Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Why does the narrator have to move to new hiding places?

Answer: In the first hideout, neighbors discovered Szpilman, forcing him to flee. His next hiding place was damaged in a bombing. He then moved from location to location finding shelter and scavenging food wherever he could until the sympathetic German officer hid him in the attic.

raywest

Question: Why is Fritz the hunchback so openly hostile to the Monster?

Answer: He is an abuser because death and living has no significance to him.

Answer: Likely many reasons. It's a monster that is terrifying and dangerous. Bringing a stitched-together dead body brought back to life is probably an abomination to him, and he loathes and fears it.

raywest

Question: So when we see Cheetah again she's sitting there seemingly human once more. Does she still have her other powers?

Rob245

Answer: She feels sad for letting her personal fears and greed for power consume her. As for getting home, like Robert Shaw said at the end of Force Ten from Navarone, "We have a very long walk back home."

Answer: The way I interpreted the ending (which is up for debate obviously in a different forum) was it was the act of Max Lord renouncing his wish which caused Barbara to lose her cheetah powers. It also caused every other unrenounced wish to be lost. Barbara wouldn't have been able to hear the broadcast or Wonder Woman telling the world to renounce their wish (it would also explains how all the wishes were rescinded without everyone having to be listening to Max). It's unclear if she lost her initial wish though (to be more like Diana). It's possible we'll find out what happened to her in a follow up Wonder Woman/Justice League film, but I highly doubt it.

Bishop73

Answer: No. When everyone in the world all renounced their wish, Barbara renouncing her wish would have resulted in her losing both her Cheetah powers and the ability to be more like Diana.

Casual Person

Well then why does she look sad for having done the right thing and how's she going to get home?

Rob245

Sad because she's lost her powers, her getting home is her problem and not plot-relevant.

Question: I know that this was the only movie directed by Joe Alves. Did Alves decide to never direct any movie again due to Jaws 3's failure?

Answer: You are correct that he never directed another movie because Jaws 3-D underperformed financially and was a critical failure. Alves' directing style was particularly panned. As a further humiliation, Alves was nominated as 'worst director' for the 1983 Golden Raspberry Awards.

raywest

Answer: Jaws 3-D is the only theatrical movie he has ever directed but has gone on to be art director for TV movies.

Answer: True, though the rats comment was deliberate hyperbole. Kinski suffered from mental illness much of his life. He was often volatile, erratic, disruptive, and sometimes violent on movie sets. Kinski and Herzog had a long professional collaboration but also a friendship pre-dating Herzog's directing career. Otherwise, though Herzog admired Kinski's talent, he probably would never have tolerated working with him; he is the only director who worked with him more than once. Herzog did a documentary about Kinski after his death, which included footage of his on-set rants. Clips are on YouTube.

raywest

Moreover, Herzog was initially reluctant to hire Kinski in Fitzcarraldo movie because he was afraid that Kinski would go "totally bonkers" if trapped in the Amazon for any length of time, and his fears proved to be well-founded.

To correct a slight factual error in the answer: Director Alfred Vohrer worked on more movies with Kinski than Herzog did.

lionhead

Question: Why does Rufus send Bill and Ted off on their own, instead of going with them and helping them?

Answer: The adventure wasn't just about helping Bill and Ted with their essay. It was also about helping Bill and Ted achieve independence, which would later contribute to their reputations in the future. If Rufus just told them exactly what to do, they likely wouldn't have learned to achieve their independence in the same way. They needed to learn it for themselves.

Casual Person

Red Dawn - S2-E4

Question: Does anyone know what the Russian writing says on the wall behind Omega Red when he is standing at the podium and talking about the return of the Soviet Union? (00:15:08)

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It says MPO "First Exemplary Printing House" which is a real printing company in Russia founded by Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin in 1889. There seems to be something about "named after..." as well.

Sierra1

Question: Who are the 6 people that died?

Answer: The three men in the boat, at the beginning of the movie, the local radio weatherman Dan, the babysitter Mrs. Kobritz and Father Malone.

The One with the Boobies - S1-E13

Question: After Joey says to his father "Now go to my room," it transitions to a new scene, and the music that plays sounds very similar to the song "Found Out About You" by Gin Blossoms, which was a popular song around the same time this show began airing. Is this meant to be an homage to that song, or is it just coincidental?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: The music definitely sounds like it's from that song, though very little is played. Its use would not be coincidental. 'Friends' frequently incorporated popular songs into episodes to reflect the storyline. In one episode, when Joey got brushed off by an attractive woman after she saw his "VD" poster in the subway, the song, "Don't Stand So Close to Me," by the Police, started playing. In another, after Joey moved into his own apartment and was feeling lonely, the episode ended with Eric Carmen's "All By Myself." The Gin Blossoms' song certainly fits with Joey discovering his father's affair.

raywest

Question: When Donnagon is about to fire the transmooker on Juni, Carmen and Ingrid. Did Carmen try to grab Juni and protect him?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Yes.

Question: I'm not a huge fan of DC, so I don't know much about any characters outside of Batman and his rogue's gallery. All the pictures I've seen of Steppenwolf from the comics show him to have a human appearance, with a goatee. Was his monstrous appearance in this film, and to a lesser extent the theatrical version, taken from the comics at all? If not, why drastically change the way the character looks?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: In the comics Steppenwolf traditionally has a very human appearance. He is tall and muscular with tan skin, black hair, and a moustache and goatee. Some of Steppenwolf's animated appearances show him essentially the same but with grayish/green skin, giving him an appearance somewhat similar to the 2017 Justice League version. According to Zack Snyder, the version of Steppenwolf in the 2021 version of Justice League was purposefully designed way back during the filming of Batman vs. Superman as not just a threat to the Justice League, but to the entire planet, hence the monstrous appearance. Warner Brothers made Snyder tone down the design because, according to him, they felt it was too frightening and intense for a PG-13 film. The version of Steppenwolf in Snyder's film has a very alien appearance, with the character's signature horns being part of his physiology rather than a part of his battle helmet, an immensely muscled physique, and covered in spiked armor.

BaconIsMyBFF

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Question: I think this is a mistake, but I'm asking as a question because I don't know enough about the TV in question. In the prison library, the inmates are looking for the remote, which the librarian had hidden. But the TV looks like one where the channels can only be changed by turning the dial. It appears to be a TV with VHF and UHF dials. Can a remote be used with that type of TV?

Bishop73

Answer: Normally no but it could have a cable box that we can't see.

Kevin l Habershaw

Question: What was Lindsey referring to when she called Coffey "Roger Ramjet"?

Answer: Roger Ramjet was a 1960's American cartoon character who was extremely patriotic, but dimwitted.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: She's comparing the overzealous, gung-ho Coffey to the 1960s cartoon character, Roger Ramjet, a frenetic, extremely patriotic, though not particularly bright American-hero guy. He worked for the U.S. government and routinely saved the world, using energy pills that gave him brief increased strength.

raywest

Answer: Dudley Do-right, Inspector Clouseau or Maxwell Smart, only in a '50's space cartoon, that's Roger Ramjet (I imagine Buzz Lightyear is the nearest pop cultural successor).

dizzyd

Question: This question is about all four Superman films and Supergirl. When Clark and Linda become Superman and Supergirl, their civilian clothes immediately disappear. Has anybody who worked on the movies ever given any insight to what happens to the clothes they wear before they switch to their suits?

Answer: I'm saying what happens to their clothes in the comics, is what happens to it in the movies. Special Effects were not as sophisticated as today's, so you never saw where the clothes went.

Answer: In the original comics, they folded their clothes into small pieces and put them in pouches concealed in their capes. There was no CGI back then.

This question is about what happens to their clothes in the movies, not the comics. Their clothes just vanish.

The point is that given that's what happens in the comics, that may well be what happens in the films too, just either not shown or else they do it at super-speed so we can't see it happen.

Chosen answer: The sleeve probably would have been ripped to shreds in battle anyway. He was just saving time by ripping it himself. Also, gunfighters would take off their coats in a duel or an arm wrestler rolling up his sleeve.

Answer: Aside from visual aesthetics and it being nice to see the metal arm. In world/practically I think (and I believe this is the reason why he tends to not have a left sleeve in most action we've seen him in prior films) it's also to assist with mobility during fights. The metal arm likely behaves a little differently than a human/bone and flesh arm does - and restricting that in a sleeve during a fight (especially in a thicker jacket sleeve) might mess with his reflexes. So removing the sleeve probably assists with the mobility of that arm.

Answer: That's the impression I got. Plus, he was expecting to go into battle, so perhaps he thought it would make him look more intimidating.

Phaneron

Question: At the end of the movie, they flag down a passing truck, how is a truck passing by Laurie's house when at the beginning the podcasters had to be buzzed in through an electronic gate?

Ritualowlny

Answer: True, they had to be buzzed in to get access to Laurie's driveway/house, but her driveway is still technically connected to a public street. The truck was passing by on the public street.

TedStixon

Question: Miller, and his men meet a guy named Mendelson who has bad hearing because a German grenade went off right by his head. Realistically, wouldn't Mendelson be dead?

Answer: When he says "right by my head," I'm sure he doesn't mean it literally...if it had, of course he'd be dead. There could have been something blocking him from the shrapnel, but the sound wave could still severely damage his hearing.

If he doesn't mean it literally when he said a German grenade went off right by his head, then how do you explain that wound on the side of his head?

Debris?

Ssiscool

Ruptured eardrum.

kayelbe

Answer: He may have put too much into his line. It's possible the shockwave damaged his hearing. If the grenade went off right by him he would have much more severe injuries than loss of hearing. His injury on his face is probably from shrapnel caused by the blast.

Tony

Question: So when the guys first walk into Porky's - and they're confronted by Porky (at the request of Mickey who wanted to see him), Porky makes the comment that they're "Five Angel Beach pussies" - how did he know they're from Angel Beach? I am assuming that the guy at the door who checked the ID's was looking at the ages, but why and how did he relay it to Porky that that's where they're from?

ckbyers

Answer: They also dressed differently, more proper than the regulars at Porky's.

lartaker1975

Answer: Porky's place is supposed to be in the middle of nowhere, the closes town is Angel Beach.

Doesn't make it that they had to be from there - I've driven several miles for things and passed through several towns to get to it, doesn't make it so that I'm from the neighbouring town.

ckbyers

Answer: Okay but my question was/is - the guy at the door never conveyed it to Porky that they had Angel Beach people there - given that Porky's pen was upstairs when summoned. Seems to me movies actually show would show that part to keep the fluidity of the movie going to have it makes sense.

ckbyers

Answer: The guy at the door would need to check their IDs to confirm that they were 21 or over, which they weren't because Porky could get into big trouble with the law if it was ever found out that some underage students got into his bar. That, and when making the fake ID's, they would need the name of the town of where they're from to make them look genuine which is how Porky knew where they're from.

Question: How was Jason able to find out where Alice Hardy (the girl who killed his mother) lives?

Answer: It's possible that there was a media blitz of her being the sole survivor of the massacre, including where she was residing. Jason may have been a psycho, but he might have enough intelligence to figure it out.

Question: How did Mar-vell get the tesseract?

Answer: Howard Stark relinquished custody of it to her. For a full history of the Tesseract see here: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Tesseract.

ctown28

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