Corrected entry: When Mike goes into the church to address the townspeople, if you look closely, one of the men is wearing a digital wristwatch. The events of this film took place in 1975, long before this type of watch would have been available. (00:57:05)
A nameless member
21st Mar 2024
Fire in the Sky (1993)
12th Mar 2024
Mr. Holmes (2015)
Corrected entry: Mr. Holmes says Roger was "disorientated" when running from the wasps. That is not a word. Sherlock Holmes would never make that mistake.
Correction: It's absolutely a word Sherlock Holmes would use. "Disoriented" is American English, "disorientated" is British English.
12th Mar 2024
Daria (1997)
Corrected entry: The series started in 1997 during a time where cell phones and the internet already existed, but in the show, everyone still uses landlines and no cell phones are ever seen and no internet is ever used or mentioned.
Correction: 1997 was pretty much right at the start of mainstream adoption of the internet and cellphones. Only 20% of people owned a cellphone, and 18% of households had an internet connection. And it would have been slow dial-up, and fairly expensive to use. No real reason to make it a focus of the show. Just because something technically exists, doesn't mean it's mainstream enough to reference. This also isn't remotely a plot hole or even factual error, given the show was made in 1997 so is period-accurate by default. They can mention/not mention whatever they want - I'm sure there were lots of other cultural/technological developments they didn't pay much attention to, and those aren't mistakes either.
21st Jan 2015
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Factual error: When Michael meets with Hyman Roth at his home in Florida the television is on and you can hear the announcer calling a USC/Notre Dame game. The meeting takes place in the late 1950's, but the announcer is Tom Kelly, a long time USC announcer who didn't start calling their games until the 1960's.
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Suggested correction: The announcer calls out Don Buford and Luther Hayes. These players were on USC's roster together only in 1958. Therefore, the game must be the 1958 matchup that Notre Dame won 20-13. This is not a factual error.
The announcer has the voice of Tom Kelly, who did not announce USC games until the early '60's.
The point is that given the announcer heard is calling a real game from 1958, it's almost certainly the actual announcer from that game. There'd be no point in hiring Tom Kelly to call a fake game. The announcer must just sound like him, but be someone else. Tom Kelly isn't in the credits, which he would be if he was specifically cast in that role.
15th Feb 2024
The King's Man (2021)
Corrected entry: A "Union Jack" on land is called a "Union Flag." Not so commonly known by the layperson, but certainly well known by the members of the British military.
Correction: The Flag Institute, which advises the UK government and United Nations about British flags, investigated this idea thoroughly in 2013 and concluded "Union Jack" is perfectly acceptable whether on land or not. Union Jack and Union Flag have been used interchangeably in both Royal and governmental statements through the centuries. "It is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. From early in its life the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either name could be used officially. In 1908, a government minister stated, in response to a parliamentary question, that "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag".
28th Jan 2024
Saltburn (2023)
Factual error: This is set in summer 2007 but they watch Superbad (released August 2007) on DVD.
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Suggested correction: The movie actually takes place in 2006. Superbad coming out in 2007 was correct.
Do a word change if the mistake is valid. Not a correction.
The movie starts in late 2006, then Oliver is invited to spend the summer (2007) with Felix, where the bulk of the movie takes place.
28th Jan 2024
FBI: Most Wanted (2020)
Corrected entry: A woman hands a man a paper which is supposed to say "Tel Aviv, Israel" but it is spelled "Isreal" on the prop note. (00:26:59)
Correction: The writing's so bad it's hard to say it's definitely wrong.
13th Dec 2006
Gallipoli (1981)
Corrected entry: Frank, Archie, and Snowy are all rural boys from Western Australia but they all play Australian Rules football expertly. In 1915, Australian Rules was almost unknown outside of Melbourne, in New South Wales, the other side of Australia. In a time before television or film, they wouldn't even know what the ball looked like. The game only started to spread outside Victoria in the 1980s, and there is no way that three people from Western Australia would know how to play the game in 1915, let alone with such skill.
Correction: WA football has been around since before the 1900s - for example, South Fremantle Football club was established in 1900. This comment is factually WRONG.
Correction: By 1901 football was the main winter sport in Western Australia. Fremantle rugby club in Western Australia changed to Australian Rules football in 1885. The West Australian Football League was well established by the time of World War I, and didn't even shut down during the war, unusually.
19th Dec 2023
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Other mistake: In flashbacks, younger Indiana Jones has exactly the same voice as the older one.
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Suggested correction: Harrison Ford's voice has always sounded the same. Watch any film he's done.
It's a noticeably "older" voice than in previous films when he was about the age his de-aged self is meant to be. I mean he's now in his 80s not 40s, of course his voice is different! An unavoidable mistake but still clearly different.
Harrison Ford's voice has definitely become pretty gravelly.
2nd Dec 2023
Cold Case (2003)
Corrected entry: In a flashback showing the electoral map in the background, the states won by George Bush (Republican) are colored blue, while the states carried by Bill Clinton (Democrat) are colored red. It should be the other way around.
Correction: The blue/red for Democrats/Republicans being consistent only started with the 2000 Presidential election. For most of the 20th Century red was used for Democrats, and blue for Republicans, if there was any consistent colour scheme at all. With the development of colour TV, some networks alternated the colour scheme with each election, or had their own preferred choice, such as using blue for the incumbent party. The drawn-out nature of the 2000 election meant that the electoral map was referenced for much longer than normal, and networks standardised for simplicity, and the current scheme stuck. There was apparently no particular reason for the specific associations, and the parties themselves had no official colours.
25th Nov 2023
The Shining (1980)
Corrected entry: Jack asks to be served a bottle of bourbon, but the bartender pours a glass of Jack Daniels, a sour mash.
Correction: This gets debated but is largely a semantic point. JD calls itself Tennessee Whiskey, but per Wikipedia that's "legally defined under Tennessee House Bill 1084, the North American Free Trade Agreement and at least one other international trade agreement as the recognized name for a straight bourbon whiskey produced in Tennessee. It is also required to meet the legal definition of bourbon under Canadian law." So yes, Jack Daniel's is also bourbon, even if it can be given a more specific name too.
30th Oct 2023
Spider-Man (2002)
Continuity mistake: When Spider-Man is being gassed by the Green Goblin, the mouthpiece of the Green Goblin's mask is open, and Osborne's lips are visible moving as he speaks to J. Jonah Jameson. Later in the scene where Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin in the burning building, a close-up of his mask is shown again, but this time there appears to be some kind of black mesh screen in the mouth of his mask.
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Suggested correction: It's never fully open, it's just easier to see through the mesh in certain lighting.
16th Mar 2016
Dexter (2006)
That Night, A Forest Grew - S2-E7
Continuity mistake: The door on his fridge keep changing. When she says "pardon my tits" it is hinged on the right, other episodes it is hinged on the left.
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Suggested correction: Hinges on fridge doors can be swapped around for ease of the user.
But virtually nobody casually re-hangs their fridge doors on a whim - they set them up once and leave them. This is clearly done for the sake of visual contrivance.
9th Oct 2023
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Corrected entry: When Jake first arrives at the house of Miss Peregrine, she refers to him in pounds and speed of which he arrived. There, the movie takes place in Wales, in England. They use the metric system, not the imperial system. It should have been kg and kilometers.
Correction: There speaks someone who's never been to Britain. Even today speed is always given in miles per hour (including our speed limit signs) and plenty of people use pounds for weight instead of kg. Most importantly, this is set in 1943, well before Britain went metric.
14th Oct 2004
Titanic (1997)
Corrected entry: 100% of the audio in this movie was added in post production, including voices.
Correction: Not remotely true. Sound designer Gary Rydstrom said in an interview "I'd say that about 50% of the natural dialogue was used in the finished picture". It was mostly the third act with all the water on set that necessitated re-recording dialogue, but all the lighting generators caused some issues too. The dialogue heard in the film was pieced together by sound mixer Tom Johnson from a mix of sources. http://filmsound.org/studiosound/pp_titanic.html
Correction: This is NOT true. During the painting scene, Leo flubs the line "Over on the bed...the couch." The director even said so.
Correction: Yes, he flubbed the line, but then re-recorded it because the director liked it and decided to keep it in. So, the claim about the audio being added in post-production still stands.
Yes, but the original post said "100%." One line being added in post production doesn't constitute as 100%.
2nd Sep 2023
Grown Ups (2010)
Corrected entry: In the funeral scene, there is a visible casket indicating that Coach is going to be buried; however, later in the film, the characters spread Coach's ashes.
Correction: People are basically always put into a casket for the funeral and then the whole thing is cremated. Otherwise a funeral would just have a body lying on a slab, which mourners would generally not prefer to see.
2nd Sep 2023
Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
Corrected entry: Both Voyager's engines are destroyed in the final battle before going through the Vortex. They plan on using aft torpedoes to not only close the Vortex but help propel them through the Vortex since they have no engines. They arrive on the other side of the Vortex finally out of The Void and into regular space with star systems rather than nothingness. Janeway proceeds to say, "full speed ahead." Credits roll as Voyager's engines propel them off into space.
Correction: The nacelles are destroyed, which let the ship travel at warp speed. Impulse engines are an entirely separate system, which are used for sub-light speed. They're moving forward as best they can.
26th Aug 2023
Robocop (1987)
Corrected entry: Robocop actually kills a guy (the "fuck me" robber) with a swing blow that sends the guy through a refrigeration unit. He KILLS a guy but doesn't report it. He says, "Thank you for your cooperation. Good night." He then shoots a rapist but doesn't report it. He says, "I will notify a rape crisis center," but he doesn't report the shooting. This guy is not a cop at all.
Correction: We don't see everything he does or doesn't do. Much like other cops in movies, films would be pretty dull if they took some action and we then had to watch them in real time have a conversation on the radio about it followed by hours of paperwork.
Correction: First of all, I'm not sure where you got the idea that him clotheslining the robber and making him fall through the refrigeration unit kills him. You're the first person I've seen make that claim. He just looks like he gets knocked out. Second, both instances you mention cut away before we see the aftermath. It's not too difficult to presume that he either booked the perps or contacted other police to come clean up after him offscreen. After all, we do see him arrest Clarence later, so we know he does arrest people.
16th Aug 2023
Oppenheimer (2023)
Corrected entry: When Oppenheimer asks Einstein to review Teller's calculations about a runaway chain reaction, Einstein replies, "If there's one thing you and I share, it is a disdain for mathematics." This is a popular misconception. Einstein was a gifted mathematician, and his research was extremely mathematical in nature.
Correction: He's not saying he can't do mathematics, he's saying he doesn't *like* mathematics. His interest was in physics, which of course involves a lot of maths, but for the sake of a lazy metaphor you wouldn't say a farmer likes cleaning out the cow sheds, it's just something he has to deal with in the course of doing the higher level work he wants to do.
22nd Jul 2023
Oppenheimer (2023)
Factual error: After the successful Trinity test in 1945, people in a crowd are holding small US flags with 50 stars on them (offset rows). At the time there were only 48 states and the flag had 48 stars in even rows. The 50 star flag didn't exist until 1960, after Alaska and Hawaii were made states in 1959.
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Suggested correction: While this is correct, an argument can be made that since the colour scenes are meant to be subjective and the black and white scenes are meant to be objective, Oppenheimer could have been unintentionally mapping the modern US flag onto this scene.
That's a ridiculous stretch with zero evidence, not least as 48 star flags are seen in colour in other scenes. Sometimes a mistake is simply a mistake.
There is evidence, though. Nolan said so himself. Look it up. As for the mistake itself, I'm merely repeating what I've read on Twitter, and this correction was merely a suggestion. Seeing the 48 star flags in other colour scenes still doesn't disprove this theory. It is just a theory though, so no need to shoot it down so hard.
He's said subjective in terms of the colour scenes being "first person", and maybe not strictly factual in terms of creating moments between characters and conveying emotion, but nowhere does that stretch to "one random scene happens to feature 50 star flags because Oppenheimer is mapping the modern flag onto it, when nothing like that happens anywhere else in the film."
Meh, take it up with Twitter. I just thought it was interesting, so I posted it here for a different point of view/perspective for others to read. It is most likely bull**** though.
The fact that a director realized they had made a mistake and retroactively made up a deus ex machina explanation for it in no way invalidates the mistake. Nice try, Mr. Nolan but this posting is absolutely valid.
While Christopher Nolan's talked about the subjective/objective colour/black and white thing, which is entirely fair and no doubt exactly his intention, I don't think he's actually tried to "excuse" this by using that explanation, that's just other people trying to connect the two things. I'm not sure Nolan has commented on the flag issue in interviews at all.
Precisely, and I was in no way trying to invalidate the original mistake. I just found the whole theory interesting and posted it here. It is rather hilarious that a director with such attention to detail like Nolan would have missed something like this. We shall see if he gets it fixed for the streaming/physical release.
It's not fixed in the home video version. However, the behind-the-scenes materials provide a reason for the mistake, in that putting a crowd in the scene was apparently a spur-of-the-moment decision. It's like that in their haste to bring in the crowd, the set decorators bought some modern miniature flags and put them into the scene without anyone realizing the 48/50 discrepancy.
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Correction: Per the Smithsonian website: "in January 1976, Texas Instruments shocked its competition by introducing the first $20 watch line. The lowest price for a digital electronic watch just fifteen months earlier had been $125 and even a few months before, $49.95." So they were definitely commercially available in 1975.