Trying to remember a certain Christmas movie. A woman stops celebrating Christmas because when she was a child, she was going to mail a letter to Santa and I can't remember if she did or not. As an adult she loses her faith in the holiday and suddenly, all of the lights in her neighborhood go out. It's not until, with the help of an angel, that she mails the letter renewing her faith in Christmas and the lights come back.
Jeff Swanson
2nd Jan 2014
General questions
7th Aug 2013
The Sound of Music (1965)
Question: In the scene where the children are singing 'So long, Farewell', Kurt sings in a very high voice 'goodbye'. Is he really singing this or is someone else singing this?
Chosen answer: Darleen Carr - the younger sister of Charmian Carr, who played Liesl - sang that line, according to Charmian's autobiography "Forever Liesl".
28th May 2013
General questions
What movie is it where a boy gets messages from either aliens or the government through the TV static?
Answer: A few possibilities - Cocoon: The Return (1988). Also an episode of the X-Files - a woman who is a multiple abductee has her own daughter taken. The son stares at the TV, scribbling in a notebook prime numbers. When translated reveals classical music, DNA codes and government secrets. Another is a black sci-fi comedy titled Terrorvision. An alien appears on a family's TV screen, warning them about a huge blob of a monster about to land in their home.
23rd Mar 2013
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: I'm not sure if I must ask this in BTTF 1 or 2 but can anyone explain me why the mall is called 'twin pine mall' and 'lone pine mall' in the other movie?
Chosen answer: In BTTF 1, when Marty goes back to 1955, it's revealed that there used to be a farm where the mall was located, and there were two pine trees on the farm, hence the Twin Pines Mall name. But while Marty was escaping the farmer, he runs over and kills one of the trees, thus altering the course of time and leading to the Lone Pine Mall name.
21st May 2011
Shallow Hal (2001)
Question: In the scene where Hal, Rosemary, the cripled friend, and Nurse "Sourpuss" go out of town, Hal and his friend got to buy snacks leaving Rosemary and "Sourpuss" to talk. There is a scene where thy cut to the front of the car and Nurse "Sourpuss" is now good looking. So is that her real look and Hal only sees her as old and ugly?
Chosen answer: Yes. Just as Hal sees many unattractive and/or overweight women to be thin and beautiful due to their true personalities, he sees Nurse "Sourpuss" - who is a beautiful woman - to be old and ugly due to hers.
Answer: At that point Hal and his friend had already turned their backs and went to the store so Hal was not even looking at her.
15th Nov 2010
General questions
I'm trying to remember the name of a movie, but all I can remember is that it's about some type of robot or android boy. It takes place in the future. I think it came out between 1999 or 2001.
Answer: You might be thinking of Artificial Intelligence (2001) which starred Haley Joel Osment.
16th May 2010
Kick-Ass (2010)
Question: What's the name of the song that plays when we see Hit-Girl beat up Rasul's (or however you spell that) thugs?
Answer: It's a modified version of the "Tra La La Song" from the Banana Splits TV series of the 1960s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tra_La_La_Song_(One_Banana,_Two_Banana).
25th Apr 2010
Titanic (1997)
Question: During the dinner scene Jack throws something at Cal, and then later on in the scene Cal throws it back. What were they throwing?
Chosen answer: A box of matches. At 1:03:10, Cal is seen putting a cigarette in his mouth and then patting his coat pockets looking for a match to light it with.
21st Oct 2009
Home Alone (1990)
Question: Maybe I missed it, but did the McAllisters even bother to call home? I don't remember them calling the house at all. Why wouldn't that be the first thing they do? Kevin seems to be pretty independent for his age. He might have not answered the door, but I'm sure he would have answered the phone.
Chosen answer: They did but the power and phone lines were down due to a tree branch that had fallen on them the night before the family left. A flight attendant on their plane mentions that attempts had been made to call the McAllisters' home but "the phones are still out of order".
But how did he call the police at the end if the phone lines were down.
That was several days later. Clearly the phone lines were repaired over the course of the film.
It's ridiculous though that the phones are apparently working by the time they land (Kate's SIL calls everyone on their street). Yet none of them try the house again.
Answer: That is also how Kevin was able to order his cheese pizza from Little Nero's.
Answer: The phone lines were fixed by the end of the movie. Remember, this takes place over the course of several days.
Answer: It's also possible they don't think he's at the house still since the cops did attempt to stop by and see if he was home, but received no answer after ringing the bell. Or they did try to call and left a message, but Kevin may not have thought to check the phone messages if he was out of the house and didn't expect anyone to call. He also didn't want anyone to return until the day prior to Christmas, by which point the mom was already en route and the dad and remaining kids had a plan to come home on Christmas morning.
Answer: The next day, after the cop shows up to check the house, while the Wet Bandits are in the house next door, the phone rings and the answering machine picks up, allowing Peter to leave a message. If the next-door neighbor's phone is working, wouldn't it only make sense for Peter to immediately call his own house? Even if Kevin hasn't returned home from shoplifting a toothbrush and doesn't answer the phone, Peter should still be able to leave a message on an answering machine and most likely keep calling over and over until Kevin answers the phone.
10th Sep 2008
General questions
There was a cable TV show, during the mid-1980's on Sunday evenings (I think), that was about a woman veterinarian who flew a helicopter. It was set on a island. For the life of me I can't remember the name of that show. Can you possibly help me? Thank you.
Answer: It sounds like the Canadian series Danger Bay.
9th May 2008
Friends (1994)
The One With The Flashback - S3-E6
Question: In "ToW The Flashback" one of Rachel's posh friends is credited as Marissa Ribisi. Any relation to Giovanni Ribisi?
Answer: Marissa is Giovanni's twin sister. According to imdb.com, Giovanni is 15 minutes older.
17th Feb 2008
General questions
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.
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.
8th Nov 2007
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
Question: At the meeting, what did Mother Nature mean when she said "Don't mess with me Santa. I'm pre-el niño." or something like that. What does pre-el niño mean and why did she think Santa was messing with her?
Answer: By "pre-El Niño", she meant what to a mortal woman would be pre-menstrual. El Niño is "an oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather around the globe. Among these consequences are increased rainfall across the southern tier of the US and in Peru, which has caused destructive flooding, and drought in the West Pacific, sometimes associated with devastating brush fires in Australia."
So she was saying she's PMSing?
Yep, that's exactly what she's saying.
15th Apr 2007
Scrubs (2001)
Question: Did Sarah Chalke really know German, or did she just learn enough to do the few episodes where she had to speak German?
Answer: According to IMDB.com, Sarah is fluent in both French and German.
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Answer: It sounds like One Magic Christmas (1985) which starred Mary Steenburgen.
Jeff Swanson