Corrected entry: When Achilles and the Myrmidons land at the beach before Troy, they set up a testudo formation with their shields to defend themselves against the Trojan archers. The testudo formation was first used by the Roman legions, nearly a thousand years after the events depicted.
Tailkinker
6th Apr 2008
Troy (2004)
6th Apr 2008
Troy (2004)
Corrected entry: Achilles is placed on the funeral pyre wearing his armor, which traditionally would have gone to his heirs (either back home or amongst the army). In fact, in the Iliad Odysseus and Ajax later fight over Achilles' armor, each claiming it should go to him as the next most valiant warrior amongst the Greeks.
Correction: Differences between a film and its source material are not considered valid mistakes. Also, traditions are not laws - they can be obeyed or ignored as necessary, without it being considered an error.
5th Apr 2008
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Corrected entry: In the opening story text of The Phantom Menace, it refers to Obi-Wan and Qui Gon Jinn as Jedi knights- but Obi-Wan is still a padawan and not yet a Jedi knight.
Correction: He's a Jedi Knight in training and is ready for the trials. Close enough, particularly as the opening text must, by necessity, be brief.
Correction: And Qui-Gon is a Jedi Master. Like the other correction said, it's for brevity during the opening crawl.
3rd Apr 2008
Hairspray (2007)
Corrected entry: In the first classroom scene, the teacher asks (but does not answer), "What is the highest geographical feature on earth?" stating that Mt. Everest is not the answer. In fact, Mt. Everest is generally universally considered the answer to this question, with the usual interpretation being highest above sea level. (Not including trick answers like underwater volcanoes, which are not higher above sea level than Mt. Everest.) (00:05:50)
Correction: The teacher is trying to make the point that there are other interpretations of "highest" and there are certainly entirely valid definitions under which Everest is not the highest - taken as height from the base to the summit, for example, Mauna Kea takes the prize, or taken as actual distance from the centre of the Earth, where Chimborazo in the Andes is the winner. You may dismiss these things as "trick questions" but the use of such things is an entirely valid educational technique.
3rd Apr 2008
21 (2008)
Corrected entry: (slight spoiler) Also notable in the Ocean's franchise, they use flashbacks to explain the plot. And in one scene, they use the exact same song that was used in the Ocean's score.
Correction: The use of flashbacks in films to explain prior events is hardly unusual, and the appearance of a given song in two different films is not noteworthy either.
31st Mar 2008
10,000 B.C. (2008)
Corrected entry: If the movie takes place supposedly around 10.000 BC, the final kiss was completely inaccurate, since anthropologists have established that kissing as seen today was only "invented" in India around 2000 BC, and perfected by the Romans. They had actually gotten it right throughout the movie, the nose rubbing or joining of foreheads, but they couldn't resist making the mistake in the final shot. And when the kid makes the kissing motions, it is a reference to the same mistake.
Correction: As with any historically set film, many things have been updated in order to make sense to modern-day audiences. Thus we see the use of colloquial English, modern-day units of measurement and so forth. This is an entirely standard movie convention and is not considered a mistake.
31st Mar 2008
Horton Hears a Who (2008)
Corrected entry: In the original story, Jo-Jo is a girl - completely unlike the boy in this film.
Correction: By site policy, differences between a film and its source material are not considered mistakes.
24th Mar 2008
Contact (1997)
Corrected entry: When Haddon is showing Ellie's life story to her on his plane, he mentions that she turned down a teaching position at Harvard in order to do research work for SETI at Aericibo. But the video clips he is playing for her at that point show her actually teaching from a podium, using a screen behind her. This implies that she was physically teaching at Harvard, although in reality she never took the teaching position in the first place.
Correction: She could be presenting a paper at a conference, or making a budget proposal. Simply standing at a podium with a screen behind her isn't nearly enough to suggest that she's taken up a specific teaching position.
21st Mar 2008
Evan Almighty (2007)
Corrected entry: The fish in the tank shouldn't be attracted to him. If the dam would break, the fish wouldn't be harmed because the flood would be freshwater, since it's from a lake.
Correction: All God says is that a flood is coming; he never gives details of what that flood will entail. It's assumed by Evan that the flood will be of Biblical proportions; there's no reason to suggest that the animals who are drawn to him know any different. As the fish don't know that it's just going to be a dam break, it's natural that they would be drawn to Evan to save them from what they think is coming.
21st Mar 2008
Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
Parturition - S2-E7
Corrected entry: In the beginning of this episode, Paris and Kes are running a shuttle simulation. During the simulation the shuttle gets attacked by several Jem Hadar (Dominion) ships. The problem is, the dominion was unknown before Voyager left the Alpha quadrant, and does not find out about the dominion until Season 4 (Message in a Bottle). (00:00:55)
Correction: Jem'Hadar ships were first encountered in the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's second season, set some months prior to the departure of Voyager from the Alpha Quadrant (which occured at approximately the same time as DS9's third season opened). As a new and formidable threat, it seems entirely reasonable that all simulation packages would have been swiftly upgraded to include the Jem'Hadar vessels.
17th Mar 2008
Evan Almighty (2007)
Corrected entry: I find it funny that fish are attracted to Evan. Are they attracted to him because they want him to save them from the flood? They're fish and the last time I checked, fish could breathe underwater.
Correction: It's freshwater fish that have the problem - if the oceans rise up then their habitat will become saltwater, and they can't survive in a marine environment, so it makes perfect sense that they would flock to Evan to save them.
17th Mar 2008
Dexter (2006)
Corrected entry: In episode 3 of season 1, Rita's husband's friend takes her relatively new Toyota Rav4 in exchange for a drug debt of "two ounces of blow." Two ounces of cocaine equal about $1,400-$2,000.
Correction: Oh, yes, because drug dealers are going to be so concerned about making sure that they get precisely the right compensation for their wares. She owes him a debt, he's punishing her by taking her car. Precise value doesn't matter in the slightest.
15th Mar 2008
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Nicholas and Danny are talking in the pub, Nicholas says that he missed his father's funeral. Later on in the film, his father comes in on the gunfight. You can tell that he is his father because he says, "Nicholas, my son."
Correction: Try actually paying attention when you watch a film. (1) Nicholas says that he missed his girlfriend's father's funeral, not his own father's, (2) they're at Danny's house when he says it, not in the pub, and (3) the person addressing Angel during the gunfight is the town's vicar, a profession that would often use "my son" or "my daughter" as a term of address, in much the same way as they are often addressed informally as "father" - it's a term implying affection and respect and bears no connotations of a familial relationship in this context.
12th Mar 2008
Batman Begins (2005)
Corrected entry: Dr. Crane visits Falcone in prison and administers the drug to drive him insane. He then leaves and tells a prison official that Falcone must be moved to Arkham for further evaluation. Later that night, Batman fights Scarecrow/Dr. Crane and is poisoned; after Alfred rescues him he wakes up in Wayne Manor after "two days." Rachel comes to visit him, and as they are talking she receives a phone call. She becomes agitated and states that she has to leave, as Dr. Crane "had Falcone moved [to Arkham] on suicide watch." Why the urgency, if the move took place at least two days earlier?
Correction: The move may have taken place a day or so previously, but she's only just found out about it, hence her sudden urgency to confront Crane.
7th Mar 2008
Superman Returns (2006)
Corrected entry: When Superman brings the plane to a halt on the stadium pitch, the nose cone only buckles a bit. Surely, under the strain of all that weight it would have collapsed?
Correction: It's an established, if infrequently acknowledged, part of Superman's powers in the comic that he's often capable of lifting and otherwise manipulating objects that should crumble or otherwise collapse under their own weight without this happening. It's often considered to be a form of touch-based telekinesis that acts to enhance the structural integrity of the object in question.
4th Mar 2008
Casino Royale (2006)
Corrected entry: When Bond crashes the Range Rover Sport at the Ocean Club, he goes straight to the security room where surely, the guards might be looking to see just who was driving the car that did all that damage after establishing that no white men park cars there for a living. Further, on later review of the security CD, why was Bond not questioned about the incident and perhaps encouraged to find alternative accommodation? After all, he was staying there in full view of the security staff. We might at least have seen him pull the CD for the moment in question and destroy or delete it to add credibility to his prolonged stay at the club.
Correction: Plenty of possible explanations. (1) Just because we didn't specifically see him destroy the CD, it doesn't automatically follow that he didn't. (2) We don't see what he does when leaving the car; he could simply have covered his face, then moved into a camera blind spot - he's not dressed particularly notably, so it would be hard to distinguish him from the others milling around. (3) Even if they could see what he looked like, the security guards aren't going to be looking among the guests. Think about it, somebody drives into the car park of an exclusive club and damages several expensive cars. They'd be expecting the culprit to run away, not go and check into an expensive beach front villa. (4) If they did identify him, he's just checked into an expensive villa so is clearly a person of considerable means; the management might choose to overlook the incident as a tantrum by a rich person insulted at being mistaken for a servant. (5) If they did identify him and approach him quietly about the matter, he could simply have paid for the damage out of whatever government fund he has available to him. That would be enough to close the incident; the management of the club are hardly going to want to bring criminal charges against a rich guest who would then never stay there again. Any one of these works as an explanation.
3rd Mar 2008
Doom (2005)
Corrected entry: Throughout the film, Sarge refers to his men as "soldiers" and even addresses his own men as "soldier" at times. Marines never call themselves soldiers, as soldiers only pertain to the army.
Correction: This is purely an opinion based on present-day Marines who, for all we know, have no links of any kind to the futuristic group portrayed in the film. Sarge can call his troops anything he wants, short of getting their names wrong, without it being a mistake.
17th Feb 2008
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Corrected entry: When Pintel and Ragetti find the dead kraken on the beach, Ragetti calls it a "cephalopod", even though the word "cephalopod" was not in use during that time period.
Correction: How do you know? If you know when the word was coined, mention it in your submission. Without some backup this appears to be purely opinion-based. Regardless, it's standard practice in historically set films to use present-day terminology for the convenience of the modern audience; as a rule, the use of such conventions is not considered a mistake anyway.
16th Feb 2008
The Brave One (2007)
Corrected entry: The investigating detective at the first two crime scenes refers to the shell casings as coming from a 9mm "automatic". The correct reference is to a "semi-automatic".
Correction: So what? As long as those around him understand what he means, he's not under any obligation to use absolutely precise terminology. He knows what he means, those around him will know what he means, doesn't matter if it's not absolutely precise.
16th Feb 2008
The Godfather (1972)
Corrected entry: Carlo beats up Connie when she is pregnant, and she calls Sonny and he is killed on the causeway. When Michael comes back from Italy and looks up Kay, she asks how long he has been back and he says a year, maybe longer. Michael and Kay get married and then the scene shifts to a few years later (Kay and Michael have a son). The Godfather asks Michael how his son is and Michael says he is "smarter than me; he is three years old and can read the funny papers". But then, Michael decides to be Godfather to Connie and Carlos' baby. How long was Connie pregnant? This implies she was pregnant for four years.
Correction: Or, thinking a bit more sensibly, that Carlo and Connie had two children. Which they do, Victor and Michael Francis. When Michael has arrived at Carlo's house to 'make him answer for' Sunny's death, When Carlo replies, to Michael, he refers to swearing "on the kids...", plural. We are all thinking that the baby whose baptism they just participated in was Connie's first baby, but Kay and Michael (as previously mentioned) were now already married and have a 3 year old, so this has to be Connie's 2nd baby with Carlo, yes? And Carlo does say, I swear on "the kids."
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Correction: A tactic that can be worked out by one group can easily be worked out by another. It certainly cannot be said that the Myrmidons, who are noted as exceptional soldiers who would be perfectly capable of working out such a tactical move, could not have used that formation. It may have become commonly used in the time of the Romans, but that doesn't mean that it could not have been used by certain groups prior to that.
Tailkinker ★