Jon Sandys

31st Jan 2006

Munich (2005)

Revealing mistake: During a flashback to the original hostage-taking, we see one hostage get shot and the camera pans to the wall behind him being riddled with bullets. Only problem is that the paper on the wall is bending outwards, caused by the squibs behind it, rather than being pushed inwards by the path of the bullets.

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: When Samuel L Jackson runs down the stairs in the subway station, he checks the clock, which reads 10:19:10. Then when the train destroys the clock a bit later, the time's now 10:20:24, though well over 2 minutes has passed (only counting Samuel L Jackson's scenes, as Bruce Willis' presumably take place simultaneously. Counting them separately it's even longer). (00:33:00 - 00:36:30)

Jon Sandys

Die Hard: With a Vengeance mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Towards the end, when Bruce Willis notices the writing on the aspirin bottle, he leaves it in the phone booth and the camera jumps towards it a couple of times. In the first shot the writing's almost vertical, but in the following shots it's at a definite angle. (01:48:35)

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: When Lucy first enters Narnia, her hair changes between shots from being straight and neat to being messy and slightly curly.

Jon Sandys

Revealing mistake: Towards the end when Harmony calls Perry's phone as she's lying on the ground, Harry grabs the phone and looks at the caller ID to see her name. Unfortunately that's not the display showing who's calling. Anyone who has a Nokia phone will recognise that that's showing the contact list with just two entries - Harmony and a random number. The fact that it says "contacts" at the top of the screen is a bit of a giveaway.

Jon Sandys

Trivia: When Gromit's waiting for Wallace to retrieve the giant fake rabbit from where it hit the tunnel wall, we see a fruit and veg shop called "Harvey's". A reference to a classic Jimmy Stewart film from 1950 called "Harvey", where he plays a man who has an invisible 6 foot tall rabbit for a friend.

Jon Sandys

17th Oct 2005

The West Wing (1999)

7th Sep 2005

Withnail & I (1987)

Trivia: The bottle of lighter fluid Withnail drinks had been filled with water throughout rehearsals, but for the actual take was filled with vinegar, unbeknownst to Richard E. Grant, who plays Withnail. The director made the switch to get a good reaction from him.

Jon Sandys

6th Sep 2005

She's All That (1999)

Continuity mistake: In various scenes before Rachael Leigh Cook cuts her hair, it's very obvious she's got hair extensions in - there's a noticeable line where they join. Can't be that her character has them - she'd never bother artificially lengthening her hair.

Jon Sandys

16th Jul 2005

Fantastic Four (2005)

Chosen answer: There appears to be no music in common between the trailers - there are, however, tracks by the same group, Immediate Music, which may well have sounded very similar due to their common source. The track used in the Fantastic Four trailer is called "Spiritus Elektros", with "Ultimatum" used for King Kong. Other music used in the FF trailer includes a track from The Matrix: Revolutions" and one with the rather unwieldy name of "Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm of The War Drums" by A Perfect Circle.

Tailkinker

6th Jul 2005

Network (1976)

Trivia: At the very start of the credits, just after "Metro Goldwyn Mayer" disappears, Karen Allen walks across screen, in her very first film role.

Jon Sandys

War of the Worlds mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Ray and Robbie are throwing the ball near the start, check the wall behind Robbie. In closer shots of him there's sunlight on the wall and the shadow of a nearby satellite dish is visible, but in wider shots the whole wall's in shadow. (00:09:00)

Jon Sandys

War of the Worlds mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When they stop so the kids can go to the toilet, in a long shot of Ray trying to persuade Rachel not to go too far, we see him start to open the boot (trunk) of the car. When it cuts to a closeup he's not. (00:47:50)

Jon Sandys

2nd Jun 2005

CSI: NY (2004)

The Fall - S1-E17

Plot hole: The CSIs catch a murder suspect putting down a drink can when reviewing security footage of a robbery, and immediately realise they didn't see it at the scene so assume one of the first cops on the scene must have removed it. Thing is though, the murderers shot out the security camera before the actual shooting occurred, meaning there was loads of time off-camera for the killers to take the can with them, but the CSIs never even consider this - they jump to the conclusion a cop took it even though there's no actual evidence for that.

Jon Sandys

1st Jun 2005

General questions

Only one film has had the "Universal Pictures" logo removed before the titles (not including films such as Jurassic Park and Waterworld that used variations of the logo). Does anyone know what it is?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I think that was John Carpenter's the THING. He mentions that in the commentary on the new DVD.

James Rowell

Continuity mistake: While Anakin and Palpatine are talking at the performance, in one shot of Anakin we see Palpatine turn his head side on to the camera and drop his chin to his chest. In the very next shot he's holding his head high. (00:43:25)

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: When they're trying to choose which portal to go through, watch the pattern on the ground. From shot to shot it's either covered by snow, partially visible, or completely exposed, with no time for the wind to blow the snow around. (01:14:15)

Jon Sandys

1st Apr 2005

Angel (1999)

Season 5 generally

Question: As the series was cancelled towards the end of filming, with only a few episodes left to do, does anyone know what changes were made, either to tie up loose ends, make the show go out with a bang, or similar?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Hardly any. As Joss Whedon had to fight fairly hard just to get a season five at all, he was aware from the start that cancellation was quite possible. As such, he designed the season as if it was the last one, but with the possibility of using it for a launchpad for a season six, should they have been given one. The only likely alteration was that, had they received a sixth season, the death of a major character in the final episode would probably not have occurred, or at least his fate would have been left ambiguous, to allow the character to return.

Tailkinker

1st Apr 2005

Angel (1999)

Season 5 generally

Question: In the previous 4 series, Angel's had no sexual contact (once when someone else possessed his body, but that's different). In this series, he has a drunken/mystical encounter with Eve one night, and later he and Nina start to go out, and definitely have sex at least once. I realise his curse applies to perfect happiness rather than just sex, but is there any reason he started getting some in this series, whereas he pretty much swore off it completely in the previous ones?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Previously Angel has had somebody around who had a very serious level of feeling for - Buffy originally and then Cordelia - and it was having sex with those that unleashed Angelus (even if it was only a hallucination in the case of Cordelia). With everything else going right, it was enough to disrupt the curse. In season 5, Angel's stuck in a position that he's really unhappy with (the whole Wolfram & Hart thing); all is not perfect in his world. He's dating Nina, but doesn't appear to have the same level of feeling for her as his previous love interests - combine that with his concerns about his situation, and he's intelligent enough to realise that he's not going to be perfectly happy any time soon, even if he does enter into a physical relationship. With Eve, the situation was even simpler - he doesn't trust her in the slightest, plus he's under a mystical imperative anyway. No chance of attaining perfect happiness under those conditions.

Tailkinker

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