Myridon

1st Mar 2005

The Incredibles (2004)

Question: At the very end, when the boy walks up to Violet, Violet is talking to another girl and saying something that sounds like "Why do they even have to have cheerleaders." Given the film's many political correctness references, is this also a reference to something?

Moose

Chosen answer: Traditional cheerleaders are very un-pc for many reasons. They are basically popularity contests, promote beauty/thinness as an ideal, etc.

Myridon

1st Mar 2005

The Goonies (1985)

Question: On the DVD audio commentary,when all the actors are introducing himself. Sean Astin introduces himself as 'a well fed Sean Penn.' Why?

Answer: He resembles Sean Penn only fatter.

Myridon

Question: Spoiler! Doesn't Maggie have the legal right to refuse any type of life support? She's completely cognitive and in possession of all her mental faculties. Why does Frankie have to sneak in and illegally participate in her assisted suicide?

Answer: Yes, there was an article in last week's Sunday paper about how the medical community is up in arms over the mis-portrayal of patient's rights issues.

Myridon

Answer: Suicide is a sin and is said that you go to hell if you commit suicide. By Frankie doing it, it frees her spiritually from damnation in the eyes of God.

28th Feb 2005

Finding Neverland (2004)

Chosen answer: ACD was a close friend of JMB and they don't make a big deal out of identifying him. One scene he is in is the party after the first play opening. He is also the one who suggests to JMB that his interest in the boys might be a source of gossip.

Myridon

28th Feb 2005

Orgazmo (1997)

Question: Are "Happy Tarts" an actual product in America? They're displayed throughout the film as an obvious product placement joke, but is it a product made up for the benefit of the joke, or did the film makers make a real product placement into a joke?

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: No, Happy Tarts is not a real product (unless you live in South Park where Cartman sometimes has them along with Cheesy Poofs and Snacky Cakes).

Myridon

Question: Who exactly is this Brian Boitano the kids keep singing about and what relevance does he have to the overall plot of the film?

Answer: Brian Boitano is a famous figure skater (2 World Championships, an Olympic gold medal, and 6 Professional World Championships). He is a recurring character on the TV show. The idea is that sports heroes are who kids would idolize/worship (song makes fun of the "What Would Jesus Do" fad) contrasted with figure skating which is perceived as being a rather less than manly sport thus they make up wild heroic acts to "explain" why he is their idol.

Myridon

9th Feb 2005

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Question: Something I really don't understand about the ending. Riggs is looking over his former wife's grave when his beeper tells him that Lorna is expecting their baby. He races to the hospital and there she is about to give birth. So who drove Lorna to the hospital? Can't have been Riggs as he wouldn't have left at a time of need just to see his wife's grave. Doubtful that Lorna drove herself, and no relatives were there (as we see at the end). So what other explanation is there?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She could have taken a taxi or an ambulance, or even driven herself. A neighbor or friend could have taken her who didn't stay after she was admitted. She might have already been at the hospital for any number of reasons - doctor's appointment, already admitted for bed rest prior to labor, etc. etc. etc.

Myridon

3rd Feb 2005

That '70s Show (1998)

Show generally

Question: I have a couple of questions about the part of the show where Kelso's dating Angie, Hyde's sister. Number one: How can Hyde's sister be black? And number two: How come she's even there? She moved to the same town?

Answer: In "Let's Spend the Night Together", Hyde discovers that the biological father he never met before is black. His father has other kid(s) with different mother(s). They could have been in town the whole time, it's just that Hyde never knew these people were related to him.

Myridon

Question: I know that the musical being called 'Lease' is a reference to 'Rent', but what's the joke behind the song being called 'Everyone has AIDS'?

Moose

Chosen answer: The musical "Rent" is based on the opera "La Boheme" in which the main character Mimi dies of consumption (tuberculosis). In the updated story for "Rent", the disease is AIDS rather than TB. Several characters in Rent have AIDS or are HIV positive.

Myridon

Question: In the scene where Rolfe is throwing stones at the window, Captain von Trapp catches him and after trying to explain, Rolfe says Heil Hitler. I was just wondering why he says that seeing as all three there are Austrians (esp. von Trapp) and Germany hasn't taken over Austria yet.

Answer: Rolfe sees Max, who he knows is at least loosely involved with Nazi affairs, and then exclaims "heil Hitler." Being merely a child foot soldier for the Nazis, he wouldn't know the extent of Max's involvement with the Nazis, but knows enough to say "heil Hitler", just in case.

Answer: Some Austrians (such as Rolfe) had already been converted to the Nazi cause as a political/social/pseudo-religious movement rather than as an expression of German nationalism, just as you can live in a democracy and be a communist.

Myridon

Question: The full version of "imba windpo" or something like that, that they play at Ruth Young's funeral plays at the end of the movie. Could somebody listen to the full song and translate the lyrics to English?

Answer: The song was written for the movie and is called "Windsong". The lyrics were originally written in English by Will Jennings then translated into whatever language that is. The music is written by James Horner (Titanic). The original lyrics were: "Sing a song and for a moment you will be visited by the wind. Sing a song and for a moment dream sweetly of the wind. Sleep now until the night is dawn. The wind and the night song, they are there. However the song, my child, will go on forever."

Myridon

The language used for the movie was Swahili, but yes this is the correct translation of the song.

3rd Feb 2005

Hair (1979)

Answer: Michelangelo Antonioni is a famous Italian film director. See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000774/ His most famous film in English is "Blowup" made in 1966.

Myridon

3rd Feb 2005

Die Hard (1988)

Question: On the some versions (TV), when Al walks in the lobby to check it out, right before he gets to the elevators and then leaves, the camera pans to the left and you see a terrorist with a machine gun waiting for him. On other versions (VHS) you don't see this terrorist. Why? NOTE: I've seen both on the same TV set.

Answer: The most likely reason is that the two versions have been "panned and scanned" differently. In the original theater version, both things are on screen at the same time at opposite sides of the screen. In one version, the person who did the TV P&S (not someone associated with the making of the film) chose to move the view from one side of the original picture to the other, showing the terrorist, while the person who did the VHS P&S stayed focused on one side of the frame, only showing Al.

Myridon

19th Jan 2005

General questions

Does anybody know the title to this foreign film (japanese I think.) I saw it in a shop, and it's review was that it is "Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead", and it's tagline is "The hills are alive with the sounds of screaming!" - I've searched IMDB, but can't find the film.

Hamster

Chosen answer: It's "Katakuri-ke no kôfuku" ("The Happiness if the Katakuris"). And it's "Sound of Music meets Night of the Living Dead."

Myridon

Question: Near the end, Carrie Fisher says something about mad Pitt Trolo. who is that mad Pitt Trolo?

Answer: She says: "You contemptible pig. I remained celebate for you. I stood at the back of a cathedral, waiting in celibacy for you, with 300 friends and relatives in attendance. My uncle hired the best Romanian caterer in the state. To obtain the seven limousines for the wedding party my father used up his last favors with Mad Pete Trollo. So for me, for my mother, my grandmother, my father, my uncle and for the common good, I must now kill you and your brother." Not a real person, just some the guy who rents limosines whose name really sounds like someone you would rather he owed you a favor rather than the other way around (a mobster).

Myridon

14th Dec 2004

Mean Girls (2004)

Answer: ROTC is the Reserve Officers Training Corps. It's a program for people who would like to join the military when they get out of school. They wear uniforms and do military training exercises after school. While not always the case, most people in the ROTC program tend to hang out mostly with other people in the program.

Myridon

27th Nov 2004

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Question: Can someone explain how all the special effects were done, such as the electronic blasters rays, and the sound effects? As the film was from 1956 there were no electronic keyboards then and the sounds are very futuristic.

Answer: Many of the sound effects use an electictronic instrument called a theremin which was invented in 1919. You may hear it used more musically in The Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations." The visual effects would have been animated composites as used in Star Wars and Ghostbusters.

Myridon

11th Nov 2004

The Aristocats (1970)

Question: I wasn't sure which Disney film to ask about this, as it occurs in many (Alice in Wonderland, Fox and the Hound, Lady and the Tramp etc.) - But in many of the Dinsey films, most of the time many of the characters don't cast a shadow. Is there a reason for this? Or maybe would it be considered a mistake..?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It is the style of the artwork. Similarly, it is not a mistake that each individual hair is not drawn, the eyes are not really proportional to the head, etc.

Myridon

8th Nov 2004

Donnie Darko (2001)

Question: What film/text/person does Kitty Farmer confuse with Graham Greene when she replies to Rose Darko: 'I think we've all seen Bonanza.'?

Answer: Lorne Greene was the star of Bonanza which aired regularly from 1959 until 1973. He played Ben Cartwright, the wise widowed father of Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe.

Myridon

Answer: It would probably be breaking copyright (and rather long) to post them here, but here's a link to the author's website where they are listed: http://www.wbrucecameron.com/columns/8rules.htm.

Myridon

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