stevewaclo

26th Jul 2023

Avatar (2009)

Question: In the many shots of the sky above Pandora, we see a variety of seemingly nearby moons around the planet. I'm no astrophysicist, but it seems to me that many orbiting objects would result in a chaotically unstable situation which could not be expected to long endure. Any astrophysicists out there?

stevewaclo

Answer: My bad on the planet/moon thing. You make excellent points, but again, those other moons in Pandora's sky are huge and appear very close. Gravity effects would have to be substantial and disruptive on the entire moon system. Thanks for correcting me.

stevewaclo

Answer: Not an astrophysicist, but to be clear, Pandora is not a planet. It's one of 14 moons orbiting a gas giant (Polyphemus). Thus, it would be the planet and the sun's gravitational pull that would most affect Pandora, in terms of tides. Since the other moons aren't in orbit of Pandora, their pull would be significantly less and would have minimal effect, but would presumably cause more eclipses than what we have on Earth. Pandora also has an atmosphere, which helps provide stability and allowed for life to develop. There are moons in our solar system with atmospheres and bodies of water, which in theory could support life. But it's unlikely that the reason life hasn't developed on these moons is because of some chaotically unstable situation.

Bishop73

28th Dec 2022

6 Underground (2019)

Other mistake: Near the end of the movie, the bad guy's yacht is tied up to a pier. Conveniently, the anchor is also deployed (why?) giving one of our heroes an opportunity to climb aboard via the chain.

stevewaclo

14th Jul 2020

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Other mistake: During the missile attack on the bomber, the radar operator is calling out closing distances to the approaching weapon and they are consistent with the 10 mile calibration rings on his scope. As the missile gets around the 20 mile range, the distances he reports are no longer consistent with the scope.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: When Stark is separated from the group and is attacked by the tiny dinos, his last desperate attempt at escape shows him going down a small stream, then over a log, where he falls and is killed. In the next shot, we are looking at the same log from the other side and bloody water is moving down stream with Stark's body on the other side. He can't be on both sides of the log at the same time.

stevewaclo

7th May 2020

Patriot Games (1992)

Other mistake: When Sean and the two surviving terrorists are on the cliff, looking down at the two boats below, Sean fires a burst at the boats but there are no splashes anywhere to be seen.

stevewaclo

28th May 2019

Star Trek (1966)

Arena - S1-E19

Revealing mistake: As Kirk and the Gorn battle, they briefly confront each other from opposite sides of a dead tree which has truncated limbs. One of the larger tree limbs on this supposedly uninhabited, tiny world has obviously been cut off with a chain saw or similar cutting instrument.

stevewaclo

22nd Nov 2018

The Longest Day (1962)

Continuity mistake: On Omaha Beach, the engineers are able to use Bangalore Torpedoes to create large openings under a massive concrete barrier at the end of a sandy ravine. They then pack the holes with high explosives and after the dust clears, the barrier is about half as high as before, with two large sections remaining in the breach. In an immediately following scene, as troops advance through the breach, it is shown from the opposite side as a wide, flat opening, nothing like the view from the beach side.

stevewaclo

22nd Nov 2018

The Longest Day (1962)

Other mistake: During the scene depicting the (only) two German aircraft which participated in defense of the beaches, they are shown strafing advancing Allied soldiers. However, other than a few random explosions on the ground, there is no indication of their machine guns kicking up any sand. In a later scene, fighters strafe a German column with expected results on the ground.

stevewaclo

31st Oct 2018

Psycho (1998)

Factual error: At the end of the shower murder, the camera pans back from Marion's eye, one of the most iconic scenes in cinema. If we are to presume she is now dead however, the nature of muscles surrounding her pupil would cause them to relax and her pupil would dilate, not go to a pinpoint as depicted.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, Spock, with a phaser in his right hand, is chasing Kahn across the urban landscape. Kahn jumps onto a departing garbage scow and with a mighty leap, Spock jumps towards the bottom of the scow and is then shown holding on with two (empty) hands. A moment later, he is shown climbing onto the deck of the vessel, with the phaser back in his hand. Kahn kicks the phaser away and it disappears once again, this time over the side.

stevewaclo

20th Feb 2018

The Peacemaker (1997)

Factual error: Near the end of the movie, when the heroine is attempting to disable the nuclear aspect of the bomb, she spends a lot of time trying to remove one of the high explosive segments form the core, when simply cutting as many of the detonator wires as possible would seem to have accomplished the same thing. A nuclear detonation requires simultaneous detonation of all the explosive segments to cause the core to go critical. Even a small delay, caused by one or more segment not going off at precisely the right time would have resulted in only a non-nuclear explosion, which is what happened.

stevewaclo

23rd Mar 2017

Homeland (2011)

Casus Belli - S6-E5

Plot hole: Later in the evening, after NYPD takes Quinn into custody, Carrie finds his cell phone, with pictures showing their home had been spied upon from across the street, as well as other evidence of a conspiracy. He had tried to hand her the phone right after the police broke in, but it was knocked from his hand and she discovered it under the smashed door. In the real world, Carrie's home would have been considered a crime scene and the police would have searched it thoroughly, top to bottom, undoubtedly finding the phone themselves, but are shown driving away after the confrontation.

stevewaclo

8th Mar 2017

Hidden Figures (2016)

Factual error: During this era (I was there), nearly everyone (myself excluded) smoked like chimneys, and engineers in the office scene were no exception. All depictions of them laboring over their slide rules should have, realistically, been seen through a thick haze of cigarette smoke.

stevewaclo

23rd Jan 2017

American Graffiti (1973)

Other mistake: When Carol leaves her car full of girlfriends to get into John Milner's yellow coupe, she does not reach for his obvious door handle, but instead puts her hand through the open window and uses the inside release. She could not possibly know the outside handle would not work. In another scene, Carol uses the outside door handle.

stevewaclo

29th Sep 2016

Speed (1994)

Factual error: Near the end of the movie, the villain shoots the operator of the subway car. In all rail transportation situations I am aware of, an operator falling from his seat would immediately cause the train to slow to a controlled stop. It's called the "dead man's switch." Obviously does not happen in this movie.

stevewaclo

28th Sep 2016

American Sniper (2014)

Revealing mistake: When Chris and a companion are on a rooftop in the midst of clothes lines with sheets hanging to dry, all the sheets have creases indicating they had been recently unfolded or removed from original packaging before being hung on the lines.

stevewaclo

24th Apr 2016

The Jungle Book (2016)

Other mistake: In the opening sequence, Mowgli is running at full speed through the jungle, accompanied by Bagheera the black panther, who is mostly unseen until Mowgli finally collapses, exhausted onto the jungle floor. Mowgli lies on his back, talking to Bagheera, and neither are breathing heavily or showing any sign of exertion following their lengthy run.

stevewaclo

11th Jan 2016

The Revenant (2015)

Factual error: While arguable that Glass could have survived the numerous attacks upon his person (a momma grizzly, cold, hunger, starvation, etc.), his lengthy immersion in an icy river and subsequent grounding and re-warming boggles belief. While hypothermia is considered to be the cause of death in such instances, the fact is that within minutes in extremely cold water, a person becomes unable to perform the simplest of motions as the extremities shut down...and they drown. In addition, Glass hauls himself from the river and shortly thereafter is seen in his warm, dry outfit, heading out for new forms of physical and emotional abuse.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: While John Connor is above the small lake in a helicopter searching for Marcus, he and his crew are attacked by snake-like robotic arms that rise up from the water. The arms partially penetrate the cockpit but in brief, subsequent shots of chopper, the arms, which should be extending from the exterior, are nowhere to be seen.

stevewaclo

13th Dec 2015

Goldeneye (1995)

Factual error: In the cemetery, Bond encounters Alex Trevelyan, whom he thought had been killed in the chemical plant explosion. One of Treyelvan's henchmen shoots Bond in the right side of his neck with a dart but in the very next scene, and for the remainder of the movie, Bond's neck shows no sign of having been punctured. (01:08:10)

stevewaclo

Factual error: When Katniss approaches the gate to President Snow's mansion, just after the massacre of civilians in the large plaza, she sees her sister attending to wounded and runs toward her. There is a fiery explosion and Katniss is thrown onto her back and we see that radiant heat from the blast has caused the front of her coat to burst into flames. Flash burns are a common injury following an explosion, but Katniss has not a mark on her face, and not a trace of redness then, or shortly afterward when she is treated in a dispensary.

stevewaclo

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: As is made clear in the book, the fire never touches Katniss' face.

First off, whatever is in the book is not enough to correct a mistake for a movie. Secondly, flash burns do not require fire to contact the skin, they are caused by the thermal radiation from the explosion.

Bishop73

Also book/film discrepancies are invalid by sites rules.

Ssiscool

25th Nov 2015

Zombieland (2009)

Factual error: During action sequences in the amusement park the girls attempt to escape in their Hummer, and a zombie head-butts the passenger window, causing it to shatter. As has been demonstrated on numerous occasions, including a Mythbusters program, tempered automotive glass will not break when struck by a blunt object and that would include a zombie's head. Only a blow from a sharply pointed object will break tempered glass.

stevewaclo

21st Nov 2015

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Continuity mistake: When Jake rides back to the house where his wife was abducted, he pauses and looks at the ruins. The hole in the roof which was blasted by the aliens is wide open to the sky with no ridge beam. A few minutes later, during the flash back scene, he watches the aliens pull his wife through the wide open roof hole. He then steps below the opening to gaze up and there is now a large beam across the roof opening.

stevewaclo

Factual error: Near the end of the movie, the protagonists speed through a check point at perhaps 50 mph. The soldiers begin a pursuit and in moments are right behind the black SUV, which has not slowed down. Although a military Humvee can travel at 70mph, it accelerates from 0-30 in slightly over 9 seconds, and the soldiers could not have possibly caught up so quickly.

stevewaclo

20th Nov 2015

In Cold Blood (1967)

Continuity mistake: When Robert Blake and his accomplice take the father and son to the basement, Blake pulls the string on a hanging lamp and the room becomes fairly bright. A moment later, Blake's accomplice pushes the father into the same room, which is now significantly less well lit, even though the same hanging light is still on.

stevewaclo

15th Nov 2015

Time After Time (1979)

Audio problem: When Wells is en route to the Hyatt, exhaust sound from the taxi as it descends the hills of San Francisco seems to have been stolen from the Mustang in "Bullet." When the taxi pulls up in front of the hotel, it sounds again like the ordinary taxi that pulled away with Wells earlier.

stevewaclo

Factual error: Near the finale, Kang sends a command to all US based missiles to self-destruct in their silos, thereby detonating their warheads. Ignoring for the moment why "self-destruct in silo" would ever be a desirable scenario programmed into ICBM protocols, detonation of a nuclear warhead requires an extremely precise sequence of events, none of which would include a nearby, conventional explosion. (01:38:20)

stevewaclo

11th Nov 2015

Leprechaun (1993)

Revealing mistake: When Tori and others are fighting the leprechaun in the kitchen the wall phone rings and she picks up the hand set. It's the leprechaun on the line and in fear and anger, she slams the hand set back in place and tears the entire phone off the wall. As the phone rips away, it's obvious there is no phone line connector on the wall, only a nail the phone was hanging on.

stevewaclo

29th Oct 2015

Pacific Rim (2013)

Other mistake: Near the end of the movie, Mako swims to the unconscious Raleigh's survival, blows the top shield of his survival pod, removes his helmet and checks for a carotid pulse...while wearing gloves. No wonder she thought he was dead.

stevewaclo

Plot hole: When Jack and John are on their knees in the hotel, with their hands zip-tied behind, Jack manages to use a hidden knife to cut his bindings and starts kicking bad guy butt. Jack immediately joins the fray but a careful review shows that at no point did John use his knife to free Jack.

stevewaclo

19th Oct 2015

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Other mistake: Immediately before the helicopter attack on Tony's house, Maya (the "botanist") looks at the TV set, which shows a news chopper shot of the home, and says "Should we be worried about this?" It's only a moment later, when everyone looks at the screen, that a missile track appears on the screen.

stevewaclo

30th Sep 2015

The Mechanic (2011)

Factual error: In modern automobiles, like the late model BMW Bishop enters with a "slim-Jim" before the final chase, entry without use of the appropriate key or fob will result in the alarm going off and all the car's systems becoming disabled within 30 seconds. A tow to the dealer is then required. If Bishop had appropriate equipment to start the car, he would not need a "slim Jim" in the first place.

stevewaclo

Other mistake: About 1 1/2 hours into the movie, Ensign Bordelles, in the courtyard of the American facility in Changsha, prepares his shore party to march back to San Pablo with the Chinese military escort on either side. The Ensign lines up his men and orders, "Detail, forward March." The Chinese soldiers, unlikely to understand a word of English, also move off in lock step with the Americans.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: In the final fight scene atop the train, Lincoln's African American colleague Will is attacked by the head vampire and is knocked backward over the side of the boxcar. He is seen with his feet nearly over the edge and Abe is seen 7-10' away, lying on the forward end of the car, facing him. In the next shot, Will continues his backward fall and Abe's arm appears over the edge of the roof, grabbing Will's leg. There's no way Abe could have risen from his position atop the car and covered the considerable distance in time to reach down and save Will.

stevewaclo

23rd Jan 2015

300 (2006)

Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, just before the final battle scene, Leonidas drops his weapons and shield to the ground. He was holding the shield in the usual manner, and pushes it away to his left. When it hits the ground however, it is suddenly reversed and falls nearby with the front of the shield upward.

stevewaclo

22nd Jan 2015

Drive Angry (2011)

Continuity mistake: Early in the movie, when Amber's Charger experiences engine trouble and begins to belch smoke from under the hood, there is a quick shot of her speedometer needle dropping to zero. In the next shot, the car is rolling along the side of the highway at 5-10mph, before coming to a stop. The speedo went to zero a bit early.

stevewaclo

21st Jan 2015

Schindler's List (1993)

Factual error: When Amon Goeth attempts to execute the Jewish factory worker for failing to produce enough hinges, Goeth cycles the actions of both inoperative weapons several times. At no time is an unfired round ejected from either handgun, which should have occurred, unless the unfired rounds were both jammed in the chamber (and the firing mechanisms had failed).

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: When Snow White's army is attacking the castle, fireballs are coming towards them and crashing onto the beach. At one point, a fireball lands at an angle that could only occur if it had been launched from behind the advancing army.

stevewaclo

30th Dec 2014

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Other mistake: When the gang rides into Rock Ridge, a cigar smoking man, standing in front of a door, takes a bullet through his hat, front to rear. There is no mark on the door behind him.

stevewaclo

28th Aug 2014

Halloween: H20 (1998)

Factual error: Near the end of the movie, Jamie Lee is speeding down a road in the coroner's van she has stolen and Michael is attacking her from the back of the van. She slams on the brakes, and he flies into the front windshield, which shatters into many pieces. Windshields are made of laminated glass, which contains a sheet of plastic, sandwiched between to sheets of glass. It does not shatter when struck.

stevewaclo

18th Jun 2014

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Revealing mistake: Near the end of the movie, the Bunch are relaxing and passing around a bottle of whiskey. While the actors could not be expected to drink real alcohol, it's too bad the prop guy could not have mixed up some less foamy instant tea, typically used as a substitute in these scenes.

stevewaclo

5th Jun 2014

District 9 (2009)

Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, when Christopher is pulled from the armored car and questioned about his plan, his arms are tied behind his back. A little later, when he is kneeling and the order is given to kill him, his arms are still tied. When Dinkus returns, Christopher is still on his knees, even after a soldier to his left explodes. A moment later, Dinkus arrives in front of him and Christopher is still on his knees, but now his arms are free.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: When Jack and Joan crash into the river above the waterfall, the hood on their car pops open and appears to be seriously askew. In the next scene, as they float down the river, the hood has become tightly closed.

stevewaclo

27th Jan 2014

Prometheus (2012)

Factual error: In the scene showing the two left-behind crewmen as they discover the snake-like alien, one of them reports to the ship that the creature is "30-40 inches long." The scientific community worldwide has been using the metric system for decades and it would seem highly unlikely a trained member of a starship crew would revert to such an ancient system of measurement.

stevewaclo

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It would be terribly unlikely for a trained member of a starship crew to do that. As it happens, he's not a trained member of a starship crew, he's just a hired mercenary.

Phixius

Neither Millburn nor Fifield are mecenaries. Millburn is a biologist and Fifield is a geologist.

BaconIsMyBFF

29th Dec 2013

Blood Simple (1984)

Continuity mistake: When the PI, Visser, shoots Marty, he is aiming the gun at a somewhat downward angle, then, for just a moment, we watch a surprised Marty stare at him. The camera cuts back to Visser, who is now holding the revolver at a much higher angle, as he contemplates shooting Marty again. The camera pulls back for a long shot and it appears Visser is no longer holding the gun on Marty. In the very next shot, he is again pointing the gun at Marty. Also the blood on Marty's shirt increases substantially in the few seconds before Visser leaves. Without a DVR, these details are very difficult to see (except the gun angle).

stevewaclo

26th Dec 2013

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Revealing mistake: When Joker and Raptor are in the helo heading for the front, there is a view of Vietnamese being fired at by the door gunner with an M-60 machine gun. Several seconds pass in the scene while bullets should be tearing into the ground around them, but there are no indications of bullet strikes, even as the line of fire passes over a small creek.

stevewaclo

Other mistake: In the University battle sequence, the screen shot of the attacking helicopter's targeting system indicates a lock on the Hulk, but when the pilot opens fire, the machine gun bullets "walk" to their target, instead of being direct hits as would be expected.

stevewaclo

8th Dec 2013

Sky High (2005)

Continuity mistake: When Will and Layla board the school bus near the beginning of the movie, Ron the driver chastises Will for asking if they are on the right bus and slams the door behind them. A few minutes later, when the Ron announces they are off for Sky Camp, he is shown pulling the "door close" handle again.

stevewaclo

Revealing mistake: As one of the pilots opens a hatch to check on the failed "avionics" a side cockpit window is visible above and behind him. Rain on the window is moving directly downward, an impossibility at hundreds of miles per hour.

stevewaclo

14th Jul 2013

Time Bandits (1981)

Continuity mistake: In the "hanging cages" scene, when the rope holding the first cage finally breaks and the cage drops, the only thing holding the other end is one of the characters, who was shown earlier with the rope around his chest and holding on by his fingers. He should have been pulled into the abyss when all the slack was gone.

stevewaclo

Continuity mistake: When Dr. Benson is being escorted from her home, the headlights of both lead motorcycles are on. A few moments later, while on the highway, the headlamp on the right bike (looking at the screen) is out. It is back on again in the next scene. Rather odd, since on all modern motorcycles, the headlamp comes on with the ignition.

stevewaclo

7th Jul 2013

Blown Away (1994)

Revealing mistake: As Kate drives the Jeep downhill near the end of the movie and swerves the Jeep quickly to avoid another vehicle, her head and body remain upright throughout the maneuver. Of course she was no doubt in front of a blue screen, or on a set, so there was no violent maneuvering to react to.

stevewaclo

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.