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: How could Eleanor be related to Hugh Crain if all of Hugh's children died at birth?

Answer: Crain had two wives. All of his children from his first wife, Renee, died at birth and then Renee killed herself. Later we find out that Crain had a second wife, Carolyn, and they did have a child who survived. Carolyn is Eleanor's grandmother.

Bishop73

Answer: Nell learns she's the descendant of Hugh Crain's second wife (who ran away after learning of Crain's murderous nature).

Answer: It was mainly done to intimidate Stewie and show Stewie how crazy he is and how tough he is. There's a similar scene from "Lethal Weapon" where Mr. Joshua puts his arm over a guy's lighter to intimidate him and show how he's impervious to pain.

Bishop73

Answer: Because he is a criminal and she doesn't want him to be a bad influence on her.

lionhead

Question: Would making a sticky bomb using the method shown in the movie be possible in real life?

Answer: This was based on an actual method that had been developed during the war, though it proved to be too dangerous with uncontrolled explosions to be used effectively.

raywest

Answer: Yes, they could be possible. But making bombs like that are very dangerous to use so I wouldn't try it out. It's doubtful anything of the sorts were used during WWII, there already were pre-made sticky bombs around that worked a lot better.

lionhead

Question: How accurate is the Normandy invasion scene? Was the real battle as dramatic as shown in the movie?

Answer: Definitely, the scene was praised for its historical accuracy by veterans and WWII experts. Even the landing crafts were real. Not on all beaches this kind of resistance was happening though, like Utah beach.

lionhead

Answer: The scene was no doubt mostly accurate and was praised as one of the most accurate depictions of World War II ever and even traumatised some veterans. However, there were some changes and some slight inaccuracies (most of it due to filming reasons). For instance the 'Dog One' exit is portrayed as a footpath whereas it was an actual road in reality. The beach in the film is much narrower beach than the real Omaha beach, this was because the real Omaha had the US cemetery and the surrounding area had changed significantly since the war. In any case filming permission on the beach itself was denied by French authorities (although filming in the cemetery was granted), so a similar looking beach in Ireland had to be used. The bunkers were also primarily used as observations posts and not machine gun nests as depicted. However, despite this, the depiction of the landing on Omaha is mostly accurate, and most of the errors mentioned were very minor.

Question: At the end when Fudge, Percy and the rest arrived at the ministry why did Voldemort leave, since none of them are powerful enough to harm him?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Some of the most powerful wizards arrived at the ministry along with Fudge, among them a lot of Aurors. They hunt dark wizards like Voldemort and together they are certainly powerful enough to harm him. Dumbledore was still there as well.

lionhead

Question: Why doesn't Gandalf want Pippin to touch the crystal ball, whatever it's called? Does it give Sauron the ability to read minds?

Answer: In a word, yes. The palantír (as it is called) forms a mental link between itself and others like it, and a strong mind (such as Sauron) can manipulate weaker ones (as he did with Saruman and Denethor).

Was Gandalf afraid that if pippin touched the palantir, Sauron would use it to corrupt him?

He was mostly afraid Pippin would accidentally reveal Frodo is carrying the ring and is on his way to Mount Doom.

lionhead

Question: Why didn't the tower guards spot Frank, and the Anglin brothers while they were in the water?

Answer: Because, in the context of the story, they are in pitch blackness. It is common film practice to illuminate night scenes that would otherwise be in total darkness, for the obvious reason that the audience needs to see what is happening; however, as far as the characters are concerned, there is no such light.

I meant during the real escape.

Same reason - it was dark.

Jon Sandys

Question: How did Gollum know someone named Baggins from the Shire has the ring?

Answer: Because during the events of The Hobbit, Gollum met Bilbo, who introduced himself as Bilbo Baggins from the Shire.

Friso94

Answer: General.

Isn't Maria's father the general?

Question: I've watched all seven films, but I've always come back to the same question: How did Jigsaw, Amanda, or Hoffman get some of the keys into their victims' stomachs via swallowing? I mean Nina has a fishhook in her stomach with the key attached! And Donnie Greco had a key stuck in his stomach before Amanda decided to gut him like a fish. Since they were sedated, swallowing keys sounds very unlikely, since it is a conscious effort, right?

Answer: It's shown in Saw 3D (saw 7) that this is all made possible because of Dr. Gordon.

Question: Why were there so many attempts to kill Rayna when she was the only one to know where the nuke was? Who were those assassins working for?

Answer: It's never fully explained in the movie, but it seems more likely that Rayna simply had a lot of enemies and people we're trying to kill her for various motives, but not to steal the nuke. For example, the guy who tried to poison her seems to do it out of spite for Rayna. The steward on the plane seems more intent on kidnapping Rayna to get what she's selling (although the pilot before dying says "Stan and I already sold it...", so he may not be after the bomb). Karen Walker, who was a double agent who sold Rayna the CIA names, is more likely trying to kill Susan to avoid being found out and not Rayna. Although if Karen was trying to kill Rayna, she may have already discovered the bomb's location, through various means.

Bishop73

Right, when in the basement, to make Susan believe him, Fine asks her "Did (or didn't) Karen try to kill you?" And Susan realises he had sniped Karen and her driver to save her from being killed by Karen.

Question: Do we know how Georgie actually dies? We see his arm get ripped off, are we to assume Pennywise dragged him down then ate him immediately or left him to bleed to death and then ate him or that he is also "floating"?

Answer: I would think that the shock of having ones arm ripped off would be more than enough to die from that injury alone. Georgie tries to crawl away so his death is not instantaneous. But bleeding to death is a very real probability. Could have been cardiac arrest.

Alan Keddie

Answer: I think whatever happened to Georgie is what we may or may not imagine happening to him, but whatever did happen, we all know that Georgie dies because he comes back, but he's more like a hallucination because IT makes you see whatever is your worst fear.

Question: Why did the first sail boat the ship hit explode? (01:38:20)

Answer: There is no logical reason for it and it is purely for cinematic theatrics. It's a movie myth that cars, boats, etc. immediately explode upon impact. In real life, explosions rarely happen that way.

raywest

Question: Why did Fudge wait so long to arrest Hagrid? It sounds to me he didn't care that Hagrid's record was against him and that he only arrested Hagrid so Fudge would look like he knew what he was doing.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: He probably wouldn't have arrested Hagrid, but he was pressured by Lucius Malfoy who could have used his wealth and influence to have Fudge removed from office. Hagrid was a convenient scapegoat to make it look like the Ministry was making progress in the investigation. Of course, Malfoy was orchestrating all this solely to aid Voldemort.

raywest

Question: Why is there the statue in bed with Sam when he seems to have woken up from a dream and why do you see the statue falling apart?

zxcvbnm

Answer: The wooden angel is a symbol of foreboding. At the beginning, when Sam and Molly are furnishing their loft apartment, they try bringing the large, decorative angel through a window on the second floor, but the rope slips with almost disastrous results. This was an implied warning that something catastrophic was about to happen in their idyllic life (Sam is killed shortly thereafter). When he has the vision of the angel in bed with him, Sam realises the nature of that warning, but it was too late; and, when he sees the angel falling to pieces, it symbolizes Sam's failure to ascend to the afterlife when he was given the chance.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Surely it is just a nightmare. After all he has just been shot and is dying. Perhaps the statue falling apart is a metaphor for his life - which has just fallen apart.

Alan Keddie

Question: What was that thing with the big eye Rango and his posse were walking by?

Answer: TV Tropes mentions that the big eye might be an enormous alligator, because alligators are known to live in sewers.

Alligator eyes are different from what was shown in the movie.

Answer: I think the big eye might be an allusion to Wyrm, the villain from a popular novel.

Answer: Under the bed.

Answer: The laboratory is the same set used in the 1933 movie.

Leicaman

Answer: It mostly borrows from the Karloff film rather than the book. However, it is not a remake but a sequel and a broad spoof of the 1930s Frankenstein movie and is set years later. Dr. Frederick Frankenstein is the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who reanimated the dead. Frederick had disavowed his grandfather's work, calling him crazy. However, after discovering Victor's secret lab, he becomes intrigued and recreates the experiment, making his own monster. The similarities included him using the same lab and the same techniques, has a hunchback assistant, steals corpses and uses an abnormal brain to create the same kind of monster. He starts to become a bit crazed himself. The monster also escapes and roams the countryside, and like in the original film, he is befriended by a blind priest and also encounters the young girl. In the DVD interview, Gene Wilder says the film was based on Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).

raywest

Question: At what point does Christine realise the "angel of music" is actually the Phantom? At first she doesn't seem to realise, but there is some point where she refers to the angel of music as the "Phantom" with "a face so distorted" To Raoul. So did she know the entire time? Or was there a point where she put the pieces together?

Answer: After Christine's starring debut at the opera house, the Phantom reveals himself to her just after she sings the reprise of "Angel of Music." He then brings Christine down to his lair during the song, "Phantom of the Opera." This is, in all likelihood, the point at which she puts two and two together.

Michael Albert

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