Category: Movies

“That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

From: Babe

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Arthur Hoggett

The story behind the quote: Babe is about an unusual pig. Babe (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) was actually won in a state fair by Arthur Hoggett (played by James Cromwell). However, because of Babe’s natural ability of sorting and herding animals, the titular pig was raised not to be eaten. Rather, it became Babe’s job to herd the sheep on the farm.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, this is going to be a bit of a SPOILER! So, don’t read on or play the clip if you don’t want the ending spoiled.

The quote comes from the very end of the film. Babe manages to win a sheepherding contest and, pleased, Arthur Hoggett turns to Babe to deliver the quote.

Geek wisdom: It’s always important to show our appreciation for the nice things that people do for us. A thank you when someone does you a favor. A good job for someone who accomplishes something for you. Even the smallest of praise is always going to be welcome.

We tend to forget that it’s important to affirm someone’s good work. A lot of the time, we tend to only focus on the bad things that a person does and we berate and call them out on it. While that’s okay, we forget to acknowledge the good things people have does for us.

Don’t forget to acknowledge the fantastic things people do for us.

“Life is like a mop.”

From: UHF or The Vidiot from UHF

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Stanley Spadowski

The story behind the quote: This film was released in the United States under the title “UHF.” However, in the international scene, it was renamed to “The Vidiot from UHF” because other countries weren’t familiar with UHF channels (since they weren’t used often).

The film stars parody musician “Weird Al” Yankovic as George Newman. George is given a UHF station that is pretty much broke but he tries to run the station as best as he can. Unfortunately, even with the new programs he created, not  many people tune in to watch the channel. Despondent about his situation, he gives his hosting duties of a kid-friendly show to the station’s janitor, Stanley Spadowski (played by Michael Richards), so he and his friend can get a drink to drown their sorrows.

While at the bar, they notice all of the patrons are intensely watching Stanley’s wacky antics. Stanley eventually gives an enamored speech about his mop and how to deal with life, which is where the quote comes from.

Geek wisdom: Just like Stanley said, there’s a lot of things in life we cannot control. You are going to encounter good times and encounter bad times and a lot of it will be out of our hands. But we cannot simply give up and let the bad things control us. We have to tackle these problems head on.

No one said life was going to be easy. But just because it isn’t, it doesn’t mean we cannot overcome the problems we encounter.

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

From: Jaws

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Martin Brody

The story behind the quote: Jaws was Steven Spielberg’s first major hit. While he was already acclaimed as a good director, it was this film that garnered him mainstream success. In fact, Jaws is noted to be a pivotal film since it created the “formula” for a summer blockbuster movie.

Jaws tells the story of a great white shark terrorizing a summer resort town, attacking all swimmers that enter the water. Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), along with marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and professional shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw) to stop the shark.

The quote comes from the scene where Brody, onboard Quint’s ship, the Orca, is adding chum into the water to attract the shark. The shark appears out of nowhere and is much larger than what they expected. Brody retreats into the quarters of the Orca, turns to Quint and delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: It’s easy to underestimate a problem. We let ourselves be confident with our abilities to resolve issues and concerns immediately. What happens is that we don’t plan for contingencies if (and when) our plans fail. Basically, we do have the habit of underestimating problems when it’s actually better to overestimate them.

The initial plan to fix a problem may work, but what if it doesn’t? It’s always better to be overly prepared for a situation rather than having to scramble when you realize that you don’t have enough resources when you encounter the issue.

“He chose poorly.” and “You have chosen… wisely.”

From: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: An old Knight

The story behind the quote: The Indiana Jones films have always been big blockbusters and it’s not hard to see why. Each of the films takes cues from classic movies but the basic premise is the same. Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) is an archaeologist and has vast knowledge with ancient history, myths and cultures. While he is incredibly smart, he is also an adventurer who is very adept in thinking on his feet during dangerous situations. Indy is also not the type of person to shy away from a fight. It is these traits that has him saving the world from evil doers (usually Nazis) who plan to dig up ancient artifacts that will help them take over the world.

The quote comes from the third film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Here, both the Nazis and Indy are looking for the Holy Grail, which will grant immortality to those who drink from it. Indy gets captured and is forced to pass a series of traps guarding the Holy Grail. Once Indy gets through, Donovan (the main bad guy in the movie) sees that there are a lot of possible Holy Grails. Elsa (another baddie) selects one of the cups (one that has a lot of jewels and is possibly made of gold) and Donovan drinks from it… with bad results.

Indy then makes his choice and selects the one that appears to be a simple bowl. His logic is that the container is probably the one that a simple carpenter would use. He drinks from in and nothing happens to him. This is when the old Knight, who has been guarding the Grail, congratulates him.

Geek wisdom: In this day of age, we seem to rush through a lot of major decisions in life. We tend to not take stock on how important choices can affect us, both in the short term and in the long term. A lot of times, it’s this shortsightedness that can impact us the most, especially if we regret them in the future.

It’s always a good idea to weigh our options just to make an informed decision. Sometimes, all it takes is a few seconds. Other times, it make take hours or even days. It’s okay to mull over life changing decisions.

“Sonofabitch, ball! Why didn’t you go home?! That’s your home! Are you too good for your home?! Answer me!”

From: Happy Gilmore

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Happy Gilmore

The story behind the quote: Adam Sandler rose to popularity  by writing and starring in movies where the main characters are extremely unbelievable but are a blast to watch. One of these movies is Happy Gilmore. Happy Gilmore is an extremely aggressive hockey player with a very powerful slapshot. It’s this overly aggressive personality that keeps him from getting into any hockey team. It turns out that his grandmother (who raised him) hasn’t been paying her taxes and the IRS is about to repossess the house he grew up in.

While some movers are repossessing some of his household items, he makes a bet involving hitting golf balls. It is this bet when he discovers that he can use his amazing slapshot to hit golf balls farther than most pro golfers. He then joins the pro golfing circuit where his violent temper and antics make him an immediate star… even if his putting skills stink.

The quote comes from one of the tours that displays his bad putting skills. Another golfer (played by Kevin Nealon) coaches Happy that the ball really wants to get in the hole since it’s his home. All it needs is to be guided home. Happy attempts the putt and misses. This is when he loses it and starts shouting at the ball…

Geek wisdom: Even the simplest things can be difficult and it can be incredibly frustrating. Happy Gilmore may be extremely good at driving the ball in golf but he struggles at putting and he definitely shows it in the quote. It’s okay to get frustrated at doing new, especially if you’re not good at it. But you have a choice: remain frustrated at it or practice and get better at it.

Happy does eventually get good at putting, but he had to put the time and effort into getting good at it. I bet even a guy who has natural talent in golf like Tiger Woods had to practice to become the top dog. It goes with every thing that we do; we can only improve at something if we keep on doing it over and over again.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

From: Batman, specifically, The Dark Knight

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Alfred Pennyworth

The story behind the quote: It seems that I can’t stop getting quotes from Batman media. But this time, it’s from Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler, Alfred.

The quote comes from The Dark Knight, the 2nd film of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies. Bruce Wayne has been investigating a series of violent (and videotaped) actions of the Joker. Bruce has been reviewing the Joker’s actions and is having difficulty understanding why he does the things he does.

Alfred then tells the story about the time he was in Burma. His group was hired to bribe tribal leaders to get their loyalty for the government using valuable stones and gems. During this time, a “bandit” was wrecking havoc in the area and it was assumed that the “bandit” took the stones. One day, Alfred notice a child playing with one of the stones and realized that the bandit took the stones but threw them away. This is when he knew that the bandit didn’t care for money, he just wanted to wreck as much havoc as he can.

Geek wisdom: Like Alfred said, there are going to be people that you cannot reason with, no matter what you do. They will just do whatever they want, forgetting the consequences of their actions. We have to accept the fact that we will not be able to convince them with logic.

At the same time, we cannot let these kind of people run around doing anything they please, especially if it will lead to anarchy. The act of doing nothing about something is going to be the wrong thing to do in these cases. Sometimes, it will be necessary to step in and do something… especially if we believe it’s the right thing to do.

“The pen is blue! The goddamn pen is blue!”

From: Liar Liar

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Fletcher Reede

The story behind the quote: Jim Carrey plays Fletcher Reed, a really good lawyer and a much better liar. Although he loves his son, Max, Fletcher is too concentrated on his career to really spend any time with him. It is this focus on climbing the corporate ladder which causes his to miss Max’s birthday so that he can get on the “good side” of his boss. Disappointed that his father didn’t come to his birthday (even though Fletcher did promise him), Max wishes that Fletcher cannot lie… which comes true.

The quote comes from the scene where Fletcher realizes that he is unable to lie. He rushes into his office and believes he  just needs to “practice” with something small, like saying that the blue pen he is holding is red. As the clip below shows, he is very unsuccessful in doing this.

Geek wisdom: It has become so easy in society to lie. It’s actually become so casual and common, we already expect people to lie to us and then try to determine what is the actual truth. Sometimes, we do lie to spare someone’s feelings or get out of trouble. But, ultimately, a lie is a lie and it can catch up to us.

It may be painful but there are going to be times when we need to tell the truth, even if it will hurt others. However, unless we can stop telling lies about the smaller things in life, we will never be ready to tell the truth about the bigger things. Besides, some people do appreciate the honesty.

“If you know you can deflect it, then you’re not challenging yourself.”

From: X-Men: First Class

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Charles Xavier

The story behind the quote: The very first live-action X-Men films, which was shown in 2000, clearly showed that the friendship between Charles Xavier (who would become Professor X and the founder of the X-Men) and Erik Lehnsherr (also known as the mutant terrorist, Magneto) has ended. While they do behave cordially when they talk, it is clear that they have opposite ideals for how mutants should interact with the ordinary humans. However, the films never explored their friendship as deep as the pseudo-reboot in X-Men: First Class.

The film starts in the 60’s around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A mutant named Sebastian Shaw is attempting to start World War III in the hopes that mutants will take over after the war. Erik Lehnsherr has a personal stake on this as he witnessed Shaw kill his mother during the Holocaust.

Since he has been training his mutant ability at an extremely young age, he believes that he has gained ultimate mastery of it. As proof, he tells Xavier to shoot at him point blank with a gun since he knows he’ll be able to stop the bullet as it fires. Xavier then tells him that, if that’s the case, then he’ll never really become as strong with his ability as he can.

Geek wisdom: It easy to play it safe and be satisfied with what we know, never really venturing outside our comfort zone. Even thinking of trying to do something that is extremely difficult makes us uneasy and, mentally, we can give up without trying. But the only way we can improve ourselves is if we try to do something difficult.

It’s like when we were toddlers; we could could move around by crawling. There was really no need to walk since crawling was sufficient. We don’t remember it but we all struggled with learning how to simply stand up and we fell down a lot. However, with practice, we all now able to stand on our own two feet.

Any task can seem daunting and even impossible. However, unless we try and practice several times, we will never really be able to say it’s impossible.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

From: Apollo 13

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Jim Lovell

The story behind the quote: The movie Apollo 13 is a bit of an odd film since it isn’t based on a success. Rather, the film tells the story about one of something that should have been very tragic. However, it is also considered to be one of their biggest victories of NASA at the same time as everyone survived the mission.

Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) leads the Apollo 13 mission, which is to make another landing on the moon. However, the mission was plagued by different setback. For one, Lovell’s team was supposed to pilot the Apollo 14 mission but was fastracked to this earlier one. Ken Mattingly (played by Gary Sinise) got the measles and had to to be replaced.

The quote comes from when another accident (and the most destructive one) happens while en route to the moon. One of the oxygen tanks explodes and the crew immediately report this back to Houston.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, we pride ourselves on being independent and not asking for help to solve our own problems. Thing is, there’s no real harm for asking for help when necessary. A lot of us think that asking for help is a sign of weakness. Actually, it’s the opposite: it takes real strength to admit you need assistance.

We all live our lives surrounded by others. Yet, we still try to live and do difficult things by ourselves. Everyone has their limits and, in order to actually overcome those limits, we will need as much help as possible. That’s the only way we, as a community, can get stronger.

“That’s not a knife… that’s a knife!”

From: Crocodile Dundee

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Crocodile Dundee

The story behind the quote: This movie comes from the 80’s film, Crocodile Dundee, starring Paul Hogan. The story  is that Sue Charlton (played by Linda Kozlowski), an article writer for a New York paper, is sent to Australia to investigate the story of “Crocodile” Dundee, a man who supposedly had his leg bitten off by a crocodile. However, it turns out that the story was exaggerated since Dundee didn’t lost his leg (but he does have a scar to remember the encounter). In order to continue the report, Sue convinces Dundee to return with her to New York.

The movie was a surprise hit, not just in the United States and Australia, but around the world. One of the things that made the movie a huge success was Dundee’s general good nature (which is the opposite of the cynical behavior of the people in New York) and how he handles situations differently. One of the most memorable moments of the film (and where this week quote comes from) is when Dundee and Sue encounter a mugger with a “knife.”

Geek wisdom: It can be easy to lose perspective of what we have. Like in the clip, the mugger thinks that he can easily intimidate people because he has a switchblade. Unfortunately, for him, Crocodile Dundee sees it as a puny weapon and shows him something bigger… and definitely scarier.

Keep things in perspective.