Question: Why did Tony's mother, before he went to look for Gina, say to him "Ungrateful! Bad son!"?
Jukka Nurmi
15th Feb 2024
Scarface (1983)
Answer: He's a mob boss. A ruthless, merciless, cold-blooded killer. What mother would be proud of that? Even when he first came to visit her, she knew he was up to no good.
But what did she mean by yelling "Ungrateful!" to him?
This is just my two cents, but after they've fled Cuba, and been given a new lease on life away from the communist regime, she feels Tony's being ungrateful towards his new country by becoming a criminal. And doubtlessly towards her as well, after she's clothed, fed, and raised him and Gina.
21st Oct 2023
Jaws (1975)
Question: Does anyone know what Quint caught with his fishing line? Quint is adamant it's a shark, whereas Hooper, who's a shark expert, doesn't believe it is. Quint managed to reel it in somewhat, and given that Bruce was able to pull the entire Orca later on, I'd say there's no way Quint would be strong enough to reel Bruce in, so that kinda rules him out. So what on Earth was it that they actually caught?
Answer: It was Bruce. Quint doesn't reel him in as such, rather just reels in some of the line that was slacking. Bruce even pulls the line with sufficient force to frighten Quint, making him exclaim "Jesus Christ...!" The piano wire had been cleanly bitten through, and as Quint points out no small fish could do that. Further, the soundtrack kicks in when the line is tugged. Spielberg specifically stated he only ever used music to indicate the presence of the shark, hence no music during the earlier fake shark scare.
Answer: It was never revealed in the film exactly what it was. It's possible that it was another shark or some large game fish that broke the line. Mostly it's a plot device to foreshadow the coming encounter with "Bruce," and it creates suspense and tension. It also highlights the growing conflict between Quint and Hooper as to who knows more (college educated vs blue-collar smarts).
17th Feb 2004
The Fugitive (1993)
Question: When Kimball's dying wife calls 999, why does she say "Richard is trying to kill me?"
Answer: She said "Richard, he's trying to kill me" refering to the one armed man. It sounded like "Richard is trying to kill me".
But why would she call 911 and then say, "Richard, he's trying to kill me?" She called the emergency, not her husband's cellphone.
Answer: Because she heard her husband enter the apartment, she's either acknowledging his presence or trying to call out to him before referring to the one-armed man by saying, "He's trying to kill me."
24th Jan 2018
It (2017)
Question: Why is Beverly accused by the whole town of being promiscuous?
Answer: Kids are vicious and make up rumors about eachother. Given she obviously has some hangups and acts awkwardly around others due to her sexually abusive father, rumors simply spun out of control and it became popular for bullies to claim they had fooled around with her.
But it's not just the kids who have accused her. Adults like Eddie's mother have also slut-shamed Beverly.
Once the rumors got out, lots of people spread them despite not knowing anything about her.
They probably overheard the kids saying it and thought it was true what they said about her. Then they probably spread it throughout their friends/family.
There's also another factor: IT's malign influence. While it's unusual for a whole small town to spread such vicious rumors of a 13-year old kid, IT influences the townsfolk, amplifying their resentment, hostility, bitterness, jealousy, and other negative emotions. Derry is IT's feeding ground, and its mental presence permeates all levels of town. A select few, like the Losers Club, are able to resist it.
17th Sep 2021
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
2nd Aug 2021
The Village (2004)
Question: Why didn't one of the elders go get the medicine once they decided that someone could go get it? I get why they picked Ivy because she was unlikely to pick up on the lie due to her blindness, but why didn't her father just go? There'd be no risk to the secret being revealed if he did that.
Answer: Because they'd each sworn to never leave the village, no matter what.
19th Jul 2021
The Terminator (1984)
Question: Why would the terminator carry his weapon unloaded? It's shown loading the pistol prior to firing. A machine without care for injury would be loaded at all times.
Answer: Having watched the movie again, this can be explained by the previous scene where the Terminator kills Ginger and her boyfriend. It reloads the pistol but doesn't chamber a round before Sarah calls and leaves the message saying where she is. The Terminator then puts the pistol down and quickly rifles through Sarah's belongings before leaving so presumably it only thinks to finish readying its weapons once it's reached the Tech Noir bar and has Sarah in its sight. Either that, or it's actually doing a brass check (pull the slide back just enough to confirm there's a bullet in the chamber) before firing.
You mean such a sophisticated and advanced killing machine can't keep count of the bullets and has to check if the gun is loaded? I know the terminator runs out of bullets many times in the movie, it's great for entertainment but not for verisimilitude. Of course, if the perfect machine didn't make mistakes the movie would last 15 minutes and be extremely boring.
Answer: It does carry its pistol loaded: it merely pulls back the slide in the nightclub scene, priming the weapon. As an infiltration unit, the Terminator would try to prevent an accidental discharge, and thus avoid drawing attention to itself until it's reached its intended target.
Although I'd argue a perfect killing machine would never discharge its weapon accidentally, how could it?
The Terminators are shown time and again throughout the series NOT to be "perfect"; they make mistakes that are unaccounted for in their manufacture/programming. They are continually improved upon from film to film, indicating that they are BEING perfected, but not perfect. There is a world of difference, perhaps an insurmountable one, between the idea of a perfect anything, and the actual execution of that perfect thing.
6th Mar 2020
The Fog (1980)
Question: Why did the ghosts of the Elisabeth Dane try to kill Stevie?
Answer: Six lives for the six members who betrayed them a hundred years ago.
'But Stevie wasn't connected to the six conspirators.
The ghosts didn't care about their victims' lineage.
Answer: I always took it as an attempt to stop her since she was trying to warn the town over the radio.
19th Feb 2021
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Question: At the end of the last movie, "A New Beginning", Tommy was possessed by Jason (or perhaps he just went completely insane, who knows) and is about to kill Pam. Yet in this film he's (somewhat) normal and in control, and is going to cremate Jason's corpse. So, what happened in between?
Answer: Plotwise, we only see him stalk her with a knife. Most likely Tommy came back to his senses, or alternatively fought off the possession, and set the knife down. The realization of what he'd almost done prompted him to try to cremate Jason's remains, to rid himself of Jason's evil influence once and for all.
Answer: Tom McLoughlin decided to ignore Part 5 when he became director/writer of Part 6.
23rd Dec 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Question: If the guy at the reception desk knew that the only ones left in the building were on the 30th floor, why did he tell John to use the screen?
Answer: Most large companies, particularly hi-tech or multinational ones, require visitors to check-in, especially afterhours. By having John search for Holly's name, it can be verified that he actually knows someone who works there, that there is an actual employee with that name, and otherwise assess whether John is a legitimate visitor. This scene's real purpose, however, is for plot exposition. John learns from the monitor that Holly now goes by her maiden name (Gennero) rather than her married surname. We see John's annoyed reaction to learning this, which sets up a later confrontation between him and Holly over their troubled marriage.
Answer: Any answer is speculation; but a simple explanation is he may have forgotten the only people left were there for the Xmas party until John mentioned the 30th floor. The guard also seems fairly proud of their new high-tech touchscreen system so he might have just had John use it to show off how nice the building is.
Answer: Most likely he just wanted to showcase a nifty (by 80s standards) piece of technology to a visitor.
Answer: The party was on the 30th floor and John was asking for a specific employee, his wife. He had no idea where she was exactly.
17th Dec 2020
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Question: Why is it that the machines they used to fight back didn't try to attack the humans? The military vehicle had a .50 cal machine gun that shot AT them, but their guns seemed to work just fine.
Answer: It should be noted, the ending title cards seems to set it up so there are no plot holes and answers any "why" questions (which, intentional or not by King, can be debated). While the opening premise is the comet's close pass by Earth caused all machines to turn on people, at the end, the Russians blew up a UFO 2 days later, suggesting that it was the aliens controlling the machines. Bill suggests aliens are trying to wipe out humanity (although at that point he's just guessing and had no evidence of an alien or UFO present), but it can be debated the actual premise was that aliens were just testing or experimenting on people.
Answer: The movie is infamous for its plot holes, among them this one, and "How come cars didn't start attacking people"? From the story point of view we can surmise that the M60 is part of the vehicle's structure, while hand-held weaponry stay inert.
2nd Nov 2020
Dracula (1992)
Question: Why would the brides lay out in the open when they slept? After 400 years wouldn't they know better? Also, Are they falling in love with Harker?
Answer: It's unlikely they were falling in love with Harker: they are sadistic, baby-eating monsters who regarded Harker as food and a temporary plaything. As for them sleeping in the open, the local populace dreads and avoids Dracula's castle, so there's hardly any fear of intruders. Van Helsing did enter and kill them, but they reckoned, mistakenly, that he too would be too afraid to do so, especially after their horse-mauling escapades the previous night.
Answer: They are lesser vampires whose power is tied to Dracula, who in turn is entirely preoccupied with Mina. And as Van Helsing noted, vampires are weak at daytime, further reducing their ability to sense unwanted visitors. And a decapitated vampire, in this universe and most others, is dead and cannot be resurrected, ever.
24th Jun 2020
The Village (2004)
Question: Is there any reason why this is M. Night Shyamalan's only film to not have a Blu-Ray release? Like rights issues or something of that matter? Seems very odd that of all movies, this is the only one not available in HD.
Answer: I don't know if there is one particular reason why The Village was not released on Blu-ray, but there are several factors that might help explain why not. I believe the movie had mixed reviews - some people liked it and other people did not. If a movie does not appear to be in high demand, it wouldn't make financial sense to release more on DVD or Blu-ray. If a movie already made a big profit ($200 million), perhaps it is best to move on to a new movie. Also, many people never bought any Blu-ray discs, primarily because they didn't think the higher costs were justified and/or they never bought a Blu-ray player. Blu-ray discs typically have a lot of "extras" that many people want to see. Perhaps there were few, if any, extras that could have been included, thereby reducing a Blu-ray's appeal. Even if none of the above is significant, there is a big factor that is/will be affecting all movies - discs in general are already obsolete, streaming has been taking over.
This is unrelated to the movie itself, but many people are interested in the extras, such as commentary tracks, making of - documentaries: features streaming services can't provide.
At least one streaming service I know does support extras, Apple, and has since 2009.
Answer: True... but I'm saying that maybe they didn't have anything to add.
10th Sep 2020
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Question: When the TX tastes a sample of John Connor's blood at Kate's vet clinic she seems stunned. How is this possible on a cyborg and why look so surprised?
Answer: Advanced Terminators occasionally show signs of emotion: T-X also exhibits frustration, anger, and genuine malice, as well as smirking mischievously on two occasions. When she samples John Connor's blood, she's stunned to come across her primary target, whose whereabouts Skynet was unaware of.
Answer: Her goal/duty was to terminate John Connor. She must first find him in order to terminate him. Identifying John's blood - fresh blood, in fact - meant he was nearby and she was getting close to achieving her goal. This excited her. There was a stimulus and response, similar to Pavlov's dogs who salivated when they heard the bell indicating that food was coming.
12th Feb 2016
Jaws (1975)
Question: In the pond scene, after the shark attacks the poor man on the paddle boat, why didn't he go after Michael too? He just swam past him, sparing him.
Answer: In addition, the original scene called for Michael to be in the arms of the man, with the man in the jaws of the shark. Michael is carried across the water and the released by the man just before the shark takes him under. Spielberg ultimately felt that this was over the top gruesome and changed the scene.
Chosen answer: The horror of "Jaws" was not so much the physical trauma of being eaten alive as it was the terror of not knowing who would be next. So, we see the panicking pier fisherman spared although the shark could have easily taken him; we see the shark randomly select the Kintner boy while sparing hundreds of other terrified people in the water at Amity's public beach; and we see the shark just barely spare Michael after eating the man in the pond. Although he wasn't physically harmed, Michael was hospitalized in shock after the encounter with the shark; so, he obviously suffered unimaginable terror. It's that "almost eaten" factor that sells the film. Captain Quint's story of the USS Indianapolis drives home the point that waiting to be eaten is as terrifying as actually being eaten, and that's what film maker Steven Spielberg very successfully conveyed all throughout the movie.
Answer: Excellent answers, and just to add one more point: the shark in the movie is not a normal one. He doesn't act just out of hunger, but also out of sheer malevolence: in fact, just like in the novel, it's implied there's *something* about him, something almost supernatural. He may have spared Michael because he had just secured a meal, to escape the gathering humans before they can harm him... or because killing the boy wouldn't have entertained him sufficiently.
8th Nov 2011
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Question: How does the Liparus explode and sink at the end? After the nuclear subs have been destroyed, the ship just starts blowing up for no apparent reason. Was there any explanation for it?
Chosen answer: When the nuclear subs have been destroyed, there's an explosion in the control room, and one of the men cries out "Fuel tank!" Liparus has numerous internal fires raging after the battle with her crew. These uncontrolled fires eventually spread to her fuel tanks and ammo storages, one of which explodes in a huge fireball and finally causes Liparus to sink.
I thought the final explosions that sank the Liparus were deliberate self destruction after completing the mission in an attempt to destroy any evidence, rather like when Bolfeld manually triggers explosives after being thwarted in You Only Live Twice.
Liparus sinks slowly, and that would leave her crew plenty of time to evacuate. Angry and armed crew with a grudge against Stromberg.
16th Jul 2019
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Question: This movie shows Jason Voorhees didn't drown in Crystal Lake in the first movie because he's shown to be alive in this movie. It's a known fact that the kid Jason Voorhees can't swim, so how exactly did he avoid drowning in Crystal Lake?
Answer: This particular film does not address this, and seems to imply that Jason didn't drown and grew up living in the woods as a psychopath. Later sequels heavily imply (or outright state) that Jason was brought back as an un-dead creature by unknown supernatural means and cannot be killed in a conventional sense. As it stands it is best to view Jason in this film as un-dead, as the number of films that show him as supernatural far outweigh those that show him as a normal man. The character is generally remembered in popular culture as un-dead.
I think that the whole franchise didn't take much care of continuity (for example, in part 2 Jason is a woods-boy full of beard and hair, in the third he is taller and bald), but it's explainable to the fact that Jason managed to survive somehow, never told his mother he was alive (even because the camp was closed many times and Pamela never showed up frequently), watched her die and took her place for revenge. We always have the feeling that there's something supernatural in Jason, since he never dies he can be hit with axe, machete, fire and even hanged up, and he is still alive, but he definitely becomes something supernatural only from part 6 further. Yes, seeing as the story starts, it could be simpler to think Jason somehow returned as a ghost, as an Un-dead man, but in the first half of the franchise they gave a bit of reality to the thing.
What information in this sequel gives any indication that the kid Jason didn't drown in Crystal Lake?
The fact that he's a full-grown man instead of a young boy. The fan consensus, and the original intent of the filmmakers, is that Jason is a human being, albeit extremely tough and completely insane, in parts 2-4, and comes back as an undead being in part 6.
That's valid along with the small house in the woods, except that doesn't explain how a kid that can't swim didn't drown in Crystal Lake.
Luck, misinformation, etc. Yes it's vague, but a lack of explanation doesn't entirely constitute a mistake.
Answer: That is indeed a plot hole, and up to speculation. The best guess is that Jason somehow made his way ashore, and chose to hide in the woods rather than face further bullying from the rest of the kids.
29th Jun 2009
The Shining (1980)
Question: Are the ghosts real, or does Jack just imagine them?
Answer: Both Kubrick and King stated there were ghosts in interviews so as they are essentially the creators I would say there are.
In all fairness, Kubrick, unlike King, leaves the existence of ghosts somewhat questionable. The whole thing can just as well be just Jack succumbing to cabin fever: he loathes his family, and the long isolation just pushes him over the brink. Wendy witnesses the ghosts, too, yes, but she could also be suffering from cabin fever, not to mention the stress of her husband finally going insane, and trying to murder her and her child. In short, the whole existence of ghosts is a lot more ambiguous in the movie.
11th Dec 2019
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Question: This has always been a question between my friend and I. Why does the T-800 take the sunglasses in the movie?In the first movie it made sense, to hide the glowing eye. Here it appears to serve no purpose beyond appearance. Is there any other reason beyond this?
Answer: The real life answer is because the sunglasses are part of the Terminator's signature look. The in universe answer is because they are a clothing item that will augment his appearance. He also takes a leather jacket he doesn't need. He would look perfectly normal with just the gray T-shirt but since the biker was also wearing the jacket, he took that as well.
Answer: By best guess, I believe it is because of the glow in the eyes. The mechanical eyes, as seen when the skin is gone, are glowing red lights and they aren't exactly dim. This could potentially shine through skin, or eye tissue, like when you hold a flashlight against your hand. In a dim lighting, like at night, it could be possible to see the glow of these mechanical parts behind the already thin tissue of the organic parts of the eye, and thus give him away.
That would make them very poor infiltration units, wouldn't it?
1st Jul 2019
Damien: Omen II (1978)
Question: When Damien killed Mark, he screamed and started to cry. Was he truly upset that he killed him, or was he putting on a show for his aunt and uncle?
Answer: Damien is still very conflicted, having thought of himself as a regular boy his entire life. While he is slowly embracing his nature, he hasn't lost his emotions, and he's crying because he's actually sad that he had to kill his friend.
Answer: He was truly upset, as he had not come to terms with being the Antichrist yet.
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Answer: She raised him with religion and morals, gave him a good home with food to eat. It wasn't enough for him. He wanted more; enough was never enough. That's why she was cold to him when he first showed up at her door, and his sister admired him.