Ssiscool

2nd Aug 2021

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Question: Why would Dumbledore hire Lockhart to be a professor at Hogwarts? Dumbledore knows how incompetent Lockhart is and that the DADA is cursed.

Answer: This is better explained in the book. Dumbledore, and also the other Hogwarts' staff, always doubted the narcissistic Lockhart's credentials and abilities, but no-one else would accept the job, knowing it was cursed and no instructor lasted more than a year. At the time, Dumbledore was pressed to hire a new teacher before the school year started, and Lockhart was the only option and better than nothing.

Answer: On paper, Lockheart is far from incompetent. Look at all his books. It appears he has exceptional experience of the Dark Arts and creatures such as Hag's Banshee's etc. So as far as Dumbledore knows he's the best position of the job. With regards to the job being cursed, it's been cursed for 13 years with no teacher lasting more than a year. He still needs a teacher. And all the teachers get more and more qualified as time goes on. Consider the fact that he hires ex-auror, Moody.

In the novels, Lockheart has admitted to Harry and Ron that he's a fraud. His backstory goes that all of his "accomplishments" were told to him by other wizards that actually achieved them and after he learned the whole story, he used Obliviate on them to make them forget what they did and claimed them as his own. Even the spell that he claims would work on pixies failed.

In the movie he tells them too. Nobody knew that though, not even Dumbledore when he hired him. Although some do start getting suspicious, like Snape.

Dumbledore was aware of Lockhart being a fraud as two of the wizards that had their memories erased were friends of his and was able to correctly guess that Lockhart was responsible.

I wouldn't consider Dolores Umbridge, who succeeded (the fake) Mad Eye Moody, as an improvement. She was mediocre in addition to being corrupt. The real Mad Eye, never taught, so it's unknown how well he would have done. Barty Crouch, Jr. (the fake Moody) was a dark wizard, making him an effective instructor. Lupin was an excellent teacher, as was Snape, though he didn't last a full year.

19th Jul 2021

Titanic (1997)

Question: Rose and her mother need the financial security from Rose's marriage to Cal. What were they probably expecting after the wedding? Was Cal aware of Rose's father's debt? Did they think he would pay it off, or did they hope he would never find out? I would expect Cal, being from a stable, wealthy family, to have his choice of suitable (to him) women who did *not* come with the burden of debt.

Answer: Cal, who was quite rich and prominent, would have fully investigated the family's debts or other concerns. To avoid any social embarrassment, scandals, or lingering complications, he would likely pay off the remaining debts. Despite Cal's despicable character, he loves Rose, and that is the price of marrying her. In this era, women had many restrictions and few legal rights, so even as Cal's wife, Rose would have no direct access to her husband's money. She would probably receive a small monthly allowance and her expenditures would be closely monitored. Rose and her mother may not have had any money, but they are socially prominent and respected, and that would be an asset to Cal.

Answer: Rose's mother wanted Rose to marry Cal, so they had joint finances. With joint finances Rose would be able to get money to pay off her family's debt.

24th Apr 2017

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Question: Can anyone identify the knife that Kang and Forbes used?

Answer: A bit of research online is showing that it is a Gerber CFB fixed knife.

8th Jun 2020

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Question: As the Cerberus codes have been entered, with the time limit set prior to the missile's destruction, how did Jang expect to leave the country within what I assume was the 5 minute time limit and not feel the fallout from the nuclear missiles, or be killed or at least full of radiation, and also, why take the president then?

Answer: Kang wanted the USA to suffer famine and be a 3rd world country. His plan was to get in, set off all the warheads and plunge the USA into the dark ages. During one of the exchanges between Kang and Mike, Kang says "I just want the USA to experience poverty and famine." So he had no plans to survive his mission. He needed the president to gain the 3rd code incase it couldn't be broken by the hacker. He faked the presidents death to give himself more time with the president.

Answer: My best guess is they went in knowing it was a suicide mission.

That suggested answer doesn't make any sense. Jang idea was to capture the code to start a war presumably between N &S Korea. There is no indication that Jang's computer whiz had the ability crack the code, or was even trying, and that sounds unlikely. I think the whole story line went off the tracks at that point and they were trying to wrap up the shooting. Pretty shaky in my opinion. Just a movie with some good stars and and a lot of stuff got blown-up and the good guys won.

Answer: The Washington monument is destroyed in one scene and in a later scene, it is fully erect.

This isn't an answer, this seems to be a mistake entry.

14th Dec 2012

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Question: I noticed that Harry's scar hurts when he comes close to Professor Quirrell, but why is this not happening when he meets him for the first time in Diagon Alley? Wasn't Voldemort on his head yet?

Chosen answer: Voldemort is not on his head in Diagon Alley as explained in the books. He attaches himself to Quirrell when he learns that Quirrell was unsuccessful in getting the Philosopher's Stone from the vault, in attempt to keep an eye on him.

But in the movie when they met in Diagon Alley, Quirrel refused a handshake because it would kill him.

It's never explained in the movie that that is why he doesn't shake hands. In the books, hagrid says that Quirrel hasn't been right since he met a few vampires in the black forest.

25th Jun 2021

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Question: How is this possible that Jim (the guy whose right arm was bitten off and eaten by shark) didn't bleed out to death?

Answer: Because the tourniquet that was applied slowed the blood loss substantially until the emergency paramedics arrived to help.

20th May 2021

Madagascar (2005)

Question: How did Marty free himself from the animal box after falling into the ocean? This obviously happened before the scene where he was surfing on dolphins, but it is never shown nor mentioned how he managed to get out of this box.

Answer: It is entirely possible his box hit something in the water and broke or was weakened enough for Marty to escape.

24th May 2021

The Big Bang Theory (2007)

Question: Why does Leonard's mother act the way she does?

Answer: Because she is a scientist with some OCD personality traits. She sees everything black and white. Same as Sheldon.

23rd Apr 2021

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Question: Why didn't the crew cut the pipe before the blowout occurred?

Answer: Simple answer: They couldn't. Long Answer: On Deepwater Horizon, after they screwed up completing the well and it started flowing uncontrollably, they tried the blind rams, then the pipe rams, and then the shear rams. None of them worked. The shear rams didn't work. Thus, they had a total, uncontrolled blowout and no way to stop the well from flowing.

24th Mar 2021

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Question: Miller, and his men meet a guy named Mendelson who has bad hearing because a German grenade went off right by his head. Realistically, wouldn't Mendelson be dead?

Answer: When he says "right by my head," I'm sure he doesn't mean it literally...if it had, of course he'd be dead. There could have been something blocking him from the shrapnel, but the sound wave could still severely damage his hearing.

If he doesn't mean it literally when he said a German grenade went off right by his head, then how do you explain that wound on the side of his head?

Debris?

Ruptured eardrum.

Answer: He may have put too much into his line. It's possible the shockwave damaged his hearing. If the grenade went off right by him he would have much more severe injuries than loss of hearing. His injury on his face is probably from shrapnel caused by the blast.

22nd Mar 2021

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Question: Since Harry's Boggart was a Dementor, would it have the same abilities as an actual one?

Answer: Lupin addresses this by saying (and I'm paraphrasing a bit here) Boggarts sometimes do not have the same strength or magic as what they imitate, for example, a Boggart transformed into a Dementor has weaker magic than a real Dementor or a deadly scream as a true Banshee.

16th Mar 2021

Die Hard (1988)

Question: When John sees a group of SWAT guys head to the building, why does he react by saying, "No, no, no!" Wasn't having the police come to help exactly what he wanted?

Answer: As you may have noticed in the immediate run-up to this, he has been trying to warn them against taking direct action. He has tried to tell them that they are fighting heavily armed and highly trained terrorists who are well-prepared to handle a small group of policemen overtly entering through the front door. So, he was saying that because he knew the SWAT men were about to get hurt, or worse, in their idiotic attempt to, as Dep. Chief Dwayne puts it, "kick ass."

Answer: He may have wanted the police to be there, but not to simply storm the building in a spontaneous, all-out assault without fully knowing who and what they were up against, lacking a strategic, coordinated plan or considering all the dangers and risk to the hostages.

Answer: Because that's exactly what Hans wanted the police to do. By entering they were making his plan easier.

14th Mar 2021

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)

Question: Why was Jake Cherry replaced by Skyler Gisondo as Nick Daley?

Answer: No reason has been given by the studio as to why Skyler replaced Jake Cherry, 17, in the role.

18th Feb 2021

Friday Night Dinner (2011)

The Violin - S5-E5

Question: All the way up until season 5 Nelly (the nice Grandma) and Martin get along nicely. In season 1 EP 3 they are joking with each other. In season 2 EP 7 he apologises for pouring water on her (and keep in mind he is being sincere here). But in this episode he hears that she had a fall and suggests that she have a bigger one. What happened?

Answer: Martin is simply making a joke. Even after this episode you see him and Nelly get along perfectly fine.

18th Feb 2021

Friday Night Dinner (2011)

The Jingle - S1-E2

Question: Did anyone else notice a few things that are weird about this episode. 1) Jim is known for his shaky voice and propositioning Jackie but in this episode he seems to talk normally and isn't even asking to see her. It's like Mark Heap forgot to do this or the showmakers were testing it for future episodes. 2) The camerawork is different. In all the other episodes the camera shots are shaky but still OK; however, the camera stays still and uses normal zooming in and normal camera switching methods.

Answer: This is most likely down to the filming order. If this episode was filmed before 'The Sofa Bed' then it could easily be concluded that they added in Jim's quirks to make his character more unique. Several shows have done this in the past.

15th Apr 2018

Matilda (1996)

Question: What exactly has Harry done to have the FBI watching him for ages?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: He has been receiving and selling stolen car parts.

Answer: It is a federal violation to own/operate a "chop shop." Other possibilities include interstate transport of stolen vehicles or car parts, altering Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs), and falsifying documents. After a VIN is altered, it is difficult to positively identify the vehicle as stolen and acquire the necessary evidence to get a conviction if the.case goes to trial. But it is the interstate aspect that makes the FBI the key investigators.

Answer: He had stolen car parts.

Plus he had been putting the mileage back on the cars and simply running an illegal call lot.

3rd Dec 2003

Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

Question: Can anyone explain what happened to Stackhouse when he ejected? I understand that he injured his leg. How did that happen? Is it actually possible?

Answer: The two seats collided in midair before their chutes opened and Stackhouse yelled, "ow!" Not realistic because in the 5 seconds it took for the second pilot to eject they would have been far apart.

But you see his leg get injured before his leaves the jet. I think the original question refers to how did that happen.

The injury to Stackhouse's leg was from a pen attached to his knee pad. When watched in slow motion, you see it disintegrate and somehow throw shrapnel into his leg. It makes little sense, I believe it was merely a plot point to make Stackhouse unable to travel out of harm's way. This prompted Burnett to leave him unattended for the bad guys to find him as he went to higher ground to get better reception on the PRC-90.

Answer: It is possible that he has done of one two things. Banged his leg on something inside the cockpit causing it to break, or landed too hard on his way down. It is common for people to break limbs when parachuting/sky diving. It is possible that his bones were just not up to withstanding the force which he incurred.

Or a piece of shrapnel from the jet breaking apart cut his leg.

17th Jan 2021

Family Guy (1999)

8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter - S4-E8

Question: I've seen a few episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond", but I don't get this joke. Why did Meg use the show to tell Neil to leave her alone?

Answer: I think because "Everybody Loves Raymond" was a very popular show at the time. There was a good chance of Neil receiving Meg's message.

Answer: Everybody Loves Raymond is one of the few TV shows that talks directly to the viewers (such as during the intro) So Meg uses this opportunity to talk to Neil.

29th Jan 2021

Cars (2006)

Question: The four troublemaking hot rods nudged Mack onto the rumble strips. Did they mean to? Also, were the rumble strips what caused one of McQueen's souvenirs to fall and hit the button that opens the trailer door? (03:56:18)

Answer: Not sure on the first part but yes, the rumble steps caused vibrations in Mack that resulted in the ornament falling and opening the tailgate.

29th Jan 2021

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Question: Is it true that James Cameron hated this movie?

Answer: A quote from the man himself from a BBC News article in 2003 "Great. There was a small part of me that hoped it wasn't good - but another part of me hope'd it succeeded. And it did. And I'm so glad it did. Jonathon's made a great movie. Arnold's in great form. I really like what he's done with it."

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