Question: In the middle of the movie, one of the doctors tells the others of John Merrick, aka The Elephant Man. They show him for a few seconds Disrobed.. What is the point of showing Merrick in the movie? This scene seems totally isolated from the rest of the plot. It almost feels like they had an extra minute to kill and decided to add it in.
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Question: Was Neo ever really The One? In the first film, Morpheus stated that the prophecy said The One would destroy the Matrix, and and all humans would be free; but Neo never destroyed the Matrix. So was he The One, and changed 'fate'; or was he not the true One, but just really powerful?
Answer: Neo was the One. Prophecy is not always 100% correct on all the details. And he did destroy the illusion of the Matrix and granted freedom to those who desired it. So he did end up fulfilling the prophecy in a way. It's much like Anakin Skywalker bringing "balance to the force" by annhilating the Jedi and allowing a new order to spring forth. Not exactly what you would expect.
Question: When Smith tries to infect Bane and then Neo, they don't seem to be in a lot of pain when Smith plunges his hand into them. (They look more startled than anything else. Also, we are shown that the rebels' digital selves can suffer pain, remember when Trinity got shot?) Wouldn't it hurt if someone pushed his fingers into them, breaking their breastbone/sternum?
Answer: It's not explained in the film but it looks like Smith doesn't physically punch through the sternum; since it is just a digital world his hand melds with the persons body when he punches, and then proceeds to infect. He can control the matrix in some aspects this way.
Question: I've always been a little confused by Luke's "failure in the cave." What exactly should Luke have done to actually pass this test? And why did his face appear inside the mask of the image of Darth Vader?
Chosen answer: Luke failed the test before he even entered the cave - Yoda tells him to leave his weapons behind, but Luke takes them anyway. Seeing his face within Vader's mask is a warning that, if he embraces the path of violence (as he has by taking his weapons into the cave with him) then he could end up falling to the Dark Side as Vader did.
Question: Does anyone know what that cave thing is that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are resting in at the beginning of the movie is?
Answer: There are plenty of ruins throughout Middle-Earth, and the area known as Ithilien, where Frodo and co are at that point, is no exception. Once a populous region, it has been deserted for around 1000 years, since the fall of Minas Ithil (now Minas Morgul) and the return of the Nazgul. What Frodo and Sam are resting is no doubt some ruined structure left over from Ithilien's populated days.
Question: Miranda looks and cries over some pictures of her and her husband when she escaped to her own house, and decides to drive out to the creek he said he was going to, earlier in the film. What did she think he was doing there to begin with? She didn't seem familiar with the place when she arrived.
Question: What style of black leather jacket does Ethan Hunt wear just before the chase scene near the end of the movie, I've been looking for ages trying to find something similar?
Answer: The costume designer was Lizzy Gardiner, who can be contacted through Sandra Marsh Management (smarshmgmt@earthlink.net). The IMDb is the best place for questions like this.
Question: Why does Kaitlin have the horrible scar on her face after Evan saves the dog? She didn't have a scar before, even though she got hit quite hard.
Chosen answer: The time that Evan goes back and saves the dog, she gets hit in a different way and her cheek is split open - hence the scar. In the "original" timeline, she got hit in the head, not the cheek.
Are you making an educated guess? How could you possibly know that she got hit in a different way on her cheek if they don't show that in the movie?
They are not making an educated guess at all. In the original timeline, her brother struck her in the side of the head, she bled/was injured but no visible scar. In the altered "blackout" timeline when he goes back and tries to save everything/fix it, somehow it shows Kayleigh getting hit in a different spot. When her brother swung, it smacked her in the side of the face instead of the head, splitting her cheek wide open, leaving a visible injury/scar later on. It was most definitely shown to us.
Answer: They are not making an educated guess at all. In the original timeline, her brother struck her in the side of the head, she still bled and was injured but no visible scar. In the altered "blackout" timeline when he goes back and tries to save everything/fix it, somehow it shows Kayleigh getting hit in a different spot. When her brother swung, it smacked her in the side of the face instead of the head, splitting her cheek wide open, leaving a visible injury/scar later on. It was most definitely, 100% shown to the audience, when her brother struck her differently. Lol.
Answer: First of all you need to remember that this sequence started right after Evan makes that big scene by using some sharp object on those two criminal brothers in prison to get his journals back from them. Now later when Evan is able to save the dog, he wakes up in his bed and starts bleeding as a repercussion from storing all those years of memory of this new reality at once, but the flashes that are shown when he wakes up are actually the flashes about how the reality changed after he saved the dog and Kayleigh's brother dies instead. In one of those scene it is shown that the grown up mentally disturbed Kayleigh asks for a lift and those same two criminal brothers are shown in the car she gets inside. So we can assume that the line of business she is shown in later and those scars she has is actually due to her getting along with the wrong people.
You can actually see in the scene where he saved the dog, Kayleigh's cheek was split open.
Question: Where can you buy an umbrella hat like the one that Jim Carrey wears during the Niagra Falls story? Anyone know of a website or something similar?
Answer: You can buy a hat like that at many novelty stores, such as Spencer Gifts in the US. Just google umbrella hat and you'll find something.
Question: How old is Ella (Mark and Elizabeth's daughter) supposed to be? she looks about 5/6 but as she was only a baby when Mark died in series 8 we are now on the 10th series... Elizabeth also said that it was still to soon after Mark, even she wouldn't think 5 years is to long to wait?
Answer: The writers of ER "aged" Ella. She is only suppose to be 2 or 3 but they have made her older, 5 or 6. They often do this on soaps too. They probably just didn't want to have to deal with a baby anymore.
Question: In the part of the movie when the science teacher and Drew Barrymore are sitting in the staff room, what does their conversation mean? Science teacher says, "Donnie Darko." and Drew Barrymore says, "I know." What significant plot does this have?
Answer: According to the audio commentary, "they're being manipulated and they are aware that something is going on with this kid and are laughing about it." Director's commentary is very interesting.
Question: Maybe I just missed something, but what's going on with Dunbar's military superior that he meets at the fort out west? He seems to think he's a king or something, referring to the frontier as the "realm" and Dunbar's travel companion as a "peasant." At the end of the scene he salutes Dunbar very sarcastically and then shoots himself. What does any of that have to do with the story?
Chosen answer: It shows that the officer was mentally disturbed, and he was the only one in the fort who knew about Dunbar's assignment. It sets the story up so that Dunbar could live with the Indians without the Army interfering with his life (No one expected any communications to or from Dunbar).
Answer: So why was his journal so important to him? He knows lots of soldiers and many other whites are coming.
Answer: Because it documented his time at the fort and with the Indians and also what he learned from them during the period when he arrived before the Army did show up - This would have been crucial if there had been any trial which there was not as the Sioux rescued him from the situation.
Question: Jack Sparrow was never cursed by the "aztec gold medallion" until near the end of the movie, he grabbed one gold medallion. At that time, he and Will started to fight the cursed pirates and it has been shown to all the watchers that he, Jack cannot be killed, after Barbossa stabbed him. Knowing that the cursed pirates were looking for William Turner's blood (he wasn't cursed, nor was Elizabeth Swan) to disenchant the curse, how come Jack Sparrow cut his hand too? If Jack is cursed, how can he bleed?
Answer: It's shown on at least one other occasion (when Elizabeth stabs Barbossa) that those under the effects of the curse do bleed when stabbed. They have to in order to lift the curse, which requires a sacrifice of blood from each person affected by it, or, in Bootstrap Bill Turner's case, a close blood relative (namely his son).
Question: Why did Vermeer's wife call the painting obscene? I'm sure there's more than 1 interpretation of it.
Answer: As with most paintings, there are undoubtedly different interpretations - everyone has their own views. In the movie, Vermeer's wife felt that it was obscene - that's her interpretation. A number of art critics have commented on a 'subtle eroticism' in the painting, and this may be what is being alluded to, using Catherina to carry the message across. It's worth pointing out that a number of Vermeer experts have disagreed quite vehemently with the portrayal of Catherina in the film - surviving historical evidence would seem to indicate that Vermeer's marriage was a happy one.
Answer: Because her mouth was slightly open.
Answer: Because it was a picture of a servant.
Question: When is Gordon Gekko's birthday?
Answer: The 6th of May.
Question: What was the name of the episode (I think it was in season 9) where Abby, Susan, Carter, Kovac, and Gallant open a bag that a hooker brought in and start playing around with the toys inside? They got sent to a seminar on sexual harrassment, but the lecturer never showed up, so they spent the whole day sitting around and talking.
Answer: It was in season 8, it was called Secrets and Lies. It first aired on 3/07/02.
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Answer: In the original book, Merrick's appearance is used to show William Gull's education, expertise as an anatomist and that he recognises and respects cultural diversity - Gull assures Merrick that, had he been born in India, he would be worshipped as a descendant of the elephant-headed god, Ganesa. In this spirit, Gull even offers the victim of his first Ripper slaying to Ganesa as a sacrifice, as Indians make a sacrifice to Ganesa at the beginning of an important enterprise. Merrick is present as a vehicle to establish the rich nature of Gull's character. When it comes to the film, however, this subtlety is completely lost - it seems very much that the scriptwriter noted Merrick's appearance in the book and felt that it would be cool to include the character in his script. As such, as you point out, it does feel that Merrick's presence, stripped of the subtleties of the book, is almost entirely pointless.
Tailkinker ★