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: In the director's cut (which seems to be the most widely available version these days), what's the deal with all the backflips in the opening fight? The editing is very awkward. Fasil goes from running, to doing backflips, then back to running, then back to doing backflips several times, seemingly between shots, during a short section of the fight. Is it just bad editing? Or is the movie trying to suggest that it's a different person doing the flips? Or... what? It's so confusingly edited.

TedStixon

Answer: The Director, Russell Mulcahy, started his career making music videos. He was known for using fast cuts and tracking shots.

Answer: I always felt the idea was given he was trying to move very rapidly whilst also being silent. In a garage with those shoes on your footsteps are very loud. Perhaps he was trying to confuse MacLeod as to where he was.

lionhead

I'm not asking why he's doing backflips. I'm asking why the editing is so confusing, since he goes from doing backflips, to running somewhere completely else, then back to backflips at the first location between edits. (Look up the clip "The Highlander (1986) 1080p : Underground parking Fight Scene. Epic!" on YouTube and pay attention around 4:20.) He also loses his sword whenever we see him doing backflips, even though he's carrying it when he's running. The editing makes absolutely no sense.

TedStixon

I know the scene. As I said, it's supposed to look like Fasil is confusing MacLeod by moving around a lot. Him losing his sword as he does it is already a corrected entry.

lionhead

Ah, got ya. Sorry, misunderstood what you mean. It just seemed very awkwardly edited to me.

TedStixon

Answer: According to Internet info, Dr. No's prosthetic hands were robotic implants, giving him superior strength with limited mobility.

raywest

Question: Is this true that David Thewlis initially wanted to play professor Quirrell in this film before being cast as Lupin in the later movies?

Answer: Thewlis was one of several actors who auditioned for the role of Quirrell, but lost out to Ian Hart. Thewlis, of course, went on to play Professor Remus Lupin.

raywest

Question: Did the Guccis ever own a Klimt painting, were they not in the Netherlands until 1998? Were they not Nazi plunder?

Answer: No.

Question: Why did Knuckles say "wait, that wasn't the deal" after noticing Robotnik trying to steal the master emerald?

Answer: Because Robotnik was betraying him. Dr. Robotnik promised to help Knuckles get the Master Emerald, so they could use it to defeat Sonic. But Robotnik was using him all along because he wanted the Master Emerald for himself... he never actually cared about Knuckles and never intended to help him get the Emerald. Thus, Knuckles is shocked and says that Robotnik taking the Emerald for himself was not part of their deal.

TedStixon

Question: What is that device that Payne uses in the elevator? He punches 46 into it and the elevator starts going up, but later he pushes the number 3 on the elevator buttons themselves and it start going down.

Answer: It's a device he is using to bypass the elevator controls. The panel on the elevator shows was floor button was pressed on the actual elevator controls (and on the security system the police are monitoring), but Payne's device is the only thing that will actually move the elevator. Using this device he is able to make it seem like the elevator is on one floor (the third floor) when in actuality he took the elevator down to the basement. He presses 46 on his device to take the elevator to the top floor to try to crush Jack.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: What song is everyone whistling while they're carrying the giant egg?

Answer: The music playing while they are carrying the giant egg is from, "The Bridge on the River Kwai." It's a classic World War II movie, soldiers marching into a Japanese prison camp are whistling that tune.

Answer: The song being played is "Colonel Bogey March", which has the whistling in it. No one carrying the egg were whistling themselves though. Although in one shot I did see a character breathing out (something people do when lifting or carrying heavy things) which might look like he's whistling.

Bishop73

Answer: He probably traced the high frequency (that only Superman and dogs could hear) waves Lex spoke to him on when Superman was standing in the street listening to Lex. This guided him to the signal where he was underground.

Question: Where was Jackson when Shelby was dying?

Answer: He was at the hospital, often by her bedside. He signs the permission form to remove Shelby from life support. Later, at the cemetery, M'Lynn says she was the only one in the family able to remain in the room as Shelby passed. Jackson, Drum, and Shelby's two brothers were too emotionally devastated to stay and went to the waiting area. As in the entire movie, there was more focus on M'Lynn and Shelby's relationship and a mother's reaction to losing her daughter.

raywest

Thank you. I watched it again and saw that. I don't know how I missed it.

Question: Why was he removing the womens' eyes?

Answer: I remember him inserting broken mirror shards into the dead women's eyes so he could see himself "transforming" into the dragon while having sex with their corpses.

raywest

Question: Why does Obi-Wan want to watch over Luke, but nobody needs to watch Leia?

Answer: Leia was placed into the care of a very wealthy family, and would be given protection 24/7. Luke, on the other hand, was placed into the care of a very secluded home and a poor family, with almost little to no protection from outside dangers. Luke would have been more at risk if the Empire found out who he was.

Casual Person

Answer: Incidentally, this question is kind of being addressed in the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

Bishop73

Answer: Yes, it was a goof that no-one caught (according to Alex Borstein). And this mistake has already been listed.

Bishop73

Question: How much money was in the cases the bad guys lost?

Answer: It totalled more than $100 million.

Super Grover

Uh, wouldn't a stack of $100 million in cash be too big to fit in a case?

The money was in 3 cases.

Super Grover

This, plus it's also worth noting that they were $1,000 bills, which would greatly cut down on the size.

jshy7979

Question: What illness does Robert's father have?

Answer: Within this movie's storyline he has leprosy.

Super Grover

Show generally

Question: I remember an episode where Alex does the grocery shopping for the family and comes home with groceries and more money than when he started out. Elyse (Mom) says to Alex "I only gave you $20" and Alex replies that he used coupons and went on double coupon day or something like that and after the trip the store ended up owing him money. I can absolutely remember this part but have rewatched every episode (I think) recently and cannot find it. Does anyone else remember this part or episode?

Answer: A scene very similar to the one described happened on the show Mr. Belvedere that was on in the same time frame as when Family Ties was on. Perhaps this is what you are remembering.

af4dable

Question: The scene where Needy is trying to find an outfit to wear to the bar, you see scars - does the movie explain how she got them?

Den Mitchell

Answer: No.

Answer: No, she doesn't, but Tony is shot and killed.

Answer: No, she doesn't, but Tony is shot and killed.

Question: At Daisy's apartment, when Lisa asked if there was a bathtub upstairs, why did Daisy lie and say no?

Answer: An alternative (though less likely) answer is that Daisy was planning on committing suicide in her bathroom/bathtub that night even before Susanna and Lisa showed up at her apartment, so didn't want them to interfere by being upstairs at all.

KeyZOid

Answer: Daisy didn't particularly like or trust Lisa, plus hesitated to let Lisa enter her apartment. (Lisa apologized at the door for "being a bitch.") When Daisy came downstairs from getting blankets and pillows for Lisa and Susanna to sleep in the living room, Lisa was already snooping around the kitchen (looking in the refrigerator and cupboards) and was "making herself at home" by planning on making pancakes. After Daisy told Lisa where the bathroom was, Lisa didn't even need to use it. Daisy told them that she'd come downstairs in the morning when she was ready. Daisy was basically telling Lisa and Susanna that the upstairs was "off-limits" to them. Lisa and Susanna were uninvited "guests" and already invading her personal space - for them to go upstairs into her bedroom or personal bathroom would pose an even greater threat to her privacy and sense of security. Besides, even family members within the same household don't like getting into a dirty bathtub after someone else used it.

KeyZOid

Question: When Korben first drops of Leeloo at the Priest's apartment, he is wearing a tank top. At the seam of his shoulder running vertically is a scar. The year before, Die Hard with a Vengeance premiered and McClane was injured in that same spot. Seemed like a strange bit to add to T5E. Did anyone recall any backstory or explanation for that scar? Other than his general only survivor of his unit (don't tell Fingers, that deserter!) description.

Answer: Bruce Willis has had that scar since he was 17, as a result of surgery after a broken arm.

Jon Sandys

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