'90s

Question 1

What critically acclaimed 1994 film was a box-office bomb on its initial release but has gone on to extreme popularity (and a #1 all-time ranking on imdb.com), thanks in part to frequent airings on the TNT cable network in the late 1990s and subsequent widespread accolades?

Answer 1

Shawshank Redemption

Question 2

Which 1990s filmmaking movement was founded with the goal of minimizing modern effects and gimmicks in order to focus on storytelling and the actors’ performances? The movement followed a “Vow of Chastity” manifesto written by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, and the movement’s practitioners included Susanne Bier and Harmony Korine.

Answer 2

Dogme 95

Question 3

A dedicated group of Chinese American mah-jongg players forms the plot basis, and the title, for what 1993 film (and the 1989 novel on which it was based)?

Answer 3

Joy Luck Club

Question 4

The mysterious title character of what 1996 film was, as it turned out, a Hungarian aristocrat named László Almásy?

Answer 4

The English Patient

Question 5

Bill Murray plays a patient who follows his psychiatrist, played by Richard Dreyfuss, on vacation in this 1991 movie.

Answer 5

What About Bob?

Question 6

Loosely based on what classic 19th century literature title character, Clueless heroine Cher describes finding a boyfriend in high school as “useless as looking for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.”

Answer 6

Emma Woodhouse

Question 7

In 1991, the Cannes Film Festival presented a one-time Supporting Actor award specifically for this actor’s performance, his breakthrough role as a drug addict. Name the actor.

Answer 7

Samuel L. Jackson (for Jungle Fever)

Question 8

U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole cited this film, which National Review ranked as one of the Top 100 Conservative Movies of All Time, as influencing his campaign because of its theme that “no matter how great the adversity, the American Dream is within everybody’s reach.”

Answer 8

Forrest Gump

Question 9

After the Cultural Revolution ended, Chinese filmmakers known as the “Fifth Generation” were emboldened to criticize the Mao Zedong era. Shanghai officials banned this Fifth Generation film for its critical portrayal of communism in China and controversial content. However, after it won the top prize at Cannes, officials agreed to show a censored version, fearing an outright ban would harm China’s bid for the Olympics. Name the film’s English title.

Answer 9

Farewell My Concubine

Question 10

Give the title of any one of the three films—from 1992, 1996, and 2001—that have come to be known as the “Red Curtain Trilogy.” Although unrelated in terms of plot, they share the same director (his first three films) and lavishly incorporate traditional theatrical conventions and lush imagery.

Answer 10

Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge

Question 11

The 1997 animated film Anastasia, which uses a similar scenario, features an adorable anthropomorphic bat, who shares a name with this (non-Russian) composer.

Answer 11

(Bela) Bartok

Question 12

The 13th Warrior, a retelling of Beowulf with Vikings on the Volga river and major box-office bomb, is based on this Michael Crichton novel.

Answer 12

Eaters of the Dead

Question 13

Though she did not star in the film (having died seven years earlier), Rita Hayworth plays an important role (of sorts) as a plot element in what 1994 film?

Answer 13

The Shawshank Redemption

Question 14

In 1997 she became the first to win an Oscar for a film directed by her husband; her brother-in-law produced the film.

Answer 14

Frances McDormand (Fargo)

Question 15

This was the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It is currently tied with Wall-E for the animated film with the most Oscar nominations.

Answer 15

Beauty and the Beast

Question 16

As you might gather from the title, the 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle was about what storied group?

Answer 16

The four Sex and the City actresses. No, no. This “Mrs. Parker” is Dorothy Parker and the movie centers on her snarky 1920s literary circle: the Algonquin Round Table.

Question 17

Halle Berry’s film debut was as Vivian in this 1991 Spike Lee movie.

Answer 17

Jungle Fever

Question 18

After directing one of the most iconic teen movies of the ’80s, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amy Heckerling went on to write and direct one of the most iconic teen movies of the ’90s, Clueless. Cher Horowitz introduced a generation to useful words such as “sporadically,” as well as what two terms denoting, respectively, a pretty girl and a loser?

Answer 18

Betty, Barney

Question 19

Which 1994 movie depicts a sham wedding between a South African swimmer and the title character in order for the swimmer to compete in the Olympics? (In real life, the Olympic ban on South Africa ended with apartheid, and thus the nation had already participated in the 1992 Olympics.)

Answer 19

Muriel’s Wedding

Question 20

Set during the Troubles, what 1992 movie features an IRA member who falls for Dil, his prisoner’s girlfriend? Due in part to its even-handed politics and an IRA bombing around the time of its release, it initially failed at the box office in the UK. It became a hit in the US though, helped by a Miramax ad campaign that ignored the political aspects of the film and focused on the secret around Dil’s gender identity.

Answer 20

The Crying Game

Question 21

What 1995 film, Michael Moore’s only non-documentary film and John Candy’s last, depicts an international incident between the US and Canada initially prompted by Candy’s character criticizing Canadian beer at a hockey game?

Answer 21

Canadian Bacon

Question 22

What was the nom du crime of the partnership of Marv Murchins and Harry Lyme, the villains from Home Alone?

Answer 22

They’re called the Wet Bandits, because they leave the faucets running in the houses they burgle. Jerks.

Question 23

Long before he had nine-figure budgets to make movies like Alita: Battle Angel, Robert Rodriguez was a broke film-school grad in Texas. Rodriguez’s first full-length film (shot in Mexico, in Spanish, for $7,000; released 1992) was intended for the Mexican direct-to-video market. That film’s mainstream success led to a 1995 sequel with a $7,000,000 budget. Name both films.

Answer 23

El Mariachi, Desperado

Question 24

Works written by David Foster and Linda Thompson, Ashford & Simpson, Nick Lowe, Alan Silvestri, and Dolly Parton are among the songs that appear on the soundtrack for what hit movie from the 1990s?

Answer 24

The Bodyguard

Question 25

In three feature films beginning in 1995, plus numerous shorts, Don Rickles provided the voice for what mustachioed solanum?

Answer 25

Mr. Potato Head

Question 26

“FR Remove Cart” and “MF Feed A4” are among the error codes displayed on older HP LaserJet printers, but the best known and most notorious was what other code, which was central to an iconic scene in the 1999 movie Office Space?

Answer 26

PC LOAD LETTER

Question 27

Antonio Skarmeta wrote the novel Ardent Patience in 1985, and it was changed into an Italian story by Anna Parvignano to star Massimo Troisi. What was the Italian or English title of that 1995 film, featuring a very out-of-context Pablo Neruda?

Answer 27

Il Postino / The Postman

Question 28

Steven Spielberg served as a producer on two dinosaur-themed movies of 1993. One was Jurassic Park. What was the other? This non-Disney film was praised for its massive voice cast and animation stylings but received negative criticism for its script and story.

Answer 28

We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story

Question 29

This 1995 romantic comedy stars Sandra Bullock as a woman in love with a comatose patient

Answer 29

While You Were Sleeping