Movie Quotes A-Plenty: 2000-2012 Quiz

Answer: The Dark Knight

"Why so serious?" was from Heath Ledger's Joker in the 2008 superhero movie "The Dark Knight". The Joker crashes a mob boss's meeting and tells a story about his permanent smiling facial scars. He delivers the line right before killing the mobster. It is fantastic dark movie humor as the Joker is telling a room full of dangerous criminals that they need to lighten up and smile more.

He must have read "How to Win Friends and Influence People". This became not only a tag line for the movie, but a meme seen on T-shirts, mugs, and heard around water coolers to this day.

Answer: 300

This line was bellowed with maximum lung power by Gerard Butler's King Leonidas in the 2006 blockbuster "300". He roars this at the beginning of the movie when a Persian messenger arrives and aggressively demands that Sparta surrender its land and water to a foreign conqueror.

When the messenger complains that Leonidas's angry response violates diplomatic rules, the king decides the best counter-argument is to deliver a massive front kick directly to the man's chest, sending him into a giant, bottomless well. Spartans really do not do subtle.

Answer: The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen in 2012's "The Hunger Games" screams this during the "Reaping" ceremony after her terrified little sister, Prim, is randomly selected to fight in a televised, government-mandated battle to the death. Because volunteers are practically unheard of in this terrifying lottery (something I found hard to believe), Katniss's sudden sacrifice shocks the entire nation and sets off a full-blown revolution.

My son volunteered as tribute once when his older brother was asked to go to the store for milk and complained. He got money for a bag of chips out of it. No revolution. My dictatorship remains intact.

Answer: Finding Nemo

Ellen DeGeneres's forgetful blue tang, Dory, in 2003's "Finding Nemo" would sing this bouncy little tune to a very stressed-out Marlin while they navigated the terrifyingly deep, pitch-black ocean in search of Marlin's missing son, Nemo. Even though Dory cannot remember what she did five minutes ago, her cheeriness made the movie wonderfully happy.

My "clever" hint mentioned the Nautilus, the submarine from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", while "Dr. No" features a totally different kind of underwater villain lair. The sub's captain? Nemo.

Answer: Gladiator

Russell Crowe's Maximus, in "Gladiator", yells this line in frustration just after swiftly demolishing a crowd of opponents in an arena, tossing his sword into the crowd of spectators who are cheering for the violence. You can feel Maximus' near heartbreak at the waste of life for these baying crowds. Later, his trainer advises him to kill his way to the top. Something he does literally, as he eventually kills the emperor in the Colosseum.

Joe Pesci delivers a nearly identical line in "Goodfellas" but with an ENTIRELY different vibe. He challenges the main character of the movie, Henry Hill, saying, "I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to ****ing amuse you?" Henry nearly excrements himself, before Pesci's character lets up. Truly, uncomfortably, terrifying.

Answer: Snakes on a Plane

This hilariously censored bunch of gobbledygook was ...kind of... delivered by Samuel L. Jackson's character, FBI Agent Neville Flynn, in the 2006 cult flick "Snakes on a Plane". This specific version of the quote comes from the HEAVILY edited-for-television release, which frantically scrubbed out the movie's extreme R-rated profanity and replaced it with the bizarrely clean phrases "monkey-fighting" and "Monday-through-Friday." It amazes me that any of the original dialogue survived.

This is the ultimate masterpiece of accidental comedy, pure cinema gold. So much better than the butchering done to the TV edit of "Brazil".

Answer: Napoleon Dynamite

Zoological wisdom delivered with maximum awkwardness by Jon Heder in the 2004 cult comedy "Napoleon Dynamite". He proudly spouts this highly questionable fact on a school bus while trying to impress a girl, introducing all of us to the "liger". I do not believe there was a single one of us who didn't immediately google "liger" as soon as we returned home from the local cinema.

Answer: Anchorman

Will Ferrell's news anchor character in the 2004 comedy "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" deadpans this line to the entire San Diego viewing public. This happens because Ron's rival and co-anchor, Veronica Corningstone, decides to sabotage him by typing a highly inappropriate, career-ending insult into the teleprompter right before the broadcast goes live. Because Ron will literally read absolutely anything put in front of him without thinking, he cheerfully insults his entire beloved city on live television, instantly turning himself into a public enemy and triggering a chaotic, city-wide riot.

Answer: There Will Be Blood

This bizarre dairy-themed insult was screamed with unhinged intensity by Daniel Day-Lewis's character, Daniel Plainview, in 2007's "There Will Be Blood". During the final confrontation in his private bowling alley, the oil tycoon breaks his rival, Eli Sunday, with this insane speech...and a rather exciting frame of ten-pen bowls.

Next time you are at McDonald's and you see another customer with a delicious, delicious strawberry shake, grab it from him and yell this line out...Look, free food!

Answer: Brokeback Mountian

In "Brokeback Mountain" the character Jack Twist yells this out during a tearful argument with his long-time love, Ennis Del Mar. He is hopelessly in love with his boyfriend in a world that won't allow them to be together. This is romantic angst and an unforgettable moment of cinematic heartbreak that is still as powerful now as it was back in 2005.