Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: The first Robocop 2 attempt managed to commit suicide by shooting himself at where I assume the brain was located. Wasn't this a major oversight in design that the cyborg wasn't made out of hard/thick enough metal so it wouldn't be possible to kill it with a single shot?

Answer: It became apparent that the original Robocop was an extremely lucky one-off success, as the second-generation Robocop experiments were thwarted by incompatibilities that drove the human subjects quite mad. The second-generation Robocop experiments were, thus, probably not outfitted with bulletproof armor in the test stages, just in case they went crazy and had to be put down.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: The two failed RoboCop 2s wound and perhaps killed a person. Weren't they programmed with the prime directives?

Answer: They were programmed with the prime directives but Alex Murphy was a special case. His strong moral fiber and dedication to his profession allowed him to remain sane and accept the directives. The failed specimens never accepted their programming.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: When his dog got infected, why didn't the doc use the same cure that worked on the mouse/rat to cure her, or at least try? Did I just miss him doing it? I would think he'd try anything to cure his dog before killing her to keep her from suffering. I know the cure didn't work on humans in the first trial, but it did work on an animal. So...?

Answer: He gave the dog the cure and it seemed to work at first but quickly the dog began to turn. Neville was forced to euthanize the dog as a result. The cure wasn't perfected until later in the movie.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why did Dom and Brian decided to double cross the train heist in the first place? They are already on the run, what differences does it make when they found out the cars they're robbing has been seized by the DEA? Isn't it easier to just complete the job and get the money after the heist is done?

Answer: Dom decided on the double cross when he realised the DEA had seized the cars and Zizi was only interested in one car. It turned out to be a much more complicated job than simply stealing three cars from a collector, they were actually retrieving seized property from the United States government. The crew was hired under false pretenses and he didn't trust his employer to follow through on his end of the deal. Stealing the GT40 was leverage to make sure he and his crew were properly paid for putting their necks on the line and exposing them to even more risk.

BaconIsMyBFF

Also, he probably had a gut feeling that like you said, the job was not what they thought and didn't trust what Zizi and his crew might do to them after the heist.

Question: Why did they take Cody off the mission just because he was defending himself from some bullies? Also, why did Cody lie to Natalie by saying he was taken off the mission because he became too close to her?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: The fight with the bullies made the school paper and drew unwanted attention to Cody which could compromise his mission. Cody lied to Natalie to try and impress her.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: There's a scene toward the end of the movie where Adam sits down with his therapist (Katie). The camera shows a full frontal body shot of Adam as he's sitting down. His pants are wet. It looks like he urinated in his pants. But his wet pants aren't addressed. I don't think I missed anything. Or did I?

iXero

Answer: His pants only look wet because of the lighting. The color of the pants and the shadows make it look that way but they aren't really wet.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How did Ethan know the location of the meeting between McCloy and Ambrose on that island?

Answer: Luther brings up the schematics of the Bare Island facility when they are looking up the plans for Biocyte's headquarters. Also remember that Ethan and his team abducted then released McCloy earlier on to find out about the cure, so they could have copied and analysed the contents of his briefcase such as his diary and phone to pinpoint the meeting with Ambrose.

Sierra1

Question: Who does Ethan call from the train car? Is it Bogdan? Is it Max? "The Fog" (the arms dealer)? I don't understand how Bogdan, who we last saw completely confused about his friend "Sergei", is now suddenly Ethan's hot secret agent contact. When did that happen? The eventual meeting in Dubai suggests that Bogdan liaised between Ethan and The Fog, suggesting that it was Bogdan who Ethan was on the phone with. How does Max's former henchmen with the long blond hair fit into this? Why is he working for The Fog now and why would they blue ball us that hard? Was Vanessa Redgrave (Max) at one point supposed to appear in the film?

Answer: Ethan called Bogdan, who would have been debriefed (and given a phone) by the IMF sweeper crew whose van they transfer him to. The henchman played by Andreas Wisniewski just works for whichever arms dealer will pay him, so Max and later The Fog. If you recognised him, you were probably supposed to think Max would be the contact, so it was just a bit of an easter egg and subtle gag by the filmmakers, but there has been speculation that Redgrave was supposed to reprise the role.

Sierra1

Question: Hob (the kid) offers the governor of Detroit 50 million in exchange for his uninvolvement in their drug sales. Didn't the laboratory and their chemist perish in an explosion earlier? How are they planning on creating the drugs?

Answer: They are not going to keep just one lab for all the drugs they make, and they are not going to allow just one chemist to assist in the making of said drugs. Obviously they have others.

Question: When the Creeper lands on top of the bus, you can see he is missing his right wing and his left arm is mangled to the bone. After eating Dante's head, he flies away with two wings and both arms. However, he didn't eat either of Dante's arms and there weren't any extra wings lying around to eat. So how did he get his left arm and right wing back? (00:53:55)

Super.Genius.Infinity.Squared

Answer: Eating human flesh helps the Creeper regenerate his whole body, no matter which part he ate.

Celldweller55

Answer: Trevor kept it with him when he left.

Celldweller55

Question: In the first timeline ending, Russell (Firefist) is not convinced or changed by Deadpool's pleading; in fact, he casts Deadpool aside. Cable then lunges for the semi-auto handgun and takes his last shot, which is intercepted by Deadpool in his left chest (a fatal wound). Seemingly, the only thing that really changed Russell's mind was Deadpool's actual death scene, as Deadpool rambled on with his farewells and gradually faded away. But, in the alternate ending, Cable goes back in time a few minutes and uses an arcade token to stop the bullet that killed Deadpool; thus, Deadpool doesn't die from the gunshot and Russell doesn't react to Deadpool's farewells (that never happened). So, what event changed Russell's mind the second time, if not Deadpool's actual death?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: His change of heart came from Deadpool's sacrifice. In the second timeline, Cable saves Deadpool, but Deadpool had no way of knowing. Firefist still has a change of heart because Deadpool was willing to sacrifice himself, even though he was ultimately saved by someone else.

Now, I can accept that in theory, except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell. I mean, Russell knew from the very beginning that Deadpool could have killed him (but chose not to) and took some severe ass-beatings on Russell's behalf. Russell was really, really hard-boiled, and I'm not seeing that Deadpool almost getting killed as enough impetus to change Russell's heart. It seems (to me, anyway) it was Deadpool's actual death that changed Russell, such that a mere deflected bullet would not have the same effect.

Charles Austin Miller

Deadpool often mentioned "lazy writing" and Russell having such a change of heart might be an example of it.

Erik M.

Deadpool saving Russell in the film is what made Russell think that they were friends. When Deadpool tells Russell that they aren't friends, he remains hostile toward Deadpool, not believing him when he later admits to caring for Russell. At this point Russell is too far gone and will kill. However, it's only when Deadpool takes a bullet for Russell, fully intending to die in both timelines, that Russell sees that Deadpool really does care about him, and would have died to save him.

Answer: In science fiction there are two different ideas regarding time travel. In one, the timeline is fixed, so a person who goes back in time does what already happened in their own past, like in The Time Traveler's Wife - however, this is where the grandfather paradox comes in. The other theory as express in the Back to the Future series is the past can be changed and in so doing change the future for the person who changed it. Deadpool 2 follows the second concept, so Firefist doesn't need any motivation to go back the second time and in fact doesn't go back a second time since the timeline is already corrected and that doesn't present a contradiction.

jimba

It presents the contradiction that Deadpool's actual death broke Firefist's cold heart the first time; but the second time Deadpool doesn't die, so Firefist should have no change of heart.

Charles Austin Miller

"Except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell." Yes, but there's a huge difference between risking your life to save someone and directly sacrificing yourself. Doing something that could get you killed and doing something that will definitely get you killed are entirely different. You may not agree with the change of heart, but that's how it's presented.

Answer: The Firefist the second time around is the one from the first who jumped back in time retaining those memories, and therefore remembers the events from the first time, just like he remembers to place the token to stop the bullet and remembers that he used the device a second time. He doesn't need to experience the death twice to have the change of heart remain.

jimba

"Firefist" is Russell, the dangerous mutant kid with severe emotional problems. Russell is the kid that both Deadpool and Cable are trying to stop, and Cable is the one with the time-jump device.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: At the end, Orson Welles is wounded and flees up a ladder out onto the face of the church clock. The clock contains an automata of statues that move in front of the clock face. One statue holds a sword which impales Orson Welles. We have a distance shot in which the sword is sticking out of Orson Welles' back. Orson Welles presses against the statue to withdraw the sword and falls to his death. Is such an end feasible? Surely, for a sword to fully pierce a human body it would have to be very sharp and be driven with incredible force and speed. Would the statue be moving with anything remotely approaching such force and speed? And surely a statue on a clock would not carry a real sword, but a facsimile, meant to look like a weapon from a distance? And, if somebody was pierced completely through with a sword, could they press their body forward to fully withdraw the weapon? (01:34:45)

Rob Halliday

Answer: This is a fictional death, and it's unlikely a person could be killed in that manner. The sword might cause a severe wound, but it would take some force to completely impale a body that way. Movies often exaggerate reality to create drama.

raywest

Answer: At the start of the movie the only people who knew are Dooku and others close to Palpatine. It's possible Grievous knew too, but we never get a confirmation. By the end of the movie all the remaining Jedi know, as well as Senator Organa and all the clone troops. The Senate doesn't.

lionhead

It is said that in the film's official novelization, Grievous doesn't know Palpatine is Sidious.

DFirst1

Dooku, Maul, Maas Amedda, Sly Moore, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Ochi of Bestoon all knew.

Question: Something that puzzles me about the thee Omen films taken together. In the first film of the series the very young Damien is taken into a church. As the son of the Devil he has a great aversion to all things Christian, so he has a huge tantrum, and screams, struggles and resists going into the building. So how is it, that, as the series progresses, he can enter Christian buildings without any ill effects? (The denouement of the third and final Omen film is set in Fountains Abbey, a venerated Christian church in Yorkshire).

Rob Halliday

Answer: It may be similar to myths around vampires. In many variations, their fear of crucifixes is purely psychological. As a child, Damian may have feared the symbolism of the church, but as he grew he realised it had no actual power over him.

Answer: There's no clear-cut answer. The first film was intended as a stand-alone movie. When the later sequels were made, the plot details were changed or otherwise adapted to fit a new story line.

raywest

A quick addendum to this correction: There was indeed a general idea from the start that the Omen could spawn a trilogy of movies, though there weren't detailed plans, and the first film was written so that it could function fine as a stand-alone movie if they never got around to sequels.

TonyPH

Answer: That may be when he broke his hand on a bulletproof safety shield while filming.

raywest

Question: In this version the Phantom was a highly gifted composer, who, as a grown adult, was horribly disfigured in an accident. Much of the Hammer version centres on the performance of the Phantom's masterpiece, an opera about Joan Of Arc, segments of which are shown during the film. I am not an expert on opera, but it seemed to me that the Phantom's musical take on the Joan Of Arc legend was one of the dullest musical performances I have ever seen, consisting of perfectly ordinary (and uninspiring) dialogue, sung on a single (and rather monotonous) octave. (Imagine some people who can't sing very well singing the text of a second rate historical novel.) Did anybody else who saw this little known film of the classic horror story have any opinion on the Joan Of Arc opera?

Rob Halliday

Answer: This is a British low-budget version of the classic book. Due to its financial restraints, there was less concern about producing a factual or high-quality fictional opera. It is only a backdrop to the story.

raywest

Question: Vader tortured Han to lure Luke into a trap because he knows Luke will sense they are in danger and will come try to rescue them since they are his friends. How did Vader know Han, Leia, and Chewbacca were Luke's friends?

Answer: Vader would be able to piece together information from the time Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and Ben Kenobi were on the Death Star in Episode IV. Luke was Ben's apprentice, Luke escaped with Princess Leia and Han, so it's logical Vader would make the connection that they are friends and allies. Spies would also be feeding him information.

raywest

Question: At the end of the film Blondie, sitting on the horse, turns around, aims his rifle, fires, and severs the rope with a single shot. Lets face it, that rope would be a very small target, and difficult to hit with precision, even from ten or twenty feet, and Blondie is now so far from Tuco that he would no longer even be able to see the rope. Could anyone hit such a small target from such a distance with such incredible accuracy?

Rob Halliday

Answer: There's a show called "Hollywood Weapons: Fact or Fiction" which dealt with this exact question (s01e03). Blondie is roughly 200 yds away. In the show the host didn't hit the rope, but only missed by an inch on his first attempt. I definitely think an expert Sharps Rifle shooter could make the shot. The issue however, is the bullet would most likely not actually slice the rope apart as seen in the film (they fired the Sharps at point blank and the rope remained partially intact still). They also tested shooting a hat off someone and (as expected) the bullet just goes right through the hat without lifting the hat at all.

Bishop73

That was another thing that puzzled me. On several occasions in this film, Tuco is suspended from a rope, and Blondie cuts the rope by firing a bullet at it, (I think Clint Eastwood repeated the trick in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"). But if you fired a bullet at a rope holding a (rather large) person like Tuco (or a similarly heavy weight), even at close range, would it really sever the rope? I will have to look out for "Hollywood Weapons Fact Or Fiction." I hope they only used a dummy or a model to re-create the shooting feats. I don't think I would have liked to have been hanging on a rope while somebody fired bullets at me to see if this would sever the rope, or to stand there while they fired bullets into my hat to see if they could lift it off my head.

Rob Halliday

Answer: Probably not, but remember...this is a movie, a western at that and they typically have over the top action to excite audiences. Kinda like how it's impossible to shoot someone's hat off without harming them. It's all for show.

Dra9onBorn117

Baby Fever - S3-E7

Question: What is the song played during Donna's pole dance. Is there somewhere we can download it?

Answer: It's just incidental music written for the show and wouldn't be available to download as a song.

Bishop73

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