All-time favorite film?
Goodfellas. It's got everything - a gripping story, tremendous acting, violence, and foul language.
What movie or show reminds you of your childhood?
A TV show from the late '70s and through the '80s called All Creatures Great And Small. It was filmed where I grew up; I spent most of my childhood exploring the Yorkshire Dales. I miss it.
Go-to genre on movie night?
Normally drama, because that's what my wife says I have to watch.
What movie or show could you watch endlessly?
Family Guy! I must have watched all the episodes of that multiple times and I always find something new to laugh at. It's offensive. Brilliant!
Favorite movie quote?
“Do you know what I am doing, Miss Kenton? I’m placing my thoughts elsewhere while you chatter away.”
It's Stevens, Anthony Hopkins's character in The Remains of the Day. Not only is it from one of my favorite movies (and, in fact, my favorite book), but it's the sort of pseudo-polite, but actually incredibly nasty, putdown that only the English can manage.
Comedy scene that makes you bust a gut?
The scene in Withnail and I when Withnail and Marwood, both already drunk, go into an incredibly genteel tea shop and demand, "We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!"
It's worth nothing that Richard E. Grant, who depicts a drunk tremendously in that movie, is himself teetotal, and had only been drunk once in his life as preparation for that movie.
Favorite director?
Martin Scorsese. Obviously my favorite of his is Goodfellas, but so many of his movies are absolute classics - Casino, Taxi Driver, The Departed, and, what is easily the best boxing movie ever, Raging Bull. Even when he misfires, like The Color of Money, it's still better than most directors' best efforts. The man is a genius.
Action scene that gets your adrenaline pumping?
In Das Boot, when the submarine has just struck the British convoy, and the counter attack is coming, with depth charges dropping, and the German crew just having to sit it out and hope. The tension is nothing short of remarkable.
Considering all you are seeing is a bunch of men inside a metal tube, the action isn't explosions and car chases, but rather superb acting and an awesome soundtrack that gets the adrenaline flowing better than anything else I've seen.
Scariest horror scene that keeps you up at night?
I hardly ever watch horror movies, so this one is tough. I do have a recurring nightmare that I might be forced to watch the Richard Curtis vomitfest Love Actually again.
(Clearly, opinion differs around the office - the star of our first-ever Red Hot Picks chose Love Actually as her favorite movie! Read Vanessa's picks here.)