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.

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Question: What is the whole conversation in the first French class between Chris' friend, the teacher and Sarah?

Answer: Translation on the board: "if you would have done your homework, you would understand" Teacher: "I hope you had a good weekend" " (Calls to the students name) Your weekend went good?" Student: "Very good" Teacher: "What did you do during the weekend? Did you go to the beach, or did you find a elegant woman?" "Search for a woman?" Student: "oh did you mean did I get laid" (now you see why he says that) Teacher: "In french, in french! (says students name) " Student: "a lot of... a lot of lay" Girl (sorry I forgot her name): "What a idiot, moron" Teacher: "Well, our new student m'am your french is very good!" (Conversation goes on in English) Teacher: (says what the board says) "if you would have done your homework, you would understand" By the way what they're learning in this French class is L'imparfait tense.

Question: Is it true that, out of all actors who appeared in this movie, only Carlos Gallardo had experience in acting before starring in this film?

Answer: He was not the only professional actor in the film. However, the movie was made on a shoe-string budget, and, to save money, most of the cast were non-professional local residents.

raywest

Question: This 1978 comedy take on the Hound Of The Baskervilles featured a stellar cast of British comedy icons: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Kenneth Williams and Terry Thomas. Yet it was not remotely funny and was a box office bomb. Biographies of cast members say the film was a low point of their careers, their acting lacks conviction, as if they know it isn't funny. So, why did they keep making this film, since, even when it was half completed, everybody knew it would be a total flop?

Rob Halliday

Answer: The actors would have no control over whether a film should continue production, particularly just because they didn't like how it was progressing. They were under contract and paid to act in a movie, regardless of the quality and would be sued if they quit. Movies are financed by studios and investors who expect a monetary return on their investment. Even if the film's quality was considered poor, producers would base their decisions on making a profit or at least recouping the costs. Halting production would be an extreme last resort.

raywest

Thank you for your informative and interesting points. I read a biography of Peter Cook which said that when the film studio executives saw the finished film they realised it just was not funny or entertaining. There was reluctance to give it a cinema release, as it was thought it would not even recoup distribution costs. It was eventually given a limited release and it bombed. I saw the film once on television, even though I am a fan of many members of the cast, I was wholly unimpressed. I think most of the cast, too, were embarrassed by the film.

Rob Halliday

Question: Why didn't Rowan Atkinson reprise his role as Zazu in this movie? Since he voiced Zazu in the first film, why didn't he voice him in this one?

Answer: Atkinson didn't want to do it again because he does not consider himself to be a voice-over actor but rather a visual artist. He said he did not like doing it.

raywest

Moreover, Atkinson claimed that he never wanted to voice Zazu in the first place.

Wine and Roses - S6-E1

Question: When the house is being cleared out, there's a scene in the closet and as the camera is panning around, there's a ball cap sitting on a box with a logo I can't recognize or make out. Does anyone know what the logo is and if it came from an earlier episode or a "Breaking Bad" one?

Bishop73

Answer: It might be the Panavision cap he wore when directing his terrible commercials.

Question: Why does Zamira (Bucho's henchwoman) have no lines of dialogue? Is she mute? Or was it done to make her character enigmatic?

Answer: Having a tough-looking, silent henchman/henchwoman is a pretty common trope in action movies. She's basically there to look tough and mysterious. I wouldn't read into it more than that, especially given how minor the character is. (Minor enough that I had to Google her, because I couldn't even remember her, and I've easily seen this movie a dozen times over the years).

TedStixon

Question: When the Fratellis stumble upon the skeleton corpse, why did Mama think the kids ate him?

Answer: She knew the kids didn't eat him. Jake thought the kids had stolen the money from Chester Copperpot's wallet. Mama made the sarcastic comment to basically say that if the body had been there long enough to decompose, then anyone could have stolen his money in that time.

Answer: She was being sarcastic toward Jake since he made a stupid comment about the kids taking money from the corpse.

Show generally

Question: I may have this scenario slightly wrong, since I haven't seen it since the show was brand-new, but is there a scene in one episode where Mork (just him-no egg) falls from the sky and into a lake or some kind of body of water? I slightly remember this as a kid but wanted to see if I was right. Anyone know what episode this was from?

Answer: Maybe s02e02, "Mork in Wonderland, Part 2"? Mork started shrinking in part 1 and continued till he became microscopic and fell down a space warp into the lake of another world.

Bishop73

Yes, that was it. I found it shortly after submitting the question, but thank you anyway.

Question: In Kissingtown, if the fortune-teller girl is actually Snow White in disguise, why did she only point out the mirror's location after Virginia gave her money?

Answer: It was a test of Virginia's kindness and patience. Snow White wanted to observe how she would act.

Question: Why would there be a tunnel system with an industrial bathroom beneath a house in a neighborhood? I know John Kramer was involved in real estate with his wife and lawyer before he became Jigsaw, so it would make sense that he probably designed it, I'm just not sure what purpose it would serve.

Phaneron

Answer: It serves as the perfect location for John to set up and play his "games."

jacrispy

But it was mentioned in Saw IV that John was involved in real estate development prior to becoming Jigsaw. So if those tunnels already existed underneath those houses, what purpose would they serve?

Phaneron

Unless the houses were built on a former industrial unit which would explain the tunnels and industrial bathroom. But it wouldn't explain why they were left there when the houses were built.

Ssiscool

Question: How exactly did Lecter receive the toilet paper note?

Answer: While it isn't specified in the film, if Lecter was receiving mail by his attorney, the staff at the asylum would be prohibited from opening the letter. I believe it was sent as a letter appearing to be from his attorney.

jacrispy

Question: In the movie the vending machine appears to have 5 rows of C4 stacked with 10 blocks each. Wouldn't that much C4 actually level the entire block instead of just part of the building?

Answer: No. C4 is a simple compound explosive, not a nuclear weapon.

stiiggy

Question: When Lamont is struggling to stop the Phurba from cutting his throat, how did he finally manage to get control over the Phurba and use it to stab Khan?

Answer: Mind control over matter.

turkman143

Answer: He had never gone up against someone like him. A man who not only knew how to harness his abilities, but had mastered them as well, like young Luke going up against Vader. He finally found the strength and the courage to fight and defeat him.

Answer: He mentions in the movie that he sees Jesse as a trailer trash low life and didn't think he was good enough to date his niece.

The Harassed - S10-E12

Question: There is a laugh track sound about the mention of Julia's book, "Day-Trade Your Way Out of Debt." I've heard of day-trading but don't really understand it. What is funny about the book title?

Answer: Day trading is a risky form of speculation where one can lose a lot of money, and is not a good plan to get out of debt.

Brian Katcher

Answer: The body was fake, made by the scientists at Hawkins Lab in an attempt to cover up his disappearance and the existence of the Upside Down.

Question: When Ethan is tied to a chair and Max is attempting to view the first tainted NOC list, there's a device the shows rising numbers which we are to assume is a bad thing. "26, 27. So far so good." What do these numbers signify? How are these numbers tipping off the CIA? (00:46:00)

Answer: The device was a radio scanner, the numbers represented the strength of the signal which the disk was transmitting to alert the CIA to its location.

Sierra1

Question: What did Claude say in French to Jacques when he choked him for allowing Serafine and Andy to go through the door?

Joey221995

Answer: Claude says in anger while choking him, "Depuis quand tu laisses partir mes invites, Jacques?", which in English translates to, "When did you let my guests go, Jacques?"

Question: What village is McQueen in after stealing the motorcycle? He is stopped by a Nazi solder, but sped away when unable to answer in German. Would this have been located in the village of Eisenberg?

Answer: According to the movie's production info on Wikipedia, most of the exterior scenes, including the motorcycle chases, were filmed in and around the German town of Füssen.

raywest

Question: What's the idea behind the name 'Nils Debruuk'? It's stated he's Norwegian, but 'Debruuk' doesn't sound Norwegian at all, more like someone from the Netherlands?

Answer: Nils Debruuk could be Norwegian by nationality, rather than by race if his parents, Grandparents, etc. immigrated to Norway. He may also be part Norwegian on his maternal side if his mother had a child by someone from another country. It is also possible his mother was full-blooded Norwegian and his father was half and had a non-Norwegian father. There's a number of possibilities. I did an Internet search on the name. In that form, I didn't find anything as a surname. There is De Bruuk, which is an area in the Netherlands.

raywest