I remember seeing a "Star Wars" knockoff on TV years ago. I believe it was from the late 70's or early 80's. I don't remember much about it other than a scene that was copying the Death Star trench-run scene, where a couple spaceships were flying down this sort-of mechanical tunnel with really iffy special effects. I seem to remember the scene being overly red/orange tinted. I also think this may have been a foreign film (like Japanese), but I'm not 100% sure. Ring anyone's bell?
TedStixon
6th May 2021
General questions
Answer: In 1978 there was a short film parody titled, "Hardware Wars," made on a very low budget and used carpenter tools as space ships.
Answer: OP here. Another detail of the scene that I remember is that the scene looked kinda like it was done with cut-outs. Like pictures of the spaceships instead of models, if that makes any sense. Like the ships all looked "flat." And most of the camera angles seemed to be either POV's of the "hero" ship, or shots from behind. If memory serves, there were also some enemy ships. The tunnel was more of a cylinder than a trench. Like it went completely around all the ships. And like I said, the entire scene had kind of a red/orange tint.
Answer: If it was blue light instead of red/orange, you may be thinking of Starcrash. Although I would think you would have remembered Caroline Munro wearing what the Mystery Science Theater crew described as "vampire lingerie."
I don't believe it was "Star Crash." I scanned through a couple movies looking for the scene in question before posting this and couldn't find it in that movie.
Answer: This could be "Spaceballs," the 1987 Mel Brooks film that parodies "Star Wars."
Definitely not "Spaceballs." This movie was probably made before it and wasn't a parody from what I can remember.
29th Jan 2021
General questions
I saw a movie years and years ago. I think it was a kids or family movie from the early/mid-90's. I just remember either the opening scene or the second scene introducing the hero (who was like a teen or pre-teen boy) playing Nintendo... and he was using his index fingers on the controller instead of his thumbs. I could swear the main character was played by Tobey Maguire, but I can't seem to find the scene anywhere, so it was probably someone else. (Maybe he was in the movie but didn't play the main character?) Does this ring anyone's bell?
Answer: As has happened a few times now, I stumbled onto the answer between submitting the question and it actually being posted, haha. It was evidently "Revenge of the Red Baron" that I was remembering. I was going through Maguire's filmography trying to find the answer and found that someone had gone ahead and posted the whole movie on YouTube. Watched a few minutes and the scene I remember was there. (I thought it might have been "The Wizard" too at first).
Answer: It sounds like "The Wizard" (1989) starring Fred Savage and Luke Edwards. It's about kids playing Nintendo. Tobey Maguire has an uncredited role in the film as a "goon."
17th Jan 2021
General questions
I remember seeing trailers for a TV show a while back. It was either the very late 90's or the early 2000's. (I'm leaning more towards early-2000's.) I don't remember too much, but it was about a cop who had something wrong with his mind. He was a little unhinged and didn't seem to have any sort-of mental filter... like it he had a thought, he would immediately verbalize it without control. Ex. I swear I could remember a bit in the trailer where he was talking about having a song stuck in his head, and he was like babbling about it to someone in a car. It might have been as a result of an injury or like a mental breakdown or something. If I recall correctly, it was a hard-boiled cop show and I'm pretty sure it was on one of the major networks. Does this ring anyone's bell? (For reference, I'm in the US, so it was most likely an American show).
Answer: It's possible the show was Touching Evil. It was on the USA network in 2004, It starred Jeffrey Donovan as an FBI agent who returns to work after being shot in the head. As a result of the head injury, he has almost no impulse control. He says or does whatever he feels like regardless of social norms.
11th Jan 2021
General questions
I remember seeing a haunted-house movie on TV in the early/mid 90's. I don't remember much about it outside of a scene where the family cat is found dead early in the film. (I think it was a black or darker-colored cat, and I seem to remember there's blood on or around it, too, but I'm not 100%.) That's literally all I remember. It may have been a TV movie just from what I recall based on how it looked. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
11th Jan 2021
General questions
I remember a cartoon we used to have on VHS back when I was a kid. So the cartoon would have been from sometime in the 80's or at very latest the early 90's. I think it might have been Japanese, but I'm not sure. I just remember there was either a light pink or baby-blue creature that I wanna say was a dragon (I can't remember what color it was)... but it would float on the water. The only comparison I can make is that it kind of looked like a "Lapras" from "Pokemon." I wanna say it was a movie, but it honestly could have just been a few back-to-back episodes of a series on the tape we had. Does this ring anyone's bell? I've been curious about it for years, because I have memories of watching it, but can't remember what it's called.
Answer: Just a suggestion for you to review. "Serendipity the Pink Dragon." It's a Japanese anime show from 1983 and only lasted 1 season. An English dubbed version was released on VHS in 1989. Here's the intro scene. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSIsDRiuTw.
Yeah, I stumbled onto a rip of the movie on YouTube not long after I submitted the question. I also looked at the cover art online, and it seemed a little familiar. I'm a solid 75% sure that's it.
Answer: Just an update: While visiting my mother, I was able to confirm 100% that it was "Serendipity: The Pink Dragon." Showed her a picture of the cover and she said she definitely remembered us having it based on the cover image.
Answer: I'm about 75% sure it was "Serendipity: The Pink Dragon." But there's a small chance it could be something else, so if there's any other answers that fit the bill, please let me know.
22nd Sep 2020
Little Monsters (1989)
Question: It's been a while since I've seen the movie, so I could be forgetting something. But why do Maurice and Brian say a sad good-bye at the end of the film? Sure, Brian can't go down to the monster world any more, but there's theoretically nothing stopping Maurice from coming up to visit him in the future pretty much whenever he wants. Does Maurice just think he shouldn't see Brian any more or something?
Answer: It was time for Brian to grow up, to stop believing in childish things, like monsters under the bed. When you don't believe, it isn't real and anything that isn't real can't hurt you.
There's a big problem with this answer. The movie has shown that monsters are totally and objectively real. How exactly can Brian "stop believing" in something he knows to be 100% true.
Answer: It was not meant to be literal, like pretending your toys are real or having an imaginary friend, you block it out and become an adult. "Christopher Robin." That movie had him growing up and believing his friends were imaginary. Same thing with, "Hook"
25th Jul 2020
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997)
Question: I recently watched the series for the first time on Hulu. (I'm located in the US if that makes any difference.) And I'm confused about something: the first three seasons are in 4:3 full-frame, before switching to 16:9 widescreen for the final four seasons. I know there is an infamous "HD remaster" that botched the series with bad cropped widescreen and poor color-correction work. But I've also heard the series was shown in widescreen in the UK for seasons 4-7. Is the version of seasons 4-7 on Hulu the HD remaster or the UK version?
24th Jul 2020
The Ring Two (2005)
Question: Is there any reason why this is the only film in the American "Ring" series to not have an R1/A Blu-Ray release? It seems so weird that the first and third films are available in HD, while this one isn't. Is it like a studio issue or something?
Answer: Whelp, just to update my own question, the movie is finally getting a Blu-Ray (and 4K) release in October through boutique company Shout Factory. Presumably, it just wasn't seen as a necessity until more recently, with boutique physical media labels becoming more and more prevalent and being successful in the collector's market.
Answer: More and more studios are not releasing films on Blu-Ray because of the higher risk on the return of their money. It's more expensive and home media sales continue to decline, especially with streaming services available. DreamWorks Pictures was the distribution company for the first two films while Paramount Pictures was the distribution company for the third film. I don't know specifically why DreamWorks opted out of the third film, but it seems they didn't think the third film would be worth it financially and probably has similar thoughts about the 2nd film's home release. There's much more to it, including parent companies involved and whom they contract out for disc distribution, that I don't have answers to about why DreamWorks hadn't released "The Ring Two" on Blu-Ray.
24th Jun 2020
The Village (2004)
Question: Is there any reason why this is M. Night Shyamalan's only film to not have a Blu-Ray release? Like rights issues or something of that matter? Seems very odd that of all movies, this is the only one not available in HD.
Answer: I don't know if there is one particular reason why The Village was not released on Blu-ray, but there are several factors that might help explain why not. I believe the movie had mixed reviews - some people liked it and other people did not. If a movie does not appear to be in high demand, it wouldn't make financial sense to release more on DVD or Blu-ray. If a movie already made a big profit ($200 million), perhaps it is best to move on to a new movie. Also, many people never bought any Blu-ray discs, primarily because they didn't think the higher costs were justified and/or they never bought a Blu-ray player. Blu-ray discs typically have a lot of "extras" that many people want to see. Perhaps there were few, if any, extras that could have been included, thereby reducing a Blu-ray's appeal. Even if none of the above is significant, there is a big factor that is/will be affecting all movies - discs in general are already obsolete, streaming has been taking over.
This is unrelated to the movie itself, but many people are interested in the extras, such as commentary tracks, making of - documentaries: features streaming services can't provide.
At least one streaming service I know does support extras, Apple, and has since 2009.
Answer: True... but I'm saying that maybe they didn't have anything to add.
6th Mar 2020
General questions
I remember seeing a killer scarecrow movie about 20 years ago, but I can't seen to track down which one it was. It definitely wasn't the Asylum "Scarecrow" from 2002. All I remember is that there were human remains (or something else) in a box or casket that needed to be destroyed in order to kill the scarecrow. And I think they were destroyed by having a machine drop a large weight on them, which made the scarecrow explode. I also remember a scene where a character tries to burn the scarecrow and delivers the line "How about a little fire, scarecrow?!" from "Wizard of Oz." I remember the movie being quite bad... but in a fun B-movie kinda way. Anyone know what killer scarecrow movie it was?
Answer: I'll answer my own question. I did some digging and finally found out it was the 1995 movie "Night of the Scarecrow," directed by Jeff Burr.
Answer: Jeepers Creepers?
20th Feb 2020
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Question: This movie is one of a few I've seen to display the title twice during the opening credits. It appears in a plain font at the start of the credits, then appears in a more stylized font at the end of the credits. Why do some movies do this? It seems a little redundant.
Answer: A lot of movies will put a title card at the end of the film before the credits. It's usually to cap off the movie so that it's the last thing you see or think about when you leave (especially back in the day when you didn't sit around to watch for an extra scene). They want it to be redundant so you don't forget (repetition is the key to learning). Most movies (if not all) also have the movie's name at the very end of all the credits too. But I assume for copyright or other legal reasons, the same way a book publisher might print the book's title on every page of the book.
10th Dec 2019
Firefly (2002)
Question: Something I've always wondered: I haven't quite read all of the comics, so this may be addressed in them given they are considered canonical, but is Patience ever mentioned again? I kind of always assumed she was likely killed by the Reavers since they were still near the planet surface at the end of the episode, but obviously that was never confirmed.
19th Nov 2019
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Question: One mistake mentions a car visible in the background of the Scorpion VS Johnny Cage fight. But for the life of me, I can't find it. In what particular shot is it visible? (Or if nothing else, does anyone have the timecode for it?).
Answer: Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dz0YU0jJr4 Time stamp is 0:57 I'd say. You can briefly see a car moving behind the trees in 1 shot, it's less than a second long. Its left of the middle of the screen.
23rd Sep 2019
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Question: I haven't been able to find a proper answer elsewhere, so I figured I'd give it a go here: The Arrow Video Blu-Ray version of "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" is getting a re-release in the US soon. (It's the same disc from the 2013/2014-era "Scarlet Box" Blu-Ray set.) Does anyone know if the version of the film on that particular release is the unrated cut? Amazon only says "Rated R" in the description... but at the same time, Amazon also isn't always super-reliable with its information. I'm very interested in picking up the disc since I don't own the film on Blu-Ray, but only want to buy it if it includes the proper unrated cut.
Answer: I jumped the gun and bought it, so I'll answer my own question. Yes, it does have the uncut, unrated version of the film. For some reason, the packaging says "Rated R," but it's definitely the uncut version.
24th Jul 2019
Midsommar (2019)
Question: Spoilers: When Simon's corpse is discovered flayed apart and hanging, it looked like some of the organs suspended above him (possibly his lungs?) were still moving a bit. Was he still alive at that moment?
Answer: Yes, that is the impression that is given. He is still alive.
23rd Jul 2019
The Lion King (1994)
Question: I recently picked this film up on Blu-Ray, and I noticed a few small changes in the animation compared to the old VHS tape I had from the 90's. (Most noticeable being that a few bits in "I Just Can't Wait to be King" seemed entirely re-animated) When were these changes made? And has Disney made other similar changes in the Blu-Ray releases for their other films?
Answer: Where as he doesn't give exacts on when, but Nostalgia Critic actually pointed out some of these things in his recent review of the film. Https://youtu.be/KnyHqxxsD8g He talks about it around the 5 minute mark. But he really only mentions that there are differences between the VHS and Blu-Ray editions of the film. My best guess is these changes were made for remastering it to look better on Blu-Ray.
14th Jun 2019
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Question: Why is the man's groin blurred out in the fight-scene at the Japanese sauna? It's an R-rated movie (or unrated, depending on the cut of the film you watch), so it's not like they couldn't have shown it. The best I can figure is that it's a reference to the fact that genitals are blurred out in Japanese media due to "decency" laws. Is that what the joke was?
Answer: It is a possibility. In Japan, the showing of a person's genital area and/or pubic hair is considered obscene.
6th Jan 2019
Wild Wild West (1999)
Question: During the big fight scene near the end, one of the henchman Will Smith fights lifts a wrench to strike, only to randomly die for seemingly no reason. He screams, some sparks shoot out of his ears, and he's dead. What killed him? I've seen some people say he electrocuted himself on the equipment around him, but that's not true - the wrench is nowhere near hitting anything. Did he just... randomly blow a fuse or something?
Answer: He's some sort of robot or cyborg, and he's shorted out from the damage he received in the brawl.
Answer: In the original script, Jim West simply sidestepped the menacing MetalHead henchman, who plunged through the doorway, falling to his death. Apparently, this wasn't a spectacular enough way to end the brawl, so the scene was revised to add the huge machine wrench and electrical sparking effects. West intentionally hands the wrench to MetalHead, who grabs it with both hands and raises it to strike; he then shorts-out with electrical sparking effects before falling out the door. I believe the implication is that, when MetalHead grabbed the wrench with both hands, it completed an exposed electrical circuit that caused him to quickly short-out.
21st Sep 2018
Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004)
Question: A few years ago, the original film was finally released on Blu-Ray. Are there any current plans for the sequels to be given a similar treatment? The only editions it seems are available are the old 2004 DVD's, and rather shoddy unofficial import Blu-Rays that are just upscales of the DVD.
16th Sep 2018
Ringu (1998)
Question: This may be weirdly specific, but does anyone know what the two background music clips from the Region 1 DVD menu are from? There's two different songs - one is a short, creepy 5-second clip that plays when you hit "Play Movie," and the other is the general background music from the DVD menu, which is a sort-of slow, sad guitar piece. I'm assuming they're just royalty free music from a collection of some sort, but I quite enjoy them.
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Answer: There is a Japanese one called Message from Space.
I looked it up on YouTube. This is the closest answer at this point because there is a somewhat similar scene, but I'm still pretty sure that's not it... it doesn't really match up perfectly with what I remember.
TedStixon