Question: When the Evil Stepmother wakes up Danielle (who is hungover, from being with Henry and the gypsies the night before), and asks Jacqueline to boil water, why? And what was done with it? Nothing was ever explained about the boiling water. I don't believe Evil Stepmother had Jacqueline boil water to make their breakfast with. She wouldn't have relented that easily. The very next scene has Danielle getting water from the well, looking fine.
raywest
23rd Dec 2020
Ever After (1998)
Answer: I think the boiling water part was to actually boil water for the breakfast.
Answer: Disagree. The Stepmother says it, in too resolutely a manner as if she has a specific purpose for the boiling water. As if it will be used as a punishment on Danielle, somehow. Btw, it can't be related to the whipping, either, as that doesn't happen till a few scenes later. Script error?
Probably not a script error but something explaining this may have been edited out post-filming. It's typical in movies that filmed scenes are later deleted entirely or partially edited during post-production for a variety of reasons-to cut down the film's running time, speed up the action, etc. As a result, it often leaves small plot inconsistencies.
28th Nov 2020
The Godfather (1972)
Question: When Michael was visiting the church to "repent" he started to experience an anxiety attack and asked for juice and candy. How on earth did the person standing in the shadows get the juice and candy in under 5 seconds in that scene...pitcher full, a glass and candy on a platter?
Answer: I believe this happened in The Godfather: Part III (1990). Michael was diabetic (it was not an anxiety attack), and he may have requested in advance (without explaining why) that water, juice, candy, etc. be nearby in the event it was needed or else there may have been the usual refreshments set out. The one priest's actions was overly quick, though this was probably a movie choice to accommodate the scene's pacing. Michael's assistants would likely always bring a supply of candy and juice with them whenever Michael went somewhere. That is what diabetics are supposed to consume if they have a sudden attack.
Yes, I remember now he was diabetic and your answer makes sense. I re-watched the clip where he asks for it and he says it's his diabetes, when he's under stress sometimes it happens. However, I still think that once the Priest said, "what is it, what's the matter or whats wrong" that they didn't know in advance otherwise he would not have needed to ask but that his "assistants" (lol) would have had it with them instead. Either way, it doesn't take away from the film but I've watched this movie no less than 100 times and there is ALWAYS something that I didn't see or understand. This scene just stood out. Thanks for your reply.
22nd Nov 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Question: Why would an exploding helicopter take so long to slide down the side of the building? Enough time for McClane to get down to the party area?
Answer: This is a movie, not reality. The doomed helicopter's descent was deliberately slowed down on film for a visually dramatic effect. It is also timed so it coordinates with McClane's movement and better serves the plot's pacing. It is also not necessarily linear, timewise, cutting back and forth at different points to show what is happening.
Sorry not adequate explanation. Hundreds of action movies are made regularly the world over they don't make these sorts of errors. Insufficient explanation.
28th Oct 2020
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Question: Why did Richard Burton crash the bus through the doors of the structure it was in, instead of having one of the team quietly open the doors and slowly driving it out and away from the village? Didn't what Burton did draw unwanted attention?
Answer: Logic is seldom a factor in action movies. "Crashing the gate" has always been a popular action film gimmick, as it creates urgency and tension and elevates the audience adrenaline level, even when "crashing the gate" makes no sense. A similar scene is found in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," when Jones and his father are making their castle escape in Austria. Indiana Jones ingeniously distracts the Nazis by launching an unmanned motorboat down the canal, and the Nazi pursuers are adequately distracted. In fact, the Nazis probably would have left the scene entirely, chasing the motorboat, if Jones had just waited patiently for another minute or so. He doesn't wait. Rather, Jones bursts out of a crate on a motorcycle within feet of the Nazis, instantly giving away his true position and initiating the whole motorcycle chase scene that follows. Again, logic goes out the window, and the hero senselessly "crashes the gate" for no other reason than to drive the action.
21st Oct 2020
Quantum Leap (1989)
Star-Crossed - June 15, 1972 - S1-E3
Question: Al tells Sam that he's there to prevent the professor and his undergraduate student from having a shotgun wedding and ruining both their lives. That implies she got pregnant. Sam succeeds in keeping them apart. Um, does that mean he prevented someone from being born?
Answer: He means he's there to prevent there ever being the need for a shotgun wedding-that is, to stop the affair before there is a possibility of the girl getting pregnant.
Which would erase the child from history. That's my point.
Answer: Not necessarily; it could also mean that someone such as Jamie Lee's (the student) father discovered that the professor was having a sexual relationship with her and coerced the two into getting married.
This doesn't answer the question. You just described what a shotgun wedding is.
I think their point is that the "shotgun" aspect might not be due to a pregnancy, simply a forced attempt to legitimise an otherwise scandalous relationship.
My point was that a "shotgun wedding" doesn't always happen because an unmarried girl becomes pregnant; it can also happen because someone "stole her virtue", i.e had sex with her without being married or at least engaged to her. There's no reason to believe that Jamie Lee was, or would become, pregnant as a result of the affair or subsequent marriage.
The term "shotgun wedding" means a forced marriage due to unexpected pregnancy. It's sometimes even used when the woman is pregnant but it's planned or the wedding isn't "forced." In common colloquialism (especially in the 80's when the script was written), it doesn't refer to a force marriage just because of premarital sex (which the term "make an honest woman" is used for).
No, in the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel 'Elmer Gantry', they talk about shotgun weddings, when a groom is forced to marry a woman because he took her virginity. Obviously, the term usually refers to a pregnant bride, but I see zendaddys point.
2nd Oct 2020
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Question: Roughly 12 minutes in during the sidewalk gunfight a person is whacked with a gun after the fight. There is white text that flashes on screen shortly after. What does the text say?
Answer: I think the scene you're referring to happens about and hour and nine minutes in. An Indian is knocked off the horse by a union soldier. I couldn't see any text flash on the screen. There are white signs with black letters in the background that belong to the general stores. Maybe you saw the flash of a horse or saddle?
You're right on the time mark. My mistake. I watched an HD version and it wasn't there. Is the one that TCM aired maybe different than the hd version? I wasn't the only one watching who saw it. There were others.
You probably just saw the name of the station airing the film. The sidewalk scene with 4 soldiers takes place in the middle of the movie. When you rewind a non-recorded show on a DVR, the minute mark is often how many minutes past the hour it is or how long you've been on that channel. 12 minutes into the movie is when they're turning themselves over to the Union before being slaughtered, a little prior to that is the opening credits and fighting montage scene, but no sidewalks around. Most DVR remotes allow frame by frame and slow motion playback (pause then use the fast forward or rewind button).
It wasn't the name of the station. The text was several lines long from top to bottom in the middle of the screen. You're time mark is right. No text on screen in the HD version I watched. TCM aired the one with the text, don't know if it's different in some way.
I screen captured it! Could not get it all. Reads at bottom LEFT RIGHT CH 7,8 - English. (?) LBY EDIT 342. 1/23/ (?) TMC.
28th Sep 2020
Shooter (2007)
Question: What was that stuff that Swagger used to treat gunshot wounds?
Answer: QuikClot dressing, which has blood thickening agent (coagulant) in it. I've treated more than a few wounds with them.
Answer: It's a bit complicated, so here's some online info on how the gunshot wound in the movie was treated. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! https://screenagekicks.wordpress.com/category/screen-surgery-film-first-aid/.
I'm not asking how he treated his gunshot wounds, I'm asking what he used to treat his gunshot wounds?
I've looked at the sources. He used quick clot to treat his wounds. I have a problem with that because he opens the quick clot bag with his mouth. Wouldn't he risk getting cotton mouth if he opened the bag with his mouth since he was risk quick clot getting in his mouth?
That's why someone put this in as a mistake (listed as factual but should be a character mistake). Some say the way he handles the quick clot is wrong and/or dangerous.
3rd Aug 2007
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Question: Are Indiana Jones and his father immortal at the end of the movie or does the grail's power become null and void when it crosses the seal? The knight said something like "The grail cannot cross the seal, that is the price of immortality." That makes it sound like they are not immortal at the end but I still want to check.
Chosen answer: They're not, no. An individual doesn't become immortal after one drink - it requires them to drink regularly in order to remain alive. So neither Jones has been rendered immortal, merely healed of any wounds that they might have. But your surmise is basically correct - as the Grail cannot leave the shrine, any individual wishing to use it to prolong their life must stay there if they wish to enjoy its effects.
Also, in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, Henry Jones, Sr has passed away before the start of the story and therefore was not immortal.
9th Aug 2020
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Question: In the last shot of the knight waving goodbye to the Joneses, is it just me or has the actor been swapped out with a dummy?
Answer: It is the real actor and not a robotic dummy. He moves a bit slowly and deliberately, apparently for effect, but it's a real person.
Just to be clear, I'm not referring to when we see the knight raise his hand to wave goodbye to them, but rather right after Indy says "Please Dad," and he and Henry begin to flee the collapsing temple, you can see the knight in the background with his arm raised and he looks rather stiff. You can see it at around 2:22 of this clip: https://youtu.be/PAfZ7V2VyD8.
I took a closer look. There is the shot where the knight raises his hand and you can see him moving. It then cuts to Indy and Henry, then a cut back to the knight where it briefly looks like it could be a mannequin, then there is another cut and back to the knight again and this time it's definitely the live actor. So yes, for that brief long shot, I think it could be a dummy. This may have been for the purpose of efficiency in the filming, it being easier to use a stationary prop for doing multiple takes, rather than the live actor just standing there. Sometimes they do what is called "pick up" shots, where, post-production, a part of a scene or close-ups are re-shot or added weeks or months later, and it would just be easier to use mannequin rather than recall the actor.
But he does move, so most likely a real person.
14th Sep 2017
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Question: Did the scene where Ira Hayes rages against police after a bartender refuses to serve him really happen?
Answer: Following WWII, Ira Hayes hated the fame and sensational publicity associated the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Deeply depressed, Hayes descended into alcoholism over the next few years, and it eventually killed him. Director Clint Eastwood actually underplayed the true extent of Hayes' sad decline, and the scene you mention was no doubt dramatized for the screen. In real life, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public intoxication and disorderly conduct at various places across the country before his death.
Answer: Definitely yes :). The poor guy was a raging alcoholic who literally drank himself to death.
17th Jul 2020
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
29th Jun 2020
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)
Question: If imprinting is possible for werewolves then why didn't Jacob do it to Bella? Mad Magazine pointed this out as he does this to her daughter, kind of creepy it was.
Answer: Imprinting is an involuntary mechanism. The shape-shifter can't voluntarily imprint on anybody. Jacob tried to imprint on Bella but was unable to do so and began going around looking for other girls to imprint on but, is unable to do it of his own free will.
29th Jun 2020
Jurassic Park (1993)
Question: Why does Alan Grant struggle with his seatbelt in the helicopter ride to Isla Nublar? It looks like a fairly standard airline seatbelt to me.
Answer: This is a foreshadowing of the events to come. He has 2 female parts of the belt. He then over comes this problem by simply tying the two bits together in the same way all the dinosaurs on Isla Nubar are female to stop them breeding and over running the island. However, they over come this as shown when Dr. Grant finds the eggs after spending the night in the tree.
Answer: In addition to the foreshadowing of the female dinosaurs on the island learning how to breed, I think also works to establish Grant as an unconventional but creative problem-solver, someone who can make the best of an unideal situation. This leads credence to him being able to survive with the children in the park with all the dinos running around. So in that belt buckle scene you have three things going on at once: humor, foreshadowing, and character development. Great writing.
Answer: Alan is not a modern man. Being a paleontologist, he mostly relates to the past and shuns modern technology, as evidenced by his resistance to using the ground-penetrating radar to find buried fossils. He is uncomfortable and out-of-place in today's world and has difficulty using things as simple as a seatbelt.
So Grant has never been in a car? My dad can barely figure out this iPhone, but knows how to use a seatbelt. It could be as simply as he grabbed two female ends, which has happened to me on an airplane.
4th Jul 2020
The Hangover (2009)
Question: How did they have enough time to do everything they did on the first night? I believe everyone is ready by 7pm, then they go to the rooftop, then dinner, then they play blackjack and other games, they also find the time to kidnap Chow, go to the strippers, get married, steal a cop car, go to Mike Tyson and steal a tiger, come back to the hotel, fill a hot tub, playing bowling with champagne bottles, drink at least 40-50 beers, energy drinks and champagne, use all the inflatables, wait for Doug to fall asleep and get him on the roof, come back and pass out, then wake up by about 9am It seems like the casino games and strippers would take you until about 2am anyway, but they managed to fit everything else in with about 5 hours.
Answer: They didn't have time. This is a movie. Time is deliberately compressed to an unrealistic level in order to make the plot work, to make it funny, and fit it all within a 100-minute running time. Audiences are expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" in order for the movie to be made.
True, but the movie still takes place in the real world, and physics should still prevail. It also doesn't help that they mention the time at several points throughout the film.
29th Jun 2020
The Good Place (2016)
Question: Why is it they never use the words "Heaven" and "Hell"?
Answer: While the show does explore life after death, the show creators intentionally avoided using many religious terms and beliefs, such as heaven, hell, or God. While one could draw parallels of the Good Place and the Bad Place to heaven and hell, in the show that's not what they're meant to be.
Thank you. It just means, to me, they're atheists.
Well you couldn't really call them atheist because atheists don't believe in any type of afterlife or any deities. The "good place" and "bad place" are merely broader terms that could include most belief systems.
Answer: They actually do use those terms, in one episode, when Eleanor starts crying Chidi states he broke God and, there is another episode where someone, I believe Chidi says, we're in heaven. Though not saying those words does not make them atheist, it is stated in the first episode that every religion specifically Christians were a little bit right... So when they got to the good place after learning it is really called the good place it makes no sense to call it something else.
29th Jun 2020
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: How does all that dirt or whatever it is get on Hermione's pink hoodie?
12th Mar 2020
Cast Away (2000)
Question: Why did Chuck and Kelly not get back together at the end? Yes I know she's with that other guy but they still have feelings for each other. She didn't move on by choice, she had to move on because she thought he was dead.
Answer: She hadn't seen Chuck in years, she's married to another man, and had a child with him. Just because she still cares for Chuck (and maybe wishes things had turned out differently), doesn't mean she doesn't love her husband or wants to leave him.
And if I recall, they didn't meet because the new husband told her that Chuck didn't want to see her.
21st Jun 2020
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Question: How did the inmates on rooftops manage to get their hands on beer?
Answer: It was given to them by the guards.
But isn't beer banned in prisons?
Andy gives Hadley (the head guard) financial advice on how to keep a large sum of money, which he (Hadley) received as an inheritance. Andy, being an accountant, offers to do all the necessary tax work, in exchange for three beers apiece for his fellow inmates. Hadley agrees, and arranges for the beer to be delivered and given to them. (All of this is shown in the scene immediately prior to that in which the inmates are drinking beer).
Answer: Under all but rare circumstances, alcoholic beverages are not allowed in US prisons, which was also the case in 1949, when this scene takes place; the significance of this scene is to establish that Andy began to enjoy special privileges while incarcerated, which is also how he eventually got the warden to allow him to establish the prison library.
12th Jun 2020
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: There is something about wizards I don't understand. Why do they keep their magic a secret?
Answer: Many reasons. Muggles (non-magic people) would have a variety of reactions to them. Many would fear their power, others would want wizards to solve all their problems with magic, others would want to eradicate them. From the wizards' point of view, they live a certain way, and that would be disrupted by humans knowing about them.
I thought the reason wizards kept their magic a secret was fear of discrimination.
10th Jun 2020
Moonlighting (1985)
Question: What's with the show's title and why does their receptionist rhyme, and why'd she hire such a dork for a partner?
Answer: The show's title, "Moonlighting" was a take-off the agency's name, the "Blue Moon Detective Agency." The owner, Maddie Hays, a former model, renamed it after a shampoo brand she was once a spokesperson for. She did not hire her partner, David Addison. He already worked at the agency when Maddie took it over. The agency was struggling financially, and David convinced Maddie, who knew nothing about being a detective, that if she made him a partner, they could make it successful. Agnes, the receptionist, had a very quirky personality, and simply chose to use rhymes when answering the phone.
Answer: Near the beginning of the movie after Danielle comes back from whipping apples at Henry, the stepmother and sisters are having breakfast. At the beginning of the scene Marguerite says, "I wanted one four minute egg, not four one minute eggs and where in GOD'S NAME IS OUR BREAD!" Therefore the boiling water was probably to make hard boiled eggs for their breakfast.