Question: What is Frank saying during the arms transaction and what is the language? The last part of what he says sounds phonetically similar to "dinga hoash."
Phaneron
1st Apr 2021
The Punisher (2004)
28th Oct 2025
Mission to Mars (2000)
Question: How, in the year 2000, did this film manage to secure a PG rating? The graphic violence of the final death shown during the vortex scene near the beginning was verging on R-rated.
Answer: There was no actual blood or graphic display.
No graphic display? A man is shown on camera being violently torn to several pieces by high G-forces, and there was indeed blood visible. There's also a scene later in the movie where shrapnel completely pierces the palm of a man's hand, complete with a zero-gravity blood spurt.
I remember watching it for the first time thinking it was a pretty graphic death scene for a PG rated film, but I think it's a stretch to say it was verging on R rated. There isn't that much blood, the guy is in a space suit, and it happens very fast. Studios can lobby the MPAA for what rating they feel the film deserves, and it is likely Disney argued for a lower rating than PG-13, and the MPAA agreed.
Well, by "verging on R-rated," I meant that even in a PG-13 film, that scene would have been pushing the envelope. I would imagine there were a lot of parents at the time who took their young children to see the new Disney film about going to Mars and were not pleased with that scene.
A PG rating does not mean family friendly. A "Parental Guidance" rating warns there may be strong language, sexual content, violence, or graphic images. No one should expect a G-rated Disney film. I watched the "twister" clip on YouTube and wouldn't say it's gruesome. It's not a close-up shot of the rapidly spinning body being pulled apart; it's rather blurred, and there wasn't much blood. I realise it's a matter of opinion regarding what is considered too violent.
Yes, but you're also an adult, and you watched the clip having an idea of what you were about to see. If you read the comments on that clip, you'll see a lot of people saying that scene traumatized them as children. Violence like that from earlier PG films is why the PG-13 rating was later invented, and it just struck me as odd that that was able to get a PG rating in the year 2000.
My point is that parents were (or should have been) aware of the PG rating before taking their children to see it and that it might be unsuitable for younger audiences. It falls upon them to make sure they do not take their children to a film that could contain disturbing scenes. By 2000, movie violence had become far more graphic and mainstream.
15th Oct 2025
X-Men (2000)
Question: When Professor Xavier is mind-controlling Sabretooth and Toad, why doesn't he make Sabretooth knock Magneto's helmet off?
15th Oct 2025
General questions
Does anyone remember a sitcom episode in which the mom was trying to organize a "no-dinner dinner" for a charity or something at her job? She called people from home and asked for donations, but had to keep explaining that there was no actual event for them to attend in person.
7th Sep 2025
The Naked Gun (1988)
Question: Is there a name for the little dance move that Frank performs after calling the second strike, where he shuffles to his right while waving his hand?
Answer: Isn't that the classic "jazz hands" move?
Answer: No, that is not an official dance move; he was just using the gesture to enhance his strike call for the crowd.
Answer: It looks like the dance moves are based on Michael Jackson's "Moonwalk" routine.
That move itself is part of Michael Jackson's moonwalk routine? I just want to be sure we're on the same page because the moonwalk itself is the dance move that Frank performs after calling the third strike.
4th Sep 2020
Justice League (2017)
Question: Why leave all three Motherboxes on Earth? Wouldn't it have been wiser to let the Green Lantern Corps take at least one of them?
Answer: Darkseid's minions killed a Green Lantern. The humans, Amazons, and Atlanteans were the ones who were actually strong enough to fight off his forces.
They killed one Green Lantern (the only one present at the battle if my memory is correct). Going against the entire Green Lantern Corps would be another matter altogether.
1st Jun 2025
Congo (1995)
Question: What exactly does Richard die from? In a matter of seconds, he goes from running full-speed and screaming for help, only to suddenly fall over dead once he reaches Elliot. If it was from internal injuries, wouldn't it take longer for him to succumb to them, especially with how mobile he was shown to be?
Answer: Seconds after he drops dead, an ape comes from where he'd been running from and throws a human brain at the living humans. This is Richard's brain, torn from his head. In the context of the film and employing a (fair) bit of suspension of disbelief, he must have had enough brain stem (where reflexes are governed) left to run and scream a bit before dropping dead. In reality, of course, this is an extremely unlikely if not impossible scenario, invented by the screenwriter for the purposes of a gruesome death. Perhaps inspired by stories like Mike the Headless Chicken, an animal which survived for months after having most of its head/brain chopped off.
24th May 2025
Red Dead Redemption 2
Question: Was Arthur always supposed to die? Or was he originally supposed to survive?
Answer: Arthur dies in both endings; it's a question of how.
If his honour is high, he will die from tuberculosis. If his honour is low, he will be killed by Micah.
24th Mar 2025
Step by Step (1991)
Question: Is it ever explained where the kids' other parent is? I remember Carol saying she and Frank both came from failed marriages, which means they weren't widows.
Answer: I could be mistaken, but when the series debuted, its premise was something along the lines of "A divorced contractor and a widowed beautician impulsively marry." If that is true, then the Foster children's father is dead. As for Frank, it could be that his wife was an unfit mother and is therefore not in her children's lives. Perhaps the writers felt addressing these issues would lead to more questions, or at the least require characters to bring up the unseen parents more in conversation, so perhaps they felt it was just better to never talk about them at all and let any discussions about them remain off-screen.
11th Jan 2025
Agatha All Along (2024)
Question: According to the last Doctor Strange movie, possessing a dead body is forbidden by the souls of the damned, as it's trespassing, and Dr. Strange was quickly attacked and forced out. If that is the case, however, isn't Billy trespassing by possessing the dead body of William Kaplan? Where are the souls of the damned?
11th Jan 2025
Batman (1989)
Question: How did the Joker's henchmen get to the top of the church? We don't see them enter the building. The only thing I can think of is they were dropped off by the helicopter, but then why wasn't the helicopter still there when the Joker, Batman, and Vicki Vale reached the top?
18th Nov 2024
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Question: Deadpool knows that he is in a film, which explains why he can easily recognise everyone, including Wolverine, X-23, Johnny Storm, Blade, Ant-Man, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, and even the actors playing them. So why didn't he recognise Elektra? Jennifer Garner's popularity alone should have made it easy for him.
Answer: Part of the novelty of knowing that he's in a film means servicing the plot, especially as a proxy for those audience members who may not be as familiar with some characters. Deadpool also does seem to know who Elektra is, as he apologises to her upon hearing about Daredevil's death, even though he just met her moments earlier.
29th Oct 2024
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Question: This is a question for all Deadpool films. Why does Deadpool bother wearing a face mask considering most of the people in the films (villains and good guys) already know his real identity and even refer to him as Wade? Is it just a pride thing or something?
27th Oct 2024
General questions
When a show has locations that are shown often enough, but not in every episode, how is that set handled? Is it created and put aside somewhere, or rebuilt whenever needed? For example, Niles' apartment in "Frasier," Deacon and Kelly's apartment in "King of Queens," Walter Skinner's office in "X-Files," the Mighty Weenie restaurant in "Family Matters," etc.
Answer: Sets not used in every episode are usually built in sections that can easily be dismantled and reassembled as needed. I've noticed in some shows that one shell structure is often repurposed with minor changes into whatever is needed. In "Friends," one set was used for Chandler's work office, also as Rachel's office at Ralph Lauren, for Joey's new apartment when he briefly moved out, etc. The same with "Roseanne," where Crystal's house was also used for David's home, for "The Fifties Show" episode, etc. Darlene's Chicago apartment set was also used for Becky and Mark's Minneapolis apartment.
15th Oct 2024
Blade II (2002)
Question: Just out of curiosity, since Blade isn't 100% human or vampire, can he still eat regular food, or only blood?
Answer: Vampires in this franchise can eat food; they just require blood because, as Whistler stated in the first film, their own blood can't sustain hemoglobin. Since Blade's only weakness is that he also needs to consume blood (or a serum as a substitute), this means he can eat regular food as well.
28th Aug 2024
Blade: Trinity (2004)
23rd Jun 2024
The Simpsons (1989)
I'm Goin' to Praiseland - S12-E19
Question: What does Reverend Lovejoy mean when he gives Lisa the "Unitarian ice cream", but the bowl has nothing in it? What is the joke?
16th May 2024
Ghost (1990)
17th Apr 2024
Spider-Man (1994)
Question: Is Tombstone a zombie or undead?
Answer: He's neither. In the comics he was an albino who later was mutated to give his superhuman strength. He filed his teeth into points as a way to scare others. In this Spider-Man cartoon, his physical appearance, including his teeth, and strength was the result of falling into chemicals at the plant. However, he never died as a result of falling into the chemicals, some only thought he had died.
30th Oct 2023
The Holdovers (2023)
Question: Was Paul Giamatti's lazy eye achieved through practical means or CGI? If it was practical, how exactly did they do it?
Answer: The best information I read was from an online "People" magazine article. Actor Paul Giamatti says he is sworn to secrecy on how the lazy eye effect was achieved, other than to say it was "movie magic." I hope someone finds additional information and shares it here, as I'd like to know more.
Answer: Heavy Spoilers break down of this film that Frank in this scene is in disguise as Otto Krieg. And supposedly is able to speak German, Russian, and Arabic. So doing some research and getting Chat GPT to help find the answer, there isn't anything from Russian or Arabic that sounds like "dinga hoash." However in German it is very close to "Dinge hast," which would roughly translate to "you have things." So it would seem basically he was saying "Do you got the stuff?" from what I can gather.
Quantom X ★
Thanks. I've been meaning to watch this scene with a translator app on my phone to see if it would recognise it, but I just never remembered to.
Phaneron ★
So I finally pulled up the clip on YouTube and turned the subtitles on. It says in this part that they are speaking Russian. This seems to make sense, as the crime boss's name is Yuri Astrov, and his accent sounds Russian. Unfortunately, the translator app on my phone can't pick up what they are saying, so I think I will have to look up a sub-Reddit for people who speak Russian and ask for their assistance.
Phaneron ★
Update: A Redditor informed me that the characters are essentially speaking broken Russian, and the translations are roughly "Whatcha doing?", "money good," and "okay." "Money good" translated into Russian is "den'gi khoroshiye."
Phaneron ★
Huh, interesting.
Quantom X ★