Question: Why do we never see Gandalf praise Merry and Pippin for their taking part in the destruction of Isengard? He just doesn't seem to act very grateful.
Tailkinker
3rd Feb 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
22nd Jan 2005
Collateral (2004)
Question: Did Vincent die from wounds sustained during the shootout in Annie's office, or was he mortally wounded only during the final exchange of fire on the train? At first it seemed he was hit in the office (he *was* knocked down from an impact), but he managed to chase them around the subway for quite a bit with no noticeable effects. In the train, it looked like all of Max's shots hit the door, but I may be wrong.
Answer: Max's shot in Annie's workplace only skimmed the side of Vincent's head - not really that bad an injury, but enough to snap his head around, sending him to the floor. Vincent does indeed die from the wound sustained during the final exchange of fire. While at least one of Max's shots hit the door, from the damage seen, he's not trained with guns, so the bullets would be quite widely spread - obviously one got past the doorframe to hit Vincent.
22nd Jan 2005
Cube (1997)
Question: In one scene, Kazan is lead into a corner of a room to relieve his bladder. After three days, it would seem that all of them would have had to indulge in similar relief. How come no one was electrocuted through the urine stream, or there was no apparent damage done to the electrical systems of at least that room?
Answer: The designers would anticipate that people might be in there for a long period of time - they presumably insulated the systems in the cubes against that particular possibility.
22nd Jan 2005
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Question: How can Data miss the "Phoenix" after locking on the quantum torpedoes just by delaying pressing the button for a second. They were locked on, after all.
Answer: Data's quite intelligent enough to have caused the torpedoes to miss - the most likely circumstance is that they were never actually locked onto the Phoenix, but he altered the display to make it appear as if they were. He then deliberately fired them along a trajectory that would look like the correct one until the last minute, giving him time to get into position to break the plasma tanks.
22nd Jan 2005
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
22nd Jan 2005
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: In the alternate 1985, there is an alternate Biff, Lorraine etc. Shouldn't there also be an alternate Marty and Doc?
Answer: Yep, and there is, but they're both elsewhere. Doc's been committed to an asylum somewhere. When Marty first meets the alternate Biff, Biff tells him that he's supposed to be in Switzerland at boarding school - that's where the alternate Marty is.
Wouldn't someone probably see Doc and report that he escaped from the asylum?
Maybe, but no way to be sure, and they're not around long enough for that to be an issue anyway.
Answer: Doc would most likely not have been seen by anyone, as the time he spent in the alternate 1985 was primarily inside the DeLorean, at a boarded-up library, graveyard, and his lab (and all at night too) so most likely not spotted by the public.
Even if someone had seen Doc, it could've been dismissed as someone who looks like him. Even if they did report his escape, someone would either call or go to the asylum and verify Doc was still there.
22nd Jan 2005
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Question: Why did John Connor program the Terminator to only obey Catherine's orders? Since he is the boss wouldn't he make it so the Terminator would obey his orders?
Answer: He didn't program the Terminator, she did - remember, John is dead, successfully eliminated by that very Terminator. As to why she didn't program the Terminator to obey both of them, that's an open question - possibly she needed to supply a voiceprint which obviously couldn't be obtained from the deceased John (which would also explain why the Terminator in T2 appeared to only be programmed to obey John, not both John and his mother). Alternatively, it's plausible that the Terminators can only be programmed to obey one individual, in order to prevent problems in the case of conflicting orders.
17th Jan 2005
General questions
Why is it so significant that a film in the ending credits mention that animals were neither harmed or killed during production?
Chosen answer: Because people tend to care about that sort of thing. While it can be safely assumed that filmmakers aren't going to inflict actual harm on human beings during the making of their films (intentionally, anyway - James Cameron notwithstanding), it's something more of an open question as to whether the same hesitation would apply in the case of an animal. As such, the relevant organisations tend to monitor the film production process for evidence of such cruelty - the notice at the end of the film simply certifies that those organisations are satisfied that nothing along those lines occurred. As such, any animal-lovers who might be watching the film won't feel the need to phone up and complain.
11th Jan 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: In the ending credits, the name Cameron Duncan is mentioned. What is so significant about this now-deceased filmmaker?
Chosen answer: Cameron was a highly promising young filmmaker, who won several awards for advertisements that he directed - this brought him to the attention of Peter Jackson. He spent time with the cast and crew of the films, where he gained their respect and affection, to the extent that two of his short films are included on the extended edition DVD. Jackson spoke at his funeral and the song "Into the West" was inspired by him and is dedicated to his memory.
6th Jan 2005
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Question: Aunt May's speech to Peter at the end of the film suggests she's figured him out. The look he gives her back (I think) suggests he knows she knows and is cool about it. Am I right?
Answer: Without reading the minds of the scriptwriters, no way to tell. Certainly one interpretation of their conversation is that she knows, or, at the very least, that she strongly suspects. Given that she knows Peter better than anyone and that she's now encountered Spider-Man up close, it's not unreasonable to think that she could have noticed something and put two and two together - Peter certainly doesn't seem to make any attempt to disguise his voice when he speaks to her.
6th Jan 2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Why does the first Dementor we see on the train focus specifically on Harry, and attack him? It seems a bit off for a "prison guard", looking for an escaped prisoner, to go after an innocent child.
Answer: Dementors are drawn to unhappy memories, bad emotions and so so - Harry's got more of those than just about anybody else on the train, which would draw the Dementors to him. It's also not really the case that Harry was really attacked as such - the presence of the Dementor would have brought bad memories to the fore for all those present. Harry having worse memories than the others, he was simply affected to a much greater degree.
6th Jan 2005
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Answer: Probably, yes. From dialogue, Ferris is about to graduate, and he and Jean seem to be at the same school, so either she's actually the younger of the two (which seems unlikely - would parents give the younger child a car but not the older?) or they're in the same school year. On the assumption that they're in the same year, the most likely scenario is that, yes, they're twins. The only other possibility is that they were born less than a year apart (putting them in the same school year), with Jean probably being the older of the two.
Or Ferris had repeated a year of school sometime in the past and Jeanie had caught up. The gifted car vs computer is a key point of resentment for Ferris throughout the movie, suggesting that Ferris may not have been trusted with a car, and got the computer instead.
Answer: Twins (even fraternal twins) are usually much closer in temperament to each other. Jean, on the other hand, seems very uptight and even envious of Ferris. Could be that Jean is an adopted child, same age as Ferris. There is typically some friction with adopted kids.
6th Jan 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: In the Extended Edition, who are the Seven Kings that Saruman mentions during the parley? The only thing I can think of is the Seven Lords of the West, but I'm not sure.
Answer: There's no group specifically referred to as the Seven Kings in Tolkien's works - your surmise that this refers to the seven male members of the Valar, the fourteen Powers of the world, may well be correct. The only other possibility that leaps to mind is that Saruman could be referring to the leaders of the seven dwarven clans.
6th Jan 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I don't know if it's been said in the book or movie, but does Gamling die? If so when is it? I've been told it's at the Pelennor fields, however isn't he seen at the Black Gate battle when Aragorn gives his speech?
Answer: It was certainly stated before the release of the Extended Edition that we would see his demise at the Pelennor Fields, but it seems that that scene didn't make the final version of the film. With the death of Theoden, Merry and Eowyn's wounding and all the other action going on, it was presumably decided that to break off from the action for the death of a minor character would disrupt the flow too much.
6th Jan 2005
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Question: I would like to know why Michael Moore named this film Fahrenheit 9/11. I know that the 9/11 is about the twin towers terrorist attack, but I can't get the Fahrenheit part. Could someone please explain?
Answer: It's a reference to the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which deals with a totalitarian society where people are not encouraged to think for themselves, question the government and so forth. One of the features of this society is that all books are burnt (hence the title - apparently the temperature at which paper will ignite).
6th Jan 2005
Shrek 2 (2004)
Question: In my copy of Shrek 2 the ugly stepsister has a very grumpy voice but in the real movie she has a different voice but why?
Answer: The Ugly Stepsister's voice was performed by different people, specifically chat-show hosts from the country in question - so, in the US release, it's Larry King, in the UK release, Jonathan Ross and so on. Your DVD is presumably a different version to the one that you saw at the cinema.
6th Jan 2005
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Question: Why do the Bohos have to evade Zidler in the first place? Zidler obviously knows Toulouse by sight, and doesn't seem to mind them being there too much when he sees them near the duke.
6th Jan 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Can someone please tell me why Peter Jackson cut out the chapter in the book about the hobbits rebelling against "Sharkey". I can understand it in the theatrical version (time restrictions) but he had all the time in the world for the extended version and he still didn't put it in. I thought the Hobbit rebellion was the best part of all the 3 books.
Answer: The climax of the tale, from the film-making point of view, is the destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron. Having the movie go on for at least another hour after that (which would be required for the Scouring of the Shire) simply wouldn't work. Practically all the scenes that have been added into the Extended Cut are scenes that were cut from the theatrical film - i.e. they were filmed with their inclusion in the theatrical release in mind. Given the amount of work that they had to do, to then film a long, complex sequence (which would require a lot of effects work, as it features multiple battles between men and hobbits) purely to be included in the Extended Edition would not have been possible.
6th Jan 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Question: I think that it was excluded from the UK Extended DVD, but does anyone know where I can find 'Gollum's Acceptance Speech' on the web? It was the awards ceremony for the MTV Movie awards.
Answer: http://www.pinwire.com/downloads-file-9.html. Failing that, a Google search ought to turn it up.
Question: When the pirates have Will in the cave and are just about to lift the curse, why does Jack stop them and make them go out and fight when they can't die? Isn't he on the 'good' team?
Answer: Jack sends them out into combat so that, when Will lifts the curse, they'll be unprepared for it and almost totally at the mercy of Norrington's men. Had he let them continue lifting the curse on their terms, they'd be aware of their new mortality and would be more prepared for a possible battle on leaving the caves. Plus, of course, Will would be dead, which Jack would prefer to avoid.
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Answer: When they initially arrive at Isengard, he's rather more concerned with his upcoming confrontation with Saruman. He presumably talked to them about it later, off camera.
Tailkinker ★