Questions about specific movies, TV and more

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Moulin Rouge (2001)

Question: Was Moulin Rouge the only musical to purely use pre-existing songs, or have there been others?

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Chosen answer: Come What May was an original film composition, albeit for Romeo + Juliet, but it ended up not being used until Moulin Rouge! So, depending on how you want to look at that technicality, there could be an argument made that Moulin Rouge! did not use only "pre-existing songs." However, there have been other such musicals; Mamma Mia! being an example. Interesting to note that they both have exclamation marks as part of their titles.

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New this month Answer: Knights Tale being another.

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Answer: Also Rock of Ages is another example.

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New this month Answer: Musicals that use pre-existing songs, or unreleased songs (i.e. songs written before the musical was written), are often called "jukebox musicals" and there's a long list of them going back to the 40's. Jukebox musicals also included musicals centering around an artist or band's album (sometimes these are referred to as "rock operas" and included "Tommy" by The Who and "The Wall" by Pink Floyd.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Question: Does anyone know what game John Connor was playing in the arcade when the T-1000 found him?

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Chosen answer: He's initially playing Missile Command, then he goes to play After Burner.

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The Sweeney (2012)

Question: Does this have anything to do with the 1975 TV show of the same title?

Chosen answer: Yes, it does. The movie is based on the British TV series.

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The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Question: This has always bothered me, Isn't it very convenient that all the cops go down to the sewers and get trapped on the exact same day that Bane takes over Gotham? How could Bane know that was the day the cops were going to try and capture him in the sewers? I admit I may have missed something.

Chosen answer: No handy coincidence involved, it's all part of the plan. Bane's intentionally luring the police down into the sewers. He's made himself a major threat with his attack on the stock exchange, so he knows that it's only a matter of time before the police launch a major search of the tunnels under Gotham to try to find him. As soon as it becomes obvious that the time has come, and a mobilisation of that size would be impossible to pull off with any stealth (we see the mayor having to fend off questions from the press), Bane puts the rest of the plan into action so that he can be ready to launch his takeover once the police have walked into the trap he set for them.

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Twins (1988)

Question: Why did Traven lie to Mary-Ann and tell her that Julius died at birth and that Vincent was never born?

Chosen answer: Because the offspring of this experiment was meant to be studied, researched. Mary-Ann showed signs of maternal attachment toward the end of her pregnancy, which the scientists involved felt would hinder the experiment due to her not wanting her baby poked and prodded at all day, every day. So she was told her baby died at birth and she was sent on her way. There was no point even mentioning the second baby since she never knew she was carrying twins in the first place.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy confronts Tyrell, he says something that I'm having difficulty figuring out. The captions read that he is saying "I want more life... father!" But to me, and I've listened to that part over and over trying to figure it out, it sounds like he is saying "I want more life... fucker!" So is he saying Father, or Fucker?

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Chosen answer: It's a more complicated question than you might think. Two versions of the scene were filmed, the main one, where Roy says "fucker" and an alternate, originally intended for use on television, where he says "father." Different versions of the movie use different takes. Of the three best known variants, the original theatrical release and the inaccurately-named Director's Cut both use the "fucker" line, whereas the Final Cut, the only one that Ridley Scott had full control over, uses the "father" line. What he's saying will depend on which version of the movie you were watching. Only you can answer that one.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: What exactly prompts Zhora to attack Deckard when he's posing as an abuse agent? I guess there is something that makes her realize he's lying and or that he's a Blade Runner. But what tips her off? (00:55:08)

Chosen answer: She's paranoid, in hiding, and an expert killer. Either Deckard tipped her off or she decided it wasn't worth taking the chance that he wasn't legit.

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Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Question: Why does Khan have to be alive for McCoy to use his blood to save Kirk? The blood will be removed from its supply anyway when drawn.

Chosen answer: McCoy has no real idea how much blood he's going to need to bring Kirk back - given the catastrophic radiation damage to his body, there's every possibility that he might need multiple transfusions over a period of time, which would be much easier if Khan was still alive. Plus there's also the issue that killing Khan could well involve spilling some of the blood that McCoy so desperately needs. Bringing Khan in alive is the best way to maximise their chances.

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Life of Pi (2012)

Question: When Pi finds the island, he begins eating some root like stuff. What exactly is that?

Chosen answer: It is never really defined. It is just presumed to be some sort of tubular seaweed or algae which ultimately will consume (either literally or allegorically) he who consumes it.

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Life of Pi (2012)

Question: The tiger ate a full zebra, hyena, monkey, and tones of fish. So where is all its crap?

Chosen answer: Being as how there was a ready supply of water in which to rinse his hands, I'm certain Pi was simply throwing it overboard.

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Life of Pi (2012)

Question: On the DVD in wide screen, when the flying fish bombard the boat, bigger fish are after them. the bigger fish come out of the normal film area into the black bars above and below movie. How and why did the film makers do this?

Chosen answer: This movie makes a lot of meta-commentary on the medium of digital film; the question of whether Pi's story is real or not mirrors the fact that most of his story is visualized with a green-screen and CGI. The fish leaping "off the screen" plays along with the reality vs. film theme. Plus, they did it because they could, and because it looked cool in 3D.

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Life of Pi (2012)

Question: What exactly caused the ship to go down?

Chosen answer: It isn't exactly clear. Four days out into the Pacific, some noise, possibly an explosion, wakes Pi in the middle of the night. Pi goes out in the midst of a severe storm to explore what happened. Some have suggested that, at this point, he inadvertently leaves a water tight door open which allows storm water to enter the lower levels.

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Life of Pi (2012)

Question: Why does the tiger keep trying to kill Pi? It has 3 other dead animals to feed on. The monkey and the hyena were fresh kills, the hyena killing the monkey then the tiger killing it, and the zebra killed the night before. With all that fresh meat, why attack Pi?

Chosen answer: From the Tiger's perspective, Pi is competition for territory (the boat) and may try to steal his food.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy and Leon are trying to get answers out of Chew, why does Leon start rubbing eyeballs on Chew's neck and head? (00:30:45)

Chosen answer: To scare him. Leon's a psychopath.

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Answer: Eyes are a major theme in the film and Chew created artificial eyes, one of which is placed on his shoulder as a strange and threatening token of his handiwork.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy and Leon enter Chew's lab, Chew is muttering to himself in his native language. What language is he speaking exactly, and what is the translation of what he is saying? (00:28:05)

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Chosen answer: The language is Chinese Cantonese, and is saying something like "... Now we can more time.", and when the replicants came inside the lab he says "... What a f*** doing here..."

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: On the VK test, there is a bar light above the screen that shows the subject's eye. The bar lights up across from green to red. What does this bar indicate?

Chosen answer: The bar is meant to represent how far the eye monitor had zoomed in. One way this can be noticed is when Rick starts to question Rachael, the monitor zooms in and the bar goes down. The lights on the VK test load, then each light turns off one by one depending on how much the monitor had zoomed out.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: As Deckard is giving Rachel the VK test, her eyes have the golden glow to them when he asks the second question about the boy with the butterfly jars. Why does he not catch right then that she's a replicant just by seeing her eyes glow?

Answer: The glowing eyes phenomenon was actually an effect added by Scott, who probably thought it would look cool. Obviously he didn't think it through because it would make detecting replicants very easy indeed, and would make the VK test redundant. I believe he has said in interviews that it is intended as a cinematic effect, and is not intended to be a characteristic of the actual characters. This is one of several mistakes that the director made in the film, and which have subsequently passed into the folklore of Blade Runner.

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Chosen answer: Deckard already knew that Rachel was a replicant before starting the VK test (Tyrell told him); Rachel was a new model of replicant who could supposedly beat the VK test. Deckard just wanted to see if this was true.

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: What model of Nexus Replicant is Deckard supposed to be?

Chosen answer: File this under 'Who shot first' and 'Is Childs a Thing'. There are a bazillion arguments for and against. Draw your own conclusion.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Bryant and Deckard are watching the tape of Leon's VK test, the screen displays the letters V.K. But below that it shows 96/W/9-3H. What does that mean?

Chosen answer: The tape was possibly numbered so the police know which tape is which. 96/W/9-3H is probably the number of Leon's VK test.

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Blade Runner (1982)

Question: After the cop comes to take Deckard to see Captain Bryant, they get in a police car and the screen says Purge, as mentioned in a trivia entry, just before taking off. Why does it say purge before lifting off the ground?

Chosen answer: "Purge" is another word for "liftoff". It also means "to purge", as in to expel something, in this case the engine fuel necessary to raise the cop car into the air.

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