Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Chosen answer: He wanted to send a message. Bond seeing Masterson's dead body was a way to tell Bond, and MI6 to stay away. Killing Bond would have had an immediate effect, sure, but MI6 would more than likely send out another 00 agent after him anyway. Goldfinger wanted to be assured that no one would come after him. (As a little side note, Goldfinger didn't actually attack Bond. As we never see who did, It may have been Oddjob or one of his goons).

Dra9onBorn117

You can see the silhouette of Odd Job in the room.

Answer: Not knowing who Bond was or what organization he was involved in, Goldfinger figured a warning was in order, to keep Bond and his business away, so he had Jill painted gold to scare them off. Jill was murdered for her betrayal to Goldfinger, who "hated to lose".

demodon

Question: While in interrogations Kujan is asking Verbal why Keaton told him to stay back while they were robbing the boat. After a back and forth conversation between them about it they come to the conclusion that it is because Keaton is Kaiser Sose and he wanted Verbal to be his will. However we come to find out this is not true, and Verbal is actually Kaiser Sose, so why did Keaton have Verbal stay back?

Answer: He never did. How they got on the boat and took out the Argentinians could have actually happened in a million different ways. For all we know, verbal went on the boat with them, and then killed them, which is more likely as it is an extra gun. The point of the film is to show how much of a mystery Keyser Soze is, that even after all of that, no one knows who he is. For example, he tells the story as if Soze is Hungarian and killed his wife and kids, but we know this isn't true, because Kint is Soze and he's American. The point is, he's telling so many lies and making up all these stories, so it's got to a point that they don't even know his real nationality. The only reason we though he was Hungarian throughout the film is because Kint told us, but we know his story was a hoax.

Answer: You're missing the point: Verbal is making much of the story up. He's changing facts and events to lead Kujan to think Keaton is Sose.

Answer: Kaiser had manipulated Keaton so much to the point where he thinks Verbal is innocent and wants to let him live.

Answer: Verbal doesn't even know about some of the relevant facts of the story. He acts upset when Kujon asks about so and so when he in fact likely didn't even know about them so he continues to build on his epic tale of fabrications. The entire story is a lie of magnificent proportions.

Question: How could Anthony Hopkins be arrested for turning off his wife's life support? He was acquitted of shooting her, so he's legally considered innocent of that, and he was completely legally entitled to turn off her life support.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Once Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) took his wife off life support, it resulted in her dying. Crawford was arrested for murder, not because of taking her off life support but because his shooting of her resulted in her death ultimately. Crawford was only tried (and acquitted) for attempted murder. Since this is a new charge, double jeopardy did not apply.

Question: In the movie the Ethiopian official is killed with a bullet that had been previously fired through Swaggart's sniper rifle, wrapped in paper to protect the rifling marks, then re-fired through another gun. Where did they get the bullet? The only round fired through the gun is the one Swaggart fired at the soup can. No way they could have found that bullet in the mountainous terrain. A needle in a haystack would have been easier. Even if they did find the bullet it would have been too deformed to be accurate at any distance let alone the extreme distance in question. Why not just use Swaggart's gun to make the shot, or at least produce a pristine round without deformation? Of course then they would have found it lacked a firing pin. What if they had replaced the firing pin and made the shot? Could you imagine Swaggart's embarrassment when he pulled the trigger on Michael Pena to demonstrate the lack of a firing pin? And the expression on Pena's face. Priceless.

jt brady

Answer: After Swaggart left his home, NO bullets could have been fired from his rifle (altered firing pin). What might have been done is to have fired the killing shot with paper-patching so it couldn't be matched to ANY rifle and then just "claimed" it matched Swaggart's barrel.

Answer: Why would you assume that the only bullet fired from the gun is the one at the soup can?

Because he attests that this is the only bullet fired from this gun in the AG's office.

Answer: Another way that works is to have rammed (by rod) a bullet down the barrel of Swaggart's rifle and then used that bullet (with the paper-patching) to load a cartridge used in the assassination. THAT would have Swaggart's barrel markings on it.

Chosen answer: He was an NYPD Detective. Police Detectives, while high-ranking, typically dress in more discreet civilian clothing when on duty.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Why did Castor shoot Dietrich? They were on the same side.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Although they were on the same side, Troy is currently posing as Archer, which means he would have to do everything that the FBI would expect Archer to be doing. The whole point of the raid was to take out Archer, as well as Troy's gang. He would have rather risked killing part of his own gang than risk exposing his identity to anyone else.

Casual Person

That doesn't really make sense. In the scene, he goes out of his way to shoot him and smiles while doing so, carefully and slowly. Was not a collateral damage situation. The question is why he deliberately goes out of his way to kill him.

Answer: If you watch closely, he saw Archer, went out of his way not to shoot him, instead was aiming for his own son that he didn't know was his, to further traumatize Archer.

Question: If Ultron was so advanced to lift a piece of land / island with thrusters, why didn't he build a remote detonator to drop it?

Answer: He wants the Avengers to try and fail to stop him, and he wants to make a big show of his plan to draw their attention because of that.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: When Harry delivered his famous "do you feel lucky" monologue at the start, did he know his gun was empty? And when he repeated it at the end, did he know the gun was loaded?

MikeH

Answer: He certainly knew at the start, which is why he felt confident in pointing the gun at the (disarmed) robber and pulling the trigger. Harry knew he was bluffing, but passed it off so well the robber wasn't sure. At the end of the film, again, he knew he had one bullet left and wanted to bait Scorpio into attacking him, giving him an excuse to fire.

Chosen answer: That question is the entire point of the first scene. You're meant to wonder whether he knew or not. At the end of the film, you're given the impression he does know, and is hoping the killer will attack him, giving him an excuse to fire.

The way I see the scene, he knows that he still has one round, and he is giving Scorpio a chance to live. He will only fire if he has to.

Leicaman

Question: When Gary Oldman detonated the C4, did he die? If so, assuming it wasn't intentional, how did he make that mistake?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Yes, he did die when he detonated the C4. Also, he made no mistake, detonating the C4 was intentional. He saw the apes as a threat and detonated the C4 as an attempt to kill them all, even if it meant giving up his own life in the process.

Casual Person

Chosen answer: The electricity was flickering was because Boo was crying. After Mike trips on the lamp, Boo stops crying and her attention is drawn to Mike, stopping the electricity from flickering.

Casual Person

Question: Why does Mad Eye point to his left while Harry is looking at him, right before the hedges close in the maze?

Answer: It's a hint. Mad-Eye (rather Barty Crouch Jr., masquerading as Mad-Eye) would want Harry to win the challenge and get sent to the graveyard, so he gives him a little help.

Twotall

It actually looked like he was pointing at Dumbledore, hinting Harry to look at him.

That wouldn't make any sense; it's just a coincidence.

Question: If Costello was an FBI informant then why did he put Sullivan undercover in the police department, and then why did the police put Costigan undercover in Costello's mob, and therefore why the police were trying to get evidence against Costello and wanted to arrest him?

Answer: The FBI and police are separate organizations that do not share full information. Only the FBI and Costello himself knew about the informing, and the FBI can only do so much to stop Costello being caught without drawing attention to their relationship. The police and Costello's gang are fighting a separate battle, hence the two moles.

Question: When Max is pulled over by the cops because of the broken windshield and blood on his taxi, they immediately demand for him to open the trunk, which has the dead victim inside, and then to impound the taxi. When they receive a distress call on the radio, they let Max and Vincent go, feeling that it is more serious. Would this happen in reality?

Answer: It's quite possible it could happen. Max had told them that he had hit a deer, which explained the blood and broken windshield. The police did not suspect a taxi driver with a passenger in the car of any wrongdoing. Their concern was regarding the safety of the vehicle. When they got the emergency call on their police radio that became a more urgent priority than a damaged car, and Max was then instructed to get his cab off the road as quickly as possible. It's unclear why the cops wanted the trunk opened, but it really seems this was only to add to the scene's overall suspense before it is quickly diffused. It's a rather cliched plot device.

raywest

Answer: The cop says they need to do an itinerary, no doubt for legal reasons in case the cab driver claimed that they had stolen something after it had been impounded.

Question: After the witch is crushed by the house and confirmed by the coroner, a munchkin says, "This is a day of independence for all the munchkins and their descendants." After this, a different munchkin adds "If any." I have always wanted to know what is meant by "if any."

Answer: The one munchkin thinks they have been liberated by the wicked witch's death. The second munchkin, who says, "If any," apparently realises that the dead witch's more evil sister will probably seek revenge and kill everyone, which would mean there would be no descendants.

raywest

Convicts-at-Large - S3-E11

Question: Beginning with the "Convicts at Large" episode in season 3, full width window boxes appear at the bottom of both front windows on the inside of the Sheriff's Office. Prior to this episode, they did not exist. Window boxes are often used to display decorative plants but I don't see any plants. And if they were supposed to partially block the background, the blinds were long enough to accomplish that. I find it hard to believe that the producers would spend additional money (for material and labor) for something that seems to serve no purpose. So why were they added?

Answer: Those "boxes" are valences that used to be very common, before air conditioning. They allow for windows to be open during rain storms. They permit air circulation, without letting the rain in.

Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.

Super Grover

Answer: I suspect these were common, as to block the wind from blowing the blinds and papers on the desk.

Question: What was the underlying reason for Sutherland for wanting to dump Michael Douglas? Was he aware that Demi Moore had fouled up the production line in Malaysia? If so, why was he backing her? The buyout/merger would be tainted with the bad CD/ROM drives so was he hoping to merge before the bad units came to light? He wanted Douglas to stay on until the merger at least. Why make bad drives to start with if he truly hoped to spin off the CD/ROM production. Was Demi acting on her own when she attempted to frame Douglas for sexual assault? What would have been the outcome if Douglas had gone all the way with her? Was she hoping to pin a rape charge on him but since that didn't work opted for the assault? Was she just hoping to dominate/humiliate him and when that didn't work opted for the assault charge? Douglas was the driving force behind development of the CD/ROM drives so why attempt to get rid of him in the first place? There are so many unanswered questions.

Answer: Sutherland was aware there were problems with the production line, but he did not know it was Moore's doing. He had perfect reason to put the blame on Douglas as he was responsible for the production line, and Douglas had almost taken $100 million from him and Meredith, who he believed to be the key to the merger and deeply cared about, unaware of how much he was of her manipulation of him. Moore impulsively changed Douglas' specifications on the production line as it was his responsibility and to attempt to improve costs, but her incompetence led to the problems. She did not frame Douglas because she was spurned, but premeditated to do so after discovering the problems to try to get him fired before he discovered the problems with the line. She also blackmailed Arthur Khan into lying to Douglas and send the drives late (in the novel she was having an affair with Conley-White CEO Ed Nichols). On the other hand, Moore does appear to have an ulterior motive as she appears jealous that Douglas has a family and typically demonstrates herself throughout the novel and film as a woman scorned and has a manipulative personality.

Question: Benedict sent the SWAT team down to the vault while the "thieves" were still there in order to gain control over his vault etc. Obviously the SWAT team kind of managed to do that, except that the "thieves" blew up the vault with the money. But then when Benedict came down to the vault personally, why he didn't ask about the thieves or want to speak to them, or wonder where their bodies were? Because when the SWAT team left it was only him in the vault.

Answer: Simple, he didn't suspect the SWAT team to know anything more than he did. All he knows is that the SWAT team arrived in an empty vault, just like he did. No thieves, no money. He is a control freak anyway and wanted to nail the scumbags himself, it was his vault.

lionhead

I thought about this... but how are they going to justify the standoff and gunfight if they say the vault is empty.

He talks to the SWAT team shortly after the lights are turned back on. They say the bomb was detonated, and they were looking for survivors. He then rushes to the vault and doesn't contact them again, assuming he would meet them at the vault but the SWAT team was already gone before he got there. I suspect Benedict would have run up to vault to find nobody there, no guards, SWAT, or thieves. That's when he starts working things out. Remember the money was supposed to be in the van at the airport.

lionhead

Question: The whisper people bring the selected boy and girl to safety before the final day of earth. Why do they plant a message to be found and decoded just before the final day? I do not think the whisper people need any help from any humans to save humanity (and organize a whisperers' version of Noah's Ark).

Moalian

Answer: There is no intention on the part of the whisper people to warn humanity as a whole, merely a select group of children who appear, due to their telepathic powers, to be the next stage in human evolution, and their respective guardians.

Question: Did Dumbledore and other Hogwarts staff know that Voldemort would try to return with the help of the Philosopher's Stone this year, so they transferred it from the bank to Hogwarts, and put such a big protection as the three headed dog etc.? Because I think it's a very big coincidence that after all this years that stone has spent in the bank, they decided to put the stone in school, and the very next day someone tried to steal the stone from the bank. It's like they knew that Voldemort would try to use the stone to return. And if they did, why didn't they figure it out and put protection on over the last 10 years, maybe the very next day when Voldemort was defeated by little Harry? It's really like Dumbledore knew that Voldemort will try to use it, and more important, like he knew that he will try to do it NOW, not in last decade when he was "half alive."

Feather

Chosen answer: Dumbledore did probably have an idea that Voldemort might be looking for the stone, but he knew he would never be able to find it as he wanted to use it (Dumbledore's own spell upon it). But the stone gave Dumbledore an opportunity to lure Voldemort to him. So, in order to lure Voldemort out Dumbledore hid it at Hogwarts, closer to him, telling the staff what was going on. Of course then Quirrell knew too and thus Voldemort as well which caused a dangerous situation right the next day, but the general idea was to lure Voldemort out of hiding and into the hands of the Hogwarts teachers. They didn't know yet that Voldemort was already inside Hogwarts as a parasite of Quirrell.

lionhead

Question: The Diva gets to perform only one song of her concert before she is mortally gunshot in the abdomen. Almost simultaneously, Zorg sets a time-bomb to detonate in 20 minutes. Korben removes the stones from the Diva's dead body and barely escapes from the Fhloston cruise liner before it explodes 20 minutes later. Korben and his party immediately fly at hyperspeed straight to Earth and set the stones in place with only 5 minutes to spare. If they had followed the original plan without interruption and the Diva hadn't been unexpectedly murdered, she would have proceeded with the remainder of her concert, lasting an indeterminate amount of time; thereafter, presumably, she would have to undergo surgery to remove the stones from her body and deliver them to Korben, all of which would have taken far too long for him to save the Earth, correct?

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Not necessarily. Remember that the evil sped up once he knew Zorg was dead and the team had the stones. And we don't know how the Diva was going to get the stones out.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: At the end of the Diva's big number she bows, and they close the big curtains behind her displaying the amazing view. Maybe that was it, one big epic song. Plus, she asked Leeloo to wait in the hallway for her which seems kind of rude if it's the longer concerts we think of, so I don't think she planned on being that long. The Diva definitely gave off the mystic physic vibe so maybe she knew her fate. However, that would mean that she told Leeloo to wait in the hallway knowing she wasn't coming back, and maybe even knew the big beasties would show up. Either way you are correct about the dramatic timing issues all around in this movie, not that I mind.

Nikita Moon

Answer: The Diva already knew her fate... she knew it was her last song and fate would unfold the way it did.

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