Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When the detective is opening the hidden door in the floor, he looks over to a syringe that is laying on the floor. The safe is also shown as open. How is the safe open? Why is the syringe in the floor? Why didn't anyone use the syringe? Was the syringe full?

Answer: The events of Eric going through the house take place many hours after the house trap. It's shown that Daniel has been rescued by Amanda and Jigsaw. There was also a point in the film where its explained the safe contains an antidote. So Jigsaw/Amanda opened the safe to use the antidote on Daniel while removing him from the house. So the syringe on the floor is used.

Ssiscool

Question: What did Payne mean when he told Jack "Do you know what a bomb is that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy".

Answer: He meant that when he retired after years of hard, loyal work, he had little to show for it other than a small pension and being given a cheap gold watch. He felt cheated, used, and angry, causing him to resort to the extortionist kidnapping plot. He was basically a "ticking time bomb" that had been waiting to go off.

raywest

Question: Could a High School football team really coach itself in the last quarter of the game? Wouldn't the ref not allow an injured player, such as Lance, to coach since he's not an official high-school coach? I always wondered this.

Answer: There's no rule in any sport, at least none that I could find, that requires a team to have, or listen to, a coach. Obviously in most cases it's a good idea, but if the coach were poor and/or working against the interests of the team, the players wouldn't be breaking any rules by simply ignoring them and listening to someone else.

Question: Why is it said that Imhotep and his priests were mummified alive? Mummification occurs when someone dies and has most of the organs removed. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he was buried alive?

Answer: It means the process of removing their organs was performed while they were still alive. Certainly at some point they would die during the process from blood loss or having a vital organ removed. And it was just the priests that were mummified alive, Imhotep was subjected to a different punishment.

Phaneron

Their internal organs were not removed or they'd die instantly. In the movie you see them being bandaged up and put in the sarcophaguses whilst still moving and then sealed up so they still had their organs. It is indeed more like being buried alive but then as a mummy.

lionhead

Indeed, but you can also see the Medjai using sharp tools against some of the priests. The priest on the left side of the screen with his arm writhing has a Medjai placing a sharp object around his face, indicating he might either be cutting out his tongue or removing his brains through his nose. The Medjai in the immediate foreground is (badly) making a slashing motion with his sword towards the priest lying on the table before him.

Phaneron

Question: What would happen if two or more houses won the House Cup? Would there be some kind of contest to decide who should get it or would the houses share it?

Answer: Agree with the other answer, but would add that Dumbledore could also devise some sort of tie-breaking task or contest to determine who wins the House Cup. It could even be a coin toss. There's actually some online discussion about this and some have suggested the same possibilities. It's apparently never been explained by J.K. Rowling.

raywest

Answer: While there is nothing definitive known, it most likely would be shared between the two houses. Remember, the great hall can easily be decorated in multiple colours.

Ssiscool

Blossom - A Rockumentary - S2-E9

Question: During the dream, Nick talks to someone on the phone and they discuss T-shirts. He wants the shirts to be 95-5 instead of 50-50. What does that mean?

Answer: He was making a business deal and the person on the phone wanted a 50-50 split of the profits. But Nick said it's a 95-5 split. Meaning he gets 95% of the profits.

Bishop73

Question: Anybody who puts their name into the Goblet and is selected is bound to a magical contract to participate in the tournament. Since Harry never actually put his name into the Goblet, shouldn't that void the contract?

Answer: The selection process was corrupted by Barty Crouch, Jr, who cast an exceptionally powerful "Confundus" spell on the Goblet of Fire. The Cup was somewhat sentient and wrongly sensed that Harry was a student from a (non-existent) fourth school who'd entered his own name, even though someone else submitted it. Once a name was entered, a student was magically bound to compete in the tournament.

raywest

Answer: Production vehicle models aren't in sync with the calendar year. The '65 Mustang began production in March 1964 and first sold in April 1964, before it was "introduced" the following year. I don't know which model was seen in the episode, but the 2+2 fastback was sold in September 1964. The 1964 film "Goldfinger" uses a 1965 Mustang as part of Ford's product placement. Basically, in the 1930's, FDR ordered automakers to release vehicles in the fall of the preceding calendar year "as a means of facilitating regularization of employment in the industry." Now, automakers can release new models as early as Jan 2 of the preceding year.

Bishop73

Question: Was Ralphie's family poor? Their house and furnishings seem pretty low class, but they never seem stressed about money, and they have a fairly extravagant Christmas.

Answer: They weren't poor and appeared to live a fairly comfortable middle-class life within their modest means. They could probably afford to splurge a little on Christmas. People who went through the Great Depression during the mid-20th century tended to hang on to old items, even if they could afford new ones and, unlike today, had lesser interest in material possessions. My own parents grew up in that era and rarely bought anything new, no matter how dated or worn. Also, situations (like holidays, social gatherings, special events, etc.) tend to look a bit exaggerated in movies and TV for visual effect.

raywest

I've also noticed this among my family members who grew up in the '60s through the '80s. They don't buy new things if the older ones are just fine. Since the late 2000s, it's more common for people to think that possessions and decor need to be "updated."

Question: Before the squirrel incident with the second tree, Clark places two gifts under the tree. He then picks up an opened gift and appears to hang two items on the tree. What is he putting on the tree? This is immediately before Aunt Bethany says "What is that noise?"

Countryliving.5068

Answer: It was the underwear he saw at the store earlier in the film.

Question: Military personnel at NEADS twice describe American Airlines Flight 11 as a Boeing 757, despite the fact that it was actually a 767. Is this a mistake made by the film or was this miscommunication that occurred in real life? (00:23:09 - 00:24:58)

Question: The 'shooting off sparks in the maze' at the end feels particularly clumsy...was the book the same way? Like, if this is all magic, why would the maze not be able to recognize who shot off the sparks, and make sure that person was ejected from the maze? Otherwise, it seems like you could use this to sabotage a competitor (e.g, if Viktor knew Cedric was coming around the corner momentarily, then he could shoot up sparks and run away, so that Cedric would be in place to be sucked up by the maze).

Answer: In both the book and movie, the contestants sent up sparks. However, all were pre-warned of the dangers and that they were pretty much on their own upon entering the maze. In the book, the maze is filled with hazardous objects and creatures that each contestant had to overcome. In the movie, the hedge itself is the danger, and it appears Voldemort (aided by Barty Crouch, Jr.) manipulated it to ensure that Harry reached the middle while it sabotaged and controlled the other competitors. Therefore, the maze would not protect the contestants. The four were unaware the maze was corrupted and were so focused on winning that they ignored the dangers. All were determined to continue as long as they could.

raywest

Question: When David is detained in that room, under armed guard, how exactly does he escape? You know, he found a tape recorder and tampered with that keypad entry system?

Answer: He got the door to open with the copied sounds off the tape recorder, then shorted out the door's entry system, walked out slowly while the guard was coming on to the nurse. David then got on the bus after certain NORAD employees who were not familiar with him mistook him for a tourist.

It's implausible at best that David would know exactly how to hook up the tape recorder to the door lock, especially without spending hours trying. But it's just a movie.

Gawdsmakk

Answer: The keypad that controlled the door used an analog tone-based system, much like old analog telephones. The control system for the door listens for which tone is produced by the button press, and if it hears the correct sequence of tones, the door opens. That's why David feigned having to use the restroom; he was running the tape recorder that was hooked up directly to the system in order to get the guard to input the correct code so that the correct tone sequence would be recorded, which he then played back, tricking the control system into thinking he had pressed the correct buttons on the outside.

Question: Why was Ralphie wearing his glasses at the Chinese restaurant? I thought he broke them when he shot himself.

Answer: He has another pair of glasses - his mom even says that he should just wear the other pair of glasses that he has with a little chip in them.

Answer: Like most people, (including kids) he had more than one pair of glasses.

raywest

Question: Did Lloyd get any money when he traded the van for the hog? He states he "traded the van for it, straight up" but in the previous scene Harry stated they didn't have enough money to get Aspen or get home. How were they still able to afford to get to Aspen?

Answer: Presumably the minibike (hog) would get better gas mileage, so the money they did have for gas would get them all the way to Aspen.

Bishop73

Question: At the Christmas dinner, what is the tree ornament behind Clark as he's cutting the turkey?

Answer: He says "henpecked by OPEC." OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Henpecked is an insult, usually about a man whose wife is constantly ordering him around and belittling of him, and implies the man is too weak to stand up to her. Cotton is saying Jimmy Carter was too weak to stand up against OPEC. Jimmy Carter often is blamed for the 1979 energy crisis.

Bishop73

Question: When George is in the alternate reality, what happened to Martini? Although an explanation is given for the other characters, there is no explanation for what became of him.

Answer: In a deleted or unfilmed scene, George finds the grave of Martini and his family who died in a house fire in their Potterville slum.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It's not mentioned in the film, but based on the storyline of the film, George most likely helped out Martini with money at some point to help him start a business (his bar). Without George being born (the alternate world), Martini most likely didn't have the funds now to start the business so Nick bought the bar instead and Martini either was unemployed or did something else with whatever money he had on his own.

Question: Kate says that Sam will always be a guy who sees what someone else ordered at a restaurant, and wishes he ordered that. What does she mean?

Answer: She means that he always doubts himself and the choices he makes.

raywest

Question: Does anyone know if ships actually have "rev limiters" as shown in the film? Phillips had to keep ringing down to the engine room whenever he wanted to throttle the engines up a notch. I was always under the impression that marine engines that are used on boats are designed to be at max revs all day long?

Answer: Ship engines are run at a maximum optimal speed. The engine could go faster, but by doing so, fuel consumption could increase unnecessarily and/or you may have too much cavitation as the water flow is greater than what the propeller is designed for. But in an emergency, the engineers could make it go a bit faster than the maximum setting allowed by bridge control.

Nauticalisimo

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