Best mystery movie factual errors of 2003

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Basic picture

Factual error: When the Ranger trainees first meet Samuel L. Jackson, he's wearing the rank of a Specialist on his collars even though he's a Master Sergeant. Title 18, Chapter 33 of the US code prevents the unauthorized wear of a military uniform (among other things), however this does not automatically correct the mistake since a common misconception is that one slight alteration is sufficient to make the uniform legal. Having the wrong rank on is too obvious of an alteration, especially for anybody who has spent more than a day in or around the Army and would still be punishable by law, if he was dressed in an attempt to fool your average citizen outside of a movie.

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Mystic River picture

Factual error: In the scene at the beginning of the movie as the 3 youths walk up the street, you can see current MA license plates, although the action should have taken place many years earlier. (00:01:30 - 00:05:50)

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Paycheck picture

Factual error: When Shorty is removing Jennings' memories in the beginning, the pictures shown are from a third person viewpoint. If they are his memories, shouldn't these be from Jennings' viewpoint? (00:06:40)

Phoenix

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1-Ichi picture

Factual error: When young Ichi is hit in the face with the baseball, he doesn't react realistically. He simply falls back spitting blood, when in reality, he would have been knocked out and probably lost a number of teeth, and perhaps even broken a bone in his face.

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In the Cut picture

Factual error: In the scene where Meg Ryan and her sister are in the coffee shop, her sister calls to the waitress that they ordered a latte, no foam, very dry - it is impossible to make a dry latte without foam, because dry means "foamy." Not to mention, a very dry latte is technically a cappuccino.

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The Sin Eater picture

Factual error: There is one scene in the movie where Heath Ledger reads a Latin sentence in a book. As he is translating the sentence, he goes over the words one by one with his finger. This would never be possible in a Latin sentence, because words in Latin are never - I repeat: never - in exactly the same order as in English. Words that actually belong together can be placed on opposite ends of a sentence.

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The House of the Dead picture

Factual error: When the zombies are about to over-run the house, one of the ravers sacrifices himself by shooting a keg of gunpowder to blow up the building. The problem is that gunpowder is not an impact explosive, you could shoot that keg all day and all it would do is put holes in it. Just shooting it would not cause an explosion.

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Identity picture

Factual error: The prisoner is described as carrying an "Axis IV Dissociative Disorder"; that is complete nonsense - dissociative disorders are placed on Axis I in psychiatric diagnoses (Axis I is clinically treatable disorders; Axis II is mental retardation/personality disorders; Axis III is concomitant health problems (e.g., hypertension, diabetes mellitus, CABG, etc.); Axis IV is a list of psychosocial stressors and their severity (e.g., "Moderate - Health problems, financial problems"); Axis V is the GAF score (Global Assessment of Function, scored from 0 - 100). *Any* clinical professional with psychiatric experience would put dissociative disorder on Axis I except for the psychiatrist in the film, who apparently doesn't know any better. (00:54:00)

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Oldboy picture

Factual error: When Dai Su and Mido enter many branches of Blue Dragon restaurants to taste test the dumplings, the Chinese characters of the establishments actually translate to Green Dragon.

Allister Cooper, 2011

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Wonderland picture

Factual error: Before the Wonderland Ave. killings a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey is displayed on the coffee table. The label shows, "Jack Daniels Kentucky whiskey" which should be" Tennessee whiskey".

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Holes picture

Factual error: When Stanley runs after Zero who is lost and finds him passed out, Zero offers Stanley "sploosh" which we deduce is rotten peaches from Sam's boat which they are taking shelter in. Had the peaches survived both the descent to the bottom of the lake after Sam was killed AND the effects of time, they would be extremely fermented and would be alcoholic. Stanley and especially Zero, would be drunk and would surely dehydrate to death or at least not be able to climb "God's Thumb" coherently.

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