Jon Sandys

27th Oct 2021

Squid Game (2021)

13th Oct 2021

What If...? (2021)

What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath? - S1-E9

Stupidity: Ultron says he can destroy galaxies with a thought. So regardless of Dr. Strange's protection spells, he could destroy the planet they're all standing on, or evaporate the atmosphere, leaving them all suffocating in space, and just step away from the fight entirely while they die.

Jon Sandys

29th Sep 2021

No Time to Die (2021)

Trivia: One of the biggest cinematic "casualties" of the pandemic. It was originally scheduled to be released in April 2020, then delayed to November 2020, then to April 2021, and finally premiered in London on 28 September 2021, shortly before a worldwide release.

Jon Sandys

20th Sep 2021

Lucifer (2015)

My Best Fiend's Wedding - S6-E7

Question: How does Ella realise Amenadiel is an angel? Either I missed something or else there's just a few leaps of calculation missed, because it seems like she goes from "frog falls from the sky", to "Amenadiel says he'd feel if something was wrong, but backtracks", to her big whiteboard putting everything together, and then knowing she's at a "demon wedding." Just feels quite rushed.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: She has been keeping that whiteboard for probably the duration of the series. She has been piecing together clues the whole time. It was more obvious with "God" when she was fishing for info and mentioned the best hugs ever. I feel it was intentional to just spring the whole "I knew it!" in the last episode (s). I personally was hoping she would get a better sense of "closure" as she was really the only main character not in on the deal.

kayelbe

20th Sep 2021

Lucifer (2015)

Season 6 generally

Stupidity: Amenadiel isn't an idiot, but he KEEPS talking to Ghost Dan around other people, then gets surprised when they think he's crazy, or has to catch himself and come up with explanations for his behaviour. Would it be that hard to just stay quiet for a while? Dan understands the situation and wouldn't be offended.

Jon Sandys

11th Sep 2021

Burn Notice (2007)

Made Man - S4-E3

Revealing mistake: When Fi triggers the bomb under the car, in the shot showing the explosion, the bomb itself, with an obvious red flashing light, has disappeared, plus the explosion originates from within the car, rather than underneath where the bomb was placed.

Jon Sandys

12th Jul 2021

Black Widow (2021)

Question: Spoilers! The woman who Yelena kills at the start isn't seen hugely, but bears a passing resemblance to Olga Kurylenko, who's in the opening credits but isn't actually seen until nearly the end of the film. Does anyone know if this was a deliberate choice to misdirect more casting-savvy viewers as to the part she actually plays, or am I misremembering, and the woman at the start doesn't look much like her at all?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Are you talking about the woman who has the mind control antidote that ends up freeing Yelena from the Red Room's control? She's a rogue ex-Widow named Oksana played by martial artist and stunt coordinator Michelle Lee.

Bishop73

That's her. It's only a semi-resemblance, but was close enough that I basically assumed if that was Olga Kurylenko she'd had her role cut down, or was a cameo, or might appear in flashbacks. Either way I didn't spend the film thinking "when's Olga Kurylenko showing up?", and anyone asking that of themselves presumably might figure out who was playing Taskmaster before the big reveal. I might just be overthinking it of course. :-).

Jon Sandys

I actually thought it might have been Olga Kurylenko at first as well.

Phaneron

12th Jul 2021

Black Widow (2021)

Question: Was the post-credits sequence changed at all, given the film's delay? Without giving specifics away, this was intended to be the first appearance of a certain character, but due to changed release dates that character first appeared in one of the Marvel TV shows instead. Presumably the character featured would have had slightly more of an introduction in this film if they hadn't already been in the TV show?

Jon Sandys

Answer: I can't attest to if the end credit scene was altered, but I can say that it's been Marvel's M.O. to introduce new characters to foreshadow upcoming projects without really giving them much of an introduction. For example, Fury, Thanos, Captain Marvel, the Wasp. It seems this credit scene was meant to tease the audience for her upcoming appearance in the TV show rather than build on who they've already established her to be.

Bishop73

10th Jul 2021

Black Widow (2021)

Question: At the end, General Ross' convoy is nearly to Natasha, intent on arresting her...then we cut to two weeks later, and she's about to embark on a prison breakout. Are we just meant to assume she escaped...somehow? Fought off everyone who was in those about 20 SUVs? Ran for it and somehow got away?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: It was done intentionally that way by the director to be left up to the viewer's imagination. Cate Shortland said "that was intentional, because we wanted to leave the question of how she would get away, rather than allow the audience to get exhausted by another fight." Of course, it's also possible that future films or TV shows will discuss/show her escape. Perhaps she negotiated her way out with information on the Red Dust.

Bishop73

I don't see why she didn't just leave with everyone else. There was no reason for her to stand there and wait. She could have flown off, as well. The convoy was cars, not planes.

Natasha activated her tracker which led Ross to her. The plan was to have Ross and his men arrest Dreykov, but basically things went sideways. Natasha stayed behind to hold Ross and his men off from pursuing the Widows. Presumably, had she left with them, Ross would still be able to track her and everyone would be in danger of being captured.

Bishop73

Until it is explained by one of those future shows, it really can be thought of as a plot hole. The interview, after the quoted bit, goes like this; "We wanted to leave you guys on a high with the question of how did she use her ingenuity? Because she did. And it was probably, I would say, she bargained her way out of that situation. But I don't know." So...the director says she does not know how the hell did she -really - escape that situation, just that she must have done something clever. Hilarious.

Sammo

Leaving the how unanswered isn't a plot hole, even if writers or directors don't know the how. At best, it's an unexplained Deus ex machina. A plot hole is something that contradicts what's been established for the sake of the plot, but here, nothing was established.

Bishop73

I wouldn't say it's a DEM. Wikipedia; "Deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence."There is no occurrence here. Nothing that we (nor the director.) know of intervened between the two scenes.On the other hand,"Plot hole is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot." Natasha's situation is established and then ignored.

Sammo

Which is why I said it was "unknown." An unknown occurrence happened that resolved the situation that wasn't illogical. However, I wouldn't correct you if you submitted a plot hole mistake, but others might since something not being explained isn't a plot hole.

Bishop73

Yes, sorry, I was splitting hairs as usual; I don't think a DEM can be "unexplained" in the sense of "unknown" because its whole point is that it is the narrative device that gives the story its twist; as absurd as it is (like a literal God appearing out of nowhere fixing things), it must be "something." Here there's nothing; we only have a statement of the director, movie-wise it's not even particularly implied that the resolution was peaceful, since Nat simply says she'll hold them off.

Sammo

10th Jul 2021

Black Widow (2021)

Stupidity: Natasha is in Norway on the run - Norwegian radio mentions her by name, Yelena talks about her being on magazines, she's very recognisable, and yet she goes into a gas station with her sister without changing her appearance in any way, and loudly talks about being an Avenger and killing people, right in front of the gas station attendant who for all she knows would be on the phone to the authorities the second she's out the door.

Jon Sandys

4th Jul 2021

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Stupidity: Hobbs and Shaw drive towards the helicopter and throw a chain around one of the side pylons, driving away to try and bring it down. Daft considering if they'd just thrown a chain loose into the rotors that would have brought it down immediately without any cars needed.

Jon Sandys

4th Jul 2021

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Trivia: The mysterious processed voice of The Director is actually that of Ryan Reynolds, under his pseudonym of Champ Nightingale. Which doesn't necessarily mean his character is the primary antagonist. But might.

Jon Sandys

19th Jun 2021

Loki (2021)

The Variant - S1-E2

Trivia: Mobius says to Loki in 2050 "why is it always the people you can't trust telling you to trust them?" He himself said to Ravonna Renslayer earlier "I can handle him, trust me." Which might simply allude to him not being as confident as he sounds, or might imply Mobius isn't as trustworthy as we're being led to believe. Will leave this up if it ends up being foreshadowing, or delete it if it's entirely irrelevant.

Jon Sandys

13th Jun 2021

War (2007)

Plot hole: Spoiler! We find out that "Rogue" is actually Tom Lone, who killed the real Rogue and destroyed his face to prevent identification, then had plastic surgery and went underground to get revenge. But how is the body never identified? Lone was a cop, they'd have blood type, DNA etc. on file, which would have proved the body wasn't his.

Jon Sandys

24th May 2021

The Marine (2006)

Other mistake: In the standoff in the bar, Robert Patrick fires about 22 rounds from his handgun, then runs outside without reloading and fires even more into the propane tank under the bar. No way his gun holds that many bullets.

Jon Sandys

24th May 2021

Highlander (1986)

Factual error: The marine unloads his Uzi at Kurgen, about 10 seconds of full-auto fire. The Uzi fires at 600 rounds a minute, so can only fire for about 3 seconds (with a magazine the size he's using) before running out of ammo.

Jon Sandys

Stupidity: The train which takes M from New York to London arrives looking like an old tube train, then when she's on board converts into a high-tech train, to her amazement, and whisks her across the Atlantic. Except...why did it ever look like a regular train? She's in a MIB station, it's only used by agents and aliens, it goes to another MIB station, and when it arrives and people get off / on before it continues its journey, it stays in its high-tech form anyway.

Jon Sandys

8th May 2021

Rick and Morty (2013)

Big Trouble in Little Sanchez - S2-E7

Rick: Will you fix your marriage or get a divorce already?!
Jerry: Well, we tried a couples therapist.
Rick: That's earth therapy. You might as well ask a horse to fix a merry-go-round. I mean he'll try his best, but mostly he's just gonna get horrified.

Jon Sandys

8th May 2021

Cougar Town (2009)

Bobby Cobb: I'm bad at sex. There's a lot of thrashing and thumping, but nothing really gets done. I'm like a broken dishwasher.

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: On the rooftop while shooting at the Russians, John dives through a skylight. In a side shot he's falling back first, then he lands on his front.

Jon Sandys

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