Movie & TV flubs...

[Warped9]

Big logic flaws or f/x gaffs are usually easy to spot. But what about the minor things. The little details that are somehow overlooked and leave you wondering how'd they miss that?

Sometimes these things are just one offs yet other times they're done repeatedly in different movies or TV shows.

I'll start. A couple come immediately to mind.

In the recent Peter Jackson's King Kong we see Ann Darrow out in the streets of New York in just a slip of a dress in winter while everyone else is bundled up. And yet she doesn't show a hint of being cold and shivering like crazy.

The second is where Kong is sliding around on the frozen pond. Hell, that ice must have been really thick for something his size not to have gone crashing through the ice. And again Ann Darrow doesn't seem to notice the wintry cold.

And the final straw was seeing Darrow atop the Empire State Building and we can't see a trace of her breath in the cold air.

Little things, but

The other more common flub is repeatedly showing people being blown back after being shot. Thank you Mythbusters for proving that that just doesn't happen.

 

[JNG]

I hate when sound-effects guys dub in the sound of a hammer clicking in readiness to fire when the person is clearly holding a hammerless gun, (e.g., a Glock model). I don't know if it is more annoying that they think people are so uneducated about firearms or that it may be true.

 

[The Evil Dead]

A lot of "goofs" are things the filmmakers are fully aware of but decided not to get hung up on them for the sake of conveying some interesting idea or notion.

I remember an anecdote about the original Star Wars that went something like this...

Mark Hamill: But George, when I was in the trash compactor I had way more dirt and grime in my hair.
Harrison Ford: Kid, if they're worried about your hair than we've really failed.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

It was trendy to find movie "mistakes" years ago. I personally don't care that much anymore. It's entertainment, not documentary.

The King Kong flaws are valid in terms of logic and continuity, but then again, it's a movie with a giant ape from an island with dinosaurs and impossibly giant bugs.

 

[Mistral]

I think my favorite was from The Color Of Night with Bruce Willis. He totally wrecks a car and in the next scene, the damage is gone.

 

[Aragorn]

For King Kong, I don't think the effects people were on the same page as the movie during the Empire State Building scene, because cars were driving around below like it was just any other day while planes were fighting a giant ape above.

 

[John Clark]

For King Kong, I don't think the effects people were on the same page as the movie during the Empire State Building scene, because cars were driving around below like it was just any other day while planes were fighting a giant ape above.

It's New York - Nothing surprises the people there

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Anyone else think of Space Mutiny here?

 

[Aragorn]

I haven't seen Jagged Edge, but it's a pretty popular flub to mention. Apparently they edited several different courtroom scenes into one, so Glen Close's clothes keep changing.

 

[FordSVT]

I think my favorite was from The Color Of Night with Bruce Willis. He totally wrecks a car and in the next scene, the damage is gone.

Every car chase on 80s TV shows.

How many times did I see the front axles of the General Lee crack in half, the radiator get shoved into the hood (which pops open), etc. and then in the next edit it looks freshly washed and waxed? Doesn't matter really, it's fantasy.

And I guess it's not really a "flub" as much as an inconsistency with physical reality, but I hate it when there is a car chase in a movie where one car should clearly be faster than the other but the tailing car can't get away. Ranks right up there with regular human beings being struck hard enough to literally fly 50 feet through the air without being killed by the impact or permanently disabled.

That recent movie "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie featured a chase between a Dodge Viper and a diesel delivery truck that would have been over in ten seconds IRL; regardless of the super abilities of the driver that truck would have been slow as dog shit and certainly not have been able to follow a mad Angelina Jolie thrashing through gears like an F1 driver and powersliding around corners at 100 mph. "You're driving a Viper, bitch, LOSE HIM!"

 

[Aragorn]

Terminator 2 -- when the T-1000 drives the semi off the bridge, the windshield completely shatters on impact, but in the next shot it's only slightly damaged and upright.

Face/Off -- they make no effort to hide the wires in the action scenes where gunshots send people flying backward. And a slow motion shot of Cage and Travolta's stunt doubles flying through the air was rather stupid because they're facing the camera.

 

[Zachary Smith]

Spoilers--of course. No way to avoid.

The original "Night of the Living Dead". The pickup truck exploding during the escape attempt. The one with the EMPTY gas tank. Took me years to notice that mistake.

 

[Canadave]

I think my favorite was from The Color Of Night with Bruce Willis. He totally wrecks a car and in the next scene, the damage is gone.

Every car chase on 80s TV shows.

How many times did I see the front axles of the General Lee crack in half, the radiator get shoved into the hood (which pops open), etc. and then in the next edit it looks freshly washed and waxed? Doesn't matter really, it's fantasy.

And I guess it's not really a "flub" as much as an inconsistency with physical reality, but I hate it when there is a car chase in a movie where one car should clearly be faster than the other but the tailing car can't get away. Ranks right up there with regular human beings being struck hard enough to literally fly 50 feet through the air without being killed by the impact or permanently disabled.

That recent movie "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie featured a chase between a Dodge Viper and a diesel delivery truck that would have been over in ten seconds IRL; regardless of the super abilities of the driver that truck would have been slow as dog shit and certainly not have been able to follow a mad Angelina Jolie thrashing through gears like an F1 driver and powersliding around corners at 100 mph. "You're driving a Viper, bitch, LOSE HIM!"

The opening of Goldeneye is like that. No way in hell should a 60s-vintage Aston Martin DB5 be able to keep up with a Ferrari Testarossa that easily. It bugs me every time...

 

[Unicron]

I hate when sound-effects guys dub in the sound of a hammer clicking in readiness to fire when the person is clearly holding a hammerless gun, (e.g., a Glock model). I don't know if it is more annoying that they think people are so uneducated about firearms or that it may be true.

Kind of like how they sometimes dub in a metal sound when somebody draws a katana, despite the fact that Japanese katanas traditionally have wooden scabbards. Only a Western sword with a metal scabbard would create the trademark sound.

 

[auntiehill]

Pretty much any episode of The A-Team. And I don't mean all those "plane crashes into mountain/explodes/everyone walks away unscathed" scenes. I'm talking about the little things, like.....

--In "The Maltese Cow," they are in the van, supposedly driving down the road, and you can clearly hear one of the crew sneeze outside the van.

--in other episode, (can't remember---Dangerous Maneuvers, maybe?) Face is wearing a blue shirt and a black jacket. The team are talking: cut to shot of Face, wearing blue shirt/black jacket. They cut to someone else, and then cut back to Face, who is now wearing a RED shirt and a black jacket, and then in the next shot, his shirt is blue again.

--in "Family Reunion," they escape to Florida and hide out in a mountain cabin. Mountains. You can see the "You are now entering Florida" sigh as they drive past a mountain range.

--and then there's the episode where they steal plane--an 80's white cessna type plane, and ditch it in the ocean before bailing out. And cut immediately to old WW2 footage of a silver cargo plane hitting the water. Not only is it a totally different plane, it's not even the right color.

...and there are dozens more. Ah, the days before people recorded everything.

 

[Non Sync]

Hardcastle and McCormick
They are suppose to be driving in Washington DC and there are palm trees along the road.

 

[CommodoreKong]

This site is very useful for finding movie flubs.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Heavily frozen ice can hold very high tons, so its feasible for Kong.

Might add that atop the Empire State building the wind gusts would be higher and the temperature lower, so she should have been shaking uncontrolably.


Watching an episode of "Dynasty" titled "Two Flights to Haiti" where while in an elevator with Alexis and Adam, the boom mike comes into view overhead briefly for about three seconds. After it's gone, the actor who plays Adam looks over to where the boom mike holder might be standing and sort of gives a Fifth Wall breaking look like "moron".

 

[Ben Sisko3]

The most grating one for me is, in an otherwise fantastic MillenniuM episode ("Seven and One", for those curious), Frank refers to his "brothers", when it had been established previously -- and multiple times (including "Sacarment" and "Midnight of the Century") -- that he only had one.

 

[FordSVT]

--in "Family Reunion," they escape to Florida and hide out in a mountain cabin. Mountains. You can see the "You are now entering Florida" sigh as they drive past a mountain range.

That's what happens when LA county has to pass for 50 states.