Question: At the beginning of the movie, Lincoln 6 Echo is missing his left shoe. Is there any importance in that?
raywest
11th Feb 2015
The Island (2005)
2nd Feb 2015
The Godfather (1972)
Question: At the wedding, Vito Corleone says that Carlo is to be given a living, but not allowed in the family business. Before Michael has him killed, he tells him that his punishment for setting up Sonny's murder is that he is out of the family business. When was he let in?
Chosen answer: He was initially let into the family business when he married Connie, the Don's daughter, but only in a minor way. Vito Corleone knew Carlo only married Connie for her family connections, and that Carlo was now expecting an important position within the Corleone empire. Because he was mediocre and incompetent, he was relegated to a minor job, and never allowed into the upper ranks, making Carlo angry and resentful. When his involvement in Sonny's murder was discovered, the Don was unable to have Carlo killed, not wanting to be the one to make his daughter a widow. He knows that Michael will execute Carlo after he becomes Don. Michael kills Carlo for revenge, but he waited to aid his plot to murder the heads of the five families. Killing Carlo before then would tip them off that the Corleones knew Carlo was involved in Sonny's murder. Michael even lulls Carlo into believing he will play an important role when the family moves to Nevada. Michael waits until the opportune moment to execute him, first confronting Carlo to extract information.
2nd Feb 2015
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Question: Why was there blood on Travers Goff's shirt when he died? I thought he died of tuberculosis. And what was the knife for?
29th Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: A nit-picky question, but why did Hermione tear out a book's page of information about the basilisk? I have read the novel and Professor McGonagall says that she was found *near* the library when petrified, not *in* it. So I am puzzled about why she would want to damage a book instead of borrowing it.
Answer: A number of books in the library were restricted - either they were off limits to students or they could be read but not checked out. This was probably such a book. Hermione loved books, and would not normally approve of damaging them, but this was too important to her, and she needed that specific information. Of course, it also serves the overall plot because Harry finds the page after she's been petrified, and he is able to glean clues from it.
25th Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Question: Why does Voldemort say that Barty Jr.'s loyalty has never faltered? At his trial, Barty Jr. got upset and tried to deny that he helped torture the Longbottoms.
24th Jan 2015
The Parent Trap (1961)
Question: What kind of judge would agree to this kind of custody arrangement?
Answer: None. It's total fiction made up solely for the purpose of the movie. Even for a movie, it's far beyond the "suspension of disbelief" that siblings would ever be divided up between the two parents, and neither would have no contact with them, much less be prevented from knowing they had a brother or sister.
It was during the 1960s, the courts had no way of forcing parents to share children. They could have very easily just stayed away from each other out of the view of the judicial system.
This is what I always assumed as well. That this wasn't decided by court, the parents decided this on their own and did not bring it up to the court.
There has actually been a history of separating identical twins as babies, as there has been a fascination in studying what ways they'd be alike, and how they'd be different. During this time period, there were even agencies that would pay women who gave birth to identical twins to give them up for adoption, and have them be adopted in separate families. In today's world, this would not happen, but I wouldn't put it past a judge back in the 1960s.
21st Jan 2015
The Fugitive (1993)
Question: How does Kimble get the new set of clothes after leaving the "Men Only" hotel (after the St. Patrick's Day parade)? Is this an allusion to some inappropriate activity?
Answer: He stole them from someone who had taken them off because it was a brothel.
Answer: He got cash from Nichols when he stopped him outside of the tennis club. That is how he was able to buy clothes, etc. but it wasn't something that was shown on-screen - was basically assumed based on events.
21st Jan 2015
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Question: Whatever happened to Sonny's wife and children?
Answer: There is a deleted scene from the movie (I'll put a link for you in the end!), where Theresa and Sonny's daughter, Francesca, attend the party for Anthony's communion and ask Michael's blessing for Francesca's future wedding with a man. At some point Michael says that "My brother Sonny died many years ago. And I guess I've been sort of a father to her, rather than an uncle." I would assume this means the children were raised close to him, because as we see when Connie discusses with him, even her own children stay with Michael's family; or close. (Connie's son was caught in Reno, Nevada for some petty theft). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Ucj4YFosk.
21st Jan 2015
The River Wild (1994)
Question: After Wade seemingly kills Tom, Terry scolds him, saying he had said at the start of the robbery that no-one would get hurt, but now three people (a guard, Frank and "Tom") are dead. Why does Terry wait until the "third" death to have it out with Wade?
21st Jan 2015
Road To Perdition (2002)
Question: What town did the Aunt Sarah live in? I thought the name of the town was Perdition, to use it as a pun on the title.
15th Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
5th Jan 2015
The Maze Runner (2014)
Question: How did Thomas manage to get into the elevator at the start of the film?
Answer: Thomas was placed there by the lab workers at W.I.C.K.E.D. Boys were being sent up once a month in it as part of an experiment. Thomas, however, works for W.I.C.K.E.D. Although his memory was wiped like the other boys, he, and also the girl, knowingly took part in the experiment in order to change the conditions of the test.
4th Jan 2015
The Running Man (1987)
Question: What exactly is the re-education that people keep talking about?
1st Jan 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: After Voldemort's death, is anyone able to teach Defense Against Dark Arts for more than a year?
Answer: Yes. According to J.K. Rowling in interviews, the curse Voldemort had cast on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position preventing any teacher lasting more than one year, was finally broken upon his death, and from then on any instructor lasted beyond twelve months.
In the movies it is never mentioned that Voldemort cursed the DADA post or even applied for this position.
It is mentioned in the books.
27th Dec 2014
Apocalypto (2006)
Question: When they come across the girl crying over her mother's body, one of the guards says she has the sickness, and when they arrive in the city, they come across an old man who has the laughing sickness - what sicknesses are they referring to?
Answer: It is not specifically identified, but it appears to be the degenerative neurological disease called kuru. It is fatal and believed to have been spread in ancient sub-tropical cultures by cannibalism. Its symptoms resembles the encephalopathy disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Mad Cow), which is also called the laughing sickness, and is contracted by eating contaminated flesh.
Answer: Kuru only happens when you eat your relatives and the disease was discovered and studied in Papua New Guinea where eating your dead relatives was a way to carry them with you. There are books about it, fascinating stuff. Eating strangers is safe, not that I recommend eating anyone. The disease the girl has is smallpox brought by the Spanish, thus the ships at the end of the movie are not the first Spanish to visit the area. The laughing sickness could be straight up madness considering the horrible times everyone is living through, or a side effect of the limestone quarrying.
27th Dec 2014
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
27th Dec 2014
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Question: HRH thought it was suspicious that Draco wanted to stay at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. As they learned, he wasn't committing the attacks against Muggle-borns after all, so is there some other reason why he stayed?
Answer: There would be a reason he stayed, though it's never known what it is. It's usual for a certain number of students to stay at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. In Draco's case, it is likely his parents were traveling or had other business to attend to and Draco either didn't want to go with them, or else his mother and father preferred he not come. Draco's father may also have asked his son to stay over to keep an eye on Harry's activities, although he never told Draco what was going on.
27th Dec 2014
Zodiac (2007)
Question: There is a scene in Robert Graysmith's kitchen where you can see a container of Old Bay Seasoning on the top of the stove. I am from Maryland and I found it unusual that they would have it out in California, especially before the internet came into being. Did I see that wrong? I couldn't find the answer anywhere else.
24th Dec 2014
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: Why do the guard do execution rehearsals with a man who's not going to be executed? At first I thought the rehearsals were so the person being executed would know what to expect. The guards know how to run an execution, so why would they need to practice without the one being executed?
Chosen answer: They do it for the same reason people practice anything. It is to stay on top of how to perform a certain function or activity. The man is just a volunteer. Correction officers (prison guards) who do executions would particularly have to make sure they can perform flawlessly. The state and/or federal government would closely regulate and monitor this. If anything was botched, there would be severe legal repercussions, possible job dismissals, and even lawsuits by families of the condemned prisoner. Also, executions are not performed on a regular basis at any one penitentiary, so constant practice would be essential to maintain an adequate skill level. Most likely, regular drills are required by law. There would also be changing or rotating staff that needs to be trained and/or retrained. There's been much publicity recently about several executions using lethal injections being done improperly, so it is hardly surprising the procedures would constantly be reviewed and practiced.
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Answer: As far as I could tell, it seems to indicate his growing mental awareness of himself and his environment. He begins noticing more things around him and is questioning when things don't seem right or are out-of-place. The other clones don't exhibit that type of cognitive functioning as much as he does.
raywest ★