Question: When McClane asks Barnes to 'break the code' on one of the baddies' Walkie Talkies, Barnes tells him it is impossible as it is a 10 button device with a 6 digit readout..."There could be a million combinations!" How can there be a million combinations? Surely the largest number on a 6 digit readout is 999,999.
raywest
16th Mar 2021
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Answer: Totally agree with the other answer, but also, someone saying, "There could be a million combinations!" can also just be a deliberate hyperbole, and never meant to be taken literally. It's like saying, "I told you that a thousand times already."
Except that a 6-digit code literally has a million combinations. It's not hyperbole at all.
Oh really? No kidding? Never disputed that there was one million combinations. The character, however, could have intended his comment as a hyperbolized, off-the-cuff remark that was not meant to be an exact number count. He said, "There COULD be a million combinations!" He did not say, "There are precisely one million combinations." He could have meant it either way. There was more than one way to interpret what he said.
This is a strange situation because the wording suggests that Barnes is using hyperbole ("there COULD be a million combinations..."), but mathematically the number of possible combinations with a 0-9 keypad and a 6 digit readout is exactly 1 million (10x10x10x10x10x10 = 1,000,000). So he is technically not using hyperbole but that was his intent. So it's both hyperbole and not hyperbole at the same time. It's kind of fascinating, actually.
3rd Mar 2021
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018)
Question: Why is Tom Clancy credited as an executive producer on this show considering he passed away 5 years before the show went into production?
Answer: As he is the author who created the Jack Ryan character that was adapted into a successful movie franchise, he could be credited as an executive producer for any TV or movie projects both before and after he died. It was announced in 2015 that the series would be produced for Amazon. Clancy died in late 2013, and he probably was involved in the series' earliest stages or discussions just prior to his death, and therefore would be credited posthumously. The title of TV or movie "executive producer" is fairly broad and can include one or more function, including securing financing, production oversight, creative input, script consultation, story concept, and more. Clancy's estate would likely continue to be involved under his name following his passing and receive profits and royalties.
While his estate would receive the profits, it's not automatic that Clancy would receive credit as a executive producer just because he wrote the novels. Authors like Michael Crichton, Douglas Adams haven't been credited as an executive producer after their death for use of their characters and works. Clancy's estate must be involved in the production in some way and rather than credit the estate, they credit the man.
Most likely his estate would be involved, through surviving family members, lawyers, etc. to act on his behalf in his name. No one said it was "automatic." It would have been a contract arrangement made while he was alive and that would continue posthumously. Whatever Michael Crichton or Douglas Adams did was a different arrangement for whatever reason they chose.
Nothing in your answer suggested anything about a contract arrangement (which if true would be the reason). You implied it was automatic. You said "as the author...he would be credited...for any...projects", but that simply is not true.
2nd Nov 2020
Fifty Shades Darker (2017)
Question: When Ana's car is vandalized, shouldn't there be cameras in the parking garage to show who did it and how they got in to the garage?
Answer: Considering that this is a private residential garage and not a public pay-to-park one, it would be reasonable to assume that there should be multiple security cameras throughout. Christian Grey is a particularly high-profile person who is always heavily guarded. There should be cameras aimed at where his vehicles are parked.
Answer: I ran a parking garage located at city hall and there was only one camera present, which was pointed at the booth/exit gate. There were never cameras in the garage to see accidents or vandalism. Plus, the recordings were never saved for more than 24 hours unless someone requested the recording be pulled before there were deleted.
17th Feb 2021
Friends (1994)
The One with Two Parts: Part 1 - S1-E16
Corrected entry: The colour of Chandler's suit changes from grey to green while he's trying to fire Nina. (00:11:25)
Correction: Chandler's suit changes because he's wearing different ones over multiple days. He attempts to fire Nina, then chickens out, then tries again on another day and fails, then finally musters the courage to do so on a third attempt after his boss confronts him.
No, if you watch the scene you will see that on the second attempt the suit changes colour between camera angles. This is not because it is different days.
I just streamed it again. I don't see that the suit changes color from grey to green, but it does look different when seen from either the front or the back view. However, it looks like this is just from the set lighting. There's a strong light source coming from the left-hand side that makes Chandler's suit look lighter from the back. The front is more shadowed.
Correction: He wears the same suit throughout the scene, but the light hits it differently when he moves around the office.
3rd Feb 2021
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Question: Depending on child labor laws just how did they get the young Diana actress to do her own stunts?
Answer: Lily Aspell, (young Diana), performed many of her own stunts. She is naturally athletic and was already an expert equestrian rider (her parents and uncle are professional jockeys). Stunts are carefully coordinated, and she would never have been allowed to do anything dangerous. Stunt doubles perform the more dangerous action scenes. Often, CGI superimposes an actor's face over a stunt double's body. Safety harnesses and suspension cables are used and later removed digitally. Actors also perform many scenes in front of a "green screen" and special effects are added later to look like an extreme environment. I once observed a movie scene being shot. What looked like a wild car chase in the move was actually filmed with the vehicles driven at slow speed. The action was sped up during the editing process.
21st Jan 2021
Cast Away (2000)
Question: I recently submitted a "mistake" which revealed my own misunderstanding. The package that Chuck eventually delivers to Bettina had been sent to her partner in Moscow, which COULD explain its presence on a westbound trans-Pacific flight. Still, would a package sent from Memphis to Moscow be routed through southeast Asia? It would be shorter, and therefore faster, would it not, to send it across the Atlantic?
Answer: There are two packages sent by Bettina Peterson. The first we see goes to Russia to a man also named Peterson. The second never reaches its destination but we don't know where exactly it was being sent. That second package must have been going somewhere that required it being routed through Malaysia.
Agree with your answer, but something else occurred to me. Bettina appears to be sending out packages via FedEx fairly regularly. She is an artist, and may sell her work internationally. While she does create large-scale wing sculptures, she may also do smaller types of metal artwork, jewelry, etc. We assume she was only mailing packages to her cheating husband, but she could have been sending something to a customer in Southeast Asia.
I found an earlier version of the script that explains this. After rescue, FedEx looked at the husband's records, which indicate he had moved from Russia to Kuala Lumpur. The package on the plane was being sent from the lady in Texas to there. The FedEx people could not locate a current address for the now ex-husband, so Tom returned it to the sender address in Texas.
11th Jan 2021
The Sandlot (1993)
Question: Can a lifeguard legally throw a kid out of the pool like Wendy did to Squints after he kissed her?
Answer: Absolutely. In addition to having to administer life-saving measures, the lifeguard on duty at a public pool is also responsible for maintaining order. A kid purposefully diving into the deep end of the pool and pretending to drown just so he could kiss the lifeguard puts himself and others at risk. Anyone who doesn't abide by the pool rules can be kicked out by the lifeguard with no warning needed at all.
Answer: I would add to the other answer that inappropriately touching or kissing another person without their consent is an illegal act, giving the lifeguard the legal right to expel anyone.
I appreciate the answer, but the movie takes place in the 1960s. As much as I agree with you, that sadly wasn't the way things were then.
Even though it was the 1960s, it would still be illegal to touch, grope, or kiss someone without their permission. It would be considered a technical physical assault. Unfortunately, in that era, it was taken less seriously than it is now and the consequences were minor (i.e. a stern warning) to non-existent. The lifeguard was in the position of power at the pool, however, and she had the authority to eject anyone for that type of behavior.
Not in the 1960s. It was just a kiss from a little kid. It was embarrassing, not illegal.
11th Jan 2021
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Character mistake: When Barbara gives the hilarious back story of the wishing stone, she mentions that "Romulus, the last emperor of Rome, he had it on him when he was assassinated in 476." That's an amazing historical find in itself, because Romulus Augustulus (just "Romulus" is not really correct) was never assassinated; he had to abdicate the title in that year, but then lived the rest of his life in exile. It's worth noting that the novelization of the movie talks about Romulus, Rome's FIRST ruler, and his 'mysterious disappearance'. (01:27:45)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Not a mistake in the movie for Barbara to give inaccurate information on history, since she is rushing through all of it without fact checking everything. He focus is the stone, not what happened to Romulus.
I don't see what's wrong with saying it's a character mistake, really. By that logic, any bit of historical context provided in a movie could be incorrectly stated as long as it comes from someone who is in a rush. I find more interesting to report when something said in a movie for a serious purpose is wrong and not challenged.
She's not an educated historian, OK for her to be mistaken. If she however says wrongful things about something she is supposed to be an expert in, that's a character mistake.
It's not OK for her to be mistaken because when you specifically research for something (she has super-fast reading powers now and her task was to do some complex history research, it was not a random mistake playing Trivial Pursuit) there's no way to get that piece of information wrong; she is tracing the path the stone took, the fate of its last known owner is important. That being said, I don't particularly care about her status as expert (which she is, having done a specific research as said); dramatically speaking it's the bit of historical context the movie provides, it should not have mistakes in it when they do not have a payoff.
5th Jan 2021
Broken English (2007)
Question: When Nora drinks with Nick Gable at the bar, she says "You know what Hugh Hefner says about ____? That 3 are too many and one is not enough." What's the word she said in the blank? What is she talking about? The subtitle was left out there. And from what I searched, this "Hugh Hefner" is a real person. The Wikipedia says he is an American magazine publisher. Is there a remark that became known to the public he has ever said? (00:14:10)
Answer: She appears to actually be paraphrasing author James Thurber: "One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough." Hugh Hefner was the publisher of Playboy Magazine, but he doesn't seem to be the one who made this quote.
Chosen answer: The word she says is "breasts." I've never found it attributed to Hugh Hefner though. The quote seems to have originated from the film "The Parallax View" where Gail says "They say a martini is like a woman's breast: one ain't enough and three is too many." It's been re-quoted in several different places and has nothing to do with James Thurber. She's just saying it as a joke and I think they used Hefner's name since it sounds like something he might say since he founded Playboy, but also so Nick could say "he's one to talk, he has 19 girlfriends."
There are Internet sources showing that the original quote being paraphrased is by James Thurber: "One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough."
Yes, but that's not the joke and has nothing to do with the scene. They're two different quotes and the latter one has nothing to do with Thurber's quote. His quote is not being paraphrased at all.
Yes, but the way your response is worded makes it sound as if the quote never had anything to do all with James Thurber. Brian Katcher was citing it in his response to give context to the joke's origin and how it is being paraphrased, not the joke itself.
Yes, the quote in the movie, despite not being credited to Hefner, IS NOT Thurber's quote. Brian just brought up a random quote that had nothing to do with the scene or the question.
6th Apr 2017
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Plot hole: For a convicted murderer who violated her parole and assaulted her parole officer while escaping custody, Ashley Judd moves around the country and even boards airplanes with little to no problems.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: She was simply careful. There's constant manhunts for much more serious felons and parolees on the lam who seem capable of moving around without getting caught.
30th Jun 2010
Sex and the City (1998)
Hot child in the city - S3-E15
Corrected entry: When Jenny and her friends greet Samantha and the girls at the restaurant, Jenny says 'I didn't know you knew Carrie Bradshaw.' But she also mentions that she loves Carrie's column, implying that she reads it every week. If Jenny really was reading Carrie's columns on a regular basis; she would already know that Samantha is one of Carrie's best friends, as Carrie writes about her constantly. (00:12:35)
Correction: It is never mentioned that Carrie refers to her friends in the column by their full names, nor would she likely do so, therefore Jenny would not know that it's the same Samantha.
Carrie's column was based heavily on the lives and adventures of herself, and her friends. She used their full names during voiceovers, showing the content of her published writing. Samantha is not a common name, and she wouldn't likely be referring to another Samantha. Obviously this is a plot contrivance for the scene. If the girls regularly read Carrie's column, they would know that Samantha was one of her best friends.
25th Apr 2017
Passengers (2016)
Corrected entry: Given all the passengers are supposed to be in hibernation, and the hibernation pods are "fail safe", why would the ship's computers be programmed to announce scenic views in the middle of the voyage, such as passing the star Arcturus?
Correction: The pods were not "fail safe" as evidenced by Jim's pod being opened due to the malfunction. Once Jim is awakened and starts moving around the ship, utilizing different functions, and so on, the ship's computer would be triggered and act as if all passengers have been awakened. It starts providing its normal services, such the hologram greeting Jim and giving information, entertainment, Arthur working as the bartender, and passengers being informed when there is an interesting astronomical event to watch.
Correction: The whole premise of the movie centers around the belief the pods are fail safe. If the engineers and programmers believed the pods to be fail safe, then there is no reason to program in sight seeing subroutines for locations passed in the middle of voyage when everyone is believed to still be in hibernation.
The ship, once it happened to be activated by Jim and Aurora for passenger mode, may have sensors that then identify and announce any scenic view it encounters on its journey. The ship follows a pre-set path to and from the planet, and every astronomical object would be catalogued in its computers, regardless of whether it was intended for passengers to see it.
25th Mar 2008
Friends (1994)
The One With The Flashback - S3-E6
Corrected entry: In the flashback episode, Chandler and Monica are in the bar (which is soon to become Central Perk) and Rachel is in the same bar with her friends before she is due to marry Barry. When Chandler overhears Rachel - a complete stranger - say she wants one last fling, he tries to flirt with her, but she dismisses him. Monica then says "I know her" and talks to Rachel briefly with Chandler present. In fact, as revealed in later episodes, Chandler and Rachel knew each other when he was in college with Ross and Rachel was in high school with Monica - in fact they even made out at a college party.
Correction: Then the mistake is in subsequent episodes, not this one. In any case, Chandler simply didn't recognize Rachel.
Or since Rachel was drunk at the college party, she has very vague memories and doesn't remember that night very well.
Rachel and Chandler had previously met several times before the college party and she was sober. Chandler was at the two consecutive Thanksgiving dinners at the Geller house when both Rachel and Monica were in high school. Rachel gave Monica hints on how to get back at Chandler for having called Monica "fat" the previous year. Rachel and Chandler should have remembered this.
9th Aug 2020
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Question: Why did the ex husband kill his former mistress turned wife?
Answer: Nick used Angie to help fake his death, frame Libby, and collect the insurance money which would have gone to their son, Matty. It's unclear if Nick married Angie, who became Matty's legal guardian, but he needed her to gain access to the money. He certainly didn't love her, and once he fully controlled the money, he eliminated her, as she was a liability who could have exposed him. I agree with the other answer that it also simplifies the plot by killing off a secondary character. It also shows how devious, ruthless, and sociopathic Nick is.
Answer: I don't think they explained it, but most likely for her insurance money which is the same reason Nick faked his death in the first place. But it's also possible her death was faked as well. Looking at it from the prospective of the writer, it seemed it was easier to kill her off or get rid of her somehow instead of her showing up at the end with Nick and there wouldn't be a way for Libby to kill her without facing jail time for it and it wouldn't make sense for Libby to just forgive her and let her go.
Angie's death wasn't faked. It was established and verified by the next-door-neighbor lady that she was killed in the house explosion while Nick and Maddy were conveniently away. Libby also researched old newspaper articles about the accident and the ensuing investigation. The articles also showed photos of the now-dead Angie.
23rd Dec 2020
Ever After (1998)
Question: When the Evil Stepmother wakes up Danielle (who is hungover, from being with Henry and the gypsies the night before), and asks Jacqueline to boil water, why? And what was done with it? Nothing was ever explained about the boiling water. I don't believe Evil Stepmother had Jacqueline boil water to make their breakfast with. She wouldn't have relented that easily. The very next scene has Danielle getting water from the well, looking fine.
Answer: Near the beginning of the movie after Danielle comes back from whipping apples at Henry, the stepmother and sisters are having breakfast. At the beginning of the scene Marguerite says, "I wanted one four minute egg, not four one minute eggs and where in GOD'S NAME IS OUR BREAD!" Therefore the boiling water was probably to make hard boiled eggs for their breakfast.
Answer: I think the boiling water part was to actually boil water for the breakfast.
Answer: Disagree. The Stepmother says it, in too resolutely a manner as if she has a specific purpose for the boiling water. As if it will be used as a punishment on Danielle, somehow. Btw, it can't be related to the whipping, either, as that doesn't happen till a few scenes later. Script error?
Probably not a script error but something explaining this may have been edited out post-filming. It's typical in movies that filmed scenes are later deleted entirely or partially edited during post-production for a variety of reasons-to cut down the film's running time, speed up the action, etc. As a result, it often leaves small plot inconsistencies.
28th Nov 2020
The Godfather (1972)
Question: When Michael was visiting the church to "repent" he started to experience an anxiety attack and asked for juice and candy. How on earth did the person standing in the shadows get the juice and candy in under 5 seconds in that scene...pitcher full, a glass and candy on a platter?
Answer: I believe this happened in The Godfather: Part III (1990). Michael was diabetic (it was not an anxiety attack), and he may have requested in advance (without explaining why) that water, juice, candy, etc. be nearby in the event it was needed or else there may have been the usual refreshments set out. The one priest's actions was overly quick, though this was probably a movie choice to accommodate the scene's pacing. Michael's assistants would likely always bring a supply of candy and juice with them whenever Michael went somewhere. That is what diabetics are supposed to consume if they have a sudden attack.
Yes, I remember now he was diabetic and your answer makes sense. I re-watched the clip where he asks for it and he says it's his diabetes, when he's under stress sometimes it happens. However, I still think that once the Priest said, "what is it, what's the matter or whats wrong" that they didn't know in advance otherwise he would not have needed to ask but that his "assistants" (lol) would have had it with them instead. Either way, it doesn't take away from the film but I've watched this movie no less than 100 times and there is ALWAYS something that I didn't see or understand. This scene just stood out. Thanks for your reply.
22nd Nov 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Question: Why would an exploding helicopter take so long to slide down the side of the building? Enough time for McClane to get down to the party area?
Answer: This is a movie, not reality. The doomed helicopter's descent was deliberately slowed down on film for a visually dramatic effect. It is also timed so it coordinates with McClane's movement and better serves the plot's pacing. It is also not necessarily linear, timewise, cutting back and forth at different points to show what is happening.
Sorry not adequate explanation. Hundreds of action movies are made regularly the world over they don't make these sorts of errors. Insufficient explanation.
28th Oct 2020
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Question: Why did Richard Burton crash the bus through the doors of the structure it was in, instead of having one of the team quietly open the doors and slowly driving it out and away from the village? Didn't what Burton did draw unwanted attention?
Answer: Logic is seldom a factor in action movies. "Crashing the gate" has always been a popular action film gimmick, as it creates urgency and tension and elevates the audience adrenaline level, even when "crashing the gate" makes no sense. A similar scene is found in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," when Jones and his father are making their castle escape in Austria. Indiana Jones ingeniously distracts the Nazis by launching an unmanned motorboat down the canal, and the Nazi pursuers are adequately distracted. In fact, the Nazis probably would have left the scene entirely, chasing the motorboat, if Jones had just waited patiently for another minute or so. He doesn't wait. Rather, Jones bursts out of a crate on a motorcycle within feet of the Nazis, instantly giving away his true position and initiating the whole motorcycle chase scene that follows. Again, logic goes out the window, and the hero senselessly "crashes the gate" for no other reason than to drive the action.
21st Oct 2020
Quantum Leap (1989)
Star-Crossed - June 15, 1972 - S1-E3
Question: Al tells Sam that he's there to prevent the professor and his undergraduate student from having a shotgun wedding and ruining both their lives. That implies she got pregnant. Sam succeeds in keeping them apart. Um, does that mean he prevented someone from being born?
Answer: He means he's there to prevent there ever being the need for a shotgun wedding-that is, to stop the affair before there is a possibility of the girl getting pregnant.
Which would erase the child from history. That's my point.
Answer: Not necessarily; it could also mean that someone such as Jamie Lee's (the student) father discovered that the professor was having a sexual relationship with her and coerced the two into getting married.
This doesn't answer the question. You just described what a shotgun wedding is.
I think their point is that the "shotgun" aspect might not be due to a pregnancy, simply a forced attempt to legitimise an otherwise scandalous relationship.
My point was that a "shotgun wedding" doesn't always happen because an unmarried girl becomes pregnant; it can also happen because someone "stole her virtue", i.e had sex with her without being married or at least engaged to her. There's no reason to believe that Jamie Lee was, or would become, pregnant as a result of the affair or subsequent marriage.
The term "shotgun wedding" means a forced marriage due to unexpected pregnancy. It's sometimes even used when the woman is pregnant but it's planned or the wedding isn't "forced." In common colloquialism (especially in the 80's when the script was written), it doesn't refer to a force marriage just because of premarital sex (which the term "make an honest woman" is used for).
No, in the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel 'Elmer Gantry', they talk about shotgun weddings, when a groom is forced to marry a woman because he took her virginity. Obviously, the term usually refers to a pregnant bride, but I see zendaddys point.
2nd Oct 2020
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Question: Roughly 12 minutes in during the sidewalk gunfight a person is whacked with a gun after the fight. There is white text that flashes on screen shortly after. What does the text say?
Answer: I think the scene you're referring to happens about and hour and nine minutes in. An Indian is knocked off the horse by a union soldier. I couldn't see any text flash on the screen. There are white signs with black letters in the background that belong to the general stores. Maybe you saw the flash of a horse or saddle?
You're right on the time mark. My mistake. I watched an HD version and it wasn't there. Is the one that TCM aired maybe different than the hd version? I wasn't the only one watching who saw it. There were others.
You probably just saw the name of the station airing the film. The sidewalk scene with 4 soldiers takes place in the middle of the movie. When you rewind a non-recorded show on a DVR, the minute mark is often how many minutes past the hour it is or how long you've been on that channel. 12 minutes into the movie is when they're turning themselves over to the Union before being slaughtered, a little prior to that is the opening credits and fighting montage scene, but no sidewalks around. Most DVR remotes allow frame by frame and slow motion playback (pause then use the fast forward or rewind button).
It wasn't the name of the station. The text was several lines long from top to bottom in the middle of the screen. You're time mark is right. No text on screen in the HD version I watched. TCM aired the one with the text, don't know if it's different in some way.
I screen captured it! Could not get it all. Reads at bottom LEFT RIGHT CH 7,8 - English. (?) LBY EDIT 342. 1/23/ (?) TMC.
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.
Answer: You forgot 000000.
Jon Sandys ★