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: Why is Rosie carrying what looks like a big stick at the beginning of the movie and again on the little raft? Also, what do they say right before they announce Super Trooper?

Answer: Do not know about the big stick, but before "Super Trooper" they say, "Ladies and no gentlemen! Presenting for one night and one night only-" then Rosie interrupts by saying, "Because we haven't got the breath for another!" Donna then carries on with, "The world's first girl-power band...Donna and the Dynamos!"

Answer: I think it's the microphones for their performance.

Answer: I believe you're asking about the boat's tiller. It's the lever that controls the rudder to steer the boat.

Bishop73

Question: When the little girl in the read coat goes inside to hide during the liquidation of the ghetto, she goes under a bed. Why isn't her coat red anymore?

Answer: It's open to interpretation because it was a directorial decision. But the technique was a way to direct the audience's eye towards what Schindler was observing during the chaotic outdoor scenes. Once the girl's inside, the shot is no longer from his perspective since Schindler can't see her anymore, so the red was no longer necessary.

JC Fernandez

Question: At the end when the pick-up truck drives away, there is an angel on the back flap of it, similar to the angel in the garden of the house where Tom Hanks delivers the parcel. Are we to assume that the parcel belongs to the woman in the pick-up, and that this is significant in some way?

Answer: It's the same women. It's a little complicated. The angel wings are a recurring plot device to show that the parcel Tom Hanks just delivered to the ranch belongs to the woman (who is an artist) in the truck, which also has the wings painted on the tailgate. There are also metal wing wind sculptures in her yard. The wings are her artist's "logo." As Hanks stands in the crossroads deciding where to go, his looking back in the direction that she just drove off implies he will go back to her house, probably to let her know that her package gave him hope while he was on the island that he could someday deliver that package, and possibly to restart his life with her (she is pretty, after all). She was married to the guy in Russia who she was sending packages to, but he was cheating on her. If you notice the gateway over the entrance to her property where another package was delivered at the beginning of the movie, both her name and her husband's were on the overhead ironwork, as well as the angel wings. At the end, his name has since been removed, indicating she is now single.

raywest

Wow, you are extremely observant. Thank you, I was totally confused at the end.

You're welcome.

raywest

Also, the artist would have been on the island with him just like Kelly was in the watch.

Answer: The Angel wings are an important symbolic thread that run throughout the move. They appear in several scenes. They represent love/hope/salvation. We first see them in a seemingly unrelated scene at the pretty redhead artist's ranch when she is still married to the cheater dude. She sends him the wings on a package but the package is not important. Rather the Wings on the package are important. She intended the wings to go to her cheating husband but instead they went to Chuck. Chuck preserves the wings. He caresses the wings. Later we see that he has drawn dozens of the same wings on the inside of his cave wall. On the raft, he takes only Wilson and the Wings which he carefully wraps in leaves. When finally delivering them home, Chuck writes "this package saved my life" when he means hope/love/salvation have saved his life. The wings have make the exact same journey as Chuck. They have finally returned to the redhead and bought Chuck with them.

I agree with your assessment, though the wings also serve as a practical plot device. It helps the audience to recognize and track the package as it moves through the story and for Chuck to link it to the woman's truck at the end, which also had the wings painted on the tailgate.

raywest

Nailed it! My thoughts exactly I just needed confirmation that all of this was reasonable to assume. Thank you.

Answer: The package that Mrs. Peterson sends to her husband in Russia contains divorce papers. The winged package that Tom Hanks' character saves as an unfinished task represents his desire to eventually deliver. He opens all the other packages and finds a few useful items. And the package sent by Mrs. Peterson, he uses to motivate himself to make that delivery. He only took bare essentials on the raft when he leaves the island. This package is essential to him. For some reason, he does not deliver the package to the destination to which it was addressed, but instead takes it back to the original sender. It helps close the loop in a way that could not have been done if he just delivered to the original destination 5 years late.

Question: Don gets a call from the French verifying that the blind samples Don sent confirming their virus and the AIDS virus were the same. Don goes around the CDC office and tells everybody that the French also had the AIDS virus. This causes everybody to cheer. Why would the French having the virus make everybody cheer?

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: It represents a breakthrough in the case - a lead to the original source of the virus, as many of the patients being treated in France were either African or had spent time there. Up until that point, the origin of the virus was a mystery - with the knowledge that the French were treating the same virus, it gave them vital information in backtracking where the virus originated. It also proved that AIDS was a worldwide phenomenon of epidemic proportions, something that a number of agencies had been reluctant to accept up to that point.

Tailkinker

This is not an accurate answer. When they say the French had the virus, they don't mean patients with the virus. They mean the French successfully found the virus in blood, which is a necessary step in determining that aids is caused by an infectious agent and the first step in coming up with medication. The French had patients with the virus since about the same time as the us.

Question: What's with the President when he meets Dr. Okun, he acts like the doctor smells a lot or something?

Answer: What President Whitmore is reacting to is Dr. Okun's rather eccentric look, to put it mildly - his long hair, out-of-style pants and eyeglasses, etc... Even Dr. Okun comments that they don't get out much.

Super Grover

Question: Who is Scarlett? She appears to live with Charles, but not share a bed with him; IMDb refers to her as Charles' sister, but her, er, style of talking is so out of kilter with Charles and indeed all the others that it seems unlikely that she's related.

Answer: According to a deleted scene, she was found passed out drunk under the kitchen table after a party that Charles hosted and never got around to leaving. She's now his lodger, presumably paying rent and a share of the bills.

Tailkinker

Question: Is the outbreak supposed to be all over Britain or is it just in London?

Answer: The TV at the end of the film (showing clips from various channels) seem to suggest that it's a world wide outbreak (a japanese gameshow using zombies and the news story of an American kid who killed his zombie family are shown).

Gary O'Reilly

Question: Why does the Joker keep licking his lips? Is it just a tick he has?

Answer: According to interviews, Heath Ledger started doing that because of the makeup on his face, and director Chris Nolan liked it so much, he told him to keep doing it. He felt that it made the Joker even more bizarre. So yes, it's just a tic.

wizard_of_gore

Question: Who is her father? I know they all want a 1/3 but who is her real father?

Answer: If you checked the trivia section, you would have your answer, but here it goes...."While neither the stage show nor the film reveals who Sophie's real father is, there is an official answer. According to Catherine Johnson and Phyllida Lloyd, Sophie's real father is Bill. Bill's character was Australian in the original stage production, but in the film he became a Swede instead, and he's played by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård."

shortdanzr

Question: Is the Joker supposed to have a high tolerance for pain/injury or something? Some examples: 1)Batman slams his head down hard on a table, violently punches his fingers, slams his head/face into the glass, and then punches him in the face during the interrogation scene, and the Joker simply laughs it off, and doesn't seem to have any broken fingers nor a concussion. 2) When Batman causes the truck to flip over, the Joker walks away without any visible injuries and although he stumbles and falls once, he seems to be perfectly fine. 3) Batman slices him in the face with his zipline, throws him off the building and then yanks him up. Again, no injury (at least a broken ankle?). Does the Joker simply not care about feeling pain, or perhaps even enjoys it due to his insanity? Do the comics ever touch upon this? Because in "The Dark Knight" he's able to withstand some serious physical punishment, the extent of which not many people would be able to.

Answer: In the comics, the Joker has an almost supernatural ability to survive things that would kill anyone else. Whether it's because of his insanity, the best luck in the world, or both, yes he has a high tolerance for pain.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: If Neo can fly over 500 miles in 15 minutes why couldn't he travel to the door in time to stop it from closing? Also if he can manipulate the Matrix, why can't he just reset the door to the parking garage?

Answer: Neo's abilities, like anyone else in the Matrix, are limited only by his mind and his ability to concentrate. If he is extremely stressed he may not think to use his powers quickly enough.

Chosen answer: It's the Kool-Aid Man from Kool-Aid's commercials from the 70s and 80s. Kids would be hot and thirsty and call "Hey, Kool-Aid!" and he'd burst through a wall and say "Oh, yeah!"

Captain Defenestrator

Question: At the very end when Lisa is a gym instructor, when they pan from her feet up, on VHS and on my DVD the Rocky theme is played. But whenever I see it on cable, the Weird Science theme is played instead. Why is this?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: They probably only had permission to use the song at the cinema and take home releases, so when shown on broadcast TV they'd have to use another song.

Question: Did Slevin actually suffer from Ataraxia? He lied about most things, and I couldn't be certain about that.

Answer: I've considered 2 possibilities. One being the answer given about his cover, but I think he may have actually had it. When Goodcat is pointing a gun in his face as a child, he doesn't look scared in the least. The death of his parents "killed him" giving him the condition. Later proof is when he tells the Boss "You can only kill me once."

Answer: I don't think so. Everything that happens is a part of his plan, so rather than try to act scared, he just tells people he has a condition. In reality, he was very worried for Lindsay and pre-occupied with revenge.

Answer: No, like the rest of his "cover" (being mugged, being a friend of Nick's) he made it up. It was simply a way to plausibly explain why he was so calm through everything, when in fact he was calm because it was all part of his plan.

Answer: I doubt he suffered from ataraxia. His ability to be calm, "cool", and collected (under circumstances in which most people would be anxious, afraid, etc.) is more likely due to sociopathy. Sociopaths also tend to be chronic liars and manipulators and can be great impostors. Many have lost one or both parents early in life - Slevin's parents were murdered during his adolescence and he was subsequently reared by a career criminal. Slevin was also seeking vengeance for the murders that happened many years earlier, so having "peace of mind" or tranquility BEFORE getting the revenge seems highly unlikely.

KeyZOid

Question: Why does Maroni know where the Joker will be "this afternoon"? He tells Gordon in the hospital as Gordon visits Dent. And why comes the Chechen visit the Joker in the warehouse? From who does HE know where the Joker is? Did the Joker tell them where he keeps the money? And if he did so: why did he tell them where it was if he just wants to burn it?

Answer: He knows because the Joker invited him. The Chechen, as well. The Joker invites them over there to tell them that he's taking over, exactly as we see him do with the Chechen. The burning of the money is to make the point that he doesn't care about the same things that they obsess over.

Tailkinker

Question: The old man remarks that he was struck by lightning seven times. I recall him talking about six different times, does he ever talk about the seventh? Also, when were the times that he was struck?

Answer: Here are the "strikes": fixing a leaky roof,while checking the mail, milking the cow, driving his car, minding his own business in a field, taking a dog for a walk, and then at the end there was no "story", but he was by a fence (just before the credits). I believe these are correct.

CCARNI

No. 1) fixing roof 2) checking mail 3) field with cows 4) driving car 5) walking dog 6) standing by fence No #7.

Question: Did Harvey Dent die? I've heard theories that he did die, but I've heard that he didn't die but they told everyone that he did because they didn't want people to know that he became a villain. I was just wondering which one is true.

Answer: According to Aaron Eckhart, he has been told specifically by director Christopher Nolan that Harvey was killed in the fall, so he would not be back in any potential follow-up film.

Tailkinker

Question: Exactly what Bach music plays at Professor Barnhardt's that Klaatu seems to be impressed so much by? And, what Latin phrase is shown hanging from the wall in his (Nobel?) prize plaque?

Answer: The Latin phrase on the Nobel prize: "Inventas Vitam Juvat Excoluisse Per Artes" means "Let us improve life through science and art"

CCARNI

Question: When Klaatu and Professor Barnhardt are writing on the black board together, are they solving something that we just haven't solved yet, and so answering this question is hopeless, or does anybody know what it is they are supposedly solving, it looks to be something to do with an event horizon.

Answer: As in the original 1951 movie, Professor Barnhardt has an equation on the board that suggests (theorizes) that space travel through inter-dimensional universes is possible. Klaatu solves the mathematical equation thereby proving that, not only is it possible, but that's how he got there. This was brought out in the original movie.

CCARNI

Answer: The equation Klaatu finds on the professor's blackboard is real - an in joke for mathematicians: the "Three Body Problem" seeks to account for all possible relationships among three objects in space (Landon 85).

Not to mention, Reeve's chicken scratch on that board reminds me of an 8th grader. Frankly, they should have CGI'd that bit. For anyone whose spent any time actually doing equations on a chalk board, his sophomoric scribble is hard to watch.

Question: I wanted to ask that, when James had bitten Bella, then the venom/poison was left in Bella's arm and Edward had to suck it out later, but why didn't Edward leave the venom in Bella's arm? They both (James and Edward) sucked Bella's blood and James left venom, but Edward did not. How is that possible?

Answer: Edward wants Bella to remain human and experience life from the human point of view. As for them sucking her blood... James actually bit Bella, thus causing venom to enter to blood stream. Edward did not bite Bella; he simply sucked on the open wound to remove the venom from Bella's system.

Answer: A vampire's venom can change a human into a vampire, but it can also kill. It appeared that James, who hunts his victims, probably intended for Bella to die. Edward is sucking out the venom to save her life.

raywest

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.