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: I'm unclear about the ending in this film. Was he really Don Juan and the stories he told about his sexual antics are true after all? And was he lying when he said that he really grew up in Queens, etc., just to get out of the hospital?

Jeanne Perrotta

Chosen answer: I think the point is that it doesn't matter. He can be Don Juan if he likes - so can anybody - and who is to tell who someone else really is?

Question: What is A.J. doing when he burns Mark's CD? Why would he ruin his CD, if that's what he's doing?

Melissa

Chosen answer: He is making sure the CD can't be played anymore because nobody really likes Mark's music.

wolfchild

I never understood that part because they were singing along to the song Mark chose to play.

Question: Why do Anakin and Qui-gon have to cover up the fact that it's Anakin's pod they want him to race? Anakin says, "You could make them think it's yours" (or something like that), and Qui-gon later says that he acquired the pod in a game of chance. Why the deception? What does Watto care, who built the pod?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: As a slave, Anakin is not allowed any possessions of his own. Anything the Skywalkers have, ultimately belongs to Watto, so if Watto discovered Anakin had a pod, he would claim it for himself and maybe have someone else race it. The Jedi, of course, needed Anakin to race, since he was the best pod pilot around (and to test his Jedi capablities).

Twotall

Answer: Yes. Immediately after the Space Monkeys assault the police commissioner at the banquet, as they walk out the back exit, his pants fall off and he pulls them back up quickly.

Phoenix

Answer: Check out the trivia. It's already in there. (Yes, same swords).

Nikki

Question: This actually applies on all three films. I'd like to know the font used in the the title sequences at the beginning of each movies which is the one used in "New Line Cinema presents...." and "The Lord of the Rings". (I'm not referring to the one used in the official logo which is "Ring bearer" or "Tolkien".)

Answer: The font used is a variation of the Elvish writing style, in English. Thus it is not available and was probable just made for the production. A good elvish font, if you want that style, is called Tengwar.

Question: In the extended version, The Mouth of Sauron tells the heroes that Frodo is dead and the Ring is on it's way to Barad-Dur. The heroes give up hope but continue to fight in honour of what Frodo has tried to do. But when the Great Eye glows brighter at the Rings destruction, the heroes all look up at it before it explodes and Barad-Dur collapses. Do they think Sauron has reclaimed the Ring or he has been defeated?

Answer: You can't really say what a character is thinking, unless there's a voiceover or something, but, given that they believe that the Ring has been captured, it seems likely that most may well believe that Sauron has reclaimed the Ring. Whatever they actually think, it's clear that something must be happening, hence their attention being drawn. If there is an exception to this, it would be Gandalf - given that he's of the same race as Sauron (lesser Ainur, known as Maiar), and both have powerful magical abilities, it seems possible that Gandalf might be able to sense what has really happened before any actual physical signs became apparent.

Tailkinker

Question: I'm not really sure about it, because I realized it only after I went out of the movie theater but I think that when the Bride removed Elle's eye, it's the wrong eye - left eye instead of right eye. am I right?

Answer: Elle's eye patch is always on HER right eye, so Beatrix removed Elle's left eye.

Melissa

Question: One of the trivia entries states that Ridley Scott prevented any members of the cast from seeing the chestburster until the scene was filmed so their reactions would look more natural. However I've dug up numerous sources (such as IMDB) that says this is not the case and the cast had indeed seen the creature before hand. Which is the correct version of this story?

Answer: The version that I've heard the most often, which seems the most plausible, is that the cast were pretty much aware of what was going to happen - the chestburst effect requires machinery, a fake torso and so forth, so it's a bit daft to imagine that they weren't aware of what was coming. What they weren't expecting was the sheer amount of blood squirted everywhere, so their reactions to being sprayed with blood are, to some extent, natural.

Tailkinker

Poor old Lambert got the brunt of it.

Question: Can anybody tell me where I can download the trailer found on this page: http://www.theonering.net/movie/preview/teaser01.html (This page is the frame by frame analysis of the trailer). I usually end up in a bad link.

Answer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/lord_of_the_rings/.

Tailkinker

Question: What is the name of the dance tune when Tom Cruise is drunk in the club with his mask on the back of his head?

Answer: I think the one you mean is 'Afrika Shox' by Leftfield & Afrika Bambaataa which is track 10 on the fantastic soundtrack.

Question: Apart from Gandalf, the Rohirrim and the Huorns, who survived the initial stages of the Battle Of The Hornburg?

Answer: As Helm's Deep doesn't really have initial stages, as such, and, even if it did, none of those you mention would have been there, as they arrive at the very end, I'll assume that the question is really "who survived the Battle of the Hornburg?" The survivors obviously include Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Theoden. Gamling, Theoden's right-hand man also survives. Other than that, it seems fair to say that a number of the other human and elven defenders would have lived through the battle - some are seen to ride forth with Theoden, others presumably remained behind in the fortress. In addition, there are all those women (including Eowyn) and children who hid in the caves behind the fortress.

Tailkinker

Question: I was just curious, is there any significance behind why Samuel L. Jackson is the piano player in the church at the beginning of this film? Is it some kind of in-joke or did he just get that part by auditioning? Seems like a very small part for such a good actor.

Answer: He was brought in as a cameo because QT likes bringing in actors from his other movies. It is possible that Rufus is either a nod to or actually is Jules from Pulp Fiction, who said at the end of the movie that he was going to become a drifter. In Kill Bill Rufus was referenced as a drifter. Also, Tarantino has publicly stated (on the El Rey program "The Director's Chair") that he loves Sam Jackson on the set, he just enjoys his company; so it's probably just a buddy-buddy arrangement.

Question: I'm kinda unclear on this - why exactly does the ground cave in and swallow the orcs and other evil creatures when Sauron's defeated (when the ring is destroyed)? I did notice that it got most of the bad guys and didn't come too near aragon and the gondor/rohan army.

Answer: Sauron's power affects Mordor - it's his power, for example, that prevents the forging chamber in Mount Doom from filling with lava. With the defeat of Sauron, Mordor is badly affected - the uncontrolled eruption of Mount Doom, the fall of the Black Gate and so forth. Aragorn's forces are outside the Black Gate, so the destruction doesn't quite reach them, but many of the Mordor forces are within that area, between the Gondor/Rohan troops and the Gate itself. The others simply run away when it becomes apparent that their master has fallen.

Tailkinker

Question: Can anyone explain the significance of Tetsuo's transformation towards the end of the film? I've been told it supposed to symbolise something but I can't figure out what.

Answer: In effect, it should symbolize (just as the other psionics say) that humanity is not yet ready to control such power; we are mentally not 'mature' enough. And since we are mere 'children', we tend to play with that power without any real sense of responsibility, and before we know it, it goes out of control. In effect, it mirrors the lack of sense that we demonstrate in our real world, with our technical and political power.

Question: What is the song that Johnny dances to in the bathroom, and who is it by?

Answer: It's 'Does your Mother Know that you're out' by ABBA.

rabid anarchist

Question: Why is it too nutty that Orpheus arranged the flowers?

Answer: Orpheus was the greatest poet and musician of Greek mythology, his music could charm wild beasts and even persuade rocks and trees into movement; the idea of him arranging flowers is probably just a pun on his normal pasttime of 'arranging' music, or alternatively a reference to how he could have used his magical music to make the flowers spontaneously arrange themselves.

Question: The very last mistake listed for Mary Poppins says that you can see the lamp post coming through the bag and the table. I have watched this scene many times (in slow motion and otherwise) and I can't seem to find what you are talking about. Could someone please explain it's talking about?

Answer: There's no reason you shouldn't be able to see it, it's so obvious, unless you have the movie on DVD. It's possible they fixed the framing of the scene for its DVD release.

Show generally

Question: How did Steve and Janet end up with the Walsh house? I know that Steve was living there with Brandon once the Walshes moved to Japan, but once Brandon left, did they sell the house to Steve?

Ral0618

Chosen answer: I'm sure something like that happened. Brandon (always being the good and concientious friend) probably passed on the title so Steve could live in the house legally and if anything happened like a fire, would be there to take charge.

Tobin OReilly

Question: Why do Tess and Anna not switch bodies at the Chinese Restaurant? At the end when 'selfless love' changes them back, they switch right away. Why did this not happen at the start?

Answer: You need to think back to the poem... "A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another's eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back." It says a journey SOON begins, not immediately, and it says "WHEN what you see...change you back". Basically the switch happens SOON, the switch back happens IMMEDIATELY.

Answer: If you watch the trailer of the movie, they do switch at the Chinese restaurant.

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