Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: How did the police not come across the fact that Nichols drove Richard's car, meaning he had access to the keys to the house or that a phone call was made from the car while it was in his possession? Surely this would have been known or mentioned to the investigators since they had a timeline of Richard being at the fundraiser?

Movielover1996

Answer: Yes, but as is shown in the film, the police investigation was incompetent at best. They decided very early on that Richard was guilty, and did only the most rudimentary of legwork to prove their theory, while not following up on leads like this one that would just muddy the waters. Definitely a misstep on behalf of Richard's defense not to bring it up at trial, of course.

For sure, the Chicago PD thought they had an easy open and shut case and did no real investigation. That's why they are still mad at the end because they were jerks who didn't want to admit how lazy they were.

Question: Why does Brad take the blame for Charlie for shooting April with the slingshot? If he tells dad that Charlie had done that, he would've told him it was an accident.

Trainman

Answer: Charlie had become a chronic drunk and the town considered him a crackpot with his claims about alien abductions being foretold through his dental work. Even though it was an accident, he could have been declared incompetent and a danger to himself and others; he possibly could have been involuntarily committed. Brad is protecting him.

raywest

Question: The gang meet the prisoner Jeff on the ship given by Rassouli. After his first appearance, he never shows up in the rest of the movie. What happened to him? Were his scenes edited out?

Bunch Son

Question: In the book and the movie, why did Sirius wait many years before escaping Azkaban? If I remember the book correctly, he did it by changing into his dog form and walking past the Dementors, who navigate by emotions. I know he had seen Ron holding Scabbers/disguised Peter in the newspaper article, but could he not have turned into his dog form and walked out years ago? Even without knowing where Peter was?

Answer: To add to the other fine answer that I agree with, Sirius' mental state negatively affected his desire and/or ability to escape. He languished in prison as a broken man, knowing that everyone believed him guilty and that no-one would help him if he did escape. Others would have killed him. It was a while before Sirius realised the Dementors couldn't detect his dog form. It also wasn't until he'd lost a significant amount of weight from being half-starved that he could slip through the bars as a dog, though, realistically, it wouldn't have taken 12 years to become that thin.

raywest

Answer: And do what? He had no goal, no way of avenging his wrongful imprisonment. He knew the dementors and every auror would be chasing him if he escaped, he had nowhere to go, no plan. Without any leads he would just be recaptured (and killed most likely). Seeing Wormtail in the papers however, gave him a reason to escape.

lionhead

Question: When Carl found his police car smashed into the tree, shouldn't the airbag be deployed?

Trainman

Answer: I'm not sure about Carls cruiser because he appears to be the only Officer in a small town, I doubt very much he's getting into high speed pursuits. However, in my cruiser I have the option to disable the air bag system. This is due to the possibility of the air bags deploying if a suspect vehicle stops and then deliberately backs into the pursuing cruiser.

Answer: It should have deployed, that model Caprice came with an airbag standard. Airbags will sometimes fail to deploy due to equipment malfunction.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Is Chris Rock's beard throughout the film an appliance, or did Rock actually grow it out? (I know his goatee in the flashback is fake, I'm talking about the beard he has during all the modern day scenes.) I could swear I saw a little glue on his chin next to his beard in one scene, like it was an appliance, but I couldn't quite tell, so I didn't submit it as a mistake.

TedStixon

Drugs Actually - S5-E11

Question: The Army says Ian could serve 5 years in prison for going AWOL. Given that he fraudulently enlisted at the age of 17, could they actually charge him with going AWOL when he wasn't legally allowed to serve in the military in the first place?

Phaneron

Question: Why was Molly Weasley absent in this movie? Did her actress, Julie Walters, get sick or was simply too busy with another movie?

Answer: Walters wanted to be in it. "Goblet of Fire" is a fairly long story with many new characters added. In the book, Molly mostly appeared early on in scenes confined to the Weasleys' home. She did not attend the World Quidditch Cup or play a significant role in the overall story arc. To trim its running length, the movie starts later in the story as Harry and the Weasleys, minus Molly, set off for the match. There was really no reason, plot wise, to add her character into the already complex storyline. Harry's family, the Dursleys, were also left out.

raywest

Question: Where does Richard come up with the "Atlas of Limb Prostheses" that he's studying at the Polish woman's house? You don't just go to the library and find that, and you need a library card if they had it. Probably an expensive book and his funds are limited.

Answer: In addition, if it was outdated he could have found it at a used book store for nothing. Medical libraries and college bookstores only keep the most updated books on hand and sell old versions cheap.

Brian Katcher

Answer: He may not have a library card, but he could have smuggled the book out of a library. Being that Richard is a doctor, he'd know where to find medical books, including used ones, that he could access. There are several medical schools in Chicago which would naturally have extensive libraries. There would also be bookstores near those universities that sell new and used textbooks. Richard could have taken the book from one of those.

raywest

Question: What song is playing as Christine is crushing Darnell against the steering wheel?

Answer: "I've Got A Girl Named Boney Maroney" by Larry Williams.

Question: In the Extended Edition, John Connor is depicted as a senator whilst Sarah observes happily nearby. After all the deadly shootouts and chases, how did two of the most wanted individuals in the whole country (based on sheer destruction, especially against police) manage to get off free, and even get involved in politics? Sarah would've surely gone back to the secure hospital, and John put back into foster care. Or did they somehow convince everyone the Terminator existed after all?

DEvans

Answer: These questions and more are the reason the ending was changed to one where the future is left uncertain.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: 1) If a commanding officer orders you to do something but what they ask you makes no logical sense should you still do it? I'm of course referring to Apone ordering his people to get rid of their ammo. And what are the repercussions for NOT obeying the order? 2) Why wouldn't they check for aliens coming on the ceiling? Wouldn't the ceiling ducts show up on the blueprints they looked over earlier?

Answer: 1) Of course they are supposed to obey orders. Superiors don't usually completely explain the full reason why they give a specific order, it takes too long. That's why soldiers are trained to obey orders, no questions asked. You can see what happens when soldiers don't obey orders, because they had a good reason to tell them not to fire their guns, and they got lucky they didn't hit anything that could compromise the reactor. Insubordination is a serious offense. But since these are fictional space marines we can't really know what the repercussions would be. 2) The aliens didn't come through any ducts. They were hiding in the walls, which had a similar structure and colour as their bodies (logical since they made it). The marines didn't know the aliens would be so stealthy and smart to hide in the walls. They were there for search and rescue and weren't ready to face the aliens, since they hardly knew anything about them.

lionhead

I think the second part of the question is referring to the scene where Hicks checks in the drop ceiling and finds aliens there. The poster is asking how come the drop ceiling doesn't show up on the blueprints.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How could Stan and the train driver still be alive in such extreme heat and with lava just underneath them? Shouldn't it destroy their lungs? Shouldn't they get incinerated by the extreme heat of magma?

Answer: Yes, the chances of surviving those circumstances is completely impossible. Not just the heat, but also toxic fumes which will incapacitate you very quickly. At one point the soles of his shoes were melting, at that point you would have been dead. It's a heroic scene, but not very believable.

lionhead

Question: Why was Dr. Grant so dismissive of Tim when they first met? I can understand Grant being annoyed with the bratty kid at the dig site but Tim showed a genuine interest in dinosaurs and even mentioned he'd read Grant's book.

Answer: Dr. Grant doesn't like kids. Any kids.

lionhead

That was an issue between him and Ellie Sattler, who wanted to have a family, while he did not. She eventually married someone else and had kids.

raywest

Answer: Grant just has a low opinion of kids in general. He probably thinks Tim is too young to really understand or appreciate the research that Grant has dedicated most of his life to. Also, Tim can come across as a little "too much" at times; he talks really fast and barely gives Grant a chance to get a word in edgewise.

Answer: Yes. After stabbing Maximus and later fighting him in the arena, Commodus knew that despite Maximus' weakened condition, he was unable to beat him especially since Maximus is a better fighter and Commodus was desperate to kill him. He took the knife that he used to stab Maximus with in hopes of succeeding but Maximus was able to turn the knife on Commodus instead.

Question: Alastor Moody has searched Snape's office, supposedly because Dumbledore instructed him to. Snape says "'I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!'" So why did Snape allow him to search it, and why did he not ask Dumbledore about it?

Answer: Moody is known as a wizard you do not mess with, he has the nickname "Mad" for a reason. We also don't know that Snape didn't ask Dumbledore about this, especially since we know from later books they were very privately working together in a way not mentioned in earlier books. It's possible he did and it may have made them a little suspicious, but obviously not enough to assume Moody is not who he says he is yet.

Question: What was the reason for the kidnapping?

Answer: Two reasons, as Draisen said, he was tired of working for wealthy clients, while he worked for peanuts, Plus he lusted after Helen Downing and knew she wouldn't go with him without a fortune.

Question: How did Cecilia manage to change so quickly during that final dinner, especially after she put on the invisibility suit, killed Adrian, then changed back into her little black dress so quickly? I would image the suit would have been so difficult to wear and remove. (01:13:00)

Answer: A couple things... when she pulled the mask off Adrian's brother earlier, the suit seemed pretty thin and flexible, so I can't imagine it's all that difficult to put on and remove. It'd probably be like slipping on some coveralls. It would defeat the whole purpose of the suit if it was hard to put on, wear and use. I also don't think she necessarily needed to take the time to completely change. Her dress is small enough that she could honestly probably just slip the suit on over it. Finally, it's really not uncommon for movies to "compress time" a bit by cutting scenes shorter. You could easily make an argument that we're simply not seeing everything in "real time." Why waste an extra 30 seconds just showing Adrian lying on the floor bleeding? It'd totally kill the pacing of the scene.

TedStixon

Question: Red is involved in weapons smuggling but why would he hijack the rig that Jack was driving if the weapons were supposed to be delivered to Cutler?

Question: I have always wondered why the entire senior bridge crew beam down to Khitomer at the end of the movie - (1) this crew is already senior - you would expect some junior crew members to come as support even in the series episodes, they always brought the "red shirts" to do at least some of the dirty work or act as security escorts; and (2) Who's left flying the ship?

Answer: The logical reason is that this is the final movie with the original cast. The plot is written so that they all have a heroic climatic moment, are shown to still share a strong united bond, and are all together before bidding Star Trek fans farewell. It was a fitting and satisfying ending to their long participation in the ST franchise. There would certainly be plenty of crew aboard the Enterprise to fly it.

raywest

They've uncovered an assassination conspiracy with one of their own senior officers is involved, and she enlisted the help of two jr. Crewman. The plan would be classified to bridge crew only in case there were more crew involved. As for the ship, if they're in standard orbit, the computers can maintain that with very few crew on the bridge.

Answer: To answer question #2: nobody! When we see the senior officers return to the bridge, it is completely deserted.

TonyPH

That doesn't mean there was no-one on the bridge while the senior crew were on the planet. They may just have exited the bridge prior to Kirk and the others stepping back on. Also, bridge control can be transferred to engineering and the ship flown from there while in orbit. I would emphasize again that the scene was written without other crew being seen solely to focus on the original cast members one final time. It's their moment, so a bit of artistic license was appropriate.

raywest

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