Things that pull you out of a movie or book

[bclouse]

I was watching Back to the Future 3 the other day and was enjoying it (as much as one can) then the old west dance scene came on. It has a cameo by ZZ Top and while not as intrusive as it seemed when I originally saw the film, it still drew me out. I particularly hate it when they spin their instruments around. I mean, who does that in the old west?

Being a non-ZZ Top fan it didn't seem fair to me to have to endure a forced appearance for no reason except they sing a song on the soundtrack. Where was Huey Lewis in the first two films?

When has this happen to you?

[Duderdude2]

The 555 prefix has always bothered me, even though some people in real life now have that prefix as part of their number.

[FilmGeek]

Huey Lewis was in the first film, as the judge for the battle of the bands thing.

"you're just too darn loud"

[Nightwatch Trailer]

Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he's a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night's movies suck me in in the first place.)

Although the Pulp Fiction "coffee monologue" provides great material for mocking sessions. "I buy the expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to TASTE it!" Especially good with replication of the awkwardly overdone hand motions.

[Duderdude2]

I second the cameo thing. QT's appearance in Pulp Fiction nearly ruined the whole damn movie for me. It was so cheesy and out of place.

[Lobsang]

Isn't/wasn't 555 a legal requirement for movie telephone numbers? (to avoid possibly real numbers being mentioned, and dialled by those who like to do that sort of thing)


ZZ who?



Kidding. I know who, but I can honestly say I didn't notice a cameo in BTTFIII


I've never abandoned a cinema movie in my life. And I won't permanently lose interest in a movie if it starts out well, but the closest I've come to being put off is by Sharon Stone's precence in Casino.

[Duderdude2]

Isn't/wasn't 555 a legal requirement for movie telephone numbers? (to avoid possibly real numbers being mentioned, and dialled by those who like to do that sort of thing)



I don't know if it's a legal requirement, but I know Bruce Almight used a non 555 #, and received many complaints because of it. People are apparently calling asking for God. Since was amended on the DVD.

However, as Roeper suggested on his show once, movie studios could still purchase a non-555 number to use in various movies. Or they could just not show the # altogther.

[Lobsang]

I forgot to mention (My whole reason for posting was to mention this, then I forgot :smack: )

I watched a movie only yesterday where a 555 number was central to part of the story. It was Die Hard: With Avengance.

I know there's not many who haven't seen that movie. but I'm going to spoiler it anyway.
Mcklain and Zeus have to solve a riddle to get the right number in 30 seconds or the bomb in the bin next to the phone blows up. "On my way to St Ives I met a man with seven wives....blah blah...How many went to St Ives?"... one, of course. The number was 555-0001

[zagloba]

Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he's a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night's movies suck me in in the first place.)

Hitchcock's little appearances are mildly distracting if you know what he looks like and are looking for them. But they're never obtrusive. For example in Strangers on a Train, he's just in the background hauling a string bass up the steps into the train -- he could be any extra. I've always enjoyed the game of trying to spot him.

[LonesomePolecat]

When I'm watching a movie supposedly set in ancient Rome or medieval Europe and somebody flashes a big smile showing a mouth full of perfect teeth, it really brings me out of the film. It's a silly thing to get distracted by, I know, but it always annoys me that people in films set in eras when dentistry and dental care were virtually unknown have an absolutely flawless set of choppers. Even the peasants, for cryin' out loud!

[BrotherCadfael]

Women's hairstyles.

It always annoys me that in a drama set in, say, the 3rd century BC, the leading ladies always have contemporary hairstyles. This was particularly noticable during the '50s (check out, say, Jean Simmons in Sparticus), but the trend carries through to today, unless the director is VERY picky.

Look at the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s, where the heroine, with long straight flowing hair, generally under a flat-brimmed hat and an Indian-print poncho. Rachel Welch did a couple of these.

You can come up with plenty more bad examples. Farrah-Fawcet style hair in the middle ages. A Dorothy Hamill wedge during the Victorian period, etc.

[Nightwatch Trailer]

Hitchcock's little appearances are mildly distracting if you know what he looks like and are looking for them. But they're never obtrusive. For example in Strangers on a Train, he's just in the background hauling a string bass up the steps into the train -- he could be any extra. I've always enjoyed the game of trying to spot him.
I should have said when the director actually plays a role in the movie - when noticing him is unavoidable.

Another thing: when everyone in a southern-based movie has a molasses-thick southern accent. It's so stereotypical and inaccurate that it completely disrupts the movie for me (a southerner).

[Winston Bongo]

I concur on directors appearing in their own movies. I almost turned off Reservoir Dogs in the first five minutes because of Tarantino's obnoxious, pointless character's obnoxious, pointless rant about Madonna. Thankfully, his character was killed shortly thereafter. He was also annoying in Pulp Fiction, but then I found most of that movie annoying.

The worst one, though, has to be M. Night's role in Signs. When he gets out of the car and Mel Gibson's family stops and stares at him, saying, "Look, it's him!," you're supposed to think, It's the guy who killed Mel's wife! Instead you're thinking, It's the director!, and it looks like the characters are thinking that too.

[rjung]

Any bit of cinematic computer gimmickry -- monitors bright enough to reflect their contents on a charater's face, "hacking" a system in six seconds, etc.

But the winner is the eight-year-old girl in Jurassic Park who quips, "This is Unix! I know this!" Sure you do, dear. :rolleyes:

[ZeroGyro]

I'm taken out of a movie whenever you are shown a security tape (or some similar type of video recording) that should be coming from one camera, but is edited with all kinds of shots that make it look like it was shot by a fleet of cameramen. I was listening to the commentary track for the "Heart of Ice" episode from Batman:The Animated Series and the creators mention that they did this unknowingly and regret it.

[audiobottle]

In books, badly done footnotes really take me out. In "Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell," they were superbly done, adding much to the story and placed just so, so they wouldn't interrupt the flow. I'm currently reading "Oracle Night" (nights?) and his footnotes go on for up to 4 pages! They also start in the middle of ideas so I have to go back and reread the paragraph from the start so I can recall what was going on. Just irritating.

[Talon Karrde]

Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he's a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night's movies suck me in in the first place.)

Although the Pulp Fiction "coffee monologue" provides great material for mocking sessions. "I buy the expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to TASTE it!" Especially good with replication of the awkwardly overdone hand motions.
From the first time I saw that scene, I thought it was out of place because for some reason it reminded me of if a fan spliced himself into a movie. I finally figured out exactly why not too long ago.
The "dead nigger storage" exchange has him speaking in witty dialogue to Jules, who is on the receiving end of the wit. That seems wrong, that would be the kind of thing Jules would say to someone else, not just sit there and go "why isn't the sign there?"

That's the biggest problem I have with PF, much as I love it, in some parts it seems like one of the characters is just there so someone else can say witty things to him/her. I felt that way in the scene with Vincent and Mia, Vincent had some great lines, but largely Mia just had too many lines that were just there to look cool. It got annoying.

[furryman]

Things that bother me most in books:
Contradicting something you said previously
James Kilpatrick calls these types of sentences "Stumblers". Sentences that just read badly for one reason or another. The strange thing about this is I've seen even major authors do this. I don't care what Piers Anthony says this just prooves that everybody needs a good editor/ proofreader.
Jokes driven into the ground.
Artifical Elizabethean style language.

[LonesomePolecat]

... when everyone in a southern-based movie has a molasses-thick southern accent. It's so stereotypical and inaccurate that it completely disrupts the movie for me (a southerner).
Yeah, that's another one that bugs me. It doesn't usually bother me if the accent is inaccurate as long as it isn't too exaggerated, but sometimes it's just outrageous. The worst example I can think of is Dan Ackroyd in Driving Miss Daisy. Does he really think southerners talk like that??!?

[Rich Mann]

I'm taken out of a movie whenever you are shown a security tape (or some similar type of video recording) that should be coming from one camera, but is edited with all kinds of shots that make it look like it was shot by a fleet of cameramen.....
In Blade Runner our hero is looking at an (apparently) ordinary photograph and decides to put it in some sort of magnifier. When he scans around the photo the point-of-view changes so that something that was blocking his view of something else moves out of the way. He then utilizes Miracle-ZoomTM (my pet peeve) to repeatedly zoom-in by a factor of around ten each time. He ends up with a print-out of the tattoo on a womans shoulder who was in another room around a corner seen through a mirror and it's still clear enough for a positive ID! For me, it ruins an otherwise exceptional film.

Other users of Miracle-ZoomTM have been Columbo (at least three case solutions rely on it) and CSI. I especially hate it when they blow-up video! I feel like slapping the director and yelling "It's dots, man, dots. Pixels, ya know?"

[rjung]

Other users of Miracle-ZoomTM have been Columbo (at least three case solutions rely on it) and CSI.
I hear Enemy of the State (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/) features Miracle-Zoom(tm) as well.

[MovieMogul]

However, as Roeper suggested on his show once, movie studios could still purchase a non-555 number to use in various movies. Or they could just not show the # altogther.To the countless number of reasons Roeper is an idiot, I can now add another. Did it ever occur to him that, uh, there are different area codes in the United States and the only way to insure that nobody pranks a movie-number is to (a) perform the impossible--have the studio secure the same number in every single area code, (b) use the 555 prefix? No, I didn't think so.

Moron.

[tremorviolet]

It always annoys me that in a drama set in, say, the 3rd century BC, the leading ladies always have contemporary hairstyles. This was particularly noticable during the '50s (check out, say, Jean Simmons in Sparticus), but the trend carries through to today, unless the director is VERY picky.

Look at the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s, where the heroine, with long straight flowing hair, generally under a flat-brimmed hat and an Indian-print poncho. Rachel Welch did a couple of these.

What bothers me more about 50's and 60's period films is the make-up: thick pancake foundation and heavy eyeliner with false eyelashes. And those bullet bra foundation garments.

[Duderdude2]

To the countless number of reasons Roeper is an idiot, I can now add another. Did it ever occur to him that, uh, there are different area codes in the United States and the only way to insure that nobody pranks a movie-number is to (a) perform the impossible--have the studio secure the same number in every single area code, (b) use the 555 prefix? No, I didn't think so.

Moron.

That's why you would show the number with the area code in the movie.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I don't know if it's a legal requirement, but I know Bruce Almight used a non 555 #, and received many complaints because of it. People are apparently calling asking for God. Since was amended on the DVD.

However, as Roeper suggested on his show once, movie studios could still purchase a non-555 number to use in various movies. Or they could just not show the # altogther.I know some studios purchased actual toll-free numbers to use in movies but I can't think of any at the moment.

Sneakers is another fairly recent movie that featured a non-555 number.

[Push You Down]

Casting. Sometimes an actor will pop up that is so recognizable in a "Hey it's THAT GUY!" way and introduced in a "Hey it's THAT GUY!" way I will be taken out of the movie.

An example of this is David Mamet's 'Spartan'. A major goverment official is walking down a hallway. The camera is from his point of view. His attendants walk in front of him. One of them turns briefly toward the camera.
Hey it's William H Macy!


Great movie otherwise.

[Lobsang]

You mean like when Natalie Portman cameoed in 'Zoolander' as Natalie Portman?

[Duderdude2]

You mean like when Natalie Portman cameoed in 'Zoolander' as Natalie Portman?

That's got nothing on David Bowie's appearance, as DAVID BOWIE flashes across the screen.

[MovieMogul]

That's why you would show the number with the area code in the movie.Yeah, but when a character gives his number out, the context usually doesn't require an area code, so the area code is usually unspoken. And anyway, most people who are going to "try" that number in real life aren't going to fuss with an area code in the first place.

[Duderdude2]

Well, if Lute Skywatcher is correct, then it's already been done in movies.

However, assuming he's not, I know that Scrubs (the TV show) recently had Turk read off a phone number as part of the show. That phone number belonged to a cell phone that was kept on the set of the show so that the cast could answer it from time to time.

So it has been done, as far as TV Shows go.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

But the winner is the eight-year-old girl in Jurassic Park who quips, "This is Unix! I know this!" Sure you do, dear. :rolleyes:Actually, that's about the least egregious use of HollywoodOS I've ever seen.

The system shown in Jurassic Park is running a real filesystem visualization tool called fsn (pronounced "fusion") that runs on IRIX (some flavor of Unix supported by SGI).
You can download it here (http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html)

And, IIRC, there were actually reasonable *nix directories scrolling by in the movie.

[Chronos]

The Incredibles had a real 800 number (or at least, a plausible one), but I don't know what it's the number for (I don't have the DVD, and didn't have a pencil and paper in the theater). I would imagine, though, that the line leads to some sort of promotional or marketing gimmick.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Another problem with using real phone numbers is that even if the company buys the phone number, they're probably not going to want to staff it in perpetuity. Ten years from now, I seriously doubt that the Incredibles phone number will still be spouting marketing glurge. It will have been reassigned to someone else. Yet they'll still be happily pumping out DVDs with the number on them. People will call the number. This is normally a small problem with phone number changeovers, but in any other case, the original owner of the number stops publishing it after they no longer use it. If it's in a movie, it's there for good.

[Raguleader]

That's got nothing on David Bowie's appearance, as DAVID BOWIE flashes across the screen.

Is this kinda like in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back where Mark Hamil shows up, and then there's a freeze frame and the words "HEY KIDS! IT'S MARK HAMIL!" shows up on the screen? :D

[rjung]

The system shown in Jurassic Park is running a real filesystem visualization tool called fsn (pronounced "fusion") that runs on IRIX (some flavor of Unix supported by SGI).
You can download it here (http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html)

And, IIRC, there were actually reasonable *nix directories scrolling by in the movie.
Yeah, I know -- I was just miffed at the idea of a pre-teen gal being a Grade-A Unix junkie more than anything else, especially since she showed no signs of computer geekery anywhere earlier in the film.

It's like watching the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew get into some unstoppable dilemna, and then a runny-nosed teenage ensign on the bridge throws out some technobabble, taps a few buttons on the console, and... oh, nevermind. ;)

And don't get me started on JP having the geek programmer, Dennis Nedry, claiming he wrote all 2 million(!) lines of the Park's automation software code by himself...

[AuntiePam]

Movies with "old" cars, but all the "old" cars are shiny and undented. So you know they got the local Classic Cars Club to bring their lovingly restored '48 Studebakers or '57 Chevies for this movie, cuz they all look brand new.

I can tell ya, cuz I was there -- in 1955 everybody didn't drive a 1955 auto, and there were a lot of old rust buckets on the street.

They could at least throw some dirt on those cars, and pace the drive-bys, so it doesn't look like a parade.

[rjung]

The Incredibles had a real 800 number (or at least, a plausible one), but I don't know what it's the number for (I don't have the DVD, and didn't have a pencil and paper in the theater).
I believe someone reverse-engineered the digits and discovered it was (888) SUPR-HRO.

I would imagine, though, that the line leads to some sort of promotional or marketing gimmick.
As far as I know, it was just a line that went nowhere. Certainly no easter eggs when I dialed it...

[Peter Morris]

I heard that Douglas Adams did it a lot. for example, someone would mention a improbability of 2 to the power of 1234567 to 1. so if you dialled 01 123 4567 you got Adams' favourite pub.

Of course, the numbers are long since obsolete, don't bother trying them.

[Duderdude2]

Is this kinda like in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back where Mark Hamil shows up, and then there's a freeze frame and the words "HEY KIDS! IT'S MARK HAMIL!" shows up on the screen? :D

Haha, exactly, except in Zoolander there's even a musical interluide that accompanies it. Both scenes are equally hilarious though.

[Stranger On A Train]

Hitchcock's little appearances are mildly distracting if you know what he looks like and are looking for them. But they're never obtrusive. For example in Strangers on a Train, he's just in the background hauling a string bass up the steps into the train -- he could be any extra. I've always enjoyed the game of trying to spot him.Novel author Patricia Highsmith also appears briefly at the bus stop (IIRC). In his cameo in Rear Window (one of my favorite films) he's the clockwinder in the mucisian's apartment, which strikes me as quite appropriate.

There are a lot of things that bug me about films (and I see a lot of them) but the worst in both film and literature is when a character exists strictly as an expositor of things that would be best described by images. The most common example is the totally unnecessary and obtrusive voiceovers tacked onto Blade Runner, but it's even worse a lot of science fiction films where the director clearly doesn't think the audience is bright enough to pound sand. Note that VO is okay when used appropriately and/or sparingly (Out Of The Past comes to mind) but running Wonder Years-type commentaries bug the hell out of me, as does the scientist's assistant who is there only to ask dumb questions, as in Earth vs the Flying Saucers (though admittedly that film is so cheesy it becomes laughable rather than distracting.) Monty Python's Flying Circus did a great riff on this in one episode (the one with the aliens shaped like blancmanges) in which the scientist ends up beaning his assistance because she's such a twit.

This is also the case, most notably, with Larry Niven's novels; the characters end up having long expository and badly misguided discussions about evolutionary biology or cosmology nominally to describe some development but actually to disguise the fact that the plot is going nowhere. Ditto with pretty much everything Clarke and Asimov ever wrote after 1960.

Stranger

[JohnT]

No-name products.

For example...

People complain when they see a Coke in a movie, crying "product endorsing!", but nothing pulls me out of a movie to see somebody drink from a red can that is obviously not a Coke but is supposed to be.

This was really bad about 10-15 years ago, but it's gotten a bit better. Or maybe I have. ;)

[davenportavenger]

The 555 prefix has always bothered me, even though some people in real life now have that prefix as part of their number.Where? That must be the Land of the Terminally Pissed-Off.

In books, I can't stand when people use anything other than the phrase "he said." There are authors I can't read because of this. In particular, I've stopped buying issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction because every recent issue contains a short story by a guy who uses a saidism in every single dialogue line--he commented, she remarked, he interjected... grr! It would not be so bad if it was every so often (say, one dialogue line out of a hundred), but this guy does it every single time. It totally draws me out of the story and makes me think about elementary school English class, when we had to use saidisms in our stories because the teacher thought it was more creative. It's not creative, it's annoying and a sign of bad writing (the dialogue itself should portray tone; the tag is there only to identify a speaker and should be invisible to readers).

[Duderdude2]

Where? That must be the Land of the Terminally Pissed-Off.


I read it in an article about 6 months ago, though I forget the publication and the areas where 555 is now a valid prefix. However, IIRC, even though 555 is now in effect, a small range of numbers are still reserved for movies (such as 555-4000 through 555-5555, or something to that effect).

[AuntiePam]

In books, I can't stand when people use anything other than the phrase "he said." There are authors I can't read because of this. In particular, I've stopped buying issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction because every recent issue contains a short story by a guy who uses a saidism in every single dialogue line--he commented, she remarked, he interjected... grr!

How about some adverbs along with the saidisms, "she asked, quizzically, angrily, unncessarily". J. K. Rowling is one of the worst offenders, and I fear for young (and old) readers who think that this is good writing.

[davenportavenger]

How about some adverbs along with the saidisms, "she asked, quizzically, angrily, unncessarily". J. K. Rowling is one of the worst offenders, and I fear for young (and old) readers who think that this is good writing.Oh yeah, that too. Adverbs in general are usually a sign of bad writing, since you should ideally search for a stronger verb ("he trotted" instead of "he walked swiftly," for example).

[Lissa]

In books, it irks me when the characters think like modern people. Yes, I'm sure in the Middle Ages there were some people who believed in women's liberation, but not every damn female heroine!

[HPL]

In Blade Runner our hero is looking at an (apparently) ordinary photograph and decides to put it in some sort of magnifier. When he scans around the photo the point-of-view changes so that something that was blocking his view of something else moves out of the way. He then utilizes Miracle-ZoomTM (my pet peeve) to repeatedly zoom-in by a factor of around ten each time. He ends up with a print-out of the tattoo on a womans shoulder who was in another room around a corner seen through a mirror and it's still clear enough for a positive ID! For me, it ruins an otherwise exceptional film.

Other users of Miracle-ZoomTM have been Columbo (at least three case solutions rely on it) and CSI. I especially hate it when they blow-up video! I feel like slapping the director and yelling "It's dots, man, dots. Pixels, ya know?"

I had the same problem when watching Blade Runner. I said "Wait a second. There's no LOS there. You can't actually see that, it's just a computer extrapolation and thus pretty worthless." I also dislike Miracle-zoom.

It doesn't ruin a film, but it bugs me

[bclouse]

Another thing: when everyone in a southern-based movie has a molasses-thick southern accent. It's so stereotypical and inaccurate that it completely disrupts the movie for me (a southerner).

I felt the same way about all the Boston accents in Mystic River. Does every single person who lives in Boston have the exact same accent? It almost seemed like a joke at one point.

[Ranchoth]

I hear Enemy of the State (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/) features Miracle-Zoom(tm) as well.

It does...actually, as I remember, they use a Miracle-Zoom™ to "enhance" the logo on the side of a shopping bag that was facing away from the camera. Not a reflection of the side, either.

And, apparently, every crummy little shop in Manhattan has it's security system hooked into a high-speed internet connection, so it can be hacked within seconds.

[HPL]

Couple things:

-Accents that don't fit in. A brooklyn accent in ancient rome stands out like a sore thumb.

-People who obviously don't fit in. I can see trying to be more inclusive, and if it's for artistic purposes, it dosen't bug me. However, casting Black/Asian actors as Nobles in Mideviel Europe is just jarring, as is casting white actors for nobles in feudal japan. If it's a movie that's not really taking itself seriously, fine, but otherwise it's strange. I can forgive this for stage productions or movie musicals assuming the actor is good.

-Gun stuff. I get annoyed by people who continue to cock their guns, thinking it looks cool but not realizing they're really just throwing away ammunition needlessly.

-Elite military teams who act like rent-a-cops and get easily slaughtered by a bunch of ameuters. IE: Clear and Present Danger, Blade 2.

-People in films who completely ignore the obvious. Blair witch 2 annoys the crap out of me because they spend half the film asking "Why can't I remember 5 hours of last night?(when all this wierd crap happened and was filmed)" The scene before they wake up, they are shown A.) Smoking Pot and B.) Drinking Beer. in mass quanities. And yet, nobody ever bothers pointing out that this may be the cause of the inability to remember the wee hours of the morning and the goth girl dancing naked around a tree.

[HPL]

Oh, and the curse of Victor Hugo.

-Sewers. I get annoyed if Sewers are shown in movie seem far too clean and well-lit for something that's supposed to be filled with shit and underground. It's an irrational pet peeve of mine.

[zagloba]

Jodie Foster suddenly showing up in the middle of A Very Long Engagement, which is a French film. There's JF speaking fluent French with what I've read is a recognizable Polish accent. It only threw me for a few seconds, though. She did such a good job with the role that I got over the initial shock of recognition.

[Freejooky]

I guess people don't read that much. :)

For me, it's writers having characters use ridiculous or uncommon swears; though I love Stephen King, he indiscriminately does this in every book and almost every short story. The moment a character utters a swear like "whoreson" or "whoremonger," or says "pass me that cunt" in reference to a beer, I feel like throwing the book down.

[Justin_Bailey]

I guess people don't read that much. :)

For me, it's writers having characters use ridiculous or uncommon swears; though I love Stephen King, he indiscriminately does this in every book and almost every short story. The moment a character utters a swear like "whoreson" or "whoremonger," or says "pass me that cunt" in reference to a beer, I feel like throwing the book down.

You mean you don't know the difference between a fuckeroo and a fuckeree or care which a woman one of the main character's tried to date qualifies as?

I'm shocked. ;)

[Raguleader]

Couple things:

-Accents that don't fit in. A brooklyn accent in ancient rome stands out like a sore thumb.

"Oy! I'm a Spanyad, Mayte!"

I can usually ignore that in most movies without giving it too much thought. Helps that I'm Economically Amused.

-Gun stuff. I get annoyed by people who continue to cock their guns, thinking it looks cool but not realizing they're really just throwing away ammunition needlessly.


Do you mean cock as in pulling the slide, or as in actually cocking the hammer? Because cocking the hammer just makes it easier to shoot the gun. Pulling the slide is pointless unless you don't have a bullet chambered, or if you have a misfire/jam.

[AndrewL]

Oh, and the curse of Victor Hugo.

-Sewers. I get annoyed if Sewers are shown in movie seem far too clean and well-lit for something that's supposed to be filled with shit and underground. It's an irrational pet peeve of mine.
For me, it's ventilation shafts. Ventilation shafts in movies are always clean and shiny. In reality, you only find clean ventilation shafts in just-built buildings. Ventilation shafts in older buildings are filthy, covered with grime and dust on the insides.

[LonesomePolecat]

For me, it's ventilation shafts. Ventilation shafts in movies are always clean and shiny. In reality, you only find clean ventilation shafts in just-built buildings. Ventilation shafts in older buildings are filthy, covered with grime and dust on the insides.
And they're always big enough for a grown man to crawl through. In real life, how many times do you see ventilation shafts going through out an entire office building that are large enough to allow a full grown man to crawl through them?

[Raguleader]

And they're always big enough for a grown man to crawl through. In real life, how many times do you see ventilation shafts going through out an entire office building that are large enough to allow a full grown man to crawl through them?

"Television is the explanation for this. You see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond s*** never happens in real life, professionals don't do that!" -- Agent Paul Smecker, Boondock Saints

Though, to be fair, I'm honestly suprised that kind of thing doesn't happen more often on Star Trek, what with the Jeffries Tubes and all.

[Kyla]

And they're always big enough for a grown man to crawl through. In real life, how many times do you see ventilation shafts going through out an entire office building that are large enough to allow a full grown man to crawl through them?

Actually, a few years ago there was an incindent where Albert Belle got caught using a corked bat. It was confiscated by the umps and put in the ump locker room. Belle got one of his teammates to crawl through the ventilation shafts, drop through the ceiling, and steal the bat back.

So it's not impossible, at least at major league ballparks.

[Alias]

Is this kinda like in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back where Mark Hamil shows up, and then there's a freeze frame and the words "HEY KIDS! IT'S MARK HAMIL!" shows up on the screen? :D

Speaking of Mark Hamill, he alone is enough to pull me out of a movie or cartoon. He has two voices that he uses. One, his normal voice. Two, his Joker voice. Any other voice he does is just a variation of one of the two.

[Don Draper]

No-name products.

For example...

People complain when they see a Coke in a movie, crying "product endorsing!", but nothing pulls me out of a movie to see somebody drink from a red can that is obviously not a Coke but is supposed to be.

This was really bad about 10-15 years ago, but it's gotten a bit better. Or maybe I have. ;)


The film "Repo Man" does a great running gag about this. EVERY possible retail item is generically labelled. At one point, Harry Dean Stanton's character says "Let's get something to drink." The next shot shows him putting a six-pack of cans on a deli counter. All the cans are generically marked "drink."

I sometimes get annoyed at how remarkably pristine every movie home is. Whenever they show someone's home, it always looks spotlessly immaculate, as if nobody had set foot in there for ages. And if the home is a city apartment, the windows always have a spectacular view of a night-time city-scape. Nobody in movies ever lives in a place with a view of a parking lot or brick wall.

[Nava]

Bad translations can absolutely ruin a book.

I started reading books in the original language whenever possible in order to practice that language, improve my vocabulary,etc. Now I do it because slugging through the dictionary is less painful than seeing "the grim reaper" translated as "la segadora torva" (which back-translates as "the scowling tractor") instead of "la Parca" (Death, for those who weren't paying attention). "La segadora torva" sounds to me like a John Deere painted black, with studs all over and one of those reaping/packing attachments worn in the position where cars following it get to see the sharp spikes in all their 2-foot-long glory: the meanest 10mph in the whole highway system, dood.

(segador, male word, is the person who reaps... segadora is the machine you use for reaping, so a tractor)

[The Hamster King]

The long drawn-out "Noooooooooo!" when the hero see his best buddy die. Even worse when the camera pulls up into the sky and rotates, showing the hero clutching his fallen buddy and raging at the gods.

And scenes that end with a repeated line of dialog with a beat in between: "Be afraid." beat "Be very afraid." It's an escape hatch for a writer who can't figure out how to end the scene.

[Stranger On A Train]

The long drawn-out "Noooooooooo!" when the hero see his best buddy die. Even worse when the camera pulls up into the sky and rotates, showing the hero clutching his fallen buddy and raging at the gods.Or the "I've got x days to retirement" schtick. I recently watched To Live and Die in LA which I've always heard great things about backintheday and couldn't stop laughing at the stupid cliches, especially that one.

Stranger

[rjung]

And they're always big enough for a grown man to crawl through. In real life, how many times do you see ventilation shafts going through out an entire office building that are large enough to allow a full grown man to crawl through them?
Don't forget that people crawling through air shafts don't get lost or stuck, either.

"I saw a film where there was an alien crawling around inside a spaceship's air ducts and it could come out wherever it liked," said Johnny reproachfully.
"Doubtless it had a map," said the Captain.
-- Only You Can Save Mankind, Terry Pratchett

[Hypno-Toad]

I get jarred out of the movie in a pissy way when I see historical characters given a moral whitewash to sync with todays ideals. For example, In The Patriot Mel Gibson is a southern plantation owner who has black field hands. When someone assumes that they're slaves, Mel gets all offended. He is totally disgusted by the existence of slavery. GET REAL! He would have owned slaves! His character suddenly lost all it's depth and became nothing more than a caricature of "The Good Guy" at that point. For the rest of the movie, all I could see him as was a revolutionary Dudley Do-Right.

[Motorgirl]

Yeah, but when a character gives his number out, the context usually doesn't require an area code, so the area code is usually unspoken.


You mean LA doesn't have 10-digit dialling yet? I assumed they would by now and so LA-based writers & directors & whatnot might find it natural to have a character give out their full 10-digit number. I have to when I give out my number, since 10-digit dialling is necessary here in Beantown, so I wouldn't think twice about a movie character giving a 10-digit number to another character.

I assume 10-digit dialling is necessary in lots of other metro areas as well. Am I wrong?

[FlightlessBird]

Bad Wire-Fu.
I can suspend disbelief in a lot of things. The genetically engineered mutant taking out 50 badguys while running up a tree without breaking a sweat, no problem, but when the GEM changes direction in midair due to wire-fu swinging, I can't stand it.

Occasionally it done on purpose (like Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, where someone bends backwards and slides on her feet under the table), but it still irks me to no end.

What sucks is when it's done unintentionally, like the trailer to Serenity (I hate to harp on what I want and still hope to be a great film) There's the part where one guy gets hit and flips up and the hitter grabs his legs. Neat move, but it's obvious (to me) that his body is swiveling at his hips when he was hit at chest level and should be swiveling about there.

Basically, my eye notices physical contact, and human physics involved and that'll draw me out of a movie.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

I get jarred out of the movie in a pissy way when I see historical characters given a moral whitewash to sync with todays ideals. For example, In The Patriot Mel Gibson is a southern plantation owner who has black field hands. When someone assumes that they're slaves, Mel gets all offended. He is totally disgusted by the existence of slavery. GET REAL! He would have owned slaves! His character suddenly lost all it's depth and became nothing more than a caricature of "The Good Guy" at that point. For the rest of the movie, all I could see him as was a revolutionary Dudley Do-Right.Agreed. I was similarly pissed when in the recent movie Troy it was assumed that anyone who believed in the gods was simple-minded and foolish. At first I thought it was just a thinly veiled anti-religious streak, but I think it's really just the complete lack of understanding on the part of the writers that the Greek gods weren't just fairy tales and superstition. They were a huge part of religion and culture, and the story of the Illiad is significantly weaker when they're removed.

[HPL]

Do you mean cock as in pulling the slide, or as in actually cocking the hammer? Because cocking the hammer just makes it easier to shoot the gun. Pulling the slide is pointless unless you don't have a bullet chambered, or if you have a misfire/jam.

Sorry, I meant slide racking. That'll teach me to post just before I go to bed.

The Slide racking thing is abused far too much in film.

Though it did bug me in the Matrix when all those cops entered the room with Trinity and then cocked their guns.....their glocks.

[ivylass]

I was reading a Michael Korda and I had to stop because of god-awful dialogue. It was about a young woman who married an elderly rich man, and of course, his family had all sorts of suspicions about her motives.

In the backstory, before they're married, the woman has lunch with the elderly gentleman. He asks her about her work and she says.....






Wait for it......












"It's very varied."





:eek: :confused: :rolleyes: :smack:

I couldn't get past that line. I don't know if Korda didn't catch it when he wrote it, but when you read it you realize how stupid it sounds. I had to give it up because I would read paragraphs and realize I hadn't absorbed anything because I was so stuck on that stupid asinine sentence.

[Hypno-Toad]

Bad Wire-Fu.
I can suspend disbelief in a lot of things. The genetically engineered mutant taking out 50 badguys while running up a tree without breaking a sweat, no problem, but when the GEM changes direction in midair due to wire-fu swinging, I can't stand it.

Occasionally it done on purpose (like Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, where someone bends backwards and slides on her feet under the table), but it still irks me to no end.

What sucks is when it's done unintentionally, like the trailer to Serenity (I hate to harp on what I want and still hope to be a great film) There's the part where one guy gets hit and flips up and the hitter grabs his legs. Neat move, but it's obvious (to me) that his body is swiveling at his hips when he was hit at chest level and should be swiveling about there.

Basically, my eye notices physical contact, and human physics involved and that'll draw me out of a movie.

I'm with you big time on this one. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had some seriously impressive martial arts sequences. But then they throw in all the unreal jumping around and running up walls and it completely wrecks it for me. I'm so much more impressed by real fighting, even if it is choregraphed and helped along by editing. An exception was the first Matrix. That movie provided a reasonable rationale for doing super human maneuvers in my opinion.

Another thing that irks me to distraction is when weapons have the unlimited ammo cheat code turned on. The worst offender I remember for this was Commando which combined unlimited ammo with poor continuity. Arnold has five rounds left on his MG ammo belt. So he whips around to shoot someone else and bam, the belt is magically down to his knees again! Hey arnold save a round for me and get me out of this film!

[Agrippina]

The long drawn-out "Noooooooooo!" when the hero see his best buddy die. Even worse when the camera pulls up into the sky and rotates, showing the hero clutching his fallen buddy and raging at the gods.

There's a great Simpsons episode (Saturdays of Thunder) where they parody this (and the "I have x days until retirement"). Homer is at the movie store and watches a part in the new McBain movie. McBain's partner, who is retiring, even has a boat named "Live 4 Ever". So of course the buddy gets shot by their criminal nemesis. McBain clutches his fallen buddy and looks to the ceiling.

"MENDOZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"