CineQuote Newsletter #70

Oscar Nominations are this Thursday. They’ll be announced at 8:30 a.m. EST / 7:30 a.m. CST / 6:30 a.m. MST, 5:30 a.m. PST, or if you’re in living it up in Guam, 11:30 p.m.

Go ahead and set a notification to watch ‘em live as they’re revealed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/ZaLpXqSoTlE 

Aside from the Oscars, we could say more, like how the Lord of the Rings movies, as of press time, have been re-released in theaters, or how Marty Supreme is now the highest domestic box office earner for distributor A24, or how Daniel Stern may actually resort to becoming a real-life wet/sticky bandit, but let’s just kick it over to the statistics from last week’s games…

We suppose it comes as no surprise that the greatest film of all time secured not only the top win rate for the week, but also cracked the top twenty for all-time win rate within the history of CineQuote. For many, SNAKES ON A PLANE was their first movie they saw in the theater, or the movie their 10th grade biology teacher played in lieu of a class-discussion on reptilian behavior. For others, it’s the movie that fostered an overdue conversation between estranged siblings leading to them hugging it out, and the reason that national airlines adopted more comprehensive luggage screening practices. At least now, this little game app of ours no longer can say we don’t do the high-brow stuff.

At some point during last week’s Sunday Stumper it became evident the movie was about a classical composer, and when Amadeus proved to be the incorrect guess, almost everybody had a problem of coming up with an alternative. There were more than a few wishful thinkers out there who hoped, no…, NEEDED the answer to be Beethoven, even though we allllllllll know that’s a movie about an unruly St. Bernard who continually rankles Charles Grodin. How many of you thought, “maybe if I just WILL the answer to be Beethoven, it will be”? Sadly, that’s not how this game works, although it would be funny to see Beethoven bust in on the premiere performance of the 5th symphony in 1808 and just run amok. Imagine how many monocles would fall off old men’s shocked faces! Alas, the “Beethoven” movie in this case was IMMORTAL BELOVED (which more people need to see even though there are very few dogs, unless you count five-time wedded Gary Oldman, hiyoooooooooo!)

The Sound of Music would have waxed the floor of competitors any normal week, but those damn snakes had to get in the way of Maria’s mountaintop spinning. Lovely to see that a movie from 1965 can do so well still on CQ. Classics are classics for a reason, but to see not only a high win rate, but more than 5% of those being Aces, gotta say it’s like a walk in the early morning sunshine, hearing birdsong usher in the day, and burying one’s face in the dewy sweet fragrancy of the Saguaro cactus blossom. A pep most certainly has found its way into our step. Perhaps now more pre-1970 movies will show up on non-Sundays.

Everything Everywhere All At Once got almost nothing anywhere never. No Win Rate, no Fail Rate, no top Ace of the week. Stash a racoon under your toque and come back stronger next time, gang. After all, this one won Best Picture not to long ago.

Fantastic Mr. Fox actually fared better than other Wes Anderson movies on CQ, maybe it helps to hear a key word from the title in the 5th quote, or maybe you know by heart the rhyme about these Dahl villains:

Last but not least Excalibur, which (with the exception of Immortal Beloved) couldn’t quite muster a passable score, despite us once again giving you the name of the immortally-beloved (?) sword in the fifth quote. When you’re looking into the abyss, and fairly assured you’re not gonna win the movie of the day, opting for the tactic of searching for key words from that 5th quote sometimes prove helpful. Had you slapped in “excalibur” to the search bar, you’d either get the right answer or a fledgling Vegas casino with a Middle Ages motif. For those podcast consumers out there, our friends the Unkind Rewind recently covered this movie and, as is often the case, the movies nostalgically discussed on that podcast shortly thereafter show up on CineQuote. Wink. Wink.

Despite not having a glowing overall win rate, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE sunk its fangs into the top Ace slot. We actually thought this was going to be uber-hard, but at least 10% of you were not vexed by the movie (or in this case, play) within the movie, something we love to do here. Pretty meta for actors who are pretending to be vampires who are pretending to be a humans who, in this play, are actors pretending to be vampires. Our brain just broke thinking on that.

Look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there that night, with Arthur, the King!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.

Thank you to our brand new members who joined this last week. Means a lot to us. Become a CQ Member and you’ll be welcomed to sit at the Round Table.

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• access to the last fourteen days of movies (no more missing games on account of being on vacation, in jail, on the run, etc!)
• info on where the movie of the day is streamable or rentable (Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc.)
• special MEMBERS-EXCLUSIVE Packs to play (like the current Vampire Movie Pack)
• and a cozy, eternal nook in our hearts

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Got a recommendation? Got CineQuote ideas? Get in touch: [email protected]

And check out our friends over at the Unkind Rewind Podcast. Many of the movies they cover show up on CineQuote sooner or later. Just sayin…

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