Phixius

3rd Feb 2017

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: If The Joker wanted to get arrested, instead of engaging in a huge chase with the police where he shoots at them with a machine gun and an RPG, why didn't he just walk into the police station and turn himself in? I know he's theatrical, but he's very lucky he wasn't shot, which would've ruined his plan.

Chosen answer: Because the police would have suspected something if he just turned himself in out of the blue, and would have been more vigilant in looking for a trap. As it is, the police are convinced they legitimately captured Joker and derailed his plans with no further need to be on the lookout for unexpected surprises from him.

24th Jan 2017

Bruno (2009)

Question: Why wasn't Sacha Baron Cohen arrested for secretly filming people having sex without their permission? Also, what was up with the scene where the camper knocks the camera over? Did he realise what was going on? What happened after?

Answer: This is not a hidden camera movie. Everyone filmed believes they are being filmed for a documentary. So the swingers knew they were going to be filmed, but didn't know the shenanigans SBC was going to pull. The camper dude probably started realizing there was something weird going on and got mad that he was being made fun of, so knocked over the camera.

Chosen answer: Because this film was staged even more than Borat was.

16th Jan 2017

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Question: There's a scene in which, right after they've bought their house, Henry appears in their living room, naked and shot. I just don't see how this can happen because this would constitute a travel within a travel. That is, he travels to where he gets shot. Shot, he then travels to the newly-bought house; then finally travels back to the Christmas party from whence he came originally, where he finally dies. But the movie never establishes this sort of "Inception"-like travel. He always travels to one time, then comes back. Is this something that the book clarifies, or is it a mistake from the movie?

Answer: Since no rules are ever firmly established in the film, there's no reason he couldn't have done this. So it's not a movie mistake. The book addresses the nature of his travel a little more in-depth, and even there this would not have been impossible.

23rd Nov 2016

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Question: When Iracebeth takes Mirana back in time to when a young Mirana ate the tarts and lied about it, why would the adult Mirana continue to deny having eaten them?

Answer: The way I interpreted the scene is that Mirana subconsciously altered her own memory to convince herself that she had not eaten the tart to avoid the guilt of the resulting accident. This is a real phenomenon, so it's perfectly plausible. If my assumption is correct, this scene shows Mirana realizing for the first time that she is in fact responsible for everything that has happened since due to a single lie she told.

Answer: I don't think she was actually denying it at that point, just reciting the answer she knew she'd given originally.

9th Nov 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Question: Did Apocalypse give Magneto new powers in Poland, or just enhance them?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Neither, actually. Apocalypse merely revealed to Magneto a way in which he could use his powers at their current level. Magneto is simply phenomenally powerful.

8th Sep 2016

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Question: Why is it when Harry is fainting from his encounter with the dementor he hears a woman screaming? In the film it sounds exactly like the train. I haven't read the book, so I am unsure if this is answered there.

Chosen answer: It transitions into a train whistle in the film for dramatic effect. The scream is his far-distant infant's memory of his mother screaming when Voldemort came to kill Harry, brought back to the surface by the dementors' ability to make your relive your worst memories.

8th Sep 2016

Legally Blonde (2001)

Question: What reason would Enrique have to lie on the stand? Obviously he wasn't really interested in Brooke in a romantic way. Is it possible he was paid off by Chutney or her mother? And wouldn't he have been in committing perjury after Emmett caught him off guard and made him basically admit that he was gay?

Answer: The answer to your first question is your second question and the answer to your last question is yes.

8th Sep 2016

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Question: I don't know if there is a definite answer to these two questions, but I would appreciate any guesses. 1. Why did Voldemort try to honor Snape's request to spare Lily's life? He gave her three chances to stand aside and let him kill Harry. But if she had actually taken the chance to live, Snape would have pursued her (Dumbledore later asked Snape "[James and Harry.] can die, so you can get what you want?"). Why would Voldemort try to help Snape get into a relationship with a Muggle-born woman? 2. On a similar note, why did Snape think that he had any chance of being with Lily - if she lived - after his master killed her husband and son?

Answer: James and Lily were targets of Voldemort as members of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape was willing to give Voldemort invaluable intel regarding the prophecy of Voldemort's potential defeat, which Snape had overheard, in exchange for Voldemort's promise to spare Lily when he went to destroy Harry. Voldemort agreed. He is a villain, cruel and murderous, but he doesn't appear at any point to be an arbitrary liar. The "want" Dumbledore referred to was Lily alive, not necessarily Lily with Snape. Though Snape undoubtedly did want that, he knew there was no hope for it.

8th Sep 2016

Apocalypto (2006)

Question: Is Blunted Jaguar Paw's brother? Jaguar Paw refers to him as brother and it seems they are brothers, but Flint Sky does not refer to him as his son.

Chosen answer: They are extremely close friends. They regard their relationship as being as close as family.

Answer: Jaguar Paw calls him father just before his throat is cut.

He calls Flint Sky Father because we know that relationship by the time he is killed.

6th Sep 2016

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Question: Why is Darth Tyranus still going by the name Count Dooku? Later on, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine consider Anakin Skywalker to be a dead and completely separate person from Vader.

Answer: Because Dooku's status as a Sith was secret and his Dooku identity was still useful. Same as how Darth Sidious continued to use his Palpatine identity until he was publicly revealed as a Sith Lord.

Even Darth Sidious still goes by Emperor Palpatine. I took them considering Anakin to be dead as Anakin, the Jedi. Whereas Dooku had already left the order and Sidious never was a Jedi.

14th Jun 2016

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Question: At Whitecap bay, Barbossa says: "I cannot! Ever walk on the beach, look back, and see your footsteps in the sand? It's like that except the footsteps lie before me." Then a sailor says: "Footstep, actually." What does the sailor mean? How is that grammatically incorrect?

Answer: It isn't a grammatical correction. He's pointing out that Barbossa only has one foot.

14th Jun 2016

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Question: Why did Voldemort go to all the trouble of having Barty Jr. transform into Mad Eye etc. when he could have simply made anything into a port-key and arranged for Harry to touch it?

Chosen answer: Voldemort's intention was to return via the same portkey in front of the assembled crowd and make his return immediately known in a very public fashion. In order to do so, he needed to wait for the crowd to be assembled. Crouch's job was to ensure Harry got to the portkey first.

Answer: Voldemort had no intention of returning using the portkey. He wanted to kill Harry and have only about a dozen Death Eaters know of his return. Getting the prophecy would be simple as the Order wouldn't have been reassembled. Getting the giants on his side would be done without interference. Breaking others out of Azkaban would be next. He could do so much more without interference from the Order. Harry wasn't supposed to survive and thus warn Dumbledore.

14th Jun 2016

Chicago (2002)

Question: In 'Razzle Dazzle', Billy holds up a hand signal to the judge and he allows his objection. What is the hand signal?

Answer: The shots are actually unrelated. Billy objects, it is sustained, and the prosecuting attorney expresses outrage that he hasn't even asked a question to object to yet. This is meant to humorously demonstrate how effective Billy is as a defense attorney. Then we see Billy cross-examining a witness who claimed to have seen something. Billy holds up three fingers, Razzle Dazzle Billy switches the gesture to a thumb then back to the three fingers, and the witness is unable to state how many fingers Billy is holding up. This indicates her eyesight is poor and therefore her testimony untrustworthy. But the two displays are only related insofar as they occur during the same trial, otherwise they have nothing to do with one another.

30th May 2016

The Karate Kid (1984)

Question: Why did Freddy Fernandez stop being Daniel's friend after Johnny won the fight at the beach? It's not like Freddy Fernandez would have done any better, since he has no knowledge in karate.

Answer: Because any friend of Daniel's is likely to be an enemy of Johnny's. Simple matter of self-preservation.

Answer: Freddy's friends made fun of Freddy for befriending a loser like Daniel. After the fight, Freddy's friend says, "You sure pick cool people to be friends with, Freddy. Where did you find this guy?"

26th Apr 2016

Ghost Ship (2002)

Question: Why was Epps's dead crew involved in taking the gold onto the new ship? Wouldn't their souls have gone to Heaven when the ship sank?

Answer: No, they succumbed to their sins so their souls are eternally damned.

12th Apr 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Question: Why does Kylo Ren keep hitting the spot where Chewie shot him? Does he want it to hurt more or was it just so we could see the blood?

Answer: It's like when you rub your elbow vigorously after you bump it on something. He's hitting the wound to create physical stimulation other than the pain of having been shot, as a distraction from the pain.

Answer: Pain and anger fuels the Dark Side. The more pain he's in, the angrier he becomes, the more powerful he becomes. This is also why when Darth Vader was wounded on Mustafar; Sidious had him operated on awake; without anesthetics.

6th Apr 2016

Beetlejuice (1988)

Question: When Adam first steps out of the house and ends up on Saturn, he's only there for a few seconds in real time, but Barbara tells him he was gone for two hours. Yet towards the end of the movie when Beetlejuice banishes Barbara to Saturn, she's there for a considerably longer time (at least long enough to wrangle a sandworm and co-opt it) but ends up only being gone for a few minutes and manages to return to the house in time to stop Beetlejuice from marrying. Why is this? Since she was on Saturn longer than Adam's first time there, shouldn't she have been gone for longer than two Earth hours?

Chosen answer: Time flows differently on Saturn and in the afterlife than it does in the house. Not faster or slower, just differently. Ten minutes on Saturn could be hours, or months, or just seconds in the house. There is no connection or relationship between the passage of time in one place and the passage of time in another.

27th Feb 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Question: Why does Kylo Ren kidnap Rey? Was it because of how good she was with a lightsaber, or did he do it so Han Solo, Poe and Finn would come looking for her? It just seemed to me that the two of them were having a lightsaber battle, and then he decided to knock her out and take her hostage. Have only seen this movie recently so might have missed something.

Heather Benton ★

Chosen answer: She had seen the map that Ren is seeking the droid, BB-8, to acquire. He does not have BB-8, but he does have Rey. So he takes her to extract her memory of the map from her mind with the Force rather than continue spending time and resources attempting to acquire the droid.

4th Jan 2016

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Question: In both this film and The Desolation of Smaug. Legolas defies gravity in unbelievable and even comical ways. Is this a character trait, or just some ridiculous touch by the filmmakers?

Chosen answer: Elves are described in the books and shown in the LotR trilogy doing things that would not necessarily rule this behavior out, ridiculous as it looks. For instance, when the Fellowship is trudging through the snow on Caradhras, Legolas is briefly shown walking easily on top of the snow while every one else's feet are sinking into it.

10th Aug 2009

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Question: I'm sort of curious about why the Vader, the Emperor, and other Sith (in the other movies/books) refer to the dark side as the "dark" side. It sounds like a negative term. In Episodes II and III, both Dooku and Anakin seem to think that the dark side is the truth and the right thing to follow, so why would they call it "dark"? Even though the Emperor creates a lot of schemes and wants power, he probably doesn't think of himself as evil, so him calling his powers "dark" (in Episode VI) seems a little odd.

Answer: This question assumes the Sith would perceive the work "dark" to have evil connotations. If they do not see their own actions as being evil, they would also likely not associate darkness with evil. Darkness, shadow, and other metaphors for deception, concealment, and stealth would simply be useful tools for achieving their goals. These things would not be associated in the Sith's mind with either good or evil.

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