Gavin Jackson

9th Feb 2005

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Question: Something I really don't understand about the ending. Riggs is looking over his former wife's grave when his beeper tells him that Lorna is expecting their baby. He races to the hospital and there she is about to give birth. So who drove Lorna to the hospital? Can't have been Riggs as he wouldn't have left at a time of need just to see his wife's grave. Doubtful that Lorna drove herself, and no relatives were there (as we see at the end). So what other explanation is there?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She could have taken a taxi or an ambulance, or even driven herself. A neighbor or friend could have taken her who didn't stay after she was admitted. She might have already been at the hospital for any number of reasons - doctor's appointment, already admitted for bed rest prior to labor, etc. etc. etc.

Myridon

17th Jan 2005

General questions

Back in the 80's I watched a film on video and I can't remember the title. Set in Italy (I think), its about an bearded inventor who builds a yellow Volkswagen which can do many things like fly, clean up messes, drive sideways, etc., and naturally it can talk. At the end he enters a race pitting him against many people including a pair of nuns. For some reason the Volkswagen continuously betrays him, dropping him from a high distance, leaving him in the middle of nowhere and eventually deciding to let the nuns win. Any help would be much appreciated.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: What you're referring to is SuperBug. A five to seven film series that came out in the 70's. Two or three made it to U.S. theaters. They were made in Germany.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day mistake picture

Other mistake: When the T-1000 walks through the bars at the mental clinic, he gets his handgun stuck in the bars for a few seconds before removing it. In the close-up shot we can see the gun is stuck. But in the wide shot that precedes it, his gun isn't stuck at all. Actor Robert Patrick (T-1000) unconvincingly has his arm wrapped around the bar to make it look like his gun is stuck. (01:02:00)

Gavin Jackson

10th Jan 2005

Canadian Bacon (1995)

Other mistake: Sheriff Bud B. Boomer runs to the top of Toronto's CN tower by staircase and doesn't even draw a breath when he gets there.

Gavin Jackson

4th Jan 2005

Blood Work (2002)

Question: At the end of the film, Is Kiril trying to kill Bourne because it is his mission, or is he doing it simply out of bitterness that he failed the first time?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It is clear that Gretkov expects Kirill to finish the job he failed the first time around, since Gretkov contacts Kirill after he found out that Bourne was still alive. To quote the movie: Kirill: You told me I had one month off. Gretkov: You told me Jason Bourne was dead.

Andreas[DK]

Also, I question if he was trying to kill Borne. He had a clear shot and hit him in the shoulder. These are trained assassins. No way he doesn't kill Bourne with one shot there. It doesn't make sense that he's a bad shot assassin.

2nd Jan 2005

X-Men 2 (2003)

Question: Why didn't wolverine simply retract his claws when the cops showed up at the front of bobby's house? Might have saved him from being shot.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: They're ordering him to drop them, to put them somewhere where he doesn't have access to them. Obviously he can't do that, however, retracting them isn't going to satisfy them - indeed, if he suddenly retracted them, the shock might actually prompt them to shoot. His best bet is to keep them in view, but make it plain that he's not taking any hostile action with them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

Tailkinker

Plot hole: Snowman manages to unload the elephant, summons twenty trucks to the middle of a desert and gets miles ahead of the Bandit for his approach, in what appears to be about ten minutes of time.

Gavin Jackson

16th Dec 2004

X-Men (2000)

Continuity mistake: When Wolverine and Rogue are in Wolverines truck, just prior to the crash, we see them driving near huge trees with thick leaves that can't be seen through. When Rogue says the line "You really should wear your seatbelt", the view out her window shows a handful of trees that one can see through for a mile.

Gavin Jackson

13th Dec 2004

The Frighteners (1996)

Question: How did the people behind the film achieve the effect of making the actors look like ghosts. I truly have no idea.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: For the most part, the actors playing the ghosts were shot separately on blue-screens, and then comped into the scenes. (By removing the blue background through a process called "color keying", and placing them over the scenes) They were simply given a blueish glow and made semi-translucent to complete the effect. It was pretty cutting edge back in the 90's, but nowadays, it'd be very easy to make the exact same effect using a simple program like Adobe After Effects.

TedStixon

27th Nov 2004

The Lost Boys (1987)

Question: When Max approaches the house for his second date with Lucy, being a vampire he asks Michael to invite him in so people in the house would be, in his words, "rendered powerless." As a result, Sam and the Frog brothers can't prove he is a vampire. But how did Max know that his vampirism would be tested in the first place?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: A vampire probably wouldn't survive for very long without playing it safe - he's probably in the habit of insisting on being invited in (if possible) whereever he goes, just in case.

Tailkinker

Answer: He didn't, any vampire cannot enter a home unless they're invited.

27th Nov 2004

Philadelphia (1993)

Question: At the end of the film just before Tom hanks dies, he lowers his oxygen mask and says to partner Banderas "I'm ready". Ready for what exactly? Ready to die? Ready for a bit of final smooching? Or ready (and this is just my assumption) for Banderas to pull the plug?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Ready to die.

27th Nov 2004

Forever Young (1992)

Question: Mel Gibson spends 50 years frozen inside a machine that his friend Harry built. After Mel awakes, he is still the same age, but he slowly starts to age back into what he would been at the time that he awoke. Later on He discovers that Harry knew this would happen. If Harry knew, why did he build the machine in the first place?. It seems to serve no purpose other than to waste years of someone's life.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Harry Findlay only discovered the ageing would irreversible after Daniel had been frozen; don't forget this was the first time he'd tried it on a human. Plus he only ever intended to freeze Daniel for a year, so this may not have been the main focus of the experiment anyway.

Answer: He only wanted to be frozen because his girlfriend was in a coma. Harry said, he only tried it on animals and wasn't to keen on the idea. Mel said to wake him when his girlfriend woke up. He figured it would only be for a few weeks or months. Joe Morton, the scientist, read a file on the experiment, stating that Harry died when a fire broke out in the lab and ran in to save him.

26th Oct 2004

Candyman (1992)

Question: I'm confused by the ending. Did Helen herself become just like Candyman, was it really Candyman using Helen's body, or did Helen simply decide to make a brief return from the dead to make her husband pay for his betrayal?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It's a bit ambiguous, but just as Candyman became a tortured soul who suffered a painful and unjust death, to too did Helen.

18th Sep 2004

Miracle (2004)

Question: Why is this film going straight to video and DVD in Australia?. If it got poor reviews I would understand. But it got good reviews as did Kurt Russell for his performance. I just don't understand.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: The film's international appeal would be very limited to those who knew the story or knew of the event, and this story is really only known well in the US and not in countries like Australia. On the review section, it's not the distributors main priority. Unless they see potential overseas it's costly to try and promote it in Australian cinemas and is likely to see a better audience in video and DVD than theatres.

Lummie

2nd Sep 2004

The Lost Boys (1987)

Question: How is David able to make Michael see the maggots and worms in the Chinese food, considering Michael hasn't yet drunk his blood at this point?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Many legends give the vampire certain rather hypnotic abilities - this is presumably along the same lines.

Tailkinker

Answer: I always assumed it was because the joint they passed was dusted.

27th Aug 2004

Duel (1971)

Visible crew/equipment: Just after the truck has run down the phone booth at the Reptile lady's place, it starts smashing into all the glass reptile cages nearby. If you look closely at the reptile cage which David falls over, you can see the film crew in the reflection. (00:58:05)

Gavin Jackson

15th Aug 2004

The Time Machine (1960)

Plot hole: In 1966 when George is about to return to his machine and the atomic bombs (or whatever) go off, George just barely gets out of there before the lava from a nearby volcano cooks him alive. Two plot holes here. One is that in the short time it takes George to walk a few meters to his machine, a volcano explodes and the lava reaches him. Thats very speedy lava..especially considering there were no mountains near George's house. Secondly when the lava approaches, it is just flowing along the ground like normal. But when it reaches George, it splashes around him like a broken water tank. That lava can certainly defy gravity.

Gavin Jackson

Question: All of Isaac's followers in this film are young people, no older than about their mid 20's. So why in the opening scene during the Cafe slaughter, is there a elderly lady helping them do their dirty work (the worker who poisons the coffees). This makes no sense at all considering it's the older people they were killing.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Who knows? Maybe they blackmailed her, because she works there, and the children wouldn't get caught poisoning the coffee, or maybe she isn't as old as you think, she could well be in her mid 20's, it's hard to tell, you only see her briefly.

Hamster

She is obviously in her late teens, early 20s.

31st Jul 2004

The Specialist (1994)

Deliberate mistake: Eric Roberts certainly knows the secret of eternal youth. In the 30 years since his character killed Sharon Stones' parents to the present day, he doesn't appear to have aged a single day.

Gavin Jackson

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