Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: How did they pay for the booze and the snacks at the second hotel? Del doesn't have a lot of money and Neil spends most of his on the room.

manthabeat

Answer: It all came from the minibar in the room, which in those days (and, often, even today) didn't require payment in advance; it would be added to your bill when you check out. Since the hotel didn't have Neil's credit card or anything else to take payment, they could have just skipped out the next morning without paying for the snacks and drinks. (Another possibility, though remote, is that the snacks and drinks were complimentary...I have stayed in one or two hotels like that in the past, rare as they may have been).

Answer: Another possibility is that off-screen while travelling on the road (before the fire), drinks were bought at a store somewhere for the purpose of an overnight stay somewhere.

Question: After Otho and the Deetz family are attacked by the Beetlejuice snake why do they stay in the house instead of fleeing immediately?

Answer: They're still convinced that they can make money off the house and ghosts that inhabit it. The promise of wealth can make people do strange things, including ignoring signs of clear danger. So they're remaining in the house in hopes that it can eventually make them a lot of dough.

TedStixon

Question: Why is Gopher absent in this movie?

Answer: Gopher was not a character in the original A.A. Milne stories, and was a Disney creation for the earlier movie. The 2011 film was faithful to Milne's version.

raywest

Question: Except for Two-Face, Killer Croc, Scarecrow and Jervis Tetch, why were the rest of the villains redesigned?

Answer: Probably because different people were working on the game. Scarecrow and Croc also have different looks if you've played Asylum, City, and Origins, they look different here too.

Rob245

Question: How was Umbridge able to cast a patronus?

Answer: She casts it like any other witch or wizard by using her wand and saying "Expecto Patronum". It is considered advanced magic, but most magical people can learn how to do this. When Harry (disguised as Runcorn) entered her courtroom, she had already cast her cat patronus to keep the Dementors at a distance.

raywest

Casting a patronus requires a very happy memory, though. And considering that she seems to be very angry and never felt that she was given enough power, she must have never had a happy memory.

If I recall, At this point she's head of the Muggle-born Registration Committee. A powerful position in her mind and as Umbridge is all about power she would have been very happy indeed.

Ssiscool

"Must" is total conjecture. Perfectly possible for an angry resentful person to have one happy memory to call on.

Villains still have personalities. Depending on what specifically makes Umbridge happy, she could easily have a lot of happy memories.

Umbridge seemed quite happy while torturing Harry with the punishment pen, when she was ejecting Trelawney from Hogwarts, when she ousted Dumbledore as Headmaster, happy in her devotion to Voldemort, and so on. Happiness is an individual thing. Her sense of happiness was quite perverse.

raywest

Only those who are pure of heart are capable of producing a Patronus. Those who aren't would be devoured by maggots that shoot out of the caster's wand. Umbridge wasn't pure of heart because of all of the horrible things she did, so shouldn't she have been eaten by maggots?

Ladies Night - S5-E4

Question: Christine asks Roz if she ever hangs out at a tavern or café or a 'bwot' (I am absolutely misspelling that). Then Roz starts calling the strip club she frequents 'a bwot' as a running joke. I've heard the term on Frasier as well, but I can't google it because I have no idea how to spell it. What is it?

Brian Katcher

Answer: The word is "boîte." It's a French word and just means a small restaurant or cafe. "Boîte de nuit" would be a nightclub.

Bishop73

Question: Why didn't Edmund or Heather (Edmund's niece) recognize that the girl posing as Matty wasn't actually Matty? More specifically, with regard to the restaurant scene (where Ned runs into fake Matty and Edmund), wouldn't Edmund obviously realise that the girl he's with is NOT actually his wife? Also, during the scene where they meet with Edmund's lawyer and discuss the invalid will - wouldn't Heather (Edmund's niece) have recognized that the person masquerading as Maddy wasn't actually Maddy?

Answer: Neither Edmund or young Heather had ever met the real Maddy. The fake Maddy, who is Mary Ann Simpson (played by Kathleen Turner), had stolen the real Maddy's identity before meeting Edmund. She was specifically looking for a rich man to victimize (and murder) and also for an incompetent lawyer (Ned Racine) to drag into her plot. The real Maddy discovered Mary Ann's scheme and showed up to blackmail her imposter, for which Mary Ann later murdered her. Mary Ann and Maddy attended high school together and had a similar appearance, which is why Mary Ann stole her identity.

raywest

Question: When Prince Henry almost marries the Spanish woman, why are the Baroness and her daughters there? At the ball, he told Danielle "You are just like them", referring to his dislike of them.

Answer: It would be expected that people of a certain social rank are invited to important ceremonies and events, regardless of one young prince's personal feelings about anyone in particular. It's about the monarchy maintaining strong social and political ties to aristocratic families and retaining their loyalty and influence for their own power. Not inviting them or others over petty squabbles would be insulting and potentially weaken alliances.

raywest

Season 7 generally

Question: This might be a stupid question, but why don't Negan's followers just kill him? Why do they choose to live fearfully under his reign? As a large group, they could easily turn on him and be free.

Answer: Being part of a group, with a leader, has advantages. It offers more security, instead of wandering through abandoned towns/cities and wilderness, hoping to find food and supplies, and needing to fight Walkers and various gangs. Negan has some idea of fairness. If his followers obey him, they have a place to live, and can share in the food and resources.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - S7-E1

Question: The doctor (James) put on a Dictaphone to make the suggestion that Roger Ackroyd was alive at 21:30 hrs. But how could he know that someone (Paton) would pass the door of Ackroyd's study at precisely that moment?

Question: Why were the geraniums bouncing in the last part of the movie in the pullback from their kiss on the roof? Nothing else was moving, but the red geraniums in the clay pot against the far wall were bouncing up and down, up and down.

Jon408

Question: When the detective is opening the hidden door in the floor, he looks over to a syringe that is laying on the floor. The safe is also shown as open. How is the safe open? Why is the syringe in the floor? Why didn't anyone use the syringe? Was the syringe full?

Answer: The events of Eric going through the house take place many hours after the house trap. It's shown that Daniel has been rescued by Amanda and Jigsaw. There was also a point in the film where its explained the safe contains an antidote. So Jigsaw/Amanda opened the safe to use the antidote on Daniel while removing him from the house. So the syringe on the floor is used.

Ssiscool

Question: What did Payne mean when he told Jack "Do you know what a bomb is that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy".

Answer: He meant that when he retired after years of hard, loyal work, he had little to show for it other than a small pension and being given a cheap gold watch. He felt cheated, used, and angry, causing him to resort to the extortionist kidnapping plot. He was basically a "ticking time bomb" that had been waiting to go off.

raywest

Question: Could a High School football team really coach itself in the last quarter of the game? Wouldn't the ref not allow an injured player, such as Lance, to coach since he's not an official high-school coach? I always wondered this.

Answer: There's no rule in any sport, at least none that I could find, that requires a team to have, or listen to, a coach. Obviously in most cases it's a good idea, but if the coach were poor and/or working against the interests of the team, the players wouldn't be breaking any rules by simply ignoring them and listening to someone else.

Question: Why is it said that Imhotep and his priests were mummified alive? Mummification occurs when someone dies and has most of the organs removed. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he was buried alive?

Answer: It means the process of removing their organs was performed while they were still alive. Certainly at some point they would die during the process from blood loss or having a vital organ removed. And it was just the priests that were mummified alive, Imhotep was subjected to a different punishment.

Phaneron

Their internal organs were not removed or they'd die instantly. In the movie you see them being bandaged up and put in the sarcophaguses whilst still moving and then sealed up so they still had their organs. It is indeed more like being buried alive but then as a mummy.

lionhead

Indeed, but you can also see the Medjai using sharp tools against some of the priests. The priest on the left side of the screen with his arm writhing has a Medjai placing a sharp object around his face, indicating he might either be cutting out his tongue or removing his brains through his nose. The Medjai in the immediate foreground is (badly) making a slashing motion with his sword towards the priest lying on the table before him.

Phaneron

Question: What would happen if two or more houses won the House Cup? Would there be some kind of contest to decide who should get it or would the houses share it?

Answer: Agree with the other answer, but would add that Dumbledore could also devise some sort of tie-breaking task or contest to determine who wins the House Cup. It could even be a coin toss. There's actually some online discussion about this and some have suggested the same possibilities. It's apparently never been explained by J.K. Rowling.

raywest

Answer: While there is nothing definitive known, it most likely would be shared between the two houses. Remember, the great hall can easily be decorated in multiple colours.

Ssiscool

Blossom - A Rockumentary - S2-E9

Question: During the dream, Nick talks to someone on the phone and they discuss T-shirts. He wants the shirts to be 95-5 instead of 50-50. What does that mean?

Answer: He was making a business deal and the person on the phone wanted a 50-50 split of the profits. But Nick said it's a 95-5 split. Meaning he gets 95% of the profits.

Bishop73

Question: Anybody who puts their name into the Goblet and is selected is bound to a magical contract to participate in the tournament. Since Harry never actually put his name into the Goblet, shouldn't that void the contract?

Answer: The selection process was corrupted by Barty Crouch, Jr, who cast an exceptionally powerful "Confundus" spell on the Goblet of Fire. The Cup was somewhat sentient and wrongly sensed that Harry was a student from a (non-existent) fourth school who'd entered his own name, even though someone else submitted it. Once a name was entered, a student was magically bound to compete in the tournament.

raywest

Answer: Production vehicle models aren't in sync with the calendar year. The '65 Mustang began production in March 1964 and first sold in April 1964, before it was "introduced" the following year. I don't know which model was seen in the episode, but the 2+2 fastback was sold in September 1964. The 1964 film "Goldfinger" uses a 1965 Mustang as part of Ford's product placement. Basically, in the 1930's, FDR ordered automakers to release vehicles in the fall of the preceding calendar year "as a means of facilitating regularization of employment in the industry." Now, automakers can release new models as early as Jan 2 of the preceding year.

Bishop73

Question: Was Ralphie's family poor? Their house and furnishings seem pretty low class, but they never seem stressed about money, and they have a fairly extravagant Christmas.

Answer: They weren't poor and appeared to live a fairly comfortable middle-class life within their modest means. They could probably afford to splurge a little on Christmas. People who went through the Great Depression during the mid-20th century tended to hang on to old items, even if they could afford new ones and, unlike today, had lesser interest in material possessions. My own parents grew up in that era and rarely bought anything new, no matter how dated or worn. Also, situations (like holidays, social gatherings, special events, etc.) tend to look a bit exaggerated in movies and TV for visual effect.

raywest

I've also noticed this among my family members who grew up in the '60s through the '80s. They don't buy new things if the older ones are just fine. Since the late 2000s, it's more common for people to think that possessions and decor need to be "updated."

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