Movie Trivia Madness: Interesting Facts and Movie Trivia (Best Trivia Books)

NOTE: One of the authors notified me that this book was temporarily available for free on Amazon and asked me to write a review.Everybody loves trivia, and everybody loves movies, so a movie trivia book is bound to have a following. Bill O’Neill and Steve Murray try to tap into that built-in audience with “Movie Trivia Madness,” a compendium of several hundred generally little known facts about the films, stars, and directors we love. Most people are going to learn at least a thing or two from this book, but the authors should have done their homework a bit better.“Movie Trivia Madness” is divided into seven chapters, each dealing with a particular aspect of the film industry, including actors, directors, and famous films. In each chapter, the authors have a dozen or so headings devoted to a particular person or movie and usually provide two to four fun facts about each. At the end of each chapter is a numbered list of an additional 20 or so random facts pertaining to that particular category, followed by a short multiple-choice quiz.Depending on a reader’s level of familiarity and interest in the movie industry, some of this material may be old hat, but I consider myself rather well-versed, and I learned a number of things from reading the book. For example, I didn’t know that Tom Hardy now sports a particular tattoo thanks to a bet he lost to Leonardo DiCaprio during the filming of “The Revenant.”“Movie Trivia Madness” is not, of course, a reference book, so the authors aren’t strict in their categorization of particular bits of information. As a result, people interested in a particular actor or film may find different tidbits of information pertaining to their favorite in several different chapters. As an example, the authors devote quite a bit of space in a number of places to the various types of preparation by different actors for some of their best-known roles. Frankly, I felt this “Forrest Gump” approach to organization (“you never know what you’re gonna get”) was rather fun.Somewhat less fun, however, were the amount of inaccuracies and incomplete information I found in “Movie Trivia Madness.” In an era of “fake news,” I was a bit curious as to the accuracy of some of the information in the book and how well it was researched. In that regard, I was disappointed. I didn’t try to verify the authors’ assertions in most cases, but a few obvious mistakes caught my eye, such as stating that Vince Vaughn appeared in the original “Jurassic Park” (it was the sequel), or that “How I Met Your Mother” was a movie, not a TV show. One fact I did check was a reference to martial arts star Tony Jaa quitting acting to become a Buddhist monk. That did indeed happen in 2010, but he since resumed acting and has been in several big name recent releases, including the last “Fast and the Furious” movie. The authors also curiously omit some information that would have been interesting to learn. They note that Viggo Mortensen only got his role in “Lord of the Rings” at the last minute, replacing another actor, but don’t mention the other actor (Stuart Townsend). Similarly, they note that the actor originally cast as the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” lost the part because of an allergy to the makeup used. That actor was Jed Clampett himself, Buddy Ebsen, a detail almost as interesting as the fact that the role was recast due to an allergy. Failing to include details like that leave readers wondering who the actors being discussed were and makes “Movie Trivia Madness” seem sloppily put together.The authors also have a couple of annoying writing quirks, most notably using the word “apparently” a lot in their descriptions, such as “Apparently, Stephen King attended a screening of [‘Pan’s Labyrinth’] and sat next to the director.” Either he attended or he didn’t; there’s no apparently involved. I don’t know whether the authors are doing this to hedge their bets when they can’t fully source something or it’s just a habit, but either way, using that word over and over is annoying.Overall, I enjoyed “Movie Trivia Madness,” but the errors and sloppiness were bothersome. Many people probably won’t be upset by that, but I think that authors compiling a fact compendium, even one of trivial facts like this, shouldn’t have these types of mistakes in their book. I still recommend the book as a generally fun read (albeit somewhat pricey at $3.99 for the amount of information in it), but I do wish the authors paid more attention to facts and detail in what is, after all, a book of facts, trivial though they may be.

Co-authors Bill O’Neill and Steve Murray are both prolific writers – and they love to explore all manner of subjects form reiku to trivia. They have gathered fascinating facts about movies and movie stars and movie characters and have arranged these into Sections on THE MOVIE STARS (Leonardo Di Caprio, Bill Murray, Heath Ledger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jenifer Lawrence, Nicole Kidman etc), MOVIES as movies (Fight Club, Die Hard, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, 300, etc), SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY (Wizard of Oz, E.T., Harry Potter, Avatar, Planet of the Apes, etc), DIRECTOR’S CUT (find out who falls into the categories of legends, visionaries, perfectionists, rebels, American Icon, etc), ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH (Austin Powers, The Hangover, The Big Lebowski, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Clerks, etc), DRAMATIC TURNS ( Gangs of New York, The Deer Hunter, Eyes Wide Shut, Boyhood, etc) and BITS AND BITES (odd diets, before they were famous, strange inspiration, danger on the set, and much much more). Each section is followed with a Random Fun Facts and a quiz of sorts.An example of their style – STRANGE DIETS: There are many vegetarians and vegans running around Hollywood, from Natalie Portman to Woody Harrelson. Leonardo DiCaprio is a vegetarian but he gave that up for a moment on the set of ‘The Revenant.’ Concerned that the jelly bison liver that the props department had made didn’t look genuine enough, DiCaprio opted on eating the real thing instead. After it was cleared by his lawyers and agents, Leo bit in and had this to say: “The bad part is the membrane around it. It’s like a balloon. When you bite into it, it bursts in your mouth.” He also said he’d never do that again. He should have taken a word of advice from Jules in ‘Pulp Fiction’... “Sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know, ‘cause I’d never eat the filthy muthaf** ka.” Samuel L. Jackson is a vegetarian in real life too. Ashton Kutcher took it to the next level for his role as Steve Jobs. He mimicked Jobs’ fruitarian diet but didn’t do it correctly and was briefly hospitalized for pancreatic pain. Heard of the Marilyn Monroe diet? Apparently, she started her day with two raw eggs whipped in warm milk. She’d then skip lunch and would eat a huge dinner of boiled liver, steak, or lamb, and five carrots. Desert was a hot fudge sundae.’This is fun, informative, gossipy, and a very entertaining read! Keep it hand for both one-ups-man-ship, comic relief, and a fine chuckle. Grady Harp, March 17

Movie Trivia Madness, by Bill O’Neill and Steve Murray, may not include facts about your favorite movie, actor or director. But, if you love (or even watch) movies, it’s sure to include something about someone or some movie you’ve seen and remembered. Anecdotes about directors' pranks perhaps, or actors who go too hauntingly deep into method … reminders not to give Jack Nicholson a cheese sandwich … The stories will give you plenty to laugh about, snippets to amuse and annoy your friends, and maybe even validation of some of your pet theories, all told in a lightly conversational voice, and accompanied with questions and answers to “test” your knowledge or just keep you satisfied that you guessed right. There’s even a f-bomb count.Well-presented, with sections and stories that follow on naturally, pleasingly broken up with questions and answers, Movie Trivia Madness is both a curious resource for movie aficionados, and a surprisingly good read for the rest of us … with more to follow!Disclosure: I got it on a deal and enjoyed reading it.

What's misleading about this book, is first, that it's only 136 pages, so it's over a little too soon, and second, that it is almost entirely about the author's favorite movies, i.e. the Violent movie genre, so if that isn't also yours, then the book isn't over soon enough. Also, the movies mentioned are much more recent, so if you're looking for "classic" movie trivia, you won't find much that interests you. It's a generation/demographic thing. So if you'd rather watch movies made by John Huston than Quentin Tarantino, you can skip this book.

Not good, lots of spelling mistakes and very basic

I like overall the book....Im a movie fan and the info in the book is interesting to me.....merci