Question: Before the last battle between the Predator and Dutch you see them both preparing for themselves and their equipment for battle. Why does the Predator shine his laser on his knives which makes them glow red? What's this supposed to do?
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: If Vader wants to kill the current Emperor, and become emperor himself, why does he not let Luke kill him? I am thinking he needs the Emperor to convert Luke to the dark side.
Answer: You are correct. Vader wanted to kill the Emperor but as a Sith he would need an apprentice. He wanted his son Luke to be his new apprentice, but he knew he needed Luke to kill the Emperor in order to completely turn to the Dark Side.
Question: In the scene where Will Ferrell is talking to his wife he says "They were running around like whirling derbishes, and I don't even know what that is" or something to that effect. What is a derbish and why does it whirl?
Answer: An actual dervish (not derbish) is a member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion (hence the term "whirling dervish"), though in general 'a whirling dervish' is used for anyone who moves with an unfocused, almost frenzied energy.
Question: Is there any truth to the breathing fluid used in the high pressure suit? Is that a technology actually used and is it really possible to breath and survive like that?
Answer: The technology does exist, yes. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_breathing for details.
Question: Does anybody know what city or state this takes place in?
Answer: Covington, Pennsylvania. They live in the middle of Covington Woods.
Question: How accurate is the portrayal of the Untouchables, when it comes to names and numbers? Were there actually only four of them? Do Garcia, Connery and Smith play actual people or fictive ones?
Answer: It's about 50% truth and 50% fiction. Ness, Al Capone, and Frank Nitty are real, of course, but the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith are fictional. Ness started out with 50 candidates for his 'Untouchables' force. This was whittled down to 15 finalists and from that he selected 9 agents (none of which has the same name as the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith). It's true that Capone was convicted for tax evasion. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but received an early release because he was in the last stages of syphilis. He died shortly after being released from prison.
Capone lived for 8 years upon his release from prison. The 8 years being slightly longer than the actual prison time he served, which was just over 7 years. He died, having the mental capabilities of a 12-year-old.
Question: I'm very confused about the opening scene with Raoul and Madame (Meg?) Giry at the auction. Which one is it? Meg or Madame Giry? At one point on the corrections page for this movie it says that it is indeed Meg, yet on the questions page it says that it is Madame Giry. Is there any absolute idea to who it is?
Answer: This keeps going back and forth with arguments on both sides. I'll present them both and readers can make up their own minds! 1. It is Madame Giry. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Joel Schumacher said it was her. If you look really closely you can see the appearance is the same, just wrinkled. Besides, Raoul and Meg barely interacted so to make it that Madame Giry and Raoul are seeing each other again makes it more powerful. 2. It is Meg because Madame Giry would be dead, considering the fact that she and the Phantom were about the same age. Considering the fact that Meg and Christine were the best-est of friends, she would know why Raoul was bidding higher than Meg was. The monkey was yet another symbol of love between the Phantom and Christine and the monkey was a dear artifact for Raoul and Christine. Since Raoul was older during that scene, so would be Meg, when, they too, were about the same age.
Question: They're nearly sunk and killed when trying to get through Gibraltar, but through some miracle they make it anyway. Then suddenly they're heading back to La Rochelle. If it was so impossible to get in to the Mediterranean, how come it was so easy to get out?
Answer: They don't make it into the Mediterranean, but sit on the bottom for a long time. The depth of the Straits is about 300m which is 100m deeper than the submarine was rated for. Getting through the Straits was a death trap for German submarines because the Straits of Gibraltar are only about 14km at their narrowest point. Also the Med was dangerous for subs as the waters of the Med are quite clear and even submerged submarines can be spotted from the air. This is why the crew was dismayed to learn they were to go to the Med.
Question: I'm posting this as a question since I'm not sure, but everything I know about Ermac is that he is multiple people in one body, so he refers to himself as "we". In the movie right after Shao Kahn kills Rain, he refers to himself as "I". Is there a reason for this, or is this a mistake?
Answer: This could have been a mistake but then again it could have been one of the people inside of him just stepping up and saying it to keep Shao Khan from throwing them over with Rain.
Question: Rachael made a copy of the videotape that kills people and gives it to Noah to watch. That means there are now two killer videotapes. Even though at the end of the film when she destroys the original, why didn't she destroy the copy that she made? With both tapes destroyed there would be no way for Samara to come back and kill more people. Granted Rachael still would have been killed, but she would also be saving a lot of lives.
Answer: Rachel is safe, since she has passed the tape on, but Aiden now needs to pass it on. If Rachel destroyed both copies, Aiden would have no way to do this, and would die. Also, based on background material, doing this wouldn't stop Samara: she can regenerate the video, either the same way the original one was created, OR at any point when somebody who has previously passed the tape on appears on a video camera.
Question: What is the name of the song played that Toulour breakedances with, to get through the lasers. It is not on the soundtrack.
Answer: The song is the instrumental for "The a la Menthe" by French rappish group "La Caution".
Answer: Also, it's not break dance but Capoiera. A kind of Martial Art/dance/music from Angola and Brazil.
Question: What exactly is or was the "Shadows of the Empire?
Answer: "Shadows of the Empire" is essentially Episode 5.5: the story of what happened between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". It was a multimedia project created by Lucasfilm in 1996, with a novel, comic series, computer game, RPG sourcebooks, toys and even its own soundtrack - everything except an actual movie.
Question: The enemy is referred to as "tommies". Why do they call them that?
Answer: Tommy or Tommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army. It is particularly associated with being used by the Germans during WWI, but may have been around as early as 1743 - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommies.
Question: Who is responsible for taking pictures of Brad Pitt's character in Amsterdam while he is following Catherine Zeta Jones' character? Is it Toulour?
Answer: More likely, it was simply a detective that Jones' character set on Brad Pitt; she knew he was there and knew he was tailing her.
Answer: If you watch, in certain scenes with CZJ character and Rusty, you'll see her with a couple of guys that look kind of like MI6 or our version of Men in Black with the Black hats and everything. These are the guys that probably were tailing Rusty and taking the pictures of him watching her. I believe these were the same guys she got in trouble with her boss for wasting their time and forging the form to get approval to use them.
Question: I'm unclear about the mother of the young girl who died. Did she intentionally kill her daughter or was it accidental? That is, was this supposed to be a Munchhausen by Proxy Disorder situation where the mother only intended to keep her daughter sick enough so she was under constant medical supervision?
Answer: At best, it was Munchhausen by Proxy. However, it could have been a well-planned murder of one, and then the other child. But the mother's reaction when everyone is looking at her seems a little more mental than criminal.
"But the mother's reaction when everyone is looking at her seems a little more mental than criminal." This is personal opinion. I've never interpreted her expression that way. I've seen it as someone who intentionally killed the child having the first realisation that she's been found out.
Question: I was talking with a friend and we were trying to figure out why the little birds and black hawks took off from the base and arrived at the city in such a tight and uniform formation. Wouldn't this have been a clear sign from miles away the Americans were up to something?
Answer: While its minor, the militia does pick up that the Americans are up to something and they call each to warn everyone the Americans are heading their way. The best explanation as to why the helicopters and black hawks took off altogether was they wanted to give the militia as little time to organise an offense. The Americans' plan was to have helicopters land many of the troops on the ground to capture the prisoners and to give cover to the troops travelling by armored vehicles. As the film shows the Americans under-estimated the Somalians and their plans from the beginning were very questionable. In the film Tom Sizemore's character goes into detail after the briefing about all the problems including going in the day instead of night.
Question: Why do they sometimes put "La" in front of Carlotta's name? I'm sure it's something to do with the Italian/Spanish language but I took the class a long time ago.
Answer: It is a common practice to refer to an operatic diva as La
Question: In the courtroom scene, the first question Eric Idle asks Michael Palin is "You live at 46 Horton Terrace?", to which Palin replies in the affirmative. A few questions later, Idle says "You did say 46 Horton Terrace?", Palin says he did, and Idle says "Got him.", he bangs a small gong, and the courtroom (and the studio audience) laughs uproariously and applaudes. I do not get the joke here. The address is the same in both questions. I have watched this scene many many times and am still at a loss. Can someone help me?
Answer: Eric Idle bangs the gong because Michael Palin said 'Yes' - They're playing the 'yes-no' game, where the idea is to answer questions without using the words yes or no. At the time there was a quiz show called Take Your Pick, the first round of which was the 'yes-no' game - contestants had to answer questions for 60 seconds to pass through to the next round.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: He's sharpening them.
Grumpy Scot
Not Sharpening but Tempering as the lasers heat up the wrist knives thus making them stronger.