Question: Maybe I missed this, but when and how did the "robbers" bring in all the materials, plywood, power tools, saws, etc. into the bank to build the fake wall without anyone noticing?
raywest
17th Nov 2023
Inside Man (2006)
18th May 2022
Doctor Strange (2016)
Question: When Strange is surgically removing the bullet from the patient's brain, why did he ask the one doctor to cover his wristwatch?
Answer: I took it to mean Dr. Strange could hear the watch ticking, and he wanted complete silence.
20th Sep 2021
Field of Dreams (1989)
Question: Maybe someone with agricultural expertise can answer this. Ray's entire cornfield is large and obviously worth a lot of money. How much would the small section of corn that he plowed under for the baseball field have been worth in comparison to the rest of the crop once sold?
Chosen answer: In modern times (say, over the last 10 years) corn crops yield about $240 in profit per acre. In the mid-to-late 1980s (when this movie was made) the profit yield was far less, maybe only $150 or less profit per acre. Today, most farms produce about 1100 acres of corn per season; but, back then, most farms produced around 600 acres per season. Of course, these are all just average figures. So, let's say Ray had an average Iowa farm of 600 cultivated acres in 1989, expecting to profit $150 per acre. Optimistically, Ray would profit about $90,000 on his total crop. Meanwhile, the acreage of a large baseball field (with 90-foot baselines) is only about 5 acres. Which means Ray plowed under only about $750 worth of his crop profits to open up land area for the baseball field. It doesn't sound like much of a sacrifice at all, in terms of corn. Ray could still potentially profit $89,250 on his remaining crop (assuming he had the farm hands and heavy equipment to harvest it).
Thanks! The plot seemed a bit far-fetched by implying that he would go completely bankrupt because he sacrificed five acres to build a baseball field. And it appeared that not all of those five acres near the house were previously being used for growing corn. Factoring in the other incidental building costs would be a different consideration, however.
Yeah, the 5 acres of corn was not a bank-breaker. My impression was that Ray probably cut down the corn himself at no great loss; but he then mortgaged his farm to have that one small piece of the cornfield leveled and professionally developed with ballpark-quality turf, baselines, stadium lighting and fencing, et cetera, not to mention the bleachers and professional-grade field equipment...all of which would total, what, a half-million bucks (or more) in the 1980s? Ray's brother-in-law rightly thought it was an insane risk that would result in bank foreclosure.
I just watched it again. It's mentioned they paid for building the field using all their savings, so presumably nothing more is owed. Another year passes and there is another crop of corn to be harvested, but the bank is threatening to foreclose.
Maybe it's a plot hole or a deleted scene; because, if the bank was threatening foreclosure, then a mortgage of some kind existed somewhere.
He did spend a lot to build the field, and those profit margin numbers are best-case, no?
Yeah, all the figures I provided were just averages for the year 1989; but the figures do demonstrate that cutting down 5 acres of corn didn't significantly impact Ray's profit on the whole crop. It wasn't cutting down the corn that cost him money (as the original question inquired); rather, it was developing the cleared 5 acres into a level, professional-standard baseball field that cost him a ton of money.
3rd Sep 2021
Patriot Games (1992)
Question: Near the end, during the dinner party at the Ryan house, how did Jack figure out that Lord Holmes' assistant, Watkins, was the IRA informant? He seemed to put it together very suddenly.
Answer: Because, while everyone was scared and running for safety, he was the only one cool and calm. Plus, everyone was together, he was the only one alone and appeared out of nowhere.
Answer: The guests seemed fine, but Jack realised the power was intentionally cut since the boathouse light was working. Maybe he saw the external powerlines were still intact and thus deduced the power was shut down from inside the house. Going toward the basement, he sees Watkins coming from the direction of the basement shortly after the power went out and this made Watkins the prime suspect of the power outage. Ryan may have also known about the existence of an informant in the Royal entourage due to his extensive study of the prior attack situation. Finally, it may have been inappropriate for Watkins to have a gun since he was not a bodyguard. Seeing the blood, the dead guard and the power switch off confirmed Jack's suspicions which led him to shoot Watkins to get more info.
19th Apr 2015
Interstellar (2014)
Question: What happened to Wolf Edmund? He was one of the dozen astronaut explorers that went into the wormhole to search for suitable planets. Anne Hathaway was in love with him. Did he die before she and Cooper reached Planet Edmund or was he still alive when Brand landed there?
Chosen answer: Per the novelization of the movie he was dead when they arrived. CASE and Brand gave him a burial.
3rd Jan 2014
Angels & Demons (2009)
Question: When Langdon and the Italian cop are trapped inside the sealed room of the Vatican archive and the air is shut off, how long could they actually survive in a space that size? In the movie, they start to suffocate almost immediately. (There is no long time lapse because the movie's plot depends on defusing the bomb within a few hours).
Chosen answer: In reality, they would have perished from CO2 poisoning long before the room ran out of breathable oxygen causing them to simply suffocate. Without knowing the exact dimensions of the room it is impossible to give any time more specific than "several hours" for this to happen in a room as big as that one appeared to be.
I just re-watched the movie, and as Langdon and Vittoria enter the room, it's mentioned to them that the oxygen levels are always kept at a bare minimum to protect the ancient tomes and documents stored there. That helps to answer my own question about why Langdon and the cop were so quickly affected when the power was shut off.
24th May 2011
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Question: After Phillip frees her, why did Syrena then go to find the chalices and give them to Jack Sparrow? She could have just left and taken Phillip with her.
Chosen answer: She most likely went to stop the ritual, she probably didn't want her tear to be used by the likes of Blackbeard. She knew that Jack would use it wisely.
3rd Feb 2011
Angels & Demons (2009)
16th Jul 2010
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Question: Are there more than three Star Fleet uniform colors? In the episode where Dr. Crusher is pulled into an alternate dimension aboard the Enterprise, there is an older science officer (not a recurring character) who is wearing a green uniform. When he is next to Dr. Crusher in her blue uniform, the difference is quite noticeable. Red is command, blue is sciences and medical, and gold is engineering, security, and ship services. What would green be for? I've only seen it in this one episode.
Chosen answer: The colors of the uniforms (like the models of the uniforms) change a lot. In the time frame of the original series for example the command color was gold/yellow and red was engineering. In TNG these colors are switched and altered. Also, the blue color for science has been more greenish in other periods of (Star Trek) time. And finally, uniform alterations are, to some extend, accepted (Troy often wears more casual clothing on duty and Worf adds cultural decorations to his uniform. To conclude: the green uniform might be a character's choice or an older type of uniform.
18th Dec 2009
A Room with a View (1985)
Question: While in Italy, the Anglican pastor tells a joke, and the punch line is about an American seeing a "yellow dog." Exactly what is he referring to?
Chosen answer: The joke is: The American girl asks her father "What did we see in Rome?" The man says "Rome was where we saw the yellow dog." Explanation: Americans can tour the Eternal City and all they will see that is memorable or of interest to them is a dog.
I don't get it. It doesn't make sense.
What part doesn't make sense? Rome is filled with better things than a dog. To put it another way, it would be like if you went to one of the greatest sporting event live with on-field/court-side/ring-side tickets and when asked about the event you said "I thought the nachos were good."
It's a crude joke about Americans. It doesn't have to make sense. It's a joke that highlights the sense that Americans are crude, illiterate, with no culture. They believe a yellow dog (a common dog in the US) was the best thing to see.
25th May 2009
Star Trek (2009)
Question: How are Kirk, Sulu, and Olson able to parachute from space to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere?
Chosen answer: Vulcan has a thinner atmosphere than Earth. That, combined with the special dive suits they're wearing and the lower speed than space vehicle re-entry makes it possible.
27th Mar 2009
Twilight (2008)
Question: I haven't read the books, but at times, Charlie Swan's behavior seems to indicate that he knows something about the Cullens. Other than thinking they are a bit odd, does he know that they are vampires or that the Quileutes are wolves?
Chosen answer: According to the 4 books, Charlie does NOT know the Cullens are vampires. Spoiler alert! In the 4th book breaking dawn, Jacob tells Charlie he is a werewolf. Charlie is not made aware of the Cullens as vampires in any of the 4 books.
Answer: Charlie does know that the Quileutes have a prejudice against the Cullen's and that they stopped using the hospital that Carlisle works in. When Bella tells her father that the Cullen kids aren't very accepted at school he is defensive and gives a long speech about what a good family they are.
2nd Feb 2009
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Question: What do the curls on Navy officer's white wigs signify? Some have one curl on each side, while others have two, and so on. Are they an indication of rank?
2nd Feb 2009
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Question: What does Lord Beckett mean when he says to tell Davy Jones, "To give no quarter"?
Chosen answer: In this case it implies showing no mercy or clemency, to leave no one one alive and take no prisoners, no offer to retreat for the enemy, the Black Pearl, which Cutler Beckett knows would surely make Jones very happy.
Question: In what town or city were the scenes where Indy is supposed to live and work actually filmed?
Chosen answer: They were filmed in New Haven, CT and Yale University.
12th Apr 2008
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Question: What did the term, "tying your shoe" mean?
Chosen answer: It means you need to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Originally, terms like "tying your shoe" or "pulling your socks up" meant ducking to avoid flying bullets. In a more generic sense though, it needn't be about gun violence per se. Just that you don't want to be on the receiving end of violence meant for someone else. In the movie, this was a way of telling Edward that if he could not defuse the situation, then others would be forced to harm the professor. Here, they weren't actually going to put Edward in harm's way. But if he failed to change the professor, then violence against the professor was forthcoming.
4th Apr 2008
Inside Man (2006)
Question: Was the bank employee who was taken into the back room and "beaten" one of the robbers? If not, was he actually hit or was it fake like the "shot" hostage? I couldn't tell if he was one of the ones in the car at the end.
Chosen answer: The beating was real and no he wasn't one of the robbers. The men who participated in the hold up along with Clive Owen's character were all much younger than the employee who was beaten up. The much older guy in the car was not part of the robbery.
Actually the guy that was beaten WAS part of the robbery. The four involved were the guy that was beaten, the guy that was Algerian that asked for a glass of water because his throat was "parched," the big-breasted girl that said she violated "Section 34 Double D," and Clive Owen, obviously. If you check the credits on IMDB, you will see that the guy that was beaten was Steve-O. They are all listed. The girl was Stevie and the other guy was Steve.
What about the rabbi?
I think he means Peter Hammond.
Not Algerian...Armenian. They asked if he was Albanian. He said no, Armenian...but I was born in Queens, I don't know the difference.
The bank employee who was beaten up was not one of the robbers because later in the film he attempts to pull the tray out from box 392 before Detective Frazier prevents him from doing so.
Answer: The Algerian guy was not Algerian. He was Armenian. And no, they're not the same thing.
Answer: Peter Frechette played the bank employee, Pewter Hammond. Who was beaten. Stever was played by another actor. To me, this was the weakest point in the movie. 1. It turns them all into bad guys for the beating. The move tried to make them into good guys (caring about violent games, etc) 2. The police would not have dropped it since there was a badly beaten victim. 3. He could have been another accomplice who didn't join them in the "pick-up" car a few days later. It was pretty weak.
23rd Feb 2008
General questions
Who was the noted film director that was killed about 10-15 years ago when a large rock was thrown from a street overpass and smashed through his car windshield? He probably would have been in his 70s or 80s by now.
Chosen answer: This is the only thing I found close: "November 19, 1998: Film director Alan Pakula (70) was killed while driving on the Long Island Expressway east of New York City. He lost control of his Volvo and crashed into a fence after a metal pipe crashed through his windshield. The pipe, which had been lying on the highway, was kicked up by another car. Pakula was taken to the North Shore Hospital in Plainview, New York, where he was pronounced dead. Pakula directed films such as Klute and All the President's Men." This site lists famous people that died in car accidents and that was the only director that died from something flying through his windshield. http://www.celebratetoday.com/autoceleb.html.
3rd Aug 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Question: Was any explanation given as to why Anna Maria (Zoe Saldana) was eliminated from the Black Pearl's crew and also from the movie series? Female pirates weren't uncommon. I'd like to know why Disney deleted this interesting character.
Chosen answer: Without asking Disney directly, we may not know, but Zoe Saldana has made many films since the first Pirates movie, generally playing one of the lead roles - the most likely explanation is that she chose to focus on those projects and thus was unable to find a gap in her schedule to play a relatively minor character in Dead Man's Chest.
3rd Aug 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Question: Why did Bootstrap Bill join the dice game that Will played with Davy Jones? Will knew that Jones had the key to the chest on him, so just how did Bootstrap help him by also playing?
Chosen answer: Bootstrap did not want his son to lose and have to become an undead. By joining the game, he made it possible to save Will if it looked like Will was losing, by placing a ridiculously high bet himself. And as we can see, this is what happened. When Will was losing, and Davy Jones was about to call him a liar, Bootstrap makes his absurdly high claim, thereby sacrificing himself, but getting Will out of the game debt-free.
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Chosen answer: When they went in with materials as painters.
Thanks.
raywest ★