Arrrrghhhhhhhh! ARGGHHHHH! My hands!!!! Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) At the beginning of the film, information is revealed to a detective using a Microcassette, a technology invented by the company Olympus in 1969. That company got caught up in a Tobashi scheme in 2011 after firing their CEO abruptly. What is a Tobashi scheme?
2) Donnie Wahlberg’s character is named Eric Matthews. That is the same name as the older brother character in Boy Meets World. As Wikipedia points out, the character started as merely a suave older brother, but then in the fourth season transitions fully into a “crazy moron”. Named after a character in an animated sitcom, what is this process typically called when a character becomes more and more defined by a single trait over the course of a television program?
3) What about a question about another 4th installment: Lethal Weapon 4. In that film Murtaugh has to come to terms with Detective Lee Butters becoming his son-in-law. What famous comedian played Butters?
4) One of the surprising bits of Saw lore is that Shawnee Smith’s Amanda character isn’t in very many of the films (only five of the ten films). Another film she was in was what Kurt Vonnegut adaptation starring Bruce Willis (a BMT qualifier surprisingly)?
5) This movie is technically a side-quel, in that it takes place during the events of the fourth film. Another famous sidequel is a point-and-click adventure game called [Blank]: Escape from DeVil Manor. What fills in the blank?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: We talking about Phase IV? No, well that played at 6:35PM on Cinemax on January 17, 1995. Later that night this played:
What is this film?
Answers
1) I think I understand it. Basically, an investment firm has an interest in a company (e.g. Olympus), but Olympus is struggling and has a ton of debt which is going to sink the company. There is, presumably, some perception that over time the company will recover, so the investment firm shifts the debt to other companies in their portfolio in order to hide it from investors. Since the debt can’t be hidden forever though eventually either the investment company eats it or, I guess, the original company recovers enough to deal with it. Tobashi means “flying away” in Japanese.
2) Flanderization. For Flanders in particular, it was the transition from being a quirky and fairly friendly religious neighbor, to a Christian fanatic whose faith became his sole defining feature.
3) Chris Rock. The film is dogshit. Literally, there are whole swaths of it involving Pesci and Rock trying to out-annoying each other, and the entire premise of Russo and Gibson having a kid is dumb. The only interesting bit is how untrusting everyone is of ICE in the film as Murtaugh explicitly takes in a group of Chinese illegal immigrants he feels bad for. Like a house full of them.
4) That would be Breakfast of Champions. I’ve read the book quite recently. While I’m not surprised it is bad (it seemed rather hard to adapt), I am a bit surprised it was quite as bad as it apparently is. It was on the Criterion Channel not long ago, but I didn’t end up watching it.
5) That is naturally 101 Dalmatians. Released in 1997, it is apparently 3D? That seems like a mistake. Oh wow, I’m looking at screenshots on Moby Games and it actually looks quite good. Looks like abandonware, so I might actually try it out at some point.
Bonus NYTimes Listing Answer: That is Downhill Racer. It is considered something of a classic, although I feel like I rarely hear of it these days. It was always on my radar because in general I do like watching random sports films, especially of underrepresented sports like skiing.
Why else would I own a VHS copy of Ski School 2?
Bad Movie Twins 