Question: So how exactly did Max Cady slip past Kersec's security system and get into the house? Did he kill the maid outside and then just walk in disguised as her?
raywest
28th Dec 2018
Cape Fear (1991)
Answer: Kersec suspected that Cady might attempt to break into the Bowden house if he thought it was empty. His plan was for Cady to break in and then be shot dead as an intruder. He likely lessened the security to allow Cady to break in. Cady killed and then impersonated the housekeeper to get in.
I like your answer but I'm a little confused by the "lessened the security" part. If I'm not mistaken, every possible point of entry into the house at least from the ground floor was connected to the bear via the fishing line, so Kersec would know if a point of entry was disturbed by the bear moving. Where would Kersec lessen the security from that standpoint, especially since his setup was supposed to be foolproof?
Kersec wanted Cady to be able to break in so that there would be a plausible reason to shoot him dead. The idea is to make it look like his death was a result of self defense. I'm only speculating that Kersec made it easier for Cady to break in into the house. Being as it was his security system, he would know how to make it possible for Cady to get in.
27th Dec 2018
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Question: Right before Frank dies and turn into a zombie, he said to Kenneth, "You want every single second." What does he mean by that? (00:55:35)
Chosen answer: I interpreted it as a reflection on his life and the lives of all those around him as his life drained from him. And that reflection is that as people we are always chasing something - goals, desires, a nice new car, a better job, a family with kids - but we are always left wanting something more. It's what keeps us alive and moving forward. As he dies, everything becomes illuminated and he realises this truth. I think it could also mean that he wanted to live every single second to experience as much as he could in life. But I prefer my first interpretation, so that's how I picture it.
Answer: I interpreted it as meaning a person wants every possible second to remain as a human.
Answer: I assume this is a very old question, but I always thought it meant with your kids. He wanted to wait to be killed until after he turned because he was all his daughter had left. So he wanted every single second with her, but it could just mean as human as mentioned here.
27th Dec 2018
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Question: Towards the end when George is at the bridge looking to jump in to kill himself it's snowing. However, after Clarence shows him what the world would have been like without him, he runs back to the bridge and it is not snowing. George is then begging Clarence to let him live again, and just like that it starts snowing just as it was when George was looking to jump in and kill himself. What did George's life have to do with changing the weather?
Answer: It's just a cinematography thing. It's snowing in the real world, the weather is clear in the alternate world. When the snow resumes, it shows us that he's returned to his real life.
Very good answer.
30th Sep 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Question: Who is Maisey a clone of? I know her 'mother' died in a car crash but when she asked if her mother visited the park a long time ago, Lockwood answered with "a long time ago" and the camera pans out to a model of the original park.
Answer: Masie is a clone of Benjamin Lockwood's daughter. Benjamin's daughter did die in a car accident and when that happened, he wanted to clone her. But John Hammond was against the idea of cloning humans (which is why the partnership broke up). Once John Hammond died, Benjamin went ahead and cloned his daughter. Only, because of the amount of time that passed and his age, Benjamin tells people Masie is his granddaughter and the cover story is Masie's mother died in a car accident, which is why he's raising her. However, I do not know if Benjamin's actual daughter was also named Masie or if that's a new name. I got the impression that Benjamin's actual daughter died at a young age, and since he wanted to clone her right away, he kept the fact that his young daughter died a secret. So as far as most people knew, Benjamin's daughter grew up and had a child and then Benjamin tells people his (adult) daughter died in a car accident.
I think what they mean is if she was a character from the original movies somehow.
His daughter was not an earlier character in the other films. Lockwood is just reflecting on his late daughter, who he loved and misses. Like John Hammond's grandchildren, Lockwood's daughter likely visited the park at some point. His glancing at the original Jurassic Park model seems to be a reference to the cloning procedure that produced Maisie.
In the original movies, no, she's not a character (at least what I can recall). Benjamin Lockwood doesn't even appear in any of the original Jurassic Park trilogy films (I'm not familiar with the books enough to know if any Lockwoods appear in those stories though). In "Fallen Kingdom" it's implied Lockwood's daughter visited the island where Jurassic Park was built, meaning she would have done so prior to the events of the first "Jurassic Park" film.
3rd Dec 2018
Gravity (2013)
Question: On the Russian vessel, shortly after Ryan boards via the airlock, there's a readout in English concerning oxygen. Shouldn't the readout, and indeed virtually everything on that ship, be written in Russian?
Answer: The International Space Station is serviced and manned by representatives from several countries. It stands to reason that because of this, instructions for spacecraft and equipment would be printed in several languages. As the movie shows, in the case of an emergency it would not make sense to have spacecraft and equipment be effectively "locked out" to those who don't speak a particular language when that problem can be easily solved by printing instructions in multiple languages.
22nd Nov 2018
A Quiet Place (2018)
Question: Where does all the power for monitors and lights come from? I assume power is down, a diesel aggregate would be too loud and hydropower too weak. Solar cells?
Answer: While it's never directly addressed, one can see solar panels on the roof of the farm buildings at several points in the film.
23rd Nov 2018
Patton (1970)
Question: When Patton arrives at corps headquarters, a lieutenant says they have a new commander due. What is he talking about? Was their previous commanding general fired?
Answer: Patton was put in charge of the American II Corps in North Africa after the Americans were badly defeated at the 1943 Battle of the Kasserine Pass. The lieutenant apparently does not realise that Patton has been sent to replace the previous commander and will begin enforcing strict discipline into the troops.
OK, but what about the other part of the question? Was their previous commanding general fired?
The previous commanding general was not "fired" he was replaced. It was Major General Lloyd Fredendall who was in command of the II Corps, at the Battle of Kasserine Pass. He was reassigned stateside, then about three months later was promoted to lieutenant general. For the rest of the war he was in command of training assignments in the US.
He was effectively "fired", as in removed, from his commanding position, due to his weak leadership, but that did not mean to say he was fired from the U.S. Army. The term "fired" is relative here.
I feel the need to clarify the point that my original reply was to the person who asked this question: "OK, but what about the other part of the question? Was their previous commanding general fired? " Please know that my reply was not meant to come off as butting heads with your answer, raywest, I was merely answering the submitter's question and acknowledging their use of the word "fired" within their question. But since you responded directly to my original reply, I'll respond. You state in your reply to me, "He was effectively "fired", as in removed, from his commanding position, due to his weak leadership, but that did not mean to say he was fired from the U.S. Army. The term "fired" is relative here." Okay, well I really don't agree with that, because I can't see the term "fired" as being relative here, IMO. In civilian life, when a civvie is "fired" from their job it means getting laid-off, being unemployed. To say a servicemember is "fired" from the military, it would basically mean being dishonorably discharged. The OP's question was regarding Lloyd Fredendall. After his reassignment, Major General Fredendall even received a promotion and became Lieutenant General Fredendall within a few months. Anyway, those are my personal thoughts on the matter. :) Be well, raywest. With warm regards, Rikki.
Not fired, just relieved of command and transferred elsewhere.
27th Jun 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Corrected entry: When the Indoraptor is attacking Owen and Claire, its claw goes through her calf. When she returns in the next scene the wound is in her thigh. (01:41:35)
Correction: It only appears that way but her leg was turned at the time it was stabbed by the claw. The wound didn't move, just her leg did.
12th Jan 2009
Cast Away (2000)
Question: At the end when the pick-up truck drives away, there is an angel on the back flap of it, similar to the angel in the garden of the house where Tom Hanks delivers the parcel. Are we to assume that the parcel belongs to the woman in the pick-up, and that this is significant in some way?
Answer: It's a little complicated. The angel wings are a plot device to show that the parcel Tom Hanks just delivered to the ranch belongs to the woman (who is an artist) in the truck, which also has the wings painted on the tailgate. There are also metal wing wind sculptures in her yard. The wings are her artist's "logo." As Hanks stands in the crossroads deciding which way he will go, his looking back in the direction that she just drove off implies he will go back to her house, probably to let her know that she had given him hope while he was on the island that he could someday deliver that package, and possibly to restart his life with her (she is pretty, after all). She was married to the guy in Russia who she was sending packages to, but he was cheating on her. If you notice the gateway over the entrance to her property where another package was delivered at the beginning of the movie, both her name and her husband's was on the overhead ironwork, as well as the angel wings. At the end, his name has since been removed, indicating that she is now single.
Answer: The Angel wings are an important symbolic thread that run throughout the move. They appear in several scenes. They represent love/hope/salvation. We first see them in a seemingly unrelated scene at the pretty redhead artist's ranch when she is still married to the cheater dude. She sends him the wings on a package but the package is not important. Rather the Wings on the package are important. She intended the wings to go to her cheating husband but instead they went to Chuck. Chuck preserves the wings. He caresses the wings. Later we see that he has drawn dozens of the same wings on the inside of his cave wall. On the raft, he takes only Wilson and the Wings which he carefully wraps in leaves. When finally delivering them home, Chuck writes "this package saved my life" when he means hope/love/salvation have saved his life. The wings have make the exact same journey as Chuck. They have finally returned to the redhead and bought Chuck with them.
Nailed it! My thoughts exactly I just needed confirmation that all of this was reasonable to assume. Thank you.
Answer: The package that Mrs. Peterson sends to her husband in Russia contains divorce papers. The winged package that Tom Hanks' character saves as an unfinished task represents his desire to eventually deliver. He opens all the other packages and finds a few useful items. And the package sent by Mrs. Peterson, he uses to motivate himself to make that delivery. He only took bare essentials on the raft when he leaves the island. This package is essential to him. For some reason, he does not deliver the package to the destination to which it was addressed, but instead takes it back to the original sender. It helps close the loop in a way that could not have been done if he just delivered to the original destination 5 years late.
29th Oct 2018
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Question: Why didn't they just cast Avada Kedavra on the Horcruxes and then disapparate before the ministry could find them as I think they can detect the unforgivable curses being used?
Answer: The avada kedavra curse did not work on the horcruxes while there was more than one in existence. That was why baby Harry survived Voldemort's attempt to kill him using that curse, and why Voldemort could not be killed until all the other horcruxes were destroyed. The horcruxes could only be destroyed by a few methods, such as with basilisk venom or fiendfyre. The horcrux inside Harry was later killed by Voldemort using avada kedavra, but that seems to be because the other horcruxes had already been destroyed. Voldemort never knew that Harry carried a horcrux inside him.
Actually Harry survived Voldemort's attempt to kill him because of the love of his mother and her sacrifice. Voldemort's killing curse rebounded upon that love spell and caused a piece of his soul (already shattered from killing Harry's parents) to transfer to Harry. The reason Voldemort's killing curse worked to kill the horcrux inside Harry was because Harry was simply killed by the killing curse along with the horcrux and then the resurrection stone resurrected Harry, but not the horcrux.
That's true, his mother's love protected him. However, at the end, Harry wasn't dead-he was in-between life and death and he had the choice to either go back to the living world or "move on." He chose to return. The resurrection stone did not play a part in reviving him. There is still much confusion and debate over exactly when and how the horcrux inside Harry was destroyed.
He had the resurrection stone in his hand when he confronted Voldemort in the forest, that's why he had a choice, because of the stone. After resurrecting the stone was left behind.
That is incorrect. Harry is holding the Resurrection Stone while he is speaking to the spirits of his mother, father, Lupin, and Sirius. Just before he leaves them, he drops the stone, and it is seen falling from his hand to the ground in the forest "before" he goes to meet Voldemort. (In the book, the stone is left in the forest so that no-one will be able to use it.) The stone did not play any part in Harry being revived. You can watch the clip on YouTube.
Hm, yeah all right. But then he didn't actually use it, only to talk to deceased loved ones, which bothers me and when I'm bothered the ground quakes. I always thought its power worked on till the moment he got killed and then resurrected him.
The Resurrection Stone was only to bring back someone else from the dead, not one's own self. It had to be used by a living person who called for a dead person to return to the earth, though as Hermione read from the book (when the Trio was at the Lovegood house), the dead person was never really resurrected to a full living being again and did not understand the world they were brought back to.
7th Oct 2018
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: How did Hagrid know where The Dursleys, and Harry Potter had moved?
Answer: The Trace only detects when underage wizards use magic. Still, it wouldn't be difficult for Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the world, to find or track them.
Answer: All underage wizards and witches have a Ministry "trace" on them until they are 17 years old that monitors their activities. Dumbledore would be able to use that to locate Harry and then send Hagrid there.
Also, Harry was no ordinary wizard child because of his connection to Voldemort. As he did not live in the wizard world while growing up, he was vulnerable to harm from the Dark Lord's follower. Extra protections were put on Harry, and he was watched around the clock. His location would always be known.
15th Oct 2018
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Why did the trio watch Buckbeak being executed?
Answer: Because they had some small hope that something would happen that prevented it, they stayed to see if a miracle would happen basically. They didn't want to see it of course, but they felt it too terrible to just not know if there was any hope it wouldn't happen and then miss it.
Answer: They didn't actually see Buckbeak being executed because he never was. They were far enough away that they only partially saw the executioner wield the axe, but he was actually chopping a pumpkin out of frustration because Buckbeak had disappeared. If they had been closer, they most likely would not have looked at all, not wanting to witness such a gruesome scene.
Thank you but I was meaning to ask why they stayed on that hill to watch instead of returning to the common room?
It's pointless to speculate what their reasoning for watching was because it really comes down to it being a plot device. The audience has to think that Buckbeak has been killed in order to propel the story forward. That is achieved by having HR&H stop atop the hill and watch what they think is the execution. It also is to convey their sense of grief and hopelessness.
24th Sep 2018
Alien (1979)
Question: In the last scene when Ripley is escaping in the shuttle, why is the Alien wedged awkwardly in the wall? And why is it so mellow about getting out and killing Ripley?
Answer: The xenomorphs are quite intelligent, despite their savage nature. In this scene, for example, the alien understands that the Nostromo is about to self-destruct, and it correctly anticipates Ripley using a shuttle to escape the blast. The alien carefully hides in the shuttle and goes into a dormant state (so as not to alert Ripley to its presence until they are well underway). When Ripley realises the alien is aboard, she dons her pressure suit and sprays the alien with fire-extinguishing gas to prompt a response. After a startled jump, the alien languidly reveals itself because it is emerging from its dormant state, but also because it knows there is no escape for Ripley in the tiny spacecraft. The implication is that it is in no hurry to kill her, which heightens the tension and horror of the scene.
14th Jul 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Corrected entry: Owen is dosed with Carfentanil in an amount intended for dinosaurs. At 10,000 times the potency of Morphine, that amount of the drug would have killed him. It's so potent, the lethal dosage for humans is measured in micrograms.
Correction: The quantity needed to anaesthetise the dinosaurs would depend on their size, and the users would have been trained to measure out the necessary quantities. It is likely they would have also adjusted it for Owen so that he was not killed.
Not sure what the amount needed for the dinosaurs has to do with Owen. Any amount that would bring down a dinosaur would certainly kill a human.
The amount used was calibrated for a smaller dinosaur like Blue. Also, Zia pulled the dart out of Owen before it was fully injected into his body (the liquid can still be seen in the vial) so he did not get the entire dose, which might have been enough to kill him.
2nd Aug 2018
The Martian (2015)
Question: Mark says he will have to get to the crater, which is 3200 kilometers away. Mark says he has one working rover, designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers, before the battery has to be recharged at the hab. During the nighttime scene, he says he has doubled his battery by scavenging Rover 1, but if he uses the heater he will burn through half his battery everyday. I did some math, and worked out that the max distance his rover would be able to go without using the heater would only be about 140 kilometers. How would he travel 3200 kilometers to get to the crater?
Answer: Mark says he has 1 Rover that can travel 35km before recharging. He estimated he would need to travel for 50 days to reach the Ares IV site (down to approximately 22 days when not using the heater, as per your maths). Mark is shown using the solar panels (stolen from the Hab) to recharge the Rover during his journey. He drives for 4 hours before noon, waits 13 hours for the Rover to recharge to full and then starts driving again.
Answer: He wouldn't need to use the heater because he salvaged the Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and this also saves his power.
28th Jul 2018
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Question: Not just this, but every cinema and television adaptation of the legend of The Man in the Iron Mask that I have seen, without exception, has always left me asking the same question. A man is locked up in a lonely prison where his face is hidden by an iron mask. The Three Musketeers or some similar swashbuckling heroes rescue him. He may have worn the iron mask for weeks, months, or even years. So why is it, that, when the iron mask is removed he always emerges clean shaven?
Answer: The mask would be periodically removed by the prisoner's attendants to shave his beard and cut his hair. Leaving it on permanently and letting his beard and hair grow endlessly would create physical and medical problems, possibly even suffocating him eventually. The goal was to keep him imprisoned for a long period of time, not to execute him.
But isn't he wearing the mask so that nobody will know who he is? If the prison staff keep removing the mask to shave him and cut his hair then they will all know exactly what he looks like, and they will be able to identify him. In many versions of the story he has to wear the mask so that nobody will recognise him as the king's twin brother. If the prison guards remove the mask won't they see how he resembles the king? Alternatively, if the prison guards already know that he is the king's twin brother, then why bother to mask his face?
Anyone who was guarding and/or attending to the prisoner would be loyal to the king, acting as his agents, and sworn to keep his secrets. Not doing so would be treason. They would likely have minimal knowledge of who this person was, nor would it matter to them. They may or may not notice any resemblance to the king. In the prisoner's disheveled and weakened conditioned, it would not be obvious that he is an identical twin. Also, few people in pre-mass media times, knew what royals looked like, probably only catching occasional glimpses of them from far away, if ever at all.
Answer: In the 1939 version of The Man in the Iron Mask starring Louis Hayword, when the mask is taken off, he does have a beard. Phillipe even asks Louis how long it will take for his (Louis') beard to grow once he is in the mask.
24th Jul 2018
Mary Poppins (1964)
Question: Was I the only person to be struck quite forcefully (metaphorically speaking) by the contrast between Julie Andrews' portrayal of Mary Poppins, as the ever-smiling, cheerful, friendly, vivacious character, who melts everybody with her charm, which seemed wholly at odds with PL Travers' portrayal of Mary Poppins as acerbic, dour, and cynical, who always seems to get her way by utter, overwhelming arrogance?
Answer: Travers, herself, was pretty much the model for the original Mary Poppins: an inflexible authoritarian who insisted on advising and reviewing nearly every aspect of the film's production. Which is why Disney had such a hell of a time securing the rights and molding Travers' story into a lighthearted romp.
Mary Poppins may somewhat resemble P.L. Travers, but her great-aunt, Helen Morehead, is largely considered to be the inspiration for the character. Travers' mother moved in with her aunts after P.L.'s father died when she was a young girl. The aunt would often say, "Spit spot, into bed."
Some aspects of Mary Poppins were based on Travers' great-aunt (the more positive aspects that Travers remembered from childhood) ; but the overall character was Travers herself.
Answer: No doubt many fans of the books and P.L. Travers agreed with your assessment. However, it was 1964 and Travers' book was heavily "Disneyfied," meaning they imprinted their particular syrupy, family-oriented wholesome stamp on the project, watering down Poppins' dour personality. Travers was appalled by it and would never allow another of her books to be made into a movie. There is a remake in the works, and, hopefully, the current Disney heads will give it a darker tone.
28th Apr 2018
Cast Away (2000)
Question: At the end when Tom Hanks is going over the map and the woman drives up, where exactly is the crossroads location?
Answer: The credits mention Canadian, TX. Canadian is on Hwy 83 in the Texas panhandle. The directions given mention Hwy 83 south and I-40 east. I-40 is roughly 30 miles or so south of Canadian on 83. Texas road signs are visible at the intersection. The ranch, a bed and breakfast and museum are at 9760 County Road 5, Canadian, TX. It looks like the crossroads was actually filmed maybe eight or ten miles south at the intersection of Z and 5.
Answer: Somewhere in the Great Plains, you heard the Woman's vague directions, "Whole lotta nothing 'till you get to Canada", and from the looks of things, it's not important anyway, the generic nature seems to be a plot device.
18th Apr 2018
Lost in Space (2018)
Danger, Will Robinson - S1-E10
Plot hole: At the end, when Maureen is searching for John in orbit, she only radios him after Will sees him clinging to the floating wreckage. Before that, she only used sensors aboard Jupiter to try and locate him. She makes no attempt at radio contact for any survivors, which would have quickened the rescue. John can also radio her back, but he did not attempt to call for help.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The suit radios are fairly short range. This is seen on a number of occasions, such as when they need an extension antenna when stuck in the tar to contact others. The distances in space between the damaged Jupiter and Jupiter 2 are huge, and much further than the distance from the chariot stuck in tar back to Jupiter 2.
27th Mar 2018
Flightplan (2005)
Question: How did Carson convince the captain Kyle was a hijacker without showing any evidence of Kyle being a hijacker?
Answer: Basically, Carson used his role as an air marshal to mislead everyone. In matters of security, the captain would assume the marshal was the expert and he would follow his recommendations.
Well a plot hole says just Carson is an Air Marshal does not mean the captain would trust him. The captain would know Air Marshals break the law too.
The captain had no reason to distrust him. He's busy flying the plane and Carson is acting exactly the way an air marshal would.
You would have to read the entire plot hole.
The captain has no reason at all to distrust an air marshal at that point. First of all, he was suspicious of her from the beginning and was angry for disrupting the flight which was the whole point of removing all evidence of the daughter, which was also the point have the morgue director sending a fake certificate that Julia died. They were going to use the "daughter's disappearance" as a credible excuse for "Kyle" to enter the hold and retrieve the explosives. The real plot hole is not that Carson has no evidence of as a hijacker, but why the airline accepts the "hijacker's" request to wire the money without talking to them or having a background identity.
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Answer: He snuck in during the day and hid, before Kersec's teddy bear security system was set up. Sam Bowden realises this when he wakes from a nightmare. Its how he was able to poison the dog which hadnt been let outside. Max Cady killed the maid in the pantry with the same piano wire he later attacks Kersec with.