Question: When Punjab is following the kidnapper's truck, he calls Mr. Warbucks to tell him where the truck is. How do either of them have phones when car phones weren't invented until the 40's at the very earliest?
Captain Defenestrator
21st Oct 2014
Annie (1982)
15th Oct 2014
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Question: At the end of the movie, when White is crawling towards Orange, you can hear Pink in the background. He already ran out and you could hear him having a shootout with the cops. At some point it sounds likes he gets shot and is ordered to surrendered by the cops. My question is: did Pink surrender and get arrested, or did he pretend to surrender and continue to shoot? Also because next the cops ran in on White and Orange, does that mean that Pink is dead or being chased by other cops?
Answer: He gets shot and then arrested outside the warehouse. (If you turn up the volume, you can hear it happening outside during the standoff).
13th Oct 2014
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Question: When Mancuso is sending morse code to Ramius, why does Ramius need to use a sonar ping to communicate back (possibly raising the suspicions of his crew) instead of discreetly flashing his periscope light back?
Answer: It's faster than clicking out a response in morse code, and the captain suddenly flipping the periscope light on and off repeatedly would be just as suspicious to the bridge crew, so why not save time?
7th Oct 2014
Star Wars (1977)
Question: I'm surprised no one has asked this question. The whole tense moment during the final battle is someone making it safely down the trench to shoot the exhaust holes and destroy the death star. Besides dramatic effect why would they all start from so far away?
Answer: It's explicitly stated that the targeting computers will have difficulty targeting the small exhaust port. The long approach was to give the computers time to make their calculations as accurate as possible.
Chosen answer: The trench near the exhaust port is protected by laser cannon batteries. To come in below them, the trench run has to be started from a long distance away.
16th Sep 2014
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Question: After they get away from the men that say the brothers are worth 200 pesos, they run across the military and one of the brothers is shot and the other runs. After the brother that was left behind shoots himself, the lead soldier cuts off his head in a single swing with his sword. But he has one of those thin swords you always see the commanders and stuff holding during those times. Would he have really been able to remove the Brother's head in one swing like that with such a flimsy sword?
Chosen answer: It would depend on four things: the sharpness of the sword, the strength of the steel used to forge it, the strength of the man swinging it, and the luck to slice though one of the ligaments between the victim's vertebrae, but theoretically, yes, it's possible to sever a head with a single sword blow.
16th Sep 2014
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Question: Why in the world does Peter try to help Harry after their first fight? Was he hoping to defeat Harry and try to tell him what happened to his father afterwards? Even more, why is it Harry, of all people, to whom Peter goes for help with taking on Sandman and Venom after he gladly fought Harry for the second time? If, as Harry tells him on revealing himself, Peter knew he would eventually have to fight Harry, why didn't he jump ahead and find a new friend after Harry found him out? It doesn't make any sense.
Answer: Peter doesn't know anyone else with superpowers or gadgets that he could call on to help with this fight. He'd tried to tell Harry earlier about his father and knows that Harry's just acting out of misguided rage and guilt and still hopes to set things right between them.
26th Aug 2014
General questions
This was a black and white movie and there was a scene where the mother and daughter are being chased by a man and they hide in the garage. Similar to Cape Fear. It was so good!
Chosen answer: Cape Fear WAS a remake of a 1962 black & white film starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Might it be the original? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055824/).
7th Sep 2014
WarGames (1983)
Answer: While wardialing every number in Sunnyvale, California to find the game company's number, he found a number that led to a back door into the WOPR.
7th Sep 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: What happened to Hermione's cat Crookshanks? He's not seen at all at the start of this movie. I can't remember if it's mentioned in the books what happened to him; the movie doesn't seem to mention it either.
Chosen answer: The last time we see Crookshanks is at the Weasley house. They likely left him there.
17th Aug 2014
Annie (1982)
Question: What movie are Annie, Oliver Warbucks and Grace watching at the theater?
Answer: "Camille, " starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, and Lionel Barrymore. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028683/).
11th Aug 2014
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: 2 questions about the Alliance Star fighter squadrons: 1. Only 3 squadron leaders are identified (Red, Green and Grey) but there are a lot more than 3 squadrons. Who led the other squadrons? 2. Is an Alliance squadron made up of more than 1 type of star fighter? For example are all of Red squadron made up of X-Wings? During the space battle, Wedge tells Red 3 and 2 to pull in and an A-Wing and Y-Wing respond.
Answer: Lando was Gold Leader (He is call Gold Leader twice during the flight through the Death Star), in command of Gold Squadron and the overall fighter fleet, while Admiral Ackbar was in command of the whole mission.
Chosen answer: According to Wookieepedia, the fighter squadrons at the Battle of Endor were Red Squadron, Gold Squadron, Green Squadron, Blue Squadron, and Gray Squadron. The squadrons were comprised of various types of fighters. (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Endor).
11th Aug 2014
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Question: Andy breaks out, grabs the money, and sends his evidence of wrongdoing to the newspapers. His evidence is so convincing that the cops arrest the head guard and the warden kills himself. So why does Andy hightail it to Mexico? The papers have the story of a lifetime. They're going to complete the investigation that the warden prevented. Andy's going to be a martyr and a hero and clear his name with family and friends. He'll get rich just suing the government for false imprisonment. So why does he opt for life on the lam? ("Don't worry, Red. They'll NEVER find us here in Mexico. You and me, we just blend in.")
Answer: Andy is still under a life sentence for the murder of his wife. With Tommy dead, there's no one to corroborate the story that Elmo Blatch confessed, so it would be Andy's word against Elmo's. And since escaping from prison is a crime in itself, they'd be looking for him for that as well. Best to take the money and flee the country.
Answer: As stated before, the only witness to Elmo's confession was killed. So even the newspapers would not likely turn up any evidence admissible in court. Not to mention that Elmo's confession doesn't expressly state who the parties were. He says a golf pro but that seems to be the main description that could be used to identify any party which in itself is almost worthless. Also keep in mind the times and Era this takes place. You didn't have the groups, or even public sway, that would fight for innocence. While corruption isn't new, even in these times, from officials and such... There is still a relative belief by the general public that officials are always right and criminals are always guilty and liars. Think of it like this, even today... It is still incredibly hard to get a judgment overturned or voided and that's with groups like the innocence project and general public aware of innocent people given guilty sentences... Back then, it would have been an almost foregone conclusion for most appeals to always be denied and would have taken a mountain of evidence, credible evidence, to sway a judgment in favor of the defense. Also as to suing the government... That's far from any realization. First, it's hard to sue the government and in many cases is immune to liability, i.e. Can't be sued... But consider the time and Era again... Courts don't like admitting errors NOW, so back in that Era... I'd seriously doubt any judge would've even heard a lawsuit against the government if it weren't outright refused by the governments exemption from liability claims. Also, keep in mind that it wasn't a court that convicted him but a jury of his peers. Finally, overshadowing all of what I mentioned above is Andy Dufrane himself. What reason... What reason at all should Andy have ANY faith that he'd be exonerated. Forget about the crime of escaping the prison and whether he'd serve time for that or got a sympathetic judge who would have written that off either as time he's already served for a crime he didn't commit or because had the judicial system not failed him initially with a wrongful conviction, he wouldn't have HAD an opportunity to break the law. Why should Andy have ANY faith that events he set in motion would ever result with his conviction overturned. He couldn't foretell the warden taking his own life and no one would've believed a convict or taken his word over anything else. So needless to say, there is every reason for him to "high-tail-it" as far as he can go. Remember that jury of his peers... He's already been an innocent man sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit... Why in all heck would he ever believe that anybody would think differently if he stayed. No... Given the times and situations involved... Andy made the correct decision.
7th Aug 2014
Predator 2 (1990)
Question: Why at the end, after the Predators have appeared before Danny Glover to give him the pistol, do they camouflage themselves again? Being that they're on their own ship, and no hunt is in progress... Camouflaging themselves just seems like the special effects technicians wanted to indulge themselves one more time before the end of the movie.
Chosen answer: It could be a precaution to keep him from attacking them once their backs are turned.
29th Jul 2014
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Question: When Blazcowicz wakes up after the head trauma, why is he in a mental institution and not a hospital? He wasn't crazy, merely injured from shrapnel that got stuck in his head.
Answer: The trauma left him in a fugue state. An ordinary hospital would not have been equipped for that kind of potentially lifelong care needed in the 1940s, so they would have had him committed.
23rd Jul 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: Why did Charity Burbage encourage magical folk to reproduce with Muggles? I know that not all of them hate Muggles, but what did she particularly like about wizards pairing up with them?
Answer: She may not have gone out of her way to encourage it at all, but in Voldemort's eyes, anything other than actively condemning the interbreeding of wizards and Muggles would be tantamount to "encouragement."
Answer: Simple genetics. Wizards staying within the wizarding world are trading the advantage of preserving the wizarding gene for the many disadvantages of breeding within a smaller and smaller genepool.
Answer: Burbage was probably teaching students to go against blood purity as a Muggle is no different to a wizard. Death Eaters are blood purists, so they aren't happy with this.
21st Jul 2014
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Question: Where exactly is Bilbo from? In the novels he's mentioned as coming from Hobbiton, Overhill and Underhill, Bag-end and the Shire.
Answer: Hobbiton is the village where Bilbo was born. Overhill is on the northern edge of Hobbiton and Underhill is at the bottom of said hill. Built into the hill itself is Bag End, the Baggins estate. The Shire is the name of the Hobbit lands overall. So, he's from the village of Hobbiton in The Shire, and his home is Bag End, which is in the midst of the hill that forms both Overhill and Underhill.
21st Jul 2014
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Question: In Godfather II, during the attempted murder of Pentagelli in the bar. One of the hit men tells Pentagelli "Michael Corleone says hello" as they begin to strangle him. Why? Mike didn't OK the hit on Pentagelli, did he? Roth and Mike's other enemies could not have known or timed the cop coming into the closed bar, resulting in Pentagelli surviving the attack and thinking Mike wanted him dead. So turning to the FBI and testifying and against Michael.
Answer: That hit was ordered by Roth, purposely designed to fail, and to leave Pentangelli believing that Michael double-crossed him. That way, Pentangelli would testify against Michael. The nerdy cop that "accidentally" interrupted the hit was part of the plot.
Chosen answer: The Rosato brothers hated Pentagelli, so why NOT lie to him? The revenge becomes all the sweeter if he dies thinking he's been betrayed.
28th Jun 2014
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Question: If I understand correctly, Lily Potter's "love" protection no longer keeps Harry safe after the graveyard ritual, due to Voldemort getting some of Harry's blood. Why, then, doesn't Voldemort attack Harry at the Dursleys' house in the summer?
Answer: Voldemort's spell undid the Sacrificial Protection that Lily bestowed on Harry, but the Bond of Blood is a separate protection bestowed if the person sacrificing their lives is a relative. THAT spell is still renewed as long as Harry keeps returning to the Dursleys until age seventeen. Voldemort has removed one protection, but a second is still in place.
25th Jun 2014
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Seeing how most of Christopher Nolan's movies are filled with symbolism, themes, and deeper meanings, what exactly was Nolan trying to say with the brief introduction of the copy-cat Batmen? I ask because it would seem to contradict the recurring theme of "Anyone can be Batman", but I doubt Nolan would include something like that without having a reason that goes beyond simple plot reasons.
Answer: Batman has inspired others to take up the cause of vigilantism, but they're taking it to an extreme and crossing lines that he never would.
24th Jun 2014
Quantum Leap (1989)
Question: How could Sam narrate parts of the stories if he never returned home ?
Answer: Likely, Sam's narrations are just his own internal monologue and not reports back to the project or anything.
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Answer: Two-way mobile radios were invented in the 20s. With Mr. Warbucks' money, he would have been able to put two-way radios in all of his vehicles, and the microphone/speaker in the shape of a telephone receiver would then be an aesthetic choice.
Captain Defenestrator