scwilliam

14th Aug 2006

The Village (2004)

Continuity mistake: When Alice Hunt speaks to Lucius at home after his request to the Elders, he is holding a skein of yarn as she winds it into a ball. As the shot changes to his back, and he gets up to open the box, all of the yarn disappears. He is not holding any, the length of yarn across the table has disappeared, and when Alice stands up, there is no ball of yarn or any other yarn visible.

scwilliam

24th Jan 2006

The Village (2004)

Question: Was there ever a name provided for the character who was dancing with Ivy when she heard the children's screams? He also was one of the men carrying the sacrifice of meat, and might have been the Villager in the tower in the opening credits. He is tall and bearded, and seems to be the "go-to" guy here in the Village.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: There was no name, and I was not under the impression he was indeed the "go-to" guy. Other than dancing with Ivy and participating in the meet ritual, he was not seen in the movie at all.

24th Jan 2006

The Village (2004)

Question: How many towers were in the valley? Only one is shown in a distant shot, but most scenes show it right up to, and overlooking, a thickly forested area. However, there is one view where the trees in the near background had bare, upright branches.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: There were two towers, one at the north end of the valley, and one at the south end.

scwilliam

Question: As Denethor has the funeral pyre prepared, he refers to the "heathen" kings of old. What sort of religion does Gondor have now that older kings could be "heathens"?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: In Denethor's time, Gondor follows the Vala, the good "gods" of the world, in the manner of the Elves, although religion really is not much of a point in Middle-Earth. The "heathen kings" Denethor speaks of were before Elendil founded Gondor, when descendants of NĂºmenoreans lived in small fiefdoms as little kings in this area. Many of them worshipped Sauron and followed him, and may have used burning as a funeral rite.

Twotall

6th Dec 2005

Groundhog Day (1993)

Question: When Phil and the two locals are driving on the railroad tracks, they are closely followed by a police unit. Phil drives off the tracks at a crossing where the tracks became level with the street surface. How did the police car get out from in front of the train?

scwilliam

Answer: We know the police car survived because unit 2 is the car that followed them onto the tracks, and unit 2 is also one of the cars present when they are stopped (though it came from the wrong direction). The movie doesn't explain how the car survived so it is left to the viewer's imagination.

jimba

Chosen answer: It was never explained in the film but there could be two possible explanations. One is the police car never got off the tracks in time and was hit by the train. Another is the car managed to get off the tracks in time despite the difficulty of getting off a railroad track so quickly. Up to the viewer to decide.

Gavin Jackson

Question: I never understood why the Elf contingent arriving at Helm's Deep was led by Haldir, the marchwarden for Galadiel and Lothlorien. But he brought greetings from Elrond of Rivendell, who wasn't really the equal of Galadriel. Did Rivendell have troops that Lothlorien didn't? And yet, there were plenty of armed Elves as the Fellowsip arrived in Lothlorien in FotR.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: Haldir brings the message from Elrond, who is very much Galadriel's equal, that they fight in honour of the earlier alliance - Elrond fought in that alliance, while Galadriel didn't, so it makes sense that the message would be from him. The elven forces have been sent from Lorien for the simple reason that it's much closer to Rohan - they also don't have to cross the Misty Mountains, which would be a serious problem for any group sent from Rivendell.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Opie is his name - he was supposedly named after Opie Cates, a bandleader from the 1930's and 40's who Andy Griffith greatly admired.

Tailkinker

Question: Faramir and the Rangers captured Frodo, Sam, and Gollum in Ithilien. They marched overland to the outskirts of Osgiliath."Osgiliath burns." There they were freed by Faramir after the Nazgul attack. But when Faramir spoke with Gandalf and Pippen in Minas Tirith, he said he saw Frodo and Sam in Ithilien not two days hence. Weren't they just in Osgiliath?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: Yes, but as Osgiliath is on the border to Ithilien and Frodo & co. went in that direction, it would be natural for Faramir to give that answer to Gandalf when Gandalf wanted to know where they were. Faramir also knew that it would take them more than two days to cross Ithilien, so that is where they would be at the time he spoke to Gandalf.

Twotall

24th Jun 2005

The Others (2001)

Factual error: As Anne is standing in a room at the beginning of her punishment, the camera pans sideways from her past a piece of furniture with a small statue on the top of it. From behind the statue comes a light whose color and quality could only be electric in origin. It is a greenish fan of light, like one of the old "TV back-lights". (00:27:45)

scwilliam

Continuity mistake: As Conklin walks on to the Pont Neuf, the French "associate" watches him directly and then speaks into his collar (a very obvious tip-off as to what's going on). But as Bourne watches this happen, the Frenchman has his back to Conklin, without adequate time to have turned around.

scwilliam

13th Apr 2005

13 Going On 30 (2004)

Trivia: Wrong places at the wrong times - the man who is hit by Jenna's thrown shrimp tail early in the party is the same one whose drink receives her dropped pina colado fruit.

scwilliam

Question: I was startled by the authentic-appearing emotion on Hugo Weaving's face at the coronation scene when he told Arwen to "Go to him." Is he that good an actor, was there a real emotion running through the scene, or was he simply exhausted by the whole thing?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: According to commentary, they reshot this part of the scene and these particular shots were done in pickups, long after the shoot in New Zealand ended, so exhaustion had nothing to do with it. Hugo Weaving is simply a good actor, receiving direction from a good director.

Super Grover

Question: As Peggy Sue and her friends walk down the school hall, she glances up and sees a Mylar balloon. While it is intended to remind her of the reunion, I wondered if Mylar balloons were available in 1960?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: It was meant to be an anachronism. When she is talking to Richard later in the film, Peggy Sue says "I am a walking anachronism", meaning she is in the wrong time for what she knows. The balloon is a physical anachronism, being something she brought back to the past with her from the reunion.

Question: I am confused as to an event when the Rangers are in Osgiliath. Why one of the Nazgul (possibly the Witch King himself) would be within a few feet of the One Ring, and allow himself to be driven off by an arrow shot into the Fell Beast. After seeing the One Ring, he flew off....I doubt that Sauron would have understood.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: Well, for one thing, he's most likely having a hard time controlling the arrow-shot Fell Beast. Secondly, there's no evidence that he positively identified the Ring. He saw a hobbit, which he knows are of interest, but, as Sam intercepts Frodo before he puts the Ring on, has no way of knowing that he actually held the Ring itself. Given the level of resistance on the ground, it doesn't make good tactical sense to try and land the annoyed Fell Beast to chase after a hobbit.

Tailkinker

Question: During the Greece scene, there is a line strung at the end of the covered area (behind Marie) with several things hanging on it that look like seaweed, pennants, or something. What could that be?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: They are octopii hung up to dry in the sun. A common sight at Greek islands. If you search Google, there are pictures of them. They are humorously mentioned at http://www.thevisualrecord.com/dbphotopages/photopage.php?photo_id=80.

Question: In at least one scene of the NYC mayor's office/residence, the flag on the other side of her desk from the U.S. flag appears to be the flag of Mexico. Is this correct?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: That's the flag of New York City - see http://flagspot.net/flags/us-nyc.html. While it does look similar to Mexico, the Mexican flag is green, white, and red instead of blue, white, and red.

Question: After Eamon and the children have gone to the basement of the farmhouse, Marie makes some exclamation that sounds like Chinese. What is that?

scwilliam

Answer: It is a stronger form of "Darn it", or Damn it". The word "nochmal" here can not be translated literally but merely serves as reinforcement, and does not mean "again". In British English the term "Bloody Hell" hits it most closely.

Chosen answer: The phrase is "Verdammt noch Mal", meaning 'Condemned again.'

ChiChi

Question: As Boromir is struck by the second arrow, a cut to Merry and Pippin shows Merry dropping something round from his hand. What's that supposed to have been? It looks like a hockey puck, but I doubt that's what it was.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: A rock. Merry and Pippin are shown (in the Extended Edition of the film at least) throwing rocks at the charging Uruk-Hai.

Phil C.

Question: Did I miss Arwen's return to Rivendell in Two Towers? Elrond talked her into leaving; she walks off to the ships with other elves, looking back at Elrond. In Return of the King, she is back at Rivendell, and is again persuaded to leave, and rides off on a horse in a parade going to Gray Havens.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: She does not walk off to the ships in The Two Towers. She and the other Elves start walking to leave on their journey to the Grey Havens. In Return of the King, she is on horseback, during the Elves journey towards the Grey Havens, when she sees a vision of her son wearing the Evenstar, and of Aragorn. She then changes her mind and decides to ride back to Rivendell and confront her father, who has the gift of foresight, about her future life with Aragorn.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: During the late part of the Uruk-hai attack on Helm's Deep, they catapult large grappling hooks with trailing ropes over the Deeping Wall. The one that hits the Rohirrim soldier doesn't have a rope trailing it. (01:18:15)

scwilliam

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