Question: Was I the only person to be struck quite forcefully (metaphorically speaking) by the contrast between Julie Andrews' portrayal of Mary Poppins, as the ever-smiling, cheerful, friendly, vivacious character, who melts everybody with her charm, which seemed wholly at odds with PL Travers' portrayal of Mary Poppins as acerbic, dour, and cynical, who always seems to get her way by utter, overwhelming arrogance?
Charles Austin Miller
24th Jul 2018
Mary Poppins (1964)
Answer: No doubt many fans of the books and P.L. Travers agreed with your assessment. However, it was 1964 and Travers' book was heavily "Disneyfied," meaning they imprinted their particular syrupy, family-oriented wholesome stamp on the project, watering down Poppins' dour personality. Travers was appalled by it and would never allow another of her books to be made into a movie. There is a remake in the works, and, hopefully, the current Disney heads will give it a darker tone.
3rd Jul 2018
General questions
I saw a movie many years ago, at the end the girl was leaving the guy, and repeated "I divorce thee" three times while turning around. Do you know the movie?
Answer: That's a tough one, without more specific detail. The Triple Talaq ("I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee!") is actually an old Islamic tradition for legal divorce that is still practiced by Muslims in India to this day. Such a scene might appear in a number of films dealing with Muslim and/or Indian characters. Do you recall whether or not the film was a comedy or a drama, set in the Western world or in an Eastern country?
The movie was set in America, best I remember it was an older man and younger woman. She was in a park or on a mountainside at the end of the movie, turned three times in a circle with outstretched arms and repeated "I divorce thee" three times.
23rd Jul 2018
General questions
I've been quoting a movie for years now. When I stop to think about it... I can't remember what movie the quote is even from! So I'm trying to find out of anybody can name the film that this quote is from. But someone is in a public bathroom of some sorts, possibly a truck stop and is hiding in one of the stalls. I think they may have been on the phone, but I'm not sure. An old man comes in and does his business then gets up and whips and you just hear him speaking through the wall. "Corn? Why is it always corn? I didn't even eat corn!" I've quoted that line as a joke many times now over the years but I can not remember what movie, TV show, or possibly YouTube video that was from. Google search doesn't help me it seems.
Answer: You're probably thinking of Mike Myers as "Fat Bastard" in the 2002 comedy "Austin Powers in Goldmember." We see the silhouette of Fat Bastard against the paper wall of a geisha house, peering into the toilet and exclaiming, "Oy, I dinna have any corn!"
I looked up the quote. And while it is similar, I don't think that's exactly the one I'm thinking of. I remember the movie saying the quote that I remember being almost word for word how I mentioned it. I almost want to say it was in a Jackass movie or similar. I just can't remember for sure.
This is the Mike Myers "Fat Bastard" scene. Look familiar? https://youtu.be/f71VqFgwPy4.
Answer: There is a scene in Senseless (1998) where Darryl (played by Marlon Wayans) is listening in on the two girls in the bathroom and Tonya (I think) says the line "Corn? I don't remember eating no corn." Although, it's obvious that the corn-in-poop joke is common toilet humor, so I'm sure a dozen other movies have had the joke and similar lines.
22nd Jul 2018
Apollo 13 (1995)
Question: What made the banging the sound the crew heard before the oxygen tank exploded?
Answer: When Mission Control asked Jack Swigert to "stir" the No. 2 oxygen tank, Swigert complied; immediately, the astronauts heard and felt a loud banging noise followed by an actual explosion. As it happened, there were damaged electrical wires powering the "cryo-stir" fan inside oxygen tank No.2. Those wires violently shorted out when Swigert activated them, sparking an intense fire (fueled by the ship's pure oxygen atmosphere), destroying vital tank insulation, and overheating the No.2 oxygen tank to the point of rupture in a matter of seconds. So, the banging noises they heard just before the explosion were the result of electrical wiring violently shorting out and a flash-fire erupting, which precipitated the tank explosion.
Oddly enough, Jack Swigert had stirred the No. 2 oxygen tank a couple of times earlier in the mission, with no problems whatsoever. Why the wiring suddenly failed on this last attempt is still a subject of debate.
Why would it be subject to debate? The further into the flight, the less liquid oxygen in the tank. The frayed wires were not exposed until this point in the flight. Exposed wires allowed the arc. The arc caused the explosion.
What does the "ship's pure oxygen atmosphere" have to do with it? The ship didn't explode or burn. Apollo 1, yes, the command module did, but not 13.
21st Jul 2018
Shallow Grave (1994)
Question: Is removing hands, feet and teeth really sufficient to prevent the corpses being identified? What about DNA?
Answer: Even with head, hands and feet removed, a lot about a person's identity can be determined from body scars, tattoos, body tissue and blood samples, etc. Sex, age, height, weight, body-fat content, race, hair color, and pre-death physical health can all be determined rather easily through traditional means, even given only a torso for examination. Once investigators have a general idea of identity, they can compare their findings to a missing persons database and narrow it down further to likely matches. Then they can request DNA samples from the families of likely missing persons and compare it to the DNA of the corpse. Of course, if the corpse was never reported as missing, that would bring the investigation to a dead-end.
Answer: Identifying a body (or anyone for that matter) through DNA would only work if that person's DNA is already on file and you had something to compare it to (and getting a DNA match is an extensive process that doesn't happen over night despite what some TV shows suggest). I don't know about the UK, but in the US, federal DNA databases didn't really start until 1994. And only a few states started a felon DNA database in the 90's, so it's unlikely Hugo's DNA was on file. It's much more likely that a person's fingerprints or dental records were on file since they were much more common and not exclusive to felons. Again though, those records would have to be on file in order to compare to a body. I don't know if the feet removal was more for the dark comedy aspect or if they thought his feet print were on file and would be viable (i.e. prints taken when he was born in the hospital).
16th Jul 2018
The Lost Boys (1987)
Question: As a vampire, Max wasn't allowed in the house until Michael invited him. How were David and his friends allowed inside since they were never invited? Also, how was Star, even though she was only half-vampire able to get into the house? She asked for permission but Michael said no.
Answer: In the film, being invited in isn't a requirement to enter. It's simply a way for the vampire to render you powerless (i.e. the tests the boys performed on Max).
Answer: As stated Star was half vampire, she has some of their powers not all. Max said, "Once you invite a vampire into your home, it renders you powerless." Which is why the holy water and garlic worked. They were not invited, they crashed in.
Answer: It's not that they can't "get in." Its that once you invite them.it renders you "powerless" (according to Max). Lets not forget that David and his friends were all killed. Max was stronger and probably would have won if Grandpa didn't crash into the house and impale him. Basically they can enter anytime...but being invited in gives them an advantage.
Except they weren't invited in. Only Max was.
Answer: Obviously, they were all invited in, one after another.
Only Max was invited in. Nowhere in the movie does it show David and the others being invited. And again, how did Star get into the house when she wasn't invited either?
Star and the others didn't need an invitation to enter any house, and they do not lose their powers once inside. If someone invites a vampire in, then they give the vampire an additional advantage, i.e. holy water won't burn them, they are unaffected by garlic, a mirror shows their reflection, etc. It is the inviter who loses all power against a vampire.
15th Apr 2018
From Hell (2001)
Question: Did Abberline use drugs to see visions after his wife and child died, or had he used them before?
Answer: Johnny Depp said in an interview that Abberline was a hypersensitive guy and had a lot of demons and a dark history. He probably start doing drugs to feel numb against the pain that he lost his wife and child since he desperately wanted a family.
Answer: It's not known if Abberline used Absinth before his wife died. But I doubt that he would have used Absinth or any other form of drugs when he was married.
Answer: The real-life Abberline didn't use opium or absinthe or anything else, and he wasn't psychic, and he and his two wives never lost any children nor had any children. Aside from the very few facts regarding the Ripper murders, everything in the movie is fictional, fake. Therefore, irrelevant.
I think those questions are meant for the fictional movie not the real story of Abberline.
15th Jul 2018
Van Helsing (2004)
Question: How did Verona know Carl and why did she cry out his name after going after the decoy carriage with the stake bomb?
Answer: There is a lot of backstory to the Van Helsing film, because they intended to do sequels and prequels (if this film was successful, which was not the case). Carl was a well-known agent for the Vatican who supplied Van Helsing with numerous and ingenious weapons for fighting werewolves, vampires, et cetera. When Verona screams Carl's name, she's acknowledging that Carl bested her.
If Van Helsing was James Bond, then Carl would be "Q "Carl made the devices and tricks that made Van Helsing physically invincible.
I just watched that clip because I didn't know she said his name but I'm pretty sure she says "no" not "Carl".
15th Jul 2018
Gravity (2013)
Question: When Matt bounces, and Ryan doesn't bounce, they make the rope snap. Aren't tether ropes very difficult to snap in real life?
Answer: Space tethers (both synthetic fiber and metallic cable) are incredibly strong and can withstand hundreds of pounds of force. Like everything else in "Gravity," the tether snapping is pure fiction.
14th Jul 2018
The Shining (1980)
Question: How was Stanley Kubrick able to ensure that Danny Lloyd never found out that he was really in a horror movie? In the scene when Wendy accuses Jack of hurting Danny, she holds onto Danny and calls Jack a "son of a bitch." And what about when Danny sees the twin sisters? He looked terrified after seeing them.
Answer: Obviously, Danny Lloyd did eventually learn that "The Shining" was a horror film. During production, however, Stanley Kubrick only told Danny that the movie was a drama about a family living in a hotel. The single shot with Danny and the twin sisters in the corridor never showed anything particularly horrifying; Danny was simply looking straight into the camera and reacting to Kubrick's instructions.
23rd Dec 2014
Constantine (2005)
Question: Who is the actor with the scarred face Constantine sees when he first enters Papa Midnight's bar?
Answer: There are numerous uncredited actors in "Constantine," filling numerous generic roles such as "nightclub patron" or "demon," et cetera. The big scar-faced guy who passes John Constantine at the doorway in the club seems to be one of these uncredited, generic characters. There is no special mention of the character's name or his significance to the story, and no listed actor in the cast resembles him. However, having re-watched this scene many times, I'm starting to think the scar-faced man was an uncredited cameo by athletic 1970s actor John Beck (who would've been about 62 when "Constantine" was made). The facial proportions and mustache are right for Beck, his profile looks like a match, and Beck is slightly taller than Keanu Reeves, as depicted in the film.
Answer: I was thinking it was Jonah Hex...a DC character with the scarred face and all that. Maybe an Easter egg?
The original post specifically inquires about the actor rather than the character in the scene. The actor appears to be John Beck, an athletic actor who gained some stardom in the 1970s and 1980s. Beck was still active in film during the early-to-mid 2000s, when "Constantine" was produced, although he is uncredited in this movie (as many "Constantine" actors were uncredited).
10th Jul 2018
Jurassic Park (1993)
Question: When Ellie was attacked by a raptor in the power shed, she was startled by the hand of Mr Arnold which turned out to be his severed arm when she grabbed it, What happened to the rest of Mr Arnold's body? The raptor's mouths aren't big enough to swallow the whole rest of his body.
Answer: In Michael Crichton's original novel (upon which the movies were based), the Velociraptors didn't consume whole human bodies. A raptor would focus on its victim's abdomen, eviscerating its prey alive, eating only the entrails and internal organs. So, we may assume the majority of Arnold's body was left elsewhere in the power shed.
Answer: In the book, his body was wedged between the pipes and the raptor ate what it could get to - this was supposed to be in the movie, however filming for that scene was delayed due to a real hurricane so it was cut.
Answer: The creators of the film were not concerned with details explaining scenarios. They simply wanted to create a shocking jump scare type of scene. In reality, the man's hand would not have been severed and left in such a position.
11th May 2015
Event Horizon (1997)
Question: 1) In the big finale where the gateway was opened: was the ship destroyed before it went through the wormhole or did it blow up as it was going through - trapping everyone in Hell? 2) In the final scene just before the gateway is opened, there is an argument going about whether Miller's crew are alive or dead and talk about them belonging to the ship. We saw the crew die, so I fail to understand the mental imagery of their suffering Miller was shown. Also, if the crew belong to the ship to replace her old crew - why haven't we seen anything of the old crew?
Answer: As a representative of Hell, Dr. Weir was torturing Captain Miller with all sorts of horrific mental images. Miller cared very much for his crew, so Weir fabricated hellish visions of his crew. And the aft section of the ship didn't blow up, it was sucked into the Hell dimension.
Answer: The only ones who were sucked into Hell were Captain Miller, and Peters...as her body was in the same core room with Miller and Dr Weir. When Miller detonated the explosives he separated the rest of the ship, leaving only the stern to be sucked into Hell. It's a very sad and dark ending.
Justin ("Baby Bear") was the first crewman visibly sucked into the Hell dimension, which pretty much destroyed his mind.
6th Jul 2018
30 Days of Night (2007)
Question: Billy admits that he shot his wife and daughters to save them from a more horrible death at the hands of the vampires. Grieving, he says, "I tried to shoot myself, too, but the fucking gun jammed." But Billy is a deputy sheriff, and any competent law officer can resolve a jammed gun in a matter of seconds. Did Billy actually chicken-out of killing himself after murdering his family?
Answer: Perhaps Billy was not a competent law officer. Or maybe you were right he chickened out. Billy could have killed himself in other ways. Other ways more quiet than gunshot.
Exactly. How could he go on living after killing his whole family? A minor problem such as a gun jam shouldn't have prevented him from committing suicide. In fact, he couldn't become a law enforcement officer without demonstrating a proficiency with firearms, including the ability to field-service his weapon quickly in an emergency. The simple procedure for fixing a jammed firearm is at the top of the list of required skills.
Are we ignoring that he was obviously extremely distraught at this time? My take on this has always been that he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed, and he just gave up on everything. He literally didn't care enough about anything at that point to even bother taking his own life anymore. Let the vampires take him; or not. His family is gone, by his hand no less, nothing at all matters anymore. I didn't see it as an inability to clear the jam, I saw it as a psychological breakdown that resulted in complete and total apathy. The jam was nothing more than the straw that broke the camel's back.
If he gave up on everything, why did he covertly signal Eben with a flashlight? If Billy had truly given up, why not just walk out into the street and be slaughtered by the vampires, rather than continuing to hide?
23rd Sep 2013
Field of Dreams (1989)
Question: What is the significance of the no. 1 seating number in which Terence Mann sits at Fenway?
Answer: This is speculation, but the No.1 seat possibly referred to Terence Mann being the number one reason the whole "Field of Dreams" story was set in motion. When Ray Kinsella was a child, his father (John Kinsella) had high hopes that Ray would become a professional baseball player; he encouraged Ray and they played ball constantly. At the age of 14, Ray read a book by Terence Mann that denounced the 1919 Chicago White Sox baseball team as criminals, and Ray posed that argument to his father (his father believed the White Sox were wrongly accused). Because of Terence Mann's book, Ray and his father had a heated argument that caused Ray to give up baseball, which created a lifelong rift between them that lasted right up to John Kinsella's death. Understandably, Ray always regretted that he never resolved the bad feelings with his father. So, Terence Mann was really the starting point, the No.1 catalyst behind everything in Ray's troubled personal life. The supernatural cornfield events that followed years later were mainly about Ray and his father healing old wounds, the accused members of the Chicago White Sox getting a second chance to play, and Terence Mann losing the bitterness that had filled his writing for decades.
Brilliant.
I'm guessing it's way simpler than that. When Terrence pretends not to see or hear the message about Moonlight Graham, Ray thinks it was a mistake to bring Terrence to the game and suggests they leave. Them having the two seats right next to the aisle makes it easier to show them just get up and walk away, rather than maneuvering through a row of spectators.
30th Jun 2018
The Mummy (1999)
Question: What is the tattoo on Rick's right hand between his thumb and index finger, and its meaning?
Answer: This small tattoo in the first movie is the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol bringing fortune, protection and good health. Just a good luck charm. It only appeared on Rick's hand in the first movie and was absent in the second movie, "The Mummy Returns." Apparently, the screenwriters wanted to expand the story of the tattoo, so they changed the symbol, its location and its meaning in the second movie: The new tattoo was that of the Medjai (a 3000-year-old cult of Egyptian royal guardians sworn to oppose the evil Imhotep). We learn that Rick got this tattoo when he was an orphan in Cairo. The screenwriters moved the tattoo to Rick's wrist (hidden by his leather wrist band) in the second movie.
30th Jun 2018
The Mummy (1999)
Question: What is the purpose of the leather wrist band Rick wears on his right wrist?
Answer: The wrist band was not explained in this first movie. In the second movie, "The Mummy Returns," we learn that the leather band covers a tattoo of the Medjai, a 3000-year-old cult of Egyptian royal guardians whose purpose was to oppose the evil Imhotep. Rick was given this tattoo (or brand) when he was an orphan in Cairo.
Answer: Leather cuffs were also worn by gunfighters for protection and to stop sweat from running down onto your gun hand. So there's a practical reason for a gunfighter like Rick to have it, plus the all-important "Rule of Cool!"
Answer: The purpose of Rick's leather forearm cuff is protection. It's a common piece of 'armor' worn to protect the wrist and forearm from many kinds of harm. It can be used as a kind of brace or shield. You could block a blow with the back of your forearm and not be injured. Since Rick only wears one on his dominant arm I would guess this is what he mainly wears it for. It's just another piece of functional 'equipment' like his leather holster harness.
25th Jun 2018
Field of Dreams (1989)
Question: At the end of the movie, Ray realises that the messages he had been receiving were about his dad. "If you build it, he will come." Ray built the ball field and his dad appeared. "Ease his pain." Ray played a game of catch with his dad. How does the message "Go the distance" refer to his dad?
Answer: Ray's mission was not confined to easing the pain of his deceased father. Ray himself had a lot of pain and regret over arguing with his father about baseball. Ray was also supernaturally guided to seek out the angry writer Terence Mann (who had always dreamed of playing professional baseball, but never did). When he travels to Boston looking for Terence Mann, Ray and Terence both hear the words "Go the distance," convincing them to travel to Chisholm, Minnesota, looking for an ex-ballplayer named "Moonlight" Graham (who never actually got to bat in the big league, either). As it turned out, Graham was long-since deceased, but Ray and Terence meet Graham's young ghost who returns with them to join the cornfield team. So, "Ease his pain," applied not only to Ray's father, but also to Ray himself and to writer Terence Mann and to Moonlight Graham. "Go the distance" was about traveling to bring both Terence Mann and Moonlight Graham into this magical place where all of their lost dreams could be fulfilled, as well.
I think "go the distance" has a metaphorical connotation of seeing your choices through in life, and finding the beauty in them. It also implies doing the work you need to do confront your past, resolve your past hurts, and find the strength to move forward.
Well, in that sense, "Go the distance" is just a generic platitude. What we know is that each of the supernatural messages carried an urgent instructional connotation, calling for Ray to be proactive toward a specific goal: Bringing together these anguished souls (both dead and living) to live out their lost dreams and finally find peace.
Question: I can't quite read what book Indy's college associate friend pulls out of his desk right before his wedding and I was wondering what it was.
Answer: It is a Christian Book of Common Prayer, which contains the Marriage Ceremony, Funeral Ceremony, Baptism Ceremony, etc. The gilt lettering on the spine plainly reads "Common Prayer"; and, indeed, the shot of this book immediately transitions to a shot of the Book of Common Prayer from which the minister performs the wedding ceremony for Indy and Marion.
We might speculate that it's the same Book of Common Prayer used to perform the funeral ceremonies for Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr., whose deaths were briefly referenced early in the film.
31st Mar 2018
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Question: Why didn't Mrs Whatsit turn into a winged centaur as she did in the book? What made them alter the magic creature into a living leaf?
Answer: Like any other such change from the source material, it's just artistic license.
Answer: The biggest critical complaint about this film is that director Ava DuVernay and her screenwriters essentially gutted Madeleine L'Engle's award-winning children's book and turned it into nothing more than Disneyesque eye candy, discarding many important elements of L'Engle's story and arbitrarily refitting it with lightweight (and boring) motivational platitudes. In other words, DuVernay made the movie her soapbox for "social messaging" and tossed out much of the wondrous (and even miraculous) detail that made L'Engle's original book a huge success. Consequently, this movie was a colossal financial failure.
Interestingly, Disney had adapted this story for the screen before (in 2004), and the earlier version did include the flying centaur (albeit a bad CGI rendering). Unfortunately, the 2004 version was also a box-office failure for Disney, and for the same reason as the 2018 remake: Disney removed the magical and spiritual qualities that gave L'Engle's original story its depth.
Disney's previous adaptation was released in 2003 as a TV movie, so it wasn't a "box-office failure", it was just a terrible movie.
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Answer: Travers, herself, was pretty much the model for the original Mary Poppins: an inflexible authoritarian who insisted on advising and reviewing nearly every aspect of the film's production. Which is why Disney had such a hell of a time securing the rights and molding Travers' story into a lighthearted romp.
Charles Austin Miller
Mary Poppins may somewhat resemble P.L. Travers, but her great-aunt, Helen Morehead, is largely considered to be the inspiration for the character. Travers' mother moved in with her aunts after P.L.'s father died when she was a young girl. The aunt would often say, "Spit spot, into bed."
raywest ★
Some aspects of Mary Poppins were based on Travers' great-aunt (the more positive aspects that Travers remembered from childhood) ; but the overall character was Travers herself.
Charles Austin Miller