Question: I am confused. Buddy has blood drawn in order to do a DNA sample and they get the results almost right away. Doesn't it take weeks for DNA samples to come back? If so, how can they get the results so quickly in the movie?
SAZOO1975
12th Jul 2008
Elf (2003)
Answer: It was most likely a blood typing test (it can take minutes and its done through a finger-stick test). If the doctor's office had the test cards. If both parents have type A blood, their child can't have type B and vice versa with type B and A. Type O is rare enough that its more likely that Walter and Buddy's mother were either type A, B, or AB. -college student who has rewatched the movie and had to go through several allele genotype/phenotype lectures.
Actually, type O is the most common type. O - is more rare than O+, which is true for every blood type, but O is still the most common for most ethnic groups.
Answer: Most private labs can return DNA testing results in 1-2 days because the test isn't that complicated, even in the early 2000's. It's usually court ordered testing that take weeks to process because of all the bureaucratic red tape, paper work, and signatures required. Some labs do get extremely busy and therefore it might take up to 2-4 weeks to get results back, but that also usually includes more extensive DNA testing.
Answer: Even so the test came back almost immediatly.
5th Jul 2008
Any Which Way You Can (1980)
Question: Not being a gambler, the terms they use has always confused me. For example at the end the Black Widows tell Beekman that he still owed them $0.70 on the dollar. What does this mean? How much does this add up to?
Chosen answer: This means 70%, ie. for every dollar they are owed they will only recieve 70 cents.
5th Jul 2008
General questions
Does anybody out there know what Hollywood puts in the hair of an actor playing a vampire to make the hair so slick and shiny? I have asked at least 3 costume shops and could not get an answer.
Chosen answer: For movie production, it could be anything from simple pomade, to hair gel, to school glue. There's no "standard" method. Glue would be the easiest to style with, it would hold the hair in place the best, and make the hair quite shiny. It takes two or three vigorous and lathery scrubs to get it all out when you're done, but it will wash out.
29th Jun 2008
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Question: At the end of the movie, Wonka tells Charlie and his grandfather that they do not get the lifetime supply of chocolate because they drank the bubble juice and floated to the ceiling, thus breaking the rules. Charley then places his share of the everlasting gobstopper next to Wonka and all of a sudden, Wonka is very friendly and gives Charlie the entire factory. Did I miss something?
Chosen answer: It was a test. Even though Wonka was being a jerk to Charlie, Charlie gave the Everlasting Gobstopper back. By refusing to sell its secret to Slugworth, even though the Buckets were very poor and Wonka was rude, Charlie proved himself an honorable, honest person and a worthy heir to the business. Wonka was happy for Charlie.
13th Jun 2008
The Matrix (1999)
Question: I could never understand this in any of the Matrix movies. They need to go to a phone that is ringing in order to leave the Matrix and go to the real world. The guy in their command center tells them where they can find that phone. Why can they not use any phone in the Matrix? Why do they have to go so far to get to a ringing phone? And why can't they just use their cell phone they have on them in order to get back to the real world?
Chosen answer: It has to be a hard line phone, one that is part of the matrix code, that's been previously hacked by the rebels. There's a network of them throughout the city, and the operator directs them to the nearest one after activating it. Their cell phones won't work because they aren't part of the matrix; they're loaded in just like the guns and clothes. It's possible the "hard" aspect of the phone also translates to a literal physical connection in the real world which the rebels can connect to.
27th May 2008
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Question: IMDB list Dan Aykroyd as playing the character of Earl Weber. I just watched this movie and couldn't find this character nor anybody who looked like Dan Aykroyd. Did I miss anything? Where in the movie is he?
Chosen answer: Dan Akroyd plays the official who escorts Jones, Willie, and Short Round to the Lao Che's plane after the car chase near the start. He has a few lines but his voice is somewhat different and that makes him a little harder to recognize.
26th Feb 2008
24 (2001)
Day 4: 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. - S4-E12
Question: In this episode, Jack is at the offoces of McClennon/Forrester and realizes they are going to set off an EMP to destroy all the computer hardware. Jack tries to stop it and realizes he cannot. Just as the EMP goes off, Jack crouches behind a door for protection and screams as the EMP goes off. However later, Audrey is told the EMP would not harm Jack or Paul. It would only affect all electronic devices. So why would Jack need to find protection behind a door and why would he need to scream when the device went off?
Chosen answer: The device is an EMP that is in development and, as such, may not be stable. While its true that an EMP in itself is harmless to people, there may be electrical discharges or shorts from the device itself that could harm a person, hence Jack takes cover. As for his scream, its not a scream of pain, but a scream of frustration at not being able to stop the EMP going off.
21st Feb 2008
Fright Night (1985)
Question: What exactly is Billy Cole supposed to be? We know he is not a vampire because it roams around in the daytime, and we see his reflection in Peter Vincent's mirror, but after he is shot in the head, he turns into some kind of creature. So what is he?
Chosen answer: I would assume a "thrall" basically a ghoul that is attached to the vampire. A ghoul in old lore was created when a vampire gave blood to a living person, but did not take their blood first. They were then their daytime slaves, doing errands, finding victims for them, and took care of the vampire's body when the sun was out.
Billy was to Jerry... what Renfield was to Dracula. Slave, daytime watcher.
14th Feb 2008
24 (2001)
Question: Whenever the agents are interrogating somebody at SCT, they sometimes torture them. By doing so they sometimes stick a needle into somebody and injects something into their bloodstream. This causes severe pain in the person as you can see them either scream or see the pain etched on their face as they try to hold it in. What is it they are injecting into people and how does it work that it causes so much pain?
Chosen answer: It's a fictional drug called hyoscine-penothal. I don't know if why it causes so much pain has been explained, but it's been described as a neural inflammatory; it gives the feeling of "every nerve ending in your body on fire." It's a useful tool because if one doesn't yield soon enough, at 8 cc's, one can go into cardiac arrest and die before giving up any useful information.
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.
10th Feb 2008
National Security (2003)
Question: Steve Zahn's character avoids being in the prison population by repeatedly hitting the prison guards and ending up in solitary confinement. Wouldn't assaulting a prison guard also add time to his sentence?
Chosen answer: It could, but they would have to bring charges against him, and have a new trial for that crime. It would most likely prevent him from getting a early parole.
10th Feb 2008
The Grudge (2004)
Question: It is said in the movie that Japanese legend claims that when someone dies violently their spirit haunts the place where they died and kill anyone who enters that place (or something like that). Was this made up for the purpose of the movie or is this an actual Japanese legend? If so, is there a place on the Internet where I can read about the legend?
Chosen answer: A bit of both. A variation on a traditional legend. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onryou.
24th Jan 2008
Independence Day (1996)
Question: When Julius and David are in the White House on their way to meet the President, Julius is mentioning he should have worn a tie. He then said he looks like a "schlemiel". What did he mean by this? What is a schlemiel?
Chosen answer: Essentially a shlemiel is a clumsy bungler or an inept person according to the Yiddish on-line dictionary. It's saying since he is not wearing a tie, he looks inept or dopey in that situation.
24th Jan 2008
The Karate Kid III (1989)
Question: On IMDB, the bio for actor Sean Kanan who played Mike Barnes, stated that he almost died during filming of this movie. However the trivia section states nothing about it. Does anybody out there know what happened that caused him to almost die?
Chosen answer: Kanan performed his own stunts, and during one of these he was injured with an internal bleeding, which was not discovered until later. When he took aspirin for the pain, combined with his injuries he went into hypovolemic shock and had to be rushed to the hospital.
It was the scene where Mr. Miyagi threw him through the doors of the new Cobra Kai dojo. They did a large number of takes, and it tore his abdominal wall.
21st Dec 2007
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: During the final fight scene after Daniel scores the 2nd point, Johnny goes to have his Kreese check his nose. When he was done, Kreese told Johnny to "Sweep the lick." What did he mean by this?
Chosen answer: He told him to "Sweep the Leg" meaning to concentrate his attack on Daniel's knee. Johnny balked at this since he would be disqualified, but did it anyway out of fear.
If Johnny was disqualified for sweeping the leg then why didn't Daniel immediately win? Why did the fight instead continue with the final crane kick scene?
Actually means to show no mercy.
Answer: Johnny wouldn't get disqualified. Kreese wants him to do 'sweep the leg' to punish Daniel for a while instead of having Johnny go straight for the win. Johnny questions it only as it's not very sporting to sweep an already injured leg.
Johnny COULD have been disqualified, but for story purposes, he received a warning. Then, when he elbowed Daniel's leg, he got one last warning. The referee told him another strike to the knee and he'd be disqualified. The main antagonist being disqualified is incredibly anti-climactic. Nobody wants to see that in a film. You want the good guy to kick him in the face.
15th Dec 2007
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: This is in regards to the tournament in this movie and in part 3. Is it compatible to tournaments in real life? In real life, are they physically hitting each other or do they pull back on their punches? What do they do in the tournaments in both movies that is not allowed in a real life tournament?
Chosen answer: Without knowing the exact style of karate, it is impossible to answer. I perform in martial arts tournaments but we wear various protective gear and are prohibited to strike at targets like knees (as in the movie) but are also prohibited from "excessive" contact on legal targets. My brother-in-law, though, does another style - and he won a match by kicking a person so hard he broke ribs and the other participant couldn't continue - so my brother-in-law won the match. Different styles differ. Back in the 70's and 80's "Point sparring" was very popular. This is where the contestants pull their punches only making light contact. This was considered a good skill to have as it taught one control their punches and to learn distance. It was very boring to watch and with the development of safer protective gear point sparring pretty much went away.
6th Dec 2007
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Question: Gandalf explains in this movie how he survives fighting that fire creature from the 1st movie. But I am confused here. They show in flashbacks him and the fire creature falling down the crevice and landing in a pool of water. Next scene they are on the top of the mountain fighting in snow. How did they get from the pool of water to the mountain of snow?
6th Dec 2007
Sliders (1995)
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? - S4-E6
Question: In the beginning credits of movies/t.v. shows, when they say "and introducing" followed by the actor's name, it is because it is the 1st acting role for that actor. In this episode when the introduced Quinn's brother, the beginning credits say "and introducing Charlie O'Connell." However he has done other acting roles before he appeared on Sliders. As a matter of fact, he did 2 episodes on Sliders as a different character before he became Quinn's brother. So is there a reason why the actor was "introduced" in this episode?
Chosen answer: Quinn's brother was going to be a recurring character, so "introduced" in this case referred to the actor becoming a semi-regular.
1st Dec 2007
The Faculty (1998)
25th Nov 2007
Deep Rising (1998)
Question: There is a scene where Canton says he believes the creatures were a strange offshoot of the ARCHAEA OTTOIA family. He then describes how big they get based on how deep down they are as well as what they do to their victims. Question is does the Archaea Ottoia really exist? If so is anything Canton said about it true? I tried looking for this creature in the search engine but with no luck.
Chosen answer: According to the DVD commentary, the monsters in the film are a combination of 3 different undersea creatures. All of them are microscopic.
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Chosen answer: More than likely, it was done for storyline reasons. Since the results of DNA tests *do* take a while to come back, it slows the plot down to show them waiting. I guess, in a way, this situation calls for a suspension of disbelief; it may seem like it took no time at all, but in order to enjoy the film, you have to just accept that the necessary waiting period has passed.
Cubs Fan ★
There's an old story where someone asked a major sci-fi producer how fast one of his space vehicles could go. He answered, "At the speed of the plot."