Question: Given that the entire McFly family's circumstances have changed at the end of the movie due to Marty altering the past, shouldn't Marty's whole life have gone down a completely different path from childhood on? What are the odds that he even still knows Doc and Jennifer in the revised 1985 (let alone has the exact same date planned with Jennifer for the very same evening), given that everything else has changed?
BaconIsMyBFF
15th May 2019
Back to the Future (1985)
Answer: It's definitely a paradox. Marty actually goes back to the life of 2nd Marty, but if that's the case then original Marty should have still faded away since he created a new timeline when he gave George confidence. Original Marty shouldn't exist anymore at all, he should have faded completely away on the stage. I've said it before and I'll say it again: time travel movies are a mess.
The new Marty isn't a different person entirely; he's just the same guy who was raised in a slightly different environment to the original timeline. Marty's actions in 1955 have ensured that his parents will have three children, and he will be one of them. His existence is completely secured in the timeline.
22nd May 2017
Fast Five (2011)
Corrected entry: Reyes is the only one able to open his vault in the police station as shown in the movie. All the cash from the cash houses are taken to the vault and we see Reyes arrive to check the money is in the vault. How did the money get in the vault if only Reyes himself can open it? To assume the vault is kept open would be ludicrous as it would defy the whole point of the vault. (00:52:30)
Correction: Reyes has all of his money taken from the safe houses to the police station, all at the same time. Yes, the vault is kept open until all the money gets there and then it is closed. There is no other way to do what Reyes wants without leaving the vault open. Bear in mind that under normal circumstances the money itself has very little actual security, because nobody else would be crazy enough to attack one of Reyes' safe houses.
While your correction is good in respect of the money being taken to the vault, my mistake was referring to the point before the heists. Reyes orders the money to be taken to the vault after the one safe house is hit. And when all the cash is being brought it, yes the vault would be kept open. But what about before the first hit on the safe house? It is extremely unlikely that the vault would have been open prior to this. So how was the vault opened to allow all the money to be brought in in the first place? If only Reyes can open it.
We don't know anything at all about the safe or its contents prior to the money being consolidated. It very well could have been completely empty and unlocked. Reyes could have unlocked the safe, left the building, and only returned once all his money was there. There just isn't enough information for this to be a plot hole. Remember, Reyes is only doing all of this because Dom burned his money. He fully trusts the cops to keep his money safe and it is fairly well established that nobody else in Rio would even attempt to steal from him.
27th Nov 2004
The Thing (1982)
Question: So what happen to the two guys at the end of the movie? Are there any stories about them in the PC game or an alternate ending or something like that?
Answer: The Game shows Child's frozen body where we last saw him in the movie (Whether he is a thing lying dormant or not, we never find out) There is a comic book series that continues where the movie left off, where MacCready and child's are rescued by another research team on a ship. And it is discovered that Childs was in fact a Thing, spawning a whole new generation of things among the team.
Can you tell me what comic book series that is? I'd like to read it.
The comic series is called The Thing From Another World, just like the original movie from the 50's. It was published by Dark Horse comics. Besides some decent artwork, especially on the covers, the series isn't very good and actually contradicts the movie in a few areas.
Thanks! I read it, it's not bad.
Answer: No one knows what happened. They had no transport and couldn't make radio contact, so very likely they froze to death. If one or both are Things, then they just went dormant until rescue shows up. There is nothing in the game or on the DVD that answers this for sure. BTW It's very hotly debated amongst Thing fans, that Childs is a thing because you cannot see his breath in the cold. (It's very difficult to tell if you can or not because of the scene's lighting).
Answer: Just to add to the other answers, I actually saw an interview with Keith David recently where he explained that it was purposely shot to be ambiguous. They shot two different versions of the scene - one where they played the scene as though neither was the thing... and another where they acted more suspicious of one another. And they built the scene out of the footage they had. He also debunked the popular fan theory about how you couldn't see Childs' breath being a hint... he explained that the way the scene was blocked, the air around him was slightly warmer than it was around Kurt Russell due to the fire and the debris around them - hence you just couldn't see his breath while you could see Russell's, who was about 5 or so feet away. (Not to mention you can actually see a little bit of his breath once or twice.) It wasn't a conscious decision to try to hint that Childs might be the thing. The scene really is just meant to be super ambiguous and unexplained.
18th Feb 2013
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Corrected entry: Sojef states that his people came from a Solar System on the brink of war. This would technically be the Sol System, which is where Earth resides. Star Trek traditionally would refer to other systems properly as a generic "star system". (00:38:20)
Correction: He can say it however he wants to. Just because something is normally said one way, doesn't mean others can't say it another way.
That doesn't address the mistake. The mistake is that he calls it a "solar system." The term "solar system" does not refer to a system of a star, it refers specifically to the system that contains Earth. The star our system orbits is called "sol", hence "solar system." This can't be explained by saying a character simply chose to refer to another star system as a solar system, because solar system is a proper name. It would be like saying "China is a country on the Africa of Asia", when you mean to say "China is a country on the continent of Asia." This is a common mistake in many science fiction films, but is one that Star Trek rarely makes.
22nd Feb 2019
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Corrected entry: So the Indoraptor is engineered in such a way that you take a laser pointer, aim it at the object you want to have destroyed and push a button. At the auction, people are willing to pay tens of millions for such a "killing machine." but in terms of practicability, if you need to point at your target and push a button, resorting to a rifle and a 50-cent-bullet seems more logical.
Correction: Additionally, there's more cost than just a bullet to kill a target. First, you have to find someone willing to kill for you, train them, and even then it's not a guarantee they could kill their target. Plus, you can use airplanes, helicopters, or drones to pinpoint targets and the Indoraptor can attack several targets, including fleeing targets that a sniper might not be able to target once the targets start to flee or hide.
That would make sense if the indoraptor wasn't portrayed as being hilariously inept at killing small, unarmed children.
That's a completely different topic regarding plot convenience. We saw the I-Rex kill 8 people and even more dinosaurs.
Correction: It might be more practical, but people are bidding for the Indoraptor on the basis that people are going to be more afraid and terrified by this unique killing machine. If you've got a man with a rifle, several men could fire at him and kill him. If that man has got the Indoraptor with him, they will more likely run from the target. Making the attacker safer for lack of a better word.
The movie demonstrates quite ironically that the indoraptor is practically useless in a combat situation. It can't seem to kill an unarmed 8 year old girl. The idea that a trained soldier would be so terrified of the dinosaur they wouldn't shoot at it seems ludicrous. People hunt deadly creatures that could easily kill a man all over the world for fun.
Correction: Remember from Jurassic World, one of the points made about using raptors was drones can't clear caves, hard to safely do with a gun. Pitch dark, unknown layout, unknown enemy. But marking a bad guy who ran in there and sending in vicious monster that can see thermal and has a superb sense of smell (part T-rex), plus marking a specific target in a crowded area could lessen collateral damage. Theoretically if the indoraptor doesn't try to kill everyone in sight after killing the target. But we have to remember the auction wasn't exactly US Army R&D, it was warlords, weapons dealers, and terrorists. People who may just use it to intimidate others or use it as an execution device for propaganda (Like ISIS beheading people and filming it).
28th Sep 2003
Jurassic Park (1993)
Corrected entry: When we first met Nedry in San Jose Dodgson informs Nedry that he will receive a total of "One-point-five million dollars if he gets all 15 species off the island." Take a closer look at that test tube receptacle. If you look when he is closing the test tube receptacle after he steals the the DNA you can see that there is only enough room for ten species.
Correction: The money Nedry receives at the start of the movie is for the five embryos he had supposedly already gotten off the island. He is now getting the remaining ten.
Nedry most certainly did not get five embryos off the island prior to the start of the film. Nedry and Dodson set up a fairly intricate plan in order to get the 15 embryos off the island, it is unfathomable they would need to do this if Nedry had already successfully smuggled 5 viable embryos previously without anyone ever noticing. The mistake is valid and this explanation is completely wrong.
Correction: Also, if Nedry had already gotten some OFF, why show him the smuggling device NOW, he could just use whatever method he'd already used, and or just need a replacement shaving cream can with no need to be briefed as to its abilities.
15th Mar 2019
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: Paul lived to be an old old man because John touched him. Did Melinda live to be an old women since John healed her of cancer? Nothing was ever said about her but Mr. Jingles lived to be an old mouse.
Answer: John Coffey only transferred "a piece of myself [himself]" to Paul, intentionally and Mr. Jingles, unintentionally. Paul didn't have that power after John cured his UTI and Mr. Jingles didn't have it after John cured him from the attack by Percy. The movie is very clear about that.
Answer: Actually, Paul does mention Melinda as one of the people he has lost along the way. No mention is made of how long she lived, but I would assume that John simply cured her tumor, and she lived the rest of her life as a normal woman.
Answer: Yes she lived for very long and ailment free. But you gotta know Elaine was already much older than Paul was, so even though she lived very long, Paul outlived her. He specifically mentioned her, saying something in the lines of "eventually I even outlived Elaine."
I think you are confusing Melinda and Elaine. Elaine is the woman Paul is recounting his story to, she is considerably younger than him and yet he outlives her. Melinda is the wife of the warden who John Coffey heals. It is not said how long she lives but since Paul specifically mentions his long life being a curse for his role in John's execution, we can assume she was not particularly long lived as he was.
Yes, of course. Melinda. I got the idea that the people who John Coffey heals have long life without ailments. Paul and the mouse are the living proof of that, so why not Melinda? I meant to say Melinda was I think already older than Paul when she was healed by Coffey (although the actress was 40 when this film was made) and thus her life was extended, but less so. She may have died even after Paul's wife, even though he mentions her first. It's still probably been a while though.
Melinda's fate after John heals her is never mentioned. Paul believes he has been cursed with long life as punishment for his role in John's execution. That to me indicates that Melinda didn't live a particularly long life. If she had Paul would have no reason to believe he was being punished.
Besides Mr. Jingles.
Paul mentions Melinda by name when recounting the people that he lost along the way. "Hal and Melinda" are the first names he mentions.
Answer: It would appear, based on what Paul says, that only he and Mr. Jingles were gifted (cursed?) with long life. Paul specifically mentions outliving his family and friends and is shown outliving Elaine as well. Paul speculates that his long life is punishment for his role in executing John, but he says nothing of why Mr. Jingles lives for so long.
Paul says that he believed that what happened to Mr. Jingles was an accident. Meaning he was never supposed to have a long life but, during Del's execution, a small bit of John's healing power accidentally went into Mr. Jingles.
20th Feb 2018
The Thing (1982)
Corrected entry: The big burly guy with the sweater has a heart attack. When his chest is opened it is soon discovered that he has been assimilated, meaning he was no longer human at that point and would not have had a heart attack.
Correction: The alien entity imitating Vance Norris is faking a heart attack. Vance Norris was replaced by the alien a long time ago.
He definitely isn't faking. He winces from chest pains while he is in a room all by himself, just after he looks out the window and yells "Hey you guys! Come here!" The implication is, like Blair said, when the thing takes over someone it copies them perfectly and also copied Norris' bad heart. It also wouldn't make any sense for him to fake a heart attack at that moment because it caused him to reveal himself to everyone all at once and be killed.
It doesn't take over their bad traits, no need to do that, every single cell of the organism has its own sense of survival, a heart attack wouldn't threaten it. It did fake a heart attack, it's not human, it doesn't use a heart. MacReady was becoming a threat to its survival with the dynamite - the thing wanted to create chaos, and in that way kill them all and eliminate the threat. It lured people close, like the doctor, so he could attack. Besides, it had already copied itself, it was also Palmer.
The chest pains started before Macready came into the building. He definitely wasn't faking a heart attack, he was actually having one. The creature makes a perfect copy of the organism it takes over and because Norris had a bad heart, it also had a bad heart. The creature only reveals itself when it's alone or it has to defend itself. Because the doctor was hurting it with the defibrillator, it was forced to reveal itself.
So you are saying that if the creature had a heart attack alone in a room it would actually die? Why would an actual heart attack threaten a thing that is made up of individual cells that have their own survival instincts? This fact was only revealed after the incident. No, the heart attack wasn't real, it isn't human.
No, I'm not saying the creature would or even could die of a heart attack. I'm saying that the heart attack wasn't faked because the creature made a perfect copy of Norris, including his bad heart. This is all explained after the dog-thing is examined. It has internal organs that look and work just like the creatures it copies. It wouldn't need to fake a heart attack to get people to come closer to it anyway. It can just walk up to anybody it wants to attack. For the entire movie, the creature lies in wait, attacking one person at a time unless it absolutely has no other choice but to defend itself.
I know it's the official explanation given, but I just don't buy it the creature would fail its hidden state so utterly by going into cardiac arrest and drawing attention to itself like that even though every single cell has it own survival instincts. I still say it was the threat of the dynamite, to create confusion. They do think individually or else the dynamite would have worked in it's favor even. It just panicked and did it on purpose.
I think what the movie is saying is that even though each individual cell wants to protect itself, it's still beholden to what particular type of cell it is. So if it's a copy of an eye cell of someone who has bad eyesight, the thing will still have bad eyesight. It didn't know anything about the dynamite when it started having chest pains, that was before Macready even came in.
25th Feb 2019
X-Men 3 (2006)
Question: When Kitty and Bobby were walking down to the fountain where are her shoes? She wouldn't wear skates obviously but I couldn't see her shoes on the bench when they were skating. I also knew she couldn't be wearing skates on her way down cause we see her putting them on her feet when she was sitting on the bench.
Answer: Bobby is carrying them (visible as they're walking to where they skate). Remember, he doesn't need skates because he makes ice blades on his shoes, so the pair he's carrying are for her.
Are you saying he's carrying her skates or shoes?
He's carrying her skates. Her shoes are never seen. You never actually see the entire bench so her shoes could be underneath. You also never see her feet before she puts the skates on so it isn't clear she ever actually wore shoes down to the fountain anyway. People walk around without shoes all the time.
2nd Sep 2011
Tremors (1990)
Corrected entry: When the station wagon is found buried, not only is the radio on but the headlights are as well. Given the attack occurred at night and it is now mid-morning and the fact that the car can't run underground, even the best car batteries can't last more than an hour.
Correction: The best car batteries will last a lot more than an hour. I've left my lights on accidentally when I parked for work and found them still on 8 hours later. Car started up just fine too.
In modern cars I would agree with you - but this car is almost 20 years old and the battery would not last more than an hour or so with both the radio and the headlights running.
Doesn't mean the battery is 20 years old.
The sound of the radio is not coming from the car. It's a small portable radio the Dr. Has in his car. You see it get turned on by accident when the Dr.'s wife kicks the radio during the attack.
The car radio wasn't on. It was the transistor radio she knocked over in the back of the car when she climbed through.
Correction: It wasn't the car radio, it was a portable radio.
Correction: Battery power and battery life depend on the battery and not on the car it's in.
29th Jun 2018
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Plot hole: After McClane, agent Johnson, and Ferrell leave in the police car, Agent Johnson radios another agent to have DC police clear a path for them. Then on Gabriel's screen it says they have a voice match to Farrell. The problem is Farrell never said a word, so how would they have a voice match to him? Without the voice match they never should have found them.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The agent says "Ferrell" over the radio which in turn gets picked up as a name match on Gabriel's screen as they were scanning for anyone using that key word. Not Ferrell's actual voice but anyone mentioning his name over the radio.
If it was just looking for anyone saying the word Farrell it would have been a "voice" match. A voice match implies but they got a match to Farrell's voice.
In this context it is a match on the name "Farrell" that was spoken, hence it is a "voice match." It's clunky but still works grammatically.
15th Sep 2008
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Plot hole: Since they took down the telephone network, it would have been impossible for Justin Long to even be speaking to the emergency response woman for the car, much less send a signal to start the car up.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Is it possible this is a satellite phone call akin to Onstar?
No, the BMW system requires a cell signal to work, which was taken down earlier in the movie.
3rd Apr 2010
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Corrected entry: When McClane is driving the semi chasing the Haz-Mat van, he radios Warlock to patch him through to the FBI. After getting patched through he tells the FBI agent that he is chasing the van onto 695. 695 is the Baltimore beltway. There are noelevated highway sections over the Baltimore beltway the way the movie depicts.
Correction: These elevated over-passes were added to the sequence to set up the later chase scenes and for dramatic purposes. Therefore, no mistake here.
That's still a mistake since the overpasses don't actually exist. It's supposed to be 695 and looks absolutely nothing like it.
27th Aug 2001
Commando (1985)
Corrected entry: The point about Arnie using claymore mines to blow up the buildings was a very valid one, but even if he was using high explosives the bombs he placed were clearly outside the buildings, but the massive explosions are even more clearly coming from inside the buildings! (01:11:00)
Correction: The buildings are weapons warehouses. They might contain explosives which were ignited by the initial explosion.
The movie never says the buildings are weapons warehouses stored with explosives. The implication is that the mines Matrix set blew up the buildings. There isn't even a hint that the mines set off explosives inside the buildings because we are never shown it.
27th Aug 2001
Commando (1985)
Corrected entry: Arnold blows up many buildings using what appear to be Claymore mines. Claymore mines are deadly anti-personnel mines that shoot out hundred of little steel balls. While the mines may account for the number of soldiers he kills, they certainly could not cause the massive explosions seen. (01:09:53)
Correction: The mines ignited some powerful military explosives stored inside the buildings, which are weapons warehouses.
Where does it say in the movie the buildings are weapon warehouses and there are explosives stored there?
29th Jul 2004
Commando (1985)
Corrected entry: Bennett has just been pierced by the pipe going into a steam compressor or whatever that is behind him. When the camera draws back along the pipe to reveal the steam pouring out, look closely and it looks like CO2 from a fire extinguisher. The edge of the pipe with the "steam" coming out of it has frost on it. (01:24:10)
Correction: How do you know the pipe was carrying steam? It could conceivably have been a pipe carrying a cryogenic fluid (liquid nitrogen lines are common in industrial plants).
If it's not supposed to be steam then that makes the line "Let off some steam, Bennett" make absolutely no sense. It's obviously supposed to be steam.
Matrix might not know it isn't steam. Even so, that's a character mistake, not a movie mistake.
Yes, because "Let off some CO2, Bennett" sounds much better. It's a bad pun, simple as that.
5th Mar 2003
Signs (2002)
Corrected entry: Almost every time Morgan takes a puff from his inhaler, he doesn't depress the pump and therefore would not get any medicine. (00:10:05)
Correction: With the type of inhaler used, it is possible to activate it by a deep breath alone, thus negating the need to press it every time.
That is true for dry-powder inhalers, but Morgan uses a regular metered-dosage inhaler. That requires depressing the canister to get the medicine to come out. In addition, you can even hear a sound effect of the aerosol shooting the medicine out of the canister even though he hasn't actually pressed the canister down.
21st Mar 2002
Signs (2002)
Corrected entry: Late in the film you find out that water is to aliens as strong acid is to humans. However, earlier in the film when Mel Gibson goes to investigate the corn fields with the torch, the aliens are running around in the mist filled corn fields. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't mist just water vapor? Seeing how bad a glass of water ate away at the alien's flesh, even the slightest bit of water such as water vapour in the lungs and on the skin should cause serious damage or at least painful irritation, especially with prolonged exposure such as a few minutes. Just imagine a human breathing acid fumes, or walking in a room filled with acid gas.
Correction: It is never stated in the movie that water is what the aliens are "allergic" to. I think perhaps Bo's habit of stating that the water is "contaminated" is a hint. Maybe it's not water, per se, but TAP water that hurts them. There are lots of chemicals in tap water that don't hurt us, but could be toxic to the aliens.
That is incorrect, it is stated that the aliens have a weakness to water and that they avoided areas with large bodies of water because of that fact.
That came off as a parody or assumption. It's even made fun of in the scene where Morgan says, "Sounds made up."
I'm not sure what you mean, but late in the film there is a radio report about the alien invasion and the reporter mentions groups of people congregating near bodies of water because the aliens don't seem to want to attack near bodies of water.
11th Feb 2005
Signs (2002)
Corrected entry: The dad walks into a room with glasses of water all over the place (this is after the night when the alien was on the roof) and his daughter is watching a cartoon, called "Dexter's laboratory". In the episode she's watching a scene is missing, in between the part where the father hits the bug off the ladies' hair and the part where the character says "do it up".
Correction: Content is often edited when episodes are rerun in syndication to allow for more commercial breaks.
This is generally not true of cartoons with short segments such as Dexter's Laboratory. Even if it were, Dexter's Laboratory has never been syndicated. Reruns are shown through Cartoon Network or the Cartoon Network owned Boomerang and they are never edited for additional commercial breaks. In addition it would not have been syndicated at the time the movie is set, as the film was released during the original run of Dexter's Laboratory in either the 4th or 5th season.
13th Jul 2017
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Stupidity: In the scene with the water-jug puzzle, both Zeus Carver and John McClane initially suspect that the small carrying case contains a bomb. McClane goes ahead and opens the case, which confirms that it is a bomb (the electronic readout in the case even says: "I AM A BOMB. YOU HAVE JUST ARMED ME"). If they suspected it was a bomb in the first place, why didn't Carver and McClane immediately try to warn the dozens of pedestrians all around them to evacuate the area before McClane opened it? That would be a seasoned police officer's first instinct. Instead, McClane and Carver banter and bicker and never attempt to warn the public, even as the timer is ticking down.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: This carries over from the very first time McClane and Zeus talk to Simon on the phone (the "As I was going to St. Ives" scene). Simon tells the two not to run and McClane assures him they won't but that there are at least 100 people on the street, to which Simon responds "That's the point." McClane takes this to mean he can't just warn everyone or Simon will set the bomb off. They open the case because they don't know that doing so will arm the bomb. They wanted to know if there was a riddle or more instructions. Having the bomb be armed by being opened, complete with the pithy text "you have just armed me" was just a way for Simon to torment McClane. The bantering and bickering is of course, still pretty stupid but is consistent with how the characters behave for the entire movie.
Still, McClane's whole motivation in this movie is to save innocent people from death, which goes above and beyond his motivation in the first movie (which was to save his wife). What is the whole point of disarming the briefcase-bomb in the park if not to save the public? As stated in the original post, no seasoned and dedicated officer of the law would proceed without warning the public.
Except he was told specifically earlier not to do that. If he warned people of the bomb, it was implied that Simon would remotely detonate it. It can't be "stupid" of McClane to not warn people if he thinks doing so will get them killed. I agree that it is a trite movie cliche that a cop doesn't act like a cop would in the real world, but in the context of this film McClane's actions are consistent with the instructions Simon gives him.
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Answer: The suggestion is given that he was the only "normal" person in the family and when he changed the past his parents and siblings became more "normal" people as well whilst he stayed as he was, despitegrowingup with different parents and siblings, since he was "normal" anyway. This totally ignores the linear timeline idea given during the entire movie, but it's obvious that was the idea.
lionhead
You're absolutely right about Marty being the only "normal" one in the family, but that doesn't ignore the linear timeline idea. There are two different Marty McFly's by the end of this movie. There's the one we follow, who grew up with unhappy parents, and then there's the other Marty McFly who grew up with cool parents. We see the 2nd Marty go back to 1955 when Marty gets back to the Twin Pines mall. The idea isn't to ignore the linear timeline idea, but rather to imply that unhappy parents or not Marty will still always be Marty.
BaconIsMyBFF
Except for the fact Marty kept being in danger of disappearing if his parents wouldn't get together. If his old self would disappear from his parents not getting together then so he should if his entire life is different and he would be a different Marty just like his siblings. Even if it's only memories rather than an entire personality.
lionhead