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: Why is it that the bullet bounced off Albert chest, and didn't pierce into his skin or anything, yet the knife blade was able to enter Dinah? I never understood why the bullet did no damage to him, yet the blade did.

Hamster

Chosen answer: Because as time runs down, food loses its taste, drinks lose their fizz and the gunpowder in the bullet had lost most of its explosive force. It was unable to propel the bullet very hard. The knife still retained its edge as physical objects didn't break down.

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: No, he wasn't. To quote J.M. Barrie, "Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze", which rather implies that Hook was supposed to have been an important individual at some earlier point in his life. The only other clue to his history is that Barrie mentions that he attended Eton.

Tailkinker

Question: I was wondering if in the books, or in any other literature/discussion about the story, whether Professor Kirke is Mr. Tumnus' father? They certainly looked like each other in this movie and it seemed to be implied during the scene in the credits.

Answer: The professor is not Tumnus's father. In the credits scene, the professor wants to get back to Narnia because he was there as a boy (in the book "The Magician's Nephew").

Xofer

Question: Why does the film involve two Queen songs, one in the pub ("Don't Stop Me Now") and one in the credits?

Answer: Is there some reason why it shouldn't? They presumably chose them because they liked them and thought that they fitted well.

Tailkinker

Question: What does the "pop, six, squish, sisarow, lipshits." or whatever it was? I didn't catch it too good, but what did it mean? It was in the "He had it comin'" song. (I know the pop refered to the gum, six was about his six wives and Lipshits was the name of the boyfriend.) What were the other two?

Hamster

Chosen answer: Each sound had a significance in the story told by the convict. "Pop" was the sound of the chewing gum. "Six" was the number of wives. "Squish" was the sound of her husband "running into" her knife ten times. "Uh-Uh" was the response from the one who was asked "did you do it?" Cicero was the name of the hotel where Velma killed her husband and sister. Lipschitz was the name of the boyfriend who went to "find himself."

K.C. Sierra

Question: What was the point of putting Yen in a bag with a men's soccer team?

Answer: The bag with Yen in it got mixed up at the hotel. It was designed to sneak him in without anyone knowing he was there, but it backfired.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Answer: Police had a sketch of Yen as CZJ saw him and Danny when Rusty opened his hotel room door and they figured this was the best way to smuggle Yen out of the hotel. Police were shown sitting outside the hotel in a car on watch.

Question: In the 'Remembering Z-day' scene near the film's end, where Shaun is watching clips of the zombie-outbreak aftermath where soldiers run in and shoot all the zombies, one soldier can be seen taking cover behind a tree as if in a firefight. Why would he need to take cover when he's battling slow-moving, melee-only zombies?

Answer: Soldiers tend to fight like they train. It becomes almost instinctive to find cover before firing your weapon.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Are the creatures we actually witness, eating up the LAX airport, actually Langoliers? I have heard from friends who have read the book that they are not Langoliers. Also Mr. Toomy's description of them (he says they have legs and are hairy) doesn't hold up. Are they Langoliers? If not, what are they? And if not, why do the characters refer to them as Langoliers?

Hamster

Chosen answer: The Langoliers don't exist, they are Toomey's version of the boogeyman. The creatures that "eat" the past are close enough to what Craig believes that he thinks they are the Langoliers. And it's as good as anything else to call them, so all the others adopt the name as well. No one could actually know what they are called as most people move into the future along with the natural flow of time and the few that do travel into the past are eventually killed by them.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Sequins are small, flat, shiny ornamentations that are attached to clothing to give the garment a metallic look. The nights are saying that between quests, they sit arround sewing these items onto vests.

wizard_of_gore

Question: What are cowl flaps? What is their purpose?

Answer: Cowl flaps are used to adjust to volume of air that passes over the cooling fins of an aircraft piston engine. Under takeoff and landing these flaps are open to allow maximum airflow and under normal flight they are closed to maintain normal engine temperature.

Andreas[DK]

Question: I read somewhere that at the very end of the film, when the flying saucer has flown away, you can hear Scully whisper "I saw it" or something to that effect. Has anyone tried listening for that?

Answer: It's actually fairly clear. I've heard it every time I've watched the movie.

MoonFaery

Answer: 4349: Gabby Solis (was also in the Jimmy Stewart film "Harvey"). 4353: Susan Mayer (was also in The Hardy Boys and Deep Impact). 4355: Lynette Scavo (was also in Bedtime for Bonzo). 4350: Martha Huber. 4352: Mary Alice Young (also in Leave it to Beaver). 4354: Bree Van DeCamp (also in The 'Burbs and Providence). 4356: Mike Delfino.

Karoo

Question: About how long would Annie's cab ride in the beginning of the movie have taken in real time?

Answer: From LAX to Downtown, about 40 minutes to an hour. Depending on the traffic getting out of the airport and heading to downtown.

Jane Doe

Living in LA all my life, I can tell you the drive can be made in 20 minutes, without speeding. This is of course given light traffic conditions, which seems to be the case in the movie. Heavy traffic will add time of course, I'd say 45-50 mins at the most. (A quick Google Maps search just put the drive at 22 mins).

jshy7979

Question: What is the title of the song playing when Bill is dying after the Bride performs the five point exploding heart on him?

Answer: Taken Directly from imdb.com: The music that plays during Bill's (David Carradine) death scene is the theme from the film Navajo Joe (1966). It can also be heard in the film Election (1999) during the scene where Tracy (Reese Witherspoon) tears down the posters in the school's hallway.

moviemogul

Question: Why does Herbie have the number 53? Is there a special reason for this number?

Answer: I found this through a short Google search. On the website http://local.aaca.org/junior/starcars/herbie.htm Bill Walsh, producer of "The Love Bug" came up with the number 53 from Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Don Drysdale's uniform. He chose the red, white, and blue racing stripes for a patriotic theme.

moviemogul

Question: When Sam and Carter and Rhonda are at the costume place looking for costumes for Sam, what is the costume that Carter points to and says, "There is this one"?

Answer: He is pointing to a red dress with some sort of black coat. Possibly a female Dracula costume.

moviemogul

Question: Did the pair of Levi's used in the movie actually fit all of the actresses, or did they all have their own pair? If it fit them all, did they have multiple pairs?

Answer: It seems nearly impossible that one pair of pants would actually fit four actresses of such different heights and weights. One of the "magic" properites of the pants was that they did manage to fit all the girls in the story, so it's probably safe to assume that different pairs were actually used for filming.

Krista

Question: What nationality are the actors that play the "natives" of Skull Island?

Answer: Several of them were native New Zealanders, such as the young girl (Jacinta Wawatai) and the old hag (Vicky Haughton).

Mad Ade

Question: What are the nuns doing to Marie de Tourvel when she is sick? What possible benefit did they feel it would have?

ChiChi

Chosen answer: It looked to me like they were performing what is known as "cupping". "Cupping" is a branch of Chinese medicine where a cup (often heated, the so-called "fire cupping") is used to create a vacuum on certain areas of the skin, to simulate acupressure. It is said to relieve respiratory problems and muscular pains ad to stimulate the flow of life energy in the patient. How these French nuns came to know of and approve of the technique is another matter..

Twotall

Question: If the wall around Skull island was built to keep Kong and presumably other creatures such as the dinosaurs in, why was the gate made large enough for them to get through?

Mad Ade

Chosen answer: The original creator of King Kong, Merin C. Cooper, wrote a novel adaption of the movie in which it was explained that the gates were built by a earlier culture of islanders that were friends with the "Kong" race. The "Kongs" helped the original islanders to build their village and the wall (thus meaning the gate had to be big enough for the giant gorillas to walk through). By the time of the events of the movie, the original islanders have "died out" and their old village had been taken over by a race of more primitive natives who became enemies with the Kongs, and were trying to use the gates for safety.

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