Question: In the first timeline ending, Russell (Firefist) is not convinced or changed by Deadpool's pleading; in fact, he casts Deadpool aside. Cable then lunges for the semi-auto handgun and takes his last shot, which is intercepted by Deadpool in his left chest (a fatal wound). Seemingly, the only thing that really changed Russell's mind was Deadpool's actual death scene, as Deadpool rambled on with his farewells and gradually faded away. But, in the alternate ending, Cable goes back in time a few minutes and uses an arcade token to stop the bullet that killed Deadpool; thus, Deadpool doesn't die from the gunshot and Russell doesn't react to Deadpool's farewells (that never happened). So, what event changed Russell's mind the second time, if not Deadpool's actual death?
Charles Austin Miller
28th Aug 2018
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Answer: In science fiction there are two different ideas regarding time travel. In one, the timeline is fixed, so a person who goes back in time does what already happened in their own past, like in The Time Traveler's Wife - however, this is where the grandfather paradox comes in. The other theory as express in the Back to the Future series is the past can be changed and in so doing change the future for the person who changed it. Deadpool 2 follows the second concept, so Firefist doesn't need any motivation to go back the second time and in fact doesn't go back a second time since the timeline is already corrected and that doesn't present a contradiction.
It presents the contradiction that Deadpool's actual death broke Firefist's cold heart the first time; but the second time Deadpool doesn't die, so Firefist should have no change of heart.
"Except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell." Yes, but there's a huge difference between risking your life to save someone and directly sacrificing yourself. Doing something that could get you killed and doing something that will definitely get you killed are entirely different. You may not agree with the change of heart, but that's how it's presented.
Answer: The Firefist the second time around is the one from the first who jumped back in time retaining those memories, and therefore remembers the events from the first time, just like he remembers to place the token to stop the bullet and remembers that he used the device a second time. He doesn't need to experience the death twice to have the change of heart remain.
20th Aug 2018
The Final Countdown (1980)
Trivia: For the memorable confrontation between two Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes and two American F-14 Tomcats, a trial flyby was close enough that powerful air turbulence from the passing jets violently threw both Zeroes out of control for a few seconds, like toys. The lead Zero pilot even lost his wristwatch and communications headset, which were vacuumed out of the open canopy. Out of radio contact for several seconds, the condition of the Zero pilots was unknown. Camera angles and distances between all the aircraft were modified so as not to further endanger the Zeroes for the final take as seen in the film.
18th Aug 2018
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Continuity mistake: When Deadpool and Cable confront Russell (Firefist) near the end, Cable glances to his right and says: "There's one bullet left in that gun!" We see a closeup of the semi-automatic several feet away, and the handgun is elevated above ground level, resting on a slab of concrete with a bit of flame burning just inches away. Moments later, as Deadpool pleads with Russell, Cable again glances at the gun, which is now lying in the dirt, below the level of the nearest concrete slab.
18th Aug 2018
Silent Running (1972)
Trivia: The interior shots of the American Airlines Space Freighter "Valley Forge" were actually filmed aboard the Korean-War-era aircraft carrier "USS Valley Forge" (LPH-8) at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California. After filming was completed, the decommissioned aircraft carrier "Valley Forge" was scrapped.
14th Aug 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Trivia: Early in the film, as the Salt and Son theatrical troupe performs their stage version of Munchausen's adventures, the Baron is eaten by a giant fish; two mermaids immediately enter stage-left and sing a mournful ditty modestly accompanied by the pit orchestra: "What will become of the Baron? Surely this time there is no escape!" To those with sharp ears, this ditty is the same tune as the soaring, symphonic Baron Munchausen theme music featured throughout the movie.
12th Aug 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Deliberate mistake: Baron Munchausen sends his courier, Berthold, on a one-hour errand to procure a bottle of the finest Tokay from the imperial wine cellars in Vienna. Berthold returns with the bottle within the hour and (in one continuous wide shot) hands the bottle to Baron Munchausen, who then hands it to the Sultan, who effortlessly plucks the cork from the bottle with his fingertips and pours a glass for himself. But there is no way the Sultan could simply pluck out the cork with his fingertips in one move; this extremely valuable bottle of wine is visibly sealed (in every shot) with a thick, air-tight red wax. This wax must first be cut and peeled away to access the deeply-embedded cork, and the cork must then be removed with a wine key (corkscrew). The action of properly opening the bottle would have required more time than the entire scene itself; so, to expedite the flow of the shot, director Terry Gilliam deliberately chose to forego a proper uncorking.
Suggested correction: You're ignoring the fact that the entire scene is a story the real Munchausen is telling from memory. There are many fantastic elements that do not hold with reality, like him riding his horse out of the window, falling several stories, and landing safety, or Adolphus being able to see and shoot to the other side of the world. The bottle is simply an example of Munchausen not adhering to reality.
In any event, the Sultan's effortless uncorking of the bottle was a deliberate mistake intended to allow a whole series of actions to occur sequentially in the single wide shot in less than 5 seconds.
Yet, at the end, Sally addresses Baron Munchausen directly and asks him the question that the audience has been wondering throughout the whole movie: "It wasn't just a story, was it?" The Baron solemnly shakes his head, affirming that he was telling the truth all along, regardless of how fantastic it sounded. This point is often missed by the movie's critics.
The point I raised wasn't that the Baron's story wasn't true, but rather that he embellished it.
6th Aug 2018
Places In The Heart (1984)
Trivia: Actress Sally Field is yet remembered and sometimes mocked for her 1985 Academy Award speech that included the gushing line: "You like me! You really like me!" Problem is, that's a misquote, she didn't say that line. When accepting the Best Actress Oscar for "Places in the Heart," Sally Field actually said: "I can't deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me." So why does everyone remember the misquote? It's because Jim Carrey satirized Sally Field's award speech for his 1994 movie, "The Mask," in which he originated the misquote: "You like me! You really like me!"
27th Jul 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Question: When Baron Munchausen and his cohorts clean out the Sultan's vault, the Sultan's horrified Treasurer crosses himself in the Catholic fashion. But, in this film, the Sultan is head of the Ottoman Empire (a Muslim empire), and the closest members of his court (such as his Treasurer) would surely be Muslim. So the treasurer's Christian gesture stands out as unlikely, at best. This seems to be a character error, but was it intended as a deliberate joke? If so, what was the joke?
Answer: The Baron is a teller of tall tales and massively exaggerated stories, so it is all from his limited point of view. The Ottomans did have Christian members of staff, especially doctors and such but the treasurer would never be a non-Muslim.
22nd Jul 2018
The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
Trivia: In this live BBC remake of the 1955 film, Jason Flemyng starred as Bernard Quatermass, and David Tennant starred as Gordon Briscoe. During rehearsals, the cast and crew learned that Tennant had been selected for the coveted role of the upcoming Tenth Doctor Who (the public would not learn of Tennant's official Doctor Who selection until weeks after the Quatermass broadcast). During the live television performance of "The Quatermass Experiment," when Jason Flemyng and David Tennant first share dialogue, Flemyng was supposed to deliver the scripted greeting: "Good to have you back, Gordon!" However, Flemyng ad-libbed: "Good to have you back, Doctor!" This was a deliberate inside-congratulation to David Tennant for winning the Doctor Who role.
21st Jul 2018
The Wave (2015)
Factual error: Although this 2015 Norwegian disaster film is far superior to the many American disaster movies that it emulates, "The Wave" still suffers the most common error found in tsunami-themed disaster flicks: Crystal-clear flood waters. Of course, tsunami flood waters in particular are always inky-black with churning sediment and debris.
19th Jul 2018
Blue Velvet (1986)
Question: At the end, when Jefferey shoots Frank in the forehead, the film editing becomes confusing, with two different closeup shots of Frank immediately after the gunfire. One shot is obviously Dennis Hopper with a wide-eyed and shocked expression (as well a hole in his head) as he falls backwards. But the following split-second closeup shot is apparently not Dennis Hopper: He now has what looks like facial hair, a sullen expression, larger brow and eyes that seem almost swollen shut (and he's still falling backwards). This second cut looks like a rubber mask or very, very different makeup from that which Dennis Hopper was wearing just a fraction of a second before. The appearance is so different that I wonder if David Lynch was ever asked to explain the continuity error?
16th Jul 2018
Planet 51 (2009)
Factual error: The lead song, "Lollipop," wasn't written until 1958, seven years beyond the chronological order of the movie.
16th Jul 2018
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Continuity mistake: Frederick Frankenstein only throws two darts through the window. But there are 9 darts in the car tires outside.
16th Jul 2018
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Question: Why attempt Russian accents in a film that is purely Russian? The star, Harrison Ford, doesn't even pretend to be Russian. Why should anyone else?
Answer: Harrison Ford does attempt a Russian accent in this film. It's a very slight, very bad attempt but he's definitely trying. Audiences come to expect accents in films such as these for a heightened sense of immersion. Hearing American accents from supposedly Russian characters can sometimes be jarring to an audience, even if the characters are speaking English. This of course isn't always the case and plenty of films have actors speaking in their natural accents while they are playing foreign characters. The director of this film chose to have his actors speak with Russian accents, with extremely poor results pretty much all around.
14th Jul 2018
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Trivia: One perceived problem with George Lazenby as James Bond was that he did not exude the same self-confident charm and humor as Sean Connery's James Bond (who always quipped some memorable and comedic sound bite, particularly after killing a villain). Lazenby's humor-deficiency was acknowledged during production of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"; toward rectifying this apparent lack of humor, Lazenby was allowed to do something no other James Bond ever did: Addressing the viewing audience with the line, "This never happened to the other fellow," which was a direct in-joke reference to his predecessor, Sean Connery.
13th Jul 2018
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Deliberate mistake: Blofeld doesn't recognize James Bond in this film, even though they met face-to-face in the previous movie, "You Only Live Twice." There is a production-related reason for this. Ian Fleming wrote "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1963 (in which Bond and Blofeld met for the first time), and he wrote "You Only Live Twice" in 1964. However, "You Only Live Twice" was adapted for film first (in 1967), and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was adapted afterward (in 1969). Because the 1969 film was so faithful to its source material, Blofeld and Bond are basically meeting for the first time... again. The producers were aware of this continuity problem and intended to have James Bond undergo plastic surgery for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (which would conveniently explain Blofeld not recognizing him, as well as the fact that Sean Connery had been replaced by George Lazenby in the lead role). But the plastic surgery idea was discarded in faithfulness to the novel, resulting in a glaring continuity problem between the 1967 and 1969 films.
13th Jul 2018
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Trivia: Although Australian George Lazenby received mixed critical reception for his portrayal of James Bond in 1969, producer Albert R. Broccoli was so impressed with the actor that he offered Lazenby a contract to star in the next seven (7) James Bond films. If Lazenby had accepted the contract, it would have erased Sean Connery's return in 1970 and Roger Moore's participation in James Bond film history through the year 1983. As it happened, Lazenby's agent poorly advised him that the James Bond franchise would never survive the 1970s, so Lazenby turned down Broccoli's extraordinary contract offer.
13th Jul 2018
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Trivia: Unlike other James Bond movies, this film is the most faithful adaptation of any James Bond novel. Everything that happens in Ian Fleming's 1963 novel, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," is included in this film.
11th Jul 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Trivia: Despite being nominated for 4 Academy Awards (and despite its decades-long cult following), this film was a box-office disaster upon its release, grossing only $8 million against a reported production cost of $46 million. Director Terry Gilliam denied the film cost anywhere near $40 million, and other reports place the total cost at around $35 million. But, even with this more conservative estimate, Gilliam went far beyond his initial budget of $25 million.
11th Jul 2018
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Trivia: This film was actually the third installment in director Terry Gilliam's "Trilogy of Imagination," all dealing with fantasy escapism at different ages in life. The first film of the trilogy was 1981's "Time Bandits," a surreal fantasy seen through the eyes of a child; the second film was 1985's "Brazil," another surreal fantasy seen through the eyes of a middle-aged man; 1988's "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" was yet another surreal fantasy seen through the eyes of an elderly gentleman.
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Answer: His change of heart came from Deadpool's sacrifice. In the second timeline, Cable saves Deadpool, but Deadpool had no way of knowing. Firefist still has a change of heart because Deadpool was willing to sacrifice himself, even though he was ultimately saved by someone else.
Now, I can accept that in theory, except that Russell repeatedly saw Deadpool putting his ass on the line to rescue Russell. I mean, Russell knew from the very beginning that Deadpool could have killed him (but chose not to) and took some severe ass-beatings on Russell's behalf. Russell was really, really hard-boiled, and I'm not seeing that Deadpool almost getting killed as enough impetus to change Russell's heart. It seems (to me, anyway) it was Deadpool's actual death that changed Russell, such that a mere deflected bullet would not have the same effect.
Charles Austin Miller
Deadpool often mentioned "lazy writing" and Russell having such a change of heart might be an example of it.
Erik M.
Deadpool saving Russell in the film is what made Russell think that they were friends. When Deadpool tells Russell that they aren't friends, he remains hostile toward Deadpool, not believing him when he later admits to caring for Russell. At this point Russell is too far gone and will kill. However, it's only when Deadpool takes a bullet for Russell, fully intending to die in both timelines, that Russell sees that Deadpool really does care about him, and would have died to save him.