MovieChat Forums > The Big Year (2011) Discussion > Some goofs noticed in this movie

Some goofs noticed in this movie


I saw this movie this afternoon. I thought it was good. The three lead characters all gave solid performances. Like in King Kong, Jack Black impressed me with his acting skills when he isn't trying to be a modern John Belushi.
I thought the movie played up the typical stereotypes of birders as slightly crazy nerds who walk about in public imitating bird calls, but at least it tried to explain people's obsessions with birds.

I noticed some goofs in the movie, none of which give away any major plot elements.
First, scenes in NYC show cars with the old blue and white plates. The new NY plates are yellow with blue lettering.
Second, when Jack Black is traveling from Baltimore to Boston after a Pink-footed Gull, he's on an Amtrak train which should have a direct route on the Northeast corridor with the only possible connection in NY city at Penn Station. An exterior shot of a train showed a Metro-North Railroad General Electric P32-9ACDM, which is mostly used for runs on the Hudson and Harlem Valley lines. I could also point out the engine has the old "stealth" paint sceme, but most of the engines have been repainted with new colors with a blue cab. Judging from the mountains and the river in the background, I'd guess the shot was taken near the New Hamburg station on the Hudson line, which isn't part of the Washington-Boston corredor.

As you may have guessed by now, I am triply cursed: I'm a birder, a rail-fan, and I nit-pick movies. You could feel pty for me, and not just because My llife-list has been stalled at 399 for the past two monthes!






I find your lack of faith disturbing.

reply

[deleted]

Haha, I'm sorry about the stall and your curse of obsessions! I'm still a very new birder (and I just finished law school and I work and my brother just deployed with 2 kids under a year old, so I've been busy, haha, with no money for travel) and I'm stalled at 99 (embarrassingly low, I know).

The Sandhill bit *is* odd, but IIRC, it's based on something in the book, there was a relatively common bird that had eluded two of them repeatedly, though I can't remember which.

reply

I've seen several snowy owls in my lifetime - one in my backyard. Maybe I'm just lucky, but that's what led me to think: 'Are they really that rare to see?' And I should add I live in a mid-sized town in Ontario, not somewhere deep in the woods.

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]


I feel your pain. I was stuck at 299 for almost a year. Then while camping in NE Minnesota one spring, a Townsend's warbler came through with a flock of other warblers. Only the 2nd sighting ever for one in Lake County.


Voted class of 2097's "Most Likely to Abuse Time Travel".

reply

There was a few bird issues that made me say "Huh?!"
-The Sandhill Cranes should have been an easy find in the upper mid west or in Canada. They certainly could find it in the fall at the Platte River in Nebraska, or Bosque Del Apache Refuge in New Mexico.
-The Pink-footed Goose was on a mountain top? Alone? It would have been more believable if it was mixed in with a flock of Canada geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, or Snow Geese in Massachusets or on Delaware bay.
-The Great Grey Owl was in a forrest in Virginia? Possible, but not likely. Anytime they come below the Canada border, it makes them a must see for every birder east of the Mississippi River.
-The Great Spotted Woodpecker Steve Martin's character sighted would be an OMG bird. Its not even listed as a vagrant in my field guide.
- As far as missing the Snowy Owl, I would believe missing it. Two years ago, when I was still living in New York, I made six trips to an area north of Albany and never saw a "can't miss" owl.





I find your lack of faith disturbing.

reply


We had a Great Grey invasion two years back and I counted 20 of them along a 23 mile stretch of highway between Duluth, Mn. and Two Harbors, Mn.

Perfect day for the hawk migration today! I've seen about 250 Sharp shinned hawks, at least that many Broad Wings, along with Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, Cooper's Hawks, Ospreys, and 1 Golden Eagle.


Voted class of 2097's "Most Likely to Abuse Time Travel".

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

You mean Pink-footed Goose, not gull. There were quite a few bird-related fact issues, but I am a birder and they didn't bother me a bit. Good luck with #400.

reply


The new New York plates are gold with blue letters, but they're not mandatory -- many, many blue and white plates still on the roads.

reply

I have not seen a sandhill crane in probably five or six years (I think? I don't recall...)... sad, I know. I think I've only seen them once or twice.

My world life list is stuck at 241 while my Lower 48's list is stuck at 187.

I'd love to do a big year someday... and I hope to write a story with some characters doing a big year! (I'm thinking in my made-up country, Devonshire.)


http://www.fanfiction.net/~staraptorempoleon
http://www.fictionpress.com/~ospreyeagle

reply

Winter in FL for sandhill cranes. Easy to see, saw many at Blue Heron water treatment facility (I believe that is the name)last Feb. Almost tame, you can drive your car right up to them.

reply

I consider sandhill a species you pick up when you're going after something else. I saw several of them in a field near Alva FL a few years ago while I was going for Lazuli Bunting in someone's yard. Lots of retirement communities in central FL have Resident breeding pairs of sandhills during the winter months.

reply

Its the perfect time of year to find Sandhill Cranes. Last week, I saw over two hundred at Hiawassee Wildlife Refuge along the Tennessee River about twenty-five miles north of Chatanooga, Tn. Sadly, I was a day early. The very next day, two Whooping Cranes were seen there, and just the other day, an American White Pelican was photographed there.




I find your lack of faith disturbing.

reply

I live in western Washington, and I don't think there would be a Blue-Footed Booby sighting in the San Juan Islands. But I really enjoyed the movie.

reply

Oddly enough, there's a Blue-footed Booby report on eBird from 2006 for Samish Island, halfway between Anacortes and Bellingham.

reply