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: Why does Jamie calling him uncle stop him? That and why honor her request to see his face?

Rob245

Answer: Sorry about that and thank you.

Rob245

Answer: The question was more-or-less answered in a previous question, so I'll copy part of my answer here: Director Dominique Othenin-Girard made the puzzling decision to try and humanize Michael in this film by showing he still had some traces of emotion that could be momentarily reached. Thus when Jamie talks to him, he briefly recovers his humanity, takes off his mask and sheds a single tear. Basically, Othenin-Girard felt it made Michael scarier by showing his humanity could be momentarily "reached." Of course, it really doesn't make sense and contradicts the other films... but it was just a decision the director made.

TedStixon

Answer: Thank you.

Rob245

Answer: It's tricky to say, as the films have contradictory explanations, and there are different "timelines/universes" in the series. But in the context of this film, Michael is for some reason compelled to kill his family for reasons unknown. Presumably he's just finishing the job he started by killing his sister Judith decades earlier. (They try to give a more concrete explanation in the movie "The Curse of Michael Myers," but it's... flimsy at best. And is contradicted by the following film).

TedStixon

Answer: Because he's a psychopath. And purely and simply evil.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: Ames was in prison for 10 years and after that time he was executed? Why after 10 years?

Answer: The appeals process for capital murder cases is long and arduous, and it is also automatic in most jurisdictions. It typically takes years for those on death row to actually be executed.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Is there a scene where Reid turns into a hose to dose Doom?

Smoke

Answer: Yes... at least in one version of the film. In the theatrical version of the film, Thing merely uses his foot to channel water towards Doctor Doom. However, in the version released on home video, Reid turns his body into a "hose" of sorts to channel the water towards Doom. Evidently, they couldn't quite finish some of the effects (such as Reid turning his body into a "hose") on time for the theatrical version, but finished them for the DVD/Blu-Ray. The DVD/Blu-Ray version also has a few other minor tweaks, such as the music is also slightly different in the final battle. (It is important to note that confusingly, the theatrical version was released in some territories on home video and is also used on some streaming platforms - notably Netflix used the theatrical version).

TedStixon

Question: How is Rogers alive at the end? Shouldn't he have died of old age?

MikeH

Answer: It's safe to assume that due to the treatments he received that gave him his super-powers, he also ages a bit more slowly compared to other people. At least that's the way I took it.

TedStixon

Answer: While he may not really look like it in the film, based on information dates given in the film, Rogers would be 106 at then end. While not a common age to live to, it's certainly obtainable as non-super enhanced people have lived past that age (122 years old being the verified record). Also, it should be noted, people don't "die of old age." Being old doesn't kill you, disease, illness or injuries do.

Bishop73

Question: Did Little Walter really shoot a person who was posing as him, as portrayed in the movie?

Answer: From what I have read, this is total fiction, apparently to show his real-life alcoholism and short temper.

raywest

Question: Why did Ray get Robbie and Rachel into the car before he even knew that Manny had fixed it?

Answer: He doesn't know for sure. He's just reacting to the situation, making an assumption after talking to Manny that the car was fixed.

raywest

Answer: They were in immediate danger and needed to flee. Ray knew that all the vehicles around him had dead batteries, but Manny and his helper were working on fixing the van - which meant that the van was THE only possibility for a working vehicle. Ray was not necessarily certain that Manny had fixed the van, but knew that Manny agreed with his recommendation to try changing the solenoid. The van was not only a good prospect, it was the ONE immediately available chance at getting to flee in a vehicle. If Ray's assumption that Manny DID fix the van turned out to be wrong (the van did not start), little time had been wasted. Ray and his kids would then be running for their lives ("hoofin' it") like everyone else. In short, Ray put the kids in the van because he presumed Manny changed the solenoid and it was now in running condition; fleeing in a vehicle would be much faster than fleeing on foot.

KeyZOid

Question: What did Arthur mean when he said "They couldn't carry a tune to save their lives"? What does singing have to do with their deaths?

MikeH

Answer: The 3 men on the subway started singing 'send in the clowns' moments before they attacked Arthur. He is making a joke about their deaths, by saying their singing was really bad and that's why he killed them.

Answer: It's just an old metaphorical expression (not literally about singing) meaning someone is incapable of doing something properly or solving a problem.

raywest

Question: As the monster is breaking free from the crate, Wilbur snaps out of the hypnosis that Dracula placed on him. When Wilbur sees Dracula and the monster ready to leave, he immediately pretends to still be hypnotized and unable to move. Since he only pretended to still be hypnotized so as to not alert Dracula and the monster, as soon as Chick, McDougal and the insurance agent showed up why didn't he immediately run to them screaming for help? Why was he acting like he was still hypnotized?

Answer: He's a rather simple-minded guy. He was scared and had become so overly-immersed in pretending to be hypnotized that it took time for him to act normally. Also, it's a movie. They're going for comic effect.

raywest

Answer: The comedic gimmick of both "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family" television shows in the 1960s was that both families were convinced they were normal and everyone else they encountered was odd. The Addams Family, for example, thought their "normal" visitors were mentally unbalanced because they always fled the Addams' weird home in panic. That was a running gag throughout the entire Addams Family series, so much so that easily half of nearly every episode was devoted to the predictably terrified reactions of their visitors (always accompanied by identical canned laughter). Meanwhile, in the Munsters' universe, the family thought "normal" people were physically deformed and even quite hideous. For example, the Munsters believed that their beautiful niece, Marilyn, was socially handicapped by her ugliness (the exact opposite of the truth); and, in the episode "Just Another Pretty Face" (S2E17), when Herman Munster was temporarily transformed into a "normal" person, his entire family found him utterly repulsive. The family's hidden revulsion to "normal" people was the running gag of The Munsters.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: They do not see themselves as being the different ones.

raywest

Question: Why is Carmichael on her divorce papers when her name is Smooter or Perry?

Answer: After moving to New York to start her fashion career, Melanie changed her maiden surname from Smooter to Carmichael, and that became her legal name. She initiated divorce proceedings without any intention of resuming her old life, which embarrassed her and she tried to hide. Like many women, she did not use her married name (Perry) after ending her marriage and may never have used it. Also, using "Smooter" on her divorce papers would have exposed her lie.

raywest

It did not embarrass her, Melanie never wanted to return to Pigeon Creek if her and Jake were over, she kept hoping they would get back together. That's what annoying, people assumed she was ashamed but as the meaning of the film is 'Home is where the heart is'. That feeling of where she longs to be never left even when she was in New York and obviously that was to be with Jake.

Have to disagree. Her previous humble life and Southern trappings did embarrass her, and she felt inferior to her New York social circle, and tried to hide it. She may internally still felt her heart was still there, but she buried those feelings for many years.

raywest

Question: Gerard already must have doubts as to Richard's guilt because Richard is investigating the one-armed man. Since there is that doubt, why would Gerard try to shoot Kimball in the chest to kill him?

Answer: Simply having doubts does not lessen Gerard's duty to apprehend Kimble. He does not know whether or not Kimble is guilty, if he is armed, or how dangerous he is. As a U.S. Marshal, Gerard's sole duty is to capture a fugitive and return him to custody, using force as necessary.

raywest

Answer: Yeah, Gerard's doubts aren't enough to change the course of his expected actions as U.S. marshal when Kimble is a fugitive who was officially found guilty in the murder trial. The only thing which would grant Gerard the ability to get away with not trying to capture Kimble would be if Kimble had a whole new trial and was now found innocent, which obviously didn't happen yet. So until then, Gerard would be shirking his duties if he decided to not capture Kimble just because of doubts and there being no new innocent verdict, and that would even possibly cost him his job.

Answer: For one thing, they're kids, and Hermione knows Harry is ill-equipped to handle this and he will just run off in a blind rage with no thought about what ti do. Hermione is methodical and always thinks before she acts and follows the rules. She wants Harry, who is impetuous, to do the same, and for them to work together.

raywest

Answer: She's not angry. She realises how serious the situation is, and is considering the difficult task Dumbledore has suggested he wants her and Harry to do.

raywest

Not to mention that what Dumbledore is suggesting is illegal under wizarding law and highly dangerous. She knows what could happen legally and physically if problems arise.

LorgSkyegon

Question: What was the name of the book McCall gives to the kid to read as part of the deal to paint his kitchen wall?

Answer: Native son.

Between the world and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Native Son is the book on the shelf that hides the button to the panic room, which also happens to have been adapted into a movie which the actor that plays Miles stars in.

Show generally

Question: Why did they keep changing female ADA's? I personally think Wolf may have been a bad boy and most of them didn't want to play his game.

Rob245

Answer: It was an open secret that Jack McCoy slept with his female assistants. It's reasonable to assume that as he tired of them or they moved on in life, he found a new assistant. In the case of Serena, she became a lesbian and was eventually fired for being too emotionally involved with defendants.

Answer: L'Appuntamento.

Question: Was Robinson Crusoe On Mars scientifically plausible when it was made in 1964? Aged eight, I watched this movie on release. Even then I knew it was a movie, not a scientific documentary. Nevertheless, I understand that it was once seriously believed there were canals on the surface of Mars. (I even had a children's pictorial encyclopaedia which showed Mars criss-crossed by canals.) After crash-landing on Mars astronaut Kit Draper (Paul Mantee) discovers that the Martian canals were made by intelligent, technologically advanced beings millennia ago. Could anybody in the scientific community have believed this in 1964? Kit Draper discovers ways of creating oxygen, so he does not suffocate; he then finds water sources, vegetation he can eat and a coal like rock that burns to make fires. He witnesses extra-terrestrial aliens visiting Mars in space ships. Was this, by any stretch of the imagination, regarded as even remotely credible in 1964? Or was it pure Hollywood hokum?

Rob Halliday

Answer: This is pure Hollywood fiction, never meant to be science-based fact, and was typical of sci-fi films of that era such as: War of the Worlds, Invaders From Mars, The Martian Chronicles, and others. Many were based on early-to-mid-20th century science-fiction novels when little was scientifically known about any of the planets. Authors imagined what Mars was like purely to entertain readers. After the 1960s, as more was scientifically known about Mars, films became more realistic, although the 2012 Disney film, "John Carter," was a deliberate throwback to that earlier genre. Also, scientists never believed that there were canals on Mars. In the 1870s, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was mapping Mars through a telescope. He described the long, trench-like geographical features as "canali," (Italian for channels). American astronomer Percival Lowell misinterpreted this as "canals" and believed they were of intelligent origin, though other scientists debunked that. Sci-fi writers of the time (H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Boroughs, et al) incorporated Lowell's published theories into their stories.

raywest

It should be noted "John Carter" is based on the 1912 novel "A Princess of Mars."

Bishop73

Question: Can anyone explain the airlock that the Queen gets sucked out of at the end? The location for the activation levers seems ridiculous. Ripley gets pulled in by the Queen, then starts climbing out and pulls a lever to open the outer door, then has to climb out to the top to close it. This seems like an insanely dangerous design.

Jen Hen

Answer: The airlock was probably designed to drop out cargo in space to be taken to another ship or a space station or for astronauts to go on space walks or make repairs to the outer hull of the ship. Maybe to quickly get rid of something dangerous or deadly, like a bomb or alien monster.

Answer: The simple fact of the matter is she overrides the safety protocol of the airlock by opening the outer door manually whilst the inner door is still open. This of course is highly dangerous but necessary given the circumstances. For dramatic effect though she then climbs out of the airlock to close the inner door instead of closing the outer door first. It's possible though she can't close the outer door anymore because she overrode the system (or the outer door is now damaged) and she closes both doors at the same time after climbing back up.

lionhead

Question: Did the 'Ahab' feature AI? If not, it would have been very ridiculous if it hit something on the water they couldn't possibly have accounted for.

Answer: It was very likely programmed to be able to detect and avoid obstacles in its path.

TedStixon

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