Question: What is the song at the beginning of the movie when Tripp is getting dressed? "Not Bad at all" is part of the lyrics, what is the song called and who sings it?
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: According to the credits, Suicide Kings is based on a short story by Don Stanford called "The Hostage". Where was this story published, and is it possible to read it?
Answer: I found a google hit showing it was released as a short story for Cosmopolitan in Aug 1953.
Question: What is the meaning behind the Morton salt and other groceries that Mort buys at the end of the movie?
Answer: Mort Rainey buys the salt, butter, and napkins for eating the corn he grew in the garden above Ted and Amy's graves. The "Morton" brand of salt uses the advertising slogan, "when it rains, it pours." Mort Rainey's name can be translated to "raining death." The "Vanity Fair" napkins could be a refernce to Mort's personality.
The term Vanity Fair was coined (I believe first) by John Bunyan in 1678, as a place in a story called ‘The Pilgrim's Progress'. Mort is referred to as ‘Pilgrim' by a few different characters in the film, including himself, without much explanation until the serviettes. Brilliant. Vanity Fair in John Bunyan's story is a never-ending fair of frivolity, which is similar to Mort's charade of denial. Found this info when I searched the meaning of Vanity Fair on vocabulary.com.
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was also the inspiration for William Thackeray's 1847 novel, "Vanity Fair."
Question: One of the doctors Phibes blames for his wife's death during an operation is Dr. Hargreaves, whose head is crushed inside a frog mask during a costume ball. But earlier, while introducing himself to Phibes, Dr. Hargreaves says he is a psychiatrist ("headshrinker"). Why would a psychiatrist be present during an operation to save someone's life?
Answer: A psychiatrist is still an M.D., and still went to medical school. Perhaps this one had some knowledge of the case, or was simply on hand to provide assistance.
Answer: To treat anticipated shock.
Question: What happened to the Aunt that lives at the lake house?
Answer: I don't know about the book, but in the movie, I have to assume McGuire killed the aunt before they arrive, and the dog was hers. When Michael leaves, he takes the dog.
Answer: My guess is that after she got off the phone with Mike S. She either died or caught wind of what happened to Mike S. Family and hauled ass.
I thought that too. But the dog was left behind.Unless that wasn't their dog.
Question: Why was Will Smith's El Toro Marine unit the only U.S. force engaging the Aliens?
Answer: There were counter attacks in Washington and New York along with the L.A. squadron. Only the L.A. scene was shown because Will Smith is a main character. The guy with the headset on in the command center that was coordinating the attack alongside the general and the president mentioned that the Washington, and New York squadrons were locked on as well as with L.A. As you could imagine their efforts were futile, along with the one shown with Will Smith, and were only worth mentioning. Also when they reached Area 51, the General told the secretary of defense that they should have told them about this place before they launched an attack that cost them the lives of hundreds of American pilots. The L.A. battle seemed to only show maybe 4 or 5 dozen aircraft, not hundreds.
Answer: Most likely because the military "deciders" didn't know what to expect from the aliens and the ship Will Smith's unit attacked was in the least populated area, thus minimizing any potential civilian casualties. They were testing the waters, so to speak, before committing too many resources on a tactic that may prove futile.
Question: In which episode is it stated how long Sam spends bouncing around in time in between leaps? I have watched the lot and never heard this.
Answer: The amount of time Sam is away between leaps isn't constant, but in "Genesis" Al tells Sam that it's been around a week between Sam leaping out of Tom Stratton & into the baseball player even though from ours & Sam's perspective it happened straight away.
Question: In the jail cell, as Richard Harris dies, he tells Jim Caviezel not to commit the crime he now serves. What's the point of this? Telling him not to be an honest man and have a good life and be framed for high treason?
Answer: That's not what he was telling him; Jim Caviezel did not do what he was imprisoned for. Richard Harris is telling him not to do that thing after he gets out. Harris was trying to keep him from trying to get revenge because it would consume him and make him even more bitter.
Question: What is the story about Miho's victory-cross-shaped shuriken? Any relation to her later shooting the likewise-shaped tattoo out of the head of a henchman?
Answer: Miho's shuriken is an actual Japanese weapon, whereas the symbol on the henchman's head is a swastika. There is no relation between the two.
Question: This may not be true for everybody, but I read that *all* babies are born with blue eyes, and then the color changes as the person gets older. When we see Matilda as a baby, her eyes are brown. Is that possible?
Answer: While babies are often born with paler eyes than they will have as toddlers, many babies are born with brown eyes.
Answer: I'm white and had brown eyes from birth. It's just an old wives tale that every baby, or every white baby, is born with blue eyes.
Answer: The eye colour of a baby depends on their skin colour. White babies have steely blue eyes, which can be dark (this might be why Matilda's eyes look brown). Babies with darker skin have brown eyes. The colour of an infant's eyes can change during the transition to toddlerhood, but not always.
Question: In the newspaper clippings at Jill's house, it says something like "Jill Valentine suspended" so why did she get suspended?
Answer: If you zoom in on the newspapers on the wall, one article mentions the death of her partner, Leon S. Kennedy, in connection with her suspension.
Question: In the episode where Peter and his friends get stuck on an island, just before that happens they're on the boat and death comes and asks for a beer. Why does he come if no one dies?
Answer: Death apparently expected one of them to die in the storm but he was obviously mistaken. As seen in pretty much all his appearances in Family Guy, Death really isn't quite on the ball with who is actually dead (or going to die) and who isn't.
Question: I got a few plot questions that I'm wondering if people other than the director can answer. 1) Why doesn't Ste want to turn around so Jamie can put the peppermint lotion on his front-side? Maybe because he has an erection and doesn't want Jamie to see? I think the reason he states is not the real one. 2) Why does Sandra look around outside so carefully after Ste went in to give Jamie the hat as a present? 3) Why does Sandra break up with Tony? 4) Rose sniffs and walks away during the dancing scene at the end of the movie. Does this mean she approves or disapproves? 5) What does the on-looking woman whisper during the dancing scene at the end? Any good lip-readers around who know?
Answer: 1) I think it would cross the line into sexual, and at that point they are still friends, nothing more. 2) Because she realizes what's going on, and she doesn't wan't people to gossip. 3) I think it hits a point where her son is more important. Plus Tony becomes a bit obsessive. 4) Rose is holding her head high. It means she is not ashamed. I wouldn't say she approves or disapproves.
Question: In the scene where Sydney and Tatum are shopping, when they go off screen Ghostface is seen in the reflection of the freezer glass. Why is Billy or Stu following them in the costume while in public during the day?
Answer: It wasn't either one of them. All the kids were having a party to celebrate school being cancelled. Someone bought one of the costumes to "make fun" of the situation. It was also something to throw us off, kind of like when the camera goes to the cops boots after he is talking to Duey.
Answer: I read somewhere it wasn't Billy or Stu. It was Roman!
Question: When Jack asks for Tia Dalma's help, she asks him what he brought for her. Jack then lifts the cage containing the monkey and shoots it. Jack then says, "An undead monkey". How is it possible for the monkey to be undead, wasn't the curse on the Black Pearl lifted?
Answer: There is a scene after the credits of "The Curse of the Black Pearl": the monkey got back to the cave and took a coin. That way he turned undead again.
Question: In the beach scene, they keep talking about something called "dog one exit". What is "dog one"?
Chosen answer: The Allied forces identified five heavily-defended "exits" off Omaha Beach, which had to be cleared in order for the invasion to proceed inland: Dog One, Dog Three, Easy One, Easy Three and Fox One. The real Dog One was a road off the beach, although the movie portrays it as a stepped footpath.
Question: How exactly did Peter Jackson get the rights to this series? He is obviously a talented director but, and this is no offence intended, his previous credits are basically limited to relatively small-time comedy horror movies. To go from that to producing the first live action movie adaptations of what is perhaps the most famous book series in the world seems a bit odd, especially given how little Hollywood likes to take risks nowadays.
Chosen answer: Presumably you are referring to "Bad Taste" and "Braindead" as Jackson's low-budget horror films. Bear in mind though, that Jackson had directed "Heavenly Creatures", a highly-acclaimed drama, and "The Frighteners" starring Michael J. Fox, which despite being quite a low-budget horror film showcased high-quality visual effects from Jackson's Weta Digital company. Also, it may have been Jackson's ability to work on a small budget that won him the gig: the LOTR films had often been considered too expensive to make. Plus this isn't unprecendented - when the Wachowski Brothers presented their idea for The Matrix the studio didn't want to give them a massive budget straight away. They made "Bound" first for a relative pittance, and that was enough to convince the studio they had the talent necessary for a huge movie.
Question: If Fred and George were thrown out of Dumbledore's Age Line for submitting their own names into the Goblet, shouldn't have Moody been thrown out for submitting Harry's?
Chosen answer: One, Moody was of age; so the age line would have had no effect whatsoever on him. Two, if "Moody" was able to fool the Goblet, a powerfully magical object, into announcing a fourth entrant into the Triwizard Tournament, it seems reasonable that he would be able to get past any protection Dumbledore may have put in place.
Question: Did any of Jonas' DOT parts or even the majority of it come from the little robot, "Jinx" in the movie Space Camp? Most of DOT looks like Jinx.
Chosen answer: Because the two films are completely unrelated (even from a company perspective), and because there isn't some giant Hollywood Prop Flea Market where everybody shares each other's props, I'm going to say no. The design may have been based on the robot from the movie.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: It's called "Not Bad at All" by Steven McDonald.
Myridon