Question: Was any reason ever given as to why Bond's gadget-filled car was barely used in this film? It seems odd to give the series a fresh start in many ways, make a big deal about his car with missiles inside the lights, and then he drives it for 30 seconds and gives it away. Why bother giving him a car at all?
Jon Sandys
5th Oct 2023
Goldeneye (1995)
21st Sep 2023
Ally McBeal (1997)
Question: There's a quote from Richard Fish I've never been able to find exactly online, but I'm sure I'm remembering the gist, I think talking to someone about getting divorced or cheated on: "10 years from now, are you still going to be as mad as you are now? Of course not. So jump to that point, now, and you're over it. Fishism." Can anyone identify the episode/quote?
29th Jun 2023
Black Books (2000)
Question: Is there an episode where Bernard can't think of the word for a scanner or card reader or something and refers to it as a "beepitibeep"? Might have the wrong show entirely.
Chosen answer: You may be thinking of S3E1, "Manny Come Home", when Manny quits and gets a job at Goliath Books next door. The device they use to scan books, look up items, or even order muffins is referred to as the "Doo-Deedee-Doo," after the sound it makes when employees scan their cards in it.
25th May 2023
Futurama (1999)
Question: Which episode is it where the characters visit either a museum or an archaeological dig of the 20th century, and come across a voiceover/narrator/scientist making wild and wrong assumptions about the use of common objects? I've got a quote in my mind that's something like "here's where people would maybe do [something] perhaps."
Chosen answer: In s02e06, "The Lesser of Two Evils", they go to "Past-o-Rama" amusement park. There's a hologram of an Old New York traffic and the voice over guy says something like "it was a forum for a free exchange of opinions", followed by New Yorkers yelling.
Thanks! I think what I was remembering was that combined with the Bigfoot video where the narrator says "In the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest dwells the strange and beautiful creature known as Bigfoot, perhaps."
2nd Jan 2023
General questions
Are there any bloopers available online from VERY serious movies, like Schindler's List or 12 Years a Slave? Actors must slip up when filming them like anything else - is the subject matter just serious enough that they don't laugh about them at the time, making the bloopers nothing worth watching, or are they just never compiled and released because it's felt to be too inappropriate?
Chosen answer: From what I've seen, in serious films, or scenes, when actors mess up their lines, they're more apologetic and what they said wasn't funny or outrageous. I feel like serious films have more rehearsal times as well, where comedy films are often shot quickly with a lot of ad-libbing or improv. So there's less slip ups during the actual shoot. Similar to how a play has a lot of rehearsals, but improv shows won't have as much. There's are some outtakes of "Silence of the Lamb." This is something that I've wondered too though and tried to search for. I had a chance to go to a Q&A session with Cary Elwes and wanted to ask him if he had as much fun making "Saw" as "Princess Bride" and "Men in Tights" and were there "Saw" outtakes, but we ran out of time before my question could get asked and I've always regretted it.
Answer: Youtube has plenty. Simply enter "serious movie bloopers." You'll even find some for "The Silence Of The Lambs."
18th Dec 2022
Bones (2005)
The Drama in the Queen - S9-E23
Question: How come David Boreanaz is barely in this episode? There's lots online about a health issue impacting season 11, but not this one.
18th Aug 2022
She-Hulk (2022)
A Normal Amount of Rage - S1-E1
Question: When talking about "geniuses in the family" at the start, Bruce says "there's also Ched", at least according to the subtitles. Is this another Banner cousin with Marvel ties, or just a random throwaway line?
Answer: This is answered in the second episode, where we meet Ched who's clearly not a genius. Given this first episode was originally written as the penultimate one of the series, and tweaked as the premiere later, it makes more sense why that line might be a throwaway by Bruce, given if it was episode 8 as intended the audience would already have met Ched and understand how he's not being remotely serious.
Chosen answer: According to Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ched is a relative of Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters. There is a character profile but with no additional information provided yet, nor is there much info online available elsewhere. This appears to be a new character that has yet to appear.
11th May 2022
General questions
What film is it where two people are fighting in a mostly black corridor over an automatic weapon, and it fires, making a semicircle of orange over their heads, illuminating the scene?
Chosen answer: Found the answer elsewhere - I was thinking of The Matrix Revolutions, where Agent Smith in someone else's body is fighting with Neo over an arc weapon of some kind in a darkened spaceship.
Answer: It isn't very much to go on but the first thing that comes to mind is the 2011 remake of "Fright Night." At the end Charlie and Jerry the vampire fight over a shotgun in the underground basement of a building. When it goes off, holes in the ceiling, bring in the sunlight.
14th Mar 2022
Friends (1994)
Question: One episode has a very short scene with Rachel + Phoebe in Central Perk, just them, sitting near the door (not sofa). Rachel has a problem, Phoebe is solving, while Rachel eats cake. While chatting, but not mentioned at all, Phoebe tries to get Rachel's cake. End of scene, Phoebe succeeds and Rachel has gained advice but lost cake. Cake is not referred to at all in the dialogue or plot, making it pretty tricky to search for. Anyone know the episode?
Chosen answer: It sounds like you're describing a scene in S6 E3 "The One With Ross's Denial", with Phoebe and Ross when they're sitting at a table. Ross has a cookie and a coffee. Phoebe is telling Ross he's still in love with Rachel and Ross is denying it. While they talk, Phoebe grabs Ross' coffee at one point and Ross takes it right back. Then she does the same with his cookie and Ross again takes it back. At the very end of the conversation and scene, she grabs a magazine that Ross is also reading, and when he grabs the magazine back from her, she then grabs both the coffee and the muffin and starts eating the muffin.
14th Nov 2021
General questions
There's a movie or maybe TV show where at the end two little kids get adopted - a boy who's black and a blonde haired white girl. Someone crouches down to them, maybe in an airport, and asks if they want to come with them. Any clues what this is from?
Chosen answer: Something similar happens in one of the final episodes of the sitcom "30 Rock." Liz Lemon ends up adopting two children that she picks up from an airport - a black boy named Terry and a blond white girl named Janet - who humorously and ironically have almost the exact same personalities as her annoying co-workers Tracey and Jenna. Could that be it?
Aha, that's it! My wife sends her thanks, that was annoying her. :-).
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.
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.
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?
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.
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. :-).
I actually thought it might have been Olga Kurylenko at first as well.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7th Apr 2021
Justified (2010)
5th Apr 2021
Justified (2010)
Whistle Past the Graveyard - S5-E8
Question: Boyd and crew nearly ruin their relationship with Yoon by killing the Memphis crew in Mexico, as they were warned not to kill anyone south of the border. They redeem themselves by saying they'll take care of the bodies themselves and get them into the US. All well and good until the Mexico police stop them, and the crew let them take the truck with the bodies, congratulating themselves on the deception...but how does that solve anything? Corrupt or not, the cops now have the bodies, in Mexico.
26th Mar 2021
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
Question: Why does Bucky rip his jacket sleeve off before jumping out of the plane? Just for the sake of an audience reveal to demonstrate his artificial arm?
Chosen answer: The sleeve probably would have been ripped to shreds in battle anyway. He was just saving time by ripping it himself. Also, gunfighters would take off their coats in a duel or an arm wrestler rolling up his sleeve.
Answer: Aside from visual aesthetics and it being nice to see the metal arm. In world/practically I think (and I believe this is the reason why he tends to not have a left sleeve in most action we've seen him in prior films) it's also to assist with mobility during fights. The metal arm likely behaves a little differently than a human/bone and flesh arm does - and restricting that in a sleeve during a fight (especially in a thicker jacket sleeve) might mess with his reflexes. So removing the sleeve probably assists with the mobility of that arm.
24th Mar 2021
Justified (2010)
Question: Mags poisons herself with the same "it was in the glass, not the jar" approach she took with Loretta's father. But we see her grab two glasses - one from the cupboard and one off a shelf. Does she slip poison in while off camera, or is it just that the cupboard/shelf glasses are always poisoned, trusting that everyone knows not to use them? Seems like a crazy risk to take.
5th Feb 2021
WandaVision (2021)
On a Very Special Episode... - S1-E5
Question: The intro sequence for this episode seems most closely based on Growing Pains, with a dash of Family Ties, but the painting being coloured in really reminds me of something else, I assume another TV show, but can't place it. Any inspiration?
Chosen answer: The living painting is taken straight from the Family Ties intro.
Ah, that makes sense - I first saw this one on Youtube, which at a guess was the first season or an early version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRdtO6UKD0. But yeah, this is exactly right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1szfz9nZ8.
Answer: I noticed that too and although I can't think of any sitcom starting like that it does remind me strongly of Bob Ross "The Joy of Painting" intro, which was from the 80's as well.
11th Jan 2021
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
That Hope Is You, Part 2 - S3-E13
Question: At the very end of the episode, why does the Discovery warp instead of using the spore drive? Dilithium is still in short supply, everyone's desperate for it, seems daft to warp places which takes time, rather than jumping directly from place to place.
Chosen answer: Discovery had plenty of dilithium from before the Burn, and the implication seems to be that the dilithium planet in the Verubin Nebula has essentially ended the galaxy's shortage, although it will take time to mine and distribute it. That said, I suspect the reason Discovery warps at this point is to test out its new warp drive system, replacing the warp core which was ejected inside the Viridian.
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Chosen answer: There hadn't been a Bond film for seven years, and it was a new Bond. They wanted to get away from the gadgets and show him at his best. It was a way to let people accept Pierce Bronsan, watching what he can do. He put a lot of Sean Connery into it.
I can see that, but it just seems weird to highlight the features the car has and then not use them. Would have been simpler to omit it entirely, but presumably BMW wanted some product placement.
Jon Sandys ★
According to Wikipedia, the deal with BMW came at the last stage in production, so they were only able to put the car in the movie but not make scenes where the gadgets are actually used. I can imagine they'd have to rewrite parts of the script and take more time filming to do that.
lionhead