Factual error: Films set in or around the middle ages depict horses being the size of modern horses. In actuality, horses during that time period were smaller, closer to modern ponies.
Phaneron
17th Feb 2023
Common mistakes
17th Feb 2023
Common mistakes
Factual error: Films depicting criminal trials in American courtrooms frequently show the defendant receiving their sentence right after their guilty verdict is rendered. In real life, people found guilty will have a separate hearing to receive their sentence several weeks later.
31st Aug 2021
Common mistakes
Other mistake: Characters that are standing outside in freezing cold weather, but their breath won't be visible. This is more common in TV shows, where the outdoor setting is just a set in the studio.
31st Aug 2021
Common mistakes
Audio problem: A real-life band will be giving a live performance, but the audio is of the studio recording, such as Rammstein performing "Feuer Frei!" in xXx or Alice Cooper performing "Feed My Frankenstein" in Wayne's World.
31st Aug 2021
Common mistakes
Factual error: It's a common thing in shows dealing in law enforcement to see a cop kicking open a suspect's door in one try. Doors aren't that easy to break open in real life. This is why cops in the real world use battering rams or a sledgehammer for this purpose. Even a door that is hollow could lead to the cop kicking his foot straight through instead of forcing the door open, and a door with a solid frame is more likely to lead to the cop sustaining an injury.
14th Jul 2021
Common mistakes
Factual error: Chloroform doesn't render people unconscious almost immediately, it takes a few minutes.
25th Jun 2021
Common mistakes
Character mistake: A lawyer in an American court will object to part of a witness' testimony and when the judge sustains it, the lawyer does not move for the objectionable testimony to be stricken from the record. In real life, if a judge sustains a lawyer's objection to a testimony, the lawyer will request the testimony be stricken from the record, otherwise it will be fair game for the opposing counsel to refer back to that testimony later in the trial.
25th Jun 2021
Common mistakes
Character mistake: Gunmen who follow moving targets with gunfire instead of leading them.
20th Mar 2020
Common mistakes
Factual error: Most ventilation ducts are not large enough for a person to crawl around in, and any duct large enough for an adult to fit in wouldn't be able to support the person's weight. In the rare event that a company could afford a large ventilation system that could support a person's weight, they would likely forgo it anyway, as it would pose a security risk.
25th Jan 2020
Common mistakes
Factual error: Movies with trials in which the protagonist is on the verge of losing until a last minute whammy piece of evidence is brought up that ends up winning the trial in their favor (such as "Liar Liar"). In real life, lawyers have to add the evidence in before they are allowed to talk about it, and if the judge doesn't know where they are going with it, they will ask the lawyer to make a proffer.
13th Jan 2020
Common mistakes
Factual error: Shooting a gas tank with a handgun and causing an explosion. The only way to ignite a gas tank by shooting it is with tracer ammunition, as demonstrated by the Mythbusters.
10th Jan 2020
Common mistakes
10th Dec 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: An oft-repeated myth in movies, usually in the science fiction genre, is that humans only use 10% of their brains. The truth is that humans use all of their brains, even when asleep.
7th Oct 2019
Common mistakes
Other mistake: A common error for Batman films, despite Gotham City being a large and heavily populated city akin to New York or Chicago, Batman never gets stuck in traffic. In fact, whenever Batman is shown driving through the streets of Gotham, there is little to no traffic at all.
12th Sep 2019
Common mistakes
Other mistake: A character will be slapped in the face, but their face won't be red afterwards.
15th Apr 2019
Common mistakes
Other mistake: Helicopters appearing from out of nowhere and surprising characters. Helicopters are loud enough to be heard from a considerable distance and will also vibrate the ground/buildings/homes if they are flying low enough. The only feasible way a person can be surprised by the sudden appearance of a helicopter would be if they are deaf.
13th Mar 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: Snipers using a laser mounted to their rifle to line up their target. Snipers in real life don't use lasers in this manner. For one thing, it gives away their position, and additionally because lasers won't line up a target accurately at a long range, as the bullet is affected by gravity, the rotation of the Earth, and other factors.
11th Feb 2019
Common mistakes
Other mistake: Characters that are on the run from the law or otherwise go into hiding, and they cut their hair themselves and it looks like it was done by a professional stylist. Examples include "The Fugitive," "Gone Girl," and even "The Outsiders" showed two youngsters cutting each others' hair with a knife but having a decent end result.
11th Feb 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: Characters living in an expensive city (such as New York or San Francisco) and somehow being able to afford a spacious apartment that their job couldn't realistically pay for.
13th Dec 2018
Common mistakes
Factual error: Characters, typically the hero, can crash through windows without so much as getting a cut on them.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Depending on the age of the window, that's the whole point. Safety glass is designed to break in a way to stop people getting hurt.
Not every window is made from safety glass. When was the last time you saw a movie where a main character crashed through a store window, office building window, house window, plate glass window, etc. and ended up getting shredded to ribbons?
You don't often see blood but items of clothing do get ripped. One example I can think of off the top of my head is The Last Stand where Arnie gets chucked through a glass door. His jacket gets rips on it.
For whatever it's worth, the one time in my life I had to break through a window in an emergency situation, it was definitely not safety glass and I got some fairly deep cuts even though I thought I'd cleared away the pieces. Also in spite of everything I made sure to smash it with an object because I knew there was no way I was just going to be able to leap through a solid pane of glass, and I suspect even if I did I'd just end up impaling myself on a huge shard.
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