Best movie questions of all time

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It (2017)

It picture

Question: Why does this version of Pennywise look so scary as opposed to Tim Curry's version? Tim's version looks harmless enough that children would definitely go up to him but Bill's version would certainly have scared a child even today.

Answer: It's a matter of artistic choice to create a different look and mood from its predecessor. The filmmakers of the new movie made Pennywise more overtly malevolent, whereas the Tim Curry version portrayed the character as benevolent looking to hide an evil interior, and be able to more easily gain children's trust..

raywest Premium member

Answer: Artistic choice, and (directly or indirectly) being more faithful to the original novel. Pennywise's appearance in this film is almost an exact replica of the book's descriptions, with a 19th century style added to it, and some minor changes.

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Collateral picture

Question: I noticed from the previews that this movie looks very different. What is it? Is it a digital camera that has been used? Or no lighting effects used? The movie really has a "behind the scene" feel.

Kirill Ostapenko

Chosen answer: It was shot with a digital camera. IMDB is a great place to answer questions like this. Go to *Technical Specifications* in the *Other Info* section of the menu on the left hand side of the screen. In an interview in American Cinematographer, Michael Mann said that as far as he was aware, this was one of the first movies to attempt to make a "look" out of digital video rather than trying to make Digital Video look like film. This approach meant the movie could be shot in the low-light scenes of urban desolation Mann wanted - because Digital reacts much better to low light than film. The approximately 20% of the picture that was shot on film was mostly, according to Mann, the portion set in the "Fever" nightclub - because this is the scene with the brightest lighting states, a condition in which Digital Video does not perform as well.

J I Cohen

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Answer: Yep, and there is, but they're both elsewhere. Doc's been committed to an asylum somewhere. When Marty first meets the alternate Biff, Biff tells him that he's supposed to be in Switzerland at boarding school - that's where the alternate Marty is.

Tailkinker Premium member

Wouldn't someone probably see Doc and report that he escaped from the asylum?

Maybe, but no way to be sure, and they're not around long enough for that to be an issue anyway.

Jon Sandys Premium member

Answer: Doc would most likely not have been seen by anyone, as the time he spent in the alternate 1985 was primarily inside the DeLorean, at a boarded-up library, graveyard, and his lab (and all at night too) so most likely not spotted by the public.

Even if someone had seen Doc, it could've been dismissed as someone who looks like him. Even if they did report his escape, someone would either call or go to the asylum and verify Doc was still there.

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Chosen answer: It is stated in the commentary that Sam Rockwell wanted his character to have a spray tan, making his hands an orange color.

sadie

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The Patriot picture

Question: At the end of the movie, Martin stabs Tavington in the stomach, and then in the throat. How does he know Tavington is really dead this time? Earlier in the film, Tavington pretended to be dead twice after Martin's sons shot him.

Answer: Guns were less powerful during Revolutionary times and the wounds were more survivable. Deep and ripping knife stabs to areas like the abdomen and the neck area are more likely to be fatal. Tavington may not die instantly, but he would probably bleed out and/or bleed internally fairly quickly.

raywest Premium member

Would being stabbed in the stomach, and in the throat have been enough to kill a person as tough as Tavington?

Absolutely. A deep stab to the stomach/intestinal area would be very deadly even today. Being stabbed directly in the throat would kill someone very fast due to a lack of air and inhaling blood into the lungs.

LorgSkyegon

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The Relic picture

Question: How big is the Kothoga? In some scenes, the Kothoga is about the size of a tiger but in other scenes, it's almost the size of a horse. During the Kothoga's attack during the Supernatural exhibit, it is seen chasing a SWAT officer and it's very huge but in another scene, when it crashes through a skylight and lands in front of some computers, it's not very large.

Answer: While the size is never explicitly stated, the creature does seem to be somewhat larger than a tiger and approaching the size of a horse when the scene needs it to be. Perhaps its size changes as it eats and needs sustenance?

Erik M.

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Little Children picture

Question: In the foursome dinner scene, Cathy checks under the table and sees something about Sarah's feet that heightens her suspicion about the affair. What does Cathy see? The camera seems to focus on Sarah's painted toenails, but I don't understand why that would arouse suspicion.

Answer: In the book it explains that the color is one that only a young teen would like, and a mature woman would never wear, unless she were too in love to notice that it was gaudy.

MoonFaery Premium member

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Amistad picture

Question: In the last scene of the film the ship appeared to me to be sailing in a westerly direction (sun sets in the west). Wouldn't the ship need to go east from USA to sail to Sierra Leone?

Maureen

Chosen answer: It's likely that the scene was set in the morning, meaning they would be going east.

Greg Dwyer

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Shooter picture

Question: In the movie they state the colonel cannot be charged because the crime was committed outside of the United States. All active members of the US military like the colonel are subject to the uniformed military code of justice no matter where the crime was committed, so how did the colonel prevent the military justice system from being able to charge him?

Answer: You are completely correct. This is a clear mistake, the colonel could (and would) most certainly be charged for his crimes.

BaconIsMyBFF

Though unlike the movie, it's not up the attorney to decide if a military member gets charged, it's up to the judge advocate general.

Actually it's not a mistake. The colonel is not a member on active duty in the service. He's ex military. He's the one running the contractor group that carries out the senator's dirty deeds.

Answer: Receiving retirement pay and being in the IRR confers jurisdiction, even over retired military personnel.

Answer: "The colonel" was not active duty military, BUT as a retiree he is still subject to the UCMJ.

How are retirees subject to the UCMJ?

They're not, generally. Some service members who've served for more than 20 years but less than 30 are or were subject to the UCMJ. There was a recent legal opinion overruling this though. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/08/09/new-bombshell-legal-opinion-says-military-retirees-cant-be-court-martialed.html

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban picture

Question: Why does Dumbledore purposely hit Ron's injured leg?

Answer: This didn't happen in the book. It appears to be done purely for comic effect in the movie, showing Dumbledore's eccentric and quirky nature. He's seemingly oblivious to what he's doing and how it affects Ron.

raywest Premium member

Answer: Ron had previously bragged to Hermione about how bad his leg was injured, and had lied and said his leg might be chopped off. When Dumbledore later hits Ron's leg, he is saying that a child's voice no matter how honest and true. He is giving Ron a little payback for exaggerating.

Highly unlikely Dumbledore knew what Ron told Hermione at the Whomping Willow. Ron's leg was seriously hurt, so he wasn't "bragging" about it, nor did he lie. Ron, who is a bit of a hypochondriac, was simply embellishing to be more dramatic and to gain Hermione's sympathy. Hardly anything Dumbledore would consider worth giving him "payback" by inflicting pain.

raywest Premium member

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Fright Night picture

Question: When Evil is walking down the alley, why did Jerry chase after him? Evil didn't believe in the existence of vampires, so he wouldn't have been a threat to Jerry at all.

Answer: Peter's odd behavior at Jerry's house made Jerry suspicious. When he discovers the shard of the mirror on the ground he finds out why Peter was spooked: Jerry doesn't cast a reflection. Jerry then decided that Charley's friends must be dealt with. In Ed, Jerry sees something which would lead him to believe Ed would make a good servant. Jerry turns Ed into a vampire and sets him against Peter while he himself deals with Charley and Amy.

BaconIsMyBFF

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The Bourne Supremacy picture

Question: When Bourne interrogates Nikki (under duress) in the underground station, Nikki insists that Bourne had never worked in Berlin, much less completed his first mission there. But it is established that Bourne had killed the Neskis in Berlin on what is described by Conklin as his first mission. Assuming Nikki has no reason to lie and that she would have accurate information about Bourne's activities, what might explain that issue?

Dusibello

Chosen answer: Conklin ordered Bourne to kill the Neskis, telling him it was a training mission, when in fact it was an unofficial, off-the-books assignment to cover up his and Abbott's corrupt dealings with Gretkov, which Neski was about to expose. Nicky did not know about this Berlin mission as it was not an official Treadstone operation.

Sierra1 Premium member

Conklin did not tell Bourne that it was a training mission. Conklin told Bourne "this is not a drill soldier...this is a live project, you're a go."

Partially correct. After Bourne eliminates the Neskis, Conklin says "Congratulations soldier, training is over." This implies that while the mission was real, Bourne was still an asset in training, and off the books.

By "not a drill" and "live project", Conklin is telling Bourne to actually kill the Neskis - like killing the hooded man for Hirsch, it's training him to do anything for Treadstone. It could be that the edit is out of chronological order, but the order of the scenes implies that after Bourne has done the job and returned to the car, Conklin says "Congratulations, soldier. Training is over."

Sierra1 Premium member

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Despicable Me 2 picture

Question: How did a starfish get on Gru's head while Lucy and Gru were underwater in the car?

Avh1

Chosen answer: The car is always shown in shots from the front so we can't see if the boot had a leak.

boss of epicness

If the boot had a leak large enough to admit the starfish it would have filled with water and Gru would have drowned.

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Home Alone 2: Lost in New York picture

Question: After Peter yells at Kevin "You spent $967 on room service?!", where does Kevin run off to? It's not clear from what's onscreen.

Answer: He's heading back to the hotel most likely to apologize for spending such a huge amount.

Answer: It's Kevin's dad who screams out. You can tell because Buzz looks at the bill, smirks, and says, "Oh, Dad." I've always interpreted it as Kevin running away. The joke is that Kevin's dad screams so loud from the hotel room that Kevin can hear him from the park. So Kevin wouldn't want to face his dad.

Bishop73

I just watched the clip on YouTube and yeah you're right, it is his dad. The sound of his voice when he yells "Kevin" sounds exactly like Buzz, so it probably conditioned a lot of viewers such as myself to accept it as Buzz's voice for the whole line.

Phaneron Premium member

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Alien picture

Question: Question about the Director's Cut of the film. The scene where Brett is looking for Jones has been altered slightly - when he looks up at where the water is dripping from, you can actually see the Alien hanging motionlessly from one of the chains. Has Ridley Scott given an explanation as to why he added this new dynamic to the scene? It's easy enough to speculate why, but a link to an 'official' explanation would be appreciated.

Answer: According to the commentary on the DVD, Ridley didn't add this scene to the original cinematic release because he thought it revealed the true horror of the Alien too soon in the film. The scene is quite early in the film and he thought revealing the fully matured Alien at that time would reduce the viewer's fear.

I had watched Alien several times before I noticed the Alien hanging there.At this point the Audience have no idea what the Alien looks like, they're looking at pieces of science fiction equipment put in by the production crew that they can't relate to, so for all they know the Alien could just be a piece of kit hanging there.

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The Boy Next Door picture

Question: The blonde girl Noah hooks up with - is that Ali, the girl Kevin likes?

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The Karate Kid III picture

Question: Why does Daniel's karate skills regress in this movie? After fighting a Karate champ in the first movie and a Japanese fighter in the second, surely he must have gotten better as a fighter, not worse?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: First he could have just been out of practice, but the point they made in the movie was that his moves were old, so they knew how to counter the things he did in the past to win.

pross79

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Labyrinth picture

Question: This has always confused me. In the scene with the guards, which one always lies and the other always speaks the truth, Sarah asks which door leads to the castle gate then she figures out the riddle and chooses a door. However, the door she chooses, the supposedly correct choice, doesn't lead her to the entrance instead it's a trap. So did she choose the wrong door, or just the wrong direction for the hands to take her?

Answer: To add to that, the other door was supposed to lead her to certain death, and technically the oubliette wasn't exactly certain death.

Answer: She did choose the right door...if she had chosen up, she would have very likely come out at the castle, but she chose down.

If you pay attention down was also the correct answer. The Goblin king was angry when he discovered she was down there "She never should have made it this far" or something similar upon finding this out. Had she chosen up she would have ended up back at the beginning.

Answer: Sarah did indeed select the right door and did ask a sensible, albeit confusing question. The reason she fell into the oubliette (and the helping hands) is because as she walked through the door she said "I think I'm getting smarter. This is a piece of cake" - saying "piece of cake" within the Labyrinth to say how easy something is brings bad luck upon those who say it. Sarah said it to Jareth and he upped the stakes (reducing her time). Hoggle said it later (in Goblin City) and then they got surrounded by Goblins.

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The Terminator picture

Question: How exactly do both the Terminator and Kyle find addresses? We are led to believe that is the reason for the phone books, but none of the addresses in the phone books match up to the addresses where either the first Sarah is killed, nor the apartment of our Sarah.

Answer: My two cents: The T-800 Terminator does indeed, rip out the page of a phonebook for the address, but remember, he was looking for any and all Sarah Connors, not a specific address. He did not know which Sarah would give birth to John Connor, so by process of elimination he began terminating any woman with the name Sarah Connor. He did plug the first Sarah Connor (a housewife), then went to kill the other Sarah Connors in the phone book.

Scott215

I already gave that answer, but apparently that's not what the question is asking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Kyle we are shown uses a police computer to find the addresses. The T800 just uses the phonebook as you mentioned. He rips the page out and takes it with him.

Ssiscool Premium member

Except 2 of the addresses in the phone book don't match. So how does the Terminator find them using the phonebook?

Bishop73

The Terminator is just blindly killing everyone in the phone book whose name is Sarah Connor (apparently a common name). Process of elimination. So, the day he arrives, unrelated women named Sarah Connor start dropping like flies, and the police believe it's the work of a serial killer. Our heroine Sarah Connor barely escapes this sweeping extermination by sheer luck and Kyle's intervention.

Charles Austin Miller

You just described the plot. Were you trying to answer the question? Because the question still stands. (As it is, it's either a mistake or plot hole in the film).

Bishop73

Perhaps I'm not getting the question. What is meant by "none of the addresses in the phone books match up"? Match up to what, the murder scene addresses? I wasn't aware that the murder scene addresses were prominently displayed.

Charles Austin Miller

Exactly. The addresses seen don't match. Specifically the first Sarah Connor's house number is "14239", but in the phonebook it is listed as "1823." And the real Sarah Connor lives in an apartment but the phonebook doesn't list an apartment number.

Bishop73

Perhaps though this all doesn't matter because phone books can quickly become outdated, the phone book he found could be over a year old. Someone moves but can still be listed in the phone book with their old address. He could have gone to the addresses but found someone else living there and then asked where the previous owner might be, and he was told (or he forced them). This might be how he found all the Sarah Connors.

lionhead

Are any of the Sarah's listed as living at 1823? I've not got access to the film right now to check.

Ssiscool Premium member

The first is listed as "1823." The second is "2816." The 3rd is "309." Although after reviewing the scene and thinking about it, for "309" (which is supposedly our Sarah J Connor), the full address isn't actually seen and the apartment number could have been listed.

Bishop73

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Forever Young picture

Question: Would the labels on the Budweiser bottles be the same in the older era during the beginning of the movie, as it is in the latter part of the movie (1994)?

Answer: The color and design of the label hasn't changed in decades, although the script on it has changed some over time. They all look almost identical from a distance.

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