Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why would Sam's life be threatened by the Mafia bosses if they find out that Ginger and Nicky are having an affair? I know it's mentioned that they hold marriage in high regard but isn't Sam the victim of being cheated on by his wife and betrayed by his friend? I can only come to the conclusion that they wouldn't approve of a man letting his wife sleep around but still, that seems presumptuous and excessive even for the mob. (02:22:10)

Answer: It's also possible that the "bosses" would be concerned that a rift between Nicky and Sam could bring public (police) attention to the criminal activities going on behind the scenes. These are, after all, two very egotistical individuals.

Answer: Concern about their affair probably has nothing to do with "mob morality" but with the possible complications and unwanted attention that Nick and Ginger, who is a volatile and unpredictable alcoholic and drug addict, could cause for the casino operators, who are being investigated by the F.B.I.

raywest

Question: Is Palpatine's identity a spoiler? The Episode IV-VI movies never mention the Emperor's name. In Episodes I-III, we can guess that Darth Sidious will be the emperor, but what about Chancellor Palpatine? If the audience didn't know that he was Sidious, the impact of the reveal would be far different than if they did.

DFirst1

Answer: This can vary from viewer to viewer. Before "The Phantom Menace" came out, I already knew Emperor Palpatine's name because I had the Kenner action figure of him, plus I knew the same actor was playing both characters. Someone else who may not be an astute viewer might not have known, though I find it hard to believe they wouldn't put all the pieces together by the time "Revenge of the Sith" came out.

Phaneron

Question: In the beginning of the movie Alice says the virus didn't just affect humans, that eventually the rivers dried up. Why would the rivers dry up? The virus doesn't affect the weather.

brianjr0412

Answer: The implication is that the virus has began to effect the environment as well. (Presumably by adapting and mutating).

TedStixon

Question: Whenever Medusa looks at somebody, they are immediately turned to stone. How come she couldn't turn the Djinn to stone?

Answer: It may be because they were non-human sorcerers, and it gave them protection from her.

raywest

Answer: It says early in the film: anything made of flesh turns to stone. Then went out of its way to tell us the djinn are made from "charwood."

Question: Regarding the making of this movie and Matthew McConaughey's appearance. Was that just makeup he was wearing or did they digitally make him look different somehow? I want to say they digitally tried to make him look younger for some reason. he just looks very...odd, and in some scenes, his eyes don't seem to be making proper eye contact with Leo's, even when he is staring right at him.

oldbaldyone

Answer: Matthew was in the process of making Dallas Buyers Club where he played a man dying of AIDS when he was asked to do this film. That's why he looks significantly different.

Answer: It could be make-up, CGI, lighting, or a combination of all that. Regarding the lack of eye contact, considering he's supposed to be high on cocaine, his focus and reflexes would likely be affected.

raywest

Question: Is Mr. Wu's grandson an alien like him? When Helen asks him if he's one of them, his response seems to suggest that he's dodging the question.

Answer: It's unknown if his grandson is like him or not as he does not answer the question, but he seems to imply that he might be.

raywest

Question: It's made clear at the beginning of the film that a demonic force is something that has never walked the earth in human form. Yet The Witch did walk the Earth in human form, but still has all the powers of a demon and Lorraine even calls it a "demonic presence." So can humans become demons when they die or did I miss something?

Swan90EFC

Answer: The demon takes control of the witch. The witch likely opened a portal for the demon who attached to the witch. As such, the demon still hasn't walked the earth itself.

Ssiscool

Question: How are locomotives able to pull such long trains? Triple 777 pulls a 39 car train, which can weigh thousands of tons when the cars are loaded.

Answer: In the same way locomotives pull long trains in real life. Diesel engines are built to pull the weight. When it gets to a certain point you might need 2 engines.

Ssiscool

OK but what is the physics behind how locomotives are able to pull so much weight?

I'm not sure on the physics but a quick Google search comes up with: Trains are really heavy, but to move a train, you only have to overcome the friction between the wheels and the [axles]*. But since there are wheels, it's even easier to move it. Imagine a really heavy box. You'd have a very hard time lifting it, but you could shove it a few millimeters horizontally. [But instead of shoving it, you can make it roll!]* The same thing applies to a train. Now, since the train is so heavy, it takes a long time to get it moving, and to slow it down, due to [inertia].

Ssiscool

I'm not sure of the physics, either, but it is my (basic) understanding that having the wheels as well as the rails made of steel minimizes? the friction. [Living in the suburbs of the "Steel City" helped to know this!] I'd clarify your answer above by pointing out a train is comprised of numerous small cars - as opposed to being one very long car - so is somewhat easier to "get moving."

KeyZOid

Question: In one of the last scenes, when the students go into the room with Professor X, there was a moment when he stopped and looked back, then smiled. Why did he do this? (02:04:25)

Answer: It's implied that he sensed Jean was still alive, though the sequel doesn't really follow this up in the same manner, as Jean is discovered after awakening and killing Cyclops. One would think that Charles would immediately send for Jean if he thought she survived.

Phaneron

Question: When Kevin was Lost In New York, why didn't he ever just talk to a police officer or go to a hospital so he could get back safe?

Answer: As he stated to himself when escaping the hotel, "I committed credit card fraud." He may have thought going to the police would result in him getting into a lot of trouble.

Phaneron

Answer: He told his mom he would go on his own vacation without any of them the night before they flew out, and since he had his dad's credit card, he saw this as an opportunity to have fun without any of them.

Turangaa_Maxx

Answer: Kevin may have developed a negative impression of and attitude toward the police from his encounter with Harry the previous Christmas when he was "home alone." Harry impersonated a police office in Kevin's home town. Kevin may have questioned police trustworthiness, or lack thereof, in NYC. Besides, Kevin knew his family was still on a plane destined to France or, once they reached their destination, they were too far away (i.e, not readily available) to collect him.

KeyZOid

Question: There are spells that can put injuries completely right, so why didn't Hermione or madam Pomfrey try that on Ron's leg?

Answer: Hermione wouldn't have wanted to try as she is still a young witch and having seen the results a bad spell can have on in their second year, she will have decided it's best for madam Pomfery to deal with it. As to why madam Pomfery didn't use a spell, that's not explained.

Ssiscool

Answer: Students would not be permitted to perform such an advanced spell on another student, and Hermione always followed the rules. This would also be very advanced magic, and is something Hermione, only a third-year student, probably would not have learned yet. As seen with Harry's arm in the Chamber of Secrets, more serious medical conditions cannot always be instantaneously healed with a spell. It can sometimes take hours, even days, to mend. This may be the case with Ron's leg.

raywest

Question: In one scene where Lou is talking to Ivy about Butch she says that someone really hurt him once. What did she mean by that? Did Butch have an owner who was mean to him or abandoned him?

Answer: Butch was abandoned. It's never stated but it's implied.

Ssiscool

"Okay, well, here's lesson number two: we help them. We work for them. We tolerate that stupid boochy-boochy baby talk. And for WHAT? So that when they go off to college, they can dump you off with some old lady who can't throw a ball without so much as breaking her HIP!" Pretty sure this counts as being abandoned.

As I said, it's never stated outright but it is implied.

Ssiscool

Question: Why did Jor-El send the Codex to Earth along with Kal-El? Krypton was being destroyed, everyone on the planet was going to die and Zod and his followers were trapped in the Phantom Zone. There doesn't seem to be any need to send the Codex to Earth as Clark had no knowledge of it and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to use it.

Answer: When Jor-El stole the Codex, Zod and his followers were not yet sent to the Phantom Zone and Krypton had not begun its destruction. Jor-El was opposed to Zod's plan to use the Codex. Once Zod's rebellion against the council had begun, Jor-El stole the main Codex and hid it with Kal-El. While Jor-El knew Krypton would be destroyed, he didn't know when and wanted to prevent Zod from using the Codex as planned. Zod then killed Jor-El, the council regained control and ended the rebellion, and then sent Zod and his followers to the Phantom Zone (not knowing or believing Krypton was going to be destroyed).

Bishop73

Question: How many miles from shore was the oil rig?

Answer: The nearest shoreline would be Louisiana's. It sat about 40 miles southeast from the tip of Louisiana's peninsula (where the Delta National Wildlife Refuge sits). To give it more context, it was also about 100 miles south of Dauphin Island, Alabama, which sits just south of Mobile, AL and the Mobile Bay.

Bishop73

Answer: Short version, because he's dead. Bruce only brought back everyone Thanos "snapped", and Vision was killed before that. Now, whether Shuri managed to finish her work before then, somehow "backing him up" or otherwise separating him from the mind stone, we don't know as yet - it may be they somehow revive him in a future film, or the upcoming WandaVision TV series. But for now, he's gone.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Technically vision wasn't "killed." He wasn't even alive. He's a robot. Maybe they could have used the mind stone they had to try to revive him, but Thanos ripped out a good chunk of his head already. And they needed to put the mind stone back anyway.

Vader47000

Answer: If you noticed Black Panther's sister had just one connection left with the gem, and who said she didn't download a copy of his Consciousness but didn't finish, due to the snap and the end battle.

Question: What did John mean when he told Jack at the bar that Jack's mother was the nightingale and it would have led to Jack? Did Jack kill his own mother? Also why did Jack Shepard, a supposed serial killer, stop killing?

Answer: Florence Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing and nurses are often called "nightingales." It has nothing to do with Jack's mother telling on him or "singing like a bird." Whether or not Jack killed his mother is left ambiguous, but it does seem like that's what they are suggesting. In the film we are told Mary Finelli was his first victim. However, they seem to imply that Jack's mother's killing was not associated with the "Nightingale Murders." Had the police connected her murder to the "Nightingale Murders", it night had led them to Jack. So Jack changed his M.O. after killing his mom, which I take as targeting younger nurses. In the film, Jack's dad tells John that Jack got caught up in the Knapp Commission, which was an investigation into police corruption. Jack went to prison, which is why he stopped killing. In the film, it's suggested that perhaps the killer (before they knew it was Jack) was taken off the streets (i.e. sent to prison for a crime not related to the killings) and smartened up once he got out of prison. There's no suggestion that age or lack of testosterone is what stopped Jack from killing after getting out of prison. Of course, it's also possible he did kill again, but due to the gap in killings, those murders aren't related to the "Nightingale Murders." But all that is speculation since they don't really reveal any of that information and it's not central to the plot.

Bishop73

Answer: I can answer part of your question. Most serial killers are under the age of 50. Testosterone levels drop after that age, and it is thought that this may reduce a psychopath's urge to kill. The nightingale reference may be the same as the slang term, "to sing like a bird," which means someone gives up information easily. Jack's mother may have provided info about her son, either knowingly or unknowingly.

raywest

Answer: Or maybe Jack's mother abused him as a child, and that's why he hated her and killed her, and then became a psycho serial killer. He continued to kill other nurses because his mother was a nurse.

Answer: She didn't want to interrupt the match.

I meant while Robby was in the other room with Daniel.

Miguel didn't imply he was gonna fight illegally to beat him and he never did, the only illegal thing he did was pull on his arm. I don't believe Sam got that implication from Miguel that he was going to use illegal moves to beat Robby.

Question: Something that has always bothered me about this movie - Howard Stark discovered a new element when Tony was a child, but did not have the technology to create it. He hid the plans for it in the Expo. I'm fine with that. However, is it just me, or does it seem like an extreme coincidence that the element his father found is the exact element that can replace the Palladium Tony is already using and that is making him sick? It also seems as though Howard knew he wouldn't be around to make it, even though it is only 20 years in the future. Is there implied to be some time travel having happened here, in which Howard Stark learned that at some point, Tony would need an upgraded form of Palladium and that he would not be around long enough to make it?

oldbaldyone

Answer: While convenient for the plot, there is no indication Howard Stark has knowledge of the future from time travel, although he was a smart enough man to know technology would advance enough for the element to be synthesized and he knew his son was smart enough to understand what needed to be done to create and use the new element. Howard Stark's Arc Reactor wasn't fully clean running and Howard knew with the new element, the Arc Reactor would be as close as possible to sustaining clean energy similar to the Tesseract. I can not say for certain, but I believe Howard's reactor ran on Palladium as well, so he was aware of the dangers it presented, he was not aware Tony would build a mini-arc reactor to put in his chest. Howard put the blueprint in the 1974 expo with instructions for S.H.I.E.L.D. to give to Tony when ready. However, it should also be noted that Stark Industries shifted from trying to provide sustainable energy to weapons manufacturing which was part of the reason Tony never discovered his father's work earlier.

Bishop73

Answer: There's no clear answer to these questions. Perhaps Howard had some theoretical ideas of where Arc Reactor technology would have shortcomings. Also Howard possibly expected Tony would follow his father's thinking, despite their clashes. Probably the filmmakers didn't come up with more detail than that and it's just a plot contrivance to keep the story moving and give us a sense of connection without worrying too much about the details.

Question: How was the plane's explosion able to shatter the terminal windows from that distance?

Answer: It would depend on how powerful the explosion and the resulting shock wave was, though it appears to be a bit of stretch, plot wise.

Answer: Malfoy sarcastically tells Ron that he should respect his "superiors," meaning that he thinks he is more socially prominent. Hermione counters Malfoy by saying she hopes he does not actually believe that he is superior to them when in fact, he is not.

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