Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Out of the hundreds of people on the plane, not a single passenger or flight crew saw Jodi Foster's character bring her daughter onto the plane? Was everyone supposed to be in on it? That would just be too weird and next to impossible.

Answer: Firstly, the flight wasn't full. Secondly, there were already several children on board. Thirdly, 2 people did see her bring the child on board - both the hijackers. Fourthly, Jodie and her daughter were the very first people on the plane and were greeted by the female hijacker. Then her daughter was seated until going to sleep. No one had a chance to see her. If a person is able to remember the face of every single passenger on a plane, then they should be onstage with a memory act. On many flights I've been on, I couldn't even recall the people sitting around me, let alone the rest of the plane.

Soylent Purple

"Then her daughter was seated until going to sleep" Kyle fell asleep the moment her daughter fell asleep which means the hijackers would have had to somehow take Julia out of her seat in order to kidnap without waking Kyle up, and that would have been extremely difficult to do, if it could be done at all.

Question: Does anyone know how long lions can survive without food?

Answer: According to one website, a lion can gorge for 2-3 days on a kill, rest for 24 hours, and show little interest in hunting again until the sixth day.

StevenJ

Question: How did Bruce Wayne determine that Stickley's suicide was a "computer-generated forgery" so quickly? Just because he discovered that Edward Nygma is the Riddler doesn't mean that Stickley was murdered. Is there perhaps something I missed?

Answer: It's a bit of a leap, but it's not entirely unreasonable. He knows that Nygma and Stickley were at odds over Nygma's experiments, and he was suspicious of Stickley's apparent suicide right from the beginning. As such, when it becomes apparent that Nygma's one of the bad guys, it's not much of a stretch to conclude that Nygma killed Stickley, then faked the tape to show a suicide.

Tailkinker

Question: If Padmé is Queen Amidala's name, shouldn't all security forces know that it was her instead of the decoy? Wouldn't it be better to hide that name too?

Answer: It's safe to say that all her security staff will be aware of the decoy procedure - otherwise, they wouldn't know who to protect if things really went wrong. As for outsiders, Queen (later Senator) Amidala is her formal name and would be the one that everyone was familiar with; her birth name of Padme Naberrie is unlikely to be generally known.

Tailkinker

Question: What was the deal with the spices that smelled fresh in Michael's house?

Answer: It proved that someone had been in the house after the last residents moved out, and quite recently, too. It is just another hint to the "contestants" that the show's producers have set up the whole thing.

Twotall

Answer: Or Best Offer. Frequently seen in want ads to mean the price is not firm. I'll take $10 or the best other price of all the people who make a bid.

Myridon

Question: When Mace Windu deflected the sith lightning, did Palpatine fake being weak or in agony? Was it a test to see if Anakin would save him? If so, what did he mean when he shouted unlimited power?

Answer: It may not have been entirely faked, although it does seem somewhat unlikely that a Sith Lord would be affected in any serious way by his own Force lightning, but Palpatine was certainly not remotely as endangered as he made out. It does seem that it was a test, designed to finally ensnare Anakin in the Sith web, by forcing him to turn on another Jedi. His shout of 'unlimited power' seems to have been a final taunt to the suddenly helpless Mace Windu.

Tailkinker

Answer: At first they were just wrestling and horsing around. However, underlying tensions and frustrations over their impossible situation, and Ennis' reluctance to commit to Jack, causes their anger (particularly Jack's) to overtake them, and it erupts into a full-blown fight.

raywest

Question: Was Ian Holm using contact lenses, or did they do something with his eyes in post production? From the scene where Abberline asks about the Free Masons and onwards his eyes are considerably darker (a deliberate effect I take it).

Answer: His eyes are not just darker, his entire eyes are completely black. This was done by CGI effects to show that the murderous Ripper side to Gull's persona is taking over and is in control.

Twotall

Question: When Bond saves Tracey in the beginning and she drives off he comments "This never happened to the other fellow". I know this is a joking reference to Sean Connery, but what is Bond supposed to mean within the context of the film? Connery references aside, why would he be saying this?

Answer: It's an entirely intentional aside to the audience, the one occasion in the entire Bond series where the so-called 'fourth wall' (i.e. the cinema screen itself) is broken. As such, within the context of the film itself, it doesn't really have much of a meaning.

Tailkinker

Question: What does Teddy mean when he says to Vern "did your mother have any kids who lived?"

Answer: Teddy's making a joking but also insulting remark to Vern. He has a rather low opinion of his capabilities and intelligence.

raywest

Question: During the battle of Geonosis, how come the droidekas don't activate their shield generators, like they did in TPM and ROTS? Wouldn't it be better since they are noted to be feared by the Jedi?

Answer: Some of the droidekas have sheild generators and some don't. Recall that when Obi-wan and Qui-gon first encountered them in Ep. 1, Obi-wan said "Master! Destroyers!" A few seconds later he pointed out that they had shield generators, to emphasize that that was the type of droidekas they were.

Matty Blast

Question: I don't quite understand how Willy Wonka's father's house could have moved away from the rest of the block. Could anyone explain that to me?

Answer: It's a joke. It shows what great lengths Dr. Wonka went to to distance himself from his son, by making sure even his childhood home would be gone, but to ponder how this happened is useless. It's a simple joke, nothing more.

Twotall

Question: I was watching Conan O'Brien the other day, and Bob Saget and Conan were talking about Face/Off. Bob Saget made a comment that Face/Off was about Siegfried and Roy and the entire crowd was shocked. I must be dense - is there something I'm not getting?

Ryan Andersen

Chosen answer: Roy Horn was mauled/attacked by one of his tigers in a show a few years ago. Although his face was not really messed up, the reference was to the attack.

Jason Feng

Question: There are a few shots where Merry and Pippin can be seen on a horse together with a human, both visible in the same shot. Merry's face can sometimes be seen on-screen at the same time as Éowyn's when they are riding and at Isengard the camera in one shot pans from Aragorn's face to Pippin sitting behind him on the horse. How were these shots done? Forced perspective can hardly be used on a horse, especially with Merry who sat in front of Éowyn.

Answer: Most of the time, they would use small actors playing the hobbits (usually in long shots), or specially-built enlarged models of Aragorn or Éowyn sitting next to the regular actor. In some cases, hobbit-sized puppets were also used. The WETA team would then impose Dominic Monaghan's and Billy Boyd's face over the faces of the scale doubles or puppets in post-production.

Twotall

Question: Among the mistakes, one says that Christine's first line doesn't match her lips. What exactly is she saying, I can't make it out?

Answer: She probably says the same thing we hear, but the sound isn't properly synched.

Sereenie

Question: What exactly did Jack do with that man in Mexico?

Answer: The man was a male prostitute. Jack engaged him to have sex.

raywest

Question: Why was Dumbledore portrayed as an emotional character in this movie (being extremely sad, worried and angry)? Whereas in the previous movies and books he is portrayed as an kind, calm and all knowing that other characters look up to. Example of this was in the scene where they found out that Harry unexpectedly became a champion. After entering the room, Dumbledore grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him semi-violently. In the books, he simply looked gravely at Harry and quietly questioned him.

Answer: Dumbledore's character evolves, especially in Harry's eyes. More and more, Harry sees Dumbledore as wise, but with weaknesses and flaws. The movies are portraying this differently than the books, but the point is the same. Harry's realizing that Dumbledore isn't perfect.

K.C. Sierra

Question: In the closing credits, a song is played with no words in it. Is this song "Coward" by Renholder or another one? I have checked everywhere but I am not sure. This song is also apparently played in the sex scene in Underworld: Evolution.

Answer: The song is Coward by Black Light Burns (Renholder remix).

Question: Why was the universe ending? I have watched the movie several times and I cannot find an explanation.

Answer: Donnie ended one universe/timeline by going back in time to save his girlfriend. The new one effectively started with his death.

Grumpy Scot

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