Phaneron

8th Mar 2019

Captain Marvel (2019)

Trivia: This film portrays the Kree Supreme Intelligence as an abstract form that takes the appearance of a person familiar to whomever is conversing with it. In the comics, the Supreme Intelligence does have an identifiable form: a floating green head somewhat resembling Jabba the Hutt with glowing yellow eyes and tentacles. A more comic book accurate iteration is briefly seen in the sequel, The Marvels.

Phaneron

25th Feb 2019

Armageddon (1998)

Question: Why is Colonel Sharp so intent on following the President's order to remote detonate the nuke? He knows the mission won't be successful unless they drill the hole first. Does he really think being court martialed for defying an executive order will be worse than an extinction-level event?

Phaneron

Answer: Given his choices, what he views as certain failure of the drilling or trying to detonate the bomb on the surface, he decides to follow orders rather than wait for the drilling to fail.

11th Feb 2019

Common mistakes

Other mistake: Characters that are on the run from the law or otherwise go into hiding, and they cut their hair themselves and it looks like it was done by a professional stylist. Examples include "The Fugitive," "Gone Girl," and even "The Outsiders" showed two youngsters cutting each others' hair with a knife but having a decent end result.

Phaneron

11th Feb 2019

Common mistakes

Factual error: Characters living in an expensive city (such as New York or San Francisco) and somehow being able to afford a spacious apartment that their job couldn't realistically pay for.

Phaneron

7th Feb 2019

The Simpsons (1989)

5th Feb 2019

Glass (2019)

Question: How was Elijah getting out of his room in the first place? I know he has free roam of the facility after killing the guard and taking his keycard, but I don't recall the movie explaining how he was getting out earlier in the movie?

Phaneron

Answer: He's picking the locks on the doors, bypassing the keycards.

Answer: At one point, Elijah's mother mentions that he caught a glimpse of and instantly memorized a blueprint of the psychiatric hospital when he was first committed, and he used that knowledge to short-out the hospital's electrical system one time (before they started heavily sedating him). It seems likely that Elijah was able to somehow hotwire electronic door locks, using his knowledge of the hospital's electrical system. Later, he used a master keycard taken from the guard.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Not only that but, it was shown in the first movie that Elijah was very good at manipulating people so he could have convinced somebody to let him out.

Answer: The movie doesn't explain. But given what we know about Elijah from "Unbreakable" and this film, it's really no surprise he managed to find a way out - he's psychotic, but he's also a genius.

TedStixon

15th Jan 2019

X-Men (1992)

15th Jan 2019

X-Men (1992)

15th Jan 2019

The Simpsons (1989)

The Old Man and the Key - S13-E13

Homer: Here we are: Branson, Missouri.
Male Charles Bronson Lookalike: No, pally. This is Bronson, Missouri.
Lisa: Well how do we get to Branson?
Female Charles Bronson Lookalike: Number 10 bus.
Child Charles Bronson Lookalike: Hey Ma, how 'bout some cookies?
Female Charles Bronson Lookalike: No dice.
Child Charles Bronson Lookalike: This ain't over.

Phaneron

Dr. Evil: Scott, I want you to meet Daddy's nemesis: Austin Powers.
Scott: What, are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Dr. Evil: No Scott, I have an even better idea. I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an over-elaborate and exotic death.
Scott: Why don't you just shoot him now? I mean, I'll go get a gun. We'll shoot him together. It'll be fun. Bang. Dead. Done.
Dr. Evil: One more peep out of you and you are grounded, mister, and I am not joking.

Phaneron

6th Jan 2019

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Video

Audio problem: During the "Hula Hana" scene, you can tell the little girl with the ukelele is only mimicking playing. A chord is heard being played in a staccato fashion, but the girl is merely rubbing her thumb against the body, and maybe striking the lowest string, while not fretting any of the strings with her left hand. Playing staccato on open strings would require you to use one of your hands to stop the open strings from ringing.

Phaneron

3rd Jan 2019

Bird Box (2018)

Stupidity: When Greg volunteers to watch the security monitors to see if the creatures can affect people through a screen, no-one even thinks to remain in the room with him to cover up the monitors with a blanket, towel or something similar in case the creatures' power can be transmitted that way. They tied him to a chair to reduce his chances of committing suicide, so they certainly thought there was a possibility that he would be in danger.

Phaneron

29th Dec 2018

X-Men (1992)

Show generally

Stupidity: One of Rogue's defining character traits is her inability to have physical contact with another person because of her powers and the sorrow it causes her. Several episodes of this show, however, featured devices that could suppress mutant powers, the inhibitor collars being the most prominent. Despite this technology at their disposal, they never even think to have Rogue wear an inhibitor device for times she would like to touch someone. Even if she didn't want to wear those specific collars, a character like Beast or Forge could easily create a new and harmless device by reverse engineering and adapting the existing ones. This of course would eliminate Rogue's ongoing dilemma and potentially curb her development as a character, but it doesn't make sense from the standpoint that she longs for physical contact with others.

Phaneron

28th Dec 2018

Cape Fear (1991)

Plot hole: Cady's plan to get revenge on Bowden includes raping and assaulting Lori. This part of the plan, however, hinges on Lori not reporting Cady to the police, which he had no way of knowing that she wouldn't. If she reported him, the investigation would have created huge problems for Cady. He bit off a chunk of her face, so the wound could have been matched to his teeth, as well the chunk of skin he bit off and spit out most likely would have had traces of his saliva on it. Not to mention evidence that could have been gathered from a rape kit and eyewitnesses that could have placed Cady at the bar with Lori beforehand (the bartender, for example). In all likelihood, he would have been arrested, tried and convicted. Lucky for him, Lori was too ashamed to report the incident.

Phaneron

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Luck didn't come into it. Cady specifically targeted her because of her connection to Bowden, and took the calculated risk that she would not want her sexual history being dragged in front of a court and all her co-workers. This ties into Cady's motive for wanting revenge on Bowden in the first place, as he had suppressed similar evidence in Cady's original case. Also, Cady is a very unhinged individual; the submitter's opinion on how sensible his actions are does not make them a plot hole.

28th Dec 2018

Ronin (1998)

Question: What was the point of Sean Bean's role in this movie? I get that he is exposed as a fraud, but it doesn't really affect the plot one way or the other.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It is true that it doesn't affect the plot. However Spence's (Bean's) failure can be contrasted with the professionalism of the main characters. Also it raises the possibility that whoever hired them isn't taking necessary precautions in planning and hiring. Earlier we heard Sam (De Niro) ask Vincent (Reno) if he was "labour or management" which suggests a theme of professional operators getting their hands dirty while their bosses play politics.

28th Dec 2018

Cape Fear (1991)

Question: So how exactly did Max Cady slip past Kersec's security system and get into the house? Did he kill the maid outside and then just walk in disguised as her?

Phaneron

Answer: He snuck in during the day and hid, before Kersec's teddy bear security system was set up. Sam Bowden realises this when he wakes from a nightmare. Its how he was able to poison the dog which hadnt been let outside. Max Cady killed the maid in the pantry with the same piano wire he later attacks Kersec with.

Answer: Kersec suspected that Cady might attempt to break into the Bowden house if he thought it was empty. His plan was for Cady to break in and then be shot dead as an intruder. He likely lessened the security to allow Cady to break in. Cady killed and then impersonated the housekeeper to get in.

raywest

I like your answer but I'm a little confused by the "lessened the security" part. If I'm not mistaken, every possible point of entry into the house at least from the ground floor was connected to the bear via the fishing line, so Kersec would know if a point of entry was disturbed by the bear moving. Where would Kersec lessen the security from that standpoint, especially since his setup was supposed to be foolproof?

Phaneron

Kersec wanted Cady to be able to break in so that there would be a plausible reason to shoot him dead. The idea is to make it look like his death was a result of self defense. I'm only speculating that Kersec made it easier for Cady to break in into the house. Being as it was his security system, he would know how to make it possible for Cady to get in.

raywest

28th Dec 2018

Daredevil (2015)

27th Dec 2018

Game of Thrones (2011)

Game of Thrones mistake picture

Walk of Punishment - S3-E3

Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the episode, Robb and Blackfish Tully are pushing Hoster Tully's funeral boat down the river. When they climb back onto the dock, there is already a trail of water going from the steps and ending where Robb ends up standing. None of the other characters standing on this portion of the dock have wet clothes, meaning none of them went into the river, indicating that the trail of water was from previous takes.

Phaneron

17th Dec 2018

General questions

I saw a TV movie in the early 90s. The plot centered around a man abducting a young boy under the guise that he was a co-worker of the boy's father and that he was looking after the kid while the dad was tied up in a meeting. At one point in the movie, the kid is keeping his distance from the man in an attic and manages to break his nose with a canoe paddle. Later in the movie, someone else tries to claim the kid. The kidnapper says the kid got away and the other man says "What did he do, punch you in the nose?" The two get into a scuffle that ends with the kidnapper killing the other man by stabbing a screwdriver into his neck. At the end of the film when the boy is rescued, rather than face the consequences, the kidnapper commits suicide by jumping out of the window. Anyone have any idea what the title of this movie is?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: The kid taking refuge in the attic and the kidnapper jumping out of the window, is from a 1990 TV movie, Bump in the Night. Christopher Reeve takes a little boy to his N.Y. townhouse. The boy evades him long enough to call his mother, Meredith Baxter, for help.

Wow, quick response. I thought this one was going to be too obscure. Thanks.

Phaneron

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