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: How does Elliot get out of the lighthouse after he lights the lamp? He looks really stuck in there.

Answer: Elliot was too big to fit inside the lighthouse. He had trouble going forward to light the wick because he couldn't fit up the stairwell. Once he had lit it, all he had to do was back out.

Question: There's something I don't understand: To lift the curse, the pirates need the blood of every person who took the gold. In the end they had the blood of every pirate and of Jack. But what about Will who had to make the blood sacrifice instead of his father? He never cut himself.

Answer: Yes he did - the cut is visible on the palm of his hand as he drops the last medallions into the chest.

Tailkinker

Question: I'm actually wondering if any other fans out there can spot students from Ravenclaw and Huffelpuff throughout the film? I've watched a lot of classroom scenes a few times and can only ever see Griffyndor and Slytherin students. Even in the choir scene it's difficult to make them out and I'm still not sure there are any. The new uniform colours make it quite difficult to spot them as: Slytherin wear dark green, Ravenclaw dark blue, Griffyndor dark red, and Huffelpuff dark yellow.

Answer: In the choir scene, the girl directly in front with the brown hair and pigtails, is from Ravenclaw. You can tell because of her blue lining.

Question: Is the portrayal of the historical figures and their respective surroundings accurate in any way?

Answer: Yes and no. The basic premises are all right; the years are accurate, and maybe the costumes. Napoleon was at war in 1805, and Joan of Arc was undoubtedly in church at some time during 1429, etc. But everything with the mysterious King Henry and his two teenage daughters in the middle ages is completely fabricated. Although there were four King Henrys during that century, none of them fit the age or family situation seen in the film.

Krista

Answer: Not entirely, especially Beethoven. He was supposed to be in the early stages of his deafness, and he showed no signs of resentment towards Napoleon, whom he once admired, until he crowned himself Emperor of France. This caused Beethoven to despise him and rename his Third Symphony to Eroica, which was originally titled "Bonaparte Symphony" when he admired Napoleon.

Question: According to many websites including IMDB, it says Staney Kubrick demanded about 128 takes of Shelley DuVall saying a line. Does anybody know this scene and specific line?

Hamster

Chosen answer: The scene was from when she discovers all his papers just say "All work and no play..." to when she bonks him on the head. That was one continuous scene, with no cuts, and Mr. Kubrick wanted it perfect.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: Is it ever explained why the characters cannot use magic to protect themselves from the werewolf (Lupin)?

Answer: No, it's not really explained, though one could argue that it's simply because nobody wanted to harm Professor Lupin. Potions can be used to help subdue the beast, but it was too late by the time Lupin transformed.

LuMaria 1

Answer: ROTC is the Reserve Officers Training Corps. It's a program for people who would like to join the military when they get out of school. They wear uniforms and do military training exercises after school. While not always the case, most people in the ROTC program tend to hang out mostly with other people in the program.

Myridon

Question: Does anyone know what the joke is about Matt Damon always calling out his name? Is it supposed to be a reference to something?

Answer: I read an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone where they said that they had not intended for it to be that way but that when they made the Matt Damon puppet, it looked so retarded that they thought it would be funny to just have him be retarded in the movie and only say his name. They said it was nothing personal against Matt Damon.

Question: When Aragorn throws an apple to Pippin which hits him in the head, Merry says Pippin's name in an annoyed tone. Why does he do that?

Answer: As in "Pippin! Wake up and watch what's going on around you!"

scwilliam

Question: What exactly is the baby's power, shown at the end of the film?

Answer: It's the power to morph into anything/anyone. Kind of like Mystique from X-men. However, in the animated short Jack-Jack Attack he not only morphs, but displays other powers (zero gravity, etc.) so he must have several powers.

Question: When Althea visits Larry in jail, she holds up a small notebook for a split second with something written on it. Does anybody know what it said?

Answer: It says "Can you guess where my finger is?"

Answer: It says, "Larry, where is my finger?"

Question: Wat keeps threatening to "fong" people. Is this a medieval term or did Alan Tudyk just think the word was funny?

Answer: In the commentary, Alan says that it means to kick someone. But the cast also thought it was funny.

Bobbert

Question: As Rameses is getting dressed by his servants, Nefretiri stops one servant and takes a sword from him. The shot then cuts to Rameses getting dressed and then Nefretiri comes to give him the sword. What exactly did she do with it: did she stab her dead son (who is placed on that statue), or did she do something else?

Answer: She gave the sword to Ramses and told him to bring it back with Moses' blood on it.

Answer: I have always thought she stabbed her dead son. It's obvious she does something with it other than just give it to Rameses.

She doesn't do anything other than give him the sword. She's trying to dramatically convince Ramses to kill Moses. In countless stories, one character will tell another character to kill someone while handing them a weapon.

Answer: She didn't do anything with it. She took the sword so she could help dress her husband herself.

Question: How did the people behind the film achieve the effect of making the actors look like ghosts. I truly have no idea.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: For the most part, the actors playing the ghosts were shot separately on blue-screens, and then comped into the scenes. (By removing the blue background through a process called "color keying", and placing them over the scenes) They were simply given a blueish glow and made semi-translucent to complete the effect. It was pretty cutting edge back in the 90's, but nowadays, it'd be very easy to make the exact same effect using a simple program like Adobe After Effects.

TedStixon

Question: Is Miss Hannigan Annie's actual mother? I know she says that her real parents were killed in a fire but there seems to be overwhelming evidence that this is a lie. Any thoughts, references, that might clear this up?

synthetikrose

Chosen answer: No, Miss Hannigan is simply a cruel, manipulative orphanage matron. Annie's parents did indeed die in a fire.

LuMaria 1

Question: Is any of the back story concerning the hood and Tintin's father from the tv series itself and does Tintin ever develop telepathic abilities in the tv series as in the movie?

Answer: The backstory in the TV series is that Kyrano (Tintin's father) and the Hood are half brothers, giving the Hood the ability to control Kyrano by hyponosis, by staring at a statue of him in his jungle palace. And no, in the TV series Tintin never develops telepathic abilities.

Question: What tune is Thumper whistling after launching a ball on the table of the frat boys? Is it from a song?

Answer: He whistles "Rock-A-Bye Baby" in order to menace the frat boys.

LuMaria 1

Question: What exactly is the relationship between Merry and Pippin? I know they are cousins, but other than that. They seem to be regarded as a unit but Merry seems to be annoyed by Pippin all the time and not too happy to be around him. What kind of relationship are they meant to have?

Answer: They're best friends, partners in mischief and so forth. Merry probably started out acting in an older brother-type capacity (being eight years Pippin's senior), and, as we see, still frequently gets exasperated by the younger hobbit's actions, but neither would ever choose to be without the other.

Tailkinker

Question: There is a red headed kid that has several small lines in the movie, primarily in the beginning. He plays 1st base once or twice. Who is he, and why wasn't/isn't his role in the movie as big as all the other kids?

Ken Hogan

Chosen answer: That red headed kid is Regi Tower, played by now-screenwriter and director Scott Firestone. Several of the boys had very minor roles, so Regi wasn't really an exception. His character did not appear in either of the sequels to The Bad News Bears.

Question: As Peggy Sue and her friends walk down the school hall, she glances up and sees a Mylar balloon. While it is intended to remind her of the reunion, I wondered if Mylar balloons were available in 1960?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: It was meant to be an anachronism. When she is talking to Richard later in the film, Peggy Sue says "I am a walking anachronism", meaning she is in the wrong time for what she knows. The balloon is a physical anachronism, being something she brought back to the past with her from the reunion.

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