Friday Fives

1. As "movie award season" approaches, do you watch any awards shows? Which part of the shows do you enjoy the most: the "red carpet" part or the actual awards show?

I don't really watch any of the award shows, they are way too long. For the Oscars, I'll watch the last half hour... that is about it.

2. Do you consider yourself a "movie insider"? Any guesses as to who will win the Academy Awards this year? Any personalfavorites?

Movie insider? Not remotely. It is very very rare we go see a movie in the theatre. It costs $9 a person. So, before we even look at getting snacks... the movie is $18. Instead I wait three months and buy the movie for $15. Favorite actors? Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, William H Macy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and that guy who played the cop from Magnolia (something Reilly). Basically, I really like actors who can completely disappear into a role. It is rare that I become so engrossed in a good acting role that I forget who the actor is. Forrest Gump embodied that philosophy. Hanks so became that character, it is the greatest acting job in history.

3. "Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King" is up for 11 Academy Awards. What do you think about that? (Eleven Oscars also went to "Titanic" and "Ben Hur" - did you see those movies?)

Well, it deserves it. Those movies were brilliant. I saw every one of them at the theatre, and now own every one of them on DVD. They could be the finest films ever made, in fact.

4. Which actor/actress, in your opinion, should have earned an Oscar but so far hasn't? Is there an actor/actress who *has* received an Oscar but you feel shouldn't have gotten it or wasn't deserving?

Well, Marty Scorsesee really deserves an Oscar... about 6 of them actually. As for who shouldn't have gotten one? That doesn't bother me. However, it truly does seem that Hollywood does the 'make-up Oscar'. As a result, you can expect to finally see Marty Scorsesee win this year for the Aviator. It was a very good movie, but I don't know that it is Oscar worthy.

5. If you could create your own movie award and give it to someone, who would it be and in what category?

Well, I am a fan of what I call the dumb movie genre. Thing Dodgeball, or Anchorman. These are movies that you know will be funny... but not spending $30 a the theatre funny. These are movies that go better with lots of beer. These are the movies that scream 'renter' to me when I see the previews. These were also known as 'Ben Stiller movies... but these days he is in all movies. My favorite great bad movies of all time are Summer School & Gotcha. How bad are they? Summer School just got pressed to DVD 6 months ago, and Gotcha has yet to make it to the DVD market. Now, how great were they? Geesh, look at the casts of those movies: Linda Fiorentino, Anthony Edwards, Mark Harmon, Courtney Thorne Smith, Kirstey Alley... and precious cinmatic dilagoe like this; a conversation between Mark Harmon's character and his dog as they share a bottle of peanup butter:

You what we need, Wondermutt? I mean, besides bread... A woman who appreciates us!