# Little mistakes that take you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969 "2009-02-22T19:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/101 "2009-03-01T18:05:00Z")
> [@Taenia\_spp](#): > > Consider my ignorance cured, **Terminus Est**. Fear not my tapeworm friends, for there is still much to find upsettting about _JP_: [ul] [li] The animals referred to as “_Velociraptor_” in the book and movies were nothing of the sort. [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vraptor-scale.svg) is the comparative size of _Velociraptor_ to a human. [/li][li] The whole “_T. rex_’s vision is based on movement” was utter crap. There was a half-assed explanation for it in the book; there was _no_ explanation for it in the movie.[/li][li] Why use frog DNA to supplement the missing DNA sequences for dinosaurs? Birds are a much better fit, and this much was known even while the movie was being filmed (that Grant’s little lecture at the beginning of the movie drew mocking laughter from the accompanying grad students was pretty lame).[/li][li] _Numerous_ continuity mistakes, ranging from minor (misspelling “StegOsaurus” as “StegAsaurus” on the embryo vials) to baffling (the sudden appearance of the cliff where not a moment earlier the _Tyrannosaurus_ had just broken through the fence!), and everything in between.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Wiggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Wiggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wiggie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/102 "2009-03-01T19:28:28Z")
Any movie that has a character with type 1 diabetes. They NEVER get it right - not even close. I was going to mention the docs in House would not likely even know how to operate an MRI machine or a chemistry analyzer, but I see Irishgirl pretty much beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/103 "2009-03-01T20:03:21Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Good God! I might just have to rent that movie so I could see this. Been watching movies since 1936 and have NEVER seen a binco view done correctly! The view of the leading lady is much more spectacular… ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/104 "2009-03-02T00:01:47Z")
> [@Darwins\_Finch](#): > > Fear not my tapeworm friends, for there is still much to find upsettting about _JP_: > > [ul] > [li] The animals referred to as “_Velociraptor_” in the book and movies were nothing of the sort. [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vraptor-scale.svg) is the comparative size of _Velociraptor_ to a human. [/li][li] The whole “_T. rex_’s vision is based on movement” was utter crap. There was a half-assed explanation for it in the book; there was _no_ explanation for it in the movie.[/li][li] Why use frog DNA to supplement the missing DNA sequences for dinosaurs? Birds are a much better fit, and this much was known even while the movie was being filmed (that Grant’s little lecture at the beginning of the movie drew mocking laughter from the accompanying grad students was pretty lame).[/li]**[li] _Numerous_ continuity mistakes, ranging from minor (misspelling “StegOsaurus” as “StegAsaurus”** on the embryo vials) to baffling (the sudden appearance of the cliff where not a moment earlier the _Tyrannosaurus_ had just broken through the fence!), and everything in between.[/li][/ul] I heard this was done on purpose to show how careless that creators of the island were. I do agree though about the little mini mistakes. I also heard that after the movie was filmed a bigger velociraptor speices was found close to what you saw in the movie but it hard feathers on its head ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/105 "2009-03-02T00:17:24Z")
In the courtroom scene in _The Dark Knight_, Dent and Rachel are sitting on the wrong side. Prosecutors get to sit on the side closest to the jury, and they were on the far side of the jury. It was necessary for the flow of the scene because Harvey needed to be able to immediately turn around to the defendant after the witness tried to shoot him, but if you deal with courtrooms a lot it’s really glaring and takes you out of the movie. Another one went by so fast I’m not sure if I heard it right. Gordon wanted Dent to get him some warrants, but couldn’t give him specifics because he wasn’t sure if he could trust him? What’s Dent going to tell the judge, and how are they going to hold up in court with no specificity? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/106 "2009-03-02T00:29:16Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > I heard this was done on purpose to show how careless that creators of the island were. I do agree though about the little mini mistakes. I also heard that after the movie was filmed a bigger velociraptor speices was found close to what you saw in the movie but it hard feathers on its head You’re probably thinking of the Utahraptor, which was discovered in the '90s. Wikipedia says '91, so that would be after the book but before the movie. Paleontologist Bob Bakker did a couple of lectures at my college, and in one he made a joke hinting at a Spielberg conspiracy regarding the Utahraptor – like maybe he had the skeleton created and planted in Utah in order to justify making a bigger raptor for his movie. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/107 "2009-03-02T16:05:20Z")
[quote=“Darwin\_s\_Finch, post:101, topic:486969”] Fear not my tapeworm friends, for there is still much to find upsettting about _JP_: [ul] [li] The animals referred to as “_Velociraptor_” in the book and movies were nothing of the sort. [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vraptor-scale.svg) is the comparative size of _Velociraptor_ to a human. [/ul][/li][/QUOTE] Yes, but “velociraptor” and “raptor” sound more menacing than “deinonychus” and “nychus.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/108 "2009-03-02T16:11:15Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > I heard this was done on purpose to show how careless that creators of the island were. I do agree though about the little mini mistakes. I also heard that after the movie was filmed a bigger velociraptor speices was found close to what you saw in the movie but it hard feathers on its head I don’t recall that the velociraptor thing was specifically about Ingen’s carelessness, but I do recall Ian Malcolm (the character Jeff Goldblum portrayed) commenting in a rant that among the things that made him believe the various genetic engineers were horribly careless and irresponsible was that the lead member of the team didn’t even know the names of the creatures he was creating. I thought he had a point, and it’s plausible to me that Crichton was making a subtle point there. I’ll be sure to ask him next seance. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/109 "2009-04-24T21:32:18Z")
_Transformers_, yaknow, the movie where a kid in high school and the Hot Chick™ from his school help the US Air Force fight off an attacking force of highly advanced transforming alien robots? There’s a scene early on when a Special Forces team is being attacked by a Decepticon (Scorpinox?) in Qatar, and the higher-ups send in a Predator UAV drone to scout out the situation before committing planes to an air strike. Cut to a kickass scene of a Predator UAV afterburning in over a sand dune to scope out the scene. Wait, what? Predators don’t have jet engines. They’re driven by a pusher turboprop engine. THAT was unrealistic enough to drag me kicking and screaming out of the movie. Right up until the AC-130 showed up. Then I was totally back in.🆒 EDIT: And then Zombies attacked the SDMB. I need to stop using the Search function. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/110 "2009-04-24T23:25:24Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Didn’t ruin the movie, but was a definite speed bump. In “Star Wars”, during the scene where the speed of Hans Solo’s spaceship was being discused, someone asked a question sort of like this. “Isn’t this the ship that made it to the XXXX System in 23 parsecs?” Problem, of course, is that a parsec is a measure of distance, not of time. Sort of like saying, “Wow, you drove from Seattle to Bellingham in only 90 miles.” Whenever I remember “Star Wars” this is the first thing I think of. There’s actually an explanation of this. Could be a retcon, but it makes sense: [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel\_Run](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run) > [@](#): > > Han Solo claimed that his Millennium Falcon “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs”. A parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Solo was not referring directly to his ship’s speed when he made this claim. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance. He may have indirectly referred to the speed of his ship in this instance because, to be able to go closer to a black hole and still be able to get out of its gravitational pull, it is necessary to go faster. However, parsec relates to time in that a shorter distance equals a shorter time at the same speed. By moving closer to the black holes, Solo managed to cut the distance down to about 11.5 parsecs. The smuggler, BoShek, actually beat Solo’s record in his ship, Infinity, but without cargo to weigh him down. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/111 "2009-04-25T05:39:06Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Cut to a kickass scene of a Predator UAV afterburning in over a sand dune to scope out the scene. > > Wait, what? Predators don’t have jet engines. They’re driven by a pusher turboprop engine. [http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story\_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/aw042009p1.xml](http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/aw042009p1.xml) Eh, it was a little early. But they do now. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/112 "2009-04-25T11:40:08Z")
> [@Westrogothia](#): > > [handwaving] > I kinda thought that was part of Houses process. Having the overqualified docs doing the basic stuff added a level of security/control/accountability on cases that other doctors already had failed diagnosing. > Basically when one of his staff did a blood test House KNEW it was done right. > At least thats the theory. > [/handwaving] the main problem being they are not techs. Techs go to a LOT of schooling and continuing education in their specific fields that the doctors just do not have. Especially when they might go from doing an ultrasound, to an MRI to a lumbar puncture to running labs on blood … Just because you can do an ultrasound competently does not mean you can interpret it, ditto MRI. Radiology is fairly tricky and specialized. Which brings me to the question, why the hell do they not do a nerve block for a bone marrow biopsy on the hip or even a lumbar punch? I can remember getting a lumbar punch when I was 5 years old and it took 4 guys to hold me down so I didnt squirm and make them hit the nerve bundle. And last nights episode [the one with the swimmer and the meningitis plague] they moved someone off the gurney that had just had a lumbar punch ‘because they needed the gurney’ is so patently absurd … you simply DON’T do that sort of thing. Though honestly, I could see a ‘diagnostic suite’ with Houses office, conference room, a single bed ICU cleanroom style [those rooms with the entry ways] and a small waiting room for the family. And the amily wouldn’t be allowed in when the crash cart comes in. When my dad started circling the drain the staff had no trouble telling us to get out of the room and I am sure that if they are bringing in the crash cart, a nurse would manhandle the family members out to avoid the whole panic scene with the ancilliary screaming. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/113 "2009-04-25T11:45:10Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > _Insomnia_, Dormer is driving with that young girl and he almost hits a truck head on to scare her, swoosh the car goes into the town dump and the girl gets out screaming that he almost killed them both. It always bothered me the the town dump was in exactly the spot the oncoming truck was at. > > That and the man went through extraordinary lengths to cover his window to get some sleep when all he had to do was put a shirt over his eyes like I do when my girlfriend watches tv late at night. a friend of mine was duty stationed on Adak Island in the Aleutians. Those cute little sleep masks are sold everywhere … I have no problem sleeping anywhere any time … I spent enough time in various hospitals over the years I can drop off whenever I want/need to. I have fallen asleep on the floor in a corner at a party. All I really need is a blanket, pillow and enough space to no get stepped upon. I was sleeping just fine on a sofa in the hallway at dad’s hospital last summer. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/114 "2009-04-25T12:38:15Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > There’s actually an explanation of this. Could be a retcon, but it makes sense: [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel\_Run](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run) Yeah, but… Solo wasn’t bragging about his mad navigational skillz, he was bragging on the ships speed. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/115 "2009-04-25T14:27:22Z")
As a lawyer courtroom scenes. 1. During Examination in Chief (Direct examimnation for you Yanks), the advocate is blatantly asking leading questions (“you saw that did’nt you”). 2. In most jurisdictions bad character is something that can be adduced in very specific circumstances and after submissions in the absence of a jury. That never happens in the movies. 3. The other side yelling “objection!”. Usually the judge will have stopped you long before opposing counsel says anything. 4. Pretty female lawyers, never seen one…ever. I have been robbed. lol ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/116 "2009-04-25T14:56:37Z")
> [@vandal](#): > > No movies in particular, but… > > Every time someone is doing something on a computer, everything is always done using the keyboard. No one ever uses a mouse. From my own experience in an IT company with programmers, I don’t consider this a mistake if the person shown is supposed to be a hacker/computer geek: all the guys in my company touch-typed with 10 fingers (and everybody who studied informatics either at the university or the university of applied sciences was told repeadtley to learn touch-typing at high speed because it made programming easier than hunt-and-peck); also, because everything is command-line-based and works with shortcuts was one reason I often heard from the Linux fans for favoring Linux over Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/117 "2009-04-25T19:26:13Z")
> [@vandal](#): > > No movies in particular, but… > > Every time someone is doing something on a computer, everything is always done using the keyboard. No one ever uses a mouse. It’s worth pointing out that, in my current job, the mouse is something you use if you want to go check your email, but the keyboard is what we use to do our job on two computer screens simultaneously. Everything is shortcutted to an F-key (or a Shift+F-key, Ctrl+F-key, Alt+F-key), and even as fast as I am getting at it, my coworker burns through tasks on it like a hot poker through warm butter. You CAN use a mouse in this program, but it’d just slow you down.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/118 "2009-04-25T20:10:32Z")
Tires always squeal. _Always._ Even if the road is wet. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/119 "2009-04-25T21:12:25Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > It’s worth pointing out that, in my current job, the mouse is something you use if you want to go check your email, but the keyboard is what we use to do our job on two computer screens simultaneously. Everything is shortcutted to an F-key (or a Shift+F-key, Ctrl+F-key, Alt+F-key), and even as fast as I am getting at it, my coworker burns through tasks on it like a hot poker through warm butter. > > You CAN use a mouse in this program, but it’d just slow you down.😉 I see your point. What bothers me is that most of the time you hear like 500 extra keystrokes when they do it. Kinda like when they [play video games on TV,](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PacManFever) everyone always [button mashes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButtonMashing). Anyways, as you can tell, I can’t pass the opportunity to plug the [TVTropes wiki](http://tvtropes.org/). It identifies the subject of the OP as as [Wallbangers](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WallBangers). ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/120 "2009-04-25T21:27:44Z")
Hollywood military movies in general. Navy movies in particular, because they always get something wrong. Recently watched “The Sand Pebbles” and while it looks like they got a lot right, for some reason, but the director seemed to love the Dress white uniform, to the point the characters go into battle wearing them. Ironically, the characters are shown their more practical uniforms in other scenes(dungerees, etc). That and the scene where Holman starts stoking coal into the boiler in his whites and doesn’t get them completely trashed within 15 seconds. Hollywood must have found the only set of dress whites on earth that acts as a dirt repellent instead of a dirt magnet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=7)