Question: I need some translation help here. Firstly when Marion is having the drinking contest and has drunken her final drink, she lowers the glass slowly making everyone think that she has lost. Then she shouts a word twice (Bistoti or something like that) and wins. What does that word mean? Also when Indy is mourning over Marion's "death", two guys in suits come over to him and tell him something in a foreign language. While I have a vague idea of what they said, I was wondering if anyone knew for sure.
Gavin Jackson
13th Jun 2005
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Chosen answer: The two men say to Indy, "Der Herr in der Bar möchte mit Ihnen sprechen." This is translated as "The man in the bar wants to talk to you." The word in the bar that Marion says is "Pistole," which translated means "Hold it!" or "Wait a minute!"
17th May 2005
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Question: How did Elsa and Donovan get across the second challenge to where the grail was? Indy knew that one had to step on the tiles which spelt Iehovah, but they didn't. I was gonna submit this as a goof, but I am sure there is some logical explanation.
Chosen answer: Dr. Jones senior (Sean Connery) is talking to himself while Indy is going through the traps. He would know what the trials consisted of, and mutters the solutions out loud as he goes over them in his mind. He even makes a statement that "But in ancient Latin, Jehovah begins with an 'I'" just before Indy takes his first step onto the wrong tile.
Answer: After Indy falls through the "J" and pulls himself up, you can see Elsa and Donovan standing in the background behind him. It's a very quick shot but they are there. They simply watched him and he didn't see them. Also, Indy called out each letter he stepped on, so they knew the correct path.
17th May 2005
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Question: I have wondered about this for some time. Did Elsa deliberately choose the wrong grail for Donovan (resulting in his death) cause she knew that Indy would know which one it was and they would both get it without Donovan getting in the way? The smirking expression on her face during the whole scene would definitely imply this but I was wondering if anyone knew for sure?
Chosen answer: Yes, this was a deliberate action on Elsa's part.
27th Apr 2005
The Karate Kid (1984)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene when Miyagi and Daniel are about to get into Miyagi's truck and drive to the Cobra Kai Dojo, Daniel is yawning and to the bottom right of him the boom mike can be seen for a few seconds.
14th Apr 2005
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Question: What exactly was Scotty's reason as to why giving the Company boss the formula for the one inch glass wouldn't alter the future? He gave a brief response, but I honestly can't think of any reason why it wouldn't do any future damage.
Answer: They only give him a schematic of the molecule. The man even says, "It would take years to decipher the matrix", or something like that.
Chosen answer: Scotty says "Why? How do you know he didn't invent the thing!" If the man was in fact the inventor, this would only cause a slight causality loop problem - he "invents" it because they gave it to him, but they only know it because he "invented" it. However, since Sulu said earlier in the movie that it was about 150 years too early for transparent aluminum, it would seem they do know this, so it wasn't a smart thing to do. Of course, the real flaw in the plot is that they need the tank to be transparent at all.
Answer: The crew is resigned to the fact that their mission forces them to alter history in some fashion or another. McCoy just wants to acknowledge the gravity of their actions before they go ahead and do it, and Scotty's response is a cheeky way of reassuring him, "Hey, maybe it won't be that bad."
1st Apr 2005
Grease (1978)
Question: I can't understand why Sonny hauled Sandy off the dance floor during the dance finale. Sure Sonny was a bit of a jerk, but he idolized Danny and would never disrespect him. Also there was nothing to suggest that he and Cha-Cha were friends. I never truly understood.
Answer: Watched that scene again now and I just think it was poor writing (in what's still a classic film regardless). How none of the judges noticed that Cha Cha took another girl's (Sandy's) place even after she'd already been "tapped out" is another huge plot hole. Plus a lot of people in America were watching the dance on TV and it's not mentioned by anyone after this scene. 35 years later and that scene still bugs me (haha).
Answer: He's fall-down drunk, that's why. He's drinking during the entire dance.
Answer: Because in real life Olivia was late for work, as a result Annette had to take Olivia's place because she was her understudy.
Answer: It's a terrible moment in the story because it exposes Danny as being thoughtless. After already burning Sandy once (at the pep rally) you'd think he'd be mindful of not doing it again. This time, though, he humiliates her in front of the entire school, as well as on television. Unsure how Sandy's sitting with him in the next scene at the drive-in only slightly miffed. Imagine how this plays as a story to their children: "Hey, kids, did I ever tell you about how your dad embarrassed me in front of everybody?" I guess it's meant to be partly motivation for Sandy to change her image and outlook in order to keep Danny, but it's a terrible message (even back then). She's nothing but thoughtful and considerate, and Danny repeatedly treats her badly, but she decides she needs to reinvent herself. (Danny's makeover doesn't count given it lasts about three minutes.) It would've been better had Danny and Sandy came second because of Sandy's dancing, and that could've played on her mind.
Answer: He is so upset about Marty liking Ed Byrnes, he just drinks all night.
Answer: I think it was because Sonny was drunk and wanted Sandy to talk to Marty for him since she dumped him for Vince Fontaine at the beginning of the dance.
Answer: Well my theory is maybe since Sonny wants a girl, Cha-Cha promised him a date with a girl if he agreed to her plan.
15th Mar 2005
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Question: If Hannibal Lector is so brilliant, why didn't he suspect that Starling's "Holiday Offer" was a fraud?
Chosen answer: He did. At one point he says amusingly to Starling, "Anthrax Island, that was a nice touch, yours?" indicating he knew the deal wasn't real. That didn't matter to him since he was planning to escape, and the deal gave him an opportunity to do so.
Answer: The "nice touch" comment came only after Dr. Chilton revealed the fraud. But the part about escaping is very good.
Answer: The anthrax island, nice touch part seems like an in joke, like his anagrams but never worked out what it is?
7th Mar 2005
Stand By Me (1986)
Question: Not sure if there is a definite answer to this question. But was it Ace who murdered Chris Chambers in later years?
5th Mar 2005
The Grudge (2004)
Other mistake: When Sarah Michelle Gellar is on the bus with her boyfriend, she sees Kayako face looking at her in the window reflection and panics. When she looks back at the window she sees the normal reflection of her face. Trouble is, her reflection is turning her head and looking side to side, whilst Gellar herself is looking straight and not moving her head at all.
9th Feb 2005
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
Question: Something I really don't understand about the ending. Riggs is looking over his former wife's grave when his beeper tells him that Lorna is expecting their baby. He races to the hospital and there she is about to give birth. So who drove Lorna to the hospital? Can't have been Riggs as he wouldn't have left at a time of need just to see his wife's grave. Doubtful that Lorna drove herself, and no relatives were there (as we see at the end). So what other explanation is there?
Chosen answer: She could have taken a taxi or an ambulance, or even driven herself. A neighbor or friend could have taken her who didn't stay after she was admitted. She might have already been at the hospital for any number of reasons - doctor's appointment, already admitted for bed rest prior to labor, etc. etc. etc.
17th Jan 2005
General questions
Back in the 80's I watched a film on video and I can't remember the title. Set in Italy (I think), its about an bearded inventor who builds a yellow Volkswagen which can do many things like fly, clean up messes, drive sideways, etc., and naturally it can talk. At the end he enters a race pitting him against many people including a pair of nuns. For some reason the Volkswagen continuously betrays him, dropping him from a high distance, leaving him in the middle of nowhere and eventually deciding to let the nuns win. Any help would be much appreciated.
Chosen answer: What you're referring to is SuperBug. A five to seven film series that came out in the 70's. Two or three made it to U.S. theaters. They were made in Germany.
11th Jan 2005
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Other mistake: When the T-1000 walks through the bars at the mental clinic, he gets his handgun stuck in the bars for a few seconds before removing it. In the close-up shot we can see the gun is stuck. But in the wide shot that precedes it, his gun isn't stuck at all. Actor Robert Patrick (T-1000) unconvincingly has his arm wrapped around the bar to make it look like his gun is stuck. (01:02:00)
10th Jan 2005
Canadian Bacon (1995)
Other mistake: Sheriff Bud B. Boomer runs to the top of Toronto's CN tower by staircase and doesn't even draw a breath when he gets there.
4th Jan 2005
Blood Work (2002)
Trivia: This is the first film since A Perfect World (1993) in which Clint Eastwood has carried a gun.
2nd Jan 2005
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Question: At the end of the film, Is Kiril trying to kill Bourne because it is his mission, or is he doing it simply out of bitterness that he failed the first time?
Chosen answer: It is clear that Gretkov expects Kirill to finish the job he failed the first time around, since Gretkov contacts Kirill after he found out that Bourne was still alive. To quote the movie: Kirill: You told me I had one month off. Gretkov: You told me Jason Bourne was dead.
Also, I question if he was trying to kill Borne. He had a clear shot and hit him in the shoulder. These are trained assassins. No way he doesn't kill Bourne with one shot there. It doesn't make sense that he's a bad shot assassin.
2nd Jan 2005
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: Why didn't wolverine simply retract his claws when the cops showed up at the front of bobby's house? Might have saved him from being shot.
Chosen answer: They're ordering him to drop them, to put them somewhere where he doesn't have access to them. Obviously he can't do that, however, retracting them isn't going to satisfy them - indeed, if he suddenly retracted them, the shock might actually prompt them to shoot. His best bet is to keep them in view, but make it plain that he's not taking any hostile action with them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
20th Dec 2004
Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
16th Dec 2004
X-Men (2000)
Continuity mistake: When Wolverine and Rogue are in Wolverines truck, just prior to the crash, we see them driving near huge trees with thick leaves that can't be seen through. When Rogue says the line "You really should wear your seatbelt", the view out her window shows a handful of trees that one can see through for a mile.
13th Dec 2004
The Frighteners (1996)
Question: How did the people behind the film achieve the effect of making the actors look like ghosts. I truly have no idea.
Chosen answer: For the most part, the actors playing the ghosts were shot separately on blue-screens, and then comped into the scenes. (By removing the blue background through a process called "color keying", and placing them over the scenes) They were simply given a blueish glow and made semi-translucent to complete the effect. It was pretty cutting edge back in the 90's, but nowadays, it'd be very easy to make the exact same effect using a simple program like Adobe After Effects.
27th Nov 2004
The Lost Boys (1987)
Question: When Max approaches the house for his second date with Lucy, being a vampire he asks Michael to invite him in so people in the house would be, in his words, "rendered powerless." As a result, Sam and the Frog brothers can't prove he is a vampire. But how did Max know that his vampirism would be tested in the first place?
Chosen answer: A vampire probably wouldn't survive for very long without playing it safe - he's probably in the habit of insisting on being invited in (if possible) whereever he goes, just in case.
Answer: He didn't, any vampire cannot enter a home unless they're invited.
Answer: It's Russian, погоди or pogodi. In Russian meaning hold it.