ANSWER: Guilty Pleasures

3



Julia Roberts plays Maggie Carpenter, a spirited and attractive young woman who has had a number of unsuccessful relationships. Maggie, afraid of being married, has left a trail of boyfriends. Indeed, she's left three men waiting for her in church during wedding day (all of which are caught on tape), getting her tabloid fame and the dubious nickname Runaway Bride.

Meanwhile, in New York, reporter Ike Graham (played by Richard Gere), writes a column about her that contains several factual errors. He's fired for it and then decides to write an in-depth article about Maggie in a bid to get his job back. He travels to Hale, Maryland, where he finds her living with her family and on her fourth attempt to become married. The fourth groom-to-be is Bob, a football coach at the local high school who treats Maggie like a mental patient.

Romantic hilarity ensues.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 71-59

QUESTION: Guilty Pleasures

In Runaway Bride, Maggie Carpenter is a woman with the terrible habit of running out on her grooms on their wedding day. How many men has she run out on at the start of the film?

ANSWER: Classic Films

A Hard Day's Night


On 6 June 1964, A Hard Day's Night, the first movie starring The Beatles, was released in the United Kingdom. Directed by Richard Lester, the film is a mockumentary of the four members as they make their way to a London television program. The film, released at the height of Beatlemania, was well-received by critics, and remains one of the most influential jukebox musicals. That December the group released their fourth album, Beatles for Sale.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 71-58

QUESTION: Classic Films

What was the first movie to star the Beatles?

ANSWER: Quotes

His enemies


Tom is skeptical about Michael's ruthlessness to kill everyone: Roth, his brother, and Pentangeli, even though he is at the pinnacle of his power. Michael also distances himself from his trustworthy, self-effacing, Irish consigliere:

Tom: Now Roth and the Rosatos are on the run. Are they worth it? And are we strong? Is it worth it? I mean you've won...you want to wipe everybody out?

Michael: I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies, that's all. You're gonna come along with me in these things I have to do or what? Because if not, you can take your wife, your family and your mistress, move 'em all to Las Vegas.

Tom: Why do you hurt me, Michael? I've always been loyal to you, I mean what is this?

Michael: So, you're staying?

Tom: Yes, I'm staying.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 70-58

QUESTION: Quotes

In The Godfather Part II, Michael explains, "I don't feel like I have to wipe everybody out Tom". Who does he say he does feel he has to wipe out?

ANSWER: The Icons

Eddie Izzard


In November of 1924, a mysterious Hollywood death occurred aboard media mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht. Included among the famous guests that weekend were, Charlie Chaplin, Hearst's mistress, starlet Marion Davies, the studio system creator, producer Thomas Ince, and feared gossip columnist, Louella Parsons.

This is the plot of The Cat's Meow. It is based on the play of the same title, which was inspired by the mysterious death of film mogul Thomas H. Ince.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 70-57

QUESTION: The Icons

What actor portrayed legendary writer-director-actor Charlie Chaplin in the Peter Bogdanovich film, Cat's Meow?

ANSWER: Contemporary Films

Max Schumacher


Network opens with long-time "UBS Evening News" anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) being fired because of the show's low ratings. He has two more weeks on the air, but the following night, Beale announces on live television that he will commit suicide during an upcoming live broadcast.[2]

UBS immediately fires him after this incident, but they let him back on the air, ostensibly for a dignified farewell, with persuasion from Beale's producer and best friend, Max Schumacher (William Holden), the network's old guard news editor. Beale promises that he will apologize for his outburst, but instead rants about how life is "bullshit." While there are serious repercussions, the program's ratings soar and, much to Schumacher's dismay, the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit Beale's antics rather than pulling him off the air.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 70-56

QUESTION: Contemporary Films

What is the name of the news editor at Union Broadcasting System in the satire Network?

ANSWER: Academy Awards

Her bedroom


Mildred Pierce was an instant success, and Joan's career was back on top. The Oscar nomination for Best Actress was a given, but Joan wasn't convinced that she was going to win it, or perhaps she used the opportunity to stage the most over-the-top acceptance speech in Oscar history.

Joan feigned ill that night, and listened to the show on the radio. When she won, she ushered the press into her bedroom, where, bedridden, and looking lovely, she posed with her Oscar statue.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 70-55

QUESTION: Academy Awards

Where, in front of members of the press, did Joan Crawford accept her Oscar for Mildred Pierce?

ANSWER: Directors

George Clooney


Good Night, and Good Luck is a 2005 film directed by George Clooney and written by Clooney and Grant Heslov that portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-Communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

George Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in Good Night, and Good Luck, which cost $7.5 million to make and earned Clooney an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 70-54

QUESTION: Directors

Who directed Good Night and Good Luck?

ANSWER: Classic Films

Harrison Ford


Harrison Ford was not happy with the early roles being offered to him so he became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his then-wife and two small sons. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band The Doors. He also built a sun deck for ­­­Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for Sergio Mendes.

He returned to acting when George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti. His relationship with Lucas was to have a profound effect on Ford's career. After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a small role in his next two films, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.

Ford's work as a carpenter would land him his biggest role to date. In 1975, director George Lucas used him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in his upcoming space opera, Star Wars. Steven Spielberg convinced Lucas that Ford was meant to star in the film, resulting in his being cast as Han Solo. Star Wars became the biggest-grossing film in history and established Harrison Ford as a superstar.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 70-53

QUESTION: Classic Films

Which Star Wars cast member worked as a carpenter before finding success as an actor?

ANSWER: Icons

Mission: Impossible


Mission: Impossible was one of the best action blockbusters of the 1990s, deriving a quality unique amongst its peers from the tension between Brian De Palma's directorial stylisation and the overriding presence of its star and producer, Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Special Forces agent Ethan Hunt, disavowed as a traitor by his own superiors and forced to uncover the true mole to prove his innocence.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 69-53

QUESTION: Icons

Tom Cruise is not only an actor, but also a producer. What was the first film he produced?

HINT: He was also the star of the movie.

ANSWER: Characters

Truman Capote


Capote and his Monroeville neighbor Harper Lee were lifelong friends. He based the character of Idabel in Other Voices, Other Rooms on her. He in turn was the inspiration for the character Dill, in Lee's 1960 bestselling, Pulitzer prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Capote, Dill is creative, bold and had an unsatisfactory family history. In an interview with Lawrence Grobel, Capote recalled his childhood, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee, Harper Lee's mother and father, lived very near. Harper Lee was my best friend. Did you ever read her book, To Kill a Mockingbird? I'm a character in that book, which takes place in the same small town in Alabama where we both lived."

Matt: WRONG
Record: 69-52

QUESTION: Characters

In the film To Kill A Mockingbird, John Megna plays the character Charles Baker "Dill" Harris. What real-life person was Dill based upon?

ANSWER: Guilty Pleasures

Roseanne


Season seven began with Roseanne's unexpected pregnancy and went on to tackle such issues as abortion, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual dysfunction and racial prejudice. "The Sitcom Mom's Welcome Wagon" also aired this season.

Notable guest stars during the season include Sharon Stone (as a trailer park resident), Ellen DeGeneres (as Jackie and Fred's psychologist Dr. Whitman), Danny Masterson (as Darlene's boyfriend Jimmy), and Traci Lords (as Lanford Lunch Box waitress Stacy).

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 69-51

QUESTION: Guilty Pleasures

In 1995, what sitcom did Sharon Stone appear on as a character named Trailer Park Resident?

ANSWER: Contemporary Films

The Ink & Paint Club


The Ink and Paint Club's policy of only letting toons onto the premises as entertainers and employees, not as customers or audience members, is a reference to the real-life Cotton Club, which, along with many other segregated clubs before the Civil Rights movement, only allowed Black people to enter as performers.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 68-51

QUESTION: Contemporary Films

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, what is the name of the club where Jessica Rabbit works?

ANSWER: Directors

Barry Levinson


Barry Levinson's first writing work was for variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. After some success as a screenwriter — notably the Mel Brooks comedies Silent Movie and High Anxiety and the Oscar-nominated script …And Justice for All — Levinson began his career as a director with Diner, for which he had also written the script and which earned him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination.

His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (in which Levinson also appeared as an actor). The film won four Academy Awards including Best Director for Levinson.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 68-50

QUESTION: Directors

This man worked as a standup comic and also wrote for The Carol Burnett Show before directing ...And Justice For All and Rain Man. Who is he?

ANSWER: Characters

Muncie, Indiana


Tim Robbins stars as Norville Barnes, a dull-wit from Muncie, Indiana who wrangles a job with the big Hudsucker Industries.

He has a singular idea for a new children's toy that he wants to present to corporate executive Sidney J. Mussberger (Paul Newman). As he makes his way up to Mussberger's office, the company president Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) is on his way down -- through the window of the forty-fourth floor boardroom!

Hudsucker's death sets off a panic that Mussberger sees as an opportunity for taking over the company -- by installing a total incompetent in Hudsucker's place and devaluing the stock. When Barnes stumbles into Mussberger's office, Mussberger sees his pigeon and appoints Barnes as the new company president.

The only problem is that the new product Barnes proposes for the company, the Hula Hoop, turns out to be a tremendous success, and Mussberger has difficulty manipulating his new corporate president.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 67-50

QUESTION: Characters

Naive business grad Norville Barnes goes to the city, gets a job, and makes good (then bad) in The Hudsucker Proxy. Where did Barnes come from?

ANSWER: Name That Film

For Your Eyes Only (1981)


For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.

In the film, Bond and Melina Havelock become tangled in a web of deception spun by rival Greek businessmen against the backdrop of Cold War spy games. Bond is after a missile command system known as the ATAC (a MacGuffin introduced to tie together the original stories' plots), whilst Melina is out to avenge the murder of her parents.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 66-50

QUESTION: Name That Film

James Bond's assignment is to retrieve a missing encryption device known as ATAC. What movie is this?

ANSWER: Classic Films

Nadsat


Nadsat is a mode of speech used by the nadsat, members of the teen subculture in A Clockwork Orange.

It is basically English, with some transliterated words from Russian. It also contains influences from Cockney rhyming slang and the King James Bible.

The word nadsat itself is the suffix of Russian numerals from 11 to 19. The suffix slurs the Russian words for 'on ten'—for example, 'one-on-ten,' 'two-on-ten,' and so on—and thus forms an almost exact linguistic parallel to the English '-teen.' Some of the words are also almost childish English such as eggiweg (egg) and appy polly loggy (apology), as well as regular English slang sod and snuff it. The word like is often inserted arbitrarily into phrases.

Matt: WRONG
Record: 66-49

QUESTION: Classic Films

In A Clockwork Orange, a fictitious language that combines Russian and English is used. What is the name of the language?

ANSWER: Movie Dialogue

Sophie Neveu


Sophie is is the granddaughter of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. She is a French National Police cryptographer, who studied at the Royal Holloway, University of London Information Security Group.

Sophie finds out at the end that she is a descendant of the Merovingians, and a living descendant of the historical Jesus. She first starts suspecting this when Sir Leigh Teabing reveals the truth of the Holy Grail, but dismisses the idea when Langdon tells her that neither her surname nor her grandfather's is a Merovingian name. In fact, as she later finds out, her parents and ancestors had, for protection, changed their family names of Plantard and Saint-Clair

In the movie, Sophie is portrayed by French actress Audrey Tautou.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 66-48

QUESTION: Movie Dialogue

Before you read the question, please make sure you read the post before this one!

Question is below...


In The Da Vinci Code, to whom does Robert Langdon say, "You are the secret"?

New Year/New Format

Starting today, Smarter than Matt will have a new format. After discussion, it was decided that all questions will now be Hollywood related. We'll try it, if you would like other questions instead, please feel free to comment. Majority rules!