lionhead

8th Jun 2020

Hannibal (2001)

Question: Why does Clarice not have the handcuffs on when she is found by the police at the end? if Hannibal cut his hand off, then he would slip the cuffs off and she would still be wearing them. Even if she had the key, there was little time to get them or take the cuffs off.

Answer: She had plenty of time to take the bloodied cuffs off, we only see her again when she is outside looking for Hannibal.

lionhead

8th Jun 2020

Breaking Bad (2008)

Answer: The corpse was old and he was around people he knew. Seeing a severed head walking around on a turtle was just too much for him.

lionhead

Adding to this, he also hadn't just recently killed a man when an arm was ripped off. He was still going through PTSD after his shootout and killing of Tuco when the head thing happened.

Quantom X

Answer: Hank is very emotionally vulnerable at this point. He'd just had an intense shoot-out with Tuco that affected him more than he is willing to admit.

8th Jun 2020

Alien (1979)

Question: One thing that bugged me from a recent rewatch. When Brett comes across the Alien skin that it has recently shed, it in no way resembles what the creature looks like now, and is completely disproportionate with its size a few minutes later when it kills him. Now I know that its methods of 'growing' we are lead to believe are different to those of Earth creatures in that they are more accelerated etc...but if it is following a similar pattern to Earth animals that shed their skin shouldn't it have shed at least ANOTHER skin or maybe two to achieve its near-adult human size? And also why in 'Aliens' were no shed skins in abundance dotted around the place when it is part of the Aliens' natural life-cycle? They don't strike me as the kind of creature that would worry about leaving their shed skin around to cover up their presence?

Answer: The skin Brett finds is presumably the first skin the creature shed based on its size. There might be other skins that were shed all over the place but we never see every inch of the ship. The alien in this film primarily uses the air ducts to move around, but the film only shows the air ducts in one brief scene. There could be other skins somewhere in those ducts we never see. The same is true in Aliens. We never see every inch of the floors of the colony, they could be anywhere. The floor of the hive does have a considerable amount of debris, some of this debris could conceivably be shed skins.

BaconIsMyBFF

That's a much more logical answer, thank you.

Answer: They shed their skin once, probably some kind of protective fleece around its immature body it disposes of, not actual skin like with a snake. These are smart creatures, yes they would hide their shed skin.

lionhead

If that's the case why did the first Alien shed skin get found? If as you say they are 'smart' enough to hide their shed skin why was this one left laying around?

Because in later movies the aliens have a lot more space to shed their skins where it can't be found. Maybe they don't actually hide it, but it's logical they hide themselves as their skin sheds because they are vulnerable. The alien in the first movie simply couldn't find anywhere to hide.

lionhead

Question: After Buckbeak's execution and Scabbers bites Ron and escapes, why is Ron more shocked and upset about Scabbers biting him instead of running away?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: He is his pet rat, he probably runs away all the time but always comes back.

lionhead

Answer: Ron is shocked that his beloved pet would bite him, something Scabbers (Pettigrew) had never done before and was out of character.

raywest

29th May 2020

The Truman Show (1998)

Question: What happened to the car radio when Truman was going to work and accidentally discovered someone was narrating his whole movements in advance?

Answer: The radio caught the radio chatter of the director giving instructions to the actors. They have to do that constantly as they follow Truman so they can react and improvise in time and prepare the coming situations.

lionhead

26th May 2020

Joker (2019)

Question: Is it just me or did he fire 8 times with a gun that only holds 5 rounds at a time? I am referring to the subway scene where Joker got his first kills of course.

Hookemhamm14

Answer: I counted 4 shots on the train and 3 shots on the platform. Someone submitted a mistake about this, then someone corrected it saying he could have reloaded, then someone commented it's unlikely. I find it unlikely that he reloaded when on the train because on the platform he shoots 3 times and then dry fires 2 more times because he's out of rounds but doesn't seem to realise. So you'd have to say he had the wherewithal to reload a gun that's not empty, or only had 4 rounds in it for some reason, but reloaded it with only 2 or 3 more rounds, and then forgot how many rounds he just reloaded it with.

Bishop73

He has time to reload so it's plausible, that's all it takes really. Arthur is out of his mind at that moment, having just been beaten up again and working purely on adrenaline and blind rage. I doubt he is counting his shots. Does fit him though that when he saw the 3rd guy run he wanted to kill him too but wasn't sure if his gun was empty so he loaded 2 more bullets before he exited the train.

lionhead

21st May 2020

General questions

Do any of you know this movie or series? It's about a boy or a girl that goes to other worlds or world and there is a phone cabinet flying, maybe in a tornado. I think there might be an old man too or something. Do you know what it is?

Answer: Well a flying phone cabinet reminds me of 2 things: 1. Doctor Who or 2. Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.

lionhead

Answer: Yes. The Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp site was a huge area consisting of 3 separate camps, of which Camp II (Birkenau) was the biggest and had the commandant office and SS housing right next to it. The camp commander lived either close to camp II in the small town of Brzezinka or camp I, called the main camp. There were several houses and farms around the area and the town of Oswiecim in between all three camps. There were also several dozen subcamps.

lionhead

Question: As Harry and Hermione are going back in time, after Ron has left the room, there is a part where it looks as though a number of people are unwrapping someone to the right of the screen. What is happening then?

Answer: Exactly what it looks like - a person is being unwrapped from full body bandages. It's a hospital ward and they are just showing things representative of Harry and Hermione going back in time. It's just supposed to be something that happened earlier that day that they are "passing" by.

wolfchild

I thought it was the cast being put on Ron's leg?

It's the moment someone is covered from head to torso in bandages.

lionhead

7th May 2020

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Question: How did the witnesses think that it was Bill and Stan who committed the murder? Didn't they even see the faces of the other killers after them?

Trainman

Answer: This is actually fairly common in real life. It goes something like this: the witness sees two men in a green car fleeing the scene of the crime. Later they learn two men driving a green car have been arrested for the crime. In their minds, they saw these two men, and as time goes on they subconsciously "see" them in their memory of the event. This is addressed in the film. Vinny even questions one witness about that, asking if it's possible that they just saw "two guys in a green convertible, and not necessarily these two guys."

Answer: The witnesses saw two young men in a very similar car to Bill and Stan's drive off. The prosecutor made a compelling case that they were the murderers, while Vinnie initially bumbled. In cases like this, it's somewhat easy to convince someone to believe they saw what they want to believe, especially if they feel they're doing a civic duty or if it makes them feel important. See the play 'Twelve Angry Men' for an example of this.

Brian Katcher

Answer: One more thing to add: At the end, when Sheriff Farley announces that the real killers have been apprehended, he says they look just like Bill and Stan.

Answer: They saw hardly anything at all, but they are convinced somehow that they saw these 2 boys and not someone else.

lionhead

Question: This is actually a question to all of the books and movies, Why did Voldemort wait for the end of the school year to attack Harry Potter? Except, of course, in this movie, where Harry drops out of Hogwarts.

DFirst1

Answer: I agree with the other answer, but it is also a matter of plotting. Rowling has carefully structured each book to cover one school year at Hogwarts, usually starting with the summer break ending and the students preparing to return to school. The ensuing events cover the next nine months, with the story building up to the end-of-the-year climax, just before students part ways to return home for another summer. This formula allows for a continual timeline with only short breaks in-between major events. Otherwise, the story's momentum would slow down and much exposition would be needed to fill in gaps.

raywest

So basically, it's plot armor. Besides the main antagonist of the story is Voldemort so therefore he should be in the climax where it deals around him except in the third film/book. This answer makes me think that Voldemort really cares for Harry's education. ;-)

DFirst1

Answer: He didn't plan all these attacks except for the Goblet of Fire one. It took so long for Quirrel to get the stone, it took Voldemort's soul in the diary that long to influence Ginny and take control of her, it required the triwizard tournament finals to attack Harry. All these things just took till the end of the school year to happen.

lionhead

What about in Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince?

DFirst1

In Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince he was gathering strength, both personally and his army. In Order of the Phoenix the story is more about trying to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort is back and Voldemort trying for as long as possible to not draw attention to himself so it's easier to recruit, get stronger, etc. He is also busy with the prophecy, trying to get to it without exposing himself (thus using Harry to do it), knowing it is the key to his survival. In Half-Blood Prince Voldemort wants Dumbledore dead before he goes further with any other planning. Initially Draco is ordered to do it but he takes almost the entire schoolyear to do it, until he eventually manages to get deatheaters enter the school. It's not planned by the villain, but makes sense to have an entire year at Hogwarts continue each and every time. Until eventually Voldemort starts his coup.

lionhead

In Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort didn't want to reveal himself as most of the Wizarding world didn't believe he was back. As such he used his Death Eaters to try and take the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries. He only arrived at the Ministry late on as it was an optimal chance to kill Harry, Fudge seeing him wasn't intended. In the Half Blood Prince, Voldemort was afraid of fighting Dumbledore and the only way he could duel him personally would be to attack Hogwarts which would be unwise. Again, he used his Death Eaters or in this case Draco Malfoy to try and assassinate Dumbledore.

Voldemort wasn't afraid to fight Dumbldore in Half-Blood Prince, he was trying to kill Dumbledore whilst Dumbledore was protected by Hogwarts, he couldn't get to him. So he had Draco do it.

lionhead

He assigned Draco to do it as a consequence of what his father failed to retrieve, which is the prophecy.

DFirst1

7th May 2020

Constantine (2005)

Question: At the beginning of the movie, when Constantine removes the demon from the girl, why does the guy's hair turn white for looking?

Answer: It's the effect of the demon on him. Somehow the ritual Constantine is performing causes anyone who is a witness to be cursed.

lionhead

Question: The Emperor tells Grievous to send the separatists to Mustafar so that Anakin can later kill them to quote "end this war" but why? Why not leave them with Grievous and have them be captured by Obi Wan? To add to that wasn't the war already over when Obi Wan killed Grievous? Wasn't that the whole point of sending Obi Wan to kill Grievous? Why bother killing them, the war is over, you'll have control of those systems back anyway.

Answer: His long-term plan still has to make it look like he's playing both sides. He must convince the Separatist leaders that he's trying to protect them and extend the war slightly until he gets Anakin completely on his side.

LorgSkyegon

To add to that Grievous was in control of the armies, so he had to be killed so the armies would be disbanded, better to risk a Jedi for that task. Also the separatist leaders had to be killed eventually because they could disappear and come back with another army or ships. They had served their purpose, they had to go.

lionhead

7th May 2020

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Question: Marvin, who Vincent accidentally shoots in their car - why was he in the car in the first place? Why didn't they kill him when they killed the other people in the apartment?

Answer: He was their informant. Vincent, before they go in, says "is that counting our guy?" They brought him with them to see Wallace.

lionhead

Question: The scene where everyone's getting burned and exploding, why didn't the ark burn Marion and Indy too? Is it because they didn't do anything wrong to it?

Answer: They were protected because they did not directly look at the Ark. Indy told Marion to look away. That is what saved them.

raywest

Anyone who looks upon what is inside the ark perishes. The ark is used as the wrath of god against anyone who doesn't show respect to it, by not looking at what is inside. Even if what is inside goes outside.

lionhead

7th May 2020

Jumanji (1995)

Question: How come every shopper at Sir Sav a Lot didn't evacuate when Van Pelt had a gun and was shooting up the place while going after Judy, Peter and Sarah?

Trainman

Answer: They are probably too invested with their own looting to worry about someone else committing a crime.

LorgSkyegon

I especially like that one woman that is hesitating to take the box or not as everyone is running away when he shoots into the ceiling.

lionhead

Question: What did Katniss mean by asking if Gale's bread was real? I understand they don't often get bread in the Seam but how could it not be real?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: She is wondering whether it is really the type of bread it looks like or some low-quality imitation.

Answer: She is wondering if she might be dreaming.

lionhead

6th May 2020

I Am Legend (2007)

Question: When Robert Neville's family is being airlifted at night, the darkseekers are awake and emerge from their hiding spots. If UV light has been known to kill them, why wasn't his family airlifted during the day?

Answer: This was still very early in the spread and outbreak of this virus. They didn't fully understand what they were dealing with yet, or would have figured out that UV had any effect like that. Also the darkseekers weren't fully out yet, as we see the people infected are still mostly human with just early symptoms. They didn't know what they would create or even knew what it was capable of yet. What you saw were panicked people acting stupid in fear trying to board the chopper.

Quantom X

Answer: They didn't have the time. They were trying to contain the spread but failed and the evacuation had to take place at that time or there was no evacuation at all.

lionhead

Question: Do we know the human casualties by the end of the war?

Answer: No such numbers are ever discussed in the novel or in the subsequent radio and movie treatments. What we may surmise, however, is that the human casualties were comparatively minor. Once the Martians were exposed to earthly microbes, they were wiped out pretty quickly.

Charles Austin Miller

Voiceover by Morgan Freeman at the end of the movie: by the toll of a billion lives.

Morgan Freeman says "By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms." He is saying that Mankind evolved with microorganisms for countless generations on Earth, making Mankind immune to most of those microorganisms. Perhaps a billion humans or more died of bacterial and viral plagues throughout human history; but, as a species, we gained immunity. Freeman's quote has nothing to do with the number of Martians that died because they had no immunity.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: The ending dialog states a death of 1 billion.

The billion deaths spoken of don't refer to those that died in the alien attack but the billion deaths from the microorganisms that killed the aliens. "By a billion deaths man earned his immunity."

Bishop73

I feel that he meant that the organisms that killed the aliens killed a billion humans first before we got our immunity from them.

They are saying that.

lionhead

You are correct that he means humans, over tens of thousands of years, naturally gained immunity to many disease-causing organisms after billions of other people had died from them. The aliens had no immunity whatsoever and is why they died.

raywest

2nd May 2020

Shazam! (2019)

Chosen answer: Because she is not worthy to open the door (not champion material), or even to touch it. But Silvana is, since he already crossed it as a child.

lionhead

As you can recall Sivana reached for the eye of sin and the old wizard told him he would never be worthy.

He is a champion candidate. That's good enough to at least enter.

lionhead