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.

Show generally

Question: Kramer never seems to work, how does he pay for an apartment in NYC, even in the 90s they were still expensive, is his means of income ever revealed?

Answer: In the episode where Kramer goes to baseball fantasy camp, George says Kramer's life is a fantasy camp and that he "fell ass-backwards into money." It's never explained where this money comes from or what Kramer did to get it, but that's how he's able to afford the lifestyle he leads. Although the episode where Jerry buys his dad a Cadillac, Kramer sees the check Jerry earned for his comedy gig and didn't realise Jerry made so much money that he felt uncomfortable about knowing the amount, so it's not like Kramer is sitting on a ton of money, which is why he does all his schemes and side jobs.

Bishop73

Answer: This is gleaned from the Internet, though it seems a bit far-fetched that it would provide enough for all his living expenses: Kramer has a variety of ways of making a living, including gambling, working in various theater projects, acting out illnesses at a medical school, getting a spot on the show "Murphy Brown", and pitching ideas for inventions like his "Coffee Table Book."

raywest

Question: When Georgina introduces Suzanna to Lisa, why does she mention that Suzanna smokes French cigarettes? Lisa is upset and looking for Jamie. I don't understand.

Answer: Georgina is scared of Lisa, and all she knows about Susanna in this scene is that she smokes French cigarettes. Georgina avoids threat by offering Lisa everything she knows about Susanna.

Question: Despite it being pretty clear Penny had an illegal abortion the word is never said in the whole film. Was that still taboo in the 80s? Or is it more indicative of how people in the 60s didn't want to use the word directly?

Answer: I think it's both reasons. Abortion has always been a controversial topic, so the movie apparently preferred to avoid the word. In that time period, abortion was still strictly illegal, so the people around Penny would likely not say the exact word out loud to protect her and keep it as quiet as possible. It was typical to allude to something like that in a more colloquial manner, such as "getting rid of it." It's similar to how people would rarely even say "pregnant." It was always terms like "expecting," "in a delicate condition," "in a family way" etc.

raywest

Question: In the beginning when Coop and Renee beat Ted and his friend, they walk to their girlfriends, one being Brittany and who is the other girl in the green dress?

Question: When Jane takes Robin to the hospital a doctor mentions to Jane that this commonly happens with HIV patients. I would have thought that would be ethically wrong and against the doctor/patient confidentiality? Surely they can't assume she's family.

Question: Would a doctor bring up Mary's past abortion? Even though Paul is her husband surely that's confidential?

Question: When they go back in time, how come Hermione couldn't figure out Dumbledore also wanted them to save Buckbeak until Harry said it, since they were sent back to before he was executed?

Answer: Because Dumbledore is having the students do an illegal act (helping Sirius escape), he has to be careful of what and how he says it to protect himself and them. He deliberately "implies" what should be done so he can have "plausible deniability." If Harry and Hermione were later interrogated, they cannot say, "Dumbledore told us to do a specific thing." Dumbledore, in turn, can rightfully claim he never told them something and/or they misinterpreted what he did say.

raywest

New Jack City - S2-E19

Question: If Carson is supposed to be a former member in this episode then how was Kim in the dojo during his time (before Jack). In the pilot we see that Jack is the one to get Kim to join. How does this work?

Answer: Kim and Carson knew each other from school, not karate.

Question: Is there a reason why they couldn't just use their suits to get back home? At least Cassie could do it, she is just a kid. Just activate your suit and grow, get out of there. I know eventually they want to stay and help, but at the beginning they were just scared and want to go home, why not do it then?

lionhead

Question: At the finale of The Wicker Man Howie/Edward Woodward is placed in a wooden cage high above the ground. The cage is set alight. When the cage began to burn and disintegrate, wouldn't he have fallen out of it onto the ground? As the cage burns, the wood must become brittle, so why can't he just force his way out? (Yes, he is surrounded by the islanders, but if anybody was being burnt alive, and they could get out of the flames, wouldn't the self-preservation instinct kick in?).

Rob Halliday

Answer: He would likely die from the heat or smoke inhalation long before the wood would deteriorate enough for him to fall out. The film also makes a point to show that Howie has given up trying to fight the villagers and has accepted his fate, so even if he could have forced his way out he no longer had the will to do so.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: I'm really confused by Eddie's behaviour. Why did he suddenly decide to abandon Vincent and Carmen. And why couldn't he just take the money at the end (and maybe give it to charity if he didn't want it as Carmen suggested). Why did he unnecessarily have to turn it into an issue with Vincent?

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Because it wasn't about the money or a personal issue with Vincent. Eddie had a sudden realization about his own integrity and what he was doing (helping to rig games' outcome to skew betting odds). He wanted to win legitimately against Vincent. Earlier, he had become rather fed up with Vincent's egotistical nature and arrogance, which led to them parting ways.

raywest

Question: Wouldn't Max and the nuns have been tortured and executed for helping them escape?

MikeH

Answer: Quite possibly yes.

LorgSkyegon

Question: What would've happened if they were caught at the end?

MikeH

Answer: The likely responses of the Nazis would have been either to execute them all, or hold Captain von Trapp's family hostage while he served in the Kriegsmarine.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Jack Conrad's final movie, where he and Irving Thalberg say that the movie is terrible or in Jack's words: "a giant swing of mediocrity", how do we know if they're right or wrong on that? Do we we find out whether or not it was a success or is it what Jack and Irv actually say it is? I also ask this because a friend goes up to Jack and says "Jack's back. Way to go, Jack."

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: As I remember it, and also checking Wikipedia's plot summary, Ham left at the end and there was no further explanation about what happened to him.

raywest

Question: Is the character of Flynn Rider in any way based on the movie star Errol Flynn? Maybe it's my imagination, but, whenever I watch Tangled I notice a vague resemblance between the two characters. Also, it would seem strange to me that, when they were making Tangled, the production staff would never have thought that, simply by giving a character the name "Flynn", it would make many people automatically recall Errol Flynn.

Rob Halliday

Answer: From the character's Wikipedia page: "Flynn was ultimately developed into a swashbuckling thief inspired by fictional characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones, and actors Gene Kelly and Errol Flynn; Eugene Fitzherbert's alias Flynn Rider was named after the latter."

Question: When Brenda and Esther were fighting over the bible in the school scene and all the pages were ripped out of it, where were the pictures of the men in the bible? Like did no-one see it?

Answer: If you watch closely, when Esther is carrying the bible (before Daniel knocks it out of her hand), it does look like the pictures are in the pages. However, when the papers scatter, the pictures are not visible on the floor. They were covered by the pile of pages on the floor. The pictures must have been there, or else Esther wouldn't have been panicking to gather all of the pages.

Torie White

Question: Why didn't Mr. Thromby feel any effects from such a large dose of morphine via IV? Wouldn't he immediately have a reaction? (00:36:30 - 00:37:00)

Answer: Thromby had actually not been given an overdose of morphine like he and Marta had thought (this was a key twist in the plot). Even if he had, the full effect would have taken 5 to 10 minutes anyway, by which time he had already cut his throat in anticipation of the "overdose" which would not have actually happened.

Sierra1

Question: What was the deal with Dr. Chamberlain? Was he not a real doctor and just a waiter? Or was he possibly a temp and had more than one job?

Answer: He was actually a waiter that Viola paid/bribed to pretend to be a doctor.

Torie White

Question: One thing I have never understood through the entire series is Dr Gordon's test. To pass his test, Dr Gordon has to kill Adam by 6 if not his family is killed and he is left to rot. At 6 Zep calls saying he failed his test. He then cuts his foot off, shoots and wounds Adam. The film end with him having crawled to get help and jigsaw shutting the door on Adam. In Saw 7 we see Jigsaw helped him and he became an accomplice. Why did jigsaw not kill him or leave him to die as he failed his test.

Ssiscool

Answer: The movies don't directly address this. But in my personal opinion, even though he didn't do everything on time, Jigsaw recognized that Dr. Gordon ultimately was willing to make the sacrifices he had to in order to save his family. He also spent hours in the room listening to Gordon and Adam talking, and likely realised that Gordon was a good man despite his faults. So I personally believe that even though he didn't "pass his test" per se, Jigsaw had grown enough respect for Gordon that he saved him. (And indoctrinated him).

TedStixon

Is Hoffman dead or alive?

That's unknown at this point in time.

TedStixon

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.