Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: This film is directed by Mike Bigelow, but I can't find anything else he directed or was a part of. Is this a fake name used by Mike Mitchell, the director of the first Deuce Bigalow movie? It seems too coincidental for this director to have the same last name as the title character (albeit an "e" and not an "a"), have the first name of the first director, and not have any other working credits. Plus, Mike Mitchell has worked on several kids films and may want to avoid association with this film?

Bishop73

Chosen answer: Mike Bigelow is a real television commercial director, but yes, "European Gigolo" was his only feature film and the similarity of the names is a coincidence.

Sierra1

Chosen answer: He had been living in a deeply schizophrenic world, living two lives, but not remembering one of them. When he realised that he was actually TWO people, he realised that he could kill them both with one shot. So, his eyes were finally opened to the truth. As it happened, he didn't actually kill himself, but the dark side accepted that he had.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Why did Bane have a problem with the two men bringing commissioner Gordon down into the sewers? Also how did John Blake know which outflow Jim Gordon would come out, of since the guy said that the sewer leads to many outflows?

PapaJohns01

Chosen answer: Bane had a problem with it because it exposed his plans to the GCPD. Blake knew which outflow to go to because of the body found previously. All bodies from that area of the sewers end up in the same place, Bane's men just don't know where that is.

Question: When there is a street march and the mayor nearly gets killed, what was the timer on the window sill supposed to do and why did Bruce get shot at by one of the police snipers when it opened? Even if Bruce was a supposed assassin trying to kill the mayor, he could have just been looking out the window, so why did he instantly get shot at?

PapaJohns01

Chosen answer: The timer was there as a diversion for the police snipers. As soon as the timer ended the blinds went up causing a sudden movement alerting the snipers to it. They were probably trigger happy or identified the telescope as a weapon and thus they fired. Not unlikely as the threat of an assassination was very high.

lionhead

Question: When it's discovered that the malamute was assimilated by the alien, it gets incinerated. How then, was the alien able to assimilate Bennings or anybody else, since each time someone was discovered to be the alien they were burned to a crisp?

Answer: The Norwegian malamute freely ran around the American base for hours before the kennel incineration scene. Doc Blair even asked the dog-keeper, Clark, how long the malamute had roamed around the base that afternoon, and Clark couldn't give an exact amount of time. It was easily long enough to infect more than a couple of hosts, as there was no single point of infection. Also, even before the kennel scene, the Americans went to investigate the Norwegian base and recovered a half-mutated humanoid corpse, returning with it to the American base. After performing an autopsy and blood analysis, Doc Blair realised that the corpse wasn't completely dead. The animated goo from the mutated corpse is what assimilated Bennings.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Burning isn't always a guarantee it is dead. They just think it is. The only permanent solution is blowing a Thing to smithereens as it doesn't seem to be able to put itself back together after.

Mostly agree, but complete burning, thorough enough to disrupt every cell, is probably the only practical way to kill it. Exploding it would just scatter pieces of Thing all around. As we saw in the blood test scene, even small amounts of the Thing are motile, and they might be able to rejoin. If the pieces froze after being scattered they would just lie dormant until discovered and eaten by a scavenger, or were thawed and touched by a careless investigator.

Chosen answer: Her name was likely changed in the credits when the series was syndicated as reruns.

raywest

Question: Why does Liv Tyler receive third billing for this movie and its sequels? Her character hardly does anything compared to other characters in the trilogy like Aragorn, Sam or Saruman, and she wasn't exactly an A-lister at the time the movies came out.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: Getting a high billing is always part of an actor's negotiations. She would have been offered it as part of the deal to join the film.

Question: Why did Don Corleone send Luca Brasi to gather intel on Sollozzo? Wouldn't it have been obvious to the Don that sending his bodyguard, who was widely known to be unquestionably loyal, wouldn't fool his adversaries, which would eventually, with Brasi dead, lead to his own death?

Answer: Luca wasn't Vito's bodyguard, Paulie Gatto was. In Mafioso circles the bodyguard is also usually the chauffeur which was the other part Paulie played. Luca was an independent who had loyalty to Vito. Unlike other members of the family, Luca had his own operation and his own scams. He was usually only called into service by the Don when some particularly nasty piece of business needed to be taken care of for which Luca was paid handsomely. Few people knew why Luca was loyal to Vito, it had to do with a bit of trouble Luca got into with a young girl, Luca was looking at some hard time and Vito was able to get him out of it. As explained in the books, Luca didn't care if he lived or died, he didn't even care if he was killed, but he cared very deeply that he wouldn't be killed by Vito. That was the hold Vito had on Luca which made his loyalty so deep. So far as the rest of the underworld was concerned Luca was just an independent contractor who worked for the Corleone's from time to time. If you'll recall when Kay sees Luca Michael tells her "he helps out my father sometimes." Barzini was probably the only other one who truly understood how deep Luca's loyalty went. So, why did Vito send Luca: Vito thought he was dealing with the Tataglias. Ten years prior to the Sollozo meeting there had been a Mafia war. Vito planned the strategy of the war while Sonny handled the tactics. The war was bloody and costly but the Corleone's were able to out maneuver the other families and come out on top. After that war Vito was top dog of all the 5 families. Had Vito been correct that Philip Tataglia was behind Sollozo, sending Luca would have been a smart move. As Vito mentions after the meeting of the commission "Tataglia is a pimp, he never could have out fought Santino." Tataglia would have seen getting Luca as a huge win, not only would he have Vito's special muscle, but he'd probably also believe he'd be able to get information from Luca. Where Vito made the mistake was not seeing Barzini pulling the strings, had he believed Barzini was involved he'd have handled it differently.

The line in Goodfellas seems illuminating here where Henry Hill explains that the Mafia is essentially an organisation that offers protection for those who can't turn to the legitimate law of regular society. This suggests that these "family" ties are not as strong as we imagine. These criminals are not a definite part of an orderly corporation, like head of HR at IBM, but a loose confederation of connections and loyalties that are rather more fluid. This is a theme also explored very well in the book and film, Donnie Brasco. Therefore, it wouldn't be totally unthinkable that someone in Luca Brasis position could turn to another "family" if he felt it expedient. However, these kind of guys have a tendency towards mistrust.

Answer: Luca was instructed by Don Corleone to act as if he was unhappy with his current situation within the Corleone family. In the book, this mission was planned more thoroughly and was spread out over a longer period of time with Luca frequenting the Tattaglia family's bars and bordellos, where he (falsely) bitterly complained to the prostitutes and anyone who'd listen about how he was underpaid and undervalued by the Godfather. Either this ploy did not fool Sollozzo or, if he did believe it, he didn't care and used it to send a message to the Corleones by killing Luca.

raywest

Question: How does Stacy give Guy 5 cent change if his total is $1.10? Did he have a 15 cent piece?

Answer: This could be considered a mistake. Some people say the pizza cost $1.05, and he gave her $1.10, with 5 cents back. But if you watch the register, she rings up $1.10 before he hands her the money and then it shows $0.05. It seems this part wasn't in the script, so was added as filler and some of the sequence is slightly off.

Bishop73

Answer: Three quarters and four dimes would make it correct.

Greg Dwyer

But you can see that there is a dollar bill in the transaction - check the " mistakes" on this forum for the discussion. Your theory would be correct, had the dollar bill not been shown.

ckbyers

His bill was $1.05 and he gave her $1.10 so his change was a nickel.

No, his bill is 1.10. Stacey even says " that'll be 1.10"

ckbyers

Answer: She's acknowledging how much the guy gives her, not how much the pizza cost. She says "1.10" and then gives him 5 cents back, because the pizza likely costs $1.05.

Question: I'm confused by how Victor (the Sloth victim) managed to "survive" an entire year of being tied to his own bed. Even if he had an IV keeping him alive, surely he would have died after a few months, even weeks? Also, how did no one notice him missing when he was trapped in a populated apartment? Surely someone would have noticed his absence; he was an infamous drug-dealer after all.

Answer: Laying in bed for a prolonged amount of time would cause serious damage, yes, but John Doe likely moved him around, changing beds etc. (nurses do this with comatose patients in hospitals). As for why no one noticed him missing...well, he was a drug dealer. Most people wouldn't accustom themselves with such a person in the first place and even if someone did notice him gone, opening their mouths could risk them getting caught by the police. Also, it was stated by a police officer that landlord said there was no reason to be concerned. His rent was always paid in full, on time. As far as Victor dealing drugs; junkies aren't concerned with their dealers. If one doesn't answer the phone, they move on down the list. Drug dealers and junkies disappear everyday.

Dra9onBorn117

Answer: John Doe gave him antibiotics through an IV. You can survive without food, not water. Maybe Doe gave him Ensure as a source of food. As far as being a drug dealer, people would have thought he skipped town, went to jail, or was killed.

Chosen answer: Dastan was tricked into presenting a poisoned gown to King Sharaman during the celebration. The gown fatally burns him.

raywest

Question: Not saying I'm an expert on time travel, but when Goob and 'Doris' submit the Memory Scanner as their own, shouldn't Doris immediately vaporize much like she did when Lewis said he wouldn't invent her, seeing as Lewis is still theoretically in the future and wouldn't be present in the past to invent Doris?

Answer: No, because in that timeline Lewis would still eventually invent Doris. Doris would always be invented by Lewis at some point until he promises never to invent her.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Bud and Catfish decide to go outside of the rig, swimming out the bottom of one of the hatches. Also, when Bud and Lindsey are in the wrecked submersible they decide Bud will swim with the drowned body of Lindsey back to the rig. How could these three have made it by entering the outside pressure of the Abyss at 1 or 2 miles below sea level without wearing a dry suit like Bud wears while saving Lindsey? They all would have been crushed the instant they left the habitat or submersible.

Answer: At the depth you're asking about, the water pressure is not enough to crush a diver's unprotected body (which is mostly solid/liquid and thus relatively hard to compress). The only thing they have to worry about is their lungs (gases, and therefore things containing gases, are much easier to compress). This worry is addressed by the pressure and composition of the air that they breathe on the rig, in their submersibles, and in their air tanks - this air has different proportions of gases (especially oxygen) compared to surface air, and is also at a significantly higher pressure - high enough to counter the pressure of the water that deep. (Side note: another way you can tell the atmosphere they are breathing in the rig is set at the same pressure as the water at that depth is that there is open water in the moon pool - and it's not rushing in to fill the entire rig, which it would if the air pressure was less than the water pressure).

Aerinah

Question: Does anyone know what the spiral and dot on the back of the Pirates of the Caribbean medallion mean/represent?

Answer: The symbol on the back is called the "chimali". It's a symbol of harmony, similar to the yin yang.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Was there any reason why Tong Po is listed as being played by himself when he was played by Michel Qissi? This is in the film's credit, I know IMDB listed Qissi as the actor. And if this was just a mistake, was there an explanation given as to how it was made or got past editing?

Bishop73

Answer: He didn't want to use his real name.

Answer: This is a mistake that has never been explained.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: If predator and prey live in harmony, why do they still make fox repellent?

Answer: Same reason we humans have pepper spray. I think there's some sort of repellent for each animal just for safety reasons.

Chosen answer: No, no one from the film asked him to do a cameo. Stan Lee has said he never requests a cameo and waits to be asked.

Bishop73

I read on IMDb that he declined to make a cameo in this movie.

I've never heard him say he declined the cameo. I think maybe the entry was made from an assumption of what Lee told Larry King. Lee mentioned he wasn't in one of the X-Men films or this film and said sometimes the films are shot too far away and he can't travel half way around the world to be in a cameo. But this film was shot primarily in Louisiana and did have a scene shot in Los Angeles supposedly.

Bishop73

Question: My question is about radio chatter. Sometimes in the movie McClane talks on the radio and the bad guys hear him, and sometimes the bad guys talk and everybody hears. Now there are times that McClane is talking to the Sergeant and it appears only him and the Sergeant are listening - can everyone listen to them? Also when talking with Theo about the safe, can McClane hear their conversation?

Pedro Teixeira De Freitas

Chosen answer: The gangster/terrorists were using a set of what are called "commercial" or business walkie-talkies which have special, dedicated channels so that they only communicate with other radios within the set. These are typically used by security and event-staff personnel, and they can't be monitored by general-purpose or citizens-band radios. Even the police wouldn't be able to monitor commercial radio traffic unless they had special tuning gear and scanners. The major mistake in "Die Hard" was that John used one of those commercial radios to contact a police dispatcher and then an individual police officer. No can do.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: On the phone conversation, Howard Payne claims that it took him two full years of his life setting up that elevator job and investing himself in it. So how is he able to move out of his old retirement home and relocate in an apartment building in downtown LA near Pershing Square, rig 2 city buses with a handheld remote with C4 bombs, rig his old home, cut the hole on the street underneath the garbage can and think of that revenge plot and plan and set up everything else in just a month. That's just not enough time for him to do all that.

Answer: Apart from setting the bombs and a camera on the buses, the rest of the setup (the apartment, booby-trapped house, hole under the garbage can) could have been part of the elevator job, which Payne just re-used.

Sierra1

Question: What is the name of the soundtrack when Basher is detonating the pinch as a part of the plan?

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