Answered 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: What was the point of Sean Bean's role in this movie? I get that he is exposed as a fraud, but it doesn't really affect the plot one way or the other.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It is true that it doesn't affect the plot. However Spence's (Bean's) failure can be contrasted with the professionalism of the main characters. Also it raises the possibility that whoever hired them isn't taking necessary precautions in planning and hiring. Earlier we heard Sam (De Niro) ask Vincent (Reno) if he was "labour or management" which suggests a theme of professional operators getting their hands dirty while their bosses play politics.

Question: Towards the end when George is at the bridge looking to jump in to kill himself it's snowing. However, after Clarence shows him what the world would have been like without him, he runs back to the bridge and it is not snowing. George is then begging Clarence to let him live again, and just like that it starts snowing just as it was when George was looking to jump in and kill himself. What did George's life have to do with changing the weather?

DrLoomis1978

Answer: It's just a cinematography thing. It's snowing in the real world, the weather is clear in the alternate world. When the snow resumes, it shows us that he's returned to his real life.

Brian Katcher

Very good answer.

DrLoomis1978

I agree, a good answer.

raywest

Answer: Most likely it had nothing to do with it. This is probably a plot inconsistency.

raywest

Question: At the end, would McClane really have been able to hit that electrical wire with the piddly little model 36 revolver he was holding? Would it even be able to shoot that high? (00:21:05)

Answer: He could have but probably not. It would be a very lucky shot. Chalk this up to "movie magic."

raywest

Answer: Because they were just having a bit of fun at Ron's expense. After saving Sirius and Buckbeak and going through a rather harrowing ordeal, they can now relax and enjoy themselves. The levity provides an "end point" to the main story, indicating to the audience that it has reached its conclusion.

raywest

Answer: He asks what time they're going to the horse racing.

Question: A few questions: 1) Why did Fletcher recruit Neiman if he knew he ousted him? 2) Did Fletcher purposefully set up Neiman to fail by switching up the song list? If so, wouldn't that look bad on Fletcher? 3) Why did Neiman go crazy and start/keep playing out of sync with everyone else?

Answer: Fletcher recruited Neiman with the intention of ruining his career. He informed Neiman they would be playing songs he was familiar with, but secretly had other songs planned. Fletcher knew there would be influential people in the audience, whose opinion of Neiman would be made or destroyed based on his performance. Neiman attempted to play along with the unfamiliar songs, but couldn't. He decided to prove his talent by playing Caravan. This impressed Fletcher who was angry at first but came to respect Neiman and help him out.

Answer: 1) Fletcher recruited Neiman to attempt to humiliate him publicly. 2) Yes, he purposefully set Neiman up. He reveals to him before the performance that he is aware Neiman testified against him. He doesn't care whether or not the performance will make him look bad, he is out for revenge. 3) Neiman turns the tables on Fletcher by playing "Caravan" instead of the song the rest of the band is playing. "Caravan" is the song Neiman failed to play properly after his car accident. Fletcher, finally showing a modicum of true respect for Neiman, then smiles at him acknowledging his talent and his tenacity.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Fletcher set up Neiman, but not to fail. Fletcher often spoke of how greatness can only come when one is pushed to their limits (e.g. the Miles Davis story, where David performed an incredible solo months after being booed off stage). By setting up Neiman, Fletcher was testing his limits. In a very similar fashion to the Miles Davis story, Neiman took an incredible un-announced drum solo to make up for his failure and push through the final barrier keeping him from greatness. Fletcher knew that setting Neiman up would make him look bad, but he also knew that if there was a new Miles Davis story to come out of this, it would all be worth it.

Question: What happened to the limo on the curb of the toy store after Kevin got out? Why did the limo driver leave him there?

adamtrainman@aol.com

Answer: During that time, the hotel found out the credit card Kevin used was stolen. So since they were the ones who got the limo for Kevin, it's safe to assume they also called it back.

lartaker1975

Answer: The limo company may have only had an agreement with the hotel to take Kevin to one destination of his choosing or to drive him around for a certain amount of time.

Phaneron

Answer: When Kevin exits the toy store he doesn't look around for the limo but instead pulls out his map to examine it. This would suggest that Kevin was intending to do some more sightseeing on foot and likely told the limo driver not to wait for him.

When Kevin got outside the toy store, he did look around like he was confused, and after that, he raised his shoulders.

Trainman

Question: In the final battle, as the IOI people are killed by Chucky, their pods turn red, they bail out, run to different red pods, which turn white again, and they're back in the fight. Why can't they just stay in their initial pods and re-enter the fight?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: As I understand it, when players are "killed" in the Oasis, they lose their points and possessions (are zeroed out). The players for IOI corp probably have to go through some re initialization procedure where they get a set of weapons and tools so they can be useful doing things for IOI. (Maybe coins too, but maybe IOI players at lower levels don't need to be buying anything they are not issued by IOI).

chuckie001

Answer: The red pods probably need to be reset for a new player first, which takes longer than going into a new pod.

lionhead

Answer: That's probably got to do with the spinning of the earth, to face the side where the sun rises so you are basically sitting forwards, the same direction the earth is spinning in, possibly making it easier to "surf" (like with a wave). Either that or it's associated with facing Mecca like in Islamic religion.

lionhead

Question: At first, the football team doesn't realise that they died. So why do they think that Juno is their coach?

Answer: They are very confused and probably not the sharpest tools in the shed. Juno probably told them they should do what she says and they immediately associated that with a coach.

lionhead

Answer: Right before the Maitlands walk in, one of the football players asks, "coach, where's the men's room?" After which Juno finally loses her cool and dismisses the team out the door. After Juno's conversation with Adam and Barbara, one player comes back in and says, "Coach I don't think we survived the crash" suggesting they realised they were dead.

Show generally

Question: What's the name of the episode where Arthur hosts an open house on the Heffernan House?

Answer: S5 E3 "Holy Mackerel."

Jon Sandys

Question: In the movie, Robert meets a theatre owner and he shows his basement. Why did he get scared and run out?

Answer: It was theorized that the Zodiac Killer had a basement, and not many people in California have basements. Robert's paranoia was just getting the better of him.

Phaneron

Question: With Kurt's ability to teleport, how was Stryker able to capture and brainwash him into assassinating the president?

Answer: According to X2: X-Men United: The Movie Prequel: Nightcrawler (an official comic book prequel series to the movie), Stryker had his son Jason use his mutant powers to deceive Nightcrawler with an illusion. Nightcrawler thought he was escaping to freedom with the woman he loved but instead was running straight to Stryker's men who immediately placed an inhibitor collar on him and locked him in a cell.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: What did Palpatine mean when he said to Anakin, "We will watch your career with great interest"?

DFirst1

Answer: Palpatine is the Dark Lord of the Sith and he knows Anakin is highly Force-sensitive. He's planting the seeds of corrupting Anakin to eventually make him his apprentice.

Phaneron

Answer: I believe the line was meant as foreshadowing so fans would get it if they have watched the original trilogy they can make the connection from Anakin to Vader so they are aware of his fate. It also shows that Palpatine had his eye on Anakin for a long time to eventually recruit him as his apprentice.

Question: What is ironic about the people crossing the Rio Grande River at the border of Texas, USA and Mexico?

Answer: It's far more common for people from Mexico to seek a better life by crossing into the United States, rather than the other way around.

Jon Sandys

Question: If Mr Orange was a cop, why was he so scared when he saw the cops in the bathroom?

MikeH

Answer: He's not actually in the bathroom. He's telling a story from the perspective of a criminal with bags of drugs on his presence who walks into a bathroom full of cops and this is how he feels in his story.

The_Iceman

Answer: Orange is telling a story to convince the other characters he is a criminal. In that story he is hiding drugs which the police dog can smell. As he tells it he is afraid of getting caught but the police ignore him. Orange has made all this up based on an anecdote from his police buddy but he is trying to make it realistic and entertaining to the rest of the crew.

Answer: A cause of death was never revealed in the movie versions. In the Grimm fairy tale, the father left on a long business trip, but took ill and died during the journey.

raywest

Question: What happened to the daughter?

Answer: She is killed, and its implied from what he was trying to do with the wife that he may have raped her before killing her.

Question: Right after using the tongue looseners on Robin, the head guard says something in Arabic. Does it actually translate - and if so, what did he say? Or was it just gibberish for amusement's sake? If you don't know the scene, here it is on Youtube: https://youtu.be/fEm9tlZQheQ?t=45s. Thanks.

Answer: Gibberish.

It means literally "I will send you to hell".

Question: When the jug was hit, how did the bullet not hit the horse behind it?

Answer: In reality, the bullet probably would have hit the horse, injuring it. Movies tend to gloss over details like that to serve and simplify the plot. Older movies particularly fudged reality, assuming audiences would not notice or care. It is also possible that the bullet was somehow deflected or broke up upon impact.

raywest

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