Revealing mistake: When Doctor Detroit and his girls make their escape from the automobile salvage yard, they drive a wrecker straight through a large sliding wooden gate, which punches a perfectly clean outline of the truck and Doctor Detroit through the gate. Problem is, the resulting (pre-cut) hole does not match the dimensions of the wrecker or Doctor Detroit at all. In fact, at the point of impact, the stuntman playing Doctor Detroit hugs in close to the wrecker for protection as it plows through the gate, and the outline of his body just magically opens up two feet away from him.
Charles Austin Miller
13th Jul 2017
Doctor Detroit (1983)
13th Jul 2017
Wrecker (2015)
Deliberate mistake: The wrecker used in this film is a Western Star Model 4964. The manufacturer emblem (a chrome 5-point star superimposed on a large "W") is normally displayed at the top-center of the truck's radiator. Apparently, the film makers could not bring Western Star on board for an advertising agreement, or Western Star specifically objected to their logo appearing in the movie, because the Western Star emblem on the wrecker's radiator is carefully kept out of frame or otherwise obstructed from view throughout the film. For scenes in which a full frontal shot of the wrecker is unavoidable, the Western Star emblem is very deliberately covered up with dark green tape.
12th Jul 2017
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Question: As I always understood Ant-Man, he always retained the same mass, regardless of his physical size. When he reduces his size, he still retains about 160 lbs of mass, which makes him more formidable, like a 160 lb grain of sand. When he enlarges, even to gigantic size, he is still only 160 lbs. So, how can he kick vehicles around in the airport scene?
27th Jun 2017
Final Destination (2000)
Continuity mistake: Late in the film, Alex Browning hides out in the cabin and attempts to make it as death-proof as possible, securing everything therein with ropes and duct tape, and carefully placing his kerosene lantern in a tray of water. At first, we see that the antique lantern is painted dark green; but, one scene later, the same antique lantern (in the same tray of water) is now painted bright red.
27th Jun 2017
Scrooged (1988)
Factual error: The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Frank to the year 1969, where he watches his younger self giving Claire a set of twelve Ginsu knives on Christmas Eve. Young Frank even remarks that the Ginsu knives are sharp enough to cut through a tin can as easily as a tomato. Problem is, Ginsu knives didn't arrive on the market until 1978, which is when the tin-can-cutting demonstration was first used.
27th Jun 2017
Twin Peaks (2017)
The Woodsman: This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within.
27th Jun 2017
Animal House (1978)
Trivia: 18-year-old actress Sarah Holcomb started her movie career in 1978's "Animal House" (playing Clorette DePasto, the mayor's 13-year-old daughter) and ended her movie career two years later in 1980's "Caddyshack" (playing the fiery Maggie O'Hooligan). Holcomb actually appeared in five films during her two-year career, which came to an abrupt end due to severe schizophrenia brought about by cocaine addiction. Holcomb was institutionalized and never returned to acting. Today, at age 58, Holcomb lives a quiet, reclusive life under an assumed name somewhere in Connecticut.
27th Jun 2017
Animal House (1978)
Continuity mistake: When the authorities and moving crews are clearing all of the junk out of Delta House, we see a workman with a hammer removing the fraternity symbols from the house's upstairs railing. However, the symbols are not in the correct order: They read "Delta Chi Tau," and the workman is removing the "Tau" from the end. Moments later, we see the workman still removing the fraternity symbols, but now they are in the correct order, "Delta Tau Chi," and he is removing the "Tau" again, but removing it from the center.
23rd Jun 2017
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Revealing mistake: Near the end, during the night-time bridge exchange scene, the Americans enter from one end of the bridge and the Soviets enter from the other end. Suddenly, the Soviets switch on multiple flood lights directly behind the Soviet party, which should have cast shadows from their bodies dozens of meters in length. Instead, the shadows from the Soviet party are quite short, only a couple of meters, indicating that the primary lighting is out-of-frame, far above their heads.
21st Jun 2017
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Trivia: Brent Spiner performed the majority of his scenes alone, with no other principal actors on the set. In fact, Spiner is digitally inserted into some scenes where he appears with other principal actors.
21st Jun 2017
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Continuity mistake: Early in the film, as Jake and Charlie are towing a new weapon system to its destination on the Moon, we see Earth in the background, more than half illuminated by the Sun. Jake says they are 7 miles away and closing on their lunar destination (which should only take a matter of moments). A few moments later, as Jake and Charlie are still in approach, we see Earth in the background again, but it is now in a waning crescent, only 1/3 illuminated by the Sun. This would indicate over a week's passage of time.
20th Jun 2017
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Question: Multi-part question regarding the actual brawl between Batman and Superman. Batman's first barrier is a sonic attack (lifted right out of Marvel's "Incredible Hulk," which Superman defeats the same way the Hulk did: Ripping apart an iron plate and destroying the sonic emitters with the two halves of iron). Why was Superman bending over, holding his head, when we know he has super-selective hearing? Superman could instantly block out a sonic attack without even blinking. Batman's second barrier was comprised of a couple of machine-cannons; again, Superman ducks and covers until he realises the cannons do not affect him. Why would Superman attempt to shield himself from conventional firearms? Did he suspect they were Kryptonite rounds? If so, why even bother shielding himself? If Superman suspected that Batman was using Kryptonite-based weaponry, why would he even walk into that scenario? After Superman strolls through Batman's first two deterrents, Batman then uses a third barrier, a smoke bomb that can, apparently, block Superman's X-ray vision. What was in the smoke? Was it lead-based smoke? Because Batman escapes while Superman seemingly can't see through the smoke. As far as I can tell, Superman doesn't realise that Batman is using Kryptonite-based weapons until Batman uses the Kryptonite gas mortars on Superman. So, why did the first three weapons even slow Superman down? Superman could have defeated Batman in a fraction of a second without killing him.
Chosen answer: The sonic emitters were constantly changing frequency making the sound impossible for Superman to "select" and block out. As for the cannons, Superman knows that Batman is resourceful and therefore assumed that he would not bother firing at him unless the rounds could do damage. Superman took cover as a precaution against this. There are also several elements which block x-rays and can be made into a gas.
Answer: We see Bruce working with lead to contain the Kryptonite gas in the grenade capsules, so we know he understands the interaction of lead and radiation. X-ray's are a form of radiation and if Luthor has a complete file in Superman's abilities the fact that he can see in the X-ray spectrum would be included, so Bruce would have planned accordingly but adding lead particles to his gas grenade should he need to escape. This is not covered in specific in the film; it requires you to add up several incidental pieces of information and make and informed assumption.
Answer: The bullets from the machine gun may not be able to break his skin and injure him but that doesn't mean they don't have a physical effect on him or that he cannot feel them. In Man of Steel Clark takes a 50cal round while trying to fly out of the military's line of fire and it throws him into a building. The bullets might not injure him but he can still feel them and they still hit pretty hard, so I imagine he's just trying not to get shot in the eyes.
Regular bullets do not have any effect on Superman's body whatsoever as long as he has absorbed solar rays before. Anyone that suggests they do knows nothing about Superman. Superman can survive a megaton nuclear explosion without so much as a hair on his body harmed, as long as he has absorbed enough solar rays.
In the comics, yes. In the movies is completely different.
Not at all. Someone fires a gun right on his face and it bounces off his eye without a blink.
Answer: First you have to understand that Superman doesn't know what Kryptonite is. He's never seen it, never heard of it, never encountered it. So he isn't expecting anything like it. He cannot prepare for or even look for something he does not know exists. Superman says in Man of Steel that he can focus on what he wants to hear above other sounds but that doesn't mean that he doesn't hear anything else; it just means he's able to manage the influx of information. You can hold a conversation with a friend at a nightclub but that doesn't mean you stop hearing everything else - you just don't focus on it. The sonic devices are very loud, focused directly at Superman's head and emitting frequencies up and down the spectrum not to mention the actual physical effect as evidenced by the rainwater caught in the blast. It's a lot to deal with all at once.
7th Jun 2017
Ant-Man (2015)
Factual error: Near the end, Scott Lang inadvertently shrinks to subatomic size, drifting through a kaleidoscopic quantum universe, and we see him reacting to the visual effects. However, at subatomic size, Scott shouldn't be able to "see" anything, because the rods and cones in the human retina can only "see" in a narrow band of light frequencies, and Scott is far, far smaller than the frequency of visible light waves. Additionally, Scott couldn't possibly "hear" his daughter Cassie crying "Where are you, Daddy?" Human hearing is based completely on air vibrations at certain frequencies, and Scott is millions of times smaller than sonic frequencies or even the nearest air molecule.
7th Jun 2017
The 5th Wave (2016)
Factual error: At the onset of the Third Wave (avian-transmitted disease), Chloe Moretz narrates: "There are over 300 billion birds in the world. That's 75 birds for every person." Apparently, the screenwriters couldn't use a simple calculator. Given that the movie is set in the present (with our current human population of about 7.4 Billion), the ratio of birds-to-people can only be about 43 birds for every person, if we accept the film's "300 Billion birds" statistic. Indeed, if there were 75 birds for every person on earth, the total population of birds on the planet would be about 555 Billion, or nearly twice the number stated in the film. Additionally, if she is basing her narrative statistics on reduced human and bird populations (because so many people AND birds were exterminated in the first and second waves), HOW would she know that? The first wave knocked out electronic communications, including the Internet.
7th Jun 2017
Twin Peaks (2017)
Continuity mistake: Overcome by mysterious toxic fumes, Bad Cooper loses control of his car and rolls it on the roadside. The vehicle tumbles but lands upright; and, as it comes to rest, the interior camera shot looking out shows a relatively minor crack in the far left side of the windshield. Camera cuts to an exterior frontal shot looking in at Bad Cooper, and now the windshield is shattered all the way past center, with the left side partially caved-in. Camera cuts back to an interior shot looking out, and the windshield is, again, largely undamaged. Camera cuts back to exterior and the windshield is, again, thoroughly shattered. Another interior shot looking out, again, shows minor damage.
7th Jun 2017
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Continuity mistake: After Bobby Darin loses the Academy Award for supporting actor, he and Sandra Dee argue and threaten to leave one another. Sandra Dee jumps into her pink '63 Cadillac Coupe Deville and roars away as Bobby Darin jumps into his red '61 Cadillac Convertible and futilely tries to start it. The car's battery fails, and we see the four headlights flicker and go dark. Enraged, Bobby Darin jumps out of the convertible and begins smashing the car with a golf club. When he starts smashing out the headlights, all four lights are now glowing brightly.
7th Jun 2017
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Audio problem: Although Kevin Spacey actually sang for the soundtrack, his lip-sync blunders are noticeable in every song, and virtually all of the musical routines in this film are out-of-sync with the audio track. Even rhythmic hand-clapping on stage is out-of-sync.
6th Jun 2017
Midnight Special (2016)
Question: In the very last scene, we see Michael Shannon in shackles (presumably in a federal prison) with electroencephalographic sensors attached to his forehead and scalp, oddly gazing at the sunrise as two prison guards flank him. In the very last shot of the film, a closeup of his face, we see his eyes faintly glow for a split-second as he smiles a very slight smile. Question: Is the film implying that Alton is in otherworldly contact with his father, or that his father absorbed some of Alton's otherworldly power; or is it implying that, being the boy's biological father, he was the source of Alton's power? In any event, this may never be revealed, because the film barely made back one-third of its $18 million production budget, making the probability of a sequel highly unlikely.
Answer: I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I got the impression that he was communicating with Alton like he had done when Alton ran from the truck. I also thought his smile was perhaps in reaction to what Alton told him and/or the two were making fun of (mocking) the use of electrodes because they knew the electrodes would not have any effect on him.
P.S. Plenty of lousy movies have had sequels, so it is possible there could be a "Midnight Special 2".
Not necessarily holding my breath.
A sequel doesn't seem likely. Hope you weren't holding your breath waiting for an answer to your question.
5th Jun 2017
Fantastic Four (2015)
Question: I suppose this is more a request for an educated guess than anything. Why can't anyone seem to produce a working Fantastic 4 movie franchise? The first two movies and the first reboot were awful, simply put, and the poor box office returns made future sequels or reboots even less likely. Why can no one seem to get a grip on what makes Fantastic 4 tick?
Chosen answer: In a nutshell, 20th Century Fox and the people that worked on the respective films simply don't understand the comics and why fans like the source material. It's also worth noting that the 2015 film was made so that Fox could retain the rights, as they would have gone back to Marvel had they not begun production on it by a certain date in 2014. They weren't exactly making the film with the intention of it being great, rather as a rights grab and a money grab, though the film ended up being a major box office flop, so the latter didn't exactly pan out in their favor. There are many fans that would like to see the rights to Fantastic 4 revert back to Marvel Studios, as they would more than likely do the films justice.
5th Jun 2017
Waterworld (1995)
Factual error: The Mariner's tiny gill-slits behind each ear could barely oxygenate a one-foot-long fish, never mind a full-grown human being. To accommodate his 6-foot body, the Mariner would need multiple 8-inch gills stacked on either side of his neck, at least. Compounding this error, the Mariner then draws Helen to safety underwater, telling her, "I'll breathe for both of us!" So, now his grossly undersized gills are oxygenating two full-grown human beings.
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Chosen answer: We never get a specific explanation to what happens to him when he enlarges. Hank Pym explains to him that when he shrinks, it's the result of reducing the distance between atoms which is why he retains his original mass. However, being a giant with a mass and strength of only 160lbs would not be very advantageous in a fight, so they must have found a way for him to grow in size and strength in this situation. Ultimately, we just don't know - the movies and comics differ in a great many respects, so there's just not enough information to work with. Might technically qualify as a mistake, but it's something which could easy be solved with an in-universe answer, however scientifically dubious.
Phaneron ★