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: An entry on the wearing of full combat gear and arms on the transport to 'Nam has been corrected, reason being that this is done today. This is correct, as rapid deployment in zones with little or nonexistent local military infrastructure exists requires every soldier to be operational when hitting ground. But was this the case at the time in Vietnam? Sure, this is early in the war, before a full scale upbuild but were incoming troops really transported this way, even in '65?

Airborne Ranger

Chosen answer: Yes and no. This has been done on and off since the 101st Airborned dropped on D-Day. Mainly it depends on the area being travelled through and the destination.

Grumpy Scot

Question: One of the mistakes for this film is "In the scene when Ben Kingsley is called a traitor by the woman, at the far right of some shots, you can see the right side (viewer's left) of a man moving slightly." - can anyone make this more specific. Who is calling Ben Kingsley a traitor? His wife, or Jennifer Connoley. Could anyone supply a timecode for this, as I'd like to see it.

Hamster

Chosen answer: I believe the post is refering to when Ben Kingsley's wife is yelling at him after the cop first threatens them with deportation. But his wife calls him a coward, not a traitor, and there is no one in the scene except for the 3 family members (I've gone through the scene several times in slow motion).

Question: When Judy was stung by that plant and she collapsed, I never really understood what happened. She collapsed but was she poisoned and killed or just paralyzed? Anybody have the faintest idea? That's the only bit I never understood. I thought she was shot by poisonous darts...

Hamster

Answer: Since the barb was poisonous, she was dying. This is seen when she begins looking pale and a few seconds later she isn't moving. Finishing the game was the only way to save her life.

Chosen answer: She was just temporarily immobilized by the venom - it wears off after a few minutes.

The Doctor

No, it doesn't. Alan said the purple plants shoot poisonous barbs. After being hit, by them, Judy was slowly being poisoned to death.

Question: Did A.J and Grace grew up together? Bear said that all of them had watched Grace grow up.

Answer: As AJ said in the movie, he's been working for Harry for 5 years. So No, they didn't grow up together.

XIII

Question: Does anyone know what they did with officer Duffy after they started cutting him open?

Answer: In the novelization, they dumped his corpse outside the police HQ.

Grumpy Scot

Show generally

Question: What does the J in Bartholomew J Simpson stand for? Is it like Homer's which just stands for Jay or is it something else?

Answer: It stands for Jo-Jo. This was confirmed by Nancy Cartwright when the show's cast appeared on "Inside the Actors Studio."

Cubs Fan

Show generally

Question: Does anybody know what the episode was called where that helicopter severed Romano's arm? I'm pretty sure it was season 8.

Answer: It was in "Chaos Theory", the first episode of season 9 (time code 00:13:55).

Super Grover

Question: In the scene where Max shoots Vincent in the building, where does Vince get hit? Blood came out which I would assume would be the throat, but that would have killed him, or is this just a mistake?

Answer: I believe the shot hit him in the right cheek as that is where most of the blood is. I think it more grazed the cheek, as Vincent can't really talk when he is first shot but on the train can talk a bit more easily.

Lummie

If you look at Vincent's ear after Max shoots him in the office building you will see there's a large chunk of his ear missing. It is more noticeable in the final shootout on the train where the lighting is much brighter. Maybe blood loss from that?

Answer: Gimli is simply the only one in the fellowship. The dwarves at Moria were slaughtered, but that was only a colonizing group sent out from the dwarves at the Lonely Mountain to reclaim Moria after it had been abandoned. Gimli, after all, was only one of the three dwarves that was sent to Rivendell for Elrond's council, so we have visual proof of two more, but there is a thriving society still out there. Elrond even mentions that they only care for their mining, with no mention that they are all dead.

Garlonuss

Answer: To get rid of the smell of alcohol, although it's pretty obvious Mrs Doubtfire is drunk anyway.

Sam Johnson

Question: Little Adam is looking in a grass-filled jar at the beginning of the movie which has a label on it that says "Curtis". At the very end of the movie, grown up Adam (as a sheriff) has a man working for him whose name is Curtis. What is the connection here? There is obviously one.

Answer: According to the Director's Commentary with Bill Paxton, the "pet in the jar" was a millipede and was named "Curtis" by Matthew McConaughey simply enough after Bill asked, "What should we call it?" Later when the other Curtis appears Paxton comments that "This guy's name is Curtis and people go 'Wow, why is that guy's name Curtis and the pet Curtis?'" But he fails to actually answer the question. In the Producer's Commentary they also reference the dual names, but again have no explanation other than to point out the fact that it seems to catch the attention of viewers.

OneHappyHusky

Answer: I think it is spurious. The two may appear to be related but are not.

KeyZOid

Question: How come they cut an entire verse from the song "the Phantom of the Opera"?

Answer: You'll have to ask Joel Schumacher on that one but basically it's just a matter of making the movie work. There were a number of changes when the musical was adapted to the screen. For example, the falling chandelier occurred just before the end of Act 1 in the musical, but was left until the end in the movie.

Answer: Emy Rossum had difficulty hitting the E6 at the end of the original song. By removing the final verse, they avoided a key change, which enabled Emmy to sing the final note as a C6, instead. It was mainly just a matter of making the song suitable for the cast to sing.

Answer: Incorrect. Beginning in the late 90's it was kinda just the thing to do. Current stage versions also cut out that verse.

Question: I don't know if it's been said in the book or movie, but does Gamling die? If so when is it? I've been told it's at the Pelennor fields, however isn't he seen at the Black Gate battle when Aragorn gives his speech?

Answer: It was certainly stated before the release of the Extended Edition that we would see his demise at the Pelennor Fields, but it seems that that scene didn't make the final version of the film. With the death of Theoden, Merry and Eowyn's wounding and all the other action going on, it was presumably decided that to break off from the action for the death of a minor character would disrupt the flow too much.

Tailkinker

Question: In the Extended Edition, who are the Seven Kings that Saruman mentions during the parley? The only thing I can think of is the Seven Lords of the West, but I'm not sure.

Answer: There's no group specifically referred to as the Seven Kings in Tolkien's works - your surmise that this refers to the seven male members of the Valar, the fourteen Powers of the world, may well be correct. The only other possibility that leaps to mind is that Saruman could be referring to the leaders of the seven dwarven clans.

Tailkinker

Question: When the monster exits the door and says, "She got this close to me." you could hear rock music, but the kid was noted as being six years old. What kind of six-year kid would play rock music, especially in the middle of the night?

Answer: It's supposed to show how much the children are changing. They used to be sweet and innocent, and easily scared. Now they're a lot harder to scare, thanks to violent TV, rock music, video games etc... Plus it's not too big of a stretch to imagine a six year old kid playing rock music, and it doesn't have to be in the middle of the night. The practice run near the beginning of the film shows that the monsters can enter the room under a minute after the child is put to bed.

Gary O'Reilly

Question: Perhaps I'm just grasping at straws here, but isn't there still a possibility that the woods are inhabited by monsters? No one was able to explain what killed the livestock.

Answer: There were no real monsters. Noah Percy, who was not an elder, killed the livestock. He had found his father's monster costume that was hidden under the floorboards. He secretly began wearing it and acting like one of the creatures that the elders were pretending to be in order to frighten younger members to keep them from leaving the village. Noah was mentally handicapped, and it was like a game to him, but it became more deadly over time. The elders did not know until the end of the movie that it was Noah who had killed the animals.

raywest

I believe the dad, Walker, explained to Ivy that it was the Elders. He also said the 1st ones that started popping up was likely one of the elders but he wasn't sure which one.

Question: Throughout the film, why do people refer to Henry as Harry?

Answer: Harry is a nickname for those with the given name of Henry, and has been for centuries. Today's Prince Harry, for example, is actually named Henry but is called by this nickname.

LuMaria 1

Question: The lasers in the Great Hall of the building where the egg is stored are moving around. How can they reflect back from anything (like a mirror) and know if someone is blocking the beam, and make the alarm go off?

Answer: This was already dealt with in the mistakes. Essentially the laser would need another point at the end if it was to alert the guards.

Lummie

Question: If the Phantom is so in love with Christine why does he just let her go? We know that he is prepared to kill (and has) for her so it can't be that his moral compass prevents him from forcing her to love him. Seems to be slightly counter productive considering the fact that Christine actually consents to being with him.

Answer: It is often said that the biggest gift you can give someone that you love is their freedom. That is why the Phantom lets her go.

shortdanzr

Question: Did the actors do their own singing?

Answer: Yes.

Tobin OReilly

Answer: Yes.

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