Gavin Jackson

20th Mar 2006

X-Men (2000)

Question: Something I never completely understood about the ending. When we see senator Kelly on the TV at the end, we realize that it is actually mystique in disguise. But when the X-men told magneto that Kelly was dead.he didn't believe them. And since Kelly vaporized into water, there would be no body or any proof that he was dead. So wasn't mystique worried that she might come into contact with the real Kelly at some point?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: You are working under the assumption that Mystique would not believe this either. However, with Magneto in prison and no sign of the senator she could happily take on his identity. Also, even if Kelly was alive, after she gave a press statement backing mutants, it would be unlikely that a politician would change his mind so suddenly again and he would therefore not come clean that it was not him.

Scrappy

24th Feb 2006

Falling Down (1993)

Question: Why does the Beggar throw the apple at D-fens? I found it odd since he just gave him a briefcase and a lunch.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Because the beggar thought there would be items of value in the briefcase and he was frustrated that there was nothing in there. So in frustration he threw the apple at D-Fens.

pierpp

24th Feb 2006

Predator (1987)

Question: Could Hawkins have become a commando (or even a marine) in real life, considering he wore glasses which would have limited him during any battle?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: As long as your uncorrected vision is at least 20/400 (-6.0 diopters), you can qualify for most forms of military service except flying.

Myridon

Answer: Yes, you can have corrected vision using glasses or contacts to be in a special operations unit. Although you can't be color blind.

6th Dec 2005

Superman II (1980)

Question: I don't understand the opening. What was the object that Zod broke in half, and why was it so important (considering it had a guard standing near it)?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: We're never told.

K.C. Sierra

Question: What exactly happened to Koskov at the end? Pushkin said something like "Put him on a Plane in a diplomatic bag" but was he just being sarcastic or what?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: He says, "Put him on the first plane to Moscow...", making Koskov think he was going to live, but then Pushkin adds, "...in a diplomatic bag." He is being transported back to Russia in a bag...hence, he will be quite dead.

4th Aug 2005

The Karate Kid (1984)

Chosen answer: "San" is a japanese term of respect. Sort of like the english "Mr.", however "Sir" would be a little closer to what it means in japanese. They attach the "San" at the end of someone's name, rather than at the begining like english speakers do.

RJR99SS

22nd Jul 2005

Live and Let Die (1973)

Question: Bond kills Kananga at the end by placing the bullet with the air pellet in his mouth which causes him to inflate and explode. But Bond had the bullet in his own mouth before when he was concealing it. Why didn't it kill him?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Bond just stored the bullet in his own mouth to hide it. As he puts it in Kananga's mouth he presumably pulls a pin, or forces Kananga to bite it.

Soylent Purple

Chosen answer: Well, we don't know whether Yoda could have defeated Dooku or not, as Dooku resorted to trickery in order to get away - by trying to drop the column onto Anakin and Obi-Wan, then escaping while Yoda's attention was diverted. As such, the battle was inconclusive, although the fact that Dooku had to cheat in order to escape does seem to indicate that he himself doubted his ability to defeat the Jedi Master. As such, we can't really determine whether Anakin or Yoda had the higher power level from their respective battles with Dooku - a more telling indicator would be that Obi-Wan, who is, at best, on level terms with Yoda and is, to be honest, probably less powerful, was ultimately able to defeat Anakin.

Tailkinker

20th Jun 2005

Rocky IV (1985)

Question: In real life, would Drago have faced criminal charges after killing Apollo in the ring? After all he did it on purpose.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Not really because he only intended on physically punishing Apollo, as do most fighters do when they are in a fight. In real life if Drago had pushed the ref aside like he did in the fight, it would have been stopped right then and there, and maybe Apollo would have lived.

Rollin Garcia Jr

13th Jun 2005

Jaws (1975)

Question: I have been wondering this for ages. In the scene where everyone is on the beach, Ellen Brody sees her husband Chief Brody and waves at him. He waves back. Then she mouths something completely incomprehensible and the chief nods and walks away. What did she say?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She mouths "I've got Shaun", so he doesn't worry. Alternatively "I've got your order" as she points to the food counter.

Question: I need some translation help here. Firstly when Marion is having the drinking contest and has drunken her final drink, she lowers the glass slowly making everyone think that she has lost. Then she shouts a word twice (Bistoti or something like that) and wins. What does that word mean? Also when Indy is mourning over Marion's "death", two guys in suits come over to him and tell him something in a foreign language. While I have a vague idea of what they said, I was wondering if anyone knew for sure.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: It's Russian, погоди or pogodi. In Russian meaning hold it.

Chosen answer: The two men say to Indy "Der Herr in der Bar mochte immer ihnen sprechen". This is translated as "The man in the bar wants to talk to you". The word in the bar that Marion says is "Pistole", which translated means "Hold it! or "Wait a minute!"

Question: How did Elsa and Donovan get across the second challenge to where the grail was? Indy knew that one had to step on the tiles which spelt Iehovah, but they didn't. I was gonna submit this as a goof, but I am sure there is some logical explanation.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Dr. Jones senior (Sean Connery) is talking to himself while Indy is going through the traps. He would know what the trials consisted of, and mutters the solutions out loud as he goes over them in his mind. He even makes a statement that "But in ancient Latin, Jehovah begins with an 'I'" just before Indy takes his first step onto the wrong tile.

Twotall

Answer: After Indy falls through the "J" and pulls himself up, you can see Elsa and Donovan standing in the background behind him. It's a very quick shot but they are there. They simply watched him and he didn't see them. Also, Indy called out each letter he stepped on, so they knew the correct path.

Question: I have wondered about this for some time. Did Elsa deliberately choose the wrong grail for Donovan (resulting in his death) cause she knew that Indy would know which one it was and they would both get it without Donovan getting in the way? The smirking expression on her face during the whole scene would definitely imply this but I was wondering if anyone knew for sure?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Yes, this was a deliberate action on Elsa's part.

Steph_Jared

Question: What exactly was Scotty's reason as to why giving the Company boss the formula for the one inch glass wouldn't alter the future? He gave a brief response, but I honestly can't think of any reason why it wouldn't do any future damage.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: They only give him a schematic of the molecule. The man even says, "It would take years to decipher the matrix", or something like that.

Chosen answer: Scotty says "Why? How do you know he didn't invent the thing!" If the man was in fact the inventor, this would only cause a slight causality loop problem - he "invents" it because they gave it to him, but they only know it because he "invented" it. However, since Sulu said earlier in the movie that it was about 150 years too early for transparent aluminum, it would seem they do know this, so it wasn't a smart thing to do. Of course, the real flaw in the plot is that they need the tank to be transparent at all.

Myridon

Answer: The crew is resigned to the fact that their mission forces them to alter history in some fashion or another. McCoy just wants to acknowledge the gravity of their actions before they go ahead and do it, and Scotty's response is a cheeky way of reassuring him, "Hey, maybe it won't be that bad."

TonyPH

1st Apr 2005

Grease (1978)

Question: I can't understand why Sonny hauled Sandy off the dance floor during the dance finale. Sure Sonny was a bit of a jerk, but he idolized Danny and would never disrespect him. Also there was nothing to suggest that he and Cha-Cha were friends. I never truly understood.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Watched that scene again now and I just think it was poor writing (in what's still a classic film regardless). How none of the judges noticed that Cha Cha took another girl's (Sandy's) place even after she'd already been "tapped out" is another huge plot hole. Plus a lot of people in America were watching the dance on TV and it's not mentioned by anyone after this scene. 35 years later and that scene still bugs me (haha).

Answer: I agree it plays a bit strange, but I always chalked it up to Sonny wanting Danny to win the dance competition and Sandy, although not bad, admits she's not on Danny's level, while Cha-cha is "the best dancer at St. Bernadette."

Also, he was drinking and upset so not thinking.

Answer: He's fall-down drunk, that's why. He's drinking during the entire dance.

Krista

Answer: It was because they were going to moon the cameras, they didn't want to embarrass Sandy since she would've been offended if it happened when she and Danny were dancing.

Answer: When he's pulling Sandy away he is also yelling to Danny "Go! Go! Go!" So I was also wondering like if Cha-Cha told him to do that and they just failed to add that into the scene.

Chosen answer: It's so Cha-Cha can go with Danny. You can see Cha-Cha giving Danny the eye. So Sonny took Sandy away for Cha-Cha's benefit.

Answer: Because in real life Olivia was late for work, as a result Annette had to take Olivia's place because she was her understudy.

Answer: He is so upset about Marty liking Ed Byrnes, he just drinks all night.

Answer: I think it was because Sonny was drunk and wanted Sandy to talk to Marty for him since she dumped him for Vince Fontaine at the beginning of the dance.

Answer: It's a terrible moment in the story because it exposes Danny as being thoughtless. After already burning Sandy once (at the pep rally) you'd think he'd be mindful of not doing it again. This time, though, he humiliates her in front of the entire school, as well as on television. Unsure how Sandy's sitting with him in the next scene at the drive-in only slightly miffed. Imagine how this plays as a story to their children: "Hey, kids, did I ever tell you about how your dad embarrassed me in front of everybody?" I guess it's meant to be partly motivation for Sandy to change her image and outlook in order to keep Danny, but it's a terrible message (even back then). She's nothing but thoughtful and considerate, and Danny repeatedly treats her badly, but she decides she needs to reinvent herself. (Danny's makeover doesn't count given it lasts about three minutes.) It would've been better had Danny and Sandy came second because of Sandy's dancing, and that could've played on her mind.

Answer: Well my theory is maybe since Sonny wants a girl, Cha-Cha promised him a date with a girl if he agreed to her plan.

Chosen answer: He did. At one point he says amusingly to Starling, "Anthrax Island, that was a nice touch, yours?" indicating he knew the deal wasn't real. That didn't matter to him since he was planning to escape, and the deal gave him an opportunity to do so.

RJR99SS

Answer: The "nice touch" comment came only after Dr. Chilton revealed the fraud. But the part about escaping is very good.

Answer: The anthrax island, nice touch part seems like an in joke, like his anagrams but never worked out what it is?

7th Mar 2005

Stand By Me (1986)

Chosen answer: No, according to later books, Ace never really left Castle Rock and Chris was killed while away at college.

Grumpy Scot

9th Feb 2005

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Question: Something I really don't understand about the ending. Riggs is looking over his former wife's grave when his beeper tells him that Lorna is expecting their baby. He races to the hospital and there she is about to give birth. So who drove Lorna to the hospital? Can't have been Riggs as he wouldn't have left at a time of need just to see his wife's grave. Doubtful that Lorna drove herself, and no relatives were there (as we see at the end). So what other explanation is there?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She could have taken a taxi or an ambulance, or even driven herself. A neighbor or friend could have taken her who didn't stay after she was admitted. She might have already been at the hospital for any number of reasons - doctor's appointment, already admitted for bed rest prior to labor, etc. etc. etc.

Myridon

17th Jan 2005

General questions

Back in the 80's I watched a film on video and I can't remember the title. Set in Italy (I think), its about an bearded inventor who builds a yellow Volkswagen which can do many things like fly, clean up messes, drive sideways, etc., and naturally it can talk. At the end he enters a race pitting him against many people including a pair of nuns. For some reason the Volkswagen continuously betrays him, dropping him from a high distance, leaving him in the middle of nowhere and eventually deciding to let the nuns win. Any help would be much appreciated.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: What you're referring to is SuperBug. A five to seven film series that came out in the 70's. Two or three made it to U.S. theaters. They were made in Germany.

Question: At the end of the film, Is Kiril trying to kill Bourne because it is his mission, or is he doing it simply out of bitterness that he failed the first time?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It is clear that Gretkov expects Kirill to finish the job he failed the first time around, since Gretkov contacts Kirill after he found out that Bourne was still alive. To quote the movie: Kirill: You told me I had one month off. Gretkov: You told me Jason Bourne was dead.

Andreas[DK]

Also, I question if he was trying to kill Borne. He had a clear shot and hit him in the shoulder. These are trained assassins. No way he doesn't kill Bourne with one shot there. It doesn't make sense that he's a bad shot assassin.

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