Woman Pretending To Be Man Pretending To Be Woman

[tahnan]

No, this isn't a post about women pretending to be men pretending to be women. When I was looking for IMDb keywords for this meme (incidentally, all the right answers are in the comments to that post; good job, folks), I came across a few unique keywords, like "Rolltop Desk" and "University of Wisconsin". Which made me wonder...

It's surprisingly hard to find worthwhile unique keywords (i.e. those that aren't for utterly obscure films or for video games, like "Convict Pretending to be Dentist" or "Severe Dilemma"). As a warmup, you might consider a few that are nearly unique:

• Animated Chess (two movies, and yes, you know them both, you may well have even seen them both)
• Based on Painting (two movies, one of which you know, one of which is a silent Portuguese movie from 1923)
• Human Needed to Save Alien Planet (two movies, one of which you know, one of which is the movie viewed in the MST3K movie)
• Swedish Sex Bomb (two movies, one of which you know, one of which was in an episode of MST3K)

Even the title of this post isn't unique; there are actually five movies with that as a keyword (though one's a reworking of an earlier and better version). Two of them, in fact, are Oscar winners. But the following keywords are unique. Let me stress: I haven't seen all of these movies. I certainly don't like all of these movies. Heck, for some of these movies, you should be embarrassed if you know them. But as uniqueness goes, there's no question. (Also remember that the IMDb's keywords aren't guaranteed to be either comprehensive or accurate.)

1. Based on Cult Comic Book
2. Bubble Wrap
3. Cat Juggling
4. Champion Horse
5. Corrupt School System
6. Dragon Skeleton
7. Fake War
8. Fictional Twin
9. King Edward I
10. Megalopolis
11. Multiple Heads(*)
12. Remote Control Robot
13. Severed Horse’s Head
14. Sexy Male Vampire
15. Wheel of Death
16. Wudang Mountains

(*) This movie has a nine-letter keyword starting with S that would be unique if it weren't also used in the video game based on the movie.

Feel free to post guesses in the comments. (And yeah, they're trivially easy to look up, so you're on your honor.)

Comments

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

13. The Godfather

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yup. (Also listed for the video release of "The Godfather Trilogy", but I think that still counts as unique.)

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

7. Wag the Dog (?)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[lunchboy.livejournal.com]

1) Sin City?
3) The Jerk
8) Adaptation?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

(3) and (8) are right; (1) falls into the trap of the IMDb's semiaccuracy. Rather: the movie is, no question, based on a cult comic--but I'd dare say "Sin City" is as well, but it's not listed as a keyword for it.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

Y'see, for "Fictional Twin" I immediately leaped to a 1980s-ish French film Le Jumeau with Pierre Richard, for which that keyword basically summarizes the entire plot. Imagine my surprise just now to find out that that film was in fact remade with Antonio Banderas in the main role.

And yet neither of those get the keyword. Celebrate the spottiness of detail that is IMDB!

[dr_whom]

(8) really ought to be Adaptation. Could (9) be Braveheart, or am I thinking of someone else? Likewise, I don't remember if (16) is right for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

All three are in fact right.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

8. Is that the Dark Half? Was there a movie made of that? If not, Fight Club!

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Nope--see Dr. Whom's post above yours.

[lapak.livejournal.com]

4. Seabiscuit?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[lunacow]

11 - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly, no. Right track, wrong movie (though once again, you run into the IMDb's inaccuracy, as that absolutely could have been right).

[flynngrrl.livejournal.com]

Hmm... some additional guesses:

5. Corrupt school System. The Faculty? I mean, they were aliens, right? Or the one with Donald Sutherland as the Nazi?

14. Someone has to say it. Interview with the Vampire. That'd be my first guess.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Neither one is right--though of course there's no particular reason that Interview with the Vampire shouldn't be the "Sexy Male Vampire" movie. I think, though I admit I haven't seen 5, that the system is even more corrupt than The Faculty's. After all, that wasn't as much corrupt as just, you know, earth-conquering.

[qaqaq.livejournal.com]

In my book "Pop Culture Crosswords", one of the themes is in fact three movies that use the "women pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman" plot.

[wesleyjenn.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure 6 is Dungeons and Dragons.

*hangs head in shame*

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Thaaaaat would be the one you should be ashamed to know.

Not that we didn't watch it. Though thirty seconds in, we broke out the alcohol. It also helped that jadelennox kept yelling, "Why does the dwarf have a cat stapled to his face?"

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

Veering to the warmup twofer examples: Animated Chess = Star Wars and Harry Potter and the Whatever the First One Was?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, on both.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

10. Megalopolis
Demolition Man

15. Wheel of Death
i think it's a Mad Max, but i can't remember if it's the second or third. i'll go thunderdome since it's all about tina turner

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

No on #10; but dead on for #15. (I've never seen the Mad Max movies, so I had no idea whether "Wheel of Death" would be obvious. But yes, Thunderdome.)

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

5. Election

16. Shaolin Dolemite

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Oh, what an excellent guess on #5! But--no.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

3 is The Jerk. God, I love that movie!

I think I know 12, but just thinking of that movie ear wormed me with a song that I wish I had never heard, so I'm not going to mention it.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in that case, I fear you've got it.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I'm incredulous that "Corrupt School System" is unique... though I guess there must be quite a few "Corrupt School" movies.

The Godfather was the only one I recognized.

Twofers Based on a Painting

[nplloquacious.livejournal.com]

One must be Girl with the Pearl Earring. Have no idea what the 1932 silent Portuguese movie. I have to get out more.

Re: Twofers Based on a Painting

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

You're right that it ought to be Girl with the Pearl Earring; but astonishingly, it's not.