Question: On the beach, Mr Scroggins carves Anna's name - Anna Muir - on the end of the wrong end of a wooden "fence" (it faces inland; so how on earth could captains at sea see her name as they pass by?) and what is the purpose of the wooden "fence"?
raywest
10th Mar 2015
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Answer: Whether or not the carving was placed inland as a convenience for the audience to see it, it is still a mistake with regard to the dialogue indicating that persons at sea being able to read Anna's name on the post. To avoid the mistake, the scene should begun showing Mr. Scroggins on the seaward side of the post carving and the for the camera to pan around to show that he is carving the name "Anna Muir." The sea could still be in the background and the dialogue would then make sense.
9th Mar 2015
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Question: If Kreacher could belong to Sirius even though Sirius was disowned by his family, then shouldn't he have gone to Andromeda, who was also disowned, before going to Andromeda's younger sister, Narcissa?
Answer: Even though Sirius' family had "disowned" him, he still inherited the family's entire estate after his brother's death (he was the sole heir). Siris, who was Harry's godfather, had drawn a will leaving all his property to Harry. That is why Kreacher became Harry's legal possession.
3rd Mar 2015
Avatar (2009)
Question: At the end when all the forest animals on Pandora join in the fight, they seem to be targeting only humans. Since they can't determine the good ones from the bad ones, wouldn't this have put Norm Spellman (now back in his human form) in extreme danger? Always considered it a plot-hole, but any explanations would be welcome.
3rd Mar 2015
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: This is about the deleted scene that takes place in the Borgin and Burkes shop. What is the object that Mr. Malfoy says is not for sale? And why bring it to the shop at all if he doesn't want to sell it?
Answer: It's never explained what it is or why Malfoy brought it with him. He may just have wanted to see if the clerk might be interested in it, in case he decided later to sell it and could therefore demand a higher price. It could be the diary, and that it's being alluded to that it belongs to him here.
3rd Mar 2015
The Village (2004)
Question: Can somebody tell me why the elders don't allow people to leave the village at the start of the film?
Chosen answer: They left modern civilization to escape violence. They have been living a lie and do not want their children to know about the real world, fearing they will want go there and might never return. That is why they concocted the story about the monsters in the wood to frighten them from leaving the village.
25th Feb 2015
Never Talk To Strangers (1995)
Question: Why did Tony have a wedding ring, when it turned out he was never married? The movie even did a close up of his ring to emphasise this.
27th Feb 2015
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Question: I saw the deleted scene that has Professor Trelawney eating during the start-of-term feast. What is the significance of her eating? Why make a scene about it?
Answer: It's to show her odd character traits and how she's rather out-of-sync with everyone else. She begins eating, almost completely unaware of what is going on around her when everyone else knows they should be paying attention to the proceedings. She basically lives in her own world and doesn't function well when she's around others.
27th Feb 2015
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Why does Dumbledore purposely hit Ron's injured leg?
Answer: Ron had previously bragged to Hermione about how bad his leg was injured, and had lied and said his leg might be chopped off. When Dumbledore later hits Ron's leg, he is saying that a child's voice no matter how honest and true. He is giving Ron a little payback for exaggerating.
Highly unlikely Dumbledore knew what Ron told Hermione at the Whomping Willow. Ron's leg was seriously hurt, so he wasn't "bragging" about it, nor did he lie. Ron, who is a bit of a hypochondriac, was simply embellishing to be more dramatic and to gain Hermione's sympathy. Hardly anything Dumbledore would consider worth giving him "payback" by inflicting pain.
25th Feb 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: Why doesn't Snape just apparate away when Voldemort is about to kill him?
Answer: Snape was taken by surprise and he was confused. He was Voldemort's right-hand man, and wouldn't have expected the Dark Lord to kill him, at least not then or in that way. Appararating also takes some deliberate thought and physical action, and Snape simply didn't have enough time to react.
21st Feb 2015
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
21st Feb 2015
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Question: Picard orders the away team to be beamed from the Borg ship directly to the bridge of the Enterprise. If this was possible, why was there ever a need for anyone to go to a transporter room and stand on a transporter platform?
Answer: Several reasons. While it is possible to beam people to and from just about anywhere, for efficiency and safety there needs to be a centralized location. If an away team was being transported at the same time, then they are transported as a group from the platform and not from a random location within the ship. Transporting people to places other than to the transporter platform is risky and it is usually only done in extreme circumstances. Precise coordinates are needed to find and safely beam someone from one place to another. The bridge is an emergency transport site and the those coordinates are already known. It has also been seen that the transport can go awry. In that event, the transporter officer needs to be able to see what is happening in order to make adjustments to safely re-materialize the passengers. It has been mentioned in Star Trek canon that it is possible for someone being transported to re-materialize inside a bulkhead or some other object if the coordinates are incorrect or the surrounding environment had changed, thus injuring or killing them.
21st Feb 2015
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
2nd Feb 2015
Sybil (1976)
Question: I have always wondered how the movie crew and cast worked with Natasha Ryan, the actress who played young Sybil. There were scenes that were very frightening, dealing with terrible tortures. I always wondered if that was traumatic for the young girl? Or, if not, how was trauma avoided. More generally, does anyone know how movie productions deal with children on the set of films with frightening, traumatic and/or controversial themes?
Chosen answer: In these types of movies, where young actors are involved in intense scenes, every precaution is taken to ensure that they are never frightened or emotionally compromised. Child psychologists, acting coaches, and the director are on set and work closely with them. A child's parent or guardian is also always close by. Child Protective Services oversee how child actors are being utilized in films and TV shows and there are strict laws and regulations regarding how child actors are treated, how many hours per day they can work, etc. Scenes are also carefully filmed and edited in such a way that can appear to be very intense, but were not emotionally stressful to the child. Also, stand-ins can be used for certain shots.
11th Feb 2015
Mad Men (2007)
Question: Did no one get surprised at the price of the Call Girl at the end of the episode? For spending a whole evening and night at Draper's house, the call girl charges $25, about $190 in modern money. Isn't that weirdly low?
16th Feb 2015
Licence to Kill (1989)
Question: Why does Sanchez leave Felix back at his house? I get that he might have thought Felix was dead, but why bring him back to his house? Why not cremate him or something? Hell, why not leave him in the shark tank to drown or get eaten some more?
Answer: That message wasn't for Bond. It was for everyone in law enforcement, to show what happens when you tangle with him. No one is safe from his wrath.
Answer: He apparently wanted to "stage the scene" in order to send a message, particularly to Bond. It's doubtful he expected Felix to still be alive.
That doesn't make any sense - Sanchez didn't even know who Bond was at that point. Even if he did and Killifer had tipped him off why did Sanchez not recognise Bond when Bond turns up at his casino?
16th Feb 2015
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: Do the numbers on the Hogwarts train, 5972, have any meaning?
Answer: It has no meaning to the story. The locomotive used for the Hogwarts Express is the GWR No. 5972 "Olton Hall." It was built in 1937 and was in service in the U.K. until 1963. It was to be sold for scrap, but it was bought by the National Railway Museum and has been on display there in Shildon.
11th Feb 2015
The White Mountains
Question: In the later chapters, the main characters are being pursued by Tripods, mind controlling alien machines. My question is, if the Tripods can turn humans into 1600's puppets, complete with foxhunts, why don't they make some of said mind-controlled humans help with the pursuit?
11th Feb 2015
The Village (2004)
Question: At the end when the ranger is sitting in his car and the alarm is going off, is he still alive?
Chosen answer: Yes he's alive. Nothing happened to him at all. He had turned on the siren when he saw someone in the road, which was suspicious. After he helps Ivy, he reports back to his supervisor that everything was okay, which it was. He realized that Ivy was from inside the reserve, but he says nothing about it.
2nd Feb 2015
The Wolfman (2010)
11th Feb 2015
The Island (2005)
Question: At the beginning of the movie, Lincoln 6 Echo is missing his left shoe. Is there any importance in that?
Answer: As far as I could tell, it seems to indicate his growing mental awareness of himself and his environment. He begins noticing more things around him and is questioning when things don't seem right or are out-of-place. The other clones don't exhibit that type of cognitive functioning as much as he does.
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Chosen answer: The scene takes place at a public beach where Anna and her mother go swimming and the fence may be connected to that. Anna is a small child and Mr. Scroggins carves her name where she can always easily see it, and it is far away from the water's edge. Of course, for the purpose of the movie, it was placed in such a way to be seen by the audience as a way to gauge the amount of time that is passing. It becomes worn and deteriorated over the years.
raywest ★