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: Just before the Emperor is raised, why does the General demand that Evie O'Connell translate what's written on the Eye? She is (or at least was) an Egyptian expert. Both the General and his female aide are there - couldn't one of them read it?

Answer: First, it's ancient Chinese, probably unreadable to someone who speaks modern day Chinese (and possibly a different dialect as well). Also, Evie was an Egyptian expert, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have other areas of expertise.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: Why are Rick and Evie the ones requested to return the Eye? I know the General needs the Eye to revive the Emperor, but why have 2 mummy experts bring it? After all, he's raising a mummy emperor and army, wouldn't he be worried the O'Connells would interfere? Or is he wanting to get all 3 (parents and son) together so they can all be killed?

Answer: He needed Evie's skill with ancient languages. She was one of the few people in the world who could translate what was written on the Eye accurately, and who could be easily persuaded to travel to Shanghai.

Twotall

Question: Was there a reason why Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson didn't just play the high school versions of themselves in the flashbacks at the beginning of the movie? If their characters in the present are in their early 20's, it seems like it wouldn't have been a big stretch for them to play themselves as high school students.

Answer: Presumably the filmmakers wanted to emphasise that some time has passed since they last saw each other. If they still looked pretty much the same, which they would if played by the same people, that wouldn't be as clear.

Tailkinker

Answer: Warrick first, Nick next, Sarah last.

Question: How did Moses' Egyptian mother explain where Moses came from? Her husband was dead and this baby just happened?

Answer: Bithiah (not sure of the spelling, sorry) claims the Gods of the Nile sent Moses to her, knowing she would never have a child of her husband's body.

Question: Just before Angel and Collins invite Roger and Mark to go to the life support meeting, Angel says something in Spanish. Does anyone know what it is?

Answer: "This egg needs some salt." It's a Spanish idiom meaning that he needs a girlfriend.

Question: Just wondering, does Jim Gordon realize in any of these two movies that Bruce Wayne is in reality the Batman? Because when Bruce and Gordon talk after Bruce crashes his Lamborghini, they talk as if they don't know each other.

Answer: No, there's no indication that Gordon has any idea.

Tailkinker

Answer: In the first movie, he became a recluse then disappeared for several years. They never stayed in contact with one another. Even after Bruce returned they only spoke when he was Batman. While Gordon was trying to fight crime and corruption, Bruce was playing the boozy Playboy millionaire.

This doesn't answer the original question.

Ssiscool

Question: Just a question about the remarkable resemblance to Johnny Five from the Short Circuit films. Is Wall-E intentionally modeled this way or is it just a coincidence they look so alike?

Answer: It certainly wasn't intentional, although the director, Andrew Stanton, has acknowledged that he did see Short Circuit many years ago and agrees that it could well have been a subconscious influence. WALL-E was principally designed with the job that he does in mind - the design brief was to consider WALL-E as an appliance first, what he would need to look like in order to do his job efficiently, then work out how to read emotion into the character after that. Stanton has stated that the chief inspiration for WALL-E's eyes came from a pair of binoculars, which he decided looked happy or sad depending on which way up they were.

Tailkinker

Question: Why does the mob boss keep reappearing in the movie? Wasn't he thrown in jail in the scene with Dent and Rachel in the courtroom and all the mobsters shouting at once? Does the joker set him free? But then why does Gordon not arrest him again in the hospital?

Answer: Nope, the trials never got to the stage where Maroni faced jail. The first time, the star witness changed his story on the stand (plus tried to shoot Dent). The second time, when all the mobsters were present, Maroni had the money to make bail, so he's out again. Then the judge was murdered, leaving nobody to try the case anyway. Maroni's walking the streets on entirely legal grounds - Gordon has no reason to arrest him when they encounter each other at the hospital. Plus Maroni may be his only source that could possibly lead him to the Joker; arresting him wouldn't exactly help with that.

Tailkinker

Question: When Spartan is asking about his daughter, all I hear is "(mumble-mumble) happened to her?" Does anyone know what he actually says?

Answer: He says "I had a daughter. What happened to her?"

LorgSkyegon

Answer: From the subtitles I found and what I remembered I think his exact words were "And my daughter, what happened to her?"

Lummie

I made a promise, what happened to her?

Question: In the very beginning in the fight between Batman and Scarecrow, Batman grabs a rifle and bends it with his bare hands. I've never known Batman to have super strength before. I know he is strong and agile above Olympic levels, but not to be able to bend metal. Or does his Batsuit give him a boost in strength? This is something also that would be new since Batman is known for his utility belt and being the greatest detective in the world, but not for super powers.

Answer: Batman has a tool attached to his arm and hand that allows him to bend the metal - there's a short shot of it just after he bends it.

Phixius

Chosen answer: Well, she is the most liked sibling, so she can probably get more out of her parents, or get money from both of them without the other knowing, or as we saw in the Gary Grills episode she can get money from people easily by telling them all sorts of stuff.

Answer: She's just sneaky that's all.

Question: According to his IMDB page, this is the only film Freddie Boath has made so far. What has he been up to for the past seven years?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Given that he's only seventeen now, pretty safe bet that he's been in school, focusing on his education.

Tailkinker

Question: Does the Joker win since Batman becomes the villain? And does the Joker have a plan even though he says he doesn't?

Answer: You could certainly say that the Joker won - he tore Harvey Dent down from a highly-principled man to an insane vigilante; he turned Batman into a villain in the eyes of the general population, he brought chaos to Gotham. As for a plan, not really. His aim in the world is pretty much to spread chaos and confusion around the place - as such, he'll come up with ways to do that, which are obviously plans of a short-term nature, but he doesn't really have any sort of long-term scheme, which is the sort of thing he's talking about when he refers to plans.

Tailkinker

Answer: The entire Honor Guard was made of of Joker's men, all firing at the Mayor. But the mayor wasn't shot, Commissioner Gordon was.

johnrosa

Question: Near the beginning of the film, in 1946, Rick and Evie are asked to take the Eye of Shangri-La to China as a peace offering from Britain, and a subsequent shot is them arriving in China in 1947. Since the task seems to be of extreme importance, why do they wait an entire year to deliver it?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: For one thing, just because two different years are shown does not mean that a full twelve months passed before they arrived in China. Also, travel to an undeveloped third-world country in the mid 20th century was not like it is today. There were no jet planes, much pre-planning and preparation would have to be done before departure, different modes of transportation would have to be arranged, and there would be many stops, delays, and transfers along the way. This could cumulatively take many months.

raywest

Question: What does Jameson mean when he says that he wants a quarter every time someone says the name "Green Goblin"? Is it just a joke?

Answer: Well, sort of. What he means is that, as he came up with the name "Green Goblin", he should be allowed to trademark it and have people pay him for using it.

Tailkinker

Question: Colman Reese got on television to reveal Batman's real identity. Whatever happened with that especially since the police have a detective assigned to unmasking the Bat?

Answer: Even though Reese threatened to unmask Bruce, Bruce still came to save him from those trying to kill him, so Reese, in all likelihood, feels a renewed sense of loyalty to his boss. As such, it's likely that he would remain quiet and lie to the police, say that he didn't really know and was just trying to force Batman out into the open by pretending to know his true identity.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: There was never 1 movie that spoofed Die Hard but they were spoofed in many movies. Here is the IMDB link where you can see all the movies they were spoofed in: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/movieconnections.

SAZOO1975

Answer: There was a Netflix movie in 2018 that directly spoofed "Die Hard." It's called "Game Over, Man!"

Question: On the DVD's front cover it says that this film is based on a true story, but I have heard a rumour that this is a complete lie and the entire film is fictional. Is this true and if so are they allowed to say it's based on truth, when it's totally made up?

Answer: That rumour is true. There is a bit of information to the story so this link will explain a bit more of the detail, Link 1 & Link 2. It is somewhat of a complicated issue but it is allowed. Texas Chainsaw massacre (which was also claimed to be true but was not) is an example of this. The technique has allowed distributors and filmmakers to make the film more enticing to audiences. While the tagline is not completely true, the fact that some elements are true means it is not totally false.

Lummie

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