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: When Jasmine works out that Prince Ali is Aladdin (the boy from the market), why does she get angry at him? Shouldn't she be happy that he's actually alive, considering Jafar told her earlier on that Aladdin had been sentenced to death and killed?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: She's upset because she thinks Aladdin lied to her twice about everything - first by pretending he was Aladdin, then by lying in the guise of Ali.

Greg Dwyer

Question: When Jules and Vincent go to the students' flat at the beginning of the movie, Jules asks the guy on the couch to tell him where the briefcase is. He begins by saying "You. A flock of seagulls. Where is it?" What does he mean by calling him "a flock of seagulls"?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: It's a reference to his hairstyle; A Flock Of Seagulls was a new wave band from the early 1980s who were as well known for their frontman's unusual hairstyle as their sound. You can learn more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Flock_of_Seagulls.

zendaddy621

Question: Do the other children at Melody's birthday party know she's a mermaid? They must do if the snotty boys and girl joined Melody and all the other mermaids in the end.

Answer: Melody was only a mermaid for a short amount of time and they never saw her that way. By the end of the movie when she used the Trident to take the walls down, she was in normal human form, and so was her mother. The fact that other mermaids were around might have been a shock, but Melody could've just explained that off-screen. Either way, she was still kind enough to let them join.

Answer: Either possibility is true. They may not have known she was, which is why it was never said among them before, or they did and didn't say anything.

Question: In Horace Slughorn's house, what was that dragon blood dripping on the ceiling about? He has a dragon?

Answer: Slughorn knew Dumbledore was on his way and what he wanted. He made the house a "disaster" area in hoped it would fool Dumbledore into thinking Deatheaters were there. He put the dragon blood there hoping Dumbledore believed someone had been killed and would leave. But when Dumbledore realized it was dragon's blood, not human, he knew what Slughorn was up to.

lartaker1975

Question: Perhaps I'm just grasping at straws here, but isn't there still a possibility that the woods are inhabited by monsters? No one was able to explain what killed the livestock.

Answer: There were no real monsters. Noah Percy, who was not an elder, killed the livestock. He had found his father's monster costume that was hidden under the floorboards. He secretly began wearing it and acting like one of the creatures that the elders were pretending to be in order to frighten younger members to keep them from leaving the village. Noah was mentally handicapped, and it was like a game to him, but it became more deadly over time. The elders did not know until the end of the movie that it was Noah who had killed the animals.

raywest

I believe the dad, Walker, explained to Ivy that it was the Elders. He also said the 1st ones that started popping up was likely one of the elders but he wasn't sure which one.

Question: Did Victor put up the road block sign that lead Wallace and Gromit into the woods?

Avh1

Chosen answer: Yes, there are some hints that Victor painted the road closed sign and cut down the fallen tree that traps Wallace and Gromit in the forest - there is a pot of white paint behind the sign, and Gromit sees the tree has been chopped down and Victor has an axe.

Sierra1

Question: Does anyone know what town/city the scene at Snape's house was filmed in?

Answer: The scene is set in the fictional village of Cokestown. Based on some Internet research, there does not appear to be an actual town where this was filmed. According to Helen McCrory, the actress who played Narcissa Malfoy, the street scene was filmed before a blue screen. Most likely, the aerial view consisted of CGI composite shots to simulate a late-19th Century Northern England industrial town. Snape is supposed to have lived in an area of abandoned row houses on Spinner's End street. There was also information that some footage may have been filmed near Black Country near Birmingham, Tyneside or the Clyde area in Scotland.

raywest

Question: Is there a way to know what was going on in the TV footage that Forest is in? For example when He shows Johnson his wound and Johnson walks away laughing, or when he has the confrontation with Kennedy, what was going on with the actual footage they used?

lartaker1975

Chosen answer: (1) The effects artists involved in "Forrest Gump" used footage of President Lyndon Johnson giving an award to Sammy Davis Jr., and superimposed Hanks over Davis to make it look like the president was giving Gump a medal. (2) Forrest appears with John Lennon on "The Dick Cavett Show." This was morphed with footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s first appearance with Mr. Cavett, which aired September 11, 1971. They were the only guests on the show that evening. But In the film, Forrest Gump's image is superimposed over Yoko Ono’s (original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78L_v3_ufQ0). In the "Forrest Gump" film, Cavett plays himself, made up to look younger. (3) I believe the archival footage of President John F. Kennedy is actual footage of Kennedy honoring a championship football team, with Tom Hanks digitally inserted. But I do not know which team nor the year. In all instances, when Forrest Gump is digitally composited into historic events, the special effects team recreated that archival footage with actor Tom Hanks. They combined their new work with the actual clip via CGI and clever editing. Finally, in post-production, they modified mouth movements of the historical figures so that they appear to be saying the new dialogue.

Michael Albert

Question: Why didn't B-Rabbit yell at and break up with Alex Latorno after he caught her cheating on him?

Answer: They'd only known each other a short while and were not necessarily in an exclusive relationship.

raywest

Question: I am struggling to figure out what the title of the movie, Watership Down, has to do with the movie itself at all. Can someone please explain what the title refers to?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: Watership Down is the name of a real hill in Hampshire. In the context of the film and the book, it is the location where Fiver and the other rabbits set up their new warren after leaving Sandleford.

Sierra1

Answer: The dog is either a Skye terrier or a French Briard. Since it is white and has a long tail it is most likely a mixed breed, since the scene is supposed to be in Australia, it may be a mixed terrier and Australian sheep dog mix.

Answer: During most episodes of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?," the gang often split up to explore the latest haunted mansion or abandoned windmill or deserted amusement park. Scooby and Shaggy would generally end up together, Velma would often go off alone, and Daphne would frequently go exploring with Fred. It seemed to be a running theme in the "Scooby Doo" cartoons that Daphne was perpetually flirting with Fred. Fred, however, always seemed much more obliviously preoccupied with finding the next clue, foiling Daphne's amorous intentions. I have always been under the impression that the Scooby-Doo gang was a pretty sexually ambiguous group. More than a few people have suggested that athletic, well-coiffed, ascot-wearing Fred, and bookish Velma were early archetypes of gay/lesbian teens. The show existed in a time when several cartoons suggested sexual ambiguity in its characters: Effete Snagglepuss, a repeatedly drag-wearing Bugs Bunny (who even appeared in TV's first same-sex wedding with phallic rifle-toting Elmer Fudd), prim and polite gophers Mac and Tosh, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Schroeder and Linus from the "Peanuts" cartoons. But whether or not any then subversive homosexual undertones were ever intended in any of the characters, the oft-paired Daphne and Fred never seemed able to get their relationship beyond the lukewarm stage, much to Daphne's apparent chagrin.

Michael Albert

The One Where Ross Finds Out - S2-E7

Question: I was just wondering if anyone could name the song which plays when Ross bursts into Central Perk and kisses Rachel for the first time. It's a big 80's guitar power song and I really recognise the riff but can't think of the band or song.

Answer: The producers wanted to use U2's "With or Without You" as the background clip for Ross and Rachel's kiss; however, there wasn't enough time for them to arrange for the necessary rights. Instead of the song, a studio clip similar to the band's playing style was used.

James Castells

Question: What is the point/moral of this film. To me it was just a random funny movie but I was wondering if there was a point.

Answer: The movie's point is that no matter who you are, you can still be a winner. The movie was inspired by the short film "Peluca" that was also made by Jared Hess in 2003.

Answer: Diane Lane played Christina Cotter, Bobby Shatford's girlfriend. As of 2007, Christina was living with her new boyfriend in the White Mountain area.

Question: At the end of the movie it shows what happens to everyone. It shows Mary and William Stafford walking in the meadow and 3 children. There's a boy, presumably the boy Mary had with Henry and Anne's daughter Elizabeth. Does anybody know who the other girl is? She looks older than Elizabeth so I assume she's not Mary and Stafford's daughter.

Nikki Yates

Chosen answer: It is unknown who the older girl is, but probably the child of a close relative. In the movie (which significantly differs from the novel and from history), Mary is shown to only have given birth to one child (King Henry's son) before her marriage to William Stafford. Therefore, the girl could not be Mary's child by her first marriage.

raywest

Question: Rapturous Rise: At the start of the level, after freeing The Thing from the ground, Captain America and The Thing have to defeat some bad guys and destroy some bushes on a wall to knock it down. After knocking it down, and continue to walk, there will be an electric gate and it will have to be disabled and there is also a huge machine gun turret there as well. How do I disable this electric gate?

Casual Person

Chosen answer: Captain America has a shield. Use his shield to deflect the blasts from the turret and it will bounce back at the turret destroying it. Left over from the turret is a piece of rubble. Switch to The Thing and have him throw the piece of rubble at the part of the wall that is glowing. This will uncover a target for Captain America to throw his shield. Switch back to Captain America and have him throw the shield at the target. The electric gate will be disarmed after this.

Casual Person

King Ottokar's Sceptre: Part 2 - S2-E5

Question: When Tintin and the King discover King Ottokar's scepter had been stolen, both Hector and the guards are shown to have been knocked out. Later, Tintin points out that Hector had stolen the scepter by placing it in a camera, put it next to the window and shot it out of the window using the camera. If that's how Hector managed to get the scepter out of the building, then what was it that caused Hector and the guards to get knocked out? (00:33:10 - 00:35:50)

Chosen answer: If Hector was seriously intent on removing King Ottokar's scepter from the glass cage holding it and launching it through the window with the camera, then Hector would have been forced to knock out the two guards so they would not have interfered with Hector's plan as soon as he removed the scepter from the glass. As for Hector, himself, was explained when Tintin was explaining how Hector stole the scepter. Tintin placed a twig inside the camera and it launched out of the camera. Hector would have placed the scepter inside of the camera, and would have been knocked unconscious due to the spring effect created when the scepter had been launched.

Casual Person

The Ringer - S1-E1

Question: Once Zelda and Link confront Ganon on the road, he summons more skeletons up and they surround Link and Zelda. 7 Skeletons against Link and Zelda. So what's Link's plan of action? He takes off his belt and wraps it around himself and Zelda, strapping them together back to back to fight the 7 skeletons. This to me seems like it would just hinder their mobility. So my question is what is the really point of Link strapping himself to Zelda like that while surrounded? does it actually make sense to do that?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: It'll be to ensure that they're always facing directly away from each other, 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, meaning between the two of them they've pretty much got 360 degree coverage. Otherwise there's a chance they might end up at say 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock, leaving themselves exposed from another direction.

Jon Sandys

Question: When Bilbo is talking to Smaug, Smaug refers to Thorin as "Oakenshield." How would Smaug know Thorin is called that since the incident with Thorin using the log as a shield didn't occur until after the attack on Erabor?

Answer: This is stated in one of the corrections - in the movie it is hinted that Smaug has been contacted by the necromancer. If Smaug had been contacted by the necromancer, it would have given him news of what was going on in the rest of middle earth, including the fate of Thorin.

Casual Person

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