Question: Why was Wolf such a bully to Frank Morris?
raywest
8th Aug 2018
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
6th Aug 2018
The Village (2004)
Question: As there were not any real creatures and they were only Noah and the elders in suits, how did they make the monsters' growls / scary sounds?
Answer: Ivy's father revealed to her before she left that they "created" the sounds. This implies they planted speakers with animal recordings in the woods and keep them playing on a loop.
2nd Aug 2018
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Question: How does Angela Vickers know that it is George Eastman's birthday when they have just met in the billiard room? (00:29:55)
2nd Aug 2018
The Martian (2015)
Question: Mark says he will have to get to the crater, which is 3200 kilometers away. Mark says he has one working rover, designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers, before the battery has to be recharged at the hab. During the nighttime scene, he says he has doubled his battery by scavenging Rover 1, but if he uses the heater he will burn through half his battery everyday. I did some math, and worked out that the max distance his rover would be able to go without using the heater would only be about 140 kilometers. How would he travel 3200 kilometers to get to the crater?
Answer: Mark says he has 1 Rover that can travel 35km before recharging. He estimated he would need to travel for 50 days to reach the Ares IV site (down to approximately 22 days when not using the heater, as per your maths). Mark is shown using the solar panels (stolen from the Hab) to recharge the Rover during his journey. He drives for 4 hours before noon, waits 13 hours for the Rover to recharge to full and then starts driving again.
Answer: He wouldn't need to use the heater because he salvaged the Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and this also saves his power.
2nd Aug 2018
The Village (2004)
Question: Why didn't the ranger tell his supervisor about Ivy/the community?
Answer: Of course the Supervisor knew. It was the Village Elders who hired them. To keep people out and disturbing their way of life. If you're wondering why he seemed so nonchalant about the situation. I've been in security for thirty years, sitting outside and doing nothing is the most boring way to make a living.
Answer: I don't think the supervisor knew. I think the guy just felt bad for her or understood her. And if the supervisor found out about it, he probably would have reported it and it would have became public. IMO.
1st Aug 2018
The Book of Life (2014)
1st Aug 2018
The Jackal (1997)
Question: After meeting Douglas at the gay bar, The Jackal heads out and walks up to a car while putting gloves on. He fakes a cough and presses something to the driver window and it shatters with a bang. What exactly did he use and how did he break the window so easily with whatever that was? It appeared he simple just pressed a knife lightly to the window. What did he do? (00:43:20)
Answer: He probably used a window punch. It's a small device used for breaking a car window in the event of an emergency. A recessed metal pin is within a plastic housing. When pressed against the window, the pin's pointed end pushes into the window, shattering it. I carry such a device on my key chain.
30th Jul 2018
Jurassic Park III (2001)
Question: Was the spinosaurus following the group, if so how? Or were they merely bumping into each other?
Answer: Being a predator, it would probably have a defined territory that it roamed looking for prey. The group is always traveling on foot and in the time frame they have been on the island, they likely were always in close proximity to where the spinosaurus hunted. It could possibly have detected them by sight, sound, or smell, or a combination of those factors.
Answer: Probably by smell.
31st Jul 2018
Longmire (2012)
Party's Over - S2-E5
Question: Does the pharmacist that Longmire talks to violate any sort of confidentiality laws? Walt doesn't come in with a warrant, but the pharmacist is giving Walt information pertaining to other people still alive, not just the victim. I could see the law allowing him to tell Walt "no" that someone didn't pick up any prescriptions, but to mention she picked up antibiotics or that Gerry had back surgery seems unethical.
30th Jul 2018
The Jackal (1997)
Question: When Major Koslova confronts Ghazzi in the club, he speaks first with a joke or line of some sort. "What, no kick back this week?" What is that supposed to mean? A google search revealed nothing to me. (00:05:55)
Answer: Kick back means bribe. He's insinuating that he can bribe anyone to look the other way whilst he continues his dealings.
Answer: A "kickback" (one word) could be considered a type of bribe, but more commonly it is an arranged pay-off for some type of business transaction. Someone does something to make money, either legally or illegally, and someone who aids or is in someway useful to them is paid a percentage of the profits.
31st Jul 2018
Men in Black (1997)
Question: I loaded the film up on Netflix, and it seems that the dialogue in one scene was edited. In the standard cut of the film, Jeebs says "You insensitive prick!" to K, but in the version I saw on Netflix, Jeebs says "You insensitive jerk!" What's the deal with the Netflix version changing this one single line? The original "prick" line appears to be on both the VHS and Blu-Ray edition I own.
Answer: After a little research, I discovered that the line was changed in the UK release from "prick" to "jerk." So the most likely explanation I can find is that the Netflix version is taken from a UK master of the film. As mentioned in other comments, Netflix doesn't censor their films, so the other answer regarding the film being edited like movies shown on airplanes isn't accurate. (Not to mention, it'd make no sense for Netflix to edit this one profanity while leaving all the others intact if they were editing it for content).
I agree it's the UK version. I don't know if it's a licensing thing or cheaper, but I've notice Netflix will use the UK release version on a number of films. I'm not familiar with "prick" as a UK slang but I believe it's more graphic than US slang, similar to the word "fanny", and edited for the UK release.
Answer: In fact, it's done twice. When talking about Frank the pug, the standard edit has K saying "I just hope the little prick hasn't skipped town." The streaming version doesn't. I say streaming version because I just discovered that the Amazon version of this film edited out the word "prick," and I didn't realise the Netflix version had too. I'm in the US, so what's going on here?
Generally the changes people notice in films when watching Netflix or other services come from the fact that they're airing the UK release version (for whatever reason). I remember the first time people really noticed this was when Scooby-Doo 2 changed the product placement from Burger King to KFC (which I commented on).
Answer: As more films become available online and are accessible to a wider audience, the studios edit mature content that is unacceptable to under-aged viewers. It's the same as movies that are shown on airplanes where the adult content is edited or removed altogether.
Netflix doesn't censor their movies, though... So this explanation makes no sense.
It just seems odd, as Netflix basically never censors content in other films they host (since they're supposed to be hosting the officially released versions anyways), and the rest of the profanity/violence in this particular film is unedited.
29th Jul 2018
Mission: Impossible (1966)
Question: At the start of each episode of Mission Impossible Briggs or Phelps received details of the mission from a tape recording that was 'hidden in plain sight', say a telephone booth displaying a poster saying 'Telephone Out Of Order. Do Not Use'. So, what would happen if somebody went into the kiosk before Briggs or Phelps, picked up the telephone and got the secret message ahead of the Mission Impossible team?
Answer: This is not really a serious question. When I posted this question I was fully aware that Mission Impossible is only a television programme. Like many espionage thrillers (Man From Uncle, The Avengers, James Bond) it is meant to entertain, it is never meant to be taken literally seriously. It was essential to the story that Briggs or Phelps received a secret message, which would give them a mission to accomplish. If they did not receive the message you would not have had the story. When I used to watch Mission Impossible it just used to amuse me to wonder what might have happened had somebody picked up the phone containing the secret message ahead of Briggs or Phelps. I even considered writing to a comedian and suggesting that they devise a comedy sketch in which this happened. My question was only meant to be a joke, that I posted to amuse people.
The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy did an episode of exactly this scenario.
28th Jul 2018
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Question: Not just this, but every cinema and television adaptation of the legend of The Man in the Iron Mask that I have seen, without exception, has always left me asking the same question. A man is locked up in a lonely prison where his face is hidden by an iron mask. The Three Musketeers or some similar swashbuckling heroes rescue him. He may have worn the iron mask for weeks, months, or even years. So why is it, that, when the iron mask is removed he always emerges clean shaven?
Answer: The mask would be periodically removed by the prisoner's attendants to shave his beard and cut his hair. Leaving it on permanently and letting his beard and hair grow endlessly would create physical and medical problems, possibly even suffocating him eventually. The goal was to keep him imprisoned for a long period of time, not to execute him.
But isn't he wearing the mask so that nobody will know who he is? If the prison staff keep removing the mask to shave him and cut his hair then they will all know exactly what he looks like, and they will be able to identify him. In many versions of the story he has to wear the mask so that nobody will recognise him as the king's twin brother. If the prison guards remove the mask won't they see how he resembles the king? Alternatively, if the prison guards already know that he is the king's twin brother, then why bother to mask his face?
Anyone who was guarding and/or attending to the prisoner would be loyal to the king, acting as his agents, and sworn to keep his secrets. Not doing so would be treason. They would likely have minimal knowledge of who this person was, nor would it matter to them. They may or may not notice any resemblance to the king. In the prisoner's disheveled and weakened conditioned, it would not be obvious that he is an identical twin. Also, few people in pre-mass media times, knew what royals looked like, probably only catching occasional glimpses of them from far away, if ever at all.
Answer: In the 1939 version of The Man in the Iron Mask starring Louis Hayword, when the mask is taken off, he does have a beard. Phillipe even asks Louis how long it will take for his (Louis') beard to grow once he is in the mask.
27th Jul 2018
The Karate Kid (1984)
24th Jul 2018
Mary Poppins (1964)
Question: Was I the only person to be struck quite forcefully (metaphorically speaking) by the contrast between Julie Andrews' portrayal of Mary Poppins, as the ever-smiling, cheerful, friendly, vivacious character, who melts everybody with her charm, which seemed wholly at odds with PL Travers' portrayal of Mary Poppins as acerbic, dour, and cynical, who always seems to get her way by utter, overwhelming arrogance?
Answer: Travers, herself, was pretty much the model for the original Mary Poppins: an inflexible authoritarian who insisted on advising and reviewing nearly every aspect of the film's production. Which is why Disney had such a hell of a time securing the rights and molding Travers' story into a lighthearted romp.
Mary Poppins may somewhat resemble P.L. Travers, but her great-aunt, Helen Morehead, is largely considered to be the inspiration for the character. Travers' mother moved in with her aunts after P.L.'s father died when she was a young girl. The aunt would often say, "Spit spot, into bed."
Some aspects of Mary Poppins were based on Travers' great-aunt (the more positive aspects that Travers remembered from childhood) ; but the overall character was Travers herself.
Answer: No doubt many fans of the books and P.L. Travers agreed with your assessment. However, it was 1964 and Travers' book was heavily "Disneyfied," meaning they imprinted their particular syrupy, family-oriented wholesome stamp on the project, watering down Poppins' dour personality. Travers was appalled by it and would never allow another of her books to be made into a movie. There is a remake in the works, and, hopefully, the current Disney heads will give it a darker tone.
23rd Jul 2018
The Call (2013)
22nd Jul 2018
The Tuxedo (2002)
Question: Exactly what is Banning's plan?
Answer: If you're talking about his evil plan with the Banning Corporation, he wants to take over the world's drinking water supply (so that anyone who wants drinking water will have to buy it from Banning). He is trying to contaminate the U.S. drinking water with a deadly bacteria.
21st Jul 2018
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Question: Where does Fred Astaire get his briefcase from, as he did not walk in with it? He walked in only carrying his suit and a bunch of flowers.
15th Jul 2018
Flightplan (2005)
14th Jul 2018
White Christmas (1954)
Question: What is the white drink the bartender makes on the train?
Answer: Orders a Malt just after Mary orders a lemonade.
Answer: Vanilla-rum malted milkshake.
Answer: Definitely not a daiquiri. This looks like a shaken drink. Blended daiquiris were not a thing in the 50s.
The frozen daiquiri was invented sometime between the late 1920s and early 1930s by a Cuban bartender in Havana, using shaved ice and an electric blender. It was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway and became popular in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, along with other tropical cocktails. Cuba and Cuban culture were fashionable during this era, at least until the Communist takeover. To clarify: the foursome have various beverages on their table (coffee, lemonade, a malted milkshake, and two other drinks). In the foreground, the bartender is pouring the slushy white drink mixture into four cocktail glasses sitting on the bar. That is when they sing, "Snow," and is what looks like frozen daiquiris. The scene is on YouTube.
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Answer: This is a fictional account of a real-life event and the people depicted in it. Frank Morris was a vicious and dangerous criminal who, played by movie-hero Clint Eastwood, is made into a sympathetic figure. The Wolf character, who was probably not real or highly fictionalized, is contrived solely to create conflict in the plot by making him Morris' enemy. It also shows the constant danger and abuse from other prisoners.
raywest ★