TODAY’S QUESTION:

Easier than yesterday’s, I suspect: What country lies north of Archenland and south of Ettinsmoor?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER:

Read the rest of this entry »

TODAY’S QUESTION:

The easier question: What was the first film nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar based on a comic book or graphic novel?

The harder question: What was the first film nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar based on a comic strip?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER:

Read the rest of this entry »

Round 7 at the Old Pequliar on Dec. 2, 2008
Average score: 6.8/10 (15 teams)

1) Queen’s song “Keep Passing the Open Windows” was originally written for what 1984 movie, which featured Nastassja Kinski as a woman who dresses in a bear suit?

2) What 1998 thriller, directed by Tony Scott, stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert similar to the character he played in The Conversation?

3) What 1990 Christian Slater film about a mysterious high-school rebel won the Golden Space Needle award at SIFF, defeating Jesus of Montreal?

4) Billy Crystal originally wrote what 2001 comedy “about celebrity, family, and other forms of insanity,” so he could play the romantic lead, but ended up playing John Cusack’s publicist instead?

5) What 2001 comedy was the first film made featuring two African-American Oscar winners, specifically Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding, Jr.?

6) According to Salon.com’s critic Stephanie Zacharek, the real stars of what 2003 caper are the Mini Coopers involved in the chase scene?

7) What 1999 comedy/horror movie about a boy who accidentally kills his parents and best friends had its release date pushed back because of the Columbine massacre?

8) What 1998 big last-day-of-high-school party movie includes nine actors who appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and four that appeared on Six Feet Under?

9) What 1997 movie features a British spy foiling the nefarious Project Vulcan, a subterranean delivery system for nuclear warheads?

10) What actor or actress appears in all nine of these movies?

Read the rest of this entry »

Round 7 at the Old Pequliar on May 6, 2008
Average score: 5.25/10 (11 teams)

1) Women swoon over an earthbound angel because “he smells like cookies” in what 1996 Nora Ephron film?
2) The second-oldest performance to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar appeared in what 2007 drama based on the New York magazine article “The Return of Superfly”?
3) Tobias Wolff wrote a memoir about growing up in Skagit County. Leonardo DeCaprio starred in the 1993 film adaptation. What’s it called?
4) A former star from NBC’s “must see Thursday” lineup plays the mother of Rilo Kiley’s lead-singer-to-be in what 1989 comedy?
5) What family film, written by two creators of Reno! 911 and based on a picture book by Milan Trenc, became the second-highest-grossing movie of 2006?
6) Jet Li kills Jet Li over and over and over again — and only Jet Li can stop him — in what 2001 action film?
7) The poster for what 1993 comedy parodied the famous painting American Gothic, with the star holding a pitchfork, and used the tagline “He’s a relative nightmare”?
8) The Secretary of Defense is shot and Nicolas Cage has to figure out whodunnit in what 1998 Brian DePalma thriller?
9) George Clooney plays the head spy in the Office of Strategic Services in what 2001 Robert Rodriguez film?
10) What actor or actress appears in all nine of these films?
Read the rest of this entry »

Round 7 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 4/10 (8 teams)

1) What 1997 comedy, which shares its name with a fast food restaurant, includes an Academy Awards ceremony where the Best Actor nominees include Paul Newman in “Coot”, Clint Eastwood in “Codger”, Michael Douglas in “Primary Urges” and Steven Seagal in “Snowball in Hell”?
2) What 2005 satire, which takes its name from an early REM song, did David Denby describe as a “dirty-minded poison-pen letter to a country swollen with self-esteem” and compare to Election, Heathers, and Mean Girls?
3) What 2005 horror film, a remake of a John Carpenter movie, concerns the fate of the crew of the Elizabeth Dane?
4) In Ocean’s Twelve, Topher Grace says he “totally phoned in that Dennis Quaid movie.” What 2004 movie is he talking about?
5) What 2004 film featuring a raunchy version of the hokey pokey was director John Waters’ first film rated NC-17?
6) What 2001 comedy was adapted into a musical starring Laura Bell Bundy, which debuted last year in San Francisco before opening at the Palace Theater on Broadway?
7) What 2002 Cameron Diaz comedy, which shares its name with a U2 song, did film critic Charles Taylor declare “one of the flattest, stupidest, unfunniest sex comedies — as well as one of the worst all-round pictures — I’ve ever seen”?
8) Indie pop band Belle & Sebastian composed the soundtrack for what 2001 Todd Solondz film?
9) What 2004 film based on a comic book character did Guillermo del Toro direct between Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth?
10) Who appeared in all nine of these movies?

Read the rest of this entry »

1) Elizabeth Taylor won her second Best Actress Oscar for playing Martha in what 1966 film based on an Edward Albee play?
2) What soundtrack is the only album with a question for a title to win the Grammy for Album of the Year?
3) What 2000 buddy comedy inspired the title of Michael Moore’s 2003 followup to his book Stupid White Men?
4) Madonna had a #1 hit in 1987 with a song that shared its title with what 1983 top 40 hit by Eurythmics?
5) According to the movie Stripes, the answer to this riddle is “to get from the left to the right.”
6) What 1993 song by Haddaway had a second burst of popularity starting in 1996 when it was featured on Saturday Night Live?
7) What advertising slogan debuted in 1971 in a commercial featuring vocals by Ella Fitzgerald?
8) Turns out the answer to this Fox Television question was Darva Conger, but only for about two months.
9) The short film “True” inspired a series of Anheuser-Busch TV commercials centered around what catchphrase?
10) According to M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense was inspired by an episode of what 1990s horror anthology series?

Average score (21 teams): 6.67

Read the rest of this entry »

What do these directors (and only these directors) have in common?

John Ford, Elia Kazan, Leo McCarey, and Billy Wilder

Hint: Billy Wilder did it twice.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sidney Poitier, Al Pacino, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, ?

Hint: Here’s a longer sequence. Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson; Barbra Streisand; Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman; Jack Nicholson; Harrison Ford; Robert De Niro and Al Pacino; Sidney Poitier; Al Pacino; Sean Connery; Harrison Ford; ?

Read the rest of this entry »

1) That sweet blonde girl from Dawson’s Creek gets nicknamed “Deep Throat” in what 1999 comedy?
2) A poster boy for Scientology plays an angel in what 1996 comedy written and directed by Nora Ephron?
3) Jim Carrey and Lauren Holly won an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for their smooch in what 1994 buddy movie?
4) When The Godfather Part II won the Best Picture, it defeated what other nominated drama also directed by Francis Ford Coppola?
5) After working with Robert DeNiro for four films in a row, Martin Scorsese directed Griffin Dunne as the lead in what 1985 comedy?
6) Ellen DeGeneres will be taking over a role first played by John Denver in a remake of what 1977 comedy?
7) What 1977 Steven Spielberg film popularized the musical phrase re-me-do-do-sol?
8) “That is one nutty hospital,” comments Bill Murray at the climax of what 1982 comedy?
9) What 1983 comedy about a Detroit engineer who loses his job was one of John Hughes’ first produced screenplays?
10) What actor or actress appeared in all nine of these films?

Average score: 6.5

Read the rest of this entry »

1) What artist, famed for splattering paint across canvases, was splattered across the pavement when he crashed his car in 1956?
2) “Crash” is the collective noun for what large land mammal found in Africa and Asia?
3) A beloved princess was killed in a car crash 25 years ago this month. Who was she?
4) In 2006, Crash won the Oscar for Best Picture instead of critical favorite Brokeback Mountain. Who won Best Director that same year?
5) Which current NBC drama stars a survivor of the car crash that killed Jayne Mansfield?
6) In 1993, the band Crash Test Dummies had a hit with what song that didn’t actually feature any vowels in its title?
7) What on-again, off-again Yankees manager was killed in a car crash on Christmas Day, 1989?
8) The original Crash Bandicoot was released in 1996 exclusively on what video game platform?
9) The first African-born person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was killed in a car crash in France in 1960. Who was he?
10) “Crash into Me,” the biggest hit for the Dave Matthews Band, was released on what 1996 album?

Average score: 7.0

Read the rest of this entry »