Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Why does Harry simply drop his wand when Voldemort casts a disarming spell? When Professor Snape used it on Gilderoy Lockhart in the second movie, Lockhart rose into the air and fell. This also happened to Snape when Harry used the spell on him in the third movie.

Answer: A wizard can control how much force they use in a spell-anything from mild to extreme. Voldemort simply wanted to relieve Harry of his wand, not harm him. At this point, Harry is more valuable to him alive.

raywest

Question: How did Graham know that Dollarhyde was the man committing murders, and that he drove a van just because the home videos were processed at the lab where the latter worked?

Chinmay Hota

Chosen answer: He figured out earlier that the Tooth Fairy drives a van. Graham noticed that at one of the houses, the Tooth Fairy knew everything he had to do and bring with him and at the other house, he didn't know about the new lock on the door. He concludes that this is because the Tooth Fairy got his information from the same home movies that Graham was watching. Once the films were traced to the lab where Dolarhyde worked, it was easy to link them back to him as the only person who'd had access to both families' videos and also drove a van.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Two questions. 1. Why were all of Vlad's coins melted down? As far as everyone is concerned, he had died so in a sense his own coins couldn't be used against him so melting them down seems kind of pointless. 2. Why would no portraits be made of Vlad? He had sacrificed himself to save his country and his son so he should be honored in some way.

Answer: Well I just saw it so I thought it was melted down to be used to defend themselves if one would appear again. Or they melted it because he was thought to be the evil and they didn't want to honor him.

Question: One thing I never understood in the movie. At the end right before the final punch, the principal sits up and says "don't fuck this up Mitchell." Was he referring to not losing the fight? Was he referring to his school career? It is hard to tell especially since he saved Mitchell from the police, then smiled and nodded at him before walking away.

lartaker1975

Answer: He's telling him to win the fight. The principal knows if the bully isn't defeated, he'll continue to harass him and the students. He believes if the bully loses the fight, he'll no longer be a problem at the school.

Question: What does Slugworth offer the other 4 children in exchange for a gobstopper?

Answer: "Mr. Slugworth, " the evil rival owner of a competing candy company, turns out to be Mr. Wilkinson, an employee of Wonka's. He appears to the five finalists shortly after their ticket finds to tempt them into betraying Wonka by turning over an everlasting gobstopper so the presumed Slugworth can determine the secret recipe. This is a test devised by Wonka to find a child who is pure of heart to succeed him. Charlie passes the test by returning the gobstopper rather than stealing to gain reward. Logic would lead us to presume that the faux "Mr. Slugworth" made the same offer to all five children...money. But only Charlie and the Bucket family were in dire financial straits. The others seemed to be middle class, at least. And Veruca Salt, in particular, has a family that is fabulously wealthy. It is possible that the offer to the other four children was more tailored to their specific vices: Something to satisfy the gluttony of Augustus Gloop, an opportunity for competitive adventure for gum-obsessed Violet, television fame and the resulting financial gains for Mike TeeVee (whose family also seems like they could use a couple of nickels to rub together), and God only knows what one offers to Veruca Salt, who already has everything. But the enticements were whispered, so it is simply left a matter of speculation.

Michael Albert

Question: In the locker room before the fights begin, Gillon uses the phrase, "blind as Tidwell's goat." What is the reference here? I've looked online and can't find anything about it.

Chanteuse66

Answer: Maybe it's just a local reference known only to the local residents of Diggstown. Then again, I can't find any info on the town of Diggstown either.

Diggstown, GA is a fictional town.

Bishop73

Question: The crew is in a rig at the bottom of the ocean. How is it possible for them to swim from porthole to porthole at that depth?

Answer: The crew are working at that pressure and only need diving suits and submarines for long periods in the ocean and to breathe longer. Hence when they return to the surface in normal conditions, a slow return to the surface is required to avoid their bodies developing a condition called the bends. This did not happen at the end as they were protected by the aliens and their ship.

Question: Why does Jim show himself to Ethan in London? This makes no sense, especially because Clair (who is secretly working with Jim), can keep Jim apprised as to what Ethan is up to anyway.

mysterylover

Chosen answer: I suspect that Jim wanted to make absolutely sure that Ethan thought Kitteridge was the IMF mole who had betrayed them - the only way to do that was to tell Ethan that Kitteridge had shot him on the bridge.

Sierra1

Question: Why does everyone love Gaston? I can kinda see why from his looks/biceps but is there another reason why they love him so much?

Answer: I get the impression that Gaston comes from a family with some amount of wealth and social status - maybe not royalty, but perhaps more wealth and status than most people in the town have. Also, despite being vain and arrogant, he is bold and somewhat cunning. Many people like to latch on to a "leader" type.

Answer: I would say he was admired rather than loved and for very superficial reasons. He is young, handsome, manly, and extroverted. People often admire and wish for those traits. They project other non-existent qualities onto such a person while blind to their flaws. In Gaston's case, he is arrogant and self-absorbed. It is very typical of our society to celebrate people for their physical attributes, even though they may lack integrity in other areas of their lives.

raywest

I'd have to disagree. The film takes place in the 1790s to early 1800s if you ignore the Eiffel tower in Be Our Guest. So not long after the revolution at all. The peasantry was suffering quite a bit of food insecurity, which we see reflected in the opening song, (the eggs are too expensive, the bread is stale, etc.) Gaston is a hunter, and he's able to provide for his village which might otherwise have suffered a bit. I'd argue that his super-inflated ego may be a result of the praise he rightly earned.

The original story of Beauty and the Beast was published in 1740 and a lengthier version in 1756. So it takes place way before the revolution during the reign of Louis XV.

lionhead

Question: What kind of creature is Jake, (I think that's his name), the one that is smitten by Bianca?

Answer: Jake is a hopping mouse. Although they look something like a marsupial, they are a type of rodent that is indigenous to Australia.

raywest

Question: What exactly did Mary Jane's father say to her when he was yelling at her at home?

MikeH

Chosen answer: "You're trash! You're always gonna be trash, just like her!" - He says this presumably in reference to Mary Jane's mother.

Chosen answer: "The One Where They Build a House," S2E2.

Question: What does old Tom Hanks drop out of his pocket when he walked out of the door of the old folks home?

Answer: Paul seemed to take the windbreaker in a random fashion. I'm not sure if it even belonged to him. I've no idea what it was but I agree. Not a piece of toast.

Answer: A piece of toast.

I've tried and tried to see what it actually was. It couldn't have been toast. This object hit the floor hard and rolled out of camera range, quickly. I thought maybe door knob or thread spool. Possibly a thread spool because of Mr. Jingles. Door latch was intact.

Question: As the rain comes and the creatures come out and start to damage the station and kill people, why did the entire crew not seek refuge in their ships? Obviously, if the ships were meant for the harshness of space travel and some offensive/defensive capabilities, wouldn't they most likely have provided enough protection from the organic weapons of the creatures? It would make the plot not work but maybe should have been eliminated as a possibility.

Answer: The walls of the settlement are likely to be just as strong as the hulls of the spacecraft. It's likely they are even stronger because the settlement doesn't have to worry about weight limits. Remember also that they had to worry about Riddick hiding and getting the units back.

Greg Dwyer

Question: For years I've wondered about the scene where Hal meets Rosemary's doctor friend Dr. Sahid (in the children's hospital). Unless there's a cut or deleted scene I'm not familiar with, there's no relevance to the plot with meeting the doctor since he's never seen in the rest of the movie (therefore not knowing if his real appearance is different) - everyone else in the whole movie that Hal never met before ends up with a different appearance after the spell wears off (including men). Can anyone answer this?

Answer: I think he was in the movie to reinforce that she is a genuinely nice person and that she had a wide circle of friends who appreciated her.

Question: Why do Rorschach and Night Owl go searching at Veidt Enterprises for further clues about Pyramid Deliveries? They go there after interrogating the guy at Happy Harry's about Roy Victor Chess. He tells them that Janey Slater had him give the sealed envelope (with the assasination orders) to Chess. So is this the link, that they know Slater is also working for Veidt Enterprises? Furthermore: Can it be assumed that Slater was in on the staged assassination on Adrian Veidt, as she was delivering the envelope? Or did she also not know what was in it?

Answer: They go to Veidt's place because they think he will have business contacts that will help them uncover more about what is going on at Pyramid Transnational. It's only once they look through Veidt's office that they learn that Pyramid Transnational is a subsidiary of Veidt's corporation. The man at the bar mentioned that Janey's job at Pyramid was to give work to ex-cons, so it's unlikely she was in on the red herring assassination attempt on Veidt. She would have just been doing her job to give assignments to people under her.

Phaneron

Question: Why did Adrian Veidt also have to infect Moloch with cancer? The comedian mentions to Moloch that Moloch's name was on a list together with Janey Slater's (and others?), who were presumably the ones Veidt infected with cancer. So why Moloch, too? In order to make Dr. Manhattan and the world think that Dr. Manhattan was causing cancer? He had already infected Janey Slater and Wally Weaver who had more contact with Dr. Manhattan. I would think, Moloch and Dr. Manhattan only had brief contact with each other when Moloch was captured.

Answer: Moloch knowingly worked for Adrian at one time, installing carcinogenic gas canisters in ventilation ducts to give people cancer at the high-energy research facility. That's how Moloch developed terminal cancer; but Adrian killed Moloch with a bullet between the eyes before Moloch could reveal any more information to Rorschach. Adrian then set-up Rorschach for murdering Moloch. Anyone who worked "on the inside" of Adrian's plans or who might be an obstacle to those plans was a target for assassination. Adrian murdered his super-associates (The Comedian and Moloch, and he later attempted to kill Dr. Manhattan), he murdered his own hit-man, and he murdered his entire staff of scientists in order to protect his secret plans.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: After Michael shot the Turk and police captain he ran out the front door and the Turk's car was still there. Where was Lou, the driver? Wouldn't he have been standing guard there while the Turk was inside?

MARC6314

Chosen answer: Not necessarily. Both sides distrusted the other, and many arrangements were made on exactly how the meeting would be conducted. The Corleones would have insisted that none of Sollozzo's men other than McClusky be present inside the restaurant, though there may have been some planted, acting as customers. Captain McClusky was Sollozzo's personal bodyguard, and both he and Sollozzo believed Michael had no access to a weapon. As a waiting car immediately picked Michael up after the shootings, it would be reasonable to assume that any nearby Corleone men were watching Lou and would act if he made any attempt to interfere after the shootings. If any of Sollozzo's people were planted inside the restaurant, it was not worth them risking their lives after he was dead, and they likely assumed Corleone men were nearby who would kill them.

raywest

Question: This question is about the entire series. I read the sixth book a couple of years ago and I can't remember if this was answered. Dumbledore once denied Voldemort's request to teach Defense Against Dark Arts because he knew that Voldemort did not want it, and was visiting the school for some other reason. Why would Voldemort curse a job that he was hoping not to get anyway?

Answer: Voldemort wanted to teach at Hogwarts to get more followers, possibly make the next Horcrux as 7 is the limit without your body being destroyed. He also mentions in the book that he had great respect for the teachers at Hogwarts, Dumbledore mentioned in book 6 and so does Harry in book 7 that Hogwarts was at least his first true home if not his real home so he may have partly wanted to return. He may have also wanted to get close to Dumbledore to figure out how to kill him. Dumbledore is after all, the only wizard Voldemort has ever feared.

Answer: There were several factors going on. Dumbledore did deny Tom Riddle (Voldemort) because he was suspicious of him but also because at the time Riddle was too young and inexperienced for the job. Riddle cursed the position so that no one hired for it would last longer than one year, thus giving him annual opportunities to reapply. There was also an element of spite. If he could not have the job, then he didn't want anyone else to have it.

raywest

He wasn't necessarily too young. I think he was 28 when he tried to get the job. Other professors, such as McGonagall and Snape, started at Hogwarts when they were younger. Snape was only 21.

Question: At the end how long is it between the time Kay goes into the saloon until Matt comes to take her "home"?

Answer: It was only a day or two.

raywest

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