Question: Exactly what was Chozen doing that was cheating people?
Brian Katcher
24th Oct 2019
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
22nd Oct 2019
Ready Player One (2018)
Question: Why shut down their game system for only two days out of the week? Why not let it be on for only the weekends as they fix the world?
Answer: Why not shut off TV or the internet so we can can concentrate on real world problems in our own universe? The game system is pretty much the only source of entertainment and joy for most of the world's population, and the kids don't want to take it away.
Answer: Not to mention that kids use the OASIS to go to school.
7th Oct 2019
Knight Rider (1982)
Knight Rider [Pilot; a.k.a. Knight of the Phoenix] (1) - S1-E1
Question: At one point, after promising help, Michael parks, and goes to a pay phone to call Devon. As he gets to the booth, over his left shoulder, there is a badly altered Pepsi sign. Black tape has been put over the word 'PEPSI' in the familiar logo, and also over the "si" in the phrase 'say Pepsi please'. What type of mistake would this be?
Chosen answer: Before "product placement" became common, name-brand products were rarely, if ever seen in TV shows, mostly due to avoid advertising conflicts with program sponsors. The Pepsi logo may have been taped out to prevent any commercial infringements.
Are you kidding? Product placement was so rampant in the 50s that sometimes you'd wonder if you were watching a TV show or a paid ad.
Knight Rider wasn't produced in the 1950s. TV shows of that era had advertising more similar to the old radio shows from the 30s and 40s. The early 50s series often had a sole sponsor, so their product (and related items) was likely seen in a program. An announcer also informed the audience at the beginning that, "This program is brought to you by (insert brand name). " From the 60s on, brand-name products weren't generally seen in TV programs. Networks sold air time to multiple advertisers, and their ads were shown during the long commercial breaks. So no, I'm not kidding.
Answer: It wouldn't be a mistake. Anyone could have taped the sign for a number of reasons.
6th Oct 2019
The Goonies (1985)
20th Sep 2019
Three's Company (1977)
Question: In the second episode Chrissy's mother comes to visit. In future episodes her father comes to visit - who is an actual "father" (i.e. priest). Aren't priests forbidden to be married?
Answer: He's not a Catholic priest. He's a pastor, with the title Reverend, at a community church who chooses to wear a clerical collar. Some people still address pastors as "Father" though. I'm not sure of his religious denomination, but most pastors can marry.
Answer: Yes Pastors can marry... I was asking for Priests since his collar appears to be that of a Catholic descent.
Some protestant pastors wear the clerical collar as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_collar.
18th Sep 2019
General questions
There was a movie about a mad scientist who was trying to create a clone of his dead wife. He had a handsome young lab assistant. When the assistant's girlfriend falls into a coma after an accident, the scientist offers to clone her as well. The assistant declines, saying a clone wouldn't be the woman who fell in love with him; the girlfriend later recovers. The scientist realises he'll never be able to recreate the past and ends up marrying a much younger woman.
Answer: Sounds like the 1985 film "Creator", starring Peter O'Toole, although I can't be certain about the lab assistant and his girlfriend. But a young woman who agrees to donate her egg and the scientist fall in love. There's also the 2017 film called "Andover" where a scientist clones his dead wife, although that film has less in common with your description than the first.
Yep, 'Creator' was it. Thank you.
7th Sep 2019
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Question: Julie and her friend knew that they answered the question wrong for what is the Capital of Brazil, but won anyway. When they finally decide to talk about that glaring flaw being a setup it's more than 31 hours later while they are in the Bahamas. Why exactly did they not talk about that glaring flaw before leaving the USA?
Answer: They never knew they got the question wrong until they happened to look at that globe in the hotel.
Answer: Just because they took a geography class doesn't mean that they remembered a capital of a country they have no connection to.
1st Dec 2017
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Question: After Rory lights the guy on the bar on fire, why does he just casually hang around afterwards? The guy was there with friends.
Answer: The implication is it's a hard as nails boozer where no-one calls the cops no matter what. Rory is a well-known face and no-one would want to mess with him.
Answer: Would you want to mess with a guy who just casually lit someone on fire without batting an eye?
No, but I'd call the cops.
26th Aug 2019
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: Why did Clara go mental at Doc for saying he was from the future? He'd dropped a few hints! He'd told her he has an interest in science, he had a huge refrigerator in his building, he had another big thing covered up under a sheet, he said he read Jules Verne when he was a boy despite it only been recently published. Was she not even a little bit curious? Doc could have easily stopped her during her rant saying he can prove it but didn't.
Answer: Because she thought he didn't like her and was making a bizarre excuse to avoid her. Come on. 'I'm a man from the future, so we can't be together ' sounds like a pretty flimsy excuse.
13th Jun 2005
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Answer: I thought he was freaking out, realizing the picture was made of thousands of tiny dots (pointillism).
12th Aug 2019
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Question: What did Rooney mean when he told Grace to "go soak your head"?
Answer: It's an old insult, somewhat equivalent to 'buzz off'.
6th Aug 2019
King of the Hill (1997)
Question: The Monsignor Martinez - in addition to being a priest, is he supposed to be a vigilante? Or a mercenary?
Answer: I get the impression he's some sort of master criminal, though the specific details are left up to the viewer's imagination.
16th Jul 2019
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
Question: Why does Oliver Gates come up with ridiculous reasons for the people he defends whenever they commit murder? In the episode "Hate", Sean Webster was killing Muslims and Oliver claims that his hatred was genetic but, it was found out that Sean had been raised to hate Muslims after his dad left his mom and married a muslim. In the episode "Game" a guy is murdering people the exact same way that's done in a video game when it's clear the suspect is using the video game as a scapegoat for his crimes.
Answer: His clients are guilty and won't take a plea. He's using desperate defenses in hopes of swaying a juror or two. Also makes for better television. "Temporary insanity" isn't nearly as compelling as "the video games made me do it."
16th Jul 2019
Monk (2002)
Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece - S6-E14
Question: How come Monk's Painting of Natalie isn't shown for the rest of the scene?
Answer: It was apparently embarrassing and ridiculous, enough that Natalie tried to burn it. It's funnier if you let the viewer image what it looked like.
24th Jun 2019
Army of Darkness (1992)
Answer: Yes, I recall a college friend being shocked to see his textbook on screen.
2nd Jun 2019
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: When Adam and Barbara start to age and die near the end of the movie, I don't get how they didn't "die" again. How did they end up completely fine at the end?
Answer: Otho is attempting to exorcise them (remember how the afterlife janitor said exorcism was death for the dead), but Beetlejuice interrupted the ceremony, restoring them.
Answer: It's not completely clear what was happening to them but it's somewhere along the lines of the ritual making them corporeal or even partially resurrecting them but the ritual wasn't done properly so their bodies started to decay. Beetlejuice reversed that process and turned them back into ghosts.
28th May 2019
Office Space (1999)
Question: While recognizing that this film is entirely fictitious, how likely is it that an IT firm in 1999 would have allowed a former employee access to the premises after being laid off, never mind continue to send him a paycheck as with Milton Waddams? I myself was fired the following year and got the walk of shame treatment ("you have 5 minutes to clear your desk - the taxi's waiting outside") which at the time already seemed pretty standard.
Answer: They never told Milton he was fired, they just cruelly cut off his paycheck, figuring he'd eventually get fed up and leave (he'd actually been laid off years ago, but a payroll glitch kept him getting a paycheck). The management is hoping if they're cruel enough, he'll stop showing up.
This is actually the reverse of what happened. The glitch caused him to continue to receive a paycheck, even though he'd been laid off. The "Bobs" corrected the glitch, so he would no longer receive a paycheck. In an effort to avoid confrontation, they chose not to say anything to him, hoping he'd realise it and leave on his own.
Answer: Simply because he is basically invisible to them. Anyone can walk into that place, no guard outside, no key-card required. Nobody cared. At least you got a taxi.
Exactly. These things can happen. It depends on the place and how they operate. As recently as January 2024, I read about one young woman who went into a Kroger grocery store and worked for six hours, as an experiment. She has also done this at Target and Walmart. She wears clothes that look like a real employee's.
25th May 2019
Shrek 2 (2004)
24th May 2019
Robin Hood (1973)
Question: Sir Hiss is secretly tasked with looking for Robin Hood, and hides in a balloon. Wouldn't he sufficate if the balloon was inflated?
Answer: Yes. He also wouldn't float. But it's a cartoon about a talking fox, so don't worry too much about realism.
19th May 2019
Aladdin (1992)
Question: Two questions. 1) Why does the Sultan pick on Iago all the time - force feeding him stale crackers and when he's on the magic carpet, chasing after him? 2) Why is the Sultan so rough with the magic carpet? When he goes for a ride on it after Aladdin shows up at the palace as Prince Ali, he rides it around the palace in such a reckless manner that when he's finished, the carpet can barely walk.
Answer: Iago to him is just a parrot, not a sentient being like we know. He genuinely thinks Iago likes the cookies. The magic carpet is the one being rough, being in control since he is just giving the Sultan a thrill ride. It's trying to make a good impression for Aladdin by giving the Sultan a great time.
Answer: The Sultan is a goofy, clumsy guy who doesn't realise he's being rough.
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Answer: He's using wooden weights, so the goods he buys will register less than their actual weight and he'll pay less than he actually owes.
Brian Katcher