Best movie questions of 2009

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Up (2009)

Up picture

Question: When Carl and Ellie are married, why are there only a few wedding guests for the groom and why the long faces while the guests for the bride are so excited and celebrating the wedding?

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: Carl and Ellie have two dramatically different personalities. Carl is more conservative, more reserved, a tender heart covered by a tough exterior which Ellie is able to break through, but which seems to recalcify after she dies. Ellie, on the other hand, is the sweet free spirit, rambunctious and adventurous. Throughout the film, each one conforms to the other until they ultimately blend into one beautiful unit. I think the makers of the film were trying to show that their respective personalities were a product of their upbringing, and reflected in the reactions of their families - hers larger, more fun, and more "hick" (we hear gunshots, for Pete's sake), and his more reserved, formal and patrician.

Michael Albert

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Terminator Salvation picture

Question: The ending of this film seems rather vague on the actual outcome of destroying Skynet's HQ. Does that mean the humans have won the war or is Skynet still a threat? The ending of Terminator 3 would suggest the latter since there it was confirmed that Skynet is capable of moving from transferring itself from one installation to another when needed, yet here everyone seems to believe they accomplished a significant victory. So which is it?

Answer: It's suggested that they've succeeding in destroying a major node in the Skynet network, possibly the key node in that region of North America, but, no, Skynet is still a functioning entity.

Tailkinker

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon picture

Question: If Alice can see the future, why did she not protect Bella from Jasper's attack before it happened at Bella's birthday party?

sunfox35

Chosen answer: The way I understand it, Alice's power only works once someone makes a conscious decision to act. Since Bella's paper cut was unanticipated, Jasper's attack was impulsive, not premeditated.

Cubs Fan

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The Lovely Bones picture

Question: If Susie's body had been in a bag in the safe, how did people who went into his house (Lindsey when she broke into his house through the basement window) not smell her dead body?

Answer: The only person who went into the basement while the safe was there was Lindsey. The safe was airtight, so the odor at that point would have been contained inside it.

raywest

Answer: The dog could smell her body even from outside, and he barked and hesitated as he passed near the killer's house. Dogs can smell people from a long distance.

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Night of the Demons picture

Question: It was discovered that the only way for the demons to take possession of a living person is either through a kiss or a bite. How could Colin have been turned into a demon when he wasn't bitten or kissed?

Answer: It took Maddie several minutes to climb down to the basement after Colin fell through the floorboards. Those couple of minutes was all the time needed to infect him.

Again, he wasn't bitten or kissed, so he shouldn't have been infected.

That's why he states it took her a good amount of time, as the viewers don't know what may have happened... Plus, technically, he was humped.

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Angels & Demons picture

Question: When Langdon and the Italian cop are trapped inside the sealed room of the Vatican archive and the air is shut off, how long could they actually survive in a space that size? In the movie, they start to suffocate almost immediately. (There is no long time lapse because the movie's plot depends on defusing the bomb within a few hours).

raywest

Chosen answer: In reality, they would have perished from CO2 poisoning long before the room ran out of breathable oxygen causing them to simply suffocate. Without knowing the exact dimensions of the room it is impossible to give any time more specific than "several hours" for this to happen in a room as big as that one appeared to be.

Phixius

I just re-watched the movie, and as Langdon and Vittoria enter the room, it's mentioned to them that the oxygen levels are always kept at a bare minimum to protect the ancient tomes and documents stored there. That helps to answer my own question about why Langdon and the cop were so quickly affected when the power was shut off.

raywest

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel picture

Question: How did Brittany even know Toby's phone number, and why would Ian sit his phone right next to them?

Answer: Alvin could have easily known Toby's number and told it to her. Ian just simply put down his phone not even thinking that the chipettes could get at it from inside of the carrier.

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A Perfect Getaway picture

Question: There are 2 scenes in the movie that I am confused about. Both of them take place BEFORE we find out that Cliff and Cydney are the real killers. The first takes place towards the begining when Cliff and Cydney are pretending to be going to the bathroom behind a tree watching the killers (themselves) on the security camera. The second is when they are in their tent (with Gina in the background gutting the goat). In both scenes, Cliff and Cydney appear to be afraid and very concerned about Gina and Nick being the real killers. In the tent scene, they talk about leaving Nick and Gina behind because they think they're the killers. Why are Cliff and Cydney even talking about this if THEY are the real killers?

Answer: They're not afraid the other couple are the killers, they're afraid they may be recognized on the video and that the other couple might figure out who they really are.

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The Princess and the Frog picture

Question: How did Tiana know that Naveen was going to marry Lottie? We don't find out until later that Lottie has to kiss Naveen in order for the spell to be broken and sure Lottie was attracted to Naveen but still, marriage wasn't mentioned so how did Tiana know? Did I miss something?

Answer: Naveen told Tiana about his plan to marry Lottie once they arrived in the swamp. After revealing that he's been cut off by his parents, he explains that he plans to regain his wealth by marrying her so that he'll inherit her father's prosperity.

Answer: Mama Odie tells Tiana and Naveen that Naveen must kiss a true princess in order to break the spell. Lottie is the princess of the Mardi gras parade so that would make her a princess and that would make it necessary for her to kiss Naveen and break the spell.

Tiana knew that Naveen was going to marry Lottie because Naveen tells her when they are running away from danger in the bayou. Naveen says 'when I marry Miss Charlotte LaBouff...' in an attempt to explain to Tiana how he intends to be rich again.

Naveen wasn't looking to marry a princess, just a "little honey whose daddy got dough", as said by the Shadow Man.

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A Christmas Carol picture

Question: Can someone please explains this? When Marley visits Scrooge, it's Christmas Eve. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be haunted by three ghosts. The first ghost would appear tomorrow when the bell tolls one. Meaning that the first ghost would appear on Christmas day. The second would appear the next night at the same hour. December 26th. And the final spirit would appear the following night at twelve o'clock. December 27th. When Scrooge is talking to the boy outside his window after the visitations, the boy tells him it's Christmas Day.

Answer: It's basically the magic of Christmas. While, to Scrooge, three full days have passed, in reality his whole experience took place in a single night, allowing the reformed Scrooge to enjoy Christmas Day.

Tailkinker

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Up in the Air picture

Question: I'm fairly positive that one of the African-American female terminated employees, who has a very small but significant role in Up in the Air(trying to avoid spoiling the plot), is Elise Neal. Elise Neal was D.L. Hughley's wife in The Hughleys and also starred in Hustle and Flow. Any reason why she is not credited on the film? imdb.com and other sites do not list her as a cast member.

Answer: It's not Elise Neal, it is Tamala Jones.

jshy7979

Answer: It is not unusual for actors to appear in films in uncredited cameo roles. There's many reasons. Their appearance is not significant enough to warrant a film credit, it is a surprise for the audience, they do it for fun or as a favor to the director or producer, it avoids contract obligations, and so on.

raywest

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Monsters vs Aliens picture

Question: When Susan grew after being affected by the Quantonium meteorite, why do no other life forms, such as insects in the grass, not also grow?

The Yeti

Chosen answer: Well, it's a fiction movie; some suspension of disbelief is always needed. There could be a number of explanations: for instance, lifeforms such as insects on the grass, bacteria inside them or even grass itself, being unable to absorb quantonium. It might affect only sentient beings. Or Susan might even be the first being to get in contact with the substance - this would be possible depending on the shape of the meteorite container, the exact means by which quantonium touches her body - which isn't shown... but, first and foremost, this happens because its not happening would leave the filmmakers with a plot issue to be dealt with - so, other beings don't grow simply because they don't.

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The Time Traveler's Wife picture

Question: Why can't Henry save his mother from being in the car crash? Couldn't he have warned her when they met on the subway?

Answer: He could have had Claire distract her long enough to delay her car ride and miss the accident.

Answer: Of course not. Why would she listen to him? He's a total stranger. And if he tells her he's her time-travelling son, she'll think he's a nutjob to boot. It's well-established in the book that he tried everything to save her but could never do so, which made him recognise a well-accepted convention of time-travelling lore: big past events can never be changed. Diana Gabaldon wrote an excellent and extensive essay on time-travelling laws, which is probably still available somewhere on the Internet.

Sereenie

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Friday the 13th picture

Question: It appears Jason has upsized his shack in this version. He now lives in an abandoned house instead of a rundown shack we see in Part 2. Plus the house has an extensive tunnel system. Finally, where does the electric bill get sent?

Answer: It's the former summer camp. I would believe they had a generator or two.

Answer: It's possible that he has a generator.

newtrekkilover

Where did he get the generator from? Home Depot?

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Fast & Furious picture

Question: Are they completely ignoring the events of the second movie? I was given the impression that Brian and Roman were going to open a garage together with the money they took from Carter. Plus Brian was on the outs with the FBI. Yet in this movie, he's suddenly an FBI agent.

Answer: No it doesn't ignore 2 Fast 2 Furious, Brian even references it a couple of times. In that movie, Brian was promised a 'clean slate' if he helped them out which presumably gives him the option to rejoin a law enforcement agency. That he chose not to open a garage with Roman is pretty much redundant, Brian simply got a better offer, and as he stated in Fast & Furious with his conversation with Mia, "I'm a good liar".

GalahadFairlight

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Drag Me To Hell picture

Question: Was miss Ganush alive when she first attacked Christine, or was that the first manifestation and torment of the Lamia? The attack and it's effects seem highly consistent with what happens to Christine later on, and the frail old lady is just too powerful and durable for someone who dies a day or two later.

Answer: Christine didn't get cursed until the end of that fight, so it could not have been the first attack from the Lamia.

Phixius

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans picture

Question: In "Underworld Evolution" Tanis said (to Kate and Michael) that Viktor killed Selen's family in Winter when Lucian escaped with the key from the castle. But in this movie, Viktor at the end goes into the hibernation chamber. How possible? Is this a continuity error?

Miltonfine

Chosen answer: He's badly injured, so he goes into the hibernation chamber to heal. Doesn't mean that he's staying in there for hundreds of years; he could easily emerge as soon as he's healed up and kill Selene's family off.

Tailkinker

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Star Trek picture

Question: In the Iowa bar where Kirk meets Uhura, he says something about her being from another world. Is Uhura from another planet, other than Earth? I can't remember anything from the original series that states this.

Answer: Kirk's never met Uhura - he wouldn't know where she's from. When he asks her name, she says that her name is "just Uhura" - Kirk's expecting to hear two names, first name and surname (just as he introduced himself as "Jim Kirk"). As such, his first question is to ask whether they don't have surnames on whatever world she comes from. As it happens, she is from Earth, she just doesn't want to tell him her full name; he doesn't know that, so he's making assumptions that are, in this case, completely wrong.

Tailkinker

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The Final Destination picture

Question: When the girl is going into the car wash, the sign right before she enters on the left advises her to put the car into neutral, but to make sure her foot is on the brake. Neutral would allow the car to advance through the automatic wash. Having the brake engaged would prevent the car from moving forward. They cancel each other out so what is the point?

shortdanzr

Chosen answer: Actualy it says she should put it in neutral and keep her foot OFF the brake.

Answer: It tells her to keep it in neutral and keep her foot off the brake and the carwash stops then starts moving again when her head is stuck; out of the sunroof.

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Zombieland picture

Question: If the character's nicknames (Columbus, Tallahassee, etc) come from their destinations, how come Witchita & Little Rock have different names, when they're sisters and are coming from - and heading to - the same place?

Answer: The names come from their hometowns, not their destinations. Witchita is much older than Little Rock; she could have spent the majority of her childhood in Witchita before her family moved to Little Rock where her sister was born. She still considers Witchita to be her "hometown".

Phixius

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