Best movie questions of 2017

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War for the Planet of the Apes picture

Question: Did Caesar intentionally mean to kill winter the gorilla, or was he just trying to keep him silent from alerting the alpha omega soldiers?

Joey221995

Answer: He was trying to keep him quiet. He was likely more aggressive about it than he would have been, had his family not been murdered.

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Thor: Ragnarok picture

Question: If, as Odin says, Mjolnir was never the source of Thor's power, then how come that "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor"?

Epigenis

Answer: If other people are worthy, they can gain the power of Thor (this is something that has happened in the comics), but Thor can muster that power alone. In his case, the hammer simply allows him to focus his powers.

How come then that in the first movie when Odin wants to remove Thor's power he "confiscates" Mjolnir? If Thor's power is intrinsically inside him, how could Odin remove it? Then, he reacquire those powers only after holding Mjolnir again, which implies Thor's powers come from Mjolnir. This is poorly explained in the movies.

Epigenis

"Poorly explained" doesn't make it a mistake. Odin suppressed Thor's innate powers and removed the hammer both symbolically and to prevent Thor from using it to reacquire his powers.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul picture

Question: Why didn't Greg simply apologize to Mr. Beardo and explain everything to him?

Answer: "Beardo" looked intimidating and could easily frighten a child (or adult, for that matter). He also became enraged in front of children over scratches on his van - something minor that might bother an adult, but certainly not serious enough to produce Beardo's over-reaction. Greg did deny that he caused the damage. However, Beardo did not come across as being a rational adult or someone who a 12-year-old would feel comfortable standing up to or simply trying to reason with. Greg saw Beardo as a "difficult" and irrational person, so rightfully wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

KeyZOid

Answer: Mainly because when they first actually meet, the Beardo's daughter blames everything on Greg, so even if Greg did try to explain everything, the Beardo probably wouldn't believe him.

Answer: There's probably a combination of factors why Greg kept things to himself. Teenagers don't tell parents a lot of things for whatever reasons (e.g, not worth the hassle). Maybe Greg thought his parents wouldn't believe his side of the story and assume he was the instigator. Perhaps Greg's parents gave the boys a stern warning to behave themselves while on vacation - that they need/ want rest and relaxation or care-free days without trouble, especially from the boys (trying to avoid the "can't you even behave yourselves on vacation" lecture). Believing "ignorance is bliss", Greg figured what his parents didn't know couldn't hurt them. Telling his parents may not have been helpful or relevant; Beardo was acting like a lunatic or psycho on each encounter. It might have been difficult, if not impossible, to tell his parents without Rodrick overhearing. Some of the things Greg did (getting into bed with Beardo) were embarrassing; if Rodrick knew, they'd become the brunt of his teasing.

KeyZOid

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Logan Lucky picture

Question: Why, in the credits and trailers, does it say "and introducing Daniel Craig as Joe Bang"? Isn't introducing used for new actors, not really famous ones?

Answer: Established actors are not normally listed in the cast credits this way. This appears to have been done as an inside joke.

raywest

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Professor Marston and the Wonder Women picture

Question: Assuming people knew, how did Marston avoid trouble for living with two wives?

Rob245

Answer: Though it may be considered immoral and socially unacceptable, particularly during the film's 1940s time frame, it is not illegal to live with multiple people in a sexual relationship. It is only illegal to be married to more than one person at the same time. Marston was not a bigamist. He was legally married to his wife, Elizabeth. They engaged in a consensual polyamorous (not polygamous) relationship with Olive, who was not married to Marston.

raywest

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Answer: Think of any manufacturing process. Samples of new products are frequently created and then immediately destroyed. Also, the new replicant would require processing, training, etc. It was simpler for him to just dispose of the test.

Answer: He was being violently petulant at the moment, angry that he couldn't create and control the birth that he just learned occurred with older-model replicants and seeing his new creation as "flawed" by design. Pretty villainous, he cares nothing for the replicants.

Erik M.

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Answer: The dog did not die, at least not in the film. After Ben and Alex are released from the hospital, Ben took the dog with him.

raywest

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Jigsaw picture

Question: Why did Anna get so mad over Ryan killing Carly? If it were not for him, all of them would have died. All of them were almost dying when Ryan injected Carly. But after they were all release from the chains, Anna got so angry with Ryan and attacked him and said to him "Fucking asshole." It turns out that she killed her baby just because her baby didn't stop crying in the past. So she is not the type of the person who cares about people's lives very much.

Bunch Son

Answer: She's just trying to maintain a moral high-ground over Ryan. Plenty of people do that all the time, especially in stressful situations.

TedStixon

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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri picture

Question: Why would they make Anne Australian? Her nationality isn't even mentioned, so why would they let Abbie Cornish use her natural accent? What purpose does it serve? It seems like an incredibly random choice. Abbie Cornish has used an American accent in most of her roles, so of all the ones to use her natural accent, why would she use it in the one where it makes the least sense? Why would an Australian go to a small Ozarks Missouri town? I assume she stayed there because she met Bill and fell in love with him, but why would she have gone there in the first place, before she met Bill?

MikeH

Answer: Since the movie doesn't tell us how she and Bill met, any answer about how and why she was there would be mere speculation. Letting an actress speak in her native accent is not exactly "random"; random would be if she was an American and the writer/director decided to make her character Australian. However, the situation of an Australian marrying someone from, and then living in, a small Missouri town is not as outlandish or nonsensical as one might think; I used to date someone from a tiny town in Kansas, whose mother was an upper-class British woman who happened to meet and marry someone from that town.

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Downsizing picture

Question: For no obvious reason - except for the fun of it - the downsizing procedure included a complete shave-down. In the Norwegian colony they have horses, sheep and dogs. Were the animals also shaved before being downsized?

Answer: They apparently shave them because the process only works on living tissue. So yes, they would have had to shave the animals.

And taking their teeth out too?

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The Star picture

Question: What happened to King Herod after his soldier falls to his death and both Thaddeus and Rufus reform?

Answer: He continued ruling with an iron fist. The prophecy of the blessed child was forgotten until Jesus came forth.

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Answer: He was a fictional character. However, Apatow says he was playing a version of himself, though he didn't initially realise that when being cast. He claims he is not that bad in real life; his character is also an amalgam of other producers.

raywest

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I, Tonya picture

Question: Did people actually care about figure skating? I wasn't alive when this happened, but apparently it was one of the biggest sporting controversies of all time. Well I find that quite hard to believe, since before this movie came out, I'd never heard anyone talk about figure skating, I barely even knew what it was. Was figure skating ever actually a big thing, or do people just like controversy?

MikeH

Answer: It used to be a lot more popular. The Harding/Kerrigan Winter Olympic figure skating competition was the 6th highest rated program in TV history as of 1994, with 48.5 million viewers, no doubt helped by the controversy. It's slowly declined over time - from 1998 to 2018 viewing figures for the US championships declined by 1/3. Opinions about its loss of appeal range from a change in the scoring (used to be judges rating out of 6.0, now it's a more complicated points system), to a lack of "star power", with recognisable names grabbing people's attention. In the UK at least, skater team Torville and Dean were household names for a long time, but I'd imagine a lot of people would struggle to think of skaters with that level of popular recognition nowadays. That said, viewing figures for the 2018 US championships were 60% up on 2017, and membership of the US figure skating organization has risen for the last four years - these things wax and wane like any other.

Jon Sandys

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Freedom Fighters: The Ray picture

Question: If Overgirl is Supergirl from Earth X, and Supergirl gets her powers the same way that Superman does, from sunlight, then how is The Ray, whose powers are based on using yellow light, able to hurt her with his powers? Wouldn't his blasts help her?

Quantom X

Answer: My understanding is the Ray uses pure light for his powers while Superman and Supergirl get their power from the solar energy of a yellow sun, not yellow light.

Bishop73

I see. But if it was from pure light, wouldn't his powers have a white glow and not a yellow glow?

Quantom X

Most likely just a styling choice. I just know the basics details of his powers and not sure why it comes out yellow (or if it's even stated.) Perhaps for the the same reason the sun appears yellow, short wavelength light becomes scattered.

Bishop73

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The Dark Tower picture

Question: If Jake's father died a year prior to the film, why would his mother remarry so fast? Also, why would she marry Lon if he's abusive to her son?

Answer: People unfortunately make bad choices.

Ssiscool

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The House picture

Question: Is there any indication how much of this film was unscripted or how much Amy and Will improvised their lines. I can't tell if it's just the acting style the actors chose, or if it was the way the director wanted it, but a lot (especially the opening scenes) comes across as bad improv. Or am I the only one that gets that vibe?

Bishop73

Answer: A lot of the time with modern comedies, they'll usually do a scene as written, then do a number of improv takes where the actors and director come up with jokes on the fly. Then in editing, they'll pick the (presumably) best bits from both the scripted and improv takes to put into the finished film. And Will Ferrell confirmed that there was indeed a lot of improvising on-set of "The House." Unfortunately, without a copy of the shooting script, it's basically impossible to tell exactly how much of the finished film is made up of the unscripted improv. But it's fair to say that at least a decent chunk of the movie was made up of improv comedy. So chances are it's not just you.

TedStixon

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Transformers: The Last Knight picture

Question: Is this movie supposed to have floating mattes? This is killing me! It's constantly shifting aspect ratios throughout the entire movie.

Answer: The constantly shifting aspect ratios are due to the fact that Michael Bay shot the film with several different camera types. Most directors who use multiple types of camera find a way to hide the shifts a little better, but Bay appears to have been unconcerned with this issue. There are several scenes where the aspect ratio changes from shot to shot. The aspect ratio shifts were also present in the theatrical release, and were a major source of ridicule then, but they are arguably more noticeable on a smaller screen.

BaconIsMyBFF

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The Mummy picture

Question: How many injections does Jekyll need to take to prevent himself from turning into Hyde? The first time Jekyll speaks with Nick, he feels himself about to transform but takes a serum to prevent it but, later, when Jekyll's talking to Nick again, he feels himself about to change again and tries to take another injection.

Answer: As many as needed, Mr. Hyde was asserting himself, trying to take over. Like "Blade," he needed to take more and more injections of the serum, because the vampire blood was getting stronger and stronger.

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The Space Between Us picture

Question: Wouldn't Earth's gravity cause Gardner's feet and leg to ache, given that he is from Mars, a planet with much lower gravity, and has lived there his entire life?

Answer: Any answer would be speculation at best, although it does seem likely that being on Earth would cause various pains. But it also depends on his conditioning while on Mars (for example, soldiers in the military often train with heavy packs on). The reason astronauts experience pain upon return to Earth after long stints in space is mainly due to muscle atrophy, similar to someone being bed-ridden for months. Additionally, being weightless in space with 0-g's (not zero gravity), their spine elongates and then back on Earth, it compresses back to normal, which can be painful. Gardner may not experience pain since his muscles aren't atrophied, and he may not experience spinal compression.

Bishop73

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Answer: A nod to the original show.

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