>1) Who do you feel is resposible for the start of French New
>Wave? Who were the best directors of this period?

Responsible...well, the Cahiers guys I'd suppose (if I'm remembering my film crit correctly), Truffuat, Godard, etc. My personal favorite is Truffaut though.


>2) Was Heaven's Gate truly responsible for the death of the
>director's films in Hollywood?

I wouldn't say all that. I mean...I've never seen it but after seeing The Deer Hunter I did some research on Heaven's Gate and the debacle that went along with it. A few on here (King Friday comes to mind) think it's a fantastic film...so it's not universally hated (nothing really is of course), but you still have guys like Tarantino or Rodriguez that truly dictate EVERYTHING about their films. It's not a death but it was certainly a changing of the guard.

>3) I feel a lot of movies get unfairly lumped into
>Blaxploitation? Yes or no?

Completely agree. Menace II Society is not a blaxploitation film. I think it's just something tag "black" movies with. Or even movies about violence or the ghetto or whatever.


>4) Was Godfather III more of a studio pressure film than
>anything else? No one in the movie really seemed into it.

You know I've seen an hour of the Godfather III (everytime I watch it, I watch the first two first so I can "get into the story" but um, that usually just makes me turn it off completley cause it doesn't hold up at all). But you're right, nobody seemed into it whatsoever. Might have been a studio pressured film...it was certainly using it's prequels as a reason for it's Best Picture nomination that year. I'm gonna listen to the commentary someday cause I'm sure FFC has some interesting things to say about it.


>5) What really killed Miramax in the end?

Having read Down and Dirty Pictures (I actually did a term paper on Miramax's rise), it's really ego. Harvey has a HUGE one according to this book (ego that is...just throwing that out there before someone no homos me), and we all know that Disney can cause a collapse like they almost did with Pixar. It's weird...Kevin Smith and Tarantino have no problems working with Harvey Weinstein, they LOVE him and are with the Weinstein company (along with Robert Rodriguez and anyone else who was loyal to the Miramax family) but a looooot of other people hate him (Todd Solandz, that dude who did the Boondock Saints,hahahah). They're an interesting group to study for sure. Still they're one of the most successful companies...so I'd say it was Disney's bad.

>6) When did Iranian cinema become the force that it is today?
>Do you recommend any movies?

I am SO not the dude to ask about this. King Friday is the one.

>7) I find forced symbolism in film to be amateurish; do you?

Oh, no doubt. I honestly find that symbolism that isn't so "LOOK AT ME" is far, far better...hell, even unconcious symbolism is great. But having been to film school, I've seen too much forced symbolism, and it's godawful.

>8) I think Rosemary's Baby is the scariest movie ever. You?

Hmmmm....scariest. I'm not sure. Perhaps. I'm not scared easily, but that shit is up there.


>9) What's your favorite Kubrick? I luh me some Barry Lyndon,
>with Strangelove a close second.

Strangelove, Clockwork Orange. Those are my personal favs.


>10) If you were to direct/produce, who would you pattern
>yourself after?


Robert Rodriguez, bar none. Dude does it his way and he has fun. I have NOTHING but respect for that. Plus his films are amazingly entertaining and he is an entertaining person who definitely caters to us movie nerds (you know, having one of our own succeed and making awesome DVDs and stuff).