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: What happens to Harold? We go from him killing a classmate to present times where he works as an intern in a hospital. Surely he'd have been in juvenile hall then prison or in a psych ward.

Rob245

Answer: It is never explained but the implication is that he has somehow escaped justice for his earlier crime and is using a new identity.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Carrie mentions that her longest or most serious relationship was eight-and-a-half days with an acid rock singer, that she came home and found in the shower with his mother. Wasn't she about to get married when Bandit found her? Would you not think that she actually had a relationship with him (and didn't she say she was pregnant, therefore, had to get married?).

ckbyers

Answer: She had a relationship with her fiance but in her mind it wasn't serious. She is running away because she is being pressured into marriage with a man she doesn't love. So the statement is accurate, her longest serious relationship was only 8 days.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Where does she say she was pressured into marriage? - didn't have to really be snarky about it. They pick her up, she says there is a wedding in search of a bride... doesn't mean she was pressured... In fact, there is no definitive statement that she was forced to marry him or didn't love him. All she says is "I'm sorry Junior!" at the end. She just bolted from the wedding... people get cold feet all the time.

ckbyers

Answer: She is running away because she is being pressured into marriage with a man she doesn't love. That implies that there was no declining the proposal.

Answer: The "eight-and-a-half days" comment is a hyperbole - a deliberate exaggeration that is used to make a point. She was not being serious when she said that.

raywest

Answer: Then she could have said no to the proposal (just saying) when it was done (off camera).

ckbyers

So what's your point? The character agreed to the marriage under pressure, then changed her mind and decided to run. Where's the problem?

Question: Why is Master Li evil at heart and why does he hold a grudge against Mr. Han? Also why isn't he on speaking terms such as the peace offering by Mr. Han?

Answer: Master Li is based on John Kreese from the original Karate Kid film, and much like Kreese the reasons for his behavior are never fully explained. It is only vaguely mentioned in The Karate Kid Part 3 that Kreese and Terry Silver's martial arts instructor taught them their philosophy on fighting: strike first, strike hard, no mercy. It is reasonable to assume that Master Li learned his behavior from whoever taught him Kung Fu. Master Li holds a grudge against Mr. Han because Mr. Han "attacked" his students. He doesn't accept Mr. Han's peace offering because he views this as a sign of weakness, which he despises.

BaconIsMyBFF

The grudge is based on Sato and Chozen Toguchi from Part II (1986).

In what way? Sato had a very personal, openly stated reason for his grudge against Miyagi. There is no such indication that Mr. Han and Master Li had ever so much as heard of one another.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: She did apply for adoption, but because she's a single woman, "it can take about 5 years to get an adoption" and would cost $100K. She didn't want to wait that long for a child.

Bishop73

Answer: She had attempted to adopt, but was denied. Unmarried people often have more difficulty in adopting children. It can also take years before a child becomes available and the cost is high.

raywest

Question: How did Grissom figure out Jack was sleeping with Alicia?

Answer: He was suspicious, but when she first entered the penthouse and Grissom said to leave their business meeting, he noticed the sexy facial exchange Alicia and Jack gave each other.

Answer: Eckhardt ratted Jack out after getting assaulted by him and muttering under his breath: "Where've you been spending your nights?" He watched Jack long enough to get dirt on him and told Grissom that Jack was stealing his woman. Grissom confirmed it by inviting her up to his apartment when Jack happened to be there and watching to see if they recognized each other. Then he immediately set Jack up to take the fall for Axis Chemicals and gave Eckhardt the tip to get there first and assassinate him.

CountArtha

Question: There is a scene in the movie where Billy chops a vine with a machete and sucks on it. What kind of vine was that?

Answer: I can't tell you the specific type of vine it was, but some vines contain water safe enough for drinking. This is a commonly known survival tactic.

raywest

Question: As Jackson manages to get hold of the map that leads to the arks in China, he tells Gordon, his ex-wife and kids that they'll need a bigger plane. Why do they need a bigger plane? (01:05:00)

Rassdyt

Answer: The small plane they were flying on would likely not have the range to get across the Pacific to Tibet, even assuming there were still intact islands where it was possible to refuel.

Answer: Probably because there are now more passengers being carried, more supplies are needed to be brought along, and a bigger plane can carry more fuel and travel farther.

raywest

Question: When the cops are using Chris' wife as bait to nab him, how does she warn her husband she's been compromised? I don't remember.

Answer: As Chris is about to walk in to the apartment building, his wife, standing on the balcony, gives a subtle hand wave which people often use to say no, without the cops realising. This was enough for him to realise she wasn't alone in the apartment.

Casual Person

Question: Does Arthur kill Sophie when he realises he's hallucinated their relationship? I know there may not be a concrete answer to this.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Yeah it's completely up to the viewer to believe he killed her or not. I don't think he did, he liked her, just like Gary. I think he visited to see if it was all in his head, with that confirmed he just left.

lionhead

Answer: Todd Philips actually answered this in an interview on IndieWire; "As the filmmaker and the writer I am saying he doesn't kill her. We like the idea that it's almost like a litmus test for the audience to say, 'How crazy is he?' Most people that I've spoken to think he didn't kill her because they understand the idea that he only kills people that did him wrong. She had nothing to do with it. Most people understood that, even as a villain, he was living by a certain code. Of course he didn't kill this woman down the hall."

Sammo

Question: When the guys are in that bar, the police raid it. Why do they do this? The place not have a license to operate or something?

Rob245

Answer: The mud wrestling is a form of gambling, betting money on winning. The bar probably didn't have a gambling permit.

lionhead

Question: Who was the Native American corpse with the knife in his chest that Wilkinson saw after climbing the ladder inside the cave?

Coach Laws

Answer: It's impossible to know. Presumably, we are simply meant to assume it is a random Native American and no-one of significant importance.

Question: John is heard running and moves into a room, and he locks the door. After Karl and the other bad guys run, they see the door is locked. The logical conclusion is that the guy they heard running locked the door, so why not shoot the door open?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Karl might have done that, but Hans calls them off before he can. In any event, it would be easy enough to rationalize that the door was simply locked...plenty of people lock their offices when they leave.

The movie only showed the 1 way to get in that room is with an elevator, and since John wouldn't be able to use the elevator before they ran in it's a huge oversight that none of them shoot the door.

Athletic Jason

The Serpent's Lair (3) - S2-E1

Question: How did Daniel get into the sarcophagus all on his own in order to heal his staff weapon wound? Then how did he operate the sarcophagus while inside it? Finally, how did he get it to open while inside it? How lucky that he got it opened in time to escape through the gate. Or maybe the real question is, who loaded him in, healed him, and then released him without ever being seen?

Answer: The Goa'Uld who use it do it by themselves as well as observed on many occassions. The sarcophaguses are fully automated. You open it, get in, the thing closes on its own and after a certain period (after the wounds are healed or some preset time) it opens again.

lionhead

Question: I have an issue with Mike's bird attack and the the true origin of the fear. We are told Mike's watching Rodan and the bird is a reflection of the movie playing on Mike's mind. Then it is hinted that Mike's dad may has seen the same bird at the black spot, so this is where the bird fear comes from, only to be told in one of the chapters later on told from the view of IT that the bird was a reflection of Mike being attacked as a baby by a crow. Which is the true reason for this fear?

Answer: It was from when he was pecked at by a crow when he was a baby.

Question: When Henry, Belch, and Victor go down into the sewers in the first part of the movie, I know they separated, but what happens to Victor? All I saw was a bunch of bright light.

Answer: He was caught and killed by Pennywise, just like Belch is a few minutes later. They just cut away before he dies. But it's easy enough to surmise he's dead given all the context clues the movie gives you.

TedStixon

Question: I have several questions. In Random Harvest Ronald Colman is a First World War veteran. A war accident left him with amnesia and no memory of his previous life. He meets Greer Garson, they fall in love and marry. Several years later Ronald Colman crosses the road without looking, is hit by a car and knocked unconscious. Regaining consciousness he recalls that he is Charles Rainier, a wealthy landowner and industrialist, but he now has no memory of his life when he was an amnesiac and married to Greer Garson. Is such "double amnesia" possible? Ronald Colman meets Greer Garson again and employs her as his secretary, so he sees her and converses with her daily for several years, but his amnesia is such that he never recognises her as his wife. She could tell him about his missing years and their marriage, but she must never do this because the shock would be too great for him. Does this make any sense? Surely, if any woman met her long-lost husband, who said "I have amnesia and I can't remember who I am", wouldn't she instinctively reply "You're my husband"?

Rob Halliday

Answer: Amnesia the way it is often portrayed in movies, including this one, is impossible. People who do suffer from it, usually from some traumatic event, regain their memory relatively quickly. Double amnesia as portrayed in this movie could never, ever happen. This movie is total fiction, though people did, and still do, believe amnesia happens this way.

raywest

Answer: I have seen other films and read stories about people with amnesia. In 1965 and 1966 there was a "western" television series "A Man Called Shenandoah", wholly based on this premise. In the aftermath of the American Civil War Robert Horton is discovered unconscious on the prairie. When he revives he has no memory of who he is. He roams the west, unsuccessfully trying to discover his identity. I think he had some atrocious bad luck. Just as somebody was about to tell him who he really was they would get run over by a train, or shot in the back. The television company dropped the series after 34 episodes, so we never did find out who he really was.

Rob Halliday

Answer: The answer is: "Power." Miss Trunchbull is a sadistic bully, as a school headteacher she can terrorise, frighten and dominate children and teachers. Also the job pays a good salary. She has probably arranged things so the other teachers do all the real work and the difficult jobs. She lives in a house attached to the school, so she gets free accommodation. She can run scams: for example the pupils must be fed, so she gives the catering contract to a company who pay her a "backhander." Thus she has a lucrative job where she does very little work. Plus, you cannot have a story without a villain to be defeated, so Miss Trunchbull is a brilliant opponent for Matilda.

Rob Halliday

Answer: It's a common enough trope to the point where it has become cliche. Stories set in a school will almost always have a teacher or principal (or both) openly dislike their students. Stories aimed at a younger audience will often exaggerate this to an extreme, where the teacher/administrator has a hatred of children in general that borders on insanity.

BaconIsMyBFF

That's exactly why I dislike movies about teachers - always very cliched characters and plots.

raywest

Question: Maybe I'm foolish but if they're poor then how does Kate afford a nice looking car?

Rob245

Answer: Just because someone is low income doesn't mean they can't own a decent car. Kate could spend what little money she has to pay for her car and still consider herself poor because she has no money left over after paying bills. Plenty of low income people still own decent cars because they are more reliable and require less maintenance than an older car, and are thus a good investment. Kate has three children, works two jobs, and goes to school. She has to have a good car to get back and forth and there's no way she could afford a major repair on an older car, so buying a new car is actually a smart choice for her situation.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: The helicopter with Dillon's agents - did the guerrillas shoot it down or did the Predator?

Answer: The guerrillas shot down the helicopter using a Soviet heat-seeking missile and captured the agents after they executed the pilots. The Predator came along later and ambushed Jim Hopper's rescue team.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Serious spoiler alert, but this has always puzzled me. At the end of Barbarella the Black Queen unleashes "Matmos", an evil energy which destroys nearly everybody and everything in the film. Pygar (the blind angel) escapes, only rescuing two people from the cataclysm: Barbarella and the Black Queen. Barbarella asks Pygar why he saved the Black Queen after all the evil things she did (she even blinded Pygar). Pygar replies "an angel has no memory." I never got the point of that. What did Pygar mean? (In his previous conversation he recalled things that happened before he was blinded, so obviously he did have a memory.) And I could not see the point of or meaning to this ending at all. Did any of this make sense to anybody else?

Rob Halliday

Answer: I don't think his comment is meant to be taken literally. To him, a person's past behavior has no relevance to that particular moment in time (in that the memory of it has been selectively voided in the angel's mind), and therefore it does not affect who he saves.

raywest

Answer: You say that Barbarella was beyond lame-it was totally atrociously bad and ludicrous. It was released in autumn 1968, when I was 12, and too young to see it at the cinema. I finally got to see Barbarella when I was 18 and it was shown late one night on television. I wholly concur: I thought it was totally, atrociously bad and ludicrous, and my opinion has not changed since.

Rob Halliday

Answer: I concede your point. Perhaps I was being a bit too literal. When Pygar says he has no memory, he may not mean that all past events clear from his mind (in the way that, for example, you could delete a computer file from your laptop). Instead, he might mean he does not dwell on the past, or he does not retain bitterness or anger for past wrongs, or he does not return evil on those who were bad to him. I think the film was based on a comic that ended in pretty much the same way. All the same, I always thought the ending was rather lame. It was as if somebody told Roger Vadim (the director) "hey, this film is supposed to be 90 minutes long, but we've done 89 minutes filming, and we still haven't got an ending." So Roger Vadim got the Black Queen to unleash Matmos and destroy everything. (To be pedantic, Barbarella is 98 minutes long, but I hope you understand what I mean.) Personally I thought the ending of "Monty Python And The Holy Grail", where a police force stops the film, was a similar disappointment.

Rob Halliday

I would have to say that, overall, the movie was beyond lame-it was totally atrociously bad and ludicrous.

raywest

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