2012: A Year In Movie Mistakes

At their core, all narrative features are lies. We can will ourselves to believe we're watching superheroes save Manhattan, but we know deep down that what we're really seeing is costumed actors zipping around on wires and jumping in front of green screens. And like all great, big whoppers, the more moving parts there are, the more difficult it gets to keep everything straight.

The folks at MovieMistakes.com delight in pointing out the tiny mistakes that slip through, whether it's a costume that's been sloppily rearranged between takes or an anachronistic prop that's been dropped into a period piece. Just as they did in 2011, they've just released a list of their favorite goofs of the year, as well as a tally of the most error-prone films of the year. Read them both after the jump.

[UPDATE: One of the filmmakers mentioned, Rian Johnson, has since responded to Looper's inclusion at #8 on the list. Hit the jump to see his tweet.]

Here are the site's top ten errors of 2012, as voted by the site's visitors:

1. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift – Manny refers to the pirate rabbit as the Easter Bunny, even though Easter never existed in prehistoric times.

2. Battleship – The Sampson is hit by one shell at first, leaving a large hole on the port side of the bow. But when it's being pelted with shells during the second volley, the hole in the bow is gone.

3. The Amazing Spider-Man – When Peter falls through the roof and lands on the boxing ring, the planks on his body suddenly disappear.

4. Skyfall – In the scene where M is asked to retire from MI6, she puts down her glass and gets up to leave. She picks up her coat from the back of the chair but leaves her bag on the floor. In the next shot, the bag is no longer there.

5. Red Tails – When Lightning returns to base following the destruction of the train, the pilots watch his gun camera films. Gun cameras are trained forward of the aircraft, while some of the footage displayed was from behind the P-40.

6. The Lorax – When Ted visits the Once-ler for the second time and dives to the ground to avoid being launched by the sledgehammer as happened the first time, he stands up and his goggles are around his neck but hanging behind him. The scene then switches to the Once-ler and then back to Ted, and his goggles are still around his neck but now hanging in front of him.

7. The Dictator – When Aladeen tries to jump the fence of the UN, a hearing device is seen in actor Sacha Baron Coen's ear.

8. Looper – Young Joe was right-handed. (He shot people with his right hand) but Older Joe was left-handed.

UPDATE: Director Rian Johnson good-naturedly offers his explanation:

9. Argo – The action takes place in 1980, but Ben Affleck is wearing a Rolex Deepsea Sea Dweller, which wasn't released until 2008.

10. Underworld: Awakening – Detective Sebastian fires a total of 7 rounds at the Antigen van in the parking garage – three at the driver, two at the front-left tire, one right before the van nearly runs him over and then one after it passes him – without reloading, yet the Taurus Judge revolver he is using is designed to only hold 5 rounds in its cylinder. Later, after Sebastian has reloaded the revolver, he fires 8 rounds at Dr. Lane, again without reloading.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Click over to MovieMistakes.com for numbers 11-30.

As for the most goof-riddled titles of the year, here's the list:

1. Men in Black III – 63

2. Skyfall – 26

3. The Amazing Spider-Man – 24

4. The Avengers – 22

5. Looper – 14

6. The Dark Knight Rises – 13

7. Prometheus – 13

8. Argo – 13

9. The Hunger Games – 12

10. Underworld: Awakening – 10

The errors are user-submitted, so this is far from a scientific survey. But Men in Black 3's spot at the top of the list seems about right. You don't have to look that closely to notice that movie makes no sense. Hit MovieMistakes.com for more, or revisit last year's list for comparison.