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: Daniel mentioned "You know the folks in Cartagena and..." somewhere else? I have located Cartagena in the northern region of Colombia, SA What was the second location Daniel referenced? It sounded like "cuta cahn".

barbL

Chosen answer: Culiacán, in northwestern Mexico.

Sierra1

Question: When Chakal demands Joaquin to relinquish the medal of eternal life, he merely says to him, "Give me that medal right now." Maria then removes Joaquin's medal sashes, sees the medal of eternal life, and realizes that is what Chakal is after. How does she know which medal Chakal is referring to?

John Ohman

Chosen answer: Maria had already seen the medal of eternal life and Joaquin had already talked about all of his medals. He told Maria about how he got all of his medals but not the medal of eternal life.

Answer: She saw the medal, realised that it was different from all of the others, and that he didn't want to talk about it either, so that probably made her realise that it was special or different.

Question: Why does Michael Moore give special thanks to Ken Starr in the credits? Did they have a good relationship in the 90's? From what I know of Moore, it would seem that Starr would be a guy he blames and hates. Yet the special thanks doesn't seem to be sarcastic since everyone else listed seemed to deserve the thanks.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: Michael Moore's disdain for Ken Starr is clear, and continues. As recently as May of 2013, Mr. Moore referred to Ken Starr on Twitter in a negative light ("'Bring Back Ken Starr' And you said Bill Keller couldn't write anything stupider than his column backing the Iraq war"). As such, I suspect his acknowledgement of Mr. Starr is both sarcastic and genuine. He isn't showing respect for or gratitude to the man as much as he is acknowledging the fodder Ken Starr, his politics and his tactics provide to the concept of a film like "Canadian Bacon."

Michael Albert

Question: How do these legendary figures like Jack Skellington and Santa Claus travel to the normal parts like "throughout England and France" while they live in their own holiday towns? Asking cause it seems that there's no door to Earth and the sun in Halloween Town is a carved pumpkin!

Answer: The main thing that Jack Skellington, Santa Claus, and the other legendary figures do is travel from their towns to the Earth for holiday activities. It stands to reason that they would be able to get in and out of their own towns at will; both Jack and Santa Claus can do so by simply flying into the sky. Obviously, though, heads of towns can get in and out of other towns as well, once they know about them. Jack returns from Christmastown on a snowmobile, Santa Claus leaves Oogie Boogie's lair by touching his nose and flying out, and guides his sleigh over Halloweentown shortly after.

Question: At the end when all the forest animals on Pandora join in the fight, they seem to be targeting only humans. Since they can't determine the good ones from the bad ones, wouldn't this have put Norm Spellman (now back in his human form) in extreme danger? Always considered it a plot-hole, but any explanations would be welcome.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: I wouldn't say it was a plot hole. Animals may be able to attack only humans, but they would be unable to differentiate between individual ones, so yes, Norm would be at risk of being attacked.

raywest

Question: How can you die instantly from a small quick cut to the cheek?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Because the camera cuts away before we see the slash, we don't know how ferocious the Joker cuts him. Mind you, the knife was halfway inside his mouth and it did seem like a deep cut, so he possibly died due to the knife slashing an essential artery or vessel.

Dra9onBorn117

Chosen answer: Officer Don ended up appearing in 100 of 139 episodes, but I would say season 3 is when he become permanent as Wayne Knight's name appears in the opening credits. However, as he did appear throughout season 2 (first appearance S01E17), it's possible they already considered him permanent at that time since season 3's opening credits also included Simbi Khali (Nina) and Elmarie Wendel (Ms. Dubcek).

Bishop73

Chosen answer: There was not enough time. Only the Batmobile was fast enough to save one of them, hence the police being late to the other location. The Joker made sure one would die.

MasterOfAll

Assuming they sent all the other units to find Dent (Rachel instead), wouldn't it have been helpful and faster to send some cop patrolling near that location to save her? As fast as Batman was with his technology, another cop who might have been close to the location could have gotten there in time I would guess. Or am I missing something?

Paradox Rastafa

I think several things are in play (but me speculating). First, the cops were busy trying to safeguard Dent and then apprehend the Joker. Think Die Hard 3 were all the cops were so busy "you could steal City Hall." So while there might be some cops on patrol, not close enough. But given the level of precision in Joker's plan, it seemed like the explosion was going to go off when the cops got there, so even if they got there sooner, the place would still explode.

Bishop73

But I will admit that the Joker's "precision" really seems to be sheer dumb luck that we're suppose to accept as his criminal mastermind plan.

Bishop73

Yes, it could be indeed or maybe like Nolan said: Joker is a mysterious unstoppable force (resourceful one at that) that suddenly appeared. Gotham's extreme corruption at the time allowed for a psychotic (or anarchist if you will) one like Joker to play his cards with more freedom as well, which I think some people forget to consider. In that sense, Bane had to do things differently because the aforementioned aspect was highly reduced after TDK events.

Paradox Rastafa

True. With many things at play, possible situations and Joker's preparation, there can be multiple reasons why everything happened the way it did (the film makes a wise decision to not over explain this and leave it to imagination), specially because Joker most likely wanted one of them to die, or they would have both died anyway since explosion occurred either way. Based on everything Joker did, maybe it was always supposed to be Rachel. He wanted to make a point with Dent and Bats after all.

Paradox Rastafa

Question: Couldn't John have shared his 'vision' of what happened to the girls with the warden or the girls' parents, not just Paul, then he might have gone free?

Answer: Also John Coffee had to "give a piece of himself" to Tom Hanks to show him what really happened to the girls. That's why he lived for so long. If that was the case he would have to lose a piece of himself everytime he wanted to show someone. Sure maybe he would only have to show the parents or even just the father, but if you keep losing pieces of yourself you will run out fast not to mention creating a bunch of long living people. John Coffee knew Tom Hanks was a good man. But yes JC was also very very tired (as a dawg boss, tired as a dawg) of all the bad things people have and will do. He could feel people's hate and pain constantly. Probably enough to drive a man crazy.

Answer: It's doubtful that the parents would even allow him near them, and showing the warden would do nothing as John did not want to go free.

MasterOfAll

Question: What makes the Argentinean pass out and fall backwards into the hole so Christian can take his place in the final scenes? Did someone slip him a drug at some point?

DJ Vander Schaaf

Chosen answer: It is mentioned earlier in the film that the Argentinian suffers from narcolepsy, and tends to pass out/fall asleep at random moments, which is what he does when Christian returns to the theatre.

Sierra1

Chosen answer: When they left the L Street Tavern, Skylar said she wanted to meet Will's brothers and Chuckie gave him a curious look which she picked up on.

Sierra1

Show generally

Question: What season and episode was it when they had to lean the guard tower and the POWs in the camp leaned so the guards would not notice?

Show generally

Question: Why did the characters Elmer Fudd, Snagglepuss, Natasha Fatale and Charlie Brown have their faces covered but the characters Pac-Man, Speedy Gonzales, Wilma Flintstone and Scooby-Doo have their faces show to the viewer?

Answer: You might think it has something to do with licensing rights for the characters. But that's doubtful as several of the characters, both seen and unseen, are from the same animation company, Hanna-Barbera. Actually, it's a play on the real-life reality TV show convention of blurring/obstructing the faces of people who haven't legally consented to having their image shown, because their appearance on camera would put them in a compromising position. This happens often in shows like "The Real World, " "Cheaters, " and "COPS." In "Drawn Together, " Snagglepuss and Elmer Fudd, for example, were jokingly portrayed as not giving consent to their image on TV because it would out them as gay in the context of that episode. Of course, to the viewer, it's obvious who they are, and the humor lies in our memory of them as possessing a lot of stereotypically "gay" characteristics. Charlie Brown's face was obstructed by a leather BDSM mask, part of his "costume, " in a scene where Foxxy was his dominatrix. In the same scene, Natasha Fatale has Captain Hero in a similarly submissive role wearing a spiked collar and leash. Her eyes have a black bar across them, again, so as to "conceal" her identity, the way they do in the fashion magazines, even though we the audience know exactly who she is. The other characters you mention apparently "gave their consent" to their image being shown.

Michael Albert

Question: This is about the deleted scene that takes place in the Borgin and Burkes shop. What is the object that Mr. Malfoy says is not for sale? And why bring it to the shop at all if he doesn't want to sell it?

Answer: It's never explained what it is or why Malfoy brought it with him. He may just have wanted to see if the clerk might be interested in it, in case he decided later to sell it and could therefore demand a higher price. It could be the diary, and that it's being alluded to that it belongs to him here.

raywest

Question: Can somebody tell me why the elders don't allow people to leave the village at the start of the film?

MyNameIsJeff

Chosen answer: They left modern civilization to escape violence. They have been living a lie and do not want their children to know about the real world, fearing they will want go there and might never return. That is why they concocted the story about the monsters in the wood to frighten them from leaving the village.

raywest

Question: Was medicine a form of punishment back in the time period that the movie was based in because it seems to be constantly mentioned as something to give bad children throughout.

Answer: Liquid medicine often tastes awful. Sugar is often mentioned as something to sweeten bad tastes. "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" is just a way of saying "Fun things can be made out of boring things".

The One With Rachel's Assistant - S7-E4

Question: A guy sits in the chair by the couch in Central Perk and Chandler just says "no no no no" and asks him to leave. Is it just some random extra, or someone from the cast/crew/a fan? Seems like a part they'd get someone "special" to play. [I get the point of the joke, I'm wondering specifically about the casting of this part!]

Answer: It was just a random extra, who auditioned who the part.

Question: When Harry visits Professor Lupin's office the first time, why does Lupin apologize for only having tea bags and not leaves? (I am American and tea is not as popular in all areas of the United States).

Answer: It's a jokey reference to Harry's Divination classes, where he has been studying the reading of tea leaves; in a recent class, Professor Trelawney claimed to have seen the Grim - an omen of death - in Harry's teacup, and has been regularly predicting his impending doom. By saying he's out of leaves and only has teabags, Lupin is trying to inject some humor into the situation in order to put Harry at ease, so he won't dwell on the Grim or any other death omens.

Cubs Fan

Question: Are there any clues throughout the movie hinting that the old woman is the devil?

Answer: There weren't any clues. It comes off as a total surprise during the reveal. But watching it for the second time, I did notice that she spoke very less compared to others and no one was suspecting her. Usually, that kind of character ends up being the bad guy.

Earthling

Answer: No. The devil is a deceiver and a trickster who can easily manipulate anyone so everybody in the elevator would not even think to suspect an old lady.

Answer: Yes, there are many clues actually. The old woman's reflection throughout the film always had black eyes. In one scene, they're backed against the wall, the elevator buttons look like devil horns on her head. When she goes to push the floor button, the color is red, rather than the green it is for others. The other two answers just don't pay attention.

Question: Why does Biff travel through the outskirts of Hill Valley to get from his home to Hill Valley High school? Biff travels through what looks to be the countryside through the River Road tunnel to the school and he is travelling through the countryside when he heads home from the dance as well. It almost suggests that Hill Valley High is in another town. One could say the road Biff took in 1955 may be a populated area in 1985 but it doesn't really make sense to have the school so far away from the town center, the movie gives the illusion Hill Valley high school is in another town. The only logical answer I could think would be that Biff actually lived in another unnamed town in 1955 and drove into Hill Valley to attend high school, perhaps he was kicked out of the neighbouring town high school. Although that doesn't work that well, as we watch Marty follow Biff from his home to the town square.

Blair Howden

Chosen answer: Hill Valley is in a valley with hills to the west and east. The main street/Courthouse Square are against the western hill, the school is to the north of the square, Biff's and most of the other houses are on the eastern hill or to the south. To get to the school Biff drives through the tunnel (presumably under the railway line through the valley). Note the town square seems to be closer to Biff's house than the school as Doc leaves the house on his bike after Biff and Marty drive away, yet he reaches the courthouse while they are still in the tunnel. Biff only drives for a few minutes so it's not too far, and there are likely to be trees by the side of the road near the tunnel.

Sierra1

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