Corrected entry: How can the precogs confine their dreams/visions to the District of Columbia? When they were about to go "national", we are to believe they will all of the sudden be able to have visions that stop at the Canadian and Mexican border?
Tailkinker
22nd Oct 2009
Minority Report (2002)
16th Oct 2009
Jurassic Park (1993)
Corrected entry: When they first arrive at the park, they see a brachiosaur feeding on the leaves of a tree. When the dino gets on its hind legs to get a hold of the top branch, it could've easily reached the top branch without taking the extreme energy to lift itself. This counteracts anything that would naturally happen but is used to make the impressive landing that it makes coming down.
Correction: Unless you'd care to provide full and factual details of your studies into real-life brachiosaur feeding habits, this is based purely on an opinion, which are not considered valid grounds for a mistake.
While rearing up is at least PLAUSIBLE for most sauropods as the majority of their weight was carried on their hind legs. This is not the case for Brachiosaurs, their skeletal anatomy just doesn't support it. The greater length and robust build for the forelimbs indicates that their weight distribution was much further forward than in a sauropod like say Diplodocus. While it cannot be stated 100% that a Brachiosaurus could not rear up, it would be extremely difficult, and likely carry a high risk of injury for the animal. sources: Evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs Cambridge university press Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: Understanding the life of giants Indiana Univerity press.
The book is about studies of real fossils. In JP there were genetically engineered monsters. There could have been differences compared to true dinosaurs.
Well since this movie came out before those books did all this information is irrelevant. It's all artistic license.
22nd Jul 2004
The Last Samurai (2003)
Corrected entry: The sword that Algren gives to the Emperor is fake. Notice the handle during the Emperor's little speech- it's plastic. During the battle you can see that its a real black fabric around the sword's handle. (02:15:10 - 02:20:50)
Correction: Looking at the sword hilt as shown in that scene, it appears to be tightly wrapped fabric, just as seen earlier. Appearances can change considerably based on light conditions in a scene - this looks to me like the same sword, simply under more subdued lighting. Certainly the sword is exactly as before when Algren is holding it a few seconds earlier and very little appears to change.
23rd Sep 2009
District 9 (2009)
Corrected entry: Wikus van de Merwe's accent is not even close to sounding South African, which has a slight Australian-style lilt on many suffixes (compare it to the newsreaders who are SA or at least more convincing). Even if van de Merwe is supposed to be a foreigner, his somewhat French-sounding accent is punctuated by heavy Irish accented swearing (particularly with the f-word) which is highly unrealistic and improbable.
Correction: Rubbish. Sharlto Copley, the actor who plays Wikus, is South African, has lived there all his life and, as can be seen by watching interviews of him, is using his natural accent in the film. Try telling him that his accent is not authentic...
18th Sep 2009
Wanted (2008)
Corrected entry: When Mister X steps into the elevator to get a better sprint to the window, he sits down as if he's in a starting-block. This would provide him with a more powerful and faster sprint. But the moment he makes the first step to run, he lands on his heel. This takes away all the tension and speed he got from starting in that position, because by landing on his heel he blocks himself. Besides, if he was able to land on his heel, that would mean he was standing up straight after he started. But if you really want the best out of your starting position you stay low for as long as possible, and that would make it very difficult to land on your heel; considering you're leaning forward in the starting block position and staying low while you run. Most people automatically run on the palms of their feet while sprinting, which is the proper way. (00:04:00)
Correction: Most people are not capable of running so fast that they can leap the gap between skyscrapers; most people cannot bend bullets round corners. His running style doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to do the job, which, as we see, it does. Anything else is merely an opinion, which rarely amounts to a valid mistake.
8th Sep 2009
Watchmen (2009)
Corrected entry: In the initial scenes when Comedian is killed, the .45 pistol showed has Picattini rails in the frame. The story is set in 1985, when no pistol whatsoever had that feature (a.45 1911 like that, looking like a Springfield, was only offered in 2006).
Correction: It's set in an alternate 1985, where it's repeatedly shown that many things are different.
7th Sep 2009
Alexander (2004)
Corrected entry: In the "Director's Cut," Ptolemy implies that Alexander and Hephaistion died of typhus, which is transmitted by lice. He refers to what Hephaistion drank, so the cause is more likely to be typhoid. Historians believe that typhoid killed Alexander because waters of Babylon were, and still are, notorious for it.
Correction: The cause of Alexander's death has never been established, nor is it likely that it ever will be. Historians may express their opinions, but these are just that, opinions based on highly limited available evidence and personal theories. No consensus exists among historians, with typhoid, malaria, meningitis and pancreatitis all put forward as candidates among a host of other suggestions. As such, no factual error can realistically be claimed on this front, as no immutable facts exist to be deviated from.
2nd Sep 2009
Braveheart (1995)
Corrected entry: When William goes back to his village, the surroundings consist of big mountains and deep valleys when, in fact, William Wallace was said to be from a village called Elderslie which is in the Lowlands. I live two minutes outside Elderslie and there are some nice hills around here but the nearest mountain is Ben Lomond and that's about half an hour away.
Correction: There is no definitive proof of Wallace's birthplace - tradition suggests that he may have been born in Elderslie, but this is based entirely on circumstantial evidence; other locations have also been suggested over the years. As such, no factual error can realistically be presented regarding the depiction of his birthplace.
26th Aug 2009
Escape From New York (1981)
Corrected entry: Why on Earth does the President have a British accent? This is an oddity that needed to be explained in the film, but never was. Are we supposed to assume that his parents moved to the U.S. before he was born? If that was the case, he would have lost his accent to a significant degree just from learning grammar/phonics in American schools, hanging around with American friends, etc. He couldn't have been a hermit who would've avoided these types of activities since apparently he was well-known enough to successfully run for President.
Correction: Something being unexplained is not a mistake, just an unanswered question. A detailed backstory on the President is unnecessary in the film and would only break up the narrative flow. Many films feature characters with accents either that do not match their supposed background (Kevin Costner as an American-sounding Robin Hood, Sean Connery as a Scottish-accented Russian submarine commander to name but two) or that bear little or no resemblance to an actual accent from the relevant country, to the extent that, as with many other common movie conventions, it is not considered to be a mistake.
25th Aug 2009
Band of Brothers (2001)
Why We Fight - S1-E9
Corrected entry: John A. Janovec, an American soldier is shown in this and the last episode. As shown in the titles, this episode takes place from March 11 to sometime in late April. Yet, John A. Janovec died on February 26, 1945.
Correction: Online sources claim two different death dates for Janovec, some the February date that you cite, others the May date as depicted in the show. As the book and TV series are specifically based on the recollections of those who were present at the time, as recounted in many interviews, both with the original author and subsequently the film crews, it seems reasonable to suggest that the May date is likely to be the more accurate one, particularly as Janovec's death, so late in the war and after the end of hostilities, would be likely to stick in the mind.
I've read the extremely well detailed and informative book by Ambrose about Easy Company and there's no mention of an early 1945 death of Janovec at all so the latter date is more likely. The original men who gave accounts never mentioned his death and the place where he was eventually killed fits in with the units timeline history.
20th Jul 2009
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Corrected entry: When Anakin starts to fly the ship in the beginning Obi Wan says "Well, under the circumstances I'd say his ability to fly this thing is irrelevant" but his lips don't move.
Correction: That would be because Anakin says it, not Obi-wan.
22nd Aug 2009
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Corrected entry: In the first movie, Kyle Reese explains to Sarah Connor about the Terminators as infiltration units, with human tissue, metallic endoskeleton, sweet, bad breath, etc; so they are very hard to spot. Reese then says to her, "I had to wait 'till he moved on you before I could zero him". Reese didn't know the look of the T-800 in 1984. But in "Salvation" Reese saw his face. Besides, John Connor knew this Terminator since he was a child. John and Kyle where together, so Reese should know the appearance of the Terminator before the time travel to save Sarah.
Correction: Kyle's seen a face, briefly before it gets burned off, in the middle of a highly stressful situation. He didn't exactly have a chance to sit there and thoughtfully study it, committing every last detail to memory for future reference. It's another ten years until Kyle has his date with a time machine, so the vague details that he does remember will have plenty of time to fade even further. John's knowledge of what the Terminator looks like is irrelevant. Even if John does describe the Terminator to Kyle, Kyle can't exactly travel around blowing away anybody who happens to fit the description; without a photograph, which Kyle couldn't take with him anyway, John's description could not possibly be specific enough for Kyle to be absolutely certain that he wasn't about to fire a shotgun into the face of some regular human who just happens to resemble the cyborg to some degree. He has no choice but to wait until the Terminator makes its move to be 100% sure of his target.
25th Jul 2009
Stardust (2007)
Corrected entry: No explanation is given as to how Tristan, wearing only his long johns, got from the brig (located in the bow of the ship) to Capt. Shakespear's cabin (located at stern of the ship) without the crew noticing.
Correction: A lack of explanation is not a plot hole, just a moment where the audience are supposed to connect the dots themselves. The ship has holds for storage and so forth, Tristan simply went down into the hold at the bow, walked aft through the hold while the crew were occupied listening outside the brig and made his way up into the captain's quarters.
18th Jul 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Corrected entry: It had been mentioned in the previous films that no one can apparate to or from Hogwarts. Yet, near the end, we see Dumbledore (with Harry along) apparating from the top of astronomy tower.
Correction: Harry asks, specifically, about this very thing, and Dumbledore explains that he has certain privileges available to him, among them, the ability to apparate in and out of Hogwarts as he pleases.
2nd Jul 2009
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: During the final battle with the Reliant, Spock points out that Khan's flaw is his "two dimensional thinking". Why then, does the Enterprise have to move "up" on the Z-axis, to come up behind Reliant and be on the same plane before she can fire? Surely starships can fire weapons in three dimensions? It has nothing to do with "seeing" Reliant on the viewscreen either, since the viewer is a composite of sensor readings, not a window.
Correction: They're too far apart, so they can't see each other; the Mutara nebula restricts sensor range massively, so all they can do is search and hope that they get close enough to spot the other. Spock's observation is that Khan's inexperience is leading him to only search in two dimensions, when the ships are actually separated vertically. Kirk therefore orders the Enterprise to move along the z-axis to get back within sensor range of the Reliant, closing on the smaller ship from a direction that Khan would be unlikely to anticipate.
14th Jul 2009
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters (1999)
Corrected entry: Sir Edward Pellew meets with Lord Hood at the beginning of the film, to be given orders to transport and support a Royalist invasion of France. According the A&E's timeline, this meeting takes place in 1797, however, at that time, Hood was governor of Greenwich Hospital, not a member of the British Admiralty.
Correction: This is a fictional story that happens to use a few historical individuals as characters, not a documentary covering real events. As such, the filmmakers are under no obligation to be accurate to the personal histories of those individuals.
13th Jul 2009
Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
Corrected entry: On the evening following his aborted duel, Hornblower learns that England is once again at war with France. In short order he is transferred to HMS Indefatigable, under the command of Sir Edward Pellew. The fact that Simpson was still laid up from his wound is evidence of the speed of Hornblower's posting. The problem with this is: at the time of Hornblower's posting, Pellew had not been knighted, he was not in command of HMS Indefatigable, and in fact, the Indefatigable was never commissioned until December 1794 when she was in the process of being raised from a 64-gun battleship to a 44-gun heavy frigate.
Correction: This is a work of fiction that happens to make use of a few historical individuals. It is not a documentary on the lives of those individuals and, as such, is entitled to take whatever liberties they like for dramatic purposes.
8th Jul 2009
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Corrected entry: In "The Terminator," Reese explains to the police that the time disruptor has been destroyed, meaning he can't get back to his future: "No one goes back. No one else gets through. It's just him and me." T2 ignores this, and it is never explained.
Correction: Just because something is not explained in a film, that doesn't make it a mistake. Skynet sent two Terminators back - one to 1984 to target Sarah Connor, one to 1994 to target John Connor as a failsafe measure in case the first one failed. Reese was sent back to 1984, where that situation is exactly what he says it is; it's just him against the Terminator and nobody else is coming to help. The reprogrammed T-800 was sent back to 1994 to face the T-1000, then Connor's forces destroyed the timejump apparatus. Nothing there contradicts Reese's statement.
8th Jul 2009
Star Trek (2009)
Corrected entry: At 13:19 one question to a Vulcan student was about the volume of the sphere. He answers 4/3*pi*r^2 instead of ^3 in the Hungarian version. (00:13:15)
Correction: These children are being tested. It therefore follows that they could quite reasonably get a question wrong. Even Vulcans are not infallible.
5th Jul 2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Corrected entry: At the end, after Sam is told by the ancient Primes that the Matrix is "earned, and not found", then how is The Fallen able to easily take it away from them?
Correction: The Fallen is one of those ancient Primes who created it in the first place, so it's safe to say that he can handle the Matrix as much as he wants. Sam isn't, so he has to prove his worth.
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Correction: The range attainable by the precognitives' visions is never stated. It apparently covers the entire District of Columbia, but there is clearly some distance limitation involved, otherwise putting the precogs into an isolated cabin to give them a peaceful vision-free existence, as we see at the end of the film, would be a pointless exercise. While the situation you bring up never arises during the movie, it's hardly unreasonable to assume that should a vision be pinpointed to a location outside DC, then the PreCrime unit could simply notify appropriate authorities in that area, or they may have agreements with those areas that they can enter them in the course of their duties, or they may simply be ignored as being outside PreCrime's jurisdiction. Likewise, once the programme is expanded to the national level, some sort of agreement could readily be drawn up with neighbouring governments to cover the eventuality of a prevision being traced to a location outside the United States. None of these possibilities are explored in the film, but the fact that they aren't touched upon doesn't make this a mistake, simply an unanswered question.
Tailkinker ★