Corrected entry: In testing the Point Break catch up myth, the Myth Busters demonstrated that Keanu Reeves could indeed have caught up with Patrick Swayze in freefall. But, understandably, they did not test what would have happened if he had. Several years ago, two members of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute team had a similar (but unintentional) mid-air collision. One of them died instantly, while the other survived but lost both his legs.
TedStixon
4th Sep 2023
MythBusters (2003)
8th Mar 2022
Pokemon (1998)
Mystery at the Lighthouse - S1-E13
Corrected entry: When Brock turns his head to the costume, his nose is missing. (00:12:47)
Correction: Agree with the other correction. Dropping details, such as facial features like a nose or mouth, and simplifying character designs is a very common and encouraged drawing/animation technique to imply distance. This isn't something the animators would just overlook. It was a deliberate decision. Ash and Misty similarly look somewhat less detailed than they do in closer shots. At best, this would be a deliberate mistake, but I personally think it falls under the umbrella of "suspension of disbelief" and shouldn't be considered a mistake given it's a stylistic choice to imply distance.
Correction: His nose isn't seen because he is far away from the camera.
28th May 2005
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Plot hole: In the factory we see the machine that adds the hair to the Dolls it "punches" the doll at standing level. Andy hits the reverse button and they watch a doll go backwards. A few moments later Chucky appears on a cart and now the machine "punches" Chucky to the cart. 2 Errors -1 How did Andy and Kyle not see Chucky on the cart right in front of them. 2. What made the machine go low enough to stick Chucky to the cart.
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Suggested correction: 1. Andy and Kyle were looking away, hence they didn't see Chucky. But then, Kyle turns and sees him. 2. We are to presume that the punch machine goes down until it is stopped by the doll it's meant to be "punching" into. So, it just descended until it reached Chucky and the platform he's on. (Additionally, the machine also seems to be malfunctioning given it goes into a sort of overdrive.)
26th Aug 2023
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Corrected entry: Peggy Hodgson gets her children out of the house, save for possessed Janet, telling them to go to Peggy's house while she attempted to re-enter their own home to save Janet. (01:49:03)
Correction: I'm not understanding what the mistake is. Are you saying it's a mistake that she said "Go to Peggy's house" because she's named Peggy? Because that's not a mistake. She's referring to Peggy Nottingham's house, who is a different character. Or are you saying it's a mistake that she sent her other children off without her? Because it's not... she's trying to protect them. I'm just not seeing what the mistake is here.
26th Aug 2023
Robocop (1987)
Corrected entry: Robocop actually kills a guy (the "fuck me" robber) with a swing blow that sends the guy through a refrigeration unit. He KILLS a guy but doesn't report it. He says, "Thank you for your cooperation. Good night." He then shoots a rapist but doesn't report it. He says, "I will notify a rape crisis center," but he doesn't report the shooting. This guy is not a cop at all.
Correction: First of all, I'm not sure where you got the idea that him clotheslining the robber and making him fall through the refrigeration unit kills him. You're the first person I've seen make that claim. He just looks like he gets knocked out. Second, both instances you mention cut away before we see the aftermath. It's not too difficult to presume that he either booked the perps or contacted other police to come clean up after him offscreen. After all, we do see him arrest Clarence later, so we know he does arrest people.
Correction: We don't see everything he does or doesn't do. Much like other cops in movies, films would be pretty dull if they took some action and we then had to watch them in real time have a conversation on the radio about it followed by hours of paperwork.
29th Sep 2003
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Johnny Depp is searching Cheech Marin by the river, you can see Cheech breathing, even though he is supposedly dead from the gunshot in the scene before.
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Suggested correction: There is a feature on the DVD that shows the making of this scene, and that a dummy was used.
Incorrect. What they did was use digital effects to blend the fake eye socket of the dummy onto a shot of the real Cheech Marin because the dummy didn't look real enough in close-up. So, that actually is Cheech Marin, and you can, in fact, see him lightly breathing once or twice. The only part of the dummy you can see in these shots is the area immediately around his right eye, where they blended footage of the dummy in. They specifically said on the DVD that the dummy didn't look real enough to be used on its own. I'm not sure how you could have missed that part on the special feature because they show how they blended the two shots.
22nd Oct 2014
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Factual error: As we see in some of this series, Michael pins his victims to the wall with butcher knives. A kitchen knife isn't capable of holding a person's body weight pinned to a wall.
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Suggested correction: Sure, it can. If it's a full tang knife jammed hard enough into a stud, especially given Michael's seemingly superhuman strength, it could definitely support a body.
No. There wouldn't be enough knife jammed in the stud to support a body. The average man has a chest depth of about 10", and Michael is shown using regular-sized kitchen knives, which are typically 6-12" in length... and that includes the handle. Honestly, none of the knives Michael uses would realistically be long enough to go all the way through a man's chest, let alone embed themselves into the wall behind the victim. So it's 100% impossible as depicted. This is simply a suspension of disbelief situation where the filmmakers knowingly included something completely unrealistic and impossible because it was a great visual. So it's 100% a mistake... but it's a cool mistake because it looks great on camera.
27th Oct 2017
Hannibal (2001)
Trivia: "The Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme was approached to direct and had expressed interest in directing a sequel for some time before the publication of the novel. However, he opted not to return, feeling the novel was too gory and excessive compared to "Silence..." and he didn't feel it would make a good film. Producer Dino de Laurentiis also suggested that Demme was also nervous to make a sequel, given the first film's reputation as potentially one of the greatest films ever made. "Silence of the Lambs" star Jodie Foster also refused to return, feeling the character of Clarice Starling was "betrayed" in the novel of "Hannibal."
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Suggested correction: According to Jodie Foster, she didn't return due to a scheduling conflict with another film.
Foster herself has said that the "scheduling conflict" excuse was just the polite "official" reason she went with to not throw shade at the production, but wasn't the actual reason. A lot of times, "scheduling conflict" is used as a fall-back explanation when someone drops out of a project. Her intense disliking of the original novel and first few drafts of the script is very well-known, and why she turned it down.
20th Jul 2023
The Fifth Element (1997)
Corrected entry: When Leeloo escapes the lab by ripping through the wall, it's painfully obvious that the presumably "metal" wall is just made out of regular old tinfoil or a similar substance. It bends and breaks super easily, seems to be paper-thin, and tellingly, you can even see a bit sticking out at the end of the shot and the other side of it isn't painted... it's just the classic tinfoil "silver" color.
Correction: It is not meant to be a metal wall. It's not the outer wall of the room, just encased around the regeneration tube. It's possibly equivalent to MLI (Multi-Layer Insulation) used in astronautics. That is also gold on one side and silver on the other.
I did not know about MLI. Thanks for mentioning that. That actually would explain it very well. It always drove me nuts how cheap and flimsy it looked, but if it's meant to be something like MLI, it 100% makes sense.
12th Aug 2010
Poltergeist (1982)
Corrected entry: In the opening sequence, when Dana is in bed and hears Carol Anne say, "Hello, I can't hear you", for some reason there is a prosthetic leg lying across Dana's bed. (00:03:45)
Correction: It's just Dana's leg.
Yup, she just has it at an awkward angle, but it's 100% her leg. Not sure how the OP thought it was a prosthetic leg to begin with. There's literally no reason for a prosthetic leg to be in the shot when they could easily use the actress' leg, and it looks far too real to be a prosthetic from an 80's movie.
19th Mar 2023
The Whale (2022)
Corrected entry: Mary may have "fought hard" to gain full custody of Ellie, but - even if Charlie did "leave them" to be with his "lover" - Charlie should have still gotten at least court-ordered regular supervised visits with his daughter over the years, not shut off from maintaining a relationship with his biological daughter.
Correction: Fathers often get the 'short end of the stick' in custody battles. It is entirely possible that Charlie was denied even supervised visitation. Especially if the judge was extremely conservative.
Especially if the judge was conservative and anti-gay. Plenty of them around.
Charlie was not physically or sexually abusive toward his daughter Ellie (two major reasons to deny any visitation), so I have to disagree.
I'm not sure how you could disagree. Women are 4X more likely to get primary custody than men, and it's really not unheard of for a parent to get little-to-no custody/visitation even if they weren't abusive to the child. Ex. My father was not abusive towards me, but I only saw him for a few hours every other week because that's just how the arrangement worked out. (Which in retrospect was good because he had other issues and I shouldn't have been around him more than that. But at the time it hurt.)
18th Dec 2018
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Other mistake: When Katie tells Micah to look at their picture after the demon has broken the glass, you can plainly see the girl in the picture is not Katie.
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Suggested correction: Yes, it is. She looks a little different in the picture, but it just comes down to the camera angle (it's a high angle) and the weird lighting in the photo (she's in shadow). I also checked out a high-resolution still of the photo in the movie and compared it to a photo of the actress, and they share every minor subtle feature right down to the shape of her teeth. Micah also looks slightly different in the photo too, but it's the same actor. Also, I have to ask what purpose would there be to having a photo with a completely different actress when they could just take one with the actress from the movie?
18th May 2023
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Corrected entry: Peach's crown suddenly appears on her head a few cuts after taking her helmet off.
Correction: It's hard to see because of the camera angle, but she actually already has the crown on when she takes her helmet off. You can see it for about a half-second at the top of the frame as she removes the helmet. She simply put her helmet on over it - it doesn't just "appear." There's even a bit of setup earlier, when Bowser jokingly refers to her "immovable tiara," implying that her crown/tiara never leaves her head.
18th May 2023
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Corrected entry: During the kart ride to Cranky Kong's castle, a wide shot of the kingdom is shown, showing only two ramps on either side of the entrance. However, moments later, there is now a third ramp in the middle, leading to the entrance. (00:42:42)
Correction: The third ramp doesn't "appear." It's just harder to see because of the camera angle and the fact the color makes them blend in a bit. But if you look closely, all three ramps are there - one is to the right of the waterfall and two are to the left.
8th Feb 2005
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Corrected entry: Early on Hilary Swank describes her family to Clint Eastwood and states her mother "weighs 312 pounds". Later we meet the mother (Margo Martindale) and while she is somewhat obese she is nowhere near 300 lbs.
Correction: Just to add to the conversation, while I'm not a woman, I used to weigh about 350 pounds before I started a serious diet plan and lost almost 100 pounds. In my experience, it wasn't until I hit 350 that I started to look super massive. Once I got started on my diet and got back down to 300, I looked substantially smaller and dropped multiple shirt and pant sizes. But going from 300 to around 255 was much subtler - I only went down one shirt size and lost an inch or two around my waist. 300 isn't as huge as you'd think for everyone... it just depends on how your body carries and distributes the weight. She absolutely could weigh around 300 pounds.
Correction: 300 pounds may seem like a lot, but a quick browser search into publicly available photo galleries will show that her mom is very likely to be that and more. Many galleries showing variations of distribution of fat based on height and weight exist for artists and curious folk.
Correction: The keyword is "Later". We see the mother well over a year after she's described, so she's had plenty of time to follow a diet or whatever.
10th Jun 2023
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Corrected entry: Given the subway's crowded, there's no reason Superman couldn't fly the hurt engineer to the hospital.
Correction: There were already paramedics and authorities there to take care of the engineer. It'd be pointless to fly him to a hospital when he's already being helped.
13th Sep 2021
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Other mistake: At the beginning, when Tim arrives in Ryme City, a Sneasel is visible with its ears on the wrong sides.
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Suggested correction: As an adaptation, the movie is allowed to alter the design of characters and creatures from the games. It doesn't need to stay 100% consistent with the game, and thus, this cannot be considered a mistake. Other Pokémon in the movie similarly have minor cosmetic changes. Furthermore, you could also easily chalk this up to the Pokémon's genetics simply being different. Natural variation or mutations happen sometimes in species, and it's canon in Pokémon that some of them have different forms or look different even if they're the same species. (Ex. I have a number of the same Pokémon that all look completely different in Pokémon Go.)
12th Feb 2021
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Other mistake: The Psyduck is technically incapable of defending the group against the Quajutsus. Regardless of which psychic attack Psyduck uses, Quajutsu is immune to it because of its typing (water/dark).
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Suggested correction: As an adaptation, the movie is allowed to bend the rules of the game. Furthermore, just because they're strong against psychic-type attacks in the game doesn't mean they'll be completely unaffected or totally immune, especially given how powerful his attack is.
20th May 2023
Halloween Kills (2021)
Corrected entry: After Karen takes Michael's mask, if you listen closely, Michael says to her, "Give it back."
Correction: This is just an out of control fan-theory and has absolutely no confirmation anywhere, and it honestly sounds more like a mixture of Allison crying and the ambient noise of the scene than a male voice speaking or whispering. Unless the director comes right out and confirms that they very quietly looped in Michael speaking (which he hasn't), it's not something that should be listed as confirmed trivia.
19th May 2023
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Plot hole: While underwater all of those years, Jason didn't seem to age. He seemed to be a child when he grabbed Alice at the end of the first film. How could he grow up to be an adult after only five years, as Paul stated during the campfire story?
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Suggested correction: Dialogue in the film hints at what actually happened, which is that the end of the first movie was some sort-of panicked dream/delusion Alice had, while the real Jason has been living out in the woods ever since he "drowned," and thus aged into an adult. (Whether he actually did drown and came back to life, or escaped and fled out into the woods because he was mentally challenged is up for debate.) It's admittedly shaky, but the movie does hint at an explanation, so I don't think this really counts as a mistake.
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Correction: Well, first of all, that's not a factual error. As you said, they were testing if he could catch up... not what would happen to him. Although, to indulge you, when they made the movie, the stunt men in the scene actually did tackle each other mid-air as depicted in the movie. An unintentional freak accident doesn't invalidate that. That'd be like me saying "Not EVERY car accident is fatal" and then you countered with "No, that's a mistake because SOME are."
TedStixon