raywest

The Enforcer - S2-E13

Question: Why send only one enforcer? Hera surely know what he can do so why not send a dozen to be sure? She can't have been that arrogant.

Rob245

Answer: It's a matter of plot. Having multiple characters who basically would have the same purpose, to kill Hercules, complicates and confuses the story line. It would lose the focus on the characters themselves and the interaction between them. In film and literaturea, characters, plots, scenes, etc. have to be crafted in a way that serves the story in an understandable and satisfying way for the viewer.

raywest

4th Dec 2019

Casino (1995)

Question: What did Nicky mean when he said some of the diamonds he was fencing had "n*****s in them"?

Answer: He wasn't referring to the diamonds. He was talking about sending the gems to Las Vegas. He says he has several "sand n*****s" out there, meaning fencers, and clarifies that they are Arabs.

raywest

But BEFORE that he did say "some of these stones have a lot of n*****s in them", look it up on youtube.

Before that they're talking about the quality of the diamonds and whether or not there are any flaws (n*****s) in them that affect their value.

raywest

He's referring to "dark inclusions" or imperfections, which, of course, reduce their value.

28th Nov 2019

Gemini Man (2019)

Question: At the end of the movie, Will Smith (the older one) has a present for his son/brother/younger self; his official documents he apparently did not have. Passport, driving license and birth certificate; he congratulates him on his name choice. And he gives those to him as Junior is walking out of the college campus, which he obviously is already frequenting and where he made many friends. I know the US system allows undocumented students, but can you even enroll without the most basic ID? In particular since he is in Georgia, which reportedly is one of the strictest states about it.

Sammo

Answer: I worked at a university for over 30 years. A person cannot enroll in an accredited university or college without proper identification, educational history, transcripts, test scores, financial information, etc.

raywest

28th Nov 2019

Forrest Gump (1994)

Question: Unless he's carrying a lot of money how does Forrest get those different clothes while he's running those several years?

Rob245

Answer: Or he bought them cheap from discount stores or charity shops, or they were given to him. There are lots of possibilities and this is in a movie deliberately loaded with coincidence and spectacle. It's speculation to go into more detail.

Answer: Forrest would not need to carry large amounts of cash with him, which would be dangerous. His business partner, Dan Taylor, could wire or transfer money to a bank wherever Forrest would be that would cover any expenses. Forrest could also be using a credit card, or a better option, a debit card that could have a small balance that Dan would add to as needed. If it was ever stolen, having a small amount on balance would protect Forest.

raywest

28th Nov 2019

Charlie's Angels (1976)

Answer: Hack, who was best known as the "Charlie" perfume model, was brought in after Kate Jackson was let go following numerous disputes she'd had with producers over script quality. At the same time, ratings for the show had been falling. Hack, Tiffany Welles, was supposed to add more glamour and a mystique intrigue to the show. While there was an initial spike in the ratings, they soon declined again. Hack was let go after one season and replaced by Tanya Roberts, who also failed to improve ratings, leading to the show's cancellation.

raywest

Thanks. Still let's face, the novelty had worn off and it was just a T and A show. I mean, anyone hear of anything worth watching starring any of them outside of this say a few things like Sheena?

Rob245

Farrah Fawcett probably had the more notable post-Charlie career. She left a silly hit show to pursue more serious work. She received good reviews for such movies as The Burning Bed, Extremities, etc.

raywest

Head - S5-E25

Question: Assuming the mother's not arrested despite assaulting the teacher, shouldn't her son be removed from her home given how horrible a drunkard she is and could abuse him?

Rob245

Answer: Whether or not she was arrested, the court could order an evaluation regarding her fitness as a parent, require counseling, anger management courses, alcohol rehab and AA meetings, be under CPS supervision, etc.

raywest

Question: The whole plot of this movie makes no sense. What was the purpose of having all the soldiers "brainwashed' when they just used one to carry out what they wanted? Plus, why go to the trouble of doing all this when they could have just hired an assassin? Plus, how did they know, in 1952, that this man would be chosen to be the Vice-President?

wolfman

Answer: It's confusing. The entire platoon was brainwashed to be witnesses and verify the fabricated story that Raymond was a "war hero" who saved their lives. Raymond was unknowingly mentally programmed to become a sleeper agent to be used when needed by the Russians or Chinese. He was chosen because Raymond's monstrous mother, Eleanor Iselin, was married to a ruthless, ambitious "Joseph McCarthy-esque" U.S. Senator. She was propelling her husband into being their party's presidential candidate and contacted Communist agents to arrange for her husband's political rival to be assassinated. She was initially unaware that her son would be the chosen assassin. Raymond, being brainwashed, never realised he was a programmed assassin who would have no memory of executing his assignments. He apparently was recruited because of his step-father's political position. It is a rather incredulous plot, to say the least.

raywest

21st Nov 2019

Home Alone 3 (1997)

Question: If they're spies then why are the four shown being booked in regular jail? Why aren't they in a federal prison?

Rob245

Answer: Because it's just a movie, it's a comedy, and the filmmakers are not concerned with exact, realistic details. They expect the audience to just enjoy the silliness and not be overly concerned about reality. The two other Home Alone films employed similar "suspension of disbelief" in the plots.

raywest

Exactly like what happened to the guy that gave them the chip. Wouldn't he be arrested too, but we don't hear anything about what happened to him. I'm assuming since he had a plan to catch he was going somewhere he can't be extradited.

The guy who hired Beaupre and his team was in China the whole time, so he couldn't be extradited to America since China has no extradition treaty with America.

Answer: There are two possible explanations: 1) Because there is far less space available in federal prisons, compared to state and local facilities, federal prisoners and arrestees are often kept in local facilities. 2) Because the federal charges or providing support for terrorism and industrial espionage are harder to prove compared to the state-level charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery, and attempted murder.

LorgSkyegon

It's doubtful the writers had all that in mind when writing a comedy holiday script. The plot simply calls for the spies to be caught and thrown into jail at the end of the story. There is also a difference between prison and jail. Prison is for those convicted of a crime. Jail is a temporary holding place after an arrest is made. With police being involved in the arrest, the spies would initially be booked and held in the local jail. The spies would later be transferred to federal custody to await trial.

raywest

21st Nov 2019

National Treasure (2004)

Question: What was so important about the pipe?

Answer: The pipe, a hand-carved meerschaum pipe, was a clue (the stem contained a riddle carved into it) that led to the next clue, the Declaration of Independence. The pipe was also a key that when inserted into the wall niche in the underground cavern, opened the treasure chamber.

raywest

20th Nov 2019

Insurgent (2015)

Question: Why does Evelyn kill Jeannine at the end? This isn't how the book goes and she's executed by Tori in Allegiant at the beginning.

Rob245

Answer: Movies seldom follow books exactly as they were written. Details change, characters are eliminated or added, locales change, etc. This was probably done to compress and streamline the plot to better serve the film medium.

raywest

True but in the book it's more emotional when Tori does it as she did it to avenge her brother George whom she thought Jeannine killed.

Rob245

Answer: When Tris is in the sim where she identifies Four as a sim. Jeannine says she has completed four sims and Peter says what about Amity, Jeannine says she already passed that when she spared your life. But then Tris ends up doing Amity again as the last one?

20th Nov 2019

Twilight (2008)

Question: How come the vampires don't die during the day and are awake? How can the werewolves transform at will instead of by a full moon?

Rob245

Answer: Because they are fictional characters, and Stephanie Meyer made up new rules for them to suit her narrative.

She should've still respected the lore as most do. This series is her as Bella and the two guys are based on guys she lusted for in high school who ignored her. Read between the lines people.

Rob245

Traditional folklore about vampires does not mention sunlight being harmful to vampires. This is a more modern characteristic.

raywest

Answer: The moon has no effect on the Quileutes because they are not werewolves. In the books, they are shape-shifters that can change at will. Rather than being created by a werewolf's bite, some Quileutes are born with a gene that becomes active and transforms them into wolves when vampires are near. They cannot turn other people into wolves. The movie series glossed over this fact, apparently to avoid confusion about the differences. Even though they are called "werewolves" in the movies, that is not what they are.

raywest

In addition, actual werewolves do exist in the Twilight universe. They are called "Children of the Moon." They follow most of the standard werewolf myths: changing only during the night of a full moon, feral behavior, infecting others by biting them, etc... They are also immune to vampire venom. The Volturi hunted them nearly to extinction after one nearly killed Caius.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: It seems like you already decided your own answer, but like a lot of mythology and lore, hundreds of variations occur. Most often werewolves can change at will once they've gone through their first transformation. In a lot of lore, the full moon only forces them to change, even if it's against their will. It does not mean it's the only way to change. Meyer did add a twist to vampires in the sun, but in many stories, sunlight is not fatal, they can be safe in the shadows, or the sunlight only weakens, not kills, them, and/or they are strengthened by the moonlight (which is why they came out at night).

Bishop73

Didn't decide, only observed what I'd seen with the like of Chaney's Wolfman and Lugosi's Dracula, that's all.

Rob245

The horror movies of that era, like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, etc. freely adapted their own interpretation of traditional folklore.

raywest

20th Nov 2019

NCIS: New Orleans (2014)

Answer: It should also be noted, just because someone owns a small business (in this case a bar) doesn't mean they're rich, or they had to be rich or make enough money from another job in order to afford it. Banks provide small business loans and having steady employment, good credit history, solid business plan, etc would allow someone to get a loan. Most business owners even say they "own" whatever bar, restaurant, store, or business they run even if it's leased or mortgaged.

Bishop73

A proprietor may lease a building but they do own the business that is housed within it.

raywest

Answer: When Dwayne (Bakula) and his wife divorced, they divided their marital assets. The money for the "fixer-upper" bar that Dwayne bought came from selling their house.

raywest

20th Nov 2019

Charlie's Angels (1976)

Answer: No, I don't believe they did, but by the last season, as the ratings declined, moving the show to a more exotic locale where there's an abundance of bikini-clad lovelies at every turn, was likely an attempt to increase viewership.

raywest

Question: In the beginning, the parents are on the phone and the wife is asking her husband to take their son to the airport. They live in separate houses in the same city yet it seems like they are still married. Are they divorced? Or are they married but live in separate houses?

Shipper

Answer: They are estranged (possibly divorced) and living apart. As they have a son together, they would still maintain a relationship as co-parents. It should be noted that a cliched trope often seen in disaster movies (i.e. Twister, Independence Day, Outbreak, Jurassic Park 3, etc.) is to have a high-powered married couple who have either separated or divorced. They still love each other but have split due to professional conflicts. Usually some extreme crisis eventually brings them together, causing them to reaffirm their feelings for each other and they reunite.

raywest

16th Nov 2019

The Village (2004)

Question: Why did the elders leave to start their own town?

Answer: The elders, who had met at a grief support group, had all lost a loved one from a violent tragedy. Edward Walker, who was immensely rich, suggested starting the isolated village as a means to escape modern societal violence.

raywest

16th Nov 2019

The Village (2004)

Question: Just asking out of curiosity, but what disorder does Noah suffer from?

Josh West

Answer: Likely autism with perhaps a comorbid intellectual disability and/or traumatic brain injury.

Answer: It was never specified what disability he was afflicted with.

raywest

15th Nov 2019

Emergency! (1972)

Dinner Date - S2-E10

Question: When Melissa Gilbert yells "daddy" and runs towards the ambulance to see her father, starting to go down the porch steps. Then we quickly see her father being loaded into the ambulance, then the camera returns to Melissa. She's down the steps entirely and starts to run to her dad and runs right into Roy's arms. He doesn't bend down to hold/hug her at all, she goes right into his arms as though she's the same height as Roy. There is a wall aside of the steps but she's nowhere near it when Roy hugs her. How is she the same height as Roy?

Answer: There's actually a YouTube clip of this. There's a couple of things to consider. First, when Melissa runs towards Roy, he does bend down a little and then picks her up. I also noticed both actors are filmed from the waist up. When Melissa is running to Roy, she is taller than what she'd normally be. It looks like she might be running on an unseen raised platform. This would be done probably to make it easier to pick up Melissa, and also to frame the actors in the scene so they are more head-to-head, and both are more visible. Otherwise, Melissa would be much lower in the shot.

raywest

14th Nov 2019

Robin Hood (1973)

Question: Robin Hood and Little John steal Prince John's bags of gold by a rope being pulled by Alan-a-Dale. I have a problem with that because there were a lot a bags of gold tied to the rope. Wouldn't that add a lot of pounds to the rope's weight, making it difficult to pull?

Answer: There's no way to accurately answer this because it's an animated film. The norms of real life do not apply here. The characters are cartoons, and they can do things that real humans cannot, such as easily lifting heavy loads.

raywest

Answer: I think the problem in trying to answer this question is "how much do the bags weigh?" How many coins are in there and how much do the coins weigh? Say a coin weighed 5 grams. 1,000 coins would weigh a little over 11 pounds. We see a character carrying 3 bags and a lot of other characters able to carry one bag, even while using a crutch. So I don't think the bags weighed more than 15 pounds and you never really see more than 20 bags on the rope and there's several characters pulling on the rope. To Raywest's point, too many silly things happen where the weight of the gold on the rope shouldn't be an issue, even if the bags weighed 50-100 pounds. Prince John's foot gets caught and they pull him and his bed to the edge. The Rhino's crash Prince John through the gate and brick wall and he's just fine. Robin Hood shoots an arrow that picks 3 characters up and pins them to a post.

Bishop73

10th Nov 2019

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Question: If the airport and a plane don't allow dogs, then why is a cat is allowed on a plane?

Answer: Maybe because cats are smaller than dogs and all felines are relatively the same size and fit into a small pet carrier. Dogs range in size from a few pounds to over a hundred, making crating them more difficult.

raywest

I should add that this being a movie, they make up their own rules about things to serve the plot. It's unlikely in real-life that an airline would ban dogs entirely, though there may be size limits.

raywest

Answer: Well before boarding Shaggy said they wouldn't allow large dogs on board. Implying smaller dogs would be OK.

9th Nov 2019

Dante's Peak (1997)

Question: Why exactly did Ruth jump out of the boat into the acid lake water later on in the movie? Was it to make it easier for the boat to get to the dock? If so, this doesn't make sense as they were still pretty close. Did she just make a bad decision and not think on it?

Answer: It was a deliberate act on her part. She jumped out in shallow water to help propel the boat to shore before it sank. She sacrificed herself to save the family.

raywest

Answer: She was also very adamant that she did not want to leave her home, believing that the mountain would never hurt her. She eventually realised she was wrong. She also loved the home she and her late husband built, but it was destroyed. By sacrificing herself she got her wish to stay.

dewinela

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