Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Why did Judge Palmer collapse after watching the video footage of him in the store with Mark Blackwell? Also, instead of picking up the phone, couldn't the deputies have simply called in an ambulance over their radios?

Question: In the launch room when SHIELD loyalists and HYDRA operatives drew their guns on each other, what are both sides shouting to each other as they draw their weapons?

Answer: I hear one person shout, "Put your gun down, move away." There is someone else yelling, but I can't make it out. Maybe "Move it!" or something.

lionhead

Question: After the claymore, disguised as "the book", is thrown out of the window and then explodes, why do both sides afterwards abruptly start shooting at each other when Carnegie could have ordered his men to flank the house or go around back? If Carnegie was so bent on retrieving the book, he would not have allowed his men to wildly spray the house with bullets (or especially an RPG round) and risk the book being damaged or destroyed in the crossfire.

Category 5 - S3-E22

Question: When the team drove away from the scene of the truck fire after Severide stopped it from rolling with a fire extinguisher, everyone is staring out the windows and the atmosphere has a quietly melancholic atmosphere. Why is that?

Question: Why didn't M call in reinforcements to help them at Skyfall Lodge? With her being the head of a spy agency, she could have easily requested MI6 or SAS personnel to be quickly flown and parachuted in to their location to assist in the fight.

Answer: It is a major theme of the film that M and Bond must eventually answer for their deeds. Silva's personal vendetta is being taken out on MI6 and puts dozens of agents at risk. Bond and M have decided they are through putting others in peril (Silva's final attack before this decision was on Parliament and put many innocents in danger). Bond seems surprised that Kincade is still around and tries sending him away, but he refuses. It's not really until the helicopter comes in with reinforcements and a heavy machine gun that Bond feels like they might be in over their heads.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: When Axel and Jenny are investigating Maitland's warehouse, and they find the cocaine buried under the coffee, then they're caught by Maitland's men. Why don't they just shoot and kill Axel and Jenny right away?

Answer: He was surrounded; Axel didn't want Jenny to get killed in the crossfire. Plus, they wanted to interrogate him and find out how much he knew and if he told the LAPD.

Answer: It's mostly about plotting. Killing Axel, the main character, would end the movie. Plots are constructed to tell their story to its ending, however illogical it occasionally might be.

raywest

Question: Whatever happened to Cadet Karen Thompson, Mahoney's love interest from the first film? Why is she suddenly no longer around?

Answer: They wanted her to return, but Kim Cattrall didn't.

Question: After watching the entire series, in retrospect, would it stand to reason that Ernest Stavro Blofeld himself ordered Le Chiffre to be killed? Mr. White was, in the beginning, Blofeld's right-hand man, so I was wondering.

Answer: Since Blofeld is the leader of SPECTRE, yes, he ordered Le Chiffre killed.

Question: When Bond ordered the Vesper martini while staring at Le Chiffre, was he ordering the drink out loud so as to distract Le Chiffre from his focus or throw him off? I figured Bond purposely did that for that reason, and the other card players following Bond's lead and ordering the same drink only worked to Bond's favor as Le Chiffre became frustrated and knocked off center.

Answer: If that was the point, it doesn't have much impact; Le Chiffre makes a brief, annoyed comment, but his game does not suffer. I've always just interpreted it for what it is: Bond, being an alcohol connoisseur, orders a bespoke martini and the others, deciding they like the sound of it, follow suit. The fact that it annoyed Le Chiffre seems to be an unintended consequence, though, of course, Felix Leiter and Bond then share a moment over it, foreshadowing their later alliance.

Question: How did the shark get to Michael so quickly when he is collecting snails? Jake says they have a 3 miles range on the monitor, but by time Michael is back in the sub the shark is there. How did it travel 3 miles in about 30 seconds?

Answer: Jake always tells Michael that his gear "doesn't crap out," yet later on in the film, we see Michael struggling to stun the shark due to the equipment playing up. It's likely that Jake's claim about having a range of 3 miles was incorrect.

Question: Why did Nicky show up to Pat and Tiffany's dance competition? Why would you want to watch your ex that beat up your lover and his new girlfriend dance?

Question: For many years, I've never understood - how did Zack know exactly where to find Mikey to kill him? Mikey, after stealing the bonds in California, would obviously not have told any of the bad guys where he was running off to. Not only did Zack figure out Mikey was in Detroit, but he knew the exact address Mikey was heading to (Foley's apartment) and Zack never knew Foley at this point. Can someone explain all this to me?

Answer: Jenny is the one who got Mikey the job. Presumably, Maitland knows Jenny and Mikey are from Detroit. Maitland must have sent his crew to Detroit to find Mikey, assuming he fled to his hometown. It appears that Zack somehow spotted Mikey and Axel while they were out drinking and followed them to Axel's apartment. None of this is shown or explained, but we can at the very least assume Maitland guessed Mikey would go to Detroit and infer the rest.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Money talks. A guy like Mikey would have bragged and boasted about what he did to friends and drinking buddies. Plus, how easy would it have been to check planes, trains, and bus schedules? Once he arrived, they would have bribed an airport, train, and bus employee to find out what taxi he took or car rental.

Question: I never understood what that "crunching" sound after Bender tries to put his head between Clair's legs and then everyone starts coughing. What exactly was that sound?

Answer: Meant to be the sound of her squeezing his head with her knees, maybe?

Shipper

Question: Why does Doug turn on the gas after he crashes the ambulance?

Question: Who is Conrad Mulaney and how did Lonnie steal his candy?

Answer: I always thought that Conrad was the guy with those two girls who steal Lonnie's candy. And Lonnie could have just pickpocketed the candy from Conrad. It's never explicitly stated in detail.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: He's another kid, and Lonnie probably just picked on him and stole some of his candy... it happens.

TedStixon

Question: I'm confused. In Halloween 1978, Lonnie looks like he was a tough bully. In the flashback, he's the one getting bullied. Why is that?

Answer: Looks can be deceiving. Also, Lonnie had backup when he was tormenting Tommy. And bullies can be bullied, too. Plus, there were three of them against one of him.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: Bullies are usually cowards. They target and pick on those weaker than themselves. In turn, they can be bullied by someone even stronger. It's a hierarchy. Being bullied often results in someone bullying others to make themselves feel validated.

raywest

Answer: It's a corn snake.

lionhead

Question: When Abby is crying over Sommerfield, Blade tells her to "use it" several times. What is he referring to?

sunfox35

Answer: He means for her to use her anger and sorrow over the death of Sommerfield and the others as motivation in their upcoming battle against Dracula and his minions.

Phaneron

Question: Is the island shown through the submarine's periscope (Geheimhaven in the movie) a real island (of course without any Nazi base)?

Big Game

Chosen answer: The Indiana Jones wiki: To film the arrival of the German submarine at the base, the visual effects artists at Industrial Light and Magic borrowed a miniature prop from Steven Spielberg's 1979 film, 1941. The model was floated through San Francisco Bay towards one of the two Marin Islands just off the shoreline from ILM's then-headquarters in San Rafael. The real-world island was later replaced with a matte painting.

lionhead

Question: Can someone explain the whole thing with Henry Addison and the $8,000? I don't get the link between that and King Benny asking for 8 grand from Rizzo's brother.

Brittle Fingers

Answer: King Benny "sold" Henry's debt to Rizzo's brother, Little Caesar. He then informs Caesar that Henry was the one who killed his brother, knowing that he'd kill Henry, and that he could use the debt as an excuse.

Brian Katcher

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