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: John McClane's wife calls herself "Miss Gennero." Later in the movie her children are being interviewed on television - but how could Hans Gruber possibly know these are her children? And how does he connect her and the surname "McClane"?

Answer: He sees her reaction to seeing them on the news; he can tell she knows them, and from this, it's not a big leap to the conclusion that they are her children. Then, the reporter says to her daughter, "Your mommy and daddy...", but Holly has claimed to be single and her husband is not among the party guests, so he further deduces that she must be married to John McClane, or if nothing else that she's avoided mentioning her husband for a reason. A look at the downturned photograph on her desk confirms his suspicion.

Show generally

Question: At some point in season 3 it is discovered that Mrs McCluskey has been keeping her dead husband's body in the freezer so that she can keep drawing his pension. For a while the other residents of the lane ostracize her because they believe she has murdered her husband. When she explains the reason why she kept him in the freezer everyone just accepts it and it is never mentioned again. However, pension fraud is a major crime. Why was she not arrested?

Answer: Sympathy most likely. The husband didn't leave anything to her upon his death, so they might have not wanted to upend her life any more.

Lummie

Question: Why can't Michael take Tommy with him at the racetrack with Gina and her dad instead of taking him to the Kiddie Zone?

Trainman

Answer: Because Michael's family hates Gina's. They see her as a spoiled brat and not a good influence on Michael. He knew if he took Tommy with him, he would tell the family about not going to Disneyland but to the racetrack.

Question: Would finding the button during the initial investigation (or even at the end) really have been enough to overcome all the evidence against her? It validates her innocence and the morality of the escape in the eyes of the viewer, just not sure if finding a button would lead investigators/prosecutors to say "yep, we found a button. She's definitely innocent."

Answer: It wouldn't have been that simple to say, "We found the button, she's innocent." It would however validate her story and reopen her case. Investigating further the cops may have found further evidence of her innocence.

Question: Why was Aragorn so reluctant to claim the throne? While in the novel he is proud to be destined to rule Gondor and Arnor.

DFirst1

Answer: Probably for multiple reasons. For the movie, having Aragorn struggle against his own desires and an inherited destiny makes for a more conflicted, intriguing, and three-dimensional character rather than the stereotypical power-obsessed trope. Being king is an immense responsibility and a heavy burden. Personal wants and freedom are sacrificed to serve others. Not every ruler craves power and oftentimes were born into an unwanted, pre-destined path. Aragorn was raised in Rivendell, unaware he was the heir, nor was he groomed to become king.

raywest

Question: At the beginning of the film, Ingerad says that Vlad left the Turkish army and returned to Transylvania. Would Vlad really have been allowed to leave considering how great a warrior he was?

Answer: He was a prince, and likely had the power to leave if he chose.

raywest

Question: Why was Commissioner Hurst shocked to find out that Commandant Lassard would be helping with the crime wave? They had been friends for a long time, and Hurst knows that Lassard would never do such a thing, so it seems out of character for Hurst to think so.

Answer: Because they found jewelry from the last crime in his office. That's why he was shocked. They may be friends, but he knows he can't ignore evidence even for a friend.

lartaker1975

Answer: Poisoned food, heart attack from eating too much food, or he slipped in the shower. The list is endless.

Question: When daylight appears in the house, Maddie, Colin and Jason reach the front door but stop when Colin says something wasn't right. What did Colin see that made him realise something was wrong?

Answer: A sense that it was too easy to just open the door and leave. Evil is a sore loser and will always have a trick up their sleeve to win.

If you pay attention, you can hear bugs and insects that are night creatures making noise.

Chosen answer: The living painting is taken straight from the Family Ties intro.

BaconIsMyBFF

Ah, that makes sense - I first saw this one on Youtube, which at a guess was the first season or an early version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRdtO6UKD0. But yeah, this is exactly right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1szfz9nZ8.

Jon Sandys

Answer: I noticed that too and although I can't think of any sitcom starting like that it does remind me strongly of Bob Ross "The Joy of Painting" intro, which was from the 80's as well.

lionhead

Question: When Tony gets busted for money laundering, he says "$200,000 more and we ought to take a leak." This line triggers the bust when the cops arrest him. Is this really what he said and why is this statement so significant to the investigation? (01:59:20)

Answer: That's the cop's signal for the task force to move in and make the arrest.

Question: What was in the envelope he put on the mantel just before he left. It was already gone when his friend and maid ran to see him leave?

Answer: Earlier in the movie, Mrs. Watchit hands an envelope to Philby with a note inside to inform everyone that if George doesn't show up at 8:00, then they can start dinner without him. This is what he most likely left on the mantle before he started his journey through time.

4 x 4 - S5-E19

Question: In Nick's case, why is nothing shown happening to Jackie at the end? I mean, if it wasn't for her kicking out Chase and Andy, so that she could have the house party (while her parents are on vacation), they wouldn't have ended up at the laundromat where Chase dies.

Heather Benton

Answer: There are not enough jail cells or funding for them to waste time and money charging people for crimes who are an indirect puzzle piece as opposed to being the person who directly committed the crime. While Nick is not a cop, he knows enough about solving crimes to know the law comes down to who is directly responsible. The law doesn't put much focus on who you could put some of the blame on indirectly, hypothetically speaking. No one in law enforcement is going to waste their resources charging Jackie. Particularly when all her lawyers would need to say is, by law, she didn't commit a crime.

Question: Depending on child labor laws just how did they get the young Diana actress to do her own stunts?

Rob245

Answer: Lily Aspell, (young Diana), performed many of her own stunts. She is naturally athletic and was already an expert equestrian rider (her parents and uncle are professional jockeys). Stunts are carefully coordinated, and she would never have been allowed to do anything dangerous. Stunt doubles perform the more dangerous action scenes. Often, CGI superimposes an actor's face over a stunt double's body. Safety harnesses and suspension cables are used and later removed digitally. Actors also perform many scenes in front of a "green screen" and special effects are added later to look like an extreme environment. I once observed a movie scene being shot. What looked like a wild car chase in the move was actually filmed with the vehicles driven at slow speed. The action was sped up during the editing process.

raywest

Thanks brother. Regardless of it being a hilariously "so bad it's good to watch and laugh at"movie I was concerned for the child. All the best and have a nice day.

Rob245

You're welcome, and I'm a "sister." :-).

raywest

Question: Dan Aykroyd tricks the Russians into revealing themselves by saying something in Russian. What does he say specifically?

dizzyd

Answer: According to the IMDb trivia for the film, it's "Чем меньше знаешь, тем лучше." ("Chem men'she znaesh', tem loocheh."), meaning "The less you know, the better."

Sierra1

Question: If Barbara had a dog named Muffy then how come she didn't speak about it the whole film? Didn't she even think about wanting her dog back if she decides to stay with the kidnappers?

Trainman

Answer: So she's more concerned about her own life than the life of the dog. Or since she believes that her husband "worships the ground I walk on," she probably takes for granted that her husband will take care of the dog. Or she does talk about it but it's not important to the plot.

Question: Why couldn't the crew put on their spacesuits, then go out and assess the damage?

dizzyd

Answer: That would involve depressurizing the command module and LEM. Given that a substantial percentage of their on-board O2 supply just got vented into space, wasting more at that point to only confirm what they already knew wasn't worth the trouble.

kayelbe

Answer: Even if they could go out and assess the damage, they didn't have the tools, materials, or knowledge to actually be able to fix it.

LorgSkyegon

Question: How did Hendricks know Ethan and the IMF team were in the Kremlin that day?

Zorz

Answer: Ethan's briefing said that IMF had "learnt" that Cobalt was en route to the Kremlin to destroy his identity records in the archives, at a specific time right down to the minute. As having IMF present to frame for the bombing was part of his plan, it is likely Hendricks leaked his own intentions to IMF knowing they would send a team to retrieve the records. After Ethan has his ID scanned, Hendricks turns and walks away like he was waiting for them to arrive, and may have scanned their frequency.

Sierra1

Question: Why was Jason never recovered after Tommy drowned him at the end of part 6?

Answer: To leave well enough alone, Jason always finds a way to come back. It would have been better to let him stay at the bottom of the lake to rot. Besides greedy developers or publicity would have turned the place into a tourist attraction.

Answer: Because nobody but Tommy and Megan as well as the campers knew he was in the lake. If they did then they looked the other way.

Rob245

Question: What do the symbols on Lil' Jack's onesie mean in the opening scene?

Answer: The symbols are pi, infinity and square root - they don't really mean anything together like that, but seem to be part of Jack's trying to tutor Little Jack to be a genius by teaching him mathematics.

Sierra1

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