Hotseat! Grill a MoFo: Daniel M

How late do you normally stay up?

What is your favorite thing about the movie Rear Window? It's one of my top ten, too.

Name your top ten favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

Name your five least favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

What is your sign?

What is your favorite and least favorite color?

What is your favorite decade of movies?

What is your favorite decade of music?

What is your favorite decade in general?

What is your favorite decade of fashion?

Are you a morning, or evening person?

What is your favorite music genre?

Is there any type of music that you hate?

Can you play any instruments?

Do you have a good singing voice?

Do you collect music CDs?

Do you have any albums?

Do you know what a cassingle is, without looking it up?

How do you feel about all these damn movie remakes?

Have you ever burned any movies?

Have you snagged any music from the Internet?

Who is your favorite actor & actress?

Who is your least favorite actor & actress?

What is your favorite movie genre?

What is your least favorite movie genre?

Name the movie you hate the most.

Name the oldest movie you've seen.

Name the newest movie you've seen.

Theater, or home theater?

What is your favorite TV show?

What is your least favorite TV show?

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What do you hope to do after university?
Where's the strangest place you've ever woken up?
Have you ever been on a caravan holiday?
Do you label the food in your fridge?
How do you feel about the election result?
Have you ever lost a close friend?
Favourite comedian?
What's the corniest chat up line you've ever heard/used?
Money no object, what would you most like to go to a fancy dress party as?
What's the longest journey you've been on? From where to where?

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Who are the five greatest geniuses in cinema history for you personally?

Who are some of your intellectual idols?

Who are some of your political idols (present or past)?

What's the last picture you saw that truly made you feel intensely warm inside?

Who's the greatest looking actress of all time according to you?

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

Is your movie ready yet?

Has it began production?

Have you found any new directors you loved since your last Top 150?

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

How late do you normally stay up?

Quite late. it used to be until about 3AM in the morning, which was bad for Uni, but recently I have been going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier, so about 11-12PM. I'm back at home from Uni on a break now so a bit later again.

What is your favorite thing about the movie Rear Window? It's one of my top ten, too.

When I first saw it I had it around my 4th/5th favourite Hitchcock film, I thought it was great but didn't absolutely love it. I saw it in the cinema last year which was a great experience. It's probably a bit of a standard answer, but the direction is superb, how Hitchcock manages to control such a complex story and generate suspense from one tiny room.

Name your top ten favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

Rear Window
North by Northwest
Psycho
Vertigo
Notorious
Shadow of a Doubt
The 39 Steps
To Catch a Thief
The Trouble With Harry
The Birds

Name your five least favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

Strangers on a Train
Lifeboat
Rope
The Lady Vanishes
The Man Who Knew Too Much (56)

I still think they are all very good films (the first three are 3.5/5, last two are 3/5) but that's how I'd have to rank them from what I've seen. Dial M For Murder and The Wrong Man could make the top 10, and there's quite a few significant ones that I unfortunately haven't seen yet.

What is your sign?

Aries. I didn't know that, I had to check.

What is your favorite and least favorite color?

Blue, and probably something like brown?

What is your favorite decade of movies?

So far I'd probably say the decade with the most amount of films I've liked is the Seventies, I especially love the New Hollywood era of filmmakers there. I'm having great fun exploring the Sixties, and love old Hollywood black and white films too.

What is your favorite decade of music?

Fifties or Sixties. My favourite band is The Beatles.

What is your favorite decade in general?

I would have liked to have lived in the Fifties. Around the time American Graffiti is set. Of what I have lived, this decade has been my favourite so far, with me going to University.

What is your favorite decade of fashion?

I would like to have been a character in an old noir film, wearing a suit and smoking wherever I went.

Are you a morning, or evening person?

Evening, because I'm rarely awake in the morning.

What is your favorite music genre?

Rock and roll and that stuff from the 50s/60s. Buy one of those CDs that has a load of stuff from the decade and I'll like most of the stuff on it.

Is there any type of music that you hate?

Not really. I don't particularly like heavy metal, or rap, or dubstep, or anything like that.

Can you play any instruments?

Nope.

Do you have a good singing voice?

I wish, it's awful

Do you collect music CDs?

Nope, if I had the money I probably would.

Do you have any albums?

Not really, I have a few, but I have a friend with similar music taste who has a load in his car.

Do you know what a cassingle is, without looking it up?

Nope

How do you feel about all these damn movie remakes?

I don't particularly care that much. Of course it's silly in most cases, but people watch them and they make money. There's far better cinema available for me in other areas aside from mainstream Hollywood that I'd rather spend my time watching them than caring about the remakes.

Have you ever burned any movies?

No, that would be blasphemy

Have you snagged any music from the Internet?

Yep.

Who is your favorite actor & actress?

I really like Cary Grant, James Stewart, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart. Then people like Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro from the more modern era. For actress I'm not sure, I really like Julianne Moore from recent films, from older films I like Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, anyone from a Hitchcock or Hawks film really.

Who is your least favorite actor & actress?

Shia LeBouf for actor. I'm not sure about actress.

What is your favorite movie genre?

I love all genres but I really enjoy the nostalgic romantic idealism of both noirs and westerns, I love both their styles and wish they still made them.

What is your least favorite movie genre?

I don't really have one. I know most people would say something like musical, but they can be really good. I love Singin' in the Rain, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, An American in Paris, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and want to watch more.

Name the movie you hate the most.

I don't really hate that many movies. I'll have a check later and see if anything pops up, but I doubt it. I'm normally quite generous with ratings.

Name the oldest movie you've seen.

A Trip to the Moon.

Sherlock, Jr. for a feature film.

I desperately need to watch more older silent films.

Name the newest movie you've seen.

Paddington. I thought it was really funny and creative, a pleasant surprise.

Theater, or home theater?

I do like going to the cinema. Last year I got to see Rear Window, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey in the cinema. 2001 was especially fantastic, gave my goosebumps for most of the film and the audience stood up and clapped at the end too.

What is your favorite TV show?

Probably Twin Peaks. I also love The Office (both versions), The Sopranos, and LOST has a special place in my heart for probably being the first TV show I loved.

Right now I'm watching Arrested Development, I think that's great.

What is your least favorite TV show?

I don't understand people in Britain who love Mrs. Brown's Boys, I think that's awful. The same as anything with Keith Lemon. Every time I see Big Bang Theory I don't think it looks good, but I should probably give it a chance.

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What do you hope to do after university?

I'm not sure. My course is really boring and repetitive at the bottom and it's kind of destroyed any passion I had for IT. In an ideal world something to do with movies, hopefully my film does well, otherwise I'm not sure.

Where's the strangest place you've ever woken up?

When I was on holiday in Magaluf I woke up on a bench at about 6/7 in the morning. In Cardiff after nights out I've woken up at different people's houses for different reasons, but I normally remember nights out so they're never that confusing.

Have you ever been on a caravan holiday?

When I was younger I think once, it might have been a butlins or something similar, I can't really remember.

Do you label the food in your fridge?

Nope, in my Uni house we have separate shells and we all trust each other and share the essentials. I'm quite lazy when it comes to buying food in to, so most of the time I wouldn't have anything to label.

How do you feel about the election result?

Annoyed and surprised. How many idiots are there in the country? Conservatives would have been my last choice. I'd consider myself left wing and voted for the Green Party which I'll post more about later. A shame the democratic system means that although they've done relatively well this year, they've only got one seat.

Have you ever lost a close friend?

In my first year of Uni I became friends with someone in my house who was a life long friend with my house mate too. Unfortunately he passed away late on in the year, and it was the first funeral I went to too, it was horrible.

Favourite comedian?

I really like Ricky Gervais, I love his TV shows but haven't watched much of his stand up. I love Jon Richardson and also Sean Locke from 8 out of 10 cats.

What's the corniest chat up line you've ever heard/used?

Not sure, I'll have to think about it but it's rare I use them unless I'm really drunk and/or a friend tells me too. One of my mates asked a girl working at bar for a bandage as he was going to say "I hurt my knee falling for you" but before he could finish she had gone and got him a first aid kit

Money no object, what would you most like to go to a fancy dress party as?

Fancy dress really isn't my thing so I'm not sure. Maybe something out of a movie like a Reservoir Dog but everyone would just think I'm dressing smart.

What's the longest journey you've been on? From where to where?

About a 12 hour bus journey from Pembrokeshire to Glasgow when I was about 12 and part of Sea Cadets. I wasn't part of them for long but it was cool seeing the submarine base on the trip.

Who are the five greatest geniuses in cinema history for you personally?

I really like the old Hollywood directors who worked in black and white and pioneered cinema. People like Welles, Hawks and Ford. Then Alfred Hitchcock whose films you can learn so much from. Maybe someone like Buster Keaton but I haven't seen enough yet. In terms of more modern I really love Godard, I know he's love/hate but I think his films so far are great and I look forward to moving to some of his later films and following his evolution.

Who are some of your intellectual idols?

I'll have to get back to you on this one. Even though writing and theories interest me massively and I love learning about everything I must admit that I haven't actually read that much stuff and I want to improve my ability to read properly before I properly attempt to tackle the works of some people. Marx has always interested me, and in terms of film I always find the French Cahiers du Cinema lot fascinating, I have books by Andre Bazin that I look forward to reading properly in the future.

Who are some of your political idols (present or past)?

Similar answer here really. I'm really interested in politics but I struggle to point to many individuals that I admire. A lot of what I believe in politically, especially in terms of economics is inspired by John Maynard Keynes who I discoveres through my economics teacher.

What's the last picture you saw that truly made you feel intensely warm inside?

I thought that Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings was really sad and uplifting at the same time, very human and poignant. There's a feeling of death looming over the whole thing but there's great human joy in these people hanging out together, sharing their lives and passions. I'll have to check my recent film list (I'm on my phone at the moment) to see if there's anything else.

Who's the greatest looking actress of all time according to you?

I really like the blondes like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. Again if I check I'll be able to come up with more. Bridgette Bardot in Contempt springs to mind, and recently I watched Sullivan's Travels where I thought Veronica Lake looked great.

Is your movie ready yet?

Nope, I have exams from 19-26 May then I'll try and get full shooting started next month

Has it began production?

See above, I've also gotta speak with my DP about any potential equipment to buy to better the quality. I've been working on designing a website too.

Have you found any new directors you loved since your last Top 150?

Recently I had a Howard Hawks marathon. Rio Bravo and The Big Sleep were the only two I'd seen before and they were both on my list. Now I'd have a lot more of his films on it.

What do you see yourself doing in 10 years time?

What do you see yourself doing in 10 years time?

I'll be 30 then, so hopefully have a steady income and good job, but I have no idea what. As I've said, ideally it'll be something to do with films, hopefully this film does well and I can become involved in more projects. Outside of work I want to eventually have kids too

Have you ever taken an IQ test?

How would you describe your taste in humor?

Orange juice or grape juice?

The thing you find most boring to do?

Once again there are many many questions to read through here, so since I haven't seen all, I'm sorry if you have already answered some similar ones... If so just refer me to your previous answer.

- When did your serious interest for movies begin?

- Name 3 reasons why you have 'Contempt' in your top 10?

- How's it going with your film?

- Do you use IMDb/rotten tomatoes ratings to pick your films, whatever it is a lot or just to some extent?

- Name your 3 favorite horror films?

- Do you know the name of a danish film?

- Are you color blind or perhaps dyslexic? (I'm just throwing stuff out now lol)

- Do you have a girlfriend?

- Have you ever read movie scripts in your spare time?

- Am I awesome?



That's all!

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Are you mentally ill?

Have you ever been arrested?

Have you ever drank more than 2 litres of spirits in a 24 hour period?

Do you see dead people?

Have you ever taken an IQ test?

When I was about 14 probably, I think I had around 130-40, I'm not sure. It might be a bit lower now because I've stopped doing much maths and problem solving, but my general knowledge has massively increased since then.

How would you describe your taste in humor?

Good question, seeing as I'm supposed to be writing a comedy Maybe it's cliché to call it British, but I really the the understated, clever and witty style of humour found in Ricky Gervais' work, especially The Office. I love clever lines delivered by silly but real characters, so I love things like The Big Lebowski and This Is Spinal Tap. That's not to say I don't like more obvious, silly humour, I love Airplane! and I also love the US Office too.

Orange juice or grape juice?

Orange juice, I really like that. I can't remember the last time I tried grape juice though, maybe I should try it again.

The thing you find most boring to do?

Easy, university work, coursework and revision.

MovieMeditation:

- When did your serious interest for movies begin?

About three years ago now. I've posted about it on here before but I think I watched Reservoir Dogs because Michael Madsen was on Big Brother and my mum mentioned an infamous ear cutting scene. I was immediately interested and watched it and thought it was great. Then I watched Pulp Fiction and started watching more famous films like Taxi Driver and taking notice of the director. Then I started trying to write film reviews. I always loved the web as a platform, especially forums and blogs (which I used to use to discuss Football Manager) and I signed up here to advertise reviews, I soon discovered this place had everything I ever needed and I could post reviews and get discussion here. Since then my film taste has massively developed and I've seen hundreds of fascinating films and made many great friends.

- Name 3 reasons why you have 'Contempt' in your top 10?

I really love Jean-Luc Godard. I've only seen films of his from the Sixties so far, as I plan to move forward naturally, but I think he's made a number of great films in the decade. I wanted to represent him in my top ten as a director I love exploring, and Contempt might just be his best film for me. It's always fascinating to watch him experiment with film form and content, he loves to play around with the imagery, sounds, and other elements and infuses elements of film within film, the artist, human relationships, and literature within his work. Contempt is a mixture of all this and more, it's a really powerful, human film. Then there's the fantastic score, and Bridgette Bardot.

- How's it going with your film?

Pretty good. I've raised about £1000 and will have more than that closer to the time too. Yesterday me and the two main actors (my brother and my friend) made a few more dialogue changes to the script, and we're all really happy with it and have practiced shooting scenes and such. But we haven't got anything we'll actually used done yet. I'm going to finish my exams at the end of the month and then we'll started getting stuff ready and start shooting the film in June, hopefully. I'm excited.

- Do you use IMDb/rotten tomatoes ratings to pick your films, whatever it is a lot or just to some extent?

Not really, in fact I never use Rotten Tomatoes. I'm a big fan of IMDB as an organisational system, I rate all my films there and have an extensive watchlist of nearly 2000 films. Because of how well organised it is it's easy to find out best films from the best directors, and when I was starting to watch films I used to check it's IMDB and metacritic score that's on the profile. I have looked on the top 250 a few times and tried to watch films there that I think are great too, but some of them don't interest me that much, so I'm not in a rush to complete it.

As a guide to watching films I much perfer the MoFo Lists, I used to use them, the last Sight & Sound poll, and Roger Ebert's reviews and great movies lists to find great recommendations. Now they've added Ebert's list here, so it's even better.

- Name your 3 favorite horror films?

Psycho is probably my absolute favourite. Then maybe The Exorcist and The Shining, the former is one of my step-dad and step-brother's favourite films that I've watched a number of times and really admired for it's writing and direction (as you know from your thread) and the latter is a great film in terms of atmosphere and performance, I love the photography of the hotel. I really love Eraserhead and Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but they're not as much 'horror' films as the other two for me. I also have a soft spot for the first Scream, which I always find great fun.

- Do you know the name of a danish film?

My memory of film information, especially directors and generally countries, is very good. So yes, I can name a lot of Danish films. I've also done a Scandinavian film course online before. When I think of directors Carl Theodor Dreyer and Lars on Trier immediately spring to mind, so Ordet, Gertrud, Day of Wrath, Nymphomaniac, Melancholia, The Element of Crime, The Idiots, Dogville and Dancer in the Dark (I haven't seen those two and I have a feeling they might be set in America).

I also know some more Dogme directors like Vinterberg who did Festen. Then Refn's films, the Pusher films and Valhalla Rising.

Then I know that last year or the year before they had A Royal Affair (which Mark Kermode loved) and The Hunt which was nominated for an Oscar, also A Hijacking. The Act of Killing and Oppenheimer's other documentary are both Danish too, I think

- Are you color blind or perhaps dyslexic? (I'm just throwing stuff out now lol)

Nope

- Do you have a girlfriend?

Nope

- Have you ever read movie scripts in your spare time?

A few, but not really. Recently I read the North by Northwest script, because I was in a spy film mood. I think I read quite a few Tarantino scripts a couple of years ago. Often I just check certain scenes, especially if they're not dialogue heavy to see just how the director has described them. I want to improve my descriptive writing where there's not always dialogue.

- Am I awesome?

Not even close. I kid, you're cool, but some of the films on your horror lists are too low for me to answer this as a yes

Are you mentally ill?

Nope

Have you ever been arrested?

Nope

Have you ever drank more than 2 litres of spirits in a 24 hour period?

Spirits? Nope, I don't think so. I'm a lager man, Budweiser or Carling normally, pretty boring I know. I drink Vodka occasionally, but never that much, I don't think.

Do you see dead people?

I don't think so

What was your favorite time on these forums? Doesn't have to be super specific, but some details would be cool?

Steak or seafood?

What is your favorite season?

What movie deserves to win the sixth Hall of Fame?

Are you a Disney fan?

Do you like long walks on the beach?

What's the most expensive thing you bought?

Have you ever studied abroad?

What other languages do you speak?

Are you religious?

If you could travel in time... when and where?

Do you think romance is dead?

What's your favorite accent?

Favorite cuisine?

Wine or beer?

Raul:

What was your favorite time on these forums? Doesn't have to be super specific, but some details would be cool?

Good question. I've had many great moments but here are a few that come to mind:

The survivor games. I'd never want to go back, or participate in another one, because they were so time consuming and stressful. But when I did these they were so exciting and fun at times, and it felt like we were actually playing a real game, constantly scheming against each other. I enjoy tactical games, and I made a few great friends through these games too, like Swan. So even though they were a lot of hassle, and there were some bad moments, they were a hectic time that I remember well.

Then the Seventies list, this was great fun, especially the top ten. I remember rewatching The Godfather and I really, really wanted it to win. I was eagerly refreshing the page waiting for the result. I logged on every day excited for the next film, hopefully I can live up to the high standards set by these great lists with the Sixties I know you're looking forward to the Fifties too, and so am I as I've been exploring a lot of older films recently.

Then the new design was really cool, although that's just more the natural evolution over a period of time, it's great to be part of all these changes. The two oscar chats I've taken part in were great fun too, my dream is to one day win in the predictions

Steak or seafood?

Tough, but I have to say seafood. I have always loved seafood. I think prawns are my favourite ever food, and I love all kinds of fish. Squid is delicious although I don't have it as much as I would like. I remember old holidays to portugal where I went to a fish resturaunt a few times, that was fantastic. I do love a good steak though, although I haven't had steak much in my life, I need to change that. The other week me and my housemates all bought ingredients and had a steak dinner, that was delicious. Moving back to seafood, I love a Tuna Pasta Bake with lots of prawns in it.

What is your favorite season?

Probably the summer. I really enjoy the hot weather, and being able to relax comfortably. Plus, this summer I get to make my film

What movie deserves to win the sixth Hall of Fame?

I haven't seen that many of them. I absolutely love Pierrot Le Fou but I think it's too polarising to have much of a chance. I think Woman in the Dunes is very good too, although I don't think it's a masterpiece like some people. Remember both these films are eligible for the Sixties list too, I'd like to see them do well on there too.

Are you a Disney fan?

I'd say so. When I was younger I watched Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia countless number of times and I loved them. I've always enjoyed watching animations and find them hard to dislike, I've seen every Pixar film and enjoy pretty much all of them (I'm not massive on Cars or Brave though).

Do you like long walks on the beach?

I'm not that much of a beach person, I've never really got the appeal of it as much as other people. I do like walking and our family has dogs now, so maybe I should try this more in the summer.

What's the most expensive thing you bought?

I'm really not sure, I haven't bought that many costly things. The most expensive things I've had have come as Christmas or Birthday gifts like Laptops or game consoles, or stuff that I've got through putting together gift money. Outside of that I'm really not sure, I don't really like to waste money and have never had a proper job, most things I buy are films, and occasionally clothes. Going on holiday to Magaluf a couple of years ago was probably the most costly thing I've ever done, aside from University, but I get a student loan for that. If I can think of something properly I'll post in here.

Have you ever studied abroad?

No. It's perhaps something I'd like to do though. I've got one year left on my current University course after the summer, and I'm not sure what I'd like to do after that. If I could garner some money I'd perhaps like to live in France, I think it looks like a really nice place and I love movies from there too. In the future I'd like to visit America, there's so many places there I'd like to visit.

What other languages do you speak?

Just English. I had to do short course Welsh in school but in my region of the county not many people can speak it fluently, so I only know the very basic.

Are you religious?

Not at all. I was waiting for this kind of question. I would call myself an atheist I guess, and I'm very much a man of science.

If you could travel in time... when and where?

Good question. I'd probably have to think about it more carefully, but if I had to give an answer right now, as I mentioned earlier I would say a time so I could be a teenager at the time American Graffiti is set. So born in earlieth 20th century American, good music, people dressing smart, cool cars etc.

Do you think romance is dead?

No, I know it's change a lot, and you can especially see that in the movies. Maybe it's too much movies that have made me nostalgic and made me wish I could be one of these romantic characters. Casablanca and Before Sunrise are two of my favourite films, I think that says something

What's your favorite accent?

I'm not really a massive fan of British accents, I know some people love the Irish accent. Maybe something European like French or Spanish, I would like to be able to understand and speak French good enough to watch a French film without subtitles, I'm just too lazy to learn at the moment.

Favorite cuisine?

Probably Chinese food, I really like a good Chinese. I like and Indian curry, but not so much all the side stuff that goes with it. With Chinese there's a lot of stuff that I like.

Wine or beer?

Definitely beer. I normally drink lager as mentioned above, Budweiser or Carling. I really don't like wine. I wish I could drink it as I know it would get me drunk easier, which could be good on some occasions, but I don't like the taste that much.