Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Tony's boss says that he wants Tony and Virginia out of the apartment "today." Are landlords not required to give a tenant notice - often between ten and thirty days?

Answer: He is being dramatic. He wants them out of the apartment quickly. Most landlords are required to give a certain number of days, depending on the local laws. And most tenants can't pack all of their belongings and leave before the next day.

Answer: His remark could be interpreted in different ways. There is a legal process involved in giving an eviction, but he could mean that as of that day, they are being given notice. It is also a hyperbolic figure of speech and is something someone would say in anger, meaning to get out as soon as possible. Also, it being a TV series, it streamlines the plot, and the dialogue sounds more dramatic and immediate when the character states it in that way.

raywest

Question: If Annie's parents died in a fire how did the police know where to take the items that they had found?

Answer: Sometimes the parents keep the address of the orphanage where they dropped their child off.

Question: Two questions about the scene in which the Green Goblin comes to JJ Jameson's office: 1) Why does JJJ cover for Parker and say that the photos of Spider-man come in the mail? I would expect him to protect himself before Peter. 2) The Green Goblin says "Jameson, you slime." As Norman Osborne, does he have a prior conflict with Jameson?

Answer: He might be a bad boss but not so bad he willingly gives up his employees to homicidal maniacs. JJJ is probably known to a lot of people as a slime, considering how he runs his paper. Osborne has probably been featured many times in it.

lionhead

Question: Why did the credit card come back as being stolen? The police told Peter to notify the credit card company, so they could track Kevin if he used them - they wanted Kevin to use the credit card, so why would they have put a block on it by reporting it as stolen?

Answer: The credit card company was aware that an unauthorized person was using the card, which someone in the credit card system could misinterpreted as being "stolen." The police needed that information to track when, where, and how the card was being used to locate Kevin. It was assumed that Kevin had the card, but someone else could have gotten hold of it.

raywest

Answer: They did not know where Kevin got off the airplane (or how far away he may have ended up). There were numerous flights to various cities and they initially wanted to know if Kevin used the card and, if so, what city (maybe even country!). This would give police an idea of where to start looking; it was a technique to narrow down the possibilities. If one's credit card is "missing" or in the hands of an unauthorized person (such as Kevin being in possession of the card), it should be reported as stolen (or missing) so that the credit card company is on the alert for an unauthorized user. If this missing card is presented to a merchant (or ATM for cash withdrawals), the person will be unable to use it to make any purchase or continue charging items. The credit card company will know if/when someone tries to use the card and can then notify police of the exact location; the police can investigate from that point. Reporting the card "stolen" as soon as possible (as soon as one realises it is missing) helps protect the card's owner from being held monetarily responsible for whatever unauthorized charges are made over $50; the credit card company will consider the card's owner to be limited to a maximum of $50.

KeyZOid

Question: What happened to the groups of men and women that were supposed to be the members of Drax's master race? They're never seen again after he gives his speech on the space station.

jbrbbt

Answer: Most were killed in the laser battle, if you look carefully you can see some of their bodies laying on the floor of the station afterwards. The others were most likely sucked into space or blown up, when the station exploded.

Question: I've heard rumors there's an Unrated version of this film - possibly released on BluRay in Germany? I've hunted for more info on this, but not having a lot of luck. Any chance the rumors are true?

TANGd878

Answer: I don't know for certain, but there is a website called movie-censorship.com that details and contrasts scenes in alternate versions of movies compared to their theatrical releases, and when I checked, they don't have this film listed.

Phaneron

Question: That multi-coloured gloop that Bowman and Poole are eating looks quite disgusting. What were the actors really eating?

Answer: It appears to be pureed vegetable, probably peas, carrots, and also some kind of meat. It looks disgusting, but it is more practical as regular food would float away in zero gravity.

raywest

Answer: He saw the gun turret sticking out of the nose cone.

Question: In the train dodging scene, why didn't the loco crew brake at all? They definitely saw the boys in front. I know that trains have very long stopping distances compared to road vehicles, but still. And why didn't the boys try to signal the driver to stop? I get it that they panicked, but still wouldn't that be the first thing coming to one's mind in such a situation?

Answer: No, it wasn't that big of a train. He didn't even attempt to get off the throttle. That's all it would have taken for the boys to make it fairly easy. It was a straight-away track, no chance of it derailing by hitting the brakes. Like the man said above, if trains derailed that easily, we wouldn't be using them.

Answer: Throwing on brakes that heavily gives the train a chance of derailing and the train still wouldn't stop in time.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: To add to the other fine answers, and as mentioned, any attempt to make a sudden stop could have resulted in derailment. The conductor knew the train was about to go over an elevated track, and if it derailed, it would have plunged into the deep ravine, killing the boys anyway, as well as those on aboard. The best he could do was blow the whistle, gradually slow the train, and hope the boys survived.

raywest

Can't agree with the arguments about derailment. If trains derailed so easily, they would derail all the time. The train had only 4 or 5 cars. It would not have needed miles to stop. Simply reducing the throttle would have resulted in significant slowing. Plus, they did not stop to determine if anyone was hurt. That is criminal behavior.

Answer: A train that size would have needed miles to stop, and rapid braking could have caused derailment. The engineer was blowing his whistle so he saw the boys; there was no need for them to signal. The engineer and the boys knew their only chance was to get off the bridge.

Brian Katcher

Question: Did Rachel ever find out that her sister wanted her killed?

Answer: I don't believe so. The only person who found out was Kevin. Aside from him, she took the secret to her grave with her when the killer took her out, not having told anyone else. I doubt that Frank would've told Rachel to avoid tearing the family apart. So, it was swept under the rug and Rachel was none the wiser.

Miniature - S4-E8

Question: At one point, we see a man getting his shoes shined. He is holding a magazine or newspaper close to his face and it seems to have a cut out in it so the man can hide his face but still see through the page. What's going on here? (00:14:00)

Gary55379

Answer: From everything I can tell, what you're seeing is part of an advertisement on the page that just appears as a dark box. While there isn't enough contrast, because of the show being in black and white, for me to tell what the ad says, if it was a hole, the man's head doesn't line with what you see and you should be able to see the window behind him, which I couldn't see.

Bishop73

He is holding it much too close to his face to read it, isn't he? You can see some detail in that rectangle. The story is how Charley is looking through the window of a miniature house. And here is a character that appears to me to be looking at Charlie through a "window", so to speak. I believe in the first frames after they cut from his mother eating, I believe you can see his shirt collar in the lower left of the cutout. Curious.

Gary55379

Answer: Because he committed suicide as a teenager. He didn't just attempt, he was dead for several minutes. Suicide is a cardinal sin in Catholicism. He also doesn't have true faith, just knowledge.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: Constantine committed suicide when he was younger (although he was revived by paramedics). Suicide is considered a mortal sin.

Bishop73

Answer: He was damned to Hell because he once attempted suicide, which is a mortal sin that bars anyone from entering Heaven.

raywest

Question: After Kim kisses Edward good-bye in their final moment together, Kim runs away but you can see Edward taking a step forward while looking at her run. Why did he suddenly stop himself?

Answer: Because wanted to go with her, but they both realised it could never work out, like the story of Beauty and the Beast, except Edward couldn't turn into a handsome prince.

My brief fantasy is that Kim and Edward could hide their relationship until the "hype" died down, then move far away and find a doctor to "help" Edward - give him prosthetic hands. Mostly for disguise; not to "fix" him. However, the ending of the movie suggests that he does not age, so there would still be a problem when Kim grew older and died.

Answer: There's no definitive answer and any explanation is open to interpretation. It may simply have been an involuntary reflex, wanting to follow Kim but knowing he cannot and then stops himself.

raywest

Question: What happens to Reggie afterwards when Buddy Love throws him into the piano? Was he dead or was he unconscious? Because he is never seen or heard from again for the rest of the film after that.

Trainman

Answer: He wasn't killed or seriously injured. He's a minor character and unimportant to the overall plot. There was no need for a final resolution of his part. He would simply have been humiliated and then resumed his previous life.

raywest

Question: Why is the word "Happiness" in the title misspelled?

Answer: In an interview, the real-life Chris Gardiner, (played by Will Smith) explained that the deliberately misspelled word was written that way on the child daycare center's wall (representing how children can sometimes misspell words). Gardiner later interpreted it to personally mean that true happiness is not defined in just one way, there are many ways to be happy, and that was reflected in the alternate spelling.

raywest

Question: Yukon has a gun - why he didn't just shoot the snow creature at the cave?

Answer: It's a kid's show, not Game of Thrones.

Answer: Plot wise, if the snow creature had been killed, it would have ruined the happy ending. Yukon has a kind nature, and he probably wouldn't kill anything.

raywest

Question: How do they get all the restraints on Lecter?

Answer: It's never shown, though multiple people were involved. His regular handler, Barney, usually oversaw this, as he was the only one Lecter could not outwit when it came to adding or removing his restraints. When Lecter was moved to a different location and had inexperienced guards watching over him, he was able to fool them and escape.

raywest

Answer: They would take as many precautions as possible and not let down their guard. There was a scene where the guard made Lecter sit on the floor with his back against the cell bars and then put both hands behind him through the cell bars - then the handcuffs were put on Lecter (only Lecter's hands and the handcuffs were outside of the cell). Something similar to this would enable the guards to go inside the cell and/or bring the restraints into the cell and have Lecter help the guards "dress" him while at least one other guard is aiming a gun at Lecter in case he makes a "wrong move."

KeyZOid

Answer: Presumably they would have several staff members doing it to get it done quickly and efficiently. Given his past attack on the nurse, they would also likely have several guards present to intervene in case he did something, which would likely dissuade him from trying.

TedStixon

Answer: It's basically true. Russell Crowe has a reputation for having an enormous ego and being difficult to work with. Oliver Reed was alcoholic and had an erratic and somewhat irascible nature, though he remained sober while filming. Crowe clashed with most of the Gladiator cast, including Reed.

raywest

Show generally

Question: This is a question for the XYZ series. I can't figure out if Alain is a good guy or a bad guy. He acts like he is good but I am not so sure if he really is. Can anyone tell me if he is good or bad?

Answer: He is a good guy but just found himself in a bad situation when he worked for Lysander. He didn't want him to harm Ash and his Pokémon when he was trying to get the special bond between Ash and his Greninja to work. He does leave Lysander and go back to being a good person.

Answer: Kirk was getting his physical and Dr. McCoy probably turned off communications, because if he hadn't, Kirk would have left and headed straight for the bridge, leaving McCoy irritated.

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