I need help identifying the title of a book. My brother was reading it in the mid-90s, and the only thing I remember him telling me about it was two gruesome deaths: one of a character getting hit in the face with a spiked baseball bat, and the other being a character I think was named Eddie who is decapitated by a wire while he is riding a motorbike. I could have swore that it was "The In Crowd" by Christopher Pike, but no such book appears in his bibliography, nor does there seem to be any adult fiction novel with that name. I seem to recall that the cover of the book depicted a teen girl sitting at a computer with a distressed look on her face.
Phaneron
26th Mar 2019
General questions
13th Mar 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: Snipers using a laser mounted to their rifle to line up their target. Snipers in real life don't use lasers in this manner. For one thing, it gives away their position, and additionally because lasers won't line up a target accurately at a long range, as the bullet is affected by gravity, the rotation of the Earth, and other factors.
8th Mar 2019
Captain Marvel (2019)
Trivia: This film portrays the Kree Supreme Intelligence as an abstract form that takes the appearance of a person familiar to whomever is conversing with it. In the comics, the Supreme Intelligence does have an identifiable form: a floating green head somewhat resembling Jabba the Hutt with glowing yellow eyes and tentacles. A more comic book accurate iteration is briefly seen in the sequel, The Marvels.
25th Feb 2019
Armageddon (1998)
Question: Why is Colonel Sharp so intent on following the President's order to remote detonate the nuke? He knows the mission won't be successful unless they drill the hole first. Does he really think being court martialed for defying an executive order will be worse than an extinction-level event?
Answer: Given his choices, what he views as certain failure of the drilling or trying to detonate the bomb on the surface, he decides to follow orders rather than wait for the drilling to fail.
11th Feb 2019
Common mistakes
Other mistake: Characters that are on the run from the law or otherwise go into hiding, and they cut their hair themselves and it looks like it was done by a professional stylist. Examples include "The Fugitive," "Gone Girl," and even "The Outsiders" showed two youngsters cutting each others' hair with a knife but having a decent end result.
11th Feb 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: Characters living in an expensive city (such as New York or San Francisco) and somehow being able to afford a spacious apartment that their job couldn't realistically pay for.
7th Feb 2019
The Simpsons (1989)
Tree House of Horror IX - S10-E4
Ed McMahon: From the producers of "When Skirts Fall Off" and "Secrets of National Security Revealed," it's "World's Deadliest Executions."
5th Feb 2019
Glass (2019)
Question: How was Elijah getting out of his room in the first place? I know he has free roam of the facility after killing the guard and taking his keycard, but I don't recall the movie explaining how he was getting out earlier in the movie?
Answer: He's picking the locks on the doors, bypassing the keycards.
Answer: At one point, Elijah's mother mentions that he caught a glimpse of and instantly memorized a blueprint of the psychiatric hospital when he was first committed, and he used that knowledge to short-out the hospital's electrical system one time (before they started heavily sedating him). It seems likely that Elijah was able to somehow hotwire electronic door locks, using his knowledge of the hospital's electrical system. Later, he used a master keycard taken from the guard.
Answer: Not only that but, it was shown in the first movie that Elijah was very good at manipulating people so he could have convinced somebody to let him out.
Answer: The movie doesn't explain. But given what we know about Elijah from "Unbreakable" and this film, it's really no surprise he managed to find a way out - he's psychotic, but he's also a genius.
15th Jan 2019
X-Men (1992)
Night of the Sentinels: Part 1 - S1-E1
Clerk: You must like to play cards.
Gambit: I like solitaire okay, 'less I got someone to play with.
15th Jan 2019
X-Men (1992)
Blob: It's Miss Marvel!
Ms. Marvel: That's "Ms. Marvel" to you, round boy.
15th Jan 2019
The Simpsons (1989)
The Old Man and the Key - S13-E13
Homer: Here we are: Branson, Missouri.
Male Charles Bronson Lookalike: No, pally. This is Bronson, Missouri.
Lisa: Well how do we get to Branson?
Female Charles Bronson Lookalike: Number 10 bus.
Child Charles Bronson Lookalike: Hey Ma, how 'bout some cookies?
Female Charles Bronson Lookalike: No dice.
Child Charles Bronson Lookalike: This ain't over.
15th Jan 2019
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Dr. Evil: Scott, I want you to meet Daddy's nemesis: Austin Powers.
Scott: What, are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Dr. Evil: No Scott, I have an even better idea. I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an over-elaborate and exotic death.
Scott: Why don't you just shoot him now? I mean, I'll go get a gun. We'll shoot him together. It'll be fun. Bang. Dead. Done.
Dr. Evil: One more peep out of you and you are grounded, mister, and I am not joking.
15th Jan 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Trivia: Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrays Mysterio in this film, nearly took over the role of Spider-Man from Tobey Maguire for "Spider-Man 2" after Maguire suffered a back injury filming "Seabiscuit."
6th Jan 2019
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Audio problem: During the "Hula Hana" scene, you can tell the little girl with the ukelele is only mimicking playing. A chord is heard being played in a staccato fashion, but the girl is merely rubbing her thumb against the body, and maybe striking the lowest string, while not fretting any of the strings with her left hand. Playing staccato on open strings would require you to use one of your hands to stop the open strings from ringing.
3rd Jan 2019
Bird Box (2018)
Stupidity: When Greg volunteers to watch the security monitors to see if the creatures can affect people through a screen, no-one even thinks to remain in the room with him to cover up the monitors with a blanket, towel or something similar in case the creatures' power can be transmitted that way. They tied him to a chair to reduce his chances of committing suicide, so they certainly thought there was a possibility that he would be in danger.
29th Dec 2018
X-Men (1992)
Stupidity: One of Rogue's defining character traits is her inability to have physical contact with another person because of her powers and the sorrow it causes her. Several episodes of this show, however, featured devices that could suppress mutant powers, the inhibitor collars being the most prominent. Despite this technology at their disposal, they never even think to have Rogue wear an inhibitor device for times she would like to touch someone. Even if she didn't want to wear those specific collars, a character like Beast or Forge could easily create a new and harmless device by reverse engineering and adapting the existing ones. This of course would eliminate Rogue's ongoing dilemma and potentially curb her development as a character, but it doesn't make sense from the standpoint that she longs for physical contact with others.
28th Dec 2018
Cape Fear (1991)
Plot hole: Cady's plan to get revenge on Bowden includes raping and assaulting Lori. This part of the plan, however, hinges on Lori not reporting Cady to the police, which he had no way of knowing that she wouldn't. If she reported him, the investigation would have created huge problems for Cady. He bit off a chunk of her face, so the wound could have been matched to his teeth, as well the chunk of skin he bit off and spit out most likely would have had traces of his saliva on it. Not to mention evidence that could have been gathered from a rape kit and eyewitnesses that could have placed Cady at the bar with Lori beforehand (the bartender, for example). In all likelihood, he would have been arrested, tried and convicted. Lucky for him, Lori was too ashamed to report the incident.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Luck didn't come into it. Cady specifically targeted her because of her connection to Bowden, and took the calculated risk that she would not want her sexual history being dragged in front of a court and all her co-workers. This ties into Cady's motive for wanting revenge on Bowden in the first place, as he had suppressed similar evidence in Cady's original case. Also, Cady is a very unhinged individual; the submitter's opinion on how sensible his actions are does not make them a plot hole.
Phaneron's point is valid. It's quite plausible that Lori would've been willing to testify. She didn't because if she did, the movie would've ended there. It's artistic license.
28th Dec 2018
Ronin (1998)
Question: What was the point of Sean Bean's role in this movie? I get that he is exposed as a fraud, but it doesn't really affect the plot one way or the other.
Chosen answer: It is true that it doesn't affect the plot. However Spence's (Bean's) failure can be contrasted with the professionalism of the main characters. Also it raises the possibility that whoever hired them isn't taking necessary precautions in planning and hiring. Earlier we heard Sam (De Niro) ask Vincent (Reno) if he was "labour or management" which suggests a theme of professional operators getting their hands dirty while their bosses play politics.
28th Dec 2018
Cape Fear (1991)
Question: So how exactly did Max Cady slip past Kersec's security system and get into the house? Did he kill the maid outside and then just walk in disguised as her?
Answer: He snuck in during the day and hid, before Kersec's teddy bear security system was set up. Sam Bowden realises this when he wakes from a nightmare. Its how he was able to poison the dog which hadnt been let outside. Max Cady killed the maid in the pantry with the same piano wire he later attacks Kersec with.
Answer: Kersec suspected that Cady might attempt to break into the Bowden house if he thought it was empty. His plan was for Cady to break in and then be shot dead as an intruder. He likely lessened the security to allow Cady to break in. Cady killed and then impersonated the housekeeper to get in.
I like your answer but I'm a little confused by the "lessened the security" part. If I'm not mistaken, every possible point of entry into the house at least from the ground floor was connected to the bear via the fishing line, so Kersec would know if a point of entry was disturbed by the bear moving. Where would Kersec lessen the security from that standpoint, especially since his setup was supposed to be foolproof?
Kersec wanted Cady to be able to break in so that there would be a plausible reason to shoot him dead. The idea is to make it look like his death was a result of self defense. I'm only speculating that Kersec made it easier for Cady to break in into the house. Being as it was his security system, he would know how to make it possible for Cady to get in.
28th Dec 2018
Daredevil (2015)
Other mistake: When Matt and Claire are on the roof and Matt says "A dead guy, a guy I witnessed burn to death," Charlie Cox's natural English accent slips through. (00:41:35)
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Answer: Found the answer. The book is "The In Crowd" by Nicholas Pine.
Phaneron ★