MovieMistakes.com is one of the rare web sites that has a URL that clearly explains what you’ll find there: Movie Mistakes.  This site contains a compendium of mistakes that can be found in modern cinema.  Editing and consistency mistakes are common in movies and some other sites feature some of the more interesting errors, but this site dedicates it wholly to mistakes and those who find them.  Replete with screen and video capture examples, MovieMistakes.com makes for an interesting visit for film buffs and regular viewers alike.  Of particular note is the Best Mistakes with Pictures section that contains clear examples of some of the best mistakes that made it through to final production.  My favorite is the scene in Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl where a crew member donning a cowboy hat is clearly visible looking out over the ocean.

http://www.moviemistakes.com/

I don’t care who knows it; I loved Waterworld. It was skewered during production for its reported $200 million cost, later corrected to $175 million, and never really had a chance out of the gate. The film earned $255.2 million not including DVD sales, a modest haul, but still a 46% return on investment. I never really understood the criticism over its cost. “You’re spending what, to entertain me? Well that’s just unacceptable!” It’s not like the ticket prices went up as they do at a concert venue.

Kevin Costner stars in this apocalyptic thriller about the future Earth after the ice caps have melted. Mankind is afloat, fighting tooth and nail to survive. It’s Mad Max on the high seas with Costner filling the Mad Max role as the Mariner who glides around his boat and the sea defending against pirates, referred to as Smokers. But what really separates Costner from the rest of mankind is the genetic mutation that has given him both lungs and gills, allowing him to live above water or below. When the residents of a floating city discover the Mariner as a “mutato,” they capture and sentence him to death in a kangaroo court. Just as the execution is to be carried out, the “atoll” comes under fire by an army of Smokers, commanded by Dennis Hopper who chews the scenery as the Deacon. For the Mariner to make his escape from the atoll he is forced to enlist the help of the young Helen, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn whose most notable performance may have been as Tom Cruise’s wife in The Firm. In exchange for her help, Helen wants safe passage on the Mariner’s boat for her and her ward, Enola, played by Tina Majorino who would grow up to act as the glamour shot taking, key chain making, love interest in Napolean Dynamite. Enola is the real reason for the attack on the atoll due to her mysterious tattoo that is rumored to lead to dry land and the salvation of mankind, making the battle between good and evil literally about the skin off her back. The Mariner finds himself an unlikely hero on a quest for something that he ultimately doesn’t need and fears.

Costner’s performance is fluid and excellent, but I’ll admit being a little biased. I like his films so much that I would probably plunk down the cost of a ticket to watch him read the newspaper for two hours, or simply deliver the newspaper as he did in the similarly apocalyptic tale, The Postman. However, with all due respects to Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper, the real star of this film is the setting. Albeit at times a little comical, the film really delivers on its promise to provide a “water world”. There’s no land in site, everything is recycled and salvaged from floating debris, and the characters move about the boats and floatillas as though they’ve lived there their whole lives, which it may have seemed like to some of the actors. Costner himself spent 157 days on set, working six days a week.

Another aspect of the movie are the many inside jokes, the most obvious of which revolve around ecology. After all, the movie is ultimately about global warming long before Al Gore took to the screen. The character Enola is surely named for the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan. The evil pirates are called Smokers for their obstinant use of burning fuels, but later we see that it could also be termed for the cigarettes that Deacon uses to reward his crew.  And, we discover that the Smoker army is transported around on the Exxon Valdez, infamous for running aground in Price William Sound, Alaska, spilling between 11 and 30 million gallons of oil in 1989. Deacon refers to the convicted captain of the Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, as “Old Saint Joe”.  Also, look for King Kong’s Jack Black in an early role in his career playing a Smoker pilot.

"Let’s have an intelligent conversation here: I’ll talk, and you listen.”
Dennis Hopper as Deacon in Waterworld, 1995

Have you ever had the desire to watch Star Wars (episode IV, the first film released of the series) presented as ASCII characters, 13 high and 67 wide?  Good, because do I have a site for you!  Asciimation was started in July 1997 and continues to be developed, receiving its most recent update in April 2006.  It currently has 15953 frames which are encoded into 3413 displayable frames.  The player does a good job of rendering the frames into a playable movie, but don’t take my word for it; check it out for yourself.

http://www.asciimation.co.nz/