Buried - not to be confused with Barried, Barried, or Berried

I pretty much ignored Ryan Reynolds’ Buried when it came out in the theaters, and I pretty much ignored its arrival on DVD.  What I have been unable to ignore is the constant bombardment of James Franco’s 127 Hours, which is now in wide-release courtesy of its Academy Award nominations.

This further reminded me of two things.

1. How the screenwriter of Buried, Chris Sparling, basically begged to be nominated for an Oscar.
2. How 127 Hours is basically the same thing, and it is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

But wait… isn’t one about a guy in a coffin and the other one about a guy cutting his arm off?

Yes, but they are both essentially “unfilmable” stories about a man trapped.  And they aren’t the only ones.  Here are A Handful Of Trapped People Flicks.

I can see it now... "Buried 4 127 Hours"

• Rope (1948) – people trapped in real-time murder plot
• Die Hard (1988) – man trapped in terrorist-filled building
• Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) – man trapped in terrorist-filled airport
• Under Siege (1992) – man trapped on terrorist-filled battleship
• Toy Soldiers (1991) – student trapped in terrorist-filled school
• Passenger 57 (1992) – man trapped on terrorist-filled airplane
• Speed (1994) – people trapped on speeding bus
• Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) – man trapped on speeding terrorist-filled train
• Executive Decision (1996) – man trapped on terrorist-filled airplane
• Daylight (1996) – people trapped in underground tunnel
• Air Force One (1997) – man trapped on president’s terrorist-filled airplane
• Con Air (1997) – man trapped on criminal-filled airplane
• Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) – people trapped on speeding terrorist-filled cruise ship
• Cast Away (2000) – man trapped on island
• Phone Booth (2002) – man trapped in phone booth (written by Larry Cohen)
• Open Water (2004) – people trapped in shark-infested waters
• Cellular (2004) – man trapped in terrible plot involving keeping a cell phone powered (written by Larry Cohen)
• Penny Dreadful (2006) – woman trapped in a car
• Captivity (2007) – woman trapped in underground lair (also written by Larry Cohen)
• Frozen (2010) – people trapped on a ski lift
• Buried (2010) – man trapped in coffin
• 127 Hours (2010) – man trapped underground by a rock
• Unstoppable (2010) – men trapped on a missile the size of the Chrysler Building