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: Did anyone else notice how much more blue Sue's eyes seemed to be in this movie than the first? Was that a mistake or intentional?

Answer: I would assume that the director wanted to make her appear closer to the comic book Sue...this would also explain how blonde her hair is in this film.

Stefanie

Question: This applies to most prison movies, but is most prevalent in Shawshank. How, roughly, would a prison contraband system like what Red has set up work? It's made clear that Red can get pretty much anything, for the right price, and it's shown that the contraband he "orders" comes in with laundry and the like - so he obviously has somebody on the outside that finds out what Red needs, buys it, and then has it smuggled in. But how does Red get his "order" out? And what's in it for the outside contacts? They're paying for the posters, whiskey, playing cards, etc with their money and taking a risk by sneaking it into the prison. what is Red doing to make it worth their while? I know prisoners make money for their work but it's a very small amount and there's no way he could earn enough to make a profit. Red has a life sentence, so he can't promise his buddies on the outside (smuggling in the goods) that he'll pay them back when he gets out. Also, on the inside (of every prison movie ever) prisoners always do their bartering with packs of cigarettes as currency. Where do all these smokes come from? Do prisons issue rations of cigarettes? They can't all be contraband.

Answer: Since very little is mentioned about Red's life outside of prison, any number of possibilities could exist. Perhaps Red comes from a wealthy family with connections. Perhaps Red became very good friends with a former guard who still makes sure his little system works. It would appear that all of the guards and even the warden know about the system but do nothing about it figuring that it keeps morale from getting low.

Damian Torres

Answer: Taking into account a few dollars to someone in prison is valuable...It seems as if Red has a contact on the outside who simply provides him with requested items. Red probably sends money to the source in reverse of how the items are sent in. Each person who touches it (the loading dock guy, the source, etc.) probably gets a piece of Red's take.

It seems that they all get paid in cigarettes. Two packs seems to be the going rate for virtually every transaction point. The most obvious contact point for Red is also in the movie, the guy running the laundry truck operation who himself bribes the guards.

Question: ***Question contains spoiler*** OK, maybe I'm dense, but what was the point of killing the kid? Was it just another scene designed to shock the audience?

wizard_of_gore

Answer: The kids were beating on Beth. If she was beaten and bruised she's worth less money. So Sasha told the "leader" of the gang to choose one to die or he will.

Chosen answer: I think it was meant to show that there is a line that the kids can't cross - if they do, then one of them will get sacrificed...hence why the adult doesn't show any mercy in doing it, and the kids know that something nasty is about to happen.

Sam Johnson

Question: I am confused about the battle of Osgiliath. Are there orcs attacking the city, or just the Nazgul? Also, how many Nazgul are there (just the one we see or more)? When Faramir shows Frodo the way out through the sewers (Extended DVD) have the Gondorians won the battle or is it still going? And last of all, is the battle of Osgiliath in the third movie (where the orcs are coming in on rafts) a continuation of this battle, or are the orcs seen in the third movie reinforcements?

Blibbetyblip

Chosen answer: Osgiliath is under attack from an army consisting mainly of Orcs, but with at least one member (probably more) of the nine Nazgul operating from time to time in the air. In the final film, Osgiliath is still under siege, but the newcomers on the rafts represent major reinforcements, more than enough to take the city before continuing on to Minas Tirith. At this point, Sauron has committed to a major offensive, so all nine Nazgul are in the fray along with his huge army of Orcs, Trolls, Mumakil and so on.

Tailkinker

Question: Is Evana Lynch British? I know that all the people in the films are supposed to be British, but I don't hear much of an accent at all on Luna.

Answer: She's Irish.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: So is the loophole used to get Chazz and Jimmy back into the figure skating arena actually in the Olympic Pairs skating rules somewhere?

Answer: It wasn't really a loopole in the rules of figure skating that they found. When the two were banned from figure skating, the board specified that the two were banned from singles skating. Therefore they would be able to skate as doubles, since it wasn't a general ban from figureskating as a whole. But no, doubles skating rules specify the pair must be a man and a woman.

Ian Mugford

Answer: The loophole isn't that they are a male-male team. The loophole is that the rules stated that a lifetime ban from the sport is only valid for the skaters division in which they were banned. So as long as they do pairs skating male-male or male-female, they can compete again, but all real competitions state that it has to be a male-female pair.

Question: Near the end of the film, when McClane, his daughter Lucy, and the hacker Matt Farrell are about to leave in the ambulance, there is a sign with the number 5 hanging out of a warehouse in the background - does this mean there will be a Die Hard 5?

Allister Cooper, 2011

Chosen answer: Looks like a standard 5 mph speed sign to me. You can't read too much into that. In addition though, Bruce Willis has already stated in a few interviews that he'd be more than happy to do another one.

XIII

Question: How was Blackout (the Helicopter Decepticon) killed, exactly? I understand he noticed the humans sneaking up on him when catching a glimpse of their laser targets, but even compared to the other robots he seemed to fall pretty abruptly.

Answer: The lasers targeted Blackout in the same manner as they targeted Megatron. The Air Force used guided munitions to take out Blackout. The soldiers assisted the AF by shooting him with smaller sabot rounds to take him down a little quicker, that's all.

dablues7

Chosen answer: Her boyfriend, who never appeared in the movie.

Jason Riley

Question: Anyone know how he got into Noah's office towards the end? I saw him go up the stairs, but it appears he would need a key card to get in without breaking anything.

Answer: Knowing Bourne, he must have had a keycard on his person. Remember that Landy guided Bourne back to the CIA New York Headquarters; she could have easily slipped a keycard in the Taxi Cab when Bourne was being picked up at the airport. All he would have to do then is avoid being detected by using the fire exits (hence going through the back).

Jason Riley

Question: Is the "Fire Sale" procedure used in this movie a real-world idea or just a movie creation? Could it ever happen?

Answer: It is strictly hypothetical and most likely couldn't happen without having many, many insiders and the best hackers in the world, but even then, who knows if that could be probable in a "Post 9/11" climate.

Jason Riley

Show generally

Question: In the episode where Will works as a waiter and dresses up as a pirate, another waiter tells Uncle Phil that the parrot he (Uncle Phil) is wearing is on his left shoulder. What does he mean?

Answer: It has to do with the fact that when males get one ear pierced, the left means they are straight and the right supposedly means they are gay.

Piemanmoo

Question: What are Palpatine and Dooku's first names?

Answer: Palpatine's first name was Sheev. Dooku is a mononym, like Cher or Madonna.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: Dantius Palpatine and Jard Dooku, although these are only given in non-official documentation.

Phixius

Question: After Alex finds his father and is driving back home, we see a scene from the hospital, where Lara (or another nurse?) is talking to Alex's mother and telling her that the Berlin Wall collapsed, and that Germany is united. But later, Alex's mother acts like she's unaware of this, and Alex himself also states that she never knew the truth. Why?

Answer: Lara did indeed tell Alex's mother the truth. Realizing how much her son had done for her, she left him with the illusion that she never found out. The audience knows better.

Ioreth

Question: When the people in the military base channel the All Spark to create a Transformer, it is evil and tries to shoot them; and the Transformers that Sam creates from machines in the city by accident also appear to attack the humans around them. If the All Spark can only create evil Transformers then where did the good ones come from?

Moose

Chosen answer: I don't think we have enough information to say that it only creates evil transformers. I think it would be more accurate to say that it creates transformers that ACT bad, which could be because they don't know the difference yet. There is a difference between amoral and immoral. Amoral creatures don't know the difference and could then do a lot of bad things in their excitement for being created. Immoral creatures do bad things because they know they're bad. Alternatively the transformers are actually evil because they're interacting with earth technology, all of which was derived from Megatron who's very much evil already.

Garlonuss

Question: In J. Jonah Jameson's office there are several front pages framed on his wall, including one that says "Doc Ock still at large". I know it was from Spider-Man 2, but is its inclusion here a clue to his return in a possible fourth of fifth movie?

Answer: Not really. As far as the authorities are concerned, Doc Ock IS still at large. Only Spider-man and Mary Jane know he died.

Question: Who is the actor is that originally played Joe in the MTV short?

Answer: Looks like Mark Rosenthal. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104564/.

Andrea Hartley

Question: Are Indiana Jones and his father immortal at the end of the movie or does the grail's power become null and void when it crosses the seal? The knight said something like "The grail cannot cross the seal, that is the price of immortality." That makes it sound like they are not immortal at the end but I still want to check.

Blibbetyblip

Chosen answer: They're not, no. An individual doesn't become immortal after one drink - it requires them to drink regularly in order to remain alive. So neither Jones has been rendered immortal, merely healed of any wounds that they might have. But your surmise is basically correct - as the Grail cannot leave the shrine, any individual wishing to use it to prolong their life must stay there if they wish to enjoy its effects.

Tailkinker

Also, in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, Henry Jones, Sr has passed away before the start of the story and therefore was not immortal.

raywest

Question: On the 2nd Disc, there is an interview with director Alfonso Cuaron and J.K. Rowling. In the interview, Rowling states that Cuaron unknowingly put some clues in the movie that foreshadow events that happen in books 6 an 7. I have read books 6 and 7 and I re-watched the movie, but I still have no idea what clues Rowling was referring to. Could someone please fill me in?

Blibbetyblip

Chosen answer: Semi-spoilers, but just a few things that I noticed: Lupin speaking about Lily, saying that she saw the good in anyone, Hermione and Ron's little "moments" which were much more plentiful than in the 3rd book, and Snape protecting Harry from the werewolf when he could have run. I'm sure there might be more, but also keep in mind that between the making of this movie and the release of the final books, JKR did change/edit several things so some "clues" might foreshadow things that never made it into the books.

Question: So is the loophole used to get Chazz and Jimmy back into the figure skating arena actually in the Olympic Pairs skating rules somewhere?

Answer: No. International Skating Union regulations clearly states that the pair has to be a man and a woman.

Mortug

That wasn't the loophole. The loophole was that a ban is only good for the division where the skater was banned. If they were banned in singles, they could still compete in pairs.

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.