Best movie questions of 2009

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Coraline picture

Question: After Other Wybie frees Coraline from the mirror and is helping her escape, he takes off his glove and blows away his hand. Is something happening to him?

HulkObsessedChick

Chosen answer: Coraline urges Other Wybie to escape with her. He shows her that he can't - he is not a person, just another puppet of the Other Mother. What is blowing away is the sawdust Other Mother fills her puppets with.

Ioreth

He's just a temporary distraction.

Answer: It's because the other Wybie isn't real, he is just one of the other mother's creations. The other world is full of magic, so if he tries to go to the normal world he will turn into sawdust or sand because the normal world has no magic.

More Coraline questions
The Hangover picture

Question: In the scene right when they leave the hotel after the wild night, they see Doug's mattress. Is there any significance to the guy that turns to them and says some people just can't handle Vegas?

Answer: His name is Chuck Pacheco and he's an actor/director. He played Chuckie in the movie Alpha Dog.

Answer: I'm sure the guy Phil asks is a famous golfer, just not sure who. It is significant in what he says, because the Wolf Pack couldn't handle Vegas, so it was a sideways slap to them.

More The Hangover questions
The Uninvited picture

Question: If Mildred Kemp is in the mental institution under her real name, then why in the article does it say that she is still at large? Is this just part of the delusion that Anna is playing out?

scaryterri

Chosen answer: The newspaper article saying she was still at large was 20 years old. It can safely be assumed that she was caught and put into the institution during that 20 year time frame.

rswarrior

What? I'm still so confused. Are Rachel and Mildred the same person? Who killed the three children?

Anna has a disorder, which is another reason she was in a psychiatric institution and not jail. Her personality disorder is called dissociative identity disorder, where she takes on alters, aspects of her personality who handle stress, when she cannot. Alex and Mildred were alters of hers, which is why Anna thought Rachel was Mildred. The MIldred alter did the things she couldn't do, killing Rachel because she thought she was evil. And a Mildred alter can be thought of wanting to revenge her capture, so why not make a mini Mildred out of Anna?

So Mildred told Anna to kill Rachel?

No... Mildred was in the mental hospital with Anna and told Anna stories about her murdering the children I'm sure (since she asked when Anna left the hospital who she was going to tell her stories too). Anna wanted to kill Rachel to begin with and when she faked being mentally health enough to escape, her intention was to be home to kill her. She did and then goes back to the hospital, where the real Mildred Kemp is.

Answer: No they're two different people. The woman who spoke to Anna at the asylum is Kemp. Rachel just changed her name to escape an abusive ex boyfriend.

Rob245

More The Uninvited questions
Law Abiding Citizen picture

Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?

Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.

Phaneron

When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.

I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.

Phaneron

More Law Abiding Citizen questions

Chosen answer: Snape wants to know how Harry knew Sectum Sempra. As shown by him using Occumelancy to see where his copy of Advanced Potion making is. But at the same time, if Snape punished Harry for a spell in a book, Harry could show it to Dumbledore, who would recognise Snape's handwriting. Additionally, Harry was certainly punished in the book - he got detention with Snape every Saturday for the rest of the term. The movie most likely had to cut this for time issues, and also perhaps because the scene is more dramatic if Snape only silently glares at him.

Ssiscool

More Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince questions

9 (2009)

9 picture

Question: Why were the dolls sent out after the scientist made them? Why didn't they stay with the scientist so he could explain everything?

YellowBird

Answer: They were sent out into the world to create a new world for themselves. Every time the scientist created a doll, he transferred part of his soul into the doll bringing it to life but leaving him weaker. After creating 9 and transferring the piece of his soul into 9, he died so they would never have found out what they were created for.

More 9 questions
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen picture

Question: Sam says that the Energon source is before the Autobots. So to find it they need to talk to a Decepticon. Wheelie is the first one at hand, but how does he know about the source, let alone the Seekers, what they look like and where they are? He doesn't look like he is as old as Jetfire, and as he puts it, "Nobody tell me nothin".

Friso94

Chosen answer: He knows from stories passed down to him from older generations of bots, not much unlike stories about the past passed down to us from our ancestors. His line about no one telling him anything is just a way to avoid being put back in the box or being tortured by Mikayla.

dablues7

More Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen questions
Orphan picture

Question: Maybe I missed something, but how was Esther able to fool everyone practically all her life and hide the fact that she's a 33-year old sociopath? When Kate finally learns the truth by getting the phone call, they show a photo of the "real" Esther, so at least those records of her exist somewhere. How could the boarding school not have known her true identity?

Answer: The boarding school was going by the falsified records that Esther had with her. They did not suspect anything, so they had no reason to dig any further at the time.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: High quality makeup was an important part of her disguise as the alternative ending make apparent. Her fake freckles were the master's touch.

More Orphan questions
Sherlock Holmes picture

Question: Just before Sherlock attacks somebody, he determines what areas to strike to incapacitate someone and determine how long it would take someone to recover from both physical and psychological trauma. Granted that he could figure out a person's physical recovery but, could he actually figure out a person's pyshological recovery? He noted that it would take six months if I remember for a guy to recover psychologically but, to me, Sherlock is just taking a wild guess. Especially, if the guy recovered in half the time.

Answer: I believe that particular line was him making a joke to himself about the man's pride.

Quantom X

More Sherlock Holmes questions
Push picture

Question: At the end of the movie we find out that it was really soy sauce that was injected into Nick's arm. Wouldn't injecting soy sauce directly into your blood stream still kill you, or at least have some sort of ill side effects?

Answer: Soy sauce is mostly soy protein and salt in water- it might raise your blood pressure for a while, but assuming you're in reasonably good health, and presuming it wasn't a ridiculously large amount, your liver will filter it out after a short while.

This is incorrect, there are several variables in this but given the syringe size I'm guessing that he injected approx 50ml. Now 50ml injected intravenously would almost certainly cause sepsis and he would die from septic shock within a day or so. The reason for this is that soy sauce is a fermented product full of several different types of bacteria in large quantities which would be quite friendly in the gut but disastrous in the blood stream. Also the sodium and yeasts and funghi in the sauce would not be good either. If however the injection was subcutaneous but not intravenous then it may not be fatal but it would certainly give him a very nasty infected cyst that would have the potential to be fatal if not treated correctly.

More Push questions
Knowing picture

Question: Why, near the end of the film, does Caleb start writing numbers which are supposed to be predictions of future events, when the world is going to end?

Answer: Great question. Probably writing predictions for the "new" world.

Paul Van Scott

So did someone decode the list? Just for s* and giggles :).

Answer: I think Caleb started writing the numbers so he could tell his father the coordinates of the location he needed to take the children in a last ditch effort, since the girl whom originally wrote the numbers didn't complete them. He un-"knowing"-ly made the same mistake and interrupted him again.

More Knowing questions
Mr. Nobody picture

Question: I'm confused about the ending. When talking to the journalist, the journalist looks to his right and he sees a young Nemo running to the train. Eventually, Nemo chooses to be with neither of his parents. Did Nemo's extremely long life actually happen or, was he actually still a child deciding what to do at that point and he only imagined possible futures?

Answer: This film is mostly open up for interpretation but I understand it that young Nemo thought up older Nemo and it actually happened, maybe in an alternate universe. Don't forget that Nemo could remember the future so most of what he imagines is probably going to happen. Unfortunately he can't predict choice so he doesn't know which life happens so all of them happen at once and they don't happen as well because he chose to make no choice (Zugzwang). Hope that explained it.

More Mr. Nobody questions
Inglourious Basterds picture

Question: Why does Hugo Stiglitz kill the German officers in the first place? The film mentions his enlistment, but how is this related to his killings?

Answer: Based on his willingness to join the Basterds, we can assume he killed them because he didn't believe in what the Nazis were doing.

There is a cut of him being whipped during the bar scene. I think he was taking revenge for harsh and perhaps undeserved punishment.

No, the whipping is how it feels in his mind sitting next to that SS officer and having to pretend to like him and be a Nazi. He's ready to snap.

lionhead

More Inglourious Basterds questions

Chosen answer: Jake and Neytiri were holding hands and Neytiri had her hair unbraided. It is also possible that when Na'vi mate, their appearance changes slightly in a way that only other Na'vi could see.

More Avatar questions
Julie & Julia picture

Question: Julie starts getting "stuff" in the mail from her readers. But when you do a blog, you wouldn't put your address in there, would you?

kh1616

Chosen answer: It's entirely possible that she got a PO Box, which would allow her to receive goodies and keep her address private at the same time.

Brad

More Julie & Julia questions
X-Men Origins: Wolverine picture

Question: Given that Logan's body (skin, bone, muscle, etc) is what "regenerates" quickly, and Adamantium is absolutely fixed once it is solidified, Logan would now have two permanent holes in the front of his skull from the bullets fired into his brain to destroy his memories at the end of the film? Unlike the skin, muscle, bone and brain tissue, the Adamantium would not "heal over" or regenerate, so the two vulnerable bits of bone would remain, a bit of a vital vulnerability in a dangerous area of the body.

Answer: That would indeed seem to be the case. Granted, it would have to be an extremely lucky shot to find one of those holes under his flesh, but, yes, it is an apparent vulnerability.

Tailkinker

More X-Men Origins: Wolverine questions
Jennifer's Body picture

Question: Is it a coincidence that Needy uses the same knife that killed Jennifer to kill the band? Needy wouldn't have know about the knife since she wasn't present when Jennifer was killed.

sunfox35

Answer: When Jen was explaining how the band members through the knife in the waterfall. When needy was walking and found the knife, the knife was beside one of the balls that the scientists were testing where the water went to. It showed the scene where the scientists were putting little red balls down to see where they came up. So no it wasn't a coincidence, she knew that was the knife.

Answer: Maybe coincidence but I think she might knew its the same knife the bad used to kill Jennifer because of the power she got from the demon after being bitten by Jennifer aka the succubus.

Chosen answer: It is no coincidence. Needy killed Jennifer with the same knife that she would later use to kill the band.

More Jennifer's Body questions
Watchmen picture

Question: I don't quite understand why Dr. Manhattan had to kill Rorschach. That is, I don't quite get why that was the only solution. Rorschach was a valuable member of the Watchmen, and in the type of world they were in (chaos, corruption, murder, etc) one would think that they would want to keep as many of themselves banded together as possible. Couldn't some sort of negotiation or compromise have been reached/agreed to by Rorschach instead of him being killed?

Answer: He has spent years as a costumed vigilante despite the fact that it was illegal. He has a very strict idea of what is right ("never compromise") and has proven himself incapable of doing otherwise. So no, there was no real chance of negotiating with him - Rorschach himself made it clear he'd have to die if they wanted his silence.

Garlonuss

Death was not the only choice. Doc M could easily have teleported/banished Rorschach to Mars/anywhere secluded in an oxygen bubble. He could have spared his life and just made him mute or manipulate his brain chemistry/atoms to remove the memory of what happened. The point is Doc M is all powerful and could manipulate matter at his whim; death was just a plot device creating a chance of an emotive martyrdom/sacrificial ending.

Ethically speaking, exiling him to Mars or erasing his memory of the event can be considered just as cruel as killing him, because then his agency is being taken away from him. Rorshach's malcontent with the situation poses a problem for the other heroes, and since Dr. Manhattan isn't willing to let him tell the truth of what happened, he obliges Rorschach's demand that he kill him instead.

Phaneron

More Watchmen questions
2012 picture

Question: How come a high tech ship would be unable to start its engine merely with the reason that the gate is unable to close?

gblontok

Chosen answer: Its a safety device so the ship doesn't put to sea and ends up flooding the ship. The passenger ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the port of Zebrugge in 1987, precisely because the doors were not shut properly.

GalahadFairlight

More 2012 questions
District 9 picture

Question: Is there ever an explanation given as to why the Aliens visited Earth in the first place?

Answer: Yes. They weren't intending to visit Earth at all, but their ship became crippled somehow and they were all slowly dying. They made their way to Earth looking for help.

Phixius

More District 9 questions

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.