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: What is the spell that Hermione casts to free Sirius when he is locked in Hogwarts? It is not alohamora. It sounds like bombarda.

Answer: It is Bombarda, or something to that effect. Alohamora only opens a regular doorlock, a good old padlock obvoiusly calls for a different, more powerful spell.

Question: Does anyone know what's officially in the mystery package and why Chuck never opens it, or is it just a 'McGuffin' like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction?

Answer: No one knows what was in the package. I think Chuck doesn't open it in order to keep his sanity. The package is his only link to his life before being stranded, working for FedEx and making sure packages get delivered. He was determined to make sure it got delivered just as he was determined to survive and get back to civilization. Success in one meant success in the other. While Zemeckis has joked there was a waterproof satellite phone in it, the real answer from the script is, no joke, salsa verde. Its a care package with a note imploring Bettina's (the artist) husband (naked cowboy) to come back and spice up their life like the salsa.

Answer: The package he got had divorce papers in them. He signed them and then placed them back in the package for return to her.

Here's my spin. Bettina's husband travels and is on assignment in Moscow. He's cheating on her, she knows it, files for divorce, and sends the papers through FedEx to him in Moscow. He signs them and returns in the same box. They end up on Chuck's flight, which crashes. He recovers them but decides not to open them. They re-file for divorce. Chuck returns the box, gazes down the road, and decides to go back and tell his story to her. They laugh about the old papers and live happily ever after.

Answer: In the third draft of the movie there's a scene where Chuck opens the package and finds salsa and a note from the woman in the beginning asking her husband to come home. It's also revealed that she doesn't mind that he never got the package. Pretty unsatisfactory, probably why it was cut and left a mystery.

Answer: The name of the character is Rita Dunne. The name of the actress is Kathryn Morris.

Question: The whole train sequence takes place on an elevated train; they are supposed to be in New York. I don't want to submit that as a mistake if it turns out that someplace obscure (but still apparently in downtown) has el trains. The credits at the end also thank the Chicago Transportation Authority, so it wasn't filmed in NYC, anyway. So, does anyone know?

Answer: The train sequence was filmed entirely in Chicago. The elevated trains aren't in New York anymore, it's true, but there used to be an elevated train system in New York in the 1940's, and that's the one that the sequence was supposed to be based on.

Question: Fairly techie question - during the attack on Zion a HUGE mass of sentinels breaks into the dock, and forms separate strands before making one huge stream and hitting the central control tower. This huge stream is being attacked from all angles and sentinels are dropping out as it moves. My question is, was this huge stream of squiddies created as one fairly generic blob to save time, or was it actually modelled as thousands of separate entities?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: If you look in the making of, the model appears to be one huge line where there are a few individual squids on the outside and in front.

Kirill Ostapenko

Question: In the scene right after Peter ditches the Spidey outfit, when he's walking happily while the song is playing, he falls. Did he get hit by something, or did he trip over something due to his failing eyesight? Any information on this would be appreciated.

Answer: He falls because he's a normal person now: bad eyesight, less coordinated, and no spider-sense. Normal people experience this all the time and he's happy to be a non-superhero without that heavy responsibility again.

Phoenix

Question: Does the book 'Brave New World' upon which 'Demolition Man' is based reference the three seashells in the bathroom or is it just a bit of comic relief in the movie ?

Answer: For a start, the question is seriously flawed: Demolition Man is not based on Brave New world. The only similarity between the two is that that both are set in conformist future societies. There are a few references in the movie to that book (for example, the character name Lenina Huxley is a combination of BNW character Lenina Crowne and the book's author, Aldous Huxley); but to the best of my knowledge, the "three seashells" was not one of them.

J I Cohen

Answer: No, there are no 'three seashells' in Brave New World. Thank Ford.

Question: Why did Stephen Schwartz not allow the Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston version of "When You Believe" to be submitted for Oscar consideration, thus depriving Kenneth Edmonds (who helped write the music for this version) of an Oscar?

Answer: Schwartz has stated that he believes the version of the song to be nominated should be the one in the movie, not the one that runs over the end credits. He has also said that since Edmonds (Babyface) only co-wote about 15% of the music, he was ineligible for nomination according to Academy rules.

Question: If Fairy Godmother's son is a prince, who on earth is his father? Is it just me, or does this put King Harold in little suspicious a state?

Answer: Poor King Harold looks like a softie, but I don't think he would meekly assist to the marriage of his two children - that would be Shakespeare at his worst and not a fairy tale, however spoofy it is.

Question: When Shrek and the gang decide to visit the Muffin Man, Shrek says, "We're going to need flour, lots and lots of flour." I remember a similar line (but not referring to flour) from another movie. What movie was that from and what was the line?

Answer: Quite possibly from "The Matrix". "We need guns. Lots of guns."

Twotall

Question: Aren't distances in Europe designated in kilometers? Col. Henry West says he and his men are located 27 miles NW of Manchester. I figured he'd use the equivalent distance in kilometers,43 km. Is this common in Europe to use either measurement?

Answer: The metric system is used in mainland Europe, but very rarely in Britain. Road signs are still measured in miles in Britain, and distances usually are too.

He's My Brother

Question: Why is there a "string holder", for lack of a better term, next to the shower, is it there for a plot device to get Connery out of the building or is there a hopefully better reason?

NoWhereMan

Chosen answer: These are sometimes present in hotels and are used as a makeshift clothesline. This way travelers can handwash clothes and hang them to dry.

shortdanzr

Question: So just how far is it from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom? And even though they didn't exist then, if possible to tell, how long would it take say, a modern day aircraft to fly from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom?

Azureth

Chosen answer: As the crow flies, it's approximately one thousand miles. This would be roughly a five hour flight in a Cessna light aircraft - a Boeing 747 at standard cruising speed would cover it in about an hour and a half.

Tailkinker

Question: When Dorothy is in Munchkinland and she starts off on the Yellow Brick Road, it spirals around with a Red Brick Road before splitting off toward the Emerald City. Where does the Red Brick Road lead to?

Answer: It is assumed that it goes towards the Sapphire City, but this is up for debate, as 1) it is never mentioned nor shown in a movie relating to Oz, and 2) the red road was not in the book series, and was purely added to the movie for aesthetics.

Question: In the scene where Gandalf and Saruman are fighting in the tower Saruman takes Gandalf's staff and sends him to the top of the tower. What happened to Gandalf's staff? When he escapes he somehow gets his staff back and uses it the rest of the movie. Is it another similar staff, or am I missing something?

Answer: It is a different staff. Look at the branches at the top of the staff.

Garlonuss

Question: During the Livin' La Vida Loca, who stage dives before Shrek?

Answer: It looks like just a member of the band.

Answer: Because in the book, the sign at the entrance to the "Pet Semetary" was written by some anonymous child. Clearly he/she couldn't spell that well yet.

Grumpy Scot

Question: If anyone has read the book, does Jimmy get away with murdering Dave?

Answer: At the end of the book, Jimmy is still free, but Sean makes it clear that he will be watching Jimmy very closely.

eileen

Actually at the end of the book while in the parade Sean thinks that even if it takes him the rest of his life he will bring jimmy down since he made that promise to celeste. Even though, sean knows that this will impossible because Jimmy thinks about every detail, meaning he probably didn't leave any evidence.

Show generally

Question: When and how did the Great War end? I know the original Transformers ended its US run after the 3-part Headmasters, but Generation 1 continued on in Japan in Super God Masterforce, Victory, Zone, Return of Convoy, and Operation: Combination. Which cartoon ending is considered "official," the US one which finished its run in the 80's with Headmasters or the Japanese one that ended in 1992 with Operation: Combination?

Answer: It is whichever ending you want. There is no 'real' set or canon ending to the war. The only semi-resolution is Beast Wars occasionally hints at the Autobots winning (before the Maximal upgrade). However, Beast Wars is a combination of the US cartoon and the US comic, and excludes most of the Japanese continuity. So it is really up to you as to what you want to believe. Most people seem to 'accept' the US universe, ending with Beast Machines.

Question: Does anyone know what music is playing while the old lady crosses the ocean with the dog?

Answer: The music heard on the soundtrack as Mme. Souza and Bruno follow the ocean liner is from the opening movement (Kyrie) of Mozart's Mass in C minor.

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