raywest

1st Jul 2018

Peaky Blinders (2013)

Episode #2.2 - S2-E2

Question: Was there prohibition in England? If not, why was Alfie running an underground distillery using a bakery as a cover instead of just having a legit distillery?

Answer: There has never been prohibition in England. There are many reasons for running an underground distillery. It would be a way to avoid things like government regulations, safe distilling methods, alcohol content limits, taxation, fix pricing, and so on.

raywest

29th Jun 2018

Flightplan (2005)

Question: Kyle poses at the hijacker and demands Carson to stay on the plane. Why would his cover be potentially blown if he refused?

Answer: Carson has to obey Kyle's demand because others are watching. The others believe Kyle is the hijacker, so Carson has to play along.

Answer: It was less about his cover being blown than Carson needing to stay aboard to try and salvage the situation and possibly kill Kyle. Kyle wanted him on the plane in order to expose his plan and to find her daughter.

raywest

28th Jun 2018

A Little Princess (1995)

Question: When Sarah and Becky wake up in the morning and the table is covered in food and they have new slippers etc, how did those items get in their room?

Answer: Ram Dass, the servant from the house next door to the school, sneaked the items into the girls' room during the night. He may have had help from another servant.

raywest

Answer: It's the same house, but it's not unusual for a character's home, workplace, etc. to undergo slight physical changes in a sequel. There can be a number of reasons for this, but mostly it is logistical and/or economic. For example, Bella Swan's house in the Twilight movies looked the same, but in the sequels, the production crew built a replica of the house used in the first film. You can see that the property and surrounding streets are completely different.

raywest

Thanks but I just remembered that When Mr Miyagi and Daniel got back from okinawa, didn't he lose that home?

You're mistaking Mr. Miyagi's home for his janitorial office in the apartment complex in Reseda. When they got back from Okinaya, the apartment was being torn down, thus Miyagi losing his job/office. His actual "house" was not affected by this.

Answer: Yes. The backyard is still the same so it must be.

Question: Rebecca mentions that Sacajawea led the Lewis and Clark expedition "with a baby strapped to her back." Where is the baby?

Answer: It's nowhere. The museum chose to portray Sacajawea without a baby in their exhibit.

raywest

Question: Why is Hermione again spending her summer with the Weasleys instead of her parents? The thing with the world cup I sorta get and I might understand Grimmauld place but why this summer?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Hermione did not stay for the entire summer. She was at the Burrow (the Weasley home) for about a week before school started. She was there for a short visit and to accompany the other Weasley children to Diagaon Alley to buy books and supplies for the upcoming school year. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley then took her, Harry, Ron, and the others to the train station to board the Hogwarts Express. Hermione's parents being Muggles had far more difficulty navigating the wizard world on their own.

raywest

But Harry arrived a fortnight into the summer holidays and hermione arrived before him.

Answer: There wasn't a specific reason given, but in the books, she was not particularly a quidditch fan and was also rather fed up dealing with George and Fred's continuous pranks. She may have preferred having some quiet time at home.

raywest

18th Jun 2018

Secret Window (2004)

Question: How did the townspeople know about the murders?

Answer: Sheriff Newsome was actively investigating the disappearances of Amy and Ted, as well as Tom Greenleaf and private investigator, Ken Karsch. Newsome confronted Mort about it and knew enough to tie all four cases together. He would talk to the local residents regarding anything they might know. While these were still technically missing person cases, it was obvious to most that Mort had probably murdered them.

raywest

9th Jun 2018

9 (2009)

Question: I get that 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 9's personalities came from the scientist. But I heavily doubt that 2's personality came from the scientist? What does 2 symbolize?

YellowBird

Answer: 2 represents the kindly old scientist's creative and genius side. He is fascinated by garbage and scrap and explores the wastelands searching for items to use for his inventions.

raywest

Answer: The money was from the magazine that paid Gale for his story.

raywest

Question: Why did Mrs Weasley believe that stuff Skeeter wrote about Harry and Hermione? She knows Hermione and knows what kind of person Skeeter is.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Molly should have known it wasn't true, but her over-protectiveness regarding Harry may have affected her logic. She may also have been affected by Ron and Hermione's ongoing rift (over Viktor Krum) and knows that girls that age can be fickle and illogical when it comes to romance. Although her emotions got the better of her, Molly eventually realises that Rita Skeeter's stories were fake.

raywest

9th Jun 2018

Runaway Jury (2003)

Question: Trivial perhaps, but this is a court drama. Isn't the pronunciation of "Oh yez" by the court deputy, announcing the judge, actually pronounced "Oh yay"? In the movie, the deputy uses a strange pronunciation of "O yee", which I've never heard. My late husband was a court deputy, and he was corrected his first day in court. (He pronounced it, wrongly, "O yez" (rhyming with Pez, the candy). We're from the South, and the movie is a Southern court drama. Thoughts?

Moviewatcher

Answer: I would classify it as a "character mistake." The court deputy (or the actor playing him) just pronounces it differently and wrongly.

raywest

Thank you, I think I would have to classify it, then, as a directorial mistake, and interesting that no one else, cast or crew, noticed it.

Moviewatcher

9th Jun 2018

2010 (1984)

Question: In the original film, the Discovery's onboard computer states: "I am a HAL 9000 Computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992." So, "HAL" was a manufacturer identification prefix (standing for Heuristically-programmed ALgorithmic Computers), "9000" was its model number, and "No.3" was its production lineage. In this sequel, however, Dr. Chandra is chatting with one of HAL's earth-based twin computers which has a feminine voice and is called "SAL"; but how can they arbitrarily change its manufacturer identification prefix? Being produced by the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, and being identical to the computer aboard the Discovery, the twin's name should have a different production number, but it should still be called "HAL," should it not?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: The most likely reason the name was changed was probably a literary one. It makes it easier for the audience to differentiate SAL from HAL, showing how they are two distinct computers playing different roles in the film. It may also just be a feminine nickname being that SAL has a female voice.

raywest

I thought perhaps "SAL" was a nickname, also, until I saw that the computer's maker nameplate reads "SAL 9000" (visible in close-ups of SAL's glowing eye).

Charles Austin Miller

Question: In the very end of the movie Will Turner's father is on the black Pearl. How did he end up there when just a few minutes before that he was steering the Flying Dutchman for his son?

Stevie Knudsen

Answer: Bootstrap Bill Turner was not back on the Black Pearl at the end. He is only on the Flying Dutchman. It appears you're confusing him with another actor in the ending scene who bears a slight resemblance to Stellan Skarsgard, the actor who portrays Bootstrap.

raywest

13th May 2018

The Office (2005)

E-Mail Surveillance - S2-E9

Question: When Angela is buying the Baby Ruths, most of the other candies are turned backwards (I assume to avoid product placement). But above the Baby Ruth is one with the name facing forward that looks like it's called "Picaroon." Is this a real candy bar that's local to the Scranton area or just completely made up? If it's made up, any inside information about where the name came from or if there's an inside joke or show reference to it?

Bishop73

Answer: In the 2007 episode "Ben Franklin" when Jim is talking to Pam there is a candy bar with a purple wrapper that says "Picar-" I assume picaroon, it's hard to see past Pam. I found this trying to investigate what that candy bar is lol.

Answer: There does not appear to be a real candy bar by that name. The word is real, however. It refers to someone who is a rogue, a scoundrel, a thief, or an otherwise dubious character.

raywest

31st May 2018

Man on Fire (2004)

Question: Why did they put "A special thanks to Mexico City: A very special place" in the credits? Was that supposed to be a joke? The movie didn't portray it as very special.

MikeH

Answer: This was likely meant as an appreciation to the city and its people for their support and assistance during the film's production, and was not a jokey reference to how Mexico City was portrayed in the movie. It's typical for movies to express gratitude to a city, state, the citizens, etc. for their cooperation.

raywest

Answer: It could also be sarcasm cause I read that the crew was robbed at gunpoint several times during filming.

Question: If Voldemort wants Dumbledore dead, then why didn't he just kill him, instead of giving the mission to Draco?

DFirst1

Answer: It's a little complicated. Voldemort never intended that Draco would succeed in his mission to kill Dumbledore. He wanted Dumbledore dead, but it was also his plan to punish Lucius Malfoy for his failure to retrieve the prophecy at the Ministry of Magic (in Order of the Phoenix). Any follower who failed the Dark Lord suffered severe consequences, often fatal. Voldemort intended to execute Draco when he failed to kill Dumbledore. His purpose was to devastate Lucius by taking his son's life.

raywest

Answer: Voldemort knew Dumbledore was not only an extremely powerful wizard with loyal allies, but that he had no fear of the Dark Lord. Dumbledore knew Voldemort better than anyone else, his strengths and his weaknesses, having known him since he was the young Tom Riddle. Dumbledore could always predict what Voldemort's intentions were.

raywest

15th May 2018

Captain Phillips (2013)

Question: Is it really possible to shoot a door open like the pirates do in the movie when they reach the bridge?

Answer: Probably not. The Mythbusters tested the myth of shooting open a locked door, and in most cases, it took immense and multiple fire power to blow open a lock.

raywest

Answer: It's a 1969 Pontiac Custom S.

lionhead

Answer: According to Internet sources, it's a 1968 Pontiac Firebird.

raywest

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