johnrosa

16th Oct 2007

Transformers (2007)

Corrected entry: During the final battle scene Optimus tells the main actor to take "The Cube" to a certain building. When he arrives at the train station (Which is the abandoned train station in Detroit.not L.A.) he gets to the roof not only do you see the L.A. skyline, but the roof is full of new air conditioning units, and statues. None of these are visible on a abandoned building in the opening shot.

Correction: The first shot of the building is at street level, so the AC units couldn't be viewed from that angle, but the statues are visible in the shot at 2:02:26.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: At the beginning of the film, the Olympic athlete says that his horses name is "Uranus" but later when the horse is killed in a bombing run he calls the horse "Jupiter".

Correction: Baron Nishi speaks of his competition horse and shows its photo to Kuribayashi while standing next to the horse that is killed later. Clearly, if they were the same horse, the photo would have been pointless to display. The live horse has white markings down the center of its face while the one in the photo has none. The horse brought to the island is another horse with a different name. It's easy to understand why Nishi would leave his Olympic-champion steed ('Uranus') safe at home, and, based on his status as a national hero, he'd have the pick-of-the-litter of military-issue horses ('Jupiter') to take with him to Iwo Jima.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: In the scene where Ryan releases himself from the helicopter, the CO of the Dallas promptly sounds off, "Man overboard port side", then proceeds two levels down where he sees two personnel dragging in a very wet Ryan. Two levels down on a 688 class submarine is significantly below the waterline and there is no access overboard at that point.

Correction: True IF he'd gone down two decks of the hull, but he started out at the top of the conning tower, which is at least two decks tall. He's simply gone from the top of tower to the base of it. (And before we get into class-specific details of what is where on the real sub type it is stated to be, this is a fictional variant of such a sub in a Hollywood movie, not a replica in an historical re-enactment, and the film's makers are allowed artistic license in the design of their fake sub (short of having screen doors, of course).

johnrosa

Corrected entry: Toward the beginning, when Sheriff Justice is chewing out the State Trooper. When the Sheriff is poking the trooper in the chest, first backing the trooper out into the center of the road, then backing him off to the side of the road, first there is a long line of cars waiting behind the trooper's cruiser, then they're not there.

Correction: As soon as the Trooper stops Justice's car, and they begin to converse, you can see the line of traffic begin passing behind the trooper. By the time Justice backs the trooper out into the roadway, the line of cars has passed.

johnrosa

20th Aug 2006

The Siege (1998)

Corrected entry: During the scene where General Devereaux is giving his speech after Marshal Law has been started, the camera is showing different parts of the city during Devereaux's speech. Despite that the speech starts and ends during daylight hours, one of the shots shows Devereaux giving the speech on the JumboTron in Times Square at night.

Correction: Nothing indicates that the many short shots shown during the speech are real-time snapshots taken as the speech is given. They are all moments occuring before, during and after the speech, showing the inital effects of the arrival of the troops. The night shot is simply showing a relatively quiet Times Square, where the screen is showing a rebroadcast of the speech (or perhaps a newcast that featured a small portion of the speech). There's no crowd gathered watching the screen, suggesting it's already old news when seen here. Only one or two pedestrians appear to even be watching it. Oh- and it's not the Sony Jumbotron. It's a Panasonic.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: In the scene where the police car drives off into the lake, the Bandit turns right off the highway and onto the dirt road. But when he comes back he turns left when he gets on the highway, which would send him right back where he came from. But still he comes up from the semi's rear when he catches up with Cletus.

Correction: This would be true if there was an indication he reversed direction on the dirt road, emerging exactly where he left the road. There was no such indication. But if he turned right off the first paved road, went down the dirt road, and eventually emerged onto another paved road that was somewhat parallel to the first paved road, a left turn would send him in the correct direction. As it did in the film. A later merge with the first road (or a later left, then right) would put him back on the original roadway.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: The car that was driven by the Good Witch of the North was most likely used in several different scenes. In the front end damage, you can see her blue car was red before that, and yellow before that. (01:01:25)

Correction: The fact that this accident-prone old woman is driving a car that has been repainted more than once is in no way a 'mistake', nor a 'revealing mistake' etc. She simply owns a blue car that has been red, and yellow, in the past, or has been repaired using parts from red and yellow vehicles in the past. Now, if she had just bought it new and crashed on the way home from the dealer, it could be argued this is an error (or simply evidence of a crooked salesman). As it is, though, no mistake here.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: In the beginning of the movie when the 2 rigs are racing the of the competitor changes from 11 to 21 when they show a different angle of the track.

Correction: The number changes from 27 to 10, but that's because it is two different race heats. The 27 truck is not the same truck as the number 10. In the second shot, the 27 truck (a GMC model) is waiting behind the 10 truck (a Freightliner model). Note also, that the first shot has the flagman at our far left with both trucks to the our right of him, while the second has him standing in the middle of the two rigs. The first shot has no orange cones along the far side of the track, the second shot does have the cones. Different races on the same day. No error.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: The Trans Am's tail lights and rims seems to have an identity problem. All through the movie they change from scene to scene.

Correction: This is incredibly unspecific. At least one example of timecodes proof should be provided so it can be verified. Especially since all the Trans Ams used in the film were then-brand-new cars, bought straight from Pontiac. And as such, would have been outwardly identical (their drivetrains are known to have varied).

johnrosa

That's because a couple of 1976 Special Editions are used along with the 1977 that is the principal car in the movie. At least the director kept you from seeing the 76 front which is one of the biggest differences. He must of felt the honeycomb wheels on the 76 would not be as noticeable as the snowflake wheels on the 77. The 76 is most noticeable when Bandit is waiting for Snowman at the Texarkana sign on the side of the road.

24th Oct 2005

Secretary (2002)

Correction: Rain can often be seen falling in one spot while not falling in another, all within a short distance. I myself played a stickball game in the street where the infield remained dry while the outfielders got drenched.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: The T-1000 rides his Harley out of the burning Cyberdyne building and jumps on the chopper as it flies past. But the helicopter is flying far too low. Chopper pilots are trained to stay above the "dead man's curve" which governs the minimum height for any given speed. Below this height, the pilot can't "auto-rotate" and in case of engine failure the chopper drops like a rock. There are also too many poles, power lines etc. around the labatory to fly safely and the pilot is far too erratic in his maneuvering. No trained police pilot would pull the stunts seen in the film for safety reasons, whether he had a tactical reason to fly that low or not.

Joe Moldovan

Correction: There's no such thing as absolutes in human behavior. All the training in the world doesn't change a person's nature. We don't know if this pilot is prone to being overzealous, so we can't say he would or wouldn't do any such thing.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: When Sarah and John drive the pickup into the steel mill, they end up crashing into a wall at 25 to 35 miles per hour. Neither is wearing seat belts. Yet they are not launched through the windshield and do not get injured at all. (02:03:50)

Correction: John is driving and braced for the crash. Sarah is already injured. They hit a forklift, not a wall. They don't go through the windshield as they ducked when they saw the fork coming at them. Lastly, lots of people walk away from wrecks that happen at far faster speeds. Not impossible, and not a mistake.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: In the cemetery scene just after the Terminator uses a bazooka to fire a missile at the TX, Katherine Brewster is standing a few yards from the door of the hearse in a state of shock. John Connor opens the door of the car and shouts "Get in." The immediate shot shows her standing next to the door, instead of a few yards away. (01:04:30)

Correction: The camera lens type has changed and the zoom has 'flattened' the view, making it seem she might be closer, but it is an illusion.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: The Trans-am has an open roof, and the windows are down all through the movie. And they drive at more than a hundred miles an hour. So how does the Bandit keep his hat on?

Correction: The same way countless other drivers do. The windshield sends the air up, over and around the driver. On any warm, summer day you can see convertible owners driving the highways with hats on. Certainly, if he stood up and looked up, his hat would come off. But with minimal attention, the hat can be kept on.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: Just before Arnold jumps his bike into the underground tunnels, we see that the end he leaps off is a sharp corner. In the next shot of him jumping, that sharp corner is now flat.

Correction: Not so. Both angles were filmed at the very same location- no difference exists. Watch the scenes again to spot the blunt end in both shots.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: When John and Kate find out that they have ended up in a nuclear shelter the timer of the C4 does not beep all the time, it starts beeping again when John has to notice them to not blow himself up accidentally.

Correction: This is a stylistic choice of the director, not a mistake. The beeping is unimportant in between, as he wants the viewer to focus on the sounds coming from the speaker. The beeping would be a distraction, so it drops out of our hearing just as it would drop out of John and Kate's concentration.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: When the Terminator is swinging about on the crane arm, he is sent crashing through steel, glass and concrete. He is wearing ordinary leather clothing which he took from the stripper. They would have been torn to shreds by those impacts.

Correction: The crane arm smashes through some tall, narrow concrete pillars as it slices through the face of the showroom. Arnold passes through an open door on his way into the building, and has assorted sales banners and ceiling decor raining on him from above, but except for exiting the building's end through glass (which he hits against it's flat plane which shatters and falls away - it isn't held with a sharp edge against him), he is hit by little else. He is moving forward the whole time, so what falls from two stories above hits the ground behind him.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: After the crane crashes, the T-X has a clear shot at John's truck. The roads are empty, he was a short distance away, and continued to travel in a straight line. The T-X could have easily fired her weapon at him. It's not really a character mistake, because the T-X's sole goal is to kill him, and she goes through a lot of trouble to try and do so throughout the film, so why let up here? It just seems too inconsistent and 'convenient' to the plot.

Correction: The TX's primary weapon is never seen firing at a range of more than maybe 100 feet (hitting the flammable gases truck while aiming for the Toyota). Allowing that the fleeing truck is travelling at about 40mph (disregarding a local 25mph out of fear for their lives), the solid 11 seconds between the crane's halt (sound stops) and the TX's emergence from the wreckage, the Toyota will have travelled about 600 feet. The view of the fleeing truck shows it to be at least two blocks away (see traffic lights and road markings). Terminators are infiltration/assasination designs. It makes sense their weapons would key around close-up fighting.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: In the Controlled vehicle Chase scene what happened to one of the police cars? I have watched the scene over and over again and I think they just forgot about it. The fire van got blown up. The ambulance got kicked over. And the other police car got rammed. The second police car though was driving around in formation at the beginning of the scene but when Connor pulls away into a suburban area it disappears completely. It in fact reappears for a couple of seconds in one shot just before Arnie hits the Fire engine. And then when it flicks to the TX's point of view there is no police car in sight. (00:31:15 - 00:36:55)

Correction: A valid question, but not a mistake unless the second car appeared again later as if it was never gone. As is, the car is simply lost in the plethora of destruction while we are looking at other action. The car you mention just before the fire engine is the one car that follows John through the suburbs (look hard and you'll see John's truck just ahead of it) and is then rammed by the crane- it isn't the missing car. In any case, a question, not a mistake.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: The hearse's landau bows in one shot are on upside down.

Correction: When? Too non-specific. Describe the scene involved.

johnrosa

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.