Question: Isn't it weird that during the duelling match between Snape and Lockhart, Snape executes a perfect "Expelliarmus" spell on Lockhart, knocking him off his feet but doesn't disarm him? He is still holding his wand as he falls to the ground. Isn't the Expelliarmus spell a disarming spell?
lionhead
10th Oct 2023
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
11th Sep 2023
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Question: Is it ever explained how Voller managed to survive his encounter with being hit square in the face and falling off the speeding train without a scratch? My thoughts were that he touched the spear of destiny earlier (focused on in a scene) and became immortal, but Indy said it was fake. Plus, Voller dies at the end in 217BC. He also seems to have aged little compared to Indy. Is that a plot point they dropped or forgot about or something?
Answer: It was never explained and seems impossible that anyone could survive such an impact. My own thought was the scene was deliberately exaggerated to appear as if Voller was killed in order to fool and then surprise the audience when he later turns up alive. I also thought it looked as if he hadn't aged. Voller may have been much younger than Indy, possibly as much as 25-30 years. When Voller reappears in the 1960s, he looks more like actor Mads Mikkelsen's actual age. The film should have made him look younger at the beginning. There's a lot of "suspension of disbelief" here.
13th May 2023
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Question: Is there a reason why they couldn't just use their suits to get back home? At least Cassie could do it, she is just a kid. Just activate your suit and grow, get out of there. I know eventually they want to stay and help, but at the beginning they were just scared and want to go home, why not do it then?
15th May 2022
Seven (1995)
Question: When Mills and Somerset are investigating John Doe's apartment Somerset comes across the hand of the Sloth victim in a jar. I'm wondering how exactly John Doe was able to use that hand to place fingerprints on the wall behind the painting. He either cut it off recently, or cut it off a year ago and kept it until he needed it. The second is highly unlikely, but even if the first case is true, is that hand capable of giving clean, traceable fingerprints? Because the hand is decayed pretty badly.
Answer: We don't know that John Doe left the fingerprints at the same time as he murdered the Greed victim. He's put a lot of work into each killing, and has meticulously planned each victim and detail, so it's possible he left the fingerprints behind the painting long ago, when the Sloth victim's hand was still, for lack of a better word, fresh.
But long before he killed the greed guy? That doesn't make sense.
27th Sep 2021
Total Recall (1990)
Question: Why is there air in and around the reactor? Humans have extensively researched the reactor, so they obviously needed air to do it, but doesn't Cohaagen control all the air on Mars, and the reactor? So if he doesn't want anyone to turn the reactor on why not simply drain the air from the reactor so nobody could go there?
Answer: The entire chamber is full of the alien graphite that converts into a breathable atmosphere for the entire planet.
But it's not activated.
Answer: They are on a planet with very little atmosphere; therefore, there must be a supply of environmental suits readily available for exploration of the planet's surface and for going outside to repair problems with the outside of the dome. If there are a number of suits available, the absence of air around the reactor would not be a deterrent. People could simply "borrow" one of the many suits and walk on in regardless of the lack of air.
31st Jul 2021
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Question: My idea was that the plot is a time loop and Cole was sent back to find a pure sample of the virus, so they can make a cure in the future and then tried to stop the pandemic but fails. That's what I thought it was about. But I've heard this crazy theory however that the scientists that send Cole and the others back are in fact responsible for releasing it and are preventing Cole from trying to prevent the pandemic in the past by keeping an eye on him and force him to follow his orders. Is that it?
Answer: No, they really want to find a cure. Why else would that female scientist travel back to the hot zone at the very end? Why would they send people back if they wanted them to fail? It was the crazy 1990s lab assistant who released the virus.
29th Dec 2019
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Question: I never got the scene in the flat with Wanda and Archie when he strips naked and a family walks into the flat. He tells them to leave because they are obviously in the wrong flat and some friend gave him the key and then the man says they leased the flat from the agents last weekend and that immediately changes Archie's tone. Why? What was the confusion about? Were he and Wanda in the wrong flat?
Answer: My impression is that (possibly through Wendy) Archie has friends who are rich enough to happily let each other use their London flats while they are overseas or in their country homes. But in his haste he hasn't checked what the owner is actually doing with the place. He realises he has been too impulsive and won't be able to bluster his way out. Since these are strangers he goes to politeness instead. (This doesn't explain why a flat for rent still has family pictures on display but that's the setup for the comedy).
23rd Sep 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Question: Thanos wields Thor's axe and tried to bury it into Thor's chest - is this because the axe doesn't require you to be worthy for it, or is Thanos strong enough to wield it without being worthy, or is he worthy to wield his axe and if so why?
Answer: Thor's hammer was enchanted by Odin in the first Thor movie only to be wieldable by a person who was worthy, but the axe was made later and had no such enchantment.
13th Jul 2019
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: In Biff's casino Marty is escaping Biff and his goons - he goes into the stairwell and jumps from one stair to another. What I don't understand is how this stairwell works as it seems to be double, with 2 sets of stairs ending up on the same floor parallel to each other, one on one end and one at another but on the same floor. Does this even make sense? Can anyone tell me why a big building would have 2 sets of stairs in 1 stairwell going parallel and end up on the same floors? Any special name for this type of stairwell perhaps? I can't find anything on it.
Chosen answer: Your assumption is pretty much correct. There are 2 staircases spiralling around each other like a double helix. It is a fairly common way of constructing fire evacuation staircases as it allows a greater number of people to use them at the same time.
I see, so it's purely for fire escape reasons or more to handle overflow capacity in general?
8th Apr 2019
Shazam! (2019)
Question: What is the actual reason given why the police couldn't find Billy's mom? Just the fact his mom didn't want to find him and left doesn't mean the cops would stop looking. It's hard to imagine a 5 year old isn't able to tell the cops his address, where he goes to school or where he lives in general. Teachers, neighbours, his physician or dentist, classmates, all can tell where the mom is. Next to that isn't his dad in prison and thus easy to find?
Answer: He was a baby when he was abandoned - all he knew about his mother was her name, not her birth date or social security number. He didn't know anything about his father and his mother went back to her maiden name. In case you're wondering not everybody has their DNA taken.
He knew his full name. He's a legitimate son born in wedlock. They would have easily tracked down the father who is an inmate: that is on top of what the original poster mentioned, such as his home address or other minimal information. Lionhead, I believe this belongs in the Plot Holes section rather than simply the Questions section: I am not informed about Pennsylvania's laws for child abandonment, but I think it's rather unlikely that someone could just drop their kid in the middle of a crowd and get away with it entirely, especially when the kid knows his own full name.
I'm not too eager to put it in the plot holes section, because it is plausible I suppose that she disappeared willingly and they couldn't find her specifically. But you address the right point I was trying to make that the cops won't simply stop looking for his mother. It's a crime to abandon your child and they will look up and question a lot of people. And I mean a lot of people to find her. Even if there is literally no family besides mom and dad, the dad will be found since he is in prison. He won't be able to help much but contact will be maintained, even if he doesn't want it.
The thing is, they don't even have to question a lot of people since the kid is not a newborn left on the steps of a church or something: he was able to provide his own full name to the authorities. So it's absolutely straightforward for the police to see who his parents are - although it should be noted that he was born in a different state, I don't think it should be a particularly complicated research for the authorities.
11th Oct 2018
There's Something About Mary (1998)
Question: Ted's friend Dom knows a guy who can find Mary for him. Later on it's revealed that Dom is also Woogie, Mary's old boyfriend who got weird on her and is still obsessed with her. However, if Dom knew Healy could find Mary why didn't he use him himself to find Mary and stalk her again?
4th May 2018
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Question: When McClane and his boss are in the van with the FBI agents and Gruber guesses who of the FBI is in the van there is a man sitting in the back. Who is he and why doesn't Gruber guess he is in the car as well?
Answer: He is actor Richard Russell Ramos and he's credited as FBI Chief. Simon does allude he's there because he uses the plural "FBI agents" and Jarvis is not from the FBI. However, it seems Simon's point is made that he knows who is in the van because he's watching them. There was just no need to identify everyone in the van.
14th Jul 2016
Band of Brothers (2001)
Replacements - S1-E4
Question: When members of Easy company spot Captain Sobel again one of the Replacements asks Bull "Who is he sarge?" and Bull replies "It's our first CO." Then the replacement asks "What happened?" and Bull replies with "He got promoted." I never understood that line. What was it about his promotion that made Bull say that? As I understand it Sobel was already a hated man before becoming Captain. So what did Bull mean?
Chosen answer: Col. Sink gave Sobol a promotion after the men came to him and said they wouldn't follow him into battle. It was a promotion that ensured he wouldn't see combat and took him away from the troops, so it was technically a punishment.
24th Jun 2014
General questions
I'm looking for a movie, or short film about WWI. I remember a scene were they were in the trenches, a gas attack hits them, and one of the soldiers (a rather chubby one) couldn't find his gas mask. After panicking and trying to grab others masks he chokes. I think the movie starts with an old man grabbing a young guy at a store by the collar and starts talking about WWI, it also ends with the same man and boy again where the old man says "That, was my war." That's all I remember. It might be British made and from the 80's or 90's. I hope someone can help.
22nd Jun 2014
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Question: Who put Magneto in that plastic prison? Nixon and his cabinet don't seem know anything about mutants or see them as a threat (even after Cuba). Yet they put Magneto in a plastic prison as they know he can bend metal, so why wasn't anyone in the US government and most notably the President informed of this fact? It would have made Trask's appeals a lot more justified. Even likely sentinels would have been put into action a lot sooner rather then later.
Chosen answer: Government agents were previously aware of mutants - they are probably the same ones that imprisoned Magneto, and his attempt to prevent JFK's assassination was most likely covered up due to the revelation that Kennedy was a mutant. Magneto was already in prison by the time Trask pitched his Sentinel idea to the government, which is probably why the program wasn't instituted.
30th Dec 2012
Taken 2 (2012)
Question: Where did Kim learn how to drive stick-shift? Is her dad that paranoid to prepare her for driving a stick-shift car?
Chosen answer: Hardly paranoia, as such, more just giving Kim options. Kim has a noted interest in travelling abroad; cars in Europe are far more likely to be manual transmission than in the automatic-dominated US, and thus, by teaching her to drive a manual car, Mills may have made it easier for her to, say, drive a hire car on her travels. Manual transmission cars also tend to get better fuel mileage, are usually less expensive, certainly give you more control and are, in my opinion at least, more fun to drive, so there are some practicalities involved as well. Really the question is why wouldn't anybody at least learn how to drive a manual car, even if they usually end up driving an automatic.
25th Jul 2012
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)
Question: I don't understand the connection between "the section" and the human trafficking/child porn network that was mentioned throughout the films. It is my understanding that the section was simply a secret covenant that leaks political secrets. But, some members seem to be involved in human trafficking and child porn (and where sexual predators and sadists themselves) but I don't see what part the section had in it. Can someone explain?
Chosen answer: The section had no direct involvement in human trafficking, but were willing to overlook Zala's activities in it because he had been useful to them and they wanted to keep their relationship with him secret. As was mentioned, the authorities took little interest in pursuing this type of crime because the victims are generally young women who have little or no family ties or other connections and they are often written off as willing prostitutes. They are simply considered too unimportant to be bothered with.
28th Apr 2012
Battleship (2012)
Question: Next to the fact this is a terrible movie, can anyone tell me about what the plot was? I mean, seriously. What did the aliens came to do and why did the Americans attack them?
Chosen answer: The film, loosely based on the popular Milton Bradley board game, has relatively little plot. When Earth discovers there is a similar planet in the solar system, they transmit a signal to it, searching for intelligent life. Aliens on the newly discovered planet detect the signal and send five ships to Earth. One ship collides with a satellite and crashes, while the others land near Hawaii and erect an impenetrable shield around the islands. The lead character, Alex, is a general slacker whose brother, a U.S. Naval officer, had forced Alex to join the Navy after he got into some legal trouble. From within the aliens' shield, Alex is able to lead a resistance against the alien invasion, eventually destroying them after discovering their physical weakness.
10th Mar 2011
It (1990)
Question: Does Stephen King make a cameo appearance in this movie?
Chosen answer: No. It is a common misconception that he has a cameo in all of the movies/TV movies based on his works.
21st Sep 2010
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Question: Why are Justin Hammer's hands dirty when he is sitting with Vanko in the hangar, after he busted him out of prison?
Chosen answer: It is stated in the commentary that Sam Rockwell wanted his character to have a spray tan, making his hands an orange color.
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.
Chosen answer: Yes, it's a disarming charm. Rewatch this scene. Snape intently casts Expelliarmus at the blustering fool, and at first Lockhart has the wand in hand. Then, it cuts to a wide shot just as Lockhart lands, and note the wand is twirling in midair at the top center of the screen, so he has been disarmed. It then cuts to a shot from behind Lockhart's head, and the wand is back in his hand. But as he gets up, the wand is not in his hand. This is listed as a continuity mistake on this website.
Super Grover ★