3trew
March 16, 2003, 9:15am
1
The challenge is to summarize a book or movie in a single sentence or sentence fragment, managing to be right but still miss something important.
Examples:
(This one is stolen from the National Lampoon) The Diary of Anne Frank: a young girl hides in an attic, but is found.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Disposing of a family heirloom proves troublesome.
The Vanishing: A couple seperate at a roadside rest stop, but he eventually finds out where she went.
Psycho: A young man’s complicated relationship with his mother has repercussions for others.
Star Wars : A young man travels to a large space station to pick up his sister.
Alien- an encounter with an alien complicates a ship mission
The Matrix- Humans enjoy video games a tad too much.
The Karma Sutra- Indian ladies are quite bendy.
JAWS- nightime swimming can be dangerous.
1001 Arabian Nights: Shahrazad entertains the King at night over the course of several years.
The Odyssey: A shipwrecker Greek’s quest to get home.
Exodus: A quirk of fate leads Moses on a journey of self fulfillment both for himself and for his new found people.
The New Testament: In a traditionalist society where a man follows his father in his father’s footsteps Jesus must learn to cope with having two fathers.
The New Testament - Jeshua ben Joseph learns he is abopted.
(sorry Osiris , I had to after I saw yours)
Homer Simpson on Young Frankenstien :
“Scared the HELL out of me!”
I was thinking of starting a similar thread a few weeks ago. Here’s mine.
Titanic - Two young people from different social classes develop a dommed romance on an ocean liner.
Eraserhead : A young man has to look after the baby and deal with his wacky in-laws
The Ninth Gate : A New York bookdealer takes a working holiday to Europe and finds love
A Clockwork Orange : A young man learns that violence is wrong
Casablanca: A man considers getting back together with an old girlfriend but decides not to.
The Godfather: A son unexpectedly has to take over the family business but does so successfully.
Saving Private Ryan: A group of men take a walking tour of France and talk about their lives.
Toy Story: Two men from different backgrounds become rivals for the love of a younger man.
Citizen Kane: A man is upset because he forgot his sled outside.
Fight Club - Two guys start underground boxing clubs.
Memento - A man searches for his wife’s killer.
The Crow - A man searches for his girlfiend’s killers.
Breaking Away - Teens enter a bike race.
Atlas Shrugged: Rich people visit a mountainside resort.
“Full Metal Jacket”- Young men do calisthenics under the guidance of an old military veteran.
Forrest Gump - A mentally handicapped man manages to do OK in his life.
The Big Chill - A group of friends gather for the funeral of a former classmate.
The Breakfast Club - Six high school students spend Saturday in detention.
Les Miserables - Policeman pursuits a repeat offender.
Phantom of the Opera: A composer loses the love of his life to a member of the nobility.
Guys and Dolls: A gambler wins a bet with another gambler.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: A TV producer has fun hoodwinking the public.
Chicago: A murderer is acquited.
The Hours: People read a Virginia Woolf novel.
Cabaret: A writer goes to a night club.
The Gangs of New York: Two men try to one-up each other.
Schindler’s List: A factory owner makes defective goods.
Shakespeare In Love: An author has writer’s block.
Jurassic Park : Cloning dinosaurs for fun and profit is wrong.
if… : A group of young men hate their school and classmates.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure : A goofy man child searches for his lost bicycle.
Edward Scissorhands : A man with scissors for hands doesn’t fit in.
The Omen : A father learns his adopted son is evil.
A.I. : A robot child wants to be a real boy.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? : An alcoholic couple play mind games.
Soylent Green : Soylent Green is made of people.
Wait a minute…
I actually saw this one on the TV Guide channel:
Half Baked : Drug-addicted slackers go on a pot-selling spree to earn bail money.