Best movie questions of 2013

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Man of Steel picture

Question: How could Superman kill Zod by breaking his neck? He's from Krypton like Superman so he should also be invulnerable.

Answer: Kryptonians aren't invulnerable. It just takes a lot to hurt one after he has been charged by our yellow sun. There are several beings who are strong enough to break a Kryptonian's bones. Doomsday, Darkseid, etc. Since both are roughly equal in strength on Earth, its no different than one human breaking another's neck.

Grumpy Scot

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The Purge picture

Question: Who exactly are "the new founding fathers"? It never actually says. I read an internet post that said they were not singular people, but a collection of multi-national companies that took over the government after a near nation wide collapse of the US.

Answer: The only information the original script offers is the company that took over the government, their name is "Arcon". Other than that, there is no other specific name nor is there an answer to what kind of company Arcon really is.

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Chosen answer: It seems P. L. Travers was, in fact, right-handed. With just a bit of research, I found this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeiEumLxTcM. At time reference 4:05, archive video shows Ms. Travers in her garden, holding a basket hooked on her left arm, and making clippings with a scissors in her right hand. Feeling convinced, I stopped, though I suspect further research (it's a six part biography) would yield other examples of P. L. Travers engaged in right-handed activities.

Michael Albert

Only problem with the assumption that travers was right-handed because she trimmed plants with her right hand is that there were no (to my knowledge) scissors for lefties. I was born in 1955 and I am a lefty who cuts right-handed, wear my watch on my left wrist, and made other adaptations due to the fact that left-handers were ignored, and travers was born over 50 years earlier.

Answer: I do not know the actual answer to your question. However, I would like to point out as a lefty myself that we often have to use our right hand for certain activities just due to the fact that left handed options are not readily available. Scissors and shears are a great example of this. Very often you cannot just switch them to your left hand and have them work. They actually have to be put together to be left handed to work properly. Also, many left handed writers are also ambidextrous. For example I golf right handed but bat left handed so the two swings don't negatively affect each other.

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The Wolf of Wall Street picture

Question: How did the FBI find the note Jordan gave Donnie when he was wearing a wire?

MikeH

Chosen answer: As seen from Donne's reaction when the FBI storm the building shortly after, It should be assumed that Donnie told the FBI himself, and kept the note as evidence. One of the reasons for this could be that Donnie must have felt betrayed or something similar.

Dra9onBorn117

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The Call picture

Question: Berry's phone didn't have a signal in the hideout hole. Can't you call 911 even if your phone doesn't have a signal?

Answer: Not if you have absolutely no signal, no, you can't. Mobile phone companies generally have an agreement that any network will carry an emergency call, even if it's not the network that that phone belongs to, so if you were out of range of your own network, another could carry your call, but if you're in a situation where none of the networks can reach you, by definition no calls of any kind can be made.

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picture

Question: Why on earth does Bilbo remove the ring in front of Smaug? He has no real reason to believe that Smaug won't simply eat him or roast him. Smaug can hear and smell him but can't see him, so as long as he remains still, he is safe unless Smaug gets lucky. Seems like taking the ring off is a huge risk that was not necessary.

oldbaldyone

Chosen answer: Bilbo is actually quite clever, I think he was trying to talk his way out by buttering Smaug up. If he tried to run, Smaug, who was on high alert, would have caught him and swallowed him without a second thought. By playing with words he was able to both interest and distract Smaug, and get away.

Answer: Smaug started talking about the ring, which started drawing the attention of the Necromancer (Sauron), causing Bilbo pain. Remember, wearing the ring made one noticeable to dark forces.

Brian Katcher

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Escape Plan picture

Question: When Arnold Schwarzenegger is in a solitary cell and pretending to go on a psychotic rant, he says in German, among other things, "I'll rip your eyes out!" Does anyone know what the exact German words he is saying are? I can only make out "augen raus!"

Phaneron

Chosen answer: He says "Ich reiss euch eure Augen raus!" The full text from when he starts speaking German is "Ich kann's nicht aushalten! Arrgh! Ich kann es nicht mehr aushalten! Ich kann nicht mehr! Helft mir. Hoert auf mich zu quaelen. Ich Kann Nicht Mehr!" At this point Stallone opens the tunnel and focus is back on Schwarzenegger. "Ich kann das nicht mehr aushalten! Ich halte die Hitze nicht mehr aus! Ihr bringt mich um! Helft mir! Hoert auf mich zu quaelen! Hoert auf mich zu quaelen! Ich sterbe! Ich kann nicht mehr!" Here camera malfunction is detected. "Mein Herz!" Short break while others are yelling. "Ich hoere euch. Ihr Schweine! Ich hoere euch! Ich bring' euch alle um! Ich reiss' euch eure Augen aus! Ich schneid' eure Eier ab und stopf' sie euch in den Arsch! Oh ja, da sind Sie, oh ja!" Lights are switched off. "Oh nein! Nein! Ich fürchte mich vor der Dunkelheit! Ich habe Angst!" Warden enters the box. "Oh Gott, bitte hilf mir!" Here he starts praying The Lord's Prayer. "Vater unser im Himmel, geheiligt werde dein Name, dein Reich komme, dein Wille geschehe, wie im Himmel, so auch auf Erden. Unser tägliches Brot gib uns heute, und vergib uns unsere Schuld, wie auch wir vergeben unseren Schuldigern, und führe uns nicht in Versuchung, sondern erlöse uns von dem Bösen." He starts yelling again. "Du bist der Böse! Du bist der Teufel!" Stallone climbing, then back to Schwarzenegger. "Habt ihr nicht von jenem tollen Menschen gehoert? Der am hellen Vormittag eine Laterne anzuendete und auf den Markt lief und unaufhoerlich schrie 'Ich suche Gott! Ich suche Gott!'" Translation is: "I can't endure it! Arrgh! I can't endure it any more! I can't endure it! Help me! Stop torturing me! I can't take it any more!" At this point Stallone opens the tunnel and focus is back on Schwarzenegger. " I can't take it any more! I can't bear the heat any more! You are killing me! Help me! Stop torturing me! Stop torturing me! I'm dying! I can't take it any more!" Here camera malfunction is detected. "My heart!" Short break while others are yelling. "I hear you. You pigs! I hear you! I'm going to kill you all! I'm going to rip out your eyes! I'm going to cut off your balls and shove them up your asses! Oh yes, there you are, oh yes!" Lights are switched off. "Oh no! No! I'm afraid of the dark! I'm afraid!" Warden enters the box. "Oh God, please help me!" Here he starts praying The Lord's Prayer. Then he starts yelling again and points at the warden. "You are the evil one! You are the devil!" Stallone climbing, then back to Schwarzenegger. "Didn't you hear of that great man? Who lit a lantern in the bright morning, went to the market place and yelled non stop 'I'm looking for God! I'm looking for God!' "

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Insidious: Chapter 2 picture

Question: What does the ending of the movie mean? It has nothing to do with the 3rd movie like you'd think it would.

brianjr0412

Chosen answer: The third movie was a prequel to the first 2. It was done to set up an explanation in case they made another movie that takes place after part 2, so her appearance after she died made sense.

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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters picture

Question: What I don't get is that if Thalia's tree had the barrier active all along while Luke, Annabeth, and Grover were kids, in the first film, how was the minotaur able to approach close to the entrance of the camp without being prevented?

Roman Curiel

Chosen answer: Thalia's tree was poisoned, weakening it, and leaving the camp vulnerable to attack. The quest for the Golden Fleece was to provide a cure.

raywest

Answer: Because the barrier prevents the monsters from entering the camp, not from getting close to it. It's the reason why after Percy used the fleece to strengthen the barrier, Luke and Kronos' army used the labyrinth to bypass it.

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Gravity picture

Question: How was Ryan able to swim after the capsule splashed down in the water? Isn't readjusting to earth's gravity pretty difficult when you've spent a long time in space?

Answer: Swimming does not have the same gravity related constraints that walking on land has. It is not until she is on land where she shows signs of facing difficulties with the Earth's gravity. Also, when she swims up to the surface, she is rushing so she doesn't drown and in doing so, uses up most of her energy because she has been in space and is only now readjusting to Earth's atmosphere, so when she is above water and swimming over to land, she visibly shows signs of being exhausted and out of breath as she used up most of her limited energy attempting to swim up to the surface.

Casual Person

Swimming still has gravity related constraints, though right?

Gravity pulls water towards the earth, yes. But for a swimmer, the water provides buoyancy and supports them. The closest thing you can come to weightlessness on Earth (not including the flight training where they take you into a plane that glows up then drops) is in water, because it floats you.

She is swimming up to the surface at the fastest speed she can, so she doesn't drown. Perhaps there are some gravity related constraints to her swimming, but she is trying to fight against it so she can get to the surface. When she is above the surface and swimming/floating back to the shore, she is visibly exhausted, so it is apparent that she used up most of her energy in trying to fight against the gravity related constraints.

Casual Person

Answer: The movie opens with a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on the Space Shuttle - which had already been decommissioned for two years by the time the movie came out, but we'll let that slide. Because the Shuttle was powered by fuel cells that had a limited supply of hydrogen, it meant that realistically, Space Shuttle missions rarely exceeded two weeks in space, with an absolute maximum of 17.5 days. Two weeks in microgravity is not enough to cause significant loss of muscle and bone density, so Dr. Stone would be able to swim just fine. If you look up old footage of the astronauts disembarking the Shuttle after landing, you'll see they mostly walked out and down the stairs on their own.

Friso94

Answer: Yes.

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Bad Words picture

Question: Why does the Asian contestant have a Caucasian name, "Brandon Aftergood", while the Caucasian contestant has an Asian name, "Eric Tai?" Do you think that was done on purpose by the writers or director?

RJ Rios

Chosen answer: Jason Bateman talks about it in an interview. They didn't intentionally do it. When Bateman was casting kids for those parts, he picked based on talent or who he liked, not based on ethnicity. The parts and names were already written, but casting just didn't happen to match. Bateman also talked about how they were having trouble finding an Indian boy for the role of Chopra and wondered if the kid had to be Indian, although ultimately after reviewing Chand's audition tape, he decided to cast him.

Bishop73

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Answer: She wears a neck brace because she was in a car accident, she mentions the state of the car during the conversation.

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White House Down picture

Question: I know little of complicated politics so despite seeing it as a plot hole, I'm putting it in as a question. As Walker gives the missiles targets, there is talk of starting World War III if they are allowed to hit. The attack on the White House would be world wide news, on every major channel. Wouldn't these countries know it wasn't America who bombed them but was the work of terrorists?

The_Iceman

Answer: Knowing is not believing. They might know, but they wouldn't necessarily trust the media. After all it could have been a grand conspiracy to cover up the actual truth from the people.

Alan Keddie

I highly doubt world war 3 would start before these countries did their homework though. It wouldn't take long for them to suss out it was actually terrorists who detonated the bombs and not America.

The_Iceman

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Parker picture

Question: Parker finds his enemy's new place in Palm Beach and infiltrates it to place his guns. In their garage, he quickly screws a crate back together and hides as they return. They get out and go in, but their car is still on. All got out, but the car has the lights on, and even looks like the reverse lights are on. Why did they leave it on or is this a mistake?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: Some vehicles are designed to have lights on while running, and after they are shut off, the lights (including reverse lights) stay on for a short period of time, usually something like 30 seconds to a minute.

rswarrior

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Red 2 picture

Question: Was Bailey still insane when they released him from the asylum? Or was it all a trick to get their trust?

Chosen answer: Insane in the sense that he wasn't completely mentally capable? Yes. Insane in that he wanted to blow them up? No. He was heavily medicated while in care and so his ramblings and confusion are supposed to be perceived as genuine. Once he starts commenting that he is beginning to remember his past, we then assume that he realizes what his original intentions were and somehow manages to contact the other agency.

But Bailey states before he kills Katja that he was responsible for leaking the post online that Marvin saw which started the whole thing. He said he took a guard's phone to do it. I believe he was very aware and was just "playing" everyone.

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The World's End picture

Question: For those of us who live in countries where Cornettos aren't sold, what flavors are the three colors in the Cornetto Trilogy?

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Strawberry Red for "Shaun of the Dead", Original Blue for "Hot Fuzz", Green Mint Choc Chip for "The World's End".

Sierra1

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Star Trek Into Darkness picture

Question: Spock stops a volcano from erupting by detonating a cold fusion device that causes ice to form over the volcano. I have problem with that because where would all the pressure inside the volcano go? All that pressure would have gone somewhere.

Answer: Unless the cold fusion went directly into the volcano, all the way to the source of the pressure.

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World War Z picture

Question: Is there any underlying significance to when they show zombie blood gets in Gerry's mouth, but he does not turn into a zombie?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: The significance of showing the blood drop on Gerry's tongue and him spitting it out was to back up the theory that the only way to become a zombie is to be bitten by one. After the blood touched his tongue he ran to the edge of the building and waited 12 seconds (the time it takes to become a zombie) before he stepped off the ledge. If he would have started to change he was going to attempt to jump off the roof before causing harm to his family.

Then how does the scientist at the WHO get infected from a blood sample?

You can't turn by ingesting, or getting the blood on you. It has to enter your bloodstream. The scientist cut his hand and got zombie blood into his bloodstream.

He stuck himself with an infected needle or a "sharps" tool coated with infected fluids, which cut him.

Blood tester is encased in glass. Dr. Testing did not pay attention. His hand was in the case while it was mixing. Glass broke, cut him, testing blood mixed with his.

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Chosen answer: No. Bruce Willis (and thus, John McClane) is left handed. But guns are mostly designed for right handed people, so when he isn't holding a gun modified for him, it's easier to use it with his right hand.

Friso94

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire picture

Question: When Katniss asks Johanna about Annie why does Johanna kind of stutter when answering?

Answer: Joanna hesitates a bit when she's recalling how many years ago it was when Annie was in the games - she tells Katniss it was "four" then corrects herself and says "five." She then seems a bit somber when Katniss indicates that Annie had some kind of mental breakdown, implying that Annie is Joanna's friend. Joanna is being shown as having a softer side than the harder image she tries to project.

raywest

Answer: Joanna won her games the year after Annie. It's possible she stuttered and corrected herself when recalling how many years ago Annie won was because she was shocked by how long ago it seems her own games were.

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