Email Conversation 5/29/17

Sometimes I like to conversate with people about random topics. I am talking with a friend about movies (and politics I guess?) for whatever reason. The bold text is the other person, and the italics are me.

What movie have you seen way too many times?

Remember the Titans. I stopped keeping track when I got over 150 times. Besides that (kind of obvious answer if you know me) I have seen The Godfather quite a bit (props to anyone who can get through the The Godfather Sage and it’s insane runtime of over seven hours). As for a strange movie that nobody would expect, The Iron Giant would definitely top that list.

What movie do you think is the ‘’purest form of filmmaking”?

12 Angry Men easily. That movie is basically all in one room and has nothing but wonderful acting and great dialog. The way the camera slowly zooms in on each person in the room as the tension builds is incredible for its time.

An Alien comes to our planet. What movie do you show it?

My cop out answer is Arrival. But let’s pretend that does not count. I would probably show them The Other Guys for a multitude of reasons. One being that I can quote this movie a little too well. Two because this movie has a weird place in my soul. TJ K took me to see this movie for my 18th birthday, despite me saying I had zero desire to see the movie at all (I actually put in place a new rule that I can only see four movies in theatre per year because of this experience). I will never forget that during the first ten minutes of the movie. The “projectionist” in our theatre decided that we were only going to get the audio of the film and no picture. That has left the worst taste in my mouth (also TJ took me to Wendy’s and made me order buffalo wings instead of their amazing burgers (come on TJ!) so the taste was literally worse to some capacity). But since then for some reason my brother Sam would always have this random movie on tv. Literally everyday I would hear “I am a peacock you have to let me fly,” from my room. I would gravitate to where he was watching it and we would laugh and have a good time. Arguably some of the best bonding Sam and I ever did was while we watched The Other Guys. For some reason it makes sense that we project family and friendship to the Aliens.

Name a movie that everyone seems to not like that you love.

Eight Men Out. This was probably the third sports movie I had ever watched (behind Remember the Titans and Hoosiers). For some reason I watched this movie when I was really young on ESPN Classic, and was so fascinated with a professional sports team intentionally losing games so others could profit off it. It is slow, the baseball segments are just alright, and Charlie Sheen is in it. But I still really enjoy the film.

What is one movie everyone should see before they die?

Jaws. Only because the tension builds so beautifully throughout the movie. Honorable mention goes to Gran Torino. The pain that you can see on Walt’s face the entire movie really makes the performance that much better.

If you have or had a significant other, what movie would you take them to see on your first date?

Silver Linings Playbook. That movie is balanced enough that we both can really enjoy it. These days, it seems like most women want to see a movie with Jennifer Lawrence in it.

A studio called. They want you to make a new Oceans 11. You can only have seven of one gender. Who are they and what role do they play?

Idris Elba- Danny

Natalie Portman-Rusty

Michael B. Jordan-Linus

Jamie Foxx-Basher

Christoph Waltz-Saul

Kevin Spacey-Frank

Benedict Cumberbatch-Livingston

Michael Fassbender-Yen

Margot Robbie-Virgil

Brie Larson-Turk

Julia Louis-Dreyfus-Reuben

What is the most important element of a movie?

A good script. Actors have to say the lines, and they can only act so well with the dialogue they are given. Spending money to have a good script written can really help negate not having a big budget or a ton of A list actors. I think of the Star Wars prequels are a great example of solid actors and a big budget being completely wasted because of a bad script. All of Anakin’s lines were, to say it nicely, not good.

What movie resembles what people think your life is like?

Casino. I believe people think that I provide “protection rackets” and have weekly “shakedowns.’ That does not happen at all. I do not have Nicky Santoro running around the streets busting people’s balls and calling everyone a prick every five seconds. I like to think of myself as Ace Rothstein, but it is not like a have to pay a weekly tribute to guys who work out of a meat locker in Cleveland.

What happened with The Godfather Part III?

I think Winona Ryder dropping out at the last second and having to replace her with Sofia Coppola was a death sentence for one of the main characters. Also, The movie was basically carried by Pacino and Garcia. They were great, but Pacino was not the same as he was in the first two, and nobody else had great performances in the movie. Robert Duvall not being around also really hurt, because Tom really gave the first two movies a feel that they were “organized’ crime. It also did not help that Copella only made the movie in the first place because his production company was almost bankrupt. All of that being said, the movie was fine, just not anything close to the masterpieces that were the first two. I would love to see a fourth one come out that took place sometime between the flashbacks of Godfather II and Godfather I. Having Vito, Michael, Sonny, Tom, and Clemenza all back together would be fantastic.

The “TJ K Rule” you mentioned earlier is interesting because it limits the amount of new movies you see in the theatre each year. How do you have such good movie knowledge when you only take in so many movies a year?

I love to watch old movies mostly. Only a few movies really interest me every year anyways. For example, for the year 2017 I will be going to see Dunkirk, Baby Driver, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and most likely a movie that will be awful that my friends drag me to see at some point (last year I had to go see Ben-Hur, and that movie had the boringest first forty five minutes I have ever seen in a movie. It was awful. I almost fell asleep during this time, but the chairs were so uncomfortable (because the theatre was extremely cheap, thus the chairs were 100% wood that you could eat dinner on) that it was impossible to catch a quick nap).

What movie would you say that you are embarrassed that you have never seen?

I would not call it embarrassing really, but I have never seen any of The Avengers movies. This will change when I go and see Black Panther, and eventually Spider Man: Homecoming (favorite superhero growing up, plus my mom and I liked the ride at Universal Studios).

I have heard the reason on why you will never watch American Sniper, but I would love to hear you elaborate more on that.

Most of the time, when I have a dislike of this magnitude for something, it really has nothing to with whatever is in question oddly enough. It has everything to do with the people. Chris Kyle was an American hero in my opinion. It was sad how he passed away, and I take nothing away from him or his family or what he has done for America. However, the people who watch that movie are, for the most part, the same people that I grew up around. Die-hard conservatives that “rally around” a movie like American Sniper and use it as something they can “call their own.” That is fine, watch what you want to watch, but for me I do not like being around too many people that I grew up around outside of my friends. I think it really just comes down to me being a hater. The movie seems like it was fine, and Clint Eastwood is the man. But I am just not the person who is going to have anything to do with some of the things that people from where I am from like. Another great example is eating at Whataburger (a fast food place in the south). Too many people go to Whataburger and think it is the best thing ever made. I personally have boycotted eating there because of that silly reason. It is beyond a stupid reason, but that is just who I am for whatever reason. Also, people in the south like to pronounce it “Water burger,” and it really pisses me off.

Not to get too political since we are talking about movies, but why does that bother you? A movie conservatives can rally around?

I think it is because a lot of people see politics as a good vs evil sort of thing. That drives me insane because if you want real, productive change, you need to be able to meet in the middle and work with everyone. I grew up around so many conservatives that would have chills sent down their back if they even heard the world “Democrat.’ Completely ridiculous. That being said, say if I grew up in New York (outside of Manhattan or Staten Island I guess technically) I would have the same exact opinion about Liberals who could not stand Conservatives. I seem to enjoy the company of Liberals a lot more as a whole because they make me think differently. I love seeing all sides to everything, and I basically have seen it all from the perspective of a conservative person.

Last thing political. What are you, politically speaking?

I would say I am a social liberal, fiscal conservative, libertarian, and political wanderer.If I could have voted in the past I would have voted for Reagan both terms, George H. W. both terms, Clinton on his second term, George W. Bush both terms, and Obama the first term. I voted for Romney in 2012, Voted down the ballot for Republicans in 2016, but did not vote for president (If I had to choose, I would have voted for Clinton). I think Democrats are great, but I cannot get on board with raising taxes on income or capital gains.They are too high as it is right now.

You are on a island that has electricity and a tv. What ten movies are you bringing with you that will essentially be the last ten movies you ever see.

1. Good Will Hunting
2. The Godfather
3. The Departed
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. Inglorious Bastards
7. Inception
8. Casino
9. Speed
10. Ferris Bueller’s Day off

Not my top 10 movies. But close. Speed and Ferris Bueller are kinda far down the list, but I needed a comedy and an action movie.

Do you have a favorite actor?

Most people think that it is Ben Affleck, but it is actually Christoph Waltz. Anyone who articulates their words like that will be in consideration. I would want him to play me if somehow I was made into a biopic (not going to happen).

What is a big problem you see with movies right now?

Too many sequels. I want to go see a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end. When I went and saw Batman v Superman, I was so disappointed for many reasons, but I was most disappointed in how much was just setting up the other movies in the DC universe.

Some movies have something about them that make them a lot more enjoyable in the theatre. Can you think of a movie that was amazing in theatre?

I will never forget seeing Return of the King in 2003 with my dad. That movie was on such a large scale with big stakes that it was something to see. It just made me smile being in a theatre with a ton of people soaking up that movie as a collective unit. The Dark Knight Rises was also another movie that had great scale to it, and the way the movie was marketed built a lot of hype going into the movie. The Dark Knight was also a fantastic movie so the expectations were really high. When John Blake was revealed to be Robin, the entire theatre just gasped. It was a spectacle. I also want to point out that I did not go see Straight Outta Compton in theatre, and that was a huge mistake. When I got around to watching the movie I could picture me rapping along with everyone else in the theatre with all the songs, especially when Cube started going with No Vaseline. It would have been so much fun seeing that movie in theatres.

*Do you see grammatical errors or bad sentence structure? Yes it is everywhere. Do I care? Not really.