Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: During the scene where the first-years are being sorted into their houses, the sorting hat is set on each students head, except for Malfoy. It is merely held above his head, as it announces his house. Is there a reason for this?

Answer: Malfoy is so strongly Slytherin that the Sorting Hat can tell he needs to be in Slytherin before reaching his head and having to "think" about it.

angi

Question: At the end when Jean is holding the water back and controlling the x-jet, the power comes back on and the x-men escape leaving Jean to die, but could she do the same if she was in the x-jet? It could have saved her life.

Answer: She could have, but she had to die to come back as the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix in X3. Plot trapdoor.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: 14.

SanDiegoDeputy

Answer: - 14 when she was pretending to be his daughter - Unknown later in the end when it's revealed that she is not his daughter, but over 18 because she said she is a grown woman.

Question: How did they know which boat to find at the docks? I don't remember the guy whose boat it was telling them which one was his.

Tobin OReilly

Chosen answer: Steve (the guy with the boat) probably either had the name of the boat on the key ring floater or told them at some point during the bus-fixing montage.

Xofer

Question: The song being sung when we first see the gala at the end was used to open a romantic comedy, but I can't for the life of me think which film it was - can anyone remember?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: It's from Adam Sandler's film - The Wedding Singer.

Question: During the montage scene, the movie plays a cover of the Disturbed song, 'Down with the Sickness,' that was all happy-go-lucky. However, my friend and I cannot for the life of us find a soundtrack or song listing for this movie. If anyone knows the name of this song, we really, really want to know.

DenizenZERO

Chosen answer: This is 'Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine.' They do hilarious covers, from this song to Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' to the White Stripes' 'Fell in Love With A Girl.'

angi

Chosen answer: The orcs burn the wood for power to create the Uruk army. It acts as a metaphor for technology destroying nature. And it is what causes the Ents to join the war in The Two Towers.

Nick N.

Question: What exactly is the "infamous" Wilhelm scream?

Answer: A series of short painful screams performed by an actor were recorded for the film "Distant Drums." The recording was archived into the studio's sound effects library and it was used in many of their films since. "Star Wars" Sound Designer Ben Burtt tracked down the scream recording. Ben has adopted the scream as sort of a personal sound signature, and has included it in many of the films he has worked on. Since then it has grown to be something of an "in-joke" in Hollywood among sound designers, who like to see how many films they can fit it into. A list of "Wilhelms" and where they appear can be found at http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm.html.

rabid anarchist

Question: Does anybody know where I can get a script/transcript of the film?

Answer: There are several places that it's available. It's here - sfy.iv.ru/pdf/pirates_of_the_caribbean(2003).pdf - as an Acrobat file, which is the full script, containing directions and so forth. A transcript can be found here - http://www.hostultra.com/~vampfiles/piratesscript2.html - all the dialogue but much less detail on actions and so forth.

Tailkinker

Question: If Vivica Fox's daughter is 4 years old, why was she on a school bus?

Answer: Even for a child as young as that age, who is probably in pre-school, they still have buses that take them to school. Having grown up in America I rode on one with children that young.

Tobin OReilly

Question: When Vukovic and Traxler are watching Silberman question Reese, Vukovic mentions a guy they brought in who apparently burned something and did something else I couldn't quite hear. What's he actually talking about?

Answer: The quote: "He had this guy in here last week who set his Afghan [a breed of dog] on fire. Screwed it first, then set it on..." [and here Traxler interrupts him].

Phil C.

Question: In the extended version, if Faramir is so worried that Gollum will prevent Frodo from completing his quest, then why doesn't he kill him? I know that Frodo 'has to believe he can come back' and so on, but don't you think it is vital Frodo's journey to save the world is made as safe as possible?

Answer: Gollum is the only one who can guide Frodo to the stairs and through the tunnels above it, as he is the only one to have gotten into Mordor that way. And besides, Gollum is under Frodo's protection, and if Faramir had willingly hurt someone in the company of a guest, his and Gondor's honor would be ruined. This may not seem like much in our time and place, but in Middle Earth it matters a lot.

Twotall

Question: What style of black leather jacket does Ethan Hunt wear just before the chase scene near the end of the movie, I've been looking for ages trying to find something similar?

Answer: The costume designer was Lizzy Gardiner, who can be contacted through Sandra Marsh Management (smarshmgmt@earthlink.net). The IMDb is the best place for questions like this.

Jon Sandys

Lemon of Troy - S6-E24

Question: When Milhouse meets his Shelbyville double, he tearily says "So this is what it feels like when doves cry." Could someone explain this reference to me?

Answer: It's a reference to a Prince song. See http://dag.wieers.com/personal/lyrics/When_Doves_Cry.php.

J I Cohen

Answer: There is a clasp on the chain, which can be seen in shots in all three movies. However, as noted in several mistakes on this site, there are some shots where The Ring is inexplicably off the chain in subsequent shots.

Super Grover

Question: Is it possible for a 10-year-old kid with straight hair (Episode I) to develop a natural curl within the next 8-10 years (Episode II)? I can understand Anakin now having a darker hair color because he no longer lives on Tattoine (where the two suns were constantly lightening it), but where could the curl have come from?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: Absolutely - my cousin as a child had straight blonde hair, but around puberty (also soon after the Chernobyl explosion - draw your own conclusions) his hair went dark and curly. I'm sure someone can expand on the specific reasons why it might happen, but it's certainly possible.

Jon Sandys

Question: How do the people not racing always seem to get to the destination first?

Answer: They take the camel roads, which are easier (and faster) to navigate.

Xofer

Question: I understand Samara "haunting" her parents, spooking the horses, killing everyone who watches her video as an act of revenge, but why then does she torment (or at least "talk to") Aiden? Aiden has visions of Samara days before his cousin is killed, and for some reason, she seems to interact with him a lot, though we never see it in the movie.

Answer: For some reason, I always thought that Samara started to show things to Aidan after he went to Katie's room during her wake. There, he sees a figure on the TV and the proceeds to tell Rachel that it's not Katie's room anymore (clever word play as Katie had died so nothing was hers anymore, but it also implied that Samara's spirit had taken over her room). Since Aidan was a kid just like Samara when she died, she probably attached herself to him and began showing him things and it seems to have gotten worse after Rachel watched the tape and was infected by Samara. As for the drawings showing Katie's death, Samara didn't show those images to Aidan. Katie herself told him that she was running out of time and possibly that she was going to die. This obviously caused a huge impact on Aidan prompting him to draw those pictures.

Answer: Aiden is psychic. He can sense Samara, though he doesn't understand exactly what he is experiencing.

Timothy Cheseborough

Answer: Jamie is a boy, in one of the first episodes after he is born there's a scene where he pees in Hal's face while getting his diaper changed - very unlikely if he were a girl.

Question: Can someone please explain the scene where McClane and Hans are alone near the roof. Hans says his name is "Bill Clay" and the camera zooms in on a board with the name Clay on it. What is the significance of this? Does this give Hans away? And if so how?

Answer: No, this doesn't give Hans away - the zoom represents McClane checking the board out - getting proof that there is indeed a person in the building with that name (listed as W. Clay, for William). Hans has obviously done his homework, but McClane doesn't trust him anyway, hence the trick with the empty gun.

Tailkinker

The zoom to the board occurs before McClane turns around to glance at it. Most likely Gruber was improvising here - he heeded a name, scanned the board quickly and picked one off it.

He doesn't turn - the name board is just behind Hans to his left, in John's direct eyeline.

Answer: John already knew what Hans looked like. He saw him through the vent on the top of the elevator (after sending Karl's brother down wearing the sweater) - He also saw Hans shoot Takagi (which is why he says "Just like you did with Takagi" after Hans says he's gonna count to three).

Answer: It ties in to the earlier scene when McClane first enters the lobby and has to look up his wife in the fancy directory. It seemed like a pointless scene, but it establishes that the ONLY people left in the building are on the 30th floor. Bill Clay works on the 29th floor, and so isn't actually in the building at all. Gruber doesn't know this, he just picked the name, and that is how McClane knew he was lying.

The people on the 30th floor were attending the party, regardless of what floor they worked on, so Clay could have been there. I agree with Tailkinker's answer about Hans having done his homework. It appears that Hans had noticed Clay's name on the board and improvised a cover. As the others indicated, McClane wasn't fooled, though I don't think McClane was positive it was Hans. He'd previously only caught glimpses of Hans while in the elevator and also when Takagi was shot, but he did not see his full-face or close-up. McClane likely recognized his voice, even with the American accent.

raywest

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