Who? What? Where? #46

Whoa, Dylan must not have liked Nick creeping in on his first-place position. He correctly identified Dominic West as Jasper from 28 Days.

Nick made it there first, but luckily for Dylan he was stumped.

With that, Dylan expands his lead over second-place Jess, and up-and-comer Nick.

Anyway, good luck this week.


The concept is simple: each week I will place a photograph of a character within a film. It is up to you (the participant in the game) to tell me the following:

1) The name of the actor (or what the actor goes by in his acting profession).

2) The name of the character in the movie.

3) And, the name of the movie.

Each correct answer gets you a point - so if you get all three correct on a given week, you can get three points. I will keep a running chart each and every week. As of now, this will be played for bragging rights only - but we shall see what the future holds.

So here is week #46:

Standings:
Dylan - 34 points
Jess - 29 points
Matt - 23 points
Nick - 21 points
Ryan "Hatter" McNeil - 20 points
Stevee - 3 pointsWQ

HOT: Man with One Red Shoe

This is an odd, yet fun little CIA film.

I watched this many times when I was younger, but I hadn't seen it in awhile - and it was still a pretty decent watch.

Hanks stars as Richard Drew in The Man with One Red Shoe, a violinist who gets mistaken as a CIA operative.

Cooper (Dabney Coleman) and Ross (Charles Durning) are competing for the deputy director position at the CIA. Ross currently holds the position, but has messed up a handful of times and Cooper is doing all that he can to take over.

Ross comes up with a brilliant plan to throw Cooper and his team off of his track - knowing Cooper has bugged his house he tells Brown (Edward Herrmann) about a special CIA operative coming off a plane. What Cooper isn't told is that Brown is actually supposed to find some Average Joe, not a real operative.

At the airport, Brown waits by the escalator searching for his fake operative and sees a man wearing one red shoe - Richard Drew.

The rest of the film is Cooper and his team tracking Drew, and believing that every little thing he does, whether it's playing his violin or even going to the dentist, there is something behind it.

Drew, meanwhile, has no idea he is being tailed - he is a violinist in an orchestra, along with his best friend Morris (Jim Belushi) and Morris' wife Paula (Carrie Fisher). Drew and Paula also seem to have an affair going on before Drew meets Maddy (Lori Singer). Maddy is apart of Cooper's team and is trying to get even closer to Drew to figure out what he knows.

The film is a fun, little romp filled with lots of hilarious shenanigans - mostly supplied by the various team members on both sides.

After watching Splash, Lori Singer felt like a carbon copy of Daryl Hannah. Plus, I had no idea that this was the same person that was in Footloose. They look almost nothing alike.

Anyway, a pretty decent film that still made me laugh at times. And it's funny to see what happens with Drew just because he happened to wear one red shoe.

Grade:

Tuesday's With Movies: 10/25/11

Captain America: The First Avenger: I have already seen this movie, but I will definitely be checking it out again. I loved it upon my first viewing, and Mrs. Kano loved it as well. My son has really gotten into the superhero films - and although this one is a bit bloodier than the previous films, I will do my best to remember where those were so he can still watch it.

Winnie the Pooh: Apparently a really decent film with the acclaimed characters we all grew up with. I had originally planned on seeing this in the theater with my son, but realized it was only 63 minutes long - no way I am spending that much money for an hour film. But, now that it is coming out on DVD we will be checking it out.

Attack the Block: Well, I don't know too much about this film - just some of the odd things I have heard. About a gang in London that protect their 'block' from an alien invasion. Sounds like a very odd premise, but looks like most people actually enjoyed it. Not sure where it stands really - but as of now I have no real interest.

5/50x2: Buried

I am so very surprised that not much about this movie was spoiled to me.

I knew a few of the minuscule moments going in, but that is it.

Buried stars Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, a truck driver from the United States working in the hostile territory of Iraq.

That is pretty much the only person in this movie. Sure, you hear others, but Reynolds is the only actor you actually see during the entire film. 95 minutes of Reynolds and the occasional black screen.

I have to admit, when it first started I thought there is no way they can stay with Reynolds in this tiny spot for the entire film and still hold my interest. How would that be possible? Well, they did it.

Without giving too much away, Conroy awakens at the beginning of the film inside a buried, wooden coffin somewhere in the Iraqi desert. His truck driving convoy has been ambushed, as we are told in the story, but never see. Apparently everyone else was killed and he was buried alive.

Inside his coffin he is given a lighter, a cell phone (in Arabic), glow sticks, a flask, a pencil, a knife and a flashlight. He tries to contact his family and his employer, to no avail. He does manage to get in contact with the U.S. Embassy and tells them his predicament.

He is also contacted by a man named, Jabir (Jose Luis Garcia Perez), the leader of those who attacked his convoy, and is ordered to send a ransom message for his life for $5 million (which is eventually lowered to $1 million).

During this time, Conroy is also talking to Dan Brenner (Robert Paterson), a hostage rescue group leader, who now appears to be Conroy's lone chance at being rescued.

Like I said, hard to believe I could be so fascinated with a film that stays inside a wooden box throughout its entire run. I loved Cast Away, but even that film was off the island for at least 1/3 of the film - and, with no disrespect to Reynolds, but Hanks has the clout to carry a film alone.

Well, apparently Reynolds does as well. At least for me.

I adored this film, and truly began to felt for Conroy during my brief time with him. Reynolds did an amazing job at allowing that to happen. You could feel his pain and you could feel his pessimistic attitude.

Only a few things stuck out to me that I either felt was a useless moment or didn't really work for me. Other than that, I truly found myself engulfed in this film.

Grade:

Who? What? Where? #45

Nick's streak is broken as Ryan "Hatter" McNeil correctly identified the person to the left as Andie MacDowell as Laura Kinney in Multiplicity.

With that, Ryan moves to within one point of the streaking Nick.

So sorry about missing yesterday - it has been a few busy weeks and I forgot.

Anyway, good luck this week.

The concept is simple: each week I will place a photograph of a character within a film. It is up to you (the participant in the game) to tell me the following:

1) The name of the actor (or what the actor goes by in his acting profession).

2) The name of the character in the movie.

3) And, the name of the movie.

Each correct answer gets you a point - so if you get all three correct on a given week, you can get three points. I will keep a running chart each and every week. As of now, this will be played for bragging rights only - but we shall see what the future holds.

So here is week #45:

Standings:
Dylan - 31 points
Jess - 29 points
Matt - 23 points
Nick - 21 points
Ryan "Hatter" McNeil - 20 points
Stevee - 3 points