180 Seconds with Craig Ranapia

13 Responses

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I really enjoyed this!

    I think it should be noted, for anyone who is considering downloading it, that Craig talks about the survey done of New Zealanders' favourite movies, where Helen Clark said she like the Motorcycle Diary, and John Key confessed to being a fan of Johnny English.

    I'm looking forward to his next 180 seconds worth.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Nice to know my first review wasn't a pan - and if you listen really carefully you can hear me remembering to breathe now and them. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Actually, we were very impressed with Craig's ability to seamlessly depart from script and just talk off the top of his head - points to anyone who can pick those parts, because we could only tell by the fact that he was looking straight ahead and not down at his script.

    But yes, I think we have a new radio talent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    that was good Craig, you came across really well.
    it's a shame both politicians sqandered that opportunity to say much interesting about their real tastes.

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    To be fair, perhaps they were being completely candid and you'd have to completely bonkers to invite them round for a Saturday night watching DVDs and eating crap. (Then again, I'm going through a serious yakuza-palooza at the moment so they'd probably be fools to accept.) But I refuse to believe anyone can be that dull for real - we're talking the Olympia and Triumph of the Will of burnished banality. So much for you get the government you deserve, I guess...

    Any how, I guess it's time to expose my own cinematic tastes to mockery. In no particular order, here are my own picks and pans....

    FAVOURITES
    **Basic Instinct** (1992 - Paul Verhoeven)

    **Metropolitan** (1990 – Whit Stillman)

    **North by Northwest** (1959 – Alfred Hitchcock)

    **Fargo** (1996 –Joel Coen)

    **The Seven Samurai** (1954 – Akira Kurosawa)

    **Blue Velvet** (1986 – David Lynch)

    **The Age of Innocence** (1993 – Martin Scorsese)

    **Brief Encounter** (1945 - David Lean)

    **Topsy-Turvy** (1999 – Mike Leigh)

    **Gone With The Wind** (1938 – Victor Fleming)

    **Princess Mononoke** (1997 – Hayao Miyazaki)

    **Heavenly Creatures** (1994 – Peter Jackson)

    **Raining Stones** (1993 - Ken Loach)

    The Lone Wolf and Cub series (1972-4 — Kenji Misumi et. al.)

    **Hellraiser** (1987 – Clive Barker)

    **The Castle** (1997 – Rob Sitch)


    DESPISED
    **The Shining** (1980 – Stanley Kubrick)

    **300** (2006 – Zack Snyder)

    **The Departed** (2006 – Martin Scorsese)

    **What Dreams May Come** (1998 – Vincent Ward)

    **The Piano** (1993 - Jane Campion)

    **Erin Brockovich** (2000 – Stephen Soderbergh)

    Anyone who can knit the above list into some suitably amusing case study of psychopathology won't win a prize - other than my sincere and breathless admiration. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh, and if anyone else feels like playing -
    1) Be candid.
    2) Remember 'favourites' and 'despised' mean just that - not the film you think you should like, or should hate, but the ones that raise you to transports of delight and unreasoning hatred.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Free pseudo-psycho-analysis: It's good that you like more than you hate.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Favourites
    Star Wars (come get some!)
    Charade (Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant)
    The Castle (tell 'im 'es dreamin')
    Blade 1 and 2
    Ghost in the Shell
    Ghostbusters (He's a sailor, he's in New York. We get this guy laid we don't have a problem)
    Serenity (though I love Firefly even more)

    Despised
    John Carpenter's Vampires (farkin Hack)
    Something About Mary (something awful)
    28 Days Later (coz it gave me nightmares)
    Glitter(?) is that the Mariah Carey movie? coz that was terrible!
    War of the Worlds - Speilberg/Cruise Edition (so...amny...plot holes)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    But if I have to pick one from each
    Fave
    Star Wars
    un-Fave
    John Carpenter's Vampires (why would you put your name on such a piece of garbage?!?)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Charade - golly, the best Hitchcock flick Hitchcock never made. I have it on DVD as a 'bonus feature' to Jonathan Demme's excremental re-make The Truth About Charlie. Talk about hubris gone mad... and it's one of the mysteries of the age how someone as beautiful and talented as Thandie Newton ends up in so much shit. Norbert is about what you'd expect from Eddie Murphy. (I so do not want to know what he gets out of dragging up as grotesque fat, flatulent nymphomaniacs.) What's her excuse?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Tony Kennedy,

    Faves (in no order and for a variety of reasons)

    The Princess Bride
    Brazil
    Choose Me
    Being There
    Rear Window
    Blood Simple
    The Usual Suspects
    Heavens Gate (the long version)
    King of Comedy

    Despised (life is to short and I dont have to have a reason)

    Eyes Wide Shut
    One from the Heart
    Snow White
    anything that had Shirley Temple in it

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report

  • Muriel Lockheed,

    Sounded good Craig, well done. I won't leave a message on my answerphone so phobic am I about hearing my voice coming back at me, so radio ..........nah!!

    Anyway fave movies

    anything from the GREAT Hayao Miyazaki and almost anything from the Ghibli Studios - Spirited Away, Howls Moving Castle

    Fargo
    Gone with the Wind
    Brick (2005) Rian Johnson
    Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino
    3 Iron (2004) Ki-duk Kim, understated Korean masterpiece IMHO
    Pan's Labrynth (2006) Guillermo del Toro
    Pride and Prejudice (1995) Simon Langton
    Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Isao Takahata



    For those girlie moments
    My Life without me (2003) Isabel Coixet
    Wilbur wants to kill himself (2002) Lone Scherfig
    The Warrior and the Princess (2000) Tom Tykwer

    Loathed, hated, scorned

    Forrest (bloody) Gump OMG what a crock of shit
    Anything at all with Jim Carey, sorry, he is an idiot
    Reservoir Dogs, pointless, gratuitous
    Eyes Wide Shut, as in asleep
    Babel pointless, pompous twaddle


    Ahhh the movies. Roll on the film festival.

    Wellywood • Since Nov 2006 • 44 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Since he's been mentioned a bit (despite me leaving out Spirited Away) did y'all know that there is a Ghibli Studio Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo?

    It's a bit of a hassle getting there (including having to show your passport for some reason) but well worth it.
    you're not allowed to take photos inside but here are snaps I got off just outside. 1, 2, 3

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

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