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: Shouldn't Magneto have died when Mystique shot him? Wouldn't his carotid artery or jugular vein have been hit?

Answer: Obviously, the bullet managed to miss the carotid artery and jugular vein. Such a neck wound, even from a gunshot, is not necessarily fatal.

Question: Frank is fighting a lot of bad men in oil, so everything is slippery. My question is: What are the things Frank puts on the front of his feet, to fight the slippery oil, they are like half-rollerskates?

kh1616

Chosen answer: You notice that Frank removes those items from a bicycle frame. Those are stirrup-style rat trap bicycle pedals. They have serrated metallic edges which supposedly give Frank traction on the concrete floor, despite the oily mess.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: What is the name of the song that is played when Lovejoy discovers that Jack and Rose are together in the bedroom, and they both escape through the elevator?

Answer: Funnily enough, this movie's soundtrack has been released on two separate albums, and neither one contains that part. It's also heard when Jack and Fabrizio are running across the dock in Southampton.

Friso94

Answer: On YouTube you can find it like "the Chase" but it's a version quiet diferent than the film. Also is very good.

Answer: Rakish Paddy.

Question: At the beginning, Stretch asks the two punks in the car to hang up so that the call can end and the phone line can be clear. Why? Why can't she just hang up and end the call? This makes no sense.

Brittle Fingers

Chosen answer: That's how telephones worked back then. It has to do with the lack of a disconnect signal being sent by the called party, which phone companies have now. Back then when someone called another person, they were paying for the call and thus it was felt that they're entitled not to be hung up on and the line would not be "free" for the person being called, even after they hung up. This also meant if someone was called and they picked up in one room, they could say "hold on I'm going to switch phones", hang up, go to another room and pick up the phone and the caller would still be there. It was also a great way to scam or annoy people by calling them and not hanging up. Some countries still maintain this method of operation, largely because some people have become used to it, although nowadays it's by choice, not by technical limitation, and the length of time the line is held open is significantly reduced.

Bishop73

Yeah that's actually true. in the 80s we used to call up talk radio shows from isolated, seldom-used phone booths and then leave the phone off the hook. No more calls for hours until they straightened it out with the phone company. we called it 'jock blocking'.

That's not true my brother would prank call KDKA in Pittsburgh constantly they had no trouble hanging up. If people called our house there was no trouble hanging up.

That's exactly how it worked if the line didn't have a disconnect signal.

Bishop73

Tutoring Reese - S2-E19

Question: This question could be for many American TV shows not just this one, but are American schools so strict about cheating on one single test? Because here in Europe if you are caught cheating you will most of the time get an "F" for that test, plus "official warning", and you need like 3 or 4 warnings like that to be Kicked Out of school. But, I saw on many American TV shows situations when a character cheated once and he was like "they are gonna kick me from school" (one example, Family Matters when Steve helped Edward during the test and he was almost expelled).

Feather

Chosen answer: I work in a student conduct office. Students are not expelled after one academic misconduct incident (there are rare exceptions in higher academia). A first time offense usually results in a "0" grade on the test or assignment in addition to a sanction of a warning or probation. Repeated offenses can lead to being suspended for a period of time and even permanently dismissed. Students often cheat or commit plagiarism because they are struggling in school. The goal is to help students get the help and resources they need. Students who are caught committing a misconduct often tend to panic and believe the worst will happen to them. TV shows tend to exaggerate the circumstances for dramatic or comedic effect.

raywest

Question: Why did Meredith change Tom's specifications on the production line? Was it merely to impress Conley-White? If she was incompetent, then wouldn't she knew she would screw up the production line? Was it unlawful as well? I know she was using the sexual lawsuit claim as a reason to kick him out of the company before he could trace the problems. But if that's so, I don't really understand her making Tom's life hell.

Answer: Meredith secretly changed the specifications to make it look like Tom had messed it up, giving cause for him to be fired. In addition to getting rid of Tom, she also wanted personal revenge against him for their failed relationship, making his life hell and wrecking his marriage.

raywest

Question: At the very beginning of the film, the burglars take care to switch off the home alarm system before ransacking the house. Why, then, as they are leaving, do they turn the system back on and shatter a window to trigger the home alarm? Makes no sense.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: As we see in the film, the houses they burgle have all purchased security systems from Alex's father. This makes it easy for them to gain access to the houses without triggering the alarm. However, if they committed a string of burglaries in which no alarms were triggered, people would eventually put together that customers of the same home security company were being burglarized and would point to them all being inside jobs. By tripping the alarm once they finish, they make it look like a standard break-in.

Phaneron

Answer: Because wearing his helmet makes him immune to Xavier's mind-probes. If he put the helmet back on, he could have tried to kill Nixon again. He doesn't take the helmet with him because he knew that Xavier would stop him in his tracks if he tried.

Phaneron

Question: Mystique had just walked away after Magneto flew off. She changed into a soldier that was still in uniform. Why change into that out of all things instead of a civilian?

Answer: Since the scene involving Mystique had literally taken place on the White House lawn, leaving as a civilian would most likely result in her being stopped for questioning/debriefing. By taking the guise of a uniformed soldier, she makes it less likely that she will have to answer to anyone as she is trying to get away.

Phaneron

Question: I don't remember if Logan said it or if it was said on the radio. But what happened to the mutants?

Answer: Dr. Rice tells Logan the mutants have been wiped out due to a drug in the food and water supply that suppresses mutations, thus no new mutants had been born in 25 years. In the film series, it's indicated mutant powers usually come out during puberty, so parents don't know their children are mutants until around 12 or 13. So it took over a decade to realise no new mutants had been born. However, the government had been breeding mutants for weapons, which is where the mutant children come from in the Logan film. Furthermore, it is implied the "Westchester Incident" was an uncontrolled seizure of Charles Xavier that resulted in the death of many of the mutant students.

Bishop73

Question: When did the moustache get shaved off in the movie and why?

Answer: He shaved it as he began spending more time with the Lakota. Native American tribes rarely accepted facial hair. As you can see, none of the other Lakota men have any. He also grew his hair longer as an abandonment of his military lifestyle.

Question: Towards the end after they kill the wolf and the last soldier finds Smiles A Lot, the Indian kid with horses, who kills that soldier with the hatchet?

Sandra Cole

Chosen answer: Smiles A Lot does.

Question: At the very beginning of the movie, there is a shot of Andrea's diary. On the calendar page, it says "ELIAS-CLARKE HUMAN RESOURCES" and next to it, "Get a card + Prez for Jill." Who the heck is Jill? The name of Andrea's girlfriend who works at a gallery is Lily, though.

Bunch Son

Answer: Jill is actually Andy's sister, not mentioned or shown in the movie but she's in several chapters of the book.

Chosen answer: Andy certainly has more girlfriends than only Lily. Jill is just someone she knows or who is a relative that does not appear in the film. This is meant to give substance to Andy, showing she has a busy life and interacts with many people.

raywest

Question: This SNES game received a Game Boy Advance remake in 2003. If Microsoft purchased Rare from Nintendo in 2002, how were Rare and Nintendo able to make the game again?

Answer: Nintendo always owned the rights to Donkey Kong as they created him in the 80's. Rare was just backed, financially, by Nintendo and developed the Donkey Kong Country game for them. When Microsoft bought Rare they knew they weren't getting Donkey Kong (although some execs probably did when they saw all the Donkey Kong posters in Rare's headquarters).

Bishop73

Question: I read that Doom hates Toons and that's why he wants to destroy ToonTown, but why would he hate Toons if he's one himself? Is this like Blade that hates vampires when he's one himself?

Answer: There's really a lot of possible reasons he hates other toons. There's a whole Roger Rabbit book and comic book series that explain Doom's background more. In the film, he's greedy and wants to destroy Toon Town to build the freeway to make more money. In human disguise he's also seen as merciless and is just punishing toons to maintain law and order, etc. Although that's just an excuse to kill toons as well. However, not explained in the film; as a toon he was cast as the antagonist in cartoon films until an accident one day left him thinking he was an actual villain (as opposed to just an actor playing one). That's when he began his life of crime, including killing Teddy Valiant. So his hatred of toons is more about him being evil and not a personal vendetta against them, like Blade's motives.

Question: I just watched this movie recently but this question had never come to my mind until that time; was there a reason why Doom killed Eddie's brother or was it accidental?

Answer: It was intentional and was done to cover up his crimes. Doom was responsible for robbing the bank and killed Teddy (who was a cop) so he wouldn't get arrested. In the back-story of Doom (found outside of the film), Doom becomes a villain and starts a life of crime, and killing is just part of being an evil villain.

Question: When Doom was killed, why was a rubber mask and his outfit left behind? Shouldn't all of him had been killed or was he wearing a protective outfit? I'm asking because when the shoe was killed, nothing was left behind.

Answer: Judge Doom wore the rubber mask and clothing to pose as a human; since they were not part of his toon body, they were left behind when he was destroyed by the dip. The shoe (as well as one of the weasels) was not posing as anything other than a toon, so it was completely destroyed by the dip.

zendaddy621

Chosen answer: It was a joke. They start laughing after he said it. They feel an astrodroid like R2 is pretty useless in most situations.

lionhead

Answer: It's also a joke for Star Wars fans who know that in every movie, R2 has gotten everyone out of a jam and saves the day. Where would everyone be without R2?

Question: This may be very obvious to others :- Why does Vesper have a password / account with the banker - when it was only the poker players for this stupendous game of high stakes who had individual passwords? I understand she was 'the money' but she wasn't a player therefore why did she have her own password to input with the banker and his silver case in Geneva? I really didn't understand that at all.

lausdon

Chosen answer: Because Bond simply tells her the password as she's punching it in. As to the account, the proceeds would go to the British government, so it's only logical that Vesper would know the right account to put it in.

Friso94

Question: When Saul is dressing up in front of the mirror for the final night, he collapses on the bed. Rusty, who's watching the scene, doesn't seem too bothered about it. Was Saul simply rehearsing his part, including the fainting, or did Rusty have enough confidence in him to believe he would not fail even if he felt ill?

Crisponzio Pastrelli Santangelo

Chosen answer: Rusty is aware that Saul is just rehearsing. He knows Saul well enough to be able to tell if he was really having a medical episode.

raywest

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