Question: When Clark was locked in the attic, watching old home movies, are they clips from real black and white movies and just edited together to make it like Christmas was like when Clark was young?
Brian Katcher
23rd Dec 2020
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
18th Dec 2020
The Sandlot (1993)
Question: Why did Wendy smile and waved at Squints after she threw him out of the pool?
Answer: Although she was initially offended that Squints grabbed her and kissed her, after she had a moment to think about it she likely found his actions brave and kind of sweet.
Answer: She does like him a little bit. They ended up getting married, after all.
6th Dec 2020
Stand By Me (1986)
Question: In the train dodging scene, why didn't the loco crew brake at all? They definitely saw the boys in front. I know that trains have very long stopping distances compared to road vehicles, but still. And why didn't the boys try to signal the driver to stop? I get it that they panicked, but still wouldn't that be the first thing coming to one's mind in such a situation?
Answer: No, it wasn't that big of a train. He didn't even attempt to get off the throttle. That's all it would have taken for the boys to make it fairly easy. It was a straight-away track, no chance of it derailing by hitting the brakes. Like the man said above, if trains derailed that easily, we wouldn't be using them.
Answer: Throwing on brakes that heavily gives the train a chance of derailing and the train still wouldn't stop in time.
Answer: To add to the other fine answers, and as mentioned, any attempt to make a sudden stop could have resulted in derailment. The conductor knew the train was about to go over an elevated track, and if it derailed, it would have plunged into the deep ravine, killing the boys anyway, as well as those on aboard. The best he could do was blow the whistle, gradually slow the train, and hope the boys survived.
Can't agree with the arguments about derailment. If trains derailed so easily, they would derail all the time. The train had only 4 or 5 cars. It would not have needed miles to stop. Simply reducing the throttle would have resulted in significant slowing. Plus, they did not stop to determine if anyone was hurt. That is criminal behavior.
Answer: A train that size would have needed miles to stop, and rapid braking could have caused derailment. The engineer was blowing his whistle so he saw the boys; there was no need for them to signal. The engineer and the boys knew their only chance was to get off the bridge.
28th Nov 2020
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Question: What were other children singing/chanting when young Freddy used hammer to kill the hamster?
Answer: "Son of a hundred maniacs." Freddy was conceived when his mother, Amanda, was accidentally locked in a ward of violent mental patients and gang raped.
18th Nov 2020
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
Question: During the scene when Frank and Jane are making a clay pot, what caused the potter's wheel to go berserk and splatter them with clay? (00:50:18)
Answer: The foot pedal controls the speed of the wheel. Frank puts his foot on top of Jane's foot and pushes the pedal down all the way. The rapid acceleration and the fact they took their hands off the clay caused it to go everywhere.
Wouldn't that hurt Jane as Frank's foot is applying pressure to hers while pressing down on the pedal?
Not really, you can see his foot gently presses on top of hers, and both their feet cause the pedal to slope towards the floor, which would decrease the amount of pressure Frank's foot applies to Jane's. On top of that, different people have different pain thresholds.
This is not exactly related to the question asked, but part of the scene that I could never really figure out. It showed that Jane made something in the shape of a square out of a piece of clay. What did she make and how could she have made it in only seconds with her eyes closed? I also don't quite understand how the clay could've possibly gotten to where she obtained it to begin with (asking in a way of abiding by the guidelines).
The scene cuts to them shaping clay without showing any of the set up. So we don't see how it got to that point, so she didn't do it in a second with her eyes closed. It's just a parody of the scene from "Ghost." In real life, using a clay wheel makes shaping clay faster, although it takes practice. If you put your hand, or a tool, on top and press down, you create a hole (which we aren't shown). It looks like Jane is just making a vase.
I really apologize, but I was referring to after the vase was inadvertently destroyed. It was after Frank apparently had a bodybuilder's physique (which was an obvious body double joke). Then it showed Jane making something out of clay in such a short time with her eyes closed. So sorry about that. Thank you for the reply.
The fact she made it so quickly was a gag, but she makes an ashtray. I would say the joke about that is people will often smoke after sex (or there's a perceived joke they do). It seems the clay comes off Frank's body, like it was there when the clay went everywhere.
Thank you very much. Yes, I never could get that part of the joke no matter how many times I have watched it. Thanks again for the help.
Answer: It wouldn't take a lot of pressure to operate the pedal, probably less than a car's accelerator.
20th Nov 2020
Idiocracy (2006)
Question: How did they stay frozen the whole time if they demolished the building? Wouldn't something that can keep a person frozen, require a lot of power? Did they just decide to demolish the building without checking that the power was out? Didn't they put a fudruckers on top of it? How did they remain frozen so long?
Answer: The science in this movie is far-fetched at best. Assumedly the pods had some sort of battery backup for emergencies. If the battery lasted 500 years, we can just assume it was secret government technology.
20th Nov 2020
Frasier (1993)
Question: Did they ever hint on this show or Cheers that Lilith was Jewish, before this episode?
Answer: Yes they did hint at it, but her religion was down played because they didn't want that to define her character. But besides the "Cheers" episode mentioned, s10e06 of "Frasier", "Star Mitzvah", is about their son Fredrick's bar mitzvah. Typically under Jewish law, a child is considered Jewish if his or her mother is Jewish (and we know Frasier isn't Jewish). It should also be noted that Lilith is a figure in Jewish mythology and considered to be the first wife of Adam.
Answer: Yes. The 'Cheers' episode 'For Real Men Only,' deals with infant Frederick's bris (ritual circumcision).
20th Nov 2020
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
Question: How did Hector Savage get killed in Jane's apartment?
Answer: Frank stuck a fire hose in his mouth and turned it on, causing Savage to explode.
Why couldn't Savage just remove the fire hose, especially when he began inflating with the water? Plus, how could water possibly be spraying from his chest?
Because this a ridiculous parody movie and it's funny.
Answer: How did a dead lobster claw the first lady's boob? Why was Daniel Boone at a police shootout? It's a silly, cartoonish movie.
2nd Nov 2020
The House On Sorority Row (1983)
Question: When the girls are drinking together in a bedroom, one of them comments about her mother saying that she was "born with a silver spoon" in her mouth. She jokes that the spoon is actually in her nose. What does she mean?
Answer: That she uses cocaine.
28th Oct 2020
Three's Company (1977)
Question: How can Jack, Janet and Chrissy confuse Ralph Furley's furniture with Mr. Roper's? They have been to Mr. Roper's apartment so many times that they should have known that furniture was not Mr. Roper's.
Answer: In addition to the other answer submitted, don't forget - the trio hadn't met Furley yet at that point nor did they know The New Landlord had moved in yet so it would make sense if they thought it was Roper's furniture (even if it was unfamiliar to them).
Answer: As the Ropers were the landlords, it's possible they kept unused furniture in the building storeroom or an unrented apartment (or so Jack might have assumed).
23rd Oct 2020
Yes Man (2008)
Question: At the end, the audience were all naked in the "Yes" seminar. Why did they attend it undressed?
Answer: They had donated all their clothes to the clothing drive for the homeless. After all, they couldn't say no.
21st Oct 2020
Quantum Leap (1989)
Star-Crossed - June 15, 1972 - S1-E3
Question: Al tells Sam that he's there to prevent the professor and his undergraduate student from having a shotgun wedding and ruining both their lives. That implies she got pregnant. Sam succeeds in keeping them apart. Um, does that mean he prevented someone from being born?
Answer: He means he's there to prevent there ever being the need for a shotgun wedding-that is, to stop the affair before there is a possibility of the girl getting pregnant.
Which would erase the child from history. That's my point.
Answer: Not necessarily; it could also mean that someone such as Jamie Lee's (the student) father discovered that the professor was having a sexual relationship with her and coerced the two into getting married.
This doesn't answer the question. You just described what a shotgun wedding is.
I think their point is that the "shotgun" aspect might not be due to a pregnancy, simply a forced attempt to legitimise an otherwise scandalous relationship.
My point was that a "shotgun wedding" doesn't always happen because an unmarried girl becomes pregnant; it can also happen because someone "stole her virtue", i.e had sex with her without being married or at least engaged to her. There's no reason to believe that Jamie Lee was, or would become, pregnant as a result of the affair or subsequent marriage.
The term "shotgun wedding" means a forced marriage due to unexpected pregnancy. It's sometimes even used when the woman is pregnant but it's planned or the wedding isn't "forced." In common colloquialism (especially in the 80's when the script was written), it doesn't refer to a force marriage just because of premarital sex (which the term "make an honest woman" is used for).
No, in the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel 'Elmer Gantry', they talk about shotgun weddings, when a groom is forced to marry a woman because he took her virginity. Obviously, the term usually refers to a pregnant bride, but I see zendaddys point.
22nd Oct 2020
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Question: What does the bad guy mean when he says "How the hell do they know that I've got gas"?
Answer: The idiots left a note for the 'gas man', explaining why they were running out on their delinquent heating bill. The hit man, who suffers from chronic stomach gas, thinks the note is for him, and that Lloyd and Harry are highly skilled professionals who have him under surveillance and know even minute details about his health.
21st Oct 2020
The Addams Family (1991)
Question: When Gordon and his mother are in Tulley's office, how does Tulley see a resemblance between Gordon and Fester? I thought he had not been seen for 25 years.
Answer: He's seen pictures and paintings of young Fester and notices a resemblance. Like you said, no-one had seen him in 25 years, so all that was required was a passing similarity.
14th Oct 2020
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Question: How exactly did Cochran manage to smuggle that massive Stonehenge all the way from England to California?
Answer: He wouldn't have to smuggle it, lots of things are bought in foreign countries and shipped to America. London Bridge in Arizona or put on display in buildings and parks.
Except the news report flat out said the stone had vanished and everyone was freaking out about the theft. It was not obtained by legal means. We're never told how they managed to get it; probably in some supernatural manner.
5th Apr 2011
Robocop (1987)
Question: Why, when Murphy/Robocop goes to his old house where he lived with his family, why are there burnt pictures/books lying around where he picks up the photo from? Surely, although his wife had moved on, she would not be so heartless as to burn all their memories together, even if she didn't want them she surely would have kept them for her son so he could have them to remember his dad.
Answer: Besides, it's the future. Just like in real life, she may have had those photos stored digitally.
6th Oct 2020
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
Question: How are the PowerPuff girls able to pick things up? They don't have any fingers.
Answer: They have fingers. It's just artistic license how their hands are drawn.
21st Sep 2020
National Treasure (2004)
Question: How did Ben manage to fool the fingerprint scanner?
Answer: He took Abigail's fingerprints from a glass that she was holding. When he put his thumb up against the fingerprint scanner, it was actually Abigail's fingerprint that was being scanned, so the scanner was tricked into thinking that Abigail was trying to enter the room and not Ben.
I think Ben would have a hard time fooling the fingerprint scanner since the scanner analyzes not only your fingerprint but your blood pressure, and body temperature.
Would his body temperature and blood pressure be different from Abigail's?
3rd Jul 2013
Carrie (1976)
Question: Is it me, or is Carrie's mother smiling when she gets stabbed multiple times by Carrie?
Answer: My feeling is that being so fundamentally religious that she was almost happy to finally die, and meet God as she believed.
Answer: She was also crucified, which makes her feel connected to Jesus.
Answer: I think for somebody as repressed as Carrie's mother even something like physical pain is a kind of release (her moans sound sexual to me). Also, remember the mother talking about enjoying Carrie's father touching her? "Hands all over me", there could be a parallel there.
I agree – it almost seemed like she was having an orgasm, or close to it, during her death throes.
6th Sep 2020
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Question: Why couldn't Brooks bring Jake with him?
Answer: He wanted Jake to have his freedom. He couldn't keep him at the halfway house, and perhaps Brooks suspected he wouldn't be around much longer.
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Answer: No, they were made for the movie. It was obviously young Clark and younger Uncle Lewis in the clips.
Brian Katcher