Question: Maybe I missed something, but how exactly can The Penguin frame Max Shreck with the toxic waste and documents? In my opinion, I think that Gotham feared Penguin and would dismiss any evidence he had against Shreck. If someone could please enlighten me, I would be thankful.
Tailkinker
19th Feb 2004
Batman Returns (1992)
Chosen answer: If the evidence is convincing enough, the Gotham authorities would believe it, regardless of the source.
16th Feb 2004
Grease 2 (1982)
Question: What is Goose's surname, and where is it mentioned?
Answer: According to the credits, his surname is McKenzie.
17th Feb 2004
The Matrix (1999)
Question: What is the mirror? What does it do? And why does it take over anybody who touches it?
Answer: What happens with the mirror does not appear to be typical of a 'disconnection', judging from the look exchanged between Trinity and Morpheus as the mirror 'heals'. What we see occuring may be the result of disconnection trauma triggering Neo's fledgling abilities, rather than some specific part of the disconnection process.
17th Feb 2004
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Question: If Danny was meant to trigger the vault alone, was he meant to do all the stuff that Linus consequently did, like impersonate NGC personnel and swipe Benedict's access card? If so, how stupid was he introducing himself to Benedict when he knew he had to impersonate someone else and do all the stuff that Linus did in order to gain access to the vault with Yen? If the above is false than what was the point of Linus being in the operation and how else were they going to obtain the security codes for the elevator?
Answer: The plan right from the beginning was to get Linus to do that part of the job - they just didn't tell Linus that so that he wouldn't have time to fret about it. Danny introduced himself to Benedict as part of the side-plot to get Tess away from him - he needed to be known to Benedict so that after the robbery he could ask the question that finally causes Tess to leave Benedict. The whole aim was to get Benedict to imprison him so that he couldn't subsequently be linked to the theft.
17th Feb 2004
Gladiator (2000)
Question: I just wondered if anyone knows how much of the historical content of Gladiator is accurate, e.g. are the characters based on people who actually lived?
Answer: Some of the characters are real - Marcus Aurelius and Commodus are both real emperors and were indeed father and son, but both are used in fictional ways. Marcus Aurelius did spend a lot of his reign fighting the Germans, but he died of the plague in Vindobona (now Vienna) rather than being murdered. Commodus did, in fact, fight in the arenas, but he did not meet his end there - in reality he was strangled in his bath by an athlete called Narcissus.
17th Feb 2004
Minority Report (2002)
Question: OK, let's see: Lamar Burgess set Anderton up; he Hired Leo Crow and sent him to be killed in a hotel. But How did exactly Burgess plan the meeting of Anderton with Crow? Anderton arrived at the crime scene by a chain of events that began with the pre-vision of his destiny. It was clear that Lamar did not fake the pre-vision, because this became true just like it was predicted; besides, when Anderton was being chased, he arrived to crime scene by a coincidence; so what did Burguess have to do to make sure the existence of the pre-vision and this possible future? I don't see a simple solution.
Answer: Well, there isn't really a simple solution, but here goes. For a pre-vision to form, there have be two things present within the range of the precog ability (which appears to be limited to the Washington area - regardless of the stated plan to take the programme countrywide, there's never any indication that the precogs can sense beyond that range). Firstly, someone with the intent to kill. Secondly, there has to be a target for that intent within the range of the precogs. Anderton is present, and has the intent within him to kill the man who took his son, but has no target - the real kidnapper is presumably either dead or beyond the precog ability. Burgess, by bribing Crow to pretend to be that man, has provided a viable target for Anderton's intent within the range of the precog ability, thus triggering the prevision, and beginning the chain of events.
The above answers the question, but there do appear to be some time travel issues with this plot point in the movie. Burgess set things up for Crow to fake being the kidnapper and thus triggering Jon's desire to kill that person, everything starts by the pre-cogs seeing the future. If the pre-cogs did not exist or did not have the vision, Jon would have never known that Leo Crow existed and would have continued on without having killed anyone. This is unique within the movie, as the other murders would have been commited regardless of whether or not the pre-cogs saw it. In this case, the ONLY reason this murder occurred is because the pre-cogs saw it.
Thinking about this a little more, it could be conceivable that Burgess had planned a different option for Jon finding Crow. We just never saw that on screen, because the precogs changed everything to an alternative future timeline once they saw the original murder. Originally, Jon could have been triggered by Burgess himself, stating that they got a lead on his son's murder and pointing him to Crow.
No I think Burgess set it up so that Anderton would find Crow because of the precogs, not have a different plan set up before or else it could be possible Burgess himself would be visible in the prevision. He manipulated the system perfectly, he has done it before after all. He knows exactly how the precogs work so he is able to set it up so that it's untraceable. Except, except for the fact there is always a choice. Only then did it go wrong for him. This proves both true for Anderton and Burgess in the end.
17th Feb 2004
Minority Report (2002)
Question: What piece of music does Anderton start playing whenever he's analysing the Precog visions?
Answer: It's Schubert's Unfinished Symphony (a.k.a. Symphony 8 in B Minor). Quite appropriate for watching events that have not yet finished.
16th Feb 2004
Gremlins (1984)
Question: What exactly is meant by never feed them "after midnight". Every moment of time that does not happen right at midnight may be construed as happening after midnight...even 11:59PM which occurs 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds AFTER the preceding midnight. I would assume that the afternoon hours are considered before midnight, but does anyone know the exact extent of "after midnight"?
Chosen answer: The precise cut-off point is never stated - I've generally assumed that the embargo on feeding finishes once the sun comes up.
9th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: What are the Eagles' purpose and where did they come from?
Answer: The Eagles live in Middle-Earth, generally in the high mountains. They act as the emissaries of Manwe, leader of the Valar (the local deity equivalents), and will intercede in events at his behest, or at the request of one of the Maiar (a race of spirits that includes Gandalf, Saruman and Sauron among their number).
9th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I know that when you are near the One Ring you are tempted and once you put it on then you become addicted/obsessed with it. Once you put the Ring on, as you move closer to Mordor and Mt. Doom then the temptation to have it becomes stronger, is this true?
Answer: It's not entirely the case - the Ring begins to work on you from the moment you start to possess it, and the temptation increases with the passage of time, until it becomes impossible to give up the Ring - it's notable that Bilbo is the only person ever to voluntarily give it up after owning it. Proximity to Mordor probably has only a minor effect - time, and probably the relative power of Sauron, are more relevant.
6th Feb 2004
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Question: How does discovering the Bible stamped with "The Drake Hotel" tip Ethan Hunt off that Jim Phelps is Job? And what alerts Ethan of Krieger's complicity, since he's the one who recruits Krieger to help him steal the NOC list?
Answer: Phelps told them earlier that he stayed in the Drake Hotel, so Ethan made the link that way - there's no reason for Phelps to have brought the bible with him unless he needed one, in this case for the biblical references required for the Job communications. He tumbles to Krieger's involvement because the knife used to kill Sarah during the blown mission was the same precise type as the one Krieger uses - which Ethan saw during the CIA infiltration when Krieger threatened to kill the security guard.
The problem is, Max specifically said that Job didn't make Bible references. So why did Jim have a Bible or ever take it from the Drake Hotel in the first place?
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Why was Arwen dying? I know that Elrond said that the Evenstar was being overcome with the darkness, but why wouldn't other Elves, that were linked to Sauron or were closer to Mordor, be affected?
Answer: It's because she's chosen to become a mortal - her fate is now tied directly to the fate of humanity, and, in her case, due to her heritage, it manifests in a physical manner. If humanity falls, she dies.
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Why exactly must Arwen become 'mortal' when she chooses to be with Aragorn? It's not because she didn't leave with the other elves, because Legolas didn't leave until after Aragorn died. Does it have anything to do with the necklace she gives him, as in the necklace was a source of her 'immortality', or was that just a symbol of her love?
Answer: The necklace is only a symbol of her love. She has the choice to make because she's partly human. Elrond, her father, is half-elven, and was therefore given the choice whether to be counted among the 'immortal' elves, or to be counted among mortal humans. He chose elvendom, but all his descendants ultimately have to make the same choice. Arwen loves Aragorn, a mortal, and chooses to live out a mortal lifespan at his side for that reason. Strictly speaking, there's nothing to say that she absolutely has to become mortal, but chooses to so that they will grow old together, which is a part of love, and so that she will not be left to live an elven lifespan without him after his death. Additionally, as a mortal she will experience the same afterlife as a man, instead of returning to Valinor like the elves. This will allow her to stay with Aragon even after death, while splitting her from her father and the elves.
6th Feb 2004
Finding Nemo (2003)
Question: In the scene where Nemo is almost brought up by the fish net in the dentist's office and the tank gang quickly help Nemo swim down, it is very faint but the track that is playing, is this the same track that is the theme music for The Hulk?
Answer: No. Despite similarities in the score to the Hulk, and particularly to the Shawshank Redemption, the score is entirely specific to the film. Other than the Robbie Williams song over the end credits.
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Where can I find the music track in the trailer where Aragorn is saying "I see in your eyes the same fear" up to "This day, we fight"? Is it on the soundtrack?
Answer: Unfortunately, it's not on the soundtrack. The music in the latter half of the trailer was composed by Howard Shore and two collaborators (Simone Benyacar and Craig Stuart Garfinkle) specifically for that trailer. It's based on a track called "Epicalypse", which, in turn, is based on Howard Shore's "Gondor" theme.
12th Jan 2004
Ed Wood (1994)
Question: Does anyone know why this is the only Tim Burton film for which Danny Elfman hasn't written the score? All I can think is that time-wise it might have clashed with Black Beauty, but I'd like to know a definite reason.
Chosen answer: According to Tim Burton in an interview at the time, they were "taking a little vacation from each other", - he also said that he was not sure what the situation between them was, which certainly implied a falling out. Danny Elfman is a bit more open, describing what happened as "a family feud" - he says that after working on six films together in ten years, they had a bit of a creative fallout, which led to Howard Shore doing the music for Ed Wood. Afterwards, according to Elfman, they realised that they missed working together and went back to collaborating happily.
18th Dec 2003
Frankenstein (1931)
Question: Why in this movie is Mr. Frankenstein's first name Henry and not Victor (like it is in the book)? If it was changed to Henry so it would not be confused with the Frankenstein's family friend Victor Moritz, why not just call Moritz something else, and keep the original name of the main character in the movie?
Answer: There seems to be no officially stated reason why the name was changed, but it's possible to theorise. There were numerous changes between the original book and the film. One theory is that these changes were to make the story more accessible to the mass audiences, and altering the name of the main character to a more common one could be seen as part of that. Another (possibly more likely) reason is down to alterations in the characters. Unlike the book, the film ultimately seeks to redeem Frankenstein's character, making him a more human and sympathetic character. Conversely, the character of Frankenstein's old friend, named Victor in the film, but Henry in the book, has been made a much less pleasant character. As Victor is quite a harsh, martial name and Henry comes across as rather more amiable, the filmmakers might well have decided that it would be more appropriate to the characters that they were trying to portray to switch the names round.
22nd Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: When Frodo and Sam are on the side of Mount Doom and Frodo can't walk anymore, Sam says something like, "I can't carry the ring, but I can carry you," and then picks Frodo up and starts carrying him. But really, why can't Sam just grab the ring and run into the mountain with it? It's only a short distance at that point. I understand about how Frodo was meant to be the ring bearer and all that, but Sam was the ring bearer while Frodo was captured, so why not again?
12th Jan 2004
The League of Gentlemen (1999)
Question: What is the "Spcial Meat" that is sold in the butchers? Most people believe it to be human flesh, but it's never specified.
Chosen answer: The members of the League refuse to admit what it's actually supposed to be, but have stated that it's possible to work it out from clues in the series. Human flesh seems like the most likely candidate, probably supplied by Edward and Tubbs from their general butchery of any non-local who sets foot in the place. Another theory is that cocaine is involved in some way as its effects seem to match most of the things that the special stuff is supposed to cause. So, combining the two, and why not, the "special stuff" is non-local human meat sausages impregnated with cocaine.
15th Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I hear that elves live forever - if this is true how do they actually AGE? For example, Elrond is obviously older than legolas, but if they live forever how do they get older?
Answer: Elves do not live forever - it's a misconception that they're immortal. To quote Tolkien, "The Elves were sufficiently longeval to be called by Man 'immortal'. But they were not unageing or unwearying" (taken from his Letters, dated 1963). They do age, just extremely slowly, hence the appearance of older Elves, like Elrond, or the oldest Elf seen on screen, Cirdan the Shipwright, who appears receiving a ring in the Fellowship prologue, and leaves on the ship with the other Ringbearers.
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Answer: He wasn't framing him, he was blackmailing him. Penguin had more than enough evidence to crush Max's Empire and put him away for a very long time. The toxic waste came from Shreck's plants, the documents were legit and shredded, Penguin taped them back together, plus he could tie him to the dead business partner for a murder conviction.