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: It might just be in my head, but, at the end, when Gretchen talks to Donnie's mom, it seems like they knew each other or their 'conversation' had a deeper meaning. Does it really?

Flamedeiros

Chosen answer: The characters who died in the first running of time are known as the "manipulated dead" who were required to die to fix the hole in time. So although when the hole is closed at the end and the characters didn't die because time has been altered, they can't remember anything that happened, but supposedly have some kind of recognition for each other as the events were like a dream to them.

The Lonely - S1-E7

Question: Why did they kill Alicia instead of just coming back in a few months, when they could bring Alicia and Corry back together?

Answer: I believe it was just to add dramatic effect. Shooting her could have driven Corry over the edge and I doubt an officer would have really done that. I'm sure that they have done this before (leaving an android to keep someone company) and they never expected a man to fall in love with the droid? Separating the two seems like cruel and unusual punishment. And another thing, being that she was an android I'm sure she has a memory module which they could have easily brought back to earth aboard the ship. It couldn't have weighed more then a few pounds .They could have reconstructed her likeness and installed her memories.

Robert Victoria

Question: Why did Anna have to be shielded from all knowledge of magic? I understand that to save her, they had to remove her memories from the past. But what would happen if she found out before she did?

Answer: Most probably because her parents didn't want Anna to think Elsa was some sort of freak or monster.There is evidence to suggest that people who can use magic are seen as such during Elsa's escape from Arendelle, where all the townspeople and, quite notably, the Duke of Weselton, were in a state of fear after Elsa accidentally showed everyone her powers. It makes sense, therefore, to hide the truth from a young Anna so that she would not start avoiding or fearing her sister.

Answer: Because of human nature. When we find something we don't understand and fear we usually ignore, hide, or lie about it. The writers' goal was to make the story relatable and believable so they made her parents react how most parents would have. Spoiler alert: also, it appears they were potentially hiding the origin of Mom.

Answer: The King and Queen knew their daughters and they were trying to protect both of them. They protected Anna from harm because they knew she would've wanted to play with Elsa and her powers and they protected Elsa because Anna was still very young and could've easily and accidentally told people about her sister's powers.

Question: How is it possible that picture 25 was in Walter's wallet the whole time, when the picture is of him later in the movie after he had received the wallet?

Answer: The picture was not taken afterwards - that spot is just a favorite Mitty likes to use to review pictures. That is why Sean O'Connell was quizzing Mitty's mum about his life/work habits, so he could take a picture of his friend for the last issue.

Kenneth Brown

Show generally

Question: Why does the show go out of the way never to show the names of sodas? IE, 'Cola' instead of 'Coke', 'Lime' instead of 'Sprite,' 'Zip' instead of '7up.' They don't seem to have a problem with showing names of other products, such as the snacks in the vending machine.

Brian Katcher

Chosen answer: Certain items are part of paid product placement. Those would be obviously named, as would things that can't go unnamed for simplicity reasons. Other things might be unnamed because of opposite product placement, i.e. Coke pays for it so they don't name Pepsi products.

Greg Dwyer

Question: What is Mel saying when acting as the Sioux chief, as he is speaking to the future sheriff Bart?

Answer: Shvartses! (Blacks!) No, no, zayt nisht meshuge! (Don't be crazy!) Loz im geyn! (Let him go!) Cop a walk, it's all right. Abi gezint! (As long as you're healthy!) Take off! Hosti gezen in dayne lebn? (Have you ever seen such a thing?) They darker than us! Woof!

Greg Dwyer

Question: I am wondering if the scene at the tree in Buxton where Freeman goes to keep his promise to Andy, is the same tree location used in the movie Robin Hood with Morgan Freeman? It sure does look to be the same rock fence and tree on a hill.

Mariellen Lamb

Chosen answer: Nope, while there is a similarity, the two locations are on different continents. The Shawshank Redemption shot those scenes in Ohio, while Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves shot almost entirely in the UK, with a few scenes shot in France.

Question: When Evan ends up in the mental hospital, the doctor states that Evan invented the whole story about being able to change the past by reading his diaries. This implies that the Evan must have known that he could change the past throughout the entire timeline and talked to his doctor about it. But how could he have known about his abilities before the actual scene where he wakes up in the mental institution and realizes that he has killed Kaitlin by changing the past?

Answer: In one scene the doctor is explaining to Evan's mother about what part of the brain had been changed to which Evan replied, "That's the part where memories are stored." Also every time he goes to one of his black outs he is essentially filing in the blanks. So when he fills in the blanks he is creating new memories. This would allow him to know of his abilities as a kid, he just didn't know until he unlocked his black outs.

oddy knocky

Question: I've read all 4 books in the series of The Wizard of Oz. But I'm confused on the shadow puppet. A character? Or a story telling method?

SueW

Chosen answer: First off, there's fourteen Oz books written by Baum (the last two published posthumously). And secondly, what shadow puppet are you referring to?

Garlonuss

Question: How does V eat and drink? Can he take his mask off? Doesn't he have real pain because of his skin?

Answer: Yes, V can take the mask off. Remember, we see him putting it on in his very first scene. He may have some pain, but the experimentation that was performed on him which gave him his enhanced speed, strength, agility, and intelligence also granted him a heightened level of pain tolerance. So if there is pain, he is able to mostly ignore it. This is why he was able to defeat an entire room full of enemies despite having been mortally wounded by a hail of gunfire immediately beforehand.

Phixius

Answer: None given in the film. It is mentioned in a flash back that he does not remember his name.

Phixius

Question: If Bella is a "shield" and vampire powers can't affect her how did Jasper use his mood/mind control on her? It was Bella's birthday and they were at the school. Alice was inviting her to a party. After Bella says yes, she said "Jasper, no fair with the mind control thing."

Answer: Vampire abilities can't affect her mind. It's explained in the book that what Jasper does is physical. He loosens tense muscles and stimulates production of the appropriate hormones and helps the subject physically relax, thus stimulating a sympathetic mood change in his subjects.

Garlonuss

Question: This question has been bugging me and I hope someone can answer this for me. I remember hearing that Viggo Mortensen did not want to reprise his role as Aragorn in the Hobbit movies, saying that the time between Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit would not make sense. Yet when I was watching LOTR there is a scene where Elrond says he was there 3000 years ago with Isildur (father of Aragorn?) to destroy the ring. Then, another scene where Arwen tells Aragorn he is not like his father. So, if Aragorn's father died 3000 years before LOTR, how old is Aragorn? It seems he's either too young for his father to have been around then, or old enough that he could appear in The Hobbit without any time issues. Can someone please explain this one?

Emanuel Perez

Chosen answer: Viggo Mortensen meant that Aragorn was a child during the time of the Hobbit. Isildur is not Aragorn's father (his father's name was Arathorn), Isuldur is Aragorn's long-ago ancestor. This is why Aragorn is referred to numerous times as "Isildur's Heir" rather than "Isildur's Son."

Phixius

Question: Everyone keeps saying Jason has the power of regeneration. That's why he has human fingers, hair, beard, etc. However that does not explain why his face does not get better. I know his face was deformed when he was a child which explains his deformity. However every time his mask is taken off, it still looks like the face of a dead guy. His face never becomes any more human like the rest of his body. Can anybody explain how his supposed "regeneration" fits into this?

Answer: Jason wasn't deformed as a child. Jason was deformed at birth. His regeneration can't fix anything better then it already was, just to where it was to begin with, therefore since his face was always deformed it can't be fixed better than its deformed state. If half his head is blown up it will regenerate, but only as far as the deformed state.

oddy knocky

Question: Was the double cross with the chainsaw scene a set up by F.Murray Abraham? Or was it a genuine deal and did he just suspect it may be dangerous, and sent Tony because he annoyed him?

The_Iceman

Answer: It's unlikely a set up. Tony is supplied with money and guns to defend himself. If this was a setup, the toad would've had more details. He would've known Tony had backup with guns and they would've waited to ambush them. Also makes no sense for Omar to put himself at risk without a legitimate opportunity to make cash. Frank knew about the deal as he supplied the buy money. Omar seemed loyal to Frank. Why would he send some low level thugs to be set up losing his boss' money in the process? All he would do is lose trust and be suspected.

Omar was an informant. He wasn't loyal to anyone. Omar's driver is the one that suggested to send Tony to the Colombians. And I think Omar knew the Colombians were shady, and that's why he sent Tony. It was, in a sense, a setup.

Chosen answer: While it is never really mentioned I think it is a safe bet that it was a double cross. F. Murray Abraham was seen later in the film to be an informant and killed because of it.

oddy knocky

It wasn't a double cross, as it was the driver of the car that suggested/whispered it to Omar the first time Omar met Tony and Manny outside the restaurant they were working at.

Question: I have two questions. 1 - Is the woman who was hit by the car one of the personalities? And 2 - If she is,why did his psych have her hit by a car and still live for a few hours? I assume she is one due to the numbered key she had when she died.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: She is indeed one of the identities. This is proven, as you said, by the fact that she has a numbered key. To answer your 2nd question the psych doesn't dictate what order and when the identities are killed. That is all played out in the killer's mind. The psych is only forcing them to interact with one another in hopes that Rivers will start killing them off. This is shown in the scene where Cusack tells Amanda Peet that she has to be the one to escape. His identity is certain hers isn't the killer but he is uncertain of which identity is. If the doc was already aware of which identity the killer was, and had control over how fast they died, he could have killed them all in a plane crash and left only the innocent identity alive. Rivers assumes she hangs on a couple of hours and then perishes, and since she is a figment of his imagination she does so.

oddy knocky

Question: Berry's phone didn't have a signal in the hideout hole. Can't you call 911 even if your phone doesn't have a signal?

Answer: Not if you have absolutely no signal, no, you can't. Mobile phone companies generally have an agreement that any network will carry an emergency call, even if it's not the network that that phone belongs to, so if you were out of range of your own network, another could carry your call, but if you're in a situation where none of the networks can reach you, by definition no calls of any kind can be made.

Question: When Chessy finds out Hallie is really Annie, she says she was about 7lbs and 21 inches long when she was born. That is NOT a small baby. Is it possible to have twins that big? I know twins usually come early and are very small.

Answer: While you're quite correct that twins generally weigh less than single-birth babies, there have been recorded cases of twins being born where both babies exceed the weight stated in the movie by some margin; the heaviest recorded case occurred in Arkansas in 1927, where the twins had a combined weight of an astonishing 27 pounds 12 ounces. A birth weight of seven pounds for a twin is entirely plausible.

Answer: Actually, Chessy says "6 lbs. 11 oz."

Question: How did Hans and his army find Elsa's ice palace?

Answer: They simply went looking and found it. They didn't know exactly where it was. They knew it was on the North Mountain because that's where the storm was coming from, so that's where they went looking.

Question: When Langdon and the Italian cop are trapped inside the sealed room of the Vatican archive and the air is shut off, how long could they actually survive in a space that size? In the movie, they start to suffocate almost immediately. (There is no long time lapse because the movie's plot depends on defusing the bomb within a few hours).

raywest

Chosen answer: In reality, they would have perished from CO2 poisoning long before the room ran out of breathable oxygen causing them to simply suffocate. Without knowing the exact dimensions of the room it is impossible to give any time more specific than "several hours" for this to happen in a room as big as that one appeared to be.

Phixius

I just re-watched the movie, and as Langdon and Vittoria enter the room, it's mentioned to them that the oxygen levels are always kept at a bare minimum to protect the ancient tomes and documents stored there. That helps to answer my own question about why Langdon and the cop were so quickly affected when the power was shut off.

raywest

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