Question: How did Quicksilver manage to get the arcade game, the table tennis and what looks like a sound system in the basement? They are very heavy and even with his speed would be impossible to move.
BaconIsMyBFF
6th May 2021
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Answer: He doesn't have to steal the actual heavy items, he can steal money and buy the heavy items and have them delivered. His mother is a single parent so it wouldn't be very difficult for him to arrange delivery of items while she is working. Mom also appears to be completely aware of Peter's crimes and doesn't really seem all that concerned.
And his mother wouldn't have found that suspicious? Or the movers? He's a teenager.
His mother seemingly already knows that he steals stuff. It's her house after all. She thinks the heroes are the police when they first show up to talk to him, and she visits him in the basement in the next film, and would have seen all the stuff he has down there. As for the movers, I used to work for a moving company, and not once did we ever ask a customer where they acquired something we were moving. They would be there to do a job.
That totally doesn't make any sense. The idea is that he stole these items. Would he call a moving company to steal an arcade game out of an arcade hall? How does he get the arcade game in the first place? Does he leave it on the curb of the arcade hall (or shop) so they can pick it up and drop it off at his house?
He most likely stole money and legit bought all those things. He likely helps his mother with the bills and stuff, so she doesn't ask him how he does it. Pietro is not known to be some master criminal with bad character, so he likely doesn't steal from ordinary people. The way he broke Magneto out of the prison, it seems he knows his way around a vault.
How he gets the arcade game is another question entirely. Maybe he stole it from a gas station or a restaurant that was near an apartment complex, but was still far from his home, and arranged to have it picked up at the apartment complex, so it would look like he lived there and was moving it to a new place. Alternatively, he could have had friends help him load it onto a truck.
22nd Mar 2021
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: How could Daniel become skilled enough to beat black belts in a karate tournament after just two months of training?
Answer: The Karate Kid series as a whole, which includes the TV show Cobra Kai, implies that Miyagi's teachings are highly effective. Miyagi's unorthodox teaching methods can get a novice up to a high level in a short period of time.
Answer: His opponents in the Valley tournament are not all black belts either. Johnny for example is not a black belt.
24th Mar 2021
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Question: I'm not a huge fan of DC, so I don't know much about any characters outside of Batman and his rogue's gallery. All the pictures I've seen of Steppenwolf from the comics show him to have a human appearance, with a goatee. Was his monstrous appearance in this film, and to a lesser extent the theatrical version, taken from the comics at all? If not, why drastically change the way the character looks?
Chosen answer: In the comics Steppenwolf traditionally has a very human appearance. He is tall and muscular with tan skin, black hair, and a moustache and goatee. Some of Steppenwolf's animated appearances show him essentially the same but with grayish/green skin, giving him an appearance somewhat similar to the 2017 Justice League version. According to Zack Snyder, the version of Steppenwolf in the 2021 version of Justice League was purposefully designed way back during the filming of Batman vs. Superman as not just a threat to the Justice League, but to the entire planet, hence the monstrous appearance. Warner Brothers made Snyder tone down the design because, according to him, they felt it was too frightening and intense for a PG-13 film. The version of Steppenwolf in Snyder's film has a very alien appearance, with the character's signature horns being part of his physiology rather than a part of his battle helmet, an immensely muscled physique, and covered in spiked armor.
22nd Mar 2021
Cobra Kai (2018)
Question: What kind of disease did Tommy (one of Johnny's friends) succumb to?
Answer: It isn't said specifically, but Tommy does mention that "it's in here now" while pointing to his head. This suggests some sort of cancer has spread to his brain.
Answer: It's implied to be a combination of brain damage (Johnny suggests this to Miguel earlier) and cancer that spread to the brain. In real life the actor suffered kidney and liver failure and died not long after.
22nd Mar 2021
The Abyss (1989)
Question: What was Lindsey referring to when she called Coffey "Roger Ramjet"?
Answer: Roger Ramjet was a 1960's American cartoon character who was extremely patriotic, but dimwitted.
Answer: She's comparing the overzealous, gung-ho Coffey to the 1960s cartoon character, Roger Ramjet, a frenetic, extremely patriotic, though not particularly bright American-hero guy. He worked for the U.S. government and routinely saved the world, using energy pills that gave him brief increased strength.
Answer: Dudley Do-right, Inspector Clouseau or Maxwell Smart, only in a '50's space cartoon, that's Roger Ramjet (I imagine Buzz Lightyear is the nearest pop cultural successor).
22nd Mar 2021
Jaws 2 (1978)
Question: When the shark attacks the helicopter why isn't the shark sliced in half when the rotor blades hit the water?
Answer: The rotors break as soon as they hit the water.
22nd Mar 2021
Major Payne (1995)
Question: Would Cadets Woliger and Fox have actually been able to attend a military academy, considering that Woliger has heart problems and Fox is deaf?
Answer: Madison is not a military academy. It is a boarding school and Major Payne has been put in charge of their JROTC program. It is, however unlikely that those cadets, or the blind cadet at the end of the film, would be admitted into a JROTC program. The Code of Federal Regulations states that the JROTC program is designed for "physically fit" students. Tiger is also much too young to be allowed to participate, you must be in at least the 7th grade to participate. Madison is apparently making exceptions to allow basically anyone that wants to participate and that would not be allowed in real life.
16th Mar 2021
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Question: When McClane asks Barnes to 'break the code' on one of the baddies' Walkie Talkies, Barnes tells him it is impossible as it is a 10 button device with a 6 digit readout..."There could be a million combinations!" How can there be a million combinations? Surely the largest number on a 6 digit readout is 999,999.
Answer: You forgot 000000.
Answer: Totally agree with the other answer, but also, someone saying, "There could be a million combinations!" can also just be a deliberate hyperbole, and never meant to be taken literally. It's like saying, "I told you that a thousand times already."
Except that a 6-digit code literally has a million combinations. It's not hyperbole at all.
Oh really? No kidding? Never disputed that there was one million combinations. The character, however, could have intended his comment as a hyperbolized, off-the-cuff remark that was not meant to be an exact number count. He said, "There COULD be a million combinations!" He did not say, "There are precisely one million combinations." He could have meant it either way. There was more than one way to interpret what he said.
This is a strange situation because the wording suggests that Barnes is using hyperbole ("there COULD be a million combinations..."), but mathematically the number of possible combinations with a 0-9 keypad and a 6 digit readout is exactly 1 million (10x10x10x10x10x10 = 1,000,000). So he is technically not using hyperbole but that was his intent. So it's both hyperbole and not hyperbole at the same time. It's kind of fascinating, actually.
25th Jun 2009
The Karate Kid III (1989)
Question: What's the story behind Mike Barnes? How old is he? Where does he come from?
Chosen answer: Mike Barnes is another karate champion, someone known in the karate tournament world as being brutal and excellent. It is never stated where he comes from, but it is far enough away to require a plane flight. His age is also never stated, but as it is an under-18 tournament and he can drive a car, we can assume it is either 16 or 17.
Answer: Mike most likely comes from north of LA (northern California, Oregon, or Washington) based on the fact that he said "if I come DOWN here and beat this Larusso kid..." Usually the term for travelling "down here" refers to coming from the north, "up here" is coming from the south, and "out here" or "over here" is from coming from the east or west.
It's not quite as simple as that. It wouldn't be unusual for someone from Kansas City, Chicago, or Detroit, etc. to describe traveling to LA as going "down" there.
15th Mar 2021
Jaws 4 (1987)
Question: How does Jake survive despite being seen eaten by the shark?
Answer: We never see Jake "eaten", he is merely shown being dragged underwater by the shark. Off screen, the shark simply let go of Jake and didn't kill him. In a movie full of factual errors and plot holes, this bit is actually somewhat realistic. Sharks typically do not eat humans, but will maul people on occasion and let go, presumably because they don't like the taste. How Jake survives underwater for minutes on end is not addressed. Originally, Jake was meant to be killed by the shark but for whatever reason, it was decided that Jake should survive and make a surprise appearance after the shark has been killed.
4th Mar 2021
Family Matters (1989)
Question: Would Eddie have actually been able to become a cop? In earlier episodes, he is drunk and has even got in trouble with the law several times, which resulted in him being arrested.
Answer: Having an arrest on your record will not disqualify you. Only a conviction will count against you because in the United States, you are considered innocent until proven guilty. And even then most police forces will only consider felony convictions or specific misdemeanors such as theft as disqualifiers.
2nd Mar 2021
General questions
Looking for a movie title (most likely made after 2000) where a zombie/robot takes in a lost little red-headed girl. The girl then leaves to kill the man who killed her mother. In the end, flies away with a man in a homemade red airplane. It's a futuristic movie and in one scene the girl and the man eat Twinkies that expired 1,000 years before. England is a moving tank on wheels. Title anyone?
Answer: Mortal Engines, based on the book of the same name.
2nd Mar 2021
Justice League (2017)
Question: When Bruce tracks down Aquaman in the Icelandic village, they have a conversation in which Aquaman calls Bruce "Batman" within earshot of strangers; since Bruce Wayne is highly protective of his secret identity as Batman, isn't this a bit careless on Aquaman's part? Even if the Icelandic villagers didn't understand English (unlikely, since most Icelandic people are at least bilingual), they would still recognize the word "Batman" and be able to put two and two together.
Answer: It is implied that the village is isolated. Bruce says that Arthur helps the villagers survive the winter by bringing them fish, which indicates they are so cut off from the world they would die out without Arthur's help. There is no indication that any of these people have ever heard of either Bruce Wayne or Batman. Neither appears to be particularly famous outside of Gotham, Clark didn't recognize Bruce Wayne in the previous film at the party and Batman had only recently made national news.
2nd Mar 2021
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Question: I always feel like I'm missing something with the scene where Kirk orders the Enterprise to reverse at the beginning of the battle. It confuses the Klingons and leads to a short respite in taking fire, which I would assume was exactly Kirk's intention, but then Kirk himself expresses confusion that the Klingons had stopped firing. What else could Kirk have been trying to do with that action?
Chosen answer: Kirk is highly skilled and experienced in combat. He knows the bird of prey must be between the Enterprise and the planet, so he instinctively orders a reverse after they are hit, fearing that they are at point-blank range. Chang is worried that Kirk may have somehow detected him, so he holds fire and repositions, but Kirk is merely being cautious.
Answer: Kirk wants to buy time to find a way to detect Chang's ship. Reversing is an unorthodox tactic so Chang is also thinking.
3rd Aug 2020
X-Men (1992)
Question: Does anyone know why Gambit was featured less and less in episodes as the show went on? He was one of the most popular characters in not just X-Men, but all of Marvel Comics around the time this series first aired, so unless it had something to do with his voice actor's contract, it seems odd they wouldn't have utilized him more.
Answer: Chris Potter, the original Gambit voice actor, did indeed quit the role in the 4th season. His last episode was The Phalanx Covenant Part 1 so it seems reasonable that Fox would limit the use of the character even though it was recast. It doesn't appear that Potter left the role due to animosity, he stated in an interview that he wished to play Gambit in the first live action X-Men film.
23rd Feb 2021
Cast Away (2000)
Question: Considering that Chuck had been on the island for four years, would he actually still have all of his teeth or would he have lost them all? From all the things that he saw in the packages that he opened, not one of them had anything to keep his teeth clean.
Answer: Even without dental care for four years, it would take far longer for a generally healthy person to lose their teeth if they had previously maintained proper oral hygiene. Chuck's diet was a factor (little or no sugar) and he could also fashion a primitive toothbrush or toothpick from materials on the island. Ancient humans had relatively little tooth decay. It was after sugar was introduced into the European (and later American) diet in the 11th century, that dental problems started becoming more prevalent.
Answer: It's possible that he could keep his teeth, provided he doesn't eat too many sugars. Just think of all the cultures throughout history and today that do not brush their teeth. They certainly have dental issues compared to those who regularly brush and see a dentist, but it's not like none of them have teeth.
Answer: Toothpaste and toothbrushes (+ floss) are not the only things that can be used to clean teeth! (What did people use before toothpaste and toothbrushes were manufactured?) A CLEAN finger can be used or a wet piece of cloth - and some fruits (e.g, apple) and vegetables (e.g, carrot) can help remove gunk from teeth. He had access to sea salt, which could help. If he "wiped" his teeth (after every meal and snack), he would be able to avoid plaque and tartar buildup. Toothpaste in and of itself is NOT necessary - it is added flavor to supposedly make brushing teeth taste better (e.g, bubblegum flavor for kids), be more pleasant (and thereby encourage people to brush longer), and/or add fluoride. Few, if any, people make it through adult life without a cavity, but there's no significant factor during his four years that would make him lose all of his teeth! The information given in the previous answers is also relevant.
Answer: I wasn't told as a kid I had to brush my teeth every day. I brushed them only before going to the dentist or a special occasion, would sometimes go months without brushing. I only started brushing properly after puberty and I still have each and every single one of my teeth. They're a bit yellower than average, but not that bad. Even with smoking all my life and practically living of sugar, most people actually think I have pretty decent teeth and I never get comments about having bad teeth. They do tell me that if this had gone on for much longer, I would regret it and my gums have retracted a bit from all the tartar, but this makes me assume that, being healthy, you can probably go at least 10 years with poor mouth hygiene before your teeth actually start rotting.
8th Jan 2021
The Prestige (2006)
Question: When Cutter arrives below stage to find Angier drowning in the tank he sees Borden hitting the glass trying to break it, desperately trying to save Angier, but why does he tell the court that Borden was just watching him drown?
Answer: Cutter believes that Borden set up the tank as a trap. It doesn't make sense that Borden would then try to save Angier, so it seems reasonable that Cutter believed Borden was simply putting on a show for the witnesses because he was caught red-handed. Cutter pushes Borden out of the way and exclaims "What have you done!" as he happens upon the scene, so it is clear he doesn't believe Borden is actually trying to save Angier.
14th Jan 2021
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
Moral Decay / Meet The Beat Alls - S3-E13
Question: There is something I don't get about Buttercup in this episode. She's a hero. Why would she knock some teeth out just for some money? That sounds like something a villain would do.
Answer: Buttercup is a hero, but she is also a 5-year-old child. She still needs to learn the same moral lessons any other child would. The girls often make the same questionable decisions regular kids do in real life, taken to an extreme because they have super powers and fight crime. Also, this is a highly stylized and over the top show where character traits are regularly exaggerated for a laugh.
29th Jan 2021
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Question: Who shoots Herod the first time in the final showdown with Ellen? I have replayed the video several times and her gun does not fire until the second, kill shot to the head. Cort is just behind her. Are we supposed to surmise that he shot Herod first? Just a mistake?
31st Jan 2021
VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (1993)
Question: How big are the characters in Veggie Tales?
Answer: The VeggieTales characters are fruits and vegetables that live in a regular human kitchen. So all the characters are meant to be the same size as their real-life counterparts.
Answer: There could be a basement door, so he wouldn't need the stairs, and with a hand truck, even the heavier objects would be easy to move.
Brian Katcher
He's able to move several people out of the Mansion when it is destroyed, so perhaps his powers allow him to move things that big quickly. He can also push a cart or trolley at speed, remember.