This includes listening to way more podcasts, a subject I don't discuss very much on this blog, because, quite frankly, I am super picky about podcasts. I'll watch any movie (I don't like every movie, but I'm always happy to see any movie), but when it comes to TV, books, & podcasts, I tend to be a bit shier about giving my time and effort. I think a lot of podcasts are too meandering, particularly those on film. While there are situations where a podcast can truly hold your attention for longer than 2 hours...those situations are few-and-far between, and generally podcasts are not well-edited enough for me.
But the ones that I do love, I love hard, and with me now listening to them more as I drive, I have found that Talking Pictures is one of my favorites. The show feels tailor-made for me. Hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, who for the past 22 years has been one of the primary hosts on Turner Classic Movies, it has Mankiewicz doing in-depth, cinema-focused conversations (for roughly an hour...perfect length for a podcast) with different entertainment fixtures ranging from Jane Lynch to Alexander Payne to Mel Brooks. They talk about their careers, which is fun, but frequently it's about the movies that inspired them. Given that I have not had TCM for the past few months (I will be changing that in May, but had to go without so I could afford the car in the first paragraph), this has been a much-needed patch as TCM is basically the background noise of my house.
On the podcast, Mankiewicz asks what he calls the "Super 8" questionnaire (so named after a type of Kodak film that is generally used for independent or even home-made movies), where he queries the guests eight specific questions about their relationship with movies, and I thought this would be a fun way to add a little cinematic flair back to the blog given how much we've been doing politically here lately. So without further adieu, here are my answers to the Super 8!
Mankiewicz generally makes a point of pushing the guests to say something they saw in theaters, which is where I would've gone with this anyway. There are a number of film-watching experiences I can think of that really call out to me as being memorable. Some are because of whom I went with-I recall watching my Grandpa John cry watching Apollo 13, something I only remember him doing twice in my whole life. I loved going to Milk on opening night in the Uptown Landmark, with an entirely gay audience, and them getting up and giving a standing ovation during the movie when a Minnesota teen decides not to end his life late in the movie after seeing him intend to do so earlier in the picture. And I think I'd also include waiting in line for certain films, which isn't something we do anymore, but made releases of movies like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Brokeback Mountain, and Avatar feel like true events.
I will own that the most memorable movie-watching experience that I probably ever had was also the answer to this question, so I saved it (I hate when the guests don't mix it up a bit...you make movies, you should watch a lot of them). The first time I saw Titanic changed my life. I remember buzzing about it during the intermission, on New Year's Eve, being absolutely thrilled at everything that had just came before it, and for months afterward it became my entire personality (I literally am typing this with a White Star liner Titanic poster right behind me). I have seen Titanic six times in theaters, more than I have any other picture, and I suspect it will keep that title forever.
This is a weird question for me because I always feel like showing movies to guys I'm dating is such a bad decision. The first date I ever went on with a guy was to Million Dollar Baby (the first movie I went with on a date with a girl is, and I'm not kidding about this, a movie called Fairy Tale: A True Story which may have been the most aptly named movie for a terrified gay kid trying to figure out how to get out of the date that I can possibly imagine), but in terms of showing a date, I have generally steered clear of this. I think The Third Man or Laura is one of those movies that I show friends that want to know me better, and would probably be the best answer for this question. I love film noir, and I think those two are about as good of movies as you can get, so I think either would be a good choice to test if he's really a good fit for me.
I do not think of myself as a particularly big crier...except when it comes to the movies. I will cry over a lot of things, and sometimes not even movies that are particularly moving or meant to be cried at. I cry at Once Upon a Time in the West and The Godfather just because I'm so impressed that a human being could make something so beautiful. I used to test how early I would start crying while watching Life is Beautiful because it moved me so much (I will be revisiting that for the first time in probably 15 years next year for the OVP, so I'm curious if it holds up as I know it's a divisive film). The longest I've ever cried at a movie is Before Sunset, which if I remember correctly I clocked at at least 10 minutes after the film had finished (for the record, the Lost finale, which I cried over the entire episode and for at least an hour or two after the first time I saw it, has Before Sunset licked). But the movie I most consistently cry at would either be Casablanca (the "Le Marseillaise" scene) or The English Patient, specifically 2:10:45 into the film when Ralph Fiennes is carrying Kristin Scott Thomas into the cave (yes, I know the exact time...I used to put this on specifically so I could start crying when I was an emotional, more sensitive young man).
Okay, my brother used to make fun of me growing up because I have an aversion to comedies, and saying that I don't enjoy laughing, but I do, in fact, watch comedies on occasion. The movie that most consistently makes me laugh is Clue. I have also seen it more than any other movie for this reason (and it is the only movie I can say with confidence is can quote verbatim, give or take Casablanca). Other movies that tend to make me laugh include Spy, which is one of two movies that I watch to ward off particularly bad Sunday Scaries (if you follow me on Letterboxd and see I logged Spy or Ratatouille to end the week, know that I'm having a rough one), and Bringing Up Baby, specifically the scene toward the end where everyone is in the prison ("Swinging Door Susie!").
Ooh, this is where I get basic, because it'd almost certainly be something from either Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Pirates of the Caribbean (even if the first instinct I have is to steal the Maltese Falcon...honestly, at some point I might just buy a mock Maltese Falcon). These are probably my three favorite film series collectively with more than 3 entries in the series, but even trying to pick specific items from the movies would be challenging. For sure the One Ring would be the easy answer, and is probably the best answer, but I would also love one of the Pieces of Eight from Pirates of the Caribbean or Hogwarts a History from Harry Potter (provided it comes with something actually written in it). But yeah...it's hard to top having my very own precious.
Movies are a big part of my family's ethos. We generally go to a movie pretty much every time we're on vacation at least one night, and we used to do Saturday Movie nights where my parents would make a big bowl of Popcorn (it was in a giant pottery bowl that had "Popcorn is for Sharing" that my Dad bought for my Mom on their 9th anniversary). But my dad famously won't commit to a favorite movie. The only movie I've ever seen my dad get misty over (which he denies) is Mr. Holland's Opus, and the only time I've ever gotten him to commit to a favorite movie was (when I was a teenager and I ran an AFI List for my immediate family members) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a movie I sincerely doubt he's seen in the past 20 years. The movie that I most identify with him, though, is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the only movies I know he's watched repeatedly in the past 20 years without my mom's prompting.
My mom, on the other hand, is very open about her favorite movies, and she has a lot of them. Growing up, I thought that certain movies like Hoosiers, Sneakers, and Romancing the Stone were far more famous than they actually were because my Mom would watch them so often. She's big on certain Classical Hollywood actors (specifically Doris Day), and is also a fan of some action-adventures. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade would definitely be a movie that I would name-check with her, and she has a soft spot for Disney (with The Little Mermaid being her favorite). I think if I had to corner it down to one movie, though, it'd be While You Were Sleeping, which I remember seeing with my mom & brother on a Tuesday movie night trip to our local theater. Tuesdays were golf night for my dad, and so my mom usually took us to the discount movie night, and saw whatever was playing at 7 PM during the summer (to our delight). While You Were Sleeping was one of those movies, and is so engrained in our family lore that it's not really Christmas until someone says "these mashed potatoes are so creamy" at least once.
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