Best movie factual errors of 2015

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Trainwreck picture

Factual error: When Amy is fired from S'Nuff magazine she takes her story on Aaron Connors to Vanity Fair, who run with it. That is not going to happen. Amy wrote the article while a paid employee of S'Nuff magazine and that means the copyright in the article (and, very relevant to this issue, the photographs of Aaron they paid to have taken), resides with them, not with her. It isn't hers to sell. No magazine editor of any standing is going to buy an unsolicited article without checking its provenance backwards and forwards, and that would mean checking with Amy's previous employers - after all, what would happen if they changed their minds and ran the story themselves?

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Ant-Man picture

Factual error: Twice in the film it is made clear that the Pym particle works by reducing the space between atoms in order to shrink an object, and by increasing it to enlarge them. This means that the object will weigh the same, whether shrunk or enlarged - it cannot be otherwise. A 90kg man the size of an ant would punch a hole through any surface upon which he stood (and couldn't ride ants), Doctor Pym has been walking about with a 60 tonne tank in his pocket, Darren Cross lifts a full grown sheep between finger and thumb, and the supersized Thomas The Tank Engine would be far too light to crush the police car (in fact it would float harmlessly away as it would probably weigh less than the air it displaced).

PEDAUNT

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Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation picture

Factual error: Towards the end of the film, Solomon is trapped in a small Plexiglas box and fires his gun into the bulletproof sides numerous times, but the bullets don't ricochet or get embedded in the glass.

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Spectre picture

Factual error: The 15 bus in London does not go over Westminster Bridge.

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Straight Outta Compton picture Straight Outta Compton mistake picture

Factual error: Eazy-E sports a black Chicago White Sox hat with a white logo early in the movie in 1986, but the logo didn't officially rollout until 1991.

Grant Kneble

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The Revenant picture

Factual error: When Glass saves the Indian girl from the Frenchmen the flintlock pistol he gets off the Frenchman fires multiple times without reload, as it does later while being chased by the Indians.

Terry Gragg

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San Andreas picture

Factual error: In the film, the San Andreas fault produces the largest, most sensational earthquake in earth history that levels both Los Angeles and San Francisco, also creating a massive tsunami that also floods the latter. In reality, and according to many earthquake experts, the biggest quake that this fault could produce is an 8.3 and, being a land and not ocean fault, cannot cause a tsunami. Or as consultant to the film Tom Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center stated, "I gave (the filmmakers) free advice, some of which they took... But much of which they didn't - magnitude nines are too big for San Andreas, and it can't produce a big tsunami."

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Everest picture

Factual error: On the bus ride in Nepal, they're playing a Hindi song from an Indian movie (Kabhi Khushiyan Kabhi Gham) that was released in 2001. The time frame on the bus is 1996.

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The Martian picture

Factual error: After Watney patches the blow out of one of the HAB's airlocks with plastic sheeting, tie down straps, and duct tape, he pressurizes the HAB and the plastic sheeting pushes out like an inflated balloon. Assuming the plastic and duct tape would hold this is correct, however the plastic would be much more taut given the pressure difference inside and outside.

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Suggested correction: The plastic would certainly be flexing in and out because of the pressure of the wind gusts during the storm. We saw earlier that the gusts of the storms were strong enough to blow a suited explorer off their feet and push them across the surface. Let's say that the HAB is pressurized as much as it can be without blowing out of the plastic, tape, and bungees sealing the airlock. A storm gust would still be able to push the flexible plastic in momentarily, and it would pop back out after the gust passed.

The movie took liberties with the physics of Mars. The gusts on Mars wouldn't be able to blow over a person or a spaceship, let alone push them across the surface, but they needed it for the plot. But using the same physics they then have wedded themselves to, it could then be strong enough to cause the plastic to flap, even though in real life it wouldn't. This is more of a deliberate mistake than a factual error since the writers certainly knew what they did didn't match reality.

Except they didn't 'wed' themselves to their fictional physics. Towards the end of the film NASA tells Watney that a flimsy plastic covering on his ascent vehicle will not be dislodged on acceleration to Martian escape velocity because the atmosphere is too thin to cause any problems. That's cheating in anyone's books.

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Furious 7 picture

Factual error: When the house explodes, there is a massive explosion and fireball that creates a pressure wave strong enough to send Brian flying into the van. However, not a single window breaks on the houses just feet from the explosion. (00:15:40)

Ssiscool

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The Transporter Refueled picture

Factual error: At the beginning, the film is set in 1995 only for a brief few minutes. Then, it goes on to say "15 years later." This brings us to 2010. In 2010, the latest iPhone was the 4. However, throughout this film, nearly every iPhone shown (quite a few) appears to be an iPhone 5s. This is obvious by the rectangular body with fingerprint sensor. In addition, in some places the latest iPads are used, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3 - These were released in 2013 and beyond. Finally, although I am not 100% sure, towards the end of the film as the woman steps in to the car for the final time on the hill next to the boat, it appears she is wearing a gold Apple Watch or other smart-watch which was released later than 2010.

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Pixels picture

Factual error: The main character from the video game "Paperboy" is among the alien invaders in the final battle; since that game was first released in 1984, he shouldn't be there, because the probe the aliens received featuring video game footage was launched into space in 1982.

zendaddy621

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Minions picture

Factual error: When the minions are attempting to purchase tickets to get in to see/steal the crown, the admission prices on the wall are priced as £s and pence (decimal currency). As this was 1968, Britain was still using pre-decimal pounds, shillings and pence.

emmett1984

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Fifty Shades of Grey picture

Factual error: When Ana is talking to Christian on her cell at the bar and he hangs up on her, you hear a dial tone. A dial tone wouldn't be heard once a cellular call disconnects. Dial tones are only heard on land line phones. Both were on their cells.

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Sicario picture

Factual error: The very first shot of the movie takes place in Chandler, Arizona. However, the mountains seen in the distance, over the hills, are the Sandia Mountains which are in New Mexico, near Albuquerque. (00:01:00)

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Spotlight picture

Factual error: At one point in the movie, some characters are gathered in the break room that has bags of chips. One of these chip bags is a Doritos bag which has the modern logo. This logo was not implemented until 2013.

Kai Hellberg

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Terminator Genisys picture

Factual error: During the opening narration Kyle Reese states that Skynet attacks humanity on August 12, 1997. In the shot of missiles decimating San Francisco, multiple 2005-present Toyota Priuses, Dodge Chargers and other late model cars are seen.

Phaneron

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Suggested correction: That 1997 was from another timeline before the events in Terminator 2 altered history. It's possible those models may have existed earlier in that timeline than in our world.

This is assuming too much about the alternate timelines. There would have to be more concrete evidence that such things would be altered in said timelines. Also, considering that timeline is supposed to be what took place from Terminator 1 in its own separate timeline, we would go still by our own following the events of it leading up.

Quantom X

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Bridge of Spies picture

Factual error: At the beginning of the film, as Rudolf Abel is trying to evade the FBI, he gets on the subway. It's 1957 but the subway train he's in is a model that wasn't produced until 1964.

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Taken 3 picture

Factual error: Towards the end of the film, where St. John is trying to escape with Kim in his private jet, they are apparently attempting to take off from Santa Monica airport. When the camera shows the aircraft beginning its take off roll, the runway markings show that they are using runway 05L to take off from, however, the two runways available at Santa Monica airport are 03 and 21. (01:33:00)

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The Danish Girl picture

Factual error: Einar walks away from his wife in Paris to go to a peep show, then there is suddenly a scene where he walks the streets of Copenhagen. It's clear that the marble church of Copenhagen is in the shot.

Mark Barner

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