Question: Is Tombstone a zombie or undead?
Phaneron
17th Apr 2024
Spider-Man (1994)
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.
27th Feb 2024
General questions
In a lot of TV shows, a friend or family member will often just walk into a character's home without knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell first. Is there a reason why this is done for TV? Or is it common in real life and I just haven't met people who do this? I've always lived in one area of the United States, so maybe it's a regional difference.
Answer: This was a common practice in comedy shows in the 1970s (such as Good Times and Laverne and Shirley). Viewers were already familiar with the characters and their practices of just walking in, so the show left it in as something nobody really thought twice about.
15th Feb 2024
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: If Stryker hates and wants to kill all mutants, then why does he let Deathstrike work for him?
Answer: That was temporary. He later tries to kill all mutants with Dr. Xavier's power, so that would have included Deathstrike.
15th Feb 2024
General questions
Why do so many actors use pseudonyms instead of their real names?
Answer: Along with the Phaneron's answer, using a pseudonym might make it easier for a celebrity to do some things with their real name, such as buying a property or checking into a hotel room alone if they want.
Answer: One of the reasons can be for making a simpler and easier-to-remember name. For example, Andrew Lincoln's real surname is Clutterbuck. Sean Bean changed the spelling of his first name from "Shaun" to look similar to his surname. Another reason is that the Screen Actors Guild does not allow two actors with the exact same stage name, likely to avoid confusion. Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas, which is a name already being used. Michael B. Jordan uses his middle initial because Michael Jordan is technically a member of the Screen Actors Guild for having appeared in Space Jam.
Answer: Agree with the other answers, but would add that in Hollywood's earlier days, movie studios typically remade their new talent. Actors were under years-long contracts, and the studios trained them, controlled their publicity and public image, crafted their appearance and style, chose their movie roles, influenced who they publicly dated, and so on. This redo often included changing actors' real names that were considered too long, unsophisticated, difficult to pronounce, too "ethnic," and so on. A good example is Archibald Leach who became "Cary Grant" or Norma Jean Baker who was remade into "Marilyn Monroe." Most actors today use their birth names.
Answer: But these days, the vast majority of actors use their real birth names.
1st Dec 2023
Saw X (2023)
Question: What happens to the lady after the film ends that has her head in the hole? As during the film, she shows she has no morals. In the rest of the movies, you never hear her name mentioned or what happened to her. But surely, with him trapping her and taking the money at the end, it would piss her off enough to want to get the money back and seek revenge on him.
Answer: There's no definitive answer. It's left purposely ambiguous, presumably in case they want to bring the character back in the future. (There is a deleted scene on the Blu-Ray showing the door opening on its own once the countdown hits zero, so presumably she is able to escape.) As for her coming for him... we simply don't know. It's possible she'll show up again in a future film. But you also have to factor in that John has a LOT of evidence on her criminal misdeeds... so he likely could have her arrested and jailed if she comes for him.
22nd Nov 2023
General questions
I know companies pay a lot of money to advertise during events such as the Superbowl, but what about "regular" TV? Did they choose to have their ads run during particular shows? I am mostly thinking of broadcast TV, before streaming was popular.
Answer: Companies typically pay to run their ads during times when their target audience will be watching TV, such as toy companies running ads during Saturday morning cartoons, and in particular, a popular company like McDonald's would run their Happy Meal commercials during that time as well.
Answer: To add to the other fine answer, TV advertising costs are determined by how many viewers watch a particular program. TV networks set advertising rates based on different programs' ratings. Those with the highest viewership are the most expensive to advertise on. TV ratings were (and still are) determined by the Nielsen Media Research Company, who measure who and how many people watch each TV show. Companies naturally want to advertise their products and services when the largest number of viewers are watching and also to their target market.
16th Oct 2023
The Founder (2016)
9th Oct 2023
Spider-Man (1994)
Question: Why does Herbert Landon hate mutants so much? Why is he so prejudiced towards them?
28th Sep 2023
Big Daddy (1999)
Question: When Mr. Brooks states that Sonny lied about being Kevin Gerrity to get custody of Julian, he says it's a big problem in this state. Why do so many people do that in New York (as opposed to other places)?
Answer: Maybe I'm misinterpreting the line, but I thought "big problem" in this context meant that the state would aggressively pursue criminal charges against Sonny for his actions, as in it's his big problem to deal with now.
But in that context, wouldn't it be a "big" / serious problem in any state? I can't imagine that most states would be easy-going about it. He seems to mean that it happens a lot in New York, but I might be wrong.
Other states would certainly be aggressive in that situation, but given that Mr. Brooks is an employee of the state of New York, he could just be emphasizing how much trouble Sonny is in.
Fair enough. Sonny might have thought that it was OK for him to pretend to be Kevin, since he is good friends with the real Kevin.
Mr. Brooks was being facetious by specifically saying "big problem in THIS STATE." Obviously Sonny knows what he did was very wrong and illegal. It would be like if you were driving in a different state and didn't stop at a stop sign. The cop might say "I know in your home state the stop signs are optional but here in Texas you're required to stop at the sign."
26th Sep 2023
Aladdin (1992)
24th Sep 2018
From Hell (2001)
Question: Who killed Martha Tabram? Just like in the real world, doubt is cast on her murder as to whether or not it was Jack the Ripper due to the differences in her murder and those of the other prostitutes. So was it just another member of the Freemasons?
Answer: I've always suspected (thought) that the man who murdered Martha was the guy with the knife who threatened Mary Kelly and used the weapon to cut off her buttons. McQueen. Wasn't he the 1888s version of a pimp?
14th Jul 2023
3rd Rock from the Sun (1996)
Question: When Mary asks Dick what he expected for not paying his taxes when he learns he owes thousands to the IRS, he responds with, "I certainly didn't expect my girlfriend to wear my ass as a snowshoe!" I'm not sure I have ever understood this joke. What is the meaning behind it?
Answer: The writers often have Dick respond to Mary with a retort that he thinks is in the common vernacular but makes a mistake in wording that is often funny. Dick seems to be imputing a criticism from Mary and responds with a corruption of the more common "I'm going to wear your ass like a hat!" I doubt it has anything to do with owing taxes. Probably just one of the writers assuming a common regional phrase would be universally recognized.
1st Aug 2023
Hulk (2003)
Question: In San Francisco, why did the police, SWAT teams, and the military all converge and surround Hulk all at once? He could have easily just hopped over all that and kept going. Just the sight of the military could have thrown him into a rage, considering their previous engagements between the big green man and the men in green.
1st Aug 2023
Hulk (2003)
31st Jul 2023
Spider-Man (2002)
Question: Who exactly did MJ want Harry to help in the fight between Peter and Flash? I'd assume Peter since she didn't want Flash to attack him but Peter wasn't exactly in trouble during that fight.
31st Jul 2023
Blade (1998)
Question: When Blade is getting ready to leave the morgue and Karen is lying on the ground after being attacked by Quinn, Blade is about to walk by and leave her there. However, a flashback of his mom reaching out for help appears twice, triggering Blade to save her. This represents his mom, which I understand. But his mom's death occurred in the opening scene or at the beginning of the movie, and Blade was only a baby. How could he possibly have a memory of that as an adult from being a baby? (00:14:35 - 00:15:03)
30th Jul 2023
The Mummy (1999)
Question: Is the Egyptologist's (Jonathan Hyde) name ever revealed in the film, or is he always referred to as just the Egyptologist?
1st Jul 2023
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Question: Maybe I missed some dialogue, but why exactly did Voller think the fissure they were flying towards would take him to his desired date in 1939? I get that the dial detects fissures in time, but why would he think that particular fissure was the one he needed to travel through?
Answer: There is a bit of dialogue en route to the airport when Voller sets the instrument that says, "the first hand sets the destination," as in the time you want to travel back to. This would make the device completely absurd in principle if true (that's why I wanted to mark it as a plot hole/stupidity). Since it's supposed not to open portals but just detect them, it can't be that there are infinite portals for every moment in time you can choose to go back to (and they even close). The sky, while vast, is not infinite. We then find out that it is a trick since it is set to actually bring you to just one destination, but they don't know it yet.
Answer: We're supposed to accept that the dials are pointing to the rift in the sky, which is what makes this plot decision so ridiculous. There's no common reference point (magnetism wouldn't be discovered until and used in compasses for another 2,000 years), and the dial is 2-dimensional. Thus, you could turn your body 90 degrees and aim it down, and there's no indication from the movie that the dial would in any way turn to face the previous rift.
I think, technically, the fact that there's no common reference point is addressed when Voller mentions that the coordinates given are 'Alexandrine coordinates'... which I think might be another anachronism since all I can think it means is the ones used by Ptolemy in his Geography, which was hundreds of years after Archimedes' time. The dial is 2-dimensional, but there are 3 hands. It can be argued that when all 3 align, it does show that the direction you are headed is definitely correct, including the height you are pointing at. I definitely think it's entirely implausible, but the way the unknown mechanism works, attuned to something that does not exist such as time rifts, is kind of a lesser problem. Even if it is supposed to work by some mathematical principle, and then acts as some dowser rod.
Not true. The Chinese were using compasses around 200 BC, and Vikings are believed to have had them as well.
Answer: As they approach the rift, all three of the dial's hands are suddenly pointing towards it. If that is no clear indicator, then what is?
The dial pointing towards it only indicates that they are heading towards the fissure. How does that give Voller any certainty that this is the exact fissure he needs to travel through in order to reach his desired destination, especially considering it ended up not being the one he needed? Were there coordinates in Basil's diary that indicated where the exact fissure would open? I only recall the date of August 20 (?), 1939 being written down.
Only the time is written in the diary (the date you mention is next to August 20, 1969, which would be then supposedly when the finale of the movie takes place). For the coordinates, you need to have the device, which, apparently, allows you also to input with firsthand your desired destination. Voller couldn't know that to concoct his plan, though, since he did not have the diaries at the beginning of the movie.
17th Jan 2020
Predator (1987)
Question: There is a scene where after Dillon accidentally kicks a log down the hill, Mac says to him, "You're ghosting' us, motherfucker. I don't care who you are back in the world. You give our position one more time, I'll bleed you, real quiet, and leave you here. Got that?" What did he mean by that?
Answer: To translate: "Making noise like that could get us killed. I don't care that you're a CIA agent, if you give away our position like that again, I'll kill you quietly and leave your body here. Do you understand?"
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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.
Bishop73