The IMDB Now Playing game

The Game Room
1

OK, here is a game I play with myself when I’m bored. Pick a famous person. Go to IMDB Now Playing. By only clicking on links, find that person’s IMDB page.

Easy Example:
Uma Thurman.
IMDB Now Playing->Inglorious Basterds->Quenten Tarntino->Kill Bill->Uma Thurman.

Challenge: Michael J. Fox

Add your own challenges, but please be sure that a chain exists - no FAKE challenges!

2

Now Playing > My One And Only > Renee Zellweger > Jerry Maguire > Jonathan Lipnicki > Stuart Little > Michael J. Fox

Challenge: Billy Crystal

3

Nice! A different chain than I had. Mine was:
Now Playing >G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra->Dennis Quaid->Wyatt Earp->Joanna Going->Spin City->Michael J. Fox.

I confess, I’m a little too drunk to try yours, but I’ll try it in the morning if no one else plays.

4

Now Playing > Post Grad > Michael Keaton > Cars > Billy Crystal

Like buttah. Here’s one that might take you a while. There’s at least one quick route, but I only know it because it involves a character actor I like.

Challenge: Jack Klugman

5

Now Playing->The Ugly Truth->Entourage->Kevin Connolly->When Do We Eat?->Jack Klugman

Challange: Marisa Tomei

6

Now Playing->Funny People->Adam Sandler->Anger Management->Marisa Tomei

Easier than I thought! At first, I thought of doing a roundabout one through various Star Trek connections to Jason Alexander, whose George Constanza had a thang for her on Seinfeld and who also appeared on a Star Trek: Voyager episode, but that was 'waaaay too long and roundabout.

Challenge: Lillian Gish

7

Now Playing->Post Grad->Carol Burnett->A Wedding->Lillian Gish

Challenge: Elsa Lanchester

8

Now Playing->Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince->Maggie Smith->Murder by Death->Elsa Lanchester

That was nice, Robot Arm, and more efficient than what I had in mind:

Now Playing->Funny People->Adam Sandler->Anger Management->Marisa Tomei->My Cousin Vinny->Fred Gwynne->Arsenic and Old Lace->Lillian Gish

Challenge: Buster Keaton

9

Now Playing->G-Force->Nick Cage->Next->Peter Falk->Murder by Death->Elsa Lanchester
Challenge: C. Thomas Howell

10

Isn’t this basically just the Kevin Bacon game? Any actor anyone’s ever heard of is going to have a Kevin Bacon number, and therefore a Now Playing chain. If nothing else, you could pick a current movie at random, pick an actor at random from that movie, trace that actor to Kevin Bacon, and then trace from Kevin Bacon to the target actor (though shorter chains will doubtless exist, that’s enough to prove that there is a chain).

11

Well, we haven’t used Kevin Bacon yet.

Still undone: Buster Keaton

12

Excellent. I knew Now Playing->Post Grad->Michael Keaton->Batman->Jack Nicholson->The Terror->Boris Karloff->Bride of Frankenstein->Elsa Lanchester would work, but figured there was probably a shorter one.

Strictly speaking, I could cut out one link by not going to Post Grad; there’s a direct Carol Burnett link in the section for Post Grad. So conditioned are we by The Oracle of Bacon.

13

Now Playing->Meryl Streep[sup]1[/sup]->Oscar’s Greatest Moments[sup]2[/sup]->William Holden->Sunset Blvd.->Buster Keaton
Challenge: Gene Roddenberry (too easy?)

  1. In the section for Julie & Julia

  2. Under “Archive Footage”, the full entry is “Oscar’s Greatest Moments (1992) (V) … Herself”

14

Now Playing->Post Grad->Jane Lynch->Boston Legal->William Shatner->Star Trek->Gene Roddenberry

C. Thomas Howell

15

I was thinking of Five Minutes of Heaven->Liam Neeson->Excalibur->Patrick Stewart