Best drama movie questions of 2016

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Florence Foster Jenkins picture

Question: Every time Florence would perform before a live audience, people would respond by either laughing at her or booing at her. With these kinds of reactions, how could Florence not realise that it was because nobody liked her singing and that they considered her a terrible singer?

Answer: People believe what they want to believe and can have an uncanny ability to filter out anything negative or unwanted. Eventually, she realised the truth.

raywest

Also, Florence's friends and supporters protected her and would do whatever they could at the concerts to suppress any audience member who reacted negatively.

raywest

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The Finest Hours picture

Question: Aside from the fact that 32 survivors were rescued, how many were there before the storm and how many died by the end of the movie?

Answer: 64.

Answer: The Pendleton had a crew of 41. 9 were lost during the rescue.

Bishop73

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Passengers picture

Question: Why did Arthur tell Aurora that Jim woke her up even though he promised to keep it a secret?

Answer: Being that Arthur is an android, he takes everything that is said literally and without analyzing it. Once Jim and Aurora began their romantic relationship, Aurora casually mentioned to Arthur that she and Jim have "no secrets" from one another, which Jim, without realizing the context or the consequences, confirmed. Arthur then interpreted it to mean that Aurora knew Jim had intentionally awakened her from the sleeping pod.

raywest

Answer: Because the ship had been malfunctioning due to collision with the asteroid it had effected Arthur as he is part of the vessel. This shows something is wrong with the ship as previously indicated, Arthur's sudden change of behaviour being integral to what is going on.

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The Founder picture

Question: Two questions are puzzling me. 1. Considering the tactics that Ray used to take control of McDonald's from the brothers, couldn't it be said that he cheated and conned the brothers out of their restaurant? 2. When Ray visits Mac in the hospital, he offers him a blank check to which the brothers agree. Why would they agree to such a thing instead of fighting to get their restaurant back?

Answer: 1. Yes, he pretty much cheated them out of their restaurant, royalties, intellectual property, etc. 2. Ray elaborates on this towards the end of the film when is on the phone with them. He's generated so much revenue from his real estate venture that he can afford to tie them up in court for years and drown them in legal fees if they decided to sue him for breach of contract. This is why they decide to surrender the company and everything that came with it in exchange for $1 million each and 1% perpetuity, the latter of which they never received.

Phaneron

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Sing picture

Question: What happened to Mike the Mouse? At the end of the film we see him escaping with his girlfriend, but the bear is latching on the car. This is the last time we see them and we don't see them at the reopening of the theatre, so what happened?

Answer: I think he escaped from the bear with his girlfriend, sped off very fast and the bears fell off the car.

You haven't read the question. Before it cuts to Meena's performance, the lead bear popped up from behind the car and presumably kidnapped them.

Answer: Mike had to stay with the bears for the rest of his life.

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Christine picture

Question: Why was the tape of Christine's suicide handed over to a law firm instead of simply destroying it?

Answer: The late station owner's wife respected his wishes. She's admitted she doesn't understand why he didn't want to destroy the tape, either.

TonyPH

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Hacksaw Ridge picture

Question: In the first combat scene, we see the big climbing net already in place. Who put the net up in the first place and how would that have been done? And why would the Japanese not simply cut it down after the first fights when the US troops retreated?

Michael Ebner

Chosen answer: US troops put the net up (in reality the ridge isn't as tall). The Japanese were fighting a defensive battle from heavily fortified positions on a reverse slope, and it suited them to have the Americans attacking from that point. The Americans also used ladders on other parts of the escarpment.

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The Shallows picture

Question: Nancy finds a broken helmet floating in the water. There's a white thing inside the helmet. Later, she uses that to open a box on the buoy. What exactly is it?

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: A shark tooth.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life picture

Question: I think that there is one scene in which Rafe (Gluck) has braces on his teeth - but he does not for the rest of the movie. The scene is the one when he sneaks back into his bedroom and his sister is waiting for him because she overheard the fiancé telling the kids' mother that Rafe should go to military school - it is a touching scene in front of Rafe's bedroom window. Am I right that he has braces in that scene but not in any others?

Answer: That's correct.

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Deepwater Horizon picture

Question: Is it true Jimmy Harrell was taking a shower as the disaster began?

Answer: Yes.

Answer: Yes. There are actually many cases where the actors portray what the actual people were doing at the time of the disaster. Another example is when the guy (I can't remember his name off the top of my head) rubs mud off the main drill pipe.

Ssiscool

The guy who rubs the mud off the main pipe name is Caleb.

Thanks it's been a few weeks since I last watched the film.

Ssiscool

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Sully picture

Question: Shortly after the plane landed in the river, why was the air traffic controller removed from his terminal and replaced while the supervisor says someone will come down to administer standard tests?

raywest

Answer: Air Traffic Controllers have to be on top of their game at all times and not compromised. When something goes wrong, like a plane crashing that a particular ATC is overseeing, it is treated similarly to when a cop is involved in a shooting. They are temporarily relieved of duty and taken to be evaluated and drug tested to make sure the ATC was not on any drugs or substances that would have interfered with his or her ability to do the job, as well as to take the ATC out of a stressful situation and get someone fresh onto the job. My dad is a former ATC for the Marine Reserves.

Quantom X

Thanks.

raywest

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Patriots Day picture

Question: How were the brothers able to steal the second car, after their hostage escaped? Or was that their car? They just jumped in and drove away with no apparent time or effort spent.

applejackson

Answer: The smaller car belonged to them. They go and pick it up again after Dun Meng escapes the Mercedes at the gas station.

ThisRaines

Thank you! With hindsight, maybe that's obvious, but I didn't catch it when I watched the movie.

applejackson

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Snowden picture

Question: When Edward Snowden obtains the MicroSD card after downloading all the data, he and Patrick Haynes (who's fully aware what he's up to) start communicating via sign language before he leaves to avoid their conversation being recorded. Does anyone know what they are saying to each other?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: The scene is captioned as follows - Snowden: "I might not see you again." Haynes: "You 'gonna leave me here...with Captain America? Thanks a lot." Snowden: "NSA may come after you." Haynes: "I don't know what you're talking about. [walks away.]" I should note that my profession is that of an American Sign Language interpreter. From my observation, they are signing pretty much correctly, if not artfully. The only difference is that what the movie translates as "I don't know what you're talking about" would probably be more accurately stated as, "I don't understand your comment." And there really isn't a sign used for "gonna'." Hayes just says, "you're leaving me here with him? Captain America!"

Michael Albert

Thank you!

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13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi picture

Question: I have a few questions about the different groups in the film. 1. I looked up 17th Feb, or February 17th Martyr's Brigade, on Wikipedia, and I noticed that an ally that was listed on Wiki was Ansar-Al-Sharia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ansar-Al-Sharia the current ISIS/ISIL that we're fighting today? 2. Was the group the soldiers were fighting in the film ISIS? 3. Who was the group of soldiers that saved them all at the end of the film?

Answer: Ansar-Al-Sharia isn't ISIS; it was disbanded in 2017. The group the soldiers were fighting weren't ISIS, they were February 17th Martyr's Brigade. The soldiers at the end were Tripoli GRS reinforcements.

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Answer: They did recognize each other (at one point he goes to her house without asking her address). After the divorce, Howard said that he wished they were strangers again. They literally behaved as if they never met each other before (even though Madeline is gently pushing to move past being strangers - for example, by guessing he's divorced).

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Midnight Special picture

Question: In the very last scene, we see Michael Shannon in shackles (presumably in a federal prison) with electroencephalographic sensors attached to his forehead and scalp, oddly gazing at the sunrise as two prison guards flank him. In the very last shot of the film, a closeup of his face, we see his eyes faintly glow for a split-second as he smiles a very slight smile. Question: Is the film implying that Alton is in otherworldly contact with his father, or that his father absorbed some of Alton's otherworldly power; or is it implying that, being the boy's biological father, he was the source of Alton's power? In any event, this may never be revealed, because the film barely made back one-third of its $18 million production budget, making the probability of a sequel highly unlikely.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I got the impression that he was communicating with Alton like he had done when Alton ran from the truck. I also thought his smile was perhaps in reaction to what Alton told him and/or the two were making fun of (mocking) the use of electrodes because they knew the electrodes would not have any effect on him.

KeyZOid

P.S. Plenty of lousy movies have had sequels, so it is possible there could be a "Midnight Special 2".

KeyZOid

Not necessarily holding my breath.

Charles Austin Miller

A sequel doesn't seem likely. Hope you weren't holding your breath waiting for an answer to your question.

KeyZOid

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Answer: It was a threat to Mowgli, hoping to lure him back in grief and to save the younger wolves from the same fate.

Answer: Shere Khan was angry that Akela would not turn over Mowgli to him. It was retaliation.

raywest

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A Cure for Wellness picture

Question: Is there a particular reason for the main character smiling at the end?

tipar

Answer: As a result of the tortures he endured at the hospital, Lockhart lost his mind. At the end, as he pedals away from the hospital and down the road, he grins maniacally because he is now quite mad.

Charles Austin Miller

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Before I Wake picture

Question: While there were various characters being held in a sort of "suspended animation" entwined in the "canker man's" roots/webs, only one was set free (the foster care agent), why? (01:20:35 - 01:24:25)

Answer: We only see her released, but the implication is that the others were, too.

TedStixon

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The Huntsman: Winter's War picture

Question: In the tavern, the dwarves emphatically tell the huntsman that dwarven females are so repulsive that dwarf reproduction only happens accidentally, in bad lighting and under the influence of drink. Which sounds quite repulsive. But, when the huntsman and male dwarves are later captured in the net trap, the female dwarves turn out to be perfectly lovely, even quite sexy. Then, even stranger, one of the male dwarves later apologizes for the appearance of a lovely female dwarf (who is standing right next to him in plain sight), claiming that she was hit in the face with a rock. So, what was the purpose of the male dwarves obsessively lying about the beauty of female dwarves? Or were the male dwarves blind to true beauty for some reason?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Most likely it was to protect dwarf females by deterring other males' interest in them with tales of their ugliness. Men are less likely to pursue unattractive women.

raywest

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