*Either way, it is virtually impossible to watch your own profession portrayed on screen. *
For the most part, although Teachers got pretty close.
I find the anachronisms pretty interesting, even the minor ones, but I’ve gotten to the point where I just skip all the entries labeled “continuity”. Oh, the food on Mel Gibson’s fork changes shot to shot? Who cares? It must take these people weeks to watch a movie frame by frame.
FTR, I’ve submitted one goof to IMDb, and it was pretty blatant: in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, they’re driving from St. Louis to Chicago and somehow get pulled over by a Wisconsin state trooper. I’m starting to think there was a segment where they get lost and end up in Wisconsin that got cut, because when they finally get to Chicago they enter from the north.
I submitted a continuity error for The Great Debaters: “When James Farmer Jr. comes home after the late-night union meeting, he takes off his shoes. He ran through the woods, water, and mud to escape from the police, yet his pants are clean.” I submitted it after seeing the movie in the theater in its opening week; took a few months for it to show up. It just seemed like a blatant error.
I’ve submitted a few others, but I’m blanking on the movies.
I’m also a software developer, but I’ve had a sideline in doing computer screens for UK TV shows for the last few years.
Believe me, we know they are rubbish, but this is what we are told to do, and there is no arguing with set designers/directors. It seems that, when it comes to computers, realism isn’t half as important as aesthetics.
Stink Fish Pot, who are you to decide how other people ought to think? Why do you get to decide that people who notice mistakes must be in a rubber room drooling into a cup? Can’t you accept that other people don’t think like you do?
I’ve never submitted a goof to the IMDb. I do occasionally notice certain sorts of errors in books or movies. I didn’t have to think hard to notice those errors. It’s an automatic thing. Where do you get the idea that noticing errors is hard work while enjoying a film is trivial?
The other day I went to a showing of the 1956 film Baby Doll. It was shown at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland, which shows films from many eras. As they occasionally do, they invited someone from the cast to speak after the flm. In this case, they invited Carroll Baker, the female lead of the film, to talk afterwards.
The film is set in a small Mississippi town and was actually nearly all filmed in a small Mississippi town (during the last month or so of the year 1955). Except for the lead roles, everyone in the film was played by a nonprofessional actor who lived in the town. In one scene in the film, several men were sitting in a typical small-town Southern diner. They were eating pizza.
I immediately said to myself, “What? Nobody ate pizza in a small Southern town in 1955.” Pizza didn’t reach small towns until the mid-1960’s. In the question session after the film, I asked Carroll Baker if this seemed odd, and she said that it did, although she had never thought about it before.
I was interested enough to do a little Internet research, and I found out what happened. In the IMDb reviews for the film, there’s a review by someone who says he’s the grandson of one of the nonprofessional actors in that scene. It was one of the few scenes shot in a film studio in New York, and they brought these local nonprofessional actors to New York to film it. This guy who wrote the review said that it was the first time that his grandfather had ever tried pizza.
Sounds like you’ve got a website to create. Get crackin’!
…And be sure to cut me in on those hefty profits for suggesting it!
One exists, but it’s pretty sparse.
I’ve worked as a copy-editor for years, and am well-known for pointing out anachronisms (such as cowboys saying that they’re “pissed off”–a WWII term). Many authors appreciate it, but many more are resentful, even when it’s something that can be easily fixed. There’s one best-seller that involves a bag of Cheez Doodles as a clue, and the protagonist is chasing after a Frito-Lay truck. After thirty grueling seconds checking a search engine, I confirmed that Cheez Doodles are made by Wise. But the author was angry that I’d even pointed it out.
Michelangelo said that “Perfection is the trifles–and perfection is no trifle.” These errors momentarily pull somebody out of the narrative, which is not what good literature should do.
I noticed the milk bottle from NCFOM because that is the brand of milk we drink. It is one of the few brands that is sold (these days) in a refillable glass bottle rather than in cardbaord or plastic. Interestingly enough I thought it was a touch of authenticity since it is a Texas brand sold locally. I didn’t know the dairy wasn’t around in those days.
I’m sure many of the goof spotters are just people familiar with whatever detail it is that is goofed. Promised Land is a pretty big creamery, I’m sure any of their employees who saw the film would have noticed the goof right away.
It’s even worse - it takes place nowhere near Byzantium. And not a sailboat in sight!
Sister Helen Prejean, the nun who was the real-life inspiration for Susan Sarandon’s character in “Dead Man Walking” also worked as an adviser on the film. One published version of the screenplay had commentary by her on the making of the film. Sister Helen told a story in which she pointed out a factual error:
Sean Penn’s character eats shrimp for his last meal, and makes a remark like “I never had anything as good as this before!” (shrimp being a pricey delicacy for most of the country.)
Sister Helen pointed out that a guy who grew up in the Louisiana bayou country, no matter how poor, WOULD have eaten shrimp many times throughout his life, probably more often than eating pizza in the rest of the country. She says that Robbins told her “Yeah, but I like to throw in some minor inconsistencies in my films. People get a big kick out of spotting them & pointing them out.”
Anyway, I’ve contributed stuff to the “goofs” and “trivia” pages off & on over time. I don’t go to movies looking to find mistakes, but sometimes things just jump out at me. The one thing that I can think of off-hand is when I corrected something that was not a goof - In “Brokeback Mountain”, somebody had pointed out that during Jack & Ennis’ last meeting Jack’s mustache disappears in one shot. But that shot was a flashback to an earlier time, before he grew the 'stach.
Worse than the goofs page is the trivia page. People seem to disregard the idea that trivia is supposed to be “interesting, unusual” information about a film, and post any mundane fact they might know - “Filming began on [such & such date] and wrapped up on [such & such date]” or “[actor name] was briefly considered for the role of [character]” doesn’t really constitute trivia IMO.
Well, actors who didn’t end up being in the movie are good trivia if the specific people would have been incredibly bizarre, or if they’re well known while the actual stars aren’t or something. Like how Al Bundy almost played Al Swearengen.
I’m with Airman Doors on this one.
You know, this has merit. 
However,
Makes me wonder how many cups of drool you produce in a day.:dubious:
Other people don’t think like I do? Really? I would have never dragged my ass out of bed this morning if I knew this was true!
Who am I to decide how other people ought to think? I’m the great and powerful STINK FISH POT, that’s who! Just don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. :dubious:
Sadly, I don’t get to decide who should be put in a rubber room. But based on your reply to my OP, if I did have that power, I’d have to escort you to the front of the line. I’d even supply you a year’s supply of Dixie Drool Cups. (TM)
OK, based on many of the replies in this thread, I can understand if there is something in your area of expertise, or something that jumps out at you as an obvious goof, that you might want to post it to **IMDb **(thanks for whoever caught that goof! 
). IMDB - IMDb. I stand corrected.
But there are a number of things in those goof sections that are **NOT **something that jumps out. For example, in NCFOM
Anachronisms: The $100 bills in the satchel have the signature of Treasury secretary Nicholas Brady. $100 bills with his signature were not printed until 1989. The newest possible $100 bills circulating in 1980 would be Series 1977 bearing the signature of secretary Werner Blumenthal.
Was there any close up of the money to see the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury? I have not seen it, and I’ve watched the movie a few times. If there are other changes in the bill that would indicate they were incorrect, fine… point that out. But to be able to notice the signature of the Treasury Secretary does not seem credible to me.
and
Anachronisms: The coin that Anton flips for the gas station owner to call is a 1958 quarter. Prior to 1965 the dime, quarter and half dollar were composed of 90% silver. Beginning in 1965, all silver was removed from the dime and quarter (half dollars were 40% silver from 1965-1970), and all 90% silver coins were removed from circulation. Unless Anton brought the 1958 quarter with him specifically for the purpose of the high-stakes coin toss, it is highly unlikely that he would happen to have a silver quarter among his pocket change.
Another bullshit entry put there by someone who seems to be trying to impress people with their knowledge of US currency and silver content in coins, but has no basis in fact. The book, I believe, also mentions a coin from 1958. It’s a quarter. This “anachronism” is a WAG, nothing more. I’ve found old coins in my pocket change from time to time. I don’t see this as something to enter in as a “goof”. “Highly unlikely” that Anton would have that coin in his pocket? I think that’s more likely than the entire conversation he had with the gas station attendant. Friend-o.
Cool it, Stink Fish Pot. You’re allowed to wonder what’s up with the goof catchers and other posters are allowed to defend them. You’re not allowed to suggest people are stupid for disagreeing with you.
Fair enough.
I was putting quarters in the washing machine and one wouldn’t work. Apparently my pocket change included a 1964 French franc coin and I have no clue where it came from. It happens
I agree with your point, but I am endlessly fascinated by which actors were considered for which roles. So much so that I’d like to be able to click a character’s name in the credits list and see a list of all the actors who tried out for that part.
As a quick example, early on in pre-production the two leads of Almost Famous were Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley, whose version I would have love to have seen. (Though I thoroughly enjoyed Billy Crudup and Kate Hudson in those roles.)
The odds of that are ridiculous, I’m putting it under the goof section of your user name. 
I did submit one, in an episode of Lost when they traveled back in time to the '70s. Jack goes into a classroom with a periodic table including elements that weren’t made until the '90s. Sticks out to a chemist.
I had that happen once, only it was a German mark. The funny part is that at the time one mark was worth just about 25 cents anyway.