I’d for once like to tape a good movie from tv and not have some station identification guy waving at me or an animal doing stupid pet tricks or whatever in the bottom right corner of the screen.
People who run around holding a pistol with their finger wrapped tight around the trigger (especially when they’re supposed to be stealthy). If your finger is so crammed in their that the second knuckle of your finger is touching the trigger, you’re going to get a BANG. Similarly, people who rack the slide or pump a gun to try to scare the other person and no bullet pops out - you mean they were running around, facing the big evil man with a gun that WOULDN’T FIRE?
Characters who neglect to have some kind of backup weapon, especially when they’re constantly gettng disarmed. Harrison Ford’s character in Bladerunner does this - in pretty much all of his fights, someone knocks his gun out of his hand or takes it away in the first 5 seconds or so. Why doesn’t he just carry a second gun so that he doesn’t get beat up 10 seconds into each fight?
Characters who get rid of their weapon. “Ohh, I killed the temple guards, now I’ll leave my sword in the other room”, or “Well, I shot one mag from my only gun, I guess I better throw it away”. Arnold does this to an absurd degree in a lot of movies, where he’ll carry/place about a dozen guns, then toss each one away as he empties it rather than carrying a few extra mags (which is a little bit easier), then ends up in a knife or fist fight at the end.
Cops in movies who don’t use their damn radio. IRL, it’s a LOT harder for someone to shoot a cop who’s investigating something and have no one realize it until the next day. SF movies/TV can be even worse - in B5, for example, they had ‘links’ that worked like a 2-way radio and tracking device, yet were always losing track of people on board the station.
I have a friend who leaves the keys in the ignition of his truck. One time he had it stolen, but somehow the police managed to track it down and return it to him. I must say that I didn’t express any sympathy towards my friend when he told me that he left the keys in it, and I’m sure the police admonished him on this rather sternly. One would think that he learned his lesson, but he still does it. :rolleyes:
Sorry for the hijack.
When I watched The Arrival, one thing really bugged me. Well, besides the “And then what happened?” ending, of course.
You find out in the last 10 minutes of the movie that the black kid that hangs around Zane (Charlie Sheen) in the first and last third of the movie was really an alien all along. Why the Hell didn’t the kid just kill him earlier on in the movie? Why did this alien help Zane with his project for so long, only to betray him at the last moment? Why do the aliens bother with such an elaborate scheme against Zane when they could have just have one disguised as a cop shoot him when he answered the door or something?
In my opinion, the kid should have been just a kid, and killed by the aliens at the last moment. But then that would violate the “kids and animals are never hurt” rule I mentioned earlier.
More to come.
Another movie where they timed it accurately is the original Invaders from Mars. They set a bomb to go offin three minutes and, by gum, it takes three minutes of actual screen time. You’d think this would make it awfully tense and dramatic (as in Aliens), but it takes an insanely long time for that three minutes to pass. They pad it out with flashbacksa and stock footage, but it still just keeps droning on. A wasted opportunity,
Ok, in Thomas Crowne Affair they’re looking at survailance tapes of the room where the painting is stolen. Rene Russo notices that there is an extra “leg” on the chair that they suspect heated up the room. That leg was the briefcase that thomas crowne left there in the morning, and takes the painting out in. So they confirm that it is there, and that it is missing, but never rewind far enough to see WHO put it there. I love that movie but that part bugs me to no end.
Cameron
In Stanley Kubrick’s godawful version of “The Shining,” there are all kinds of annoying things… but the worst was this: Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers) comes all the way across the continent to the hotel, because young Danny psychically told him what was happening.
But the moment he arrives at the hotel, all his psychic powers disappear, and he walks right into Jack Nicholson’s axe, as if he hadn’t a clue there was anything there to fear.
My pet peeve is when the hero and his entourage overpower the bad guy’s minions and put on their uniforms in order to sneak into the compound and wreak disaster. Even if the bad guys were radically different sizes from the good guys, the uniforms fit whoever’s wearing them perfectly. Curious.
As a computer geek, I get peeved at “schitzophrenic computers.” Like an establishing shot that shows the star using a Macintosh, then a close-up of the screen that shows it running (ugh) Windows. That’s like passing the Seattle skyline as New York City, IMO.
getting the silly giggles @ all of you ;j
How about when to chess experts are playing and the one guy makes a move and says “Chekcmate!” and the other guy looks shocked,like he couldn’t see a one move mate. Especially bad when the one guy says, "Looksl ike you’ve lost your queen, my friend. " “Not so fast…Checkmate!” “You dastardly fiend, I didn’t see that!” Not to mention the fact that the board is rarely set up correctly (I think this is the case in Casablanca)
Actually, kids do get hurt, but this is an extremely rare event.
Alligator A kid is pushed, screaming, by his friends off the diving board and into a swimming pool, and is promptly eaten by the title reptilian. It is never adequately explained how a thirty foot gator managed to squeeze itself into a backyard swimming pool in such fashion that it could hide under the diving board.
Tentacles Mom carelessly leaves baby in carriage on beach sidewalk, crosses six-lane street to talk to her friend, vehicle passes, baby carriage is no longer there.
- The Omen* Baby carriage escapes from woman pushing it, rolls into traffic, predictable results.
Thea Logica
You give me too much credit.
Spanky The Dolphin was the one that was bugged by kids & animals never getting hurt.
There’s always “Lorenzo’s Oil” isn’t there?
gag
I don’t know that I agree with you. If people were psychic, I wouldn’t think they would get all information. Some things you may learn to ignore, sometimes your thought may be directed at other things, or could be tricked. Maybe he was holding in a fart and trying to get to another place quickly. Maybe he picks up thoughts easier when the thoughts are directed towards him. Maybe panicked he could not concentrate. Damn it, I don’t know? If psychics were like that all the time, they would be CEO’s of major companies.
HOWEVER, I didn’t see the movie, so I really would have to see the scene to understand your post.
In Charlie’s Angels, they showed two kids playing a Sony PlayStation. Not only were they doing the stupid button pressing, but they were both playing Final Fantasy VIII–a one player game.
Kevin Smith movies usually handle video games (video game hockey to be exact) pretty well.
Also–computer monitors in movies that are so bright they project onto the users face and wall behind them drive me nuts.
When someone runs into a busy street, the cars always seem to stop right before they hit the character. Also, it is always a taxi or surly NY accent guy. What happens when the driver is fiddling with the radio and smashes the main character?
“Aha! See if you can win me back with two broken legs and a punctured lung!”
Mine is when you watch the Civil War movies and all the soldiers are fat and looking well rested.
What always bugs me (aside from many of the things already mentioned) is when a character is walking somewhere that should be compeletely dark (cave, sub-basement of an abandoned building, etc.) and there’s enough ambient light for them to see where they’re going. That, and lighting an entire room with just a cigarette lighter.
Anyway, about the “kids and animals don’t get killed” rule, I recommend The Bodyguard from Beijing, one of Jet Li’s Chinese films. During the final fight/shootout, the obnoxious kid (who by this point has indirectly caused at least 2 dozen deaths through his disobedience) actually gets shot! Granted, it’s only a flesh wound, but they actually shoot the little brat!
Actually, this may be more realistic. I’m sure they wouldn’t want to disturb any fingerprints that the murderer may have left on the light switch.
or they were too small to reach the light switch.
and * didn’t * wear high heels.