Best movie questions of all time

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Chosen answer: During the several years it took to construct the ship probably, or in any of the supplies/food brought on board, or in the furniture brought on board. A single pregnant female rat can be responsible for thousands of rats in a very short space of time (the offspring are not too choosy about who they breed with).

Soylent Purple

A pregnant female rat could have made a home in a underneath a third class couch and had the other rats then all the females would have baby rats quickly.

Answer: In addition to the other answers, rats can easily get on ships by climbing the mooring lines that tie vessels to the dock and also go up unattended gangways. They can also use temporary overhead cables attached to ships while in port.

raywest

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The Phantom of the Opera picture

Question: What does the Phantom eat and what does he spend his salary on? Presumably he can't just go to the shops etc with his mask on. If he doesn't leave the opera house where does he learn his skills like driving a carriage, who does he practice sword fighting with? Wouldn't his health suffer if he spends decades living in this damp cold rat infested place wading through lakes all the time? He even complains about it being cold himself at one point. Surely if it snowing outside his lair can't be warm but he's not wearing much.

Answer: First, it is established in the movie that he is dependant on Madame Giry and it is presumed she does his shopping for him. As for learning skills, it is established he is a genius and one can assume he is very well read. Additionally, for single handed skills, like driving a carriage, he can possibly go out at night to learn them. As for his living conditions, the human body adapts well to continuous conditions, it is how the people in Siberia can tolerate lower temperatures better than those who live close to the equator. Lastly, one can easily assume he has other (warmer) clothes that he wears off camera.

OneHappyHusky

There is a character simply known as 'the Persian' He has known the Phantom his whole life and would have taught him horse driving. In the book, the Phantom has a life before the opera house where he would have learned fencing and torture. Also, the phantom knows all the secret passages. When it's cold he leaves his lair and lives someplace warmer.

You're totally right but also, in addition to your mention of The Persian, in the book it is he that is the Phantom's only "friend" or whatever but in the movie there is no Persian exactly but the two Characters Madam Giry and The Persian from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston L. Are both combined as one, to be know as Madame Giry in the 2004 flim.

debbi.ee

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Peggy Sue Got Married picture

Question: I never understood the significance of the girl in the wheelchair at the reunion. Peggy Sue makes a big deal out of the girl but never in her "flashback" do we see this character.

Jeanne Perrotta

Chosen answer: In the original script, Rosalie (the girl in the wheelchair) injures herself in an accident. Peggy Sue tries to change things that happen in the future, including Rosalie's accident.

ChiChi

Answer: You DO see Rosalie in the past. She hosts the party at which Charlie and his group sing. And Jim Carrey asks for the lights to be turned out. She walks, and begins to dance with her boyfriend.

No, that was Maddie's party. Peggy Sue's mom said so when she asked her why she wasn't ready for the party, when Charlie came to pick her up.

I finally see her, thanks! She's to the left of Peggy Sue and her girlfriends as they watch Charlie and the guys sing. Then she's the girl dancing on the counter at the coffee shop when Peggy Sue meets with Michael Fitzsimmons the first time. I always wondered about the Rosalie plot hole.

I think we DO see Rosalie before her accident-she is the girl dancing on the counter at the coffee shop when Peggy Sue goes for coffee and a donut and runs into Michael Fitzsimmons. Peggy Sue pauses and watches her for a moment.

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The Village picture

Question: Does anyone know if Noah knew all along that the elders were dressing up as the "monsters?" I think he did, and that he thought it was just a game. Is that why he laughed and clapped every time the bell went off and they had to hide? Perhaps the elders didn't hide this from him because he was simple-minded and couldn't talk. So, when he went after Ivy in the woods, he thought it was all for fun. Does anyone else agree with this?

Answer: When the Elders found Noah missing, they referred to a costume that had been hidden under the floorboards. My guess is that at some stage Noah found that costume and may have figured out that it was a game then. I doubt if the Elders realized this until he went missing. Also, given that Noah had already stabbed Lucius, I don't really think that he was joking when he went for Ivy in the woods.

kendra jackson

Answer: Noah had figured out shortly before the movie begins that the monsters were a hoax made by the Elders, having found a creature suit in the "punishment room." This can be seen early when everyone is eating. They hear howling from the woods (it's actually sound devices in a big tree deep in the forest that create sounds from the wind), and Noah simply laughs at it. He probably thought it was all a game, never understanding the true purpose of why the Elders created the hoax. During the Covington Woods quest, he most likely went to kill Ivy. Recall the "daring game" played by the children. We learn that creatures imitate their victim before they attack. Noah does the same to Ivy. She snaps her cane, and the creature also snaps something. She throws a rock, he does the same. Noah was actually smarter than we think. He was THE creature, the usurper of the Elders' hoax. So, he tortures Ivy mentally first before trying to kill her. He was kinda sadistic (he also massacred the livestock).

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Man on Fire picture

Question: Is this a true story? The ending with text "John W. Creasy" and lifetime dates makes it seem like a true story.

Answer: Daniel "La Voz" Sanchez was based off the kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi López and Aurelio Sanchez was based off his bother Aurelio Arizmendi López, so some of it maybe true but not a lot.

Answer: No, the movie was based on a fiction book. The book takes place in Italy, and the kidnapping ring is run by the mafia.

Answer: The movie was completely lifted from a much better 1987 version of the same story.

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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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Before I Go to Sleep picture

Question: Near the end while Mike is in the car talking to Chrissie, why does the cell phone on the console show a call from Claire if Claire is not conspiring with Mike and is ignorant of his deception?

Answer: It wasn't his cell. He took Chrissie's cell.

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The Parent Trap picture

Question: In the scene where the dad tells Annie, pretending to be Hallie, that he is going to marry Meredith, Hallie yells a bunch of stuff in French. Does anyone know what she was saying?

Answer: I hope that you are joking, Meredith is not the girl for you. But it is possible that I am dreaming that this is so.

Stephen Edmonds 1

Answer: She actually said, "Marry her?! That's insane! How can you marry a woman young enough to be my big sister?!"

Answer: Not really but I think she was saying you're kidding.

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The Green Mile picture

Question: When the guards are talking to Percy in the restraint room, Paul says he knows he sabotaged Del's execution. Why did he let him get away with it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Percy's aunt is married to the state Governor, giving Percy powerful connections. All it would take is one phone call from Percy and Paul and the other guards could lose their jobs and if Percy wanted to, never find jobs again. Something Paul or his friends didn't want to happen.

The characters talk about this several different times in the movies, how political connections can ruin careers.

MovieFan612

Answer: In addition to previous answers, it is probably also worth mentioning that they will never be able to prove it. Percy mentions multiple times that he "didn't know the sponge should be wet," even when they are back in the Green Mile and only Paul and the other guards are around, indicating that that will be his defence when they ever make it into a thing, knowing that they will never be able to prove otherwise.

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Saw III picture

Question: The first scene with Lynn shows her with a man who asks for a divorce. He doesn't look like Jeff, or am I wrong?

Answer: You are not wrong. The man is her lover, he wants her to get a divorce.

MasterOfAll

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Napoleon Dynamite picture

Question: Why does Napoleon, who appears to be a junior or senior in high school, ride the bus with a bunch of little kids?

Answer: Because it is such a small town that the school system can not afford buses for grade level so they have to share them, plus it has comedic value as well.

pross79

Small town schools are usually K-12. The other older "cooler" students drive to school or get ride with their friends.

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The Day After Tomorrow picture

Question: Why would Sam and his friends go to the library?

Answer: Possibly because it was the closest building with height to it as they are about to be hit by a gigantic wave of water. There was no snow yet, so I don't believe burning books or snow was on anybody's mind yet. It turned out to be a great idea as snow soon starts to fall and those books were literally a life saver.

Susan D. Santos

Answer: It was the closest building they could access. While the smarter move would have been to just go back to JD's apartment (which Brian and Laura suggest) it may have been too far a walk to get out of the flooding streets.

Answer: Big building with lots of space and lots of books to burn for heat.

Ssiscool

Why did they burn the books and not the wooden shelves that the books were on?

As for burning books rather than shelves, it was just easier. They would have had to expend more energy to break down the shelves into manageable size.

They burn books instead of the wooden shelves because burning books is a quicker and more efficient way to generate heat in a desperate situation, as the paper readily catches fire and produces a substantial amount of heat compared to solid wood, which might take longer to burn properly.

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The Shining picture

Question: Does Danny's ability to "shine" have any connection to Jack's insanity and the events that occur in the hotel?

Answer: Effectively, Danny's shining is what brings the hotel to life. Because he has such an incredibly powerful shine about him, all these weird ghost things in the hotel are able to materialize and reveal themselves. These weird ghost things are always present to some degree, and those people with a small degree of shine get glimpses of them - like Dick Hallorann. (It's not quite made clear in the movie, but Dick saw the woman in room 237 in the book). However, Danny's shine is so great that he gives these forces enough life to appear to those without any shine, people like his father and mother. As it's the hotel that's slowly driving Jack crazy, and the hotel gets its power from Danny's shining, then I'd say there's definitely a connection between Jack's insanity and Danny's abilities. In the movie, it's not as clear as it is in the book, but Jack is effectively possessed by the hotel. He's not a flawed drunk with an anger problem who loses his mind because of isolation. He's a flawed drunk with an anger problem who's doing the best he can, until the forces of the hotel get inside his head and make him lose it.

If Danny's shining is what brings the hotel back to life, does this mean that all the previous "Jacks" had a son or daughter with the shining too?

Answer: The movie is really 2 parallel story-lines with history repeating itself. In 1920s Jack visited the same hotel with his wife and son, they got stuck there due to snow storm along with rest of hotel crew (which leaves early in a hurry in 1980s). The director has carefully changed background score on things which were not present in 1920s when Dick is showing the facilities to Danny and his mother (like food cold storage). In the 80's version, Danny, Jack and Dick are the ones who have the power to shine or see scenes from the past in the same place. But as Dick says, its like reading a book and has no physical presence in current world. Whenever Dick is talking to Danny, it happened exactly the same way in 1920s, except replace the secret of shining with the secret of cannibalism around the hotel. Jack's insanity is just a repeat of his past, in the 20's the job of being the butcher (of human flesh) got to his mind and he started behaving weird. In the hotel lobby, replace the sound of heavy typing on the long table with sharp knife falling on human flesh. Red carpet depicts the blood and body parts all around the floor in 20s.

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Mamma Mia! picture

Question: When is the movie supposed to have taken place? There is reference to Donna having dated and presumably conceived in the 1960s. That would place Sophie's wedding, at age 20, no later than 1990. But isn't that a little early for Sky to be putting the Villa Donna on the internet?

Answer: Sophie finds Donna's diary from 1979, being the year Sophie was conceived meaning she was born in 1980 (as the diary entries are from July/August). So the movie is set in 2000.

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Beauty and the Beast picture

Question: Does Chip really have as many siblings as there are cups in the kitchen? Seems a bit too many, and also they aren't seen as real children at the end of the movie.

Answer: The servants in the castle are transformed into enchanted objects because of the spell, but there are still plenty of other objects in the castle which were not originally people.

wizard_of_gore

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The Thomas Crown Affair picture

Question: How does he fold the Monet in half to fit into the briefcase? Originally I thought he'd separated it from the wooden frame (ie. just a canvas), but when he takes it out back at his house he holds it up, and the wooden frame's still in one piece. Also, surely folding it in half would crack the paint, but despite the painting being twice the width of the briefcase (it fits snugly when the case is open), he then shuts the case down to a "normal" size. Any ideas?

Answer: I believe that the Monet that Crown hides in his study is not the one that was stolen, it is a copy that he already had prepared. He can enjoy the copy knowing that the original (with the broken spreader bars) is also in his possession. The stolen original then goes to the forger who repairs the broken spreader bars, and then paints another painting (using water soluble paint) over the Monet, so he can "return" it to the museum 3 days later. It gets more complicated when he discovers that Russo is on to him so he has a second forgery made (even the edges forged to match) over the top of "Dogs Playing Poker." He doesn't know if it will be necessary, but given his research into his new adversary, he concocts this contingency. It is likely that he has many contingencies in place, but the "Monet with a ghost underneath" is the only one we get to see. Of course for my theory to hold water, there must be (or have been) that earlier forgery - unless it has been destroyed.

It's not the forgery that he takes out of the briefcase. Even if it were, he still put the Monet in the briefcase at the museum and would have had to break the frame to close the briefcase, thus also breaking the paint and tearing the canvas. The real answer is that it is just something that couldn't really happen, and the movie people don't want the viewer to notice.

Answer: The only explanation I can come up with is that the inner part of the frame is precut. With the frame cut that way it would allow the picture to fold, but when unfolded it would be fairly rigid with the exception of bending it forward at that point. When he pulls the painting out, it still holds the square shape of the frame. Best I can come up with.

Answer: He doesn't fold it. The frame is solid. It's just movie editing to make the viewer think he put it in her briefcase. You can't fold a Monet.

He absolutely folds it. We see him put it in the case and him then shut the case, folding it in half.

Jon Sandys

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A.I. Artificial Intelligence picture

Question: Why did Teddy growl in the helicopter when the trio arrived at Manhattan?

Bunch

Chosen answer: It was dangerous for Mecha to go there; he was afraid for David's safety.

David R Turner

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The Silence of the Lambs picture

Question: I can not figure out how in the world agent Starling makes the connection about where Buffalo Bill lives. I don't understand the connection she makes at the house where she finds the pictures and says "you covet what you see" It has driven me crazy for years and I need help. How does she figure it all out?

Answer: In Frederika's bedroom Clarice sees the dress being made and recognises that the pieces of material are the same shape as the pieces of skin missing from the victims' bodies. In the bank, where Clarice meets Frederika's friend, Stacy tells her the address of 'Mrs Lippman' whom Frederika used to work with. Presumably Buffalo Bill is related to, or is, Mrs. Lippman since that is where Clarice finds him.

jle

He's not Mrs Lippman. He did, however, kill her. As Clarice chases him through the cellar, the woman's decomposing body is in a tub.

Answer: "You covet what you see": Agent Starling looks out the window of the girl's house to see who the neighbors are, who may have been watching the girl.

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Saving Private Ryan picture

Question: After Capt Miller gets briefed on his new mission to rescue Pvt Ryan and enlists Upham for the mission, there is a long shot of the beach. What are those Zeppelin-like things that are floating around, tied to the ground? What are they good for? (00:39:50)

Answer: These were barrage balloons, commonly used during the war. They are used to stop low level bombing and low level fly bys by enemy fighter planes. The cables attached to the balloons are designed to cut through the wings of the aircraft and to bring them down, so any pilot would have to fly above them, and the balloons would also restrict the view from above.

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Chosen answer: He "searched his feelings" as Vader instructed; he reached out with the Force and felt the truth of the statement.

Phixius

Answer: The vision Luke sees in the cave on Dagobah is a clue to this. Luke is realizing he has a lot more in common with Darth Vader than the idealized father he'd always imagined. When Vader tells him he's his father, Luke doesn't want to believe it, but he simply can't deny that it feels much more true that his father would be someone passionate and reckless like himself rather than someone who exemplifies a noble Jedi, which feels like an obvious myth in hindsight.

TonyPH

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