Why do some movies list the cast in order of appearance, or in alphabetical order? Most movies don't - the order seems to depend on top billing - so is there a specific reason?
General questions about movies, TV and more
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Is there a movie/show in which a male character says "Hey, it's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation"? I've watched a couple of Instagram videos that had this quote.
Answer: It's a common trope, taking various forms. Seemingly the first occurrence of this specific type of voiceover/flashback is from Sunset Boulevard (1950), starting with someone dead in a pool, and the dead character is the one who takes us back to show us what led to that situation.
Yep. Various films start with something similar, like start of the movie Ratatouille (2007), the movie Holes (2003), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Spiderman (2002) and most episode intros of My name is Earl (2005-2009). None actually use that exact sentence though.
Trying to remember a movie in the 80s or 90s where a young man learned to play saxophone from a blues expert. He played twinkle twinkle little star.
Answer: It could be from an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles." It was the one episode with Harrison Ford. In 1950, Indy and a friend are being chased by henchman in the Wyoming mountains. After losing them and hiding out in a cabin, he tells the story of working in a jazz club in 1920' Chicago. While learning to play the Sax, he and his college roommate Eliot Ness investigate the murder of a local mobster.
In the 90s or early 2000s, I was watching an episode of a TV show. Apparently the characters were discussing small things that make them feel good. A twenty-something woman said "wearing bikini-style underwear backwards." It *might* have been "Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place", or a show that was airing before/after that. Sorry for not having more details; just wanted to see if anyone recognizes the scene.
Answer: There was a TV sitcom that ran for two seasons in 1999, titled, "It's like you know." A west coast version of "Seinfeld." A group of thirtysomethings sit around talking about the little things of life, while living in the lap of luxury. One is a dot-com billionaire, the other is Jennifer Grey. She plays herself and makes jokes about her nose job. In one episode her father Joel Grey makes a cameo.
In a lot of movies, whenever somebody gets into a fight and gets hit hard enough in the mouth to have blood practically spurt out, how is the effect achieved?
Answer: Blood packet in the mouth, usually a small plastic pill or bag that the actor bites into then spits out.
What is the name of this point and click video game I played in 1986 or 87? You follow your dog through a portal in your uncle's (?) lab and wind up in a world where everyone (including the dog) is super cool. It being the 80s, that meant they dressed like martians. I could never get very far, because after a couple of minutes of game time, the bad guy would feed you to a carnivorous zoo animal.
Answer: Some of this description sounds a lot like "Pepper's Adventures in Time" but that came out in the early 90s. Also the game didn't have any Martians in it.
If it came out in the 90s, I didn't play it in the 80s.
How come in many animated TV series, during the end credits, the individual voice actors aren't credited with the character (s) they voiced? Movies do, even if one person voices multiple characters. For example, Dan Castellaneta is credited in "The Simpsons", but not as "Homer." But in "The Simpsons Movie" they show all the characters he voiced. And how did viewers know who voiced whom before sites like IMDb were around? Or how did people creating and editing IMDb find the information?
How long does a typical half-hour sitcom episode take to make?
Answer: It depends on what you mean by "make." Are you referring to the writing of the script through filming? Or just filming the episode?
From writing throughout filming.
In that case, it can take between 7-10 days. The writers generate a script anywhere from 1-3 days. It gets reviewed and edited in roughly one day. The actors have a one day table read where more revisions are located and made and that's normally the same day. Once the script is approved, rehearsals and blocking are done over the course of the next 3-4 days until filming is done in one day. Hope this helps.
Besides Tango and Cash, Demolition Man, and The Expendables, are there any Sylvester Stallone movies that make reference to Rambo?
How can I get better at spotting movie mistakes on my own? Especially the revealing mistakes and visible camera crew and equipment type ones?
Answer: Honestly, what made me start to notice revealing mistakes/visible crew was just learning about those types of mistakes on this very website and figuring out what to look for. Watching behind-the-scenes materials and learning how movies are made also helps. If I'm specifically going through a movie or show looking for mistakes, which I do sometimes for fun, I usually load up a Blu-Ray copy or the streaming service I'm using, and just scan through every shot, frequently rewinding and looking at all the little details. It can be subtle, so you may have to watch the same few shots 3, 4, 5+ times before you notice things. And even then, I'm sure I miss a lot of them.
Answer: First, it's imperative you watch a film or show with the ability to rewind (DVD, On Demand, Streaming, etc). Second, you should be familiar with the different types of filming techniques and procedures so you can visualize how the scene is being shot and where equipment and crew might be that could accidentally get in the shot. A lot of wide shots are going to expose revealing mistake, often time just briefly. While a continuous shot (where the camera doesn't cut) isn't going to have continuity issues. When the camera angle changes, that's when you can pick up mistakes. Finally, you can't be a passive viewer, if you're texting or looking at your phone, you're going to miss mistakes. And if you're really out to find mistakes, you'll probably miss the show (so it's best to look for mistake on your 2nd or 3rd viewing).
I've seen this in a few movie/TV scenes. A man wants to ask a woman out on a date, but he expects her to say no and make an excuse. One common excuse is "I'm washing my hair that night." What is the origin of this? I am a woman who was born in the late '80s, so, for as long as I can remember, girls and women have washed their hair a few times per week.
Answer: According to my research, this was a more reasonable excuse before the 1980s. Many women wanted time for their hair to dry and "set", i.e. for a perm style in the 1950s. Some preferred to have this done at a salon, so an appointment could actually prevent them from accepting a date. Also, families in rural or low-income areas might conserve water. A girl/woman would not always have the luxury of going to a salon, or washing her hair every couple of nights.
Answer: They are making a lame, flimsy excuse to avoid going out with the guy. Washing one's hair doesn't take that long and isn't something that couldn't be rescheduled. Instead of coming up with a plausible excuse, they're basically letting the guy (and the audience) know they just don't like the guy.
This doesn't explain why it has become such a common joke/excuse in movies and TV.
The line "I'm washing my hair" is a way to tell a guy she's not interested. Example. In the movie "Back To The Future", Biff asks Lorraine out to the school dance and she says she's busy washing her hair. This is because she doesn't want to go out with him. Using this line in other TV shows and movies has become something of a trope.
Answer: Before the invention of shampoo conditioner, women would use lye soap. It would take literally a day for a complete washing, cleaning and grooming of hair.
Hardly something that happened after the advent of TV.
I remembered an episode of a 90's TV show, in which a female character was bulimic. She was eating hot dogs or burgers at a restaurant. A man walked by her and said "You're such a small girl, [Name]. Where do you put it all?" (referring to the food) Then she is shown going to a bathroom stall, and tying her hair into a ponytail, preparing to make herself vomit. I am pretty sure that her hair was brown or black, and this scene was at the beginning of the episode.
There was a TMNT video game maybe sometime in the 90's. One of the levels takes place in Central Park and is completely covered in snow. The main boss of the level was a giant Arctic Wolf who would throw huge snowballs.
Answer: TMNT 2: The Arcade Game (1987). He was actually supposed to be a giant polar bear from another planet. He's throwing ice blocks that fall from the sky.
That's the game. Thanks.
Sometime in the 2000s, I read a mention of this upcoming movie. A teacher suspects that another teacher (also female) at her school is having an affair with a student. I think the story would mostly be told from the friend's point of view. Hayden Christensen (younger adult at the time) was going to play the student, but I can't find anything like this on his IMDB page. Could this be a movie with a different actor?
Answer: This could be the 2003 TV movie "Student Seduction." Actress Elizabeth Berkley plays Christie Dawson, who is accused of sexually assaulting Josh Gaines who is portrayed by Corey Sevier. Although Christie denies the allegations, Josh keeps insisting that she did it.
Answer: I think this is "Notes on a Scandal" from 2006. Judi Dench plays an older teacher who befriends a younger new teacher (Cate Blanchett). She suspects that her friend is having an affair with a student (Andrew Simpson). If Hayden Christensen had played the student, he would have been 23-24 years old during filming. It's not unusual for actors of that age to do teenage roles.
Answer: It could be "The Good Student," (2005) Tim Daly plays a widowed and depressed teacher, who has a small crush on a student, Hayden Panettiere. Who disappears after he gives her a ride home. There's also "Dirty Teacher," (2013) Josie Davis plays a mentally unbalanced teacher who has an affair with one of her students. When his girlfriend finds out, the teacher sets her up for a murder.
Neither of those plots sounds like an answer to the question. This movie involves a female teacher and male student, so it's not the one with Tim Daly. A movie released in 2013 would probably have been made too late for Hayden Christensen to play the student.
Why do some TV shows have different directors and producers throughout a season? Don't networks order/approve an entire season at once - meaning that a regular director and producers could join the crew? For example, I am currently watching the first season of "Melissa and Joey", and there have been six different directors for the episodes I've seen so far.
Answer: The workload of making a TV show is usually intense, and they often film multiple episodes simultaneously or back-to-back in order to save time. It's basically like filming multiple feature-length films. Having a single director or the same producers working on every single episode would be borderline impossible and would take way too long, especially if the season is more than 10 episodes. They have a schedule to keep.
Looking for a cabinet game I played in an arcade in the early 1990s. It was a first person shooter, where you used a plastic gun to shoot the screen. The premise is you are in a city that's been taken over by ghosts and demons and you fight possessed items rather than monsters. The final boss on the first level is a movie poster where a actor and actress' face jump out of the poster and attack you. The second level is a restaurant where you fight flying plates and coats.
Answer: Maybe "Laser Ghost" (1990)?
That's it! Thanks.
Looking for a specific PS4 game. In the game, an abandoned ship is at a dock and a young woman climbs on board to investigate. While on the ship, she travels back in time at different points and even sees shadows of monsters that she has to avoid.
Answer: Maybe "Return of the Obra Dinn"? It's set in the past where a ghost ship appears that you investigate the crew's death. It's 1st person so you're the one who goes onboard. You have a pocket watch that allows to travel back in time to the moment of a crew member's death.
It's not this game. The main protagonist is a woman and she witnesses a man stabbing another man to death.
There was a movie about a girl who entered a gaming competition. While playing, she has an energy drink that slows down everything around her, and she wins the competition. As her boyfriend congratulates her, the energy drink is knocked to the ground causing her to suddenly find herself twenty years in the future and married with three kids. When she walks outside of the house she sees the entire world is practically desolate.
Answer: Doing some research, it appears you are referring to an episode of the science fiction black-comedy series "Dimension 404." It's an anthology series where every episode told an original story. The sixth and final episode, "Impulse", seems to match your description almost 100%. The show was produced for Hulu (where it is still available to stream, at least in the US) and seems to only have one season.
Thank you.
Are there any notable examples of a TV character being written out/killed off because viewers hated them?
Answer: Roseanne Barr was killed off from the second version of "Roseanne" when she became too controversial.
Answer: Nicolette Sheridan, who portrayed Edie Britt in the TV series Desperate Housewives was considered a diva and didn't get along with the shows creator Marc Cherry. Her character was killed off when she swerved to avoid hitting Orson. Unaware that there was water under the car and that a powerline had snapped, Edie gets out of the car, is electrocuted and killed.
Answer: During the season 4 run of "Moonlighting," Cybil Shepherd was pregnant in real life, so it was written into the show. During her paternity leave, her character, Maddie, was having mixed emotions about the baby and her relationship with David. She goes home to do some soul searching. She's still unsure, when on the train ride back to L.A, she meets a man. Walter Bishop, actor turned director Dennis Dugan, on impulse she marries him. Viewers thought this was the dumbest mistake, since the "Dallas" it was all a dream season. Everyone waited with baited breath on how they were going to fix this. Finally the character, Walter, realised the whole thing was a mistake and got an annulment. He says goodbye to everyone and as he walks out the office door, he turns toward the camera and says, "Are you happy now."
Answer: I would include Jennifer Love Hewitt, who replaced Jeanne Tripplehorn in "Criminal Minds" after season 9. Love Hewitt wasn't well received by viewers. The official reason given for Love Hewitt's departure after one season was that she was pregnant. Despite the show's claim that viewers had "warmed" to her character, she was permanently written out.
Answer: I think the character Seven was written out of "Married with Children" because viewers disliked him so much. He was an example of "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" - an annoying younger child character who is added to a show after a few seasons. He basically disappears. The neighbors mention that he is staying at their house, but eventually, he is never mentioned again.
I watch a lot of 80s and 90s shows. I've noticed that when two characters sit on a couch, they often sit close beside each other, in the couch's center. It's not so unrealistic for a dating/married couple, a parent and young child, or times when a character needs to hug and comfort another. But in real life, if there is plenty of room on a couch, many teens and adults don't choose to sit so close together. Is this done for a filming reason? Or is my real-life experience odd?
Answer: It's usually done that way for framing/composition reasons, since it looks more aesthetically pleasing to the eye to see two people beside each other than on opposite ends of a couch. Things that may seem more natural, like sitting on opposite ends of a couch, just don't often look good on camera. Plus, it subtly indicates that they are close in some way, making it a good storytelling shorthand. (It's kinda similar to how in TV shows, if a scene is set during the morning, there's usually a giant, ornate breakfast out on the table that nobody actually touches, save for maybe grabbing something before they run out the door. Totally unrealistic, but it looks good on camera and is a visual shorthand to indicate it's the morning).
I'd imagine with older 4:3 ratio TV screens if people were at opposite ends of a couch the camera would have to be quite far back to see them both (easier on 16:9 widescreens), so it's easier to have them in the middle with a bit of space either side to make it symmetrical.
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Answer: Generally when the cast is listed alphabetically it's because there's an ensemble cast or no-one with top billing, despite what any movie poster or cover may show. It's a way to be as fair as possible to all cast members involved. When the cast is listed in order of appearance, it's much the same way, because no-one is getting top billing. But it's also generally done when the order of appearance plays a part in the film or to make it clear which character is which. For example, the 1990 film "Slacker", most of the characters don't have names, just a description.
Bishop73