Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Sid eats a lotus berry and becomes paralyzed. Would he suffer bad effects other than being paralyzed? He doesn't appear to be suffering any other ill effects.

Answer: No. Lotus berries won't cause paralyzing, but sleepiness. They are narcotic, not poisonous.

Triviani

But Diego said that the berry would paralyze him.

Diego was probably unaware of its real effects.

Question: Who organized and ordered the killing of all the dons at the meeting where only a few come out unharmed. And why?

Answer: Don Altobello was behind the plot to assassinate the other Dons. The motive had to do with the Immobiliare deal that Michael had attempted to keep free of any Mafia involvement.

raywest

Question: John McClane wraps a fire hose around his waist, and uses it to jump 100 feet until the coil catches the lip of the building, the hose catches him. Wouldn't that have seriously injured him, given the inelastic materiel which fire hoses are made of, and the fact that he was not wearing a safety harness?

Answer: In reality, yes tying a fire hose (or any rope strong enough to hold your weight for that matter) around your waist and using it as shown in the film could cause serious injury. It was worth it to try, however because staying where he was would have meant certain death when the bomb explodes.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: I know Patton really did slap a soldier named Bennett. I have two questions. Firstly, is the dialogue in the scene where Patton slapped Bennett accurate? Secondly, was Bennett really a coward?

Answer: The entire slapping incident is surprisingly accurate, including the second slap knocking off Bennett's helmet. The dialogue is not verbatim but the scene is accurate in spirit. By today's standards Bennett would not be considered a coward. He suffered from what we call today post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During Patton's time PTSD was called "shell shock" or other terms and was not treated with the same compassion as today. Patton himself did not believe in the concept of shell shock and thought men like Bennett were simply cowards.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How does Sauron know Frodo has the ring? He doesn't even know who Frodo is.

Answer: He doesn't. He only knows that someone named "Baggins" from the Shire has the ring. He learns this from torturing Gollum. He sends the ringwraiths to the Shire to search for it, and they sense it enough to figure out who has it.

Why do the wraith have to find it if they can sense it?

The wraiths at this point aren't powerful enough to simply know where it is by sensing it. At this point they can only sense it when they are close and it is put on. Once Frodo put it on, they knew who he was and where the ring was.

lionhead

Question: Is it true that the Jamaica bobsled team performed poorly at first during training as shown in in the film?

Answer: The real Jamaican team performed poorly throughout the Olympics and did not finish.

Greg Dwyer

Question: How did chief survive getting hit by a train, and falling down, and only ending up with an injured leg?

Answer: He fell into the water so he could have very easily broken his leg on something in the water like a rock.

Question: How does Connie have authority over the control room? Yardmasters are not in charge there. Yardmasters only have authority over the yards they are assigned to manage. A railroad employee higher ranked than a yardmaster is in charge of the control room. I don't know what his job is called. So how is Connie giving orders to the people in the control room when she wouldn't any have authority over them?

Chosen answer: When Andy is fighting Claude in the subway car, he looks at Claude's right shoulder and see a wound on it. He suddenly remembers back in the sewers of Paris how he took a part of a broken gate and stabbed a werewolf with it giving it the very same wound.

Question: How did Claude survive getting hit by train even when he was dragged under the train?

Joey221995

Answer: I watched this today and I thought he should be dead but he is a bad ass werewolf and most likely they can take a beating.

Adam Busuttil

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: When Josh is in the further looking for Dalton, what is the deal with the family that looks like mannequins and has the creepy smiles? Why does the one girl shoot the family? Is there any back story on it?

Answer: It's implied that the girl went crazy and killed her family, but it's not really elaborated on. They're just some of the many spirits to be trapped in and haunt the Further, likely due to the violent nature of their deaths.

Answer: They are just people trapped in the further after their terrible death. It would be nice to later find out the back story on them in a future film.

Sarah Kotzbauer

Question: After Miles accidentally mentioned the rehearsal dinner to Maya, she asked him who's getting married and obviously (though not on camera), he told her Jack, thus starting a big fight with each other. Why did Miles tell her Jack instead of making up a random stranger he could say they knew since already slipping out info about the dinner? She would not have ever known, no fight would have taken place, and Jack would have saved face - literally.

Answer: Miles himself answers this question in the film. He tells Maya that he could have made something up, but chose to tell her the truth because he respected her and didn't want to lie.

Question: How exactly did Stan know IT was a female and was expecting?

Answer: On the ground there were opaque eggs with moving objects seen inside, indicating that the spider creature was a female that had laid them.

raywest

Answer: It's never specified: somehow Stan just knew, perhaps through a vision or a nightmare.

Answer: It's never specified: somehow Stan simply knew.

Answer: Because when the Losers found It in its side form, only Stan saw its egg sac, writhing with soon-to-be-laid eggs.

Question: When Lucius was walking the perimeter painting a yellow stripe on the poles and he sets the bucket down to go into the woods and pick the berries, he saw a "creature." You can see a flash of something but it isn't red. So what exactly did he see? Lucius claimed he saw a creature through a letter in the village meeting but maybe he actually saw one of the Elders and that's why he was so upset and that's why the elders didn't get angry at him for crossing the perimeter and instead Walker said he was brave. Just to continue the show. Or maybe he saw Noah and that's why Noah was so excited in the town hall. What did Lucius see in the woods when he picked the berries?

Answer: It's not known what Lucius saw. It was either one of the elders who was in costume perpetuating the ruse that dangerous creatures roamed the woods, or it was Noah, who'd discovered the secret and took it upon himself to frighten the other village youths who occasionally overstepped the boundaries.

raywest

Answer: He wrote the letter because he believed this was all happening because he went into the woods and touched the red berries. You (and lucius) only see a branch move which would make one assume a creature had been there.

Question: Would the military really have sent a rescue mission to save one man during world war 2?

Answer: No, not really. There is no evidence of any such mission. While the U.S. military does have a policy of excusing the last remaining members of a family from combat after their siblings have been killed-known as the Sole Survivor Policy, officially implemented in 1948 but followed de facto before then - they never sent a unit into enemy territory to "save" anyone. The real soldier upon which the film is based, Frederick Niland, was simply taken out of active duty and sent home when it was learned that his three brothers were dead (though his eldest brother, Edward, was later revealed to be alive in a Japanese POW camp and ended up outliving Frederick).

Question: If terrorists just wanted a Jericho missile why not just buy one from Stark industries, instead of trying to force Stark to build one? We learn they have the connection to Obadiah, so they can buy Stark weapons under the table.

Answer: Buying one would cost them millions, if not billions of dollars. Forcing Stark to build one for them would certainly save them a fortune. Plus, we don't know if they intended to purchase one before kidnapping Stark. They were paid to kill Stark, but once they found out Stark was the one that Obadiah paid them to kill, they scoffed at the amount they were paid and demanded a higher fee. Once they had Stark, they might have decided then and there to take advantage of the situation and get a free missile out of it.

Phaneron

Question: Why is the plasma coolant tank breakable? Why are there clear windows? What if a crew member accidentally hit it with something that could easily break the window and cause plasma coolant to spill out?

Answer: It's likely made of transparent aluminum so the crew can easily see its condition. Transparent aluminum has greater strength than materials we use for transparency. Remember, too, that it was Data who broke it. The rest of the crew wouldn't have the physical strength to break it.

Question: Why was Kevin's family so mean to him?

Answer: I think it was a way to make leaving him "home alone" more realistic and understandable as opposed to absurd. Being perceived as a brat/pest and annoying to be around, it is (somewhat) conceivable that none of the family members would be eager to have Kevin by their side. This "frees" all of them from noticing that Kevin isn't with them. Everyone would just assume that Kevin is somewhere among them and each be glad they didn't have to sit next to him on the way to the airport or during the long flight.

KeyZOid

In addition to this, the movie is partially about Kevin learning to have more respect for others. He appreciates his family more as he spends more time without them.

Answer: The ones who were mean just saw Kevin as a brat. However, it's not uncommon in situations of being in an overcrowded house to easily lose one's patience and temper and become frustrated with small, but irritating things; which seems to happen to his mother. Buzz just has that general big brother contempt for his kid brother, but obviously still loves him, along with everyone else in the family, at the end when he finds out Kevin is safe.

Bishop73

Nuts to that. They all could've tried a little harder, that's one lame excuse for treating someone like garbage and I come from a good sized bunch who've done the same to me. You also forget his uncle didn't care about him regardless of the situation.

Rob245

Like it or not the answer is perfectly valid. Families have different dynamics. Kevin is something of a brat (he calls his mother "dummy" and openly wishes he didn't have a family), as are his brothers and sisters, especially Buzz. I for one have TWO uncles in my family who behave just like the uncle in the movie. We don't invite them over, but we've had similar situations to what's depicted in the film.

Hey I've had three uncles, father's older brothers, he hated all three of them, cared only when they started dying. Yeah the dynamics and all, my mother has stated "You ruined this family" though this bunch didn't need my help in being messed up. My sympathies to you Mr Hoffman, your uncles Dustin and Philip Seymour must be/been terrible, just kidding only on the famous names there, no offense meant.

Rob245

It's just a movie! The characters are fictional and were given contrived, exaggerated, over-the-top personalities to fit the comedic plot. It's pointless to compare them to real-life family dynamics.

raywest

Exactly. It's done for entertainment.

Ssiscool

Also, it's a movie from a child's point of view. Kevin is supposed to be the "victim." As a 35-year-old, I have more sympathy for the adults and older kids. The movie is about Kevin learning to miss his family and be more considerate of others.

Question: Did the scene where Ira Hayes rages against police after a bartender refuses to serve him really happen?

Answer: Following WWII, Ira Hayes hated the fame and sensational publicity associated the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Deeply depressed, Hayes descended into alcoholism over the next few years, and it eventually killed him. Director Clint Eastwood actually underplayed the true extent of Hayes' sad decline, and the scene you mention was no doubt dramatized for the screen. In real life, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public intoxication and disorderly conduct at various places across the country before his death.

Would that be a yes, or no? I've got autism.

It's yes, but he/she is saying that the incident was probably exaggerated for the purpose of the movie, to make it more dramatic. It likely combined a number of similar drunken incidents into the one scene.

raywest

Answer: Definitely yes :). The poor guy was a raging alcoholic who literally drank himself to death.

stiiggy

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