Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spoilers

Dark Corners: huh?

Iosephus — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:35:44 -0800

Plateofbeaning Dark Corners the movie? Oddities, trivia and overanalysis for your amusement. Spoilers inside, I'm sure. Having just watched Dark Corners, which I found quite interesting, I noticed several oddities that I don't know if they go only as far as tidbits and trivia, or instead might be winks to something. Plus one truly WTF moment for bonus.

1) In the mortuary there seems to be a fireplace. It is decorated with the prominently displayed "AUDI VIDE TACE" motto betweena pair of things that look like cowbells. Google suggests this is some masonic motto. Wha?

2) Susan parades around the las minutes of the movie in a t-shirt that blatantly cries "Camp Watexa". Google=fail. Wha? bis.

3) What the hell are we supposed to make of the evil kid that bites off a chunk of Karen's leg? Some extra Freudian wink I'm not in the know about?

4) WTF bonus: on the second hypnotherapy session, Susan wakes up and there's a big hairy male arm just, er, grabbing her boob. She doesn't seem to realize, and there's noone around her sofa that arm belongs to. I can't imagine this is a blooper, boob grabbing, come on?

simplesimplesimple

benzenedream — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:47:34 -0800

What is the initial verbal meme that triggers the Pontypool outbreak in the movie Pontypool?

Frailty the movie

Iosephus — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:44:50 -0800

Frailty the movie: did I get all of that right? (Needless to say, major spoilers inside!) This is about the movie, Frailty, which I had the recent chance to see in a badly transfered, and scratch-skippy to boot, DVD. The ending in particular was pretty mangled on this copy.

1. Should we understand that McConaughey can really see the unredeemable evil people have done?
2. Did him touching a sinner cause said sinner to go wobbly, as seemed the case with Boothe, who stopped fighting in spite of being physically unharmed otherwise?
3. Was his blonde pregnant wife fully knowing of McConaughey's "mission" and abilities? She seemed to be covering for him and lied to Boothe when he called the small town's sheriff office to ask about "Fenton" (if I didn't misheard the crappy audio?).
4. Why does the angel appearing to his father look like an adult Adam (that is, McC.)?
5. Should we understand that young Fenton truly had a vision in the cellar, and that this vision was the need to kill his father? (If so, a neat interpretation I like is that this was due to the father killing the innocent sheriff, a thing that was definitely outside his "divine call".)

"Seven Pounds" question

Saucy Intruder — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:56:20 -0800

Question about "Seven Pounds" (wow this movie sucked, but nevertheless, spoilers are inside) Logic dictates that when you let the most poisonous animal in the universe inject toxin into your bloodstream, your organs become kind of useless, right? This link (via this skeptical blogger) would seem to indicate that the venom disrupts the supply of sodium and calcium throughout the bloodstream, shutting down everything that it hits along the way. This makes it kind of a dick move to give Rosario Dawson a heart that's full of jellyfish poison.

So, is this poetic license run amok, or did the movie's research flunkie do a better job than I did?

Who Ruined Star Wars?

Shadowkeeper — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:41:25 -0800

This is about as long a shot as possible, but here goes. On the opening day of Return of the Jedi (or shortly thereafter), a morning talk show was asking kids for their reaction to the film, and one of the little twerps blurted out the ending. Anyone else remember this? Note: just like that kid, this post is going to ruin the end of Return of the Jedi.

As this was 1983, the show must have been on one of the major networks. presumably it was Good Morning America or one of it's ilk.

The interviewer asked one of the children about how bad Darth Vader was, and the kids said something like, "Well, but he turned out to be good because he saved Luke in the end." And after an awkward pause the interviewer chuckled and said, "oh, uhh hahaha, I don't think you were supposed to say that."

Anyone? I am writing an article about spoilers and would love to identify what show this was and the date it aired. 47,000 bonus points if you can scare up a clip or finger the kid who did this.

Questions about War of the Worlds (2005)

nooneyouknow — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:20:22 -0800

So, I just finished watching War of the Worlds 2005 with Tom Cruise and I have some questions. I flipped around while the movie was on and missed parts of it, plus when it was on I wasn't always paying complete attention so I think I missed some key plot points.

1) The end, where Tom Cruise, shows up to his ex-wife's house and the street is not damaged at all, and she and her grandparents are still alive, and his son somehow managed to survive the earlier battle and beat him back to the house, that was a dream sequence or something right? I mean we aren't actually supposed to believe that that happened?

2) What was all the red stringy stuff that showed up outside after Tom and Dakota holed up in Tim Robbin's house. Was that people? I think it might have been people but I'm not sure. And if was people why did the aliens switch from death rays to to taking people apart?

3) There was a scene where the aliens held some dude down and took all his blood. WTF? What did they want with his blood?

4) Why did the aliens go from incinerating people to capturing them in "buckets" under their tripods?

Can I see the new X-Files movie and then watch the series later?

snowleopard — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:08:06 -0800

Can I see the new X-Files movie and then watch the series later? I'm going to go see X-Files: I Want to Believe in the theater tomorrow, but I've only seen the first season of the show. If I see the movie first, will that spoil me as to anything major in the series? (I'm thinking of if you saw Serenity before Firefly or such like that). Should I skip seeing the movie in the theater and watch the series first?

Please no spoilers for either the series or show in the comments - I don't want to be spoiled, which is why I'm asking this question!

There are six-- I mean, five replicants.

EatenByAGrue — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:03:06 -0800

I have a plot question concerning the movie The Dark Knight. If you haven't seen the movie, you won't be able to answer my question, so there are definitely spoilers inside. At the end of the movie, when Gordon and Batman are discussing how to cover-up Two-Face's crimes, Gordon mentions that five people were killed by Two-Face, including two cops. The problem for me is that I only count three people killed by Two-Face, one of which is a cop. The cop in the bar was killed, and the mob boss and his driver. That makes three. Ramirez, the other crooked cop, wasn't killed, as far as I can tell, because the flipped coin came up clean. So even if you count Harvey Dent as one of the killed (which doesn't seem right to me), that leaves one person unaccounted for; two if you don't include Dent. Can anyone help me figure out who the missing people are? Thanks.

Extra deaths in Shakespeare's Hamlet?

booksandlibretti — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:57:33 -0800

Productions of Hamlet in which an additional character dies unexpectedly? (spoilers for a 400-year-old play and modern productions) One currently running production does this (once the show closes, I'll comment to give you the details). I saw it, and was amazed -- then curious whether it'd ever been done before.

A friend suggested that Martin Sheen's Hamlet, from 1968's Public Theater production in Central Park, may have done something similar with a Vietnam-y setting. Unfortunately I can't find information about that assertion, either way.

People expected to die in Hamlet:
-Hamlet
-Hamlet's dad (offstage)
-Fortinbras's dad (offstage)
-Polonius
-Claudius
-Gertrude
-Ophelia
-Laertes
-Rosencrantz
-Guildenstern

Know about a production with an even higher death toll? I'm interested in anything you've got -- from the local production in a church basement on up. The more documentation, the better, obviously. I have access to jstor and other scholarly resources, so feel free to link those articles as well as any others you find. Thanks!

Spoiler Alert

Tube — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:24:51 -0800

What is the origin of the term "Spoiler Alert". I don't ever remember reading a movie or book review from the 1970's or 1980's that began with the term "spoiler alert" or "spoiler ahead". It's possible that they were there all along, and that I just didn't notice them, but I seem to have first encountered the term in the late 1990's.

I also wonder if this is a term that originated on the Internet rather than in conventional print, as it seems to me to have coincided with the growth of the Internet.

When did this term become almost universally used?

Ultimate spoiler: you are God. Sound familiar?

Curry — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:55:02 -0800

Anyone recall seeing a Web page that said something like "Ultimate Spoiler: You are God"? I have a vague yet nagging recollection of a page, either one-off gag or part of a spoiler aggregate site, that professed the ultimate spoiler for life, i.e. you are god. My extended and thorough searching hasn't produced any leads. Sound familiar to anybody?

Help me find Harry Potter Spoilers

fermezporte — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:44:42 -0800

Please help me spoil Harry Potter 7! So I've finished Harry Potter, and now I want to read all of the spoilers I wouldn't let myself read before. I'm most interested in those that are creative and elaborate, yet ultimately, though seeing who got it right before it really leaked might be interesting too. I'm more interested in stuff that was actually supposed to spoil it, rather than straight up fan-fics. I've check the wired article that was on Metafilter a while back, but it's changed to a spoof.

Help me remember part of "Wolf Creek".

23skidoo — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:17:28 -0800

If you've already seen it, help me remember a phrase used in the movie "Wolf Creek". [SPOILERS INSIDE] There is a scene towards the end where the bad guy takes a knife and stabs it into a girl's spine, twisting it once it's in there, in order to paralyze her. As he does this, he describes what he is doing, going so far as to give the name of the maneuver.

What name did he call it? Was this manuever real (that is, did it exist before the movie) or was is invented for the film?

"Fruits Basket" manga spoilers, please?

Steven C. Den Beste — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:05:45 -0800

I'm looking for spoilers about the "Fruits Basket" manga. I have seen the TV series, which covers the first 35 chapters. At one point I found, downloaded, and read caption translations for all the chapters up through about chapter 80. (These were not "scanlations"; they were just text from fans.)

I recently learned that the manga finally ended last November, with chapter 136. So that means the mangaka finally revealed the mysteries, and I want to know what they were.

What I mainly want to know was just what Tohru did, or was key to, which lifted the curse from the family. I had my own guess about it, back when I first watched it: that the curse would be lifted if Kyo could beat Yuki in a fight. Then the Cat would feel it had gotten satisfaction from the Rat, and would lift the curse on the family.

But as long as Kyo was blinded by hatred when he fought Yuki, he could never win. The key, then, was to make it so that Kyo and Yuki could become friends, or at least no longer be enemies. Then Kyo could fight dispassionately, and if he did then he would win. Tohru was, therefore, the key: she was a catalyst used by Shigure to get Yuki and Kyo to spend time with each other, and with familiarity would eventually come acceptance (at least) and maybe even friendship.

Was I even remotely correct? If not, just what did happen? I heard that it turned out that Akito was actually a girl. (Considering the disturbingly large number of transvestites among the other members of the Zodiac, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Akito was a reverse-trap.) Did that turn out to be critical, somehow?

I have some other questions, too, and I hope that someone who knows about the series would be willing to let me exchange three or four emails with them with further questions.

Help me find evidence concerning the deadliness of splinters

ubernostrum — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:54:12 -0800

I just watched the Mythbusters pirate special, and I'm looking for historical evidence to argue with the cannonball/splinter conclusion. (don't click through if you don't want spoilers) The myth in question concerns the deadliness of splinters thrown out by a shot penetrating the ship's hull; after testing with air cannons and a replica six-pounder, they weren't able to produce significant splinter-related injuries to the pig carcasses in use as human analogues.

Much as I'd love to argue with the methodology, it was probably the best that could have been done; finding a heavier ship's gun (say, in the 18-pound to 36-pound range seen on warships of the 18th and 19th centuries) and being able to test fire it doesn't seem likely. So I'll leave the methodology alone; instead I'm hunting for historical records which would support the threat posed by splinters and similar debris.

I've done some initial poking around in Google and found a couple promising items (for example, this description of a Revolutionary War battle lists two splinter wounds, one of which apparently proved fatal), but what I'd really like is to get my hands on some real historical accounts -- the more primary the source, the better. A really good example is this Wikipedia article, which (while being horrifically badly formatted) reproduces a British captain's official letter detailing a battle from the War of 1812, including mention of two splinter wounds. Unfortunately, if there's a web-accessible repository of these sorts of captains' reports, I haven't been able to find it.

Anyone know of such a thing, or of similar records which would contain relevant information? I know the evidence is out there, I just need to find it!

SpoilerFilter

hwestiii — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 11:10:49 -0800

"The Prestige" spoiler question, do not read if you have any intention of seeing the movie. The wife and I just saw the film "The Prestige" last night and have been unable to agree on what happens with "the machine". For those familiar with the movie and/or the book (I haven't read it), I'm wondering whether, when the machine is activated, is the original item transported and a copy remains in the machine, or is the transported item the copy, or does it even matter?

From an existential standpoint, it would have definitely mattered to me, although I thought the film muddied things a bit, contrasting Angier's behavior after his first experience in the machine, and the later public performances of "The Transported Man".

Spoilers in Twin Peaks DVD commentaries?

Dean King — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:56:18 -0800

Do the commentaries on the Twin Peaks DVDs contain spoilers? I watched the entire series when it was originally broadcast, but my wife is seeing it for the first time. We'd like to listen to the director's commentaries together, but not if the plot twists are going to be ruined for her by spoilers. Could anyone who's already heard the commentaries let us know if they're "safe"?

Held me understand the twist of Inside Man

Alex Handcoding — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 09:16:46 -0800

I saw Inside Man with some friends last night, but I don't get it. Please help me understand it :). Spoilers inside. It was a good movie, to be sure, but I just don't get it. Right up until the last minute before the movie ends, I thought I understood what was going on. Then it ended and I was left puzzled.

Here're the relevant bits that I understand so far:

*The owner of the bank was previously affiliated with the Nazi party and he doesn't want that secret getting out

* Jodie Foster's character is hired to try to get rid of the Nazi-related stuff from the bank owner's deposit box

* Clive Owen's character already found some of it

* After staying cooped up in his spider hole, Owen's character walks out of the bank but doesn't take the diamonds

* On his way out of the bank, he bumps into Denzel Washington's character, either by accident or design (?)

So, what's the twist? Why would Owen's character go through all that effort just to not steal stuff? Is Washington's character on the take? And who is the inside man? As a side note, I'm also interested in any "clues" that you noticed earlier in the movie which may have hinted at these secrets before they were actually revealed.

The ending of

nicwolff — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:46:06 -0800

At the end of the movie "The Good Thief"... [SPOILERS INSIDE]

Lord of the Rings Questions

invisible ink — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 01:30:56 -0800

IDontHaveTimeToReadTheBookFilter - I have some questions about the LOTR movie trilogy that can only be answered by those who have actually read the books. (mi+) Answer however many you can, thanks in advance to everyone who responds - all of these have been nagging me for the longest time.

The Fellowship of the Ring
1. In the beginning when Cate Blanchett is talking about how all the rings were being made, who was making them?

2. After the first Ring was lost, why didn't Sauron order one of his groupies to just make another one?

3. How does Gollum lose the ring - in other words, how does Bilbo find it?

4. How did Sauron go from being a giant ugly-looking creature to some glowing eye? When Isildor chopped off his finger, why didn't he just stay in that same form (minus the finger)? And while I'm at it, how did he get there? (I'm assuming someone had to construct that interesting-looking contraption for anchoring his fiery eyeball).

5. How old was Frodo when the Ring came to him? (i.e. in human years, how old would he have been?)

Return of the King
1. Why was the fate of the Ring particularly tied to the fate of Arwen, but not to any other elf? In other words, why was she on the verge of death, but her father or Legolas weren't?

2. Why did Frodo have to leave the shire? Obviously, the burden of destroying the Ring had changed him, but why did he have to leave all of his friends and the place where he grew up? And where was the ship taking him and the others to?

The Color of Money

sfz — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 17:34:47 -0800

AskMovieSpoilerFilter - So a while ago I was watching the excellent "The Color of Money" and I can't figure out exactly why the Tom Cruise character was so pissed at the Paul Newman character at the very end. [spoiler] Did Fast Eddie throw his match because he had been payed off to do so? Presumably simply resigning a match would arouse suspicions if that were the case. Or did he do it to avoid playing Tom Cruise in a tournament? I can't find a precis anywhere on the net that goes into that level of detail...

How Does "The Village" End?

gwint — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 07:40:38 -0800

I would like to know the ending to The Village so I don't have to actually see the film, which is supposed to be awful.

Spoiler wanring! I have a question about the movie Jules et Jim

PinkStainlessTail — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 19:58:16 -0800

I just finished watching Jules et Jim. I really liked it, but I have a slightly spoilerish question which I will ask inside. Is there supposed to be anything redeeming about Catherine? I found her selfish, small-minded, and utterly insane. I don't think she really loved anyone but herself. Am I completely off base?

The film Perfect Blue is very confusing

Prospero — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:05:53 -0800

The film Perfect Blue is very confusing. (more inside, with major spoilers) Last night I watched Perfect Blue with a friend of mine. I really liked it, and I'm definitely going to watch it again in the near future, but I'm not entirely convinced that the film made even a lick of sense. At the very least, it must be like Mulholland Dr., which makes perfect sense as long as you figure out that the movie has its own rigid internal logic that has nothing to do with the way the real world works. And Google turns up nothing for me in the area of interpretation. So--

--Okay, so there's an imaginary version of Mima, right? And it's a "good," uncorrupted young woman, who still sings family-friendly pop music while the real Mima shoots rape scenes in TV shows. (By the way, that one scene freaked my friend out so much that I had to fast forward through it, and she can usually watch just about anything. However, I don't think I missed a major narrative plot point by not being able to hear the sound during that scene, or see it at its normal speed.) And at the end of the film it looks like Rumi is somehow the real-life incarnation of this imaginary Mima. But is Rumi always the imaginary Mima? Or is the imaginary Mima just a product of the real Mima's imagination, except at the end? Or are we just not supposed to ask?

--Did the real Mima kill the photographer that shot the nude images of her? Or was that just a dream? Or are we just not supposed to ask?

--Remember Mr. Me-Mania, the super-creepy guy that runs the website? There's one scene where the imaginary Mima starts appearing and talking to him. Is that him imagining the imaginary Mima? Or has the imaginary Mima generated by Mima's mind suddenly taken on a life of its own? Or is that really Rumi? Or are we just not supposed to ask?

--If two of the murders (the photographer and the screenwriter) have the same modus operandi, are we wrong to assume that Mr. Me-Mania kills the screenwriter (which is what it looks like)? Or do we just let that question slide, too?

I listened to the interviews with the voice actors on the DVD, but the only thing I got from them is that they don't know what the hell's going on either--they just showed up and read their lines. I'm willing to buy it as a piece of surrealist cinema that's deliberately supposed to have a fractured, illogical narrative, but I'd like to think that it's more logical than that.

Stuck On You

willnot — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:11:43 -0800

How does the movie Stuck on You end? Some friends went to see it recently. There was some technical problems with the projector, and they had to leave before seeing it. It's driving them crazy, but not crazy enough to sit through it again (If you haven't seen it yet, expect the thread to contain spoilers).