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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Arts / Film Today in Artsy Movie Plots

Posted by David Schmader on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 10:42 AM

Paul Rogers

One of my favorite time-killing games to play on car trips is "Name That Film!," in which a person who is not the driver reads TV Guide film-plot synopses aloud and everyone else in the car tries to guess what film is being synopsized.

I recently encountered an artsy variation of this game in Harper's, in which Brett Fletcher Lauer, poetry editor of A Public Space, recently published "a found text composed of movie descriptions from online TV guides." An excerpt:

A former soldier tried to rescue a kidnapped nuclear physicist from a terrorist who wants her to create warheads.
A corporate climber, whose boss and others use his apartment for hanky-panky, aids a young woman.
A litigiious brother-in-law urges an injured TV cameraman to sue.
The amateur sleuth has a killer, a gangster, and the police on his trail.
A checkout girl covering for a coworker faces danger from a drug dealer she double-crosses out of desperation.
Three inept private eyes try to catch a killer gorilla at a spooky museum.

(I know the subjects of sentences 2 and 5, but am baffled by the rest. And I really, really want to see whatever the source material for sentence 6 is. Read Lauer's whole found poem in the November Harper's.)

Meanwhile, over in the visual art world, artist Paul Rogers continues his "Name That Movie" series, offering "[s]ix drawings per movie, in sequence, no movie stars."

Of the ones I can identify, I particularly love his Wizard of Oz and Third Man. (And the one showcasing A.G. Geiger Books was driving me nuts until I finally remembered what it was.) Find the whole archive here.

Comments (13) RSS

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4 is 'Go'

Posted by DonnaTella on November 11, 2009 at 10:52 AM

(By my count, "Go" is 5.)

Posted by David Schmader on November 11, 2009 at 10:57 AM

"Synopsized?" Is that a word? (If it is, it shouldn't be.)

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on November 11, 2009 at 11:06 AM

It became a word at 10:42 am today.

Posted by David Schmader on November 11, 2009 at 11:08 AM

1.?
2. The Apartment
3. ?
4. ?
5. Go
6. I think it's a Three Stooges movie.

Posted by dwight moody on November 11, 2009 at 11:10 AM

@3: Ha ha. Just how big are synops? Are they bigger than a breadbox?

Posted by Scholar of violence on November 11, 2009 at 11:21 AM

Odd, I identified all films illustrated except "Go."

Posted by Scholar of violence on November 11, 2009 at 11:24 AM

3. The Fortune Cookie
4. Lebowski?
6. The Gorilla, an old Ritz Brothers comedy.

Posted by dirge on November 11, 2009 at 11:24 AM

I agree, #6 is probably The Gorilla. And you don't want to see it. Trust me.

Posted by Monty on November 11, 2009 at 11:41 AM

Hang on, I didn't realize this was a David Schmader post. David, you'd probably enjoy The Gorilla. But non-professionals should not attempt Ritz Brothers movies without special training.

Posted by Monty on November 11, 2009 at 11:59 AM

1. US Seals 2: Ultimate Force
2. The Apartment
3. Fortune Cookie
4. The Shadow Strikes
5. Go
6. The Gorilla

The synopsis's were all taken from the internet, so Google will find them, even though some are pretty obscure.

Posted by Lark Hawk on November 11, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Well, uh, thanks #11. I guess.

Schmader, you'd better confiscate all iPhones at the start of your next car trip.

Posted by attitude devant on November 11, 2009 at 1:32 PM

This game gets a lot wackier if you use two movies that fit together before-and-after style, then you mash together the synopses in funny ways for the clue.

Easy example synopsis: "The Galactic Empire travels back in time in a plutonium powered DeLorean to help their past selves quell a rebel uprising"

Answer: "Empire Strikes Back to the Future Part II"

Posted by w7ngman