Question: Instead of using the Pensieve to view Voldemort's and Slughorn's memories, wouldn't it have been much easier for Dumbledore to simply tell Harry of his first meeting with Tom and Harry simply asking Slughorn what he knew?
raywest
19th Jul 2017
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Answer: Dumbledore went to great lengths to recover the modified memory from Slughorn and convince him to return to Hogwarts as a teacher. Asking Slughorn about the memory upfront would greatly reduce their chances of getting the rest of the memory. It was important for Harry to charm Slughorn because that was one of his weaknesses. He held Harry's mother in high regards, so Harry really was the only key to getting the memory.
Answer: It would have been pointless for Harry to simply ask Slughorn about Riddle because, as Slughorn previously did, he would react angrily, simply refuse, lie, or alter or delete facts as it was too painful and he was too ashamed to admit what he'd done. Even if Slughorn did tell him, memories are tricky, and, over time, people recall facts differently than what actually happened. Dumbledore needed the pensieve for both his and Slughorn's memories so Harry would have an accurate as possible picture of what happened. This is also J.K. Rowling's magical world. It would be pretty dull, literary-wise, to simply have Dumbledore or Slughorn tell Harry what happened.
18th Jul 2017
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Question: Why did they send Prim to talk to Peeta? Should it not be maybe Haymitch or Effie?
18th Jul 2017
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
18th Jul 2017
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Question: How come Ron and Hermione stopped speaking to each other?
Chosen answer: Hermione was angry because Ron never made an effort to pursue her romantically. She was also jealous of and disgusted by Ron's girlfriend, Lavender Brown. Ron, confused by Hermione's behavior toward him and also jealous of her previous relationship with Viktor Krum (who she was still writing to), retaliated by being angry at her.
18th Jul 2017
Halloween 2 (2009)
Question: At the ending of the director's cut, it shows that Laurie, Michael, and Loomis are all dead. But, the following scene is the ending of the theatrical cut with Laure in the insane asylum. Could somebody clarify this?
Answer: When the movie was made there were two possible endings filmed with one being selected for the theatrical release. Filmmakers often pre-screen a film to a test audience to gauge their reaction. This can decide whether or not changes will be made to the finished film, including an alternate ending. The director's cut here is simply showing audiences both scenes that were filmed as an "extra" feature. Other movies have included this, as well as showing deleted scenes.
18th Jul 2017
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Question: How come it was Harry who was picked over Katie to be Gryffindor Quidditch captain after Angelina even though Katie had been on the team longer? This was similar to how Angelina was picked in the last book after Wood was gone.
14th Jul 2017
Limitless (2011)
13th Jul 2017
Fifty Shades Darker (2017)
Question: Maybe I missed it but, why couldn't Ana go to New York with Jack? I thought her and Christian decided that she could go just as long as Christian would take her instead.
Answer: It wasn't specified, but it seemed to be Ana's decision alone. Jack had pressured her to go to New York with him for the Book Expo when she did not expect to, nor had he clarified that she was to also attend. She realised later that Jack was not only being unreasonable but may also have had ulterior motives. She felt empowered enough to stand up to him to say she wasn't going (with or without Christian).
14th Jul 2017
Phone Booth (2002)
Question: At the end of the movie, Stu was hit by a rubber bullet. Did the caller shoot it? Why didn't he kill Stu? The caller loved Kelly, didn't he?
Chosen answer: The police fired the rubber bullets in an attempt to end the standoff without killing Stu. There's no indication the caller loved or personally knew Kelly. At the end, he warns Stu to maintain his new-found honesty or else face repercussions. He also tells him he's done the same thing to others who were dishonest.
14th Jul 2017
Phone Booth (2002)
Question: In the beginning, Stu tells Adam to messenger a bottle of Jameson's over to Lana who works at Page Six. He also wants a note saying "Irish chicken soup" to be delivered to her. What does he mean? And what is Jameson's?
14th Jul 2017
Phone Booth (2002)
Question: When Captain Ramey tries to persuade Stu, he asks him what he is doing in a phone booth making calls, then Stu says, "You want to see it?" reaching for something, then the cops shout out him to stop. What was Stu going to show to Ramey?
14th Jul 2017
The Hunger Games (2012)
Question: At the end when Cato has Peeta around the neck, in close up shots is Peeta telling Katniss to shoot Cato's hand? It looks like he's pointing to Cato's hand.
14th Jul 2017
The Fugitive (1993)
Question: At what scene in the movie does Deputy Gerard know Richard was innocent?
Answer: I don't think Gerard absolutely knew about Kimble's innocence until much later in the film when he is informed Nichols and Lentz knew each other. Kimble's visit to Sykes' house obviously was a significant moment, however there's also a short scene where Gerard mentions how much money Devlin MacGregor makes in a year and thus that makes them a "monster." At that point, I consider it likely that Gerard thought there was probably some kind of conspiracy to frame Kimble involving Devlin MacGregor, he just didn't quite know how it all came together. Gerard isn't going to run around accusing a major company of fraud, conspiracy, murder, etc., unless and until he has everything lock down solid. When he learns that Lentz died during the previous summer, but then even more importantly also is told that Nichols and Lentz knew each other (This was after the U.S. Marshals visited Nichols and he denied ever having known Lentz), then Gerard finally puts all the pieces together in his own mind. Unfortunately, on the way to arrest Nichols (At the very least for obstruction of justice, as Gerard states that Nichols "lied to me") they learn that Kimble has been spotted heading toward the hotel and reportedly has already shot a cop on a train (The audience knows Kimble is innocent of that act, but the characters in the movie don't). Gerard quickly deduces that Kimble has figured out that Nichols was involved in the conspiracy and that's why Kimble is going to the motel, in order to confront Nichols.
While Gerard definitely has his suspicions, he hasn't put together all the pieces yet. Here's some of the dialogue after Newman discovers that Nichols was Lentz's boss. Cosmo: "Whoa, that means he (Nichols) was covering for Kimball." Gerard: "Yeah, send the CPD over there right now (to the lab)." Gerard: "Henry, Dr. Nichols lied to me. Go find him." Gerard just wants to question Nichols. If he suspected Nichols set up the hit, he would've had his whole team go, not just Henry.
13th Jul 2017
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Why is Hermione wearing a bandage? I see no injury to her hand but when they travel back in time she has a bandage on her hand.
Chosen answer: There's no reason given and it is not part of the story line. Most likely, at some point during the filming of this scene, Emma Watson suffered some minor injury and needed to wear a bandage.
Answer: She could have injured it while she was on the Whomping Willow.
13th Jul 2017
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
Question: The largest sandstorms ever recorded are less than a mile high (reaching only about 5000 feet in altitude). Isn't 5000 feet considered low altitude for a Fairchild C-119G "Flying Boxcar," which could easily climb over such a storm in a matter of minutes?
13th Jul 2017
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Question: At the very end of the scene in which Walter and the Dude are spreading Donnie's ashes at the coast, a dark and unidentifiable figure appears for a few seconds in the upper right screen, apparently hiking a trail along the cliff. Was this an accidental walk-on by an actual hiker, or was it written into the script? With all the star-power in this film, I thought every bit of background action was supposed to be meticulously crafted.
Chosen answer: There's no way of knowing. If the hiker was that far away, it could have been someone who happened to stray into the scene by accident. The filmmakers may or may not have noticed, but if they did, may have felt it added to the realism. I did this myself during the filming of a street scene for the TV show, "Northern Exposure." Filming was underway before I realised I was in the midst of it. I just kept walking like I was supposed to be there.
13th Jul 2017
Suspicion (1941)
Question: Very last scene after they turn the car around and you see the back of their heads, to me it doesn't look like Cary Grant or Joan Fontaine? Is it them or their doubles?
Answer: Hitchcock had a different ending on the movie, but the studio and test audiences hated it. Grant ends up splitting up with Fontaine. Hitchcock was pressured into a happy ending, but weeks had passed since the end of filming and the two popular stars were off on other projects. Two actors were hired to as stand-ins for the added footage of the car turning around and the two going happily home together.
14th Jul 2017
Forrest Gump (1994)
Question: I don't understand why Jenny left Forrest's house after having sex with him and saying that she loved him. Could someone please offer thoughts on this?
Answer: It seems more like Jenny realises that she is a screw up and doesn't deserve the love of Forrest. She left to get herself together in order to be worthy of him.
Answer: Forrest had mental issues. Jenny slept with him because she thought she loved him (and she realises later that she did), but didn't think that Forrest loved her back because he wasn't capable of understanding that kind of love (and she realises later that he did). She then remembered that her dad sexually abused her when she didn't understand what was going on, and she felt like she was behaving the way her dad did (remember Forrest's look of fear and discomfort?). Jenny then felt guilty and ran away because she didn't know how to deal with the guilt.
Answer: People who were abused often have issues with trust, and they can have difficulty forming healthy, stable relationships. They are often drawn to problematic relationships - for example, Jenny's boyfriend, Wesley - because these situations are familiar to them.
13th Jul 2017
Fifty Shades Darker (2017)
Question: Maybe I missed it but is there a particular reason why Christian won't let Ana touch him?
Answer: Because he's extremely neurotic and is unable to have intimate relationships with women other than purely sexual ones. He also did not want to be touched in the area where he'd been physically scarred by his birth mother's abusive boyfriend.
That was her pimp/client, not her boyfriend. She was a prostitute.
12th Jul 2017
Nerve (2016)
Question: How exactly could players of the game have their identities erased? They were watched by billions of people all over the world including their families and friends so if they were to return home, the people who they grew up with should still recognize them.
Answer: The purpose of the Pensieve is to preserve the memory exactly as it was recorded. Telling Harry something years after an event occurred is not as effective or as accurate as seeing. It is more impactful if Harry can watch events exactly as they unfolded. Regarding Slughorn, he had refused to give his complete memory because he was ashamed of the unintentional part he played in Voldemort's plan to create the Horcruxes. He was duped by Riddle, but he still did not want anyone to know how foolish he was.
raywest ★