Question: Doc seemed hell-bent on destroying the DeLorean. So why did he go to the future and get a hover conversion done on the train? Why didn't he just build the train, return to his own time and then destroy the train?
jshy7979
12th Aug 2021
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Answer: He didn't return to the Old West, both of them had a desire to go to the final frontier. Their favorite author is Jules Verne, who wrote "From Earth to the Moon."
This is pure speculation, as there is nothing in the movie to support this.
Answer: Doc was happy living in the Old West but returned to the future to collect his dog, Einstein, and he didn't want Marty to worry about him. He probably also wanted to make sure that Marty had made it safely back to his own time, to properly say goodbye, and make sure the DeLorean was never used again. He never indicated he would destroy the train, only the DeLorean. The hover conversion on the train would have been done in the Old West, not in the future.
I doubt he was able to make the train hover in the old west, whilst he could easily go to the future with it and do it there, like he did with the DeLorean. He did say he has been to the future with it, so it's logical to assume that's where he upgraded it.
Doc never says he went further into the future with the train or did the hover conversion there. If he could build a time-traveling locomotive in the 1880s, then he could create a hovering one, as he had the knowledge. Marty asks if he's going back to the future, and Doc says no because he's already been there. That could be interpreted a number of ways. It's a sci-fi movie, and there is a lot of suspension of disbelief employed here.
While the movie isn't explicit about when or where the Time Train was built, other sources do indicate its hoverconversion was done in the future. While Doc could invent a machine that was capable of time travel (the mechanics of which aren't really discussed), he had to travel to the future to convert the DeLorean and couldn't even fix the DeLorean in the past.
What 'other sources' indicate Doc travelled to the future for the hover conversion? Any fan speculation is invalid. I also don't get the argument. While Doc was unable to fix the DeLorean when Marty was in the Old West, he could, and did, in later years, build the time-travel train in the past. He could not otherwise have gone anywhere into the future to do anything. Time-travelling without the hover ability would be extremely difficult as a locomotive would be noticeable and require taking off and landing on empty train tracks. Doc would have to hide the locomotive while converting it. He would also have to know before time-travelling that the railroad tracks he took off on still existed in the future, as he could possibly arrive smashing into what became an urban development. This should be considered as both a deliberate plot hole and a plot device using "suspension of disbelief" solely intended to give the series a spectacular finale.
The comics reveal that Doc Brown traveled to 2017 in a prototype time machine and purchased materials which he brought back with him to the 1890s to use on the Time Train.
26th Mar 2018
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: Doc is a scientist right? The DeLorean had a ruptured fuel line and needed gas which, as Doc pointed out, was unavailable at the time. Surely he knew how to distill booze to make ethanol? (There was plenty of whiskey around at the time). I mean, they've used it to power cars in Mexico for ages. Why didn't Doc suggest this?
Answer: They did try it. Doc ran the engine with the strongest thing the bartender could find them and it blew out the engine. It takes all the power a heavy car like a DeLorean has to get up to 88 MPH. It wouldn't be able to get that much power running on ethanol, in addition to the damage caused to the engine.
Answer: Putting to the side for a second the possibility that he either did not know how to do this, or simply didn't think of it... a quick Google search says that the entire process to produce ethanol would take about a week. They had about 3 days because they were trying to leave before Doc got killed.
1st Sep 2020
Face/Off (1997)
Question: Why wasn't Castor Troy cuffed to the bed and watched by several agents? And how did he know which agents knew of the switch and thus kill only them?
Answer: It's possible the doctors did not expect him to wake up (at least so soon). Also, when Castor woke up, there were no doctors around, but he was watching a video of the procedure. So, even though we don't see it on screen, maybe somewhere in the video he saw the head doctor and the other two coordinating everything before the part we see him watching. A valid set of questions here, though, is: why would a doctor film all this and then leave the tape around, and how did Castor know where to find it?
Answer: For the first question, in the chance that he did wake up (which he did). He's a very dangerous man in a coma and could wake up and escape if not watched or cuffed. Second question, he would have watched the video seen when the doctor comes in and saw which agents were there, as well as would have tortured the information out of the doctor about it.
Good answer to the second question, but the first one asked why Troy WASN'T watched and cuffed. In the film, he wakes up alone and unrestrained.
The medical staff thought that Castor Troy was so far into his coma that he wouldn't wake up, as made apparent when the agent put her cigarette out on his arm. They were not expecting him to wake up.
28th Apr 2017
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Question: When Saul is dressing up in front of the mirror for the final night, he collapses on the bed. Rusty, who's watching the scene, doesn't seem too bothered about it. Was Saul simply rehearsing his part, including the fainting, or did Rusty have enough confidence in him to believe he would not fail even if he felt ill?
Chosen answer: Rusty is aware that Saul is just rehearsing. He knows Saul well enough to be able to tell if he was really having a medical episode.
I see this a little differently. When Saul struggles to stand, I think it's real; he's having trouble. Rusty notices, but they have to keep moving. From a filmmaking standpoint, this moment is meant to make the audience wonder if Saul is having an episode, helping build tension in the security room scene later. While his struggle is real when getting dressed, it serves as misdirection, making us think the heist is falling apart when it's actually going perfectly to plan.
8th Aug 2012
Con Air (1997)
Question: Why did Poe get back onto the plane when it left Carson city? I know he stayed on after the first stop cause Cyrus wouldn't let Baby-o off and Poe needed to get him his insulin shot. But he got his shot in Carson city and Poe had no reason to get back on (seemed even more ludicrous after he tied the plane up.but anyway).
Chosen answer: Poe is an ex-Ranger, and he wants to stop the criminals. Also he wanted to save the cops inside the airplane.
Answer: You almost have it right, with one exception. Poe does not get the insulin to Baby O in Carson City. It is not until they reach their second stop at Lerner Airfield when he gets the first aid kit. He rushes the first aid kit back on board and is able to give him the shot, but at this point, the plane is already taking off.
30th Mar 2009
Con Air (1997)
Question: What is the actual likelihood that a decorated serviceman, with no prior criminal record (we know this because if Poe had any priors he wouldn't have been in the Army) would actually get prison time for killing two men who attacked himself and his girlfriend? Seeing as there were witnesses (said girlfriend and bartender) I find it hard to believe he would have gotten more than an extended period of probation. A prison term, even a year or two, seems severely harsh considering the circumstances.
Chosen answer: Zero. As you said, he was attacked and there are witnesses that he tried to avoid the fight and the killings were in self-defense. It is an extremely weak plot hammer to get Poe onto a plane full of criminals. It's foolish as well. The writers could have had Poe framed for a crime then exonerated and put in the same situation much more believably.
It's in Alabama. People are put in prison here for much less.
First, Poe is a federal prisoner, not subject to State laws or legal procedures. Secondly, he is not in Alabama. During a conversation with Billy Bedlam we hear that he is incarcerated in the "Q" - prison slang for San Quentin in California. It makes you wonder why a Federal prisoner is in a State prison, but that's another type of mistake.
He was incarcerated in San Quentin, but the incident in which he was arrested happened in Alabama.
Would it really be considered self-defense, though? After he beat the guys to the ground he could have just stopped and walked away, but he didn't. He kept beating them until they died.
He is defending his wife against two armed assailants, and use of lethal force is allowable. No DA in the United States would even think about pressing charges, knowing full well a grand jury would throw them out in a second.
This is not at all how it happened. Two of the assailants survived; we see them get up and run away. Cameron killed only one person, unintentionally, accidentally killing him with a lethal blow under the chin.
15th May 2022
Seven (1995)
Question: When Mills and Somerset are investigating John Doe's apartment Somerset comes across the hand of the Sloth victim in a jar. I'm wondering how exactly John Doe was able to use that hand to place fingerprints on the wall behind the painting. He either cut it off recently, or cut it off a year ago and kept it until he needed it. The second is highly unlikely, but even if the first case is true, is that hand capable of giving clean, traceable fingerprints? Because the hand is decayed pretty badly.
Answer: We don't know that John Doe left the fingerprints at the same time as he murdered the Greed victim. He's put a lot of work into each killing, and has meticulously planned each victim and detail, so it's possible he left the fingerprints behind the painting long ago, when the Sloth victim's hand was still, for lack of a better word, fresh.
But long before he killed the greed guy? That doesn't make sense.
2nd Jan 2005
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Question: I may have missed this, but why does Frank tear the labels off bottles?
Answer: He was taking the labels off the bottles to make fake checks, using the logos as this is the one thing that he could not create on the checks. The MICR printer was only used to print the routing and account numbers and the emboss the checks.
This is incorrect. Frank exclusively makes Pan Am checks until his arrest in France. A logo from a ketchup bottle or peanut butter jar would be far too large for a check. Instead, as shown, Carl examines Frank's wallet, which is filled with labels taken from various items—supporting the more accurate explanation provided in the other answer.
Answer: He does it so he will have things in his wallet. As he has no identity of his own and steals or creates others, filling his wallet with labels is fulfilling a subconscious desire to be normal and have an identity.
28th Jun 2016
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Question: After Frank is essentially forced to abandon Brenda in order to avoid not getting caught at the airport he resumes his farce as a pilot and recruits young women as his accompanying stewardesses. Roughly how long does this thing with the stewardesses possibly last? Did he really risk to include them in his "trip" around the world to various countries to continue his fraud because obviously he abandoned them at some point and ended up in France where he was caught.
Answer: It lasts several months. The stewardesses were juniors and seniors from the University of Arizona, whom he fake-recruited for a PR project for Pan-Am (they were not supposed to be real stewardesses, but dress like them and be photographed in various European capitols). Frank was frequently being asked where his "crew" was, so he thought it would lend him credibility.
This is inaccurate. When he leaves Brenda, he calls the university immediately and says that he will be stopping by the next morning, and we see that they return to Miami International Airport. So, it was definitely not the University of Arizona. And I don't recall anyone asking Frank where his crew was; the question he got was what kind of equipment he was on. As far as the ladies are concerned, he likely left them right there in Miami. Much easier to keep a low profile on his own.
30th May 2023
Snatch (2000)
Question: Why exactly does Brick Top hate Tommy so much? What does he have against him? Is it because Tommy reminds Brick Top of someone from his past who he found annoying and insufferable? Or did Brick Top straight up not like Tommy from the start? I've seen this film many times and I've never been able to figure out why this is the case.
Answer: He doesn't really view Tommy as a man, which is why he kept making cracks about Tommy being a girl. He sees Tommy as a lackey, maybe Turkish's sidekick at best, and so he insults him. Nothing Tommy has to say will mean anything to Brick Top, as Brick Top is dealing with Turkish. So whenever Tommy opens his mouth, Brick Top doesn't want to hear it.
30th Jul 2013
Minority Report (2002)
Question: There is a huge question for me. Is the vision of Leo Crow vs. Anderton the vision of what effectively happens (Leo Crow pushes the gun into the hand of Anderton who doesn't want to kill him) or the vision of the homicide WANTED by Anderton (that in the reality changes his idea)? My opinion is that the first answer is correct, because in the vision we see Crow that says to Anderton "Wait!" because he wants to be killed by him. So, if my opinion is correct, Anderton does NOT change the vision?
Chosen answer: Correct, Anderton does not change the vision. The movie is named after what you've just described: the minority report. Agatha always sees the true future, the other two precogs usually see the same as her but sometimes they only see a possible future instead. When Agatha's predictions conflict with theirs, her vision is termed a "minority report" and is disregarded. Anderton was never actually going to kill Crow, it was only ever merely a possibility.
I don't think there is ever a "true future", as in Agatha's own words to John - "You can still choose! You have a choice!" Even the final red ball, Lamar chose to go against the precogs' prevision, which was something that the 3 precogs agreed on. Therefore, a "true future" can be broken and does not exist.
Adding to that, the precog vision of Anderton killing Crow I totally different from what actually happened. In the vision Anderton says to Crow "Goodbye Crow" and shoots him from a distance, which he didn't do at the actual event. So the precog knowledge Anderton has definitely changed the future. He already decided not to kill Crow, but Crow died anyway.
I might disagree with the idea that Anderton was never going to kill Crow. He hacks into Agatha searching for his minority report, and even asks her straight out if he has one, which she tells him he does not. When he is in the hotel room, he confirms that he indeed intends to kill Crow, but Agatha begs him to choose otherwise. Which he eventually does, as does Lamar, proving that precrime is not a perfect system and leads to it being shut down.
14th Oct 2010
Minority Report (2002)
Question: In the virtual reality bar, a man comes up to the operator with a request. On television I've seen this line as, "I want to kill my boss." But I remember the line being much less family friendly in the theater. Was this line changed since the move left theaters, or am I mistaken?
Answer: You are not mistaken. Movie scenes are filmed multiple times, often with small changes to the dialogue, actors reacting differently, and so on, to see which one works best. However, some more adult scenes that are appropriate for a movie theater or certain cable channels are also filmed with a more family-friendly version that can be edited into the film for later TV viewings. This eliminates having to "bleep" out offensive words, dubbing in non-offensive words, which sounds unnatural, or otherwise chopping up or cutting scenes entirely due to nudity. This method is less distracting and makes for better viewing. A good example is the TV series, "Sex and the City." The show actually filmed many racier scenes in two versions, one for the very adult-oriented HBO, and also tamer scenes that eliminated all nudity and offensive dialogue for later syndication to general cable channels while keeping the overall content intact.
While I completely agree that this has happened repeatedly in many movies, this question is asking if it had happened in this particular movie with this particular scene. Which, according to my memory of seeing it in the theater, there was no change to this scene.
Answer: I believe you are mistaken. I've checked the DVD and the guy says, "I want to kill my boss." Rufus Riley (the owner of the bar) looks taken aback for a second. Given that Rufus had just been talking about people using the bar for sex (and shown someone in a pod doing that), he'd likely not be surprised by someone saying they wanted to use it for sex. But saying they wanted to kill a specific person might give him reason to pause.
25th Feb 2004
Minority Report (2002)
Question: When Anderton, after his eye surgery, has his dream about the day he lost his son, look carefully at the people shown at poolside after Anderton discovers that his son is gone. For about a second, the camera follows a suspicious-looking man wearing a fairly wide-brimmed hat, and a towel around his shoulders. While we see this man, the video suddenly becomes "choppy," as though something significant were happening. The camera also zooms in toward his face. This all happens in about one second. Are we to assume that this is the man responsible for kidnapping Anderton's son?
Answer: In my opinion, no. I do see what you are referring to, but this has been shot and edited in a manner to give the entire sequence a dreamlike effect. There is nothing in this scene (or in the entire movie, really) that gives any clues to Sean's fate, which is left intentionally ambiguous.
1st Jan 2023
Made (2001)
19th May 2005
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Question: What is that gun thing that is pushed into the guy's neck after he says "I thought this was a currency exchange?" Is the guy dead or just knocked out?
Answer: Knocked out. It was a hand held tranquilizer gun like most vets use on animals to put them to sleep.
Answer: I've always wondered this and I don't think you're going to find a good answer. I know everyone is saying it was a tranquilizer. But tranquilizers wear off and if one of those people they gave an injection to regained consciousness it could be a big problem for them. eg. The cops in the subway. That's why I think it was probably a fatal injection of something.
It's not a fatal injection. Remember, Simon says, "I'm a soldier, not a monster." And earlier, one of the henchmen yelled at Otto, "No shooting." Simon doesn't intend to kill anyone (though later he changes his mind when he's ready to blow up the ship). The only people who killed anyone were Otto, Katya, and McClane.
I'm pretty sure the bombing at the beginning of the movie killed people. Plus, the bomb in the subway would have killed a whole bunch of people. Saying Simon doesn't intend to kill anyone is quite naive.
My opinion is it was not a fatal injection. They seem to be strangling and killing the guards in that scene; they could have easily done the same to the manager as well. My thinking is Simon deemed there was no need to kill the manager, so he simply knocked him out and likely tied him up.
19th Jul 2017
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Question: I always wondered about this. As a cop, McClane knew about weapons. While handing over the machine gun to Zeus, he explained how it worked. But he did not tell Zeus to switch the safety catch off. How on earth could McClane forget to tell something crucial like that? Zeus isn't even pissed about it later on, while it could have cost him his life.
Answer: And Zeus mentions about brothers knowing how to shoot guns.
He said it was racist to assume that brothers know how to shoot guns. He admitted he didn't know how to use that model.
Chosen answer: A simple omission, in the heat of the moment he forgot to mention it. He may have thought, since he just took the gun off an enemy, that the safety was already off.
McClane probably did that intentionally as Zeus didn't know much about guns. In fact, you hear McClane say "Don't be a hero, you find him, you come get me."
Of all the possible answers, this is definitely not the one. There's no way he handed him the gun and then purposely did not tell him that the safety was engaged. There would be no point in that.
24th Sep 2013
Shutter Island (2010)
Question: The woman that writes "run" on Teddy's note pad, was Ben Kingsly trusting this "crazy woman" not to tell Teddy or even let it slip that the whole thing was set up for him? Same question goes for every other crazy person in the institute that Teddy speaks to.
Answer: Teddy belonged in Ward C. He would have never met any of the patients.
Chosen answer: The other patients were not let in on the arrangements. They would have had no reason to suspect that anything at all had been set up for Teddy. As far as they're concerned, if they're cognizant enough to be concerned at all, Teddy's just another crazy guy acting as crazy as all the rest of them.
Answer: I think Mrs Kearns is in on it. We see her get a little flustered when she is asked about the doctor, who we find out later is sitting right there. Also, she gets uncomfortable when Teddy brings up Andrew Laeddis. She even tries to warn Teddy. I just discovered this recently when watching with the subtitles, but when Teddy comes back from the cave, Mrs Kearns can be heard saying "I can't remember what I'm supposed to remember", likely referring to the script she was supposed to stick to.
15th Jan 2022
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Question: How is Libby able to be out in the prison yard without wearing her prison uniform shirt and instead wearing a dark green tank top? This allowed in prison or what?
Answer: At that point she has been imprisoned for a few years. She had likely set up a good rapport with the guards over the years. She was likely on her best behavior, knowing that would be considered when her parole hearing came. Prisoners on good behavior are often afforded certain instances where some rules can be bended, which would be up to the discretion of the guards. Exercising was a routine for her that went on for years. If she wanted to run in a tank top, I'm sure that was of very little concern to the guards after a while.
2nd Jun 2022
The Majestic (2001)
Question: Several people from Lawson eventually realise the truth that Peter isn't really Luke. Bob knew from the beginning. Adele suspected that Peter wasn't really Luke and Emmet knew because Luke loved classical music. Since they knew that Peter wasn't really Luke, why didn't they tell people the truth? For that matter, why didn't they tell Peter the truth? Why did they let him continue thinking he is Luke?
Answer: Emmett was the only person that knew for sure. And he answers your question in the movie. "The town needed you to be Luke." He knew, but he did not want to rain on everyone's joy. Adele also eludes to the fact that she was pretty much fooling herself because she wanted to believe it. Bob also kept quiet for a similar reason to Emmett. He did not want to take away from the town's joy. Especially after so much loss and heartbreak everyone had been through. He was willing to put his dislike for Peter to the side for the time being.
Answer: The towns people felt sorry for Luke, He was widowed and had only one child. You 've seen the images on the news today, of entire families breaking down and crying when the sons, brothers, fathers and husbands returning from active duty. They wanted Luke to have some happiness in his life after so much sorrow.
29th Apr 2022
The Majestic (2001)
Question: How is it that everybody except Bob mistook Peter for Luke? Luke was well-known by the whole town so it seems kind of strange that they would mistake a complete stranger with amnesia for someone they've actually known for a long time.
Answer: The father showed a picture of Luke. Peter and Luke were identical twins.
I'm hoping that this answer is implying that Peter and Luke are spitting images, and not actual identical twins, as there is no relation between the two men. Adele had her theories that Peter was not Luke, and Emmett stated that he knew at the reunion party. The town is fooled for a couple of reasons, mainly because he looks just like him. But also because they wanted to believe it was him. The town had suffered a lot of heartbreak after the war, and this was some good news, while it lasted.
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Answer: Quite a bit of time has passed for Doc since Marty went back to the future; he and Clara are married and have two children who look between six and ten years old. Plenty of time for him to change his mind and decide he likes the time traveling life with his family.