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: Who was the man that was with the woman in the red dress, and why did he kill her?

Answer: Josh Hartnett is known as 'The Man' and is a professional hitman. He killed the woman in the red dress because she hired him to do so, which is why he said 'I won't know what she's running from' and 'I'll cash her check in the morning.'

Toolio

Question: It's obvious that Jo still has feelings for Bill at the beginning of the film, so why, after he sort of admits that he still has feelings for her, does she purposefully go ahead and sign the divorce papers, after purposefully not doing so in the beginning?

Krista

Chosen answer: Jo finally signs the divorce papers after she sees how upset Bill's fiance is getting after all the near misses with the tornados. She also sees that Bill does care for his new fiance and she finally decides not to stand in the way of his new relationship, even though it did not work out in the end.

Mark English

Answer: She signs it as at the time she was very annoyed with Bill. She wanted to stop and pick up the sensors but Bill dragged her into the truck instead and then even reversed and hit the machine.

Chosen answer: As Spongebob explained in the certain episodes he has no bones so the force of the flats punches have no effect. To be more technical there is nothing solid that Flats can punch into and hence why it has no effect. Spongebob has never really been injured and there really isn't any incidents I can recall that his "spongeness" ever came into question of being hurt or injured.

Lummie

Answer: He does have bones in some episodes.

Dan23

Those episodes and scenes were probably just jokes.

Question: At the beginning of the movie, who is the guy who tells someone he cannot imagine Chow Yun Fat playing Madman?

Answer: That is Matt Wagnerm, creator of the "Madman" comic series.

Question: Jack and Marv were both innocent men who were falsely accused of crimes they didn't commit. Since they both know this why in the world did they both sign false confessions claiming they were the ones who broke the law?

Answer: Marv signed the confession since they threatened to kill someone close to him. Jack confessed so he can get out of jail quicker.

Toolio

Question: Why, on the cover of the video and DVD of Daddy Day Care, is there a dog when there is no dog in the film?

Answer: This dog belongs to the Klingon kid - he brings it in when it is Pet Day.

Kirsty Marshall

Question: Which scene was the one Quentin Tarantino directed? Please don't mention actors because I'm lousy with names. Which part exactly was it?

Answer: Quentin Tarantino directed the scene where Dwight was having a conversation with Jackie-Boy's head.

Toolio

Question: I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not, but shouldn't Greg be wearing a yarmulke during his wedding? He and his family are Jewish so why would he not be wearing one?

Lummie

Chosen answer: Wearing a yarmulke is a custom, not a religious law. There are orthodox jews who don't wear them, as well, since it's a cultural thing.

Not so. Many Jews don't wear yarmulkes, but Orthodox male Jews do-as a religious law, not a custom.

Leicaman

Answer: He certainly would have told Gandalf about it. Whether he told the other members of the Fellowship is unclear, but the book details a meeting between them where they discuss their various adventures - it seems highly likely that he would have told them then, or allowed Sam to tell the tale for them both. Certainly his love for his compatriots would mean that he wouldn't lie to them about what happened.

Tailkinker

Question: I've always wanted to know what Kris and the little Dutch girl were saying to each other.

Answer: Not sure of the dialog but here is the Christmas Carol they sing, the lyrics are: Sinterklaas kapoentje, gooi wat in mijn schoentje, gooi wat in mijn laarsje, dank u Sinterklaasje. The translation is: Sinterklaas good man, throw something in my shoe, throw something in my boot, thank you Sinterklaas. Actually not a Christmas carol but a song for another holiday earlier in December.

JustMeintheUK

Question: Is the airplane captain supposed to be the "Gyro-captain" from "Mad Max 2"? (a.k.a. "The Road Warrior" in America) This would explain why Max says "You." when he first sees him, but I still do not know, as they say at the end of Mad Max 2 that no one ever saw him again.

Answer: The airplane captain is not the "Gyro-captain". Max says "you" in Mad Max 2 because he saw him earlier in the movie. In Beyond Thunderdome, it never says who or what happened to the real airplane captain.

Mark English

Answer: After. They met at Reese's 21st birthday party and subsequently worked together in Cruel Intentions. They wed on the 5th of June, 1999, which was after Cruel Intentions was completed.

Hamster

Question: Why did they change the geography of Hogwarts (Hagrid's hut, Whomping Willow, etc.) if it would just annoy people?

Answer: They didn't do it with the assumption that it would annoy people; like anything, they knew some people would like it and others wouldn't. But that was one of the things they decided could be changed when Alfonso Cuaron took over as director. His vision was different from that of Chris Columbus, and it was now Cuaron's movie.

Krista

Question: There is an entry saying, 'At Roman's birthday party, Roman and Jennifer go off alone to find a missing room and end up in the basement. Later, Gale is looking for Roman and goes straight to the basement. She calls his name and gets no answer, but is adamant that he is in the basement and continues down to find him. Why would she think he was down there if she had no idea where he went?' What is this all about, because I don't understand it?

Answer: It's pointing out how ridiculous it is that Gale goes looking for Roman in the basement. She has absolutely no idea where he is, and they're in a large enough mansion - if she called his name and he didn't answer, then there's no reason to think he's down there (since he has no reason, as far as she knows, to hide from her). However, she needs to go down to the basement for the sake of the plot, so she does so even though there's no real reason for it.

Shay

Question: This film is called something else in the UK (Deception) because Reindeer Games isn't a phrase used in the UK - what does Reindeer Games mean?

ania hill

Chosen answer: Originally from the line in the Christmas carol "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," it has come to mean both (a) any activity from which one is intentionally excluded and (b) tricks undertaken with the point of irritating or harassing the subject - as in: "Oh, they want to play reindeer games with me, do they? Well, I'll show them."

Rooster of Doom

Question: This applies to the TV series as well as the Movie. How are the "watching the movie" segments filmed? Are they literally sitting in front of a large screen? In some of the TV episodes, Joel/Mike is seen pointing to something on the screen. And do they film each segment as one, or is it cut into different takes?

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: They sit in front of a big screen -- or rather Joel or Mike sat. The puppeteers crouch down below the row of seats and hold up special black puppets to project the silhouettes. They did do takes for segments of the movies. I imagine it would be painful for the puppeteers to crouch for 90 minutes!

Carl Fink

Question: How does Gandalf break Saruman's staff? He just says 'Your staff is broken' and it shatters. Saruman is head wizard of the Istari, therefore more powerful than Gandalf.

Answer: All the power of the wizards come from the Valar, and it is they who take it away from Saruman, working through Gandalf. Besides, it was never clearly defined who was the most powerful of the two. Saruman was the leader, yes, but Gandalf had Narya (the Ring of Fire) from the start and was perceived by Cirdan as the wisest and truest. When Gandalf dies and returns as Gandalf the White he is given far more power than Saruman ever had, since his quest is nearing the end and he had been the only one to see it through.

Twotall

Answer: He means that they have all turned 30 by this point in the series - this episode flashes back to all the 30th birthday stories. Ross & Chandler were in the same college class and Joey states that he is 28 during the second season (TOW Joey Moves Out). Monica and Rachel were in the same high school class, and were seniors when Ross was a college freshman, implying a 1-2 year gap. The run from oldest to youngest is: Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Rachel.

Steph_Jared

Chosen answer: The rocket has been rigged to burn the athmosphere if the rocket reachs 100km - the boosters will fire and destroy life.

Dr Wilson

Question: Is there actually an answer for the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Hamster

Chosen answer: There is no real answer. It is intended to be left unknown. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_266.html for The Straight Dope's answer.

Guy

Answer: At the time the movie was being made there wasn't one but today, the riddle officially has an answer. "Because Poe wrote on both of them."

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