Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: This gets described as a reboot rather than a sequel, but why? Nothing directly contradicts the original, as far as I'm aware, the only real change is the title character being recast - hardly unusual for a franchise.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I haven't seen this movie in several years, but one contradiction I distinctly remember is the Punisher having a deceased daughter in this film, whereas in the 2004 film, he only had a son. The 2004 film had the Punisher's wife and son (named Will here) murdered in Puerto Rico and buried and Tampa. This film takes place in New York, and the cemetery the Punisher goes to has a gravestone for his wife, daughter and son (named Frank, Jr. here). There is also a brief flashback in this scene of the Punisher sitting on a picnic blanket with his dead family around him, which is closer to the comics origin where his family were collateral damage in a gang crossfire. The 2004 film depicted his family as being the deliberate targets of a mob hit and were run over by a truck on a pier.

Phaneron

Answer: Leigh Allen. Mike Mageau was the only one who had seen him and was still alive. He recognised him at the end of the movie.

Jan Arends

This is what I read online: "In 1991, Mike Mageau identified Arthur Leigh Allen as being the shooter. This identification was the result of Mageau being shown a photo lineup by George Bawart of the Vallejo Police Department. When Bawart asked Mageau why he had never identified Allen in the 20 years Allen had been the top suspect, Mageau said that he had never been shown any pictures of suspects and he had only been asked if he recognized certain names. If Mageau's statement is true, it's probably the biggest law-enforcement blunder of modern times." This would suggest that the police also never made a composite sketch based on Mageau's testimony.

Phaneron

Answer: Which suspect are you referring to? Several men were suspected of being the Zodiac Killer. The film even cast different actors for different scenes to account for the discrepancies in individual eyewitness accounts. Additionally, this film is based on the real-life case files as well as Robert Graysmith's book, and there does exist a composite sketch of the Zodiac Killer (you can Google it). So if there is a certain suspect whose sketch isn't shown, it could be either that it wasn't shown in the film or it doesn't exist in real life.

Phaneron

Question: Can someone please explain what the difference is that they're talking about at the end of chapter twenty three?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: They're talking about the difference between free will and fate - choosing for yourself vs. being forced to do something. Harry feels trapped by the prophecy, because he thinks it means he is obligated to fight Voldemort to the death, whether he chooses to or not. Dumbledore explains that this is not the case: while it's true that ultimately, one of them will end up killing the other, it doesn't have to be that way: Harry has a choice. It's just that, because Voldemort killed his parents and threatens everything he cares about, Harry will never be satisfied till he has destroyed Voldemort; and because Voldemort thinks Harry is a threat to him, he will never be satisfied till Harry is dead. The difference, then, is that Harry will be choosing this fate, rather than being dragged into it with no say in the matter: he has control of his own choices and his own life, and that makes "all the difference in the world."

Aerinah

Question: At first we learn that Tyler is not getting his own submarine, but then a few scenes later and he's being fired from the navy. What happened?

Answer: Technically he's not getting fired, but Dahlgren did not recommend Tyler for his own command, and he won't get a promotion without Dahlgren's recommendation. Therefore, Tyler's only choices are to keep being an executive officer (which is possible but not what he wants, not to mention Tyler feels betrayed by Dahlgren and isn't sure he wants to continue working with him), or leave the navy entirely.

Aerinah

Question: About the world health organization in Cardiff, what does Gerry want? Why does he think this will work? What does he want to do with it? How does he test his theory? This part of the movie was a little bit confusing to me.

Answer: Gerry gets an idea on the plane: he has noticed the zombies ignore some people, and realises this could be because they somehow sense those people have a life-threatening disease or infection and thus are not ideal carriers of the zombie plague. So, maybe such diseases can be used as camouflage (as long as they're treatable): if you infect someone and then give them the cure, they will live but will still have the disease in their blood, meaning (hopefully) that the zombies won't attack them. This doesn't cure or kill the zombies, but it will "hide" people from them if it works, keeping people safe and giving them time to deal with the zombies some other way. He realises he needs to find a place where deadly diseases are studied (and therefore where there will be live samples of the diseases), so he calls Thierry and has him find the closest such place that the plane can get to. This is the WHO lab in Cardiff. As he explains to the scientists there, he wants to get some of their deadliest disease samples from the vault, infect someone with one of them, and then expose them to a zombie to see if the "camouflage" works. He gets trapped in the vault, though (by the zombie who will kill him as soon as he opens the door), so he has no choice but to infect himself and hope his idea works. He injects himself with some disease (we don't know which), waits a while for it to spread throughout his bloodstream, and then exits the vault. And it works: all the zombies ignore him because they can now sense he has a deadly disease and is no longer a good host for spreading the zombie plague. When he gets back to the others they inject him with the cure...but the disease is still in his bloodstream so he will remain "invisible" to the zombies.

Aerinah

Question: What ended up happening with Truman's "father"? It seems like him returning convinced him to stay, but then all of a sudden he decided to leave. So does that mean he was faking it when he hugged him, and he knew he wasn't actually his father?

MikeH

Answer: His reaction to his father's return was genuine. However, as time went on more clues helped him realise some of the truth. Enough, in fact, that he became determined to learn what was actually going on.

Question: Can someone please explain the scene in the hallway at the basketball game? It seems to suggest that Andrew actually wasn't fired because of his sexuality or AIDS. But I thought the point of the movie is that he was.

MikeH

Answer: My take was that one of his firm's issues was that they didn't consider him a "victim" of the disease because, unlike his co-worker who contracted the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion, he was infected due to what they considered were his reckless and immoral life-style choices.

raywest

Question: How did the Phoenix land on Earth after the warp display for the Vulcans? It looked like a non-reusable rocket to me.

Answer: It was never shown or explained how they landed, so any answer would be a guess. This is set in the future (mid-21st Century), so there could have been new rocket technology.

raywest

Answer: While the main fuselage was a re-purposed intercontinental ballistic missile, and they separated from the ascent stage of the rocket, the payload section housed two deployable prototype warp nacelles capable of achieving lightspeed. Beyond that, the payload also contained the prototype warp core (which was powered by matter/antimatter annihilation), the warp core coolant, elaborate magnetic-containment systems, and probably even impulse drive and landing thrusters (It kind of goes without saying that thruster and impulse technology would have existed before warp technology). There was no space left over in the payload section for conventional rocket propellant, and Zefram Cochrane's enormously-expensive and one-of-a-kind warp components would not be expendable; so he must have devised a way to safely bring the Phoenix down for re-use. Since the Phoenix's return and landing were never addressed in the film, my assumption is that the payload section was powered entirely by the warp core, including its impulse drive and landing thrusters.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: What is the weight of the million dollars in $20 bills?

Answer: A U.S. bill weighs roughly 1 gram so that about 454 bills (regardless of denomination) weighs 1 pound. It takes 50,000 $20 bills to equal $1M. Which is about 110 pounds. Of course this is freshly minted weight, so any debris and anything used to secure the bills would increase that weight).

Bishop73

But you also have to take into account the weight of that strong box. I have seen replica boxes, and even they were quite heavy, so I'm sure the real thing would have weighed quite a lot. Then you have to add the actual weight of the currency.

Question: I have one question about this movie that I have never been able to figure out. When Tia was 'repairing' the cooling system, it almost hit 1,000, and Tony was trying to increase it, while Tia was trying to decrease it. Then she opens her eyes and it just goes down, but Tony is still trying to increase it. How was she able to overpower Tony's ability to increase the temperature and bring it back down?

Answer: I always figured it was because Tony had been using his powers more often than Tia whilst he was under Gannon and his team's control, so wasn't as strong as Tia was by the time they were all together at the plutonium plant, which is why she was able to overpower him telepathically. Remember, Uncle Bene talked to Tony at the start of the film about controlling his telepathy, and that he must "never energise unless it's absolutely necessary", but the moment Tony was taken by Gannon, he was no longer in control of his telepathy, so would not have been able to ration his powers like Tia did.

Question: Why did it take so long for Dr. Hoffman to become a vampire? I'm referring to at the very end when she was underwater and opened her eyes.

Bryanna Norris

Answer: It's unknown how long it took for her to become a vampire. She was tossed into the bay and sunk to the bottom, lying there unconscious for a period of time. She may have turned early on, but did not awaken until much later.

raywest

She had teeth when she was being bit by Barnabus. She had turned before he confronted her. He just drained her to a weakened state and she woke back up in the bay.

Answer: It's just the irony that 2 people are fighting each other whilst feeling connected they are from the same city.

lionhead

This is also Captain America's way of letting Peter know there are no hard feelings. He understands Peter doesn't have all the facts, so he doesn't blame him.

Question: Why didn't Mal use the totem to prove to herself she was back in reality instead of killing herself? Or why didn't Cobb spin the Totem in front of her to prove they were back in reality?

Answer: When Cobb used inception on Mal, the idea that her world isn't real and she needed to kill herself took over her mind. Mal made an error in telling Cobb how her totem worked before they ever went into limbo. Cobb was able to use her totem specifically to implant the idea in her head. Since he knows how her totem works, it can't work as a totem anymore. Spinning the top in front of her and having it fall over would not prove that she wasn't dreaming anymore. Ironically, Cobb makes the exact same mistake as he continues to use the totem even after he tells Ariadne how it works. As an important note, the spinning top itself is a poor choice for a totem, since the thing that makes it special (it never stops spinning in the dream world) can be easily observed by anyone else. The entire point is to have you, and only you, know what makes the totem special. Arthur's loaded die is a better choice because only he notices how the weight is uneven in his hand. Ariadne's totem is not described but it seems to have similar properties to Arthur's in that she has altered its balance in a specific way.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: The movie implies that all the time spent in limbo made her lose her mind, so if Cobb tried to demonstrate the totem proofs for her, she might have dismissed the evidence anyway.

Phaneron

Question: At the dinner table in 1955, Marty's grandfather is there. It has always appeared to me that there is something off about his appearance. He seems to appear as if he was not actually there, and that he was spliced into the footage from another movie. The lighting on his face, his style of hair, the quality so to speak of him, just seems off from everyone else. He almost seems like he is from a black and white movie, spliced in and colorized a bit Is it supposed to be that he was to look this way, or did they actually take this actor's scene from another movie and splice it in?

oldbaldyone

Answer: I just pulled up this scene on YouTube, and I think it is just the lighting. The shadow from his wife's head is casting onto his right shoulder in a realistic way, which suggests the actor was there for filming. It would also be impractical logistically and economically to insert him after the fact, because they could simply hire another actor for the part if he was unavailable.

Phaneron

Answer: Phasma is apparently dead, and Last Jedi director Rian Johnson says there are no plans to revive the character in the next film. However, the ending was ambiguous enough that it leaves open the possibility of the character returning.

raywest

Question: This is about both the first and second film, and the Lion Guard. How did only one cub born occur about four times in a row (Simba, first cub of Simba whose name is unknown, Kiara and Kion). Why weren't there more than one born at once for this long amount of time?

Answer: Because this a fictional animated movie that bends reality in order to better serve the plot. Having too many lion cub characters being born would be confusing and clutter the story line.

raywest

Plus it could be assumed that not all of them survive.

Ssiscool

Maybe, but being this is a Disney movie, morbid facts like that are usually kept to a minimum.

raywest

Agreed. Which is why only 1 cub is ever seen.

Ssiscool

Question: What did Dr. Hirsch mean when he said to Alex how he witnessed "some form of mass neurosis in East Proctor"?

Joey221995

Answer: He was referring to the local residents that lived in the area who, unknown to the doctor, knew about and were terrorized by the werewolf that roamed the countryside during a full moon. The doctor thought they suffered from some type of mass mental illness.

raywest

Answer: Spots, being "dead" can now live with his mate and raise his puppies while Chief takes care of Atari.

Erik M.

Question: Why did Watanabe taste the wasabi if he thought something was wrong with it?

Answer: He may have underestimated the "wrongness" of the wasabi, not imagining that it was, in fact, poisoned.

Erik M.

Question: Referring to Leo and Sarah: What parent would let their young daughter not go to the Ark when given the chance?

Answer: It was Sarah who decided she would not go to the Ark. She chose to stay with her parents.

raywest

Leo then decided not to go to the ark, either, went back and got Sarah and the baby.

Charles Austin Miller

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