Twenty Questions Running Tally -- 10/10/2007

[Scrivener]

Yeah, I got here way early to claim the honor of writing the running tally thread for today's 20 Questions.  Sue me.

(And this week, I promise to keep the snarky comments about the players' prospects of winning to a minimum.  Meaning zero.  Unless and until you actually do lose.)

Today's rules:  questions must pertain to the plot of the movie, not real-life incidentals (release date, rating, title).

1.  Does the plot feature a police officer walking the fine line between what is legal and what is right? -- No
2.  Does it take place in the present, relative to when the film was released? -- Yes
3.  Does the plot involve a rudimentary lathe? -- No
{Must ... resist ... urge to ... be insulting and snarky ...}
4.  Does it feature characters non native to the planet where most of the action takes place? -- No
5.  Is the main character a woman? -- No
6.  Transformers? -- No
{Boy, you guys are making it hard not to be snarky today.}
7.  Is there gunplay? -- Yes
8.  Does it feature a car chase? -- Yes
9.  Are people on the run for their lives? -- Uh, yeah, I guess
10.  Does it have a main character with a foreign (non-American) accent? -- No
{Okay, I'm breaking my pledge.  What kind of idiot asks a lame question like that?  Jeez, some people ...}
11.  Does it feature the FBI, CIA or similar intelligence agency? -- Yes
12.  Does it have any martial arts fight scenes? -- No
13.  Does the plot involve a murderer? -- No
14.  Does the Cold War figure prominently in the plot? -- No
15.  Are government secrets found by an ordinary citizen? -- No
16.  Does any of the movie take place in a prison setting? -- No
17.  Is the main character trying to rescue a loved one? -- Yes
18.  Does the film center around a government agent working against his agency to prove his innocence? -- No
19.  Is it The Marine? -- No
20.  Is it Next? -- YES!

The next Rifftrax will be Next:  a Nicolas Cage movie arguably worse than The Wicker Man.  If you can believe that.

[David]

6.  Transformers? -- No
{Boy, you guys are making it hard not to be snarky today.}

Every game makes it hard not to be snarky these days. It's depressing.

[skenderberg]

6.  Transformers? -- No
{Boy, you guys are making it hard not to be snarky today.}

Every game makes it hard not to be snarky these days. It's depressing.

This is Rifftrax.  Snarking is more than half the fun.

[BathTub]

hahah

[kodiakthejuggler]

Congrats on winning the free trax Scriv!!

[Rude]

10.  Does it have a main character with a foreign (non-American) accent? -- No
{Okay, I'm breaking my pledge.  What kind of idiot asks a lame question like that?  Jeez, some people ...}

Considering the rules... i don't think that was such a bad question. If the answer had been yes, it really would've helped narrow down the field quite a bit. Oh well, whatever.

Congrats on the free Rifftrax!

-Rude

[Scrivener]

10.  Does it have a main character with a foreign (non-American) accent? -- No
{Okay, I'm breaking my pledge.  What kind of idiot asks a lame question like that?  Jeez, some people ...}

Considering the rules... i don't think that was such a bad question. If the answer had been yes, it really would've helped narrow down the field quite a bit. Oh well, whatever.

Say, Rude, go back and see who asked question #10 ...

[Rude]

Say, Rude, go back and see who asked question #10 ...

D'oh!...
I get it now. You were being facetious, and i'm an idiot! Gotcha.

   ...       ...

-Rude

[David]

10.  Does it have a main character with a foreign (non-American) accent? -- No
{Okay, I'm breaking my pledge.  What kind of idiot asks a lame question like that?  Jeez, some people ...}

Considering the rules... i don't think that was such a bad question. If the answer had been yes, it really would've helped narrow down the field quite a bit. Oh well, whatever.

Congrats on the free Rifftrax!

-Rude

Yeah , if it had been yes. Big if.

I really don't understand this logic... if you are given the choice of a two questions:
1) A question that will really narrow it down if the answer is 'yes' but the answer is most likely 'no' (i.e. all those infuriating movie-title-right-away questions)
or
2) A question that has roughly equal chance of being 'yes' or 'no'

You pick 1 if you want to be a troll. You pick 2 if you want to win.

Picking 1 is like taking a free lottery ticket over a free $100 bill.


Edit: Not that I'm saying that particular question was like this. It was far from the worst question. I'm just talking about the "It would have narrowed it down IF" logic.

[skenderberg]

Ah, but someday--someday--Mike et al. will pick a movie that features a rudimentary lathe.  And we have to be prepared for that eventuality.

[Rude]

Edit: Not that I'm saying that particular question was like this. It was far from the worst question. I'm just talking about the "It would have narrowed it down IF" logic.

I agree with you for the most part... then again, we're always walking the line between having fun and actually trying to win. Not that one excludes the other, by any means. But you know what i'm saying. Eventually someone has to take that plunge and ask a question that isn't gonna' give you a 50/50 answer. But it's just like banging your head against the wall when it happens over and over again. Sometimes it feels like no one is even paying attention to the answers before they ask their questions. Eh, whatever...

Anyway, i was refering just to that one specific question. I thought it was alright. Especially when taken in context with all the other questions. If you have someone running for their lives, or a CIA agent... it's very likely that one of the main characters will be foreign, or the plot will be international in some way.

I think we're all pretty much agreed here. So why did i just spend time typing all that? I don't know...

-Rude