# Help me remember a new movie I just saw! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890 "2006-09-15T22:15:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/1 "2006-09-15T22:15:02Z")
Two weeks ago I flew on British Airways from the US to Heathrow. My partner and I watched a movie. On the way back, we realized that neither of us could remember what we’d watched, or anything about it. We remember no actors and no plot points. We think it was a comedy. We think it wasn’t animated. I have a vague impression that it may have been rated PG. I’ve looked at what’s playing in the dollar cinema. I’ve looked at Columbia House’s new releases and Netflix’s Top 100 comedies. BA’s website now shows only the September movies. I could e-mail BA and ask for a list of Eastbound long-haul movies for August, but where’s the fun in that? So please–what movie do you think we saw? It’s probably not animated, it’s probably a comedy, and it was shown on BA in August. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/2 "2006-09-15T22:18:20Z")
Wow, sounds like it really made a lasting impression. You want to watch it again? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/3 "2006-09-15T22:22:45Z")
You can look up this month’s schedule of in-flight movies here: > **[British Airways | High Life Entertainment](https://entertainment.ba.com/en/)** > > British Airways offer a range of in-flight entertainment on longhaul flights and you can plan what you want to watch before you fly. Let us know what you find out. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/4 "2006-09-15T22:27:41Z")
Oops, sorry. I see you tried that. You could always email them and ask for the schedule. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/5 "2006-09-15T22:37:54Z")
“The High and the Mighty”? “Unforgettable”? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/6 "2006-09-15T22:45:05Z")
Was this that movie with that guy? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/7 "2006-09-15T22:53:07Z")
Just to narrow it down a liitle - remember the part where one of the characters did or said something and then the main guy/gal responded in a possibly amusing manner? Was that nearer the start or end? Or in the middle perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/8 "2006-09-15T22:55:49Z")
Why do you want to remember? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/9 "2006-09-15T23:01:17Z")
Because it is amazing to me that two people could sit side by side watching a movie, then remember nothing at all about it two weeks later. Was it an amnesia-inducing film? Did BA put roofies in our Diet Cokes? Was the movie so bad that it destroyed part of our brains? Plus, it just amuses me. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/10 "2006-09-15T23:04:43Z")
Obviously, the plane was caught by a tractor beam from a hidden Zoofloobian cruiser, the occupants probed and DNA samples taken, then returned to their seats with the memories of the past three hours erased from their brains. You’ve been abducted, **Shoshana**! Well, either that or you watched “From Justin to Kelly”…I know my brain would be trying to erase that 90 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/11 "2006-09-15T23:07:29Z")
> [@](#): > > You’ve been abducted, Shoshana! I _thought_ I heard somebody say, “Twenty quatloos on the newcomers!” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/12 "2006-09-15T23:22:09Z")
Reasonable. I’d rather forget most airline movies myself. _Cassanova_, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/13 "2006-09-16T00:07:27Z")
**Newsflash** My partner, who can’t sleep on planes, also watched _Die Another Day_ and _Spelling Bee_ on that flight. I didn’t. We agree that the Missing Movie probably wasn’t science fiction. She says that at one point we turned to each other and said, “This is pretty good.” Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/14 "2006-09-16T00:12:01Z")
It wasn’t postmodern. It was in color. It was not a heartwarming story about a child and a pet, or about animals against all odds. It wasn’t military. It wasn’t British. On the way back, we watched _The Da Vinci Code_ and re-watched \*Prisoner of Azkaban. \* Yet the Missing Movie eludes us. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/15 "2006-09-16T00:12:06Z")
Did the movie at any point feature an ocean liner striking a large iceberg? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/16 "2006-09-16T00:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Because it is amazing to me that two people could sit side by side watching a movie, then remember nothing at all about it two weeks later. [/QUOTE] This is actually the goal of the major Hollywood studios. By achieving this, they’re able to repackage the exact same Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan rom-com half a dozen ways and spank a cool $100M out of it each time. Ditto with Lindsay Lohan, Adam Sandler, and those interchangable Eddie Murphy Disney films. Heck, sometimes they just redub the voices, place different actors names in the credits, and send it out again; for instance, _Yours, Mine, and Ours_ was just a redubbed version of _Cheaper By The Dozen_ with just a few digital touch-ups to make the main characters look vaguely like Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. (It’s not that hard, actually; Martin and Quaid have the exact shame shit-eating grin, so it’s basically just a hair-map and some rearranging of the scenes.) _Independence Day_ was actually cut together out of segments of _Star Wars_, _War of the Worlds_, the miniseries _V_, a couple episodes of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_, and _Battle Beyond The Stars_, with a few conjuctionary scenes with Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith. Then there are John Grisham adaptations, which are unsuprisingly exactly the same, given that the source material is the same novel slightly reorganized and retitled. Even Scorsese–a guy who used to bounce from one genre to another–has gotten into the act. Ever since _The Age of Innocence_, he just keeps recuttting old films and digitially inserting Leonardo DiCaprio in place of Robert De Niro; if you look closely in the background of _Gangs of New York_ you can see a young Jodie Foster walking down the street. Heck, even before that, he strung together _Casino_ out of editting room wastage from _Goodfellas_, including the alternate cornfield scene where Tommy DeVito gets wacked. Then there are the _Star Wars_ prequels; so bland and pointless it’s impossible to even keep them in order. You think that’s an accident? A film that you can’t recall once you’ve left the cinema is exactly the magic formula Hollywood is looking for. The last thing they want is another _Being John Malkovich_ or _Cool Hand Luke_. I mean, you have to figure out a whole new way of marketing each one. That’s enough to put a studio exec off of his 3 o’clock gin and tonic…and if you’ve seen those guys at happy hour, you know that this isn’t something they take lightly. So…forget about it. Not only will you never figure it out, it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s the same film you’ve been watching on BA for years. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/17 "2006-09-16T00:14:50Z")
No, though we did have to discuss this, especially since our cruise ship featured upside-down ceiling-mounted models of all the ships of the line, and we saw actual icebergs near Greenland on the way home. Thanks for playing, and enjoy our valuable parting gifts. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/18 "2006-09-16T00:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] This is actually the goal of the major Hollywood studios. . . . So…forget about it. Not only will you never figure it out, it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s the same film you’ve been watching on BA for years. Stranger [/QUOTE] Your delightful bitterness only redoubles our resolve. It is true, however, that \*The Family Stone, \*featured in the bowels of BA’s first class library, is _Meet the Fockers._ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/19 "2006-09-16T01:01:52Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] So…forget about it. [/QUOTE] The movie was probably not _Chinatown._ I have nothing constructive to offer, but I must admit I’m also now curious to learn which movie could have evaporated so completely. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890/20 "2006-09-16T01:12:06Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] No, though we did have to discuss this, especially since our cruise ship featured upside-down ceiling-mounted models of all the ships of the line, [/QUOTE] Ah…you were on the _Poseidon_ tribute cruise… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-remember-a-new-movie-i-just-saw/372890.md?page=2)