Welcome to the long awaited return of Follow Friday, where each time I feature and interview a fellow blogger and follow their suggestion to another blog to feature next time. I prefer this over a blogroll because it gives each blog their own time to shine, plus I personally rarely click on blogrolls so why would I expect you to? Not only that, but I get the chance to check out some great blogs I might not have found otherwise found, talk to some great people, and share the conversation with you. Of course, if you would rather see something like a blogroll, I have collected all of my previous Follow Friday sites in list form which you can find right at the top of the page. Way back when I last had one of these, Morgan from Morgan on Media directed me to Mark Walker’s site Marked Movies

I’d been to Mark’s site a few times before, notably for his popular Let’s Have a Sit Down feature where he creates a conversation between two actors comprised entirely from quotes pulled from their various movies. I also happened to catch his very personal post where he created a portrait of his father as “The Dude” using paint mixed with his ashes. Getting into some of his recent reviews, it’s obvious that he’s quite knowledgable about film, not only that but he has some interesting tastes as well. Alongside several of this year’s Oscar nominated movies is a review for the John Waters film Pecker, which I also enjoyed. But enough from me, let’s hear some thoughts from the man himself, Mark Walker.

Bubbawheat: When you started your site, what did you want to accomplish with it, and has that changed at all since then?

Mark Walker: I was originally posting on the site Flixster (Rotten Tomatoes) for a couple of years but once the format of that change, the community spirit changed with it. A lot of people stopped using it and the interaction with other film fans began to dry up. As a result, I decided to go it alone, and try my hand at blogging. My only aim was to maintain a consistent dialogue with people who shared the same enthusiasm for film’s as I do. It would be nice to branch out a bit more but I’m still happy with the progress I’ve made so far. I think I’ve established good friendships with lots of different people and, ultimately, that’s the biggest achievement.

BW: One of my favorite parts of your site is the hilarious “Let’s Have a Sit Down”, though there hasn’t been a new one in a while, how long do they usually take to do and do you have a new one in the works?

MW: I really enjoy doing those posts but I fired out four in quick succession and in all honesty, it burnt me out a bit. They take a lot of research and planning and at times can be a bit of a headache. I have started a fifth one (which I won’t divulge at present) but I’ve been taking my time with it. My reviews have taken priority at the moment but watch this space, it will definitely feature again.

BW: More recently, a popular feature outside of your reviews is your Tuesday Trivia Tidbits, where do you tend to find most of your trivia from?

MW: Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits has really taken off. It was started as a bit of light fun but there seems to be a high demand for it now. I basically just dig through the Internet, Imdb, google search, etc, and any info I read in magazines or newspapers. It’s a great little feature to do as I learn a lot myself when compiling the information and it’s amazing how everyone can be a sucker for a little, random movie info.

BW: I noticed that you reviewed most of this year’s Oscar Nominated Best Films, was there a movie that you think didn’t deserve to be there, and is there a movie that deserved to be there that wasn’t nominated?

MW: I’ve yet to see Lincoln and Les Miserables but I think I might have reviewed all the others. The one that I found most overrated and undeserving was Zero Dark Thirty. As most of my followers will know, I wasn’t overly impressed by that at all. The one that I thought should have been included was The Master. That was the film of the year for me and I’m appalled that the Academy gave it a wide berth.

BW: What’s your favorite genre of movie, and what’s your favorite review that you’ve done for a movie in that genre?

MW: My favourite movie is the Coens’ comedy The Big Lebowski but I wouldn’t say that comedy is my favourite genre. I’m more drawn to drama and I enjoyed writing a review on Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In. It was difficult putting the film into words without giving away major spoilers but those are the types of film’s that always challenge you most.

BW: What’s your favorite superhero movie?

MW: The superhero sub-genre is one that has to be really good in order to catch my eye. I enjoy most of them but I don’t seem to get as excited about them as a lot of other Bloggers do. One that split audiences was Zack Snyder’s Watchmen but I’d have to say that that’s one that really stood out for me. I was a big fan of Alan Moore’s graphic novel and thought Snyder captured it very well.

BW: And finally, what blog do you suggest I follow for the next Follow Friday?

MW: I had a look back over your previous choices and some of those would have sprung to mind but I’ll send you in the direction of a relatively new blogger – Tyson Carter who runs Head In A Vice.

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I am familiar with Tyson and he does a great job, I look forward to coming up with some questions for him in the next week or two. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions, you’ve got a fine site over there. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.