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.

Is it really true that to shoot an IMAX film, the camera has to be reloaded with film every 3 minutes, and the reloading takes half-an-hour? Why on earth wouldn't they have fixed this yet to use high resolution digital capture (which could then be printed to film), for instance?

Moose

Chosen answer: From the research I've found, yes. And here's a few websites to view, and you have to realize how much bigger and realistic IMAX films are. http://www.georgianhousehotel.co.uk/imax_cinema.htm. http://www.bfi.org.uk/showing/imax/explained.php. Even the highest resolution digital cameras available don't come close to the quality of IMAX. Hope that helped!

How does one define a "blockbuster"?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: The term originated with the premire of "Jaws" because the lines for the theaters were around the corners, hence the term "blockbuster". Now, movies with huge fan followings (such as "Star Wars") or those with extreme media coverage and the potential to gross over $100 million (such as "The War of the Worlds") are immediately considered blockbusters.

weetie21

I remember this film about a family who move to a new house, and there is a factory with girl dolls in it. The dolls come alive and cause mayhem, including a scene where a women is electrocuted in a pool of water in a basement, and a little girl slowly gets more possessed by one of the dolls. What's the film title?

Hamster

Chosen answer: Dolly Dearest.

Hamster

What is the film with the most sequels/prequels spawned from it?

Hamster

Chosen answer: My best guess would have to be either the James Bond 007 series (22 films currently with a 23rd on the way) or the Friday the 13th series (11 parts including Freddy vs Jason). In terms of "pure" sequels, Star Trek currently stands at 10 films.

Toolio

What is the longest running film ever made?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It's a film called "The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World", and clocks in at a mighty 48 hours. http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0342707.

Jon Sandys

There was this film about a child who wanted to be a spy/detective. There was a scene where the boy was hiding under a bed, and there was a girl with blonde hair dancing around in the room, with ballet shoes on. I think the plot was something like four kids were hiding out/staying in an empty flat/apartment, and were spying on some people. There was also something about diamonds in a teddy bear. Does anyone know the title for this film?

Hamster

Chosen answer: "A Kid Called Danger" - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0210786/.

Neil Jones

I am frustrated because I can't remember the title of a film. I remember very little about the film. I think it was about a train crash in a tunnel. I'm sure there was a scene where someone was either trying to get past or put out a long thick cable which was making sparks or something. Any help?

Hamster

Chosen answer: Try Daylight. It is a car crashing into a truck illegally carrying toxic waste which blocks the tunnel. Then a bunch of prison inmates were trying to get out of the truck and there was a live wire hanging from the roof. Also A short walk to Daylight. 1972. James Brolin plays a New York cop who lead a group of people to safety after Hippie terrorists blow up the subway tunnels. Just like Daylight, they go through many obstacles to survive.

shortdanzr

Only one film has had the "Universal Pictures" logo removed before the titles (not including films such as Jurassic Park and Waterworld that used variations of the logo). Does anyone know what it is?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I think that was John Carpenter's the THING. He mentions that in the commentary on the new DVD.

James Rowell

I'm searching a title of a movie I saw some 20-25 years ago. Here are the clues I remember: It was a martial arts movie. The were some fights on long, wooden poles. There was a cruel weapon like a triple chain with hooks at each end that stuck within the opponent. It was shown at the same time as a Jaws sequel. (Jaws 2, I guess). Can anybody help?

Michael Gross

Chosen answer: Sounds like "Master of the Flying Guillotine". It came out roughly around the same time "Jaws 2" was released.

I remember a TV show (not a movie) about a guy who was stuck in a computer. That is all I remember about the show - what is the name of it? I think it was an educational programme.

Bowling255

Chosen answer: Could you be talking about Max Headroom?

Boobra

Anyone familiar with a film about a man with 8 kids who gets transferred to Australia? Once there, the man is constantly traveling for work and the rest of the family have to adjust to outback life. I think they eventually herd sheep and earn money from wool. The father come back, only to tell the mother that he wants a divorce and will be moving back to America. The mother decides to stay in Australia and sell wool.

Ral0618

Chosen answer: It was a TV movie called 'A Place Called Home' made in 1987 starring Lane Smith (who played the senator in 'Air America').

There was a movie I remember where a person dressed as a mascot killed someone by running them through an industrial dishwasher. The scene was set in a kitchen. Anyone know the name?

moviemogul

Chosen answer: That sounds like the Jean Claude Van Damme film "Sudden Death". In one scene he is fighting the terroist in the mascot costume in a kitchen. After using many instruments to hurt her she gets caught on the dishwasher line and Van Damme turns the machine on and it kills her.

Lummie

Could someone explain how they achieve shots in which two points of objects are at different positions from each other but are both in focus. I have noticed it in a few films and most recently Million Dollar Baby. In one shot I recall Clint Eastwood is standing in his office and Hilary Swank is training in the gym below him. Eastwood is in the right of frame and the left part of the frame shows Hilary Swank and both are in focus despite the large distance between each other. Is it some special camera filter they use? I noticed a little out of focus blur around the middle of the frame. If not how exactly do they achieve the effect?

Lummie

Chosen answer: Orson Wells first acheived this in "Citizen Kane." It's a combination of position between the lens and actors and the lens focus. There is no exact formula on how to acheive it; mostly trail and error. For example, have the lens tighten in on one actor and have the other move around until they come into focus.

I can't recall the name of the film, and all I recall is a lady stuck in an elevator in her house, while two men and a lady lounged around, teasing her. Any ideas?

Scott Thatcher

Chosen answer: Sounds like "Lady in a Cage" (1964) starring Olivia de Havilland.

Ingabritzen

Why exactly are film ratings in the US voluntary instead of legally required like in many other countries. I know that in countries like England, Australia and NZ they are legally required for any film/video that will be shown, sold or rented in that country. Also why do studios submit their films for ratings if they are voluntary? I find it peculiar especially for controversial films like Showgirls for example, as the NC-17 rating kills any chance the film has at the box office when they could just leave it unrated and avoid all the stigma it attaches to itself?

Lummie

Chosen answer: For one thing, the US is a place in which the sociopolitical climate has always favored liberty over governmental control. Certain issues - drivers' licensing, for instance - obviously require intervention; movie rating is not seen as one of them. This is probably also compounded by the fact that the MPAA and similar bodies are hugely wealthy and powerful, and can afford a lot of lobbying to prevent any such legislative requirement from coming to pass. As far as actually getting the voluntary ratings - it's nearly suicide to NOT get one. The number of films that have generated any significant financial success without being MPAA rated is effectively zero. It seems as though the bulk of the movie-watching public WANTS to be protected from certain levels of 'indecency.'

Rooster of Doom

I remember a film as a child and have forgotten the name. A group of children go to stay at their grandparents' house in the country. One day they see a rainbow and decide to go to the end of it. When they get there they see a pot of gold and they meet a leprechaun. At the end of the film all I can remember is the leprechaun character walking off into the sunset with a taller man and the children going back to their parents' house.

Answer: I can't be completely certain, but it sounds like this may be "The Great Land of Small".

Garlonuss

What is the film where a mother and her teenage boy live by a lake and the boy is hounded by some gang or organisation and then they send the mother a video tape of her son having gay sex with one of his attackers/kidnappers? She gets revenge on this person/gang?

pierpp

Chosen answer: 'The Deep End', starring Tilda Swinton.

MoonFaery

I remember a black and white film. It was a horror/thriller and it started with a scene of a car driving up the driveway to a spooky house. The excellent thing was the ending of the film was exactly the same with the same scene of a car driving up the driveway?

pierpp

Chosen answer: This could be "Dead of Night" (1945). It's a good spooky British anthology film about a man who has a recurring dream about going to a party at an old mansion. Within the dream framework, there are other stories about a ghost child, a haunted mirror and a ventriloquist.

What's the horror film about a boy and girl travelling in a car and he ties her shoelaces together while the parents are driving to the new house? The car has an accident and the girl can't get out. At the new house the boy gets haunted by his sister - I remember a scene of a pizza cutter being run up the walls.

pierpp

Chosen answer: I believe you are referring to the 1982 TV movie "Don't Go To Sleep", with Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper.

Gavin Jackson

I always assumed that the widescreen versions of films were the entire viewing area, and the fullscreen versions had part of the viewing area cut off from the sides so that it would fill the television screen. However, I recently noticed a couple of movies whose fullscreen versions had *more* to see on the top and bottom, meaning that the widescreen versions had part of the top and bottom cut off. Why on earth would they cut portions of the top and bottom off of the viewing area, when it is completely unnecessary to do so?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: A frame of film is square, rather than rectangular, so there are two options to get a widescreen picture. If an anamorphic lens is used, then the entire frame is used to capture a slightly horizontally squashed image, then in projection the entire frame is stretched out into widescreen. The other route taken is to block off the top and bottom of the frame, resulting in the correct rectangular shape. In projection a metal plate is used to only display this rectangular area. Because only the central region is meant to be shown, filmmakers will very often put boom mikes or other things just outside of that area - after all, otherwise a microphone will have to be further away from the actors just to avoid an unused area of film anyway. However, if a fullscreen (4:3 ratio) version is created by including these top and bottom sections rather than cropping the sides (possibly because both edges of the screen have to be seen in that shot, otherwise something important will be cropped), some things will be seen which were never meant to be. A good example is seen in the fullscreen version of "The Matrix" - when Neo receives the mobile phone near the start, you can see a crew member's hand in shot at the bottom of the screen. This is also the reason some people think a boom mike is accidentally in shot for the entirety of a movie when they see it in a theatre. If the projectionist hasn't positioned the metal plate properly, the bottom of the correct area is cut off, and too much of the top is shown, frequently exposing the microphone. So ultimately the top and bottom can only be used when they don't contain film-making equipment, and even then the framing of the shot may look odd, as the film was never shot with those parts of the screen in mind.

Jon Sandys

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.