Best Christmas movie questions of all time

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Elf (2003)

Elf picture

Question: When The Central Park Rangers are called in action it mentions the Simon and Garfunkel concert and their actions being under speculation - was this a real event (their questionable actions), and if so what was the problem, or was it just a fictional jokey reference?

Answer: This was a real event. The Simon and Garfunkel free concert drew a crowd of over half a million people and the Central Park Rangers were investigated for being a little "over-enthusiastic" in their methods of crowd control. It was 1981 though, not 1985 as stated.

Absolutely correct and thank you - I was there at the concert and it was 1981. I love the movie Elf but that incorrect reference is a slight irritant - LOL.

Answer: I believe that this refers to an incident I was involved in. I was a new ranger riding Captain Cutter, an ex-race horse that we had Nick named Captain Goofy due to his propensity to suddenly spin in circles without warning. We were leading buses of handicapped people through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds when Goofy did his thing sending people scattering in all directions. It was over pretty quickly. I did not realise at the time that it was news.

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Krampus picture

Question: How does the movie really end? Are the family trapped in a snow globe for all eternity, or were they given a second chance and Krampus is just watching them?

Answer: The ending is that they are all alive and Krampus gave them a second chance. Evidence of this comes from the director's commentary and the comic book prequel "Krampus: Shadow of Saint Nicholas".

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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation picture

Question: Was there a deleted scene where Cathrine and Ellen were talking while making the turkey in the kitchen and/or doing something resulting in the bird being "overdone" totally and showing up in the scene at dinner causing the turkey to literally explode in a cloud of dust when carved by Clark? It just seems there was a scene missing there!

Answer: YES! You are 100% correct about the deleted turkey-cooking scene! Both my husband and I remember this scene. It was Catherine and Eddie that cooked the turkey to thank Clark and his family for being hospitable. They had never cooked a turkey before and they thought cooking it at a low temperature for a LONG time would be ideal. It looked great, but completely dehydrated. THIS is why Catherine is so upset when the turkey pops open and steams - she ruined the turkey for everyone.

Answer: There was never a scene as described in the film, nor was there anything in any of the special features. Also, there is no mention of it in any of the commentary.

I remember the scene with Catherine and Eddie in the kitchen, putting the turkey in the oven. Catherine said she thought they were putting it in too early.

Answer: I have a DVD with the exploding turkey scene It's a classic.

Answer: I also remember vividly the scene where Catherine is cooking the turkey and have been trying to get a copy of the film where that scene is not deleted. Also checked with my wife, she recalls it too. I think we might have seen it on a very early VHS or LaserDisc version.

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Rocky IV picture

Question: Why and who were the guys following Rocky in the car when he was training?

Jcbhager

Answer: They were Rocky's chaperones. They were even seen in the cabin Rocky was staying in and playing chess with Duke.

Chosen answer: People who worked for the Soviet government assigned to spy on Rocky.

Greg Dwyer

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Answer: It is never stated.

Answer: As the other response says, the number of years is never stated. Physically, I think he is supposed to look about twenty years old. Bill wants him to start a proper business. None of the adults seem to think that he should be in school.

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The Polar Express picture

Question: What kind of instrument was the bum playing when we first meet him?

Answer: The instrument is called a Hurdy-Gurdy. It is a type of wound string instrument.

Answer: Violin.

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Chosen answer: It's just something the kid came up with. He is not quite all there. It's just something that illustrates how odd the kid is.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: My guess is that they are characters of the Christmas story.

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Home Alone 2: Lost in New York picture

Question: After Peter yells at Kevin "You spent $967 on room service?!", where does Kevin run off to? It's not clear from what's onscreen.

Answer: He's heading back to the hotel most likely to apologize for spending such a huge amount.

Answer: It's Kevin's dad who screams out. You can tell because Buzz looks at the bill, smirks, and says, "Oh, Dad." I've always interpreted it as Kevin running away. The joke is that Kevin's dad screams so loud from the hotel room that Kevin can hear him from the park. So Kevin wouldn't want to face his dad.

Bishop73

I just watched the clip on YouTube and yeah you're right, it is his dad. The sound of his voice when he yells "Kevin" sounds exactly like Buzz, so it probably conditioned a lot of viewers such as myself to accept it as Buzz's voice for the whole line.

Phaneron

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The Nightmare Before Christmas picture

Question: Sally tries to prevent Jack from taking over Christmas using Fog Juice. How will fog stop him?

Answer: As seen in the movie, the Fog Juice made it difficult to see anything. Sally had hoped that with no way of seeing where he was going, she would be able to stop him from leaving Halloween Town and save his life.

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Love Actually picture

Question: Does Kiera Nightly's character ever split up with her husband and go to his best friend? They show her with the husband at the end of the movie, but it seemed to me that she really loved the best friend. I was sure she would choose him over her husband.

Answer: No, Keira Knightley's character is not in love with the best friend; her kiss is one of compassion and affection, not love. Richard Curtis mentions this on the DVD commentary - he says something about Juliet being the sort of girl who would be used to men falling for her and treating them gently and kindly, which is what she does here.

STP

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Home Alone picture

Question: If Old Man Marley is actually a nice man (and not a "shovel slayer" as Buzz claims) then why does he always give Kevin that cold, creepy stare? After Kevin ran away the first time wouldn't he want to talk to Kevin the next time, to assure him that everything is okay?

Answer: Because he's understandably angry that Kevin's so unreasonably scared of him and assumes the worst in him without even getting a chance to know him. He never gets a chance to talk to him, because he always runs away too quickly. The first time he gives him that stare was when Kevin was watching him shovel from the window. Nobody would like to be stared at like that while doing a simple task.

MikeH

Answer: Marley appears that way mostly because the audience sees him from Kevin's point of view. Marley is miserable and sad because he is estranged from his family, but we see him as a crotchety, unpleasant person because that is what Kevin believes. Buzz had tainted Kevin's opinion of him by spreading the false stories that a gullible Kevin believed were true.

raywest

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Die Hard picture

Question: If the guy at the reception desk knew that the only ones left in the building were on the 30th floor, why did he tell John to use the screen?

Answer: Most large companies, particularly hi-tech or multinational ones, require visitors to check-in, especially afterhours. By having John search for Holly's name, it can be verified that he actually knows someone who works there, that there is an actual employee with that name, and otherwise assess whether John is a legitimate visitor. This scene's real purpose, however, is for plot exposition. John learns from the monitor that Holly now goes by her maiden name (Gennero) rather than her married surname. We see John's annoyed reaction to learning this, which sets up a later confrontation between him and Holly over their troubled marriage.

raywest

Answer: Any answer is speculation; but a simple explanation is he may have forgotten the only people left were there for the Xmas party until John mentioned the 30th floor. The guard also seems fairly proud of their new high-tech touchscreen system so he might have just had John use it to show off how nice the building is.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Most likely he just wanted to showcase a nifty (by 80s standards) piece of technology to a visitor.

Jukka Nurmi

Answer: The party was on the 30th floor and John was asking for a specific employee, his wife. He had no idea where she was exactly.

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Die Hard 2 picture

Question: When McClane ejected from the cockpit of the military plane, why didn't Colonel Stewart and his men shoot him while he was in the air? These men deliberately crashed a commercial plane killing innocent civilians and by doing this, it's obvious that they are ruthless, so why wouldn't they try to kill their main enemy when he is at his most vulnerable? (With the weapons the soldiers had, McClane was still in range to be hit.) Can someone explain this for me?

Answer: Because the police were moments away from arriving at the scene. They needed as much time to get away without being tracked. Every moment counts. And a target rocking about a few hundred feet in the air doesn't seem to be such an "easy target".

XIII

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Trading Places picture

Question: Why are Dan and Eddie in wool sweaters on a tropical beach when the women are in bikinis at the end of the movie?

Answer: Character choice. I've seen people doing exactly that if they are not happy with their body image.

Ssiscool

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas picture

Question: Where exactly is Whoville located? And what year is the movie meant to take place?

Answer: Then why does it appear as a tiny speck in Horton Hears A Who?

In "Horton Hears a Who", both the book and the animated film, the speck of dust lands on a clover. In the 2000 Grinch film, the speck of dust has now landed on a snowflake because it's winter time. It should be noted that it's only the 2000 Grinch film that has Whoville as a speck similar to Whoville in "Horton Hears a Who." In the book and other adaptations, Whoville and the Whos are normal sized and probably located somewhere in Massachusetts.

Bishop73

Where are you getting Massachusetts from?

Brian Katcher

Dr. Suess was born in Springfield, MA and there are some that claim the drawings in the book are similar to Easthampton, MA and Mt. Tom (although others say it's La Jolla and Mt. Soledad in California). Residence of Easthampton put on an annual "Whobalation" to celebrate the legend Whoville is based on them.

Bishop73

Answer: According to the introduction, Whoville is located on a snowflake. Therefore they don't keep time like we do.

Brian Katcher

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The Santa Clause 2 picture

Question: The premise of "Santa Clause 2" is that the new Santa must find a wife or he goes back to being a normal guy. So, what happened to the prior Mrs. Claus, the one that was married to the Santa that fell off the roof in the first movie - or for that matter, the ones married to any of the prior Santas? Do they just disappear when their husbands are no longer Santa?

Answer: They become widows, presumably, stop being "Mrs. Claus", and go back to living a normal life.

Phixius

Answer: When a Santa dies, the previous Mrs. Claus goes back into the human world and loses all memory of the north pole and Santa.

Answer: The previous Santas probably didn't have wives and then would die or retire before the elves could find out about the marriage clause.

Then why would Scott need to get married if Mrs. Claus wasn't important?

But that doesn't make sense because Scott Calvin, the current Santa, automatically started to reverse naturally without the elves doing anything.

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Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer picture

Question: Yukon has a gun - why he didn't just shoot the snow creature at the cave?

Answer: It's a kid's show, not Game of Thrones.

Answer: Plot wise, if the snow creature had been killed, it would have ruined the happy ending. Yukon has a kind nature, and he probably wouldn't kill anything.

raywest

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Answer: It isn't. If you look at when he dies you will see that he has cuts on his face that are bleeding red. The blue liquid is more like a bile, probably similar to saliva.

Chosen answer: It is part of the mutation that caused his peculiar appearance.

MasterOfAll

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Chosen answer: We know that Tilly (Matilda) Bailey is not Uncle Billy's daughter, because when Billy "loses" the deposit money and rushes back to BBB&L, George tells him that Harry's on the telephone and we hear Tilly say, "Hurry up Uncle Billy, long distance from Washington," so presumably she's George's cousin and Uncle Billy's niece. (When there's the run on the bank we see her desk, and there are a few photographs of men, one of which may be her father).

Super Grover

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Gremlins picture

Question: What exactly is meant by never feed them "after midnight". Every moment of time that does not happen right at midnight may be construed as happening after midnight...even 11:59PM which occurs 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds AFTER the preceding midnight. I would assume that the afternoon hours are considered before midnight, but does anyone know the exact extent of "after midnight"?

Michael Westpy

Chosen answer: The precise cut-off point is never stated - I've generally assumed that the embargo on feeding finishes once the sun comes up.

Tailkinker

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