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: How is Gretl (youngest child) 5 years old if her mother died 7 years ago? Shouldn't the children all be at least 7?

Answer: Their mother didn't die "seven years ago", she died "several years ago."

Bishop73

Question: If Skynet was prevented from coming online, how did Legion develop the idea for creating terminators?

Darth Crucible

Answer: Skynet and Legion were both developed for identical purposes: defense network artificial intelligence. It stands to reason they would both evolve in similar ways. Since both Skynet and Legion were fighting a similar human resistance, they both developed similar infiltration units.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Yes. Reese explains that the terminators used to have rubber skin and were easy to spot. The T-800 has living human skin so it's impossible to tell by simply looking at them. That is why the resistance starts using dogs to spot terminators. The terminator that attacks the base looks entirely human and only the dogs know anything is out of the ordinary.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: In the initial chase scene when Max secured the Semi for pulling the tanker, the driver of the car with the man in back firing the triple arrow cannon gets the snake dropped on him and fires the arrows into the back of the driver's seat. The arrows stop because of the padding. Am I mistaken, or did the arrows not go through enough to reach the driver?

Movie Nut

Answer: From what I saw in that scene, the arrows did penetrate through the padding into the driver, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Scott215

Question: What did Phillips mean when he said 5 bodies in 4 graves?

Answer: The widow Winship was pregnant. The Horseman killed her unborn child with a sword-thrust to her belly and then killed her, therefore, there are two bodies in her grave. Along with the other three victims, that makes five victims in four graves.

Phaneron

Question: Towards the end, it's revealed that Owen's men captured Mia before he got captured after the tank fiasco-presumably as leverage, seeing how things played out with Owen. But if the team lets Owen go, how does that make it any harder to rescue Mia? Sure, they could threaten to kill Mia if they don't let Owen go, but what about the rescuing itself?

Answer: Owen Shaw is a dangerous terrorist and may have a plan to make it difficult to rescue Mia.

Question: In the final sequence, Buffalo Bill turns off the lights. After agent Starling shots Buff Bill, the lights come back on immediately. How are they turned on?

Answer: She empties her revolver to kill Bill. As she does, she also shoots out of the window behind him. This is shown in the film.

I had the same question. The lighting doesn't look like coming from a window – a basement window.

I mean, obviously it's probably too much light to be coming out of the window realistically. But in the context of the movie, Clarice has just conquered the villain and saved the day, so having the light be bright is likely also a bit of a stylistic thematic choice. Light is associated with "good," and she has moved "out of the darkness," so to speak. So, they had the scene lit nice and brightly.

TedStixon

Question: How do the three Mexicans get into Llewyn's room right after Anton kills them?

Answer: Anton kills them in Llewelyn's room. The Mexicans were waiting for Llewelyn to return to his room (138) but he saw their truck and the curtains open so went to another motel, then returns and books another room (38) in the original motel so he can get the money from the vent. Anton enters the room to get the money (and kill Llewelyn if he's there), but finds the Mexicans there so he kills them, by which time Llewelyn has retrieved the money and escaped.

Sierra1

Question: Who did Spiderlegs belong too? Paul told Terry to put the E.L.F back on before NASA finds out. But then Terry claims they paid $450,000 for it and Paul says "Harry's masterpiece is a piece of junk." Was it owned by NASA? Did NASA build it for them?

Answer: It is probably the same arrangement as the DANTE I and II robots that Spiderlegs was based on. The real robots were built and operated by Carnegie Mellon University for NASA, so NASA paid for them but they were used by CMU. Terry says that they (USGS) put $450,000 "into this beast" - he didn't say it was their money and he was probably referring to NASA's money which was why NASA had such a stake in the robot and would not be happy about a risky move like removing the ELF beacon.

Sierra1

Question: How come Graham was able to drive a car up to Ruth's house but couldn't for the life of him figure out how a telephone worked? When it was still ringing he said "Hello" thinking she'd answered.

Answer: He's young and he and his sister are alone. He's worried about his Grandma and she's not answering the phone. He's saying hello because he desperately wants her to answer so he knows she's OK. He feels helpless just letting the phone ring.

The_Iceman

Question: Is there any particular reason why Maleficent needs to lure Aurora up into the tower to have her prick her finger? We see that Maleficent magically creates the spinning wheel herself, so couldn't she have just done that in Aurora's bedchamber?

Answer: Being that Aurora is a princess, she would have many servants and other attendants constantly tending to her. They could conceivably discover the spinning wheel and prevent Aurora from pricking her finger inside her bedroom. Luring her into the tower makes her more vulnerable. It also adds to the story's drama and suspense.

raywest

Answer: He was probably irrelevant to the plot so he was not included.

Then why would Homer bring it to our attention that Bart is absent?

Ssiscool

It's called lampshade hanging. By drawing our attention to it the producers are letting us know they are aware it is an issue.

Yes, but even when the family is having dinner together, he's not there.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Tim Drake's origin in the DC Animated Universe differs significantly from his origin in the comics, but it also differs greatly from Jason Todd's. This version of the character is unique to this universe, similar to many of the other supporting characters with origin stories that range from being nearly identical to the comics to being entirely different from the comics.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: When Vince Fontain talks to the crowd before the contest starts, he says "you Jims and Sals are my best pals" I understand that's how he addresses the students, but does that expression have any connotation? Why does he use it?

Answer: It's just rhyming slang used by radio hosts.

LorgSkyegon

Question: When Grant comes to find Annie/Joanna, how does he know exactly where to go to find her? He ends up at Dean's house without knowing where he lives.

Answer: This is just speculation, but since he knew what hospital she'd been in, he likely went there and asked who'd claimed her and where they lived. It wouldn't be too difficult.

Question: After Dom burns the money at the exchange house, what happened to the men and women who were in the place?

Answer: The one man is taken to Reyes to explain what happened and who did it. He is then struck across the head and killed. The rest of the works are either sent to a different safe house to continue working for Reyes or killed to ensure they don't have chance to talk to (non corrupt) cops about the illegal activities.

Ssiscool

Answer: Probably, but action/police movies often are unrealistic about depicting laws and police procedures.

raywest

Show generally

Question: What's with the show's title and why does their receptionist rhyme, and why'd she hire such a dork for a partner?

Rob245

Answer: The show's title, "Moonlighting" was a take-off the agency's name, the "Blue Moon Detective Agency." The owner, Maddie Hays, a former model, renamed it after a shampoo brand she was once a spokesperson for. She did not hire her partner, David Addison. He already worked at the agency when Maddie took it over. The agency was struggling financially, and David convinced Maddie, who knew nothing about being a detective, that if she made him a partner, they could make it successful. Agnes, the receptionist, had a very quirky personality, and simply chose to use rhymes when answering the phone.

raywest

Also, the term "moonlighting" refers to someone who works a secondary job, usually at night. Maddie was a former model whose career had waned and the detective agency became her other career.

raywest

Question: Who was the werewolf who killed Jenny? It couldn't have been Joanie as she was seen as having dark brown fur when she turned into a werewolf and the one that killed Jenny had dark gray fur.

Answer: I assumed it was Jake based on what transpired in the previous scene and his face was the last one shown before the elevator door closed. Jake told Ellie he didn't want to lose her, they had something "special", and asked if she would bear with him until he overcame some difficulties. Jake saw Jenny as a pest as well as someone who could ruin his still-developing (blossoming) relationship with Ellie. Jenny confronted Jake about not calling Becky anymore. Jake responded that he put himself "off the market" (was no longer available because he was pursuing Ellie), to which Jenny responded that she was "bummed" (disappointed because Jake was not free to pursue her). Jenny also put her hand over Jake's shoulder, which Jake did not like because he was not interested in her and was afraid that Ellie would see (which she may have). To top it off, Jenny kept following Jake around the room when he was talking to other people. Jenny was clingy and persistent - so had to be eliminated.

KeyZOid

Question: Why wouldn't Harry have told the police and the newspapers that he believed Spider-Man killed Norman? If he did, why wouldn't Jameson write about it? And why would everyone love him? And why wouldn't the police want to question him?

MikeH

Answer: Throughout this film as well as the previous film in this trilogy, Harry wants to exact revenge upon Spider-Man personally, so involving the police could complicate things; if Spider-Man were to be arrested and taken into custody, then Harry would have a much harder time killing Spider-Man himself.

zendaddy621

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