Question: A while after the Yule ball scene, after Harry wakes up from a nightmare, Neville comes in. He says something like "I got in! Me!" What is he talking about? What did he get into?
Tailkinker
29th Jul 2014
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
29th Jul 2014
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Question: Has it ever been explained what happens to a wizard/witch if they don't repay a life debt? Harry should owe one to Snape after Snape rescues him from Quirrell's curse during the Quidditch game, but he never does throughout the series.
Answer: It does not appear that life debts automatically form whenever somebody saves somebody else - J K Rowling has, for example, stated that Ginny did not incur a life debt to Harry when he saved her in the Chamber of Secrets, although she said nothing about what circumstances need to occur for a debt to exist. In Snape's case, there would seem to be several possibilities. 1) A life debt simply didn't form. 2) Snape is protecting Harry because of his love for Lily and his failure to save her, so he may actually be paying off a debt of sorts himself by doing so. 3) Harry's father James saved Snape from almost certain death when Sirius tried to trick him into going into the Shrieking Shack when Remus Lupin was in his wolf form. As such, Sirius may have owed James a debt, which he paid off by saving Harry. 4) A life debt did form but, as Snape died before Harry could pay it off and, insofar as we know, had no relatives that the debt could pass to, Harry was let off the hook.
29th Jul 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: Is there any other way that Hermione could have possibly protected her Muggle parents from Voldemort and his followers besides erasing their memories, like casting a protection spell over them similar to what was done with Harry for the past 17 years or taken them to the Burrow to be protected, or even Grimmauld Place?
Chosen answer: Any of those options would provide some degree of protection, but, should Voldemort ultimately triumph, it's extremely likely that those measures would eventually be circumvented by his forces, leaving her parents entirely at his mercy. By erasing herself entirely from their memories, they cannot be used against her, as they cannot be linked to her (it's reasonable to assume that Hermione would also have arranged for any files linking her to them or that address to be destroyed or altered as well). Erasing their memories also has the side effect of sparing her parents from grief should she fall in the ensuing conflict.
In the book, in addition to erasing their memories, Hermione also sent her parents to live in Australia, further removing them from danger. She not only erased their memories to prevent them from being tortured and divulging any information, but if she was killed, they would not grieve the loss of their only child for the rest of their lives.
23rd Jul 2014
Batman Begins (2005)
Question: Can someone please tell me how Chris Nolan was chosen to direct this film? He had only done 3 movies before and they weren't that big, so why did WB trust him with rebooting a series that hadn't had an entry in 7 years?
Chosen answer: At the time Nolan was just coming off the double-whammy of Memento and Insomnia, both of which, while not huge blockbusters, attracted considerable critical acclaim and did reasonable box office, so his star was very much on the rise. He approached Warner Bros with his proposal for a reboot of the series - they were impressed by his grounded approach to the material and gave him the green light to proceed.
23rd Jul 2014
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Question: Towards the end, when Dreyfus is about to blow up the building from the underground, why didn't Malcolm try and convince the guys to hold up the blow up, rather than picking up the gun and eventually letting it been blown? Also once the C4 is blown how did they survive it when they were right beneath the tower?
Chosen answer: He knows that, given what's happened, there's almost no chance of persuading Dreyfus that the apes can be reasoned with, so he tries to threaten them into backing down. Unfortunately, this fails. Malcolm survived the blast because he was able to dive out of the doorway before the C4 detonated. Those who were still in the room died instantly.
23rd Jul 2014
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Question: Although it's shown in the beginning that due to the leakage and worldwide spread of the experimental drug at the "Gen-Sys" lab the human race was about to end. Yet a few did survive. How exactly then the creator of the drug, James Franco die? Caesar was somehow taken to the very same home James lived and operated there itself, was there any reason to bring Caesar back to his childhood home again?
Chosen answer: The circumstances of Will's death are not revealed in the movie, but presumably he either died from the virus or was killed in the violence that erupted after the breakdown of society. Caesar was taken back to his childhood home because he guided them there, presumably wishing to return to a location that he associated with good times while he recovered from his injuries.
14th Jul 2014
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Question: The is something that I didn't understand in the movie. Spiderman killed Electro, which is something completely out of character. What was Marc Webb thinking?
Answer: Peter didn't set out to kill Electro, but he has to stop him somehow. Overloading him is pretty much all Peter has to work with in terms of stopping Electro's rampage. He doesn't know what effect it will have on his opponent, but he hopes that it will serve to stop him in his tracks, which it does. Had Peter set out with the specific intention of killing Max, that would indeed have been wildly out of character, but he didn't - he simply did what he had to do to stop him. It's unlikely that Max is actually dead anyway; it's well known that Sony intend to bring the Sinister Six into play in upcoming movies and Electro has been a key member of most incarnations of that team, making it highly likely that he'll be back.
14th Jul 2014
Robocop (1987)
Question: Does anyone feel that Miguel Ferrer tinkered with the ED-209 causing it to malfunction so that his creation of Robocop could take its place? I'm asking because during his and Ronny Cox's argument, Ronny tells him he'd better hope his bastard creation doesn't fail... Or something like that.
Chosen answer: There's no particular evidence that the ED209 was actually sabotaged - it's stated in the movie that the reason the test failed was that it failed to register the noise of the gun hitting the floor because of the thick carpeting used in the conference room. Morton simply took the opportunity created by that failure to push his own program, royally pissing off Dick Jones, who doesn't want what he sees as an inferior project to make the company look bad.
Question: Why did Jack cut himself before throwing the coin to Will? I thought the curse only needed Will's blood?
Answer: The curse needs the blood of everybody who took a coin from the chest. All the other pirates have already contributed so, as the movie opens, the only blood needed is Will's, substituting for his father. During the finale of the movie, Jack takes a coin from the chest, adding himself to the curse, so his blood is now required as well as Will's.
But I didn't see any blood on the coins, and none of the pirates cut themselves, even before Will became part of the mix.
Yes, the other pirates did cut themselves before Will came into it, off-screen. The lack of blood on the coins can simply be explained as most of it dripping to the bottom of the chest, it being washed away by storms blown into the cave, or by the fact that they didn't drop that much blood on it in the first place.
When they had Elizabeth they believed she was Bill Turner's daughter, but they all thought the curse had failed, none of them had cut themselves so it makes zero sense.
They had been collecting back the coins for years. During that time they repaid their own blood. All they needed was the last coin and the blood of Bill Turner to break the spell.
6th Jul 2014
22 Jump Street (2014)
Question: After the final fight where Ghost is killed in the exploding helicopter, it is eventually revealed that he supposedly survived it during the end credits and returning for one of the mock sequels titled "34 Jump Street: Return of the Ghost." Did he really survive the explosion or was his return just a gag and he really died after all?
Answer: Given the obviously jokey nature of all the mock sequels in the closing credits and the highly explosive nature of what happens to him, it's probably best to assume that Ghost was indeed killed in the helicopter.
6th Jul 2014
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Question: At the beginning, Lyle refers to the song Camptown races as "The Camptown lady"? Is this simply cause he's stupid, or is there any other reason?
Chosen answer: The opening line of the song refers to the Camptown Ladies and the phrase "Camptown Races" never appears anywhere in the lyrics. If nobody told him otherwise, Lyle may simply have assumed that some variation on "Camptown Ladies" was the actual title.
The actual title of the song was "Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races," written by American lyricist Stephen Foster and first published in 1850. Over many years on the minstrel show circuit, the title was shortened to "Camptown Races" and was sometimes erroneously called "Camptown Ladies." While the phrase "Camptown Races" doesn't appear in the lyrics, the phrase "Camptown Racetrack" does appear in the second line: "Camptown ladies sing dis song, doo-dah, doo-dah, Camptown Racetrack five miles long, oh-de-doo-dah-day." The song refers to Camptown, Pennsylvania, a real town with a popular horserace in the mid-1800s.
7th Jul 2014
Kick-Ass (2010)
Question: What is that scar or mark on Frank's head?
Chosen answer: It's a scar. No explanation is given as to how he got it - presumably it was added to the character's look to suggest a violent past.
6th Jul 2014
Inception (2010)
Question: How can Cobb be accused of killing Mal when she was on a ledge across from the hotel suite?
Answer: The gap between the window Cobb is in and the ledge Mal is sitting on doesn't appear to be particularly wide, so it would be unclear exactly where she fell from; if she was physically thrown from the window, which is the scenario she's trying to fake, she wouldn't fall straight downwards, so a position some distance out from the window would not be unexpected. Add to that her stated claims that he threatened to kill her and the very obvious signs of a struggle in the room, to say nothing of the fact that Cobb ran, and he comes out of the whole sad affair looking extremely guilty.
19th May 2014
Brave (2012)
Question: Is Merida the only Disney princess that you don't see sing?
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."
19th May 2014
The Avengers (2012)
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?
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.
18th May 2014
RoboCop (2014)
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.
13th May 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Question: In the epilogue, Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin are referred to as cousins. How can they be cousins? Were either of Teddy's parents related to the Weasleys?
Answer: The book never refers to them as being cousins - the reference to "Our Cousin" is said by the young James Potter about Victoire Weasley, who is indeed his cousin. Teddy Lupin is unrelated to either family, although, as he was orphaned in the Battle of Hogwarts, he has long been welcome at both the Potter and Weasley households. Harry states that Teddy comes round for dinner about four times a week; while this may well be something of an exaggeration, it still serves to show how close Teddy is to the family, hence James, who likely sees him as a surrogate older brother, referring to him as "Our Teddy".
17th Apr 2014
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Question: Who overrode the tunnel's explosion? Was it Marty since he had access to the system from the maintenance hatch?
Answer: It's stated that the tunnel should have blown hours ago, so the initial failure is most likely human error, that the order to blow the tunnel simply didn't get through to the demolition team on schedule. The subsequent problem blowing it up is referred to as being related to "a glitch up top", later stated as a "power re-route upstairs". While not stated outright, the only plausible explanation is that this was, as you rightly stated, due to Marty messing around with the equipment that he found in the hatch.
20th Apr 2014
Contact (1997)
Question: In the few seconds (Earth time) it took for the pod to fall through the time travel device, it would have been impossible for Ellie to have become detached from the safety seat. It would have been even less possible for the seat to have become dislodged from the pod, AND for the seat to smash against the side of the pod with sufficient force crush it. I understand there was a cover-up (e.g., the 18 hours of static on her recording device), but Ellie, herself, would have remembered the dislodged, smashed seat. Why did she never bring it up in defense of her version of the facts? Was there a reason someone knows of, or is this just a plot hole?
Chosen answer: Ellie defended her version of the facts with everything she had to work with, but the simple fact was that the government cover-up was just too strong for her to overcome. The points you raise are perfectly reasonable, but the version of events released by the powers-that-be denies everything that happened and, without any other proof, Ellie has only her word to convince people with. For some, that's enough, as we see in the film, even if a majority choose to believe the "official" version.
1st May 2014
Star Wars (1977)
Question: When C-3PO meets Luke, he says that R2-D2 claims that they are both the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Since both of their memories were erased at the end of Revenge of the Sith, how could R2-D2 remember belonging to Obi-Wan but C-3PO doesn't?
Answer: Only C-3PO's mind was wiped - if you listen to the dialogue, the order given specifies "the protocol droid" for memory erasure; R2-D2's memory remains intact. That being said, as neither droid in fact ever belonged to Kenobi, it's fairly clear that Artoo is simply being devious in the hope of being taken to the intended recipient of the message that he's carrying, a lie that he could have told quite readily even if his memory had been wiped at some point.
Answer: At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa said to wipe 3PO's mind. He didn't say anything about R2. In fact, R2 laughed at 3PO's reaction. Why would he do that if he was being wiped as well?
Answer: R2 D2 did not have his memory intact. Princess Leia gave him specific orders to find Obi-Wan and give the information to him and him alone. Since the information is in the Droid and it belongs to Obi-Wan, therefore he belongs to him.
This is speculation. If we consider Revenge of the Sith, it's plain R2's memory was not wiped. If we only look at what's in A New Hope, there's nothing to indicate it was wiped. In fact, R2's behavior suggests he knows far more about what's going on than C-3PO.
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Answer: What Neville means is that he's only just got back in from being at the Ball, despite it being extremely late at night. The "Me!" simply reflects that fact that even Neville is aware that of everyone in the dormitory, he is unquestionably the one you'd least expect to be the last one back. Exactly what Neville has been up to is an open question, but he certainly seems excited about it. Alternatively, since Neville has a reputation for forgetting the password to the Gryffindor common room, "I got in! Me!" probably means that he is marveling at the fact that he remembered the password and actually got in to the common room and dormitories without any help.
Tailkinker ★