Question: In the answer to another question here, it says that Dumbledore wanted the other teachers to keep Remus' werewolf condition a secret. Wouldn't Severus get into trouble for trying to teach the Defense Against Dark Arts class about werewolves?
raywest
26th May 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
20th May 2014
General questions
There is a movie about a boy who is a part of his school's swim team. He eventually discovers that he's a merman. To make things problematic, he is stalked by a man who, during a swim competition, notices fins start to appear on the kid's legs.
1st May 2014
Serendipity (2001)
Question: At the end of the movie when Jonathan is lying in the middle of the rink, you can see the skaters skating around him. However, everyone is wearing roller blades, not ice skates. I was under the impression that this was an ice skating rink, not a roller skating rink. Am I wrong about that, or is this another blooper?
Answer: It is not a movie mistake. The scenes were filmed at the Trump Skating Rink (formerly called the Wollman Rink) in New York City's Central Park. The arena has traditionally been used for multiple venues throughout the year including ice skating, roller skating, concerts, carnivals, etc.
29th Apr 2014
Hairspray (2007)
Question: Why is it that Tracy's hair keeps getting more and more highlights through scenes?
Answer: I believe her hair is also symbolic of white and black integration.
Chosen answer: It's common for filmmakers to subtly alter a character's appearance throughout the film to reflect how the character changes. In this case, as Tracy comes out of her shell, her personality becomes brighter, stronger, and more pronounced, and that is shown by her increasingly lighter hair.
7th May 2014
Fargo (1996)
Question: Gaear gets the kidnapping job from his friend Shep. He can choose anybody he wants to help him do it. Why does he choose Carl, a person he obviously can't stand? They don't "fall out" - Gaear hates him from the get-go. And don't say that Gaear deliberately chose someone he disliked because he planned to kill him all along. Yeah, right... Planned to bring an axe to a gunfight. Great plan. Granted, it worked. But that was not planned. Anyway, Gaear is all ursine impulse, not organized forethought. So why Carl?
Answer: Gaear would choose who he thought was the best person to help him pull off the job, regardless of whether or not he likes him. He's not particularly intelligent, and Carl is the smarter of the two and that would be an asset. Gaear also appears to be very anti-social and it's doubtful he has any friends, or at least any that would participate in such a plot, and this may be the only person he knows of who will go along with it. His choice really has little to do with liking someone and everything to do with getting the job done. Gaear may very well have intended to kill him later to help eliminate any ties to the crime and to keep the money. It's easier to kill someone he doesn't like.
All good points! I might add Gaear was "mostly brawn." His limited intelligence ("dull normal" at best?) and lack of basic communication skills ["Where's pancakes house?"] would interfere with his ability to engage in constructive conversations with Jerry to arrange the kidnapping. He'd also have difficulty making a plan and following through on his own. Gaear wouldn't have any problem overpowering a person to be kidnapped, but needed someone like Carl to make the before and after plans.
5th May 2014
CSI: NY (2004)
Question: Why in season 9 do so many of the episodes follow many of the characters on their days off?
Chosen answer: Probably to broaden the scope of the show's plot and give the audience a chance to see the characters in a different setting, People act differently at home from the way they do at their workplace. By the ninth season, the characters would have become overly familiar and predictable. It gives the writers a chance to do something different with them.
5th May 2014
The Parent Trap (1998)
Question: How old are Nick and Elizabeth? Hallie says that Nick's fiancee, Meredith, is young enough to be her sister. This would imply that Nick is at least sixteen years past Meredith's age, twenty-six. That would make him forty-two, so he was thirty or thirty-one at the time the girls were born. However, Meredith left Nick because they were "so young" and didn't get along. The early thirties years are not usually considered young ages for getting married and having children.
Answer: The marriage certificate at the very beginning of the film says he was 24 (in Jan 1986). Thus, in the summer of 1998 he would be about 36/37 (depending on when his birthday is), and so is about 10 years older than Meredith. An 11-year old would probably view this age difference as greater than adults would.
In addition to this, I don't think Meredith's age was as much of a problem as the girls made it out to be. They viewed her as an obstacle to their plans, and would do anything to try and end her relationship with their father.
Answer: It depends on your point-of-view. Youngsters often consider people in their 30s as being "old" while more mature adults over the age of 40, would consider someone in their early to mid thirties as still being very young. Everyone matures at a different rate, and some people in their early 30s still think and act like they're much younger.
Answer: Different people have different reactions to age gaps in relationships. I've met some who think a 7-year gap is noteworthy, while others don't care about 20 years. I myself am 14 years younger than my spouse. The majority of people don't care, while one or two people have raised eyebrows. Also, as another commenter suggested, a child would probably view 10 years as a bigger deal anyway.
1st May 2014
The Godfather (1972)
Question: In the Vito Corleone funeral scene at the grave site, the family is sitting before the coffin, Fredo is absent, where is he?
Answer: Freddy had been sent to Las Vegas after the Don was shot, not only to learn the casino business but also because he was emotionally traumatized by the murder attempt. He was also severely affected by his brother Sonny's death. Attending his father's funeral would have been too much for him, becoming overwrought and making a scene. Michael, now head of the family, would not have wanted this.
26th Apr 2014
Rocky V (1990)
Question: When Rocky goes bankrupt, I find it hard to believe that he couldn't have kept his lifestyle. With his popularity as champion, couldn't he be hired as an analyst for ESPN, Showtime or HBO? What about a book deal? He could have even done speaking engagements and appeared at shows for five figures. Or even do commercials?
Answer: Rocky is bankrupt due to his manager's mismanagement and is now nearly one million dollars in debt. Any money he could make from endorsements, commercials, etc. would only be garnished. He also suffers from depression and was diagnosed with having some brain damage from his last fight, possibly making him unsuitable as a spokesperson, public speaker, or sports analyst. Of course, it also serves the plot better if Rocky is in more dire circumstances.
It was a great storyline for the film, but in actuality, a person as large as Rocky was in the film series, a million dollars in debt surely would not have hurt him financially and caused him to go back to the ghetto of Philadelphia, as much wealth that he accumulated after his fights with Apollo after Part Two.
23rd Apr 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Towards the end of the third film, when Harry and Hermione are successful in saving Sirius Black, why does Dumbledore act like he doesn't know anything when they see him outside the hospital room door?
Answer: He does not want it known that he was the one who planned for Harry and Hermione to rescue Sirius, who is still a wanted felon at this point. It would cause Dumbledore serious legal problems (he would be arrested and sent to Azkaban) if was he suspected of aiding Sirius' escape. That is why he acts like he does not know what happened.
23rd Apr 2014
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Question: Why did Snape have Filch treat his wounds from the three-headed dog? Why not go to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing, considering that Snape wasn't really doing anything wrong after all?
Answer: I think Snape wanted to keep what happened quiet while he investigated Professor Quirrell, and Madam Pomfrey was more likely to inform Professor Dumbledore. Filch, who would consider Snape something of a kindred spirit, would not feel a need to report it to anyone, particularly if Snape asked him to say nothing about it.
21st Apr 2014
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
21st Apr 2014
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. The cat had cancer and Melanie wanted it to die a "humane" death. What is humane about blowing it up and if it was gonna die of cancer all those years ago why is it still roaming around town?
20th Apr 2014
Prisoners (2013)
Question: What motivated Bob Taylor (an earlier abductee of the same perpetrators) to implicate himself in the current abductions by stealing the girls' clothing items and taking them to his home?
17th Apr 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Before Harry gets on the bus for stranded witches/wizards, Sirius appears in dog form and growls at him. Why is Sirius behaving aggressively toward his godson?
Answer: Sirius wasn't being aggressive toward Harry. In the book, Harry merely saw a hulking shape and a pair of eyes in the bushes watching him, but there was no growling. The way it's shown in the movie was played up to make it appear that there is some imminent threat to Harry. The filmmakers were apparently attempting to foreshadow the coming danger and to keep the audience in suspense about Sirius' identity and true intentions.
17th Apr 2014
The Hangover (2009)
Question: Doug says they are going home with some money, but how much is the damage to the hotel room going to cost?
17th Apr 2014
Rosemary & Thyme (2003)
Question: When you are wallpapering, what is it that you brush on the paper after it is on the wall? Helena brushes something that looks like glue on the new wallpaper.
Chosen answer: As far as hanging new wallpaper, there is no need to brush on any additional product once it has been pasted to the wall. It appears Helena may be doing an extra decorative step by applying a liquid glaze over the wallpaper to give it a more distinctive look, perhaps creating a sheen effect on the surface. Glaze can also be tinted to give a muted colored tone. It could also be a protective sealant. However, to remove old wallpaper, a product is brushed on that dissolves the old paste so the paper can be easily scraped off.
15th Apr 2014
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Question: When Ron and Hermione argue during the dance, two girls are in the background, sitting on the steps and comforting a third girl who is crying. Is there any explanation as to who the girl is and why she is crying?
Answer: There's no explanation given about who the girl on the step is or why she is crying. She is simply an unnamed character whose evening obviously didn't end well and she is upset. This is only meant as background detail to make the scene more interesting and real without distracting the audience. It has no relationship to the main plot.
15th Apr 2014
The Polar Express (2004)
Question: When the boy enters the train car the other kids are heard singing the polar express song. How could they have learned it?
Answer: Alternatively, it could just be a song they all made up.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Snape is clever enough to know how to circumvent getting into any serious trouble, though Dumbledore probably was displeased by what he did. Werewolves were a standard part of the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, though, when subbing for Lupin, he decided to cover the subject weeks ahead of schedule in the hopes a student would recognize that Lupin was a werewolf without it being him directly giving away the secret. Of course, it was Hermione who figured it out, though she kept that knowledge to herself until it became necessary to reveal it.
raywest ★