Jukka Nurmi

15th Feb 2024

Scarface (1983)

Question: Why did Tony's mother, before he went to look for Gina, say to him "Ungrateful! Bad son!"?

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.

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.

Jukka Nurmi

24th Jan 2018

It (2017)

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.

Cody Fairless-Lee

Once the rumors got out, lots of people spread them despite not knowing anything about her.

LorgSkyegon

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.

Jukka Nurmi

10th Jun 2022

Moonraker (1979)

Plot hole: After the six shuttles take off, there are obviously dozens, if not hundreds of Drax' minions left behind in the base. Not regular employees, but the kind that knows what's coming, if only because Drax is obviously talking about it, e.g. to Bond, quite openly. Would they just stoically stay behind to be gassed? One would think they would mutiny and rush the shuttles wouldn't one?

Doc

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Suggested correction: No reason they couldn't have been brainwashed into obeying Drax like here was a god. Further, for all we know, the base could have secure facilities for the employees, who have been sterilized, doubtlessly, to wait until the gas in the atmosphere has dispersed sufficiently. Drax needs ground personnel to enable people to land on Earth later on.

Jukka Nurmi

If you have gas-tight bunkers on earth, the whole exercise of taking everybody to orbit would be a bit pointless, wouldn't it?

Doc

But Drax has a god complex: he wants to stay in his "untainted cradle of the heavens", instead of the planetary surface. Not to mention, just in case something goes wrong with the Amazon bunker, his master race will be safe and secure in the orbit.

Jukka Nurmi

3rd Sep 2011

Cobra (1986)

Corrected entry: In the chase scene where Cobra is chasing the white car, at one point you see him drive next to the white car and you hear the driver say "he's crazy" two times but his mouth doesn't move.

pierre29m

Correction: It's not the driver talking, but his passenger, The Night Slasher.

Correction: That Is not the voice of the passenger.

It's Brian Thompson's aka. Night Slasher's voice.

Jukka Nurmi

Continuity mistake: When Bond arrives at Tiffany's home in Amsterdam, he rings her doorbell. It's shown that she's living on the 4th floor (T. Case), but through the speaker-system she tells Bond to come upstairs to the 3rd floor.

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Suggested correction: Although her outside indicator does say "4", it's possible that unit 4 could be located on the 3rd floor.

What we in the US call the second floor is the first floor in Europe. So a US fourth floor is a European third floor.

Noman

Definitely not everywhere in Europe. In the Nordic countries, for example, the first floor's the first floor.

Jukka Nurmi

True, but this scene takes place in the Netherlands where floors are numbered Ground, First, Second etc. So, not a Nordic country.

Other mistake: When the helicopter is chasing the Lotus Esprit, it is flying fast, doing sharp turns and firing bullets. Even for the most experienced pilots, this would take a lot of concentration and hard work and would result in some stress. But when Bond spots Naomi in the pilot's seat, she is totally relaxed, stress free and barely looks like she's doing anything.

Gavin Jackson

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Suggested correction: Not a mistake; this is movie-land, after all. When Bond spots Naomi, and they share an awkward smile, both are travelling in a straight line at that moment. No reason why she couldn't spare a few seconds to taunt her target.

DEvans

Indeed. Also, Naomi's working for a megalomaniacal madman as a secretary and an assassin. It's perfectly reasonable she's a stone-cold psychopath.

Jukka Nurmi

28th Jan 2010

Mad Max 2 (1981)

Correction: They aren't empty, the just don't have very much gas in them. They don't trust Max so they give him just enough gas to get the rig back to them. If they'd given him full tanks he might try to simply take the rig and leave. Also, it would be nearly impossible for him across the desert carrying 2 full cans of gas.

Then why not just give Max one can? They were obviously empty.

Because they contained two different types of fuel: high-octane for the gyrocopter, and diesel for the rig.

Jukka Nurmi

2nd Aug 2008

Alien (1979)

Corrected entry: 1. As captain, why send yourself, the only other pilot (Cain) and the weakest and most timid member of the crew (Lambert) to investigate an unknown and possibly dangerous planet? The better selection would have been Cain, Ripley (whose duties as warrant officer seem to be unclear) and one of the engineers, Bret or Parker. 2. Are we really to believe that the chain smoking and slightly built Lambert could help Dallas carry Cain's limp, space suit laden body thousands of meters, across rugged terrain back to the Nostromo? 3. The Nostromo can navigate itself to Earth through deep space - a navigator is not needed. 4. The Nostromo is just a 'tug' so why does it need a science officer and a lab filled with science equipment? 5. All the elaborate buttons and switches on the bridge and med lab have no labels or designators - how does the crew know what they're turning on or off? 6. Dallas makes two flippant decisions. First, to take off from the planet with needed repairs still underway. And second, to remove the face-hugger from Cain's face even thought it might kill him.

Correction: All character decisions, not movie mistakes. But there are some valid explanations: 1. Lambert's technical abilities were needed to decipher the alien equipment. 2. Lambert carried the lighter end (feet-end of the stretcher), and they likely made several rest stops. 3. Another character decision. 4. A science station doubles as sickbay and is needed in case they run into alien unknowns (like the situation in the movie). 5. Well trained people don't need labels on buttons. For example, expert typists can use a blank keyboard. 6. Not flippant decisions, the ship was able to take off and trying to remove the face-hugger was a calculated risk.

BocaDavie

Maybe the normal tugs owned by the company don't have a fully equipped science station, but the company would make sure this one did due to the nature of their mission.

It's more than a tug boat. It's a refinery that processes ore.

No, Nostromo is a tug towing the refinery, which is not part of the ship. The vessel detaches from the latter when they touch down on LV-426.

Jukka Nurmi

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.

Jukka Nurmi

Answer: I always took it as an attempt to stop her since she was trying to warn the town over the radio.

31st Oct 2011

Christine (1983)

Corrected entry: In 1958, Plymouths could be ordered with radios (as was Christine in the movie). However, radio technology at that time still used vacuum tubes and vacuum tubes take time to warm up. Transistor (solid state) radios require no warm up time and produce audio instantly when turned on, but transistor radios were not used in cars until the early 60's. Typically, vacuum tube radios takes approximately 5-10 seconds for audio to be heard after the radio is turned on. In the assembly line scene (as well as later scenes), the radio is turned on and music is heard instantly but this is simply not possible with a vacuum tube radio.

Larry Kohut

Correction: The car is possessed. Evil doesn't follow any rules.

Apart from the tagline of the movie, we are not given any indication Christine is possessed by an external force. She was born evil and sentient.

Jukka Nurmi

Correction: Arnie cobbled the car together with parts from Darnell's wrecking yard. Also, there are a number of companies that make modern electronic radios with the face plates of the original car for car restorers.

rswarrior

The car radio came on the instant it was turned on on the assembly line in 57. It played Buddy Holly, Not fade away.

8th Sep 2002

Friday the 13th (1980)

Corrected entry: When Brenda is thrown out the window, Alice immediately runs outside to see Mrs. Voorhees pull up in the jeep. How can this be if she just threw Brenda in the cabin?

Correction: Mrs. Voorhees could have already placed the jeep a short distance away with the lights off. Alice provides enough horror-stricken time for Mrs. Voorhees to have dumped the body through the window then quickly run up the hill, gotten into the jeep, turned on the lights and driven it the short distance as though she were just arriving.

OR...maybe Jason helped her. After all, where was Jason during all this? He should have been grown at this time.

Jason wasn't introduced until the sequel, and he was *dead* in the continuity of the original film. After all, what's the point of avenging him if he's running around with his mother?

Jukka Nurmi

Plot hole: How did Tommy get Jason's mask? I don't think the police would let him keep it as a souvenir.

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Suggested correction: This is not the same mask from the previous movie.

Yes, it is. It even has the ax mark from the end of the third movie.

Jukka Nurmi

It is a very different mask. The only things that match are the shape and the axe wound. The color changed from yellow to almond. The straps changed and snap on buttons that attached the straps were replaced with rivets. The half missing large red chevron has been replaced with a red triangle. The two smaller triangles under the eyes are gone. All the damage and chipped paint from part 4 is missing. This mask has more in common with the mask in Tommy's dream in part 5. My opinion - Tommy made it.

FreDroDaGod

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.

TedStixon

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.

KeyZOid

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.

Jukka Nurmi

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.

KeyZOid

Revealing mistake: When the Charger hits the red truck, the truck turns over with the assistance of a 'pipe cannon' (note the sudden eruption of white smoke from under the truck). This device is like a large gun, pointed down that fires a cylindrical wooden 'bullet' at the ground, and the pressure behind it forces one side of the truck upward, causing the flip. Evidence of its use is seen when the passing cop drives away and in the street is a perfectly circular 'dent' in the asphalt with a burn mark surrounding it. (01:12:50 - 01:16:20)

johnrosa

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: A cannon roll uses a large device, usually a metal pipe that is pointed down, but it does not fire a "bullet" wooden or otherwise. It is just the force of the explosive charge focused downwards that causes the cars to roll over.

A cannon roll shoots out a wooden log to flip a vehicle, it's not just shooting out air.

Bishop73

This is just nonsense, a wooden log would be too dangerous to use, would be highly conspicuous on screen, and would take up room inside a vehicle.

Jukka Nurmi

Then you don't know how they use to do car stunts. It does take up room, but even modern methods do. Cars have to be modified heavily and of course it's dangerous, they're flipping a car with a driver inside. Film makers do everything they can to avoid the stunt car from being detected (just the same way they do everything that can to avoid a dummy being detected). Here's a article that talks about car stunts before the pneumatic flipper. Https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15364815/the-inside-story-of-the-academy-award-winning-car-inversion-device-or-how-to-flip-cars-real-good/.

Bishop73

Bishop73 is right. For example, from Raiders of the Lost Ark: https://www.moviemistakes.com/picture6238.

Jon Sandys

2nd Feb 2006

Jaws (1975)

Corrected entry: When Brody and Hooper see that the shark is chewing its way through the ropes attached to their boat, they call Quint to come and shoot him. When Quint comes over with the gun, the shark rears out of the water and roars. Sharks cannot roar.

Correction: The shark does not roar when it comes out of the water. The only sound is that of air rushing into the shark's mouth, which is something that has been reported by survivors of shark attacks.

Well, no, if you go to the end of the movie where the shark goes inside the boat it makes a noise again so they do have it doing that.

I think you are correct. It is definitely a roar! The shark roars 3 times in total including the scene showing the shark's blown up corpse sinking down. The "correction" is a mistake.

The gurgling sound Bruce makes in this scene also sounds a lot like water rushing into his maw.

Jukka Nurmi

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?

Gavin Jackson

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.

Jukka Nurmi

30th Apr 2004

Anaconda (1997)

Corrected entry: When the anaconda eats Jon Voight whole, there is a movement over the other side of the room, and it slides over at incredible speed. Snakes take hours to eat their prey (especially the size of a man) and weeks to digest. During this period, they can barely move at all. Also, after it spits him out (again, not possible), he winks.

Correction: Maybe it goes for regular sized anacondas but not giant huge anacondas that they have to take hours. Also it is possible to spit out their food. On Google theres a REAL video of an anaconda spitting out an entire baby hippo.

Hippos are native to Africa, and anacondas to South America. Also, snakes regurgitate their prey only in an emergency, like being threatened by a predator. Even gigantic anacondas like the ones in the movie would still take several weeks to digest a person, and remain immobile throughout.

Jukka Nurmi

They don't move intentionally, to help digesting their prey. That doesn't mean they can't actually move though, they can if they have to. This big one is faster than any real snake anyway. In the footage of an anaconda regurgitating its prey, the prey is a tapir.

lionhead

Hippos can be found in the wild in South America. They were the pets of Pablo Escobar. A group of hippos originally imported by Escobar to his private zoo decades ago has multiplied and, according to scientists, is now spreading through one of the country's main waterways - the River Magdalena.

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?

Athletic Jason

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.

BaconIsMyBFF

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?

Athletic Jason

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.

Jukka Nurmi

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.

Athletic Jason

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.

Jukka Nurmi

27th Aug 2001

Red Dawn (1984)

Corrected entry: In the scene where the freedom fighters are attacked by the Soviet helicopter gunships, one of them fires a rocket from an RPG-7 at one of them. It does little damage - it should have been blown out of the sky. The RPG-7 is an anti-tank weapon, so even a heavily armored helicopter shouldn't be able to withstand a hit from one.

Correction: If you look closely the RPG actually hits the Soviet guy in the open area of the helicopter. The copter actually has a open door (much like the US Huey) in the middle. The Russian is manning a gun in this middle part. The explosion kills this man (possible another) and disperses the explosion out the open sides instead of throughout the helicopter's hull.

Correction: The Hind helicopter is the most armoured helicopter in service. It will easily withstand an RPG hit because the RPG is designed to penetrate solid armour and has a relatively small explosive charge. The main enemy to all helicopters, as proven in Afghanistan, is the Man Poertable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS), like the Stinger, which homes in on the engine, and could easily drop a Hind if it hits there.

The original correction is correct: the explosion is dispersed through the open space. Had the RPG round struck the Hind elsewhere, the chopper would've been obliterated: RPG-7s have destroyed numerous main battle tanks, and an MI-24 Hind's armor was designed to withstand 14.7 mm rounds, not rocket-propelled grenades.

Jukka Nurmi

This is factually wrong. The RPG-7 as shown in the movie has actually only destroyed a few main battle tanks. In both Gulf Wars only 1 Abrams M1 was disabled (not destroyed) by an RPG. If the RPG had indeed exploded in the "open" part of Hind it would have killed the crew.

stiiggy

29th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: The ghosts are real.

raywest

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.

Jukka Nurmi

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