Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When David touches the guy in the stadium he feels that he is carrying a gun but when he actually checks him he doesn't find one. Why?

Answer: I believe you are confusing the man with the gun with the man with the drugs. The man with the gun is never searched because he steps out of line and walks away. The man with the drugs (who is played by director M. Night Shyamalan) is searched for drugs, but David doesn't find any. Either he had the drugs in the stadium at a previous game or he sold/passed them along to someone else before David bumped into him.

Phaneron

Pingpong Rescue - S2-E9

Question: Tory, and the other guys working with him pop most of the balloons, and release only a few. Why not release the entire bunch of balloons they made?

Answer: Because releasing helium balloons is dangerous to wildlife who eat the balloons once they have landed and deflated or popped. Releasing all those balloons would be a major risk.

Ssiscool

I thought it was because a plane might run into them.

Question: Why did they have to call a stealth bomber all the way from Missouri to go to Wyoming to bomb the creatures? There is an air force base in Wyoming. And secondly, why even need a stealth bomber? they are targeting animals in an already heavily publicized event.

Quantom X

Answer: Likely because the bomber was prepared with the necessary payload, compared to any in Wyoming.

Answer: The Wyoming Base most likely did not have the ordinance or aircraft capable of carrying the ordinance required so they used the closed base with the available ordinance and aircraft. Not every base has the same ordinance and aircraft at the same time.

Question: If the Wolf, the Ape, and the Croc were all exposed to the chemical around the same time, then why is it that the Croc grew to almost triple the size of the other two by the time they hit the city? The ape is bigger than the croc at normal sizes and the wolf is more or less the same size. So why did the croc get that much bigger than the other two?

Quantom X

Answer: Perhaps the chemical has different effects on the animals that it is being exposed to, and the crocodile was mutated into a much bigger size than the gorilla and wolf. I don't think the movie is really expecting anyone to question this, but is really just done to give the protagonists an opponent to face.

Casual Person

Answer: He was jealous that Molly was still alive and Candice was dead.

I think this was because Molly witnessed the killing, and he didn't want to go to jail.

Answer: I think that by this point Peter is too far gone to be thinking rationally or to be reasoned with. And as he says himself Molly witnessed the murdered of a federal agent, so she's got to die. And maybe Peter was just making damn sure that he was safe from Death. I mean, he's already murdered one innocent human being, so what's two more?

Alan Keddie

Question: When the guys are getting ready to go into town, one of them says about the sarge "as short as he is he's out of here in 30 days." Someone also said "anyone as short as Brownie shouldn't have been out there". What do they mean by short?

The_Iceman

Answer: "Short" in this context is military slang for someone whose tour of duty is coming close to an end. It's a derivative of "short-timer."

BaconIsMyBFF

Canadian Road Trip - S3-E23

Question: Wisconsin has no land border with Canada. The nearest crossings from a fictional town near Sheboygan would be Sault Ste Marie, MI or Grand Portage, MN, both of which would take well over a day round trip, so just exactly where did the boys go to Canada from?

Answer: The show's universe actually has Point Place as a suburb of Green Bay, which is further north than Sheboygan. Still, quite a drive, roughly eight hours, to the nearest Canadian land border (as you rightly say, it would be in Grand Portage). Obviously the show's creators were hoping no one would check...the border crossing the boys use is left deliberately vague, and is just a plot device rather than a faithful depiction of Wisconsin geography.

I live in Sault Ste Marie, MI it about 5 hours to Green Bay, one way. Totally doable in half a day round trip.

Answer: It should be noted that while a trip across the Canadian border from Wisconsin would take a while, it certainly wouldn't take more than 12 hours to get there. From Green Bay to Sault Ste Marie, one is less than 300 miles away and would take less than 6 hours to get there. However, as stated, where in Canada they are is never said and very vague. In fact, when you see them at the border, there's a sign behind them with different cities and their distances (Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and Sault Ste Marie). However, the distances don't seem to match any border crossing and Sault Ste Marie is 780 km away, which would put them at a Saskatchewan/Montana border crossing.

Bishop73

Question: Was I the only person to be struck quite forcefully (metaphorically speaking) by the contrast between Julie Andrews' portrayal of Mary Poppins, as the ever-smiling, cheerful, friendly, vivacious character, who melts everybody with her charm, which seemed wholly at odds with PL Travers' portrayal of Mary Poppins as acerbic, dour, and cynical, who always seems to get her way by utter, overwhelming arrogance?

Rob Halliday

Answer: Travers, herself, was pretty much the model for the original Mary Poppins: an inflexible authoritarian who insisted on advising and reviewing nearly every aspect of the film's production. Which is why Disney had such a hell of a time securing the rights and molding Travers' story into a lighthearted romp.

Charles Austin Miller

Mary Poppins may somewhat resemble P.L. Travers, but her great-aunt, Helen Morehead, is largely considered to be the inspiration for the character. Travers' mother moved in with her aunts after P.L.'s father died when she was a young girl. The aunt would often say, "Spit spot, into bed."

raywest

Some aspects of Mary Poppins were based on Travers' great-aunt (the more positive aspects that Travers remembered from childhood) ; but the overall character was Travers herself.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: No doubt many fans of the books and P.L. Travers agreed with your assessment. However, it was 1964 and Travers' book was heavily "Disneyfied," meaning they imprinted their particular syrupy, family-oriented wholesome stamp on the project, watering down Poppins' dour personality. Travers was appalled by it and would never allow another of her books to be made into a movie. There is a remake in the works, and, hopefully, the current Disney heads will give it a darker tone.

raywest

Question: If my memory is correct, when I first saw Tombstone on cinemax in 1997, Josephine (Dana Delaney) was nude in one scene with Kurt. Now in 2017 I bought a director's cut DVD, but that scene is gone. Also, I seem to recall Wyatt shooting people out to get his family on the train leaving Tombstone, but that is gone too from DVD. Why the difference? And how can I see these again?

Answer: I believe those scenes are in the Kevin Costner version of Wyatt Earp.

In the true to life account of Wyatt and Josie it is said that when the fight at OK Corral begins, Josie is actually having nude pictures (tin types) taken (or is taking them herself). In the movie she is depicted in a robe while taking a picture. She was quite risqué for the times. Probably why Wyatt found her so exciting.

This is incorrect as I remember Dana Delany exposing a single breast and sprinkling some powder (cinnamon?) on herself as a treat for him.

That's a scene from "Exit to Eden," but it's Paul Mercurio who sprinkles cinnamon on Delany's single breast.

Bishop73

Question: Why didn't Ethan just give Nyah one of his guns after she infected herself? She could have easily killed Ambrose and others with a surprise attack since they were more interested in keeping her alive and she wanted Ethan to kill her anyway. She had better odds of surviving that way than the impossible plot that followed. She could have killed everyone but Ambrose and he may have let it happen in order to still have a chance at selling the virus.

Answer: Ethan did not want her to kill herself. Giving her a gun would allow her to do so.

Question: How does Jigsaw make the puppet move and talk? And what did Zep do wrong to make Jigsaw put him in a game?

Answer: The puppet is an animatronic, so he programmed its mouth to move with the dialogue on the tapes. Zep is shown earlier in the film to get personally attached/involved with patients at the hospital, so the implication is that he is inserted into the game in a role where he is too personally involved with the dilemmas of strangers.

Phaneron

Answer: Found online: We don't know exactly what Zep has done wrong to call Jigsaw's wrath upon himself, only that he was an orderly at the same hospital where Dr Gordon works and he was an attendant to John Kramer. Dr Gordon hints to the fact that Zep shows too little professional detachment in forming "very special bonds with the patients." On Zep's tape, Jigsaw says "Will you murder a mother and her child to save yourself?" Perhaps this means Zep's sin is that he is always too involved in the lives of complete strangers, neglecting his own life. He has to put his own life over the lives of two strangers in order to win the game.

Ssiscool

Answer: No, he did not. He is seen getting off the bus with a suitcase, so he must have not been home for a few days so there is no way he could have known.

Bowling255

Question: What happened to the man's sister and why was there blood on the sister's bed?

Answer: His sister died of Leukemia. The blood is probably from one or more of his victims.

raywest

Question: Vincent Grey says "I know why you're scared of the basement." What is it that he knows?

Answer: He doesn't say "I know why you're scared of the basement." He says "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do. I do." He had been trying to get Malcolm to understand that he can see ghosts but Malcolm never believed he actually could and just thought Vincent was suffering from psychosis.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How did Bobby beat his second opponent in the tournament? I'm talking about the match that was right before the one between Tommy and Daniel.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: The fight isn't shown in it's entirety but the final point is won when Bobby takes his opponent down and hits him with a back fist across the chest.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Francisco 'Pancho' Villa was photographed on many occasions, and always had a full head of hair (as well as a moustache). Yet the film cast Telly Savalas as Pancho Villa, who shaved his head, and was always very proud of and conscious of being a Greek-American. The year after Pancho Villa was released Telly Savalas began to play the titular character of the police drama series, 'Kojak', which transformed him into the world's most recognisable Greek. So, my question is, given a film about Pancho Villa was made in Spain, where the producer and director had an unlimited number of actors of Hispanic ancestry to call on, why cast one of the world's most famous bald, Greek actors (sporting an unconvincing moustache) to play the hirsute Mexican Pancho Villa?

Rob Halliday

Answer: Hollywood, especially in that era, frequently would cast white actors to play people of color The studio knew Savalas would bring in a lot of viewers, while an unknown from Spain might not.

Brian Katcher

Question: Look how Mark Watney is able to walk, and stand on earth just fine. In reality, wouldn't he have had a hard time readjusting to earth's gravity if he was stranded on Mars as long as he was, especially since Mars gravity is much lower than earth's?

Answer: The scene where Mark is back on Earth does not take place as soon as he got back. This takes places months after returning. He likely would have faced some difficulties readjusting to the Earth's atmosphere upon returning, but would have adapted to the atmosphere, and be able to walk and move around properly after some time had passed.

Casual Person

How do we know it takes months after returning? I didn't see any words saying months later.

A number of factors indicate it is much later. He has regained much of the weight he lost (which he could have gained during the journey back, along with using the gravitational wheel of the ship to help his recuperation), he now wears glasses, he has become more grey. Most importantly, the Ares V mission is about to launch, which was scheduled to be 5 years after the main events of the film.

We don't see any words saying it happens the day after he returned either but you aren't assuming that to be the case. You are accepting that some time has passed, so assume it's enough for him to have adjusted, which is the case.

Answer: He's gained a lot of weight and has been hired for a teaching position. It's safe to say a bit of time has gone by.

Brian Katcher

Answer: During the journey back from Mars, Mark would have been able to use the exercise equipment present on the Hermes. This would have helped his body re-adapt to heavier gravity. He would also be able to regain much of his lost body mass during the long journey back. NASA knew that the crew would spend a long time in low-gravity so the equipment was designed to keep them fit. Despite this, he would have had a fairly long recuperation time on Earth. The epilogue of the film is set after he has fully recovered and is able to return to work as a lecturer.

Question: What exactly did that Police Officer mean when he said to Miss Hannigan "Look what I found under a paving stone"?

Answer: Paving stone is just a description of the City's street pavement, like the Lower East Side's Belgian block pavers or even cobblestones. It's pretty much similar to saying "Look what I found under a rock" and both are uncomplimentary to Annie.

Super Grover

Question: When Harry is packing his trunk at the end and Dumbledore is talking to him about setting the curtains on fire, does anyone know what is written on the inside of the lid of Harry's trunk?

Answer: It's hard to say what was written on the inside of the trunk. Sometimes they write the company that made the trunk so it might have had the manufacturer's name inside of it and maybe even the year that it was made as well. It seems like everyone at the school has very similar trunks so it may have his name written inside of it so as not to confuse it with anyone else's.

Answer: It looks like information for Harry's trunk in case it was ever found by someone. Probably had his phone number and address inside of it.

You wouldn't put that information on the inside.

lionhead

You would if you didn't want to display your personal information everywhere but also expected that if your trunk was lost, the finder would open it to see whose it was. Yes it is more practical to have an ID tag or similar in modern luggage but the Harry Potter stories are deliberately written as quaint and old fashioned.

You don't open luggage you find. Name of the owner is always on the outside.

lionhead

Sure you would. Presumably, it's very difficult to lose a trunk that big, given the modes of transport that Harry uses. Info on the inside would be a last resort.

Question: Why was Evan interviewed separately from the other "survivors"? Why is he so special; I thought all he did was win the lottery?

Answer: You thought correctly. He did only win the lottery. We only see Evan interviewed separately. It's just possible that he was last to be interviewed. Kimberly and the others were being babysat by Officer Burke, so it's likely they were interviewed before Evan. I think that all or any witness would be interviewed separately whatever the circumstances.

Alan Keddie

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