Question: When Simon and Joe are ordered by the police chief to do either community service at Reverend Russell's retreat or face prison, they take the community service option. But eventually, Reverend Russell orders Simon not to come on the retreat. So, why wasn't Simon arrested?
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.
Answer: He acted up during the Christmas pageant so the reverend decided that as a punishment he would not be allowed to go on the retreat.
Question: How does Optimus Prime gets his sword in absence of his trailer in Transformers 3?
Answer: Optimus Prime has swords with him and he also has retractable ones that come out from where his hands are.
Answer: Seeing as this move takes place a few years later it is safe to assume that Optimus Prime either had swords built into him or he just has backup swords.
Question: There's a scene in which, right after they've bought their house, Henry appears in their living room, naked and shot. I just don't see how this can happen because this would constitute a travel within a travel. That is, he travels to where he gets shot. Shot, he then travels to the newly-bought house; then finally travels back to the Christmas party from whence he came originally, where he finally dies. But the movie never establishes this sort of "Inception"-like travel. He always travels to one time, then comes back. Is this something that the book clarifies, or is it a mistake from the movie?
Question: Why were they targeting specific buildings? (In the van with the monitors?)
Chosen answer: "They", which was the Government, targeted low income buildings and poor neighborhoods. The Purge was being used as cover in order to eliminate people on welfare/getting assistance in order to save money and to increase the standard of living for the wealthy.
Question: Two questions: something I have never understood about Marty traveling into the future to stop his kid from going to jail. In the first movie when Doc. puts his dog into the time machine and sends him 1 min into the future the car disappears for 1 min and arrives back with the dog in the car. Doc explains that as far as the dog is concerned the trip was instantaneous but to Marty and Doc the dog disappears for 1 min. The question is when Marty travels into the future shouldn't he have "disappeared" for 30 years and not had an older self. The second question is, why is it so important for them to travel 30 years into the future to stop his kid from getting arrested, couldn't he have just as easily told Marty "hey on this day and year, don't let your kid leave the house. You have 30 years to figure out a reason or break his leg."
Answer: In the film, that one event sets off a chain reaction that destroys Marty's family, so it's paramount that they stop it from ever happening. Too many things could go wrong just trying to prevent it. Since Marty Jr. looks like 1985 Marty, the plan is to have Marty Sr. Take his place, rather than try to get 2015 Marty Sr. To ground his son or something. Plus, Doc says it's important they don't know too much about their future, so that's why he can't just tell them what to do in 30 years because he could reveal too much. Of course, if you overthink it too much, you can make it all fall apart, or come up with different ways to accomplish the same thing.
Chosen answer: To answer the first question, it's because Marty ultimately returns to the past and therefore does live his normal life for the next 30 years. Had Einstein traveled back that one minute, he would be there as well. As to the second question, Doc needs to be sure Marty's son doesn't go and can't leave it to chance that Marty will take take care of it after 30 years.
Question: I am sure that when I watched Silverado many years ago that Cobb's men, after capturing Emmett, used a rock or stone to break the bones in his gun hand to render him harmless. The DVD I have does not have this scene - if it ever existed.
Answer: You may be thinking of The Quick and The Dead. That happens to Russell Crowe before the final gunfight.
Question: How did Stine find the kids and the Abominable Snowman at the ice rink?
Chosen answer: He found the book in his house, saw the title, and just naturally assumed that they were there because the snowman needs to be in a place where it is cold.
The book was with the kids not in the house.
Well my guess is that he followed the destruction that the abominable snowman left behind. He also must have checked his books over as well and saw which one was missing because there were some books on the floor.
Question: The blonde girl Noah hooks up with - is that Ali, the girl Kevin likes?
Answer: Yes it is.
Question: Pam, Greg, and Kevin appear to be in their late twenties or early thirties, but Pam says that the movie "Top Gun" was very popular when she was dating Kevin. "Top Gun" was released in 1986; more than ten years before this movie is taking place. Because Pam was engaged to Kevin at one point (she also describes their relationship as "more physical than anything else"), they must have been legal adults when they were together. Why would the movie "Top Gun" have been "very popular" while they were dating?
Answer: Who says they had to have been legal adults to date when Top Gun was popular? They could very well have been teenagers and got engaged shortly afterwards. If Teri Polo and Owen Wilson are playing characters that were born the same years as the actors themselves they would have been 17 and 18 respectively when Top Gun was released. If they are playing characters a few years older than they actually are, which is entirely plausible, what Pam says makes perfect sense.
I would like to add that a movie doesn't stop being "very popular" soon after the release. In 2000, when I was in middle/junior high school, we actively talked about movies that had been released three or more years before (Forrest Gump, Scream, Cruel Intentions, etc.). A movie from 1986 could easily be popular among a dating/engaged couple and their friends in, say, 1990.
Question: Why did Matt save Andrew's abusive father?
Answer: Because he was a human being and Andrew was attempting to murder him in cold blood.
Question: Since this is set years after the "Pocky-clipse" (as called by the kids), while Max and a lot of others have long hair, why do they mostly not show any facial hair? Given there are some knives and razors, but it would seem that shaving wouldn't be high on the list of survival.
Chosen answer: Actually grooming would be somewhat important, if only for general comfort. Unruly facial hair can be quite uncomfortable and gets dirty easily. It is entirely plausible that men would regularly shave if they had a means to even in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Question: If the military and Morgan Freeman create an area of containment and quarantine, stopping anyone who tried to escape, how did they stop all the animals with the red virus patches from spreading the parasite?
Chosen answer: Morgan Freeman had men around the "blue zone" as he called the quarantine. They killed any animals that left the zone.
Question: I'm a little confused about Greta's death. Was it from eating too much or from her eating what was not good for her?
Answer: Her death was from Freddy overfeeding her while in the real world she choked to death.
Answer: In the VHS version, Freddy cut open her stomach and was feeding her own intestines. That's why when he cut open the doll on the high chair tray Greta was wincing and squirming as Freddy had just cut her stomach open. I guess you could say that that doll on the high chair tray was like a voodoo doll of Greta so whatever Freddy did to it happened to Greta too. Eventually, Freddy caused Greta to choke on her own intestines which caused her to choke to death in the real world.
Question: Why does Leo have powers in this episode that we never see him use again? Levitating for example, reheating a cup of coffee. The refilling the water could be explained by his normal white-lighter powers. I think it's probably because the writers changed their minds about what exactly would constitute white-lighter powers. However how is this explained, in canon? Leo as far as I remember doesn't levitate again, neither does Paige or Chris. It isn't as far as I remember established as a white-lighter power.
Answer: He does levitate in the 4th season finale, when Piper allows him to do so (despite her not wanting to jinx their new peace by doing magic) in order to properly place a framed picture.
Question: The book explains Meredith changed Tom's specifications on the production line to try and impress CEO Ed Nichols by cutting costs. But why did she choose to do it on Tom's responsibility in the first place? Why not just change someone else's specifications? Did she despise Tom in some way or did she choose to change Tom's specifications because she knew she was incompetent, and thus chose him to blame in case she messed up?
Answer: Tom was the head of the project. Even with someone else's specifications, it all comes down to him.
Question: After Jack's meeting with Beckett on board the Endeavour, they have a deal where Jack has to lead Beckett to the Pirates. Then why does Jack fire a canon on the main mast, making them incapable of pursuit? Later, however, he lets Will escape the brig, gives him the compass and lets him go to Beckett. The two actions seem inconsistent.
Chosen answer: It's a little complicated. Jack would never betray the other pirates. He made the deal with Beckett in order to escape and then shot down the ship's main mast to slow Beckett's pursuit (the mast could be repaired fairly quickly) while putting his plan into action. Jack wanted the pirate lords to fight Beckett, so he let Will escape so that he would lead Beckett's fleet to Shipwreck Cove. (Will's motive was to save his father and Elizabeth.) Jack knew the pirate lords would not fight Beckett and were untouchable once they were ensconced inside their floating fortress. Jack voted for Elizabeth Swan to become pirate king because he knew she would declare war on Beckett, forcing the pirate lords into the battle.
Question: Why doesn't Howie try to escape when being carried up to the wicker man?
Answer: What's the use? He's surrounded, he can't fight everyone and there's nowhere for him to run.
He is also a fundametally religious man and he believes that he is going to die and go to heaven.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: I think they let Simon go because he was sick at the time.