Phaneron

Question: Why did Grandpa join the angry mob? It would make much more sense if he was either on his family's side or simply remained completely neutral.

Answer: The family doesn't treat him very well, particularly Homer. He may have wanted some revenge on them. Grampa is also a little senile.

Phaneron

16th Dec 2020

Beethoven (1992)

Question: Maybe I'm ignorant but shouldn't all those injections of various drugs Dr Varnick gets in the chest kill him?

Rob245

Answer: It appears he only gets pierced by the needles. The plungers aren't pressed, so he isn't injected with their contents.

Phaneron

8th Dec 2020

Insidious (2010)

Question: I've heard rumors there's an Unrated version of this film - possibly released on BluRay in Germany? I've hunted for more info on this, but not having a lot of luck. Any chance the rumors are true?

TANGd878

Answer: I don't know for certain, but there is a website called movie-censorship.com that details and contrasts scenes in alternate versions of movies compared to their theatrical releases, and when I checked, they don't have this film listed.

Phaneron

6th Aug 2018

Breaking Bad (2008)

Caballo sin Nombre - S3-E2

Question: When Saul buys Jesse's house from his parents, he said that he showed their lawyer, Mr. Gardner, "all the pertinent financials", meaning $875,000 in cash available to buy the house. Jesse only had $450,000 and that money was not in any account. How did Saul show Mr. Gardner that he had $875,000 in cash?

dweezel7

Answer: Saul is a criminal himself. It's not past his capabilities to forge some documents to show the 857k is available.

Ssiscool

Forged documents by Saul is most likely the correct answer.

The_Iceman

Answer: Saul has a stash of cash himself, hidden in his office. It's possible he used some of that instead as part of the scheme instead of having to go through the effort of falsifying documents.

Phaneron

Answer: In all likelihood, he sold some more meth.

Captain Defenestrator

At the time, they were not producing enough Meth to get that much money in the time frame of the events.

Ssiscool

1st Dec 2020

The Punisher (2004)

Answer: They were actually planning on using Jigsaw as the villain in the sequel until Thomas Jane and director Jonathan Hensleigh exited the project and the studio rebooted the character with Punisher: War Zone. They probably just wanted to show the Punisher's origin first, which would allow him to be fully established by the time a sequel came around, and they would have more to screen time to establish Jigsaw.

Phaneron

1st Dec 2020

The Punisher (2004)

Question: Since when do they leave guns of the deceased at the scene of the crime? Castle comes back some time later after the massacre and picks up several from a case.

Rob245

Answer: I'm just guessing here, but since dozens of people were killed in what was determined to be a mob hit, and since there were no next of kin, everything was probably left there and boarded up since the entire area was a crime scene that was still under investigation.

Phaneron

4th Apr 2006

From Hell (2001)

Question: Why is it a "known fact" that Mary Kelley was killed by Jack the Ripper? Her murder differs in many ways from the others. She was killed indoors, she wasn't wearing any clothes, her body was so savaged that she was unrecognisable. The other murders took place outdoors with victims fully dressed and only partly savaged. Considering the number of violent deaths that took place in London at this time (most of them by slashing the throat) she could have been murdered by anybody. I know Abberline was called to the scene of the crime but that doesn't prove the Ripper actually did it and Abberline was called to more murder scenes than just the five official Ripper ones. What makes people so sure that Jack the Ripper killed Mary Kelley?

Answer: As the Ripper was never caught and interrogated, it can never be said with absolute certainty that Kelly was one of his victims. Her death does, however, fit the pattern of Ripper murders quite well with regard to time, general location, methodology and class of victim. There was also a noted trend of increasing levels of mutilation as the murders went on, so, while the damage was considerably more extensive that the previous killings, that also fits with a noted trend of the Ripper murder - it's also worth considering that, as Kelly was apparently his final kill, he may well have wanted to sign off with a particularly grand statement, hence the extreme level of mutilation to the body. This would also explain why the attack uncharacteristically took place indoors - what Jack had in mind for Kelly would take a considerable period of undisturbed time, more than could be guaranteed in an on-street attack. It's also believed that Jack had been interrupted during the murder of Elizabeth Stride on his previous night of violence some weeks earlier - this could also have led him to alter his modus operandi to ensure that this would not be repeated. So, no, it cannot be stated categorically that Kelly was a victim of Jack the Ripper, however the evidence suggests a high probability that this was the case, enough so that many people consider this to be a fact.

Tailkinker

It wasn't Mary Jane Kelly.

The question pertained to the real-life Ripper murders, not what we see in this film. It was indeed Mary Kelly in real life.

Phaneron

Question: During the scene when Frank and Jane are making a clay pot, what caused the potter's wheel to go berserk and splatter them with clay? (00:50:18)

Answer: The foot pedal controls the speed of the wheel. Frank puts his foot on top of Jane's foot and pushes the pedal down all the way. The rapid acceleration and the fact they took their hands off the clay caused it to go everywhere.

Bishop73

Wouldn't that hurt Jane as Frank's foot is applying pressure to hers while pressing down on the pedal?

Not really, you can see his foot gently presses on top of hers, and both their feet cause the pedal to slope towards the floor, which would decrease the amount of pressure Frank's foot applies to Jane's. On top of that, different people have different pain thresholds.

Phaneron

This is not exactly related to the question asked, but part of the scene that I could never really figure out. It showed that Jane made something in the shape of a square out of a piece of clay. What did she make and how could she have made it in only seconds with her eyes closed? I also don't quite understand how the clay could've possibly gotten to where she obtained it to begin with (asking in a way of abiding by the guidelines).

The scene cuts to them shaping clay without showing any of the set up. So we don't see how it got to that point, so she didn't do it in a second with her eyes closed. It's just a parody of the scene from "Ghost." In real life, using a clay wheel makes shaping clay faster, although it takes practice. If you put your hand, or a tool, on top and press down, you create a hole (which we aren't shown). It looks like Jane is just making a vase.

Bishop73

I really apologize, but I was referring to after the vase was inadvertently destroyed. It was after Frank apparently had a bodybuilder's physique (which was an obvious body double joke). Then it showed Jane making something out of clay in such a short time with her eyes closed. So sorry about that. Thank you for the reply.

The fact she made it so quickly was a gag, but she makes an ashtray. I would say the joke about that is people will often smoke after sex (or there's a perceived joke they do). It seems the clay comes off Frank's body, like it was there when the clay went everywhere.

Bishop73

Thank you very much. Yes, I never could get that part of the joke no matter how many times I have watched it. Thanks again for the help.

Answer: It wouldn't take a lot of pressure to operate the pedal, probably less than a car's accelerator.

Brian Katcher

9th Nov 2020

The Sandlot (1993)

Question: Where was the school where the kids were playing ball in the opening?

Answer: According to themoviedistrict.com, it is Nibley Park School in Salt Lake City.

Phaneron

28th Oct 2020

The Sandlot (1993)

Question: I know the pool was a busy one when filmmakers shot the pool scene, but how were they able to get permission to get in and get all those extras in the film?

Answer: The filmmakers would have rented out the entire pool and closed it off to the public. This movie was filmed in Utah, and many businesses in Utah, at least at the time the film was made, were closed on Sundays, so it's possible they rented out the pool on a day that there was no business being conducted anyway. I believe this was all done in one day, because I attended a panel with Patrick Renna at a convention in 2019, and he mentioned the day they filmed at the pool wasn't particularly warm.

Phaneron

10th Sep 2007

Saw II (2005)

Question: After Xavier threw Amanda in the syringe pit, and Amanda finds the key for the next door, WHICH CAME WITH AN ANTIDOTE. Even though, they couldn't open the door. why didn't ANYONE USED THE ANTIDOTE?

Answer: I don't think it was an antidote. It looked more like the neon fluid you find in a glow stick to make the key stand out in the needle pit more.

Phaneron

Answer: Could be a numer of things. Noone may have noticed, People might have thought it's not an antidote as they needed the key to GET TO the antidote or even they might not have thought to try it.

Ssiscool

Answer: I think it said the antidote was behind the door, not an exit.

6th Oct 2020

Onward (2020)

Answer: A sequel is still possible, but PIXAR and Disney say there are no current plans for one. They are open to the possibility but claim to be moving away from a sequel-heavy slate to instead focus on original projects. Although it received good reviews, Onward under-performed at the box office, though that was partially due to the COVID pandemic. A sequel is doubtful, or, if there is one, it could be a straight-to-video DVD.

raywest

Answer: It's hard to say for certain, but any movie that ends up making a lot of money is pretty much guaranteed nowadays to get a sequel, as it signals to the studio and producers that they now have a recognizable and lucrative IP.

Phaneron

6th Oct 2020

General questions

I've noticed that, on a few sitcom TV shows, a mother character will become pregnant again - and the show is cancelled that season or the following season. A few examples are "Boy Meets World" (Cory's mother), "Grounded For Life", "Dharma and Greg" (Dharma's mother), "The Jeff Foxworthy Show", and the original run of "Roseanne." Is there some reason for this?

Answer: It could just be coincidental. It could also be a way of changing things up for the show without having to commit to it long term. TV shows often introduce drastic changes in their narrative when nearing the end of their run, such as characters moving away, dying, or getting married in order to help provide a sense of closure, or tug on the viewers' heartstrings.

Phaneron

6th Oct 2020

Spider-Man (1994)

Answer: In the comics, Hobgoblin's true identity was kept a mystery for a long time intentionally and while many fans deduced it was Kingsley, and creator Roger Stern was leaning that way, Stern left the series in 1984. In 1987 Hobgoblin's identity was revealed to be Ned Leeds and then Macendale became Hobgoblin. It wasn't until 1997 that Sterns wrote the mini-series "Hobgoblin Lives" and retconned Kingsley as the original Hobgoblin.

Bishop73

Answer: I could be wrong, but I believe the Hobgoblin in Marvel Comics around the same time this show was airing was also Jason Macendale. I have a Hobgoblin trading card from around 1992 or 1993, and it identifies him as Jason Phillips Macendale when listing his real name.

Phaneron

Answer: He's punishing Michelangelo for disrupting the session with Keno, which he used as an opportunity to diss Raph.

Phaneron

21st Sep 2020

The X-Files (1993)

Unruhe - S4-E4

Question: When Gerald is holding Scully hostage, Scully says that she has no unrest but Gerald says she does. What did Gerald think Scully's unrest was?

Answer: Gerry Schnauz thinks all of his victims suffer from "howlers" in their brains, which is why he lobotomizes them. In Scully's case, it should be noted that the spot where he said her howlers were was the same spot she received her cancer diagnosis, so it could be assumed that his other victims might have had other legitimate maladies they didn't know about.

Phaneron

Question: I never saw it from the beginning. Does it actually show the home invasion, or is he just telling us about what happened?

Answer: The theater version shows the wife's rape and murder, but not the daughter's. When the little girl interrupts her mother's rape, Darby smiles and laughs as he tells Clyde and Ames, "I'll take care of her, kids like me." He then picks her up and carries her into another room as Clyde's wife stares at Clyde as she dies and that's when Clyde blacks out.

Answer: We see Clyde answer the door and immediately get assaulted, but we do not see his wife's rape, nor the murders of the wife and daughter.

Phaneron

Answer: He's in prison for killing Darby and Ames, though factually, since he hasn't even been charged with either murder, he should be in county lockup. This is a pretty glaring goof for a film that makes commentary on America's justice system.

Phaneron

21st Sep 2020

Joker (2019)

Answer: In a nutshell, it's because the film's protagonist is a mentally disturbed killer, and certain groups in America thought the film's violence would lead to copycat behavior.

Phaneron

I never got this aspect of the controversy, if anything, it goes to show what can happen when mental illness goes untreated.

ctown28

I agree with you on that, but unfortunately, there's so many people, at least in the United States, that have no sense of nuance and are prone to knee-jerk reactions. They would rather condemn and blame different kinds of media for society's ills, rather than stop and look at the message something is trying to tell.

Phaneron

I read about the concern over possible copycat behavior in an on-line article; Phaneron's answer is correct.

KeyZOid

Answer: Because the left thought it would encourage violence and mocked liberal run cities.The right thought the same on violence, it seemingly justified a mentally ill guy's actions, that it made white businessmen bad guys. Both sides in general only complained about Joker for attention.

Rob245

6th Sep 2020

The Dark Knight (2008)

Answer: The Joker repeatedly lies throughout the film to keep his enemies confused. In this instance, it would be risky for him to tell Harvey that it was his goal all along to corrupt him, so he instead tells him he has had no plan.

Phaneron

Answer: He is a highly functional and highly intelligent psychopath. In the comic book universe, there is a saying about the Joker, "Always expect the unexpected."

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