Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Why is Gopher absent in this movie?

Answer: Gopher was not a character in the original A.A. Milne stories, and was a Disney creation for the earlier movie. The 2011 film was faithful to Milne's version.

raywest

Question: How was Umbridge able to cast a patronus?

Answer: She casts it like any other witch or wizard by using her wand and saying "Expecto Patronum". It is considered advanced magic, but most magical people can learn how to do this. When Harry (disguised as Runcorn) entered her courtroom, she had already cast her cat patronus to keep the Dementors at a distance.

raywest

Casting a patronus requires a very happy memory, though. And considering that she seems to be very angry and never felt that she was given enough power, she must have never had a happy memory.

If I recall, At this point she's head of the Muggle-born Registration Committee. A powerful position in her mind and as Umbridge is all about power she would have been very happy indeed.

Ssiscool

"Must" is total conjecture. Perfectly possible for an angry resentful person to have one happy memory to call on.

Villains still have personalities. Depending on what specifically makes Umbridge happy, she could easily have a lot of happy memories.

Umbridge seemed quite happy while torturing Harry with the punishment pen, when she was ejecting Trelawney from Hogwarts, when she ousted Dumbledore as Headmaster, happy in her devotion to Voldemort, and so on. Happiness is an individual thing. Her sense of happiness was quite perverse.

raywest

Only those who are pure of heart are capable of producing a Patronus. Those who aren't would be devoured by maggots that shoot out of the caster's wand. Umbridge wasn't pure of heart because of all of the horrible things she did, so shouldn't she have been eaten by maggots?

Answer: Then I would say it was about the overall color theme for the wedding. Viola immediately took over planning every detail for the wedding, even choosing what color she liked, without any input from the bride (Charlie). Viola was deliberately provoking Charlie to stop her from marrying her son.

raywest

Answer: If you mean the peach-colored mother-in-law dress, it was specially made for Viola to wear at the wedding. Instead, she showed up wearing a long white gown. It is NEVER socially acceptable for any wedding guest to wear white. That color is only for the bride to wear. It is her special day and no-one is ever supposed to do anything that takes attention away from her. Viola purposely wore white to disrupt the wedding.

raywest

I meant the peach photo album at lunch and the peach dress. I know about anyone other than the bride wearing white. Did Viola or Charlie say they didn't like the color peach?

catnipsmile

Question: At the end, why did the Turtles decide to keep their existence a secret from the public? If they are introduced to them, the city would likely appreciate them for saving the city and seeing them as the greatest heroes.

Trainman

Answer: It would be nearly impossible for the Turtles to continue their crimefighting crusade if the public knew of their existence. They would become instantly recognizable international "celebrities" who were constantly in the public eye, allowing criminals to avoid and work around them.

raywest

Question: When Prince Henry almost marries the Spanish woman, why are the Baroness and her daughters there? At the ball, he told Danielle "You are just like them", referring to his dislike of them.

Answer: It would be expected that people of a certain social rank are invited to important ceremonies and events, regardless of one young prince's personal feelings about anyone in particular. It's about the monarchy maintaining strong social and political ties to aristocratic families and retaining their loyalty and influence for their own power. Not inviting them or others over petty squabbles would be insulting and potentially weaken alliances.

raywest

Question: Would Claire's sushi, handed to her by her Dad in the morning, still be a fancy treat after sitting at room temperature for five hours?

Answer: It would probably be OK. It would depend on the type of ingredients, how cold the sushi was when it was handed to her, how it was wrapped and insulated, and how warm it was during the intervening time.

raywest

Question: Could a High School football team really coach itself in the last quarter of the game? Wouldn't the ref not allow an injured player, such as Lance, to coach since he's not an official high-school coach? I always wondered this.

Answer: There's no rule in any sport, at least none that I could find, that requires a team to have, or listen to, a coach. Obviously in most cases it's a good idea, but if the coach were poor and/or working against the interests of the team, the players wouldn't be breaking any rules by simply ignoring them and listening to someone else.

Question: What does Sarah's Mom (in the picture) say to her while she's laying on the floor after Nancy cuts her wrist?

Answer: She says "Don't be afraid".

Question: After Shorty frees himself from the shackles, he's climbing up the ladder with the guard following. He's got something in his mouth on the way up, which he puts back in his mouth before pushing the ladder. What's he biting down on?

Answer: During Short Round's escape he's carrying Indiana's bundled belongings with the whip wrapped around it. Short Round is holding the bundle at his back by the whip handle, and when he needs both his hands free he puts the narrow part of the whip in his mouth, so he doesn't lose Indiana's gear. After Short Round pushes the ladder, when he climbs the rope and reaches the overhead cave, the whip becomes even more visible.

Super Grover

Question: Why doesn't Roy ever kill Vic? The last we see of him, he is sitting in the back of the police car. It seems odd that the person who actually killed Roy's son is allowed to live. Granted he is in police custody so it would be difficult for Roy to get to him, but I'm sure the filmmakers could have come up with some creative way to make it happen.

Answer: I think you answered your own question - Vic was in police custody. A regular coroner is likely not going to be able to kill someone who is being held for murder. Additionally, in a more meta behind-the-scenes sense, I would assume they also didn't show Vic getting killed because it could potentially be too much of a hint/hat-tip towards the killer's identity. We already saw the Roy the coroner disturbed by Joey's body, so having Joey's killer get murdered would probably give away the twist that Roy was the killer.

TedStixon

Season 7 generally

Question: This might be a stupid question, but why don't Negan's followers just kill him? Why do they choose to live fearfully under his reign? As a large group, they could easily turn on him and be free.

Answer: Being part of a group, with a leader, has advantages. It offers more security, instead of wandering through abandoned towns/cities and wilderness, hoping to find food and supplies, and needing to fight Walkers and various gangs. Negan has some idea of fairness. If his followers obey him, they have a place to live, and can share in the food and resources.

Question: When the detective is opening the hidden door in the floor, he looks over to a syringe that is laying on the floor. The safe is also shown as open. How is the safe open? Why is the syringe in the floor? Why didn't anyone use the syringe? Was the syringe full?

Answer: The events of Eric going through the house take place many hours after the house trap. It's shown that Daniel has been rescued by Amanda and Jigsaw. There was also a point in the film where its explained the safe contains an antidote. So Jigsaw/Amanda opened the safe to use the antidote on Daniel while removing him from the house. So the syringe on the floor is used.

Ssiscool

Question: What would happen if two or more houses won the House Cup? Would there be some kind of contest to decide who should get it or would the houses share it?

Answer: Agree with the other answer, but would add that Dumbledore could also devise some sort of tie-breaking task or contest to determine who wins the House Cup. It could even be a coin toss. There's actually some online discussion about this and some have suggested the same possibilities. It's apparently never been explained by J.K. Rowling.

raywest

Answer: While there is nothing definitive known, it most likely would be shared between the two houses. Remember, the great hall can easily be decorated in multiple colours.

Ssiscool

Question: The 'shooting off sparks in the maze' at the end feels particularly clumsy...was the book the same way? Like, if this is all magic, why would the maze not be able to recognize who shot off the sparks, and make sure that person was ejected from the maze? Otherwise, it seems like you could use this to sabotage a competitor (e.g, if Viktor knew Cedric was coming around the corner momentarily, then he could shoot up sparks and run away, so that Cedric would be in place to be sucked up by the maze).

Answer: In both the book and movie, the contestants sent up sparks. However, all were pre-warned of the dangers and that they were pretty much on their own upon entering the maze. In the book, the maze is filled with hazardous objects and creatures that each contestant had to overcome. In the movie, the hedge itself is the danger, and it appears Voldemort (aided by Barty Crouch, Jr.) manipulated it to ensure that Harry reached the middle while it sabotaged and controlled the other competitors. Therefore, the maze would not protect the contestants. The four were unaware the maze was corrupted and were so focused on winning that they ignored the dangers. All were determined to continue as long as they could.

raywest

Question: Was Ralphie's family poor? Their house and furnishings seem pretty low class, but they never seem stressed about money, and they have a fairly extravagant Christmas.

Answer: They weren't poor and appeared to live a fairly comfortable middle-class life within their modest means. They could probably afford to splurge a little on Christmas. People who went through the Great Depression during the mid-20th century tended to hang on to old items, even if they could afford new ones and, unlike today, had lesser interest in material possessions. My own parents grew up in that era and rarely bought anything new, no matter how dated or worn. Also, situations (like holidays, social gatherings, special events, etc.) tend to look a bit exaggerated in movies and TV for visual effect.

raywest

I've also noticed this among my family members who grew up in the '60s through the '80s. They don't buy new things if the older ones are just fine. Since the late 2000s, it's more common for people to think that possessions and decor need to be "updated."

Question: Before the squirrel incident with the second tree, Clark places two gifts under the tree. He then picks up an opened gift and appears to hang two items on the tree. What is he putting on the tree? This is immediately before Aunt Bethany says "What is that noise?"

Countryliving.5068

Answer: It was the underwear he saw at the store earlier in the film.

Question: When George is in the alternate reality, what happened to Martini? Although an explanation is given for the other characters, there is no explanation for what became of him.

Answer: In a deleted or unfilmed scene, George finds the grave of Martini and his family who died in a house fire in their Potterville slum.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It's not mentioned in the film, but based on the storyline of the film, George most likely helped out Martini with money at some point to help him start a business (his bar). Without George being born (the alternate world), Martini most likely didn't have the funds now to start the business so Nick bought the bar instead and Martini either was unemployed or did something else with whatever money he had on his own.

Question: Why was Ralphie wearing his glasses at the Chinese restaurant? I thought he broke them when he shot himself.

Answer: He has another pair of glasses - his mom even says that he should just wear the other pair of glasses that he has with a little chip in them.

Answer: Like most people, (including kids) he had more than one pair of glasses.

raywest

Question: Why is it said that Imhotep and his priests were mummified alive? Mummification occurs when someone dies and has most of the organs removed. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he was buried alive?

Answer: It means the process of removing their organs was performed while they were still alive. Certainly at some point they would die during the process from blood loss or having a vital organ removed. And it was just the priests that were mummified alive, Imhotep was subjected to a different punishment.

Phaneron

Their internal organs were not removed or they'd die instantly. In the movie you see them being bandaged up and put in the sarcophaguses whilst still moving and then sealed up so they still had their organs. It is indeed more like being buried alive but then as a mummy.

lionhead

Indeed, but you can also see the Medjai using sharp tools against some of the priests. The priest on the left side of the screen with his arm writhing has a Medjai placing a sharp object around his face, indicating he might either be cutting out his tongue or removing his brains through his nose. The Medjai in the immediate foreground is (badly) making a slashing motion with his sword towards the priest lying on the table before him.

Phaneron

Question: When David is detained in that room, under armed guard, how exactly does he escape? You know, he found a tape recorder and tampered with that keypad entry system?

Answer: He got the door to open with the copied sounds off the tape recorder, then shorted out the door's entry system, walked out slowly while the guard was coming on to the nurse. David then got on the bus after certain NORAD employees who were not familiar with him mistook him for a tourist.

It's implausible at best that David would know exactly how to hook up the tape recorder to the door lock, especially without spending hours trying. But it's just a movie.

Gawdsmakk

Answer: The keypad that controlled the door used an analog tone-based system, much like old analog telephones. The control system for the door listens for which tone is produced by the button press, and if it hears the correct sequence of tones, the door opens. That's why David feigned having to use the restroom; he was running the tape recorder that was hooked up directly to the system in order to get the guard to input the correct code so that the correct tone sequence would be recorded, which he then played back, tricking the control system into thinking he had pressed the correct buttons on the outside.

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