Question: I saw a rough cut of Cold Mountain, and in the scene with Natalie Portman, her baby dies, and she kills herself, as in the book. In the movie as released, the scene stops after Portman shoots the yankee soldier. Why did they cut the baby's death and her suicide?
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Question: I hear that elves live forever - if this is true how do they actually AGE? For example, Elrond is obviously older than legolas, but if they live forever how do they get older?
Answer: Elves do not live forever - it's a misconception that they're immortal. To quote Tolkien, "The Elves were sufficiently longeval to be called by Man 'immortal'. But they were not unageing or unwearying" (taken from his Letters, dated 1963). They do age, just extremely slowly, hence the appearance of older Elves, like Elrond, or the oldest Elf seen on screen, Cirdan the Shipwright, who appears receiving a ring in the Fellowship prologue, and leaves on the ship with the other Ringbearers.
Question: In Roger Ebert's review, he says "...Mathayus intones, 'As long as one of us still breathes, the sorcerer will die.' See if you can spot the logical loophole." I can't - what's the problem with that line?
Chosen answer: By the way Mathayus is saying it, it sounds like he is saying as long as him or the sorcerer still breathes, either he or the sorcerer will die, but he is trying to say as long as one of the Akkadians are breathing, they will not stop trying to kill the sorcerer until he is dead.
Question: The phantoms can kill with the merest touch and can reach through any material - floors, walls, aircraft fuselage etc. Why then do the soldiers bother to don heavy, clunky body armour whenever they go out to battle? They'd do just as well in T-shirts and fatigues.
Chosen answer: The environment has become too hazardous for humans to tolerate.
Question: After the car crash near the start, Riggs finds that the driver has disappeared, and says "This guy's Mandrake." What does that mean?
Chosen answer: 'Mandrake the Magician' was a comic strip that was popular (at least in Australia) in the 1970s. It featured the title character that was able to perform very elaborate magic tricks (including disappearing acts).
Question: How come I never saw how Charlie's thumb got retrieved from the water? Is this another deleted scene or part of some director's cut?
Chosen answer: If you watch until after the end credits, you see it get eaten by a fish.
Question: I realise that a lot of US schools look similar but would this be the same school used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (by the same director)?
Chosen answer: According to the IMDB, the answer is yes. Both movies used the same two high school locations: Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook, Illinois; and Maine North High School, Des Plaines, Illinois. The director, John Hughes, directed both movies and decided to use the same school. He also uses the name Shermer for the name of the high school in Breakfast Club and for the name of the suburb in which the Bueller's live.
Question: What is the title and artist of the song that plays when Gwyneth Paltrow is taking off her clothes for Jack Black? It also plays at the end right after Jack says "Which is why I'm going with you."
Question: No matter how many times I watch this, I don't count all 10 plagues. Do some end up on the cutting room floor?
Answer: The featured Plagues are: locusts, flies, water turning into blood, fiery hail, the sun turning black, boils and sores. The missing Plagues are: cattle disease, wild beasts, frogs, and death of the first-born sons.
Chosen answer: The plagues stop when they 'destroy' the mummy's powers. The good guys are trying to stop the mummy before the death of the first-born plauge (which they suceed in doing, as Jonathan survives the movie), as well as preventing the mummy from becoming all powerful and impossible to destroy - which would happen after the tenth plague. Some of the plagues, too, could have been happening while the good guys are in Hamunaptra and therefore not experiencing them themselves, bringing the total of plagues experienced by the outside world closer to nine.
Question: Maybe I need to read the book, but can someone explain the whole ending sequence to me. Why all the flashy over dramatized pictures? It's artistic but is there some other meaning to it?
Chosen answer: All the flashing images are supposed to represent Bowman travelling past far and distant galaxies, this is what happens in the book, where he travels to that white house place.
Answer: At the end, in the Arthur C. Clarke's story, both Dave Bowman and Frank Poole (who survived) went to a moon of Saturn to investigate the second Monolith. Dave Bowman tried to touch the Monolith with his space pod and was sucked into a wormhole that transported him to a star on the other side of the universe - at which point, Dave's last transmission is "My God, it's full of stars!" All of the "slit-scan" visual effects by Doug Trumbull (based on effects created by John Whitney years earlier) represent an almost instant voyage to the other side of the universe. Whether this is supposed to be a quantum-jump is not explained, but it's millions of times faster than anything ever depicted in Star Trek or other space fantasy knockoffs.
Question: What was the deal with all the horses drowning? Was it just because Samara was evil and she was causing it? What about the horse Rachel sees on the ship that freaks out? Is it scared of Rachel because she's been "infected" by the tape? She's already showed the tape to Noah, so she should be okay at that point, right?
Answer: After Samara was released from Eola, she returned to the Morgan's house but was sent to sleep in the barn because Richard wanted to keep her as far as humanly possible from Anna who was suffering from horrible hallucinations caused by her. Since the horses kept her up at night, she drove them to suicide, but she had also told her doctor that her daddy loved the horses not her, so she probably drove them crazy out of childish jealousy as well. As for Rachel, she was affected by the curse and by Samara and as a result her presence drove the horse crazy.
Question: Why all the build up of John having sent the Russian eye-surgeon guy to jail, suggesting that he will hurt John; only to have him successfully complete the operation, and take care of John afterwards?
Answer: Because subverting the expectations of the viewer makes it more interesting. The audience (and potentially John) are set-up to expect bad things, which don't happen. Once the "bad thing" happened, the suspense would be gone and everyone could relax. Expecting something bad but knowing when it might happen maintains the tension.
Chosen answer: It's what's known as a McGuffin; a plot element that seems to be important when introduced, but serves no purpose other than to intrigue/distract the audience. The term was popularised by Alfred Hitchcock.
That's not *quite* what a MacGuffin is. A MacGuffin not only seems important, it *is* important; in fact, one of its two diagnostic characteristics is that a MacGuffin is something around which the entire plot revolves. The other property fundamental to what makes something a MacGuffin is the fact that the origin, purpose, function, and, in some cases, even identity of the object is left either vague or completely undefined. The briefcase in Pulp Fiction is a classic example (although there *is* a compelling argument that the object in the briefcase is in fact a specific artifact).
Well, according to the doctor when the operation is beginning, the doctor reveals that in prison, he spent all of his time in the library, including books on medicine and technology. As a result, he found his "true calling", and is thankful to John for helping him see that.
Question: Why is your face blurred in pictures one you've seen the tape? Just a sign that you'll be dead soon?
Chosen answer: Yes, the blurred faces do indicate that you've been cursed by the video. It has to do with Samara's face always being covered by her hair, which is also the reason behind infected people unconsciously scribbling over the faces of people in pictures. It also foreshadows the victim's fate (hence the distorted face) if they don't copy and send the cursed tape to someone else.
Question: Dr. Solomon and his assistant talk to each other in a foreign language. What language are they speaking, and can anyone translate roughly what they're saying to each other throughout the scene?
Answer: When Anderton hands the credit card to the doctor: "Grete, get the f**k out of here", then he says something I can't understand and ends the sentence with "hurry". Grete comes out singing the song and when she sees Anderton she says: "my God". The doc is by the phone checking Anderton's credit and says: "let's see". After the doc has fitted the strap thing on Anderton's head Grete says: "So so little darling, now the doctor is finished. Now its Greta's turn to... (the rest of the sentence is inaudible to me)". The doctor is explaining which rope goes where and Greta is mumbling something to herself and he says: "Shut up bitch". The camera is focused on Anderton's head and in the background we can hear Greta saying: "Bye bye darling, I'll see you again soon, then you'll be a little stronger and then you can complete..." (the rest is inaudible to me).
Question: When Aragorn is crowned at the ceremony, he sings a hymn in what I beleive is Elvish. What are the lyrics? I am currently reading The Lord of the Rings but it will be a while before I get to that part of the story.
Chosen answer: The Elvish text is: "Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta." This translates as: "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world." It is a Gondorian tradition, echoing the words of Aragorn's ancestor Elendil on his first arrival in Middle-earth, and shows that Aragorn has fully accepted his heritage and is at last willing to claim the kingship.
Question: In the scene where Marty is being chased around Twin Pines mall by the Libyans why is Marty driving straight towards the 1hr Photo Booth? I'm assuming he doesn't realise the time circuits were on, as he accidentally engaged them when changing gear. If he DID know, why drive 88+ mph knowing you don't have enough plutonium to get back from 1955? (00:30:00)
Question: During the fight on top of the truck, Morpheus loses his balance and grabs onto the agent's tie to keep from falling. Why didn't the agent simply allow himself to fall as well? Agent Smith stood in front of a train in the original Matrix in an attempt to kill Neo.
Answer: Because the Agent's main job at the time is to kill the Keymaker - if he's got to find another body (who then won't be on top of the truck) the Keymaker will have time to escape.
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Answer: SPOILER: The director is building up to the peak of pathos of Inman being killed. While it is good to have many other sad scenes prior to this to foreshadow it, he probably felt that a dead baby and its mother's suicide might actually trump the hero's death in the sadness stakes which would make the real ending an anti-climax.
Oscar Bravo