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: If Diana was able to recognize Kit even after years of not seeing him then how come she didn't notice he has the same voice as the Phantom, whom she had just been with the day before? He doesn't try to disguise his voice in any way.

Answer: She was preoccupied trying to escape from the bad guys and annoyed that a guy in a purple suit, was trying to save her, when she said, "I can do it myself." It was most likely later, in New York, when the met face to face. Kit and Diana, when she put two and two together. Again was too preoccupied trying to save the world to pause and confront him.

Answer: In real life, she would likely have recognized it. Movies employ a "suspension of disbelief." Audiences are expected to accepted something they know is not realistic in order for the plot to play out.

raywest

Question: In order not to spoil the plot twist it seems as though Malcolm and Anna's marriage is strained, i.e. him standing Anna up on their anniversary saying he went to a different restaurant, etc. Was their marriage potentially/actually strained anyway because of him trying to help Vincent and seemingly repeating history with Cole? Malcolm notes the comparison out loud, thinking Anna can hear him and is ignoring him.

Answer: It appears their marriage was happy, though any married couple experiences ups and downs, and doctors particularly have demanding professions that can affect their family life. However, Anna's reaction, as we see it in the movie, is the direct result of her extreme grief over Malcolm's death. It is only from Malcolm's altered perception that it appears there is a marital rift.

raywest

Answer: There certainly couldn't be any strain due to Malcolm's repeating history by helping Cole, because he's doing that post-mortem, so to speak. Anna knows Malcolm is dead, so no, no strain due to his helping Cole.

Uncle Moose

I'm starting to think this is actually an element that Mr. Shyamalan (sp?) added as a way of explaining Malcolm's reaction to Anna's behavior toward him at the restaurant. Malcolm has to believe that something he's done wrong is bothering Anna, because the alternative is that she doesn't hear him and doesn't see him. And if Malcolm thought that, then we'd have a whole different movie, with Malcolm waving his arms and shouting, doing whatever, to get her attention, etc etc. So it works as a way to keep Malcolm in ignorance or denial, and it also shows the two of them together to the audience, hopefully keeping us from catching on to the twist. Brilliant.

Uncle Moose

Question: Why doesn't Lt. Schaffer shoot the radio operator with the silenced pistol instead of trying to sneak up behind him to kill him with a knife? Why didn't Mr. Eastwood or Mr. Burton point out the idiocy of that part of the plot to the director?

Answer: Because "silenced" pistols aren't silent. Hollywood has created this myth. Weapon sounds can be suppressed but never silenced.

stiiggy

Answer: This question has already been answered. There's no "idiocy" in choosing one method over another on how to kill someone in that type of situation. Obviously, it was decided that the knife was a better option. This is a movie, not reality. Choices about scenes are made for what works best dramatically for the plot, not about what someone would necessarily do in a real-life situation.

raywest

Question: When the tank was coming towards the cliff, why didn't Indy simply jump off the tank? If he jumped to the right or left his father and others wouldn't think that he died.

Answer: There's no way to really answer this because this is an intentionally crafted plot, designed to have characters act and react in a specific way. The movie is going for dramatic effect, making it appear the others think Indy is dead. When he reappears safe and sound, his father has an emotional reaction, showing how much he cares for his son.

raywest

Question: Why did the boat's engine explode exactly? Hooper says he had burnt out the bearings, but how is this possible? It's not like a car engine where if you hold it at max revs for ages it'll seize up, this was a marine engine, they are designed to run at max revs all day. Hooper also didn't have any issues going at full throttle the previous day when they first got a barrel on the shark, so what changed?

Answer: It was most likely going full throttle that caused the engine to burn out. Besides, the boat isn't brand new, from the look of it, it should have been put in the scrap yard years ago.

Answer: There were many contributing factors in the demise of the engine. When Quint and Hooper are working on the engine the day previously, Hooper says "The injectors have been scorched by the saltwater in the fuel" and then Quint mentions something about the housing being bent. Working it too hard was just simply too much for her and she blew.

Answer: This is a Hollywood movie, and Hollywood loves explosions in their movies. The Mythbusters tested a number of explosions in movies (mostly involving cars), showing it was highly improbable they would blow up as depicted in a film. I suspect this is the case in "Jaws." Spielberg was going for dramatic visual effect rather than reality. The same could be said about the scuba tank blowing up in the shark's mouth when Brody shot it with a rifle. The tank would never explode like that just from a gun shot and was yet another fallacy the Mythbusters debunked.

raywest

Question: Why did they change the movie version when it went to VHS/DVD? There was a scene where Sandy was in the office and Kenicky came in and spoke to her... It's lost now?

Answer: It's not uncommon for films to be changed from the theatrical release to the version you can buy for your home collection. Normally the changes are slight and for some older releases were done to secure a more favourable rating - these edits tend to get restored in later releases though. Having said that another version often turns up on the telly one day with scenes that have never been seen before, then there's sometimes a "Director's Cut" on a DVD somewhere which is different still and often significantly longer. TL;DR - there can be multiple versions of a movie.

Neil Jones

Question: Tyler triggers the explosives in the tunnel and dies - how does that happen? Is it literally just coincidence/hubris that he made a mistake/the card didn't work?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: The card didn't work.

Answer: Season 8.

Question: How did the Smokers track down the Mariners boat whilst they dived to the city? The Deacon shoots the Mariner and then when he notices that he's bleeding he says "Bring me the trackers " Whilst the Mariner and Helen are underwater, Enola sees something that looks like shark fins go under the boat.

Answer: It seems the Smokers have either trained or bred sharks for the purpose of tracking enemies by the scent of blood in the water.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Who was the werewolf who killed Jenny? It couldn't have been Joanie as she was seen as having dark brown fur when she turned into a werewolf and the one that killed Jenny had dark gray fur.

Answer: I assumed it was Jake based on what transpired in the previous scene and his face was the last one shown before the elevator door closed. Jake told Ellie he didn't want to lose her, they had something "special", and asked if she would bear with him until he overcame some difficulties. Jake saw Jenny as a pest as well as someone who could ruin his still-developing (blossoming) relationship with Ellie. Jenny confronted Jake about not calling Becky anymore. Jake responded that he put himself "off the market" (was no longer available because he was pursuing Ellie), to which Jenny responded that she was "bummed" (disappointed because Jake was not free to pursue her). Jenny also put her hand over Jake's shoulder, which Jake did not like because he was not interested in her and was afraid that Ellie would see (which she may have). To top it off, Jenny kept following Jake around the room when he was talking to other people. Jenny was clingy and persistent - so had to be eliminated.

KeyZOid

Question: How did Forrest change clothes on his cross-country but didn't take any with him?

Answer: He buys them, and/or people, such as those running with him, give him new clothes to replace his old ones. He's got plenty of money, no reason he can't have a debit or credit card on him to cover his expenses (like he says, he stops to eat, sleep, and so forth).

Question: Why was this movie a Universal Studios movie, when the others were DreamWorks?

Answer: Universal Pictures (which is owned by NBCUniversial) bought DreamWorks Animation in 2016. However, this film is still a DWA production, it was just now distributed by Universal Pictures. All films have been produced by DWA, but they all used different distribution companies.

Bishop73

Answer: Since...always. Depends entirely on the balance of earnings / expenses in the couple. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-women-are-paying-alimonythat-includes-supporting-their-exs-porn-habit-2018-05-23.

Jon Sandys

Question: I may have forgotten this but how come in all the incarnations of Myers he never speaks? There some reason, maybe it was to make him seem less human, maybe seem even more spooky?

Rob245

Answer: In a meta "behind the scenes" context, Michael was more or less intended to basically be the pure, simple personification of evil. He's basically the closest thing there could be to a "real life boogeyman." Choosing not to have him speak was a way for the filmmakers to keep his evil "pure" and simple. He has no real personality or motivation - he simply does evil things for the sake of doing them. His actions speak for him, so to speak. It is also arguably frightening to imagine why someone who could speak would choose not to. In terms of the movies themselves, it's never really 100% explained. It's implied that he stopped speaking and basically lost all traces of humanity after killing his sister. The closest we get to any sort-of direct explanation is in the 2018 sequel that "Halloween" creator John Carpenter approved and produced, in which Dr. Sartain clarifies that Michael can speak, but simply chooses not to for reasons unknown.

TedStixon

Question: If the bus driver saw Dana choking Roy on the bus, why didn't she say or do anything about it? Also, if Roy got in trouble for breaking Dana's nose, why didn't Dana himself get in trouble for choking Roy?

Answer: A straightforward answer is because these events happened in the context of a movie and the writer simply did not have the bus driver respond or Dana get in trouble. Only the writer could tell you why. If these events happened in the real world, there are several possible answers. The bus driver's job description may not have a provision to discipline students. Her primary duty is driving the bus in a safe manner to get the kids home safely. A driver must watch the road and traffic, not passengers. Her quick glance in the rear view mirror would not enable her to see all that transpired. To take action would involve stopping the bus and getting off schedule; the kids would get home late and their parents would be worried waiting for the bus. Maybe she just didn't want to get involved. She could get injured if she tried to intervene. Bus drivers might get fired if they hurt a student even when breaking up a fight. She may have thought the kids need to stand up for themselves.

KeyZOid

Why didn't the bully get in trouble? Maybe because the adults/ school officials thought the broken nose was enough punishment for his behavior. Maybe the bully is a persistent problem and trying to discipline him would only make matters worse. Maybe his parents are just as bad or worse and the school didn't want to deal with them. Maybe no-one reported that the bully started it and was choking Roy because they were afraid of him and didn't want him to retaliate. The bully looked like the victim, not offender. Maybe others thought the bully's home situation was awful and he already had a difficult life and a lot of stress. Maybe the bully has a psychiatric disorder and/or takes medication that increases his aggression. Maybe the adults also think the kids need to work out their differences amongst themselves. Maybe the bully is already under the supervision of the juvenile probation office and - one more offense - would be certified to the adult court and get even worse.

Question: Manny replaces the starter motor on the car Ray steals, and it works fine. Once the engine is running it doesn't need the starter motor, so how did all the cars suddenly stop if all the aliens did was fry the starters? Any cars already running wouldn't have been affected. Yes you could argue that it affected their ECU's, but not all cars have ECU's and some still rely on good old mechanical engineering.

Answer: I got the impression that all the cars had dead batteries. There are even some people who have their vehicle's hood raised and appear to be checking their batteries. Ray asked Manny, "What is it? They dead?" Manny replied, "All of them. Everything. Look at this. The starter's fried." Having dead batteries does not mean that all the cars had fried starters or bad solenoids. Conversely, having a fried starter does not necessarily mean that the battery is bad/dead. Since Manny was working on the vehicle, the vehicle was not running - this may have prevented the vehicle from also having a dead battery. Maybe the bad solenoid was not at all related to the attack - it was just the reason it was at the garage to get fixed. Once the solenoid was replaced, the car would now start because the battery was spared because the motor was not running during the attack. (I'm not sure if my answer makes sense; I never heard the word solenoid until I watched this movie!).

KeyZOid

Question: What was the whole thing of not wanting to turn in the $987,000 they found in the car because it would make them appear untrustworthy? Why would all cops distrust them for handing it in? I get that dirty cops would be annoyed but when they were counting it in the precinct, every cop was drawing them daggers.

The_Iceman

Answer: The idea is if cops wouldn't take a million dollars for themselves, free and clear without risk, they are impeccably honest. Therefore, they wouldn't accept bribes and probably not hold still for shakedowns or payoffs. They wouldn't cover up drug or weapon planting and would testify against crooked cops.

Show generally

Question: Is there any reason they can't introduce sand worms to other planets in the Duniverse, there to proliferate and produce a greater, more widely distributed quantity of the spice? The newborn worms are called sandtrout, by virtue of being more or less the size of such. Should be easy enough therefore to capture some, surround them with sand in the spaceship to imitate their homeworld, and take them to some other planet the Empire is willing to give up for any other use, then let them grow and produce spice? Much greater abundance, much surer supply (the proverbial eggs in one basket), much closer at hand for any other world in the Universe?

dizzyd

Answer: There could be a number of reasons: introducing non-native species can be devastating to an environment; the sandworms may only be able to survive in certain conditions that other planets lack; they may be unable to reproduce once introduced to a different environment; moving the number of worms needed to produce an adequate supply may be cost-prohibitive; it may be decades before the worms are old enough to produce the spice, the new environment might change the quality and chemical composition of the spice that is produced; political conflicts, and so on.

raywest

Answer: If Spice is even half as useful as the novel says, those are all trivial inconveniences compared to the payoff that would make it worth a try.

dizzyd

Next to the fact the unique conditions of Arrakis is what makes the spice melange (not just the worms, but also the planetary conditions) you have to also understand that having the spice production on one planet makes it much easier to control. Whoever controls the spice controls the universe. It wasn't until much later (hundreds of years after the death of the god emperor) they were able to replicate the spice, but before that they didn't even know how the spice was even made. A large reason for this is they had no AI (forbidden) to help analyze the spice melange.

lionhead

Fine, I accept the monopoly theory.

dizzyd

Question: How did the box get out of the cement in part 3 and into a pillar in part 4?

Answer: Not sure why you submitted this question for the eighth film in the series. But regardless, that's just a bit of what's called "retroactive continuity," which is a term for when a movie either changes or ignores things from previous films. Rather than having the box be in the cement floor, it was relocated to a cement pillar. This change was presumably just because the writer or director thought it would look more dramatic for it to be ripped out of a pillar as opposed to being just dug up from the floor.

TedStixon

Answer: Officially, the individual has been ordered to attend, failing to could be interpreted as either, Failure to follow orders, dereliction of duty, going AWOL, or even desertion. It would depend on the underlying reason as to why the person doesn't appear.

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