At the end of the Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow states a mathematical equation that's wrong. I hate that. "Isosceles" triangle sounds better than "right" triangle, which I'm sure is why they had him say that, but they could have asked any math student to give a complicated-sounding equation that was actually correct.
I go back and forth as to whether that is actually a mistake, or a subtle commentary that having a degree doesn't necessarily make you smart. Which is why I call my sub stack Too Much Film School.
This reminds me of a review of my book Good Intentions. I put in all kinds of literary and political references throughout it. A reviewer explained a whole bunch in his review, and each one was not what I intended, but I liked his interpretations. Where they wrong? No, just different. Unfortunately, he didn't like my book very much, partly because he didn't like my references.
In The Princess Bride, the moment that Buttercup realizes that the masked man is Wesley is poorly edited. It’s too quick. We need a few seconds to watch her figure it out, but in the movie it happens literally instantaneously.
Forbidden Planet. Love love love the movie. But this exchange makes me want to scream.
Doc Ostrow is showing a plaster cast of the Id Monster’s footprint to Captain Adams. Lt. Farman approaches, asks the Doc, “Is that what you made out of that footprint?”
To which the Doc replies, “I think it’s fairly close.”
Huh? WTH?
It’s “fairly close” to the thing you made by pouring plaster into the footprint? Meaning it’s not the thing you made? But it’s close?
Either one of the actors screwed up their line or Doc’s response is a relic from an earlier draft in which Farman instead asked if the casting was of the monster or…I dunno, but something’s wrong here!
I love Apocalypto, but there’s a part where a tree falls down, almost crushing the villainous warrior leader, who then turns around and says in subtitled Yucatec Maya “I am walking here.” Like, he’s making a reference to Midnight Cowboy??? Huh??? I cannot comprehend how that made it into the movie.
Also btw you misspelled “mistake” on the title of this article. Thought you’d want to know.
I've always thought Arbogast's death down the stairs was at least weird, if not cringy. Man, I love Psycho, though. It's allowed several mistakes but honestly, I can't think of many besides the Arbogast one. And the book is great, too. I kind of wish I'd read the book first and the punch that the killer is...well, you know...would have hit me even harder. And yes, a killing machine with one purpose. LOL. Redundancy is often overlooked. It's also not given attention. Haha. Great post, Matt.
Matrix ones are easy- it’s riffing on all the comics and anime that inspire it, which all have weird non sensical dialogue. Also 80s and 90s action movies, which The Matrix is on the tail end of, all have the dumbest yet most awesome one liners- think Terminator, Aliens, Total Recall, etc. cmmarn it’s cool
The most egregious I’ve seen is in the film I’ve seen more than any other (which gives it a cloud of anticipatory cringe on each reviewing: In the Vertigo sequence of Sans Soleil, the voiceover pronounces the intersection of Eddy and Gough Streets as “Eedie and Gow” instead of “Eddie and Goff”. Excruciating.
In the Return of the King, Arwen’s entire subplot about dying because of the evil of Mordor always bothers me a little. I understand we need to give her screen time because other than her, Galadriel, and Eowyn the entire film series is a sausage fest and you need to vary scenes and give Aragorn more(?) reason to fight, but it’s still bizarre and comes off a little silly since no one else seems to feel it that hard.
In a Lonely Place is for me, like Psycho for you, a near perfect movie that stuns when I rewatch it. But there’s a strange scene to display Bogart’s volatility and anger where he breaks a grapefruit knife (by straightening it) that is silly.
Nice essay, thanks. Though this does perhaps prove the Hawk's quote wrong about three good scenes and no bad scenes. Or would the scenes be considered good even with the mistakes?
Agreed. I'm not sure what else AH could have done with the shot though....
I'm imagining a wide-angle shot of Arbogast falling down the stairs, and it feels comedic. A woman falls down the stairs, it's tragic. A man? Hilarious.
So another option is to just cut to him on the floor at the bottom, but it doesn't give that feeling of dread, that this man isn't in control, that he's panicking.
It feels like having the camera itself roll down the stairs could be effective but they didn't have the tech.
So they went with that strange shot. I like the effect they were going for, just not the execution. We need him falling down the stairs, and his growing terror....
At the end of the Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow states a mathematical equation that's wrong. I hate that. "Isosceles" triangle sounds better than "right" triangle, which I'm sure is why they had him say that, but they could have asked any math student to give a complicated-sounding equation that was actually correct.
I go back and forth as to whether that is actually a mistake, or a subtle commentary that having a degree doesn't necessarily make you smart. Which is why I call my sub stack Too Much Film School.
https://youtu.be/hRKOenxiRaY?si=sOn59r7rLUM-W7fW
This reminds me of a review of my book Good Intentions. I put in all kinds of literary and political references throughout it. A reviewer explained a whole bunch in his review, and each one was not what I intended, but I liked his interpretations. Where they wrong? No, just different. Unfortunately, he didn't like my book very much, partly because he didn't like my references.
I'm glad at least The Simpsons writers recognized that flaw! I feel a little better already.
In The Princess Bride, the moment that Buttercup realizes that the masked man is Wesley is poorly edited. It’s too quick. We need a few seconds to watch her figure it out, but in the movie it happens literally instantaneously.
Forbidden Planet. Love love love the movie. But this exchange makes me want to scream.
Doc Ostrow is showing a plaster cast of the Id Monster’s footprint to Captain Adams. Lt. Farman approaches, asks the Doc, “Is that what you made out of that footprint?”
To which the Doc replies, “I think it’s fairly close.”
Huh? WTH?
It’s “fairly close” to the thing you made by pouring plaster into the footprint? Meaning it’s not the thing you made? But it’s close?
Either one of the actors screwed up their line or Doc’s response is a relic from an earlier draft in which Farman instead asked if the casting was of the monster or…I dunno, but something’s wrong here!
Still love every frame of the movie, though.
I love Apocalypto, but there’s a part where a tree falls down, almost crushing the villainous warrior leader, who then turns around and says in subtitled Yucatec Maya “I am walking here.” Like, he’s making a reference to Midnight Cowboy??? Huh??? I cannot comprehend how that made it into the movie.
Also btw you misspelled “mistake” on the title of this article. Thought you’d want to know.
Man, I need to see Apocalypto.
>Also btw you misspelled “mistake” on the title of this article.
Thats_the_joke.gif
I knoooooowwwww that’s the joke
spiderman_pointing.gif
I've always thought Arbogast's death down the stairs was at least weird, if not cringy. Man, I love Psycho, though. It's allowed several mistakes but honestly, I can't think of many besides the Arbogast one. And the book is great, too. I kind of wish I'd read the book first and the punch that the killer is...well, you know...would have hit me even harder. And yes, a killing machine with one purpose. LOL. Redundancy is often overlooked. It's also not given attention. Haha. Great post, Matt.
Matrix ones are easy- it’s riffing on all the comics and anime that inspire it, which all have weird non sensical dialogue. Also 80s and 90s action movies, which The Matrix is on the tail end of, all have the dumbest yet most awesome one liners- think Terminator, Aliens, Total Recall, etc. cmmarn it’s cool
The most egregious I’ve seen is in the film I’ve seen more than any other (which gives it a cloud of anticipatory cringe on each reviewing: In the Vertigo sequence of Sans Soleil, the voiceover pronounces the intersection of Eddy and Gough Streets as “Eedie and Gow” instead of “Eddie and Goff”. Excruciating.
I would argue that The Matrix was revolutionary, one of the last non-superhero movies that spawned dozens of trends, ripoffs, and parodies.
In the Return of the King, Arwen’s entire subplot about dying because of the evil of Mordor always bothers me a little. I understand we need to give her screen time because other than her, Galadriel, and Eowyn the entire film series is a sausage fest and you need to vary scenes and give Aragorn more(?) reason to fight, but it’s still bizarre and comes off a little silly since no one else seems to feel it that hard.
In a Lonely Place is for me, like Psycho for you, a near perfect movie that stuns when I rewatch it. But there’s a strange scene to display Bogart’s volatility and anger where he breaks a grapefruit knife (by straightening it) that is silly.
Nice essay, thanks. Though this does perhaps prove the Hawk's quote wrong about three good scenes and no bad scenes. Or would the scenes be considered good even with the mistakes?
I would say just that one bad shot doesn't make it a bad scene, even if it is a rather lengthy shot.
Agreed. I'm not sure what else AH could have done with the shot though....
I'm imagining a wide-angle shot of Arbogast falling down the stairs, and it feels comedic. A woman falls down the stairs, it's tragic. A man? Hilarious.
So another option is to just cut to him on the floor at the bottom, but it doesn't give that feeling of dread, that this man isn't in control, that he's panicking.
It feels like having the camera itself roll down the stairs could be effective but they didn't have the tech.
So they went with that strange shot. I like the effect they were going for, just not the execution. We need him falling down the stairs, and his growing terror....