Shakespeare ... someone quotes Shakespeare in every movie listed

I'm with Deborah. (I have no idea what the answer is, myself, but I've learned it's hard to go wrong invoking Shakespeare.)

Before invoking IMDB to check, I'm going to guess Lawrence Kasdan had a hand in all of the above? (Screenwriter/producer/director)

Now I'll check and bate my own breath.

(Which, for the record, gets toothpaste even when I travel.)

OK, now that I've checked a little, is it the music? Most of the movies had a popular, and perhaps award-winning soundtrack or original song(s)?

Yeah, I know I usually whistle the theme song from The Shining when I go to work! ;-)

You know, I'm right here. You could just tell me the answer and make it easier on all of us.

Jim, what are you doing over there?! And you guys are blogging your comments to each other? Heh.

Oh, what was the question?

Gwynne, did Jim actually talk to you? Wow! What was that like? ;-)

Yes, he did, but now that I think about it, we should have eaten at Panera and blogged to each other from opposite ends of the restaurant...you know, in case he was a bad guy or something. ;-)

I suppose that since he's in our guest bedroom, it's too late to worry about that, isn't it?

You let him IN???

MWAH-HA-HA!

Ok now, this is unfair. No meeting each other and having tons of fun without including others of us.

As for the movies...well, the only thing I can come up with is, shouldn't it be "baited breath"? (I suppose I should go consult a dictionary before I display my ignorance for the entire world but, well, I have my own blog so I'm pretty used to displaying my ignorance for the entire world.)

They each received a rating from the MPAA?

Or, they all appeared in the same Fire Ant Gazette post.

That's all I've got.

Beth, I applaude your ignorance and believe it s/b "baited" also. I even went so far as to think that was a clue, but Kathy Bates is not in all (any?) of these movies. ;-)

does that mean you have been eating worms??

"The correct spelling is actually bated breath but it’s so common these days to see it written as baited breath that there’s every chance it will soon become the usual form, to the disgust of conservative speakers and the confusion of dictionary writers."

www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm

Thank you, CorrectSpeller, for redeeming my almost-sullied reputation. And to those of you who have actually misspelled "bated" in your blog posts, I hope you now realize how hard it was for me to refrain from correcting yew. Yu. You. ;-)

Hm. Mirriam-Webster would allow that 'bated' is indeed a word but gives no definition that makes "bated breath" a phrase that is sensical. How, in fact, does a word that implies diminishment (i.e. 'bated', ancient version of 'abated') tranform into suspenseful anticipation?

But that's the OED for you. Nonsensical.

Could one then say they were waiting with "abated breath" and mean the same thing?

Besides, I did preface with the fact that I had no delusions surrounding the ignorance of the question. It is, in fact, why I asked. :)

Back to your original question which was something about the listed movies. Let's see. These are all movies ...with titles...that you've seen. And the characters all had bated breath?
Do I win a prize?

Um, Beth misspelled Merriam. Hee. ;-)

Ooh, nice redirection...