Match the 2010 Best Picture Nominee with a Quote Quiz

Answer: The Social Network

In "The Social Network" written wittily by Aaron Sorkin, the story of Facebook's origin is tackled with all the controversy of who stole what idea from whom. Mark Zuckerberg is played by Jesse Eisenberg and the film balances its depiction of him with admiration of his intellect with denigration of his immaturity at times as well, particularly his flawed young man's misogyny as he is still growing up in some ways despite being college age. In this scene in a bar, he is talking with a girl named Erica Albright, a fellow Harvard student.

He is clearly interested in her and describes some of his achievements and tosses out some witty banter or at least what he thinks will be witty to impress her. Played by Rooney Mara, Erica has the emotional maturity that Mark has yet to catch up to and is all too willing to fire off a witty bon mot of her own and not play the damsel who's impressed. So, she references Mark's boast of being in a singing group, saying, "You know, from a woman's perspective, sometimes not singing in an a cappella group is a good thing."

Answer: The Fighter

In this film based on a true story, Mark Wahlberg plays boxer Micky Ward, trying to break out of his low-class troubled life in Boston, and get successful training in the sport to get a shot at a championship. Between his brother's unreliability and the resentment of his mother and sisters regarding his girlfriend Charlene's involvement, Micky is beset with obstacles. In this scene, Charlene and Micky meet with the family in their living room and Charlene voices her opinions about how they have not been giving appropriate care to Micky's training, and she mentions the lateness with the brother's showing up for training, and the situation with crack houses. Put off by Charlene's blunt honesty, the mother pauses, regains herself and says, "I'm sorry I don't know you why are you talking?" Charlene then delivers her sarcastic answer.

Answer: Winter's Bone

Jennifer Lawrence plays Ree in "Winter's Bone" a tough girl in the Ozarks looking after her mother and her younger brother and sister. When she is told by the bondsman that the family will lose their house because her drug-dealer father failed to show up for his court date and the house was put up as part of the bond. So Ree goes looking for him. One of the stops she makes is to Merab, the wife of the local crime boss. Ree says she has a "real bad need" to talk to her husband Thump, the crime boss. Merab tells her "Talking just causes witnesses, and he don't want for any of those."

Answer: The Kids Are All Right

Nicole (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a married lesbian couple who have each given birth to a child using the same sperm donor. Their son Laser (Josh Hutcherson) wants to find this biological father of his but is too young to request that information from the sperm bank, so he asks his older sister Joni (Mia Wasikowska) to do it.

They find out he is Paul Hatfield, the owner of an organic foods restaurant. Jules and Nic find out that the kids did this, and they invite Paul over to dinner, and Paul asks Jules to transform his garden when he finds out she does that sort of work. Jules takes him up on it and one thing leads to another and Paul and Jules have an affair. Nic feels upset about what feels like Paul's growing influence on the children and Jules.

But she suggests they all have dinner together to relieve tensions. Dinner is going well and Nic sings a song at one point only for Laser to rib her, "Don't quit your day job" to which Paul advises him, "Hey, it's already hard enough to open your heart in this world. Don't make it any harder."

Answer: The King's Speech

Remember when Prince Harry's wife, Meghan Markle referred to the British royal family as "the Firm" when Oprah Winfrey interviewed them on TV in March 2021? Well, that phrase goes back further--to Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI, who was once reported as saying, "We're not a family. We're a firm." This film, "The King's Speech" revisits that moment when Colin Firth as the King laments the Royal family's situation.

He makes this quote's observation in one to his brother, King Edward VIII, expressing that he feels that the family has become more like a business in that they don't really care about one another--instead, they care more about their reputation, how other people see them. And that's part of what makes the King, who is nicknamed Bertie so nervous and makes him stutter when he speaks.

Answer: 127 Hours

"127 Hours" directed by Danny Boyle depicts the true story of the terrible geological nightmare of Aron Ralston (James Franco), whose arm becomes trapped by a boulder while climbing in Blue John Canyon in Utah all by himself. He was trapped for 127 hours before he took the last resort option of freeing himself: amputating his arm.

In all the time he spent trapped, we hear Aron narrate the details of his life, contemplating how he got in this situation--was he being punished for how he failed people in his life, and in his relationships? Almost as a way of taking ownership of his life, of his situation, he reflects on his life's purpose, his destiny, with this quote.

Answer: Black Swan

Actor Vincent Cassel plays Thomas Leroy, the director of the ballet that Natalie Portman as Nina has come to ask for the role of the black swan. The screenplay was written by my friend John McLaughlin, who was Oscar-nominated for his film. In this scene Thomas Leroy tells Nina that he doesn't think she is right for the role, and that when he looks at her all he sees her as is the white swan.

He tells her that he sees her obsessing over getting the moves perfectly right, but never losing herself in her work, to which she responds that she just wants to get it perfect. And that's when he tells her about perfection.

Answer: Toy Story 3

This line uttered by a Barbie doll in "Toy Story 3" is more on point than any line in the actual "Barbie" (2023) movie as she points out what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Barbie (voiced by Jodi Benson) says this quote in support of the cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) who has yelled at Lotso the bear for deceiving them: "This isn't a family, it's a prison! You're a liar and a bully! And I'd rather rot in this dumpster than join any family of yours!"

Answer: True Grit

The Coen Brothers movie "True Grit" is a remake of the 1969 film, only this time with some added focus on legal issues in criminal law, as we follow the tale of a teenage girl who has convinced a U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to hunt down her father's murderer.

In one scene, Matt Damon, playing LaBoeuf debates a scenario involving the shooting of a dog and its owner as possibly malum prohibitum (illegal by statute or written law) or malum in se (morally, ethically reprehensible no matter what written law says). Rooster hears those unfamiliar Latin terms and says, "Malla-men what?" The teenage girl Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) clears it up for him.

Answer: Inception

At a restaurant as Saito (Ken Watanabe) dines, this is the very first line that Leonardo DiCaprio as Dominic Cobb speaks in this mindbender of a film by Christopher Nolan. Cobb is tasked with trying to implant an idea into the mind of a CEO via a new dream-sharing technology. That spoken line indicates the way the thief Cobb and his team will try to infiltrate the mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) in order to plant the idea.