# Little mistakes that take you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969 "2009-02-22T19:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/121 "2009-04-26T01:09:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Yeah, but… > > Solo wasn’t bragging about his mad navigational skillz, he was bragging on the ships speed. Right but the idea is that the ship is so fast it allows him to skirt closer to a black hole than any other ship. It isn’t the best description ever but it does make logical sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/122 "2009-04-26T02:03:36Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > Right but the idea is that the ship is so fast it allows him to skirt closer to a black hole than any other ship. It isn’t the best description ever but it does make logical sense. I know George goes WAY into his characters and creatures and such But that extraneous of thinking, in the 70s I think is giving a little TOO much credit. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/123 "2009-04-26T02:20:10Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I have no problem sleeping anywhere any time … I spent enough time in various hospitals over the years I can drop off whenever I want/need to. My ex-WWII-GI scoutmasters taught me the same thing. Wife gets pissed that, whenever there’s a lull in the action, I’m snoring, but who knows when you’ll get another chance? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/124 "2009-04-26T03:51:19Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > My ex-WWII-GI scoutmasters taught me the same thing. Wife gets pissed that, whenever there’s a lull in the action, I’m snoring, but who knows when you’ll get another chance? Bahaha, when I was in tech school, we had to march to and from class as a squadron, which for a squadron as large and ponderously retarded as ours was, took some time. One day, on our way back, we were in front of a squad of Soldiers returning from one of their classes. Every time we’d stop to do our road-crossing procedure, he’d give squad halt, have them left face to be facing out of the sun, and told them to “Go to sleep!” he did this about three or four times before explaining that they should take every opportunity to grab a few winks for just that reason. I thought it was hilarious, some wet towels from my class took offense. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/125 "2009-04-26T08:14:35Z")
Watched **Quantum of Bollocks** last night, and one thing really leapt out at me\*: Bond hears the villain’s name spoken and asks for a full rundown on “Dominic Greene. G-R-E-E-N-E”. But if he’d only heard the name spoken, how did he know there was a “E” on the end? \*Yes, the movie was so boring and confusing that my brain had nothing better to do. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/126 "2009-04-26T09:39:57Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > In _The Chronicles of Riddick_, one of the mercenaries makes a remark something like “Look at you now, all ‘back of the bus’”. > In present day Earth that makes perfect sense. In a futuristic world of lasers and spaceships I doubt they even know what a bus is, let alone know why the back of the bus is an insult. In present day _America_ it might make perfect sense. I’m only a few thousand miles away, and _I_ don’t know why it’s an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/127 "2009-04-26T10:03:23Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > In present day _America_ it might make perfect sense. I’m only a few thousand miles away, and _I_ don’t know why it’s an insult. During the segregation era in America blacks were forced to sit at the back of the bus instead of riding up front like real people: this led to the famous bus boycott in Alabama - and the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s - which was begun by Rosa Parks after she refused to be thus treated. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/128 "2009-04-26T10:12:21Z")
I assume it refers to the colour segregation in the US South, where blacks had to sit in the back of the bus, until the [Montgomery bus strike](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott)started by [Rosa Parks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks)refusing to give up her seat to whites and move to the back (where no seat was left free). But yes, far too many references of the futures are not only Earth-centric, but US-centric. That’s why foreigners have to get online and look up what things were referenced. I remember how it felt like when I was reading a short story in an international SF omnibus collection, about a group of astronauts in the future finding a mirror Earth with a big board depicting very famous events of Earth history everybody would immediatly recognize on sight. Only the author was Chinese, and all the events were major Chinese history events I had never ever heard of (they “helpfully” included footnotes so it ran like “Look the battle of (someplace) - Footnote: took place in 13… and decided the power struggle between (one dynasty) and other (dynasty)” umm okay… (The astronaust eventually deduced that the aliens who’d lived there had observed them coming, and having watched Earth history all along, decided to show the astronauts only events of their own history to put them more at ease). But it was odd feeling so completly ill-educated and unable to recognize even one reference when I generally catch at least some stuff and consider myself at least average knowledgeable/ educated. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/129 "2009-04-26T13:57:07Z")
Blacks sitting in the back of the bus wasn’t something limited just to the South… it’s just where the first protests against that policy arose. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/130 "2009-04-26T19:35:25Z")
No, no, no. Riddick isn’t all back of the bus an’ shit because of any connection to the civil rights movement. He’s all back of the bus because that’s where you sit if you want to get away with shit you’re not supposed to do. Or, to quote the Simpsons, “The potential for mischief varies inversely to one’s proximity to the authority figure”. It’s like saying, “Oh, you think you’re the shit, huh?” Or, to be more precise, he’s saying Riddick is _acting_ like he’s all back of the bus/a badass, but isn’t really. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/131 "2009-04-26T19:38:57Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Tires always squeal. _Always._ Even if the road is wet. Or isn’t paved. See Dr. No. Bond is driving to the girl’s place and gets chased by the bad guys. They veer widely around turns, throwing dust and stones in the air while the tires squeal loudly on the soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/132 "2009-04-26T20:46:53Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Solo wasn’t bragging about his mad navigational skillz, he was bragging on the ships speed. You’re right. He didn’t say “_I_ made the run.” He said “This is the _ship_ that made the run.” They’re retconning like mad to explain this one, but it’s just a flat-out mistake. > [@vandal](#): > > Every time someone is doing something on a computer, everything is always done using the keyboard. No one ever uses a mouse. That’s because it’s faster in most cases. Every time you take your hands off the keyboard to grab the mouse, you’re slowing yourself down. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to drawing and some other types of work, but even if you read Photoshop magazines, their “how-to” articles include the keyboard shortcuts for darned near every operation. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/133 "2009-04-27T02:26:06Z")
Speaking of keyboards - TV keyboards still use hideously old-school typewriter models that clack and/or beep on every keystroke. But I kind of forgive them, 'cause typing does sound kinda sexy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/134 "2009-04-27T18:19:08Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > Speaking of keyboards - TV keyboards still use hideously old-school typewriter models that clack and/or beep on every keystroke. But I kind of forgive them, 'cause typing does sound kinda sexy. 😃 The beeping would annoy me, but from my experience in offices with other people typing, part of how loud/soft the clack-clack of touch-typists is depends on the keyboard; the other part depends on the style of the typist. Some typists (I don’t know if it actually correlates to those who learnt typing in the stone age on mechanical or electric typewriters, which you did have to punch to make them work) simply hit the keys hard to get the letters out, while others do it as soft as possible. Plus, some women have longer fingernails (personally, that would seriously bug me during typing), which make additional little clack-clack noises striking part of the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/135 "2009-04-27T18:51:56Z")
During season 5 of the TV show “Angel” I was disturbed by the fact that Angel was made CEO of the Los Angeles branch of the evil law firm, Wolfram & Hart. Only attorneys can be management of a law firm, under California law and the law of every other state. While Angel was a vampire, he was not a lawyer. While lawyers may be blood suckers, like vampires, not all vampires are lawyers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/136 "2009-04-27T18:56:00Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > During season 5 of the TV show “Angel” I was disturbed by the fact that Angel was made CEO of the Los Angeles branch of the evil law firm, Wolfram & Hart. > > Only attorneys can be management of a law firm, under California law and the law of every other state. While Angel was a vampire, he was not a lawyer. While lawyers may be blood suckers, like vampires, not all vampires are lawyers. 😃 Yes, but I can guarantee that if anyone showed up demanding to see Angel’s law credentials, W&H would have been able to provide them. ETA: But speaking of Angel, there was a scene once when they were in a car driving someplace, it was a medium shot (not the standard front window perspective) so you could see everyone in the car, and they ran a red light. I don’t know why it bugged me, but it really did. Angel blatantly ran a red and no one else in the car noticed or said anything. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/137 "2009-04-27T20:16:30Z")
Nobody in movies does CPR correctly, cuz it hurts. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/138 "2009-04-27T21:00:37Z")
Not a movie but a TV show: The ambitious but doomed NBC series _Kings_, which is a retelling of the OT story of King David in a modern “alterniverse” setting, does this whenever they make _biblical_ allusions. Examples: —There’s a cross in the church (the cross- symbol of Jesus- from the Bible- a descendant of _David_) —There’s a reference to “cutting the living child in half” (a reference to a tale told of Solomon, the son of King _David_) —The tanks in the first episode are called Goliaths (this may seem strained but follow me- _Goliath_ is an ominous and menacing name because _Goliath_ was a giant… killed by King _David_) If the show is going to be believable then the alterniverse has to be a place that has no biblical allusions, where Jesus/Christianity never existed, where instead of _Goliath_ the super weapon is called something like _Gigantic_, etc… (Of course the show was a horrible idea anyway; it could have worked brilliantly as a HBO miniseries perhaps, but the story of David _has_ to take place over many years and not a season or two). ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/139 "2009-04-27T21:21:06Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > Two roadmap-related mistakes have always bugged me in two of my all-time favorite films. In _Bullitt_ the car chase screeched all through San Francisco, but the route was not a feasible route. Very thrilling, but not possible. There’s a cool video on youtube showing exactly what you’re talking about. It show a map with a dot where the car is. Every once in awhile the car goes around a corner and magically transports to a road a 1/2mile away. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/140 "2009-04-27T21:27:17Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Tires always squeal. _Always._ Even if the road is wet. Similarly, when a plane lands, you will always hear the SCREE SCREECH sound of the tires - even on grass or dirt strips. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=8)