I really don't want to start a board for EVERY Sci-fi movie that's out there...some movies don't have a lot of nits / mistakes to them and therefore it would be pointless to have a board for each movie
"Atlantis, The Lost Continent" (1961)
* The father of Demetrios sounds a lot like Boris Badinov from "Bullwinkle & Rocky"
(The trivia section says that Paul Frees did the voice of the father...if so...why? What was wrong with the actor's own voice? Granted, Paul Frees was one of the best voice-over actors in cinema history and probably hand-picked by George Pal himself...but it seems a bit silly to not allow the actor to say the words with his own voice)
* How did the Priest find out about the one true God? Did he find out from a captured slave? They never say.
* As I mentioned somewhere else, a lot of stock footage from other films is laced into this movie...probably the most recognizable for me was the volcanic eruption taken from "When Worlds Collide"
"Tobor The Great" (1951)
The footage of Tobor climbing the stairs the second time is a repeat of the first time he climbed the stairs.
The Movie poster for this movie is virtually identical to "Forbidden Planet"
"Without Warning" (1994)
A low-budget sci-fi drama which depicts a news broadcast of UFO's disguised as meteors striking the earth which ends in intergalactic war.
* SPECIAL GUEST STAR: John DeLancie as Barry Steinbrenner
(Ironic..ain't it?)
NITS AND OTHER PROBLEMS:
1. Near the end, the reporters start becoming very emotional. Such behavior is considered unprofessional by today's standards. Gone are the days of the highly emotional reports like the one seen / heard during the Hindenburg Disaster by Herb Morrison. Today's reporters are more robotic than anything else.
2. The military sure got trigger-happy in this film. I honestly believe that leading scientists would attempt to translate the radio signals first before any punitive action was taken.
3. The entire movie happens in a matter of hours. In reality, I think it would be days (maybe weeks) before any critical decision was made.
4. How come NOBODY figured out that the second signal was a "guidance signal" until it was too late? (See Nit # 2)
5. How come it took so long for anyone to get the President to a safe and secure location?
6. With all the sci-fi movies that virtually everyone has seen, how come NOBODY thought we were being visited by extra-terrestrials until it was too late? (See Nit # 2 again)
7. The acting of Sander Vanocur was very wooden and fake-looking....and he's a professional news journalist! The Director should have told him, "Act normal..as if this is really happening)
(IMDB FOOTNOTE: Despite Vancour's wooden acting, the FCC ruled that anchormen (or anchorwomen) would no longer be allowed to play themselves in fictional movies...because some people thought the events of this movie was really happening....despite audio & video disclaimers and warnings)
[This one really stumped me...I knew it was fake from the get-go!]
8. Why were the people from Faith, Wyoming the ONLY PEOPLE ON EARTH to vanish without a trace when events escalated?
9. "Grover's Mill, Wyoming" is mentioned in this film...as an obvious tribute to Orson Welles broadcast of 1938.
"Special Bulletin" (1983)
A simulated news broadcast involving terrorists who steal some plutonium and make their own nuclear bomb and hold the entire city of Charleston, SC hostage. Their demands? They want the collect all the nuclear detonators in the area and dump them in the ocean. Things go downhill quickly after that.
REVIEW: This is a lot better than "Without Warning" which would air years later.
Aside from the female reporter crying at the end, the acting was superior.
In real life, reporters refrain from showing any emotion.
GREAT MOMENT: The male reporter going "Frank Reynolds" near the end.
(Yes..he got angry and emotional...but it was more professional than the crying seen moments later)
DOWNSIDE: AGAIN...despite repeated oral and visual disclaimers that the event unfolding on the TV were taken seriously and people in America panicked and called the networks to see if it was really happening.
Is America REALLY that brain-dead?
SPECIAL GUEST: Lane Smith (Perry White from "Lois & Clark")
NITS AND OTHER PROBLEMS:
1. I'm really not sure if any network would REALLY comply with any radical group if something like this would ever happen.
Oh sure, they'd air all the preliminary facts and any miscellaneous details, but to actually grant air-time and interviews to the perpetrators is a bit of a stretch and very unlikely.
2. It takes 2 days for the Government to send troops to resolve the situation.
Sorry...but realistically speaking, military intervention would happen within hours...not days if something like this ever happened...bomb or no bomb.
They'd use sleeping gas or tear gas and go in with guns blazing.
The bomb would then be CAREFULLY removed from the immediate area and detonated in a non-populated area....long before any deadline expired.
3. How did the terrorists "steal" plutonium?
Security around this stuff is virtually air-tight.
The only way this could happen is if someone ALLOWED them to steal it....which is very possible...seeing the state of the nation as it is now.
"Threads" (1984)
A BBC version of "The Day After"...nuff' said.
One of the realest parts was the food crisis bit...it got so bad...people began eating rats and other vermin to survive.
NITS AND OTHER PROBLEMS
1. There is virtually NO SOUNDS when the nukes hit.....VERY IMPOSSIBLE.
2. Nobody in the public suspects anything amiss when fire engines are put into hiding, grocery prices go up, etc...despite all the bad news about the world crisis worsening.
3. I doubt very highly that people would "allow" other people to enter their homes without invitation or government orders to steal their food. There would be some gunfire....period.
4. The "typewriter timeline" sequences really aren't necessary. Just tell the story and let the audience figure out what's going on.
5. One of the main characters is an out of wedlock pregnant woman who gives birth after the crisis...and years later...her daughter repeats the same mistake of getting pregnant out of wedlock. What's up with that? Didn't pregnant mom # 1 didn't teach her kid any morals? NICE MOM!
(Sorry...I did not realize there was a board for "Threads"...re-posted there)
EX MACHINA
Why did the scientist create Ava when he has at least six other working androids stuffed in his closet?
The Asian android seemed pretty sentient to me.
The Space Between Us
As Gardner and Tulsa are driving from Vegas to Summerland, they are seen passing through a windmill farm.
That windmill farm is not on the most common/direct route from Vegas to Santa Barbara (Summerland is just outside of SB). The direct route is to take I-15, and then go through LA to US-101. The wind farm shown is on I-10 near Palm Springs, not on the route.
The Space Between Us
How did they manage to keep Gardner's existence secret for 16 years? It seems that people were being rotated in and out of the East Texas base over that time period. Surely someone would have said something in passing.
A Little Bit Behind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZK8s96TnVY
A Little Bit Behind is a comedy short film released in 2011.
Found out the existence of this short film as it has a redhead that I like Anna McGahan.
This is a fun short film about a time traveller however the thing is he only time travelled three seconds in the past!
Never heard of it.
There is this 1960's movie called Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. Basically, it's about an expedition to Venus (this was made when it was still though Venus was a wet, swampy planet).
When they get their, the astronauts find a planet full of prehistoric animals and such.
However, also there are a bunch of blond Amazon women, led by Moana (Mamie Van Doren).
One thing you will notice is that the astronauts and the Venusian women never directly interact. You'll see the astronauts doing something, then they cut to the women watching and reacting. However, neither ever actually meet.
The reason for this is because they are not really in the same movie. All the scenes involving the astronauts came from a Russian made film called Planet Of Storms (and the Red Star is plainly visible on the astronauts ship at times, even though they're supposed to be Americans).
A few yeas after it was made, Roger Corman (the King Of The B Movies) got a hold of it. He filmed all the stuff with the Venusian women and slapped it together (of course, he dubbed over the Russian actors with American ones).
This movie is available on YouTube if you want an amusing way to pass the time.