Question: Why was Merry's hand burned when he stabbed the back of the witch king's leg?
lionhead
29th Dec 2018
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Answer: Because of what the Witch King is made of, his blood (or whatever) burns the skin of a mortal. Maybe even being too close will cause burns.
28th Dec 2018
Wishmaster (1997)
Question: Can the Djinn only give bad wishes according to his interpretation of them or does he just do it because he is pure evil and "enjoys" giving people exactly what they asked for, just not what they actually meant? For example could he, if he wanted, have given the shop assistant a lifetime of beauty without turning her into a mannequin?
Answer: The Djinn is a demon, it only knows how to hurt people. The wish he offers a person is just a way for the demon to buy the soul of that person, making use of the emotions inside someone to have them wish something. The wish works how the Djinn wants it to work, not what the victim wants it to do, that's irrelevant to him. Yes, he has the powers to give people what they actually want, but he doesn't as he doesn't care about people.
27th Dec 2018
Ready Player One (2018)
Question: In the final battle, as the IOI people are killed by Chucky, their pods turn red, they bail out, run to different red pods, which turn white again, and they're back in the fight. Why can't they just stay in their initial pods and re-enter the fight?
Chosen answer: As I understand it, when players are "killed" in the Oasis, they lose their points and possessions (are zeroed out). The players for IOI corp probably have to go through some re initialization procedure where they get a set of weapons and tools so they can be useful doing things for IOI. (Maybe coins too, but maybe IOI players at lower levels don't need to be buying anything they are not issued by IOI).
Answer: The red pods probably need to be reset for a new player first, which takes longer than going into a new pod.
27th Dec 2018
Constantine (2005)
Question: When Constantine asks to use the chair to go surfing, why does it need to face East?
Answer: That's probably got to do with the spinning of the earth, to face the side where the sun rises so you are basically sitting forwards, the same direction the earth is spinning in, possibly making it easier to "surf" (like with a wave). Either that or it's associated with facing Mecca like in Islamic religion.
27th Dec 2018
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: At first, the football team doesn't realise that they died. So why do they think that Juno is their coach?
Answer: They are very confused and probably not the sharpest tools in the shed. Juno probably told them they should do what she says and they immediately associated that with a coach.
Answer: Right before the Maitlands walk in, one of the football players asks, "coach, where's the men's room?" After which Juno finally loses her cool and dismisses the team out the door. After Juno's conversation with Adam and Barbara, one player comes back in and says, "Coach I don't think we survived the crash" suggesting they realised they were dead.
20th Jun 2017
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Question: Multi-part question regarding the actual brawl between Batman and Superman. Batman's first barrier is a sonic attack (lifted right out of Marvel's "Incredible Hulk," which Superman defeats the same way the Hulk did: Ripping apart an iron plate and destroying the sonic emitters with the two halves of iron). Why was Superman bending over, holding his head, when we know he has super-selective hearing? Superman could instantly block out a sonic attack without even blinking. Batman's second barrier was comprised of a couple of machine-cannons; again, Superman ducks and covers until he realises the cannons do not affect him. Why would Superman attempt to shield himself from conventional firearms? Did he suspect they were Kryptonite rounds? If so, why even bother shielding himself? If Superman suspected that Batman was using Kryptonite-based weaponry, why would he even walk into that scenario? After Superman strolls through Batman's first two deterrents, Batman then uses a third barrier, a smoke bomb that can, apparently, block Superman's X-ray vision. What was in the smoke? Was it lead-based smoke? Because Batman escapes while Superman seemingly can't see through the smoke. As far as I can tell, Superman doesn't realise that Batman is using Kryptonite-based weapons until Batman uses the Kryptonite gas mortars on Superman. So, why did the first three weapons even slow Superman down? Superman could have defeated Batman in a fraction of a second without killing him.
Chosen answer: The sonic emitters were constantly changing frequency making the sound impossible for Superman to "select" and block out. As for the cannons, Superman knows that Batman is resourceful and therefore assumed that he would not bother firing at him unless the rounds could do damage. Superman took cover as a precaution against this. There are also several elements which block x-rays and can be made into a gas.
Answer: We see Bruce working with lead to contain the Kryptonite gas in the grenade capsules, so we know he understands the interaction of lead and radiation. X-ray's are a form of radiation and if Luthor has a complete file in Superman's abilities the fact that he can see in the X-ray spectrum would be included, so Bruce would have planned accordingly but adding lead particles to his gas grenade should he need to escape. This is not covered in specific in the film; it requires you to add up several incidental pieces of information and make and informed assumption.
Answer: The bullets from the machine gun may not be able to break his skin and injure him but that doesn't mean they don't have a physical effect on him or that he cannot feel them. In Man of Steel Clark takes a 50cal round while trying to fly out of the military's line of fire and it throws him into a building. The bullets might not injure him but he can still feel them and they still hit pretty hard, so I imagine he's just trying not to get shot in the eyes.
Regular bullets do not have any effect on Superman's body whatsoever as long as he has absorbed solar rays before. Anyone that suggests they do knows nothing about Superman. Superman can survive a megaton nuclear explosion without so much as a hair on his body harmed, as long as he has absorbed enough solar rays.
In the comics, yes. In the movies is completely different.
Not at all. Someone fires a gun right on his face and it bounces off his eye without a blink.
Answer: First you have to understand that Superman doesn't know what Kryptonite is. He's never seen it, never heard of it, never encountered it. So he isn't expecting anything like it. He cannot prepare for or even look for something he does not know exists. Superman says in Man of Steel that he can focus on what he wants to hear above other sounds but that doesn't mean that he doesn't hear anything else; it just means he's able to manage the influx of information. You can hold a conversation with a friend at a nightclub but that doesn't mean you stop hearing everything else - you just don't focus on it. The sonic devices are very loud, focused directly at Superman's head and emitting frequencies up and down the spectrum not to mention the actual physical effect as evidenced by the rainwater caught in the blast. It's a lot to deal with all at once.
6th Jan 2016
Man of Steel (2013)
Question: During the tornado scene, Jonathan Kent rescues the dog, Hank, and in the process injures his leg. With the tornado practically on top of him, Jonathan then waves off Clark, who is only about 50 yards away. The fact that Jonathan waves off Clark is proof that they BOTH knew Clark could rescue his dad, but Jonathan didn't want Clark to expose his super powers. Still, it was Clark's DAD in danger. Why didn't Clark simply go rescue his father at super speed? Certainly, the chaos of the tornado would easily cover Clark's actions, and there would be no reliable witnesses in the midst of such confusion.
Answer: That, AND the fact that his dad is able to stand firmly on the ground whilst the tornado engulfs him, and we still see him standing to the very end as the debris in the tornado starts to hit him. That didn't make sense to me...correct me if I'm wrong, but tornadoes can and do pick up large objects like vehicles etc. and then toss them away WITHOUT the physical funnel of the tornado actually having passed over said objects. I thought once you're in the debris field, which is a separate thing from the funnel, you're already liable to be tossed up into the air and then flung out, but here, Jonathan remains standing on the ground unaffected the whole time, while the vehicle, being heavier than a human, had begun to float up in the air earlier when he went to get the dog, and then he remains standing even while the physical funnel begins to consume him - he should've been tossed up in the air long ago when the funnel was already within hundreds of feet of proximity to Jonathan.
It's certainly unrealistic but it was obviously an artistic choice. The fact that he is peacefully consumed by the funnel rather that violently tossed through the air was meant to be a poignant moment.
Answer: While I could think of several different scenarios that Clark could have done to save his dad without his abilities/powers being seen (that don't involve him moving so fast no-one sees him), ultimately (as Clark said), he let his dad die because he trusted him. "My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they'd reject me... out of fear. I let my father die because I trusted him. Because he was convinced that I had to wait. That the world was not ready."
Answer: At not point in either Man of Steel or Batman v Superman do we see Superman use speed of the type people have suggested while on the ground. The movie makes a point of outlining his abilities and some of their limits. For Clark to use that ability in that instance and nowhere else in the film would be inconsistent, so the conclusion must be that this version of the character does not have the ability to move in that manner. He might be fast-er than normal people, but not, "blink and you'll miss him fast" - otherwise it would always be an option for him throughout the film and it is not presented as such.
We know from Man of Steel that Clark is entirely capable of high-speed feats: He leaps from a crabbing boat at sea and swims to a burning oil rig easily 4 nautical miles away in a matter of not minutes but moments; and, in the logging-truck scene, Clark apparently wadded up a tractor-trailer so swiftly that nobody inside the bar, just a few yards away, heard a sound or felt an impact tremor. These were certainly acts of super speed; and Jonathan Kent certainly knew Clark could save him from the tornado, which is why he waved him off.
Next to that we see the same Superman in Justice League move at the same speed as Flash whilst on the ground.
Chosen answer: There were multiple witnesses under the bridge who may not have seen Clark, but would have seen Jonathan magically vanish and suddenly appear safe and sound a distance away.
8th Dec 2018
Toy Story (1995)
Question: Why do the toys not want people to know they're alive?
Answer: Because they are supposed to play out the part of a toy, that's their purpose. They want to be there for a child as a toy.
Ok, but what are they afraid might happen if people knew they were alive?
I don't really know how you want to look at this but if you look at it realistically I think it's quite obvious what they are afraid of. If it became publicly know that every toy ever made, including all teddy bears, remotely controlled cars and even etch-a-sketches are sentient, then you could probably expect a reaction comparable to that of Sid. Fear and panic.
Also, wouldn't toys risk being experimented on, imprisoned, or destroyed if they revealed to humans that they were alive?
Exactly what happened to Sid. He found out and freaked out.
Answer: They're not necessarily afraid, it's just part of being a toy. Woody even mentions "breaking rules" when they move in front of Sid. They may just accept that it's something they're not supposed to do.
But they did reveal themselves to animals like Scud and Buster though.
How are dogs going to tell anyone? Besides, they don't care since they are animals.
Answer: I think it's safe to assume that, unless a toy makes a conscious decision to reveal their true nature, they automatically default to inanimate toy mode. Otherwise, Buzz would have easily revealed himself within the first hour after Andy got him. With that in mind, since it's apparently something they have to work to do, I would propose that it's not that they have a reason not to want anyone to know their true nature, but that they have to have a real reason to reveal it in order to do so, like Woody had to save Buzz.
But Buzz could just as easily make the conscious decision to move whilst Andy was there, he thought he was the real Buzz lightyear after all, and not a toy. Then again, in the plot it's kinda stupid Buzz doesn't think he's a toy even though Andy plays with him. But if Woody can move whilst a human is in the room, then any toy can do that. Therefore, it's a decision not to do so. Buzz most likely got asked by the other toys to play the part and he obliged since he needed them till his ship was fixed, but still.
I said it appears they have to make a conscious decision to reveal their nature. Buzz not knowing his true nature makes that kind of impossible for him so he reverts to toy mode when Andy's around. Probably without even being aware of it.
That's a possibility. But then the question arises how the other toys became self-aware and why they are self-aware in the first place. It appears this is the first time they meet a toy that doesn't know he's a toy. On one side you have toys that are aware they are a toy and want to play by its rules and on the other hand you havee toys that don't believe they are one but magically never reveal their sentience.
Who said this was the first time this has happened? For all we know, Woody could've thought he was a real cowboy before realizing he's a toy. We just don't see his or any of the other toys' backstories.
Yet Buzz could also believe he's on a secret mission from Star Command, hence why he freezes. He didn't even believe he was a real toy at this point. Not a plot hole and not confusing. Also, toys can somehow "sense" when people are nearby and only move if either A), there's no people around or B), nobody's looking. Notice how all the toys go back to "toy form" any time this happens? They're very careful, not stupid.
Also a possibility, sure. Just to be clear; I'm not against the idea and thought process behind the plot. It's just a animated movie for kids. I just like to argue.
Answer: I questioned this to myself; even at Pizza Planet, before Buzz learns he's a toy, he gets picked up by Sid in the claw machine and turns back into an inanimate object which means by some sort of unconscious decision he becomes a toy again.
8th Dec 2018
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Question: Did they not already know that Jack-Jack had powers after what happened with Syndrome?
Answer: What happened to Syndrome happened high in the air, Elastigirl mentions she can't see whats going on and panics. They never actually see what Jack-Jack is doing and think Syndrome is hurting him.
11th Jan 2015
Army of Darkness (1992)
Question: Whatever happened to Ash's chainsaw? Surely he wouldn't be such an idiot to leave it in the shack where he made sushi out of Bad Ash.
Answer: Towards the end of the film, when Ash mounts his horse and rides off into the sunset (before it then cuts to present day and he's back at the S-Mart), you can see his chainsaw is strapped to the horse's saddle. It seems that he either recovered it after the battle or perhaps he sent someone to the windmill to retrieve it.
Answer: It most likely ran out of gas or broke down.
6th Sep 2016
The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)
Question: Lisbeth uses a taser on Niedermann, who is suffering from congenital analgesia. Should the shock make him collapse?
Answer: Yes, even without feeling pain the muscles still contract from the electric current and then give out, unable to hold the body up.
1st Aug 2017
Das Boot (1981)
Question: When the U-boat is at 200 meters depth, and even deeper, it is attacked with depth charges. We can see the charges explode close to the hull. Was it really possible to set charges to explode at this depth? In 1943 the US developed depth charges that could be set to 180 meters.
Answer: The Royal Navy Depth Charge Mark VII could be detonated as deep as 270 meters, this is after 1940 but before 1943. This is below the crushing depth of the Type viic U-boat from the movie.
21st Jan 2018
The Deer Hunter (1978)
4th May 2018
Bad Boys II (2003)
27th Nov 2018
Van Helsing (2004)
Question: Why does the gravedigger try to kill Van Helsing?
Answer: Because he has a developed a bad habit from dealing with dead bodies too long and now has some sort of urge to fill coffins and bury them, even if he has to do it himself.
Answer: Because Van Helsing is an outsider causing trouble, like killing one of the Vampire Brides.
22nd Jan 2005
I, Robot (2004)
Question: Does anyone know what year Dr. Lanning (the character) was born in? It tells you when Spooner is in the cafe on the TV, but I just can't make it out.
Answer: 1971.
Answer: The TV shows 1971-2035 not 1921-2035.
Yep, if you watch it in HD it's clear as day.
Answer: According to the TV in the bar he lived from 1921 to 2035.
11th Oct 2018
Venom (2018)
Question: When Eddie goes to see Dan about the test results, Dan says that the symbiote is damaging Eddie's organs but Venom says it's part of the symbiosis. Was Venom really damaging Eddie's body? If not, what was he really doing?
Answer: Venom was using Eddie, much like Riot, to invade Earth. Venom was damaging Eddie's body until he grew to like him, which is why he said he could fix it while Dan was telling Eddie all of this.
21st Oct 2018
Venom (2018)
Question: What became of the little girl after Riot left her body?
Answer: Like all other temporary hosts, she died. This was first seen when Riot took over the EMT and when he left her after finding a new temp host, the EMT died.
It depends on how long they are inside the host though, as Venom took over Annie as well but she survived. It depends on how much they feed on their host. In the case of the girl he was inside her for several hours or more so she most likely died.
A host can only survive if they are a genetic match to the symbiote that is bonded to them. If they aren't they'll leave the host and the host will die as shown with the three hosts that Riot took control of then left. Plus, as it seen in the movie if the symbiote can find some other form of food, it won't feed on the host at all.
If that's the case then Annie should have died as well or she just happened to be a genetic match as well.
Since Ann lived, this would mean she is also a genetic match.
That seems way too much of a coincidence.
It's not a coincidence. Dora Skirth explained to Carlton Drake that symbiosis falls along the same lines as an organ transplant. The only way for a host (recipient) to survive is if the symbiote (organ) is a match. This explains why so many of Riot's previous hosts died but Carlton survived.
That actually makes it a coincidence.
13th Nov 2018
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
Question: Is there anything to suggest that someone couldn't leave the grail in the cave and come back every 50 years or so to "top off" their immortality?
Answer: It doesn't appear to work that way. The power of the grail heals Henry's gunshot wound instantly and it keeps the knight looking about 80 years old. However, there is nothing in the film to suggest that simply drinking from the grail and leaving the cave actually extends your life. In fact, Henry drank from the grail and died a natural death a relatively short time later in between this film and the next.
Actually it is stated that Henry Jones Sr. died either in 1951 or 1956. So either at the age of 79 or 85 and at least 13 years after the events of the Last Crusade movie. Whilst this is not an extremely old age, there is no reason to think his life wasn't extended by the grail. Indiana himself got to a high age himself, having drunk from the grail.
I don't think the series is implying that either Jones man lived a long life due to the grail. In fact it would seem to go against the irony of the grail as presented: that it does give you eternal life but you are confined to that cave to enjoy the benefits. Maybe if they had said Henry Jones died at the age of 120 or something out of the ordinary, but they specifically state he dies at a perfectly normal, non magical age.
Well it's never stated that it gives eternal life only to the person staying in the cave either. That's what the question is about. If the healing properties of the grail work on someone who leaves the cave, there is no reason to think their life isn't extended (technically it already was in the case of Henry Jones Sr.) as well. It is possible though, since the knight looked pretty old, that the grail only heals, and that healing extends life but one has to drink from the cup frequently (like every day) in order to stay alive, whilst still getting older.
The knight does say that the grail cannot leave the seal, which is the price of immortality. He is implying that in order to reap the benefits of eternal life you must stay in the cave. The way it seems to work is that in order to extend your life in any meaningful way, you must drink from the grail often. Just leaving and coming back whenever you need a jolt would effectively make the rule about not taking the grail out of the cave meaningless. How often you need to drink is of course not specified. In order for the film's ironic message about the grail to make any kind of sense, you would need to drink from the grail so often you would effectively be stuck in the cave. Possibly drinking from it every day. In which case, like the knight you would just live at the cave and never leave. The knight's brothers both left 150 years after finding the grail, but one of them died shortly after leaving, never making it out of the desert. So with regards to the original question: "can you just come back every 50 years or so?"; it would make the most sense based on what we see in the movie, what we know about how long Henry Jones Sr. Lived, what we know about the knights and how long they lived, and the message the movie is saying about the irony of the grail that the answer to that particular question is "No."
I wonder if someone were to bring a large storage vessel to the cave, and fill it using the Grail, if they could then take that water with them and drink it later... Man, the scientist in me really wants to resolve this.
Drinking from the grail is not the same as pouring water out of it into another vessel. Drinking from the grail is symbolic and there is no real power that it bestows upon the water in it. However, if the grail was able to pass the properties to another vessel, one would have to assume the temple would collapse on itself when attempting to take the secondary vessel out.
Answer: It's stated by the ancient knight that the Grail's powers do not extend into the outside world. He himself was immortal only because he remained at the site, drinking the water, for hundreds of years. Henry Senior was instantly healed on-site, but he and Indy continued to age normally once they left the site.
Then why didn't Henry's wound return when he left? Their healing extended their lives. It got rid of any bad cells, to go scientific.
Because cell deterioration due to aging happens spontaneously, i.e. you've got to keep removing the bad cells. Bullet wounds are not spontaneous...once it's gone, it's gone.
Why would his wound return? He was instantly healed. From that point forward he was in normal health, even after crossing the seal. Indy actually drank from the Grail, which meant he was immortal for a few minutes, but his immortality did not follow him beyond the seal.
It's the difference between believing the power of immortality comes from the cup or staying in the cave. The knight was immortal because he kept drinking from the cup, not because he stayed in the cave. The cup has healing powers, and simply growing old is not the reason for death, regenerating cells will keep you alive, so if the cup regenerates cells, you are immortal from drinking from it, as long as you do it regularly. That's how the knight has done it and why he looks old and is frail. Going outside doesn't negate the powers of the cup, or Henry's wound would have returned. Therefor, going back often to drink from the cup will extend your life. It will cure you from any ailments that accompany old age like heart disease, cancer and brain degeneration.
The Grail Knight plainly says: "You have chosen...wisely. But, beware: the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal, for that is the boundary, and the price, of immortality." Therefore, you remain immortal as long as you don't cross the seal. If you are healed instantly inside the boundary of the Great Seal, then you are healed. Period. It's not just a magic bandaid that disappears if you cross the seal.
22nd Dec 2005
The Lion King (1994)
Question: After Mufasa's death, how does Simba get it into his head that it's his fault? If anything, it would've seemed to be Scar's, because he was the one that told Simba to wait on the rock. Can someone please explain this to me?
Answer: Simba sees the stones on the ground skitter - a sign of the impending stampede - immediately after his roar echoes around the gorge. This was very good timing on Scar's part. Simba believed that his roar had startled the wildebeest into stampeding. (Of course, Scar was the one who goaded him into practising roaring in a gorge in the first place, but it's easy to forget these things in the traumatic aftermath of your father's death). Moreover, Simba was a child. Scar was an adult he trusted, and actually told Simba it was his fault.
I think it was more to the fact that his dad died whilst trying to rescue him. If he didn't need rescuing, his dad would still be alive. Thats why he thought it was his fault.
Answer: It's what is known as the Black Breath.
Phaneron ★
That's caused by his breath and I don't think he breathes from his leg.
lionhead
It could be wrong, but the reference page I read specified that despite its name, the Black Breath is not actual breath, but an aura that the Nazgul project.
Phaneron ★
How was Merry even able to stab the witch king's leg anyway? It's been said that no man can kill the witch king.
Merry doesn't kill the witch king, but he hurts him. His power has grown, giving him more of a presence in the real world, a presence that can be hurt.
lionhead
Going back to the books for more explanation: First: it wasn't a protection. It was a prophecy/prediction by Glorfindel a millennium earlier. Second: the weapon Merry had in the books was a barrow-blade recovered by Tom Bombadil while saving the Hobbits from the barrow wights and had been enchanted directly against the Witch King. Since the scene (and Tom) were not in the film, they went with a more specific interpretation. The Witch King was not killed by a man, but by a Hobbit and a woman.
LorgSkyegon