Phaneron

5th Jun 2017

Saw (2004)

Question: I've watched all 7 Saw movies recently and there is something that I still don't understand. Dr. Gordon was supposed to kill Adam within 6 hours in order to win the game and therefore, maintain his life. However, he never did that. He shot Adam in his shoulder and, even though it didn't kill Adam, the 6 hours had already passed anyway. I know that Zepp was the one who had to kill Dr. Gordon, but the truth is that Dr. Gordon never really did what he was supposed to do in the game. So why does Jigsaw still save him and make him his new successor (as seen in Saw 3D)? If we are objective, he didn't follow the rules of the game, so he should have died like all the other ones who didn't pass their traps.

Answer: Jigsaw wants his victims to appreciate their lives. So while Dr. Gordon may not have completed his intended objective, by sawing off his own foot in order to escape, he won his game and earned Jigsaw's respect. The saws being provided to Adam and Dr. Gordon also demonstrated that they could escape if they were willing to saw off their own feet.

Phaneron

Answer: An idea could be that Lawrence was never supposed to kill Adam. Instead, John could have wanted Adam and Gordon to build a relationship with each other within the time that they're given. However, even without my idea, Gordon showed John that he would go to extreme heights to save his life and his families', which ultimately was something that Adam lacked, earning John's respect and trust in the process. We also find out in Saw 3D that Dr. Gordon has been alive this whole time and was now on John's side and was working for him now.

Answer: He knows that Denethor is unhinged and depressed over Boromir's death, and prone to making bad decisions (or not taking action at all when needed), which could put Pippin in danger.

Phaneron

Well, that would explain why Gandalf told Pippin to get up when Pippin was kneeling before Denethor.

12th May 2017

Spider-Man (2002)

Answer: The final part of the prayer is "deliver us from evil, " so by making her say that part he is taunting her because evil is about to abduct her.

Phaneron

Question: At the end, to whom does Lex Luthor refer when he tells Batman, "He is coming for us, and he is hungry"? Does this suggest that Luthor used Kryptonian technology to send a message into space, alerting someone or something? But who?

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Presumably it is Steppenwolf, who will be the main villain in "Justice League." It could also be Steppenwolf's nephew, Darkseid.

Phaneron

3rd May 2017

Don't Breathe (2016)

Question: At the very beginning of the film, the burglars take care to switch off the home alarm system before ransacking the house. Why, then, as they are leaving, do they turn the system back on and shatter a window to trigger the home alarm? Makes no sense.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: As we see in the film, the houses they burgle have all purchased security systems from Alex's father. This makes it easy for them to gain access to the houses without triggering the alarm. However, if they committed a string of burglaries in which no alarms were triggered, people would eventually put together that customers of the same home security company were being burglarized and would point to them all being inside jobs. By tripping the alarm once they finish, they make it look like a standard break-in.

Phaneron

Answer: Because wearing his helmet makes him immune to Xavier's mind-probes. If he put the helmet back on, he could have tried to kill Nixon again. He doesn't take the helmet with him because he knew that Xavier would stop him in his tracks if he tried.

Phaneron

Question: Mystique had just walked away after Magneto flew off. She changed into a soldier that was still in uniform. Why change into that out of all things instead of a civilian?

Answer: Since the scene involving Mystique had literally taken place on the White House lawn, leaving as a civilian would most likely result in her being stopped for questioning/debriefing. By taking the guise of a uniformed soldier, she makes it less likely that she will have to answer to anyone as she is trying to get away.

Phaneron

30th Mar 2017

Spider-Man (1994)

Chosen answer: Felicia and Peter's friendship in this series was depicted as being on-again-off-again. At this point in the series they may have been on good terms. Plus Felicia is a wealthy socialite and Peter and Mary Jane's wedding was a big event due to Wilson Fisk paying for all of it.

Phaneron

Question: When Dooku slices off Anakin's arm in the hangar, why does he later receive a cybernetic replacement rather than just reattaching it? Amputated parts of the human body can survive up to several hours (even days, if so), so the troopers would have plenty of time to transport Anakin to a medical bay. Sure cybernetics are physically stronger than the normal parts of the human body, but human flesh gives the Jedi more potential, so why not just "reattach" it?

Answer: In addition to severing his arm, the lightsaber also cauterized the flesh. Cauterized flesh cannot be reattached.

Phaneron

16th Feb 2017

The Expendables (2010)

Answer: The intel they gathered on Church made them believe he would have killed them all upon completion of their mission.

Phaneron

15th Feb 2017

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Question: When Bob is looking at a video, he stops at a figure of a woman. He then uses a switch and watches as the woman in the video turns into another woman. Why does he keep going back and forth between the two women?

Answer: It's only one woman in reality. He had sex with a woman named Connie, but woke up next to her later and thought it was his friend Donna. The video showing it as two women is Bob losing his grip on reality due to his addiction to Substance D.

Phaneron

Question: Amy is almost drowned in the muddy water. After Russ saves her by artificial respiration, Nick asks him where he learnt artificial respiration. "French class." Russ answers. At the end of the movie, Nick at the table shouts, "I get it! French class!" So what does French Class mean?

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: Russ says he learned it in French class because giving mouth to mouth resuscitation looks similar to French kissing.

Phaneron

28th Sep 2016

The Departed (2006)

Chosen answer: The gold dome is part of the Massachusetts State House and it represents his ambition to rise up in the legal ranks, regardless of the means. The view of the State House is why he decides to rent the apartment.

Phaneron

28th Sep 2016

Sons of Anarchy (2008)

Giving Back - S1-E5

Question: In this episode, the guy is punished by SAMCRO for not having his biker ink covered up. Also, Clay had to have his covered in (I think) season 5 or 6 when he left. Why was Opie allowed to keep his though? He had effectively left yet in this episode he is topless and all his ink is showing. Why did he not need his covered when he left the gang?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: Former members only have to have their tattoos covered up if they are voted out of the club.

Phaneron

5th Sep 2016

Spider-Man (2002)

Question: Can someone please tell me why Mary Jane was apologising to Aunt May and nobody else, and felt bad about leaving only Aunt May?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Aunt May likely prepared most if not all of the food. Mary Jane felt bad about running out on the dinner knowing all the effort Aunt May put into it.

Phaneron

8th Sep 2016

The X-Files (1993)

Small Potatoes - S4-E20

Question: We know that the chameleon Eddie Van Blundht can manipulate his unique extra layer of muscles to mimic male faces and physiques, thus hijacking their identities. However, Eddie can't mimic clothing, so he must hastily seek new clothing to go with each new identity. But when Eddie is on the run from Mulder and Scully, he abruptly mimics Fox Mulder and is seen wearing exactly the same tailored suit and tie that Fox Mulder is wearing on the same day. In fact, they even cross paths in the hospital while they are wearing identical tailored suits and ties. Question: where and when could Eddie possibly acquire an exact tailored suit and tie to match Fox Mulder's on such short notice?

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: It might be a plot hole, but a possible explanation is that Eddie had previously met Mulder and seemed keen on getting him out of the picture so he could get closer to Scully. He may have carefully studied Mulder's clothing and obtained a suit of his own off-screen.

Phaneron

Answer: When Eddie enters the home of one of the couples whose baby he fathered and hides in the bathroom, he emerges looking like Mulder, fooling them. Later, they call Mulder asking if they can use their bathroom again and why Mulder needed to take the man's charcoal suit, which tells us that Eddie took the suit on the pretext of needing it for the investigation, but obviously wanted it to wear to better impersonate Mulder.

Purple_Girl

7th Aug 2016

Identity (2003)

Question: When the prisoner is running away from the motel to escape, how does he end up back at the motel again?

Answer: The motel isn't real, and neither are any of the characters in its proximity. They are all aspects of Malcolm's personalities that are being killed off one by one in order to make sure his true murderous personality is vanquished. As such, the session by which Malcolm is being forced to do all this is designed so that all the personalities are stuck within the same place with no chance of leaving, which explains the bad storm, the road obstruction, etc.

Phaneron

13th May 2016

Bruno (2009)

Question: Like Borat, Bruno was mostly unscripted, and most of the people were real people secretly filmed without their knowledge. So does that mean the sex scenes at the swinger party were unsimulated? If they were, how was the movie not rated NC-17?

MikeH

Chosen answer: The MPAA's rating guidelines are all over the place, and tone and context matter. The scene in question appears to be real, but there's not really anything explicit shown, and since it's all played for laughs, the MPAA was probably more lenient on it.

Phaneron

9th Mar 2016

The Hangover (2009)

Question: When Chow is naked, it seems he has pubic hair but no genitals. Can someone please explain this?

Answer: He appears to have a micropenis.

Phaneron

8th Jan 2016

Saw IV (2007)

Question: Why was Art forced to play 2 games? Obviously the reason he was put over watching the detectives was because he acquitted the 3 victims who died in the traps, but why make him play the game at the beginning where Trevor could have potentially killed him when Jigsaw/Hoffman needed him to watch Detective Matthews? And what was Trevor's reason he was picked?

Answer: The two games he is forced into can be considered to be just part of one larger game, similar to Jeff from Saw III, William from Saw VI, Bobby from Saw 3D and even Rigg in this same movie. Any one of the aforementioned characters could have died at any point in their tests before completing them, but as Jigsaw told Hoffman in Saw V, "If you're good at anticipating the human mind, it leaves nothing to chance." Art was placed in a dangerous situation in his first test, but he had a large advantage considering that his opponent had his eyes sewn shut. Why Trevor is placed in the game with Art is never explained in any of the movies, unfortunately.

Phaneron

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