In these strange and uncertain times, the world has gathered their TV’s and smart devices to collectively watch the weird antics of eccentric zoo owner Joe Exotic in Netflix’s massive hit true crime series Tiger King. The series definitely raises a ton of questions. Like does Joe Exotic actually sing his songs? What made him think he could become President of the United States? How does he keep meeting new husbands? How does a tiger attack barely register as something of note in this show? How is literal Scarface one of the most relatable characters? Why does Jeff Lowe dress like that, and why does everyone call him Jeff Lowe? Did Carol Baskin feed her husband to some tigers? Why can’t we stop watching this show?!

The Twilight Saga took the world by storm and became an incredibly successful movie franchise. The “love story” between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan was one for the ages. Maybe. Probably not. Unwilling to give up on some extra cash, Hollywood actually decided to split up the final Twilight book into two movies: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2. Both movies raise a lot of questions. Like why was this made into two movies?! Like why didn’t Edward and Bella push their honeymoon back a little? How did Edward get Bella pregnant? Why is everybody so mad about this baby? How is Bella so good at being a newborn vampire? What’s going on with the baby’s face, and why did Jacob immediately fall in love with it? Was the only entertaining scene of this whole franchise really just a vision?

Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors working today, and one of the few filmmakers who still makes high budget original movies. With movies like Inception, Dunkirk, Interstellar and more under his belt, he’s firmly established himself as one of the most visionary directors of our generation. That being said, TENET is super confusing. TENET is awesome to look at, but raises a lot of questions. Like what are the exact implications of moving backwards through time? Why is the music so much louder than the vocal tracks? What is going on? Why does The Protagonist spend an hour going from conversation to conversation? Who are those army guys shooting at? This movie makes sense, right?

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a classic movie that audiences still come back to today since its release in 1971. Starring Gene Wilder as the wacky (sometimes terrifying) factory owner Willy Wonka, the movie is full of yummy-looking candy and the occasional terrifying imagery. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory definitely raises lots of questions. Like what’s up with Grandpa Joe suddenly getting out of bed after being stuck there for twenty years? Why is that Candy Man just throwing candy at kids? Did Wonka know that one of the kids was going to fall into the chocolate river? What was up with that boat scene? Are these kids going to be okay? Why is Grandpa Joe such a sketchy guy? What’s Charlie going to do as the owner of a candy factory?!

Keanu Reeves had a global hit with his action-packed movie The Matrix, and none of his movies since then really lived up to how amazing it was. That is, until John Wick rolled around in 2014. This action-packed shooter with a simple plot became a surprise hit and introduced the world to some awesome gun-fu action. The movie does raise a few questions though! Like how did they manage to get the producers to get off their back about worldbuilding details and love interests? How does anyone feel safe at the Continental Hotel? Why didn’t Viggo stick around to make sure his men took care of John Wick, and why did John make a deal with Viggo just moments later? Also, why didn’t anyone Google Baba Yaga?

Jaws is known as one of the best movies of all time. So if a studio upped the stakes by a million percent, that should be even better right? What if thousands of sharks were caught up in a tornado and started eating everyone? Sharknado raises a ton of questions. Like why does it exist? Who thought that such a high concept movie would work with such a low budget? Why is it alway sunny during this hurricane? How are these sharks alive? How will dropping bombs into tornadoes help at all? Why did that guy just dive inside a shark with a chainsaw? How is it possible that that’s the same exact shark that ate his friend in the middle of a tornado?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken over the global box office in the past decade, but Marvel wasn’t always the cinematic gold mine it is today. In fact the very first Marvel movie that got a theatrical release was so poorly received that they waited more than a decade to make another one. That first movie was Howard the Duck. The movie definitely raises a ton of questions… Like who is this movie for? Why are we seeing all these duck parts? Why is Beverly attracted to a duck? Why does Howard get a job in an adult spa? Why are there so many duck puns? What was George Lucas thinking? And once again, who is this movie for?! To answer all these questions and more, step inside the pitch meeting that led to Howard the Duck! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

For a brief moment in the early 2000’s, people were referring to M Night Shyamalan as “The Next Spielberg.” With popular hits like The Sixth Sense and Signs, it seemed like the director was going to churn out classic after classic. But then came The Village… Lady in the Water… The Happening… Opinions started to change. Then came “The Last Airbender” in 2010, which not only solidified the new, negative public opinion of Shyamalan, but also enraged fans of the animated series around the world. The Last Airbender definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why rush through twenty episodes in ninety minutes? Why is there so much narration and exposition? Why are everybody’s names being pronounced weird? Why doesn’t anyone have any personality? Why does bending look so weird? What was up with that Earth Tribe scene? Who thought this was a good idea?!

Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Llyod as Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown is an absolute cinematic classic and regarded as one of the best movies of all time. It spawned two sequels, countless memes, and remains an incredibly popular film to this day. Back to the Future does raise some questions though. Like how is Doc Brown so lovable while also being so sketchy (animal testing, dealing with terrorists...) Why is this movie so focused on Marty’s mom trying to seduce him? Is this really a family movie? How did Doc and Marty even meet? Why did Doc flip-flop on his passionate speech about not learning things about the future? What happened to the Marty from the new timeline that “our” Marty replaces?!

The trend of YA novels being adapted into popular movie franchises hasn’t been popular in about a decade, but that doesn’t mean that studios are going to stop trying-- especially when they own the rights to a popular book franchise. The latest attempt at this is Artemis Fowl, based on the hugely successful book series of the same name. The movie adaptation definitely raises a lot of questions. Like did the writers actually read the books or just glance through a wikipedia page? Why is there so much exposition in this thing? Why does the whole thing take place in a house? Why isn’t Artemis an evil genius like he was in the books? What exactly is going on with all this magic stuff? Did we really need to see Josh Gad in Hagrid cosplay shoot a bunch of dirt out of his butt? Who is this movie for?

Disney has had a lot of financial success in recent years by remaking their popular animated movies into live-action versions (or super realistic animated versions.) With billions of dollars made so far, it’s only natural that they’ve decided to keep moving through their catalog. And so… live-action Mulan is here! The remake lots of questions. Like why has all the fun been removed from this thing? Why is Mushu gone, only to be replaced with a whole bunch of other magical stuff? Why is this a superhero movie now? Why was Mulan born with superhuman abilities? What’s up with the witch character telling her where to go all the time? Why aren’t any of her army friends fun anymore? Did she just kick an arrow into that dude’s chest?!?

Back in 2010, with a couple of massive Batman movies under his belt, Christopher Nolan decided to take a break from superheroes before The Dark Knight Rises to blow everyone’s mind with the super popular movie Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio. With dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams, Inception definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why aren’t these dreams dream-like? Why doesn’t Michael Caine bring Cobb’s kids to visit sometimes? How did Mal frame Cobb for her death from a totally different building? What does that spinning top totem ending mean? Is it all a dream? Is THIS a dream?! What is going on?!!

The Lord of the Rings movies were incredibly successful and critically acclaimed, for good reason. With revolutionary special effects, costumes, make-up and more -- Peter Jackson’s movies became instant classics. But The Lords of the Rings: The Two Towers still raises a few questions. Like why is falling from high up an okay thing for good guys? How many fake-out deaths can they put in these things? Why does Saruman look like he lost a contact lens? Why would they let Wormtongue leave? Why do all the orcs have Cockney accents?

Will Smith is one of the most popular and beloved actors of all time, with a huge list of blockbuster movies under his belt. It seems like he really wanted that same future for his son Jaden, because he and his wife handed him a starring role in a big budget M Night Shyamalan movie. Did he live up to the challenge? Um... After Earth raises lots of questions. Like why did anyone think it was a good idea to have Jaden lead a movie like this? Why have Will Smith in it if he’s going to be stone-faced and emotionless? How did everything on Earth evolve in one thousand years to kill humans, which didn’t even live there anymore? Why would aliens breed monsters specifically to kill humans, but only give them the ability to smell fear? Why did M Night Shyamalan direct this thing? To answer all these questions and more, step inside the Pitch Meeting that led to After Earth! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Harry Potter carved out a market for popular young adult books being adapted into movies, and studios started scrambling for their piece of that pie. For Fox, that came in the form of Percy Jackson-- a book series following the demi-god son of Poseidon dealing with Ancient Greek stuff all over the place. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief raises lots of questions. Like why do Greek Gods hang out in the United States? Why does everyone think that Percy stole the lightning bolt? Why does Zeus pick such a specific time for war? Why keep Percy in Camp Half-Blood if Hades can just pop up in the campfire at any time? Why doesn’t Percy show any emotion when seeing his mom die or when chopping off Medusa’s head? What was Luke’s plan exactly? Why did he send them on a quest to collect things that would make his own plan fail?

Step inside the pitch meeting that led to Dolittle!

In the early 1990’s, Mario and Luigi were all the rage. The Nintendo video game franchise had become a massive worldwide phenomenon, so it only made sense for Hollywood to try and cash in on it. The Super Mario Bros movie was the first movie based on a video game ever made, and it did not exactly inspire confidence in the genre. Starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and Samantha Mathis, the movie is completely bonkers and raises a whole lot of questions. Like how did dinosaurs also evolve into humans? Why do none of the characters have anything to do with their video game counterparts? Why did they go all-in on the plumbing aspect? Why does President Koopa not just go through the portal? How did they think this would get a SEQUEL?!

With the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s understandable that every movie studio under the sun wanted to create cinematic universes of their very own. For Universal, that attempt came in the form of the Dark Universe. It didn’t work out. Even with a superstar like Tom Cruise in the forefront, the movie raises a ton of questions. Like why did Princess Ahmanet need help from Set, the god of death, to take out a baby and a sleeping dude? How are two known artifact thieves still in the military? What exactly are the Mummy’s powers? Why is Doctor Jekyll so reckless with his Mr Hyde medicine? Why does Prodigium make it so simple for people to escape? Why hasn’t anyone destroyed the dagger or the stone? To answer all these questions and more, step inside the pitch meeting that led to The Mummy! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Batman and Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, were big box office hits that brought the Dark Knight to a whole new level of popularity. Naturally Warner Bros wanted another film to follow them up, but had to do so with a new director, Joel Schumacher AND a new Batman, Val Kilmer. Batman Forever definitely raises a lot of questions. Like what’s up with the completely new visual style? Why does Batman adopt a fully grown man? What’s up with those… things on the batsuit? Why is Chase Meridian so obsessed with Batman? Why is the circus being broadcast on live TV? Why does Two Face want to kill Batman, exactly? Why the The Riddler pick the worst spot in the world for his showdown with Batman?

From humble beginnings as a movie about underground street racing, The Fast and Furious franchise has evolved into what’s essentially a new series of superhero movies. With each passing film, the stakes get higher and the stunts get crazier. Many people think the turning point for that evolution was the fifth installment of the franchise - the bizarrely named Fast Five. The movie definitely raises a lot of questions. Like how did the good guys know they weren’t going to kill anyone when they got Dom off the prison bus? Why did they even care that some of the people on the train heist wanted a particular car? How did any of their associates get into Brazil? How did they buy a vault, steal police cars, participate in a street race and joyride cop cars around town without raising any flags? Why did we spend so much time watching them do stuff that ended up being meaningless to the plot? Why is this called Fast Five?

The Lord of the Rings movies were incredibly successful and critically acclaimed, for good reason. With revolutionary special effects, costumes, make-up and more -- Peter Jackson’s movies became instant classics, and he wrapped up the trilogy with The Return of the King in which the king… returns. The movie was critically acclaimed and a massive success at the box office, but it still raises a few questions. Like what’s up with Frodo being the absolute worst? How does he always end up siding with Gollum? Why didn’t they include Saruman’s death in the theatrical cut? Why does Frodo keep getting stabbed? Why does Denethor eat tomatoes like that? What’s up with the sudden ghost deus ex machina? When is this movie actually going to end?

The Twilight books were incredibly successful, so it’s only natural that Hollywood wanted to cash in. And cash in they certainly did. Eclipse is the third of the YA novels written by Stephanie Meyer, and in 2010 was adapted for the big screen. Like the other Twilight movies, Eclipse raises a ton of questions. Like why is literally everyone obsessed with Bella Swan? Why are people raising armies to track her down? Why are ancient monsters ignoring century-old conflicts just to help her out? What’s up with Victoria’s army of newborn vampires being so slow-moving? Why does Jasper suddenly have a southern accent in this movie? Why does Rosalie’s story sound more interesting than this entire vampire saga? Why are we still stuck on whether or not Bella is going to marry Edward, after she’s already agreed to be an immortal vampire with him for eternity?

The Twilight Saga took theatres by storm when it premiered in 2008, with die-hard fans lining up to see Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and Jacob Black do super melodramatic vampire and werewolf stuff on the big screen. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will forever be associated with these roles. The movie definitely raises some questions. Like why are the Cullens even going to high school-- isn’t that a terrible way to blend in? What’s up with vampire baseball? What does everybody see in Bella? What’s so romantic about almost puking and awkwardly staring at her? Why is a 100 year old vampire so into a teenage girl? Why is she okay with him watching her sleep every night?!

Disney and Pixar have put out a whole lot of classic animated films over the years-- but in the past decade the majority of them have been sequels, prequels or spinoffs of their most popular properties. With Onward, they’re making a return to the world of original concepts. They’re bringing us into a world of magic that’s lost its magic, featuring the vocal talents of Star-Lord himself Chris Pratt, as well Spider-Man himself Tom Holland. Onward does raise some questions though-- like how did the invention of planes lead to creatures not flying down the street, or to reach things on shelves? Why are all their technological inventions human-sized if the creatures are the ones that made them? Why doesn’t anyone consider how the mom character feels? Why does every single road trip movie need an encounter with a biker gang? Why are the Simpsons here?

John Krasinski, who made a name for himself as Jim Halpert on the hit comedy The Office, stepped into the director’s chair to bring us A Quiet Place in 2018. The movie, starring Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt, was a massive success and was one of the standout movies of the year. The movie does raise some questions though. Like why was the Abbott family so irresponsible in the opening scene? Why are the alien/monsters so inconsistent in what they can hear and how they attack? What’s up with that waterfall scene, and that nail scene on the stairs? Did Lee really have to sacrifice himself at the end? And what’s up with the happy quirky ending?