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: I just read the third book, and in it, Lupin said that the Dementors take a wizard's powers away while he/she is in Azkaban. Did Bellatrix and her fellow escapees have them restored by Voldemort or something?

Answer: It's more that being around them is a power drain. Once they leave the vicinity of the dementors, their powers begin coming back.

Greg Dwyer

Question: What kind of car is the blue one that Jackie drove?

Question: How did the Dutch girl's mother tell her that Santa Claus would not understand her. Did the mother speak Dutch?

Answer: One would presume that the orphaned girl's adoptive mother does speak Dutch, or else they wouldn't be able to communicate while the daughter is learning English. Of course, Santa Claus (or Sinterklaas, in Holland) understands all languages of the world. Here is the dialogue between Kris and the young girl, interpreted into English: Santa: "I'm glad you came." Girl: "I knew it, you are Sinterklaas." Santa: "But of course." Girl: "I knew it, I was sure that you would understand" Santa: "Of course, just tell me what you would like to have from Sinterklaas." Girl: "Nothing, I already have a lot, I only want to be with this nice lady." Santa: "Will you sing a song for me?" And then they sing a together a Dutch song about Sinterklaas.

Michael Albert

A Moorland Holiday - S5-E9

Question: Lord Sinderby has a painting of Jesus in his library. Would a Jewish leader decorate his rooms with a crucified Jesus? I really don't know, so thanks for an answer from wiser ones.

Answer: Lord Sinderby purchased the house, furnished and appointed, from someone else, complete with staff that come with the home (some of whom aren't happy to be working for a Jewish family). He bought the title, as well. If the artwork featuring Jesus is valuable, he might keep it. Also interesting, his ancestors Anglicized their name, though he is proudly Jewish.

Michael Albert

Question: This is more of a "what if" question, but I have to ask: theoretically, wouldn't the audience have been more impressed by a cloning machine than a disappear-reappear illusion? Couldn't Angier have vastly outsold Borden by showing the audience he can make a copy of himself (of course, pretending it's only an illusion, and only to kill the clone backstage at a later date)?

Answer: There have been twin magicians in real life who use their secret to do this kind of trick. Audiences would tend to be more impressed by this just based on bewilderment of "how did he do it" because the magician could "reappear" faster than expected. However, once you put the twins side by side, even pretending it's a clone, it starts to break down the illusion because people would believe it's twins rather than a clone. In fact, when twins "reappear" too fast (say a hypothetical teleporting trick), people tend to suspect a twin or look-a-like rather than "magic".

Bishop73

Question: When Annie goes running up the stairs during "I think I'm gonna like it here" and Miss. Farrell follows her, is Miss. Farrell trying to tickle her when they stop in the middle of the stair case?

Answer: This motion occurs after the sung line, "no finger will you lift." That is when Miss Farrell makes the finger-wiggling motion like she is going to tickle Annie. Then, they proceed the "chase" up the stairs. I think it's just meant to be a fun little mock-teasing while everyone on the staff is running around in a kind of slapstick manner.

Michael Albert

Question: Why would M betray Silva like that? What was so bad about hacking the Chinese? If what he did was really that bad, why couldn't she just fire him or even sue him? Why would she try to have him killed? Everyone always talks about how horrible Silva is and how sad is is that M died, but why is there no mention of how despicable M's actions were?

MikeH

Chosen answer: MI6 agents operate in a very grey area legally speaking. Plenty of the things Bond has done over the years could even be classed as acts of war against foreign powers if they were discovered. For this reason, all agents know that if they are caught or captured their government will disavow all knowledge of them or their actions, meaning they're on their own. That's why we learn in Die Another Day that Bond had a cyanide capsule to commit suicide if caught (which he threw away years ago). M was Silva's mentor, meaning he took it very personally when she followed protocol and cut him loose after he hacked the Chinese and was discovered.

Question: Who was the woman at the end of the movie who hijacked the military convoy?

Answer: The woman is Letty, Dom's love interest from the first movie. She was believed to be killed in the fourth movie.

Michael James Lago

Question: If the Craig movies are a reboot/prequel to all the other Bond movies, how do they explain M dying in Skyfall but the same M being alive in the Brosnan movies?

MikeH

Chosen answer: It's a reboot, not a prequel. They kept Judi Dench because she's a great actress, but from Casino Royale onwards, the previous Bond movies are ignored.

Not only that but 'Skyfall' COULD potentially sit in the previous Bond film line-ups anyways. This one isn't time-sensitive, doesn't make references to Craig's Bond films before this one therefore can sit nicely in there. And I've always thought this is more like 'Goldeneye' or 'Licence to Kill' in that it is a more conventional Bond movie than Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace.

Question: In the movie Rocky, porno actress Jean Jennings is listed in the credits on numerous websites, but I can't place or recall her in the film. According to information and bio info on her, she was married to Joe Spinell, who played Rocky's friend and employer in the film. Was she in Rocky? If so, in what scene?

Answer: If she was in Rocky, she would have been a minor extra because I've never seen her listed in any credits for Rocky on any websites, including Jean Jennings' IMDB page.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: Archangel and the Firm provided fuel and armaments. Dom and Hawke would have had to transport them to the lair to refuel and rearm.

Grumpy Scot

Question: At the end when Evan wakes up in the hospital, the doc told him that he killed Kayleigh. How did he do that? With those two killing scenes? The theatrical ending means he became normal and could change the past?

Sevil Süleymanova

Chosen answer: In that version of events, Evan was indirectly responsible for Kayleigh's death when he lit the stick of dynamite in her father's basement to threaten him; she mistook it for a sparkler and picked it up and the ensuing explosion killed her. In all the film's various endings, Evan goes back to a time before this incident; Kayleigh thus survives into adulthood and lives happily ever after.

zendaddy621

Answer: General.

Isn't Maria's father the general?

Question: What town did the Aunt Sarah live in? I thought the name of the town was Perdition, to use it as a pun on the title.

Answer: Aunt Sara lives in a fictional town called Perdition that is located on the banks of Lake Michigan. Tom Hanks is going there, but the title is a metaphor referring to being on a path leading to hell and damnation.

raywest

Question: Whatever happened to Sonny's wife and children?

Answer: It's never known. Most likely Theresa and her children stayed in New York or moved close to her family. Michael would have made sure they were financially taken care of.

raywest

It's theorized that Sandra (Theresa was Tom's wife) became Tom's mistress that Michael mentioned in Part 2.

Answer: There is a deleted scene from the movie (I'll put a link for you in the end!), where Theresa and Sonny's daughter, Francesca, attend the party for Anthony's communion and ask Michael's blessing for Francesca's future wedding with a man. At some point Michael says that "My brother Sonny died many years ago. And I guess I've been sort of a father to her, rather than an uncle." I would assume this means the children were raised close to him, because as we see when Connie discusses with him, even her own children stay with Michael's family; or close. (Connie's son was caught in Reno, Nevada for some petty theft). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Ucj4YFosk.

Question: How does Kimble get the new set of clothes after leaving the "Men Only" hotel (after the St. Patrick's Day parade)? Is this an allusion to some inappropriate activity?

Answer: While it is not specifically shown how he got the clothes, the "inappropriate activity" would likely be that he had stolen them. They could also have been donated clothing that was available to those in need.

raywest

Answer: He stole them from someone who had taken them off because it was a brothel.

Answer: He got cash from Nichols when he stopped him outside of the tennis club. That is how he was able to buy clothes, etc. but it wasn't something that was shown on-screen - was basically assumed based on events.

Question: Emma Thompson, who plays Karen, has two apparent brothers. The prime minister (Hugh Grant) and Daniel (Liam Neeson), is it right to assume that Daniel and the prime minister are brothers? Why don't we see them ever talk? All the other character stories we see interconnect.

Answer: Karen is the sister of David (the prime minister), but she is not related to Daniel, they are just friends.

Sierra1

Question: After Wade seemingly kills Tom, Terry scolds him, saying he had said at the start of the robbery that no-one would get hurt, but now three people (a guard, Frank and "Tom") are dead. Why does Terry wait until the "third" death to have it out with Wade?

JohnShel91

Chosen answer: He's finally had enough of Wade's increasingly psychotic behavior and no longer trusts him. As a result of Wade's actions, their entire plan is unraveling. Terry likely knows that Wade will probably kill him as well.

raywest

Question: At the end of the movie, survivors of the group that entered the maze reach the lab, barely making it through alive and having used a code that only an experienced maze runner would know. How did Gally arrive only moments after them, when he had elected to stay behind in the Glade at the time the group entered the maze?

BF

Chosen answer: As it turns out, Gally was being mind-controlled by the people who operated the maze. This would explain why he was highly against any form of escape plan. When the others escaped, the operators gave him some form of safe passage straight to the control room.so he could kill the others. Best guess is, they re-activated the elevator for him and he took that route...but that's left ambiguous.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: In earlier versions of the "Annie" story, she is orphaned when her parents are killed in a car accident. In the musical, they died in a fire. In the 2014 re-imagining, Annie lives in foster care after being abandoned by her family. Early on, she hopes to one day be reunited with them. We, the audience, never learn their whereabouts, nor whether they are alive or dead.

Michael Albert

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.