Question: Are Matt Damon and Ben Affleck geniuses, or did they have to do extensive research for the movie?
Phaneron
3rd Jan 2020
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Answer: The answer is not necessarily one or the other-geniuses sometimes do extensive research. The answer also depends on how "genius" is defined/measured. I have read several online articles asserting that Matt's [and Ben's] IQ is "as high as 160." One definition of genius is having an IQ over 160, suggesting that maybe he is and maybe he isn't! (Real helpful, huh?) But there are different tests to measure IQ and IQ scores are only based on certain factors. Many experts assert that the really high IQ scores don't exist and/or there is no known test that can accurately measure very high IQs. I wondered about the math questions/proofs in the movie and don't know if they are real examples or if they are just a bunch of symbols slapped together to give the appearance of advanced mathematics. High IQ people tend to be eccentric, socially awkward, and/or loners who "do their own thing"; Matt does not appear to fit this profile. Psychologists, such as Matt's mom, have access to IQ tests.
30th Dec 2019
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
19th Dec 2019
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Question: Wouldn't Thanos have been able to kill all of the Avengers and Guardians on Titan without trouble as he had 4 stones?
Answer: Well Dr. Strange used the time stone to see how they could fight him and they executed that plan, though as Strange knew they wouldn't win against him. Eventually Thanos did beat them but I suppose advanced technology and strength in numbers were a good advantage even if he had 4 stones. I think they intentionally went for speed and his mind as that's the 2 stones he was still missing.
Answer: Since they are in possession of the Time Stone and Doctor Strange is hiding it with magic, he may have decided to refrain from killing all of them, otherwise locating the stone afterwards could prove a difficult task.
Answer: He could have, but Thanos sees himself as merciful and doing the right thing. He fights the Avengers and Guardians in order to stop them and gain the Infinity Stones. He has no particular interest in killing any of them.
17th Dec 2019
King of the Hill (1997)
Question: What possessed Nancy to cheat on Dale? That and why would they think this is funny?
Answer: It's not uncommon in real life for spouses to be unhappy in their marriage and resort to extramarital affairs. I haven't seen every episode of this show yet, but the vibe I get is that it's not so much funny that she cheats on Dale, but how painfully oblivious Dale is to it, to the point where he can't even tell Joseph is obviously John Redcorn's son and not his.
The main joke is that Dale is so fascinated with mysteries, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, etc, he is too busy to notice his wife having an affair. He does not see the "conspiracy" of Nancy and John, happening right in his own home.
Answer: Nancy has stated that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way" (season three - "Peggy's Headache"), and other episodes make it clear she cares about him. It could be a case of her "having the cake and wanting to eat it, too." She can enjoy her affair with Redcorn while Dale takes care of Joseph, due to him not always working much. Perhaps she needs an escape from Dale's reckless adventures and conspiracy theories. An affair is not a good way to deal with this, in my opinion, but there are people who do it.
11th Dec 2019
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Out of the numerous (and mostly unnecessary) changes George Lucas has made to this film over the years, has he ever given any reason as to why he has never fixed the appearance of the lightsabers in the film, or updated the awful CGI Jabba the Hutt? Those have always stood out to me as the two most glaring weaknesses in the visual department.
Answer: He has not. He has only ever generally commented on the updates to the 90's Special Edition re-releases having scenes updated to fit what he always envisioned but was limited by budget and technology. The additional changes that have been made since the films were released on Blu-Ray and now Disney Plus have gone without comment. To your point about the lightsabers, they have been improved on the Disney Plus version of the film. The colors are more vibrant, and they now have a more noticeable sparking effect with clashes in the Obi-Wan/Vader duel.
16th Oct 2019
Papillon (2017)
Question: How did Papillon, Diega and Marturette manage to sail to Colombia after their second escape attempt? Colombia is on the opposite side of South America from French Guiana/Devil's Island. It seems like they would have ended up in Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao or Aruba long before ending up in Colombia. I'm sure the book sheds light on this, but the movie completely glosses over it.
Answer: I discovered the answer to this by reading the book's plot synopsis on Wikipedia. The inmates actually sailed to Trinidad and then picked up three other inmates. They set sail again and were captured near the Colombian coastline when the wind died down. It would appear that in the interest of saving time, the movie chose to just have them appear in Colombia.
30th Nov 2019
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Question: Woo said that Hank and Hope violated the accords as well, because of their tech. But they haven't done superhero stuff after the accords were signed, so how is it a violation?
24th Nov 2019
Boogie Nights (1997)
Question: Why didn't Little Bill just dump his wife? Throw her out? Why kill her instead?
20th Nov 2019
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Question: Gwen Stacey is at Harry Osborn's funeral. Does she know that her ex Eddie Brock was the one that killed Harry? And does she know that Eddie was "the strange black suited figure" on the news (aka Venom) ?
Answer: It's unclear. Only Peter and Mary Jane knew that Eddie was Venom and that he killed Harry. Spider-Man may have decided not to tell the press that Eddie was Venom out of desire of not wanting Eddie to be vilified, given that Peter knows firsthand what the symbiote does to a person. The public could very well be under the impression that Venom killed both Eddie and Harry, but that the true identity of Venom was unknown before being destroyed himself.
14th Nov 2019
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Question: Were they originally going to have Scott and Clint in this movie?
Answer: I've read that the opening scene of "Endgame" with Clint and his family was originally going to be in this film. Ant-Man's inclusion seems doubtful since the post-credits scene for "Ant-Man and the Wasp" takes place at the same time as the climax for this film and Ant-Man is on the other side of the country doing his own thing.
29th Jan 2015
The Ring (2002)
Question: Why can't the video just be passed to inmates on death row?
Answer: Who says it can't?
Answer: There was a deleted subplot from the film involving Chris Cooper as a child murderer. Originally Rachel would show the copy of the tape that she had Aiden make to this character, in order to end the cycle started by her on someone deserving of death.
Answer: Maybe because we have something called a "humane death" which caused all the death sentences that involved pain to be banned, leaving only the lethal injection to be a humane death. I think being assaulted by a child ghost who will literally scare you to death isn't considerd a "humane death."
This presents a paradox. Whether or not it is "cruel and unusual" to force a condemned inmate would be a matter for the Supreme Court. but in order for them to rule, they themselves would all have to view the tape (and perhaps the lawyer for the condemned and the Solicitor General as well), so at least 11+ "death surrogates" would have to be found just for a decision to ever be rendered. But, if it's true that the person has to watch the entirety of the tape for it to be lethal, perhaps they could divvy it up, so that every part of the tape could be watched by at least one justice.
9th Feb 2004
The Ring (2002)
Question: When does Rachel realise if she shows the film to someone else she won't die? And if she knew, is that why she showed it to Noah, to kill him on purpose?
Answer: At the end of the movie, she is crying about why she wasn't killed and Noah was. She vocalizes "What did I do, that he didn't?" That's when she sees the copy she made. It wasn't that she just showed it to someone else. She made a copy and Aiden watched that copy. Aiden is why it skipped her.
Almost right. It's just the copy. Copying the video makes it skip you. That's why she has Aiden make a copy as well.
You have to show the copy to someone else as well. That's why Aiden asks Rachel at the very end "What about the person we show it to? What happens to them?"
But doesn't he have less than a day left by then? Hardly a time to relax, they need to make a terrible decision, quickly. I always had the idea making a copy was enough because of that.
He watched the tape the morning of either Rachel's 4th or 5th day, so he should have at least 3 days left by this point. Though it appears the film was being inconsistent with the markings that Samara leaves on the tape's viewers, since Rachel noticed Samara's hand print on Aiden's arm and then his nose started bleeding. For Rachel, she got her nosebleed before receiving the mark on her arm.
Actually, you need to do both: make a copy and show it to someone else. This is further explained in The Ring 2. At the beginning, the guy had made a copy but since the girl covered her eyes and didn't watch the whole thing, he was still killed by Samara. So making a copy is not enough in itself to be spared if no-one else watches it. The same goes for Rachel. She made a copy on the 2nd day, but Becca tells her she only has 4 days left when she visits the psych ward indicating she hadn't been spared yet. It's only after Aidan watches the copy she made that death skips her for good.
Answer: No, it's wrong. Just making a copy won't save you; you need to show it to someone else, and then this someone else is cursed instead of you. The Japanese movie explains it well. Plus, in the official second movie, a man dies from Samara after making the copy because nobody watched it. Also, at the end of the 1st movie, Aiden asks from the copy, "What will happen to the one who will watch it?"
7th Nov 2019
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Question: Loki was very edgy when Thor returned to Asgard and while I know why, why didn't Thor see through his disguise when he went to Asgard at the end of Age of Ultron?
Answer: Loki, in the guise of Odin, might have instructed Thor to go to another world when he returned to Asgard. What tipped Thor off that Loki was impersonating Odin in this movie was Surtur previously telling him that Odin was not on Asgard, and then Thor returning to Asgard to see Odin with a carefree and hedonistic attitude despite the Nine Realms having plunged into chaos, all the while watching a play that was glorifying Loki.
5th Nov 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Question: Was there an explanation in-film, or perhaps in the comics, why Thanos (and even Hulk and Iron Man) had to physically snap his finger to get rid of half the population? He seemed to be powerful enough to be able to wield the power of the stones with just his mind. I don't remember him having to snap any fingers to instantly change reality, etc. Shouldn't he have just been able to think about wiping out half the population?
Answer: The gems are so powerful together nobody could wield all of them directly, not even Thanos. The glove is especially made that they can be worked in unison. But there are limitations, since they are being operated indirectly. It's like the staff Loki was using with the mind gem inside. He had to physically touch people with the staff to take control of them. Same goes with Ronin using the Power gem to destroy Xandar, he had to physically touch the ground with his hammer to use it. Same goes for the glove, you have to physically use it to use the gems inside it. He has to do this to to use any of the powers of the gems, he closes his hand into a fist to use one of the powers. The snap is for using all of them at once.
Answer: In the comics, the Infinity Stones (where they are known as the Infinity Gems) do not require gestures such as snapping to carry out of the desires of the wielder. They simply respond to that person's will. In the comics, Thanos does indeed snap his fingers in order to wipe out half of all life in the universe, but that was more of a visual gesture for the readers. The Stones in the films are significantly less powerful, as it would no doubt make Thanos virtually unstoppable if all he had to do to use the power of the Stones was think about what he wanted them to do. In the comics, Thanos is defeated by his own notion of being unworthy of omnipotence. The Gems in the comics also do not kill their wielder from an overwhelming amount of power.
3rd Nov 2019
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Question: Why does Widow winship have a cut on her belly?
3rd Nov 2019
Sin City (2005)
Question: Why did Becky lead Rafferty and his friends into a trap? They went to Old Town looking for some fun and weren't causing any trouble at the time.
7th Oct 2019
Daredevil (2003)
Question: When Matt Murdock becomes blind his other senses are enhanced. Is this possible in reality?
Answer: Not to the extent in the show, of course, but it can absolutely happen to an extent: https://www.livescience.com/58373-blindness-heightened-senses.html. In short the brain is quite "plastic" and good at redirecting its resources where needed. Not being able to see can "free up" brain power and improve other areas. Only up to a point, of course.
7th Oct 2019
Joker (2019)
Question: Spoiler! The scene at the very end, with Arthur locked up talking to the doctor/social worker - is that meant to be later, after he's been captured again, or is it a flashback to when he was hospitalised before, as was referenced earlier in the movie?
Answer: This is later, as the building appears to be Arkham. He's committed there instead of going to jail based on his insanity. It appears he is laughing about the death of Thomas Wayne, we see a flash of that scene again for a reason.
4th Oct 2018
The Predator (2018)
Question: The movie Predator, is supposedly canon to only the first Predator film and never acknowledges the second film from even happening. Sort of a Superman Returns deal where it's a sequel to an earlier film, retconning the later films. This movie, however, acknowledges both of the first films but nothing about Predators is ever mentioned. But considering the premise of Predators, maybe just nobody in the film researching these aliens knows about the events of that film, however unlikely. So my question is this movie canon with all 3 previous films, or does it not count Predators?
Answer: Well, in the case of Predators, it was violent criminals, mercenaries and military being randomly kidnapped and dumped on an alien planet. From the perspective of humans, it would appear that the criminals and mercenaries had gone missing in a more mundane fashion or simply died. If the Predators were covert about it, the Predator researchers would not be suspicious at all. So it's entirely possible it's canon.
Answer: The second film is actually subtly acknowledged by Jake Busey playing a scientist named Keyes, implying that he is the son of Peter Keyes from the second film who was played by his father Gary.
5th Sep 2019
The Predator (2018)
Question: Why would the main character send the obviously dangerous and unstable alien tech to his house? I could see no other reason then to just simply get the plot to move along but it's obvious he doesn't have a consistent stable relationship with his son and wife - why send the tech there? And on top of that with no explanation to them as to what it is? On top of that he seemed like he was a respected member of the military - there was no reason for him to go against that and hide this information.
Answer: McKenna states that he assumed his estranged wife would just put the box with the rest of his stuff and leave it alone. He doesn't trust sending it to anyone else because they might open the box and have questions. As you suggest, it is indeed quite an egregious plot contrivance because why would his wife be any less prone to open his mail than anyone else? And in fact, Rory does open the box so the plan didn't even work. McKenna hides the tech from the military because he wants the credit for discovering alien life, and he also fears the government will try to cover up the discovery, which of course they do.
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Answer: If by your question you are referring to all the complicated math formulas in the film, if Affleck and Damon themselves aren't well-versed in that area, then they would have hired an advisor for the film.
Phaneron ★