Question: At the end, to whom does Lex Luthor refer when he tells Batman, "He is coming for us, and he is hungry"? Does this suggest that Luthor used Kryptonian technology to send a message into space, alerting someone or something? But who?
Charles Austin Miller
8th May 2017
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
3rd May 2017
Don't Breathe (2016)
Question: At the very beginning of the film, the burglars take care to switch off the home alarm system before ransacking the house. Why, then, as they are leaving, do they turn the system back on and shatter a window to trigger the home alarm? Makes no sense.
Chosen answer: As we see in the film, the houses they burgle have all purchased security systems from Alex's father. This makes it easy for them to gain access to the houses without triggering the alarm. However, if they committed a string of burglaries in which no alarms were triggered, people would eventually put together that customers of the same home security company were being burglarized and would point to them all being inside jobs. By tripping the alarm once they finish, they make it look like a standard break-in.
12th Apr 2017
The Fifth Element (1997)
Question: Early in the film, the Mangalore warrior Aknot mutters "Showtime" as he leads the attack on the Mondoshawan transport ship, destroying it. Shortly thereafter, at Zorg's factory, we see Aknot shape-shift between his human disguise and his natural Mangalore appearance. Much later in the film, we see Aknot in his same human disguise again aboard the Fhloston cruise ship, where Aknot again mutters "Showtime" before leading a murderous assault. So we recognize Aknot by his appearance and his mannerisms throughout the film. But wait: Presumably, Zorg killed the Mangalores who failed him (including Aknot) with a powerful explosive booby-trap at his factory, early in the film. So, how did Aknot appear much later aboard the Fhloston cruise ship? (There is no reason to assume that the Mangalores were capable of surviving the powerful blast at Zorg's factory, because we see Mangalores killed by smaller explosions and small firearms throughout the film).
3rd Jan 2017
The Outer Limits (1995)
Question: Does anyone know who appeared in later seasons as the Outer Limits "Intro Girl"? This question has circulated on the Internet for the last 20 years with no definitive answer. There is unsubstantiated speculation that the Intro Girl was either Diane Venora, Sofia Shinas, or even Paz de la Huerto; however, none of these actresses look anything remotely like the Intro Girl.
Answer: The blonde girl with bangs in the intro does not appear to be a Jerry Uelsmann model, whose still photographs were used to set the theme of the intro. Although the "Intro Girl" clips are in the Uelsmann style, they are video motion clips. The end credits identify a video production company responsible for creating the introduction, but they seem to be out of business. My best guess is that she is a local model hired by that company to shoot the intro.
31st Dec 2016
Bernie (2011)
Question: Bernie made a full confession of murdering Mrs. Nugent to the police. In the event of full confessions, the cases go before a judge only for conviction and sentencing. So why did Bernie have to go before a jury trial?
Chosen answer: Confessing to a crime is not the same as pleading guilty in court. The DA had charged Bernie with premeditated murder (1st degree murder), but still had to prove in court it was premeditated, Bernie only confessed to killing her.
Question: In the military warehouse scene at the beginning of the film, the huge sliding doors are designated "51" in numbers 30 feet tall, on the inside of the warehouse doors. If you were already on the premises of a top-secret government base, and already inside a top-secret government warehouse, why would you need a 30-foot-tall numerical designation inside the building?
6th Nov 2016
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Question: Just watched "Die Hard 2" for the ten-thousandth time. Finally occurred to me, WHY would a pilot use a burning plane crash as a landing light? "Oh, there's a burning plane crash down there! Must be a good place to land!" As far as I know, all air traffic is diverted to other airports when an aircraft crashes.
Chosen answer: The trail of fire from McClane lighting the jet fuel creates a visual marker that the pilots can aim for. Not the best situation, however, considering that they're low on fuel and that one other plane has crashed that evening already, the pilots decided to settle for the less-than-ideal method of guiding their planes in.
10th Oct 2016
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Why was Han Solo ever promoted to general, given that he typically ran from a fight?
Chosen answer: First off, he didn't always run from a fight. He was a prominent member of the Rebellion and excellent pilot and underworld contact. Second, he was one of the heroes of the Battle of Yavin and several other battles. This is going to get him influence. Third, a general needs to be someone with the courage to run away and not keep after a lost cause, especially as outgunned as the Rebels were.
10th Oct 2016
Star Wars (1977)
Question: The Dark Lord Darth Vader has no military rank, he only answers to the Emperor. So, why do admirals give him orders that he obeys?
Chosen answer: Tarkin is a Grand Moff. He is in command of the Death Star. He has full authority on board the station, so Vader obeys him. In reality, they are of fairly equivalent rank, but Vader's respect for Tarkin allows him to follow his orders.
10th Oct 2016
Star Wars (1977)
Question: What was the explanation for Princess Leia changing from an American accent to a bad British accent and back to an American again during "A New Hope"? Was this simply a case of bad acting and sloppy editing, or was Leia actually mocking Tarkin's British accent (which doesn't seem very dignified for a Princess)?
Chosen answer: In-universe, the accent Tarkin has (and that Leia starts with) is the Coruscanti accent. The one she uses later is an Alderaan accent. In reality, Carrie Fisher had been living in Britain for a while before production started and had picked up a slight accent, which she lost as production continued.
28th Sep 2016
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: When Biff and his gang are first chasing Marty on the skateboard in 1955, Marty escapes by grabbing the tailgate of a passing pickup truck which tows him around the corner. The gang jumps into Biff's convertible to continue the pursuit, and Biff's convertible actually has a rear-end collision with the pickup truck, barely missing Marty. How is it that the truck driver doesn't even react to all this insane activity and the rear-end collision? Rather than stopping and demanding an explanation, the truck driver continues away from the scene without even slowing down.
Chosen answer: It's likely any answer would be speculation at best, so it's hard to say. We can start with the fact that Biff barely taps the guy's bumper. He's seen stopping when Marty moves out of the way, although not enough, but I would not call it a "collision." Second, the style of the truck's metal bumper would have absorbed the impact to the point the driver didn't feel anything. In terms of if he actually felt an impact, in an era where you can't just call 9-1-1 on your cell phone to get police help, the man probably thought it prudent not to confront a car full of crazy teenage boys who just wildly rammed him for no reason. And if he did pull over, Biff had already turned the corner and so the man in the truck would have been off camera, so perhaps he does get out and inspect the damage and even sees Biff hit the manure truck, after which we don't know what happened.
8th Sep 2016
The X-Files (1993)
Question: We know that the chameleon Eddie Van Blundht can manipulate his unique extra layer of muscles to mimic male faces and physiques, thus hijacking their identities. However, Eddie can't mimic clothing, so he must hastily seek new clothing to go with each new identity. But when Eddie is on the run from Mulder and Scully, he abruptly mimics Fox Mulder and is seen wearing exactly the same tailored suit and tie that Fox Mulder is wearing on the same day. In fact, they even cross paths in the hospital while they are wearing identical tailored suits and ties. Question: where and when could Eddie possibly acquire an exact tailored suit and tie to match Fox Mulder's on such short notice?
Answer: When Eddie enters the home of one of the couples whose baby he fathered and hides in the bathroom, he emerges looking like Mulder, fooling them. Later, they call Mulder asking if they can use their bathroom again and why Mulder needed to take the man's charcoal suit, which tells us that Eddie took the suit on the pretext of needing it for the investigation, but obviously wanted it to wear to better impersonate Mulder.
10th Aug 2016
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Question: If Tuco seriously thought that The Man with No Name would shoot him, why did Tuco voluntarily stick his head in the noose? Death is death. Why choose hanging over gunshot?
14th Jul 2016
Looper (2012)
Question: When Young Joe is waiting in the field for Old Joe's arrival from the future, the sky is perfectly clear blue, except for a single, strange and very prominent zig-zag cloud that almost looks like a contrail of some sort. What is the significance of or explanation for that weird cloud?
Chosen answer: Clouds are a strong visual motif in this film, present in different forms throughout the film. Look also for the "cloud" of cream in Joe's coffee and the "cloud" of blood when the gat-man is killed in the house.
12th Jul 2016
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Question: Why didn't the ape-keeper, Rodney, simply shoot Caesar? He was in the sniping platform, he was aiming the tranquilizer rifle, he had a clear shot, but he just lowered his rifle and fled when Caesar yelled "No!" for the first time. If Rodney had pulled the trigger, the ape rebellion would have been nipped in the bud.
Chosen answer: Rodney was against the cruelty that fellow ape-keeper Dodge displays toward the apes and was likely hesitant to shoot Caeser at first. When Caesar yelled "No!", Rodney lowered his rifle from shock. Caesar then starts running around chanting "No!", and because he's running around Rodney no longer has a clear shot, and then he panics and flees having just seen an ape speak.
3rd Jun 2016
The Fifth Element (1997)
Question: The Diva gets to perform only one song of her concert before she is mortally gunshot in the abdomen. Almost simultaneously, Zorg sets a time-bomb to detonate in 20 minutes. Korben removes the stones from the Diva's dead body and barely escapes from the Fhloston cruise liner before it explodes 20 minutes later. Korben and his party immediately fly at hyperspeed straight to Earth and set the stones in place with only 5 minutes to spare. If they had followed the original plan without interruption and the Diva hadn't been unexpectedly murdered, she would have proceeded with the remainder of her concert, lasting an indeterminate amount of time; thereafter, presumably, she would have to undergo surgery to remove the stones from her body and deliver them to Korben, all of which would have taken far too long for him to save the Earth, correct?
Chosen answer: Not necessarily. Remember that the evil sped up once he knew Zorg was dead and the team had the stones. And we don't know how the Diva was going to get the stones out.
Answer: At the end of the Diva's big number she bows, and they close the big curtains behind her displaying the amazing view. Maybe that was it, one big epic song. Plus, she asked Leeloo to wait in the hallway for her which seems kind of rude if it's the longer concerts we think of, so I don't think she planned on being that long. The Diva definitely gave off the mystic physic vibe so maybe she knew her fate. However, that would mean that she told Leeloo to wait in the hallway knowing she wasn't coming back, and maybe even knew the big beasties would show up. Either way you are correct about the dramatic timing issues all around in this movie, not that I mind.
Answer: The Diva already knew her fate... she knew it was her last song and fate would unfold the way it did.
26th Apr 2016
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Question: Toward the end, in Stryker's island compound, Logan is astonished to see Kayla still alive. Kayla explains that Victor only gave her an injection that simulated her death, and we then see a flashback clip of Victor sloshing a container of blood on Kayla's unconscious body to complete the illusion that he had murdered her. What did Logan do with Kayla's body after discovering it? Did he take her body to a hospital or at least to local authorities, where it would certainly be determined that she had no wounds? Being so much in love with her, why wouldn't Logan himself inspect Kayla's body for actual wounds? How is it possible that Logan was fooled by a little spilled blood on her clothing when he had personally witnessed Victor's savage work many times in combat settings over the previous century? Is there any official explanation for this glaring plot-hole?
Chosen answer: There's enough in the film to give a number of plausible reasons for Logan's action, however, the film makers wanted to move the plot along and not exploring a side story isn't a plot hole. First, it was more than simple spilt blood that tricked Logan. Victor gave her an injection that simulated her death (although one could take issue with the fact they used hydrochlorothiazide to achieve this). We know Logan has hyper senses and the simulated death could have been enough for him to think she was beyond help (i.e. He couldn't hear her heartbeat). Second, his first thoughts were revenge, so rather than tend to the body, he immediately sought after Victor, which led directly to him becoming Wolverine. But we also know Kayla (Silver Fox) is a mutant who can manipulate people's minds, so she could have manipulated him into the actions he takes, or doesn't take (although it could be debated if she could fully manipulate Logan, we know she had some effect on him and was able to calm him). Additionally, since she was a mutant, Logan may have also been skeptical about bringing her to a hospital.
18th Apr 2016
General questions
Here's a tough one. I'm searching for a color, live-action, grade "B" sci-fi movie from the 1970s about a modern home in the desert Southwest that seems to be at the center of a time/space vortex. The family (I recall a father and son, but there could be more) is terrified because they never know what is waiting for them outside: It might be a Tyrannosaurus Rex from the distant past or an alien invader from the distant future or anything in-between. This was not a comedy and it actually had pretty good special effects for a "B" movie back then. What is this film?
Chosen answer: It sounds like the movie "The Day Time Ended (1979) " A family moves into their state-of-the-art solar-powered home in an isolated part of the desert to start a new peaceful life. Meanwhile, far away in deep space, three stars simultaneously explode, sending disruptive, time-bending shock waves through the cosmic void. These waves hit the house and soon some mighty bizarre things begin to happen, including a sudden resurgence of dinosaurs in their backyard, visitations from diminutive aliens, and a robot from outer space. The film is also titled Time Warp. Http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080596/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Time_Ended https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi1jVn9jE78.
13th Apr 2016
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Question: With all of the Federation's extraordinarily advanced knowledge, science, medicine and technology, why is it that they can't seem to repair Captain Pike's physical injuries? In the original series, Pike was crippled and hideously disfigured by Delta Rays; but the best they could offer him was a motorized wheelchair with a couple of "yes" or "no" flashing communication lights. In the rebooted franchise, Pike suffered much less severe injuries; yet, once more, all they could offer him was a simple wheelchair in the first movie, and then a walking cane in the second. In Star Trek canon, we know that they have performed brain and spinal transplants, regenerated damaged organs, healed mortal wounds (in a matter of seconds), cured horrible diseases with a single hypo-injection, and even resuscitated the dead on more than one occasion. In Star Trek novels, there is mentioned even the possibility of cycling an injured individual through a previously-stored Transporter Pattern and completely removing injuries altogether. Yet the best they ever did for Captain Christopher Pike onscreen was a wheelchair and a cane?
Chosen answer: Captain Pike was tortured by Nero, a Romulan from the future. Surely when it comes to torture they know how they can inflict the maximum amount of pain, and also permanently injure someone. Or else nobody would be worried about being tortured. Nero also used future technology to do this, using methods nobody could cure at that time.
22nd Mar 2016
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Question: Charles amply demonstrated that he could remotely control the mind of a Russian naval officer, causing him to act against orders. However, on the beach, when they are unable to contact the American and Soviet fleets by radio, why didn't Charles simply control the minds of the naval commanders and stop the naval attack?
Chosen answer: He was much closer to the Russian officer in comparison to when he was on the beach, and the Russian officer was just one man. Taking complete control of the hundreds of men on the ships required to fire all those guns would be beyond even Xavier.
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.
Chosen answer: Presumably it is Steppenwolf, who will be the main villain in "Justice League." It could also be Steppenwolf's nephew, Darkseid.
Phaneron ★