Question: Why didn't Greg simply apologize to Mr. Beardo and explain everything to him?
Answer: Mainly because when they first actually meet, the Beardo's daughter blames everything on Greg, so even if Greg did try to explain everything, the Beardo probably wouldn't believe him.
Answer: There's probably a combination of factors why Greg kept things to himself. Teenagers don't tell parents a lot of things for whatever reasons (e.g, not worth the hassle). Maybe Greg thought his parents wouldn't believe his side of the story and assume he was the instigator. Perhaps Greg's parents gave the boys a stern warning to behave themselves while on vacation - that they need/ want rest and relaxation or care-free days without trouble, especially from the boys (trying to avoid the "can't you even behave yourselves on vacation" lecture). Believing "ignorance is bliss", Greg figured what his parents didn't know couldn't hurt them. Telling his parents may not have been helpful or relevant; Beardo was acting like a lunatic or psycho on each encounter. It might have been difficult, if not impossible, to tell his parents without Rodrick overhearing. Some of the things Greg did (getting into bed with Beardo) were embarrassing; if Rodrick knew, they'd become the brunt of his teasing.
Question: Isn't this film blatantly derivative of Guillermo del Toro's earlier films, "HellBoy" and "HellBoy: The Golden Army"? It seems to me that the Asset in "The Shape of Water" is a direct knock-off Abe Sapien from the Hellboy films. The amphibious Asset is held at a top secret facility, as was Abe Sapien; the Asset is fed hard-boiled eggs, as was Abe Sapien; the Asset develops a love interest and romantic relationship with a female air-breather, as did Abe Sapien. To top it off, del Toro called in contortionist-actor Doug Jones to play the Asset in "The Shape of Water" (Doug Jones also played Abe Sapien in the HellBoy films). "Shape of Water" could almost be a spin-off the old HellBoy films, given Guillermo del Toro's involvement and recycling of familiar themes.
Answer: There are a lot of Hellboy fans who speculate this is an origin story of Abe, or at the very least the Asset is the same species, but del Torro has denied it. Abe is a copyrighted character that del Torro's Hellboy was based on, and he doesn't own the copyright. In addition, prior to The Shape of Water, del Torro was in talks with Universal about remaking "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", only making the movie center on the creature's (Gill-Man) perspective and getting together with Kay (the female lead). Del Torro has stated that the Amphibious Man is based on Gill-Man and this film is what he had pitched to Universal, but was turned down by them. Although, a creature developing a love interest in a human female isn't unique, nor is capturing a creature to study (both happen to Gill-Man, Abe, and Amphibious Man). But the fact that Doug Jones plays both Abe and the Amphibious Man only seems to strengthen theories of some connection to Hellboy, but at this point we only have del Torro's word that it's not and why he choose the creature to be so similar at this point would only be a guess.
Question: Wouldn't Earth's gravity cause Gardner's feet and leg to ache, given that he is from Mars, a planet with much lower gravity, and has lived there his entire life?
Answer: Any answer would be speculation at best, although it does seem likely that being on Earth would cause various pains. But it also depends on his conditioning while on Mars (for example, soldiers in the military often train with heavy packs on). The reason astronauts experience pain upon return to Earth after long stints in space is mainly due to muscle atrophy, similar to someone being bed-ridden for months. Additionally, being weightless in space with 0-g's (not zero gravity), their spine elongates and then back on Earth, it compresses back to normal, which can be painful. Gardner may not experience pain since his muscles aren't atrophied, and he may not experience spinal compression.
Question: Assuming people knew, how did Marston avoid trouble for living with two wives?
Answer: Though it may be considered immoral and socially unacceptable, particularly during the film's 1940s time frame, it is not illegal to live with multiple people in a sexual relationship. It is only illegal to be married to more than one person at the same time. Marston was not a bigamist. He was legally married to his wife, Elizabeth. They engaged in a consensual polyamorous (not polygamous) relationship with Olive, who was not married to Marston.
Question: Do we know that Michael is dead for sure? It seems way too abrupt, against character and anti-climactic for him to have died in the manner alluded to in the film. Or should we assume that not seeing his corpse or hearing 100% confirmation of his death means he might still be alive?
Chosen answer: Selena herself said, that Michael was dead. The actor who played him really didn't want to return to the role.
Question: How many injections does Jekyll need to take to prevent himself from turning into Hyde? The first time Jekyll speaks with Nick, he feels himself about to transform but takes a serum to prevent it but, later, when Jekyll's talking to Nick again, he feels himself about to change again and tries to take another injection.
Answer: As many as needed, Mr. Hyde was asserting himself, trying to take over. Like "Blade," he needed to take more and more injections of the serum, because the vampire blood was getting stronger and stronger.
Question: If she can destroy Ares with her hands then why does she even need a sword and shield? Perhaps for merchandise?
Answer: For the majority of the movie, Diana believes the sword to be the only weapon capable of killing Ares. She doesn't realise until she fights him that the sword is just an ordinary weapon and thus, useless against a god. She carries the shield because it is useful. She uses it in combat most prominently to block gunfire.
Question: Is this movie supposed to have floating mattes? This is killing me! It's constantly shifting aspect ratios throughout the entire movie.
Answer: The constantly shifting aspect ratios are due to the fact that Michael Bay shot the film with several different camera types. Most directors who use multiple types of camera find a way to hide the shifts a little better, but Bay appears to have been unconcerned with this issue. There are several scenes where the aspect ratio changes from shot to shot. The aspect ratio shifts were also present in the theatrical release, and were a major source of ridicule then, but they are arguably more noticeable on a smaller screen.
Question: Is there any indication how much of this film was unscripted or how much Amy and Will improvised their lines. I can't tell if it's just the acting style the actors chose, or if it was the way the director wanted it, but a lot (especially the opening scenes) comes across as bad improv. Or am I the only one that gets that vibe?
Answer: A lot of the time with modern comedies, they'll usually do a scene as written, then do a number of improv takes where the actors and director come up with jokes on the fly. Then in editing, they'll pick the (presumably) best bits from both the scripted and improv takes to put into the finished film. And Will Ferrell confirmed that there was indeed a lot of improvising on-set of "The House." Unfortunately, without a copy of the shooting script, it's basically impossible to tell exactly how much of the finished film is made up of the unscripted improv. But it's fair to say that at least a decent chunk of the movie was made up of improv comedy. So chances are it's not just you.
Question: What happened to King Herod after his soldier falls to his death and both Thaddeus and Rufus reform?
Answer: He continued ruling with an iron fist. The prophecy of the blessed child was forgotten until Jesus came forth.
Question: As a non-native English speaker, I ask: At the dinner, Jim says to his boss, "I was thinking, with the numbers so high, maybe it's time I get off the road and take an office position." What occupation did he have? And what does he mean "get off the road" here?
Chosen answer: I don't know what his specific occupation was, but the term to "get off the road" would refer to someone who constantly travels, either domestically or internationally, for their job, but they now want to work in their company office every day. The most common trope would be the "traveling salesperson" who was constantly "on the road," going town to town, selling their product.
Question: The producer in the restaurant scene, played by Judd Apatow, who rudely tells Tommy that he's never going to make it big - was he a real person? If so, did he ever see "The Room" and bump into Tommy since?
Question: Maybe I missed it but, why couldn't Ana go to New York with Jack? I thought her and Christian decided that she could go just as long as Christian would take her instead.
Answer: It wasn't specified, but it seemed to be Ana's decision alone. Jack had pressured her to go to New York with him for the Book Expo when she did not expect to, nor had he clarified that she was to also attend. She realised later that Jack was not only being unreasonable but may also have had ulterior motives. She felt empowered enough to stand up to him to say she wasn't going (with or without Christian).
Question: Why did Niander Wallace kill the female replicant right after creating her? I get that he's crazy, but was there any other reason?
Answer: Think of any manufacturing process. Samples of new products are frequently created and then immediately destroyed. Also, the new replicant would require processing, training, etc. It was simpler for him to just dispose of the test.
Answer: He was being violently petulant at the moment, angry that he couldn't create and control the birth that he just learned occurred with older-model replicants and seeing his new creation as "flawed" by design. Pretty villainous, he cares nothing for the replicants.
Question: When Logan gets fired, is it part of the plan or was it really liability issues due to his bad leg?
Chosen answer: It really was a liability issue, even though as he said it didn't prevent him doing his job. The liability part was that he didn't mention it when he applied for the job.
Question: Did people actually care about figure skating? I wasn't alive when this happened, but apparently it was one of the biggest sporting controversies of all time. Well I find that quite hard to believe, since before this movie came out, I'd never heard anyone talk about figure skating, I barely even knew what it was. Was figure skating ever actually a big thing, or do people just like controversy?
Answer: It used to be a lot more popular. The Harding/Kerrigan Winter Olympic figure skating competition was the 6th highest rated program in TV history as of 1994, with 48.5 million viewers, no doubt helped by the controversy. It's slowly declined over time - from 1998 to 2018 viewing figures for the US championships declined by 1/3. Opinions about its loss of appeal range from a change in the scoring (used to be judges rating out of 6.0, now it's a more complicated points system), to a lack of "star power", with recognisable names grabbing people's attention. In the UK at least, skater team Torville and Dean were household names for a long time, but I'd imagine a lot of people would struggle to think of skaters with that level of popular recognition nowadays. That said, viewing figures for the 2018 US championships were 60% up on 2017, and membership of the US figure skating organization has risen for the last four years - these things wax and wane like any other.
Question: Did the dog die, if not what happens to him?
Question: Why would they make Anne Australian? Her nationality isn't even mentioned, so why would they let Abbie Cornish use her natural accent? What purpose does it serve? It seems like an incredibly random choice. Abbie Cornish has used an American accent in most of her roles, so of all the ones to use her natural accent, why would she use it in the one where it makes the least sense? Why would an Australian go to a small Ozarks Missouri town? I assume she stayed there because she met Bill and fell in love with him, but why would she have gone there in the first place, before she met Bill?
Answer: Since the movie doesn't tell us how she and Bill met, any answer about how and why she was there would be mere speculation. Letting an actress speak in her native accent is not exactly "random"; random would be if she was an American and the writer/director decided to make her character Australian. However, the situation of an Australian marrying someone from, and then living in, a small Missouri town is not as outlandish or nonsensical as one might think; I used to date someone from a tiny town in Kansas, whose mother was an upper-class British woman who happened to meet and marry someone from that town.
Question: This movie is one of a few I've seen to display the title twice during the opening credits. It appears in a plain font at the start of the credits, then appears in a more stylized font at the end of the credits. Why do some movies do this? It seems a little redundant.
Answer: A lot of movies will put a title card at the end of the film before the credits. It's usually to cap off the movie so that it's the last thing you see or think about when you leave (especially back in the day when you didn't sit around to watch for an extra scene). They want it to be redundant so you don't forget (repetition is the key to learning). Most movies (if not all) also have the movie's name at the very end of all the credits too. But I assume for copyright or other legal reasons, the same way a book publisher might print the book's title on every page of the book.
Answer: "Beardo" looked intimidating and could easily frighten a child (or adult, for that matter). He also became enraged in front of children over scratches on his van - something minor that might bother an adult, but certainly not serious enough to produce Beardo's over-reaction. Greg did deny that he caused the damage. However, Beardo did not come across as being a rational adult or someone who a 12-year-old would feel comfortable standing up to or simply trying to reason with. Greg saw Beardo as a "difficult" and irrational person, so rightfully wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.
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