Question: According to the last Doctor Strange movie, possessing a dead body is forbidden by the souls of the damned, as it's trespassing, and Dr. Strange was quickly attacked and forced out. If that is the case, however, isn't Billy trespassing by possessing the dead body of William Kaplan? Where are the souls of the damned?
Phaneron
11th Jan 2025
Agatha All Along (2024)
11th Jan 2025
Batman (1989)
Question: How did the Joker's henchmen get to the top of the church? We don't see them enter the building. The only thing I can think of is they were dropped off by the helicopter, but then why wasn't the helicopter still there when the Joker, Batman, and Vicki Vale reached the top?
18th Nov 2024
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Question: Deadpool knows that he is in a film, which explains why he can easily recognise everyone, including Wolverine, X-23, Johnny Storm, Blade, Ant-Man, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, and even the actors playing them. So why didn't he recognise Elektra? Jennifer Garner's popularity alone should have made it easy for him.
Answer: Part of the novelty of knowing that he's in a film means servicing the plot, especially as a proxy for those audience members who may not be as familiar with some characters. Deadpool also does seem to know who Elektra is, as he apologises to her upon hearing about Daredevil's death, even though he just met her moments earlier.
29th Oct 2024
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Question: This is a question for all Deadpool films. Why does Deadpool bother wearing a face mask considering most of the people in the films (villains and good guys) already know his real identity and even refer to him as Wade? Is it just a pride thing or something?
27th Oct 2024
General questions
When a show has locations that are shown often enough, but not in every episode, how is that set handled? Is it created and put aside somewhere, or rebuilt whenever needed? For example, Niles' apartment in "Frasier," Deacon and Kelly's apartment in "King of Queens," Walter Skinner's office in "X-Files," the Mighty Weenie restaurant in "Family Matters," etc.
Answer: Sets not used in every episode are usually built in sections that can easily be dismantled and reassembled as needed. I've noticed in some shows that one shell structure is often repurposed into whatever is needed. In "Friends," one set was used for Chandler's work office, also as Rachel's office at Ralph Lauren, for Joey's new apartment when he briefly moved out, etc. The same with "Roseanne," where Crystal's house was also used for David's home, for "The Fifties Show" episode, etc. Darlene's Chicago apartment set was also used for Becky and Mark's Minneapolis apartment.
15th Oct 2024
Blade II (2002)
Question: Just out of curiosity, since Blade isn't 100% human or vampire, can he still eat regular food, or only blood?
Answer: Vampires in this franchise can eat food; they just require blood because, as Whistler stated in the first film, their own blood can't sustain hemoglobin. Since Blade's only weakness is that he also needs to consume blood (or a serum as a substitute), this means he can eat regular food as well.
28th Aug 2024
Blade: Trinity (2004)
23rd Jun 2024
The Simpsons (1989)
I'm Goin' to Praiseland - S12-E19
Question: What does Reverend Lovejoy mean when he gives Lisa the "Unitarian ice cream", but the bowl has nothing in it? What is the joke?
16th May 2024
Ghost (1990)
17th Apr 2024
Spider-Man (1994)
Question: Is Tombstone a zombie or undead?
Answer: He's neither. In the comics he was an albino who later was mutated to give his superhuman strength. He filed his teeth into points as a way to scare others. In this Spider-Man cartoon, his physical appearance, including his teeth, and strength was the result of falling into chemicals at the plant. However, he never died as a result of falling into the chemicals, some only thought he had died.
30th Oct 2023
The Holdovers (2023)
Question: Was Paul Giamatti's lazy eye achieved through practical means or CGI? If it was practical, how exactly did they do it?
Answer: The best information I read was from an online "People" magazine article. Actor Paul Giamatti says he is sworn to secrecy on how the lazy eye effect was achieved, other than to say it was "movie magic." I hope someone finds additional information and shares it here, as I'd like to know more.
27th Feb 2024
General questions
In a lot of TV shows, a friend or family member will often just walk into a character's home without knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell first. Is there a reason why this is done for TV? Or is it common in real life and I just haven't met people who do this? I've always lived in one area of the United States, so maybe it's a regional difference.
Answer: This was a common practice in comedy shows in the 1970s (such as Good Times and Laverne and Shirley). Viewers were already familiar with the characters and their practices of just walking in, so the show left it in as something nobody really thought twice about.
15th Feb 2024
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: If Stryker hates and wants to kill all mutants, then why does he let Deathstrike work for him?
Answer: That was temporary. He later tries to kill all mutants with Dr. Xavier's power, so that would have included Deathstrike.
15th Feb 2024
General questions
Why do so many actors use pseudonyms instead of their real names?
Answer: Along with the Phaneron's answer, using a pseudonym might make it easier for a celebrity to do some things with their real name, such as buying a property or checking into a hotel room alone if they want.
Answer: One of the reasons can be for making a simpler and easier-to-remember name. For example, Andrew Lincoln's real surname is Clutterbuck. Sean Bean changed the spelling of his first name from "Shaun" to look similar to his surname. Another reason is that the Screen Actors Guild does not allow two actors with the exact same stage name, likely to avoid confusion. Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas, which is a name already being used. Michael B. Jordan uses his middle initial because Michael Jordan is technically a member of the Screen Actors Guild for having appeared in Space Jam.
Answer: Agree with the other answers, but would add that in Hollywood's earlier days, movie studios typically remade their new talent. Actors were under years-long contracts, and the studios trained them, controlled their publicity and public image, crafted their appearance and style, chose their movie roles, influenced who they publicly dated, and so on. This redo often included changing actors' real names that were considered too long, unsophisticated, difficult to pronounce, too "ethnic," and so on. A good example is Archibald Leach who became "Cary Grant" or Norma Jean Baker who was remade into "Marilyn Monroe." Most actors today use their birth names.
Answer: But these days, the vast majority of actors use their real birth names.
1st Dec 2023
Saw X (2023)
Question: What happens to the lady after the film ends that has her head in the hole? As during the film, she shows she has no morals. In the rest of the movies, you never hear her name mentioned or what happened to her. But surely, with him trapping her and taking the money at the end, it would piss her off enough to want to get the money back and seek revenge on him.
Answer: There's no definitive answer. It's left purposely ambiguous, presumably in case they want to bring the character back in the future. (There is a deleted scene on the Blu-Ray showing the door opening on its own once the countdown hits zero, so presumably she is able to escape.) As for her coming for him... we simply don't know. It's possible she'll show up again in a future film. But you also have to factor in that John has a LOT of evidence on her criminal misdeeds... so he likely could have her arrested and jailed if she comes for him.
22nd Nov 2023
General questions
I know companies pay a lot of money to advertise during events such as the Superbowl, but what about "regular" TV? Did they choose to have their ads run during particular shows? I am mostly thinking of broadcast TV, before streaming was popular.
Answer: Companies typically pay to run their ads during times when their target audience will be watching TV, such as toy companies running ads during Saturday morning cartoons, and in particular, a popular company like McDonald's would run their Happy Meal commercials during that time as well.
Answer: To add to the other fine answer, TV advertising costs are determined by how many viewers watch a particular program. TV networks set advertising rates based on different programs' ratings. Those with the highest viewership are the most expensive to advertise on. TV ratings were (and still are) determined by the Nielsen Media Research Company, who measure who and how many people watch each TV show. Companies naturally want to advertise their products and services when the largest number of viewers are watching and also to their target market.
16th Oct 2023
The Founder (2016)
9th Oct 2023
Spider-Man (1994)
Question: Why does Herbert Landon hate mutants so much? Why is he so prejudiced towards them?
28th Sep 2023
Big Daddy (1999)
Question: When Mr. Brooks states that Sonny lied about being Kevin Gerrity to get custody of Julian, he says it's a big problem in this state. Why do so many people do that in New York (as opposed to other places)?
Answer: Maybe I'm misinterpreting the line, but I thought "big problem" in this context meant that the state would aggressively pursue criminal charges against Sonny for his actions, as in it's his big problem to deal with now.
But in that context, wouldn't it be a "big" / serious problem in any state? I can't imagine that most states would be easy-going about it. He seems to mean that it happens a lot in New York, but I might be wrong.
Other states would certainly be aggressive in that situation, but given that Mr. Brooks is an employee of the state of New York, he could just be emphasizing how much trouble Sonny is in.
Fair enough. Sonny might have thought that it was OK for him to pretend to be Kevin, since he is good friends with the real Kevin.
Mr. Brooks was being facetious by specifically saying "big problem in THIS STATE." Obviously Sonny knows what he did was very wrong and illegal. It would be like if you were driving in a different state and didn't stop at a stop sign. The cop might say "I know in your home state the stop signs are optional but here in Texas you're required to stop at the sign."
26th Sep 2023
Aladdin (1992)
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Answer: Wanda's children were created through hex magic, so perhaps that rule only applies to humans who are conceived through conventional means.
Phaneron ★