Best crime movie questions of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Home Alone picture

Question: Maybe I missed it, but did the McAllisters even bother to call home? I don't remember them calling the house at all. Why wouldn't that be the first thing they do? Kevin seems to be pretty independent for his age. He might have not answered the door, but I'm sure he would have answered the phone.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: They did but the power and phone lines were down due to a tree branch that had fallen on them the night before the family left. A flight attendant on their plane mentions that attempts had been made to call the McAllisters' home but "the phones are still out of order".

Jeff Swanson

But how did he call the police at the end if the phone lines were down.

That was several days later. Clearly the phone lines were repaired over the course of the film.

The film takes place over 3 or 4 days.

Ssiscool

After the storm the lineman tells them the power has been restored but the phone lines are "a mess" and that it would take several days to get them fixed. They were out initially, and then in various stages of repair afterward.

Also explains calling for a pizza.

Ssiscool

It's ridiculous though that the phones are apparently working by the time they land (Kate's SIL calls everyone on their street). Yet none of them try the house again.

Answer: That is also how Kevin was able to order his cheese pizza from Little Nero's.

zredman

Answer: The phone lines were fixed by the end of the movie. Remember, this takes place over the course of several days.

Answer: It's also possible they don't think he's at the house still since the cops did attempt to stop by and see if he was home, but received no answer after ringing the bell. Or they did try to call and left a message, but Kevin may not have thought to check the phone messages if he was out of the house and didn't expect anyone to call. He also didn't want anyone to return until the day prior to Christmas, by which point the mom was already en route and the dad and remaining kids had a plan to come home on Christmas morning.

Answer: The next day, after the cop shows up to check the house, while the Wet Bandits are in the house next door, the phone rings and the answering machine picks up, allowing Peter to leave a message. If the next-door neighbor's phone is working, wouldn't it only make sense for Peter to immediately call his own house? Even if Kevin hasn't returned home from shoplifting a toothbrush and doesn't answer the phone, Peter should still be able to leave a message on an answering machine and most likely keep calling over and over until Kevin answers the phone.

More Home Alone questions

Chosen answer: It's just something the kid came up with. He is not quite all there. It's just something that illustrates how odd the kid is.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: My guess is that they are characters of the Christmas story.

More Bad Santa questions
The Score picture

Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?

Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.

Rooster of Doom

More The Score questions
Demolition Man picture

Question: I remember seeing this movie multiple times years back, and i distinctly remember the restaurant being Taco Bell, why the sudden badly dubbed pizza hut in the new television version?

Answer: A number of the European releases of the film replaced Taco Bell with Pizza Hut, as Pizza Hut has a significant international presence, whereas Taco Bell is relatively unknown outside the US, with very few restaurants. While most versions around these days keep the US original dialogue, the altered versions do occasionally crop up, particularly on television.

Tailkinker

Answer: In South Africa we also had a version that called the restaurant Burger King. I just always assumed that they changed the name when a franchise offered them more money for product placement.

More Demolition Man questions
Halloween II picture

Question: How can Michael recognize Laurie as his younger sister since he wouldn't have seen her since she was only two years old?

Answer: There is a scene where Laurie dreams about meeting Michael as a young teen. It's unknown whether this is an actual memory of real events, but since nothing indicates otherwise, we could assume the he saw her at an older age when she looked closer to her 17-year-old self.

More Halloween II questions

Answer: To add slightly to the other answer, evidently some of the blood in the scene had to be digitally removed for the film to secure a PG-13 rating, which explains why we don't see any actual spray/gush. But we are to assume that a drop managed to splash onto her shoe when he slit his throat.

TedStixon

Answer: The rationale is that blood can travel quite far from an artery and her shoe therefore got the droplet on it even from the doorway - however it does seem to me that the filmic portrayal is lacking, since you don't actually see any instance of spray. Rian Johnson' script says "Blood gushes." What we see in the scene is that it is trickling down his cut - a bit.

Sammo

More Knives Out questions
La Confidential picture

Question: What is Lynn's connection to the Nite Owl killings?

Answer: She doesn't really have one - not directly, anyway. The only link is that Susan Lefferts died at the Night Owl, and Bud saw Lynn with Lefferts when he was buying the alcohol for the party. Lefferts had the bandage on her nose at the time, which sparked Bud's curiosity and prompted him to seek out Lynn after Lefferts was murdered.

Tailkinker

More La Confidential questions
Requiem for a Dream picture

Question: What is the drug the characters use in the film? They inject it like heroin, but they snort it like cocaine. There's also the dialating eyelids, which occur when coke is snorted - so what is the drug in the film? And please don't base the answer on the IMDB.

Answer: Both heroin and cocaine are used in the film. Cocaine is used mostly by Marion, and also injected at least once but heroin can also be snorted. The route of administration stereotype does not hold to all drug users (except for alcohol, which can pretty much only be taken by mouth) The fact the prison guard says "He won't be putting any more DOPE in that arm" - dope is slang for heroin in New York, not coke - and the severe withdrawals as soon as the drug is unavailable suggests heroin is used by all three major characters. The pills used by Sara are preludin, dexedrine and diazepam (according to the novel which the film is based on) but I do not know what the "Blue" pill (the one she takes in the afternoon) is.

More Requiem for a Dream questions
Fast Five picture

Question: When Hobbs realises that Dom and Brian left him with an empty vault, Hobbs has a flashback of Leo and Santos loading the real vault onto a truck. My question: was that really a flashback (did he really see it take place and forget?) or was it like Dom's image of Letty's death when he and Mia are at the crash site in Fast Four and not 100% accurate, since he didn't know what Letty's killer looked like yet?

Answer: Hobbs doesn't see that scene, though he probably does guess part of what happened - ie. that they swapped the vaults. The scene is played as a reveal for us, the audience, to show us how the vault that is supposed to be full of money is now suddenly empty.

roboc

More Fast Five questions
A Clockwork Orange picture

Question: I don't understand why Alex waits until Mrs. Alexander has unchained the opened front door and fully opened it, before he and his droogs break in. I'm sure the four of them could easily have broken the chain off with a bit of force. Is it simply part of Alex's nature to be invited in, before he starts his attack?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It's part of the "fun element" of the crime to get the victim to open the door themselves.

Captain Defenestrator

More A Clockwork Orange questions
Copycat picture

Question: Who is Conrad? Harry Conick, Jr.'s character writes him a letter at the end, and there is a Conrad character listed in the credits, but I haven't been able to find him.

Answer: I thought that it was Peter Kurten (Foley) that broke in and left the book. However if it was Conrad, then he does not appear in the flesh in the film.

Alan Keddie

You are correct. I just rewatched this tonight on Tubi.

Answer: Conrad is the man that breaks into Helen's flat and leaves the book. Happens just over 1 hour into the film.

jle

Answer: I don't think Conrad appears in the film. Earlier in the movie HC Jr says he has other "disciples"; Conrad seems to be the new recruit to replace the just-killed McNamara character.

JeffOCDmovieADDict

More Copycat questions
Swordfish picture

Question: Can anyone translate what Axel Torvalds and his lawyer say to each other in their conversation after Agent Roberts is decoyed away by the fake phone call? The film doesn't provide subtitles because it isn't essential to the plot, but I'm still curious.

Phil C.

Chosen answer: Scene 1: T: Funktioniert alles noch? (Everything all right?) L: Es geht (more or less). Scene 2: L: Sagen Sie nichts mehr (Don't say anything). T: Ja. L: Ich kriege Sie hier raus und zurueck nach Europa (I will get you out of here and back to Europe). T: Sie wissen, dass die beiden Affen noch hinter dem Spiegel sind (You know that these two monkeys are behind this mirror). Scene 3: L: Das macht die Lage auch nicht besser (That doesn't improve the situation). The Lawyer speaks German as a foreign language, Thovald's German is perfect.

More Swordfish questions
Groundhog Day picture

Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, on Phil's first day at the bed and breakfast, he turns on the shower and it is very cold. He asks the lady in the hallway why there is no hot water. The lady answers "Oh no, there wouldn't be any today." Why not?

Answer: Old fashioned hotels have a single boiler for all the hotel rooms. Once the hot water reservoir is used up there won't be any more to use until the reservoir is refilled. This only happens once every few days.

lionhead

Answer: Likely because there are a lot of people staying there and using up the hot water.

Captain Defenestrator

More Groundhog Day questions

Answer: While it's never mentioned in the film, the most likely explanation is that Harry, as a rich kid, grew tired of "slumming it" and decided to move back into his mansion.

More Spider-Man 2 questions
The Commuter picture

Question: Why does the weather and road/ground change so much (dry, rain storm, wet, snow) in the beginning of the movie from the kitchen to the train station?

Answer: The opening credit scene (waking up, in the kitchen, the drive, being on the train, and walking through the terminal) is montage where each cut represents another day in Michael's life. It's meant to show the monotony of his life through the whole year (or even years) and how he follows the same routine everyday.

Bishop73

More The Commuter questions
Kill Bill: Volume 1 picture

Question: Why are there 2 swords on the plane with the bride?

Answer: Because they are being carried by the other passengers.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: There are more than 2. They are positioned similarly and look similar to The Bride's. So, Tarantino is saying The Bride isn't the only passenger with a kill list. This is where Tarantino reminds us that this is an allegory with The Bride representing all good people seeking revenge against the evil people who wronged them. A common theme in Tarantino films.

More Kill Bill: Volume 1 questions
Sweeney Todd picture

Question: In Mrs. Lovett's song "By the Sea," near the end she sings "Bring along your chopper!" What is the word "chopper" supposed to mean? Sweeney can bring his what?

Answer: His knife/razor/sharp edge to kill someone with.

More Sweeney Todd questions
Nerve picture

Question: My understanding is that Vee orchestrated the plan for Ty to bring a blank filled gun, but how was the dare revealed to her before being told to shoot her opponent, let alone before given the gun?

Answer: Once she saw the gun and knew how crazy the game was, she formed an idea that someone's would get shot and believed that it would be her.

More Nerve questions
The Outsiders picture

Question: In the scene where Johnny and Ponyboy are talking in the lot, Ponyboy goes over to sort out the fire. The camera zooms up on Johnny and you can hear voices echoing. Does anyone know what they're saying? I can't make them out.

Answer: Johnny is recalling the argument he heard his parents having; the voices were meant to sound angry but not to be understood. Its to help us understand his horrid home life.

More The Outsiders questions
Heathers picture

Question: In the scene in the girl's locker room, after Heather Chandler's death, why does Veronica get into a shower with her clothes on?

Answer: I think it's one of those "This can't be happening, I must be dreaming" moments. Same as when a character pinches themselves in order to wake up, or they tell someone to pinch them. Veronica can hardly believe what she and JD did.

Answer: Most likely it's an act of contrition, symbolically attempting to "wash away" her sin.

raywest

More Heathers questions

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.