Question: Can anybody shed some light on how the Tripod's laser works?
MovieBuff09
21st Mar 2009
War of the Worlds (2005)
Chosen answer: This question is beyond answering here. There is nothing to go on other that what we can see onscreen. Anyone's attempt to actually answer this question would be purely speculative.
Or from clues we have from the book. I would have to agree that it is most likely a heat laser. It makes sense with the color of the beam and the destruction it causes.
Answer: In the book the heat ray is described as being generated in a vacuum and the heat ray is invisible. Also in the book the heat ray is just that: a heat ray, it simply burns things leaving its victims as charred corpses. The 2005 version of the heat ray vaporizes flesh but not clothes (from what's seen), caught a tree on fire and sent stuff flying (cars, buildings, elevated road-ways, you name it) and is visible. Don't exactly know what it is other than an energy weapon of sorts.
Answer: If it is a heat ray, then why are the victims' clothes left behind? In the original movie, that might be right but I think the new version has something we can only speculate.
21st Mar 2009
X-Men (2000)
Question: In the comics, Magneto can use his magnetism to achieve a wide range of effects, such as super strength, supersonic flight, invisibility, radiation manipulation etc. Is there any indication at all as to why he can't do any of these in the movie?
Chosen answer: Probably the primary rationale is that they'd then have to somehow explain exactly how you use a magnetism power to do that sort of stuff - let's face it, it's not immediately obvious how, for example, you become invisible using the power to create and manipulate magnetic fields. Comics have captions and thought bubbles to explain the (often very dodgy) science that goes into these things - in a film, all they can do is have a character verbally explain, which would (a) sound pretty ridiculous and (b) require even more exposition in a film that already has a fair bit. As a result, it would make a lot of sense to restrict his abilities to those that obviously stem from his magnetic power and thus avoid too much explanation.
21st Mar 2009
Heroes (2006)
Question: How exactly does Peter Petrelli acquire that pretty nifty looking facial scar, even though he's absorbed regeneration? Is it even explained?
Chosen answer: (POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING) Peter lost his regeneration ability and can now only possess one power at a time. He may yet get the scar.
Wait but that future scene was after the future was changed.?
Answer: You are talking about two different Peter's. The "scarred" peter never met Claire until Hiro told him to do so.
21st Mar 2009
Withnail & I (1987)
Question: Why doesn't Maroowd want Withnail accompanying him to the train station? I thought they were supposed to be friends?
Chosen answer: I'm not sure they are friends, they were just thrown together by circumstance. Withnail treats Marwood badly throughout the film. When Marwood gets his role, he smartens himself up and can't wait to get out of there, not even bothering to move his stuff out, saying his dad will do it. I think that they both realise that it's the end of their relationship, and Marwood just wants to get it over with.
21st Mar 2009
Hard Day's Night (1964)
Question: After the scene where John has his "you look just like him" conversation in the corridor with that woman, George goes to the "canteen and production offices" and sits down in some sore of reception. The receptionist says, "Oh there you are". Could somebody please tell me what the hell goes on in the scene that follows, where George is given those shirts? Did he just stumble in accidentally?
Chosen answer: Yes, George just happened to wander into the office by accident. He is then mistaken for someone else they were expecting who was to give them their opinion as a "typical young consumer" about the latest trends and fashions they are test marketing. These "experts" are actually so out of tune with what is actually happening in the current youth culture that they do not even recognize someone as famous as George Harrison, who criticizes their products (the men's shirts) as being "grotty" and ridicules their model spokesperson, who he calls, "a well known drag." That is when George is thrown out.
21st Mar 2009
Heroes (2006)
Question: Does anyone know what the ubiquitous, ever present helix means and what it signifies?
Chosen answer: It is a reference to human DNA. It represents how some people have evolved past what is considered "normal". Hence the name of Chandra Suresh's book: Activating Evolution".
20th Mar 2009
X-Men 3 (2006)
Question: How does the so called 'cure' work exactly? I thought it was supposed to be perfect, yet at the end of the film we see Magneto's powers return even though he's been injected with the cure.
Chosen answer: Exactly how it works is never explained. As for it not being "perfect", there's no indication that the long-term effects of the "cure" have been studied in depth. It would seem, from the final scene, that it ultimately wears off.
20th Mar 2009
Six Feet Under (2001)
Question: Is there any indication as to how and why Lisa Kimmel died?
Chosen answer: It is strongly implied that Lisa was murdered by her brother-in-law Hoyt, with whom she had been having an affair. When Nate confronts Hoyt about Lisa's disappearance, Hoyt shoots himself dead before the question is finally resolved.
20th Mar 2009
Hard Day's Night (1964)
Question: During the scene where John has the conversation with the woman in the corridor, what does she mean when she says, "I knew I could rely on you", have they met before?
Chosen answer: No, she has not met Lennon before, and she's unsure if it is really him. The whole conversation is written so that their bantering does not make any real sense, and it humorously depicts how famous people are sometimes perceived by the non-famous. Basically, the woman doesn't know what she is talking about but wants to sound like she does.
19th Mar 2009
War of the Worlds (2005)
Question: Is there any indication as to where the aliens come from and what exactly they want?
Chosen answer: In the original George Pal version they were Martians and the reasoning for what they were doing was never explained. In this version, it's never explained where they come from, but their mission is simple, to eradicate human life from Earth, and use our bodies to fertilise the planet, probably so that they can colonise the planet for themselves.
If it was to eradicate us they could have done that millions of years back, why now, so that doesn't add up.
You want to grow the substance (people) that grows your food source before using it. If they waited too much longer, they'd have a harder time because we'd have the technology to fight them back.
The reason which was apparently provided by Wells was that Mars was dying by lack of natural resources and that Martians needed a new home and food source.
They were waiting until the population grew large enough to sustain terraforming efforts. As they used our bodily fluids seemingly as a primary material for their terraforming.
It's an assumption that they could have eradicated us millions of years ago (which by the way would be long before we even existed). Maybe they didn't have the ability to transport themselves, only the machines. Maybe the original aliens all died. Lots of other options why they couldn't have done it.
They probably needed to wait for us to produce enough humans to use as fertilizer. Doesn't make sense to try to use several million bodies as fertilizer back then vs now with billions of people.
Answer: Maybe they were waiting for use to get up to very high number in population. Before we didn't have over 7 billion people in the world. More people more food.
Answer: All versions of "War of the Worlds" are based on the novel of the same name written by H.G. Wells and published in 1897. Wells explained that the aliens are from the planet Mars, and they came to Earth for the natural resources.
But that still doesn't answer why did they wait till then to attack when they could have done it years ago with less resistance. The natural resources were still here.
Perhaps the Martians considered the technological advances of Mankind as "resources," also. The prologue states that the Martians had been observing humanity on Earth for a long time before they chose to attack. Why? Possibly observing our advances in engineering (dam building, for one example, mining for another). It could be viewed that the Martians allowed us to perform the hard work of making natural resources more accessible and consolidating those resources. Personally, I always thought the Martians intended to come exploit the fruits of our labor, allowing us to advance as far as we could without becoming a physical threat to them. If the Martians had waited a few decades more, they could be dealing with a technologically-dangerous human species.
Answer: The alien homeland is never described in the film, but is described in the script as a lifeless, barren place, unfit for life.
19th Mar 2009
Hard Day's Night (1964)
Question: I don't get the whole "you look just like him" conversation that John has with that woman in the corridor. Could someone please tell me what it's all about?
Chosen answer: John is just messing with her. She recognizes him as being one of the famous Beatles, but he tells her that he's "not" John Lennon, to which she responds that "you look just like him." He finally convinces her that he is not John Lennon, and she tells him, "Actually, you don't look like him at all," to which the now-insulted John puts on his hat and leaves.
19th Mar 2009
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
Question: Even with Diplomatic Immunity surely the cops aren't just going to stand back and let their colleagues die? is Diplomatic Immunity REALLY that infallible?
Chosen answer: Not in this case. This movie is notable for taking extreme liberties with the concept of diplomatic immunity. For one thing, the character was the head of a consulate, and would have had the much more limited 'consular immunity'. Generally, diplomatic immunity covers things like parking tickets, but even in cases of car injury and death, diplomats are not prosecuted in the host country, but can be expelled. In any case, diplomats cannot simply commit brazen crimes and get away with it.
Answer: It all depends on the level of immunity and who the person is. If the Diplomat commits a serious crime, there are a few courses of actions. They can ask the Diplomat to leave the country, they can ask the foreign country's government to recall the Diplomat, they can expel the Diplomat, or they can request the government of the Diplomat's country to waive Diplomatic Immunity. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-DipConImm_v5_Web.pdf.
19th Mar 2009
The Karate Kid III (1989)
Question: What exactly did John Kreese mean when he says to Terry Silver, "You're telegraphing that wheel kick?", what did he mean?
Chosen answer: He is saying that when Silver thinks about using the wheel kick, it is revealed by something in his stance or technique beforehand, so his opponent will have plenty of time to block, evade or counter-attack the kick. It is a fairly common expression in sports, but particularly in martial arts.
19th Mar 2009
Ghostbusters (1984)
Question: What exactly happens to Gozer after they've crossed the streams?
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Answer: In the original War of the Worlds book and movie, they were called heat rays. They (the tripods) generated incomprehensible amounts of heat, hence the laser's white color. They forward the heat in coordinated blasts of energy, that energy contains the heat. That's why the victim disintegrates so fast. The heat quickly evaporates all the liquids in the body and turns everything else (except the clothes) into ash. The ray blow burst of the air around it down at the ash remains of the victim, blowing the rest of the victim away.