Hotseat! Grill a MoFo: mark f

I guess you missed the Simpsons reference with my first question, that's okay.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I'm a big "Simpsons" fan, but I don't obsess about them. I'm in my 50s after all. I don't have a huge backlog of quotes I utter all the time, and I don't know the titles of most episodes, but if I watch an old "Simpsons" episode, I tend to laugh a lot and remember what is is about it that I love. I also tend to laugh at most of the new episodes too, whatever the hell their titles are. Thanks for making my questions personal though.

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Well, I do obsess about them. Nah, but I can quote alot of the first ten seasons, I have them on DVD and have watched repeatedly.

That was from the episode 'The Trouble With Trillions' where Homer goes to work for the government after a really bad tax return gets him in trouble with the IRS. Moe asks Lenny that question I asked you, and Lenny replies something like, "I've always wanted to know what it's like to wear something that's been ironed." Moe replies "I was gonna say a night with Joey Heatherton, but an ironed shirt, woah, that'd be sweet! What about you Homer?" "Well..." And that's when the Feds come in and take him away screaming help, to which his bar buddies continue with their conversation.

Yes, I am a nerd. Who's Joey Heatherton?

Obviously a play on words of "Star Trek"'s "The Trouble With Tribbles".

I'd take Joey Heatherton.

I personally have never ironed anything in my life, although I have worn clothes that have been. I think i'd take this here Joey Heatherton too, although how old would she be today? Also, I never knew where that episode title came from (they all come from somwhere on that show - well most of them), thanks for that little bit of info Mark. That's a funny picture of Kirk, he looks like he's enjoying these Tribbles.

Do I still break the law??

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I'll take that as a yes...

Hi Mark,

How do you think films will evolve over the next fifty years compared with how they've changed during your lifetime? do you think the film industry will still be around? Are video games the biggest threat to the industry?

Is there a book/play/idea yet to be made into into a movie that you'd love to see adapted? If so what is it?

Do you consider yourself a hippy?

If you could only eat one type of cuisine (i.e. Indian, Mexican, Chinese etc) for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

Are we alone in the universe? or are we being observed by aliens? Essentially do you believe there's any truth in tales of the supernatural, U.F.O,'s, reptilian conspiracy theories, Bigfoot and all that crazy stuff?

What's the closest you've come to a Zen like experience?

Did you ever catch the disco bug back in the seventies?

Considering my taste would you be good enough to name five essential B-movies from the seventies I'm unlikely to have seen.

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How do you think films will evolve over the next fifty years compared with how they've changed during your lifetime? do you think the film industry will still be around? Are video games the biggest threat to the industry?

Movies will certainly be around, and the cinema experience will always be here, even if it ends up all being the equivalent of what we call "art house theatres" today. The big evolution of movies during my lifetime has been away from clearly-structured plots with definable characters and witty dialogue to a more free-form cinema where plots don't matter or even make sense, characters who are bipolar/schizophrenic are the norm and "naturalistic" babbling passes itself off as wit. There are certainly some good movies being made, but I fully expect film to evolve almost into a DIY experience for many, but having been raised on films with some criteria for artistic accomplishment (photographic composition, thematic structure, basic professionalism), I feel these simple joys may well be lost in the DIY ethos, as it already has been in some cases. One other thing I've noticed is the evolution of film music, but I've mostly liked all film music, of various types and genres, including the lack of a score.

I'm sorry, guests just arrived, so I'll answer the rest later on.

Is there a book/play/idea yet to be made into into a movie that you'd love to see adapted? If so what is it?

My daughter and I are working on some mysteries with some offbeat plots. We're pretty sure that something similar must have been down through the years in some medium, but they're original enough for me to keep them quiet for now. I'd love to see One Hundred Years of Soliude made into a movie in its original setting. There is a Japanese film version which I haven't seen. I'm guessing it would be too difficult to somehow translate his poetic prose to the screen and still capture the magical realism. Too bad John Boorman didn't try about 30 years ago.

Do you consider yourself a hippy?

No. I consider my older brother a hippie because he was, and there are photos (locked away somewhere) to prove it. I was just slightly too young to be a hippie. I was 11 during the Summer of Love. Besides, I've never really been into fashion as a form of expression. I tend to buy plain clothes with no emblems of any kind, and I never wear any accessories or jewelry (except my wedding ring). I'll admit to wearing bell bottoms during my junior year in high school, but I never wore my hair long or did any grass or anything similar until I was into college.

If you could only eat one type of cuisine (i.e. Indian, Mexican, Chinese etc) for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

I can eat most anything, but if forced to choose, I'd probably pick Mexican (at least what's served at Mexican restaurants) because it's very easy to make at home and can easily be varied so as not to become too boring. I've made a lot of it down through the years, so it would be the easiest for myself to transition to, plus I like Salsa Brava.

Are we alone in the universe? or are we being observed by aliens? Essentially do you believe there's any truth in tales of the supernatural, U.F.O,'s, reptilian conspiracy theories, Bigfoot and all that crazy stuff?

There are plenty of seemingly-unexplainable things going on around here, including basic government inefficiency, but to group it as one specific reason/conspiracy and for me to believe it is something I haven't bothered to exert too much energy on. On general principle, I find it difficult to believe that we are alone, but I'm not ready to commit to trying to explain things such as UFOs as lots of isolated incidents where the "viewers" all tend to agree on what they saw and what was done to them. I'm sure there are plenty of nutjobs, but there is probably something happening to somebody somewhere that could well be real, but whether these "spaceships" are physical, alien, spiritual, extradimensional, etc., I personally have no way of knowing. If we are supposed to be the best and brightest of the universe, I feel the universe has blundered its way into existence for little reason except for underachievement.

What's the closest you've come to a Zen like experience?

I haven't practiced zen, although my brother was a Buddhist for years, but I have come to some inner awareness through fasting and meditation, but unlike Zen, I focused on the Bible, constant prayer and study. It helped me to gain enlightenment and a form of inner peace, but I realize that it's pretty far afield from Zen. The one thing I will say is that I did this mostly by myself with another couple of similar practitioners, so it did make it a very personal and private experience, but we'd try to share with each other what it was we were trying to do and what we accomplished in both our internal and external lives.

Did you ever catch the disco bug back in the seventies?

No. I got into pogoing and a bit of slamming in the '70s, but I never discoed. I wasn't the most sociable person growing up into young adulthood anyway.

Considering my taste would you be good enough to name five essential B-movies from the seventies I'm unlikely to have seen.

I don't have time to answer this question now. Do you want me to only stick to your preferred genres? Horror/Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure/Crazy Comedies? Or am I allowed to get real out there and include a romance.

I trust your judgment so if you think there's a romance flick I'll appreciate then fire away. But yeah the aforementioned are good too

Random question, but I'm curious - what's your opinion on John Carpenter and his filmography?

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You may have been asked this question already, but it popped into my head as I entered your thread and I'm curious: what film have you seen the greatest number of times, and what is that number?

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I'm still waiting

Considering my taste would you be good enough to name five essential B-movies from the seventies I'm unlikely to have seen.

My problem with trying to answer this question is that I really need to brainstorm with my younger brother to try to find films such as God Told Me To which I already know that you've seen. Otherwise, my list isn't so much B-movies as little seen films with some macabre twists. On my own, I came up with these; sorry, if you've seen them or they seem off the mark.

The Silent Partner (1978) - Twisty Canadian thriller with Elliott Gould as a bank teller and Christopher Plummer as a sadistic bank robber. It's a cat-and-mouse type flick where the roles seem to keep changing, and it's accented with striking bits of nasty violence.

Sweater Girls (1978) - This is an ultra low-budget teen sex comedy, except that it's actually funny. The problem with this film is that I haven't seen it for 30 years, but at the time I thought it was about as good in its genre as I find Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Mischief today. The "plot" involves a club which 1950s girls join to try to stay virgins; as if any sly dog boys need any other inducement to try to do their thing.

To the Devil a Daughter (1976) - Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark fight it out to win the scenery-chewing contest as an excommunicated priest-turned-Satanist and an occult novelist, respectively. It's a low budget cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist with a very young Nastassja Kinski running around naked as the titular Daughter.

The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) - In a coma since a baby, 30-year-old Mr. Soames (Terence Stamp) undergoes an operation and wakes up, but now he must be taught as both a child and an adult, and this quickly frustrates him. Conflicted by the differing methods of his two doctors (Robert Vaughn and Nigel Davenport), Mr. Soames escapes the hospital but finds himself in a world with which he has no experience. This flick uses a style similar to The Andromeda Strain which heightens its believability as sci-fi.

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (1976) - Yukio Mishima's novel is transferred to the English seacoast but still tells the strange story of a widow (Sarah Miles) and her lonely son who are attracted to an American sailor (Kris Kristofferson). The film is packed with sex, nudity, violence, beautiful cinematography, unhealthy relationships and a very dark ending. I like it a lot, but even if you don't, you won't forget it.

I've got a few more, such as Breakout, a thriller with Charles Bronson and Robert Duvall; The Stranger and the Gunfighter, a kung fu spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef, and the dreadful Psychic Killer which at least has the infamous meat grinder scene.

Random question, but I'm curious - what's your opinion on John Carpenter and his filmography? - Iroquois

I like John Carpenter, for the most part, but that's more because he has the courage of his convictions and not because I think he's a great auteur. Sure, he knows how to shoot and edit a film, but sometimes he seems lost when it comes to story and character. I really feel I'd need to watch a few of these films again to go into detail, but to give you at least some random way in which I'd rate Carpenter's films, here goes:

Dark Star -
Assault on Precinct 13 -
Halloween - +
The Fog -
Escape from New York -
The Thing - +
Christine -
Starman -
Big Trouble in Little China -
Prince of Darkness - -
They Live - ++
Memoirs of an Invisible Man -
In the Mouth of Madness -
Village of the Damned -
Escape from L.A. -
Vampires -
Ghosts of Mars -

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You may have been asked this question already, but it popped into my head as I entered your thread and I'm curious: what film have you seen the greatest number of times, and what is that number? - The Dominator

I'm not sure that I was asked it, but earlier in the thread I talked about how the movie Jaws saved my life and sanity (such as it is) back in the Summer of 1975. I saw Jaws 25 times at the theatre that summer. I've watched it countless times at home since then (ergo I've stopped counting), but there's little doubt that I've seen that movie the most times and that number would likely be somewhere around 100, but I'm not really sure.

Thanks Mark, I haven't seen any of those movies apart from The Stranger and the Gunfighter (UK title Blood Money) and Breakout, which was on TV last year if memory serves me correctly. I've seen trailers for the Psychic Killer on video (the Vipco label) numerous times, but always thought it looked pretty dull. From your list the ones that look most appealing would be The Mind of Mr. Soames, andThe Silent Partner. I hope I can track them down sometime.

Thanks Mark, I haven't seen any of those movies apart from The Stranger and the Gunfighter (UK title Blood Money) and Breakout, which was on TV last year if memory serves me correctly. I've seen trailers for the Psychic Killer on video (the Vipco label) numerous times, but always thought it looked pretty dull. From your list the ones that look most appealing would be The Mind of Mr. Soames, andThe Silent Partner. I hope I can track them down sometime.

Harsh ratings on some of those Carpenter flicks though; only 2.5 for Assault on Precinct 13? man that's a classic.

Thanks Mark, I haven't seen any of those movies apart from The Stranger and the Gunfighter (UK title Blood Money) and Breakout, which was on TV last year if memory serves me correctly. I've seen trailers for the Psychic Killer on video (the Vipco label) numerous times, but always thought it looked pretty dull. From your list the ones that look most appealing would be The Mind of Mr. Soames, and The Silent Partner;I hope I can track them down sometime.

Harsh ratings on some of those Carpenter flicks though; only 2.5 for Assault on Precinct 13? man that's a classic.

Thanks for the response, Mark. That's very impressive. Twenty-five times in the theater? Nice!

While I'm at it, here's another question: I don't think I've ever heard you talk about it - what rating would you bestow upon 12 Angry Men, and if you care to take the time to quickly jot a few thoughts down, what are some of your opinions about it?