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50DMC – 12 – Favorite Male Performance

movieguyjon — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:00:56 +0000

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here to see all 50 questions in a nice and organized list. It’s such a pretty list.

TODAY: What male performance ranks as your favorite?

This is one of those questions that come up that I have a difficult time answering. The problem is that I don’t really think of performances in terms of favorites. There are performances that I like and there are performances that I’m not so keen about, but to try and rank them against each other is actually kind of difficult. That’s why I’m going randomly pick between a few performances I enjoy and use them for today’s prompt and tomorrow’s prompt. Today I’m going with Gene Wilder and his performance in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Gene Wilder is pretty much a comedic genius in everything he’s done and I can’t think of a single film that I haven’t enjoyed him in. What makes this one his best is simply that I saw this first. I found myself drawn to how he could go from suave to unhinged with the snap of a finger. For example, there’s a scene in the film where he goes from singing “Pure Imagination” to freaking everyone’s shit on a psychedelic boat ride. It’s perhaps this scene that seals the deal for me.

50DMC – 11 – A Movie Walked Out On

movieguyjon — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:00:27 +0000

TODAY: What’s a film that you walked out of?

I’ve never walked out of a film. Don’t really see the point, especially with the theater prices being what they are. Not only that, but there’s never really been a film that was bad enough to make me get up out of my seat and leave. The reason I’m including The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day in this category is because if I had actually gone to see this in the theaters, I would have walked out.

Not even Julie Benz was able to save this one for me.

Made it to about the 30 minute mark.

50DMC – 9 – Favorite Movie Ending

movieguyjon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:00:52 +0000

TODAY: What is your favorite movie ending?

For A Few Dollars More is my favorite western of all time, so it stands to reason that the ending of the film would rank as my favorite movie ending of all time. It’s a much more subdued showdown than the one found in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly but it has a lot more heart. The whole locket subplot pays off in a big way here and it adds a lot of depth to the character of Mortimer that we don’t really get when he goes all Colonel in the next chapter. If I had to chose between this ending and the one in Good… I would chose this one without hesitation. If that puts me in the minority, then so be it!

I tried to get an embed of the full ending which includes both heroes riding off into the sunset, but alas this was all I could find.

50DMC – 8 – Favorite Opening Sequence

movieguyjon — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:00:28 +0000

TODAY: What is your favorite opening sequence?

The answer to this prompt shouldn’t surprise you if you’ve read anything from my blog recently or if you’re familiar with my tastes in film. Once Upon A Time In The West has perhaps the best opening ever, clocking in at ten minutes and featuring little in the way of dialog. The tension builds to a rather awesome showdown that the rest of the film has difficulty living up to.

In fact, just give me this opening scene and leave the rest.

50DMC – 7 – Favorite Movie Soundtrack

movieguyjon — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:00:05 +0000

TODAY: What’s your favorite movie soundtrack?

I don’t recall being all that aware of movie soundtracks until I saw Almost Famous. It never really occurred to me that you could take a bunch of popular songs from an era and juxtapose them in such a way as to turn a film into “an experience.” And that’s precisely what Almost Famous is: an experience. Whenever I come across any of the songs from the film I get half a mind to stop what I’m doing and pull out the “bootleg cut” to watch.

Here are three of my favorite songs from the film. And yes, two of them are from Elton John.

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters by Elton John

Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Feel Flows by The Beach Boys

50DMC – 6 – Least Favorite Film By My Favorite Director

movieguyjon — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000

TODAY: What’s your least favorite movie by your favorite director?

I’m a bit fickle when it comes to picking favorites. For example: I’ve got Garden State as my favorite film on Flickchart right now, but some days it loses out to the one below it on my list. And then other days a completely random film jumps up to the top spot. It’s not much different in this situation where I need to come up with a least favorite film from my favorite director.

Instead of making this a complicated and drawn out process, I’ve decided to go with the director whose filmography I’ve seen the most. In this case, that would be Quentin Tarantino.

Which would mean that Jackie Brown wins as least favorite film from my favorite director. I tried to watch this at the urgent suggestion of another, and it was SO BORING. It could just be that I “didn’t get it” at the time or it could just be that it was a just bunch of people sitting around doing jack shit and then a little ultra-violence for no reason. Considering the rest of Tarantino’s filmography, this one is kind of a joke.

But you know, this opening sequence might just make me go back and re-visit at some point.

And then there’s this…

50DMC – 5 – Favorite Documentary

movieguyjon — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:15:36 +0000

TODAY: What’s your favorite documentary?

I’m not really much of a documentary person, to be honest. All you really have to do is take a look at my Flickchart to see that this is in fact the case. There’s a whopping 12 films total, give or take a few stragglers. I’m not even sure if one of those films actually counts as a documentary (*ahem*JACKASS: THE MOVIE*ahem*). That said, there’s one documentary that stands out among the rest as my favorite: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

It’s pretty much the “hero’s journey” as Steve Weibe tries to take the world record for Donkey Kong from long-time champion Billy Mitchell. Weibe is instantly likable and his passion for his hobby infectious. At every turn I was with him as he struggled to establish himself among the other hardcore gamers and prove that he was a formidable player. My only real complaint about the film is that it never plays for ambiguity, keeping Mitchell a very stereotypical “bad guy.” But even that is kind of a nit-pick as I still really enjoyed the film anyway.

Here’s the trailer for King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

50DMC – 4 – Favorite Animated Film

movieguyjon — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:00:11 +0000

TODAY: What’s your favorite animated film?

When I lament the state of modern animation and how a majority of it lacks “heart,” I usually use The Rescuers as an example. The characters are colorful, the music is superb, and the story packs an emotional wallop. It’s easily my favorite animated film of all time and usually the one I point people to who haven’t seen much in the way of animated films.

And then after that I show them Robin Hood.

Weird little tidbit: I used to identify the most with Orville.

Check out the only quality embed I could find for this film. It’s from the beginning of the film as we are introduced to the Rescue Aid Society, of which Bernard and Bianca are members. Well….Bianca is a member, at least.

50DMC – 3 – Movie I’ve Seen The Most

movieguyjon — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:00:21 +0000

TODAY: What movie have you watched the most in your life?

There are a lot of films that fight for the position of “most watched” in my repertoire. You’ll probably even see some of them pop up later in this movie challenge. These are the films that I will randomly quote even when no one has any idea what I’m talking about. I’ll make references to these films when I’m around people who don’t really watch films, and more often than not awkward silences will ensue.

But there’s clearly only one film that stands out among the rest and gets top bill as my “most watched,” and that’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Take the zaniness of Pee Wee’s Playhouse and give it a Tim Burton spin and this is the result. It’s quite brilliant, really.

Click the image to watch an iconic clip from this film.

50DMC – 2 – First Movie I Remember Seeing

movieguyjon — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:30:49 +0000

TODAY: What is the first movie you remember seeing in theaters?

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen other films before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie in the theater, but I don’t remember them. I was quite the fan of the Turtles from the start, so when the film came out I absolutely HAD to go! I remember being drawn in by how well the puppetry was done in this film, as well as how dark the film was in comparison to the Saturday morning cartoon. And while the film has gotten a bit silly with age, I distinctly remember it being “the best thing ever.”

The scene I embedded below is perhaps my favorite scene in the entire film, and the one that got all of us kids who had gone to see it roaring with laughter. “Damn” was a bit of a naughty word at that age, and to hear it in the movies was a bit of a thrill. What would our parents do when they heard THE MOVIE SWEARING?!?!

It’s probably best that Dad took me to this one. Mom might not have been too thrilled.