Question: It's been stated that the wand chooses the wizard. Why then, is Voldemort able to use Lucius' wand if the wand chose Lucius as his wizard?
raywest
1st Jan 2023
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
1st Jan 2023
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Question: Anybody who puts their name into the Goblet and is selected is bound to a magical contract to participate in the tournament. Since Harry never actually put his name into the Goblet, shouldn't that void the contract?
Answer: The selection process was corrupted by Barty Crouch, Jr, who cast an exceptionally powerful "Confundus" spell on the Goblet of Fire. The Cup was somewhat sentient and wrongly sensed that Harry was a student from a (non-existent) fourth school who'd entered his own name, even though someone else submitted it. Once a name was entered, a student was magically bound to compete in the tournament.
1st Jan 2023
Speed (1994)
Question: What did Payne mean when he told Jack "Do you know what a bomb is that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy".
Answer: He meant that when he retired after years of hard, loyal work, he had little to show for it other than a small pension and being given a cheap gold watch. He felt cheated, used, and angry, causing him to resort to the extortionist kidnapping plot. He was basically a "ticking time bomb" that had been waiting to go off.
1st Jan 2023
Body Heat (1981)
Question: Why didn't Edmund or Heather (Edmund's niece) recognize that the girl posing as Matty wasn't actually Matty? More specifically, with regard to the restaurant scene (where Ned runs into fake Matty and Edmund), wouldn't Edmund obviously realise that the girl he's with is NOT actually his wife? Also, during the scene where they meet with Edmund's lawyer and discuss the invalid will - wouldn't Heather (Edmund's niece) have recognized that the person masquerading as Maddy wasn't actually Maddy?
Answer: Neither Edmund or young Heather had ever met the real Maddy. The fake Maddy, who is Mary Ann Simpson (played by Kathleen Turner), had stolen the real Maddy's identity before meeting Edmund. She was specifically looking for a rich man to victimize (and murder) and also for an incompetent lawyer (Ned Racine) to drag into her plot. The real Maddy discovered Mary Ann's scheme and showed up to blackmail her imposter, for which Mary Ann later murdered her. Mary Ann and Maddy attended high school together and had a similar appearance, which is why Mary Ann stole her identity.
1st Jan 2023
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Question: Picard kills crew members who have only just been assimilated and justifies it by saying something along the lines of they will be better off dead and inferring that they will be put out of their misery. Yet Picard himself was assimilated and returned to normal and survived. Why is it different for Picard?
Answer: The Borg left Picard sentient to utilize his Starfleet knowledge, to communicate with the Borg queen, and act as the liaison with the Enterprise. Seeing and interacting with their captain as a Borg would have a debilitating effect on the crew. The less-valuable crew members were turned into fully compliant drones. Also, the Enterprise crew were not in their own time and were actively fighting the Borg for their survival and to save the future of humanity. The Borg had infiltrated the Enterprise, so there was no time, opportunity, or means to try and save any assimilated crew.
1st Jan 2023
Better Off Dead (1985)
Question: Why did the paperboy keep saying "two dollars" every time he showed up?
Answer: The family owed him two dollars for their newspaper subscription. He's obsessed with collecting it and the family, for some reason, won't just pay him.
Answer: He wants payment for delivering the newspaper to their house. Paper carriers not only deliver the daily paper, but also collect the monthly fee. Every time he shows up asking for the two dollars, he is blown off.
Thanks. I never got a chance to see the whole movie so that always confused me.
1st Jan 2023
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: How come there are jugs beside all the beds in the hospital wing?
Answer: Presumably, the jugs are for the patients. Many of them will come into the hospital wing with injuries or fevers and will have to stay for a period of time, so the jugs are put there so they can stay hydrated while recovering.
Answer: They are water pitchers that can be filled whenever a patient is in the bed. It's just a convenience to have drinking water handy when needed. It's fairly typical in most hospitals.
21st Dec 2022
Secret Window (2004)
Question: In the short story, Fred Evans (from the assurance company) fatally shoots Mort while Mort tries to kill Amy. Amy marries Ted. Does anyone know why this was changed? Has Stephen King commented on it?
Answer: One reason was that the filmmakers wanted a more "realistic" ending. In the story (SPOILER ALERT), it is revealed that Shooter is in fact real, a supernatural manifestation borne from Mort's mind (Ã la The Dark Half). To keep the film grounded, it was changed in the film to Shooter being all in Mort's mind, a symptom of his split personality disorder.
In addition to your answer, I think the movie version makes the audience feel more sympathy for Mort. Amy is more "at fault" for having the affair with Ted. In the book, Mort considers how the marriage had issues before Ted. He wonders if his relationship with Amy never really "existed" anyway.
Answer: Movies often change details to achieve a different effect and/or add an element of surprise. In this case, it was to streamline the ending, giving it an unexpected dark twist and a sad fate for the victims which erases any sympathy for Mort's situation and his mental illness. Movies tend to like shock value and more gruesome scenes. It also leaves open whether or not Mort will ever be proved guilty.
I know that movies often have changes from the books - it's why I asked the question in the first place. I was wondering if anyone knew the specific reason behind this particular change.
18th May 2022
Doctor Strange (2016)
Question: When Strange is surgically removing the bullet from the patient's brain, why did he ask the one doctor to cover his wristwatch?
Answer: I took it to mean Dr. Strange could hear the watch ticking, and he wanted complete silence.
28th Nov 2022
The Wedding Planner (2001)
Question: Why did Mary's parents have an arranged marriage? If her father is around the same age as the actor who plays him, then he was born in the 1930s. Probably got married in the '50s. Were arranged marriages still common in Italian families?
Answer: In the early-to-mid-20th century, arranged marriages were not uncommon in immigrant families. Ethnic groups tended to prefer matrimony within their own culture to preserve religious beliefs, old traditions, and way of life, especially as immigrants became increasingly dispersed and the American population grew more blended through inter-marriages. While a family could not legally force their children to marry, they could exert tremendous pressure to do so. Also, people did not always wed for love but for more practical reasons and relied on families to help arrange a suitable match. For women, it was often about finding a good provider, raise a family, and having a certain social status. Men preferred an attractive woman from a suitable family, who would be a good homemaker, provide children, and support them in their careers.
25th Nov 2022
Secret Window (2004)
Question: Why did the inside of his cabin look like a tornado hit it, was the maid at the beginning just another one of his hallucinations?
Answer: More than half of the movie was through Mort's perspective so to him it wasn't that dirty and I think the maid was real but mabey hadn' t been there for a while then you can see the house through Amy's perspective, near the end of the movie.
Answer: Towards the end, the townspeople had shunned Mort and refused to provide him with any services, believing he killed Amy and the others. The maid was real and probably quit for the same reason and likely feared working for a suspected murderer. Mort, dysfunctional and sinking eve further into madness, was unconcerned about keeping a tidy house.
The townspeople didn't shun him until Amy, Ray and Ken disappeared. His slow descent into madness preceded that. I think she was a figment of his imagination as he slowly goes mad. Or, he fired her because he didn't want anyone bothering him.
Answer: Since Amy was the one to walk in on the mess, that couldn't have been why the housekeeper wouldn't come back. I think she was just in his imagination.
27th Nov 2022
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Question: Bitsey Bloom and Zach Stemmons are sharing a motel room together. There are two separate beds in that room so why is Zach sleeping on the floor? (01:35:13 - 01:35:40)
20th Nov 2022
Oblivion (2013)
Question: Wouldn't Jack have blown up with TET? How is he alive to come back at the end? Is it a different version?
Answer: It's not the same Jack. The one who died in the TET explosion was the Jack 49 clone. The clone who shows up at the end is Jack 52, who Jack 49 had encountered in the desert. Both have the same memories. Look closely, and you can see the tech clone designation numbers embossed on their jackets.
8th Nov 2022
The Golden Compass (2007)
Question: Why were the sequels for this movie cancelled?
Answer: The first film made too small a profit and failed to resonate with its targeted youth audience. The global financial crisis of 2007-08 was also a factor in deciding to cancel the sequels, and New Line Cinema, the company that produced "The Golden Compass", instead put its resources into the ongoing "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
1st Nov 2022
Cast Away (2000)
Question: Why doesn't Chuck just leave from the other side of the island?
Answer: Probably a variety of reasons. He could not have dragged the heavy raft to the island's other side. Even if he could, it's unlikely there was a flat clear path to get there. There may not have been an accessible beach on that side where he could launch from or that was suitable for establishing a new camp where he could build the raft.
22nd Oct 2022
The Village (2004)
Question: Why did the design of the coin change throughout the movie? In the beginning, when Elizabeth holds up the coin, there is a different design on the back than when Barbossa drops it into the chest with her blood, at the end. Please explain?
Answer: The most likely answer is, it is because the coins are movie props that probably had slight variations in the designs. There may have been multiple prop makers producing the coins for the movie, resulting in a different-looking product. It would be unrealistic that the same exact coin would always be used as the one belonging to Will Turner. This should be submitted as a movie inconsistency.
Actually that would just be a continuity.
9th Oct 2022
Training Day (2001)
Question: How was Alonzo going to square his $1M debt to the Russians when his take from Roger's robbery/arrest was only $250,000? I believe that they split the $1M from Roger 4 ways.
Answer: They seized $4M and Alonzo's cut was $1M.
I believe you are mistaken. The box held $4M originally. Alonzo hands out a bundle of cash that he says is $250,000. And the dialog is Alonzo: there's over $4M dollars in here! You lucky prick! First day on the job you hit a three million dollar seizure" Jake: " Wait, you said Four..." Alonzo: "Aha, taxation without representation, brotha. Nothing's free in this world. Buy your wife a mini van, put the kids through college"
5th Oct 2022
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
Question: Why didn't Dumbledore apprehend Grindelwald at the end? He saw the blood pact was broken, and he had loads of backup, instead he just walks off and lets him escape.
Answer: Dumbledore, as a Hogwarts professor, did not have any legal authority to apprehend Grindelwald or anyone else. That was up to the magical authorities. Also, this was meant to be a four-part (and possibly five-part) movie series that continued the story leading up to Dumbledore and Grindelwald's final duel. The third movie underperformed financially, so the further sequels were cancelled, leaving the storyline incomplete.
But in the Crimes of Grindelwald, Travers - Head of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry personally asks Dumbledore to fight Grindelwald. Then immediately after in the film loads of people attack Grindelwald including Kama who doesn't work for any magical authority?
25th Sep 2022
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Question: Why did Lily never accept Snape's apology for calling her a mudblood? He never meant it as it was said in the heat of the moment.
Answer: I think it was Hermione who said "it's the worst thing you can say. It means dirty blood" Lily is deeply hurt by Snape saying it. It's similar to a modern day argument. Some things just can't be taken aback.
Answer: Remember how enraged Ron got when someone called Hermione that? I get the impression 'mudblood' is the wizarding equivalent of the N word, and there are just some things you can't take back.
This is a good answer. It also should be noted Snape was already on thin ice with Lily as he was into dark arts, showed signs of intent to become a death eater, not to mention according to Lily he had been calling others of her birth the same name. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for her.
Answer: Rather than "heat of the moment", it was more like "the straw that broke the camel's back." Snape was friends with other pure-blood supremacists, who would later become Death Eaters. They bullied Muggle-borns. In the book, she asks him: "But you call everyone of my birth 'Mudblood', Severus. Why should I be any different?" Essentially, Snape had chosen his supremacist friends over her. He refused to stop joining in their behavior.
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Answer: A wizard can use any wand, but it will not perform as well as one that "chose" them. For example, although Voldemort could use Dumbledore's "Elder Wand", it resisted his commands because it was unknowingly (to Voldemort) aligned to another wizard after Dumbledore's death (first Draco and then Harry). By contrast, when Harry captured Draco's wand, it changed its allegiance to him and performed well. If Draco had merely been given his wand back, it would not have worked as well for him as before.
raywest ★