Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When the monkey puppet on Mrs. Doubtfire's show says "Here's a monkey bite!", sometimes the monkey is shown on the TV screen next to Lundy and sometimes it's not shown and only zoomed in on Lundy watching (without the monkey at all seen). It seems TV or cable stations/DVD all have one of these versions or the other. Why is it different? Was something inappropriate about a puppet monkey "biting"?

Answer: When movies are shown on TV they are often edited using what is called a "pan and scan" format to fit the television screen. Movie screens are much wider, and when movies are shown on television as they were originally filmed, the image on the sides are cut off. Sometimes movies are shown on TV in a "letter box" format, where you see the black lines at the top and bottom of the TV screen. This shows the entire scene, but it is much smaller overall. "Pan and scan" is edited to cut back and forth between the scene to show the different characters, usually when it is their time to be speaking. Otherwise, one character may be talking, but the audience cannot see them, confusing the plot. The version of "Mrs Doubtfire" that you were watching is done in "pan and scan."

raywest

Question: This might be a dumb question and more character choice or ignorance, but when Mary Jane is fired from the play she asks "One critic?" to which she gets the response of "No. All of them." Why would she just read or hear of one review? Even if they all said the same thing she would have probably read more than one to look for even the slightest chance of a positive review.

Answer: She most likely knows how bad she was, has gotten poor reviews from previous plays, and couldn't bring herself to read or hear more than one terrible review this time. Nobody wants to read/hear negative things about themselves, and she may be hoping someone will tell her that there is at least one positive review about her.

raywest

Question: Why are Dr Lester and his friends all planning to go into one mind? Surely they'd want to go into a mind on their own, otherwise they'd be just trapped in someone else's head. Something that Dr Lester was afraid of in the first place?

Answer: Using John Malkovich extends their life. After Malkovich turns 44, the next portal is a newborn baby. So they couldn't, or didn't want to, wait for another mind to go into.

Bishop73

Answer: He's playing himself.

Bishop73

Batch 47 - S2-E4

Question: In this episode, several teams of human "harvesters" wander through a greenhouse filled with vegetable-hybrid zombies, searching for specific seed pods that might cure the zombie virus. None of the harvesters survive very long inside the greenhouse, even though the translucent plastic/fiberglass greenhouse walls are never more than a few steps away. In fact, the prized "Batch 47" is discovered just feet away from the translucent wall. Why couldn't the harvesters escape from the zombies by simply charging straight through the flimsy greenhouse walls? Or, even better, why didn't they just tear out the flimsy walls from the outside and search for Batch 47 from around the perimeter? I mean, it's just a greenhouse, not Fort Knox.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: When the plant zombies would attack they would wrap people with the vines and hold them, so they couldn't escape.

Question: How does the movie really end? Are the family trapped in a snow globe for all eternity, or were they given a second chance and Krampus is just watching them?

Answer: The ending is that they are all alive and Krampus gave them a second chance. Evidence of this comes from the director's commentary and the comic book prequel "Krampus: Shadow of Saint Nicholas".

Question: What's the deal with Howie, Jr.?

Answer: He's just an odd little boy.

Brian Katcher

Chosen answer: The song is called "Dark as a Dungeon" and was written and first performed by singer-songwriter Merle Travis in 1946. It has been performed by a wide array of artists, including Tennessee Ernie Ford, Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton, Queens of the Stone Age, Kathy Mattea and Amy Grant. But it was made most famous when it was performed and recorded by Johnny Cash during his concert at Folsom Prison in 1968. According to Wikipedia: "It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions."

Michael Albert

Question: Why is the lawyer visiting the mines at the beginning of the film? He ultimately brings along Dr Malcolm so why go see a 'digger' who is not Grant?

strikeand

Chosen answer: Hammond was being pressured to have outside consultants evaluate the feasibility of the park's ability to function in both a safe and profitable manner. Hammond relents to the demands but he wants Dr. Alan Grant, whose research he has been supporting for the past three years, to evaluate the park. Hammond believes Grant will endorse the park, especially after Hammond offers to continue funding Grant's dig for another three years. That potentially makes Grant's conclusions biased, and the other investors want more varied opinions, including one about Dr. Grant, which is why the lawyer visits the other paleontologist.

raywest

Chosen answer: Due to budget cuts in the final season, Brian Krause was left out much of the series.

Question: How can Bond beat Le Chiffre in the final hand? He has $40.5 million and the other 2 have $5 and $6 million, leaving Le Chiffre with more than Bond, or am I wrong?

Answer: No. Mathis mentions there is $115 million in the pot. Subtract the $24 million it started with and the $11 million from the other two players and you have $80 million. If Bond has $40.5 million, Le Chiffre has $39.5 million. Technically, if Le Chiffre won, Bond would have gotten $1 million back to play again.

Greg Dwyer

Question: When Gordon faked his death, I'd assume he was wearing a bullet proof vest, but when he got shot you could see blood from his back. Why was there blood? Did he really get shot and survive or was that a movie mistake?

Answer: It was probably a blood packet, in order to make Gordon's "death" look convincing.

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Quicksilver in the comics listens to music at super speed because his mind always works that fast. Presumably, it's the same here.

Greg Dwyer

Question: When Bruce escaped the pit, did he throw the rope down so the rest of the prisoners could escape? I know they helped him, but isn't letting them go free a bad thing (they're prisoners for a reason, some of them could've been rapists like the ones that killed that little girl's mother)? And how did Bruce get to Gotham so fast? Do we know what country the pit is in?

Answer: Yes, he threw the rope to let the prisoners out. It may have been a dumb move on his part, although there is the potential that numerous prisoners there were also wrongfully imprisoned by Bane, and Bruce is intimately familiar with the criminal world and mindset - he may have simply judged that the remaining prisoners in the pit were worth freeing. Bruce has connections all over the planet, any company, or one could have dropped off billionaire Bruce Wayne back off at the states. It is never mentioned where the prison is located.

MasterOfAll

Answer: As far as the country the Pit is in, it's never stated in the film, only that it's in the ancient part of the world. In the comics, Bane was born and lived in the prison Peña Duro, although it doesn't share much with the Pit other than being where Bane was in prison. Peña Duro Is located in the fictional country of Santa Prisca, which is located in the northern part of the Caribbean.

Bishop73

Answer: It should be noted that the Pit was now Bane's. While it's a prison in the sense that the people can't escape, it wasn't specifically filled with criminals convicted of a crime in a legal setting. They were Bane's enemies who had been put there to be tortured. While it's likely some of Bane's enemies were criminals, they were probably free before Bane put them there. Remember, before Bane bought or took over the Pit, Ra's al Ghul had killed the prisoners as revenge for the murder of his wife. Although they also might not have been criminals convicted legally and would have been the Warlord's enemies.

Bishop73

Answer: While the actual pit was a set and Hollywood magic, the exterior of the prison [once Batman escaped] is Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India. A set of circular stones mark the supposed "entrance" to the pit. However, the interior of the prison, which had all of the wall/stairs, have a real life inspiration. Chand Baori, was built in the ninth century, and has 3,500 steps across 13 stories. Apparently, the priests who lived there also liked to chant as they descended the steps to reach water, which sent vibrations through the stairs. (Per Cracked. Com, "5 Mind-Blowing True Stories Behind Famous Movie Locations).

Invader_Gir

Although this is interesting, this not an answer to the question. I'd recommend to post this again as trivia.

lionhead

I originally wrote it to answer the second part of the question, as I also wondered where it was set in, but I went overboard with the details. I submitted it to trivia.

Invader_Gir

Question: When Rachel tells Alfred to give Bruce the envelope and he says "how will I know" and she says it's not sealed. What does she mean by that? Is she implying that he can read it? I know I may have answered my own question but I just need to be sure.

Answer: Yes, she is implying he should read the letter so that he knows the right time to give it to Bruce.

Question: Why is it necessary for Draco to confirm that the real Harry has been captured by the bounty hunters? Lucius and Bellatrix have each dealt with Harry before.

Answer: Lucius and Bellatrix were unable to confirm Harry's identity because Hermione had jinxed his face to disguise him just before the snatchers captured them. They are fairly certain it is Harry, but as Bellatrix says, if they summon Lord Voldemort, and they are wrong, he will kill them all. Of all the Death Eaters at Malfoy Hall, no one knows Harry better than Draco, having spent more time with him because they were schoolmates. Lucius and Bellatrix have to be absolutely sure that this is Harry Potter.

raywest

Answer: Yes! There was a real Heather Jasper Howe! Like the fake Heather Jasper Howe's True Identity is Jonathan Jacobo! He was arrested with Ned.

Answer: Yes.

Chosen answer: A good bit of time passes in between when her and Shaggy split up, and many pedestrians on the island were constantly getting possessed, so it's likely that one of the creatures could've just got to her within the passing time.

Question: At several points in the movie, Scott Lang, while small, jumps into and punches a man, who goes flying backwards. However, in the battle with Cross after falling into the swimming pool, Cross, while small, jumps at him and Scott, while large, is able to effortlessly swat him into the bug zapper. A similar thing happens during Scott's fight with The Falcon. So, in a collision between someone large and someone small, who is supposed to win, and who is supposed to go flying?

Ethan Dowley

Chosen answer: Despite the explanation given in the movie for being able to reduce objects and people being "reducing the space between atoms", there are clear indications that there's more to it than that as that explanation wouldn't enable changes of mass (i.e. No way an ant could carry the full weight of a man even if he was reduced in size). Therefore there is some way of changing mass at the same time as size and the two aren't necessarily linked (Scott has low mass when riding ants but much higher when he's punching people). Based on this its apparent that when Scott swats Cross into the buzzer he had low mass. So the answer to the question is - it depends on the mass of the smaller person at the time of the collision.

Question: Wouldn't Lockhart be subject to disciplinary action by the Ministry of Magic considering he attempted to run away from Hogwarts whilst a student was missing and in danger, and he should have been there to help with the rest of the staff?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Considering that he was rendered mentally incapacitated by the backfiring spell from Ron's broken wand, he would not be considered competent, at that time, to be charged with any wrongdoing. If you watch the film until after the end credits, it is seen that Lockhart is confined to a mental institution with little of his memory left intact. Most likely his actions were reported to the authorities, and if he ever regained his senses, would likely face some sort of inquiry about what happened at Hogwarts.

raywest

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