Best movie character mistakes of 2004

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Flight of the Phoenix picture

Character mistake: It's all very heroic and manly but the effort put into dragging the Phoenix into its takeoff position once the engine is started is totally wasted. Townes and A.J. are both experienced pilots and Elliott is supposedly a genius aeronautical engineer - they must surely be aware that the engine power required to taxi an aircraft is trivial compared to that required to lift it into the air. Even taking into account the drag of the skids and wheels, if that engine cannot propel the aircraft at a few kilometers an hour on the ground it cannot propel it to take off speed, nor keep it up once airborne. They are not there to steer the aircraft - they are taking the strain of the whole weight of the air-frame, dragging it into place, and the energy input of eight exhausted, underfed people would add nothing to the contribution of a 2500 bhp aircraft engine in moving the Phoenix. They are not trying conserve fuel - they had enough fuel for an extended flight with both engines at full throttle, so they have easily enough to run one engine throttled back to reduce stress on the air-frame, which they say they are going to do.

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The Phantom of the Opera picture The Phantom of the Opera mistake picture

Character mistake: When Buquet hangs over the scene, you can see Meg screaming along with three other dancers. Four shots later, Meg is still screaming, but the two girls who were to her right (on the left of the screen) are still dancing, as if they haven't seen Buquet yet. (01:05:10)

Sereenie

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban picture

Character mistake: When Arthur Weasley takes Harry aside in The Leaky Cauldron to warn him about Sirius Black, he says, "13 years ago, when you stopped.... You-Know-Who...Black lost everything." Harry is 13 yrs. old in Prisoner of Azkaban and was a 1 yr. old when he stopped Voldemort. Hence, Harry stopped Voldemort 12 yrs. ago, and not 13! Harry turns 11 just before school starts in Philosopher's Stone, turns 12 before school in Chamber of Secrets and turns 13 yrs. old before school in Prisoner of Azkaban. Just an aside, the last digit of Harry's age always coincides with Harry's year at Hogwarts. So, he's 13 in his 3rd year at Hogwarts, which is entitled Prisoner of Azkaban. (00:17:50)

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Ray (2004)

Ray picture

Character mistake: When Ahmet is describing his idea for the song "The Mess Around" to Ray, he tells Ray the song is in G (major). However, Ray immediately plays the song in E flat major.

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The Day After Tomorrow picture

Character mistake: When Jack arrives in New York he's right next to the Statue of Liberty. However when he reaches the library he comes from the East River and walks west. That is a pretty big detour around the southeastern corner of Manhattan, instead of taking the direct route. (01:47:00 - 01:48:20)

Jacob La Cour

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Suggested correction: Easier to walk in an open area and have a short distance walking between buildings rather than walking through the city where the terrain may not be the best even with the snow/ice.

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow picture

Character mistake: After the robots first attack New York City, a series of newspapers is shown. One of the headlines in the French one reads "La Tour Eiffeil est détruite". The proper spelling is "Eiffel" (00:15:55)

Dr Wilson

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National Treasure picture

Character mistake: Nick states that Wall Street was originally a wall (correct) built to defend against the British (incorrect). The original wall was a wooden palisade built in the 16th Century to defend the Dutch colonists against invading natives and to prevent livestock from wandering uptown.

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Collateral picture

Character mistake: In the scene where Detective Fanning and the other cops are investigating the first murder, one cop tosses a shell casing in a baggie out the window to Fanning. The cop then remarks, "You can still smell the cordite." This is incorrect because cordite has not been used as cartridge propellant since approximately the end of World War II.

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Mean Girls picture

Character mistake: When the mathletes advertise their poster on the desk it reads 3.14... then they make up numbers instead of following the actual number of pi. (00:01:00 - 00:03:00)

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Eurotrip picture

Character mistake: The name on the sign of the pub/private members club of the Manchester United fans is spelt incorrectly: It should read "The Feisty Goat" but Feisty is misspelled on the sign as "Fiesty" instead.

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Saw (2004)

Saw picture

Character mistake: Detective Sing asks Dr Gordon to listen to Amanda's testimony. Any detective would know its not a testimony, its a statement. Testimonies are done in court, not a police station. (00:23:00)

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Miracle picture

Character mistake: While watching a documentary about the Soviet team Herb Brooks says that the Soviets had had 42 games in the last three months with 42 wins. This was supposed to be said in 1979. In the whole of 1979 Team USSR played 24 games only, winning 23 of them and losing Game 1 of the 1979 Challenge Cup, to the NHL All-Star team.

WhiteRussian

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Suggested correction: He says Morrison clear as day.

Steve Kozak

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Man on Fire picture

Character mistake: The mother is supposed to be American, but she speaks in her native Australian accent near the end when she says, "I don't think I can take anymore of this" upon finding out that Pita may be alive.

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Secret Window picture

Character mistake: After Mort finds the two bodies in the truck, he makes a great effort to avoid leaving any fingerprints on the door handle and also on the screwdriver he removed from the one body and takes with him. However, when he's pushing the car towards the cliff, he reaches in the window to grab the steering wheel with his bare hand, leaving his prints all over it and uses his other hand to push the truck.

raywest

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Howl's Moving Castle picture

Character mistake: When we first see Sophie her body was slumped over (the spell to make her old) but later on in the movie, her back magically seems fine. (00:00:01 - 01:50:00)

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