Question: Why wasn't Rosaline at either of Juliet's funerals? After all, she is "the niece of Lord Capulet."
raywest
4th Feb 2015
Romeo and Juliet (2013)
23rd Feb 2016
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Question: If Susie's body had been in a bag in the safe, how did people who went into his house (Lindsey when she broke into his house through the basement window) not smell her dead body?
Answer: The dog could smell her body even from outside, and he barked and hesitated as he passed near the killer's house. Dogs can smell people from a long distance.
23rd Feb 2016
King of the Hill (1997)
Question: I know that this is a cartoon, but could Hank and Peggy really produce a blonde son, with both them having brown hair?
Answer: In addition to the answer by Raywest, some children have blonde or dark blonde hair that turns brown as they grow. My own brother was like this. His hair was more of a dark blonde, then turned brown in his late teens.
15th Sep 2014
Ghostbusters (1984)
Question: In Dana's bedroom, after she's possessed, there's a picture next to her bed. Is that Reagan from The Exorcist?
Answer: I watched clips from both movies to compare the images. The picture of the little girl next to Dana's bed looks a little like Regan from the Exorcist, but the hair styles are different enough to conclude that it is not. Regan had longer and straighter hair while the girl in the photo has shorter and bushier locks.
7th Aug 2014
Rodan (1956)
Question: How is it that Rodan flew supersonic speeds but you only see him flap his wings to take off? Also how did he leave a vapor trail at high altitude?
Answer: The movie was made in the 1950s when special effects barely existed and were primitive at best. This is also a Japanese-made movie, and their film industry, at that time, was far less sophisticated than Western movies. Audiences then were expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" while watching a Sci-fi movie, accepting that what they were seeing was implausible or crudely done, but it told the story. Audiences know that Rodan could not have taken off at supersonic speeds merely by flapping its wings or left a vapor trail at high altitude, but just accept that it adds to the overall illusion of what is supposed to be happening.
18th Feb 2016
Prometheus (2012)
Question: Why would Charlize Theron have a med-pod in her private quarters that operates on male patients? Was that for Weyland?
18th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: Please correct me if I am mistaken, but in the lyrics that the frog choir is singing in the first scene in the great, one of the lines is "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." This is a direct reference to the witches spell in Shakespeare's Macbeth, is it not?
18th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: This is a two part question. 1) If Snape wants Harry to have the sword of Gryffindor, why would he place it at the bottom of a frozen pond instead of placing it somewhere more accessible? 2) Does the locket try to choke Harry because it senses the threat posed by the presence of the sword?
Chosen answer: 1) Snape's motive for hiding the sword in the pond is never explained "in the movie." As for the book, it explicitly states that Dumbledore instructed Snape to give the sword to Harry when possible, but make it so it takes bravery and courage to acquire, like a true Gryffindor. Snape then found they were in the Forest of Dean, and he himself placed the sword there. 2) The Locket was partially sentient and could sense that the sword was a danger to it.
If he placed it somewhere anyone could access, the sword might get into the wrong hands.
17th Feb 2016
The Village (2004)
Question: The creature comes to the village and Ivy waits for Lucius to grab her hand. But Noah was in the house under the house floor with Ivy's family. So who was dressed as the creature?
Answer: It was one of the male village elders who was disguised as the creature. The elders had perpetuated the hoax that strange, dangerous beasts lived in the woods and would attack the village if anyone strayed beyond its borders. It was all part of the ruse to frighten and restrain the younger villagers when they became too curious and adventurous and tried to cross the perimeter. The elders wanted to prevent the youth from learning about the modern world outside. Noah later found his father's costume under the floorboards and secretly began pretending to be one of the creatures.
12th Feb 2016
Jaws 2 (1978)
Question: Is the shark in this one at all related to "Bruce" (the shark from the original film). The woman's line "Sharks don't take things personally Mr Brody" made me suspicious.
Answer: For what it's worth, in the novelization the shark is a female and pregnant with the offspring of the first movie's shark, but that's not brought up in the film at all.
Chosen answer: That is highly unlikely. The woman is only pointing out to Brody that he is making it a personal issue when what he is dealing with is an animal that lacks emotion, intelligence, or self-awareness and is only acting on its primal instinct.
The ironic thing is that is the entire plot line for Jaws: The revenge.
3rd Feb 2016
Space Cowboys (2000)
Question: What are the chances of four guys of their age ACTUALLY passing the physical to the required standards? I know they all kept reasonably fit but they struggled with running etc. so it seems unlikely they would pass all the tests. I know movie rules dictate suspense of disbelief to a certain degree, I'm just wondering what their chances would be in reality.
Answer: Eastwood would be out on height alone and the rest probably have high blood pressure. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/606877main_FS-2011-11-057-JSC-astro_trng.pdf.
Chosen answer: It wasn't a matter of how physically fit they were, but that their particular combination of knowledge, skills, and past experiences were needed for this specific mission. The physical criteria would be amended in order to recruit them for that mission.
They were specifically told they wouldn't be given an easier ride and would need to pass the exact same tests as the younger astronauts. The physical criteria wouldn't have been amended to suit them so is it possible for 4 guys of this age to pass?
Remember that at some point in the process it became a political issue - the old cowboys were wanted for their PR value, so physical test results would have been "fudged", if not ignored altogether.
Agree that the physical requirements were a major plot point and part of the 'deal' for the team to go, but there was some relaxing of requirements and politics. In general, the answer is YES, old folks can go to space without major fudging of the requirements as was demonstrated by lots of astronauts in their late 50s, a few in their 60s, and John Genn at 77. Just recently an 82-year-old woman flew on Jeff Bezos' tourist rocket.
1st Feb 2016
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
26th Jan 2016
Batman (1966)
Question: Why were three different men used for the villain Mr. Freeze?
Answer: It's wasn't unusual for multiple actors to play one character on this show. The villains on the TV Batman were played by guest stars, not regular cast members. George Sanders, Otto Preminger, and Eli Wallach played the part at various times. They may simply have only wanted to play the part once or twice, or they were later tied up with other projects, making it necessary to cast someone else. Other characters, like Catwoman, were also played by more than one actress.
26th Jan 2016
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: How could Hermione attend classes back in time, when all the others were seeing her? When she travelled with Harry, they were told they can't be seen.
Answer: Hermione had special permission, arranged by Dumbledore from the Ministry of Magic to use the Time Turner to take classes that were scheduled at the same time. Its use was carefully regulated and Hermione was instructed on how to utilize it so that she could attend multiple classes without other students noticing. When she is traveling with Harry to rescue Sirius, she is explaining to Harry that they must not be seen at the same time as the "other" Harry and Hermione that are in the past.
23rd Jan 2016
The Karate Kid (2010)
Question: Why are Cheng, Liang, Zhuang and all the other boys so mean to Dre and why do they hate Dre so much even when Dre minds his own business? When Dre leaves them alone, why don't they leave Dre alone? They seem to be attacking Dre for no apparent reason like they're psychopaths. Are they purely malicious and evil at heart?
Answer: Cheng is picking on Dre because Dre developed a crush on Meiying, a violinist, but it is implied that she is Cheng's love interest since his family is close to Meiying's. After Dre develops a crush on Meiying and she reciprocates those feelings, Cheng becomes jealous and vindictive. From then on, Cheng and his gang continually bully Dre. As bullies usually do, they attack someone they perceive as being weaker, purely for malicious reasons.
It is not because of the crush but it is because Dre was trying to give the sheet back to Meying and Cheng pushed him to throw it on the floor. Then Dre challenged Cheng to a fight and tried his best. After that Cheng started showing no mercy to Dre and Dre became a prey.
14th Jan 2016
The Maze Runner (2014)
Question: Ben has been stung when he was in the forest trying to kill Thomas. How did he get stung? Did a griever come from the maze into the forest? And why was it significant that he got stung during the day?
Answer: Ben was a runner and he was stung by a griever while he and the other runners were exploring the maze, as they did every day, looking for a way out. The maze was always safe as long it was occupied during the daytime. At night, the gates automatically closed, protecting the glade while the grievers roamed the maze's passageways. Anyone caught in the maze at night would be killed. It is significant that Ben was stung during the day because it showed that the stability of the maze, the glade, and the system the boys had been living with was changing in an unexpected and ominous way.
16th Nov 2015
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964)
Question: Why would Solo compare the descending elevator to an Eaton's department store, when these only existed in Canada?
27th Jan 2014
Downton Abbey (2010)
Episode #3.6 - S3-E6
Question: When Robert and Cora come to see the doctor at the end of the episode to hear his explanation about Cybil's death, who shows them into the room? It looks a lot like Bates, who hasn't been released from prison yet.
Answer: Although this looks a bit like Bates with a similar build and darker coloring, it is actually Lady Violet Crawley's butler, Spratt, who is showing them into the drawing room. They are meeting at Violet's house to talk with Dr. Clarkson about Sybil's death. Also, Bates was never a butler, he was a valet, and would never be the one to show people into a drawing room or anywhere else. Servants' roles and duties were strictly defined.
28th Dec 2015
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Question: This might be a dumb question and more character choice or ignorance, but when Mary Jane is fired from the play she asks "One critic?" to which she gets the response of "No. All of them." Why would she just read or hear of one review? Even if they all said the same thing she would have probably read more than one to look for even the slightest chance of a positive review.
Answer: She most likely knows how bad she was, has gotten poor reviews from previous plays, and couldn't bring herself to read or hear more than one terrible review this time. Nobody wants to read/hear negative things about themselves, and she may be hoping someone will tell her that there is at least one positive review about her.
28th Dec 2015
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Question: When the monkey puppet on Mrs. Doubtfire's show says "Here's a monkey bite!", sometimes the monkey is shown on the TV screen next to Lundy and sometimes it's not shown and only zoomed in on Lundy watching (without the monkey at all seen). It seems TV or cable stations/DVD all have one of these versions or the other. Why is it different? Was something inappropriate about a puppet monkey "biting"?
Answer: When movies are shown on TV they are often edited using what is called a "pan and scan" format to fit the television screen. Movie screens are much wider, and when movies are shown on television as they were originally filmed, the image on the sides are cut off. Sometimes movies are shown on TV in a "letter box" format, where you see the black lines at the top and bottom of the TV screen. This shows the entire scene, but it is much smaller overall. "Pan and scan" is edited to cut back and forth between the scene to show the different characters, usually when it is their time to be speaking. Otherwise, one character may be talking, but the audience cannot see them, confusing the plot. The version of "Mrs Doubtfire" that you were watching is done in "pan and scan."
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Chosen answer: There was no explanation about why she did not attend.
raywest ★