Could It Be Any More Boring? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pandora

"Avatar" is a science fiction epic by James Cameron with a budget of $237 million and box office revenues of $2,782,275,172. After just 41 days of exhibition it surpassed "Titanic" as highest-grossing film (helped by the extra cost of 3D). A prodigy in technical terms, it won Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.
The movie is set on Pandora where humans are mining the valuable mineral unobtanium. Pandora is inhabited by the blue skinned Na'vi, who live in harmony in Pandora's forests.
With a totally bland, predictable, politically and ecologically correct story, "borrowed" from many sources and mixed together in such a way that does not offend anyone (every dollar counts), "Avatar" still is a "must see" experience due to its technical brilliance.
It is often compared to "Dances with Wolves"...
(All criticisms of movies throughout this Quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: A Hungarian count

During World War II, a dying man in a hospital bed slowly tells his story to his attending nurse. He was found in the desert by Bedouins, without any papers, burnt beyond recognition and claiming to be English. Eventually we learn all about Count Ladislaus de Almásy, a Hungarian who explored northern Africa with a British cartography group.
"The English Patient", a romantic drama directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound).
It was one of the few Best Picture winners that never got to reach the top five in the weekend box office.
For those who loved "Out of Africa", this was a great movie. As for the others...
There was even an episode of "Seinfeld" with a plot derived from the movie, in which Elaine finds the film extremely boring.
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Renée Zellweger

"Cold Mountain" is a war drama directed by Anthony Minghella. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and gave Renée Zellweger an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
This actress famous for her role in "Bridget Jones's Diary", plays Ruby Thewes, a practical woman who helps Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman) restore her farm to order amid the hardships of the civil war. She also had two Best Actress nominations for her roles in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Chicago".
The most interesting thing about the film is that it was edited with the software "Final Cut Pro" (less than a thousand dollars cost), using normal "G4" Apple computers, the first time this was done for a big budget movie.
Well, it was the only interesting thing...
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Ron Howard

Ron Howard is an American director of several Oscar winning films, such as "Cocoon", "Apollo 13" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".
He also directed the terrible "The Da Vinci Code" and its sequel "Angels & Demons". He is also an actor and producer.
"A Beautiful Mind" was directed by Ron Howard and won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress.
It is a typical handicapped genius film, with the usual Hollywood detachment with reality. The depiction of schizophrenia is atrocious. The biographical facts in the movie are, as usual, loosely attached to reality. The Nobel ceremony looks like an Oscar ceremony with the laureate making an acceptance speech.
A positive fact: Mathematicians including John Nash approved the mathematics used in the movie.
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Stargate sequence

A science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick, "2001: A Space Odyssey" has more than forty years of controversy and debate. It was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
The Stargate Sequence has 6m 46s and over 200 times that in unused footage.
Some of the unused footage in the sequence was used in The Beatles film "Magical Mystery Tour".
Slit-scan photography was used with thousands of high-contrast images to achieve the colored lights effects in the sequence.
If you up one letter to each letter in HAL you get IBM. This fact was dubbed a coincidence by Arthur C. Clarke.
The movie lost the Oscar for Makeup because some Academy members thought the apes in the opening sequence were real.

(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: She hangs herself.

"The Reader" is a romantic drama directed by Stephen Daldry, with young actor David Kross, Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet who won the Oscar for Best Actress.
The movie is set in post-war Germany and tells the story of the love affair of a boy and an illiterate concentration camp guard who is later tried and imprisoned for her actions during the holocaust.
In the day of Hanna Schmitz release Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) arrives at the prison with flowers only to find out that she has hanged herself, leaving a note and a tin can with some money for Ilana Mather (Lena Olin) a holocaust survivor and witness in her trial.
Famous directors Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both producers of the movie died before its release.

The real Hanna Schmitz was condemned for guarding the door of a church while 300 people were burned to death inside.
Nevertheless the movie is about her guilt for being illiterate...
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Julianne Moore

"The Hours" is another successful Stephen Daldry effort to get the lady an Oscar. This one was a triple bet, with three best actress candidates. The "action", centered on a day in the life of each protagonist, has an amazing synchronization with real life, as even though the movie has only 114 minutes they feel like exactly three days.
It had nine Academy Awards nominations but won just one, the Best Actress for Nicole Kidman role as Virginia Woolf.
The movie takes place in three different timelines: in 1923, centered on Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman); in 1951 centered on Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) and in 2001 centered on Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep).
Julianne Moore also plays an older Laura Brown in the 2001 timeline.
The best description for the film I found and agree with is that of Steve Persall in the "St. Petersburg Times": "...is the most finely crafted film of the past year that I never want to sit through again..."
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Pu Yi is brought back to China after World War II.

"The Last Emperor", directed by Bernardo Bertolucci won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film starts in 1950, with Pu Yi being brought back to China as a political prisoner accused of war crimes. He tries to kill himself and while unconscious starts dreaming about his past.
An epic biography, it was the first movie authorized to be filmed in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
19000 Chinese army soldiers were used as extras in the film.
While on a state visit to China, Queen Elizabeth II was unable to visit the Forbidden City because the filming of the movie was more important to the Chinese government.
The film's box office success was closely linked to its Academy nominations and Awards, it only reached number four in the box office in the week after the Academy Awards, after 22 weeks of exhibition.
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Ben Kingsley

Sir Ben Kingsley, born Krishna Pandit Bhanji of Indian descent on his father's side, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000 and a Knight Bachelor in 2002.
Ben Kingsley's role as Gandhi is so immersive as to make him virtually the face of Gandhi for anyone who watched the movie.
"Gandhi" is an epic biographical film, directed by Richard Attenborough that runs for three and half hours and won eight Oscars.
It won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing.
The funeral scene is in the "Guinness World Records" with over 300,000 extras.
It took Richard Attenborough eighteen years to fulfill his dream of filming this great man's story.
As a child I watched this film with a cousin of mine who summed it up screaming for all to hear: "He is wearing diapers..."
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)

Answer: Two Socks

"Dances with Wolves" is an epic western by Kevin Costner that won seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Original Score.
It was the first western since 1931 ("Cimarron") to win the Best Picture Award.
In the film, the wolf Two Socks is shot by the soldiers that capture John J. Dunbar and try to take him to trial. In the end of the film a lone wolf howls in the distance, so he might have survived.
Kevin Costner was adopted an honorary member of the Sioux because of this film.
For those not cured of insomnia after three hours watching it, there's a director's cut with 236 minutes. If that's still not enough, there is always "Waterworld" or "The Postman", Kevin Costner's champions at boring anyone to death.
(All criticisms of movies throughout this quiz are my own, even when supported by the opinion of others, as all criticisms should be.)