Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why is the CGI at the end (the Scorpion King, mainly) so poor in comparison to the rest of the film? The Anubis creatures, etc. are all great, but the appearance of the big bad guy looks noticeably less polished. Any specific reason, or is it just one of those things?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Reportedly they simply ran out of time. Stephen Sommers, the director, was really quite embarrassed by it.

Tailkinker

Question: Luke says to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, "If these new droids do work out, I want to submit my application to the Academy this year." What "Academy" is he referring to? Is it connected with the Empire or the Rebel alliance?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: Its the Imperial Naval Academy. Many of the Star Wars heros (Han Solo, Biggs Darklighter etc) all went to the academy then defected to the rebellion. Luke wants to get away from Tatoine and has his heart set on adventure like his friend Biggs.

roboc

Chosen answer: 'Vampires' 1998, directed by John Carpenter.

ChiChi

Question: One person asked about Rose and Cal's "love life" which was answered with something about it being "active". Surely, Rose should have been pregnant by then if they had slept together quite a few times?

Answer: Condoms have been in use since the 1850's. Assuming Cal and Rose practiced safe sex there's no reason to believe she should have become pregnant.

Answer: The dialogue implies that they had not had sex yet. Cal tells her "There is nothing I would deny you, if you would not deny me." So it sounds like Cal is trying to convince Rose to have sex prior to their marriage. But Rose does not lose her virginity until she and Jack get busy in the car. However, IF they had been engaging in pre-marital sex, condoms were widely available in 1912, as were diaphragms; and there were other methods that, while maybe not as effective as modern methods, were better than nothing: Withdrawal before ejaculation, and intercourse at infertile times in a woman's cycle (see http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/birthcontrol/020709_bchistory.html). Also, she could have just been lucky.

J I Cohen

There are implications that Rose and Cal were intimate, such as when Cal says, "I had hoped you would come to me last night," and "You are my wife my practice if not yet by law."

When Cal says, "if you would not deny me," I think he means her melancholy attitude toward the wedding. He knows that she is not totally enthusiastic.

Question: The guy who played Livingston (surveillance) in Ocean's Eleven gives Jack a sandwich which is the 'Cadillac of all bolognas'. It doesn't really fit with the rest of the film and has no significance, the character isn't even credited so why is it shown?

Answer: There is an unusual explanation. In the original script, he was Bobby, an yammering snack cart guy that made multiple appearances. He liked to talk about food a lot and pressured people to buy his unusual creations. Eventually, he annoys Bruce to the point where he accidentally turns Bobby into a demon. However, Bruce changes him back after Bruce learns to be more modest. This subplot was considered to be too irrelevant, so it was scrapped later on. They gave Eddie the single line as a consolation prize, basically.

Yuval Levental

Answer: It is just so that Bruce can knock out the sandwiches and prove that he can be an ass.

Scrappy

Question: Who is Bruce doing an impression of in front of the mirror when he's talking about having a signature sign-off? He uses a comb as a moustache.

Answer: He's doing an impression of Walter Cronkite (Kronkite?) a well known news person.

bessytheevilcow

Question: I really don't get the whole five point exploding heart thing. How does that work? I know it's not supposed to be realistic. But if your heart really explodes after five steps, could you not just stand still? Or get a wheelchair? Can anyone explain what it's supposed to do, its origins (or just Tarantino's reason behind it) and if it is logical in any way?

Answer: There are an infinite stories about ancient martial artists who can kill in unique ways, particularly with light touches or pressure points - Tarantino is just playing off these legends. As Bill proves, it is possible to survive for a while by not taking steps (he doesn't die until he stands up and walks away) but the strain of rolling a wheelchair under one's own power would probably serve the same result, so one would be forced to rely on others for any kind of movement. The strain of maintaining such minimal action for a any period of time would also be telling on a person, and it would still perform the function that the attacker wanted: to stop the person from fighting. Tarantino is using it to show that the Bride knows some things that Bill does not, probably because she was a better/more respectful student, and this strike represents the ultimate in Pai Mei's knowledge. As to the logical aspect, there is a window of a fraction of a second in every heartbeat: if one strikes in that window, one can stop the heart. So, theoretically, it's possible, and who can say?

Phoenix

Answer: A part of a song which grabs the listeners attention.

Question: Was R. Lee Ermey's character a real sheriff or did he just have a costume and a car he stole?

Answer: He wasn't a real sheriff - in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning it shows him shoot the sheriff and take his clothes and car.

Question: I was just wondering, why isn't Jean violent? The psychic said that all the ghosts are violent because they died a violent death and that's why Cyrus wanted them, so why is she the only one who isn't violent?

Answer: She didn't die a violent death. Jean is the Withered Lover, meaning that she died after a long, wasting illness. This is the only ghost that is not violent, because the pain it causes is emotional, not physical.

Phoenix

Except Jean didn't die from an illness but was instead killed in a fire, hence the burns on her body.

Could be since Jean died as a result of saving her family and was an accident, she isn't that bad. We can tell this makes sense with some other ghosts: the kid with an arrow was an accidental death, the handicapped man was protecting his mom, and that mom was meek and calm in life and was quickly killed anyhow. The two that avert this trend are the torso, who was brutally killed though is more or less harmless, and the bound woman who was a jerk but quickly killed as well, and lifts Cyrus to his death.

Wasn't the Torso a harmless ghost? We never see it attack anyone, and when Bobby runs off scared it is because the torso is moving to the head which happens to be near Bobby. Then we don't see the Torso lift Cyrus and to help matters the Withered Lover is seen standing on the Torso's place at the end.

Answer: For that matter the Dire Mother didn't die a painful death either, she just died of suffocation. Her mentally disabled son did, though.

The dire mother was kidnapped and put in a sack. I'd say that's a violent death.

lionhead

Well, somewhat. But not nearly as bad as most of the other ghosts. Except for the First Born Son who was instantly and quickly killed by accident.

The Juggernaut died quickly too.

lionhead

And the Torn Prince.

lionhead

Yes, but not quickly to the brain - the Juggernaut took dozens of bullets, and the Torn Prince ate pavement.

Question: What is the song playing when you first see the Kingpin, in the tall building?

Answer: It is "Lapdance" by N.E.R.D. feat. Vita.

T Poston

Question: How come Bobby wasn't hurt when Rogue kissed him?

Answer: Rogue is developing some elementary control over her power, but it's not completely effective by any means and is still strongly tied to strong emotional states. So she can hold off for a little bit on the first kiss, but later (with more intense emotion) she starts to drain him.

Phoenix

Question: Was Legolas at the Battle of the Last Alliance with Elrond and Co? He is old enough, and a good enough fighter.

Answer: No one actually knows how old Legolas is, but if he is as old as Peter Jackson says (2,963 yrs I think) then that would mean Legolas would have been born in the beginning of the Third Age; years after the Last Alliance took place. His father, Thranduil, however, did fight in that battle.

cullothiel

Question: Does anyone know if the song Maggie sings underneath the stars is a real song? What's it called? Are the lyrics to the whole song written out anywhere? I'm talking about the one that goes "But I know I'm not alone, standing here on my own".

Answer: "When You're Alone," written by John Williams and Leslie Briccuse, was an original song and was nominated for a 1991 Oscar. It lost to Beauty and the Beast. It was also up against "Everything I Do, I do it for you" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

K.C. Sierra

Question: I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the words are to the song in the Duloc information booth? I have been trying to figure them out for ages, but the words aren't clear enough, and I can't check subtitles because I have the tape, not the DVD.

Answer: Welcome to Duloc, such a perfect town. Here we have some rules, let us lay them down. Don't make waves, stay in line and we'll get along fine. Duloc is a perfect place. Please keep off of the grass, Shine your shoes, wipe your ... face. Duloc is, Duloc is, Duloc is a per-fect plaaaaaaace.

Garlonuss

Question: I have heard many people say this film had over 10 endings in the theater. What is this supposed to mean? For me, 10 endings means that the ending changes each time; like the ending in Clue, where each new one means the others didn't happen in that strain. In ROTK, there are several scenes after the climax of the trilogy happens at Mount Doom. Is the 10 ending note just supposed to mean there is a long epilogue?

Answer: Basically, yes. The point is that there is a scene which finishes dramatically and you think 'ah, this is the end' but then there is another scene which also finishes dramatically and you think 'oh, this is the end' but, no, there is yet another scene. When people are saying it has 10 endings they mean that the filmmakers could have ended the film much sooner than they did. They are over exaggerating when they say 10 endings, because they are just trying to make the point.

KingofallSamurai

Question: I want to know: after the curse has been lifted, we see Barbossa's crew surrendering to Norrington's crew. Some of them collapse. My friend tells me this is because these pirates have been 'killed' or stabbed many times before, and once they are human, they therefore die. My question is: Is this true; and if so, why does this not happen to Jack, who was stabbed with Barbossa's sword when he became cursed?

Answer: No, it's not true. There's a vague suggestion in the film that the change from human to skeletal form (or vice versa) causes wounds to be healed. Barbossa, for example, dies of Jack's gunshot, despite the curse being in effect when he's actually shot - he doesn't change during that timeframe, therefore the wound is still in place. Jack, on the other hand, has shifted form multiple times since being run through, so his wound has been dealt with. Likewise Pintel, who was shot through the heart by Barbossa earlier in the film, is seen to survive, as he has shifted several times since then. Only a few of the pirates actually seem to die on the Dauntless - any wounds sustained during the battle should have been healed by their final shift back to human form (when the curse lifts). Any subsequent deaths can be put down to the pirate in question continuing to fight for a brief moment after the lifting of the curse and being run through or shot, unaware that they're no longer invulnerable to harm.

Tailkinker

Question: This is something that covers the whole of the Star Wars films, but is most noticeable on this film. There is life on Endor, which means there is an atmosphere. Why then, do none of the spaceships entering this atmosphere show any signs of heating as they pass through it?

Answer: It's most likely to do with the fact that the ships in the films enter the atmosphere in a highly controlled manner, unlike our ships, which, to all intents and purposes, simply fall through the atmosphere, using atmospheric friction to slow themselves down, causing the intense heat buildup - Star Wars ships don't need to do that. The other factor is that the majority of ships in the Star Wars universe have shields of one sort or another - these may have some effect in dispersing any possible heat buildup.

Tailkinker

Answer: I don't think we ever see a ship in the actual moment it penetrates a planet's atmosphere, it's always shortly before or after.

TonyPH

Question: I'm slightly confused about the naked couple and their role in movie making. Are they the nude scene body double stand-ins for the actual actors, or are they there to prepare lighting and camera angles before the real actors come in and film the scene?

Answer: They are standing in for the actors while the camera angles and lighting are set up, so that the real actors don't have to sit around for a long time while everything gets ready. When the actual filming begins, the doubles swap with the real actor/actress.

KingofallSamurai

Question: When is the song "Du Hast" by Ramstein played?

Answer: The song is not played in this movie. The only hard rock songs in this movie are Dragula by Rob Zombie and Rock Is Dead by Marilyn Manson.

T Poston

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