periods of times and then reignites suddenly and flames out just as quickly. I can't predict it and I rarely seek it out. It happens less and less frequently and I have theories about this (too much misogyny in the movies and too many guns in place of choreography) but the last two times it happened strongly were Ong Bak (2003) with Tony Jaa and Crank (2006) with Jason Statham. The last pure action movie that I thought was very satisfying was Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) but that's more mainstream respectable. Perhaps superhero films and Daniel Craig era Bond films now reside in that old space in my brain and they're of much much higher quality and I don't need the bad stuff anymore?
* Action as "guilty pleasure" does not include James Cameron pictures. He is a genius and everyone should love all of his movies without guilt, just pleasure.
SONJA: What's your favorite and least favorite best Animated Feature winner at the Oscars?
This question is so hard! Well, not the least favorite part. That's Shrek, the first winner, and literally the only winner of this category that sucks, the others being good to great. I didn't like it then and it's aged even worse. Monsters Inc was robbed. Not just robbed but stripped, tied up, humiliated, robbed and then robbed again in perpetuity -- it's a thousand times the film Shrek is yet Shrek will always be the first winner of this category.
The flames...breathing... on the side of my face
The best one? That's a tough choice but in the end my heart belongs to WALL•E (2008) which is just sublime and daring and moving and funny and magical and wise -- everything the best movies can hope to be. People are still angry about the Best Picture lineup in 2008 not including a blockbuster but they keep citing the wrong film as the tragic snub. WALL•E's all-years win edges out two very worth titles, the ever hilarious and exciting spectacle of The Incredibles (2004) and the creativity and eccentricity of Spirited Away (2002) so next time I complain about this "ghetto category" please feel free to smack me because thanks to this category three masterpieces of their form have Oscars that wouldn't otherwise have been so honored.
FOREVER1267: Who is your Celebrity Boyfriend? Celebrity Husband? Celebrity Boy Toy?
Ki Hong Lee in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
I only get three? Pass. Polyamory forever when it come to showbizness. Okay Okay. Right at this specific moment on March 23rd, 2015 at 1:10 PM? Ki Hong Lee, Ewan McGregor, and Jussie Smollett.
JOHN T: What are three classic films you have never seen and why have you put them off?
• The Godfather Part 2 - because people love it so much I thought I'd save it for last (I have like 3 Best Picture winners left to see. I'm slow!)
• The Searchers - because for a long while I thought John Ford movies were boring (I was so wrong) and because I don't like John Wayne and because I heard that you have to wait for the very end for Natalie Wood and if you're promising Natalie Wood, you betta deliver!
That's only two but they were the one's that popped into mind.
JAMES: Do you ever use a movie or performance as a shorthand way to describe something?
I wish I could think of more than one immediate example but, yes. The Boyfriend and I shout "Pink Coat" indignantly whenever a director uses a super heavy-handed visual symbol, a la that damn pink coat in the otherwise black and white Schindler's List (1993)
Your turn, readers. Time for you to answer these same questions in the comments. Or engage with mine. This is meant to be a participatory series and if you don't participate it goes bye bye.