Question: This always kind of bugged me. Why would David think that Kirk murdered everyone left behind on Regula One? Even though they did not have a father/son relationship, surely the heroic exploits of James T. Kirk are well known? At one point, David even refers to him as an "overgrown Boy Scout." I've seen this movie a hundred times, but could there be something I'm missing?
BaconIsMyBFF
15th Jan 2019
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
9th Jan 2019
The Terminator (1984)
Question: If the Terminator had succeeded in killing Sarah and effectively wiping out John Conner, then that would mean the machines would win and even kill off mankind. So after Skynet's mission was complete and all humans are dead, what would the machines do now that with no more humans left to kill?
Answer: It's really impossible to answer definitively, considering the film-makers have never addressed this. The films never specify any purpose Skynet has outside of wanting to wipe out humanity. Skynet simply wants to "live", to exist as a sentient consciousness but views all of humanity as a threat to its existence. Since artificial intelligence is thus far only a fictional concept, we can't even really speculate based on information outside of the Terminator series. We can perhaps imagine a scenario wherein Skynet is successful and lives in peace as the only intelligence on Earth. The machines themselves do not have individuality and only exist for the purposes of killing humans so there doesn't seem to be a logical reason why they would exists if Skynet wins. However, there doesn't seem to be any reasonable way Skynet could ever be sure they have killed every single human on the planet so I can also imagine a scenario where the machines endlessly patrol the planet, making sure humanity never rises again. Also, and this is food for thought, the time travel scenario present in these films is a grandfather paradox. Skynet leads to it's own creation by sending back a Terminator to kill Sarah Connor. Similarly John Connor is conceived because a Terminator was sent back in time, which is the paradox. Skynet winning would create another paradox wherein Skynet could not exist because John Connor was never born so they had no enemy to fight, etc. This sort of stuff can make your head explode.
Just to be clear, the first movie doesn't say that Skynet created itself by sending a terminator back, that's the second movie. Also John Connor never being born doesn't remove their enemy, humanity is their enemy, it would stop the resistance and prevent the humans from winning, presumably. It does create a paradox though, like all time travel movies do.
The first movie deleted specific scenes which referenced the defeated Terminator being used to create Skynet. This of course was fully formed in the sequel. Technically since they are deleted scenes they may not belong in a discussion about the first movie but I was speaking generally with regards to the series as a whole. It's really only relevant to my point about the paradox which doesn't really have anything to do with the original question. Also, John Connor is specifically Skynet's enemy. Without him humanity would have been easily defeated. Technically, yes they want to wipe out all humanity but without John Connor they would have succeeded and there would be no need to send a terminator back in time, which of course is the entire point of the series. Both the humans and Skynet believe this to be true.
John Connor is the key to the paradox, true. Since John was created by Skynet's own attempt to stop him it's impossible for them to win the war. All movies tell us (except the horrible, terrible last one called Genisys) that skynet can not win the war by time travel. I had a whole essay written down but I decided not to post it, since talking about paradoxes is a paradox and they are highly interactive. Catch my drift?
Thinking about paradoxes in movies like these can drive you insane.
Yeah, but it's so much fun.
Agreed. I actually really love the paradox in the first Terminator. The idea that John gave Kyle a picture of his mother and Kyle fell in love with her because of that picture, and he always wondered what she was thinking about when the picture was taken, and it turns out she was thinking about how much she loved Kyle. Brilliant.
Yeah, you know now I think about it, the first movie doesn't have a grandfather paradox at all, it's the exact opposite. They actually created a loop, the time travel made the resistance exist and skynet always will try to use time travel to destroy the resistance. The paradox, is the sequel, where they make us believe the time travel also made skynet, which is impossible and an actual grandfather paradox because skynet invented time travel (since in the second movie the time travelling terminator from the first movie became the "grandfather" of skynet basically). Maybe we should move this to the Forum though.
27th Dec 2018
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005)
Question: Does Sharkboy seem to have a problem with Max? I dunno if that's just a vibe I got from him or not.
Answer: According to Taylor Lautner, the actor who played Sharkboy, he approached the role as if Sharkboy was jealous of Max because Sharkboy has a crush on Lavagirl and she pays Max lots of attention.
9th Jan 2019
Stand By Me (1986)
9th Jan 2019
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Question: Considering how powerful and dangerous the Ark is, why would Indy hand it over to the United States government, instead of putting it back where it was found and to ensure it's never located, lie to them and say him or the Nazis never found it?
Answer: Indy and Marcus Brody believed that the Ark needed to be studied. They certainly didn't want to put it back where it was found. They believed that the U.S. government would find the best archaeologists, researchers, and scientists in the world to study the Ark. They are both upset that instead, the government has decided to simply lock the Ark away. This is why Indy says, "Fools. They don't know what they've got there," as he is leaving the building.
Answer: To add to the previous answer, there is no way that the ark could have been secretly returned to where it was found and then conveniently forgotten. Too many people already knew of its existence and location. It would only be a matter of time before someone more sinister would retrieve it.
25th Oct 2018
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Question: What happened to Dave York's wife and daughters after his death? Do they ever find out about his evil motives?
Answer: It is never mentioned, but it stands to reason that eventually they did find out. York's crimes most certainly would have been made public, he is solely responsible for several murders including the murder of a police officer at the beach. There would be very little reason for the government to cover up his crimes since he was acting as a rogue agent.
27th Dec 2018
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: Why are Ali's friends with Johnny, Dutch, and Tommy at Golf and stuff? Surely they'd stay away from them out of respect for Ali?
Answer: Ali and Daniel are really the only ones that seem to have a problem with Johnny and his friends. Other than that, Johnny is well liked and popular. Even Ali's parents are fond of Johnny. Also, to be fair Johnny does seem to be genuine when he invites Ali to come along with the group and even invites Daniel along as well, though he does make a rude comment about Daniel while doing so. The Cobras have stopped harassing Daniel and only Daniel and Ali know the real reason why. Johnny and his group are still friendly with Ali's friends so they see no reason not to hang out with him. Ali's friends also unfairly dislike Daniel from the beginning because he lives in Reseda, so they are not the best judges of character to begin with.
Answer: They are in the same friend group and Johnny and Ali's break up doesn't really affect any of them. In the Cobra Kai series, Johnny said that they got into a fight before his senior year and figured things would blow over. So it sounds like them fighting was a regular thing and their friends were probably used to it.
27th Dec 2018
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Question: What is the connection between Wombosi and Kane, i.e. how does Wombosi know/recognise Kane's corpse and make the connection to Bourne? Are we assuming that they had prior contact before Bourne tries to kill him on the boat?
Answer: If they had no prior contact, how would Wombosi have known the name Kane and to go check the morgue?
Answer: In fact on the yacht Wombosi had fired 3 bullets at Bourne. He checks that the corpse has no impacts. That is how he understands that the corpse is not the one of the killer of the boat.
Answer: Wombosi is aware that the CIA is responsible for the attempt on his life. He is also aware that the CIA attempted to kill him because of his threats to go public with information about their activities in Africa. Conklin is unaware, however that Wombosi got a good look at Bourne's face. When Wombosi sees the body in the morgue is obviously not the man he saw on the boat, he correctly suspects the CIA is trying to fool him and will likely make another attempt on his life. Wombosi and Bourne had no prior contact before that night on the boat.
28th Dec 2018
Alien (1979)
Question: After Ripley has set the ship to self destruct, she grabs Jones and hurries towards the shuttle. She then runs into the alien in the corridor, drops Jones and runs away and then tries to stop the self destruct system. Now she'd set the ship to self destruct, needed to get the hell out of there, the alien was in her way, why didn't she just blast it with her flamethrower? Ripley is not like Lambert, she's feisty and brave and I think Ripley would have done just that.
Answer: Ripley is, for the majority of this film, not "feisty and brave." She is written to be an intelligent, capable, but otherwise average person. She is for all intents and purposes an "everyman" character. She does not become the tenacious, bold heroine that defines her in popular culture until her last battle with the alien, and these character traits are solidified in the sequel. For most of the film, she is very much terrified of the alien and the prospect of fighting it head on is the furthest from her mind. At that moment in the corridor, her fight or flight response kicks in and she flees. All of this serves to make her fight against the alien in the shuttle more poignant, as she is forced to literally face her fears and defend herself. Note that while she is trying to get the alien to come out of its hiding place on the shuttle, she is soaked in nervous sweat and is singing a song to calm herself down. Would the Ripley of later films have blasted the alien to kingdom come? Of course. The Ripley in this film has yet to become the no-nonsense, composed heroine we remember at that point.
28th Dec 2018
Alien (1979)
Question: Why did the last three remaining crew members split up? Surely it would have made better sense to stay together as up until that time the alien had only attacked people when they were alone.
Answer: They felt like they didn't have enough time. Parker and Lambert stayed together to get coolant while Ripley was to prepare the shuttle and set the auto-destruct. They wanted to escape as soon as possible. Staying together would have, in their minds, lengthened the time they were on the ship with the alien.
Answer: Fair point but I don't think that the Alien would have attacked three people because when it moved in to kill Lambert it didn't know that Parker was behind it.
You're basing that on what you know about the alien from watching the films. The characters at this point have no real idea how the alien would behave. For all they know, it could start reproducing asexually and there could be six more of them on the ship.
Don't understand what you mean, sorry.
You are saying that you believe the alien wouldn't attack three people together. That's because you've probably seen the films and have a pretty good understanding of the creature's biology and behavior. The characters in the film have no idea how it behaves or how it will behave the longer it stays alive. The biology of the alien is so different from anything they've seen and they want to get away from it as soon as they possibly can.
28th Dec 2018
Commando (1985)
Question: The villain's whole plan was to force John Matrix to kill some foreign president by holding his daughter hostage. So why at the beginning were they killing members of his unit? That seemed rather pointless to me.
Answer: They didn't know where Matrix lived. They were killing Matrix's old unit because they knew if they did General Kirby would make physical contact with Matrix to warn him. They simply followed Kirby to Matrix's home.
27th Dec 2018
Whiplash (2014)
Question: A few questions: 1) Why did Fletcher recruit Neiman if he knew he ousted him? 2) Did Fletcher purposefully set up Neiman to fail by switching up the song list? If so, wouldn't that look bad on Fletcher? 3) Why did Neiman go crazy and start/keep playing out of sync with everyone else?
Answer: Fletcher recruited Neiman with the intention of ruining his career. He informed Neiman they would be playing songs he was familiar with, but secretly had other songs planned. Fletcher knew there would be influential people in the audience, whose opinion of Neiman would be made or destroyed based on his performance. Neiman attempted to play along with the unfamiliar songs, but couldn't. He decided to prove his talent by playing Caravan. This impressed Fletcher who was angry at first but came to respect Neiman and help him out.
Answer: 1) Fletcher recruited Neiman to attempt to humiliate him publicly. 2) Yes, he purposefully set Neiman up. He reveals to him before the performance that he is aware Neiman testified against him. He doesn't care whether or not the performance will make him look bad, he is out for revenge. 3) Neiman turns the tables on Fletcher by playing "Caravan" instead of the song the rest of the band is playing. "Caravan" is the song Neiman failed to play properly after his car accident. Fletcher, finally showing a modicum of true respect for Neiman, then smiles at him acknowledging his talent and his tenacity.
Answer: Fletcher set up Neiman, but not to fail. Fletcher often spoke of how greatness can only come when one is pushed to their limits (e.g. the Miles Davis story, where David performed an incredible solo months after being booed off stage). By setting up Neiman, Fletcher was testing his limits. In a very similar fashion to the Miles Davis story, Neiman took an incredible un-announced drum solo to make up for his failure and push through the final barrier keeping him from greatness. Fletcher knew that setting Neiman up would make him look bad, but he also knew that if there was a new Miles Davis story to come out of this, it would all be worth it.
27th Dec 2018
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: With Kurt's ability to teleport, how was Stryker able to capture and brainwash him into assassinating the president?
Answer: According to X2: X-Men United: The Movie Prequel: Nightcrawler (an official comic book prequel series to the movie), Stryker had his son Jason use his mutant powers to deceive Nightcrawler with an illusion. Nightcrawler thought he was escaping to freedom with the woman he loved but instead was running straight to Stryker's men who immediately placed an inhibitor collar on him and locked him in a cell.
13th Dec 2018
Tombstone (1993)
Question: Who was the hooded person who shot at the women with the shotgun?
Answer: Florentino, the Mexican member of the Cowboys played by Paul Ben-Victor. Earlier a brief close up of him is seen as he is stalking the Earps and, though only seen briefly as he shoots at the women, his mustache is quite easily recognizable if you pause the movie.
13th Dec 2018
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: Why did it matter so much to Ali's father that Daniel's from Reseda?
Answer: Ali and her family are very well off and are from a nicer part of town. Reseda is a lower income area. It's a typical "wrong side of the tracks" situation. Ali's parents would be happier if their daughter dated someone more well off. The theme of "never judge a book by the cover" permeates throughout the film and this is one of several examples. Daniel is a kind, caring, honorable young man and where he lives has nothing at all to do with his character. Johnny, who Ali's parents are more approving of because of his social status, is controlling, manipulative, petulant, and violent.
25th Mar 2018
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Question: When Mantis keeps the wolf from firing the weapon, he shouts, "Fear the bug!" Is it some kind of a parody?
Chosen answer: No, it is merely a joke about the size of Mantis and his surprising fighting prowess. "Fear the..." is a somewhat common joke. For example, the University of Maryland uses the unofficial slogan "Fear the turtle!"; the Milwaukee Bucks use the slogan "Fear the deer", etc.
8th Dec 2018
Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)
Question: The opening scene, as well as several others, shows Kaiju skeletons lying on the beach. In the first film, Kaiju bone power was $500 an ounce, used as a aphrodisiac. If that is the case, why is there 10s of millions of dollars just lying on the beach deteriorating?
Answer: The film never addresses this, and in fact the kaiju black market is never even mentioned. Any answer would be speculation. You could argue that it has been a decade since the events of the previous film and in that time the kaiju black market could have collapsed for any number of reasons (lack of demand, procurement costs, government regulation, etc). We must also consider that the writers were not concerned with consistency between this film and the previous film. Since Hannibal Chau does not appear in this film, nor is he mentioned, the idea of a lucrative kaiju black market appears to have been dropped. Since this film focuses instead on a jaeger black market, it might have been a conscious decision by the film-makers to ignore Hannibal Chau in this film to avoid confusing new viewers who didn't see the original film.
1st Sep 2014
Rango (2011)
Question: Why didn't Roadkill the armadillo die by getting run over, and how did he put himself back together?
Answer: I think he was a ghost... in a way. He was like Rangos guardian.
Answer: The movie is supposed to be surreal. There is no explanation given.
Answer: The only answer I can really give is that it's an animated movie made by Nickelodeon. In other animated movies/shows such as Spongebob, the characters kind of just put themselves back together and act as if nothing happened.
11th May 2016
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Question: Not saying I'm an expert on time travel, but when Goob and 'Doris' submit the Memory Scanner as their own, shouldn't Doris immediately vaporize much like she did when Lewis said he wouldn't invent her, seeing as Lewis is still theoretically in the future and wouldn't be present in the past to invent Doris?
31st Dec 2016
Major League (1989)
Question: Rene Russo is listed in the credits as Lynn Wells, but in both the restaurant and when Jake asked for her on the phone with the Cuyahoga sheet metal place, they pronounce her name Westland. I even checked the subtitles. Did I miss something? They don't tell us Tom's last name but a playoff game for a divisional title would be about Oct 3rd when they were supposed to get married? Right?
Answer: Lynn's last name is Westland. The credits have it incorrectly listed as Wells. There is no explanation for the error.
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Answer: Because David is working under the assumption that Kirk ordered Reliant to take Genesis by force. Khan had Chekov send a message that Kirk was ordering Regula 1 to turn over the Genesis project. When Carol Marcus attempted to contact Kirk to confirm the order, he had the communications at Regula 1 jammed so the message couldn't go through. This lead David to believe that Kirk was attempting to steal Genesis. The fact that the group that stayed behind never made it to the cave suggested that they were killed. Since David has no reason to believe otherwise, he assumes Kirk is responsible. He has no idea who Khan is and that he is a mortal enemy of his father. Khan's goal was simply to acquire Genesis and bring his enemy to him, having David distrust Kirk was not part of his plan. It just happened that way.
BaconIsMyBFF