Huge Mistakes That Nobody Catches?

eldragon · Nov 23, 2006

I just watched The Aviator and loved the movie, except for an obvious, simple mistake that I cannot believe nobody caught.

Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo Di Caprio, is talking about buying 4 airplanes at $450,000 apiece. He says it will cost $18 million.

How can a movie be made, with eveybody in it - from writers to directors and actors, and nobody catches an obvious simple mistake like that?

It bothered me for about twenty minutes, taking my mind off of the film.

Can you think of other mistakes that seem obvious, but nobody noticed?

mommyjo2 · Nov 24, 2006

Hah! That's my specialty. Drives my dh nuts. There is something in almost every movie, usually not so glaring. My current pet peeve though?
Variety and Hollywood Reporter BOTH reviewed the upcoming "Nativity" movie, and BOTH reported that Mary goes to her cousin Elizabeth's and experiences the Immaculate Conception.
The Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was conceived; the Incarnation refers to Jesus.
Can't they find a single Catholic school flunkie to run thier story by? It's not like you can't google "Immaculate Conception" and figure it out immediately.

icerose · Nov 24, 2006

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I have seen wounds on one side and then the bandage is on the other side when they are patched back up. Or they get shot in the leg in one scene and the very next one they are running flat out and then the next scene they are hurt again.

Endless bullets, I really hate how an enemy is deadly accurate and then the hero comes in and suddenly he can't hit anything for no reason at all other than the hero needs to live.

Those kinds of things.

Write_At_1st_Light · Nov 24, 2006

The movie Die Hard. Which in one sense you can really hate, because so many wannabe screenwriters keep referring to it, that it should be used as a model for all future screenplays. Please.

Anyway, next time you watch the flick, note this discrepancy:

On the day before Christmas, Bruce Willis lands in L.A., goes to Century City in a limo to meet up with his separated wife Bonnie Bedalia. Scenes in office before he gets there. One of Bedalia walking back into her office and imploring her secretary to stop working already, it's 5:40 pm, join the office Christmas party fer chrissakes.

And yet: Through her office windows, it's still light outside, the evening sun is still shining.

December 24th is Main Street of the winter solstice. It's dark as hell at 5:40 pm, in Los Angeles. Has been for some time.

Anyway even before the Web, there were groups that did nothing more than scour films and TV for snafus. It's almost an industry in itself ;-)

nielsty · Nov 24, 2006

I remember something about Fellowship of the Ring - the scene where Boromir gets shot. First he is hit in the upper chest. Then he gets shot again, but somehow the first arrow has moved down and he's hit in the same spot again with the seccond arrow.

veinglory · Nov 24, 2006

It doesn't get any more obvious that ther animated movie Barnyard were the 'male cows' had udders.

eldragon · Nov 24, 2006

I am reminded of something I remember seeing on the soap "One Life To Live," I think it was ...back in the 80's.

The show leaves off on a Friday afternoon with a key actor dying of a heart attack, and he can't reach his "pills." He's lying on the floor - dying.

Monday - the show takes up and no mention of the guy having a heart attack.

Incredible.

Goodwriterguy · Nov 24, 2006

eldragon said:
I just watched The Aviator and loved the movie, except for an obvious, simple mistake that I cannot believe nobody caught.

Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo Di Caprio, is talking about buying 4 airplanes at $450,000 apiece. He says it will cost $18 million.

How can a movie be made, with eveybody in it - from writers to directors and actors, and nobody catches an obvious simple mistake like that?

It bothered me for about twenty minutes, taking my mind off of the film.

Can you think of other mistakes that seem obvious, but nobody noticed?

Hughes' line about $450K apiece was before taxes. Then, the $18 mil was after taxes.

Ya think?

eldragon · Nov 24, 2006

No, it was about buying 4 planes at $450K apiece. He said it would be $18 million.

It would only be $1.8 million.

Peggy · Nov 24, 2006

eldragon said:
No, it was about buying 4 planes at $450K apiece. He said it would be $18 million.

It would only be $1.8 million.

But you are neglecting the historical accuracy of this dialog. It's often overshawdowed by his OCD, but yes, it's true, Howard Hughes was innumerate. I think it's wonderful that this was brought to light in a major Hollywood blockbuster. (Or is it Leonardo DiCaprio who's innumerate, I forget.)

veinglory said:
It doesn't get any more obvious that ther animated movie Barnyard were the 'male cows' had udders.

Yeah, to me that's the best/worst example. Depicting the "male cows" with udders was not simply an overlooked mistake. It was a concious choice on the part of the movie makers .

veinglory · Nov 24, 2006

Wow, weird choice.

English Dave · Nov 24, 2006

Peggy said:
But you are neglecting the historical accuracy of this dialog. It's often overshawdowed by his OCD, but yes, it's true, Howard Hughes was innumerate. I think it's wonderful that this was brought to light in a major Hollywood blockbuster. (Or is it Leonardo DiCaprio who's innumerate, I forget.)
Yeah, to me that's the best/worst example. Depicting the "male cows" with udders was not simply an overlooked mistake. It was a concious choice on the part of the movie makers .

See how we've moved on. Teats are mainstream. Huge arguments have raged about this at Disney.

eldragon · Nov 24, 2006

But you are neglecting the historical accuracy of this dialog. It's often overshawdowed by his OCD, but yes, it's true, Howard Hughes was innumerate. I think it's wonderful that this was brought to light in a major Hollywood blockbuster. (Or is it Leonardo DiCaprio who's innumerate, I forget.)

Really? The film didn't mention it, and the scene changes immediately. No odd looks from the other characters or anything.

So it's a subtle true event?

icerose · Nov 24, 2006

Write_At_1st_Light said:
On the day before Christmas, Bruce Willis lands in L.A., goes to Century City in a limo to meet up with his separated wife Bonnie Bedalia. Scenes in office before he gets there. One of Bedalia walking back into her office and imploring her secretary to stop working already, it's 5:40 pm, join the office Christmas party fer chrissakes.

Isn't the character's name Holly Genaro??? Or are you refering to the actress' real name?

Peggy · Nov 24, 2006

eldragon said:
Really? The film didn't mention it, and the scene changes immediately. No odd looks from the other characters or anything.

So it's a subtle true event?

Sorry, I should have

. It was funny in my own mind . . .

Write_At_1st_Light · Nov 24, 2006

icerose said:
Isn't the character's name Holly Genaro??? Or are you refering to the actress' real name?

Yep, Holly Genaro it is, and correct I was going by the actress's name. I think I did that because I FORGOT the character's name. Happens when you get old. Yesterday morning I started shaving my clock's face. It's all downhill from here...

icerose · Nov 24, 2006

Write_At_1st_Light said:
Yep, Holly Genaro it is, and correct I was going by the actress's name. I think I did that because I FORGOT the character's name. Happens when you get old. Yesterday morning I started shaving my clock's face. It's all downhill from here...

Okay, you had me going there for a bit, then it hit me, oh, it's probably her real name lol.

You're clock's face? Hmm, that's interesting.

mommyjo2 · Nov 25, 2006

I watched the Ring 2 (don't recommend it) only ONE of the glaring mistakes was, the car gets attacked by elk. They break out the windows, and one's antlers actually comes through the driver's side window. Narrowly escaping, the window is magically unbroken in all subsequent scenes.

soloset · Nov 25, 2006

eldragon said:
I am reminded of something I remember seeing on the soap "One Life To Live," I think it was ...back in the 80's.

The show leaves off on a Friday afternoon with a key actor dying of a heart attack, and he can't reach his "pills." He's lying on the floor - dying.

Monday - the show takes up and no mention of the guy having a heart attack.

Incredible.

Stuff like that happens all the time in the soaps. It's part of the genre. Characters are newborns or toddlers, and a few years later they're suddenly teenagers just in time for summer. A rape is converted into a misunderstanding because viewers really liked the rapist character before the incident. People die all the time and are miraculously found alive for sweeps.

As far as movies go, I almost never catch mistakes. The only one I can recall catching myself was in Charlie's Angels, when Drew Barrymore calls Lucy Liu by her real name during a fight scene.

razormoney · Nov 25, 2006

Movie Mistakes

If any of you care, there is an interesting site (which has been heavily updated since I made contributions) called Movie-mistakes.com which is an entire communtiy dedicated to cataloguing movie flubs. People post them and other people can peruse them or even debunk them. It's sort of cool, they separate the mistakes out by type such as chronology, continuity, false logic and other things. Makes watching movies over and over a little more fun because you actually start "scrubbing" films for mistakes.

Personally, I love "Top Gun." As a military pilot I can shred that movie apart. There are more mistakes in that movie than should be allowed by law. "Pretty Woman" during the fancy restaurant scene is God awful as well.

Anyway, the site is entertaining. They've even added YouTube links to mistake clips. Not sure that's even legal.

Enjoy,
R

eldragon · Nov 25, 2006

Interesting website, however, none of the 48 mistakes mentioned for The Aviator include the math miscalculation.

If it wasn't $10 to join the website, I might add number 49 to the list.

razormoney · Nov 28, 2006

Yikes

eldragon said:
Interesting website, however, none of the 48 mistakes mentioned for The Aviator include the math miscalculation.

If it wasn't $10 to join the website, I might add number 49 to the list.

Didn't know they were charging now. What a crock. They didn't used to. Man, nothing good is free. Damn capitalism.

By the way, anyone interested in buying one of my scripts?

Everyone should hear or read at least one bad joke each day.

R

write4logan · Dec 4, 2006

One that drives me absolutely bonkers is Kate & Leopold. Kate's ex has taken pictures during his trip to the past and finds Kate in one of them. However, the ex had left the scene long before Kate got there, even in the past. It is a plot point that only makes any kind of sense because it is a plot point, kwim? Love the movie, hate the flub.

English Dave · Dec 4, 2006

In 'Guarding Tess' Tess is kidnapped by the chauffeure and Nic Cage is left stranded in the middle of nowhere. He runs miles to a gas station to use a payphone to call his secret service buddy to come and get him.

As his buddy finally pulls up, Cage gets in the car.......and pulls a cell phone out of his pocket.

Bad Penny · Dec 8, 2006

Don't know if this fits, but that obvious dummy shot to pieces on the Tiger tank in Saving Private Ryan pulls me out of the movie every time. How could Spielberg have let that stay.

Also, when one of the paratroopers gets shot point blank in the back by a passing German in the last action sequence, the trajectory of the bullet exiting his chest doesn't even remotely match the angle of the shot. Could be possible. Maybe. But I still think it was a glaring goof

These things bother me.

Huge Mistakes That Nobody Catches?

in a van down by the river

Bad grammar make me [sic]

Lost in School Work

Writer of Nothingnesses

I write my own stunts

volitare nequeo

in a van down by the river

in a van down by the river

volitare nequeo

in a van down by the river

Lost in School Work

Writer of Nothingnesses

Lost in School Work

Bad grammar make me [sic]

'bye

in a van down by the river