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: Is the trailer made by Amanda for the film starring Lindsay Lohan for an actual film? If not, how much was Lindsay Lohan paid to appear in the trailer?

Answer: I'm not sure how much she was paid, but no, it isn't a real movie.

Question: Superman says to Lois in the interview that he never lies. Is the fact that he never lies something he has decided to do or is something that all the people from Krypton have the inability to do? If it is something that the people from Krypton have the inability to do, then how come at the beginning of the movie when Jor-el is telling the Krypton council that the planet is going to explode, no-one believes him?

Answer: Superman has chosen to use his powers on Earth for the good of mankind. It would seem that lying to them would be an unneccessary thing to do, so it appears to be a personal choice. Interesting trivia: the closest he comes to lying is when he tells Lex Luthor to get Zod and company into the molecule chamber in the second film. Listen closely, he only says that it is a molecule chamber that takes away their powers, he never actually says that being inside will make them lose them, only that he wants Luthor to get them to go into it.

Jazetopher

That may be the closest "Superman" comes to lying, but Clark Kent does appear to lie. After the mugging scene in the first movie, Clark tells Lois the contents of her purse, and when asked how he knew (obviously from his X-ray vision), he says "wild guess" which was a lie.

jimba

Not only that but, he spent his whole life pretending to be ordinary so, in fact, he spent his whole life living a lie.

Question: Why did they cast an English actor to play Juggernaut when in the comics he is born and raised in America?

Answer: Because they felt Vinnie Jones was best suited for the part. Movie-makers are in no way required to adhere to every single little detail about the comic book characters, and in fact made several small changes to better suit the story and the media of film.

Twotall

Question: When Rose comes down the staircase, and Jack kisses her hand, does he say, "I saw that on Nickelodeon once and I always wanted to try it." Why does he say this?

Answer: He does NOT say "on Nickelodeon" he says "I saw that on A Nickelodeon." A Nickelodeon was a turn of the century entertainment device where a user, for a nickel, could look through a viewfinder and watch a very short film, usually projected using flip cards.

wizard_of_gore

Question: Who is the strong player with the Russian accent whom Josh plays in the park near the beginning?

Answer: Vasek Simek.

Question: When Axel and Mikey return from the bar, Axel opens the door to his apartment, goes in and - almost immediately - two thugs come out of a hideaway and catch Mikey, beat him up then shoot him. Why Axel didn't come to investigate? Is he deaf or something?

Answer: Axel gets knocked out by one of the thugs as soon as he opens the door. His boss later make mention of the fact that he's lucky he didn't get killed too. They probably spared him because he didn't see who hit him and therefore could not tell anyone what they looked like.

XIII

The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy - S3-E1

Question: I'm not positive it's in this episode, but there's a very cool, very large poster/print on the wall in Rachel's room that says "Film Noir," visible in a few scenes. Does anyone know who the artist is, and whether the print is commercially available?

Answer: It is a vintage italian art print. Google images may come up with something if you search that phrase. Otherwise check on allposters.com.

Question: When Shanti draws the diagram from the past to future (along with the river explanation); does it have any relevance with the fact that there cannot be two Doug's? My mum has a theory that the two things relate but I am not too sure. Can anybody clear it up for me?

Answer: If there are multiple parallel timelines/universes, there should be one Doug for every timeline (ignoring the notion that in some parallel timelines he might have been hit by a bus and died early). Doug jumping from his own branch of the timeline to a "root" of that branch seems to make a new branch from the changes, but the fact that there are two Dougs existing in the same timeline (with the "present" Doug unaware) doesn't seem to cause any large problems. Note, though, that future Doug is trapped in the car and explodes (removing any evidence of his existence) before there could ever be a chance for him to run into his past-self. You could see this as time healing itself and preventing two versions of the same person ever occupying the same space.

Question: When the Plastics and Aaron are walking through the hall, I can't tell if Cady really does fall into the trashcan, or if it's in her imagination. Is this answered anywhere?

Answer: I don't think it actually happened. I've had to change bags in similar trash cans, at places where I worked, and many of them are not very heavy and sturdy. They would easily topple over if a person fell in. When Cady falls, she seems to stick her legs up in the air and wiggle them. Almost as if she does a hand-stand inside the can.

Answer: We can assume that it really did happen, because in the scenes of her imagination, it then jumps back to show what really happened, and in this case it doesn't.

Christina

Question: When Kate Winslet first gets home, she turns on the gas on one of the stove burners (but doesn't light it). As Cameron Diaz starts talking with her via the Internet, two of the burners are on, and she gets up and turns one of them off. If I'm not wrong, the other remains on and because of the fireplace would end up setting her house on fire. Or it might just be that the other burner was already on and burning to heat something. Could anyone please give a more certain answer about that?

Answer: Iris only turns on one burner without lighting it. When the Internet tone for getting a message sounds, Iris comes to her senses, turns off the unlit burner, opens the window and then answers Amanda's message.

ChiChi

Question: According to Wikipedia, a "disused spa", the Kaiserbad, was supposed to be used as the exterior of the Casino Royale. I found a picture: and the "Grandhotel Pupp serving as the "Hotel Splendide" where Bond stays during his time in Montenegro." I only recall seeinng the Pupp, thinking that building was both the casino and the hotel. When the players go to their rooms, I thought they were in the same building, but apparently not.

Answer: Nope, in the movie the hotel and casino were not in the same building.

Andreas[DK]

Question: In the book, whenever someone used the polyjuice potion to change into another person, their voices changed too. In the film their voices remained the original, it didn't change into the voice of the person they were transforming into. Can someone tell me what prompted the makers of this movie to make this change?

Answer: Actually, that only happens in this movie and was most likely decided on because it would be easier for the younger audience to identify with the altered Harry and Ron if they had something they could connect to the character. In the fourth movie, Crouch's voice changed to Moody's. The reason that the kid's voice didn't change could be explained as a result of the fact that, being novice potion makers and children, they didn't quite get the potion exactly right.

Garlonuss

Question: At Miami airport, the cops shoot the fuel trucks tires. Wouldn't that be dangerous? Would there be a risk of a bullet hitting the fuel tank and blowing it up? And if, so, wouldn't the cop think twice before shooting?

Answer: Unlike how it's often portrayed in movies, it's actually pretty hard for a bullet to ignite a fuel tank. The Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel tried it once and were unable to do it with anything but a tracer round. (That is a round that burns as goes through the air). Of course a stray bullet could make the tanker leak, but apparently that was a risk the police thought was acceptable compared with the dangers of having a rogue tanker driving around.

Andreas[DK]

Question: When the suitcase enters the water and starts to float away, I thought I saw an arm (from about the elbow) and hand outstretched toward the water and suitcase, as if someone was laying down and mostly hidden behind some of the building debris. I noticed during both viewings I attended, but it is fast. I thought maybe it was a crewarm, then later thought it might have belonged to Mr. White. Or maybe just some bad guy trying to grab it without success. Or maybe it wasn't an arm at all.

Answer: It's the bad guy with the black eye patch reaching for it.

Mortug

Question: I don't fully understand how Le Chiffre lost all his money when the bomb failed to blow up the prototype aircraft at Miami airport. If the bomb had exploded, the shares in the airliner would have crumbled, but because it didn't, wouldn't think mean that Le Chiffre missed out on the opportunity to make a load of money, but would still be left with the money he had in the first place?

Answer: Le Chiffre was essentially betting that airline stock would fall, so he bought futures contracts assuming the price would fall, when the bomb did not go off, airline stock did not fall, so he lost his money, as the contract he'd bought still had to be fulfilled.

pross79

Answer: Lachiffre had bought Puts on the Airline stock which have a definite drop dead date, expiration date, usually the 3rd Friday of any month. So the bomb is a dud, the Airline rollout is a success, stock goes up, puts expire worthless.

Answer: Its not realistic IMO, but a successful roll-out of the new airliner would have led to an increase in the stock's price which would have cost anyone shorting it. Just not 100% of their investment.

sdaniels7114

Shorting stocks can cost an investor more than 100% of their investment. For example if you borrowed 1 stock for $50 hoping the stocks drop to $20, you make $30. But it the stocks jump to $150, you lose $100 (twice your investment).

Bishop73

Answer: She accepted the Oscar nomination for the film. She turned down the Tony nomination for the Broadway musical because no one else got nominated and she thought it was unfair.

Myridon

Emission Impossible - S3-E11

Question: Stewie makes the remark "All this preventing people from having sex. Now I know what the Catholic church is like. BA-ZING." Doesn't the Catholic religion encourage numerous childbirths? I know that Stewie says he's trying to prevent sex, but he claims his primary objective is to prevent Peter & Lois from having another child.

Answer: The catholic church is heavily against sex outside of wedlock, which is increasing dramatically, thus the church tries to stop pre-marital sex.

Gary O'Reilly

Question: At the end, David (as Bud) leaves Pleasantville by using the remote control. Why didn't he do this in the first place when he realised that they were in Pleasantville? And where did the remote control come from?

Answer: Upon first being sucked into Pleasantville, both David and Jennifer were angry this had happened and wanted to leave Pleasantville immediately. The repairman was taken aback by this as he stated he spent years looking for the right super fan and believed David would see it as an honor. As a result of this lack of appreciation, he was hurt and essentially left David and Jennifer in the show believing it would be good for them. In terms of where the remote came from, David always had it after being sucked into the TV. When Betty Parker came into the living room and saw David [as Bud] in front of the TV [trying to get back in touch with the repairman] David stuck the remote behind the leg of the sofa when he realised they were stuck there.

Invader_Gir

Answer: The repairman is essentially the architect of the whole show. He doesn't allow them to leave at the beginning because he thought Tobi and Reece would be a good fit for those characters, it is never really explained why he wanted to change things because supposedly everything in Pleasantville stays the same, but who knows, little kid with a magnifying glass and a bunch of ants theory, maybe a god complex?

Answer: Because he didn't want to go back to his real life. By the end of the movie he's decided he wants to return.

He did want to leave at first, he even told the repair man to let them leave.

Question: I get how no one saw the child get on the plane. But how did no one see the kidnappers take her and put her under the plane, not even crew members?

Answer: Carson told Kyle that he put Julie inside a drink cart and used that to transport her to the lower area. Since one of the crew members was an accomplice, it's likely she helped move the cart.

Thisbe

How would they have put Julia inside a drink cart? Children Julia's age can weigh 40 to 60 pounds. That's more than drink carts are built to take. How would they have moved the cart without Julia's weight causing it to break?

"Suspension of disbelief" rears its head again-the audience isn't meant to analyze or be aware of the drink cart's limits, or how anyone could put a child into one while on a plane full of passengers. A limp body is not easily carried or maneuvered, but the viewer is just supposed to accept that they managed it for plot sake.

Erik M.

Question: In all the Vacation movies, the children are played by different actors. What is the reason behind this? Is it simply a joke?

Answer: According to the commentary from "Christmas Vacation" this is an inside joke referencing the fact that Clark is away from home so much with work, he hardly even recognizes them anymore. "European Vacation" could not obtain the same kids who played in the original Vacation, namely Anthony Michael Hall, and tried to cast kids whom looked close. Thus the joke began. No doubt the actors' aging between movies also plays a part.

Jazetopher

Answer: Ironically in 2003, Dana Barron (the original Audrey in the first film) returned as Audrey Griswald in "Christmas Vacation 2: Eddie's Island Adventure" although this film did not contain Chevy Chase, Beverly D' Angelo or a Rusty actor (Rusty not in this film).

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