I think most people know of the parody scene, but don't remember the movie since I don't think it was released here in the US (at least not widely). Agreed that it's a excellent movie.
I disagree. Not only would I deem her to be fairly well-known (she is the subject of a major Hollywood movie after all), but in the context of this quiz there are currently 11 answers that are guessed less often than her.
Frida Kahlo was a true innovator in art, we studied her works at school when I was 14, and you can find her face on t-shirts and mugs in any quirky, feminist shop.
She's extremely well known. I'm not even in the art community, but because of her self portraits and unibrow, she's sort of a cultural icon. Definitely an easy one for trivia folks.
Man on the Moon and Amadeus are my favorite biopics, and they're both directed by Milos Forman, who also did the People vs. Larry Flynt, which is also great. Forman is the best at biopics (and character studies generally -- he also did One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) because he uses a light touch and lets his actors be playful enough that we can appreciate that these people really loved what they did. So many biopics use tragedy in a kind of pornographic way (sorry, Mr. Flynt) to assure us that their subjects are capital-i Important. That's a problem both because it makes the viewing experience less enjoyable, and because, frankly the ubiquity of that approach has created a paint-by-numbers feel to so many biopics. You change the nouns based on the subject, but the story beats and circumstances are always the same. Forman's approach is way more effective and I wish more directors would consider it.
I liked "Walk The Line" and "Ray"--but after seeing "Walk Hard" it's hard to take any biopic, in particular music biopics, seriously.
With one exception: "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Not because it's accurate (Cohan saw the film before the premiere while he was dying of cancer and reportedly said "Nice film--who's it about?"). but because Cagney was a real song-and-dance man in his own right and gives a knockout performance, rather than merely trying to imitate his subject, which is, in the final analysis, all that Foxx and Phoenix try to do. Take a look at this number which Jimmy improvised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ. And then go watch the movie as a whole and you'll see why Cagney won the Oscar for this role.
Really enjoyed Man on the Moon, Amadeus, and Walk the Line.
One Love less so. The accents were so thick that they really needed subtitles. It was hard enough following what was going on even though I am fairly familiar with his story. I also thought it was an odd choice to focus on a short few years of his life; I wasn't sure why or what message they were trying to convey.
It felt more like a musical tbh. I kid you not when I say that there might be barely intelligible dialogue for 5 minutes and then we got another song montage.
I don't know abut other non-english speaking countries, but in Belgium Downfall is only known as Der Untergang. Enjoyed the movie, didn't recognize the translated title. Nice quiz though!
It's probably a conspiracy. You should do a serious analysis of the rate of Ray Charles thumbnails vs other people you would be less apt to take note of. I bet you'll uncover some serious skulduggery. Report back with your findings.
Alternatively, maybe you just ran across multiple examples in a relatively short time span. That's called coincidence. It happens to the best of us.
With one exception: "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Not because it's accurate (Cohan saw the film before the premiere while he was dying of cancer and reportedly said "Nice film--who's it about?"). but because Cagney was a real song-and-dance man in his own right and gives a knockout performance, rather than merely trying to imitate his subject, which is, in the final analysis, all that Foxx and Phoenix try to do. Take a look at this number which Jimmy improvised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ. And then go watch the movie as a whole and you'll see why Cagney won the Oscar for this role.
One Love less so. The accents were so thick that they really needed subtitles. It was hard enough following what was going on even though I am fairly familiar with his story. I also thought it was an odd choice to focus on a short few years of his life; I wasn't sure why or what message they were trying to convey.
It felt more like a musical tbh. I kid you not when I say that there might be barely intelligible dialogue for 5 minutes and then we got another song montage.
"Andy are you goofing on Elvis/Hey baby, we're losing touch"
Alternatively, maybe you just ran across multiple examples in a relatively short time span. That's called coincidence. It happens to the best of us.