Question: What did Sean Connery mean by "Elsa never really believed in the Grail. She thought she found a prize"?
raywest
15th Jan 2019
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
10th Jan 2019
Room (2015)
Question: Why did Joy's father not want to talk to Jack, and why could he not even look at Jack when Joy asked him?
Answer: It's not explained. For whatever reason, he apparently is unable accept that his grandson is the illegitimate product of rape. He may consider his daughter to now be sullied from the experience, and possibly blames her in some way, even though she was a victim. It is also possible he may believe that he somehow failed to protect her.
9th Jan 2019
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Question: Considering how powerful and dangerous the Ark is, why would Indy hand it over to the United States government, instead of putting it back where it was found and to ensure it's never located, lie to them and say him or the Nazis never found it?
Answer: Indy and Marcus Brody believed that the Ark needed to be studied. They certainly didn't want to put it back where it was found. They believed that the U.S. government would find the best archaeologists, researchers, and scientists in the world to study the Ark. They are both upset that instead, the government has decided to simply lock the Ark away. This is why Indy says, "Fools. They don't know what they've got there," as he is leaving the building.
Answer: To add to the previous answer, there is no way that the ark could have been secretly returned to where it was found and then conveniently forgotten. Too many people already knew of its existence and location. It would only be a matter of time before someone more sinister would retrieve it.
29th Dec 2018
Pale Rider (1985)
Question: What does "Spider" pull out of the stream bed? I really don't think it's gold. Gold isn't porous, and I don't think he'd be able to hold it with one hand.
5th Jan 2019
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Question: How come Connie knew Michael killed Carlo, but she believed Fredo drowned?
Answer: When Connie says the part about "Poor Fredo, drowned, but it was God's will...Michael, I love you. I'll always help you," she is really telling Michael that she knows he had Fredo killed, but she forgives him.
Answer: Fredo lived for a long time after his betrayal of the family, plus when their Mother died Michael hugged Fredo in front of everyone after Connie talked to him about forgiving Fredo. I believe that Connie believed that Michael had forgiven Fredo that day and it was an accident. Anthony was supposed to go with them that day and she is the one that stopped Anthony from going, so I also think that plays into why Connie believes it was an accident as well.
Answer: It's less that she believes it than that she chooses to believe it. In the first film, she's naive about Michael, her father, etc., and so doesn't understand the realpolitik behind Michael's killing of Carlo. By the third film she's become much more inured to the family business (as well as more cynical and world weary), and so accepts the "official" explanation for Fredo's death even though she knows, deep down, it isn't true.
I'd add that by the time of Fredo's death, Connie knew Michael had grown more powerful and was becoming more dehumanized. She feared him enough to know to never confront him directly. After her husband's execution, she knew that any disloyalty to the family would be severely punished. She was also totally dependent on him for money and would not risk losing that.
6th Jan 2019
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Question: We were made to believe that they would be helpless without the holo device to spot the pods. Weren't all of the pods triggered by movement? Couldn't they just throw rubble ahead of them as they progressed? They would have to anyway as there could be additional pods that weren't shown by the holo device.
Answer: Knowing where the pods are exactly gives them a major advantage over throwing rubble. We are shown a pod that triggers machine guns. They know the pod is ahead of them so they take cover behind the stone structures. If they just randomly threw rubble and the pod was to the side of them, they would have been hit by the machine guns.
6th Jan 2019
Room (2015)
Question: If Jack thinks the room is the whole world and that space surrounds the room, where does he think Old Nick is coming from when he walks in the door?
Answer: He's a five-year-old child and lives in a very structured, controlled, and unnatural environment. He isn't capable at that age to really begin questioning how and why something should or shouldn't be. He believes what he is told.
Well, except when Joy tells him that something outside Room exists and he doesn't believe what she tells him and immediately questions how that could be possible.
5th Jan 2019
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Question: What was that black liquid that filled up the courtyard, and how did Mitchell die?
Answer: The liquid acts like tar leaving residue when it goes. It's toxic and or acidic as it destroys everything it touches. Mitchell I believe is the person who gets caught up the massive snare trap. So He could have been killed by the snare, the black liquid or just died from drowning in the liquid.
Answer: In regard to the black liquid, it is some type of a (fictional) toxic, tar-like substance that kills instantly upon touching living organisms. Mitchell is killed during the assault on the capital. When Peeta experiences a flashback, he attempts to kill Katniss. Mitchell pounces on Peeta to protect her, but Peeta throws him off, and Mitchell gets caught up in netting from a pod. The others are unable to free Mitchell, and he dies as the black tar washes over him.
5th Jan 2019
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
Question: Why do we never see Sarah or Henry in school?
Answer: Film makers have to make choices about what can be shown in a movie. They are limited by the running time of the film, what best serves the overall continuity of the plot, and also the logistics of setting up and filming many different scenes. Sometimes scenes are filmed, but later are cut out entirely. If showing Sarah or Henry in school does not directly serve the storyline, then there is no reason to have it in the film.
4th Jan 2019
The Mummy (1999)
Question: In the scenes where Rick lights a match to use on a stick of dynamite, he does so by striking the match against either his own ear or the ear of Ardeth Bay. Is there an explanation to how he does this?
Answer: He's lighting the match on his beard-stubble by raking it down his face. He's not striking the matches on his ear. It's not practical at all (and in fact, it's basically impossible unless you have beard-stubble like sandpaper), but it's just a cute way for the movie to show how much of a bad-a** he is. In reality behind the scenes, they actually had a strip of matchbox taped to the actor's faces that they were striking the matches on to light them. But with the right camera placement, it looks like they're lighting them on their faces.
Answer: Matches in those days were friction matches, with added red phosphorous so you could light them on basically any surface, as long as you generated enough heat. Some prefer the bottom of their boots, or a wall, but others light them on their own body, or someone else's.
Bare skin does not provide the necessary friction to light a match. It's possible to light one using one's fingernail by flicking it hard against the match head, but not with skin. There has to be a hard textured surface to create a spark.
Rough stubble?
Those matches are known as 'strike anywhere matches', because of the phosphorous coating on the matchhead they can be used on any suitably frictional surface. That's why Rick used Ardeth's stubble beard to strike the matchhead against.
Answer: I don't think he was rubbing the match on bare skin, more likely the edge of where the beard grows. The rough hairs would make the area of skin able to produce enough friction to light the match as long as it was rubbed fast enough.
4th Jan 2019
General questions
Do most movie and TV studios have a team of mechanics constantly repairing vehicles? It seems that whenever minor/medium car crashes are filmed the cars are far from written off, but they also must need a lot of work done to make them driveable again, or even just look good enough to be reused on film.
Answer: They would have mechanics and/or film crew with mechanical expertise on hand to perform repairs as needed, but they also use multiples of the same makes and models of vehicles used in a movie, particularly cars that are being used in crashes or stunts. This is something that occasionally shows up as a movie mistake where viewers notice a slight variation on what is supposed to be the same car in a scene.
27th Dec 2018
Land of the Lost (2009)
Question: Would Rick have regenerated that quickly (overnight) after the blood loss from the giant mosquito and tick that he suffered?
27th Dec 2018
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Question: Right before Frank dies and turn into a zombie, he said to Kenneth, "You want every single second." What does he mean by that? (00:55:35)
Chosen answer: I interpreted it as a reflection on his life and the lives of all those around him as his life drained from him. And that reflection is that as people we are always chasing something - goals, desires, a nice new car, a better job, a family with kids - but we are always left wanting something more. It's what keeps us alive and moving forward. As he dies, everything becomes illuminated and he realises this truth. I think it could also mean that he wanted to live every single second to experience as much as he could in life. But I prefer my first interpretation, so that's how I picture it.
Answer: I interpreted it as meaning a person wants every possible second to remain as a human.
Answer: I assume this is a very old question, but I always thought it meant with your kids. He wanted to wait to be killed until after he turned because he was all his daughter had left. So he wanted every single second with her, but it could just mean as human as mentioned here.
28th Dec 2018
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Question: I was wondering how the buffalo hunt was actually done. Were the buffalo actually shot (for meat or to cull the herd) or was there some computer graphics involved (I can see a truck running along side next to the cameraman with a tranquilizer gun to make the animal fall)?
Answer: While the fallen buffalo were furry dummies on wires (there were only a couple, filmed from several different angles), the buffalo stampede was real. A private herd of 3,500 buffalo in South Dakota was prompted to stampede five times, as seven cameras captured the action over eight days of filming. The illusion of arrows piercing the animals' sides was accomplished with simple special effects (including arrow shafts attached to body straps). The massive bull charging the little boy was a docile animal that was tempted with Oreo cookies. No animals were injured or traumatized in filming the scene; in fact, the only near-injury occurred when Kevin Costner himself (who did his own stunt riding) fell off his horse during the shoot. Https://ew.com/article/1991/03/08/filming-dances-wolves-stampede/.
Answer: I did a little Internet research. It does not appear that any bison were killed for the hunting scene. Dummy bison were mounted on moving dollies and yanked off by attached straps to look like they'd fallen. Two live domesticated bison were used for certain shots. I can remember watching one of those, "Making of..." TV documentaries on this movie. They showed realistic-looking bison dummies lying on the ground and compressed air being used to simulate the "wounded" animals' breathing. A tranquilizer gun could not have been used on live bison for this purpose. It's a misconception that animals immediately fall unconscious when darted because it takes time for the drugs to have an effect. Films in the past have actually killed animals for films, but they were often ones selected to cull a herd.
28th Dec 2018
Who's Harry Crumb? (1989)
Question: When Harry finds Eliot tied up, he removes the tape and tells him that the kidnappers have been caught. Why did Eliot confess to being the actual mastermind behind the kidnapping? Harry had no idea it was Eliot behind it all so he could have gotten away with it if he didn't say anything.
28th Dec 2018
Cape Fear (1991)
Question: So how exactly did Max Cady slip past Kersec's security system and get into the house? Did he kill the maid outside and then just walk in disguised as her?
Answer: He snuck in during the day and hid, before Kersec's teddy bear security system was set up. Sam Bowden realises this when he wakes from a nightmare. Its how he was able to poison the dog which hadnt been let outside. Max Cady killed the maid in the pantry with the same piano wire he later attacks Kersec with.
Answer: Kersec suspected that Cady might attempt to break into the Bowden house if he thought it was empty. His plan was for Cady to break in and then be shot dead as an intruder. He likely lessened the security to allow Cady to break in. Cady killed and then impersonated the housekeeper to get in.
I like your answer but I'm a little confused by the "lessened the security" part. If I'm not mistaken, every possible point of entry into the house at least from the ground floor was connected to the bear via the fishing line, so Kersec would know if a point of entry was disturbed by the bear moving. Where would Kersec lessen the security from that standpoint, especially since his setup was supposed to be foolproof?
Kersec wanted Cady to be able to break in so that there would be a plausible reason to shoot him dead. The idea is to make it look like his death was a result of self defense. I'm only speculating that Kersec made it easier for Cady to break in into the house. Being as it was his security system, he would know how to make it possible for Cady to get in.
28th Dec 2018
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: I can't remember if this is covered in the books, but at the start of this movie, the Dursleys are seen packing up and leaving (because Harry has turned or is about to turn 17 so they can't protect him anymore), but since they've always not wanted to get involved with the magical world side of things (Petunia hating Lily for being a witch, Vernon not wanting Harry to be happy or going to Hogwarts etc), why would they just pack up and leave on Harry's word that they can't protect him anymore by living with him because of what will happen when he turns 17? Was it all explained to them in the letter Dumbledore left with baby Harry in the "Philosopher's Stone" about how Harry had to live with them until he was 17, and that Lily and James had been killed by this powerful person who they needed to protect Harry from or was it another way?
Answer: This is better explained in the books. The Durselys did not wish to leave their home, but the Ministry of Magic convinced them it was imperative that they vacate the house or else risk being killed by Voldemort. He would target them simply because they were Harry's relatives. The Ministry arranged to move and hide them until Voldemort could be defeated. Aunt Petunia hated the wizarding world, but she knew what Voldemort could do to her family once Harry's magical protection lapsed on his 17th birthday.
27th Dec 2018
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Question: Towards the end when George is at the bridge looking to jump in to kill himself it's snowing. However, after Clarence shows him what the world would have been like without him, he runs back to the bridge and it is not snowing. George is then begging Clarence to let him live again, and just like that it starts snowing just as it was when George was looking to jump in and kill himself. What did George's life have to do with changing the weather?
Answer: It's just a cinematography thing. It's snowing in the real world, the weather is clear in the alternate world. When the snow resumes, it shows us that he's returned to his real life.
Very good answer.
27th Dec 2018
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
27th Dec 2018
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Why were Harry and Hermione messing with Ron when they got back to the hospital wing?
Answer: Because they were just having a bit of fun at Ron's expense. After saving Sirius and Buckbeak and going through a rather harrowing ordeal, they can now relax and enjoy themselves. The levity provides an "end point" to the main story, indicating to the audience that it has reached its conclusion.
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Answer: He means she only saw it as a valuable archeological object to be found and exploited. She did not truly understand its religious significance and magical power.
raywest ★
Specifically, he meant that Elsa considered the Grail a prize for The Fatherland (the German Third Reich), just as the Nazis considered the Ark of the Covenant a "prize" in the first movie.
Charles Austin Miller
Not quite. Elsa wasn't in it for the Nazis...it was made clear at several points that she didn't believe in Hitler's cause, but she was complicit. The first explanation is more accurate.