When did purely percussive movie and television soundtracks become popular? What landmark movie or TV soundtrack set this percussive precedent?
General questions about movies, TV and more
This page is for general questions - if you've got a question about a specific title, please check the title-specific questions page first. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.
Trying to think of the movie where this Giant troll thing is helping this girl. He scoops up some water in a seashell and offers it to her but she refuses. And then he screams "DRINK!" The scene looks like it's in the woods. There's a small pool and small waterfall. The troll scoops the water out of it. Might be enchanted water or some kind of super healing water. Also I think the troll took her to that location while she was unconscious and she woke up lying near that pool.
Answer: It sounds like "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" with Gemma Arterton as Gretel, the trolls name is Edward. He helps her after a fight with the sheriff of a town they are trying to save. Hope this helps.
There is a common trend I have noticed time and time again regarding many of Pixar's film releases. This is that many of Pixar's summer released movies, when they are given a release date for the US, they are given a release date somewhere in the middle of June. However, when they are given a release date for the UK, they are given a release date at some point in July, possibly a month or over a month after release in the US. For example, Toy Story 3 was given a June 18, 2010 release in the US, but took until July 19 to be released in the UK. Cars 2 was given a June 24, 2011 release in the US, but took until July 22 for the UK release. This trend for release dates has been continued with Brave, Monsters University, Inside Out, Finding Dory and Cars 3, but why exactly is this? Why exactly does it take about a month after the US release for Pixar's movies to be released in the UK?
Chosen answer: This isn't just a thing Pixar does. It's very standard. For example, just looking at 12 US films released in Jan 2016, only 1 had the same release date in the UK. 6 had a UK release date more than a month later, 2 were not released in the UK, and 3 had release dates 2-3 weeks later. Many factors go into the decision when to release in various countries. A lot has to do with marketing. For example, when films are released at different dates, stars of the film can attend premiers in both the US and UK and have more time to promote their films. Additionally, distribution companies and studios want to see how the film will do in the US. Studios also have to consider the UK market and what films they'll be competing against opening week. There are also many factors in deciding to release a film on the same date. Most top grossing films tend to open world wide on the same date where marketing in the US is rolled over to the UK and it helps reduce piracy opportunities. For Pixar, it would seem they found that the delay works best for them.
I have a memory of one great movie I really liked when I was a kid (during the 90s). Unfortunately, I have never again bumped into it, so till this day I have now idea what film was it. I don't remember much of it; I would say it was filmed during the 70s or 80s, but don't know for sure. I think it was kind of those rockabilly movies, there were some cars and some dancing involved. The main character is a young man, I even think he is an outsider and gets in conflict with some popular clique. I remember that one girl gets her hair on fire (no idea how). Anyway, what I do remember are bloopers after the end. It was the first time I saw bloopers and I'm guessing that is why I liked the movie so much. The scene I particularly remember from bloopers is when the main character is sitting on the car hood holding pack of cigarettes. He takes one cigarette and throws it in the air, toward his mouth, and is supposed to catch it with his lips. But he fails. And fails again. And again. Finally, he manages to do that, so he takes a lighter from the pockets and tries to light it, but it doesn't work. He smiles and says something like: "It's hard to be cool." So, if anyone has an idea what movie is that, I would really appreciate the information. Thank you! P.S. It is not Footloose, Crybaby, Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit.
Answer: The movie you are describing is a 1994 made-for-TV rockabilly film called "Roadracers" by Robert Rodriguez (it was only his second film, following his 1992 film "El Mariachi"). "Roadracers" originally aired on the Showtime cable network. It was a 1950's retro action/drama full of cliches such as hot-rod racing, rockabilly music, dirty dancing, and trouble with authority figures (very much like the plots of Grease and Crybaby). During a drag race, the lead character ("Dude") flicks a lit cigarette into the hair of his rival's girlfriend, setting her hair aflame.
I remember watching a movie in the end where a woman framed a public official who cheated on his wife with several women for murdering a former friend who used to blackmail her, or something like that. There was a guy who knew about it and then asked what she would do for him to keep him quiet. She stabbed him to death and framed him as the murderer while a neighbor looked on through a window. Thanks.
Answer: It's Perfect Strangers with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis.
Movie I'm looking for is a movie about a female cop who gets suspended because a robber's gun was stolen by a guy in the store after she killed him. He then begins killing people and coincidentally runs into her and begins a romance. When she finds out about him committing the murders with the robber's gun, she is unable to prove it and he kills her friend, cop friend, and rapes her.
Answer: Blue Steel (1990).
There was a movie that had Donald Sutherland in it. He plays the father of a troubled teenage boy. In one scene, he says to his wife, "I don't think I love you anymore." The next shot shows him looking out a window and sees his wife driving off. This was actually based off a short story.
Answer: The film is "Ordinary People" with Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton, based on the novel of the same name.
I am looking for the name of a movie...I don't have much to go on but I think it was made in the 1980s or early '90s...it is a movie where people were taken hostage and they shoot a woman in the head and her husband or boyfriend witnesses it...he might be a cop or something.
Chosen answer: I believe the movie you're describing is Passenger 57. Wesley Snipes plays an Airport Security Expert, whose plane is hijacked by the world's dangerous terrorist. He's haunted by the death of his girlfriend, who was murdered in a convenience store robbery and his guilt over not stopping it in time.
Why don't the new Star Wars and Marvel films feature a Disney logo at the beginning? Not saying it has to be the traditional Cinderella castle one. Just something mentioning that it is Disney owned.
Answer: Even though Disney is the parent company, Marvel is a separate studio. It may also be partly for public relations purposes that they choose not to include the Disney logo. If their logo is attached to a Star Wars or Marvel project, people might be confused about its content, expecting a certain type of movie that is different from what it actually is. This is similar to Disney's "Touchstone" films, which have more mature themes and content. Similarly Columbia Studios is owned by Sony, but there's no Sony logo before their movies. Several of the Disney-owned Marvel superhero films have Disney branding included in the scripts. In the Iron Man and Avenger sequels, the Ant-Man film, and in Dr. Strange, for examples, you will notice allusions to Disney standard songs inserted into the storylines: "There Are No Strings On Me," "When You Wish Upon a Star," and "It's a Small World, After All," as well as other Disney easter eggs, have popped up in Marvel films.
I remember a movie about an African American female ice skater. The movie started off when she was a child, and she was paired with a male ice skater during a recital. These two ended up skating together all the way up until adulthood. One day during practice the female skater was dropped and fell on the ice and ended up getting some really serious injuries, that affected her career. I think she ended up trying to commit suicide, Does anybody remember the name of this movie? I think it was The (insert ice skater whose name I can't remember) Story.
A comedy movie, although I don't know what year it's from. The only scene I remember is a teenage girl is having dinner with her parents and younger brother. She gets into an argument and then suddenly rips open her shirt exposing her breasts. Her brother then responds that she's the one he saw on the internet.
Answer: That scene is from the movie "Say it Isn't So" from 2001, with Chris Klein, Heather Graham, and Sally Field.
There was a movie featuring Vincent D'onofrio. In the movie he is the leader of a gang of criminals who rob a building. One of the criminals forgot to wear his gloves, leaving Vincent deciding whether to kill the guy for his incompetents or let him live. They also unknowingly abducted a young mentally impaired girl who laughs at the whole ordeal.
Answer: It may be 'Spanish Judges', a low-budget movie from 2000, in which Vincent D'Onofrio is a con-man. In it, I believe he plans to steal antique art. It also features a mentally impaired girl who thinks she is from another planet.
There was a movie about a woman who discovered that her daughter was sexually assaulted and when the man is set free due to lack of evidence, she murders him and makes it look like a suicide. The wife of the man then confronts her and says she knows that her husband was really murdered. A detective also working on the case befriends the mom and also says the man was murdered due to inconsistencies involving the man's death.
Answer: It might be the TV movie "Don't touch my Daughter" (1991). Victoria Principal murders her daughter's rapist, then lives with the fear of being exposed. After the police close the case, the rapist's widow calls saying, she knows what she did.
Only saw the ending to this movie a couple times. A black teenager is sitting in a chamber about to be killed by lethal injection. As the process starts, the phone rings and a woman picks it up. She immediately screams to stop the execution but the kid has already died.
Answer: It may not be what you're thinking of; but it sounds similar to "True Crime", starring Clint Eastwood and Isiah Washington. Near the end, an innocent black man, Frank Beecham (Washington), is undergoing lethal injection, which is a 3-stage process (although he's not a teenager). A reporter, Steve Everett (Eastwood), is able to convince the Governor that Frank is innocent and the Governor calls to stop the execution, but it may be too late as stage-1 had already begun. As they try to revive Frank, his wife is banging on the window and yelling for him to wake up. It seems the call was in fact too late. However, the end shows Steve out shopping when he comes across Frank, showing Frank to be alive and well, and free.
Need help remembering the name of an episode from the TV show CBS Storybreak. The episode is about a kid who has a model of a dinosaur. As soon as he puts the head on, he's immediately transported to another world populated by anthropomorphic dinosaurs. He befriends a dinosaur and has to escape from the clutches of an evil dinosaur who wants to make money off him.
Answer: This sounds like "The Double Disappearance Of Walter Fozbek" (Season 1, Episode 7) https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-story/129796-Double-Disappearance-Of-Walter-Fozb.
Searching for the name of a story. It's about two teenage friends. One of them invents a time machine and when the button is pressed, they both end up in Medieval times. Unfortunately, the kid who invented the time machine is turned into a horse while his friend remains human but must take the place of a knight who looks exactly like him.
Answer: It's called 'Max and Me and the Time Machine' (though they acquired the time machine from the estate of a mad scientist).
A movie about a girl who escapes from an asylum. As soon as she escapes, she gets picked up by another girl. The girl needs to get gas in her car but she's ignored by the gas station owner who'd rather have sex with his girlfriend. When she looks down at the ground, she sees a newspaper with the escapee's picture on it. She is then killed by the escapee and the girl then pretends to be the girl she killed.
A movie with several short stories or a TV show that was scary or spooky that I saw in late 70s or 80s. The only part I recall is a young girl is being picked on by an older girl and she is reading some evil book. She draws some kind of circle on the ground with wax and dares the bully to go in. After she does, she says more things and the girl is trapped in the circle. Says some more and she shrinks. The tiny bully runs frantically, maybe a cat chasing or something. Eventually the girl steps on and kills the bully girl.
Answer: It's a British horror movie, titled The Uncanny (1977). Peter Cushing tells his publisher, Ray Milland, a trio of tales from his book, that cats are evil supernatural entities. One story is a young girl, with a cat, who goes to live with her Aunt's family.
I remember seeing parts of this movie as a child, and it has bothered me for years. It's got to be early to mid 80's (or later since I was very young), but the parts I remember involve a mentally handicapped man who is in a 'relationship' with a hairdresser (he comes in every day for a piece of bubblegum) being framed for murder with her scissors as the weapon. His 'job' is pulling weeds, or something like that.
Why do several TV shows have the announcement "[Show Name] is filmed in front of a live studio audience"?
Answer: This kind of announcement was a common practice, particularly during the 1970's and 1980's, to inform the home viewing audience that the reactions (laughter, gasps, hoots of approval, etc.) they hear were produced live by human beings, rather than added on a canned laugh/response track in post-production. It can be a bit misleading, however. Often, during the filming of a show, several takes are required to capture a scene to the satisfaction of the director and actors. It would be impossible for audiences to respond with the same ebullience for several takes in a row. So, many times, the audience reaction from a prior take is used for the final take we see on television.
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.
Answer: Probably in the late 1990s or around the turn of the century and it was probably gradual as these things go. Sometimes its easier to use a specific song to set a specific mood (this started probably more so in the 1980s) as opposed to creating a new one but that being said, its generally up to a composer and the style of the film in question as to whether they use a percussion style soundtrack or a more traditional sounding one and there are relatively recent films that sound like they could be old school.
Neil Jones
The earliest percussive soundtrack that I recall debuted in James Cameron's first "Terminator" film. While it did have a mournful and melodic synthesized musical theme, the soundtrack was punctuated in several places with industrial banging and thumping (typically when the Terminator was onscreen). This percussive presence was amplified and expanded in the second Terminator film; and, by "Salvation," almost the entire soundtrack was industrial noise. But I'm not sure that Terminator alone ushered in the percussive soundtrack.
Charles Austin Miller