Question: Why didn't the Japanese just cut the rope net off the cliff side to prevent the Americans from climbing up and attacking? Common sense would have been to inhibit their advance any way they could.
Bishop73
8th Jan 2024
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
8th Jan 2024
Lucifer (2015)
Question: What is the red stuff on Lucifer's wings? I first thought it was Chloe's blood, but there was too much and she wasn't bleeding anyway. Lucifer had his wings out to stop the bullets, so he wasn't hit. So, what was on his wings?
Answer: It's Lucifer's blood from when his wings got hit by the bullets. As Lucifer spreads his wings, they're white, and before he wraps them around Chloe, you see a bullet hit his wing above his right shoulder, and the spot turns red. After that, he continues to get shot in the wings before fleeing.
5th Jan 2024
Jingle All the Way (1996)
Question: How does Ted have so much time on his hands when he is a solo dad? He is able to attend his son's karate class, no problem. He has the time to shop for his son and make Howard look like a bad father. Also, he lives in a rather nice house, something that wouldn't be affordable if you were just working part-time, so Ted probably works full time. Howard, on the other hand, looks to be working hard to get ahead in life. He has the support of his wife, who also appears to be a stay-at-home mum.
Answer: Since it's never explained in the film, everything would be speculation. There's a number of things Ted could do to have the type of lifestyle seen in the film. For example, he could be getting child support from his ex-wife if he has primary custody. He could even be getting alimony from his ex-wife. Ted could also be earning passive income (e.g. rental property or other types of investments). It also seem Howard is working a lot of overtime where Ted may have a regular full time job, but has hours set that make it look like he has a lot more free time.
Answer: As Bishop73 basically said, people have different circumstances and situations. It doesn't make sense to say that one single parent should, or should not, be able to do something, judging by the life of another single parent. Life happens to everyone differently. My husband and his five siblings had a single mother. She still attended some school events, worked part-time or temporary jobs, went shopping, and went on dates.
5th Jan 2024
General questions
What is the name of this possibly Japanese cartoon I saw in the 80s? Futuristic soldiers are converted into cyborgs to work in space. It follows an elite team before and after the conversion. One was an alien from the planet 'Mime' who never spoke. Another were a twin brother and sister who had the code names 'Iron Heart' and 'Iron Will.' During conversion, they realized Iron Heart had a defective heart, so they replaced it with machinery, making his name more appropriate.
Answer: "SilverHawks" (1986). The twins were called "Steelheart" and "Steelwill," who had artificial hearts put in during their transformation. Steelheart was the sister, though; Emily Hart, and her brother was Will Hart.
Thank you! Me confusing iron and steel made it impossible to Google.
21st Oct 2020
Night Court (1984)
Question: At the end of the episode, the military shows up and asks for all the evidence as it was a matter of national security. It's quite obvious that Harry called the military and was stalling for time until they could show up and get the evidence. Why did Harry call the military? I seriously doubt that it had anything to do with national security. I believe it was because he was actually trying to let Irene off the hook.
Answer: It's possible when Harry called the military, he implied that the book contained sensitive information, seeing as how many government and military officials were part of the client list.
I thought it was because he developed feelings for the madam and couldn't bring himself to turn her in.
Answer: He wasn't necessarily trying to let Irene off the hook. He still found her guilty. He was trying to get the diary out of evidence, but he had no legal standing to do so. It had nothing to do with military officials listed, but the fact that at least one of them talked about the military's equipment (the bombers). Harry called the military in hopes they could remove the diary from evidence. The major briefly reviewed the diary and classified it temporarily as "Secret", meaning that the court could no longer introduce the diary as evidence, which would have made the contents public (since there's no confidentiality laws between prostitutes and their clients).
21st Dec 2023
Rambo: First Blood (1982)
Question: When Sheriff Teasle drops Rambo off at the bridge, and then when he pulls his car to the side to question and then arrest him, both times he turns on his red and blue lights. Why does he do this?
Answer: Because even though there wasn't traffic, he was still stopping in the middle of the road. He wanted to make sure to be seen. When he's arresting Rambo, he's actually blocking the road and not pulled off to the side, so he wants to make sure traffic stops. When he initially picked Rambo up, he was coming from the gas station and on a side road, so he wasn't stopped in the middle of the road like he did later, so he doesn't bother turning his lights on.
18th Dec 2023
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Question: After Veruca goes down the chute, Wonka tells Mr. Salt that the chute leads to the furnace. Mr. Salt laughs and says that Veruca would be "sizzled like a sausage", but then gets scared when Wonka says that Veruca could be stuck inside the tube. Why would Mr. Salt laugh at the idea of Veruca being burned alive but terrified at the thought of her being stuck?
Answer: Because at first, he thought Wonka was being silly and making up the fact that she went down a garbage chute and then thought he was piling on the joking by saying it led to a furnace. So, he was playing along with the joke until he realized Wonka was being serious.
7th Dec 2023
Star Wars (1977)
Question: I'm not an English native speaker. This can be more of an English-related question. There's a line of Han Solo that I don't understand. He said this line twice, during the conversations with Greedo and Jabba: "Even I get boarded sometimes." What exactly does he mean? What is "get boarded" here?
Answer: To "board" means to step foot on a craft. Han is referring to random inspections, where stormtroopers will come onto the Millennium Falcon to search for contraband. He is saying it isn't his fault he had to dump Jabba's shipment. Even being as good a pilot as he is, he still can't stop the Empire from searching his ship from time to time.
Chosen answer: Getting onto a ship or plane is called "boarding." Han is saying the authorities have come onto his spaceship (boarded his ship), which is why he had to get rid of whatever he was smuggling (bringing in secret and illegally) for Jabba. By saying "even I get boarded", he means even though he's the best smuggler, there's still times he gets his ship searched.
5th Dec 2023
General questions
For a period of time starting in the mid-2000s, it became common for most major DVD releases to have both 1- and 2-disc editions. Typically, the 2-disc edition just had more bonus content and cost a few dollars more, while the 1-disc edition had less content and was cheaper. I never understood this. This was before streaming became huge, so it didn't incentivize buying the DVD, nor did the 2-disc edition cost much more, so it couldn't have had much impact on profit. So why was this even a thing?
Answer: OP here. From everything I've been able to find, it pretty much just looks like it was just a bit of a gimmick. Put some extra bonus content on a second disc, call it a "Special Edition" or "Collector's Edition" or "Limited Edition," and charge an extra $5 for it. People who wanted just the movie could buy the single disc for the standard price, and people who wanted more special features paid a slightly more expensive "premium price." And it would subtly boost profits.
I think you're right - the extra content largely existed already, there was no significant cost to produce it, and mastering a second version of the DVD wouldn't cost much in the grand scheme of things either, so any extra amount would have been pure profit. Showgirls (first example I found) apparently made $37m in cinemas and $100m in DVD sales. A couple of extra dollars per unit would add up. It might also serve as "anchoring" if that's the right term - having a more expensive 2 disc version makes the single disc version look like better value to the casual buyer (while also appealing more to the movie buff). There are certainly some films I splashed out on for the fancier version because I was a fan (and then of course never really watched the extras much!), but going back a while there was literally no other way to see this extra content unless you bought the special edition.
From the perspective of why they were simultaneously released (and with a relatively small difference in price), I'd agree. But this is different from why two-disc versions were released some time after the one-disc version (and with a substantial difference in price). That is, the reasons why this initially happened are different from why it continued to happen.
I was trying to refer to concurrent releases in my question. Unfortunately, the character limit meant I could not give any examples. I was referring to titles like "Spider-Man 3" or "Transformers." I used to go to the store at midnight to buy new DVD releases around the time those movies came out, and there would almost always be a single disc DVD with just the movie and a few features, and a 2-Disc set with more special features released on the same day. (A 2-disc special/anniversary edition being released a few years later for an older title makes sense, and is a different matter entirely. I'm referring to when multiple editions of the same new release were put out at the same time.)
Yes, I finally figured this out! You are asking about a specific time period and looking for a straightforward answer, without putting things in historical perspective (the developing technology and decreasing costs of mass-producing DVD movies). The extras (plus a little more) that used to be included on the standard editions were now on a second disc with the package costing about $5 more. It probably came down to "will customers [be stupid enough to] pay extra money for this two-disc DVD?"
It probably came down to 'will customers [be stupid enough to] pay extra money for this two-disc DVD?' "and unfortunately when I was a teenager, I was, hahahaha. But yeah, the more I look into it, the more it does just seem like a total gimmick. (I feel like a good modern comparison might be steelbooks... cool packaging, but usually sold for a very high markup even though it's the same exact discs.)
My "victimization" came much earlier. I had the standard release versions of movies and, later, when I started to see much more expensive two-disc versions, I thought, "Who would buy these now?" Well, I think I ended up buying 3 versions of "Terminator 2." [Why?]
Answer: From my experience, the 2-disc versions provided two different formats. Typically, the 1-disc version was Fullscreen and, depending on its release, did have additional content like commentaries and deleted scenes. The 2-disc version included a Widescreen version as well as extra materials, extended cuts, remastered versions, or special edition, etc. Later, when Blu-Ray came out, the 2-disc set usually included a standard DVD version. Some DVDs were sold as 2-sided without a lot of extra content but having a Fullscreen and Widescreen version.
This doesn't really answer the question. I'm not referring to those. I'm more so referring to titles like "Spider-Man 3" or "Super 8". Their DVDs only came in widescreen, but had two versions. A single-disc edition with just the movie and a few special features, and a 2-disc edition that had more special features. I'm curious as to WHY many titles had single and two-disc editions with the only difference being the amount of special features. It just seems more logical to release just the 2-disc edition. This answer basically just explains that 2-disc existed.
I apologise for misunderstanding the question, because what you described in my experience was atypical. And in my opinion, it makes sense to release two versions, but I'm afraid to answer why if I turn out to still not understand the question.
No problem. It's a very weird, specific question, hahaha. Wouldn't surprise me if there isn't even really an answer beyond just "they decided to try it for some reason."
Answer: Simply put MONEY.
Profits are almost always, if not always, a factor. The two-disc versions with "extras" might have been enough to get certain movie buffs to buy them, even though they already had the single-disc version - but I doubt very many people actually did so.
2nd Dec 2023
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
1st Dec 2023
Clue (1985)
Question: Why did they film three endings?
Answer: The game has tons of different possible outcomes. So, to emulate that, they filmed different possible endings for the film.
Answer: I think to tie in the movie with the gameplay of the board game more. Often when playing, someone will incorrectly guess what happened, who was the killer, with which weapon, and what room. Then the answer in the envelope is revealed to show what really happened. So they made different endings like someone guessed wrong. I think the real question is why were there 3 different versions of the film released to theaters, each with a different ending. It seems it was a marketing idea that backfired and didn't even fit the concept of tying it into the board game.
25th Nov 2023
General questions
I remember a sitcom episode in which a man got angry if someone mentioned David Letterman. He would shout something like "David Letterman? Slowly I turn around!" I don't think he was a main character, though.
Answer: It's from the TV series "Cosby", s02e17, "Fifteen Minutes of Fame." Hilton and Griffin are in a jail cell and Griffin tells the guard they need to get to the David Letterman show. Gilbert Gottfried (who's credited as playing himself) gets angry hearing David Letterman's name and goes into a rant about how David Letterman ruined his life.
Thank you! That sounds like what I saw.
2nd Jun 2021
Family Guy (1999)
One If By Clam, Two If By Sea - S3-E4
Question: Who voices Sylvester Stallone in this episode? It is not listed on IMDB.
Answer: It's Alan Shearman.
Answer: According to IMDb, it's John Viener.
How is that possible? This episode aired in 2001 and Viener didn't join "Family Guy" until 2005.
Viener voiced Stallone in a season 4 episode. According to IMDb, Alan Shearman played him in this episode.
13th Nov 2023
High Anxiety (1977)
Question: What is the name of the song that blasts in Dr. Wentworth's car and causes his ears to rupture? Or was it something created for the movie?
Answer: It was a song written by Mel Brooks for the film. It's called "If You Love Me Baby, Tell Me Loud."
30th Oct 2023
633 Squadron (1964)
19th Oct 2023
The Simpsons (1989)
Homer's Triple Bypass - S4-E11
Question: Bart and Lisa say they don't feel highs and lows because their generation watches MTV. Can someone explain more?
Answer: I think Lisa and Bart are actually referring to Generation X and early Millennials. People of these ages are also known as "the MTV Generation." They dealt with the political, social, and economic issues that were happening in the '80s and '90s. Many were also "latchkey kids" who had to be independent from an early age. They are known for being apathetic or even cynical, after growing up the way they did.
Answer: They probably mean that MTV has little to do with real life, and viewers became numbed and emotionally detached from reality by watching the contrived idealized images almost non-stop. It prevents them developing empathetic feelings toward others in their lives.
This episode aired Dec 1992, and given that it took 6-9 months to produce an episode, the writing took place early or mid 1992. MTV's first reality show, "The Real World", didn't air until May 1992. "Road Rules", MTV's 2nd reality TV show didn't air until 1995.
But that's all equally applicable to watching endless music videos, shortening attention spans. The fear is/was that constant "input" like that would slightly numb people to the real world, with exciting music/images being the only thing that generates an emotional response, in comparison to the more "boring" real world.
18th Mar 2012
Limitless (2011)
Question: How does Eddie get away with the apparent murder of the blonde woman in the apartment? I gather that even he doesn't know whether it was him or not but surely the Police would want to at least call him in for questioning at some point? And if it was him, surely, in that situation, it would be difficult to get away without leaving any evidence?
Answer: Although there is no definitive proof, I believe the killer to be Atwood's henchman. During the trip scene we see him following Eddie and the Blonde to their room and although it comes off as an illusion there's no reason it cannot be real. This alone is not enough to say for certain but the main reason I point to the henchman is because of how the story plays out following the murder. Eddie is by an eyewitness (probably someone working for Atwood if not the actual killer) who tells the police about him and as a result he is called into questioning. Because of the inquiry Eddie hires "the best lawyer in the city" who as we know is under Atwood's thumb. It is during this line of questioning the lawyer is able to go into Eddie's jacket and steal his NZT. None of these things would have happened had the Blonde never been killed.
Answer: There was no mention of physical evidence like hairs or fibres, the only evidence the police had was an eye-witness placing Eddie at the scene at the time the murder occurred; the eye-witness failed to I.D. Eddie in the line-up he was called to at the police station so Eddie was released, as the police had no case.
Answer: It was mentioned that the room was wiped clean after the murder. It was probably Atwood who set it all up because he was on NZT and needed some more.
Answer: Did you watch the movie? Lol... Eddie was called in and questioned about the murder. He was able to beat the case because the eyewitness couldn't pick him out of a line-up. Remember, his lawyer arranged to have a line-up full of men that looked just like Eddie.
The point of a line-up is to make everyone look similar to the actual suspect. So, the lawyer didn't do anything shady, and it would have been the police's job to have similar-looking people. A line-up of a mix of people is kind of a movie/TV trope, and the film implying the lawyer rigged the lineup fits into that trope.
9th Oct 2023
Shooter (2007)
Question: In this movie, the Colonel says the following to Swaggart: 'You've done your country a great service, son. On the day..." What does the expression "On the day" mean, and what is its origin?
Answer: To me, it just sounds like he got interrupted. Like he was going to say, on the day of the shooting, he needs Swagger there. Swagger interrupts him by saying "look," as if he knows what Johnson is going to ask and he doesn't want to be a part of it. Then Johnson continues, saying Swagger knows what to look for and he could use a spotter.
29th Sep 2023
Moonstruck (1987)
Question: When Grandpa is walking his dogs, you can hear a boy say, "Keep your dogs off my lawn," then laughs. You hear his laugh again in the beauty salon. What was that about?
Answer: The laugh does seem out of place because it sounds more like kids than the ladies at the salon. But it didn't sound like the same laugh to me. But it does sound like the same person recorded both laughs. It also seems like the kid's line was added after filming the shot. So it wouldn't surprise me if an adult (perhaps one of the production sound mixers) recorded a couple different lines and laughs in a pretend kid's voice. Then one of those laughs was added.
Answer: I tried to find a clip of these scenes but didn't find exactly what you're referring to. If it was the exact same laugh that was heard, it may be a sound effect added to the film during the post-production editing. Foley artists add all types of sound effects to movies, including laughs, groans, coughs, etc. Sometimes one particular sound gets used more than once. One famous example of a repeated sound is the "Wilhelm" scream. This particular scream has become a tradition that many editors add to movies.
26th Sep 2023
She Gets What She Wants (2002)
Question: At school, Starla makes fun of a supposedly lesbian girl by asking if the girl's perfume is "C.K. Spam." What does that mean?
Answer: CK, which stands for Calvin Klein, is a brand of perfume. Spam is the cheap ham meat in a can. So she's indicating she smells like the meat or could be a subtle way of calling her a pig.
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Answer: I'd classify it as a deliberate mistake or choice on the moviemakers' part. It fit the plot to have it play out that way and have the Japanese being attacked.
raywest ★
A deliberate mistake is something like using an 8-month-old baby as a newborn, something done intentionally for filming purposes. Writing in a plot contrivance isn't a deliberate mistake. At best, it could be considered a character mistake if it's something a real person would do in the character's position or a stupidity, a stupid act by a character for the sake of the plot.
Bishop73
I have seen so many movies and TV shows where some contrived plot device is thrown in solely to make the story work, even though it makes little sense in a real-world context. If you're going to make an issue about it, you can call it whatever you want.
raywest ★
It was a plot mechanic. Unfortunately, resulting in a massive, obvious plot hole.