Question: When Bond realises he has been poisoned at the poker game, he mixes salt with water and drinks it. What was this supposed to do? Does salt mixed with water rid the body of hazardous chemicals or something?
Dra9onBorn117
16th Feb 2017
Casino Royale (2006)
Answer: Thiopentone Sodium, Sodium Nitrite, and Sodium Thiosulfate are the most common chemicals used to treat cyanide poisoning. Cyanide might've been Bond's first thought, and he was ingesting large quantities of sodium to try to stave off the effects.
23rd Jan 2017
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: Why did the whole concept of "Midichlorians" introduced in this film anger so many Star Wars fans? I'm not a huge Star Wars fan myself, but I've heard nothing but hate for them.
Chosen answer: Because it took a magical, mystical, and mysterious concept and reduced it to a blood-borne chemical.
10th Mar 2016
Irreversible (2002)
Question: What is the meaning of the flashing lights at the end of the movie (after the camera pans from Alex reading the book at the park)?
Chosen answer: The flashing lights are to create a sense of uneasiness again. Gaspar Noe uses low frequency sound to create nausea, headaches, and disorientation in the beginning and uses it again here to make the viewer feel sick after the mood changes dramatically. Also it symbolizes the chaos that occurs in the universe & how life can easily spiral out of control as it does in the movie.
1st Jun 2015
Arrested Development (2003)
Question: What is the episode where George Michael explains to Michael what Ann does with the eggs and mayonnaise?
Chosen answer: "The One Where They Build a House," S2E2.
2nd Feb 2015
Donnie Darko (2001)
2nd Feb 2015
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Question: It is revealed at the start of the film that Vanessa was a Fembot the entire time. When Austin tells Basil Exposition this, he replies that they knew all along. If they knew all along, why didn't they tell him? Am I missing something here, or is it just a very poor excuse for Austin to become single again and act the way he does?
Chosen answer: It's just a random joke and an easy way for them to write out Elizabeth Hurley and bring in Heather Graham.
11th Jan 2015
General questions
I remember an animated (I think) TV series about a guy and his sister who try and find their mother. The main enemy was a bald woman. It also was about flying ships and dogfights aplenty. The last thing I remember is that they join a group of people on what looks like an old 19th century ship. Can someone please tell me what this is called?
Answer: Skyland.
14th Dec 2014
General questions
There is a movie starring Milla Jovovich that features a bike chase with astonishingly bad CGI. I was wondering what this movie is called?
Chosen answer: Ultraviolet (2006).
3rd Nov 2014
The Godfather (1972)
Question: At the start of the film, Michael says that he doesn't want anything to do with the family business. However at the end of the film, he is the don. I've been wondering where exactly does he change his beliefs in the film. Mates have told me its when Vito dies, but I believe its either after the hospital (when Vito is shot the first time) or after Michael's wife in Sicily dies. Are any of these true?
Chosen answer: It is a gradual process and it happens long before Vito Corleone's death because Michael had already taken over as Don. Michael was deeply affected by his father being shot and nearly dying. Michael changes and will now do anything to protect his father, and in the hospital tells him, "I'm with you now." Michael kills Sollozzo because he knew his father would never be safe while Sollozzo lived. His first wife's death certainly had an effect, but it really is when his brother Sonny, the heir apparent, is murdered that Michael's path is cemented. He also knows that Don Corleone cannot live forever, and with Sonny gone and Fredo being incompetent, the Corleone empire will collapse once he dies. To ensure the Corleone empire stays protected and in tact, Michael takes over as Don with the idea he'd make the family a legitimate enterprise. He and his father (now retired) then plot to murder the remaining mob heads. Don Corleone had never wanted Michael, his favorite son, to join the family business, knowing what it would do to him. Ultimately, there was never anyone else capable of succeeding Vito Corleone.
Answer: Michael's decision is between love and power. These are the two roads of life and you can only go down one, as an ancient Roman said. At the start of the film, his road is obviously love. There's no single moment when he abandons this path - indeed, you can argue that the whole film rests on his gradual, incremental abandonment. The process begins shortly after his father's shooting. In terms of cinema, we first see the process unfolding when he's sitting out in the yard, thinking things over, just before being called in to the telephone. (Notice how, in the next scene, Clemenza mocks love.) Shortly thereafter, Mike is with Kay in the hotel and he's distancing himself from her emotionally. Then comes the hospital scene and "I'm with you now" to his father. He notices his hands are steady during the cigarette lighting. He's well on the path now. Then comes the sock in the jaw and the killing. Now, to be sure, the interlude in Sicily suggests that he is wavering somewhat in the direction of love rather than power - the expression of his face, while they're dancing, suggests that he perhaps might, at this point, opt for love. But then, in rapid succession, he is informed of his brother's murder and his wife is blown to pieces. His fate is sealed.
3rd Nov 2014
Aliens (1986)
Question: I know that the studio chose James Cameron to direct due to the strength of his script, but why wasn't Ridley Scott offered the chance to direct? And was the studio considering a sequel before Cameron joined?
Answer: It really was all down to James Cameron having already written the script and proving himself capable of directing with 'The Terminator.' It was just a quicker, easier, and almost certainly cheaper decision to let him direct his own script rather than get someone else, even Ridley Scott. While the producers had wanted to make an 'Alien' sequel almost immediately, at the time the head of 20th Century Fox didn't want to pursue it fearing it would be seen as an obvious cash-in and flop. When a new executive at the studio came in a couple years later, the project was put back on track, and I believe Cameron was the first to be approached to write the script.
Chosen answer: The studio was considering a sequel before Cameron was involved, but regarding directing it, Ridley Scott told "The Hollywood" in a 2008 interview, "They didn't ask me! To this day I have no idea why. It hurt my feelings, really, because I thought we did quite a good job on the first one." The studio liked Cameron's script and at that time he had enough clout to be able to insist on directing it.
3rd Nov 2014
The Godfather (1972)
Question: I've read that The Godfather has gotten 270-280 million dollars at the box office. Now I though that Jaws was the first to get 100 million. Was this statistic just in the US or did the Godfather garner this number with a re-release?
Chosen answer: The Godfather's totals mentioned above include domestic + foreign + re-releases over the years. In its initial release (and re-release after the 1973 Academy awards) it earned $85.7 million domestically. Jaws received $123 million in its initial domestic release.
3rd Nov 2014
Alien (1979)
Question: There is an incredibly freaky but cool voice in the trailer that sounds like a woman screaming. Is this sound heard in the film (I've watched it heaps of times but never heard it) and how was the sound effect created?
Chosen answer: The "woman screaming" sound effect was created by an instrument called the water harp. And, no, the sound effect was never heard in the film.
3rd Nov 2014
Alien 3 (1992)
Question: Why didn't James Cameron return to direct? I know he made more than a name for himself after Aliens but I don't understand why the studio wouldn't ask him to return due to how good Aliens was. And why was a debut director (David Fincher) brought in with such a high budget? Wouldn't the producers think of choosing a more experienced filmmaker to deal with the budget and actors, considering how strong the previous films were?
Chosen answer: I did a little reading on this. Cameron was adamant at the time that if there was an Aliens 3 that he, and his then-wife, Gale Hurd, would not be part of it. He said by the time a decision could be made about a another sequel and a plot was outlined, they would already be on to other projects, and he did not want to invest that much time and effort into one film franchise. He stated that money was not an issue, but he simply wanted to move on to other creative projects. Fincher had at this point directed several successful and lucrative, big money advertisements. The producers had enough faith in him to believe he was capable of directing the third film, but not so much to give him total creative control. There has never been a "directors cut" of Alien 3, as Fincher had so little control, that he pretty much disassociated himself from the film after completion.
3rd Nov 2014
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: What exactly are midichlorians?
Chosen answer: Midi-chlorians are an intelligent microscopic lifeform present in the bloodstream of all sentient beings within the Star Wars universe. The higher the midi-chlorian count present within a being's bloodstream, the more Force-sensitive they are, making them a likely candidate for Jedi (or Sith) training.
3rd Nov 2014
Shame (2011)
Question: I was wondering if there were any unsimulated sex scenes in the film, because some of them look very real.
Chosen answer: No. While some NC-17, non-pornographic films do feature unsimulated sex (Nine Songs and Nymphomaniac, among others), it's normally explicitly (heh) clear that it's real, rather than just seeming realistic.
11th Oct 2014
The Maze Runner (2014)
Question: I still don't fully understand why W.C.K.D would entrap the kids in the maze. Is it because they were testing them for survival or something? And why was the girl the 'last one ever'?
Chosen answer: Because the film is based on the book series, the exact purpose of why the boys were kept in the maze has not been fully explained yet other than it is an experiment. There has been a pandemic viral outbreak that the boys appeared to have somehow survived and now are being tested. Why the girl was the "last one" has also not been explained, though she and Thomas are somehow connected to those who are responsible for running the experiment. At the end, the woman scientist says that the experiment has been a success and Phase 2 is about to begin, so more answers will be revealed in the second film. To avoid giving away the entire plot, I suggest reading the book series synopsis on Wikipedia.
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Chosen answer: He did it to simply make himself vomit, which is what he does into the sink. Inducing vomiting is meant to rid the stomach of the poison that hasn't been absorbed (although this idea is debatable, Bond thought it was wise). However, he was still in danger because he already absorbed enough of the poison, which is why he goes to the car and injects the antidote (the injection he gives himself in the neck).
Bishop73