Question: Does anyone know why there are armadillos running around inside Dracula's castle?
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Chosen answer: If memory serves, that version was filmed in Mexico and they used the same sets to film the Spanish version AT THE SAME TIME. English crew on days, Mexican crew at night. Being the desert there would be armadillos and I'm sure the crew thought they'd make good rats or something. Wouldn't you find some sort of exotic wildlife living in Castle Dracula?
Answer: Actually, in that time period, rats were deemed too "gross" to show so armadillos were substituted. I got this answer straight from David Skal, the noted horror film historian.
Question: On the 10th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, why does the widescreen disc have 22 chapters, while the full screen disc only has 8?
Answer: With eight chapters you can't always find the precise moment of the movie, though with 22 chapters you can find the moment you wish to view easier without having to chose the closest chapter and wait 5-10 minutes. More and more new DVDs have a high number of chapters.
Question: When Puss in Boots is brandishing his sword at Shrek for the first time I keep thinking Donkey's line about Puss having a piece is supposed to be a reference to some gangster film. Problem is I can't remember any where this particular line (or something similar) pops up so which is it?
Answer: This isn't really based on any one gangster film, but all gangster movies. The Mafia (at least in films) refer to a gun as a piece, so the joke is that the sword is the medieval equivalent.
Question: When Lolita enters Humbert's room for the very first time, she asks him if she's getting a zit. According to Google, zit was used to define a pimple circa 1966. The movie takes place in 1947. Was the slang used back then?
Answer: It could have been. Lolita might have used a relatively new term, and also how can one really pinpoint the first time a term was used? Maybe it was more mainstream in 1966, but kids could have been using the expression for several years.
Question: Does anyone know the name/artist of the song that plays near the end of the movie when David (Tom) is about to jump and while he is falling? I was thinking Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space by Spritualized, but it turns out that's from a different part.
Answer: It's from an Icelandic band called "Sigur Ros", and it is not on the soundtrack (although another one of their songs is - one from earlier in the movie). It's from their 2002 album titled "()" - yes two parenthesis, it's on track 4, but is an untitled song. You can get the album on Amazon.com or in any Borders or Barnes and Noble.
Question: There's a line in the song "Don't cry for me Argentina" that I don't understand. It sounds like she's singing "though I'm dressed up to the ninth at sixes and sevens with you". What does this mean? If I've misheard, what is she actually singing?
Answer: Lyric is: "You won't believe me/ All you will see is a girl you once knew/Although she's dressed up to the nines/ At sixes and sevens with you"..... "Dressed up to the nines" basically means "all spiffed up" in formal clothing. "At sixes and sevens" is "to be confused". Not to be too literal, but Eva (an actress) is portraying herself as a poor Argentine girl (one of the working class people), dressed up for her role leading the country, but confused about the relationship with the people. As indicated in other lines of this song, she craves the love of the people, and needs to be seen as one of them.
Question: After the Ring has been destroyed we see the reactions from the Fellowship members. Pippin is kneeling on the ground, sobbing Frodo's name. Is he crying out of joy because Frodo succeeded or is he crying because he thinks Frodo died in the process?
Answer: Probably both. It's something he would have very mixed emotions about.
Question: What do the frogs stand for? Is it a biblical reference, or could the screenwriters just not think of a better way to wrap up?
Answer: It's much debated the exact meaning, but it's kind of a reference saying that seemingly impossible things do happen. As we see later in the film, people stuck in similarly impossible situations might just have a chance of getting out of them.
Question: When Frodo first finds the ring on the floor of Bilbo's house, Gandalf makes Frodo put the ring in an envelope and then seals it. Why does Gandalf do this? Was it to protect Frodo from having to physically touch the ring? If so, why didn't Frodo just carry the ring in an envelope in all three movies?
Chosen answer: Gandalf tells Frodo to "Keep it secret. Keep is safe," when he puts the ring in the envelope. They want it packed away, out of sight and out of mind. When Frodo starts on his journey though, it's probably too risky to keep the ring anywhere but on his person. Otherwise it could get lost or stolen.
Question: When Hermione, Harry and Ron are in Hagrid's hut and the Ministry of Magic Knock on the door, what is it that Hagrid puts a blanket over?
Answer: A bit earlier in that scene, he tosses food to a new 'pet', aka a new strange creature, that catches it in his 'mouth' and that is what he covers up, because he doesn't want his new 'pet' to be confiscated/sent back to its own kind, just like Norbert was.
Question: What is the name of the song at the beginning of the credits?
Answer: The song is "My Generation" performed by The Who.
Question: All of Isaac's followers in this film are young people, no older than about their mid 20's. So why in the opening scene during the Cafe slaughter, is there a elderly lady helping them do their dirty work (the worker who poisons the coffees). This makes no sense at all considering it's the older people they were killing.
Chosen answer: Who knows? Maybe they blackmailed her, because she works there, and the children wouldn't get caught poisoning the coffee, or maybe she isn't as old as you think, she could well be in her mid 20's, it's hard to tell, you only see her briefly.
She is obviously in her late teens, early 20s.
Question: Did anyone notice that the sky during the scene where Fait and Ling are driving across a bridge is particularly deep blue? I can't decide if that's a really deep blue sky or it's a blue screen without the sky added in.
Answer: The whole scene shows them driving on the bridge obviously shot from a helicopter. The whole sky is blue, so unless they had a very large blue screen, then I would say NO. Besides that scene is supposed to represent night-time. Therefore it's supposed to be the glow of the moon.
Question: Can someone please explain why Alistair's face is never shown, and why there is one actor who does his voice and another to portray him from the neck down?
Answer: It's just supposed to be funny. It's an old plot ploy that's been overused in recent years. The last time it was really funny was when Home Improvement did it with the next door neighbor. I think they use a different voice because they like the way that actor's voice sounds.
Question: Why does the female police sheriffs hat get bigger when she climbs into the car? Is it a joke?
Chosen answer: Yes, it's just a joke that her hat gets bigger throughout the scene, until it is so huge that it can barely fit into the car.
Answer: Apparently it's from the movie Signs?
Question: Can anyone point me to a website or explain what all is involved / symbolism, etc., of the wedding ceremony between Wallace and Murron?
Answer: The kneeling is customary for a Catholic wedding ceremony. The only real 'symbolism' is when the priest wraps their hands in a tartan. Today, a groom would put his family's tartan around his bride's shoulders to show she is now part of his family. You can see in the next scene in the town, when Wallace asks to see Murron that night, he pulls the tartan out from under the neck of her dress. The wrapping of the hands is left over from the Celtic culture. Before Christianity came to the Celts, they would be handfasted, literally tied together at the hand and wrist. Usually this was done with a string, but here was shown with Wallace's clan tartan. Once the Scots became Christians, they still kept several old pagan rituals and incorporated them into their new-found religion. So, even though the priest performs this part of the ceremony, it was perfectly acceptable. The priest 'ties' the hands together and performs the rest of the marriage ceremony; once the marriage ceremony was over, he would untie them.
Question: I know this might seem kind of silly, but I'm just curious - if the Ring makes its wearer invisible, why didn't it make Sauron invisible?
Answer: Because Sauron has power over the ring, not vice versa. The ring has many more powers than invisibility. That is just the only one that most people can take advantage of. It is a way of showing how the ring is so powerful that it will obscure all those who can not control it. In the book, it didn't make Tom Bombadil invisible because his magic is older than the ring itself.
Question: On the phone Tatum says to Sydeny "I was thinking Tom Cruise, all the right moves. You know if you pause it right you can see his penis." What's that all about?
Chosen answer: In 1983, Tom Cruise made a movie called All The Right Moves. Supposedly, as Tatem says, if you pause it at one point in a certain scene, you can see Cruise's little buddy.
Question: This is a weird question, but was December 11th 1960 actually on a Friday?
Answer: No, it was a Sunday. However, December 11th fell on a Friday in 1959, the year before release.
Answer: The film was shot in 1959 and released in 1960, so the reference to this date being on Friday would be correct.
Question: I have wondered this for a while about the movie. If the agents know that Neo matters and needs to be killed, why don't they take over his body and let themselves die?
Answer: At first, the agents know that Neo is being sought out by Morpheus and his crew, but don't know why. The Machines decide to use Neo as bait in an attempt to capture Morpheus and gain access to Zion's codes. Later, when destroying Neo becomes the priority, he has already been removed from the Matrix and the agents can no longer jump into his mind's Matrix location to take over his body.
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Answer: Pretty sure this qualifies as a mistake, just like the llamas in Troy. Armadillos only live in the Americas. Later on, they have opossums too! So the story about not wanting to show rats could very well be true. Nevetheless, if this isn't a mistake, I don't know what is.
Spiny Norman