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Your Thursday Threes

Threes threes threes!

You know how it goes: I give you three films, you tell me what single actor was in all three of them.

Enter your guess in the comments section directly below this post, and if you are the first with the correct answer you'll find yourself with the homemade construction-paper medal! (Emphasis on the making it at your own home part.)

I won't publish any guesses until tomorrow, when I put the correct answer up.

What actor was in:

Enemy of the State

Almost Famous

The Incredibles

Tuesday Threes: The Answer

Oh, I seemed to have stumped many of you this time. Granted, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Hitman, Die Hard 4, and starring this weekend in The Crazies) isn't exactly a household name. And more people probably know Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia, The Lovely Bones) by sight than by name. And let's be honest, Ewan McGregor (starring this weekend in The Ghost Writer) makes a lot of, um... "odd" project choices. So the field was wide open when it came to what film all three appeared in together.

Rex B. wasn't stumped, however--he was first with the correct answer and therefore wins the right, the honor to make himself a construction-paper medal. In second was steady Threes placer Nichol, and in third was Ashley. (And thank you, Ashley because now I have "Down With Love" stuck in my head!) Congrats all!

So what was the film with Olyphant, Tucci, and McGregor? Just sit back, relax, and let your cursor flow gently over the Inviso-Text below:

Last week seemed to have been '80s week, this week it looks like I'm all about Danny Boyle. Yes, it was Boyle's 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary. And the less said about it, the better... What's that? I have to say something more about A Life Less Ordinary? Sigh...

A Life Less Ordinary stars Ewan McGregor as a down-on-his luck charmer who ends up accidentally kidnapping Cameron Diaz, the spoiled heiress daughter of the man who just fired him. And there are guardian angels (Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo), and Stanley Tucci is Diaz's would-be fiance who she non-fatally shoots in the head while playing William Tell (hello, William S. Burroughs!), and then McGregor and Diaz sing and dance to a karaoke version of "Beyond the Sea."

(Olyphant, who's career was just getting going, has a bit part as a hiker. He'd go on to turn in cool menacing/amusing performances in films like Go and one of my favorites, The Girl Next Door, before being cast as Sheriff Seth Bullock in HBO's Deadwood.)

As for A Life Less Ordinary, it's all very wacky and... um... well, it's a huge mess of a movie.

In a study in how your cinematic memories can play cruel tricks on you, I thought I had a fond recollection of the "Beyond the Sea" scene as being "charming," and so I popped the DVD in last year to revisit it. I turned it off a few minutes later, after all the pets within a 100-yard radius had been sufficiently tortured (or maybe that caterwauling was just from the DVD).

A Life Less Ordinary is the perfect example of the Hollywood Dream effect on cool, edgy directors. It was Ewan McGregor's third (and, ahem... last) film with Boyle--they'd done the small thriller Shallow Grave, and then both the actor and the director become huge, hot Hollywood commodities after 1996's cult-hit Trainspotting. Suddenly Boyle and McGregor could do whatever they wanted! And they did A Life Less Ordinary. Granted, it wasn't an expensive movie, but before it Boyle had been seen as a hot new British director on the scene. After it, not so much.

The film's creative and financial flop didn't hurt McGregor--he was off to work on Star Wars Episode 1, and then even redeemed himself as a singer and dancer with Moulin Rouge. Boyle even got a second chance. Which he used to make 2000's The Beach with the absolute biggest star in the universe at the time: post-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio. It was actually an interesting film, but not what Leo's screaming fanbase wanted to see, and it too flopped.

After that, Boyle wandered in the cinematic wilderness a bit, until he came back in 2002 with an even lower-budget, shot-on-digital zombie horror film called 28 Days Later. And from there, Boyle continued with steady, solid, small-but-impressive films like Sunshine (which I was talking about yesterday in the figure-skating Hum Along piece) and Millions. And then Slumdog Millionaire, for which he won the Oscar for directing.

So kids, the lessons are 1) no matter how talented you are, you're gonna have a few rotten eggs in your basket over the years. Don't give up. And 2) do not under any circumstances ever let Cameron Diaz sing.

Your Tuesday Threes

Ready for the Threes?

Here's how it works on Tuesdays: I give you three actors, you tell me what one film all three were in together.

Enter your guess in the comments section directly below this post, and if you are first with the correct answer you win the homemade construction-paper medal! Emphasis on the "homemade" part, as in you make it in your own home.

I won't publish any guesses until tomorrow when I put the correct answer up. 

What film featured:

Timothy Olyphant

Stanley Tucci

Ewan McGregor

The Freeze Frame Answers

Our six-week new Freeze Frame winner streak has been broken, my friends. And you can blame upcoming Reader Who Rocks Nichol. (Just kidding, we love ya, girl.) She took home (well, technically it was already at her house) the self-made aluminum foil Victor's Cup at the end of January and was back this weekend to dominate the challenge once again, being the first to identify Friday's stills as The Whole Nine Yards, A Few Good Men and The Usual Suspects.

But she didn't give us the link between the films as second-place winner Donna did. That link being the actor Kevin Pollak.  Before we talk a little more about him, let's give props to Billy for nabbing third place, and (in addition to Donna) millar74, Matt Doman, Doug, Glenn Berkshier, Tammy Lochridge, Kimi Alonzo, Ashley, William and Justen for all getting to design and decorate their very own Common Thread Buttons o' Pride. 

As for Pollak, he's a That Guy in my book. In a ton of films and TV shows over the past two decades, yet not a household name. One of his first big movies was Willow, in which he played both of the mischievous brownies. A complete 180 from that role came in 1992, when he was co-counsel to Tom Cruise's Lieutenant Kaffee in A Few Good Men.  Three years later he was one of the suspects in, uh, The Usual Suspects (love love love that movie!).  Things lightened up a bit in 2000's mob comedy The Whole Nine Yards when he played Janni Gogolak. While not up for any Oscars like the other two films we featured, TWNY was probably closest to Pollak's comfort zone -- he's been doing stand-up and impressions since the age of ten!

He's back to making people laugh in this weekend's police-buddy comedy, Cop Out.  Or at least I hope he'll be making people laugh... what I've seen of the trailer isn't actually that funny.

Congrats again to our winners, and we'll be back with another challenge this Friday.

Freeze Frame

This week I've got two really easy stills for ya, and one that may or may not be such a cinch. The real question, however, isn't whether or not the stills are quickly identifiable, but rather whether or not we'll see yet another new name in bold for the seventh week in a row on Monday.

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Ah, you must be a Freeze Frame newbie, bless your heart! No worries, it's very easy to join in on the fun. Here's what to do: 1) Take a look at the three images below, 2) Enter what you think the movie titles are for those three films in the comments section directly below this post (you will NOT see your comment published, though, because we hold all of them until we announce the winner on Monday), 3) If you can figure out what the link is between the trio, add that into your answer as well, but you don't need it in order to win, and 4) IF you're the first to give us all of the correct movie titles, then you'll not only see your name in bold here on the site next week, but you'll also get to make yourself (key point) a splendiferous aluminum foil trophy to commemorate the occasion.

Simple, right? Then here you go:

Movie #1

Movie #2

Movie #3

 

Good luck!

Thursday Threes: The Answer

I've got my usual case of the Friday lazies, so let's get right into it!

I asked what actor was in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon ("Flash! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"), The Exorcist (as regular readers know, my favorite horror movie), and Strange Brew, the 1983 feature-length Bob and Doug Mackenzie movie. (Another '80s cultural touchstone--what's with me and the Decade of Mullets this week? Must be mid-winter cabin-fever blahs causing me to regress to my teens.)

First on the scene with the correct answer was Donna--she snags the homemade construction-paper medal. In second was Moviegoer123, followed by Marian. Congrats everyone!

Still don't know who the actor is? Then just sit back and let your cursor do the walking over the Inviso-Text below!

Yes indeed, it was Swedish-born actor Max von Sydow, appearing this weekend in Shutter Island.

Sydow is one of those great older actors who film lovers of different generations know from different types of roles. The 80-year-old actor began making movies in Sweden in 1949 and eventually became world-famous for his work with Ingmar Bergman in such classics as The Seventh Seal (where he famously played chess with Death) and Wild Strawberries. His first major English-speaking role was as Jesus in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told, and upped his American profile in 1973 playing Father Merrin, the older priest who tries to cast out the demon in The Exorcist.

Perhaps because of that horror role, after that von Sydow seemed to gravitate toward genre parts in Hollywood films, most notably (and campily) as Ming the Merciless in the post-Star Wars Flash Gordon remake. (He also played the king in Conan the Barbarian.) From there on out, blockbuster Hollywood usually cast von Sydow as the villain, thanks to his slithery, seductive Scandinavian charms. He was Blofeld in the "non-canononical" Bond film, Never Say Never Again and the voice of Vigo in Ghostbusters II. (Consider yourselves lucky I didn't slip that clue in there!) And um, Ice Pirates--another title I considered using as a clue, but decided it was just too mean.

Sure, von Sydow still did solid dramatic work in films like Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Snow Falling on Cedars, and the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror (for which he received his only Oscar nomination). But more often if he wasn't playing a bad guy in things like Needful Things he was playing a doctor or scientist in a sci-fi film like Dune, Dreamscape, or most notably, Minority Report.

But perhaps his oddest career choice was appearing in Strange Brew as an evil brewmeister. Those of you who are under a certain age or have had your memories of the '80s nicely wiped away with electro-shock therapy may not recall the huge Great White North craze of the early decade, when everyone ran around saying "take off, you hoser!" ad nauseam. There was even an album (back before widespread VHS, when comedy albums with a few token songs were much more popular, as one of the only ways to repeatedly hear your favorite comedy routines.)

What makes Strange Brew even stranger is that it's actually intended by co-writers and directors Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis to be a re-telling of Hamlet. Only in a Canadian brewery. Called Elsinore. Trust me, I'm not making this up. Go watch it again for yourself!

Your Thursday Threes

Your movie-trivia brains still feeling pointy and sharp?

You all know how to play the Thursday Threes: I give you three films, you tell me what single actor was in all three of them.

Enter your guess in the comments section directly below this post, and if you are the first with the correct answer you'll find yourself with the homemade construction-paper medal! (Emphasis on the making it at your own home part.)

I won't publish any guesses until tomorrow, when I put the correct answer up.

What actor was in:

Flash Gordon (1980)

The Exorcist

Strange Brew

Tuesday Threes: The Answer

Sure, yesterday's Threes was easy, but come on... who could resist?

Certainly not Rex B.--he was first on the scene with the correct answer, followed closely by Nichol and Jim in second and third places. Jim noted he was sorry he knew this one, but be not sorry, Jim--be proud of your off-hand knowledge of really bad '80s movies!

For example, quick everyone: What's the "C" in E=MC² stand for? That's right, it stands for "Come on, how the hell are we supposed to know that?!" But now watch: What movie featured Kim Catrall, James Spader, and Andrew McCarthy? See, you know that one! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we are forever super geniuses dipped in awesome sauce.

What's that? You say you knew what the "C" stood for, but you're still not sure what the film is? It's okay. I'm sure you have other positive qualities that people keep you around for. Just crank the Inviso-Text up to the speed of light and highlight the section below!

I did throw a couple of you off the scent--yes, the dynamic duo of Mac and Spades were in Pretty in Pink and Less Than Zero together. In fact, I believe they played exactly the same characters in all three of these films: McCarthy the fish-faced nice guy, Spader the slimy, conniving weasel. (Unfortunately they were never able to find financing for their wacky-roommate sit-com, Fish-Face and the Weasel. Our loss.)

But the magic ingredient here was young, sexy Kim Catrall, who was the titular display prop in 1987's Mannequin, alongside McCarthy and Spader. In Mannequin, Catrall was Emahasure ("Emmy"), an ancient Egyptian woman imprisoned for millennia in mannequin form and freed in a department store by McCarthy's starving young artist, who is then inspired to become a great department store window dresser. Spader was the mean vice president of the store. To paraphrase the late, great Rick James, the '80s were a helluva time.

Okay, Catrall wasn't that young in Mannequin--she was already 31 years old. But that's like 16 in Catrall Years--her species's average life expectancy is 185 years. She's just now hitting her prime! In fact, she can be seen this weekend in the political thriller The Ghost Writer as it opens in limited release.

Prior to Mannequin, Catrall had of course brought to life the complex and sensitive character of Miss Honeywell in Porky's. And while I'm giving Ms. Catrall a bit of a ribbing, she did co-star in one of my favorite films of the '80s, Big Trouble in Little China. After the success of Mannequin, Catrall went on to play the new Vulcan Babe on the bridge of the Enterprise in 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Then, perhaps due to rumors of "difficulties" on the set, Ms. Catrall laid low during the '90s until Sex and the City debuted in 1998.

Oh, you think I'm being a smart-arse about Mannequin's success? Nope. Despite seeming to almost single-handedly define every negative stereotype about how awful pop-culture was in the '80s--or perhaps because of it--Mannequin was actually a hit. In fact it the theme song, Starship's "Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now," was nominated for an Oscar. It's Wednesday, I know your week is busy, so I'll give you a moment to go back and re-read that part. Yep, a song that is only saved from the distinction of Worst Pop Song Ever by the existence of "We Built This City on Rock and Roll" (also by the Starship, of course), was nominated for Best Song. It lost to "I've Had the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing. Some of you are younger. You weren't around or were blissfully unaware in the '80s. But these things really happened. We lived through them, man.

Mannequin was such a financial success that there was a sequel: Mannequin Two: On the Move. Naturally, by this time Catrall and McCarthy were on their way to becoming much too big of stars to appear in the sequel--Kristy Swanson and William Ragsdale (Fright Night) took over as the come-to-life mannequin (this time a peasant girl from the middle ages) and her beau/protector (secretly a lost prince from her era). Meshach Taylor did stick around as the series' fabulous window dresser, Hollywood Montrose.

Now you know that much more about the Mannequin franchise. And you know who doesn't know jack or squat about the Mannequin movies? Albert Einstein, that's who. So there! You are now smarter than Einstein! You're welcome.

Your Tuesday Threes

Ready for some Threes?

Here's how it works on Tuesdays: I give you three actors, you tell me what one film all three were in together.

Enter your guess in the comments section directly below this post, and if you are first with the correct answer you win the homemade construction-paper medal! Emphasis on the "homemade" part, as in you make it in your own home.

I won't publish any guesses until tomorrow when I put the correct answer up.

What film featured:

Kim Catrall

James Spader

Andrew McCarthy

The Freeze Frame Answers

YESSSZZZZZZ! 

We've kept the new-winner streak going and have now had six consecutive weeks of different Freeze Frame champions. Even though our victor this time around is no stranger to self-made construction paper medals and aluminum foil trophies, according to my meticulously kept Excel spreadsheet, she actually hasn't pulled down a Freeze Frame triumph since August 31! I'm talking about redblog Reader Who Rocks extraordinaire, Millar74. I'm sure she's had many ideas swirling around in her mind these past five and a half months for how she'd like to model her next trophy, so now she can make those dreams a reality.  Right on Millar's tail was Matt in Dallas, who I'm sure will nab the top spot one of these days 'cause he seems pretty darn determined to do so.  And in third place was another lovely RWR, Michelle.

Now, here's the strange thing. None of our top three players guessed the correct Common Thread, which hasn't happened since the beginning of the year.  Matt in Dallas picked up upon something I hadn't, which was that the directors for the three films featured -- The Doors (Oliver Stone), Casino (Martin Scorsese) and Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino) -- have all won Oscars.  That's true, but they haven't all won Oscars for directing (QT's was for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction). The link I was looking for was cinematographer Robert Richardson, who has spent the vast majority of his illustrious, Academy Award-winning career teaming up with the three directors mentioned above. As a matter of fact, both he and QT are up for little gold men for Inglorious Basterds.  But the reason why I worked this weekend's game around Richardson was actually because he collaborated with Scorsese on the upcoming Shutter Island.  

So who guessed the Common Thread correctly and therefore gets to make a Button o' Pride for their ingenuity? Give it up for Tammy Lochridge, Robert Ramirez and Jeremy Brittain.  Congrats, everyone!  Can we make like Avatar and keep our streak going for seven weeks? Be sure to play Freeze Frame on Friday and then check the winners' list on Monday to find out!