Answered general questions about movies, TV and more

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I remember awhile ago watching an Anime show which involved aliens or some kind of giant humans invading earth and people going into shelter to avoid them. All I really remember is the main hero using a sort of red armor and the main heroine in the series premier being a little girl who's lost her diary and is upset. When she later grows up, it shows a long-dead alien clutching her diary. Anybody know what this show was called?

Answer: It's an anime known as Robotech Macross Saga. One of the first animes to come to the western shores while maintaining a bit of feel the original version had.

What was the title of a movie where Paul Newman says: "There's more than one way to skin a cat?" I'm sure it's a classic movie dated before the late 70s.

Answer: The movie is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).

Back in 1980 I remember watching a Charles Bronson movie on cable. A key scene occurred at the beginning with a man's fingers being cut-off. The phrase "chop, chop" was said. What is the name of this movie? It is driving me crazy.

Answer: This movie is called THE PASSAGE. Charles Bronson is not in it. The guy who says chop chop is a nazi officer played by Malcolm McDowell.

I am looking for the title of a movie, made in the 1970's or 80's- I just remember the end or near the end: A girl about 13 and her younger brother are alone in a cabin in a blizzard, and a bad man that has been after them before breaks down the door, waving a rifle, and takes them prisoner. I remember he says something like: "My big toe froze off, I thought it was a road apple" He beats the girl up, then the boy hits him and he chases the boy outside to a shed, where the boy burns it and the bad guy, saving himself and his sister. I think that was the ending. Can anyone tell me the name of this, or any of the actors?

Answer: The film is "Cold River" 1982 starring Suzanne Webber, Richard Jaekel and Robert Earl Jones.

I am looking for any info on a war movie from the late sixties or early seventies. It featured two soldiers being sent to an island to fight the war for their country one on one with the winner transmitting a code back to declare victory. I don't think they took weapons with them but I am not sure. It was more of guerrila war as I do remember the Japanese soldier putting razor blades in a tree trunk laced with bacteria for the American to cut himself on. At one point in the film each country sends another soldier in to help fight, a form of cheating. The original combatants kill their comrades out of respect for each other and the integrity of fight.

Answer: It was called "The Challange" and starred Darren McGavin. I remember it well and would love to get a copy of it.

Are the contestants on Wheel of Fortune encouraged to buy vowels? It seems like as soon as someone gets some money they immediately start buying vowels.

Answer: By buying a vowel, you can guess a letter without the risk of landing on Bankrupt or Lose A Turn. Vowels are also extremely useful in figuring out the number of syllables in the word.

JC Fernandez

This was a movie from the 1970s: I was only a little kid when I saw it. The only scene I remember is a woman who was going to be sacrificed in some kind of Southwest American Indian ceremony. It was filmed in a desert area with canyons and cliffs, and was set in pre-modern times. There was a part where they covered the face of the victim so that they couldn't see. Ring any bells?

Answer: Not 100% sure, but I think what you're looking for is "Against a Crooked Sky."

Chanteuse66

I'm trying to find the title to a film I saw on television in the early 80's. A crazy young woman lives alone in a remote unpopulated area. A man (possibly a local authority) drives his truck to her house once in a while to check on her. The woman seems to have the mind of a child and her interactions are awkward and somehow threatening. There are a lot of long uneasy silences. At the end, the woman is walking around outside in just panties and shirt. The title was something like "The Madness of Emily" or "The Psychosis of Sara" or "The Neurosis of Ana Rose". I can't remember the actual name. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: I believe you're thinking of the Jodie Foster movie "Nell".

CCARNI

I've noticed that occasionally, some of the no. 1 films at the box office are also some of the worst reviewed by critics. Why is this?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The films are reviewed by critics, but attended by the regular movie-going public. Critics see every movie, so they have a tendency to get (a) jaded or (b) overly critical. They tire of plot devices and story lines that they have seen all too many times and often wish for more intelligent writing and witty dialogue. However the movie-going public is, admittedly, less demanding. They easily flock to movies that simply appeal to the masses.

Garlonuss

I am looking for a particular LoonyTunes short. It might be on one of the various "Loony Tunes Gold" DVD collections. Unfortunately I have no idea what the title is. I have looked online at the titles on the different sets, but I find a few titles that might be it, or might not. If anyone knows the title, and hopefully what, if any, DVD set it is on, I would really appreciate it. The story is a 20th century continuation of the story of the Shoemaker and the Elves. Elmer Fudd is the King of the Elves, and he wants the elves working for the shoemaker back. The shoemaker doesn't know how he will run his business without the elves. So Elmer tells him about automation and industrialization along with some basic economics. Also when the elves hear the word "Jehoshaphat" they start to change into mice, until they say the word, "Rumplestiltskin"

Answer: "Yankee Dood It". http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/5308-Yankee_Dood_It.html. A forum thread on that cartoon with more info: http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/Cartoon_with_jehosaphat_and_business_summary_P70488/.

Rlvlk

I remember watching a movie when I was younger, and was wondering what it was called. It was about an American female baseball (I believe) team, and I think they may have been the first such team. I remember they travelled America in a bus, and at one point one of the women received a letter telling her her husband had died in a war. Also one of them, or one of the people they travelled with had a son, and many years later there was a display at a museum or stadium about them and the boy was there, but grown up and they fussed over him.

Answer: Sounds like "A League of Their Own" with Tom Hanks and Geena Davis.

Guy

Who was the noted film director that was killed about 10-15 years ago when a large rock was thrown from a street overpass and smashed through his car windshield? He probably would have been in his 70s or 80s by now.

raywest

Chosen answer: This is the only thing I found close: "November 19, 1998: Film director Alan Pakula (70) was killed while driving on the Long Island Expressway east of New York City. He lost control of his Volvo and crashed into a fence after a metal pipe crashed through his windshield. The pipe, which had been lying on the highway, was kicked up by another car. Pakula was taken to the North Shore Hospital in Plainview, New York, where he was pronounced dead. Pakula directed films such as Klute and All the President's Men." This site lists famous people that died in car accidents and that was the only director that died from something flying through his windshield.http://www.celebratetoday.com/autoceleb.html.

Rlvlk

The movie i would like info on was made between 1985 & 1987 at a guess. I was young when i watched it and my memory of this movie is quite vague. The movie was set during world war 2 and featured aliens or creatures of some kind? If my memory serves me right, these creatures were helping the soldiers? Could anyone shed some light on this movie please?

Answer: Sounds like Zone Troopers from 1986.

papajim

This is an 80's film, it was about a young boy that was kidnapped while his mother was shopping. I think this film is based on a true story. The young boy's name was Alan.

gillian ahern

Chosen answer: Perhaps you're thinking of the TV movie Adam (1983) which is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of 6 year old Adam Walsh from a Sears store in 1981. His father John is the host of America's Most Wanted.

Jeff Swanson

This is a b/w film, late 50's: a small group of people is in everglades-type surrounds. One gets attacked by a huge snapping turtle, one has to climb a tree to get away from an alligator, but the best part is a guy gets an earwig in his ear, goes into a fever, and after several days the earwig comes out of his ear. But he's told that it was a female and had laid eggs in his head. This was a movie, not a tv show. Any help please.

ramjet

Chosen answer: This was a TV series of Night Gallery by Rod Serling. The name of the episode was "The Caterpillar".

sniff_my_butt

I've been trying to find a title of a movie. Cars and clothing along with grade of picture and sets, couldn't set the movie more than mid-60's to late 70's. It's titled Arthur or Arnold I believe, that's where my problem comes in, but it's where he has recently departed and left a will for his new wife and family, but they're all on audio tapes and he keeps giving them clues about where his fortune is. I know his body keeps getting moved, and that a shower literally collapses on a couple. At the end his sister is moving the body, and she's the only one to live through a carefully constructed plan between the departed and his sister. I know she finds the money at the end behind his casket or something, but a stone door closes and an audio tape of his voice comes on telling her she's trapped, fade out. Thanks if you know.

Answer: You're actually spot on with the title. This is the 1973 film Arnold. Further details can be found here.

Tailkinker

Does anyone know if Tom Clancy's book "Rainbow Six" has been, or is planned to be, made into a movie?

papajim

Chosen answer: According to IMDB.com it's greenlighted for a 2010 release. Whether or not it will make it or be shelved is anyone's guess.

Grumpy Scot

I am trying to find the name of a film I saw a number of years ago. The film is about a step-father who is trying to bring his step-son home for Christmas. The only things I can remember is that it takes them ages due to mishaps etc. along the way, and the step-father wears a ring on his pinky finger which when he punches people (many references to it throughout the film) it leaves an imprint in their forehead. Any thoughts?

Scrappy

Chosen answer: Dutch. Ed O'Neill stars as the step-dad. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101786/.

Rlvlk

There was a movie I recall seeing in the 80s where after a guy (who was not of the nicest sort) died, he was given an option to come back and live as a woman with a vague goal before he could get into heaven. Toward the end I recall him becoming pregnant with a friend's child and dies giving birth. Anyone recall the name of this movie?

Answer: This is the movie "Switch" starring Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits.

Damian Torres

I noticed on the list of 2008 Razzie nominations, Lindsay Lohan was nominated for Worst Screen Couple for her roles in I Know Who Killed Me. Are there any other actors/actresses who have shared that nomination with themselves?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Eddie Murphy is also nominated for Worst Screen Couple this year (so would have been on the same list) for his multiple roles in Norbit. Murphy was also nominated in the 2002 awards for his appearances with several different people, including his own clone in The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Ahnult Schwarzenegger received the nomination at the 2000 awards for his double role in The Sixth Day, with Leonardo di Caprio achieving the honour the previous year for The Man in the Iron Mask. There have also been several occasions where an actor or actress has been nominated along with an item of clothing or other prop, which could arguably count as a solo nomination, and three occasions on which an actress has had her breasts nominated, which would also seem to qualify.

Tailkinker

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