Question: In the Chamber, right before the Basilisk blasts out of the water, Tom Riddle says something about Lord Voldemort returning. As he says this, he holds out a hand in front of him and stares at it. Is there a reason for this?
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Question: What was the deal with Magneto switching the metal squares in Cerebro around? They said Prof. X just needed to concentrate on a certain group of people, and the 'little girl' was telling him to concentrate on the mutants and then the humans, and we already saw he could switch between them without aid so why was rearranging the plates necessary?
Answer: He could switch between them in Cerebro. In Cerebro 2 (built at Alkali Lake), the plates had to be moved to find/kill one or the other. Stryker deliberately set it up that way so that Professor X couldn't hurt any humans (like himself or his troops) if he came to his senses in the second Cerebro.
Question: There is a scene in the movie in which Arnie disguises as a woman to pass the entrance control in Mars. Moments later, the mask he's using starts to malfunction and he has to take it off. When he's doing that, we can see that the man who's playing Quaid is not Arnie but a stunt double. Why did the director choose a stunt double to replace Arnie in a scene that's not risky at all?
Answer: It's not a stunt double, it's a mannequin (fake head actually) of Arnie, used for the artificial head shot.
Question: At the beginning of the movie, Quaid has a friend at work (if my mind's not failing me his name is Harry) that tells him not to go to Recall because some person got lobotomised. Later, when Quaid is returning from Recall his friend stops him and tries to kidnap (or kill) him because Quaid "talked about Mars". I can't understand the role that this man has in the plot. Quaid told his wife that this man is a spy (I wonder how he knew that), and I'd like to know which side he seems to be fighting for (the Agency or the rebels).
Answer: It depends on whether you choose to believe the events of the film are real or in Quaid's lobotomized brain. If the events are real (i.e. Quaid is actually Houser with his memories blocked) then Harry is from the agency and is there to make sure Quaid doesn't say or do anything that would potentially break his memory block (like going to Recall). If you believe everything is in Quaid's mind after he goes to Recall, then Harry really was just his friend.
Answer: Harry works for the Agency the same way Arnie's wife did. While the wife watched him at home, Harry was to watch him at work. Harry told Arnie that story to keep him from going to Recall and to keep him from having to kill Arnie for bringing up his memories of Mars.
Question: Is the Bowie knife named after Jim Bowie because he invented it or because he became famous for using it?
Answer: There were several versions of the knife over time - the original was believed to have been designed by his brother Rezin Bowie, but the subsequent versions were Bowie's own designs. For more information, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife.
Question: How did Cameron Drake know his former literature teacher Howard Brackett was gay, if nobody, not even Howard himself, knew it?
Answer: He made an assumption, based on certain things he'd observed, which turned out to be true. Other people in town must clearly have had similar ideas about Howard - witness all the Streisand albums at his bachelor party - but Cameron was probably just the first one to voice it aloud. And it was just as well for Howard, because it set him on the road to discovering the truth about himself.
Question: How much of her own singing did Hilary Duff actually do in the movie?
Answer: All of the singing that Hilary Duff did in the film is her own. This is stated in the credits of the songs she did.
Question: I don't really understand Josh's comment to Mary Marsh on TV ("Lady, the god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud."). Could someone please explain it to me?
Answer: It's in reference to the many televangelists and revival ministers usually associated with the right-wing that have been convicted of tax fraud (Jim Bakker and Tamy Faye being a more famous set). Occasionally, the more unscrupulous ministers have bilked millions from believers all in the name of God.
Question: Anyone know why the clone army is so small? I think the Kamino-guy says there are 200,000 ready and a million more on the way. China's army is almost twice that size. For a galactic war, troop counts in the billions would be necessary. And just one of those droid factories could probably pump out hundreds of thousands in a week.
Answer: Generally speaking, as technology improves, the actual size of an army in terms of manpower goes down. The clone army has not been constructed to fight a war on the galactic scale - it's more intended to be an elite fighting force for putting down planetary scale insurrections. The droid armies would certainly have numerical superiority, but they would lack tactical flexibility, plus have at least one potential flaw (as exposed in the Phantom Menace) - the clones can take advantage of that and should be able to defeat considerably larger forces.
Question: There are numerous mentions of the fact that Depp based his performance as Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards. But I'm sure I saw an interview/making-of programme where he said that Jack Sparrow was a combination of two real-life 'characters'; one was Keith Richards, and try as I might, I can't remember the other one. Did anyone else see this? Who was the other inspiration for Jack Sparrow? (It may have been another actor e.g. Orlando Bloom talking *about* Johnny Depp's influences etc.).
Answer: On Disc 3, Johnny explains, "Take something as solid as Keith Richards and combine it with Pepé Le Pew... I felt... he would resemble a modern day Rastafarian..." Pepé Le Pew is a Looney Tunes cartoon character, based on Charles Boyer's romantic character, Pepé Le Moko. Pepé Le Pew, however, is a romantic amorous cartoon skunk and he has a huge flaw - his 'odor', which he emits in a grand way.
Question: Does anyone know how long the war with the machines has actually been going on or what year it actually is in the real world?
Question: What is the role of Robert Englund in this movie? Is he and Freddy Krueger supposed to be the same (as his picture and disappearance indicate) or two different characters (as the credits indicate)?
Answer: In the beginning he is just Robert Englund, but as the film goes on, the characters start becoming who they were in Nightmare 1, so he begins to become Freddy, and goes away so he doesn't harm anyone. The demon that looks like Freddy isn't Freddy, just a demon who takes the shape of the character Freddy.
Question: Which Smith does Neo fight at the end in the Super Brawl? I ask because at the end you see a shot of the Oracle lying unconscious in the middle of the street in the pouring rain, hinting maybe it was Oracle Smith Neo fought, to rub in the irony that the machine that was most behind the human's cause was the one to do them in. So which Smith was it? Original Smith, Oracle Smith, one of the other programs Neo encountered, or just a generic Smith?
Question: Does Legolas have an age? I've read somewhere that it's 2931, but did Tolkien ever record one? Also, now that I'm on that subject, what is Aragorn's age? Did Tolkien record THAT as well?
Answer: There is no record of when Legolas was born. But it is commonly believed that Arwen is the last Elf born in Middle-Earth, and she is 2,777 years old at the time of the War of the Ring. So Legolas is older than that. Aragorn was born (according to the timeline in the appendix to "Lord of the Rings") in year 2931 of the Third Age, 87 years before the War.
Question: Shouldn't Jay already know that the bus charges for fare, seeing as how he bought two bus tickets in "Chasing Amy" to set up his and Silent Bob's meeting Bethany in "Dogma"?
Question: What film/text/person does Kitty Farmer confuse with Graham Greene when she replies to Rose Darko: 'I think we've all seen Bonanza.'?
Answer: Lorne Greene was the star of Bonanza which aired regularly from 1959 until 1973. He played Ben Cartwright, the wise widowed father of Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe.
Question: Does anyone have any idea exactly how much in common the series is to the movie? As in what details changed, and do the events from the movie even transpire into the series?
Chosen answer: The series followed on from the original script that Joss Whedon wrote, which was in turn radically different to the movie that was released - thus numerous references to Buffy burning down a building at her old school, which never happened in the movie. Basically, the only story that follows over is this: Buffy was a student at Hemory High, quite popular (she compares herself to Cordelia) until Merrick, her first Watcher, discovered her and told her her destiny. While fighting a group of vampires, Merrick ended up dead (according to Whedon, he was trapped by a group of them and was forced to kill himself to avoid being turned); Buffy later trapped the vampires in the school gym and burned it to the ground, resulting in her expulsion from Hemory and her move to Sunnydale.
Question: At the beginning of the movie, the brother is a loser who works at Burger King. At the end, he wears a suit and work at an office. As a presumably successful business man, wouldn't he have moved out of his parents' house?
Answer: Who says he didn't? Perhaps he lives close enough to come over for breakfast each morning. There isn't enough information in the scene to show that he still lives there; he is simply sitting at the table.
Answer: Even though the brother now has a steady career and would normally have his own place, this is a movie-plot device using a "suspension of disbelief." The audience needs to be able to see Marty's reaction and surprise as to how every McFly family member has changed for the better. We just accept the premise.
Answer: If we presume he's living at home, wearing a suit to an office job doesn't really reflect on his success or wealth, and he's still just 21 or 22 years old. He may still be in college and just working on the weekend and living at home to save money.
Question: Can anyone tell me if Santa Anna really ran away from Houston's forces as it shows in the movie? And was that battle really over in 18 minutes? (Not being an American or a Texan for that matter, I have very little knowledge about what happened at the Alamo, I'm just curious).
Answer: Yes, the battle of San Jacinto really did last 18 minutes. Houston's army surprised the Mexican army while they were taking an afternoon nap.
Answer: The defenders of the Alamo held off Santa Anna's troops for 13 days before a final assault on 6 March 1836, where the complex was stormed just before dawn. The battle ended by sunrise. Santa Anna was captured at the Battle of San Jacinto in April of the same year, and Texas won its independence from Mexico. Also check www.thealamo.org for detailed information and links.
Answer: In a way. Santa Anna tried to pass himself off as a common soldier, but when he was captured, his men spilled the beans by calling him by his title.
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Chosen answer: As it states in the film Tom Riddle is Voldemort; as he was at school, and he put the memory of himself into the diary. Whilst in the chamber he is taking the life out of Ginny Weasly to bring himself back and get voldemort back to full power again. So as he pulls the power out of Ginny he is becoming more than a memory and therefore solid - this is why he is looking at his hand, he's watching himself become solid and real again.
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