Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why does Professor McGonagall give Lockhart the task of catching the monster? She and the other teachers don't like him or trust in his abilities.

Answer: Minerva told Lockhart to kill the basilisk because the teachers all know he's basically an incompetent fool and would most likely run or do something stupid which they can't afford at that time. So they wanted to get him occupied while they safely evacuate the students from Hogwarts by taunting him into seeking and killing the monster in the Chamber as she says, "That's got him out from under our feet." Most likely, they might have already known that he would run away as he obviously has a cowardly and pretentious character.

Question: This is a two part question. When Zorin is flying over the mine in his zeppelin, he sees Mayday coming out of the mine with the bomb, and looks really shocked when it blows up, killing her in the process. But a few scenes before, he was quite happy to just leave her to drown in the flooding mine, so did he really love her and was just shocked that she had killed herself or was it shock because she removed the bomb from the mine and ruined his plan? I'm asking since Mayday tells Bond that Zorin told her he loved her (when they're both trying to escape from drowning in the flooding mine), so was Zorin lying to her or did he actually love her?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Zorin is a psychopath. He may have meant it when he told May Day he loved her, or he may have just been telling her what she wanted to hear. Either way, when he thinks she'll drown in the mine as well, he doesn't consider it worth scrapping the plan just to save her. Once she escapes and has the bomb, he looks shocked partially because she wasn't killed but mostly because she's chosen to sacrifice herself to thwart his plans, something that a self-interested psychotic personality can't comprehend.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: I know this question is somewhat subjective, due to unknowns such as location, but can anyone hazard a guess as to what kind of punishment/sentence Pitt would be likely to get after shooting Spacey? Bearing in mind the unusual situation and that he is otherwise a model citizen.

Answer: Based on my extensive legal training (that being watching just about every episode of "Law & Order" in syndication), I would say Brad Pitt, Detective David Mills, is guilty of manslaughter. It is clear that the execution of the defenseless John Doe without benefit of trial in a court of law is, by definition, illegal. If prosecutors were to proceed to indictment, it would likely not be for the crime of murder. More likely, the charge sought would be "voluntary manslaughter," defined as killing with intention to kill or to cause serious harm, but with mitigating circumstances that reduce culpability - in this case, extreme emotional distress. Given these particular circumstances, however, Detective Mills would have an excellent chance of being found either not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity at trial by a jury of his peers. It is also quite likely he would not even be prosecuted given the extreme circumstances under which the killing occurred. However, a State's Attorney or District Attorney should pursue charges, as a clear violation of the law has occurred, regardless of how sympathetic or understandable the context.

Michael Albert

The District Attorney has wide discretion and can refuse to prosecute. If the DA does not think there is sufficient evidence to get a conviction if the case were to go to trial (no prima facie case), the case will be dismissed. (That's how prosecutors are able to attain such high conviction rates.) This case would not be likely to be prosecuted, regardless of the evidence. However, IF the case went to trial, the defense attorney would probably start by asking for a dismissal. If that didn't work, the defense attorney would most likely assert that, under the circumstances of the case, it was an excusable or justifiable homicide and the defendant is therefore NOT GUILTY.

KeyZOid

Answer: According to the "letter of the law" Mills would be subject to a reasonably lengthy prison sentence. I'm thinking Murder 2 or Voluntarily Manslaughter. In an academic vacuum he should be looking at 25 years minimum. However, with the extreme nature of the circumstances I could definitely see a prosecutor (and general public) go very light on Mills as it's not exactly a difficult situation to imagine the stress Mills was under at the moment. Historically the legal system was a pretty forgiving when it comes to acts of revenge in cases of intimate offenses. In the real world the cops simply would have fixed the scene and Mills would have walked away scot-free and probably been back to work on Monday lol.

Question: After Anna tells Marshmallow that they won't come back, what does she cut the rope with?

Answer: She grabbed Kristoff's knife, as it was hanging from his back. Watch closely as they're being dragged up, and you'll see it hanging there.

Lily Harrison

Answer: Eric Carmen - All by Myself.

Question: How did Carolyn get out of the cave and make it to the ship without being killed?

Answer: She had a jar of the light bugs that kept the creatures away.

lartaker1975

Question: Were any other instruments besides a violin recovered as artifacts from the Titanic wreckage?

Answer: There are several on-line references to the recovery of musical instruments salvaged in a steamer trunk belonging to one Howard Irwin, in addition to some playing cards, a diary, and a bundle of letters from his girlfriend Pearl Shuttle, who had died of pneumonia one year earlier. It was first thought that Irwin, a musician and professional gambler, had boarded the ship under a false identity. There was no record of him being among the passengers, even though a ticket had been purchased for him. It turned out that he had stayed ashore but his trunk had been brought aboard the ship by his friend Henry Sutehall, who was among the victims of Titanic v. Iceberg. I have searched extensively (because you piqued my interest) for more detail regarding exactly what instruments were said to have been found, but I have uncovered no specifics.

Michael Albert

Question: A minor point, but does Professor Snape's body presumably get buried (or whatever treatment was given to the bodies of Tonks, Remus, and others) ? Some fans think that Nagini eats him, but it seems rather odd for a snake to leave dead prey for a while - since Harry has time to talk to Snape - and then come back to eat it much later.

Answer: Nagini does not get to eat him as she vanished with Voldemort before he knew Harry was there. (The same thing happens in the book, albeit in a different location). Snape's body would have been recovered after the battle when Harry made it known what he did and how he risked his life. He would have been given a proper burial.

kristenlouise3

Chosen answer: She actually does sing very briefly, in an early scene where, as a child, she sings along with her mother (in Gaelic), but, otherwise, yes, she's the only Disney Princess who doesn't burst into a major song at some point in the movie. She does sing in her mind or internally when she is shooting arrows in the forest at the beginning of the film. The song is called "Touch the Sky."

Tailkinker

Question: When Loki first arrives and steals the tesseract, he looks sick or injured. The skin around his eyes is discolored, he seems to be in pain and/or have trouble walking (especially noticeable after Clint shoots Fury) and he needs help climbing into the back of the truck. Later in the movie, he's fine. What was wrong with him?

Aerinah

Chosen answer: Without the stabilisation equipment that's built by Erik Selvig, the portal opened by the Tesseract is unstable (demonstrated when the residual energy from the portal completely levels the Project Pegasus installation). Passage through it can therefore be reasonably assumed to be a pretty rough trip, even for an Asgardian.

Tailkinker

Question: Many times, when Robocop's helmet screen is not in front of his eyes, he can still get and see information about people. How come?

Answer: The helmet doesn't contain a screen - it's purely there as protective armour. Murphy's heads-up display is built directly into his eyes.

Tailkinker

Question: In one scene in the second half, Cowboy and Joker are walking into what might be be an intense fire fight. Do soldiers close the dust covers after charging their M-16s? Cowboy's is open, Joker's is closed. Mistake, or normal?

Answer: It's part of your drill to close it after you "ready" or fire the weapon. Soldiers often forget and it's not uncommon to see them open.

Question: When Vincent's friends set him up, they set the scene so that the police would think that the girl drugged Vincent and then cut her wrist with the knife. But they already know the girl killed herself with the pills, or at least they think she did. At the end of the movie, female police tells Chris that the cause of death was not the pills, but it was the wrist cut. But if she really had killed herself with the pills, police would have been telling him the opposite, which would have raised a lot of questions. Were they lucky? Were they dumb enough to think that the cause of death would not have been discovered in the autopsy, or magically it would appear as the wrist cut? Or am I missing something here? Or the writers missed this?

Question: When Griffin is revealed to be Juntao, he reveals that all of the artifacts once belonged to him. If they were his, then how did Consul Han manage to get them? Wouldn't it be considered stealing, since they were actually Griffin's?

Answer: Many countries, including China, have laws regarding confiscation of proceeds of crime or criminal forfeiture of assets. When the Chinese government took control of Hong Kong, they seized Juntao's assets including drugs, weapons and the collection of artworks under such laws.

Sierra1

Question: When Ryan is descending back into the atmosphere in the Shenzhou, two pieces pop off the landing module after the big tracking shot. One appears to be part of the heat shield, and the other looks like an O-ring from the window. 1) If it really was a part of the heat shield, wouldn't she along with the Shenzhou have burnt up in the atmosphere and 2) If that was a part of the window, shouldn't it pop out due to the pressure differential? Or, if I'm wrong about those two parts, what are they?

Friso94

Chosen answer: The heat shield separates before landing. If it didn't the solid fuel engines behind the shield that are designed to give a soft landing wouldn't work. It doesn't separate until the capsule has slowed sufficiently to mean it is no longer needed. I don't know what the other piece that separates is but it is nothing to do with the windows. It comes from under the capsule so was behind the heat shield.

Question: Throughout Transformer history, has it ever been known who or what was responsible for the creation of the Autobots and Decepticons and for what purpose?

Answer: Primus created the original Thirteen Transformers, later known as the Thirteen Primes, to help him defeat his nemesis, Unicron. The Thirteen Primes were the start of the Cybertronian race, which eventually turned on itself when Megatron, formerly Megatronus, started the War and his Decepticon faction.

Question: Why are there some characters (Bowser, Sonic, etc.) able to be in the Game Central Station when they're solely console-based characters, and none of them have appeared in arcade form? I know the sequel is going to touch base on console games and tablet games coming together with arcade characters.

Answer: Sonic has appeared in arcade games such as the arcade version of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Sega All Stars Racing. Bowser has appeared in Versus Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart Arcade GP, as well as an arcade version of Super Mario 3. Though both games for Bowser are rarely seen in the US it's not unreasonable to think Litwak would have these games at his arcade.

MasterOfAll

Question: When Robocop is about to arrest Jones, he suddenly feels his system malfunctioning. Jones then explains that Directive 4 is used to shut him down if he attempts to arrest a senior officer of OCP. Why did Jones put this directive into Robocop? At the time nobody knew he was working with Boddicker.

Answer: Because he knew he was doing illegal activities. Robocop was said to be highly efficient at his job and Jones did not want to risk him out on the streets without the insurance of shutting him down if Robo came after him.

MasterOfAll

Question: What did Harry mean when he said to Jack "And I got shot... Another few inches and they would have given the medal to my wife." I still can't make complete sense of that line.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Jack shot Harry in the upper leg, and Harry is presumably referring to the proximity of the femoral artery, a large and vital blood vessel in the thigh. If Jack's shot had hit him there, he would almost certainly have died within minutes, and they would have to give the bravery medal to his widow.

Sierra1

Question: In the real world, during the "Let's put It All Back" sequence, the son's creations are set up fighting Micro Managers. When the dad is rearranging everything, he never seems to do anything with them. If they weren't part of the Lego displays he built, why didn't he change them?

Answer: Either they were part of another set (which since in Finn's imagination they're owned by Lord Business so them being part of another set could be possible) or he just didn't get round to them. We only see him destroy some creations, not all.

Christaffa

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