Song and Dance
It’s The Titular Role
Best Picture Winners by Year and Director
Auteur Cinema
Rom Coms By Quote
100

1961 saw the first film adaptation of West Side Story, a Broadway musical which was itself based on this William Shakespeare play.

What is Romeo and Juliet?

100

It’s the greatest film of all time, or so they say. At the age of 26, Orson Welles directed it, wrote it, and starred in it as the title character.

What is Citizen Kane?

100

1997; James Cameron.

What is Titanic?

100

Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a film about a young robot’s attempts to become a real boy by way of the Blue Fairy, is a stealth adaptation of this classic children’s story.

What is Pinocchio?

100

“I’m erasing you, and I’m happy!”

What is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

200

Twenty-five people play major characters in this 1975 ensemble film, one that takes place in and is named after the U.S. state capital nicknamed Music City.

What is Nashville?

200

Christine McPherson gives herself this nickname, probably inspired by Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife, in the 2017 indie drama of the same name.

What is Lady Bird?

200

2007; Joel and Ethan Coen.

What is No Country for Old Men?

200

Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, starred Australian actress Nicole Kidman and this man, her husband at the time.

Who is Tom Cruise?

200

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re tops. I mean, decency-wise and otherwise-wise.”

What is The Apartment?

300

In Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous, Kate Hudson plays a groupie (sorry, “band aide”) named after this famous Beatles song.

What is “Penny Lane”?

300

Instead focusing on point of view characters Josh, Mike, and Heather, the titular villain of this film is never once shown onscreen.

What is The Blair Witch Project?

300

1991; Jonathan Demme.

What is The Silence of the Lambs?

300

As Monty Brogan in Spike Lee’s film 25th Hour, Edward Norton performs a monologue wherein he condemns this city and everybody in it.

What is New York City?

300

“Father, you’re living in the past. This is the fourteenth century!”

What is Sleeping Beauty?

400

Don’t get it twisted: this is not a documentary about the iconic grunge band. It’s a mockumentary about two Canadian musicians who travel back in time to 2007 in their attempts to get a gig at the Rivoli.

What is Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie?

400

In this 1999 comedy-drama, puppeteer and office worker Craig Schwartz stumbles upon a portal into the mind of this real-life two-time Oscar nominee, portrayed here by the man himself.

What is Being John Malkovich?

400

1950; Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

What is All About Eve?

400

Paul Thomas Anderson references Exodus 8:2 over and over again in Magnolia, so perhaps it’s not a surprise that the film ends with thousands of these animals raining down on the city of San Fernando.

What are frogs?

400

“Nobody invites a bad-looking idiot up to their bedroom.”

What is Broadcast News?

500

In this 1995 film, Elizabeth Berkeley plays Nomi Malone, a young woman who hitchhikes to Las Vegas in search of the American Dream.

What is Showgirls?

500

Though the part ultimately went to Chloe Webb, Hole frontwoman Courtney Love auditioned to play this woman in a biopic about one of the most infamous romantic couples in music history.

Who is Nancy Spungen?

500

1984; Miloš Forman.

What is Amadeus?

500

On account of her elective mutism, the main character in Jane Campion’s 1993 romantic drama uses sign language and this musical instrument to express herself.

What is a piano?

500

“I love you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I love you, too.”

What is Moonrise Kingdom?