The guys at the “Only Good Movies Blog” have asked me to participate in their “Movies and the Masses” feature.  I was chosen–in the words of the blog’s proprietor–because they asked “random” people to answer a few questions about movies (how’s that for credentials).  Anyway, my choices are here.

In looking back over my choices, one thing seems clear–nobody is likely to accuse me of being a “film snob.”

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    25 Comments

    1. jcm says:

      So is blog about nothing. at least after 2007 but for : The life of Others

    2. uh_clem says:

      Actively avoiding Julia Roberts movies is sound advice.

    3. K Dackson says:

      What, no Dodgeball?

    4. Gordon Langston says:

      Jennifer over Julia or Julianne cements your reputation as a “man’s man”.

    5. ChrisHo says:

      I am in the same camp, avoid Julia Robert and all about Jennifer

    6. philostudent says:

      Very sparse interview. I wish they had asked more followup questions.

      But good choices on the movies. If I knew I was going to die soon, I would also probably want to watch comedies. I would want to end on a more serious note, however: something like 8 1/2.

      (Also, jcm, you clearly haven’t seen Transformers 2.)

    7. NickM says:

      This is probably as good a thread as any to recommend seeing The Hurt Locker.

      Nick

    8. JohnF says:

      Gummy bears? GUMMY BEARS???

      Let’s just hope you do not have to appear anywhere where you might be cross-examined.

    9. Lyric Critic says:

      I hope that the answers in this interview were jokes.

    10. Fedya says:

      I hate webpages that you can’t read if you have images turned off.

    11. LarryA says:

      Only Good Movies: What’s the first movie you remember seeing?
      Todd Zywicki: Escape From Witch Mountain.

      God, I’m getting old.

    12. John M. Perkins says:

      **** (1967) by Andy Warhol is a good movie for your criteria of last 5 movies. 1100 minutes.

    13. Tweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Zywicki on “Only Good Movies Blog”: -- Topsy.com says:

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    14. josh bornstein says:

      Fight Club? Fight Club!?!?!!! WTF.

      I’ve never seen Rambo II, so maybe you can explain why that’s in there. (All my info re that movie is anecdotal, but that one also surprises me.)

    15. ArthurKirkland says:

      I agreed with many of the professor’s opinions, and was pleased to discover the shared ground.

      That causes me to offer unsolicited advice: Don’t spend too much time thinking about Springsteen’s lyrics, or attending his shows, or reading or watching his interviews, unless you desire to risk your conservatism.

    16. TLA says:

      I think all Conspirators should answer those questions. That’d be fun to read.

    17. OperationCounterstrike says:

      Todd, are you SERIOUS? You LIKED the LotR movies??? They made me puke. They totally outed the deliciously-subtle homoeroticism between Frodo and Sam in the books, and Ian McKellan was dead wrong for Gandalf. Gandalf is a rugged bass-baritone like Wotan, not a skinny, simpering wimp! I thought McKellan was in the wrong movie, he thought he was playing Dr. Smith in LOST IN SPACE. I was waiting for him to start moaning “Oh, the pain, the pain!”

    18. OperationCounterstrike says:

      For the record, my favorite movies are:

      KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS

      A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

      THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (original, 1974)

      Dr. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (original, with Fredric March)

      RE-ANIMATOR (original, with Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton)

      OLIVER TWIST (original with Guiness, Robert Newton, Francis L. Sullivan)

      CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (Claude Rains, Flora Robson)

      THE MALTESE FALCON

      NOTORIOUS (Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains)

      THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck)

      I am not including videotaped opera performances, but if I were, GOTTERDAMMERUNG with Matti Salminen at the Met in his bald wig as Hagen would be on there. So would DON GIOVANNI, with Cesare Siepi and Otto Edelmann, conducted by Furtwangler. And, THE MAGIC FLUTE, conducted by Sawallisch, with Kurt Moll and Lucia Popp. And KHOVANSHCHINA, with Nicolai Ghiaurov, Paata Burchuladze, Anatoly Kotcherga, and Heinz Zednik.

    19. Mark says:

      Let me be the first to say: “Miss! Noonan! Miss! Noonan!”

    20. josh bornstein says:

      Mark,
      Okay, that’s funny.

    21. first history says:

      My only successfully completed New Year’s resolution ever was one I completed last year. I kept track of all the films I saw within a year, (112), from January 1st (The Reader) to Dec. 27th (Vertigo). Only about a quarter were films released in 2009, with most of the films released in the 1950s-1970s (all viewing was done in movie theaters, no DVDs or television, and films had to have a legitimate theatrical release). In my opinion, the best of 2009 were:

      The Hurt Locker–by far the best of the Iraq-related films.

      (500) Days of Summer–love Zooey Deschanel, and old downtown Los Angeles finally got its due.

      District 9–Far better than Avatar, this film had a real story and characters. Truly original.

    22. Brian says:

      What, no mention of The Godfather? For shame.

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