Best thriller movie questions of 2008

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Eagle Eye picture

Question: What was the real purpose of that short last scene of the movie? Our guess was that it was to advertise Rock Band. Anyone agree?

Answer: I think it was to show that Jerry and Rachel maintained a friendship after it all. Also to maybe, maybe hint about some kind of romantic future in the way that Rachel says, "you remembered", when her ex-husband was said to never have remembered Sam's birthday. That's my thoughts - I think it's just to let us know how the characters turned out.

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Valkyrie picture

Question: Why did all of the officers and high-ranking officials put out their cigarettes when Hitler's plane landed at the airfield?

Answer: Hitler was fanatically anti-tobacco: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/.

Brian Katcher

Answer: They are supposed to stand at attention when he arrives and salute when he walks past them. It is considered bad form to salute the Führer (or any leader) with a cigarette in your mouth or hand.

lionhead

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Death Race picture

Question: How did Joe and Jensen manage to plot the escape? The guards watched their every move.

Answer: There were a few times throughout the film where they were able to talk to each other in the pits before the guards showed up, chances are they discussed it during one of the pit times off-screen. They couldn't be sure the guards weren't listening to their radios during the race after the stunt they pulled with the juggernaut so it's the only chance they would've got.

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The Reader picture

Question: At the trial, first, we are told that all the women died in the church, but then a woman survived - we are not told how - and she appears to be quite old; then we are told that her granddaughter wrote the book about it. Was the granddaughter in the church, as well, and survived somehow? I'm confused.

kh1616

Chosen answer: There were two survivors: a woman and her daughter, who was named Ilana. It was Ilana's memoirs of her and her mother's experience in the camp that were published. Ilana, the daughter, may have helped with the actual writing based on her mother's memories (since Ilana's own memories could be bleak, as she was just a child).

raywest

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Quarantine picture

Question: At the very end of the film when Angie is dragged, in the background it doesn't look like any figure dragged her? Shouldn't we have seen at least the upper body of a figure grabbing and dragging her? It looks like she was dragged a long way, so why isn't there any evidence of her being dragged by any human figure?

Answer: Purely done for suspense reasons. Seeing the figure of something walking up behind her, grabbing her and dragging her away would have less of a "jump" factor than what happened in the movie, which is her being suddenly dragged away into the darkness.

Manky

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The Haunting of Molly Hartley picture

Question: Exactly what happened at the end? I didn't get it. She stabbed herself and then commits her dad. What did it mean?

Answer: Molly attempts to commit suicide to avoid having to join the Devil. Unfortunately for her, the clock strikes midnight before she can kill herself, and thus, having reached her 18th birthday, her soul now belongs to the Devil, who preserves her life. Molly, now one of the Devil's minions, has her father committed to the asylum, presumably having framed her father for her self-inflicted injuries, leaving her free to continue her life working for her new master.

Tailkinker

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Punisher: War Zone picture

Question: This gets described as a reboot rather than a sequel, but why? Nothing directly contradicts the original, as far as I'm aware, the only real change is the title character being recast - hardly unusual for a franchise.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I haven't seen this movie in several years, but one contradiction I distinctly remember is the Punisher having a deceased daughter in this film, whereas in the 2004 film, he only had a son. The 2004 film had the Punisher's wife and son (named Will here) murdered in Puerto Rico and buried and Tampa. This film takes place in New York, and the cemetery the Punisher goes to has a gravestone for his wife, daughter and son (named Frank, Jr. here). There is also a brief flashback in this scene of the Punisher sitting on a picnic blanket with his dead family around him, which is closer to the comics origin where his family were collateral damage in a gang crossfire. The 2004 film depicted his family as being the deliberate targets of a mob hit and were run over by a truck on a pier.

Phaneron

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The Machine Girl picture

Question: I don't fully understand how Ryugi dies. He simply runs away after the gun ejects itself and is impaled by about a half-dozen rods. What happened and where did the rods come from? Are they the gun-barrels?

Answer: I will have to answer my question after another viewing of the film. The gun is shattered by the "special" bullets that Miki gave to Ami, which were too powerful, causing the gun to fragment when it was yanked off her arm. The gun barrels fall of and impale Ryugi.

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Wanted picture

Question: Did anyone else catch on to what the Russian was doing during his time at the fraternity? I believe he was laying down scent trails to guide the mice to key locations in the building. In one close up of the mice (If I remember correctly) you could see them sniffing the ground and apparently following a scent. How else would you get them all into the building without possibly running in Wesley's direction? It seemed like the mice knew where they were going. Before I submit this as trivia, I want to know if someone else thinks the Russian laid down scent trails.

Answer: I believe it is meant to be assumed that the Russian laid down peanut butter or the scent of peanut butter in strategic points for the rats to follow.

Simpsonholic

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Journey to the Center of the Earth picture

Question: In some theaters, the film is shown in 3-D. When the film is released on home video, will it also be in 3-D?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Yep. The DVD comes in 3-D and 2-D versions. The 3-D versions come with (if I remember correctly) four pairs of 3-D glasses.

Cubs Fan

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Max Payne picture

Question: Was this the first PG-13 film to use the F word? If not, what movie was the first?

Answer: Hardly. The word "fuck" has been allowed, subject to certain conditions, in PG-13-rated films ever since the rating was introduced in July 1984. Prior to that (and even occasionally afterwards), it was not unheard of for a film rated as low as PG to get away with using the word, with the first use in a PG-rated film being in All The President's Men in 1976.

Tailkinker

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The Bank Job picture

Question: If so many famous, high-ranking people were involved, and many of the records of the heist are classified, how did the complete story become known? It would seem no one should have known about the photographs and such.

Answer: The complete story isn't known. There was a bank robbery, and after a few days of press coverage there was a gag order put in place to keep the press from talking about it. No one knows for certain why other than the people who were involved. This film is speculation, a possible reason for why there was a gag order. The producers of the film claim to have been working with an inside source who knew the truth for the gag order and cover-up. Whether the producers really did have an inside source, or that the source was telling the truth, will likely never be known for certain.

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