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: Chad tries to discourage Troy from singing with the line, "If you sing in musicals, you're going to end up in my mom's refrigerator." Any clue as to what this means?

Answer: When Chad brings up Michael Crawford (the iconic Phantom in musical performances of Phantom of the Opera) he points out that Crawford's picture has never been on cereal (Wheaties) boxes like popular athletes. Chad says that his mom saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway 27 times, and she put Crawford's picture "in" her refrigerator. So then Chad tells Troy that if he plays basketball his picture will end up on a cereal box, but if he sings in musicals his picture will only end up in his mom's (or anyone's) refrigerator. Apparently since Chad's mom was nuts about Michael Crawford, one of her "crazy diet ideas" was to put Crawford's picture in the fridge to help her stick to her diet.

Super Grover

The War Without, the War Within - S1-E14

Question: In dialogue, Starbase 1 is described as "100 AU from Earth," which is over three times the orbital distance of Neptune. But the onscreen graphic shows the starbase next to a planet that can be visually recognized as Earth; portions of North America, including the Florida peninsula and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are visible. The distance given in dialogue makes sense, given the episode's plot; it's a distant location still within the Solar System, and the Klingon attack is said to be "practically in Earth's backyard." The location shown in the graphic does not make sense, because Earth would already be under attack yet everyone is concerned only about the starbase, not the planet (which is never mentioned at all, let alone said to be Earth).

DavidK93

Answer: The planet shown could well be a terraformed moon on the outskirts of the Solar System. The planet is not shown in great detail behind the damaged station.

Season 1 generally

Question: If there were two designated survivors (Kirkman and Hookstraten) then why was it decided so quickly that Kirkman would be president instead of Hookstraten?

The_Iceman

Answer: The line of succession is VP, Speaker, President Pro Tempore, then the Cabinet Secretaries in the order the department was created. If none is qualified, then the Chief Justice or senior member if no Chief or Chief is ineligible or declines, acts as POTUS until either the House chooses a new Speaker or the Senate chooses a new Pro Tempore, whichever is first.

Answer: While both parties picked a designated survivor, only Kirkman was a cabinet member and in line for succession. Hookstraten was the Majority Whip leader for the House of Representatives and not in line for succession. She would only have become president if something happened to Kirkman.

Bishop73

Answer: He may well have, but as there's no need for us, the audience, to see him being brought up to date because we've seen it all, it can be assumed that Aragorn told him about the events since the Mines of Moria while they travel, off-screen, to Edoras.

Question: Why was only the Freelings' house sucked into the vortex? Since it was discovered that the developer only moved the headstones but left the bodies, shouldn't other houses that were also built over the cemetery have also been dragged in?

Answer: It seems that the majority of the activity was focusing in on the Freeling house exclusively. It's not fully explained why they were the only house affected, but there are a number of possibilities. Possibly because it's where the highest concentration of spirits were at unrest. Possibly because it could be inferred that the Freelings moved in first given Steven was involved with the company that built the community, and thus they became the first targets. And possibly because they were trying to get to Carol-Anne since she was an easy target.

Also, it is mentioned in the movie that Carol Anne was actually born in the house. That likely caused everything to focus on her.

It was not meant that Carol Anne was literally born inside the house, just while the family was living there. It was just a casual colloquial expression Steven's boss made.

raywest

Answer: A poltergeist haunts a person rather than a place. Though building the neighborhood over their graves is what initially disturbed the ghosts, they are fixated on Carol Anne.

TonyPH

Question: What did he see in the picture book which made him suspicious?

Answer: Meryl's fingers were crossed in their wedding picture, which made him think she was hiding something or that it was fake somehow. Later when he sees her, he says "I'll cross my fingers for ya" indicating he realises something is up.

Bishop73

Answer: In addition to what Bishop73 responded, he also notices other oddities. For example, the "Mount Rushmore" they allegedly took a vacation to was, in retrospect, pretty miniature.

Michael Albert

I don't think he suspected much from the mount Rushmore miniature, he probably doesn't really know any landmarks that well. You see him wonder for a moment but that was only what spurred him to look closer at his wedding picture.

lionhead

Answer: We don't hear him say anything (the audience has become like Stewie with his ears covered). Quagmire is probably giving details of his sexual encounter with the hot, homeless twins, so it's up to the individual watching to determine what they did from him acting it out.

Bishop73

Question: Whose baby is it? The therapist is pregnant. We know she lies at times. I choose to believe it belongs to Bill, evidenced by deep love and mourning showing in the therapist's face at the funeral.

Peri424

Answer: It isn't definitively answered but it is heavily implied the father of the baby is Billy.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: She says "and I thought I was the liar".

Answer: Matt Damon was shown to be impotent, so the assumptions is that its Leonardo's.

He isn't. He's shown to have a single instance of what can be assumed to be erectile dysfunction.

Answer: It's reasonable to assume it was Colin's.

Answer: I think this was left purposefully ambiguous so as to allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Is it Billy's? - and therefore Madelyn will be forced to raise a baby on her own and explain the death of its father? Or is it Colin's? - and therefore Madelyn will be forced to raise a baby alongside him, knowing what kind of man its father is. I interpreted the scene as the baby being Colin's. Furthermore, it is not implied that Colin is impotent, only that he has performance issues every once and a while (this could be due to the immense stress and pressure he is under living in constant fear of being made as Costello's rat).

Question: What is the type of green dress that Audrey wears inside the shop when she looks in the mirror?

Question: Why did the Maids and Katie Nanna scream and look shocked when Mrs. Banks (while she was singing "Sister Suffragette") lift up her dress and show a bit of her legs?

Answer: Morals and how ladies were supposed to act during the turn of the 20th century were very Puritan back then and women were supposed to act proper and dress modestly, and that included not exposing body parts like ankles, legs, shoulders, and arms. The ladies were shocked that Mrs. Banks would act so wild and then have the audacity to expose her legs, which a proper lady would never do.

Scott215

Question: Why doesn't Aunt May say something to Peter after he tells her that Spider-Man killed Sandman? It was heavily hinted that Aunt May knows Peter is Spider-Man after the hero speech she gave him in the second movie. Wouldn't she be shocked or question him about killing Sandman?

Answer: Well she does express surprise when Peter says Spider-Man killed Marko, stating that "Spider-Man doesn't kill." She then asks Peter what happened. Peter is obviously flustered by this response and asks why Aunt May isn't happy that Marko is dead. Aunt May then gives him a speech about how revenge is like a poison that destroys you and that Uncle Ben wouldn't be happy about Marko's death. So I wouldn't say she doesn't say anything to Peter, she seems to say exactly what he needed to hear.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Because it's not involved in the plot. Harry doesn't seem actively involved in Oscorp anymore, so there's no reason for it to be brought up.

Question: When the boy trips on the ball, what's the thing that it hits?

Answer: It looks like a hubcap.

Answer: It is a Ford hub cap from the 50's, I have one in my barn just like it.

Answer: It's a wheel cover that covers the entire rim, which are different from hub caps that just cover the hub part of the wheel.

Question: Who is Terry Benedict talking to when he goes down to the vault to inspect the scene? Is it Rusty? And how does he not notice the swat members carrying duffel bags stuffed with $150 million?

sdk389

Answer: He is talking to Rusty. Even if Rusty didn't have his mask down, he hadn't seen Rusty before and therefore would not know to be suspicious of him. The SWAT team came down with their duffel bags fully packed and left with them fully packed.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Why did the pigs not attack Lecter when he picked up Clarice? They went straight for the fat guy handcuffed to his accomplice and also to Verger but by passed Lecter. I thought it might be a blood thing which is why Lecter picked Clarice up after she was shot but A - Lecter doesn't know anything about the pigs and B - Mason wasn't bleeding before he got eaten.

The_Iceman

Answer: The implication is that the boars are afraid of Lecter, which is why they don't attack him - he shows no fear and exudes dominance.

Sierra1

Next to that the pigs are trained to attack anything that screams. Hannibal stayed calm and thus was ignored.

lionhead

Didn't Verger describe the pigs (by mentioning their molars and incisors) to Lecter when he was first brought to Verger strapped to the dolly?

He also didn't scream or make noise to get their attention.

I'm inclined to agree here. The boars could sense that Lecter was the most savage predator in the pit, and the animals steered clear of him for that reason. Call it "professional courtesy."

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: The implication is that savage animals recognize Lecter as another, even more savage animal. Call it kinship. Lecter has the same effect on attack dogs.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Probably the same reason the Alsatian dog of Krendler didn't attack him either.

Question: Towards the end of the film, Heather steals the Seal from inside of Leonard, and we see him burn up. But the shot goes noticeably out of focus when this happens. What gives? The scene appears to be CG, so it makes no sense for it to go so badly out of focus. Were they just trying to cover up a dodgy effect?

Answer: I believe your theory is correct, it appears to go out of focus to help cover up some unconvincing CGI. The final explosion looks very cartoonish.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: It was revealed that the person who Laurie thought she killed wasn't Michael but somebody who Michael had subdued and placed his clothes and mask on. Why would Laurie be sent to an institution for this? She wasn't aware of the fact that she killed the wrong person until the mask was removed, and since the staff seem to know about her connection to Michael, wouldn't they consider letting her go since she was only trying to stop Michael's rampage?

Answer: At first impression, Laurie was catatonic not only from the shock of killing an innocent man, but also from a lifetime of being chased down by her murderous brother. She obviously knows from past experiences that nothing she does (including faking her own death) will stop Michael from finding her. It is later revealed she has been faking her mental issues (think when she has been hiding her regular meds in the raggedy Ann doll) and is committed only to stopping Michael, no matter what the cost. She may have also been trying to protect her son and the only way to do that is to allow herself to be institutionalized in order to lure Michael there.

Answer: It's not properly explained (nothing in this stupid movie is), but the implication is that she went a little crazy due to the guilt of killing an innocent man and was institutionalized.

Question: In the first film, Frank took on all the world leaders and proved himself to be a skilled fighter. So why is his fight scene in this film with Hector Savage so awkward and shows Frank as being a clueless fighter?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It was also stated in the movie that Savage was a professional fighter. Therefore Frank would be no match for him.

lartaker1975

Answer: Rule of funny.

Answer: Just because he beat up a group of people doesn't mean he can beat anybody. Hector may have been stronger whereas the leaders may have been a bit weaker than him.

Question: In the radar site scene, after Miller lets Steamboat Willie free, Reiben wants to leave the mission, and Horvath is holding his gun on him, Jackson also pulls his gun on Horvath, his superior. Nobody seems to care about it. Doesn't it count as a serious violation of military law or something?

Answer: It certainly does, not only on Reiben's part but also Horvath's. However, Capt. Miller was in no place to arrest or write up anybody as they were behind enemy lines and thus, no Allied Military Police to place anybody in custody, he even offered Reiben the option to put in for transfer. Miller understood the men's frustration with the mission and the loss of Wade and Caparzo, so instead of citing orders like he did after Caparzo was killed, decided to defuse the situation by inquiring about the men's pool on what he did as a civilian, then telling them. It worked, as Horvath and Reiben lowered their weapons and calmed the other men.

Scott215

What about the fact that the soldiers in the movie are shown cursing a lot. Wouldn't that also be in violation of military law?

Maybe in the ultra-PC world of today, but certainly not WW2. I separated from service nearly 20 years ago, but can definitely say it was almost against regs NOT to swear.

kayelbe

What is the ultra PC world?

PC means Political Correct.

lionhead

Read UCMJ article 134.

No. Swearing is fine in the US Military. It's very common. When I was in there I heard at least 1 F Bomb almost every 2 minutes.

Question: In the movies people can fly around in smokey forms and interact with the world around them. But as far as I know apparation is teleporting, meaning you instantly go from one place to another. Are they flying or apparating?

Answer: In the books, it was only possible for wizards to apparate (transport) from one location to another. They could not fly unless they used broomsticks or some other mechanicism. The films created the smokey flying forms, which seems to combine both apparating and flying.

raywest

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