Question: One thing I don't understand about the movie is why kryptonite is so harmful (almost making him drown in a pool), yet he was born there and he didn't die. Kryptonite did come from his home planet, Krypton, right? How come he didn't die when he was born?
raywest
5th Dec 2010
Superman (1978)
24th Nov 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: When Harry finds the Sword of Godric Gryffindor in the frozen lake, why doesn't he just use the Wingardium Leviosa spell to levitate it out of the lake instead of diving in to get it himself? I assume that this is how J.K. Rowling wrote it in the book, but does this still count as a mistake?
Chosen answer: It is not a mistake. Harry does attempt to summon the sword with a spell, but like the locket horcrux in the sea cave in (in HP and the Half-blood Prince), all the horcruxes, as well as other particularly strong magical objects (like the three Deathly Hallows), are impervious to all types of summoning charms. They therefore must be retrieved by other means.
17th Nov 2010
General questions
What is the name of the 70/80's TV miniseries that was about a man making incredible wealth in African diamonds and later trying to buy the US presidency for his son? I recall some dialog "I'll pay 50 million, 100 million, 150 million or any multiple thereof ."
Chosen answer: Sounds like the 1976 TV mini-series, The Captains and the Kings. Set in late 19th-century America, it stars Richard Jordan as a penniless Irish immigrant who rises into a rich and powerful business mogul. The series covers several generations in his family.
8th Nov 2010
General questions
I'm trying to find the NAME of an old (ABC?) TV movie, circa 1970's, likely mid 1970's. All I remember is the (basic) plot AND the final shot. PLOT: the main character (Andrew Prine?) has been in accident (?), or was hurt in the military and he has a plate in his head or some sort of surgery was done to his brain. Something is "odd" about the new town he moves into and the main character thinks the Sheriff / Police Chief is controlling the people and might even be doing doing something illegal. Also, the main character falls in love with a mysterious woman in the small town, and through some series of events he finds out that the people of the town are being controlled by outer space travelers who are using the towns people to rebuild their space ship, at night, while they are hypnotized while asleep. The Sheriff and his new love ARE the head aliens. They are using the towns peoples 'bodies' to do the repairs because they don't have physical bodies, they are just beings made of 'energy'. The main character can't be 'hypnotized' because of the plate / surgery to his head. Near the end of the movie he actually sees the people wandering out toward a field where the busted space ship is being repaired. LAST SHOT: the final shot is the main character's body, lying in a field, in broad daylight. He's gone off into outer space (or just his 'life energy' has gone')with the woman with whom he fell in love. Roll Credits. 11:00 o'clock news. I started thinking about this because there was an episode of "Eureka" where the town's people worked on a 'project' at night, while they were hypnotized. Same plot, different out come. Thanks.
Chosen answer: This sounds like the 1970 made-for-TV movie titled, Night Slaves, starring Andrew Prine, James Franciscus, and Lee Grant. Leslie Nielsen played the sheriff of a small western town where some strange force has turned the residents into zombies.
4th Nov 2010
Carrie (1976)
Question: I've been wondering about this for a while: the teacher who befriends Carrie seems to care about her a great deal. Was Carrie just imagining that everyone (including the teacher) was laughing at her or was it real?
Answer: She was just imagining it. She had become so used to being ridiculed by many students, that she was unable to separate out those who actually were kind to her.
In the book, they were all laughing. Some did it intentionally, and some couldn't seem to help themselves, but it was not Carrie's imagination.
Question: When the Black Pearl arrives at Port Royal, and the two pirates, Ragetti and Pintel go after Elizabeth, she runs to her bedroom and throws fire on Ragetti's head. These pirates are cursed, and therefore cannot feel anything. Why then, does he yell as if he could feel the fire? Isn't that a mistake?
Answer: Ragetti (amongst others) is indicating that the undead pirates do feel pain. In example Ragetti talks about his wooden eye and how it "splinters terribly". He also screams that the coal is hot and that it burns him. Another pirate screams in agony when being stabbed. As Barbossa states; they can't feel pleasure in any form but mentions nothing about pain. The curse is meant to punish the greedy who stole/steals the gold. What better punishment than let them suffer by not feeling what wealth can bring in form of pleasure by flesh and food but only take away that part and leave the "bad" feelings like pain?
17th Oct 2010
General questions
I am trying to find the name of this movie. It was made around the late 70's to mid 80's and is a horror movie about a giant swarm of bees. The only thing I remember from it was the final scene took place inside the Louisiana Superdome, and the bees were swarmed around a car sitting in the middle of the football field. The main characters figured out that they had to freeze the bees to death, so the had to lower the air temperature to below 39 degrees which killed the bees. But the final scene reveals one bee was still alive, hinting that the swarm would rebuild. I have tried and tried to find the title of this movie and I can't. Please help.
Chosen answer: Based on what you've describe, this sounds like the 1976 TV movie, The Savage Bees. A swarm of South American killer bees escape from a foreign ship and invade New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It stars Ben Johnson and Michael Parks.
14th Oct 2010
Minority Report (2002)
Question: In the virtual reality bar, a man comes up to the operator with a request. On television I've seen this line as, "I want to kill my boss." But I remember the line being much less family friendly in the theater. Was this line changed since the move left theaters, or am I mistaken?
Answer: You are not mistaken. Movie scenes are filmed multiple times, often with small changes to the dialogue, actors reacting differently, and so on, to see which one works best. However, some more adult scenes that are appropriate for a movie theater or certain cable channels are also filmed with a more family-friendly version that can be edited into the film for later TV viewings. This eliminates having to "bleep" out offensive words, dubbing in non-offensive words, which sounds unnatural, or otherwise chopping up or cutting scenes entirely due to nudity. This method is less distracting and makes for better viewing. A good example is the TV series, "Sex and the City." The show actually filmed many racier scenes in two versions, one for the very adult-oriented HBO, and also tamer scenes that eliminated all nudity and offensive dialogue for later syndication to general cable channels while keeping the overall content intact.
Answer: I believe you are mistaken. I've checked the DVD and the guy says, "I want to kill my boss." Rufus Riley (the owner of the bar) looks taken aback for a second. Given that Rufus had just been talking about people using the bar for sex (and shown someone in a pod doing that), he'd likely not be surprised by someone saying they wanted to use it for sex. But saying they wanted to kill a specific person might give him reason to pause.
14th Oct 2010
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Question: How did Will not recognise Viloa in her boy disguise? Even in disguise, you can clearly see it's her, and she didn't sound like a boy.
Answer: In real life, Viola, of course, would be recognized as a female in disguise. However, in literature, film, opera, etc, it often is necessary to employ what is known as a "suspension of disbelief." That is, the author expects the reader or audience to know something is impossible, unlikely, or completely unreal, but they have to accept a certain premise in order to allow the plot to unfold. We go along with the idea that no one realizes Viola is actually a woman, so that we can enjoy the overall story.
30th Sep 2010
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Question: Didn't Gordon Gekko only have a son in Wall Street, not a daughter, as he does here in Wall Street Never Sleeps?
Answer: Gordon did talk about his son (who was then about 3-years-old) to Bud Fox in Wall Street, but that does not mean he only had one kid. He may have had another child that wasn't mentioned. It's also possible that Gekko's wife was pregnant at the time he was indicted.
29th Sep 2010
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: When Harry and Hermione are rescuing Sirius, Hermione blasts open the door using a different spell than the one she used in The Philosopher's Stone to open the door to where Fluffy was. I can understand that the reason the spell would be stronger on Sirius's cell is so he can't escape and it's more secure. But the Philosopher's Stone had to be secured well, so why was the lock so easy to unlock?
Answer: It's never stated that one spell is stronger than the other. There may be different spells that achieve similar results, and Hermione simply chose one over the other. Therefore, it should not be assumed that one lock was easier to open than the other. Also, the "bombarda" spell was never mentioned in the books. It was invented by the filmmakers for the movie, probably because it sounded stronger and was more descriptive (as in to bombard).
30th Sep 2010
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Question: Anne tried to get her brother to impregnate her so Henry wouldn't know about her miscarriage, but wouldn't this have obviously not worked? She mentioned that Henry already seemed to notice that her pregnancy wasn't showing. Even if she and George did sleep together and she became pregnant, she wouldn't start showing for another four months or so. By then, wouldn't Henry and everyone else expect her to look eight or nine months pregnant?
Answer: Of course they probably would have noticed, but Anne was desperate, thinking irrationally, and she would have done anything to regain Henry's favor and remain queen. She probably believed that if she became pregnant, it would be assumed that it must be the king's child. And if she could entice the king back into her bed, she could claim her earlier condition was a false pregnancy, but that she was now carrying the king's child.
11th Sep 2010
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: Does anyone know why Marty takes a book of matches off of Biff's desk when Biff isn't looking? I know that the matches come in handy at the end of the film when he burns the sports almanac, but what was his original reason for swiping the matches? Unless he knew beforehand that he was going to have to burn the almanac.
Answer: It seemed more like a reflex action than a deliberate decision. Marty saw Biff's name on the matchbook cover, causing him to pick it up for a closer look, then just stuffed it into his pocket. As you pointed out, they came in handy later. That and when they changed the timeline in 1955 after burning the alamanac, it would also change back to "Biffs Auto Detailing." Gotta make sure you cover your bases when dealing with the future, make sure that everything changes back to normal.
10th Sep 2010
Alien (1979)
Question: First, thank you to the individual that answered my question: "Why did they wear helmets in the first alien and not Aliens?" However, I am still puzzled though with my question: "How did the facehugger get through Kane's helmet?" The answer given was: "It secreted an acid that "burned" through the helmet." If this is true, wouldn't the acid still on the facehugger have burned Kane's face when it attached itself?
Answer: In the Alien novel it pushed its way into Kane's helmet using just brute force and not with acid.
The question was about the movie, not the novelization. And yes, in the movie the facehugger secretes acid: you can hear a sizzling sound as the creature latches onto Kane's helmet.
Sorry I was wrong about the Alien novel, it did indeed use acid to burn its way into Kane's helmet.
17th Aug 2010
Taken (2008)
Question: Can we assume that Brian or Stuart had Amanda's body shipped back to the U.S.?
Answer: It's never made clear, but that would be the logical assumption. It's possible that the other Albanians had already disposed of Amanda's body before the police got to the house. After rescuing Kim, Brian likely cooperated with the French authorities regarding the sex slave operation and would have attempted to locate Amanda's remains and also make sure arrangements were made for the other girl he rescued.
24th Jul 2010
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: What happened to the original timeline to cause such a dramatic change in Marty's mom? In the original timeline, Marty's mom was 'born a nun' as Marty described her to Jennifer. But when Marty goes back to 1955, Lorraine is a drinking, smoking, parking with boys kind of girl. In the original timeline, what would have made it to where Lorraine thinks it's inappropriate for a girl to make advances on a boy? She seems to already be a boy chaser before Marty even gets there.
Chosen answer: Actually, nothing happened to the original timeline to change Marty's mom. It's Marty, like many children, who had a rather unrealistic view about what Lorraine was actually like when she was a teenager. He always believed (and was deliberately given the impression) that she was extremely shy and proper, when in fact, she was a boy-crazy flirt, though she apparently changed after falling in love with George. Parents are often evasive regarding their own youthful behavior.
22nd Jul 2010
General questions
I once saw an old (1930's) comedy movie with a train. I remember two specific scenes: 1. A donkey was standing too close to the track, and could not be made to move. So the engineer gets off the locomotive and pulls the track aside, and the train made a curve around the donkey. 2. At one point the wood that the locomotive used was almost gone. So the engineer and the fireman started throwing rocks to people living close to the railroad track. These started to throw back wooden blocks because that was all they could find. In the next scene, the fireman and the engineer would collect all the wooden blocks with which the train could continue. The train had a caboose at the end and the guy had a horn that he would blow when something was wrong. I always thought that Buster Keaton played in it, but I've checked all his movies and I can't find it in the list. Does anybody have any idea?
Answer: Based on the information you gave, there's two possibilities. There is a 1925 silent movie starring Buster Keaton, called, "Go West." However, this actually sounds like the 1940 film, also titled, "Go West," starring the Marx Brothers. At the end, there is a wild train ride as the brothers tear apart everything they can find to fuel the locomotive's engine to win a race.
27th Jun 2010
Robin Hood (2010)
Question: When the caravan that is moving the grain is captured by Robin Hood, he ties the men together and they are forced to walk back to the town ("17 miles" or so). Shouldn't they have used the metric system to state the distance they have to travel to the town? I thought stating the distance to be traveled in miles was just for the sake of the joke for American viewers.
Chosen answer: A "mile" is not American in origin. The British adapted it from the ancient Roman term, "mille passuum," meaning one thousand paces or strides. Each pace was the length of five Roman feet, resulting in a mile that was approximately 5,000 feet long. This measurement fluctuated up until the Tudor era, when Parliament established the current measuring standard, though the metric system, which was developed by the French in the late 1700s, has since replaced it in Europe and elsewhere. Britain still uses mile as a standard measure of distance on road signs and for speed limits, etc.
24th Jun 2010
Friends (1994)
The One With The Cheap Wedding Dress - S7-E17
Question: When Monica is showing Chandler the dress, she tells him that she's booked the Swing Kings, so she got what she wanted. Why didn't she just keep the dress she wanted because she got the band for Chandler?
Answer: The woman who wanted Monica's wedding dress from the blow-out sale retaliated by booking the Swing Kings for the same day as Monica and Chandler's wedding. She would only let Monica have the band if Monica agreed to give up the dress. Monica honored the agreement to ensure that Chandler got his favorite band for the reception - if she'd kept the dress after booking the band, the deplorable woman would have retaliated in some other way. Monica simply found another dress.
Answer: The first answer is 100% correct, but in S8 E1, the band they actually have at the wedding is called ‘Jungle Swing'.
If you haven't yet, you should totally submit this as a Mistake / Plot Inconsistency. Nice catch.
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Answer: When Krypton exploded, the resulting debris was chemically altered through nuclear fusion, converting it into kryptonite. Bits traveled through space, some eventually ending up on Earth, where it is now lethal to anyone who was from that planet.
raywest ★
Pieces of Krypton that exploded in the Red Sun were made radioactive, and the Red Sun is one of the weaknesses of the Kryptonians.
I thought the Red Sun was poisonous to Kryptonians and caused the remnants of the planet Krypton to become radioactive and also absorb some of the solar energy from the Red Sun. I was under that impression, maybe I'm mistaken.