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: When Howard gets home late, he mentions to Liz that he got a speeding ticket. Since he was driving on the shoulder of the road, shouldn't he have got a ticket for that too?

Answer: The cop never states why he pulled Howard over, what he was charging him with or how many tickets he was issued. Howard just says, "I got a speeding ticket.' and holds up a folded piece of paper, so it's likely the ticket was for driving on the shoulder.

Question: How did Paxton know that "Edward-salad-hands" bad guy (who he follows off the train and kills in the toilets at the end) was part of the Elite Hunting club? As far as I can remember, the last time Paxton sees him is when he is talking to Josh in the bar. Not an obvious clue... Unless he murders him simply for eating his lunch without a knife and fork? Reasonable.

Answer: Just before Paxton is taken to be tortured, he witnesses the Dutch businessman working on Josh's corpse.

Phaneron

One Last Kiss - S4-E9

Question: Even after Jesse tells Carrie straightforward that he was engaged, why would she still insist that he keep the promise he made to her ten years prior? Anyone else would've simply put the past in the past and moved on, especially after learning that their former lover with whom they lost touch is about to marry another person (so as to not arouse any suspicions).

zredman

Answer: There's several people out there who would try to get their ex back before it's "too late" in a sense before they get married. This is often a plot line in movies for a reason. Doesn't mean it's right of course, but there are plenty of people out there who would attempt to coax an ex into breaking off an engagement for hopes of a second chance whether it's right or not.

Question: The witch made the bear Mor'du, in her shop has a bunch of bear carvings, and also turned Merida's mom in a bear. Did the with mess up the spell and made the bears by accident, or did she change them into bears on purpose?

Answer: The witch seems to have an obsession with bears which makes the more likely scenario that the potion turned them into bears on purpose.

Question: What kind of medicine was Nana bringing into the nursery to give to the children?

Answer: They never officially confirmed; but it was likely castor oil or morphine. Both were used around this time period as a common "medicine" for children.

Cocaine, heroin, and alcohol-based elixirs were also commonplace at that time and considered "safe and effective" for children.

raywest

Question: Did Zira think that Simba killed Scar? Or was she aware of the fact that hyenas killed him?

Answer: She assumed Simba killed him. The movie mentions the hyenas ran off. If they ran off after killing scar, she never would have heard a confession from them and likely wouldn't have believed Simba if he told her. Even she did see them before they ran off; there's a good chance they lied to her to avoid her revenge as she is obviously pretty vengeful.

Answer: In his recent book 'Kevin Smith's Secret Stash', Smith states that he experienced "true darkness" working with Bruce Willis. According to Smith, Bruce Willis does not enjoy making movies. Smith accuses Willis of being lazy and accounts several stories of the two having creative differences on set, including Willis being angry that Smith allowed Tracy Morgan to improvise dialogue. Willis also apparently took issue with Smith contradicting him in front of the crew. For his part, Willis has only vaguely commented on the animosity between the two, calling Smith a "whiner" in one interview.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: I was wondering what does the German surgeon say to Paxton before Paxton talks?

Answer: I'll have to re-watch to catch the bad-guy's words, but Paxton keeps saying, please don't take my life, I haven't done anything.

Answer: Doris was being possessed by the mind flayer, and like the rats, they craved fertilizer.

Answer: Technically Steve was never intended to die in Stranger Things. The Duffer brothers wrote a pilot script for a miniseries called Montauk that would eventually become Stranger Things. In that version of the story Steve is a more overtly villainous character and is killed by a monster. The Steve character was reworked once Stranger Things was created due to Joe Keery's more likeable approach to the character.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: No. Steve has not died in any of the 3 seasons so far.

Question: Mythbusters never tested this so does anyone know if filling a hollow point bullet with cyanide and sealing it with candle wax would actually work? Or would the wax melt/disintegrate and the liquid cyanide disperse in the air while the bullet flies through to the target?

Answer: I have no doubt it would work with a small sub-sonic round such as .22 calibre pistol. There's no way the wax would survive the heat generated by the cartridge and aerodynamic force of anything much bigger.

stiiggy

Question: When handing the nurse Joel's file, why didn't she question Richard as why Joel's original diagnosis was crossed out and a new one in its place?

Answer: She assumed another doctor had done it and Richard was merely the messenger. In the chaos of the aftermath of the car wreck, it would be reasonable that a doctor had changed the initial diagnosis.

Answer: She did. That's what she's asking when she demands "Who changed those orders?"

Not the nurse who confronted Richard about looking at Joel's file. The nurse who said to get Joel into ER immediately.

Question: Minor question, when Trinity and the Keymaker steal the bike, there's a shot of the driver and in the back of his cab is a picture of what looks like a model. Who is she? It seems someone from the art department or set decorator put thought into putting up the picture in the first place, so it seems there might be some significance or inside reference. But it's also seen so briefly I could believe it's just random too.

Bishop73

Answer: Personally I think it's not meant to be significant in any way. A lot of truck drivers have pictures of models in their cabin I'd expect, just added for the stereotype. I don't know who the model is though. BTW, this is a scene from Matrix Reloaded.

lionhead

Question: When Will mentions that Lecter was given sodium amytal in hopes of finding the location of a student that Lecter killed, Lecter instead gave them a recipe for dip. How was Lecter able to lie? Wouldn't giving him the amytal have made him tell the FBI where the student was?

Answer: So-called "truth serums" don't actually work like you think they do. They are super unreliable. Sure, they can sometimes make subjects more open and willing to talk... but just as often (if not more so), they can make the subjects super suggestible, which can lead to things like false memories, altered memories, and even false confessions. Or they can simply have no effect on the subject whatsoever besides making them a little high and groggy. There's a reason they typically aren't used and aren't always trusted. It's possible that Lecter either wasn't affected by the drug, or was simply able to keep a sound-enough mind to not divulge information. Of course, there's also the chance that Lecter hid the relevant information in the recipe... as he likes to hide information out in the open, disguised as other things... (Which he did several times in "The Silence of the Lambs").

TedStixon

Question: Why did young Michael kill the nurse? She saw a picture of Laurie as a baby and complimented her. Why would this drive Michael to kill her?

Answer: To be fair, she also makes a snide comment about how the cute baby "couldn't possibly be related" to Michael, implying he's ugly. (At least in the unrated version, which is the most widely available version on home video. Not sure if this line is in the theatrical cut.) So she did also insult Michael. But the fact of the matter is Michael is psychotic, and felt compelled to kill her for one reason or another. Whether it be because she insulted him, because the picture of his sister set him off, or simply because he just wanted to murder her... he acted on his impulse to kill. I don't necessarily think there's always a rhyme or reason as to why he kills in the Rob Zombie films... he simply kills anyone who gets in his way or that he comes across.

TedStixon

Question: Is there a symbolic reason why Alice and Anna are both American? Or was it just a coincidence with the choice of actresses?

Answer: I think it mostly has to do with the casting of Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts. In the original play, there's no mention of Alice or Anna being American.

Answer: This is not an official answer, but my interpretation is that them both being American makes them interchangeable, in a way. Whether Dan or Larry is involved with Alice or Anna, both men have issues that cannot be totally helped by a relationship with either woman. Although, Larry and Anna only spent a night together.

Answer: There wasn't one singular city used. It was shot in and around various locations in California, plus on a lot of sets and backlots. Ex. Some scenes were shot in LA, some in Pasadena, some in Santa Barbara, etc.

TedStixon

Answer: I think he did. That's what made everyone so uncomfortable during the meat locker scene. He even alludes to the bishop that he knows who made the threat in the confessional. The movie wasn't about him preserving his life, but him fulfilling his role as a priest and meeting people at their darkest spaces.

Question: What caused Joey to scream and swear when he came home to an empty house?

Answer: The fact that his wife left him with nothing.

Rob245

Why did his wife leave him? Was she cheating on him?

He was cheating on her.

raywest

She found out that he was cheating on her.

She found a picture of him cheating.

Question: As a janitor, when tending to the boy in the lift, the boy tells Kimble his chest hurts. Why does Kimble write the notes on the board - while pressing on his chest? He could've held the board in his hand.

Answer: I just watched the clip on YouTube. The paperwork is in a manilla (paper) folder, not on a clipboard, so it is practically weightless. Kimble places the folder on the boy's lower abdomen rather than the chest and opens it. He is holding the left-hand side of the folder with one hand, slightly lifting as he writes new instructions. He is not pressing on the boy's body at all. Because the folder is flimsy, Kimble could not have written on it efficiently if he was completely holding it up.

raywest

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