Question: When the jug was hit, how did the bullet not hit the horse behind it?
raywest
21st Dec 2018
Geronimo (1962)
30th Sep 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Question: Who is Maisey a clone of? I know her 'mother' died in a car crash but when she asked if her mother visited the park a long time ago, Lockwood answered with "a long time ago" and the camera pans out to a model of the original park.
Answer: Masie is a clone of Benjamin Lockwood's daughter. Benjamin's daughter did die in a car accident and when that happened, he wanted to clone her. But John Hammond was against the idea of cloning humans (which is why the partnership broke up). Once John Hammond died, Benjamin went ahead and cloned his daughter. Only, because of the amount of time that passed and his age, Benjamin tells people Masie is his granddaughter and the cover story is Masie's mother died in a car accident, which is why he's raising her. However, I do not know if Benjamin's actual daughter was also named Masie or if that's a new name. I got the impression that Benjamin's actual daughter died at a young age, and since he wanted to clone her right away, he kept the fact that his young daughter died a secret. So as far as most people knew, Benjamin's daughter grew up and had a child and then Benjamin tells people his (adult) daughter died in a car accident.
I think what they mean is if she was a character from the original movies somehow.
His daughter was not an earlier character in the other films. Lockwood is just reflecting on his late daughter, who he loved and misses. Like John Hammond's grandchildren, Lockwood's daughter likely visited the park at some point. His glancing at the original Jurassic Park model seems to be a reference to the cloning procedure that produced Maisie.
In the original movies, no, she's not a character (at least what I can recall). Benjamin Lockwood doesn't even appear in any of the original Jurassic Park trilogy films (I'm not familiar with the books enough to know if any Lockwoods appear in those stories though). In "Fallen Kingdom" it's implied Lockwood's daughter visited the island where Jurassic Park was built, meaning she would have done so prior to the events of the first "Jurassic Park" film.
3rd Dec 2018
Gravity (2013)
Question: On the Russian vessel, shortly after Ryan boards via the airlock, there's a readout in English concerning oxygen. Shouldn't the readout, and indeed virtually everything on that ship, be written in Russian?
Answer: The International Space Station is serviced and manned by representatives from several countries. It stands to reason that because of this, instructions for spacecraft and equipment would be printed in several languages. As the movie shows, in the case of an emergency it would not make sense to have spacecraft and equipment be effectively "locked out" to those who don't speak a particular language when that problem can be easily solved by printing instructions in multiple languages.
3rd Dec 2018
Ghost (1990)
Question: After the subway ghost shows Sam how to move things, he gets angry at Sam's question about his death, making him kick a cigarette dispenser. After kicking the dispenser, why does the subway ghost suddenly not recognize Sam?
Answer: The subway ghost was a paranoid schizophrenic who committed suicide by throwing himself in front of the train. As a ghost, he still has extreme mood swings that range from denial to grief to anger and even violence, and he apparently suffers short-term memory loss, as well.
The subway ghost told Sam that somebody had pushed him.
As I said, the subway ghost was a paranoid schizophrenic who is in denial. He insists that he was pushed; but his odd insistence implies that he actually committed suicide.
1st Dec 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Question: Why is everyone talking about the volcano making all the dinosaurs extinct? This technology has now existed for years and years - there would be backups, other clones, other labs. The plot of this movie seems to hang on the idea that when this island is destroyed all dinosaurs that have ever existed or might ever exist will be gone forever. Yes it's still no small thing for a lot of animals to be wiped out by a volcano, but people are acting like it's of much greater significance than that.
Answer: It had appeared that InGen, the company that developed the dinosaurs, had abandoned all of their research on the island when it was evacuated three years prior. They have, of course, been extremely secretive about just what they were doing, and were able to move much of their technology off-site without the world knowing about it, as there would be much controversy and obstruction to them creating more dangerous dinosaurs. It is assumed that anything that was left behind on the island is now being destroyed in the volcano. Of course, this is all a bit of a stretch story wise, but it is contrived in order to make the plot work for the movie. This is called suspension of disbelief.
27th Nov 2018
Midway (1976)
Question: How accurately does the movie portray the Battle of Midway?
Answer: This is from Wikipedia: "Later studies by Japanese and American military historians call into question key scenes, like the dive-bombing attack that crippled the first Japanese carrier, the Akagi. In the movie, American pilots report, "They've got bombs all over their flight deck! We caught 'em flat-footed! No fighters and a deck full of bombs!" As Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully write in "Shattered Sword" (2005), aerial photography from the battle showed nearly empty decks. In addition, Japanese carriers loaded armament onto planes below the flight deck, unlike American carriers (as depicted earlier in the film). The fact that a closed hangar full of armaments was hit by bombs made damage to Akagi more devastating than if planes, torpedoes and bombs were on an open deck."
28th Nov 2018
Dr. No (1962)
27th Nov 2018
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
Question: Why are Jim (Dean Jones), Carol (Michelle Lee) and Tennessee (Buddy Hackett) not back for this sequel?
27th Nov 2018
Star Wars (1977)
Question: When Obi-Wan tells Luke about Darth Vader murdering his father, Luke doesn't seem to have heard of Vader before. But he knows about the rebellion and wants to go to the Imperial Academy (so he can defect later). Shouldn't he know who Vader is?
Answer: Not necessarily. The Empire is infamous, but that doesn't mean everyone will know who their higher-ups are. I know who the Ku Klux Klan are, but I couldn't tell you who their leaders are.
This. Or possibly, Luke knows who Vader is but just doesn't comment while Obi-wan is talking.
Answer: For most of his early life, Luke lived a simple, rustic life. His aunt and uncle knew his parentage and no doubt suppressed information about the Empire from him. Luke is naive and still has a limited and generalized knowledge of the rebellion, most of which was gleaned from talking to friends. He has little awareness of who the key players are.
Answer: Remember that Luke was hidden on Tatooine as a baby, and Obiwan also went into hiding there, presumably as a protector to keep Luke's very existence a secret from Darth Vader. It could be that Obiwan remotely exercised Jedi mind-tricks on Luke throughout his young life to block any curiosity about Vader.
27th Nov 2018
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (1984)
Question: Most of the characters on this show are male. Why is that?
Answer: Female characters in literature, movies, television, etc. are commonly and historically less prevalent than male ones. It's an inherit gender bias that continues to exist within male-dominated industries. This same bias exists against characters of color and other orientations.
It's also a really old show that would've been fairly male run.
27th Nov 2018
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: If Voldemort is now controlling the Ministry of Magic, why does Dolores Umbridge have a position there? In Order of the Phoenix, she refused to believe that he had returned. I wonder why he didn't kill her for opposing him.
Answer: Umbridge was an opportunistic collaborator, and once Voldemort took power, she became complicit in order to advance her own career. She never opposed Voldemort, she, like many others, simply believed he had been killed years before.
She never opposed Voldemort because she was allied with him.
Answer: She refused to acknowledge it openly, that doesn't mean she didn't believe it, or hope for it.
She knew that he returned, but was allied with him all along.
27th Nov 2018
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: How did Riddle know that the people the Basilisk was petrifying were muggle born? It sounds to me like Ginny was his best shot at knowing, but how could she know?
Answer: It's easy to tell which students are Muggle-born. They have little knowledge of the wizarding world and need special training, their parents are not wizards, and Hogwarts, being a small community, makes it easy to know everyone's background. Ginny would have little problem identifying which students Riddle should target.
27th Nov 2018
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: Harry having the resurrection stone makes the ending make sense if that is the way that he survives/comes back from death when Voldemort kills him. But he drops the stone after talking to his dead loved ones. How does Harry survive if, as Dumbledore says, he HAS to die to kill Voldemort? Pretending to be dead shouldn't work, so he must actually die, right? (02:13:00)
Answer: The Resurrection Stone never had nothing to do with Harry surviving Voldemort's curse at the end. He survived because he carried one of Voldemort's horcruxes inside him, and that is what protected him. Dumbledore's prediction was wrong because he did not know until much later that Harry was one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Voldemort also did not know this, having accidentally creating it when he attempted to kill Harry when he was an infant.
That's not right either. Harry survived because Voldemort made the mistake of using Harry's blood in the potion he used to resurrect himself in Goblet of Fire, believing it would make him stronger, failing to realise that he was preserving the protection of Harry's mother's sacrifice within his own body, thus tethering Harry to life. It has nothing to do with the Resurrection Stone or the Horcrux within Harry.
22nd Nov 2018
A Quiet Place (2018)
Question: Where does all the power for monitors and lights come from? I assume power is down, a diesel aggregate would be too loud and hydropower too weak. Solar cells?
Answer: While it's never directly addressed, one can see solar panels on the roof of the farm buildings at several points in the film.
23rd Nov 2018
Patton (1970)
Question: When Patton arrives at corps headquarters, a lieutenant says they have a new commander due. What is he talking about? Was their previous commanding general fired?
Answer: Due to his poor performance at Kasserine, General Eisenhower sacked Major General Lloyd Fredendal (Patton's predecessor), and he was sent back home in disgrace, never to command combat troops ever again.
Answer: Patton was put in charge of the American II Corps in North Africa after the Americans were badly defeated at the 1943 Battle of the Kasserine Pass. The lieutenant apparently does not realise that Patton has been sent to replace the previous commander and will begin enforcing strict discipline into the troops.
OK, but what about the other part of the question? Was their previous commanding general fired?
The previous commanding general was not "fired" he was replaced. It was Major General Lloyd Fredendall who was in command of the II Corps, at the Battle of Kasserine Pass. He was reassigned stateside, then about three months later was promoted to lieutenant general. For the rest of the war he was in command of training assignments in the US.
He was effectively "fired", as in removed, from his commanding position, due to his weak leadership, but that did not mean to say he was fired from the U.S. Army. The term "fired" is relative here.
I feel the need to clarify the point that my original reply was to the person who asked this question: "OK, but what about the other part of the question? Was their previous commanding general fired? " Please know that my reply was not meant to come off as butting heads with your answer, raywest, I was merely answering the submitter's question and acknowledging their use of the word "fired" within their question. But since you responded directly to my original reply, I'll respond. You state in your reply to me, "He was effectively "fired", as in removed, from his commanding position, due to his weak leadership, but that did not mean to say he was fired from the U.S. Army. The term "fired" is relative here." Okay, well I really don't agree with that, because I can't see the term "fired" as being relative here, IMO. In civilian life, when a civvie is "fired" from their job it means getting laid-off, being unemployed. To say a servicemember is "fired" from the military, it would basically mean being dishonorably discharged. The OP's question was regarding Lloyd Fredendall. After his reassignment, Major General Fredendall even received a promotion and became Lieutenant General Fredendall within a few months. Anyway, those are my personal thoughts on the matter. :) Be well, raywest. With warm regards, Rikki.
Not fired, just relieved of command and transferred elsewhere.
16th Nov 2018
The X-Files (1993)
Hell Money - S3-E19
Question: At The End of the episode, why did Detective Chao place himself in the incinerator?
Answer: He didn't place himself there voluntarily. He mysteriously vanished from the hospital and awoke to find himself inside the incinerator. It appears this was punishment for his exposing that the lottery was rigged.
But, as a detective, it was his job to expose the rigging.
Chao didn't expose the rigged lottery as part of his job as a detective. He was already involved in the game and working for those in charge. He was paid to keep the game a secret from foreigners and his blood was found in Lo's apartment, meaning he was the mysterious figure that tells Lo he must pay. But despite Chao's involvement, he wanted the game to end. To me, it seems he smashed the vase out of anger, not because he knew it was rigged and was trying expose that fact. But regardless, that's what he seems to be punished for.
Thanks. It was really confusing.
13th Nov 2018
Out of Sight (1998)
Question: When Karen is being questioned by her superior in the hospital, he has her written report. But, when did she have time to write it? She met Foley, got thrown in the trunk, got into an accident, then went to the hospital.
13th Nov 2018
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Question: Did C-3PO and R2-D2 appear in this film?
Answer: I was wondering about this, too. C-3PO did not appear in Solo, and I cannot find any Internet reference pertaining to R2-D2 being in it. Curiously, Anthony Daniels, the actor who has played C-3PO in all the other Star Wars movies, makes a cameo appearance in Solo as another character (Chewbacca's friend).
5th Nov 2018
The Hangover (2009)
Question: When Phil, Stu and Alan get back into the hotel, they find Mike Tyson and his mate in their hotel wanting their tiger back. Just wondering a) How did Mike Tyson know who these guys were that took the tiger and b) where they were staying? (01:09:00)
Answer: They answer that in the movie! Doug dropped his jacket at Tyson's. His wallet and room key were in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9NtxDYU8G4&feature=youtu.be&t=89.
5th Nov 2018
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Question: Why was Beethoven arrested? He wasn't doing anything illegal.
Answer: While it's not unusual for musicians to try out new instruments (playing a few rifts and even entire compositions) in a music shop, Beethoven's extended sampling-keyboard performance went wild, drawing an enthusiastic mall crowd into the relatively small music shop. The shop manager no doubt felt overwhelmed and called in mall security to clear out the shop before any damage and/or theft occurred. Keep in mind that the security team was already scrambling to respond to several simultaneous disturbances throughout the mall, all caused by 7 strangely-dressed oddballs (more than half of whom only spoke obsolete dialects and ancient languages). The time-travelers were, thus, probably all perceived as one group of pranksters or escapees from a mental institution.
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Answer: In reality, the bullet probably would have hit the horse, injuring it. Movies tend to gloss over details like that to serve and simplify the plot. Older movies particularly fudged reality, assuming audiences would not notice or care. It is also possible that the bullet was somehow deflected or broke up upon impact.
raywest ★