Question: What exactly did Biff do to George McFly's car? It is strongly suggested, but I couldn't understand what caused the accident.
Phixius
17th Mar 2008
Back to the Future (1985)
16th Mar 2008
Transformers (2007)
11th Mar 2008
Crank (2006)
Question: After falling from such a height, wouldn't Chevy's body be a bit more flat than it was, even though he bounced off the car at the end?
6th Mar 2008
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
7th Mar 2008
Angel (1999)
Question: How is the vampire no-reflection effect achieved?
Chosen answer: There are severals ways to go about this. They could film the scene without the vampire in place so there's no reflection of him/her in the mirror, then film the scene with the vampire, and finally digitally splice the two together. Or, for quick passes, they could just digitally remove the reflection and replace it with the background. Camera tricks can also be used by putting the camera at a certain angle in relation to the mirror so it only looks like the person's reflection would be visible if they weren't a vampire. Depends on how much time and money they've got available.
24th Feb 2008
I, Robot (2004)
Question: If Lanning really had leaped from that distance, wouldn't he be unrecognizable upon impact and not with only a little bit of blood coming from his mouth?
11th Feb 2008
50 First Dates (2004)
Question: I know that the condition Lucy suffers from in the movie does not really exist. But what about the condition suffered by 10-second Tom, who loses his memory every 10 seconds. Does that condition really exist?
Answer: Yes it is called anterograde amnesia.
Answer: You might be interested in reading this. Clive Wearing looses his memory after 7 seconds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Wearing.
Answer: Actually, there is a British woman named Michelle Philpots, whose story might have inspired the movie. She was in a motorbike accident and later, a car accident. She wakes up every day and believes that she is still in the year 1994. Unlike the Lucy character, however, she can unexpectedly forget things during the day, instead of being "reset" over night.
26th Jan 2008
General questions
I am trying to identify a move that I saw on TV in the '80s. I don't remember much about it other than one scene. The movie takes place on another planet where the sun comes out only once every so many years. Children are playing, and one of them gets locked into a shed before the sun comes out. The child can feel and see the sun only through the slats of the shed. That's all I remember - this has been bothering me for YEARS. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
23rd Jan 2008
Transformers (2007)
17th Jan 2008
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Question: After the 10 years is up and Will can stay on land, what happens to his heart? Does it somehow go back into his chest, does he not need it anymore, or is there some other explanation?
14th Jan 2008
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Question: If Davey Jones had already gone against his agreement to ferry souls to the afterlife, why couldn't he walk on shore more often too?
Answer: He agreed to do a job in exchange for eternal life, with a few limitations. If he refused to do that job he'd be cursed until he fulfilled his duties, but that doesn't excuse him from the details of the previous enchantment. He didn't simply choose not to walk on land, he couldn't.
14th Jan 2008
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Question: In Bourne Supremacy, when Bourne confronted Nicky Parsons about his first mission in Berlin (Neski's assassination), Nicky explained to him that his first mission was not in Berlin, but Geneva instead. Eventually the movie showed through Bourne's flashbacks that the assassination of Neski in Berlin was an off-the-record mission arranged by Abbott and thus not documented by the CIA. In Bourne Ultimatum, when Landy reviewed the archives of the Operation Treadstone, there was a scene where Landy was reading the details of Neski's assassination and there was a CIA stamp of approval on Neski's picture as if this is an official mission from the CIA. Isn't this somewhat contradictory?
Answer: No. The Neski assassination was indeed "on-the-record." As much so as anything Treadstone did, anyway. It wasn't listed as Bourne's "first assignment" though because it was a training exercise. Bourne's last training exercise, in fact. After that, Bourne's first mission as a Treadstone agent (agent, not trainee) was in Geneva.
13th Jan 2008
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Question: Does anyone know if the monster world is daytime when the human world has nighttime? When the monsters are scaring Sulley says after getting a lot of scream "slumber party" which I assume means it is nighttime in the human world. But at the end of the movie when Sulley re-visits Boo there is sunlight on the door implying it is daytime. I'm confused.
Answer: At every moment it is night time somewhere in the world. The factory presumably operates on all three shifts, so they simply work on whichever timezone currently has citizens turning in for the night. Sully just visited Boo when it was daytime wherever she lives, we don't know what time of day it was in Monstropolis.
Also, at the beginning of the scare floor sequence in the movie, the guy that counts down says, "East and Seaborne, we've got scarers combing out!" The "East and Seaborne" line evokes the idea that that's the time zone they are scaring in.
5th Jan 2008
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Question: There is one point in the movie where Satan is carrying a demon-like baby. Who is the baby meant to be, or what does the baby symbolise?
1st Jan 2008
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
23rd Dec 2007
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
Question: The premise of "Santa Clause 2" is that the new Santa must find a wife or he goes back to being a normal guy. So, what happened to the prior Mrs. Claus, the one that was married to the Santa that fell off the roof in the first movie - or for that matter, the ones married to any of the prior Santas? Do they just disappear when their husbands are no longer Santa?
Answer: When a Santa dies, the previous Mrs. Claus goes back into the human world and loses all memory of the north pole and Santa.
Answer: The previous Santas probably didn't have wives and then would die or retire before the elves could find out about the marriage clause.
But that doesn't make sense because Scott Calvin, the current Santa, automatically started to reverse naturally without the elves doing anything.
24th Dec 2007
Big Daddy (1999)
Question: When Sonny and Layla are in the Laundry, why does Layla put coins in 3 different washing machines? I'm guessing it's because she has a lot of laundry but that would have to be a lot of clothes to wash in one go.
Chosen answer: I used to have to use the local laundromat and I would use anywhere from four to six machines at once. When you have to leave your home to do laundry you tend to put it off as long as possible. She's also probably separating the different types - light, dark, delicates, etc.
11th Nov 2007
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
10th Nov 2007
Shanghai Noon (2000)
Question: What was the meaning of John's ponytail? Why didn't he want it to be touched or cut off?
Answer: During the Qing Dynasty it was compulsory for men to wear a queue to prove loyalty to the Manchu rule. Refusal to follow can result to execution considering that as treason. Also, he not only prevented him from going back to China but also preventing him from informing the Emperor of his crimes without his queue.
Yes, but in fact, Jackie Chan wasn't wearing a queue in the movie. He only had the pony tail. His head should have been shaved half bald, especially if he was the Emperor's Guard. They just didn't want to show Jackie Chan in a half-bald hairstyle.
Similarly happened in 1976 film Hand of Death in which Jackie co-starred in. That film too was set in the Qing Dynasty but all men still had their queues but no shaved temples. The slaves in Shanghai Noon however some of them did actually have that hairstyle correctly having both queue and front temples shaved bald.
Answer: The queue is loyalty submission to Manchu rule during the Qing Dynasty. Refusal to wear that hairstyle is considered treason and punishable by death. Fong cut it off to make it as if he's a slave with no honour and would label him a traitor to China. He not only prevented him from coming back but he also cannot report his actions to the Emperor if he were to go back to China (but cannot because of Fong cutting off his queue).
Answer: In the Qing Dynasty (which was in power at the time the film was set), all soldiers were required to wear the Manchurian hairstyle of the queue (Chon Wang's "pony tail"). Cutting off his queue ensured that he would not be able to fight in the Chinese army for a while.
10th Nov 2007
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Question: Why exactly do the spirits in the Ark kill everyone who looks at them? Do they only kill evil people such as the Nazis, or everyone who looks at them, regardless of how pure they may be (say, for example, would the Pope be able to open the Ark without incident)? Does that also mean after being closed, the Ark was never supposed to be opened again by anybody ever? I was never quite clear on the explanation to the Ark's somewhat malefic nature.
Answer: The idea that the contents of the Ark could not be viewed was lifted from God's statement to Moses that He could not appear to Moses in all His glory lest Moses be killed by it. The Ark would kill everyone who looked at it because, Biblically speaking, "all [Pope included] have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." No, the Ark was never meant to be opened. The Ark is not, strictly speaking, malefic either. It's just too Holy for human endurance. It is humanity's malefic nature that causes the Ark to kill.
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Answer: He mentions spilling beer on his shirt so it's inferred that he was somewhat less than entirely sober, and he also refers to the car having a blind spot. Based on this, my assumption has always been that he was tipping his head back to take a drink from a can of beer, which means his eyes left the road, and he struck another vehicle; most likely at an intersection where the other driver had the right of way.
Phixius ★