Question: What town did the Aunt Sarah live in? I thought the name of the town was Perdition, to use it as a pun on the title.
raywest
21st Jan 2015
Road To Perdition (2002)
15th Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
5th Jan 2015
The Maze Runner (2014)
Question: How did Thomas manage to get into the elevator at the start of the film?
Answer: Thomas was placed there by the lab workers at W.I.C.K.E.D. Boys were being sent up once a month in it as part of an experiment. Thomas, however, works for W.I.C.K.E.D. Although his memory was wiped like the other boys, he, and also the girl, knowingly took part in the experiment in order to change the conditions of the test.
4th Jan 2015
The Running Man (1987)
Question: What exactly is the re-education that people keep talking about?
1st Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: After Voldemort's death, is anyone able to teach Defense Against Dark Arts for more than a year?
Answer: Yes. According to J.K. Rowling in interviews, the curse Voldemort had cast on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position preventing any teacher lasting more than one year, was finally broken upon his death, and from then on any instructor lasted beyond twelve months.
In the movies it is never mentioned that Voldemort cursed the DADA post or even applied for this position.
It is mentioned in the books.
27th Dec 2014
Apocalypto (2006)
Question: When they come across the girl crying over her mother's body, one of the guards says she has the sickness, and when they arrive in the city, they come across an old man who has the laughing sickness - what sicknesses are they referring to?
Answer: It is not specifically identified, but it appears to be the degenerative neurological disease called kuru. It is fatal and believed to have been spread in ancient sub-tropical cultures by cannibalism. Its symptoms resembles the encephalopathy disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Mad Cow), which is also called the laughing sickness, and is contracted by eating contaminated flesh.
Answer: Kuru only happens when you eat your relatives and the disease was discovered and studied in Papua New Guinea where eating your dead relatives was a way to carry them with you. There are books about it, fascinating stuff. Eating strangers is safe, not that I recommend eating anyone. The disease the girl has is smallpox brought by the Spanish, thus the ships at the end of the movie are not the first Spanish to visit the area. The laughing sickness could be straight up madness considering the horrible times everyone is living through, or a side effect of the limestone quarrying.
27th Dec 2014
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
27th Dec 2014
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Question: HRH thought it was suspicious that Draco wanted to stay at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. As they learned, he wasn't committing the attacks against Muggle-borns after all, so is there some other reason why he stayed?
Answer: There would be a reason he stayed, though it's never known what it is. It's usual for a certain number of students to stay at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. In Draco's case, it is likely his parents were traveling or had other business to attend to and Draco either didn't want to go with them, or else his mother and father preferred he not come. Draco's father may also have asked his son to stay over to keep an eye on Harry's activities, although he never told Draco what was going on.
27th Dec 2014
Zodiac (2007)
Question: There is a scene in Robert Graysmith's kitchen where you can see a container of Old Bay Seasoning on the top of the stove. I am from Maryland and I found it unusual that they would have it out in California, especially before the internet came into being. Did I see that wrong? I couldn't find the answer anywhere else.
24th Dec 2014
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: Why do the guard do execution rehearsals with a man who's not going to be executed? At first I thought the rehearsals were so the person being executed would know what to expect. The guards know how to run an execution, so why would they need to practice without the one being executed?
Chosen answer: They do it for the same reason people practice anything. It is to stay on top of how to perform a certain function or activity. The man is just a volunteer. Correction officers (prison guards) who do executions would particularly have to make sure they can perform flawlessly. The state and/or federal government would closely regulate and monitor this. If anything was botched, there would be severe legal repercussions, possible job dismissals, and even lawsuits by families of the condemned prisoner. Also, executions are not performed on a regular basis at any one penitentiary, so constant practice would be essential to maintain an adequate skill level. Most likely, regular drills are required by law. There would also be changing or rotating staff that needs to be trained and/or retrained. There's been much publicity recently about several executions using lethal injections being done improperly, so it is hardly surprising the procedures would constantly be reviewed and practiced.
23rd Dec 2014
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Question: What happened to all of the Enterprise's Shuttles and the ship Kirk's team took to Qo'nos? Did they all become disabled that only Kirk and Khan would jump out an airlock and shoot through a dangerous debris field to board the Vengeance? Rather than taking an entire strike team to take out the minimal crew on the other ship, just the two of them go. Makes no sense, given the situation. Also, consider that even the escape pods have propulsion capabilities as shown in the previous movie when they ejected Kirk off the ship.
Answer: The plan is for Kirk and Khan to sneak aboard the Vengeance, with Scottie's help, without being detected. That could not be accomplished if they took a shuttle or used an escape pod. It would have been spotted, and it would be impossible to land a shuttle on board without the bridge crew knowing it. Even though there is a minimal crew on board Vengeance, they could ambush intruders as they exited their craft.
18th Dec 2014
Licence to Kill (1989)
Question: When Sanchez bursts in on Lupe and her lover at the beginning, how did he know where she was?
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.
8th Dec 2014
Winter's Tale (2014)
Question: Why does Colin Farrell's hair go from long to short in the "current day" part of this movie?
5th Dec 2014
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: Why didn't the Dursleys just dump Harry at an orphanage, or refuse to take him? Why did they care about doing what Dumbledore asked?
Answer: Dumbledore never would have allowed it. The charm that protected Harry was only effective as long as Harry lived with his blood relatives, that being his aunt. Also, though Aunt Petunia would be too afraid of the consequences if she ever tried to abandon Harry, she was not evil. There was a line she would never cross that would put her sister's child in danger. She knew his living in her household protected his life.
Does she care though? Because her and Vernon often tell him that he is punished with no meals for a long time and lock him in a cupboard.
They cared enough for his life, not his well-being.
They probably felt obligated, not enthusiastic. Consider how Severus Snape felt about secretly protecting Harry over the years. He was not happy that Lily fell in love with James and they produced Harry, but he felt obligated to protect Harry anyway, in honor of Lily.
Answer: According to the books, once they agreed to take him in, the protective became active. So it seems like they had the choice not to take him in.
5th Dec 2014
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Question: I have seen this movie many times, but one question continues to bother me: How did the Jackal plan to escape if he was successful in shooting the president? (He had already removed his disguise).
Answer: When the Jackal entered the parade area, he was disguised as an old army veteran, with one leg and false I.D. When the job was done he would walk out as a younger man with two legs and another set of of false I.D.
5th Dec 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
5th Dec 2014
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
15th Nov 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: What is supposed to happen if you say Voldemort's name? Harry says it throughout the series many times, and nothing happens to him. Why do Arthur Weasley (in this movie) and other people always tell him to stop?
Answer: Actually, nothing happens to anyone who says it. The idea is that Voldemort was so evil that nearly everyone feared saying his name aloud, referring to him only as "You-Know-Who" or "The Dark Lord." Only Harry and Dumbledore freely spoke his name aloud, having no fear of it. However, in HP and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort, knowing this about Harry, places a jinx on his own name, and anyone saying it will immediately reveal their location. Hermione happened to say "Voldemort" out loud right after she, Harry, and Ron escaped the attack at the wedding and were in the coffee shop. Two Death Eaters appear immediately after she says it, and almost capture the trio.
Answer: Voldemort can find whoever says his name. That's why people don't say his name - purely for the sake of their life.
That is only true after the death eaters take over the ministry.
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.
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Answer: Aunt Sara lives in a fictional town called Perdition that is located on the banks of Lake Michigan. Tom Hanks is going there, but the title is a metaphor referring to being on a path leading to hell and damnation.
raywest ★