Question: Near the beginning, Holmes tells Watson not to shoot Lord Blackwood because there is a piece of glass between Holmes and Watson, and Lord Blackwood. But Holmes breaks the glass easily. So why did Holmes tell Watson not to shoot?
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Question: Can someone explain the subplot with the Margaritaville and Stan going to a bunch of places trying to return it? It's really confusing. And this sounds stupid, but in a recession, wouldn't spending money be bad?
Answer: Essentially Stan was trying to return the blender that his dad, Randy, had bought because he knew his parents couldn't afford the extra debt. The blender, which represented mortgage-backed securities, had been bought on payment plan, meaning Randy had to make monthly payments, with interest, on something that wasn't essential. The episode represented the recession that was occurring at the time, including the housing bubble and mortgage crisis going on, so there's a lot going on. However, the payment plan (which is to say the debt) had been sold to another company by the store that sold Randy the blender. (To explain why, because of the recession, the store needed cash on hand, and they would only be getting a little money each month, if Randy paid his bill. So the store sells the debt to a company who gives the store the money upfront. Think of the J.G. Wentworth commercials, "I have a structured settlement, but I need cash now".) Because the store sold the debt, in ridiculous fashion, Stan had to return the blender to the company that bought the debt, although they too sold the debt to another company. Finally he gets to the U.S. treasury who tells him his blender is worth $90 trillion (again a ridiculous exaggeration) meaning that the debt owed is greater than the product is worth and to deride the way government agencies set up their budgets (which requires much more complex economic lessons). Kyle's whole point was people shouldn't fear the economy or see it as a vengeful being, but continue to spend and live as they normally do. Economically speaking, not spending money during a recession creates a longer lasting recession, and to solve a recession, people should spend money, although people and businesses shouldn't acquire debt during a recession because interest rates are higher. But on a personal level, individuals are fearful of losing their jobs during a recession, so they save money in case that should happen. But again, this is complex economics lesson.
Question: Early in the film, the Mangalore warrior Aknot mutters "Showtime" as he leads the attack on the Mondoshawan transport ship, destroying it. Shortly thereafter, at Zorg's factory, we see Aknot shape-shift between his human disguise and his natural Mangalore appearance. Much later in the film, we see Aknot in his same human disguise again aboard the Fhloston cruise ship, where Aknot again mutters "Showtime" before leading a murderous assault. So we recognize Aknot by his appearance and his mannerisms throughout the film. But wait: Presumably, Zorg killed the Mangalores who failed him (including Aknot) with a powerful explosive booby-trap at his factory, early in the film. So, how did Aknot appear much later aboard the Fhloston cruise ship? (There is no reason to assume that the Mangalores were capable of surviving the powerful blast at Zorg's factory, because we see Mangalores killed by smaller explosions and small firearms throughout the film).
Question: How did Littlefoot, Ducky, Petire, and Spike get out of the tar?
Answer: We are not shown how they got out of the tar.
Question: Why did Rigg discard his handgun after killing Art? I get that he was wounded, but it doesn't make much sense to just drop your gun.
Answer: He's just been shot, witnessed his friend Matthews die and is borderline delirious after all he's been through. Not to mention, he thinks everyone in the room is dead and the tape-player is playing a message addressed directly to him. He's just mentally and physically exhausted and starting to bleed out, so he drops it in favor of grabbing the much-lighter tape player and trying to crawl away.
Answer: It's most likely because he had just been shot about 2 minutes before, so he started losing blood, which is why you can see him clenching his wound.
Question: How did the police not locate the nerve gas house? Surely the police van Eric drives to the house is tracked by GPS. Even if Jigsaw and/or Amanda moved or destroyed the van, the police should still be able to find the vehicle and subsequently the nerve gas house via the GPS signal.
Answer: To add to the other answer, not every police vehicle is necessarily traceable even to this day. While many departments do have tracking beacons on their cars (such as GPS), there are some that don't. And given this film was released nearly 15 years ago before it became more commonplace, it's reasonable to assume that this is the case here. Also, even if the car was equipped with a lojack system (which would have been more likely at the time), those are pretty easy to block, since any radio-jammer (a device Jigsaw would almost certainly have around) will essentially make them "invisible" to trackers.
Answer: They probably should be able to track the van, but this is just a case of a film requiring "suspension of disbelief, " where we have to accept something that isn't necessarily realistic for the sake of enjoying the movie... Happens all the time in numerous films. We must assume that either the van didn't have a GPS tracker or that it somehow was disabled.
Question: When the team is twice under, I think, the bus, with all of them on it - the reality - is heading for water, it has been hit. But what I don't understand is how Cobb says, "When the van hits the water," how would he know this? He's dreaming, as they all are.
Chosen answer: When the van hits the water it will suddenly stop, giving a kick to the passengers. Cobb knew because driving the van off the bridge was always the plan.
Question: How could the auctioneers verify that Kimmy was a "certified pure?"
Answer: By examining if her hymen had been broken. Although it is a misconception that the hymen is always broken once a female has intercourse for the first time it is still generally accepted that if the hymen is intact, the woman must be a virgin.
Question: Even though not said outright, why would Inspector Aberline accuse Lawrence of the murder of his brother and the gypsies? He was with his theater troupe when his brother was killed and the gypsies were killed by Sir John as a werewolf. Not shot to death.
Question: Why did Elinor throw Merida's bow in the fireplace? What happened to the bow when it was fished from the fire?
Answer: Merida had rebelled against her traditional female role and defied her mother by slicing the tapestry with a sword. As retaliation, Elinor angrily threw Merida's bow into the fire. The bow was fished out before any substantial damage was done to it, and Merida was still able to use it. Historically, wooden weapons (bows, spears, etc.) were often crafted with a process called "fire hardening" to dry out the moisture and make the wood stronger. The flames may have had this affect on Merida's bow.
Question: Are we to assume that it was the mysterious caller who double-crossed the pizza delivery man and slit his throat?
Chosen answer: Yes. He'd paid for the pizza, so the pizza man would either have seen his face or accepted his credit card. Either way, he's a loose end that has to go.
Question: What is the plot of this movie exactly? Sorry, but once they discussed Immobliare, I was confused as to what the movie was about.
Answer: Michael is trying to divest the family of all ties to organized crime. Internazionale Immobiliare is an international real estate concern and owning it would legitimize the family, making them respectable landowners. Michael is attempting to buy out the Vatican's 25% of the shares in it to gain controlling interest, but the other families either want in on the deal or want to steal it out from under him, forcing him back into his old criminal ways.
Question: If the beach house is in the Hamptons, why is the sunrise from the west?
Answer: It's probably just a movie inaccuracy. For whatever reason, probably technical, economical, or for artistic considerations, the scene could have been staged and shot during sunset rather than sunrise. Oftentimes, scenes are not actually filmed when and where they are supposedly set. Locations are often substituted for ones that are more private, more scenic, have easier physical access, are in a less expensive economic region (such as Canada), and so on.
Question: Near the end, Dr Shaw is seen lowering something to the ground. It looks like a body - is it, or what is it?
Question: Has Samantha's birthday ever been officially said? She says she looks the same as she did that summer and all that shows is that she doesn't have a tan left. People are still wearing tank tops, dresses, skirts, shorts, etc. throughout the movie. It appears to be early to mid September but nobody says anything in the movie. Does anybody know?
Answer: The brother is constantly wearing Chicago gear. I'd bet Chicago. You can lose your tan in one month. That's a long time to a kid back in school. Plus the dance they go to is called the New Faces dance which may be a beginning of the school year.
I did a little checking on the movie production. According to the Wikipedia entry for this film, "Sixteen Candles was filmed primarily in and around the Chicago North Shore suburban communities of Evanston, Skokie, and Highland Park, Illinois during the summer of 1983." The summers in this region are usually quite hot and humid which may account for why the cast was wearing lighter clothing throughout the film, even though it was supposedly taking place in Autumn.
Question: When Nikki came to see Terri, he laid his hat and coat in the chair - no package. Later, he went to the chair and got the package that contained the scarf. Was the package placed there at a later time?
Question: I'm trying to find out in which episode this happens. Reed and Malloy are driving when they get a call to be on the lookout for a red convertible. In the rear window of their squad car you see the exact car described in the radio call. It passes them, then is seen in front, but neither of them comment on it and it's not referenced later. Not sure if it was a poor choice of stock footage or a gag, but what episode does it happen in?
Answer: This is from Season 1, "The Long Walk." After Malloy and Reed responded to a "211 in progress", the partners later search the area and question a man walking his dogs, and it's this man who tells them the young guy they're looking for drove off in a red convertible, so Reed radios in the added information and clears them. Later, when the partners are driving along, Reed brings up the topic of the criminal's convertible, and while they're discussing it we can see through the squad car's rear window that a red convertible with its black top up changes lanes, and in Malloy's closeup just as they're talking about how the criminal's convertible was likely stolen, we see the red convertible passing Malloy to his left. That's all we see of this red convertible.
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Answer: Sherlock Holmes does not tell Watson not to shoot (there is no such dialogue). Holmes and Watson incapacitate Blackwood's henchmen, and Watson is behind Blackwood, holding him at gunpoint with the revolver in his left hand. Blackwood then provokes Watson, who lunges forward, about to strike with the baton in his right hand. Holmes rushes forward and stops Watson just before he makes a fatal mistake. If Watson had taken one more step, the nearly invisible glass spike in Blackwood's hands would have impaled Watson through his eye and into his brain.
Charles Austin Miller