Best crime movie questions of all time

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Den of Thieves picture

Question: Early on we see the crooks put wet cash in a microwave, presumably to dry it. Would that work? I just assume you'd end up with hot wet cash - I would have thought an oven or hairdryer or something would be a better bet.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Considering how microwave ovens work, it seems it would. Microwaves work by bombarding whatever is inside with actual 'microwaves' which works to excite the water molecules within. Paper, and in the case of cash, cotton, wouldn't be affected on its own but the water inside would be. Ever had something wrapped in a paper towel when you microwave it? The cash is not metal, and the water content is what gets heated up inside and evaporated, so I believe it would work.

Quantom X

Answer: There are videos of people drying money in microwaves, but it was a single layer of bills. But it can be tricky because, like wet clothes, it can catch on fire in the microwave if let in too long.

Bishop73

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Fargo picture

Question: What is Jerry's wife watching on TV when she is about to be kidnapped?

Answer: A local TV show in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area called "Good Company" which starred Steve and Sharon Adelman. It has been off the air for many years now.

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The Dark Knight Rises picture

Question: Why did Bruce need to fake his death? Why couldn't he just leave?

MikeH

Answer: He wanted to start a new life, which means shedding all aspects of his old one. Bruce Wayne was still a person of interest in the Gotham Wall Street scandal, with his death, his will would provide for and aid all the people affected by it.

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Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 picture

Question: On the DVD (UK, not sure about anywhere else) there is a feature called 'the secret of esrever', which tells you to look for very subliminal hidden images in the film - I have looked so many times and there is still one I can't find - does anyone know where the 'water' one is? The only thing I can see is what looks like an owl's head made out of the trees in the scene where the woman is drowning a baby in the lake. If this is it how does it relate to the film? Also is there a message in the images? There are a few words but I can't make a sentence out of them.

Answer: In the scene where the baby is submerged in the water, watch the lower right-hand side of the screen. You'll see the shadow of a stickman emerge and come higher into the frame.

LuMaria 1

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Gone in 60 Seconds picture

Question: In the scene leading up to where the mirror is knocked off and the car stalls, there appears to be a billboard in the background with a cowboy with his head in profile. In large letters above it is what appears to be the word "Impotent." (Not "Important"). Does anyone know what is with that?

Answer: That billboard was part of an anti-smoking campaign from about 18 years ago. The image mocks the iconic Marlboro Man, with the cigarette in his mouth flaccid and drooping. The word "Impotent" is rendered large in the same type style as the old Marlboro logo. In much smaller text (not visible in the film), the sign reads, "WARNING: Smoking Causes Impotence."

Charles Austin Miller

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Escape from Alcatraz picture

Question: When Frank is delivering books to inmates' cells, he reaches D block, but a guard stops him, and tells him they are not allowed in those cells. Were books really disallowed in D block cells?

Answer: Those were the solitary confinement cells, with no light and no luxuries of any kind. So yes, they did not allow inmates on that block to have books.

This is inaccurate as a light in each cell was turned on at 6:30 every morning in solitary confinement at Alcatraz.

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The Lovely Bones picture

Question: If Susie's body had been in a bag in the safe, how did people who went into his house (Lindsey when she broke into his house through the basement window) not smell her dead body?

Answer: The only person who went into the basement while the safe was there was Lindsey. The safe was airtight, so the odor at that point would have been contained inside it.

raywest

Answer: The dog could smell her body even from outside, and he barked and hesitated as he passed near the killer's house. Dogs can smell people from a long distance.

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Answer: He likes to blame non-existant pygmies for bad things that happen.

Myridon

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Judge Dredd picture

Question: Why do some Judges have a sort of eagle on their armour, when some are just symmetrical?

Answer: The 'Full Eagle' and 'Half Eagle' are badges of status amongst the Judges.

Moose

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows picture

Question: In the scene when Moriarty is doing a book signing, his aide sits and hands him a piece of paper with what looks like some kind of grouped numbers together. What is this and does it get referenced later in the film?

Brad Barding

Chosen answer: That's the key code for his fortune concealed in his library. The one Mrs Watson uses to relay to Inspector Lestrade. Like the book reference numbers in a public library.

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Hustle & Flow picture

Question: Did Terrance Howard do his own rapping for the film?

Answer: Yes he did. The lyrics for the songs that he raps in the movie were written by the group Three Six Mafia.

Rollin Garcia Jr

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A Time to Kill picture

Question: When Carl Lee Hailey visited Jake to tell him that he was thinking about killing those 2 men, wouldn't he have been required to report that to law enforcement? It's not considered attorney/client privilege when you tell your lawyer that you are planning to kill someone. And then he went home and told his wife about it, so wouldn't that also make her an accessory?

Answer: I'm not from America but couldn't you just say the conversation didn't take place? Maybe they didn't want to say anything due to being parents themselves and thinking they would do the same?

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Face/Off picture

Question: Why did Castor shoot Dietrich? They were on the same side.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Although they were on the same side, Troy is currently posing as Archer, which means he would have to do everything that the FBI would expect Archer to be doing. The whole point of the raid was to take out Archer, as well as Troy's gang. He would have rather risked killing part of his own gang than risk exposing his identity to anyone else.

Casual Person

That doesn't really make sense. In the scene, he goes out of his way to shoot him and smiles while doing so, carefully and slowly. Was not a collateral damage situation. The question is why he deliberately goes out of his way to kill him.

Answer: If you watch closely, he saw Archer, went out of his way not to shoot him, instead was aiming for his own son that he didn't know was his, to further traumatize Archer.

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Ocean's Thirteen picture

Question: Can anyone give some insight as to what was used to contaminate the hotel reviewer's room?

Answer: I don't think there's any way of providing an exact answer to this question, but I think it's safe to say that whatever materials they used were highly bacterial but not lethal (otherwise the 5 Diamond Award critic would be dead or in serious condition).

filledemot

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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle picture

Question: Why does the Thin Man always smell somebody's hair after he rips it off their head?

Answer: It's just a gruesome quirk. Every person has their own scent. He's savoring the moment of his kills.

raywest

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Red (2010)

Red picture

Question: Why is Marvin wearing a plastic sheet over his suit in the scene where he, Frank and Joe are interrogating Alexander Dunning? (01:04:15)

Chosen answer: Intimidation. The implication is that he's going to be spilling Dunning's blood during the interrogation and doesn't want to get his suit dirty.

Captain Defenestrator

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Batman and Robin picture

Question: How was Pamela Isley aka Poison Ivy able to fight Batgirl with martial arts-like skills towards the end of the movie? Pamela was a doctor and I highly doubt given her obsession with her research she had the time to take martial arts lessons in her spare time, if she had any during her stay in South America. Even after she transformed into Poison Ivy, her transformation could not have given her martial arts skills since her powers are based on plant abilities.

joshtrivia

Answer: There's no way of knowing whether or not she "had the time" to study martial arts. Regardless of her studies, she could have made time to pursue this as an extra-curricular activity. Universities can have classes, clubs, competitions, and student groups for martial arts on campus that anyone can participate in. She may also have been studying it since childhood. She was also a botanist, so even with a rigorous academic schedule, she would likely have more free time than a medical student.

raywest

Answer: That and they had to have the women fight in here. I mean they couldn't have the guys hit her now could they? So it was necessary for her to fight competently at least.

Rob245

Exactly, and that's a point I make again and again that things happen in movies because it's required to make the plot to work, not because it reflects real life.

raywest

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Chosen answer: Tim Curry (as Wadsworth) states he knew about the secret passages because the house belongs to a friend of his. Tim Curry (as Mr. Boddy) says at the end of the movie that they "Could stack the bodies in the cellar and could all leave one by one." Which infers that Mr. Boddy has no intention of returning to the house. Either way, there is no definite way to tell who the house belongs to considering all the lying going on.

columbonet

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Bullitt picture

Question: What character did the actor John Aprea play in the movie? The credits at the end lists him as 'The Killer', but who did he kill? He wasn't one of the two hit men at the hotel.

Answer: Notice: Aprea is credited as "Killer", not "The Killer." I think this confuses reviewers, as they assume he must be one of the hit men. However, the hit men are credited as "Phil" (Bill Hickman) and "Mike" (Paul Genge). Genge is much older than Aprea and Aprea does not look like the grey-haired hit man, as another contributor has pointed out already. There is no other killer in the plot. Perhaps Aprea's scenes were cut.

Answer: The doctor that alerts Bullitt that the grey-haired hitman is in the hospital looks like Aprea. He calls himself Dr. Kenner, and that character is uncredited. Maybe "Killer" was supposed to be "Kenner" in the credits?

Answer: Aprea portrays the Organization hood who shoots wildly at Johnny Ross as Ross' car careens out of the parking lot into and down the alley during his getaway in Chicago.

Answer: In a Bullitt movie clip on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) website, it identifies John Aprea as the killer who goes to the hospital to murder the witness. Bullitt chases him to the basement toward the end of the film.

raywest

The killer that Bullitt chases is Paul gange (listed in the credits in the role of "Mike") despite the TCM website. Aprea is listed in the movie's credits as the killer, but also lists gange as Mike. Look the name up on IMDB and you can see from his photo that he is the guy Bullitt chases. Why John Aprea - at least 20 years younger than the killer in the movie - is credited as the killer, I have no idea. And I have no idea where in the movie Aprea really appeara.

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Answer: There's no way of knowing what was in the case. It is a plot device called a "MacGuffin," a term coined by director Alfred Hitchcock. It doesn't actually matter what the object is but is just something that drives the story. It can be any type of object or device such as a "secret formula," "enemy war plans," a "nuclear weapon," a "treasure map," and so on that the characters are either searching for or protecting. There was never any intention to reveal what it was. Its purpose is to motivate the characters' actions and tell the story. Most likely it was intended to be a McGuffin just to keep the audience guessing and thinking about the movie long after it ends.

raywest

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