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: After Jason ripped off Freddy's arm, why didn't Freddy simply regenerate his limb? He regenerated both of his arms during their first fight.

Answer: Freddy was able to do that only because his powers work in the dream world, not in the real world.

Rob245

Question: During the shaving the heads scene at the start of the film, I've spotted Pyle, Joker, and Cowboy with their heads getting shaved, but not Snowball. Which one is Snowball in the scene?

Answer: Snowball doesn't appear in the sequence.

Question: How is it that when Ackers falls in the large body of water (assumingly boiling) in the funnel, he dies - yet Mr. Rogo jumping in to try to help is submerged for many seconds underwater and then climbs out alive and overall, not burned?

Answer: Because he doesn't boil, there's no suggestion that the water is that hot. After Ackers falls in, and while Rogo tries to save him, there are two large explosions in the shaft; we can presume that, while Rogo was able to escape, Ackers was injured/trapped/otherwise incapacitated below the surface, and drowned.

Question: Didn't the little girl who saw Ironhide out of the pool report what she saw to her parents or anybody?

Trainman

Answer: Thieves, vandals, drunk teens take your pick. They would believe any of that, before they'd believe a giant alien robot.

Answer: It's unknown if she did but if she had, being a little girl, her parents or other people would have either thought of it as being nothing more than a child's playful imagination, or her just having a strange dream.

What about the damages to the pool and the property?

Trainman

Question: Why is there someone (looks like a policeman) lying in the road when Jeff's girlfriend, Diane, vanishes from the service station? (00:22:00 - 00:24:00)

Answer: He is a crew member lying in the road directly behind the brown G.R.S. Dye Works semi-truck (presumably trying to remain hidden from the camera's view), and we even see his right hand waving off the traffic ahead of him (00:22:05).

Question: What was the point of Jack going to NY? What did he actually achieve? They would have sent helicopters to look for survivors anyway...?

Answer: He was a father searching for his only son. What parent wouldn't do that. Besides, the government decided to evacuate all the southwest of the country, leaving the others to fend for themselves. Like the General said, in the conference room, as in war, we save only the ones we can save. When the cold burst hit everywhere, it was assumed everyone else in the country died. It was only after survivors were found in New York that they discovered all the others.

Question: I read somewhere that Rooney Mara almost quit acting after starring in this movie. Is this true? And what was the reason for her to consider quitting acting?

Answer: She has confirmed this is very true - she did almost quit acting after making this movie. While she didn't come right out and say it, she basically heavily hinted that she thought the movie was absolutely awful (which I'll admit I agree with), and she found it disheartening and discouraging since she was mostly getting offers for other similar low-quality films. She's even flat-out said she didn't want to make this movie... she just took it to have a job. But after doing it, she realised she didn't want to just keep doing a bunch of bad movies, so she contemplated quitting acting altogether. Then she got the script for "The Social Network," and it reinvigorated her spirit and made her decide not to quit.

TedStixon

Question: Why did Shanti lure Mowgli into the village at the end? What was her reason for doing so?

Answer: She was a young girl who was instantly smitten by Mowgli (and he with her) and encouraged him to come into the village, hoping he'd stay. It shows that Mowgli has made the decision to live with humans.

raywest

Question: When Hopper asks the men in the boat if there are any hotels nearby, they say "Walk straight ahead" and Hooper's response to that was to laugh and say "They're all gonna die" - Why were the men going to die exactly?

Answer: The entire town went into a frenzy after Mrs. Kintner offered a reward to kill the shark. People who knew nothing about boats or seamanship were heading out on the ocean, armed with shotguns and explosives. When Sheriff Brody saw that the men were dangerously overloading the small outboard boat, he asked Hooper to warn them, which he did. The men ignored Hooper, then made the sarcastic remark about him walking straight ahead, which would lead Hooper off the end of the pier. They were idiots who Hooper believes will probably drown or blow themselves up.

raywest

Question: What happened to Jack's friend? I think his name was Fabrizio or something I know that at one point he falls into the water but what happened to him after? Did he die?

Answer: Yes. As we see the funnel collapse into the water we see a shot of Fabrizio swimming and then turning onto his back just as the funnel comes down and lands on him.

Ssiscool

Question: Why did Freddy create only one glove for his right hand instead of both?

Answer: He would have been completely helpless with knives on all his fingers, unable do anything other than slash. How would he even strap on a second knife glove?

Brian Katcher

Question: When Max is having dinner with Lucy and her family, why does his reflection show in the mirror if he's really a vampire?

Answer: Max says later that because he was "invited" to come into Lucy's house, then certain identifying vampire traits are nullified and their enemies are rendered powerless. That was why he had a reflection, could eat garlic, which is supposed to repel vampires, and wasn't "burned" by the holy water being thrown on him.

raywest

Ya, but Max wasn't invited by the man of the house. That would be the grandfather. Plot error, then?

Shipper

When was it established that the "man of the house" had to invite them in?

It didn't need to be the "man of the house." When Max arrived for dinner, Michael opened the door. Max just referred to him as the man of the house in a leading way so he will be invited in, knowing it would protect him from being exposed as a vampire.

raywest

Question: When Phil, Stu and Alan were being interrogated by police, why didn't they report Doug's disappearance? If they did, then Doug would have been found much faster.

Answer: They were probably afraid they'd be blamed somehow, especially if Doug turned up dead. Considering they don't have any plausible explanations about what happened, the police would likely be suspicious.

raywest

Question: When John and Nedry are arguing in the control room, John tells Nedry "I don't blame people for their mistakes" - What was the mistake that Nedry made?

Answer: Hammond's comment is a reference to what Nedry said about the amount he bid for the project. It's implied that Nedry has financial problems, and Hammond is basically saying that those problems are not his concern.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: There wasn't one specific thing. Hammond was complaining about the number of computer glitches that were occurring while Grant, Ellie, and the others were on the car tour and also about Nedry's generally sloppy work. Nedry tries to blow off Hammond's concerns and makes excuses, falsely claiming the poor work quality is because he was the lowest bidder for the job.

raywest

Question: As Claire asks Bender "Are all these your girlfriends?" she thumbs through a small collection of ID-Cards. While it'd suit Bender to have nicked or even extorted someone's ID-Card to use it for himself, it wouldn't suggest a personal or even intimate relationship. So what are those cards and why would Bender have them? (01:00:00)

Answer: They're not ID cards. They're just wallet photos, apparently of the girls Bender has been with.

kayelbe

Question: Is this true that there was a feud between Bruce Willis and John Amos on set? And, if it's true, then what was the reason behind their feud?

Answer: Amos said in an interview that there was tension on the set between him and Bruce Willis that was reflected on screen. He claimed Willis had humiliated him in public, though it wasn't specified what that was. Willis has a reputation of being difficult to work with and has had documented disputes with other actors, directors, and producers.

raywest

Question: Why were the bank intruders digging a hole, finally reaching a large pipe?

Answer: The hole was a makeshift toilet in the hiding space where Dalton Russell stayed until he exited the bank some days later. One of the robbers, while it's being dug, comments about it being used for that purpose.

raywest

Question: When we first see Alan Grant, he and his team are excavating old dinosaur bones. Given that this is a time when Dinosaurs roam freely on earth, why is he even bothering? He could learn far more from simply studying a live dinosaur than its bones. And secondly, given that dinosaurs are alive and free, who is gonna have the slightest interest in bones that are millions of years old. I considered this a goof, but I'm opened to any explanations.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: The live dinosaurs are genetically tweaked recreations, they're not the "pure" dinosaurs of the past, which would still be of great interest. Plus just like any other archaeology or historical study, there's always more to be learned about the past, and a great many people are interested in what the past has to teach us.

Answer: Agree with the other answer but would add that while to date about 1000 species of dinosaurs have been identified, it is believed there are at least 1,000 more types that existed and are still to be discovered and studied. Only a tiny fraction of the known species were cloned by In-Gen and Biosyn, and, as noted in the other answer, they are not genetically pure. Also, there is much to learn about dinosaurs' habitat, range, species evolution and decline, mating habits, health and diet, the existing climate at the time, and so on. That would be why paleontologists like Alan Grant continue digging.

raywest

Answer: The existing answers are good. In the movie, Alan Grant actually asked, "Why do we dig?" and answered his question, "Because paleontology is science [fossil animals and plants], and science is about the truth. And there is truth in these rocks." [00:20:52].

KeyZOid

Answer: The actor was diagnosed with cancer and was going through treatment, and was physically unwell. As a result, he had to drop out of multiple projects, including "Malcolm in the Middle." He sadly passed away five years later.

TedStixon

Answer: Because the actor died unfortunately.

He actually died five years after the show ended. It was because he had cancer and was going through treatment, and was physically unable to continue doing some of his roles.

TedStixon

Question: After Alex has stolen his furniture and killed Claire, he says to Michael "OK, now we are even." So why did he continue to stalk him and plant evidence? What was his motivation there?

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Everything he does is a lie. 'Confess to one lie but continue another. Nothing like it to confuse people.' That's why the Spader character is so distraught. He can't make head nor tail of the guy.

Answer: Because that's what psychopaths do.

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