Question: A technical question about the movie. How exactly did they film the scene where the camera keep circling around the car Ray and his kids are fleeing the city with? There are no cuts or any visible sign of a camera platform or other classic filming tricks. It looks awesome.
lionhead
4th Jan 2022
War of the Worlds (2005)
4th Jan 2022
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Question: The Connors and Dyson go to great lengths to make sure the original T-800's chip and severed arm are destroyed so that it can never be rebuilt by CyberDyne. However, the "good" T-800's arm was also severed and left inside the heavy cog machinery during the fight against the T-1000 at the steel mill. Surely this leaves a plot hole, in that someone could retrieve THIS arm and still use the technology to recreate the T-800 one day? (albeit without the chip).
Answer: The chip was the main reason they could replicate the technology, the arm an added bonus. The first arm was intact too, this one is crushed, probably beyond recognition. When the factory gets remodeled, they will probably simply break it all out of the machinery and throw it away without knowing what it is.
Answer: From a real world perspective, the film was pretty long with a dense plot. Besides a lot of changes occurring, a lot was left out and the decision to show what Sarah and John ultimately did to the crushed arm may have just been left out. However, in Randall Frakes' novelization of the film, it mentions that John remembers the crushed arm and retrieves it and throws it in. As an audience, it seems we are to assume it being crushed was the same as it being destroyed.
1st Jan 2022
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Question: In the beginning of the film there is a pole thing with a circle on it sticking out of the ground, what is that?
Answer: That would be a crucifix using a "breaking wheel" or "Catherine wheel", which was erected on a pole to display the body. As a death sentence a person is bond to it, his limbs are broken in various manners, and then a colourful way was thought up to kill the condemned (decapitation, disembowelment, garrotte). Usually the body was left up on the wheel as a warning to others.
31st Dec 2021
The Incredibles (2004)
Question: What are the symbols behind Mr Incredible's head at Edna Mode's house? What do they mean?
Answer: If you mean the mural in the background as they enter the house, it's a depiction of Perseus fighting medusa. There are several ancient greek symbols visible also. Probably depicting names.
31st Dec 2021
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: At one point in the film Doc pulls out a case of "emergency money" he's collected from different time periods. When did he have the time to go to all those time periods? Marty went to 1955 and after getting back Doc went to 2015 before coming straight back again to get Marty to go to the future, so when did Doc have the time to go collecting all that money?
Answer: He wouldn't have to travel to the specific time periods to get past money; he could have found ways to procure it in the present (from collectors, museums, banks, etc.) before ever time traveling in the first place.
Answer: He didn't just visit 2015 and came straight back. He had visited more places and spend some time travelling before returning to Marty. He collected all the money in those visits.
Answer: Doc Brown is a resourceful man. Seeing how the bills in his emergency case are pretty crisp and not knowing how many travels he really made, it is only safe to say that he must have found a way to get his hands on those bills. Though his masquerade and "adding of 30 or 40 years to his life" by way of treatment in a rejuvenation clinic may not have been born out of vanity.
27th Dec 2021
Stripes (1981)
Question: Why are Czechoslovak border guards speaking Russian? The Soviet Red Army would not be guarding the border with West Germany.
Answer: In 1981 Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact and thus under the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union would not fully allow the satellite states to do their own border security, so Soviet guards were placed.
27th Dec 2021
Stargate (1994)
Question: After the probe goes through the stargate General West discusses the possibility of a reconnaissance team but one officer says to get back they need to dial home. My query is, couldn't they just open the stargate again from their end? Instead of having to dial home to activate the stargate? Also, while on the alien planet, presumably they use satellite phones to communicate, how are they get the satellite signals for the phones to work without satellites?
Answer: The wormhole is a one way gate. So when the gate is opened from one side, you can't go through from the other side. You have to open the stargate from your own location in order to travel.
18th Dec 2021
Arachnophobia (1990)
Question: Which spider attacked the doctor in the barn, killing him? Was it the general, the queen, or just one of the offspring?
Answer: I think he's referring to the Brazilian doctor they brought in to help. If that's the case, it was the main spider that hitched a ride with the body.
Answer: One of the offspring. There was a brief shot of the little one crawling into the doctor's slipper.
Wrong doctor.
The question is actually referring to the entomologist played by Julian Sands, not the town medical doctor that Jeff Daniels moves in to replace.
18th Dec 2021
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Question: Are the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies now part of the MCU?
Answer: No, they are part of the multiverse. The MCU is just one of those universes within the multiverse.
Answer: I almost think the best way to refer to them would be to call them "MCU-Adjacent." Both answers nail it - they're not part of the MCU universe itself, but are canonical to it and co-exist alongside it thanks to the establishment of the multiverse. And considering the "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" trailer teases Patrick Stewart as (presumably) Professor X, I think we could probably also apply this to pretty much any other Marvel adaptation ever made that was not made by Marvel Studios itself. It all co-exists and is all canonical to each other through the use of multiverses/alternate timelines/alternate dimensions.
Answer: No. It's explained that they are from another universe, and were sent back to their universes at the end of the film.
13th Dec 2021
Jaws (1975)
Question: When Brody and Hooper find Ben Gardner's boat why does Hooper dive into the water to examine the bottom of the boat when he already knows there's a man-eating shark in the water? How does Hooper know the shark won't swim up behind (or underneath) him and devour him?
Answer: Because he is under the impression the shark has recently eaten and the digestive system of a shark works really slow so it won't be out hunting for a while. With a normal shark anyway.
Answer: Hooper wanted to inspect Gardner's boat as soon as possible to see what caused it to sink, and before the town locals towed it and possibly destroyed any evidence. As the other answer noted, Hooper knew the shark's eating habits. He was willing to take a calculated risk and which he was quite nervous about.
16th Dec 2015
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Question: When Bruce escaped the pit, did he throw the rope down so the rest of the prisoners could escape? I know they helped him, but isn't letting them go free a bad thing (they're prisoners for a reason, some of them could've been rapists like the ones that killed that little girl's mother)? And how did Bruce get to Gotham so fast? Do we know what country the pit is in?
Answer: Yes, he threw the rope to let the prisoners out. It may have been a dumb move on his part, although there is the potential that numerous prisoners there were also wrongfully imprisoned by Bane, and Bruce is intimately familiar with the criminal world and mindset - he may have simply judged that the remaining prisoners in the pit were worth freeing. Bruce has connections all over the planet, any company, or one could have dropped off billionaire Bruce Wayne back off at the states. It is never mentioned where the prison is located.
Answer: As far as the country the Pit is in, it's never stated in the film, only that it's in the ancient part of the world. In the comics, Bane was born and lived in the prison Peña Duro, although it doesn't share much with the Pit other than being where Bane was in prison. Peña Duro Is located in the fictional country of Santa Prisca, which is located in the northern part of the Caribbean.
Answer: It should be noted that the Pit was now Bane's. While it's a prison in the sense that the people can't escape, it wasn't specifically filled with criminals convicted of a crime in a legal setting. They were Bane's enemies who had been put there to be tortured. While it's likely some of Bane's enemies were criminals, they were probably free before Bane put them there. Remember, before Bane bought or took over the Pit, Ra's al Ghul had killed the prisoners as revenge for the murder of his wife. Although they also might not have been criminals convicted legally and would have been the Warlord's enemies.
Answer: While the actual pit was a set and Hollywood magic, the exterior of the prison [once Batman escaped] is Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India. A set of circular stones mark the supposed "entrance" to the pit. However, the interior of the prison, which had all of the wall/stairs, have a real life inspiration. Chand Baori, was built in the ninth century, and has 3,500 steps across 13 stories. Apparently, the priests who lived there also liked to chant as they descended the steps to reach water, which sent vibrations through the stairs. (Per Cracked. Com, "5 Mind-Blowing True Stories Behind Famous Movie Locations).
Although this is interesting, this not an answer to the question. I'd recommend to post this again as trivia.
I originally wrote it to answer the second part of the question, as I also wondered where it was set in, but I went overboard with the details. I submitted it to trivia.
22nd Mar 2004
Alien (1979)
Question: What exactly is the space jockey and why haven't we seen it in the other films except its fossilized self sitting in the what I call the laser gun?
Answer: It's another race of space alien that is also subject to infection by the Aliens. This particular one was infected and moved as far as it could from its race's known space and broadcast a warning before it died. The presence of eggs in the hold may indicate that it was a research ship. The race was never used in other Alien movies because it adds a new dynamic to the plotlines: two alien species, locked in mortal combat and neither particularly friendly with humans. In the Alien pseudo-prequel Prometheus we learn these beings are known as the Engineers and have interesting ties with both the aliens and humans as well.
Answer: Other theories, mostly developed in the comics derived from the original franchise, assume the xenomorphs were biological weapons conceived by the Space Jockeys for some interstellar war of theirs. Hence, the crescent-shape derelict was just a bomber, full of eggs and operated by a single pilot to minimize risks of accident with this mostly dangerous cargo. - what just happened though.
AKA, the plot of Prometheus.
11th Feb 2010
Ghostbusters (1984)
Question: When Venkman is on the phone with Egon, he says that he shot Dana/Zuul up with 300 cc of Thorazine. Since Thorazine is a powerful anti-psychotic drug, it's unlikely that Dana had some in her medicine cabinet. If she didn't already have some on hand, then where did Venkman get it? He said that he has a PhD in psychology, so is he able to prescribe medications for anyone?
Answer: They're all three doctors in that field, so it's not unlikely at all that they could acquire the medication. The question then becomes: why did he have it on him at the time?
Indeed, it's hilarious when you ask yourself that question, and the movie does not have any of the characters question that! Which would have been comedy gold. As the original poster said though; Venkman has a PhD in Psychology, so he can't prescribe the drug, and the other 2 are physicists, so no, I wouldn't say they are doctors in the field?
A Psychologist could have studied medicine. If you have a medical licence you can prescribe medicine to a patient. This doesn't automatically make a Venkman a psychiatrist, but he is more likely more trained in the actual clinical practise. Doesn't make it less unethical though and if anyone finds out he would have his license revoked immediately.
19th Dec 2010
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Question: Why does Hugo Stiglitz kill the German officers in the first place? The film mentions his enlistment, but how is this related to his killings?
Answer: Based on his willingness to join the Basterds, we can assume he killed them because he didn't believe in what the Nazis were doing.
There is a cut of him being whipped during the bar scene. I think he was taking revenge for harsh and perhaps undeserved punishment.
No, the whipping is how it feels in his mind sitting next to that SS officer and having to pretend to like him and be a Nazi. He's ready to snap.
5th Nov 2021
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Question: What exactly happens to a host's body once the symbiote emerges? At the end of Venom, when Venom is threatening the robber, he partially opens his face, and we see Eddie's face. In this movie, when Cletus/Carnage is escaping from prison, guards start shooting at Carnage who then splits open his entire midsection but Cletus is nowhere to be seen.
Answer: The host and symbiote merge fully. So the symbiote can totally disappear into the host and the host can totally disappear into the symbiote. They can also split again, or partially, at will. It just depends on who gets to be the active version at that time.
I am not up to speed with recent Marvel canon, but in the comics it's never been that way? The symbiote can surely slink inside the host (especially Carnage in Kasady's blood), but the humans can't turn into shapeless goo. Comics aside, that sequence from the movie is mind-boggling; I can sorta explain it thinking the symbiote just tore Kasady's torso in half and then reattached it instantly (in other parts of the movie Eddie gets basically stabbed with what would be lethal wounds).
Actually, in the comics it's long been established that Carnage's healing factor is Deadpool-levels of broken. There are numerous moments where Carnage is impaled, crushed, decapitated, has his neck twisted, even grenades blowing up in his jaws and straight up nailed by military missiles... AND HE'S JUST FINE AND WALKS IT OFF LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED. He absolutely could casually tear himself open with no drawback whatsoever.
"Could" tear himself open, does he usually?"Can turn into shapeless goo", has he? One thing is to regenerate the torso, another thing is to manipulate your body parting before the bullets reach you.I don't really see that from the example posted, but my curiosity aside, given we're talking about the movie anyway, I really don't see Kasady depicted as a shapeshifter, and him and the symbiote in this movie are entirely separated at the end (pending a sequel of course).
Also, for Carnage specifically, the human absolutely can turn into shapeless goo. Makes sense, actually, given that the symbiote canonically merged into Kasady's own cells and microscopic DNA, something even Venom and its hosts can't replicate https://2.bp.blogspot.com/9DjIg5e1HwLrwx-lhLjXxlUqzici7xajVTQZMhEHW8a0X9BqdRFE4U6eaBuPKXJgb8zSxkTytpvh=s1600 so the "symbiote-opening-up-the-host-body-with-holes" being a Carnage specific thing isn't surprising at all, in fact, given it's the same body.
25th Oct 2021
Groundhog Day (1993)
Question: Phil asks the landlady at the hotel if there is any hot water, and she laughs and says there wouldn't be any today. Why wouldn't there be any hot water? Wouldn't the hotel have boilers?
Answer: In a lot of old hotels those days used water heaters instead of boilers. A water heater has a limited amount of water heated, stored in a tank. So at the end of the week and every guest showering and using hot water during that week, the hot water will be gone before they refill the water heater at a specific day.
That's not how hot water heaters work. The water temperature is maintained by a thermostat. Once empty, it would take time to heat the refilled tank-but it's not heated on a specific day. The other answer is more correct.
Answer: Her laughter seems to imply that the rooms never have hot water when it's as cold as it was that day; maybe the pipes freeze, or her boiler just isn't very good. This isn't a five-star hotel, it's a small B&B run, it seems, solely by Mrs. Lancaster. Maybe she hasn't gotten around to fixing/arranging to fix whatever is wrong with the hot water, or it's just not something she sees as a big problem.
22nd Oct 2021
Jumanji (1995)
Question: Why is Peter smiling when Sarah was crying and frightening after Alan tricked her to roll the dice?
Answer: He found the trick amusing. It caused her to continue playing the game and that means finishing the game so their problems would go away. Or so he thought at that time.
Answer: Earlier in the film Peter uses "reserve psychology" to trick Alan into continuing the game. He then finds it funny when Alan pulls a similar trick on Sarah to force her to play.
22nd Oct 2021
Addams Family Values (1993)
Question: I'm just curious but is it possible to actually kill a member of the Addams family? Fester survives both the bathtub electrocution and the bomb explosion, Pubert can stop the guillotine blade with his bare hand, and in the first film Pugsley willingly lets Wednesday electrocute him with no apparent ill-effects.
Answer: They can be killed. In the first movie, Morticia talks about several relatives who were murdered, and the whole family seems pretty scared when they're strapped in the electric chairs. They're hard core and lucky, but not immortal.
Answer: They originate as a cartoon (1938). So they are basically immortal cartoon characters like the Looney Tunes.
21st Oct 2021
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
8th Oct 2021
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: Is this true that line "I didn't know you could read" was improvised by Tom Felton, who forgot his original line?
Answer: Yes. It's a common occurrence in a lot of movies for actors to forget their original lines so they improvise something to help move the scene along and not break character. Tom did this because he forgot what his original line was.
Answer: Yes in the same way Daniel Radcliffe improvised his line about always being around when talking to Lucius at the end.
Actually, Jason Isaacs said that, and he and Daniel didn't forget their lines but did it intentionally.
Answer: The corridor crew on youtube talked about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkvXGI6bk2Q&t=1017s Timestamp is 15:35 to skip to the scene you want.
lionhead