manthabeat

Question: How did they pay for the booze and the snacks at the second hotel? Del doesn't have a lot of money and Neil spends most of his on the room.

manthabeat

Answer: It all came from the minibar in the room, which in those days (and, often, even today) didn't require payment in advance; it would be added to your bill when you check out. Since the hotel didn't have Neil's credit card or anything else to take payment, they could have just skipped out the next morning without paying for the snacks and drinks. (Another possibility, though remote, is that the snacks and drinks were complimentary...I have stayed in one or two hotels like that in the past, rare as they may have been).

Answer: Another possibility is that off-screen while travelling on the road (before the fire), drinks were bought at a store somewhere for the purpose of an overnight stay somewhere.

Question: The doctor is asking the mother questions about E.T. near the end. One of the questions he asks is "are the children okay?" The children are right there. Why does he ask her?

manthabeat

Answer: He's asking if the kids have any symptoms they aren't completely aware of themselves or they might be dishonest about.

BaconIsMyBFF

24th Oct 2006

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Question: Why has the Subway logo been removed from Happy's T-shirt during parts of the concluding match? Note, I noticed this on the television version.

manthabeat

Chosen answer: Probably had to do with some sort of legal issue between the Subway Corporation and the television station the movie was airing on.

Phixius

Question: What does the sequence with the fake Brill have to do with anything? I've watched this scene several times and can't find its significance in the film.

manthabeat

Chosen answer: The fake Brill is an undercover federal agent trying to find out what Will Smith knows about the video tape.

Mister Ed

Poor writing though as that character is never spoke of again.

31st Aug 2005

The Goonies (1985)

Question: Anyone know why the scene with the Octopus was deleted for the DVD? Data mentions it and it is a continuity error on this site, I just want to know why they would have deleted it.

manthabeat

Chosen answer: It wasn't deleted for the DVD, it was never shown in the cinema or VHS either. The quality of the special effects octopus was such low quality, that they decided not to include it in the final cut of the film.

Soylent Purple

It was actually in the film at one time. I 100% watched it on VHS and in television growing up. I never understood why they took it out later. From what I read. Stephen Spielberg hated it so much they removed it later.

Chosen answer: About 95% is CGI. The only real part of the movie was the actors themselves (and small objects they handle), with the exception of Dr. Totenkopf, portrayed using archive footage of Laurence Olivier. Everything else was CGI.

Guy

9th Nov 2004

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Question: How where the flying ball shots in the beginning done? I know it could be a helicopter, but some of the shots go through branches etc. Not too easy with a helicopter.

manthabeat

Chosen answer: Computer animation.

JamesP

18th Sep 2004

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Question: They use a pinch in this movie to cut the power. How does a pinch actually work? Why did they need one in this film?

manthabeat

Chosen answer: They needed to shut off the power in order to turn off the detectors in the lift-shaft. There was no way to do that locally, so shutting down the entire city was the only option, using an EMP, a massive wave of electromagnetic energy that disrupts electrical equipment. In real life, pinches are generally used to create high-intensity X-rays for scientific study, and they're very large - much larger than the one seen in the film. It is true that they cause electromagnetic interference when fired, but nothing like on the scale seen in the film. However, given that the only source of an EMP with the strength to really black out the whole place would be a nuclear explosion, it's understandable that the makers of the film decided to play around with the laws of physics a bit.

Tailkinker

Question: Does anyone know the city this was filmed in, or any location used in the film?

manthabeat

Chosen answer: According to IMDb, the filming locations for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are: (1) 7121 Lonzo Street, Tujunga, L.A., California (2) Crescent City, California (3) Culver Studios, Culver City, California (4) Granada Hills, L.A., California (5) Northridge, L.A., California (6) Wrightwood, California.

Super Grover

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