Riddle Me This: Wreck-It Ralph

SPOILERS!

We've been watching Wreck-It Ralph a lot lately, as in everyday since it was released on Blu-ray. So I've started noticing the little things.

At first Ralph is told Vanellope is just a glitch. Then we find out that she was really once the princess of Sugar Rush that Turbo reprogrammed so he could rule the game as King Candy, and Vanellope glithces because he damaged her code. But if she crosses the finish line, the game will reset and everything will be restored, which does indeed happen.

However, in the very last scene Ralph can see Vanellope racing and she's still using the glitch ability to skip ahead of other racers. I know I shouldn't question an animated movie this much, nor do I know a thing about coding for video games, but...

RIDDLE ME THIS:

If the game reset, how is Vanellope still able to glitch?

Riddle Me This: Inglourious Basterds

SPOILERS

Early in the film, through a Samuel L. Jackson voice-over, we get a brief history of Hugo Stiglitz, a former Nazi sergeant who murdered several of his superior officers, was arrested, only to be freed by the Basterds. We are lead to believe that Stiglitz has quite the infamous reputation in and around Germany for his psychotic, murderous rampage, his story landing on the cover of German newspapers, picture and all.

However, during the brilliant basement scene, he seems to slip by rather unnoticed. It's perfectly understandable that the lower-ranked soldiers Bridget von Hammersmark celebrates with are oblivious, but when such a high-ranking officer like Hellstrom doesn't immediately recognize Stiglitz, I have to wonder just how good he is at his job. I know it's before the age of social networking, but when Landa sees Stiglitz's dead body later, he recognizes him immediately. I've considered Hellstrom being privy to Stiglitz's identity, but kept up the ruse to fish for information from Hicox and Bridget, yet he still seems pretty damned surprised when it all hits the fan, so I'm not convinced.

SO RIDDLE ME THIS:

How could someone as powerful as Hellstrom not recognize someone as nationally infamous as Stiglitz?

Riddle Me This: Batman Begins

With Nolan's Batman trilogy wrapping up this week, I, like so many, took time over the weekend to watch the first two films again for the millionth time. Though I do love both, I have a fundamental issue with the Dark Knight's origins. This may be an issue with the actual comics, but I've never read those, and the following is what I know from the film. If I have to warn you there are "spoilers" below, just walk away...

A lot of Bruce Wayne's issues lie within a childhood trauma of witnessing his parents' murder when he was just eight years old. Now in Nolan's origin film (can't remember how it played out in the Burton/Schumacher films), the Wayne's are at the opera and young Bruce gets freaked out by bat-esque characters on stage. So he asks his father if they can leave. Here's where I take issue.

Does Dr. Thomas Wayne escort his lovely wife and very young son out the well-lit main entrance of the opera house to find a taxi? Um...no. He decides instead to lead his precious family, in their fine attire and jewels, out the back of the theater, through a door which spills into a dark and grizzly alley, littered with trash, graffiti and criminals with guns so that the Waynes can be mugged and killed. Good one, Dad!

We know Dr. Wayne isn't oblivious to the economic crapper Gotham City has been in for many years, as he gave young Master Bruce a nice little speech about it while riding the train (seriously, rich people?) on the way to the opera just moments before. Now I wouldn't even take my child down a dark alley in such a lovely place as Pleasantville (before Reese Witherspoon whores it up), let alone what is thought of to be a big and dangerous city like Gotham. You can still get mugged and murdered in the front of a building. At least I wouldn't think you're a complete dumbass if you did.

SO RIDDLE ME THIS:

Why did the Waynes leave through the creepy back door instead of the front?



(NOTE: If this is actually explained in the comic, please feel free to inform me of it.)

Riddle Me This: The Hunger Games

So I went and saw The Hunger Games again last week (seriously not much decent playing at my local theater) and a I kept thinking something felt off about one of the film's coolest moments. You know that really awesome scene when Katniss shoots the apple out of the roasted pig's mouth because none of the gamemakers are paying any attention to her, despite the fact that she just hit a perfect bullseye from a gazillion yards away? I just have to know, are the gamemakers psychic?

Let's review: in an earlier scene, Peeta falls while climbing a rope and Katniss convinces him to throw a heavy metal thing because the Career Tributes are looking at him like he's "a meal." At first Peeta argues with her, stating that their mentor, the drunken Haymitch, told them not to show off their skills in the training sessions. Though the film doesn't elaborate, Haymitch didn't want the other tributes knowing Katniss and Peeta's true strengths, so they couldn't be used against them in the arena, at least not right away. However, once they have their one-on-one sessions with the gamemakers, they're free to show off their mad skillz, in order to gain a high score, which may guarantee them sponsors in the arena.

However, when Katniss enters the training room, which was full many weapons during the actual training sessions, suddenly there is nothing but a bow, a few arrows and target dummies. How convenient for our heroine! The gamemakers never saw her pick up the bow once during training, and I'm pretty sure they don't know about her highly illegal hunting in District 12. And yet they provide her the only tools she needs to get the highest score of any tribute.

SO RIDDLE ME THIS:

1. How did the gamemakers know that Katniss would want to use her archery skills to show off for her one-on-one session.

2. Why would they clear the room of all the other weapons, anyway? What if a tribute was talented at several different weapons, like the Careers who were trained in many areas?

Riddle Me This: Jurassic Park

Somethings you never notice as a kid. A few lazy Saturdays back, I was watching Jurassic Park for the first time in well over a decade and something started nagging at me:  Where the crap did that massive buffet come from? You know, the one Lex and Tim dig into the morning they make it back to the park's main facility:

Surely Grandpa Attenborough didn't throw it together himself in hopes that his grandkids would have something to munch on should they return safely. So I went back a few scenes, to when Hammond and Ellie are eating ice cream in the dining room, and what do you know, the same spread is lurking in the shadows behind them:

So I'm guessing the park's 5-star chef was able to whip up this feast before the entire island's staff was evacuated due to the approaching hurricane (already stretching it). Which means that by the time Lex and Tim sit down to breakfast the following day, this food had been sitting out at least 12 hours...in a non-air conditioned room...ON A TROPICAL ISLAND. After all Hammond and Ellie were eating all the ice cream because it began melting once the power went out.

SO RIDDLE ME THIS:

1.) How did that food even look, smell and taste appetizing under those conditions and with no flies buzzing nearby?

2.) How did the kids NOT get hit with food poisoning before the raptors attacked in the next scene?