In the scene in The Avengers where Captain America hits the punching bag in the gym, you may not notice that the bag bursts even before his fist makes contact. If you freeze the frames, you will notice the sand is already bursting out of the bag even as Cap begins to make his punch. The next image below show more sand bursting out but Cap's fist isn't even touching the bag yet.
Such advanced reaction effects make the action appear faster than it really is. It works well if the film or video is at normal viewing speed, but with today's digital technology, people can easily slow down the moving frames and freeze them to see what's really going on in the scene and what effects have been applied.
This isn't exactly a blooper, but in the movie Immortals, Theseus, our demigod hero known for fighting the Minotaur, gets his hand on the Epirus bow which does not need any physical arrows. Instead it generates magic missiles which unerringly hit their targets with uncanny precision and accuracy. The bow is magical, so it can do things which ordinary bows cannot do, such as generate arrows as needed and defy the laws of physics. it's not supposed to work like a real bow.
In one scene where there are hostages, Theseus lets loose several shots, one after the other, but they all hit at the same time. If actual real-world arrows were released one after the other, they'd hit one at a time and never all at once.
This isn't exactly a blooper since the arrows are supposed to be magical. But then if these arrows can accelerate magically, it makes one wonder why they should have to take so long to hit the mark. Why not get there in no time at all? I'm sure there's some magical explanation, but even without one, great special effects and the power of imagination and creativity can do wonders to suspend disbelief at the movies.
Cowboys and Aliens: Light that's supposed to have come from the ray gun actually came from a different source.
Cowboys and Aliens is a movie based on a graphic novel in which cowboys are pitted against aliens. The cowboys, primarily Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's characters, must do with simple guns and their horses most of the time. But there's an advanced weapon attached to Craig's character's wrist which, in one scene, is used to take down an alien ship.
The weapon blasts away creating bright light and hits the alien ship, causing it to explode in mid air before crashing. More explosive light is created in the scene. Nothing appears amiss in the lighting, but if you look closely at the shadows, the sources of the illumination are not the objects concerned in the scene. The light that's supposed to have come from Craig's wrist weapon actually comes from the right side of the scene (note the shadows of the debris on the ground in the top picture) and the light that's supposed to come from the exploding ship originates from a visual effect that doesn't appear to create shadows (below).
Paranormal 2 is about strange things that go on in a house. So, it's not surprising to see a few ghostly things appear and disappear. But there's one thing in the teaser trailer that should not disappear, and that's the reflection of a baby in the mirror. Then again, maybe it's supposed to happen?
In one room where there's supposedly a camera to document paranormal and supernatural phenomena, there's a baby in a crib. There's a German Shepherd dog on the floor. The wall on the upper left hand corner of the room is mirrored and you can see the baby and the dog reflected on it (top). But in two instances, the reflection doesn't match what's in the room. The baby and the dog (above, left) appear to have disappeared from the mirror. In the scene where the female ghost appears by the door, the baby is lying down but appears in the mirror standing up. See for yourself in the movie stills that follow.
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MacGruber, our all-around veteran and multi-awarded funny soldier from Saturday Night Live is now a movie on the big screen and it's explosive! The story is about a stolen X-5 warhead missile from Russia. The mission of MacGruber is to stop the madman from turning Washington D.C. into dust. The picture above shows the schematics of the X-5. If you look closely, it's actually patterned after the Saturn 5 Moon rocket from the 1960s.
The schematics does not exactly match the looks of the prop used in the movie (above, left). Look at the model behind Val Kilmer and you can see that it does not look like the one in the drawing; it has a slimmer midsection with a bulbous top. Interestingly, the schematics has text indicating the fictional company that made the missile: Lunatech. We can only surmise that this is a nod to the Saturn 5 moon rocket (left) that inspired the design in the drawing. The looks of the Saturn 5 is a classic imitated in many old toys of the 1960s. Apparently, the design has not lost its appeal, which is a good sign.
This is a cute rocket, isn't it? But it's more that just a rocket because it's also a salt-shaker! And it comes with astronaut Snoopy, too! Click here or on the image to place your order.
Funny how stunt sequences can look so good on film, but the truth is there's more than meets the eye with them and if you play the scenes slowly, you'll see that they are not what they appear to be. Take this fight sequence in the movie Robin Hood directed by Ridley Scott.
You can see that Crow's back-fist strike is a clear miss. Sure, it's fast and with lots of water spray, but it's just a choreographed stunt that makes it appear that Crowe and his opponent are actually doing physical damage to each other. That's old-fashioned movie magic but the shortfalls cannot escape the magic of video that can be replayed and slowed down. Robin Hood also stars Max von Sydow, Cate Blanchett, and William Hurt.
Daffy Duck is no Russel Crowe, but at least he's a less serious Robin Hood. He also makes you laugh with his antics with lovable Friar Tuck, Porky Pig. Ibidi-ibidi-ibidi-ibidi. Click here to place your order.
Hong Kong's Jackie Chan is in another action-comedy movie called The Spy Next Door. It's like The Tuxedo in which an ordinary guy gets to become a spy. But in this movie, Chan is already a spy, but he has to do his duty while babysitting for a neighbor.
While being a doting neighbor to the kids next door, Chan unknowingly gets them in danger when the naughty kids mistakenly downloads a code that the bad guys are after. They literally crash into the house and go after the kids. But the kids are ready for them with spy gadgets that make the tricks done in Home Along seem like, well, child's play.
In one scene, a kid use a force gadget on a big bad guy that sends him crashing through the bedroom doorway. You will notice in the sequence that the doorway wall is as thin as cardboard. Ideally, it should be several inches thick and made of concrete. But since this is a comedy movie, it's kind of acceptable, but not very realistic. Such a thin wall wouldn't really hold a door that's at least two inches thick along the borders.
The comedy, Tooth Fairy, stars Dwayne Johnson as a loathsome ice hockey player who gets sentenced by the tooth fairies for wrongdoings committed against toothfairydom. To pay for his misdeeds, he must become a tooth fairy. It's a lot easier said than done of course and our hero must pass tooth fairy school before he is set loose onto the world!
Well, back to the blooper. In one scene in the movie, Johnson crashes into an opposing team's player who loses a canine tooth - or is it a lateral incisor? Anyway, the tooth that flies away and shown as a computer graphic animation (below) is clearly intended to be a molar. Molars, of course, are found at the back of the jaw and mandible and not at the front. You can see what canine teeth look like in the diagram on the left. The third picture below shows the source of the loosened tooth.
The tooth fairy from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. This isn't your fairy tale tooth fairy. It's actually the one from Hell Boy 2: The Golden Army. Yes, it's a nasty looking one but it's also kind of cute at the same time with that funny horse-like smile. Click here or on the image to place your order.
Trucker is a drama about a single mother who's reluctant to become one after he estranged kid suddenly comes into her life and turns things upside down.
Trucker is a movie where there aren't any special effects or the usual bloopers associated with them, but there's this one scene where Monaghan pulls away in her truck that reveals the reflection of the camera on the truck's side (top picture).
It's really a brief exposure and the blooper would not really be noticed if you're not looking, but it's there. For a fraction of a second, you can see the camera and a few other unrecognizable "production" things reflected on the side as the truck moves along.
Trucker has garnered acclaim in independent film circles and Monaghan's unforgettable heartfelt performance has also been praised. It stars Nathan Fillion who we all know from Serenity.
Tron Legacy is another one of those movies that take things a step up from the original with a better story, better graphics, and of course, better animation. Also, let's not forget that this sequel to Tron is going to be released in high-definition 3D. How's that for a movie that was inspired by the most basic and mother of all video games, Pong? It's movie-making history as it happens!
Anyway, the time has come for the world of Tron to really take shape. When the original had to rely much on rotoscoping to get the backlit animations to acceptable quality, Tron Legacy uses state-of-the art computer graphics together with live animation (or something in between) - a feat that filmmakers of the 80s only dreamt of and hoped to happen. Now the technology is here and you'd guess everything would be perfect in this sequel. Well, maybe not quite.
While the movie as depicted in the teaser looks slick and cool, one thing does get your attention and gives you a quirky feeling that says "that's not right!" If you'll just look closely at the movie still above, the head of this rider is a tad small for his body and this also makes his neck too long. It looks as if his face is just projected onto the helmet's visor from the inside. In the real world, the mouth is generally hidden from view behind the chin guard, but in this case, it's not and the whole face can be seen.
Of course there's the argument that it's supposed to be just a representation of the real world or that the helmet used is larger than the typical motorcycling helmet. Still, you can't help but feel that there's something wrong with the proportions. But it's one cinema secret that may not really matter and the movie will still provide great entertainment no matter what.
In the sneak peek at the end-of-the-world movie 2012, there's a part that shows the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel cracking right through Michaelangelo's well-known fresco painting depicting a man reaching out to a bearded Godlike figure. The splitting ceiling special effect is just a few seconds long and seems convincing, but the cinematic magic loses it's charm the closer you look.
If you notice in the two frozen frames, the cracks were obviously laid over the footage or still picture using graphics software. Notice how in the second picture below, that a small portion of the blue outline at the middle-bottom part has been "accidentally" erased when the advancing cracks were being added. Look carefully by comparing the two screen caps and you'll see it. The erasure can actually be seen moving along with the crack in the trailer.
Computer-generated cracking effects are funny in how they are sometimes laid over a scene carelessly with little regard for lighting and how the surrounding visual elements are affected. More often that not, they are simply colored stark black, when in fact, they wouldn't really look that way in reality. Because of the quick editing, mistakes in such graphic effects like those used in the 2012 movie are not obvious. In fact, a lot of the effects you will see in this movie are superb, in spite of the reported budget cut on the movie.
In the full trailer of the Roland Emmerich doomsday movie 2012, a solar eclipse effect is shown. Lately, the image of the total solar eclipse has been used by movie-making people in connection with the ancient Mayan civilization. Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is one example where a total solar eclipse plays a pivotal role in one of the movie's turning points.
So now we have 2012, which is based on the belief that the end of the world is to occur near the end of that year because it's also the time when the Mayan calendar ends. Now, we may have our personal beliefs and some of you may actually believe this or at least feel apprehension regarding it - which isn't really bad when it comes to getting publicity for the movie, it's still all a matter of speculation and a big waiting game, similar to the millennium bug issue. But we digress. It's the eclipse effect that you should pay attention to in this post.
If you watch the 2012 trailer, you might not notice anything wrong with the eclipse shown, and even astronomers may take a second look. But if you notice the way the moon creeps over the sun's face (from left to right, in the trailer) you'll see that it has a bite, like a cookie. It should really appear like a full circle that slowly covers the sun. Although the "bite" can arguably be called a flaring effect that only happens just before totality.
Flaring is really the result of overexposure from the bright light of the exposed part of the sun not covered yet by the moon. The 2012 trailer footage makes it appear that flaring occurred sooner than it should. Catch the trailer of 2012 here.
2012 is directed by Roland Emmerich, who also gave us Independence Day, Stargate, The Day After Tomorrow, and 10,000 B.C. It stars John Cusack and Amanda Peet.
Alison Lohman is a good actress, but like all good actresses, she also has a double for scenes that are too physical or demanding in terms of action and body punishment. In her movie Drag Me to Hell, she has a scene (movie still at the bottom) where a witch pulls her out of her car by the legs through the door.
The scene is a quick one, and viewers aren't able to tell if it is indeed Lohman or a stunt woman who got dragged. But if you slow down the scene and freeze one frame, you'd see that it's not Lohman doing the stunt but some other girl. It's obvious even with the face contorted on purpose (still warranted in the scene, of course) to avoid recognition. It's definitely a stunt woman who has a much longer face than Alison's.
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