Question: When Sirius is a dog dragging Ron down the hole, why didn't the Whomping Willow attack him? And when they're leaving the hole (Sirius, Ron, Hermione, and Harry) the Whomping Willow stays still. Why is that?
raywest
1st Mar 2016
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
7th Mar 2016
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: I know that when books are made into movies, things are changed, left out, or added. However, I can't think of any reason why the scene with Harry and Hermione dancing would have been created. It seems a bit pointless. Has anyone from the crew commented on it?
Answer: I believe it was the director or one of the producers who commented on it in the DVD commentary. The scene was to show their close bond and a brief moment of what might possibly have been between Harry and Hermione but it never went beyond that. The films have depicted their relationship a bit differently from what it was in the books. In the novels they were like the siblings that neither had ever had. The movies made Harry and Hermione to be more romantically compatible than Ron and Hermione were.
4th Mar 2016
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: This question is about the book and movie. Why does Draco make an offer of friendship to Harry? His parents are on Voldemort's side. His father and his aunt are Death Eaters. Surely he considers Harry to be an enemy. If Harry had actually decided to join him, his family would have been very displeased. They would also suffer consequences if Voldemort returned and heard that Draco was friends with Harry.
Answer: Draco, still a child when he met Harry, would not yet fully comprehend his family's involvement as Death Eaters or Harry's specific connection to the Dark Lord. His father, Lucius, rarely shared important information with his son. Draco was also the type who would ingratiate himself to someone famous for his own benefit. Draco's cultivating a bogus friendship with Harry could actually have been advantageous to the Malfoys by gaining his trust and giving them closer access to Harry for Voldemort's purposes. The old adage, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," would certainly apply here.
One other possible reason, I think, it was suggested elsewhere, that the Malfoys did not believe that Voldemort would return, and thought that if Harry had defeated him then Harry must be a very powerful wizard and therefore they wanted to be his friend.
This indeed. This was cut from the movies (it's in one deleted CoS scene), but some people including the Malfoys wondered if Harry "defeated" Voledmort because he was another powerful, dark wizard Voldemort didn't want as a competition. That would make him very appealing to the Malfoys before it is confirmed otherwise. Especially since no-one aside from a few people knew Voldemort would ever come back.
Harry was only a baby when he "defeated" Voldemort though. Why would anyone think he was a powerful dark wizard and competition to Voldemort? I get that they might think Harry has some sort of hidden ability that caused him to vanquish Voldemort, but not that being the reason Voldemort tried to kill him. Everyone knew who Harry's parents were, and that's why he was a target.
25th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: This question is more of an overall question for the series. In Half-blood Prince Tom Riddle asks professor Slughorn if it is possible to create 7 horcruxes. In the movie, once the locket is destroyed, Ron says to Harry "3 more to go". If my count is correct, they destroyed the diary, Dumbledore destroyed the ring, and now the locket. That would leave the goblet, the diadem, and Nagini. In total there are only 6, and at this point, neither Harry nor Voldemort know that Harry is the 7th. So basically the question is, if Harry knew that Voldemort Planned on making 7 horcruxes, why do they only search for 6? Is it possible that I am completely overlooking a major plot detail?
Chosen answer: Voldemort wanted to divide his soul into seven pieces by making six Horcruxes and leaving one soul shard inside his body. He made six Horcruxes using Tom Riddle's diary, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, Salazar Slytherin's locket, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, and Nagini. Harry Potter was also a Horcrux, but that was never Voldemort's intention. He accidentally (and unknowingly) created a seventh Horcrux when he attempted to kill baby Harry. That meant there were actually eight soul shards in all: the six horcruxes that Voldemort intentionally made, the accidental one he created that was Harry's scar, and the soul shard left inside Voldemort's body.
Answer: They never knew about the seventh as they never heard what it was. They thought he just didn't make it.
28th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Question: Chapter 24: Draco tells Moaning Myrtle that "he", meaning Voldemort, says he will kill Draco if Draco does not "do it soon" (kill Dumbledore). When could Voldemort have said this to him? He is at Hogwarts and Voldemort will not dare enter the place while Dumbledore is still there.
Answer: Voldemort assigned this task to Draco before the new Hogwart's school year started. He could then communicate with Draco using Legilimancy (speaking to him telepathically) or by way of his parents. The Dark Lord actually intended for Draco to fail so he could kill him as a means to punish Lucius Malfoy for his failure to retrieve the prophecy at the Ministry of Magic. He also intended on killing Lucius.
1st Mar 2016
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: When Harry and Hermione were sitting with Buckbeak waiting to see themselves as Lupin turned into a werewolf, why didn't one of them go to where Pettigrew escaped to capture him?
27th Feb 2016
Zoolander 2 (2016)
2nd Dec 2013
Licence to Kill (1989)
Question: When Cary Lowell arrives at the religious compound run by Wayne Newton to "donate" money, they don't let her in at first. She begs and says "But I came all the way from Wichita Falls." Being from Wichita Falls, Texas (a city not real well known throughout the US since it's relatively small) I'm curious as to how this line got into the film. Does someone working on the film have some connection to Wichita Falls?
6th Apr 2014
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Question: There are two prisoners wearing chains and only underpants inside the prison; they were dancing and the guitar was being played. Can someone please tell me how the men who have chains on their legs remove their trousers for washing, them and their trousers?
Answer: In the novel, Donn Pearce gives quite a detailed description of the method that the chain wearing prisoners went through to remove their pants without removing the chains. It is a very difficult procedure to follow but it was probably true as his account is based on serving time on the chain gang depicted in the movie.
16th Mar 2015
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Question: Queen Victoria made Phileas realize that he won the wager because it was still day 79. If she knew that Phileas arrived a day early, how come everybody else in London, including Lord Kelvin, thought it was actually day 80 and that he lost the wager when the tower bells began to ring?
Answer: In reality, it would be impossible that so many people would make this mistake. However, it serves the movie's plot for the error to be discovered by one person at the last moment because it provides an unexpected upset to a perceived outcome. In this case, it was by Queen Victoria, which added an additional twist.
4th Feb 2015
Romeo and Juliet (2013)
23rd Feb 2016
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Question: If Susie's body had been in a bag in the safe, how did people who went into his house (Lindsey when she broke into his house through the basement window) not smell her dead body?
Answer: The dog could smell her body even from outside, and he barked and hesitated as he passed near the killer's house. Dogs can smell people from a long distance.
23rd Feb 2016
King of the Hill (1997)
Question: I know that this is a cartoon, but could Hank and Peggy really produce a blonde son, with both them having brown hair?
Answer: In addition to the answer by Raywest, some children have blonde or dark blonde hair that turns brown as they grow. My own brother was like this. His hair was more of a dark blonde, then turned brown in his late teens.
15th Sep 2014
Ghostbusters (1984)
Question: In Dana's bedroom, after she's possessed, there's a picture next to her bed. Is that Reagan from The Exorcist?
Answer: I watched clips from both movies to compare the images. The picture of the little girl next to Dana's bed looks a little like Regan from the Exorcist, but the hair styles are different enough to conclude that it is not. Regan had longer and straighter hair while the girl in the photo has shorter and bushier locks.
7th Aug 2014
Rodan (1956)
Question: How is it that Rodan flew supersonic speeds but you only see him flap his wings to take off? Also how did he leave a vapor trail at high altitude?
Answer: The movie was made in the 1950s when special effects barely existed and were primitive at best. This is also a Japanese-made movie, and their film industry, at that time, was far less sophisticated than Western movies. Audiences then were expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" while watching a Sci-fi movie, accepting that what they were seeing was implausible or crudely done, but it told the story. Audiences know that Rodan could not have taken off at supersonic speeds merely by flapping its wings or left a vapor trail at high altitude, but just accept that it adds to the overall illusion of what is supposed to be happening.
18th Feb 2016
Prometheus (2012)
Question: Why would Charlize Theron have a med-pod in her private quarters that operates on male patients? Was that for Weyland?
18th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: Please correct me if I am mistaken, but in the lyrics that the frog choir is singing in the first scene in the great, one of the lines is "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." This is a direct reference to the witches spell in Shakespeare's Macbeth, is it not?
18th Feb 2016
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: This is a two part question. 1) If Snape wants Harry to have the sword of Gryffindor, why would he place it at the bottom of a frozen pond instead of placing it somewhere more accessible? 2) Does the locket try to choke Harry because it senses the threat posed by the presence of the sword?
Chosen answer: 1) Snape's motive for hiding the sword in the pond is never explained "in the movie." As for the book, it explicitly states that Dumbledore instructed Snape to give the sword to Harry when possible, but make it so it takes bravery and courage to acquire, like a true Gryffindor. Snape then found they were in the Forest of Dean, and he himself placed the sword there. 2) The Locket was partially sentient and could sense that the sword was a danger to it.
If he placed it somewhere anyone could access, the sword might get into the wrong hands.
17th Feb 2016
The Village (2004)
Question: The creature comes to the village and Ivy waits for Lucius to grab her hand. But Noah was in the house under the house floor with Ivy's family. So who was dressed as the creature?
Answer: It was one of the male village elders who was disguised as the creature. The elders had perpetuated the hoax that strange, dangerous beasts lived in the woods and would attack the village if anyone strayed beyond its borders. It was all part of the ruse to frighten and restrain the younger villagers when they became too curious and adventurous and tried to cross the perimeter. The elders wanted to prevent the youth from learning about the modern world outside. Noah later found his father's costume under the floorboards and secretly began pretending to be one of the creatures.
12th Feb 2016
Jaws 2 (1978)
Question: Is the shark in this one at all related to "Bruce" (the shark from the original film). The woman's line "Sharks don't take things personally Mr Brody" made me suspicious.
Answer: For what it's worth, in the novelization the shark is a female and pregnant with the offspring of the first movie's shark, but that's not brought up in the film at all.
Chosen answer: That is highly unlikely. The woman is only pointing out to Brody that he is making it a personal issue when what he is dealing with is an animal that lacks emotion, intelligence, or self-awareness and is only acting on its primal instinct.
The ironic thing is that is the entire plot line for Jaws: The revenge.
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Chosen answer: In the books, the Whomping Willow had a knot on its trunk that, when pressed, froze the tree. In the movie, the tree is stilled by using the "Immobilus" spell. When Sirius, in his dog form, pulls Ron into the opening at the base of the Whomping Willow, he does it fast enough that the tree has not responded yet to someone being there. It starts whomping moments later just as Harry and Hermione arrive. Later, when Lupin arrived, he stopped the tree by casting Immobilus. (Harry and Hermione watch him doing this when they go back in time.) The spell was still effect when everyone left the Shrieking Shack.
raywest ★