Question: In Angier's final performance Borden watches Angier's duplicate drown in the tank. Does the other Angier still reappear for the audience, and take a bow? They never explain this in the film. If he does take the bow, Borden would never have been accused of murder. If he doesn't take the bow, how does the duplicate know not to do so? The duplicate would have no idea that Borden was below stage.
Answer: No, he does not appear to take a bow. The set-up is as follows: Angier invites the audience on stage to observe the machine, but in reality it is so he can watch for Borden trying to work out the trick. When he sees Borden in the audience, he also knows Borden will not learn anything from the stage, and will go backstage. He then clones himself, and the clone is created with the exact knowledge he had at the time of the cloning, including Borden's presence and the trap the original Angier had set. So the "new" Angier hides away the best he can, letting Borden be framed for the murder of the "original" Angier. Had he appeared, not only would it ruin his plan of framing Borden, but it would also reveal how he had done his trick, and he would not allow any of those to happen, no matter what.
Question: How did they make Kirk Douglas have a peg leg? How was he able to walk that way?
Answer: This movie predates the more advanced CGI that would be used these days. In older films, actors portraying an amputee would have their leg (or arm) bent back and strapped to their body. A prosthetic peg leg would be attacked to the lower appendage. The actors were also filmed from strategic vantage points so the bent part of the limb didn't show. When Douglas is seen driving a wagon, the seat was probably constructed so that his lower leg fit into a hidden compartment and the peg leg was attached on top to be visible. Douglas also wore rather baggy pants, and that would help conceal his bent leg.
Question: After Elizabeth is brought to the Pearl, she threatens to drop the medallion overboard. Barbossa feigns disinterest but when Elizabeth pretends to drop it, the pirates gasp in panic. Why? So she drops it, big deal. They can't drown, the gold "calls to them" so what does it matter if she were to drop it?
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
Question: This bugged me for years, when Billy said there is something in the trees to Dutch and in the next shot it shows the trees, is the Predator there, as in visible onscreen?
Chosen answer: Yes. The predator can be seen not in the immediate shot after, but the one a few seconds later as they are seen walking away.
Before or after Ramirez gets hit in the face with the branch?
Question: When the Maitlands return to their home after it's been altered by the new owners, Juno tells the Maitlands that they should be thankful that they didn't die in Italy. What did she mean by that?
Answer: Italy is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes exorcisms as a real-life ritual. Presumably, ghosts in Italy are at greater risk of encountering trouble in Italy because of this reason.
Answer: Italy, is a trendsetter. There would be constant art-deco changes that conflict with the Maitland's personal taste. In comparison, the Deets' are pretty tamed.
Chosen answer: When the Maitlands first meet their case worker, Juno, they tell her how miffed they are with the new family that has moved into their home. Juno glances around the peaceful house and remarks, "Things seem quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy." The case worker's name, "Juno," is a traditional Italian girl's name; and we see (when she smokes a cigarette) that Juno's throat has been slashed open from side to side, implying that she died a very violent and grisly death. Based on her personal experience (probably being murdered in Italy), Juno is commenting that the Maitlands could have died a far worse death under far more horrific circumstances, and that they really have little reason to complain.
I'm Italian: there's literally not a single female being, girl or woman, who has (had or have) this name in this country. Let alone being "traditional." "J" is not even in our original alphabet, go figure. I also think it's about us Italians being noisy and the place being quiet, that's all.
You may be Italian, but you're not informed. While the formal Italian alphabet (derived of Latin) does not have a "J" character, the letter "J' is used in modern Italian writing every day. "Juno," in your limited world, would be spelled "Diuno," who was a Roman goddess (queen of the heavens). As this pertains to Beetlejuice, she is a Roman goddess in charge of organizing.
Juno slashed her own throat. It says earlier in the movie that people who commit suicide become civil servants, which is what Juno is as their case worker. The beauty queen at the desk implies the same when she talks about what happens to people when they die. She says "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" holding up her slit wrists, implying that she wouldn't have committed suicide if she knew she'd become a civil servant (as a desk girl).
It's never stated or established that Juno committed suicide.
Question: When Manolo and Joaquin start fighting the wild boar, General Posada only sees Joaquin confronting the boar before he is knocked unconscious. Thus, he never sees Manolo fighting the boar like a matador. When the general recovers, he believes Joaquin defeated the boar and not Manolo. Despite the townsfolk being impressed by Manolo's action, why does no one, including the nun who thanks Manolo for saving her life, speak up and tell the general what actually happened? Why don't they confirm to the general that Manolo fought and defeated the boar?
Chosen answer: There was probably too much panic from the rampaging animals.
Question: Is the ballet they perform a real ballet? Or is it something made up for the movie?
Answer: The ballet was written for the movie.
Question: At the end of the movie, what does Chip mean when he says "Somebody has to kill the babysitter"?
Answer: Earlier in the movie during a flashback of the Cable Guy's childhood, when his Mom was going out she called the television "Mr. Babysitter". He means he's going to disrupt the television signal to give all the boys and girls whose parents use television as a babysitter a chance.
Question: If Meatloaf is shot in the head, how would they get him back to the house and why would they bother? Did the security guard just leave after he shot him?
Answer: Most likely they either went back afterwards or chased the security guard off somehow. It's also possible with all their inside connections that they stole the body from police custody.
Question: ***SPOILER WARNING*** I don't understanding the ending to this film. What was Mandy's reason for killing people? Is this a flawed character motivation, or did I miss something?
Answer: The reason for Mandy and Emmett killing off the characters is pretty much left open for interpretation, but it seems the reason they killed them was because before Mandy became "hot over the summer" (as Dylan says at the beginning), Emmett and Mandy were treated like outcasts, and after Dylan's death, Emmett probably took a lot of the blame. It's possible that Emmett and Mandy were tired of how the popular crowd had treated them before. At the end, they made a pact to kill themselves. But after finding out that Emmett is just like the others, Mandy backs out and decides not to, but Emmett doesn't take it very well and decides to kill her too. Mandy fights him off, and she saves Garth, who seems to be the only one at the ranch who saw her as a human being and treated her with respect. So any of these reasons may have been motivation (although their actions are extreme), but overall there seems to be no obvious reason.
Answer: It's likely that Mandy developed a taste for murder subsequent to the Dylan incident, in which she evidently was more complicit than would seem at first glance.
Question: Who was the dwarf in the castle scene when the children arrive at the castle in the child catcher cage?
Answer: Dennis Waterman.
Question: Did Ray set up the killing of Joey Randone because of what he saw them do, or was it just luck on Ray's part that he was attacked and left hanging from a TV aerial to then plunge to his death, and this is why he stalled for time with the door lock?
Answer: I would think this would just have been random luck. There is no way you can just pay some random criminal to find and single out Joey and his partner to attack. With all the cops on patrol anyone of them could have responded to that call, so that was just pure luck that Joey and his partner encountered the criminal that threw him to his death on the roof.
Question: Is there some reason that we are considently seeing planes fly over her house? Is that supposed to symbolize something?
Answer: Jess' house is supposed to be on the main flight path of Heathrow airport. Her mum and dad work there.
Answer: I doubt it; it's probably because the film is set in the Borough of Hounslow, which is in the flight paths of many London airports, including Heathrow.
Question: What did the trooper mean when he said, "Didn't you know this ain't Saturday"? It always makes me wonder.
Answer: The trooper on the motorcycle had just landed in the water. In older days, the typical day to take a bath, wash hair, etc. was Saturday. The trooper in the car (once he saw the motorcycle trooper was okay and wet) just made a joke about him taking a bath.
Answer: I think the trooper makes this joke in reference to Evel Knievel, a popular performer of the day. His shows, which prominently featured motorcycle stunts (particularly jumping) usually occurred on the weekends (i.e. Saturday).
Question: If Lanning really had leaped from that distance, wouldn't he be unrecognizable upon impact and not with only a little bit of blood coming from his mouth?
Answer: He'd certainly have a lot of internal injuries that aren't visible, would probably have more injuries showing than that trickle of blood, but wouldn't necessarily be "unrecognizable."
Question: Does anyone know the significance of the Romans clubbing the feet of the two thieves crucifed at Golgotha? And why they did not do this to Jesus? I know there's an explanation for this somewhere in the gospels but I can't find it.
Chosen answer: When someone is crucified, they die from suffocation because when the arms are stretched out that far wide and you can't move your legs it is close to impossible to breathe. The platform that their feet were nailed to would serve, for a while, a way to boost your body up enough to be able to take small breaths in and out. Eventually when they were tired of waiting for you to die they would break your legs so you couldn't boost yourself up enough to breathe well and you would asphyxiate quicker. When the storm came after Jesus died, they broke the legs of the 2 thieves, but did not break Jesus's legs. The prophecy stated that the Messiah would die with no broken bones.
Question: At the end of the movie, Fungus is seen amongst the employees promoting doing fun stuff, but since he is seen assisting Randall, and generally helping him and Waternoose with the scream machine earlier on, shouldn't he have been banished (like Randall) or hauled off by the CDA (like Waternoose) when the whole plan came to the CDA's attention?
Answer: Fungus was an unwilling lackey, not a co-conspirator.
Question: In the scene where Batman shows Lucius his giant sonar thing, why is he talking in his big scary voice? Lucius knows who he is, so why does he bother disguising his voice?
Answer: It's habit, and a sensible one at that. When he's in the mask, when he's being Batman, he uses the voice, even if the person he's with knows who he is. If he drops back to his normal voice with some people, it sets the precedent for using it while wearing the cowl, which means that he's more likely to slip up and use it around people who don't know, potentially revealing his true identity. If he sticks rigidly to using the voice when kitted up as Batman, regardless of situation, it minimises that possibility.
Answer: At the bottom of his cowl Batman has devices designed to keep his voice at that level. The director revealed it, of you look at the right screenshots you can see speakers.
Answer: Angier always wants to take revenge on Borden as he is the reason behind the death of his wife. He knows that Borden is in the crowd the two times, first time, Olivia suggests Borden to watch the new "Transported Man" trick of Angier, where Borden finds out the trap door in the bottom of the machine, second time, Borden wants to know how Angier flies that distance with in seconds through the trap door. As expected by the Angier in the final play, Borden reaches the back stage where actual Angier is drowning (it is as always actual Angier drowns and the replica of Angier appears at some distance in every performance). So, as per the plan the replica hides to create an impression that Borden intentionally murders Angier. Note: the replica of Angier has the same ability and sense like actual Angier.
Rajesh v
It's never stated whether the "real" Angier drowns or takes the bow, but it's implied that it doesn't matter - as the clone is a perfect copy, they are both "Angier." Angier at one point says, referring to toll the trick has taken on him, that each time he did it, even he himself didn't know whether he would be the man in the box or the prestige. Similarly, when Angier asked Tesla which hat of all the duplicates was his, Tesla replied "They are all your hat."