Factual error: The Whyte character says it is Checkmate even though he moved the queen into a position that doesn't threaten the king and could not have blocked anything that does threaten the king. You can also see all positions that might threaten the king, and none of them do. (00:27:40)
Factual error: When the shuttles are approaching the station, their engines are firing from the rear, meaning they are in constant acceleration toward the station. When arriving at a station, you would need to slow down as you approach, meaning the engines should be firing forward (or the shuttle should reverse direction). This happens in all scenes where shuttles are approaching the station.
Suggested correction: But the station spins to create artificial gravity for the outer rim where the ships are headed. The ships approaching are just matching speed and don't need to fully brake.
Not when accelerating toward the structure. They would have to slow their approach, then match the radial velocity of the ring, which would still mean decelerating to match the structure's relative position in orbit.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Marcus is removing the shrapnel from his leg, when he gets to the last and largest piece, he places the medallion from his necklace in his mouth to bite down on. As the scene transitions from the leg to his face as it is removed, he appears to no longer have the medallion in his mouth. Then once the shrapnel is removed, he collapses and still has the medallion in his mouth.
Continuity mistake: Joe is looking through his yearbook while Marie chats with the old headmistress. He finds the page with Adrian's photo. At first, the name under the photo is Adrian Pryce. In the closeup shot, it now reads Adrian Doyle Pryce. (01:12:20)
Other mistake: When Philomena and the journalist are waiting to board a return flight from Washington to London, he calls his office in London where a clock shows it is 8:55. That would make it 3:55 in D.C. It can't be 3:55 pm because it is dark; so it has to be 3:55 am. And no flights leave for London until 3 or 4 hours later.
Factual error: The train liveries shown in the UK were well out of use by 1980. And the West Coast Railway (Company) did not exist at all.
Factual error: In the final scene where Solomon was reunited with his family, the doors he entered the room through had Edwardian style leadlight glass. The movie was set about 50 years before this style.
Factual error: When Bradley Cooper calls Louis C.K. he asks him, "Where are you?" Given he's just called him on his office number, rather than a carphone, he knows exactly where he is.
Factual error: In the scene where the young Helen Goff is traveling by train with her family, it's obvious that an American engine and coaches have been used, instead of a Queensland Rail locomotive of the era. None of the QR locomotives had flared smokestacks like on the one seen in the movie. The coaches are also incorrect - as far as I know, none of the Queensland Rail wood coaches had clerestory roofs with a set of windows in them like seen in the movie. When Helen looks out the back of the train, it's also obvious that the tracks are spaced at 'standard gauge' (4' 8.5"). They should be closer together, as railways in Queensland are built to 3'6" gauge instead. There is also no such company as the 'Queensland Victoria Railway Co', as marked on the coaches, as all railways in Australia are state owned.
Factual error: A scene near the beginning of the movie when Forest Whitaker and Oprah are both speaking on different phones. The phone that Forest is using has a modular plug. The scene takes place during the Kennedy administration (early 60's). The modular phone plug was not patented and put into use until 1975.
Continuity mistake: Lamenting his failed SOS call, he retreats to the cabin where he pours himself a drink. After pouring his drink, he puts the bottle down and the bottle is about a third full. As he drinks from the glass, the bottle changes to be more than 1/2 full. (00:23:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Papi is in the back of the white Fodge driven by Stig, the Ford Bronco driven by Bobby crashes into Stig's white Dodge twice - both headlights are smashed out. Once the Bronco goes into the ditch and comes back out, the passenger side headlight isn't broken.
Revealing mistake: At the end of the film when John Moon is digging a shallow grave for the dead girl (who has been dead for days, and spent additional days in a freezer also). You can see the dead girl breathing by the way her arm is moving on her chest. (01:46:00 - 01:47:00)
Continuity mistake: In the barrel riding scene just after Kili is shot in the leg, Tauriel arrives carrying her bow in her left hand. In the next shot the bow is in her right hand: she nocks, draws, and shoots with her left hand. (00:50:20)
Factual error: At Liberace's funeral, when the priest concludes his prayer, the congregation responds, "And with your Spirit." This response has only been part of the English-language Catholic Mass since 2011. In 1987, the response would have been "And also with you."
Factual error: In a scene where the nightclub singer with the tropical fruit headwear is on stage, she is singing into a classic RCA 77D microphone which is correct for the period, but in a mistake often made in movies that are set in this era, the microphone is wrongly positioned. It is leaning toward the singer when in fact this type of mic is spoken to from the side, not the end. To work correctly it was always pointed away from the singer or placed in a vertical position for side pickup. (01:06:15)
Character mistake: In the scene where Billy is called to the crime scene of Andrews' murder, Andrews' body is shown with a wound on his chest. Later in the movie though, Billy is questioning Todd Lancaster. Todd Lancaster says that he saw Andrews get shot in the head. (00:52:00 - 01:25:00)
Factual error: When Llewyn is driving back to NYC from Chicago, he passes a couple signs stating that Akron, OH, is at the next exit off the highway, on US Route 80. US 80 passes exclusively through the South, from Dallas to the Atlantic Ocean in Georgia, and doesn't even come remotely close to Ohio. (01:13:58)
Suggested correction: It's Interstate 80, which does pass through Ohio, not Route 80.
The mistake is correct. It's the US Route 80 sign which has black letters on the white shield. An I-80 sign would have white letters on a red and blue shield.
Factual error: David fills his car with gas and puts the gas cap back on, on the driver's side, but the Subaru Outback's gas cap is actually on the passenger side of his car. (00:14:50 - 00:24:50)