Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: Throughout the film's high-energy choreographed fight sequences, Rama is repeatedly struck in the arms, legs and back with machetes. He not only suffers no wounds, but his tactical gear isn't even lacerated.

Charles Austin Miller

Revealing mistake: Early in the movie, aboard the passenger jet, Stewie Gluck accidentally releases an emergency exit hatch and is sucked out of the plane (as is another passenger in a wheelchair). As the hatch stands wide open for a few seconds, with the wind howling outside, it's obvious that the "clouds" passing in the background are nothing but a large, billowing nylon sheet.

Charles Austin Miller

I'm thinking of a live-action kids' movie from the late 1990s in which a dog is the lead character. At one point in the film, the dog takes a White House tour and views portraits of presidents with their pet dogs. One of the portraits is of Bill Clinton with his dog on a leash. There is not and never has been an official White House portrait of Bill Clinton with his dog on a leash, so the portrait in the film was painted as a movie prop. What movie is this?

Charles Austin Miller

Yesterday's Enterprise - S3-E15

Question: The motivation for this episode seems to be returning the Enterprise 1701-C to its own timeline 22 years in the past, where it will certainly be destroyed by Romulan warbirds; yet, the heroism of sacrifice will avert a protracted 22-year war with the Klingon Empire as well as avert tens of billions of Federation deaths. QUESTION: Why didn't they just SWITCH CREWS and send the far more advanced Enterprise 1701-D through the time rift and 22 years into the past? Using its advanced weaponry, defenses, and sheer speed, the Enterprise D could have easily defeated the old Romulan warbirds, saved Tasha Yar, averted the 22-year Klingon war, and saved 40 billion Federation lives. Additionally, sending the truly futuristic 1701-D into the past could have then exponentially advanced Starfleet technology into the future, making the Federation virtually invincible to its traditional enemies. It would seem that this would be the more noble, heroic and logical action of a Starfleet crew - to save lives and advance Federation survival. It would have certainly been a more thought-provoking episode, anyway.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: Late in the big chase scene, Sol climbs on top of the Bentley just as Sinclair decides to drive it straight through a bus that is blocking the highway. Somehow, the Bentley levitates from the highway to about 4 or 5 feet in the air, penetrating the bus passenger cabin rather than impacting the chassis of the bus. Also, as the bus inexplicably explodes in a fireball, Sol (who was atop the car) is torn to pieces, with his decapitated head hurtling straight into the camera. Without lungs or diaphragm, Sol's head is still audibly screaming.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: In the title shot, the camera rises above the dark side of the moon, revealing the crescent of the Earth, which in turn reveals the full disc of the Sun. The Sun is surrounded by the pinpoint lights of distant stars, but there are virtually no stars visible on the darkened far left and far right sides of the screen. This is exactly opposite of how real-life astronauts describe the star scape: Astronauts say that no stars are visible when looking in the general direction of the Sun, and that stars only become visible to the human eye as you turn away from the Sun.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: At two points in the film, the Klingon vessel Bounty traverses the distance from the Earth to the Sun at maximum speed, in excess of Warp 9. The latter sequence requires about 111 seconds from the time Sulu says "Aye sir, warp speed" until they reach the Sun. While there is no real science behind Star Trek's "warp technology, " the Starfleet Technical Manual provides a formula for calculating warp speed, whereby Warp 9 translates to about 136 MILLION MILES PER SECOND. The Earth is only 93 million miles from the Sun. In the apparent time that it takes the Bounty to reach the Sun, a starship traveling at such ferocious velocity would already be outside of our known solar system and deep into interstellar space.

Charles Austin Miller

Other mistake: Near the beginning, Max rises and prepares to leave for work, the only scene in which we see his bare torso. As he moves toward the camera through some rather odd under-lighting, it is obvious that his six-pack abs are airbrushed.

Charles Austin Miller

Plot hole: Gypsy Danger grabs the wounded Kaiju and falls into the interdimensional rift, which opens in response to the presence of Kaiju DNA. That's how Gypsy Danger entered the Kaiju dimension, but Mako and Raleigh somehow escape the Kaiju dimension in their life pods without using Kaiju DNA. Obviously, the rift allows physical objects and energy to pass unobstructed from the Kaiju dimension into our dimension, but not the other way 'round. If this is the case, then Gypsy Danger's thermonuclear detonation in the Kaiju dimension should have burst through the interdimensional rift, as well, at least for a second or so, at roughly the speed of light. Given that Raleigh and Mako had only a 16 to 20 second head start ahead of the blast, they should have been vaporized.

Charles Austin Miller

Other mistake: When the passengers are frantically trying to refuel the jet at the Bangor airport (and Toomy is having a psychic/psychotic meltdown), everyone's attention is drawn to the collapsing power lines in the distance as the Langoliers head straight for them. Up until this point, we have been abundantly reminded that there are no odors, no sounds, no living things, no nothing except sterile, inanimate objects in the past, so the plane passengers are the only living, animate beings in this dead zone. However, as everyone looks toward the Langoliers in the distance, a flock of very animate white egrets (cowbirds) rise up from the grassy meadow in the foreground and circle once or twice for the camera.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: When Jenny Hayden and Starman accidentally overshoot their destination and arrive in Las Vegas, Jenny discovers that her wallet is missing. She has no cash, no credit cards, and no identification whatsoever. The only money she has is a single quarter. Starman uses the quarter to hit the jackpot on a 25-cent slot machine, then uses the prize money to play the Horseshoe $500,000 slot machine, which he also wins. They then use the giant jackpot money to purchase a brand new Cadillac and drive it off the lot. Huge problem: In 1984 (and today), you could never collect a giant Las Vegas jackpot without several pieces of personal identification, for tax purposes. Likewise, you could never purchase and drive a brand new Cadillac off the lot without multiple pieces of identification and a financial disclosure statement (if paying cash).

Charles Austin Miller

Continuity mistake: When Bond and Oddjob are fighting to the death at Fort Knox, Bond retrieves Oddjob's lethal steel-brimmed derby hat and takes aim, preparing for a backhand throw with his left hand. Camera cuts to a startled Oddjob for a split-second. When the camera cuts back to Bond, he is executing a much more difficult forehand throw with his right hand.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: When the barracks are completely flooded, Eggsy uses his bare fist to punch through a large two-way mirror to escape. The fact is that any glass (or plexiglas) thick enough to contain hundreds (or thousands) of tons of water without bursting would be as impenetrable as concrete to Eggsy's bare fist. He would need a chisel-tipped jackhammer to penetrate such a mirror.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: When the barracks are completely flooded, several of the trainees shove shower hoses down the toilets for an "unlimited supply of air" (Merlin describes it as "simple physics"). However, that old fireman's trick is a technique for surviving dense smoke, which is not under fluid pressure. In the barracks flooded 9 feet deep with water, the pressure would be so enormous that it would easily gush straight down the toilets in a powerful torrent, eliminating any "unlimited air supply."

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: In the "Groovy" shed scene, Ash holds a double-barreled shotgun in one hand and saws through the gun barrels with his newly-mounted chainsaw in about 2 seconds flat. He could no more cut through a hardened steel shotgun barrel with a chainsaw than he could cut through a marble counter-top with a butter knife.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: When Clint Eastwood first goes to the barber shop, the barber very deliberately sharpens his razor the wrong way, flipping the blade with its sharp edge against the strop - this would instantly dull the blade. No real barber would make this mistake, but it's a common movie error.

Charles Austin Miller

Continuity mistake: In the final shoot-out scene where Clint Eastwood kills 5 men in rapid succession, Clint crouches and exchanges gunfire with two deputies who are standing side-by-side. A blood stain suddenly appears on the abdomen of the younger deputy on the left, but there is no bullet hole, it does not coincide with any gunshot sound effect, and the deputy does not react to the wound. A moment later, as Clint continues firing, both deputies topple over backwards.

Charles Austin Miller

Continuity mistake: In the scene with Dr. Grant and Lex standing nose-to-nose with the T-Rex, the dinosaur sniffs at the humans, then turns its attention to pushing the Explorer around as Grant and Lex scramble for safety. When the T-Rex starts pushing the Explorer, a profile shot shows that the monster's foot is no more than two yards from the vehicle; yet, in the immediate next shot from the monster's point of view, the T-Rex is obviously positioned 10 or 15 yards away from the Explorer, much too far away to be pushing the vehicle.

Charles Austin Miller

Continuity mistake: After the first T-Rex attack, Tim's rover is still stuck in the tree, and Dr. Grant and Lex arrive at the base of the wall adjacent to a gushing storm drainage pipe. Dr. Grant assures Lex that he will return and goes to assist Tim. Whimpering, Lex clambers up to take shelter in the drainage pipe. However, there is now an inexplicable blue light glowing from deep inside the drainage pipe, illuminating Lex.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: In the train wreck scene at the end of the film, we hear the railroad warning bell clanging, the train horn blaring, James Caan and friends screaming, the fiery roar of the impact, and the rumble of the train plowing through the wreckage. In reality, all of these sound effects would have been drowned out for the duration of the scene by the ear-splitting, squealing screech of powerful railroad brakes that the engineer would have applied long before an unavoidable impact. Omitting the sound of railroad brakes is still a common factual error in modern train-collision sequences.

Charles Austin Miller