Michael Albert

23rd Sep 2018

Grease (1978)

Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, when Sonny is being chastised by Miss McGee for dawdling in the hallway, he mutters something in Italian when she turns away. It's audible enough to cause her to turn back and suggest a session of "banging erasers." Does anyone know what he's muttering?

Michael Albert

Answer: Its not really Italian, but roughly he says something like "Fanabala Puttana" which means "You bitch whore." Again, not fully correctly spoken as the actor knows hardly any Italian.

lionhead

Answer: Sonny says "un altra brutta putana" which translates to another dirty slut.

Answer: Translates to "another stupid b****".

22nd Oct 2017

Will & Grace (1998)

Grandpa Jack - S9-E4

Question: This is a question without a knowable answer. But I wonder if anyone has thoughts as to why we hear nothing of Elliot's mother? Jack and Elliot are estranged. Elliot's mother, Bonnie (originally played by Rosie O'Donnell), acknowledged to Jack that she is a lesbian in the original run of the series. So, when Elliot marries a conservative woman, moves to Texas, and makes plans to send his gay son to a gay conversion camp, where is Bonnie in all of this?

Michael Albert

23rd Jan 2017

La La Land (2016)

Question: I may have missed this, but early in the film, how did Mia and Sebastian get into the empty planetarium? It must have been locked up pretty tight. Did someone let them in? Did they break in? I'm guessing this was explained and I didn't catch it.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: The answer is, "It's a movie." They wouldn't have been able to drive up to the entrance either. The entire sequence is fantasy-driven.

14th Dec 2015

Law & Order (1990)

Show generally

Question: There were a few times during the series when the police would be looking for information from, say, a group of prostitutes on the street, or a group of men involved with buying/selling drugs in an alley, or some low level criminal they were questioning. Detective Briscoe would pull out one of his business cards, and announce something like, "this is a get out of jail free card" for the person who would come forward to tell them where to find the person they were looking for, or to identify a photo. I always wondered, would some future police officer or detective investigating some new crime really honor that? What if it was a more serious crime? Or even if it was just another simple drug or prostitution bust, and not something more serious, wouldn't that later officer lose the leverage of that arrest, and maybe the possibility of finding a "bigger fish" or whatever they were trying to do?

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: If the prostitute with the card was arrested, she would likely ask to speak to Briscoe. Briscoe would visit, recognize her, and have her released because of it, if it was simply prostitution or a drug Possession charge. Those crimes mean nothing when looking for a murderer or rapist.

Greg Dwyer

2nd Feb 2015

Sybil (1976)

Question: I have always wondered how the movie crew and cast worked with Natasha Ryan, the actress who played young Sybil. There were scenes that were very frightening, dealing with terrible tortures. I always wondered if that was traumatic for the young girl? Or, if not, how was trauma avoided. More generally, does anyone know how movie productions deal with children on the set of films with frightening, traumatic and/or controversial themes?

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: In these types of movies, where young actors are involved in intense scenes, every precaution is taken to ensure that they are never frightened or emotionally compromised. Child psychologists, acting coaches, and the director are on set and work closely with them. A child's parent or guardian is also always close by. Child Protective Services oversee how child actors are being utilized in films and TV shows and there are strict laws and regulations regarding how child actors are treated, how many hours per day they can work, etc. Scenes are also carefully filmed and edited in such a way that can appear to be very intense, but were not emotionally stressful to the child. Also, stand-ins can be used for certain shots.

raywest

Question: If you speak French, I am curious about this: Snoopy, driving a rental car, gets into a multi-car fender bender. Marcie stands up through the sun roof and chastises the drivers behind them in French. This happens again at the end of the film. A short time after they resume driving, Snoopy starts to whistle and Marcie says something else in French. Can anyone tell me what she is saying? I have been curious for years. Thanks!

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: I just found a possible answer to my own question! According to a post in the question section of the IMDb entry for this film, one poster (dioro on March 23, 2009) claims that Marcie says: "Qu'est-ce que tu as dans la crane? Oooh, les cornes! Qu'est-ce que tu veux que je fasse? Que dalle! Le pied de nez! Tu veux nous frotter?" The poster goes on to say, "I'm fairly positive everything is correct, except for maybe the last question. I'd translate it something like: 'What's going on in your head? Ooh, [the] horns! What do you want me to do? Absolutely nothing (Jack schidt) Le pied de nez' is a gesture, putting the thumb on the nose and [wiggling] your fingers. Snoopy does this when Marcie says the line. 'You want a piece of us?' Then as they're leaving Marcie says, 'Ah, de la couille.' I put the last sentence into a Google translator, and it yielded "Ah, the testicle." I have my doubts about that last one.

Michael Albert

Answer: To make the other person's answer better, when snoopy jumped up beside marcy and started gesturing, he was saying "f*ck you" in american sign language.

20th Apr 2014

Contact (1997)

Question: In the few seconds (Earth time) it took for the pod to fall through the time travel device, it would have been impossible for Ellie to have become detached from the safety seat. It would have been even less possible for the seat to have become dislodged from the pod, AND for the seat to smash against the side of the pod with sufficient force crush it. I understand there was a cover-up (e.g., the 18 hours of static on her recording device), but Ellie, herself, would have remembered the dislodged, smashed seat. Why did she never bring it up in defense of her version of the facts? Was there a reason someone knows of, or is this just a plot hole?

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Ellie defended her version of the facts with everything she had to work with, but the simple fact was that the government cover-up was just too strong for her to overcome. The points you raise are perfectly reasonable, but the version of events released by the powers-that-be denies everything that happened and, without any other proof, Ellie has only her word to convince people with. For some, that's enough, as we see in the film, even if a majority choose to believe the "official" version.

Tailkinker

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