Question: Why is Deb calling from a payphone in the middle of nowhere?
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.
Answer: And / or does not wish to be eavesdropped on if she has a home phone?
Question: When the Simpsons go on the TV show to try and explain themselves, what show was this a send up of where the guy speaks really loud? I believe it's a show from Fox News.
Chosen answer: I believe the character is a parody of the "Hardball" host, Chris Matthews, who is seen by some as a loud host who gives guests no time to answer poltical questions.
Question: What is the point of the Riddler stopping Harvey (Two-Face) from killing Bruce Wayne when they are in his mansion? They now know that Bruce Wayne is Batman and their goal all along was to kill Batman. Essentially I can understand they want to torture Bruce by kidnapping Chase, but it seems like a huge risk that they don't really need to take as Batman is very elusive and this was a prime opportunity to take him out.
Chosen answer: They are both nuts and extremely arrogant. They are also suffering from "Supervillain Syndrome" wherin the villain will toy with and never kill his nemesis even though it will get him caught/defeated in the end. It's just how comic book villains are.
Also, they specifically say they want him awake, aware and capable of suffering humiliation and shame when they destroy him. Also, since they have a hostage he values very highly, they can be reasonably sure he'll come to them afterwards, Riddler out-and-out says so.
Question: Who played Michaela Odone's sister in the movie? Was thinking it was Holly Hunter but IMDB has no information.
Chosen answer: It was Kathleen Wilhoite (she also played Dr. Lewis' sister Chloe on ER).
Answer: She also played Luke Dane's sister on Gilmore girls.
Question: How come, Aunt Josephines house collapses, yet reappears later, when we see Count Olaf having to redo the tasks the children faced. Surely they didn't rebuild it! It looks exactly the same, anyway.
Chosen answer: They probably built a simple replicant of the house. They wouldn't rebuild every detail just to punish Olaf, especially since it was just going to fall down again.
Question: What are "Burnouts"?
Chosen answer: A burnout is a pot-head who is so "burnt out" (because of smoking way too much weed) that they never get anything done....no school, work, etc.
Question: Why did Professor Hobby, at the beginning of the movie, tell the Mecha to undress?
Answer: The Mecha was in a room full of strangers, and yet, because it had no feelings of shame (no feelings at all was the point), it undressed without any concern of onlookers.
Chosen answer: To show how completely obedient the mecha are and that there is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to them.
Question: When Hughes is scrubbing his hands so hard that he cuts them, what exactly causes them to be cut? Is it something in the soap, or his fingernails? I wouldn't think, his being a man, that his nails would be long enough to do any damage, at least not to the extent shown.
Chosen answer: Hughes has obsessive compulsive disorder. He washes his hands so often, and so intensely, that he's literally worn away his skin. This is common with OCD sufferers.
Question: Does anybody know of a website that contains all of Kenny's quotes for this film?
Chosen answer: This should be usefull: http://www.samotnik.art.pl/southpark.html.
Question: In the ending credits, the name Cameron Duncan is mentioned. What is so significant about this now-deceased filmmaker?
Chosen answer: Cameron was a highly promising young filmmaker, who won several awards for advertisements that he directed - this brought him to the attention of Peter Jackson. He spent time with the cast and crew of the films, where he gained their respect and affection, to the extent that two of his short films are included on the extended edition DVD. Jackson spoke at his funeral and the song "Into the West" was inspired by him and is dedicated to his memory.
Question: I think that this is the case, I just want to check. At the start, the church attendants are Riff-Raff and Magenta (and, I presume, Columbia). Is the vicar really Frank-N-Furter?
Chosen answer: Yes, this is alluded to by the Criminologist (narrator) circling their heads on a big picture from the wedding.
Question: Why couldn't the Emperor sense the presence of Luke Skywalker on Endor (per his conversation with Vader)?
Chosen answer: The Emperor did sense Luke. He just didn't tell Vader that, because he was planning on replacing Vader with Luke (kind of like replacing an old sedan with a new sportscar) and double crossing Vader.
Same thing what happened in Episode III, Palpatine deceived and betrayed Dooku by not knowing he was just a pawn to his plans.
Answer: You never know whether The Emperor is telling the truth or not, but either way what he's trying to convey to Vader here is that he's starting to get the tiniest bit of doubt over whether Vader has truly purged all compassion towards his son, and if not he'd better nip that in the bud, pronto.
Question: An entry on the wearing of full combat gear and arms on the transport to 'Nam has been corrected, reason being that this is done today. This is correct, as rapid deployment in zones with little or nonexistent local military infrastructure exists requires every soldier to be operational when hitting ground. But was this the case at the time in Vietnam? Sure, this is early in the war, before a full scale upbuild but were incoming troops really transported this way, even in '65?
Chosen answer: Yes and no. This has been done on and off since the 101st Airborned dropped on D-Day. Mainly it depends on the area being travelled through and the destination.
Question: One of the mistakes for this film is "In the scene when Ben Kingsley is called a traitor by the woman, at the far right of some shots, you can see the right side (viewer's left) of a man moving slightly." - can anyone make this more specific. Who is calling Ben Kingsley a traitor? His wife, or Jennifer Connoley. Could anyone supply a timecode for this, as I'd like to see it.
Chosen answer: I believe the post is refering to when Ben Kingsley's wife is yelling at him after the cop first threatens them with deportation. But his wife calls him a coward, not a traitor, and there is no one in the scene except for the 3 family members (I've gone through the scene several times in slow motion).
Question: When Judy was stung by that plant and she collapsed, I never really understood what happened. She collapsed but was she poisoned and killed or just paralyzed? Anybody have the faintest idea? That's the only bit I never understood. I thought she was shot by poisonous darts...
Answer: Since the barb was poisonous, she was dying. This is seen when she begins looking pale and a few seconds later she isn't moving. Finishing the game was the only way to save her life.
Chosen answer: She was just temporarily immobilized by the venom - it wears off after a few minutes.
No, it doesn't. Alan said the purple plants shoot poisonous barbs. After being hit, by them, Judy was slowly being poisoned to death.
Question: Does anyone know what they did with officer Duffy after they started cutting him open?
Answer: In the novelization, they dumped his corpse outside the police HQ.
Question: What does the J in Bartholomew J Simpson stand for? Is it like Homer's which just stands for Jay or is it something else?
Answer: It stands for Jo-Jo. This was confirmed by Nancy Cartwright when the show's cast appeared on "Inside the Actors Studio."
Question: Does anybody know what the episode was called where that helicopter severed Romano's arm? I'm pretty sure it was season 8.
Answer: It was in "Chaos Theory", the first episode of season 9 (time code 00:13:55).
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Chosen answer: She has no cellphone or home phone.
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