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 not tell her the truth? She wouldn't have been worse off. If he'd wanted to find them he could've done so sooner.

Rob245

Answer: Can you be more specific with this question?

Phaneron

Her mother doesn't tell her she's Zeus' child. I never understood her claim of Ares finding her sooner if she was told. If he wanted to find Diana how would her learning her true background helped Ares out?

Rob245

Answer: If she knew she was the god killer she would have gone after Ares herself sooner. She also would have discovered her true powers sooner, luring Ares to her.

lionhead

Thank you.

Rob245

Answer: She may just be hoping that he cares enough to forgive her.

raywest

Answer: Thank you.

Rob245

Question: Why did John's house suddenly alter so drastically when Jack's hand was blown off in the past? Did this one event somehow turn John into a better interior decorator?

quinnnmallory

Answer: Because the house is no longer John's. In this universe, his parents still live there.

Brian Katcher

Or he lives there and his wife redecorated.

I always took the scene at the end with Julia and Frank getting in a packed car with an older looking Elvis as them moving and leaving the house for John. And as I said above John's wife must have moved in and decorated.

Answer: The house changed because John's life changed, with both his parents alive to nurture and guide him, he became a different person. Different lifestyle and attitudes.

Question: Was the film supposed to feature an alternate ending involving the Twin Towers before 9/11 happened?

Answer: This is from IGN.com: The original ending: While the movie was in production, terrorists flew two planes in the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001. Out of respect, the filmmakers cut the ending which saw the World Trade Centre open up to reveal a swarm of Serleena's UFOs. MIB2 wasn't the only movie to remove scenes featuring the World Trade Centre - Spider-Man famously cut a scene in which a helicopter was stuck in a web spun between the two towers.

raywest

Show generally

Question: Since this is the Americanized version of Man About The House from the UK, they copied that show's pilot. So my question is did they get permission to do their pilot like the original show or what?

Rob245

Answer: There have been a number of U.S. TV shows that are reworked from British series. Producers first have to obtain permission and pay for the rights in order to do an American version.

raywest

Answer: They would need to have access to a large amount of electrical wiring, lights, and other supplies to rig a usable lighting system. Using electricity could also drain power from the rest of the camp, alerting the Germans that something is going on.

raywest

Also. The power would go out during air raids and the like. Whereas oil could be used to stay lit no matter what (despite the fact that it uses oxygen from the tunnel and the fumes would probably kill you).

Question: How do we know that he put her in the casket?

Answer: It's obvious it was him. Nick lured Libby to that specific mausoleum, knocked her out, and dragged her into the crypt before closing the doors behind him. He then paid off the kid who acted as a decoy. Nick was motivated to get rid of her (though it was implausible that he would have left her alive before putting her into the casket). There was no-one else who could or would have done that.

raywest

Question: Why does Alan Grant struggle with his seatbelt in the helicopter ride to Isla Nublar? It looks like a fairly standard airline seatbelt to me.

Answer: This is a foreshadowing of the events to come. He has 2 female parts of the belt. He then over comes this problem by simply tying the two bits together in the same way all the dinosaurs on Isla Nubar are female to stop them breeding and over running the island. However, they over come this as shown when Dr. Grant finds the eggs after spending the night in the tree.

Ssiscool

Answer: In addition to the foreshadowing of the female dinosaurs on the island learning how to breed, I think also works to establish Grant as an unconventional but creative problem-solver, someone who can make the best of an unideal situation. This leads credence to him being able to survive with the children in the park with all the dinos running around. So in that belt buckle scene you have three things going on at once: humor, foreshadowing, and character development. Great writing.

Answer: Alan is not a modern man. Being a paleontologist, he mostly relates to the past and shuns modern technology, as evidenced by his resistance to using the ground-penetrating radar to find buried fossils. He is uncomfortable and out-of-place in today's world and has difficulty using things as simple as a seatbelt.

raywest

So Grant has never been in a car? My dad can barely figure out this iPhone, but knows how to use a seatbelt. It could be as simply as he grabbed two female ends, which has happened to me on an airplane.

wizard_of_gore

Not everyone uses a seat belt in a car or truck. My late mother never could fasten her own seat belt. She would just try to hold the two sections together with her hands. I always had to belt her in. Was rather comical, actually.

raywest

Question: How did they have enough time to do everything they did on the first night? I believe everyone is ready by 7pm, then they go to the rooftop, then dinner, then they play blackjack and other games, they also find the time to kidnap Chow, go to the strippers, get married, steal a cop car, go to Mike Tyson and steal a tiger, come back to the hotel, fill a hot tub, playing bowling with champagne bottles, drink at least 40-50 beers, energy drinks and champagne, use all the inflatables, wait for Doug to fall asleep and get him on the roof, come back and pass out, then wake up by about 9am It seems like the casino games and strippers would take you until about 2am anyway, but they managed to fit everything else in with about 5 hours.

Answer: They didn't have time. This is a movie. Time is deliberately compressed to an unrealistic level in order to make the plot work, to make it funny, and fit it all within a 100-minute running time. Audiences are expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" in order for the movie to be made.

raywest

True, but the movie still takes place in the real world, and physics should still prevail. It also doesn't help that they mention the time at several points throughout the film.

wizard_of_gore

Hollywood does not have a history of adhering to "the rules of the real world and physics," particularly in a comedy buddy flick. Movie makers bend whatever rules they want to make a story work. The goal here was to make a funny movie that earned lots of money.

raywest

Question: When a flashback of Truman's youth was shown, it shows him with the first girl he ever loved. During a date, why did she put grass in his hand and what was she telling him?

Answer: She tells him that everything is fake and was built for him. So she grabs the sand because it's the only fake thing she's got in hand to show him what she means when she says "everything." She's saying "even the sand is fake, all the world has been built for you."

Question: If the movie was supposedly taking place in Indiana, why then during town meeting to runoff the band director did Marian tell the town folks to "put aside your Iowa stubbornness"?

Answer: The movie doesn't take place in Indiana. It takes place in River City, Iowa, which is established multiple times throughout the movie.

Question: Re Amanda's Reverse Bear Trap 1.) What does the writing on the wall say behind her in the trap? 2.) The "dead body" Donnie Greco - her drug dealer - was alive and in the game getting his body sliced open and had no way out so surely that's against Jigsaw's philosophy as he couldn't win the game by leaving alive?

Answer: The writing on the wall is non related graffiti as can be found in many abandoned buildings. Jigsaw is shown to have little regard for people other than the subjects being tested. In Saw 6, there is the infamous carousel "6 ride the carousel but only 2 can get off alive. Their lives are in your hands" he also has to choose to save an apprentice or a secretary. In saw 4, there is the abusive couple chained together with spikes through his organs, to save herself she must remove the spikes killing him. In Saw 3D, the public trap explains 1 of the 3 must die, be it Brad, Ryan or Gina. So it's clear that Jigsaw and all his accomplices have no qualms in having extra people killed during a game.

Ssiscool

Season 6 generally

Question: Is this actually true that with a massive heart attack Cynthia wouldn't have felt a thing? I thought the more serious the heart attack the more severe the pain?

Answer: Heart attacks can cause severe to mild pain, but in some cases, the victim feels nothing. Women tend to experience less severe pain than men. Also, there is a difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest, where the heart just suddenly stops beating, causing death. That was probably the case with Cynthia.

raywest

Answer: She's only "assigned" to the case after Jack Crawford sends her to interview Hannibal Lecter; she goes thinking it's just a training exercise, though he (Crawford) really wants to see if Lecter spills anything about Buffalo Bill. When Lecter does reveal "Miss Hester Mofet" to Clarice, she follows the lead and discovers it is linked to the Buffalo Bill case, so at this point it's only natural that she would continue to work on it. Plus, Crawford has seen her potential and is her mentor/champion, so he's happy to bring her onboard...though, of course, she starts off still as an apprentice rather than a field agent, and no-one has any idea how deep she will get with Lecter or that she will be the one who apprehends Bill herself.

Answer: Clarice is never assigned to the case, she is just working with Crawford as a trainee and under his supervision. Crawford wanted to obtain information from Lecter (he being a notorious serial killer) that might help capture the Buffalo Bill killer. Crawford knows from past experience that sending a seasoned FBI agent to interview Lecter will yield few results as Lecter is too brilliant a psychiatrist to be manipulated into helping. Crawford instead sends a trainee and chose Starling because she is young, attractive, unpretentious, and somewhat emotionally transparent and vulnerable. He gambles that Lecter will be disarmed and intrigued by someone different from the usual law enforcement type. Lecter is taken with Starling and they form a bond which prompts him to provide clues to Buffalo Bill's identity. Based on that, Crawford knows Clarice's relationship with Lecter will be a continued asset during the case.

raywest

Question: Ryan says a phrase in Russian before he shoots the KGB saboteur. The literal translation is "leave me alone". Why would he say that?

Answer: The literal translation of "Ostav' eto v pokoye" is "leave it alone" or "leave it in peace."

Show generally

Question: Does anybody know if they're using only New York law in the show? In California and many other states you can talk to a minor without his parents.

Answer: While it isn't technically illegal to talk to a child without his parents (or a lawyer), doing it stands a good chance of getting anything learned from the conversation inadmissible due to the possibility of undue influence. So most police agencies don't do it.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: He kisses Dylan because he is attracted to her and grabs her hair because that seems to be his particular fetish, as shown in the sequel as well.

LorgSkyegon

Question: A few cadets had a fight in the cafeteria. Wouldn't they be expelled from the academy?

JeffSteele

Answer: In the universe of the film, the rule seems to be that if a cadet initiates a fight, he or she will be expelled, while anyone else involved would not be (since they were merely defending themselves). That's why Blankes specifically goads Mahoney by saying "Go on, you throw the first punch," and when they are later brought before Harris, he simply asks, "Who threw the first punch? That's all I want to know."

Chosen answer: Not necessarily. They would likely face some sort of disciplinary review, and, if found responsible, receive sanctions ranging from a warning, probation, retraining, dismissal, and so on.

raywest

Answer: Harris finally got the chance to kick Mahoney out, so he didn't care about the others.

lartaker1975

Question: Was the atmosphere and splash landing as dramatic as shown in the movie?

Answer: Naturally the movie ramps up the drama, but it was a fairly accurate depiction. The radio blackout lasted a little longer than depicted in the film due to the shallow angle of the ship's reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Also, the first communication from the capsule was not from Jim Lovell and was from Jack Swiggert, who said, "Okay, Joe." The amount of condensation shown inside the capsule was also accurate.

raywest

Question: When exactly is the movie set? I mean what time frame.

Answer: 1886. The Statue of Liberty began being reassembled in April 1886 and was completed in October 1886.

Bishop73

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