Question: What is the significance of the play that Jack is writing, in both the book and movie?
raywest
15th Nov 2013
The Shining (1980)
16th Dec 2013
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
26th Dec 2013
Dark Shadows (2012)
Question: After their mansion burns down, what happens next to the Collins family?
Answer: It's unknown. The original intention was to make Dark Shadows into a film franchise and that question probably would have been answered in the sequel. However, there have been no additional films made.
22nd Dec 2013
Whiteout (2009)
Question: Can you please tell me if this is set in the Arctic or Antarctic, as the aurora borealis is better known as the Northern Lights and can only be seen there.
22nd Dec 2013
Schindler's List (1993)
Question: The Jews in the film are mostly small people, but the Germans are tall. Why?
22nd Dec 2013
Robocop 2 (1990)
20th Dec 2013
General questions
There was movie I watched where a kid knew about an alien invasion, and quickly discovered who were aliens in disguise by seeing a bandage on the back of their necks. What is the name of this movie?
16th Dec 2013
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Question: Who is Mr Banks in the film saving Mr Banks?
Chosen answer: The name refers to George Banks, the father in the Mary Poppins story. P.L. Travers, the author, based the character on her own alcoholic father.
16th Dec 2013
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: How did Harry send his own patronum at the lake without knowing it ?
Answer: After the first time Harry saw it, as he was being attacked by the dementors, he had convinced himself that it was sent by his (dead) father, who he believed had somehow been resurrected. When he goes back in time three hours, and watches the other Harry across the lake, he realizes that it was he who cast the earlier patronus, not his father. That is when he casts it again.
2nd Dec 2013
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Does Professor Snape know about Hermione's time-turner necklace? He doesn't seem to care that she suddenly appears in the Defense Against Dark Arts class out of nowhere, especially after class started. (I haven't read the third book yet, so I apologize if this is answered there).
Answer: Snape, and all the Hogwarts instructors know that Hermione is using the time-turner to take extra classes. A time-turner can only be used under very strict conditions and must be approved by the Ministry of Magic. That is why Snape does not punish Hermione for arriving after class has started. If she was merely being late, he would have been angry and deducted house points from Gryffindor.
Answer: Snape cannot possibly know about the time turner. At the end of the third book when Harry and Hermione rescue Sirius, Snape storms in and yells that they had helped Sirius escape, however he can prove nothing. This means that he does not know about the time turner, otherwise he would have brought it up in evidence that the pair must have used it to save Sirius, and furthermore that with the time turner they would be able to be in two places at once, which is the original evidential downfall for him. All of this proves that Snape does not know about the time turner. In response to the piece about the class, it's possible he just didn't notice her popping up out of nowhere.
6th Dec 2013
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Question: Is there a reason why John McClane's previous exploits aren't mentioned in this film? He is known, and mentioned for his association with, Nakatomi in DH2 and for Dulles airport and Nakatomi in DH3 but in this one, none of his past "adventures" are mentioned bar a couple of subtle almost hidden quotes (eg. the agent Johnson scene). Is this due to any kind of copyright thing or ownership issues between the films or just that they weren't mentioned by any characters? Just seems strange to me that the previous exploits aren't talked about even a little bit.
Chosen answer: The screenwriters probably felt it was unnecessary to keep rehashing the same old information in every film. It becomes tedious and stale to an audience that is already familiar with the franchise's story line. For anyone who has not seen the previous movies, it would probably be meaningless.
8th Dec 2013
Taken (2008)
Question: Would Bryan just have left the country with Kim (possibly using his CIA connections)? He had torn up Paris in the space of 2 and a half days and killed countless people. He may have gotten away with that when employed on CIA business but in the movie, he's basically just breaking the law. Seems if he took Kim to hospital, questions would be asked and he would be arrested (not to mention shooting Jean-Claude's wife and assaulting him). Yet Kim looks cleaned up, etc.
Chosen answer: Bryan may not have taken Kim to a hospital in Paris. We also saw earlier that he has some medical training and was able to help the other girl who had been drugged. Bryan likely has many connections who could help get him and Kim get out the country quickly, and he has enough knowledge about police and government corruption that he could spill to the press. Most likely the authorities wanted him gone as quickly as possible to avoid a public scandal and would do little to prevent his leaving.
10th Dec 2013
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Question: Could Professor Snape really get away with putting Neville's toad in danger (when he feeds Neville's potion to the toad at the end of class, saying that it might poison the animal)? I know that he is already a unfriendly teacher, but it seems that there would be some sort of rule against killing an animal that belongs to a student, and parents of other students might be outraged if they heard about it.
Answer: Snape would never actually poison, kill, or otherwise harm any student's pet. He was just being his usual unpleasant self to Neville and any other student not from his own school house (Slytherin). If any Hogwarts teacher actually did something like that, they would be likely be dismissed.
5th Dec 2013
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Question: When someone dies in the dome, the body is taken away by a hovercraft. At the end, Katniss' body is taken by what seems the same hovercraft, which can do this because the dome collapsed. If so, how can the hovercraft enter the dome in the earlier scenes?
Answer: It is not the same hovercraft. It is one that was either stolen or otherwise obtained by the growing rebellion faction that had planned Katniss' rescue. For the other hovercraft that have regularly retrieved the dead tributes, it can be assumed that one is already stationed inside the arena for this purpose or there is an entryway into the dome that one can fly in and out of.
4th Dec 2013
Carrie (1976)
Answer: It's unknown what happens to Mrs. White but, at the end of the novel, a woman says that her daughter has been showing telekinetic abilities and is actually very accepting of this. This implies that Carrie had been reincarnated and been born into a more loving family.
15th Nov 2013
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Question: Whenever I see this episode rerun, they leave out the scene where Picard suddenly appears at Worf's surprise party. This is a somewhat crucial scene, in my opinion, because it is one of the first clues (other than the cake switching flavors) that something isn't quite right. Why is this scene no longer shown? Is it simply due to the desire for more advertising time? Are other episodes cut like this?
Chosen answer: The most common reason rerun TV series are edited is to allow for more advertising time. They can also speed up the show's running time, which is unnoticeable but gives more seconds to be sold to advertisers. Cable TV channels are allowed to have more advertising than network TV channels, and they do whatever they can to increase revenue. It does result in episodes often being choppy and the story line a bit confusing. Now channels are also overlapping the end of one show while showing the start of another one by using a split screen, giving them even more time to sell to advertisers.
11th Nov 2013
Billy Elliot (2000)
Question: Toward the very end of the movie, when Tony and Jackie are going to see Billy dancing, it seems almost as if Jackie is reluctant to go on, and is seen walking slowly and looking all around. What is the significance of this?
Answer: Some time has passed since Billy left home and became a professional dancer. Jackie is older now and not as physically active as he once was. He has also seldom left his small, provincial town, and being in a major city like London is a little daunting for him, so he is a little uncomfortable and out-of-place.
10th Nov 2013
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Question: In the chapter called "Horcruxes", Dumbledore says he thinks Voldemort meant to create 6 Horcruxes. He created 5 of them before attempting to kill baby Harry. Dumbledore then tells Harry, "I am sure that he [Voldemort] was intending to make his final Horcrux with your death." However, as we all know, Voldemort's curse on Harry rebounded, and he lost his powers."After an interval of some years, " Dumbledore then tells Harry, "he used Nagini to kill an old muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux." My question is: if Voldemort was planning to use 1-year-old Harry's death to make his sixth and final Horcrux, but it hadn't yet occurred to him to use the snake as that Horcrux, what was he planning to use instead? He had already used the diary, the ring, the cup, the locket, and the diadem for the first five Horcruxes. So, if he wasn't originally going to use the snake as the sixth, what was he going to use, and what happened to this mysterious object? He must have had something to use, since he went to baby Harry's house fully intending to kill Harry and create the Horcrux. So he must have had the Horcrux object with him. What was it? (Please understand this is not a hypothetical question about what sorts of objects Voldemort might have theoretically wanted to make into Horcruxes someday - I already know the answer to that - but rather a practical question about what Voldemort intended to use that night, the night he went to kill Harry, since he didn't have Gryffindor's sword, or anything else of Gryffindor's that we're aware of).
1st Nov 2013
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Question: Why did everybody in the courtroom go silent when Tom said that he did chores for Mayella because he felt sorry for her?
Answer: At that time in history, Tom, a black man, was considered inferior to Mayella, a white woman. When he says he "felt sorry" for her, it is interpreted as him thinking he is above her or better off in some way. Regardless of his good intentions, for him to think of himself as being in a superior position to help her was considered unacceptable because it was seen as a black person rising above their lower place in society.
18th Sep 2013
The Sweeney (2012)
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Answer: Jack, who lost his teaching job due to his alcoholism and violent temper, is attempting to rebuild his life as a writer and working at the hotel gives him the financial means to do that. As the ghosts begin taking over Jack's mind, he is increasingly unable to work on the play. As he mentally deteriorates, the play's progress (or lack of) gauges his mental decline.
raywest ★