Trivia: Despite being a prominent antagonist in the Alien film series, to date the alien queen has only directly killed one character: the Predator named "Scar" in this film.
BaconIsMyBFF
28th Jan 2021
Alien Vs. Predator (2004)
27th Jan 2021
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
Factual error: Diplomatic immunity does not give a foreign diplomat carte blanche to openly and brazenly commit extreme crimes in their host country. Arjen Rudd and his men are known money launderers. Once Riggs begins harassing Rudd at the consulate, Rudd launches a violent campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department, assassinating half a dozen police officers. At the very least, the United States would be well within their rights to expel Rudd from the country and bar his re-entry. There is no way the South African government would oppose prosecution of Rudd given these circumstances, doing so would fracture all diplomatic relations with the United States. It is absurd for Rudd to shoot a cop and smugly proclaim "Diplomatic immunity!" after he has done so because it is not a "get out of jail free" card. If Rudd were expelled, he could face prosecution in his home country.
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Suggested correction: Before the federal government would declare a diplomat persona non grata, which would be a serious degradation of the diplomatic relations between two countries), they would first have to do an investigation. The entire movie seems to take place in less than a week. There was probably not enough time, especially since Riggs and Murtaugh are playing things close to the vest and not letting people know what they are doing. As for the "Diplomatic immunity" line, he's just being insulting towards Murtaugh.
While it is true that it's difficult to actually expel a diplomat, the mistake is that Rudd acts as if it is impossible. The movie operates as if diplomatic immunity makes it impossible to arrest a diplomat. And Rudd is doing more than just taunting Roger, he believes right up until the end that he can't be held accountable for his actions, up to and including murdering a cop.
21st Jan 2021
Aliens (1986)
Question: While Hicks and Vasquez are sealing the door during the attack, you get a good look at the magazine on Hudson's rifle while he is using the motion tracker. On the bottom of the magazine a large letter "D" is visible. Does anyone have any idea why that letter is there? Is this a prop designation?
Answer: The prop designation theory is probably right. It could stand for "Dummy" rounds. We can only speculate about future military conventions and best practices, but it's not likely that a magazine would be marked in such a manner because the ammunition it contained could be easily changed depending on the mission requirements. In our time, the ammunition itself is color coded so that it can be identified at a glance.
14th Jan 2021
Common mistakes
Factual error: Knocking someone out by hitting them in the head is in no way a "safe" means to incapacitate them. Leaving a person unconscious after a head injury is extremely dangerous and can lead to death. It is absurd for a hero who doesn't want to kill anyone to go around punching people out and just walking away.
8th Jan 2021
Wayne's World (1992)
Audio problem: At the loft party, while Cassandra is singing the song Touch Me there is a moment where Wayne turns to the camera and says "God, she's amazing." While Wayne is saying this the audio track plays an extra beat which throws the track out of sync just as Terry walks up to Wayne, causing Cassandra's mouth to not match the lyrics.
6th Jan 2021
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Question: Is the T-1000 aware that the T-800 also travelled back in time? When Todd mentions a "big guy on a bike" looking for John the T-1000 gives a knowing look, but how would he know about the T-800?
Answer: It's never made clear within the film; however, the T-1000 may have been programmed to anticipate that the human resistance might send a reprogrammed T-800 back to the same point in time for unexplained reasons, such as surveillance by Skynet in the future, or Skynet could have simply anticipated such an action by the resistance, especially seeing as how the resistance had already sent Kyle Reese back in the first film.
2nd Jan 2021
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Deliberate mistake: The relay drag race takes much longer to complete than it should. Each leg is a quarter mile going and back, the cars involved should be able to make their runs in much less time than is shown. Brian even tells Roman that the Yenko (the blue Camaro) can do a quarter mile in 5 seconds flat, but it still takes ten times that long to complete the entire run.
15th Nov 2020
Predator (1987)
Character mistake: When Mac describes what he saw after Blaine was killed, he states that he "capped off 200 rounds with the minigun." At the rate the minigun fires, and the length of time Mac was shooting, he fired at least 10 times that amount. Perhaps he meant to say "capped off 2000 rounds." This adds to another mistake: the ammo pack Blaine carried only holds 500 rounds but much more than that is fired during the course of the film.
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Suggested correction: He actually says "capped off 20 rounds, in the minigun...full pack" just the word spacing is a bit odd. 20 rounds refers to his normal gun which ran out of ammo quickly.
31st Aug 2020
Jurassic Park (1993)
Character mistake: When Genarro is explaining to Hammond that he is at the park to report Hammond's progress to the investors, he says "In 48 hours if they're not impressed, I'm not impressed. We'll shut you down, John." He should have said "If I'm not impressed, they're not impressed" since the investors would be shutting down the park on his advice, not the other way around.
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Suggested correction: He'll be the one to shut it down, not the investors. They gave him the ability to do that. So once he hears they are not impressed, he'll be shutting it down.
That still makes the statement backwards, since he is representing the investors interests, not his own. The way he words it suggests even if they weren't impressed but he was, he could keep the park open of his own accord. The buck stops with the investors.
There's actually already a submission just like this one in the Corrections section, with the correction - provided by JC Fernandez - noting that Genarro is referring to the scientists that have to be convinced that the park is ready to open, and that if the scientists aren't convinced, then Genarro will not be convinced either, and he will notify the investors of it.
Didn't see that correction before. When reviewing the scene in question Genarro does ever so slightly gesture behind himself when he says "they", which I had not noticed before.
3rd Jul 2020
The Untouchables (1987)
Stupidity: There is no logical reason for a bookkeeper to be present at the liquor deal on the Canadian border and even less of a reason for him to bring the primary ledger with him. This is compounded by the fact this is merely a secondary bookkeeper and the main bookkeeper is subsequently subpoenaed by the district attorney.
13th Mar 2020
Gemini Man (2019)
Plot hole: While a tracker can certainly make it so that Junior knows where Brogan is at a given moment, it is impossible for Junior to know where exactly the plane is going to land and be lying in wait, with Brogan walking right past him. Junior would have to be well ahead of the plane in order to do that, and know exactly what direction Brogan would walk to cut him off and ambush him.
6th Mar 2020
Common mistakes
Factual error: Computers, security keypads, cellular devices, etc. that make loud beeps with each button press or mouse click and every image popping up on the device screen accompanied by a loud sound effect. Working in an office where computers make as much noise as they do in films and TV would drive the average person mad.
21st Jan 2020
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Character mistake: When Data and Picard discover Troi in her bathtub, Data scans her and comments that she is technically no longer "human." While Troi is indeed half human, she has the features of a Betazoid (black eyes and empathic abilities) and consistently describes herself and is described by others as a Betazoid. It is unusual for anyone to describe Troi as being "human", and it is unfathomable that Data would make that mistake.
5th Jan 2020
Common mistakes
Factual error: The importance of leaving a crime scene undisturbed is greatly exaggerated in films and TV. Crime scenes are often disturbed deliberately by responding police officers. Immediate safety and the preservation of life are paramount to all other concerns. If a body is found, the scene must be secured to be sure a suspect is not still present and the area is safe; this often involves searching through the scene itself. The body must also be inspected to be certain the victim is deceased and doesn't require medical attention; this act often involves moving the body. The idea of police stopping anyone from going anywhere near a crime scene until forensic examiners arrive is a movie cliche not based in reality. It is rare, to the point of being almost unheard of, for a criminal case to hinge on the positioning of a dead body or the exact location of evidence in a room.
4th Jan 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Stupidity: Hans keeps a major part of his plan secret from his own team: that the electromagnetic lock will be disabled if the FBI shuts down power to the building. The mercenaries hired as muscle don't need to know the minutiae of the plan, but it seems ludicrous that Theo wasn't told. Theo states on more than one occasion that he can't proceed past a certain point and that he hopes Hans has a plan for the final lock. Evidently, Hans was keeping this information secret simply to amuse himself, which makes little sense considering how much planning went into the heist.
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Suggested correction: Or because he simply doesn't trust anyone with that kind of knowledge. He neither trusts them or cares about them, it's all him.
So he trusts that Theo would be on board with all the murder and mayhem, open all the other locks, be in a tactical lookout position when the police try to breach, and drive the getaway vehicle. But he doesn't trust Theo enough to tell him the last lock will open when the power goes out?
It's not about trust; Hans needs Theo to do what he is there for and that is all you mention up to the final lock. He has a plan for the final lock and so there's no need to discuss it with the team, since it won't be any of them responsible.
The more people that know the plan the more chances of someone talking. Especially when they are hired mercenaries.
Theo was already on board with taking hostages and committing murder. Him knowing that the power needed to be shut off to open the last lock doesn't appear to be particularly important information you would need to keep from someone to keep them from talking.
If he's the only one that knows the final step to get the money, then at least up until that moment he is absolutely indispensable to the plan and ensures no-one would double-cross him. In any case I'm not sure being more cautious than necessary really qualifies as "stupidity."
3rd Jan 2020
Street Fighter (1994)
Character mistake: The Japanese name "Ryu" is pronounced REE-oo. Characters in the film consistently pronounce the name incorrectly as RYE-you.
8th Oct 2019
Mortal Engines (2018)
Plot hole: There is no way Anna could know that Hester was going to be at the auction. The circumstances that led to Hester and Tom being captured can't possibly have spread to the Anti-Traction League, they were immediately taken to the slave auction after being captured. Anna also instantly recognizes Hester when she sees her despite the fact that Hester was 8 years old the last time she would have seen her.
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Suggested correction: Anna might have very well just been there to do anti-tractionist things, it was an auction made of towns after all a prime target to hit many options at once or hide bombs on for a bigger city to gobble up and go off later. Once she saw Hester her plans simply changed. As for how she recognized her, it is possible Anna had been tracking / keeping an eye on her. It wouldn't be impossible to ask around for a scar faced girl moving from town to town and might have gotten a pic somewhere.
These are all wild guesses that aren't confirmed by the film itself. They do not qualify as corrections.
12th Sep 2019
The Running Man (1987)
Plot hole: There is no reason for the prison guards to use portable computers in full view of the inmates to input the sonic deadline code. The guards can walk outside of the deadline whenever they need to input the code, or radio the guard on the outside to lower and raise the deadline like they do when bringing the workers out. In fact, this plot hole is compounded by the presence of the guards stationed outside of the deadline with their own computer, which makes the guard inside the deadline completely unnecessary. The interior guard is only there so Weiss has a way to get both the code and a computer, but this prison set-up makes absolutely no sense.
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Suggested correction: The point of having a portable on the outside and inside is in the case of an attempted prison break, if one of the computers is taken by the prisoners, the other can be used to prevent the deadline from shutting down. This was actually shown in the prison break scene where Weiss was unable to shut off the deadline with the inside computer was because the guards on the outside one were countering any attempts to close it.
That only explains why there is a guard outside with a computer. There is no reason to have a guard on the inside of the deadline with a computer. There can't be a prison break if there are no guards with a computer on the inside, the inmate's heads will explode if they cross the deadline.
2nd Sep 2019
Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Other mistake: Deckard and Hattie were children at the same time, with Deckard appearing to be no more than 3 years older than Hattie. Although Jason Statham is presumably playing a character younger than he actually is, he is still noticeably much older than his on-screen sister. Jason Statham is in fact 21 years older than Vanessa Kirby.
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Suggested correction: And people can age faster than others depending on the stress they've been under.
Even taking things like stress and hard living into account, Jason Statham is still much older looking than the character he is supposed to be playing. Or are you saying that he's under so much stress that, while he is in otherwise outstanding shape, his face is that of a man in his late 40's to early 50's? He looks at the very least 10 years older than the character is aparently supposed to be.
8th Aug 2019
Shazam! (2019)
Question: How was Billy considered "worthy" to begin with? When we first meet him, he is petulant, selfish, and cruel to anyone that wants to help him. Once he does get the power of Shazam, he becomes even more selfish, petty, and reckless.
Answer: He went out of his way to protect his new foster brother, who's disabled mind you, when he was being picked on by the Steven King novel bullies. He showed he had some virtue. And, on top of that, his other behavior, like stealing the police car, while bad, did have a noble reason behind it of him trying to find his mother. So he wasn't perfect, but he had some virtue. And, as the old wizard said, he was out of time and Billy was his last choice.
Answer: In addition to the other answer, it's also a pretty common trope in films, stories, etc. for a character who is imperfect to be considered "worthy" or "pure of heart" not because of their actions but because of their potential to learn from their mistakes and do great things when given power. Billy is actually a pretty good example of this - he's brash and a bit selfish, but ultimately proves to be a capable hero by learning from his mistakes and growing as a person, thus ultimately becoming worthy of the power.
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