Film Guide

Most of us don’t watch films actively looking for mistakes. We enjoy getting lost in the story or the spectacular visuals, or just escaping from reality with a laugh or over the top action.

But the guys over at MovieMistakes.com – and the fans that frequent the site – seem to take pleasure in picking apart films, and as such have just released a Best mistakes of 2011 list.

We thought we’d publish the top ten, and if that piques your attention, head on over to see the full list here.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – Why is there snow in Hogsmeade when the trio gets there and meets Aberforth? Hogsmeade and Hogwarts are within walking distance of each other, yet there is no snow at Hogwarts.

2. X-Men: First Class – In First Class, Professor X is made handicapped in 1962 at the end of the movie. In the previous X-men movie, he was walking when he visited the girl (Jean) in the mid 70s with Magneto.

3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon – In the first scene with Carly coming up the stairs she is wearing a white cap, when the camera changes to the front view and she is holding the stuffed rabbit the cap is gone.

4. The Green Hornet – When Reid and Kato are fighting by the pool, the beach ball falls off the chair (beside the pool) when they land in the water, but is back up on the chair in a following shot.

5. Source Code – This scene is repeated multiple times in the movie: usually when the main character enters the “source code” the scene begins by panning over a small pond showing a Canadian goose taking flight. However the sound editor makes the mistake of dubbing in a recording of a hen mallard duck.

6. Fast Five – The gang steal four brand new Police spec 2011 Dodge Chargers. When Brian and Dom yank the safe out, the Chargers they’re driving are older spec, with the old tail lights. Han and Roman are seen driving the other, new Chargers later in that chase.

7. The Hangover Part 2 – Bradley Cooper calls Stu “Ed” when they are fleeing from Russians with the monkey.

8. Scream 4 – In the final shot of the film, Jill’s head moves slightly when she’s supposed to be dead.

9. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – Captain Barbossa’s ship has a modern Union Jack flying on the stern. The film is set in the reign of George II (1727 – 1760). The flag shown includes the cross of St Patrick, although Ireland did not become part of the United Kingdom until 1801, and the Union Jack at the time of the film would have comprised only the crosses of St George (England) and St Andrew (Scotland).

10. Thor – When the Destroyer arrives amidst the Shield agents, a coffee cup sitting on the dash of one of the vehicles spills over. The next shot it can be seen lying on its side. The reverse angle shot then shows it upright again.

I’m not a huge fan of Cameron Diaz, so it was with some trepidation that I approached her latest film, Bad Teacher. The trailer hadn’t been too bad and it did also feature Justin Timberlake who has been surprisingly good in recent films, so I opened my mind to enjoying a Diaz film.

Big mistake.

Diaz plays the role of money grabbing school teacher Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the kind of teacher who doesn’t give a rats arse about her students, she’s just cruising along in her day job whilst she prepares to marry her millionaire fiancé. Trouble is, her fiancé’s mum figures her out and convincers her son to dump Elizabeth. Forced to go back to her job as a school teacher Elizabeth soon sets her eyes on the hot new temp teacher, who also seems to be worth a bit of money. Trouble is, she;s got competition from the goody-two-shoes teacher. That and she thinks her boobs are too small to attract his attention.

Yes, it’s that kind of film.

It’s a predictable downwards spiral from the get go, with low humour and predictable plot.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’m ecstatic, gutted and elated from this movie that played me like a banjo, plucking heart strings at will. In the last month I have been challenged as a Dad by two movies that might slip under your radar as you keep a hand on the wheel of life steering through Christmas. First there was “Courageous” from the Kendrick brothers and now the real life adaption of Benjamin Mee’s life in “We Bought a Zoo”.

This for me is the family movie of the year and you will not regret seeing it. I had the privilege of seeing the preview screening for this review and we weren’t too far into the movie when my wife said, “We have to bring the kids”. And then a little later, “We have to get this on DVD for home”.

While the movie’s key actors and accents give you a sense you’re in country America, the real story eminated from Plymouth, England where the tale of Benjamin Mee’s family buying and renovating the Dartmoor Zoo became a Guardian newspaper story in 2007. You can read the real background story here. The onscreen version of ‘Rosemoor Zoo’ reads differently to the script but with its own drama helps you understand where the motivation for the movie first began. I think Benjamin Mee’s own book will be on a few shopping lists for the New Year.  Read the rest of this entry »

Catch .44 is an bit of an oddball film, it attempts ascend to the heights of Christopher Nolan’s Memento and Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but crashes and burns in an occasionally amusing and extremely brutal Mexican standoff.

The film, which starts at the end and jumps backwards is styled like a $2 Shop rip off of Pulp Fiction, follows the plight of three girls who have been sent by Mel in jack a drug shipment at a remote diner. Mel, played by a very weird, pecan munching Bruce Willis in a role that is either genius or insanity, is the local drug lord, and doesn’t like the idea of an unorthorised drug transaction going down on his turf.

But things soon get out of hand when after waiting for half an hour the girls decide to change the parameters and pull guns on the Diner’s patrons and staff, resulting in a messy gun battle and eventually the aforementioned Mexican standoff.  Read the rest of this entry »