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.

I saw the very end of this movie on TV, but, alas, didn't catch the title. There was a man in a desert, talking to a leopard, who is tied up. The man says something and walks away. The leopard squeezes out of it's leash and attacks him. There's a struggle and the man stabs the leopard and it dies. He starts crying and cradles the leopard, which he then carries away. The film ends with a wide shot of him carrying the leopard through the desert. Any ideas?

Answer: Passion in the Desert (1997).

Hamster

There was a John Travolta movie where he said, "I'm so cool, the sheep count me". Do you know what movie this line was from?

Answer: The line "My motherf***er is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him" is from the movie 'Heist', which does not star John Travolta.

Hamster

Is there some kind of horror film where a baby crawls along a ceiling and its head turns all the way around? It seems to have been parodied by Family Guy and The Simpsons. What is the film called?

Answer: The baby crawling on the ceiling is a reference to Renton's hallucinations while going cold-turkey in Trainspotting.

Tailkinker

I really need some help with a film I saw about ten years ago. I'm pretty sure it was an American movie. There was a boy who had a small, old closet in his room. He was playing with some toys, and locked up a little Indian doll in that closet. The next morning he heard some noises, and saw that the doll had come alive. I also remember that the boy had made a plastic deer come alive, so that the doll could hunt it.

Answer: I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the Frank Oz movie "The Indian in the Cupboard."

Hamster

Which movie (70's or 80's?) has a final scene with a man in a white suit putting his hands over his face and then the camera pans out and shows all these people going into cubicles? The music's classical, maybe Mozart.

Answer: After Hours (1985).

I saw a movie quite a few years ago and all I can remember is the following. An American boy goes to a Shaolin temple because he wants to be trained in the arts. He sits outside the temple for days without food. They show the wind blowing leaves over him and the monks telling him to leave. After a few days or weeks they eventually let him in. The training included him jumping from one tree stump to another. It is not your typical van Damme type movie. Does anyone know the title?

Answer: What you are talking about is the pilot to "Kung Fu" the TV series, starring David Carradine, or possibly a movie called American Shaolin.

I am trying to figure out the name of a movie I watched. It started with a scene in a hotel, where a girl/hooker was killed in the bathroom. She was cut up in the bathtub. It was released around the same time as "Wild Things", as that is what I thought it was, but that wasn't it.

Answer: That would be "Very Bad Things", starring Christian Slater.

Twotall

I'm looking for the title of a late 80's/early 90's movie about a yuppie couple having a baby. The husband is a columnist for a local paper and writes about the pregnancy in his column and the entire city follows along on their journey, to the dismay of the wife. He gets a police escort to the hospital when the cop realizes who he is.

Answer: I believe you are referring to "She's Having a Baby" (1988 Paramount Pictures), starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Alternatively a 1987 TV movie called Warm Hearts, Cold Feet. Starring Tim Matheson and Margaret Colins. They play rival newspaper reporters, who have a baby and they each report the highs and lows of pregnancy. The scene with the cop happens when he rushes home to conceive the child.

OneHappyHusky

When I was a kid, I remember seeing a movie in the early 80's, and all I can remember is at the end, a ghost train comes crashing through the house in the living room. Prior to this, you can see the light approaching, and I think there was a kid that yelled that the train was coming towards the house. Anyone know what film this was?

Jazetopher

Chosen answer: It wasn't a movie. It was the first episode of "Amazing Stories," an anthology program produced by Steven Spielberg. IMDB has a description here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0511096/.

K.C. Sierra

I am trying to remember the name of a cartoon movie from the early to mid 1980's. It is about a prince and a princess who fall in love but they can't be together because one is the child of the sun god and the other is the child of the sea god. Neither of them are able to live in the other's world. Does anyone have a clue as what this might be?

Answer: "Shiriusu no densetsu"(The Legend of Sirius) a.k.a "The Sea Prince and the Fire Child. Here's a link to a very nice little website about that movie: http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/waterchildfirechild/.

I was watching the public access channel and they were showing random clips from horror movies, one of them, they introduced it as having "the most messed up twist ending", had a little girl with wild hair holding someone who's dead, while other people walk towards her cautiously, then it switches to a woman talking to a kid with a bandage around their head, the woman said something like "I always wanted to have a little girl, you will be so happy here. Angela. What a pretty name. Like Angel." Then the kid looks up and we can see it's a boy, then it goes back to the girl with the dead body, and (I think) the people coming towards her say "Angela? Angela?" suddenly the "girl" stands up, holding a knife, and for some reason "she's" naked and we see she's really a boy. Naturally, the other people are shocked. Any ideas? It's driving me crazy.

Answer: It is called "Sleepaway Camp."

SAZOO1975

I remember watching a movie, I don't quite remember when that was but it was about a little boy who wishes he would become older really fast. So he wakes up in the morning as an adult. His mum kicks him out for thinking he was someone else and he does this secret handshake with his friend so the friend will believe him. He and his friend do lots of fun things together. Could anyone tell me which movie this was? Thanks.

Answer: "Big" starring Tom Hanks.

Grumpy Scot

I am looking for a movie I watched in the 80's or 90's. It was about a group of children and maybe a teacher, getting kidnapped by a group of men. It was well-planned and I think they may have been housed underground. They were given mattresses and water, and I vaguely remember pig masks but I could be adding that from some other movie. Can anyone help me with this?

Answer: This sounds a lot like the movie "Fortress", with Rachel Ward as the teacher kidnapped along with the children.

Jazetopher

I am trying to find out the name of a movie (made for TV, I think), possibly black and white, where a little girl has her legs run over by a train while she is sitting playing on the tracks. Does anyone know this movie?

Answer: This sounds like "The Dollmaker," a made-for-TV movie starring Jane Fonda.

Chanteuse66

What is 'sweeps'? I've heard it mentioned in so many American films and TV programs, but I've never known what it is.

Answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeps_Week#.22Sweeps.22.

Grumpy Scot

I remember a family movie from 10+ years ago, about a boy who finds some kind of fairy, who becomes his friend. The fairy can get into his sneakers and make them appear to be flying, thereby boosting his popularity. From the start, the fairy makes him understand that if she sees the moon, she will fly away. He leaves her unattended one night, and she gets away. It ends where he thinks she's gone, but then his sneaker 'flies' again. Anyone know which movie this is?

Answer: THE FLYING SNEAKER 1992http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/132225/The-Flying-Sneaker/overview.

I seem to remember seeing an animated movie when my kids were small, mid 90's, that had a scene with an overweight, lazy dachshund rolling around on a skateboard. If I remember correctly the dog was owned by the "villain" in the movie but I'm not sure. My kids have been laughing at me for years because no one else remembers it and they say I dreamed it. Can anyone help me get the last laugh?

Answer: It was the first Tom and Jerry movie.

I am looking for the title of a film that I remember only the first scene of: it is not a porn film, but rather, if I recall, it is a fairly good, independent, offbeat drama. It starts with a sudden jolt - a couple are passionately having sex, the girl is on top and she is enjoying herself in an intense way. If anyone can tell me the name of this film (probably American, made in the past 10 years) I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Answer: Sounds like Basic Instinct.

Rlvlk

If an actor does not want to smoke a real cigarette in a film, is there an alternative on offer (a prop cigarette for eg), or would it be more likely that that particular part would just be recast with someone who had no problem smoking?

Answer: There are non-tobacco cigarettes available for this. They contain an herb that has no nicotine or any other chemical/toxin which may affect the lungs or state of mind. They are, however, purported to smell and taste quite terrible. These are what Eva Amurri smoked in the movie "Saved!".

Phixius

I'm trying to remember the title of a film that came out in the late 80's or early 90's (I think; could have been a little earlier) about a group of young adults who engage in philosophical banter. The dialogue is very rich and several story lines are dealt with simultaneously. It might have "Hampton" in the title or take place in the Hamptons. Thanks.

Answer: This sounds like it might be "Metropolitan" a very "talkie" film directed by Whit Stillman. It's set in Manhattan.

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.