Question: At the end of the film, Phil finally wakes up in bed with Rita on the day after Groundhog Day (meaning he's finally broken out of the time-loop and temporal continuity is restored). Doesn't this necessarily imply that everything he did the day before will have repercussions for him? I mean, as far as everyone knows, Phil Connors just suddenly became a local sensation in one day, flashing a lot of money on the same day as the armored car robbery. Wouldn't Phil naturally fall under suspicion?
Charles Austin Miller
3rd Mar 2022
Groundhog Day (1993)
23rd Oct 2021
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Question: Why is there is such an absence of love in this film? Two birthdays are observed. Dr. Haywood Floyd calls his little 5-year-old daughter on Earth, wishes her happy birthday, but never once says "I love you," which seems only a natural thing for a father to tell his child. Later, astronaut Frank Poole's parents wish him happy birthday, but never once say "I love you"; rather, his father says, "Give our love to Dave (Bowman). " Nobody ever says "I love you," despite the dire circumstances.
Answer: I love this question, and I think the answer will vary, perhaps wildly, depending on who answers it. Here's mine: one of the themes of the film is that, despite these amazing leaps in technology, colonising the moon, and manned travel to distant planets, humanity has gradually become more and more like the machines we create: cold, emotionless, unfeeling. In other words, we've lost our capacity for human connection. This is why Kubrick shoots these scenes you mention in such a cold, distant way. It asks us to consider the cost that comes with technological advances that outpace our emotional development.
Good reply. Yeah, all the human dialogue in this film seems purely information-driven, if not outright expository. Cold, humorless, oddly devoid of emotion. Especially the dialogue and character of Frank Poole (played by Gary Lockwood); he shows no emotion or affection for his parents, as if only just tolerating their birthday greetings. For me, this made it difficult to feel any sense of loss when Frank Poole was later murdered by HAL. Maybe most oddly, the computer HAL seems to speak with the most emotion (desperation and fear) when Dave Bowman finally disconnects HAL's higher brain functions. I mean, that's the most poignant dialogue in the film, when the computer pleads for its life.
10th Oct 2021
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: In this film, Marty suddenly appears and spends one week in 1955. So, how does Marty freely roam the hallways and cafeteria at Hill Valley High School (even getting into a physical altercation with another student) without challenge from teachers and administrators such as Mr. Strickland? All the kids are talking about Marty, but nobody in authority questions the fact that he's not enrolled, he's completely undocumented, he doesn't attend any classes, and he's apparently a troublemaker.
Answer: High school in the 1950s was different from today, which has tight security and students are more closely scrutinized. Not every teacher, and even Strickland, knows every student, so Marty would not necessarily be immediately suspected as an outsider. And though the students are talking about Marty, that doesn't mean the adults are aware. Teens have their own closed-off society. Being as Marty was only in the past for a week, and he isn't at the school all that much, he could conceivably move about mostly unnoticed. If he was there any longer, the school would eventually wise up about him. Also, it's a movie, and suspension of disbelief is employed here. The audience just accepts the plot's premise.
Thanks. But I also remember (giving away my age) that teachers and administrators back then were very much aware of students "playing hooky" (skipping classes and wandering around the halls and off-campus during school hours). Back then there were even "truant officers" who patrolled the streets looking for school-age kids skipping school. With all of the attention to 1950s detail in this film, I was really kind of surprised that no-one apparently suspected Marty of truancy.
I also remember those days. As I mentioned, since Marty was only briefly at the high school during the one-week period he was in the past, he hadn't yet attracted enough attention to be considered a problem or a truant. It can be seen that Strickland notices Marty, but had not yet considered anything as being amiss.
4th Aug 2020
Star Trek (1966)
Question: Did actor Robert Lansing ever make any comments on Star Trek in general or "Assignment: Earth" (TOS S2E26) in particular? His co-star in this episode/pilot, Teri Garr, had a sour, cynical and dismissive opinion of "Assignment: Earth" and Star Trek fandom (Starlog #173). But what was Robert Lansing's feeling about his experience on Star Trek? Did he like it, hate it, was he excited about the prospect of entering into the new "Gary Seven" series; or, like Teri Garr, was Lansing glad to put it behind him? I've never seen or heard anything about Lansing's personal views on the show.
Answer: Robert Lansing said, in an interview, he was reluctant to a television series. He was a Broadway actor and was snobbish about T.V. Especially science fiction shows, which were considered cheesy kiddie programs. But Gene was a friend of his and wrote the part specifically for him. So he did it and admitted to having fun with it.
Thank you, I've always wondered about that. Is there a link to the Robert Lansing interview? I'd be very interested to read it or view it (if it's a video).
6th Aug 2019
General questions
This has been annoying the hell out of me for years. I'm thinking of an early 1960s (?) black and white American movie that features numerous cameos by A-List Hollywood actors who are so heavily made-up (with wigs and latex facial prosthetics) that they are all thoroughly unrecognizable. At the end of the film, as a complete surprise, there is a sequence of each of these otherwise unremarkable cameo characters removing their makeup for a big reveal. For example, a plain, middle-aged woman who only appeared for a few seconds onscreen grandly removes her latex face to reveal none other than Burt Lancaster. I believe Robert Mitchum and Tony Curtis were also among the reveals. What is this film?
Answer: "The List of Adrian Messenger" (1963). Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and Tony Curtis, along with Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra, remove their heavy makeup during the epilogue to reveal who they are. Although Lancaster and Sinatra didn't actual portray the characters they claimed to have been.
Thank you. The name of this movie has been on the tip of my tongue for many years.
Incidentally, director John Huston (who also made a cameo appearance in the film) tried to convince Elizabeth Taylor to play a disguised part in this movie; but, when Taylor learned that her lovely face would be completely hidden under heavy latex, she turned down the role.
2nd Aug 2019
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Yesterday's Enterprise - S3-E15
Question: The ever-popular gag in this episode is that Worf consumes prune juice for the first time and declares that it is a "warrior's drink," to Guinan's amusement. However, Worf was adopted as a child by human parents, he grew up on Earth, he was highly educated and graduated Star Fleet Academy on Earth. Given the reputation of prune juice as a natural laxative throughout human history, how could Worf not know what prune juice is, having lived most of his life on Earth?
Answer: There's nothing to indicate that Worf had never heard of prune juice before, just that he had never tried it before. He doesn't recognize the smell or taste of the drink as prune juice because he's never had it before. But that doesn't mean he has no idea what prune juice is, or that it is used as a natural laxative. In a later episode Guinan directly asks Worf's parents why he never had prune juice prior to her serving him the drink. They answer that as a child Worf refused to eat human food of any kind, everything he consumed had to be Klingon. Other episodes show that Klingons tend to despise human food in general for being bland. It stands to reason that someone who shows no outward interest in human food might not know what prune juice is usually used for. But then again, maybe he does know and he doesn't care because prune juice is delicious to him.
Thanks for reminding me about that later episode, although I think the later prune juice explanation from Worf's adoptive parents was scripted to address many fan questions along the same lines as my own.
25th Nov 2018
Freaked (1993)
Question: Keanu Reeves appeared in heavy makeup for this film in the uncredited (yet prominent) supporting role of "Ortiz the Dog Boy," and most viewers were oblivious to Reeves' involvement in the movie for many years after its release. Inasmuch as Reeves had starred twice before in comedies with Alex Winter, I'm only guessing that this film's producers didn't want a "Bill and Ted" association to complicate or misdirect the film's marketing; but why exactly did Reeves go uncredited in "Freaked"?
Answer: Honestly, I think it was just a bit of fun for Reeves. It's really not uncommon for prominent actors to do uncredited roles and cameos in films. I've seen it happen before many times. And given that the director/co-writer/co-producer is his "Bill and Ted" co-star Alex Winter, I have serious doubts they were worried about any "Bill and Ted" association. (If anything that would have helped them at the box office.) It was probably a case of Reeves doing it as a favor for a friend, and they decided to have fun with it and keep him uncredited to see if anyone would figure it out.
3rd Sep 2018
Fireball XL5 (1962)
Question: In various episodes, Steve Zodiac, Venus and Matt use odd slang, such as "tootie" and "tooties" and "toot," usually in a demeaning or disparaging way. Venus says, "I'm a tootie!" when she forgets to make the coffee, for example, and Steve says "I'm a tootie!" when he forgets to press a certain button or something. In at least one episode, Matt is called "a cheating old toot." I gather that saying "toot" or "tootie" is like saying "fool" or "doofus" or something similar. Is this slang that producer Gerry Anderson just arbitrarily dreamed up? Or is it part of an English dialect that I've never heard elsewhere?
Answer: Been living in the UK, man and boy, for 70 years and "tootie" is not a word we have ever used. So why Gerry Anderson uses it is a complete mystery.
28th Aug 2018
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Question: In the first timeline ending, Russell (Firefist) is not convinced or changed by Deadpool's pleading; in fact, he casts Deadpool aside. Cable then lunges for the semi-auto handgun and takes his last shot, which is intercepted by Deadpool in his left chest (a fatal wound). Seemingly, the only thing that really changed Russell's mind was Deadpool's actual death scene, as Deadpool rambled on with his farewells and gradually faded away. But, in the alternate ending, Cable goes back in time a few minutes and uses an arcade token to stop the bullet that killed Deadpool; thus, Deadpool doesn't die from the gunshot and Russell doesn't react to Deadpool's farewells (that never happened). So, what event changed Russell's mind the second time, if not Deadpool's actual death?
Answer: His change of heart came from Deadpool's sacrifice. In the second timeline, Cable saves Deadpool, but Deadpool had no way of knowing. Firefist still has a change of heart because Deadpool was willing to sacrifice himself, even though he was ultimately saved by someone else.
Now, I can accept that in theory, except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell. I mean, Russell knew from the very beginning that Deadpool could have killed him (but chose not to) and took some severe ass-beatings on Russell's behalf. Russell was really, really hard-boiled, and I'm not seeing that Deadpool almost getting killed as enough impetus to change Russell's heart. It seems (to me, anyway) it was Deadpool's actual death that changed Russell, such that a mere deflected bullet would not have the same effect.
Deadpool saving Russell in the film is what made Russell think that they were friends. When Deadpool tells Russell that they aren't friends, he remains hostile toward Deadpool, not believing him when he later admits to caring for Russell. At this point Russell is too far gone and will kill. However, it's only when Deadpool takes a bullet for Russell, fully intending to die in both timelines, that Russell sees that Deadpool really does care about him, and would have died to save him.
Answer: In science fiction there are two different ideas regarding time travel. In one, the timeline is fixed, so a person who goes back in time does what already happened in their own past, like in The Time Traveler's Wife - however, this is where the grandfather paradox comes in. The other theory as express in the Back to the Future series is the past can be changed and in so doing change the future for the person who changed it. Deadpool 2 follows the second concept, so Firefist doesn't need any motivation to go back the second time and in fact doesn't go back a second time since the timeline is already corrected and that doesn't present a contradiction.
It presents the contradiction that Deadpool's actual death broke Firefist's cold heart the first time; but the second time Deadpool doesn't die, so Firefist should have no change of heart.
"Except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell." Yes, but there's a huge difference between risking your life to save someone and directly sacrificing yourself. Doing something that could get you killed and doing something that will definitely get you killed are entirely different. You may not agree with the change of heart, but that's how it's presented.
Answer: The Firefist the second time around is the one from the first who jumped back in time retaining those memories, and therefore remembers the events from the first time, just like he remembers to place the token to stop the bullet and remembers that he used the device a second time. He doesn't need to experience the death twice to have the change of heart remain.
27th Jul 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Question: When Baron Munchausen and his cohorts clean out the Sultan's vault, the Sultan's horrified Treasurer crosses himself in the Catholic fashion. But, in this film, the Sultan is head of the Ottoman Empire (a Muslim empire), and the closest members of his court (such as his Treasurer) would surely be Muslim. So the treasurer's Christian gesture stands out as unlikely, at best. This seems to be a character error, but was it intended as a deliberate joke? If so, what was the joke?
Answer: The Baron is a teller of tall tales and massively exaggerated stories, so it is all from his limited point of view. The Ottomans did have Christian members of staff, especially doctors and such but the treasurer would never be a non-Muslim.
19th Jul 2018
Blue Velvet (1986)
Question: At the end, when Jefferey shoots Frank in the forehead, the film editing becomes confusing, with two different closeup shots of Frank immediately after the gunfire. One shot is obviously Dennis Hopper with a wide-eyed and shocked expression (as well a hole in his head) as he falls backwards. But the following split-second closeup shot is apparently not Dennis Hopper: He now has what looks like facial hair, a sullen expression, larger brow and eyes that seem almost swollen shut (and he's still falling backwards). This second cut looks like a rubber mask or very, very different makeup from that which Dennis Hopper was wearing just a fraction of a second before. The appearance is so different that I wonder if David Lynch was ever asked to explain the continuity error?
16th Jul 2018
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Question: Why attempt Russian accents in a film that is purely Russian? The star, Harrison Ford, doesn't even pretend to be Russian. Why should anyone else?
Answer: Harrison Ford does attempt a Russian accent in this film. It's a very slight, very bad attempt but he's definitely trying. Audiences come to expect accents in films such as these for a heightened sense of immersion. Hearing American accents from supposedly Russian characters can sometimes be jarring to an audience, even if the characters are speaking English. This of course isn't always the case and plenty of films have actors speaking in their natural accents while they are playing foreign characters. The director of this film chose to have his actors speak with Russian accents, with extremely poor results pretty much all around.
8th Jul 2018
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Question: This was the first of Toho's "Minilla" films (Minilla being the diminutive son of Godzilla), featuring an actor known as "Marchan the Dwarf" in the role of Minilla. Is there an official or even unofficial biography of Marchan the Dwarf? I'm not seeing anything on him through conventional searches.
Answer: All that I could find of him are his IMDb and Wikizilla pages.
6th Jul 2018
30 Days of Night (2007)
Question: Billy admits that he shot his wife and daughters to save them from a more horrible death at the hands of the vampires. Grieving, he says, "I tried to shoot myself, too, but the fucking gun jammed." But Billy is a deputy sheriff, and any competent law officer can resolve a jammed gun in a matter of seconds. Did Billy actually chicken-out of killing himself after murdering his family?
Answer: Perhaps Billy was not a competent law officer. Or maybe you were right he chickened out. Billy could have killed himself in other ways. Other ways more quiet than gunshot.
Exactly. How could he go on living after killing his whole family? A minor problem such as a gun jam shouldn't have prevented him from committing suicide. In fact, he couldn't become a law enforcement officer without demonstrating a proficiency with firearms, including the ability to field-service his weapon quickly in an emergency. The simple procedure for fixing a jammed firearm is at the top of the list of required skills.
Are we ignoring that he was obviously extremely distraught at this time? My take on this has always been that he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed, and he just gave up on everything. He literally didn't care enough about anything at that point to even bother taking his own life anymore. Let the vampires take him; or not. His family is gone, by his hand no less, nothing at all matters anymore. I didn't see it as an inability to clear the jam, I saw it as a psychological breakdown that resulted in complete and total apathy. The jam was nothing more than the straw that broke the camel's back.
If he gave up on everything, why did he covertly signal Eben with a flashlight? If Billy had truly given up, why not just walk out into the street and be slaughtered by the vampires, rather than continuing to hide?
10th Jun 2018
Animal House (1978)
Question: Near the end, when Dean Wormer and Mayor DePasto are in the grandstand, officially launching the parade, there is an elderly gentleman in the background (also in the grandstand, about 2 levels up, on the left side of the screen) who is making odd, excited gestures and comical facial expressions. His appearance and odd mannerisms are so striking that he draws my attention away from the dean and the mayor every time that I've seen this film, and that's a lot of times. Surely, director John Landis must have been aware of the gentleman and his antics in the background through multiple takes, so it would seem Landis intended the peculiar distraction. Who was that gentleman, and was there any significance to his appearing in the scene?
Answer: Sometimes these things get left in because it's simply the best take. (The child covering his ears before the gunshot in "North by Northwest," for example.) It could also be that John Landis cast the extra because he wanted someone with goofy expressions in the crowd. He simply could have told the extras "Ok, be excited that you're at a parade," and that's how this extra did it.
9th Jun 2018
2010 (1984)
Question: In the original film, the Discovery's onboard computer states: "I am a HAL 9000 Computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992." So, "HAL" was a manufacturer identification prefix (standing for Heuristically-programmed ALgorithmic Computers), "9000" was its model number, and "No.3" was its production lineage. In this sequel, however, Dr. Chandra is chatting with one of HAL's earth-based twin computers which has a feminine voice and is called "SAL"; but how can they arbitrarily change its manufacturer identification prefix? Being produced by the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, and being identical to the computer aboard the Discovery, the twin's name should have a different production number, but it should still be called "HAL," should it not?
Answer: The most likely reason the name was changed was probably a literary one. It makes it easier for the audience to differentiate SAL from HAL, showing how they are two distinct computers playing different roles in the film. It may also just be a feminine nickname being that SAL has a female voice.
I thought perhaps "SAL" was a nickname, also, until I saw that the computer's maker nameplate reads "SAL 9000" (visible in close-ups of SAL's glowing eye).
27th May 2018
Psycho (1998)
Question: When private investigator Milton Arbogast is attacked on the stairway, this film inserts two non sequitur pieces of footage right in the middle of the attack sequence: Just as Arbogast's face is slashed twice, a shot of a virtually-nude woman wearing a sleep-mask is inserted for a split-second, followed a moment later by a split-second insert of what appears to be a small calf standing in the middle of a road in a rainstorm. What is the meaning of those two inserts?
Answer: I'm sorry. There are no answers to your question. Or. The inserts were added to make the movie, which I liked, even more horrible.
Answer: His life flashing before his eyes? Snapshots of Norman's fractured psyche? The director's vision?
Those are just more questions.
26th May 2018
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Question: When Kirk and McCoy try to rescue Chekov at Mercy Hospital, Kirk removes the 20th Century medical team into an adjacent room and uses his phaser to instantly fuse the metal door lock. The medical team cannot directly see Kirk do this, as they are visibly several feet away on the other side of the door. It's also safe to say that the medical team has never seen a phaser and can't comprehend its function or capabilities. As Kirk turns away from the door to rejoin McCoy, the trapped medical team only then rushes up to the door, and the trauma surgeon exclaims, "He melted the lock!" However, it seems that you'd have to laboriously dismantle the doorknob to determine that the lock's internal components were fused. So, how did a 20th Century surgeon deduce at a glance that Kirk had somehow melted the lock?
Answer: The lock, and the area around it, would have become hot as a result of melting the lock. The hospital staff would then jump to the conclusion that the lock was melted. The real reason they mention it, however, is so the audience knows what he did to the lock.
But you would think, if the doorknob was still searing hot two seconds after being fused, that the first thing out of the surgeon's mouth would be a scream of pain, rather than "He melted the lock!"
Answer: The doctors were watching through the window the entire time. There was a visible red laser beam from the phaser, culminating with a puff of smoke or vapor emanating from the knob. It wouldn't be a huge leap for anyone to surmise that the knob had likely been melted.
Try watching the scene. No doctors are looking through the window when Kirk phasers the door lock.
Answer: Or perhaps the part of lock on the doctors' side is visibility melted.
Answer: The knob would have been super-heated by the phaser blast. Enough that it could be felt without touching, and he simply could have come to the conclusion that a metal object that hot would likely have its internal components melted without a systematic analysis of the doorknob. He's also a surgeon and needs his hands. He wouldn't last long at the job if he was someone who went around putting his hand on glowing-hot doorknobs.
He could've also been guessing as it appears he tries opening the door. Why they don't break the glass is beyond me, but that's a character mistake, and not up for debate here.
4th May 2018
Casino Royale (1967)
Question: At the beginning, M and agents representing the USA, Soviet Union and France try to convince James Bond to come out of retirement. Bond steadfastly refuses; whereupon, M lights his cigar as a signal for British troops in the distance to destroy Bond's estate with mortar fire (M is accidentally killed in the mortar attack). But what was the purpose of destroying Bond's estate? Wouldn't that action only drive Bond further away from rejoining the spy corps? Why would the British government go to such lengths to punish Bond? And then why did Bond return to the secret service, anyway, after such treachery?
Answer: Given that this is a comedy, the thinking was probably "Well, we'll just blow up your retirement so you've got no choice but to come out of it."
10th Apr 2018
Dementia 13 (1963)
Question: At the very beginning, John and Louise stroll down a dock, get into a row-boat and start across the lake; but John dies of a heart attack half-way across, and Louise dumps his body into the water. Throughout this entire scene, John's transistor radio is warbling a rockabilly song that sounds Elvis-inspired (but it's not Elvis). What is the song and who sang it?
Answer: "He's Caught" by Buddy Fowler and the Fads. It was an unreleased song used for the movie.
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Answer: On that particular previous day, he didn't rob the armored car. All he did was spend the day doing good deeds and the only repercussions will be people thinking highly of him.
Brian Katcher
A huge part of his "good deeds," no doubt, was his flashing a lot of money around town, buying a full insurance package from Ned, paying the piano teacher a significant wad of cash, gifting the newlyweds tickets for their honeymoon, etc. That's a big part of how Phil became so beloved by so many townspeople in one day. Plus, he bought the ice-carving chainsaw and who knows what else. He wasn't just pulling all that cash out of thin air. I think robbing the armored car every morning had become second-nature to Phil.
Charles Austin Miller
Phil seemed to be trying to do everything just right to break the cycle. It's unlikely he would choose to rob the armor truck. And it's unlikely the truck was robbed that day. However, Phil was a professional with a good paying job. Rita herself had almost $400 in cash on her. If Phil didn't have that much cash on him, he could easily get it from the bank and then write checks (or use a credit card) for everything else.
Bishop73