Cinematrix Clarifications & Corrections, Vol. 1

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Articles count The earliest—and most persistent—question among Cinematrix players is when s such as "A," "An," and "The" count as part of a movie's title. The answer: always. In the "[number] Words in Title" categories, every word counts. An American Tail is a three-word title. When it comes to "Movie Title Starts with a Vowel," we count every letter. That means The Accused does not begin with a vowel, while A Simple Plan does.

Let's define a "book" This comes up a lot, so let's lay it all out. In the "Based on a Book" category, here's what we do count as books:

• • Nonfiction books • • Novellas and short stories • Graphic novels and comic books • Children's books

Here's what we don't count:

• Plays (all those Shakespeare adaptations) • Magazine or newspaper s (unless they were turned into a book)

So, superhero movies based on comics and comic-book characters/story lines: They count. 10 Things I Hate About You (based on Shakespeare) or Hustlers (based on a New York magazine ): Don't count.

Know your tomatoes ... Whenever we have "Rotten Tomatoes Score" as a category, we invariably receive confused emails from players citing a movie's Audience Score. Alas, we go by the critics' score, a.k.a. the Tomatometer. Why? Because we are unrepentant elitists, that's why. (Plus it's all gamed anyway, right?)

... and know your "Y"s When it comes to our "Starts with a Vowel" category, players love to make the case that Y should count as a vowel. Not to get grammar-nerdy, but the rule is "sometimes Y," and it's not based on whether you feel like counting Y as a vowel that day. It depends on how it's being used. In words like you and yellow and yes, Y is acting as a consonant. Y acts as a vowel in words such as why, try, shy, tyrant, and cyst. With that in mind, Y is not acting as a vowel in, say, Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me, so don't try it for a given Mark Ruffalo square. (Don't worry, Y Tu Mama Tambien is on our radar.)

Unreleased movies don't exist We know that movies with upcoming premiere dates sometimes appear in the game menu, and we're trying to minimize those cases, but nevertheless: Until the viewing public can watch a given movie, it isn't eligible.

"Set in Space" By far the most dorm-room conversation we've had in Cinematrix Slack. The category definition began with something along the lines of, "Any movie that doesn't take place on Earth" and quickly devolved into a discussion spanning "non-Earth" planets, multiverses, other dimensions, and Narnia.

"City or State in Title" The intent of this category seemed clear to us: that the city or state in question refers to an actual geographic location. What we underestimated was just how many of you would want to use Billy Madison as your answer. Of course, "Madison" in that title doesn't refer to the city of Madison; it's his name. As I have become fond of saying when this complaint is raised: There is a city in Norway called "A." (Well, actually, "Å") Does this mean every movie title with "a" should count as a city? Obviously not. (This argument has been moderately persuasive.)

Overall, we fielded a lot of complaints about why such-and-such title with the name of a city in it should count. There was an entire subset of questions focused on New York City movies, forcing us to clarify that while "New York City" is a city, "Manhattan," "Brooklyn," "Queens," "Staten Island" and "the Bronx" are boroughs: parts of a city, not cities themselves. (The King of Staten Island was another common wrong answer.) But those were the easy examples. Trying to parse California municipal designations alone nearly drove us to retire the category forever.

"Character Name in Title" We've wrestled with the definition of "Character Name in Title" more than any other category. We tried to be very cut-and-dried and insist that it had to be a proper name. But then what about characters who have no names and only go by their moniker (Michael Fassbender in The Counselor)? And then the "moniker" floodgates opened. Should Joker count if the character's proper name is "Arthur Fleck"? If "Batman" counts for Batman, shouldn't The Dark Knight also? (Ditto Superman and Man of Steel.) How "official" does a moniker need to be?

The current category description currently reads:

Sorry (To Him) On our June 24 grid, the "Directed by an Oscar Winner" category crossed with the likes of Cameron Diaz and Idris Elba brought to mind any of several Ridley Scott movies. (Cinematrix has done more to elevate the profile of The Counselor than any of its marketing did back in the day.) The one problem: Ridley Scott has never won an Oscar. It only feels like he did. Didn't Gladiator win Best Picture, you ask? It did, but Scott was passed over for Best Director in favor of Traffic's Steven Soderbergh, and Scott wasn't a listed producer on Gladiator, so the Best Picture statue eluded him as well.

Sorry (To Everyone Involved) In that same June 24 grid, "Directed by an Oscar Winner x Cameron Diaz" yielded a lot of incorrect guesses of Shrek. This makes perfect logical sense since Shrek won the very first Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2002. Thing is, directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jensen weren't the recipients. While now the Animated Feature Oscar goes to the director and any listed producers, that was not the case back then. In fact, Adamson and Jensen are the only directors of a Best Animated Feature winner to have not been given the Oscar. That is, frankly, mean — to both them and you.

Cinematrix Mailbag Notes from you.

"I guessed Labyrinth for Jennifer Connelly/Sci-Fi and got a 'Try Again' message. For a character to enter another dimension involves physics, string theory, quantum mechanics, and other areas I know little to nothing about. But it still involves fictional versions of scientific principles, so it's not just 'Fantasy.'"

Correction: Matt Damon is in that pivotal scene Per an email:

Yes, this uncredited cameo should have counted.

Clarification: A dingo ate your correct answer The 1989 Meryl Streep movie with the oft-parodied line "the dingo took my baby" was titled, here in America, A Cry in the Dark. In other countries, including the film's native Australia, it's called Evil Angels. This has tripped up many a Cinematrix player ( as well as Jimmy Kimmel ). Our U.S. title is so much better, but unfortunately TMDB, and thus our drop-down menu, lists the film as Evil Angels. The silver lining is that if you type in A Cry in the Dark, the drop-down will suggest Evil Angels for you. But unless you were aware of that as an alternate title, you wouldn't know to pick it. Now at least you'll be better prepared for future Meryl Streep (and Sam Neill!) grids.

Correction: JJ Abrams is Not Mike Nichols As a major Mike Nichols fan, this one hurts. In an early grid with "Annette Bening x Directed by an Oscar Winner" as one of the squares, I omitted Regarding Henry as a possible answer. Except I didn't miss it: I saw the title in Bening's filmography and said to myself, "That's a JJ Abrams movie. Moving along." How foolish. Of course, everybody remembers Regarding Henry, the movie where Harrison Ford becomes an amnesiac and can't remember his family, including his wife, Annette Bening. It was written by a young upstart named JJ Abrams, but it was directed by the legend and Oscar-winner Mike Nichols. Not gonna live that one down any time soon.

Cinematrix Mailbag Notes from you.

"Okay I love you so much and I'm going to marry you someday. Have the best day of your entire life."

That's very kind of you.