Question: Are we ever told why Maggie's family cares so little about her? I can only assume it's because they think she's run off to California and left them (and returning later with lots of money doesn't help) but that's just my interpretation, unless I missed something.
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Question: How do the hovercraft work? I know the glowing pads contribute to the hovering ability, but is that based on any real technology? And why don't the sentinels have the hover-pads?
Chosen answer: The hover pads work by electro-magnetic repulsion much like the mag-lev trains we have today only much more so. They would not leave a trace of propellant to be followed/tracked/traced nor would they be especially hotter than ambient temperature like jet engines etc. The sentinals do not care if they are tracked, but it is not clear if they use a more advanced form of this technology or something else. Remember that the Zion people have to start over from scratch every so often while the machine culture is constantly advancing so the humans' technology would not necessarily be as advanced.
Question: What kind of bird is Nigel? He looks a lot like an Albatross to me.
Chosen answer: Nigel is a pelican - he appears to be modelled on a Brown pelican (although that particular species is not actually native to Australia).
Question: What was in the hat box in the garden?
Question: Does "Vilnius Nastavnic" really translate to "Vilnius Schoolmaster"?
Chosen answer: The literal translation is "Vilnius Principal", but that doesn't sound as imposing.
Schoolmaster is correct. Nastavnik means male teacher or instructor, i.e. a schoolmaster. It does not mean "Principal/Headmaster/Head Teacher."
Question: At the very end, when the boy walks up to Violet, Violet is talking to another girl and saying something that sounds like "Why do they even have to have cheerleaders." Given the film's many political correctness references, is this also a reference to something?
Chosen answer: Traditional cheerleaders are very un-pc for many reasons. They are basically popularity contests, promote beauty/thinness as an ideal, etc.
Question: When Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn are leaving the troops to go summon that ghost army in the mountain, all of the troops and even Eowyn think he is abandoning them. Why does he not explain where he is going? If he would have told them that he was going to summon a great army to help it would have done a lot for their morale. What does the book say about this?
Chosen answer: The Dead who live under the mountain are feared and hated by pretty much everyone - note Aragorn's reaction when Elrond first suggests recruiting them. The Rohirrim will be well aware of all the tales - if Aragorn were to tell them what his mission was, they'd likely consider him to be insane. Better for them to think that one of their leaders has to go on some unspecified mission than for them to think that he's actually nuts. Besides, Aragorn has no idea whether the Dead will actually choose to fight - he seems reasonably convinced at first that they won't, and he's not likely to be alone in that opinion - most of the Rohirrim would probably consider him to be a fool for even contemplating it - also not exactly great for morale.
Question: I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not, but shouldn't Greg be wearing a yarmulke during his wedding? He and his family are Jewish so why would he not be wearing one?
Chosen answer: Wearing a yarmulke is a custom, not a religious law. There are orthodox jews who don't wear them, as well, since it's a cultural thing.
Not so. Many Jews don't wear yarmulkes, but Orthodox male Jews do-as a religious law, not a custom.
Question: When they pass in front of the library, there are only two books "Fiction" and "Non-fiction". I remember seeing something similar in a science-fiction film when I was a kid. A man says something like "All the knowledge of the Martians is contained in this disc". Is it a reference to this film, and if so, what is its name?
Chosen answer: I don't know that it is a reference, but it sounds like you are thinking of The Martian Chronicles.
Question: Spoiler! Doesn't Maggie have the legal right to refuse any type of life support? She's completely cognitive and in possession of all her mental faculties. Why does Frankie have to sneak in and illegally participate in her assisted suicide?
Answer: Yes, there was an article in last week's Sunday paper about how the medical community is up in arms over the mis-portrayal of patient's rights issues.
Answer: Suicide is a sin and is said that you go to hell if you commit suicide. By Frankie doing it, it frees her spiritually from damnation in the eyes of God.
Question: Does anyone know what happened to Pete ? Dim and Georgie become cops, but they never say anything about Pete.
Answer: In the original version of the book, after Alex has his treatment (or, more acurately, his reversal of the treatment) Alex visits Pete, who is living in the suburbs with a wife and kids. Alex then decides that this is what he wants in life, so he gets married and settles. This ending is only in the British copy.
Question: I don't understand the end. Is Earth being controlled by Umbrella now? Are Carlos and Jill taking Alice away from the research facility for testing (on the scientists' side), or are they saving her from the facility and setting her free for another adventure?
Answer: Carlos and Jill are trying to rescue her. They are unaware that Umbrella has attempted to turn Alice into a weapon to use against them.
Answer: Of course they're there to rescue her. But they never explain the events between apocalypse and Extinction that cause them to separate and what happened to the little girl I think that's the one that irritates me the most.
Question: In which episode did Ross play his keyboard in Central Perk, etc.?
Answer: This took place in episode number 7 in Series 4. The episode is entitled "The One Where Chandler Crosses The Line".
Question: I heard in the DVD commentary that what the Russian gangsters are saying in the beginning is total bull, because they ran out of time to translate the actual dialogue. Is there anyone from Russia, or who speaks Russian, that can understand what they are saying?
Answer: Yes, I can speak Russian, and what they said in the movie did make sense but they spoke so horribly it was almost impossible to understand them. But it wasn't bull.
But what was said?
Question: Who is the mentally handicapped guy with thick glasses who says, "I think she's very beautiful."? He only appears in one scene and doesn't seem to contribute anything else to the movie.
Answer: He's just another "member" of their video night group, and the character probably wasn't needed for the whole movie.
Question: Is the entire thing just dubbed over clips from an older movie, or were some parts filmed especially for the movie?
Answer: Some scenes/shots were taken from the old movie, while others were made specifically for this movie. Additionally, numerous shots were "composited" to place new characters in the old footage.
Question: Is it ever revealed what Frankie's secret is? Why is he estranged from his daughter and looking for forgiveness?
Answer: No, the cause of conflict between Frankie and his daughter is never revealed - we only know that she returns his weekly letters, and it has been some time since they have had contact.
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Chosen answer: We might just call it an exaggerated portrayal of the "white trash" family. Part of what makes Maggie so endearing is that she struggled and made herself out of nothing, and to create this history, it is expected that her family is awful, and never expected anything out of her.