Onesimos

Trivia: In the Extended Edition the Gondorian soldier who was shot by an Orc in Osgliath was a cameo appearance by film's stunt coordinator, according to director Peter Jackson on the director/writer audio commentary.

Onesimos

Trivia: Originally, Frodo was to push Gollum into the lava in Mt. Doom, but director Peter Jackson was against it because it made Frodo into a murderer and was out of character.

Onesimos

Trivia: According to the commentary, Peter Jackson said that he shortened the scene of Smeagol strangling Deagol for the theatrical version because if he had not, it would not have given the film its PG-13 rating. The full strangling scene appeared in the Extended Edition.

Onesimos

17th Dec 2004

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Trivia: Director Hayao Miyazaki had said in interviews that he was ignorant that the word Spanish word "Laputa" means "filthy whore." If he had been aware of the word's meaning, he would not have used it in the first place.

Onesimos

Factual error: Father Gionetti gives Father Merrin a copy of the Rituale Romanum (Roman Ritual). (The administration of exorcism is in Title X of the Rituale Romanum.) The title of the book embossed on its leather cover is "Roman Ritual", in English. Later in the film, Father Merrin asks Joseph to help him by reading passages of the book, and we are shown a couple of printed pages, the text of which is also in English. The Rituale Romanum would have been printed in Latin in 1949, when the film is set, because non-Latin translations of liturgical texts were not authorized until the promulgation of the Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) by Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, as part of the Second Vatican Council.

Onesimos

27th Nov 2004

Starship Troopers (1997)

Question: What are the themes of the film and the novel it was based on?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: Mainly the book is about the war against an alien enemy in a facist society. It goes into considerable detail about the facist society being fully functional, unlike those in the past.

Grumpy Scot

Question: This may be a stupid question, but is it just me that thinks the Gondorian soldiers are poorly-trained to fight or in poorly defensive formation against the Orcs and trolls? Also, are the soldiers of Gondor conscripts, as it seems that there is no able-bodied male civilian in Minas Tirith, and those who are able-bodied are soldiers?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: That's because they were under the rule of Denethor who was very foolish and didn't care about the consequences.

Question: In the Extended Edition of "The Two Towers," it obvious that Denethor has a liking of his now-deceased older son Boromir and a disliking of his younger son Faramir. This is more evident when Denethor boldly said to Faramir in the throne room that he wished that Faramir and Boromir had switched places so that the former dies and the latter live. Is there a reason in the original novel why Denethor has an unfavorable opinion towards Faramir, his younger son?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: No, no really. Denethor's wife, Finduilas died early, and the grief turned him into a grim and humourless man - one suggestion is that Faramir takes heavily after his mother, and Denethor dislikes him for that reminder; another suggestion is that it's actually Boromir who takes after the mother, and that Denethor favours him for that reason. Whatever the issue is, it seems likely that it started early on - Boromir translates to "Faithful Jewel", whereas Faramir seems to translate to something like "Adequate Jewel". As even their names appear to reflect the prejudice against Faramir, whatever the problem is, it goes back a long way. Maybe, once Boromir was born, giving Denethor an heir, he really wanted a daughter and was disappointed by the arrival of another son. Compounded by the death of his beloved wife (making a daughter impossible), that disappointment could easily grow into the dislike that he shows in the film. There's also the point that, although unseen in the film (unless the Extended Cut touches on it), Denethor has been using a palantir, which has allowed Sauron to affect his mind - it's not unreasonable to think that Sauron could have determined that Faramir was actually the stronger-willed of the brothers, and had deliberately influenced Denethor's mind against him to hamper the younger man's efforts against Mordor.

Tailkinker

12th Nov 2004

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Trivia: According to a 2001 Entertainment Weekly (American entertainment magazine) article on this film, the filmmakers originally wanted to mention Nash's homosexuality, but they feared the film will make the wrong connection between homosexuality and schizophrenia, so they abandoned it. This connection, according to the article, was based on several now-discredited psychological studies that first appeared in the late 1950s.

Onesimos

Question: In the next few months, the Extended Edition version will be released. Why did Peter Jackson remove about fifty minutes of footage (which will appear in the Extended Edition) for the theatrical release?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: The movie was already 3 hours long and he removed footage not strictly necessary to make it that length. Movies are shown to test audiences for things like length, proper ending etc. His said that while good, it was just too long.

Grumpy Scot

26th Oct 2004

Star Wars (1977)

Question: I understand that purists are up in arms over this scene, but why they are very upset on the Han Solo-Greedo scene?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: Originally, Han shot Greedo outright. The next releases of the films were altered, the first with Greedo firing roughly a second before Han does, and in the subsequent release, Greedo firing just slightly before Han does. Many fans felt that Han seemingly shooting in self-defence took away from his scoundrel character.

Darius Angel

Question: Did the filmmakers gave a reason why there were numerous biblical references in the trilogy?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: The movies are about the coming of savior (Neo/Jesus), a war to end the world (Armeggedon), an evil force that enslaves mankind (machines/AntiChrist), etc., etc., etc. Since the Bible is greatest common point of cultural reference in Western culture, it would be extremely hard to make a movie with this plot without making a Biblical reference to some degree. Even if it had been made by Bollywood about Vishnu and Krishna, when shown in the West it could have had Biblical comparisons drawn.

Myridon

2nd Oct 2004

South Park (1997)

Conjoined Fetus Lady - S2-E5

Factual error: When Mr. Mackey, Principal Victoria, and Nurse Gollum are eating dinner with the Broslofskis, notice pork on the table. Since the Broslofskis are practicing Jews, they would have not allowed unclean food (such as pork) in their home.

Onesimos

1st Oct 2004

Elizabeth (1998)

Trivia: The film rolls two conspiracies against Elizabeth into one. The first was the Ridolfi plot of 1571, in which the Duke of Norfolk was executed and Arundel arrested. The second culminated in 1586 when a priest named John Ballard was sent by the Pope to coordinate an English Catholic rebellion that would clear the way for an Italian invasion. As far as we know, Sussex and Dudley were not involved in any treachery as alleged in the film. Importantly, the film makes scarce mention of Elizabeth's cousin Mary, Queen of Scots (as a Catholic it was she who the rebels wished on the English throne and she played a central role in all the conspiracies).

Onesimos

27th Sep 2004

Anchorman (2004)

Factual error: Although the film is set in the 1970s, the Emerald Shapery Tower can be seen in several skyline shots of the city of San Diego throughout the film. It was built during the mid 1980's.

Onesimos

27th Sep 2004

Anchorman (2004)

Factual error: Although the film is set in the 1970's, Petco Park (The San Diego Padre's ballpark) can be seen in a skyline shot of the city of San Diego. It wasn't built until around 2001-2002.

Onesimos

27th Sep 2004

Elizabeth (1998)

Trivia: The scene where Elizabeth asks the Spanish ambassador to marry her to Dudley at a firework party did take place, but the assassination attempt that followed is fictional. (Although it is true that many attempts were made on her life.)

Onesimos

25th Sep 2004

Anchorman (2004)

Factual error: Throughout the movie, there are shots of downtown San Diego, which is supposed to be set in the 1970s. Yet, there are shots of One America Plaza, the tallest building in San Diego, which was built in 1991.

Onesimos

25th Sep 2004

Anchorman (2004)

Factual error: Although the film is set in the 1970s, the San Diego Convention Center can be seen in several skyline shots of the city of San Diego throughout the film. It was built during the mid 1980s.

Onesimos

21st Sep 2004

Elizabeth (1998)

Factual error: The parliamentary bill to establish the Anglican Church was forced through the first session of Parliament by Cecil (not Walsingham), using more complex means than that portrayed in the film. He effectively became the first government whip, using many techniques, the most important being a procedural device that limited debate to that which was justified by Scripture alone. The Catholic MP's walked out in protest. The two ringleaders of the protest were taken to the Tower of London.

Onesimos

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