Best mystery movie questions of 2009

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Chosen answer: Snape wants to know how Harry knew Sectum Sempra. As shown by him using Occumelancy to see where his copy of Advanced Potion making is. But at the same time, if Snape punished Harry for a spell in a book, Harry could show it to Dumbledore, who would recognise Snape's handwriting. Additionally, Harry was certainly punished in the book - he got detention with Snape every Saturday for the rest of the term. The movie most likely had to cut this for time issues, and also perhaps because the scene is more dramatic if Snape only silently glares at him.

Ssiscool

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Question: Just before Sherlock attacks somebody, he determines what areas to strike to incapacitate someone and determine how long it would take someone to recover from both physical and psychological trauma. Granted that he could figure out a person's physical recovery but, could he actually figure out a person's pyshological recovery? He noted that it would take six months if I remember for a guy to recover psychologically but, to me, Sherlock is just taking a wild guess. Especially, if the guy recovered in half the time.

Answer: I believe that particular line was him making a joke to himself about the man's pride.

Quantom X

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Orphan picture

Question: Maybe I missed something, but how was Esther able to fool everyone practically all her life and hide the fact that she's a 33-year old sociopath? When Kate finally learns the truth by getting the phone call, they show a photo of the "real" Esther, so at least those records of her exist somewhere. How could the boarding school not have known her true identity?

Answer: The boarding school was going by the falsified records that Esther had with her. They did not suspect anything, so they had no reason to dig any further at the time.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: High quality makeup was an important part of her disguise as the alternative ending make apparent. Her fake freckles were the master's touch.

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Knowing picture

Question: Why, near the end of the film, does Caleb start writing numbers which are supposed to be predictions of future events, when the world is going to end?

Answer: Great question. Probably writing predictions for the "new" world.

Paul Van Scott

So did someone decode the list? Just for s* and giggles :).

Answer: I think Caleb started writing the numbers so he could tell his father the coordinates of the location he needed to take the children in a last ditch effort, since the girl whom originally wrote the numbers didn't complete them. He un-"knowing"-ly made the same mistake and interrupted him again.

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Angels & Demons picture

Question: When Langdon and the Italian cop are trapped inside the sealed room of the Vatican archive and the air is shut off, how long could they actually survive in a space that size? In the movie, they start to suffocate almost immediately. (There is no long time lapse because the movie's plot depends on defusing the bomb within a few hours).

raywest

Chosen answer: In reality, they would have perished from CO2 poisoning long before the room ran out of breathable oxygen causing them to simply suffocate. Without knowing the exact dimensions of the room it is impossible to give any time more specific than "several hours" for this to happen in a room as big as that one appeared to be.

Phixius

I just re-watched the movie, and as Langdon and Vittoria enter the room, it's mentioned to them that the oxygen levels are always kept at a bare minimum to protect the ancient tomes and documents stored there. That helps to answer my own question about why Langdon and the cop were so quickly affected when the power was shut off.

raywest

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Saw VI picture

Question: Jill Tuck puts a yellow thick envelope into a hole on a door at Saint Eustace Hospital. What is that?

Bunch

Chosen answer: It is revealed in Saw 3D that the package was for Dr Gordon from the first film. In the package was a video, asking Dr Gordon to continue his legacy.

Dra9onBorn117

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus picture

Question: What's up with Percy (the midget)? He was with Dr. Parnassus decades ago, when he won a bet with the devil to win the heart of a woman he craved, but he hasn't aged a day since. Or was that another midget and Dr. Parnassus has a tendency to pick midgets up to live in poverty by his side, and these two just happen to look identical? Both were obviously played by the same actor (Verne Troyer) and some make-up would easily disguise this, so I'm guessing this is intentional.

Answer: Percy's backstory is never touched upon, but he certainly appears to have been with Parnassus for a substantial period of time, longer than his visual age would suggest. Possibly he himself has done his own deal with the Devil, or some other power, to extend his life, but, if so, the film never elaborates on it.

Tailkinker

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The Girl Who Played With Fire picture

Question: When the police go to Lisbeth Salander's old apartment - the one Miriam is living in - thinking Lisbeth lived there, so they can search the place, one of the policeman says, "How come the name-plate on the door says 'Salander'?" The other policeman says, "I have no idea." But they are there to search Lisbeth "Salander's" place! Can someone please explain to me why they are there if they don't believe it is the Salander place?

kh1616

Chosen answer: They are looking at the mail which is all addressed to Miriam Wu, and medicine in the bathroom cabinet which is prescribed to her. So they realise someone called Miriam Wu is living there (or Lisbeth is living there under that name), and wonder why the name plate still says "Salander".

Sierra1

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S. Darko picture

Question: Do we ever find out what the rash was on that guy? And why it was spreading so badly.

Awesomo

Chosen answer: Nope. It was just a reaction to the meteorite. It could have been an alien bacteria causing it, or it could have been an allergic reaction to one or more materials in the meteorite itself.

Phixius

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