Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Is it really possible that the guards left Andy's cell completely unchecked after his deal with Norton? I mean, no all round inspections, structural maintenance or even repainting - anything that would have revealed his escape plan at once - for 20 straight years?

Dangar

Answer: The prison is known to be corrupt and thus maintenance would be at a bare minimum. Prison guards rarely actually go into the cells unless there is concrete information of a smuggled item etc. Andy was well liked by most of the inmates so no-one would really snitch on him. He was also working for Norton so his cell had a lot of things a prison cell should not have - books, the poster, the rock collection, a table etc. Red narrates that Andy worked for so long to escape, working in small increments, chipping away bit by bit and dumping the dirt outside. Guards, managers etc would change over 20 years and nothing happened that would warrant a renovation.

Answer: Well they probably did do inspections, but of the common things like the mattress and toilet. They don't check behind the poster, I think most try their best to ignore it. None of the guards expected he was making a hole behind it, since that's not possible, in their eyes. I hardly doubt they paint (or plaster) a cell that's occupied by an inmate. And the construction work is so expensive and time-consuming, they don't do structural maintenance unless it's really necessary (meaning when something falls off).

lionhead

Question: Why didn't the crew cut the pipe before the blowout occurred?

Answer: Simple answer: They couldn't. Long Answer: On Deepwater Horizon, after they screwed up completing the well and it started flowing uncontrollably, they tried the blind rams, then the pipe rams, and then the shear rams. None of them worked. The shear rams didn't work. Thus, they had a total, uncontrolled blowout and no way to stop the well from flowing.

Ssiscool

Question: Just an observation. There's 5 or 6 minutes of screen time between the initial shrinking of the sub / crew and the start of the 60-minute clock. Shouldn't those minutes have been included in the countdown?

Answer: I think the countdown began after the crew were injected into the patient's body.

No, the countdown started after the second shrink.

Answer: The sub was shrunk in stages, with the lab personnel performing different tasks at each step. The clock automatically reset after each step was completed and as the next shrink phase commenced. The final sixty-minute countdown began after the last shrinking stage and when the sub is injected into the scientist's body.

raywest

Question: A helmet that is built to withstand thousands of PSI can really be broken by a few slams with a fire extinguisher?

Dangar

Answer: The helmet is designed to withstand immense pressure that is equally distributed over its entire surface. Direct blunt-force impacts by a hard metal object like a fire extinguisher may compromise the structural integrity.

raywest

Question: How did Luther know where they stashed the money, and how did he blow through over $750,000 practically overnight?

Answer: I would also think Luther had found his "Retirement Fund" and was not going to give it up that easy, and had it hidden in a way that it was not going to be easily found, like he did, thanks to the not so crafty criminals who hid almost a million dollars in an air vent.

I agree with that answer. Bear in mind that if Luther could find the money easily, something he must have done as part of his job as the chief janitor of the building, he sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy for the next person to get it from him. And the amount, according to "Francheska" (Frankie), was "Over $75K and counting..." not $750K. There's a big difference.

Kahuru1

Answer: Luther worked as the cleaner in the building where the girls hid the money in the air duct. He apparently just happened to come across it while cleaning. As to blowing through it, he may have been lying to them that it was all gone, but he had already bought some pretty expensive items. Something like a fancy sports car alone can cost $100,000 or more.

raywest

Raywest, I don't think he even admitted to having the money at all, except denying that he even knew anything about it before "Teshaun" (Tete) shot him from behind. That act alone rendered recovery of whatever was left almost impossible. Luther went to the grave with that secret.

Kahuru1

Answer: The girls were certainly not the craftiest of criminals, certainly amateurs. You NEVER hide that kind of cash in an air vent - EVER. Unfortunately, in life, you take the exam and the lesson is learned after.

Kahuru1

Answer: I would say his death in Phantom Menace was more of a controversy. He was a fan favorite character from the movie, and his fight scene largely regarded as the best part of the movie. It was more he was brought back to please the Star Wars fans and few, if any, had problems with it.

Quantom X

Answer: Ezra rescued Ahsoka by pulling her through a portal into the World Between Worlds, but it looked like Vader was about to kill her when Ezra intervened.

Sierra1

Question: Where were the interior shots of the jail filmed?

Answer: Online information says "El Dorado" was filmed at the Old Tucson Studios located west of Tucson, AZ and also near the Suguaro National Park, as well as other outdoor locations in Arizona and Utah. Old Tucson was a complete recreation of a mid-1800s Old West town, which had over a hundred authentically-recreated western buildings, including a jail. There was also a film studio housed there. Hundreds of western movies and TV shows were filmed at the location. Most likely the jail scenes were filmed at the Tucson film studio and also at the replicated jail. The site also operated as an amusement park, but it has recently closed.

raywest

Answer: Paramount studios is the only building location listed at IMDB. Everything else is outdoor locations. Towns, ranches, horse trails and mountain terrain.

Answer: Paramount Studios. Look in IMDB.

There's 16 filming locations listed, how do you know Paramount Studios is where the interior of the jail scene was filmed? Nothing on IMDB suggested it.

Bishop73

Question: When Ryback frees the other men they tell him the six of them got trapped. How did they manage to do that when everyone was in the lounge for the party?

Answer: The men were probably part of the skeleton crew that the Admiral ordered to remain on duty, others may have been running late trying to finish their duties to get to the party. One or two may have been giving Gunners Mate Calaway a tour of the old ship, where he served during World War II.

Question: When the motorcycle went into the trees and was pulled out, was that in the script?

Answer: Also, those weren't stuntmen.

Answer: No but the accident was left in the film.

Answer: In a way. During the dinner party, when Donovan comes into talk to Indy the band is playing a soft version of the Imperial March theme. You can probably hear it best when Donovan's wife walks in.

Bishop73

Question: How did Lawanda get rabies if she was never bitten by her dog?

Answer: She didn't. Junior deliberately contaminated her blood sample with the rabid dog blood he swiped from the vets.

Brian Katcher

Answer: The scene was never shown on TV or on video either but at some point Junior was able to get a sample of blood from a rabid dog that was in the back of a van that belonged to the two vets, but we never saw it happen.

Question: Why was Will starting to become a "fish person"? Davy Jones and his crew only turned into "fishes" because he neglected his duties. If Will is still undertaking his duties then he shouldn't start having growths such as the algae and the starfish (seen when Henry summons the Dutchman at the start of the film).

Answer: There was never an explanation and it was just glossed over. The first Pirates film was meant as a stand-alone movie. Due to its phenomenal success, the story line was reversed-engineered into a trilogy, with many implausible and/or inconsistent plot elements added. When the fourth and fifth films were made, there were even more inconsistencies, including that Will, who once broke the Dutchman curse, is now inexplicably cursed, along with the Flying Dutchman ship and crew. One explanation is that the curse was reactivated after Davy Jones was somehow resurrected. Then it was supposed to be that the only way to break all sea curses was by destroying Poseidon's trident. It was all badly muddled.

raywest

Question: Why does the snitch at the pier claim that Nordburg was a dirty cop?

Dangar

Answer: Because Nordberg was working undercover in Ludwig's organization; not knowing this, the snitch would only see him working with Ludwig's crew, and would thus believe he was dirty.

Question: Game 4 ALCS, Sox down 3-0 in games and 4-3 on scoreboard in last of 8th. We see Mariano Rivera tagging first base for the third out of the inning. We hear Joe Buck's call, ending with, "Into the ninth!" However, on this video of FOX broadcast, his call is distinctly different: some words are changed, and his tone is subdued. And, no "Into the ninth!" Why would they redo it? Is it b/c FOX and/or MLB holds rights to the broadcast? Meaning they needed Buck to recreate the call? Thanks. (01:29:37)

Answer: That's exactly it. MLB is very protective of all its audio/visual property, hence that disclaimer in every game that no part of the broadcast may be used "without the consent of Major League Baseball." The rights to such cost a LOT of money, so, it would have been far more economical to simply hire Joe Buck to record a new audio track.

Question: If the Borg can survive in the vacuum of space without suits (decompression liquefying their organic skin aside), Hawk also should've been able to once assimilated. They obviously had to take his suit off to assimilate him, but why did they put it back on him before sending him back out to help his new comrades?

Answer: He had only just been assimilated and may not have yet have been modified with more specialized Borg technology that allowed the drones to survive in open space using a force field.

raywest

Answer: They assimilated him through his suit.

Question: Red quotes Andy a price of $10 for the rock hammer, and associated fees. Seems like a lot of money for the time period, doesn't it? And what did prisoners get paid, if anything?

Answer: $10 in the '40s is equivalent to roughly $180-$190 today, so yes, rather pricey for an item that retails for under $20 nowadays. Still, Red charges his fees, plus a significant mark-up due to the increased risk of smuggling contraband that could be perceived (by prison officials) as a weapon. The estimate of the cost of the hammer comes from the novel. And no, the prisoners likely weren't paid (even if, at that time, they had the option, the warden is so corrupt he'd likely keep their wages for himself); according to the novel, Andy smuggled a few hundred dollars into prison with him, hidden in...let's just call it a secret place.

Answer: He reprogrammed the computer so that it was possible to win. But winning and losing wasn't really the point; it was a test of character, gauging how potential captains dealt with a situation with only bad options available.

Cubs Fan

Question: Is the kitchen ghost woman the mother of gunshot boy?

Answer: Multiple ghosts just gravitated to where Cole was. It didn't have anything to do with the spirits having any relationship with one another. They actually seem oblivious to other ghosts.

raywest

Answer: Highly unlikely. The ghosts are there because they have unfinished business regarding their deaths. The woman you see is raging about having a lousy husband, she was probably abused and possibly killed by him. That has nothing to do with the boy that shot himself.

lionhead

She killed herself. Remember, she shows her slit writs and says 'Look what you made me do!'

Brian Katcher

Question: How did Quicksilver manage to get the arcade game, the table tennis and what looks like a sound system in the basement? They are very heavy and even with his speed would be impossible to move.

Answer: There could be a basement door, so he wouldn't need the stairs, and with a hand truck, even the heavier objects would be easy to move.

Brian Katcher

He's able to move several people out of the Mansion when it is destroyed, so perhaps his powers allow him to move things that big quickly. He can also push a cart or trolley at speed, remember.

Answer: He doesn't have to steal the actual heavy items, he can steal money and buy the heavy items and have them delivered. His mother is a single parent so it wouldn't be very difficult for him to arrange delivery of items while she is working. Mom also appears to be completely aware of Peter's crimes and doesn't really seem all that concerned.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: He could have just hired a moving company to do it all for him.

Phaneron

And his mother wouldn't have found that suspicious? Or the movers? He's a teenager.

Brian Katcher

His mother seemingly already knows that he steals stuff. It's her house after all. She thinks the heroes are the police when they first show up to talk to him, and she visits him in the basement in the next film, and would have seen all the stuff he has down there. As for the movers, I used to work for a moving company, and not once did we ever ask a customer where they acquired something we were moving. They would be there to do a job.

Phaneron

That totally doesn't make any sense. The idea is that he stole these items. Would he call a moving company to steal an arcade game out of an arcade hall? How does he get the arcade game in the first place? Does he leave it on the curb of the arcade hall (or shop) so they can pick it up and drop it off at his house?

lionhead

He most likely stole money and legit bought all those things. He likely helps his mother with the bills and stuff, so she doesn't ask him how he does it. Pietro is not known to be some master criminal with bad character, so he likely doesn't steal from ordinary people. The way he broke Magneto out of the prison, it seems he knows his way around a vault.

How he gets the arcade game is another question entirely. Maybe he stole it from a gas station or a restaurant that was near an apartment complex, but was still far from his home, and arranged to have it picked up at the apartment complex, so it would look like he lived there and was moving it to a new place. Alternatively, he could have had friends help him load it onto a truck.

Phaneron

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.