Best drama movie questions of all time

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Sleeping with the Enemy picture

Question: Was the doctor (the owner of the sailboat in the beginning) in on Laura's planned disappearance? Or was the bad weather just a coincidence and gave her the chance to escape? Just though it was weird because her husband commented that she only gets on a boat like once a year, so I don't know how she could have planned her escape so perfectly.

weetie21

Chosen answer: No, the doctor was not in on her plan. She had her escape planned for a long time, but was waiting for the right time. The stormy weather on the boat provided the "perfect" time for her to put her plan into action.

Ral0618

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Chosen answer: A reckoning is like a judgment day, exacting retribution for one's actions. Doc was very well educated and had a very large vocabulary. He was correctly pointing out the subtle difference between revenge (to make Wyatt feel better about losing Morgan and about Virgil's crippling injury) and the fact that Wyatt was bringing about a judgment day (or reckoning) for each of the men who hurt his family.

MovieFan612

Answer: I've spent a lot of time thinking about this very question, and here's what I've come up with. I think there are at least two differences between revenge and a reckoning. First, I think it has to do with the scale of the response to an offending action. Revenge, in my mind, is an eye for an eye, i.e, "You killed my brother and wounded another, so I will inflict the same action on your family (or group, gang, whatever). " A reckoning is less a measured response to an offending action and more of a full-scale punishment, i.e, "You killed my brother and wounded another, so I will now slaughter your entire family-including those who were not directly responsible for the offending action." Second, I think there is also a difference in motivation. Revenge tends to be a very personal response to something, whereas a reckoning tends to be more of a response fueled by a need for justice. In Wyatt's case, it was both. He was enraged by what happened to his family, but was also a lawman.

Franklin Vaughn

Thank you for this response! I've only seen Tombstone a million times and asked the same question every time. It's hard to separate the difference between the two but I believe you nailed it. Well done.

I'm thinking the opposite in terms. Revenge is "Reflexive" and is generally any means necessary (out of an abundance of pain or rage) to hurt the other party. "Revenge is a dish best served cold." If one is exacting justice there's no need to be cold hearted. Therefore, Reckoning is (to me) a fair balancing of the "scales" hence "an eye for an eye." Not only consequences of actions as it were but a corrective action to an incorrect circumstance. Just my understanding.

The problem with that theory is there is no difference in the end because the end result was the same...the killing. True reckoning could have only been achieved though the apprehension and punishment by trial and jury, anything other than that is simply revenge.

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The Langoliers picture

Question: Is there a reason why when they're in the past they can't catch up with the present, but when they land a little into the future, the present can catch up with them? Are they not moving along on their own timeline? And if not, why are they not left in that moment and stand there to see the present come and go without taking them?

Answer: Think of time as a gear with only one tooth, and think of them as a gear with only one notch. In the past, the one tooth has forever passed their notch and they'll never be carried along in the flow of time again. In the future, the tooth comes along, snags their notch, and they're back in the flow of time.

Phixius

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Chosen answer: I think her head was in the hat box after he dug it up from the garden where the dog was digging under the marigolds.

You are correct that it was her head.

raywest

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Stepmom picture

Question: Julia Roberts refers to the term "snow blowing" and states that she heard it described in a movie. Is this really a reference to a movie?

Answer: You can see the reference in Kevin Smith's first movie Clerks. Whether or not she's referencing that particular movie or not is debatable.

Nikki

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Question: Just before Sherlock attacks somebody, he determines what areas to strike to incapacitate someone and determine how long it would take someone to recover from both physical and psychological trauma. Granted that he could figure out a person's physical recovery but, could he actually figure out a person's pyshological recovery? He noted that it would take six months if I remember for a guy to recover psychologically but, to me, Sherlock is just taking a wild guess. Especially, if the guy recovered in half the time.

Answer: I believe that particular line was him making a joke to himself about the man's pride.

Quantom X

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Stranger Than Fiction picture

Question: We see Harold playing the guitar and singing in Anna's house. What is the name of the song which he is singing?

Scrappy

Chosen answer: It's called "Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

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Ferris Bueller's Day Off picture

Question: When Sloane was told her grandmother was dead, did she know it was a hoax? And did Rooney figure it out?

Answer: Sloane knew it was a hoax. Ferris would not have done something like that without her knowing. Rooney pretty much had figured it out, but could never prove anything. Once he was discovered inside the Bueller house (illegally) by Ferris' sister, anything he did know he would have to keep to himself.

raywest

Sloane starts to put her jacket on the moment that she sees the school nurse walk into the classroom, suggesting that Sloane already knew she would be called out, and she smiles to her classmates.

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Prisoners picture

Question: What motivated Bob Taylor (an earlier abductee of the same perpetrators) to implicate himself in the current abductions by stealing the girls' clothing items and taking them to his home?

BF

Chosen answer: Because he was once abducted by the same kidnappers when he was a child, and it has damaged him emotionally. He is recreating the abductions, playing the part of a kidnapper, and be keeps the clothes as a memento of his past experience.

raywest

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Rain Man picture

Question: Why does Ray freak out when Charlie turns on the hot water in the bathtub?

Answer: When they were children, Ray witnessed Charlie being burned by hot bath water. I think Ray says something about how he was left to look after Charlie while Charlie was in the bath, and Charlie got burned by the hot water. That memory must be very strong for Ray, and not comprehending the passing of time, Ray did not want to see Charlie hurt again.

Mark English

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The Godfather: Part II picture

Question: In the flashback of Vito Corleone's return to Corleone, Sicily with his young family, his wife is shown holding a baby in a bonnet in several scenes. On the train he is talking to an older child and calling him Michael. Who is the baby?

Answer: The baby would be Connie Corleone, sister to Sonny, Fredo, and Michael. She was the youngest child, though Michael was the youngest of the brothers.

raywest

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife picture

Question: When Phoebe is on the phone with Ray, he mentions that the Ghostbusters fire house is now a Starbucks. In the post-credits scene, we see that Winston has purchased the fire house so the Ghostbusters can get back to business, but the fire house looks like it has been abandoned for several years and no other company ever took it over. Did I miss something here?

Phaneron

Answer: Ray was probably being sarcastic, and was simply making a general comment about gentrification in the area.

Answer: Perhaps nobody wanted to take over the place for a few reasons. Historical purpose, high cost... hauntings.?

Answer: It's been 40 years since the Ghostbusters disbanded, Ray mostly likely passed by the old place and saw a Starbucks there. It has since shut down.

But they left the ghost trap active? Not likely.

Brian Katcher

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Kingdom Come picture

Question: Why does Vivica Fox start crying when she sees fried chicken on the table?

Answer: In a storyline that was not shown but discussed vaguely, Vivica's character lost her first child one day while her husband (LL Cool J) was at work. The only thing she had to put the child in was an empty bucket of chicken. So the bucket of chicken on the table brought back horrible memories for her.

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Chosen answer: According to the IMDB, the answer is yes. Both movies used the same two high school locations: Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook, Illinois; and Maine North High School, Des Plaines, Illinois. The director, John Hughes, directed both movies and decided to use the same school. He also uses the name Shermer for the name of the high school in Breakfast Club and for the name of the suburb in which the Bueller's live.

J I Cohen

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Boyz n the Hood picture

Question: What exactly did Darrin and Chris steal and how did they get caught? Also, why was their sentence seven years and how did Chris end up in a wheelchair?

Answer: It was never said what they stole, just that they were going to go to the store (probably a corner store or convenience store) and they probably stole food. They got caught because they were just kids and not good at stealing or being sneaky. However, they didn't get a 7-year sentence for the theft. It's just that the film jumps to 7 years later and Darrin is now a gang member who has been in and out of jail the whole time. He's just celebrating his release from prison for a different, unknown crime. Chris is in a wheelchair due to a gun shot wound, though it's not stated how or who shot him.

Bishop73

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The Majestic picture

Question: Why didn't Peter retaliate against Bob for punching him and letting the town know what a jerk he is?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Two possible reasons. 1. Hitting him back and telling everybody about Bob being a complete jerk would make him no better then Bob. 2. Bob actually knew the real Luke and if Peter had hit him, Bob could retaliate by telling everybody the truth.

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Orphan picture

Question: Maybe I missed something, but how was Esther able to fool everyone practically all her life and hide the fact that she's a 33-year old sociopath? When Kate finally learns the truth by getting the phone call, they show a photo of the "real" Esther, so at least those records of her exist somewhere. How could the boarding school not have known her true identity?

Answer: The boarding school was going by the falsified records that Esther had with her. They did not suspect anything, so they had no reason to dig any further at the time.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: High quality makeup was an important part of her disguise as the alternative ending make apparent. Her fake freckles were the master's touch.

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Ghost picture

Question: Why was Carl laundering $4 million into the account? Was he in debt when he says to Willie "I'm dead if the account closes", which it does?

Joey221995

Answer: Carl is laundering money for drug dealers. If the account is closed and he can't get the money back then it would be lost. The drug dealers would then most assuredly murder him in retribution.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Memento picture

Question: I still don't understand why Leonard switches clothes with Jimmy and steals his car after he kills him. "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." That makes absolutely no sense. Driving around in Jimmy's car and wearing his suit would make him the prime suspect in the investigation. He was much safer when he was just an anonymous guy driving around in a pickup truck.

Answer: It is never explicitly given. The most Leonard says on the subject is: "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." Speculations include (you can make up your own motives as well) : (1) The clothes and car are so much nicer than his. If you are willing to kill someone: stealing is not really a "crime." Why not take the nicer objects? (2) It could be part of his "routine": Kill a man, take his clothes and car. The clothes he had on and the truck may be from the man he killed a year ago. (3) It could be that he wants to make the killer of his wife suffer even more, and takes his clothes as a way of humiliating him. Leonard takes the man's life-his clothes and car, which are wrapped up in his identity-just as the man took his. This idea seems to work with a theme in Memento about "Identity" (especially mistaken identity). Natalie thinks Leonard is Jimmy, then thinks he is Teddy, then learns he is Leonard. Teddy is "mistaken" for the second killer, Jimmy is "mistaken" for the 2nd killer. Sammy's story as a part of Leonard's story, etc. (4) It could "simply" be explained as a "plot device": Leonard has to do it, otherwise he won't find the note in "his pocket" and meet Natalie. (5) Leonard doesn't want to admit he's a murderer. He's lying to himself. If he's the victim, then he cannot be the murderer. (6) Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing as part of his routine of killing J.G.'s he becomes another person, he's the victim not the killer, thus "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." and that's why he also takes his car, so he has to, once again, find his wife's killer and kill him.

Answer: Leonard's only goal in life was to find his wife's killer, and he thought he had just achieved that. With nothing more to live for, the clothes would attract the attention of Jimmy's associates - a method of suicide as indirect as his eventual approach to killing Teddy.

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Training Day picture

Question: When Denzel and Ethan go to visit the Spanish gangsters towards the end and Denzel gives the presents, Is the money inside the blender for them to kill Ethan's character or simply he owed some money? If then the money wasn't for them to kill him what reason did they have to kill him?

Lummie

Chosen answer: The money to kill Hawke was in the kitchen appliance box.

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