is this film more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch?

15. What was your first R-rated movie, and did you like it? 

     Rain Man (1988), maybe? It seems amazing that I'd have even tried to get in, but I do recall seeing it at the theater, so, that must be it.

    I loved it. Dustin Hoffman's performance was outstanding, Tom Cruise was good, and the story itself poked me in the heart. The rated-R-ness of it (for swears? Or for emotionally insensitive words and actions?) I don't think registered at the time.

16. What’s the most visually beautiful film you’ve ever seen? 

    This is one from left field: Legends of the Fall (1994), reviewed here. It was a hard decision to make, though, as there are so many gorgeous films out there in so many different categories. Hard to compare the beauty of a martial arts movie with a screwball comedy from the 1940s. Likewise, a war film with a costume drama. And, of course, the mere concept of beauty is hard to define and compare.

    Legends of the Fall is beautiful not so much for the cast (which is undeniably a handsome lot) but for the location and the unobtrusive filming. So well done, it's worth a watch just for that.

17. Who are your favorite leading men, past and present? 

     Clark Gable (1901-1960), William Holden (1918-1981), Russell Crowe (1964- ), George Clooney (1961- )... Go ahead and guess who is whom.

18. Who are your favorite leading ladies, past and present?      

    Carole Lombard (1911-1937), Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), Adrienne Shelly (1966-2006), Emma Thompson (1959- )—which says a whole lot about the qualities I'm looking for in a leading lady.

19. Who are your favorite modern filmmakers? 

     Guillermo del Toro, for such movies as Pinocchio (2022), reviewed here, and especially The Shape of Water (2017), reviewed here. And Quentin Tarantino, whose Inglorious Basterds (2009, reviewed here) I loved. and Robert Rodriguez (e.g. From Dusk 'til Dawn, 1996, reviewed here)...

20. Who’s your least favorite modern filmmaker? 

     anyone focusing specifically on superheroes. The films are too inside-joke and an off-putting combination of complicated and superficial.

21. What film do you love that most people seem to hate? 

     Paul Verhoeven's Black Book {Zwartboek} (2006, reviewed here), about Holland in WWII. It is dramatic and melodramatic, twisted and beautiful, and packs a surprising series of punches. It was my introduction to the great German actor Sebastian Koch. Although Verhoeven has a reputation for pushing some of the wrong buttons, but I think this one's terrific.

 

[pulled and adapted from The Movie Love Questionnaire; the title quotation is by Gene Siskel]