Reader Spotlight: Chris
Friday, April 22, 2011 at 3:00PM 
Continuing the weekly or twice weekly series of reader spotlights. Today's reader is Chris a Midwestern reader with a great sense of humor who started reading TFE in his senior year of high school back in the mid Aughts and never stopped. That's the way we like it, the never-stopping part.
Nathaniel: Do you remember your first moviegoing experience or first movie obsession?
CHRIS: I'm pretty sure it was The Little Mermaid, because I have a distinct memory of Ursula's entrance. I can't remember my first movie obsession, because there have been so many. Probably the biggest was the summer that Moulin Rouge! and Hedwig and the Angry Inch came out. I flipped for both movies individually, but collectively they made me feel like musicals were back for good.
Take one Oscar away and give it to someone else.
I have to go with two on this one (and I'd take them away from double winners actually): First, I'd give Sean Penn's Mystic River Oscar to Bill Murray for Lost in Translation, because Murray gave a career-defining performance and, let's be honest, Penn was light years better in Milk anyway. Second, I'd give Hilary Swank's second Oscar to Kate Winslet for Eternal Sunshine, because it's her best work and Hilary Swank was the weakest performance in the category by a mile!
You're suddenly in charge of world cinema for a year! How do you you wield this awesome power?
I'd get rid of the whole "Oscar movie" release pattern! I hate that having to wait all year for the quality movies, and then try to cram in far too many movies into too little time. Plus, living in the crappy midwest means most of the smaller films don't stick around and I have to rush to see them ASAP anyway.
Have you ever dressed as a movie character for Halloween? And has a movie character ever dressed as you?
I went as Wall•E. Made it myself, too! On the flip side, Joseph Gordon-Levitt totally raided my wardrobe in (500) Days of Summer.
Chris makes his own costumes. JGL steals his look!
Three Favorite Actresses?
Only 3 is so not fair! I'd have to go with Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Laura Linney.
Name your favorite movie in the following five genres: musical, drama, scifi, horror, woody allen. Go!
Aladdin, Boogie Nights, Children of Men, The Shining, Interiors. Most of those are hard to narrow down just to one, but I was half tempted to put The Room as one that fits all these categories. Jokes!
Previous Reader Spotlights: Peter, Ziyad, Andrew, Yonatan, Keir, Kyle, Jamie, Vinci, Victor, Bill, Hayden, Dominique, Murtada, Cory, Walter, Paolo, Leehee and BBats
Reader Comments (15)
Love these!
I love this series, but can one reader please not complain about only picking three actresses? We all know it's tough!
Awesome Wall-E costume.
Peter -- right?! I was duly impressed. I'm also jealous of the wardrobe that JGL stole from him. God, I need to go shopping. I probably look like a just stepped out of 2006.
I love you for Interiors being your favorite Woody Allen movie. I never would've appreciated Geraldine Page without it.
Oh Nathaniel... no worries about the 2006 wardrobe. I'm still trying to mimic Jude Law's wardrobe in 'Alfie'.
How long did it take you to make that Wall-E costume? It's brilliant!
PS: I fear I have to find myself a new name, now that you've been spotlighted. There are far too many Chrises out there.
A man after my own heart: that Interiors shout-out! Also love the replacement Oscar choices and I think everyone here would make the same choices in a heartbeat. Also love the bit about the summer of Moulin Rouge! & Hedwig coming out. We really need more great movie musicals, it's been much too long.
The Room is indeed amazing, anyone who hasn't seen it does not know what comedy is.
Other Chris - it took what seemed like forever, but considering my "Wall-E" obsession, I'm surprised I didn't spend longer on it...
I'm so glad everyone agrees on "Interiors"! Way underrated!
Let's add another cheer for that Interiors mention! My favourite Woody Allen, and one of my favourite movies ever.
That idea for releasing all Oscar movies over the year is a great idea. And also releasing it in some smaller cities too, if they don’t mind.
If only he chose Nicole Kidman for the last favorite actress, he got The Hours. Oh, The Hours, 3 marvelous actresses crammed into one movie.
I love your movie picks but why would you want to take away Sean Penn's oscar for Mystic River? He was brilliant in Mystic River, really maybe his best performance ever. I'd never seen someone depict grief in such a realistic & subtle way. Can not believe this.
funny how lots of readers here (including me) are Julianne Moore lovers, hehe.
(Or, not. Since he writes so many and lovely things about her.)
Count me in as someone who also thinks Interiors is Woody's best movie!
Does anyone know how someone might become a Reader Of The Day?