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: Is what Andy Dufresne says about victims biting down when they have sudden brain injury true? Or is he just making it up so the sisters won't stab him?

Answer: It's true.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: It's not true. But he came across as educated and convinced them it was true...He further put reluctance into them by basically saying "try it and see what happens..."

Question: How come with computers and electronic gadgets everywhere they have to use a telegraph to let the world know how to destroy the aliens?

Answer: The aliens had destroyed the satellites orbiting Earth. This meant that the usual hi-tec methods of communication could not be used (as most use satellites now), and a low-tec method had to implemented.

Tanith

Question: I understand that most living Elves are really old by human standards and are immortal, but I have a few questions about the elf "life-cycle." First, ARWEN is the last Elf born but how old is she? Second, how do Elves reproduce and how often? Given their ages, wouldn't an elf child be a super-incredibly rare event such that most humans would never live long enough to see one? Third, when ARWEN weds ARAGORN, she has presumably given up her immortality. How does that work? Is it a biological change or a decision made by the gods - the ones who created the Undying Lands for the Elves? Fourth, would ARAGORN and ARWEN's son have merely human-like mortality or would he be somewhat superhuman - perhaps live longer? I am reminded of the half-god heroes of Greek mythology. I know Tolkien was fascinated by Norse mythology (dead Rohan Kings go to "their father's" like Vikings). Does Tolkien ever explain the elf life-cycle and the logistical problems associated with immortality?

Answer: Hmm, lot of questions. Okay, here goes. (1) Arwen was born in T.A. 241, making her 2778 years old at the time of the War of the Ring. However, there is no evidence in any of Tolkien's writings that she was the last Elf born in Middle-earth. (2) Tolkien never really goes into Elven reproduction, but there's no indication that the basic mechanisms aren't pretty much the same as humans (after all, elves and humans have bred successfully on several occasions in the history of Middle-Earth, so it's fair to say that the plumbing presumably interconnects). Elves don't reproduce terribly often - in 2401 years of marriage, Elrond and his wife Celebrian only had three children. Celeborn and Galadriel only had the one child in at least six thousand years of marriage. Arwen is only six generations removed from the first elves who awoke at Cuivienen, eleven thousand years before the events of the films. So, yes, it's fair to say that elven children would be pretty rare, enough so that most humans would never have encountered one. (3) Arwen's family are not pure elves - without going into complex lineages, her father, Elrond, is roughly half-elven. Elrond's father and all his descendants were given the option by the Valar to choose whether to be counted among men or elves - Elrond chose elvendom, his brother, Elros, chose to be counted amongst men, founding a bloodline that would eventually lead to Aragorn. So, basically, it's a mystical thing. (4) Eldarion, Aragorn and Arwen's son, will have a normal lifespan for a human of his bloodline (i.e. About two hundred years). His mother's former status as an elf shouldn't have any effect. The elven lifecycle is basically the same as humans, just very, very elongated - despite the prevailing view to the contrary, elves are not actually immortal. While they live long enough that humans think of them that way, Tolkien stated that they do age, just incredibly slowly, making a natural death an eventual possibility for an elf (after tens of thousands of years). Plus, of course, they can be killed in combat or accidents, being arguably less resilient than a human in that respect. So, between that and the very slow population increase, there's no real problem with overpopulation or anything like that.

Tailkinker

Question: What department is Roger from? And what does that department do? I mean the Roger that Anita says she has slept with at the begining of the film.

Answer: Roger works in the op/ed department. This department deals with opinion pieces and editorials. You can find an exact definition at this web site: www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/op-ed.

Tina Gilliam

Answer: It was the only way out. She followed Aiden's voice to the cliff and kept hearing it from the same direction. She knew she had to jump off to get back to the real world.

Question: Why exactly does Penguin die? He just falls into his "moat" and comes out bleeding and dying. He wasn't hurt by the bats too much. He made reference to there being a "toxic" lagoon earlier in the movie, so are we to assume the water is polluted by toxic chemicals? And if so, how can the penguins swim in it without being hurt?

Answer: The Penguin dies because he must have a cold environment to survive. At the end of the movie, his lair is in flames and Catwoman has blown up his air conditioner. He overheats and chokes to death. He's also no doubt sufferered injuries because of the rocket bombardment.

Answer: The penguin dies because of a) the polluted water (I always wondered why it doesn't poison the animals) and b) his wounds.

Answer: I always assumed when he falls through the glass he gets cut up and bleeds, but maybe we can't see the injury.

Answer: The Penguin dies from toxic water, he let this in when he blasts though the wooden barricades which blocked it off when he gets into his rubber duck mobile, dew to his impatience and frustration with Batman which ironically leads to his downfall.

Question: So is Elektra dead? It seemed like she was still alive, but then again, she could very well be dead, as Daredevil sees her heart stop. And if she is dead, how does she get brought back to life in the spin-off "Elektra"?

Answer: Elektra is dead, at least when DD sees her heart stop. If you had actually seen Elektra the movie you would have known the she is reserected that same night by her future mentor, Stick. Thus leading to the probablity that at the end of the movie when Murdock finds the brail pendent (which says "Elektra", btw) that she has been brought back from the dead at that point, at least for a few days.

Chosen answer: Mia tells her grandmother that she has a 1966 Ford Mustang.

raywest

Question: When Sylvia is reading through Simon's book, she writes down that Simon died, etc. Then she started to write "Sylvia". Why?

Jason Feng

Chosen answer: At this point, she has set her mind on killing the African leader and knows she'll likely be killed immediately afterwards (police, bodyguards, etc). She's writing her name in anticipation of her death.

Question: Am I mistaken, or did Sylvia say she was born in the US before moving to Africa? I'm just puzzled as to why she was deported in the end even if she has dual citizenship.

Jason Feng

Chosen answer: Dual citizenship is complicated, and it does not guarantee a person equal rights, privileges, and obligations in both countries. Nor does one country or the other always recognize dual citizenship. Since Sylvia's main residency has been in Africa, the US would consider that her primary homeland and could legally deport her there. Basically, the government is giving Sylvia a way to avoid prosecution in the US by allowing her to leave the country.

raywest

Question: How old was Olivia Hussey when this movie was made? Also, what is the name of the guy who plays Romeo and how old was he?

Answer: Olivia Hussey was born April 17, 1951 so she was probably still 16 when the film was being made, but 17 when it was released in 1968. Leonard Whiting was born June 30, 1950 - almost a year older than Olivia.

Myridon

Answer: If you're playing team sports and the weather is favourable then one easy way to know who's in which team is to have one team keep their shirts on and the others not. Hence shirts and skins, clearly if girls were playing there was scope for fun.

tw_stuart

Show generally

Question: This is on a bit of a tangent, but I was wondering if someone could tell me how many CSI novelisations there are and (if space permits) their titles in reading order. Thanks.

Answer: There are currently six novelizations. They are (in reading order): Double Dealer, Sin City, Cold Burn, Body of Evidence, Grave Matters, and Binding Ties.

MoonFaery

Question: I'm guessing that Jude Law's character's face at the end of the film had something to do with the fight they had in the hotel, where Tom Hanks's character shot him in the face. But why did he have all those little marks, if Tom Hank's character only shot him once?

Answer: Tom Hanks shot at a glass lamp, which shattered right before Jude's face, causing lots of shards of glass to cut his face.

Ral0618

Were they scarred or stitched because it bothers me.

Scarred. He was injured by a bunch of tiny shards of glass, something that could pretty much heal on its own and wouldn't need stitches.

jshy7979

I think that's why McGuire shoots Sullivan out of revenge... He wasn't ordered to but after his disfigurement he wants revenge and kills Sullivan That's my take... After all Al says it's over after Connor Rooney goes down but it's now personal for McGuire.

Answer: I think that McGuire's last kill was personal. I think that after Sullivan deforms his face McGuire is out for blood. After all Al said after he kills Connor it's over. So it probably was but McGuire's kill was personal because of his deformity. It was not because he was instructed to kill Sullivan.

Question: As I have a region four disk, does anyone know a website that has the "Vowellet : An Essay by Sarah Vowell" essay on it?

Answer: You can find the 9 minute video of this on YouTube.

OneHappyHusky

Question: What is Jenna's ring tone that can be heard at the beginning?

Answer: It is La Cumparsita.

Question: There seemed to be an unusually high number of guards as compared to the number of prisoners; would they actually be armed with pistols?

Answer: Since this movie takes place in the '30s, I think the number of guards is about right. There were no such things as stun guns back then. If a prisoner freaked out, they would need a few men to overpower him, just like we see when 'Wild Bill' is brought in. Prison guards today don't carry guns because they could be used against the guard. In the '30s no such rules existed. If you were a cop or a guard, you had a gun no matter what.

Question: I know this movie was based on a Broadway play. Does anyone know how it is revealed in the play what Alice's real name is, and also how Dan realizes that "Alice Ayers" was a fake name? Both of these facts are revealed in the movie without dialogue, so I was wondering what the play was like.

Answer: The play ends quite differently from the film. Larry and Anna meet in the park with the plaques - they are no longer together, they are each dating someone new. Larry points out the "Alice Ayers" plaque to Anna, who reads it out loud. Larry notes how she made up everything about herself. Anna says she is meeting Dan there, he asked to see her. When Dan arrives, with a suitcase, Larry leaves. Dan says the police in New York called to tell him "Jane Jones" had died, and he learns that was Alice's real name. He is on his way to New York. The End.

Season 3 generally

Question: One of the Easter Egg entries says an egg is on every DVD and can be accessed by entering '35' when the alien writing appears on the screen. I have tried this, but it doesn't work. Can someone please go into a little more detail for me or explain why it might not work? The other easter eggs can be accessed fine.

Answer: I did some research around the net and it seems this only works with region 2 DVDs.

Mortug

Question: I wonder whether Kraven and Lucian are actually the two (out of three) Sons of the Corvinus clan. Before Lucian died after being shot by Kraven, he called him 'cousin'. I would also be grateful if anyone would explain what Viktor meant by Marcus being a descendent of Corvinus (Does it mean that Marcus turned one of the sons of the Corvinus clan into a vampire or he is related to that guy who survived the plague? I'm confused).

Answer: Alexander Corvinus was the first true Immortal, he had three sons, William bitten by wolf, Marcus by bat and the unnamed third who remained human. Michael Corvin is the last true human descendant of Corvinus in the present world.The cousin reference is that all vampires and lycans are related through the bloodlines after being turned. This is why Michael survives a bite from both species. Normally the viruses they carry are deadly to humans and no one has survived a bite from both species, except Michael who becomes a hybrid, half vampire, half Lycan, but stronger than both.

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.