# not a mistake but it takes you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629 "2009-01-23T13:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/221 "2009-01-30T01:26:38Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > Two from Die Hard 4.0. > > Later on in the film they have to download 500TB of data over a USB connection. According to my calculations this should take something over 100 days, not 24 hours. Maybe it was USB 2. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/222 "2009-01-30T01:45:15Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Maybe it was USB 2. That is USB 2. USB 1.1, they would still be downloading. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/223 "2009-01-30T02:00:27Z")
The sex scene complaints reminded me of something. The way gay couples are usually portrayed. You know they’re in love because they give each other a friendly pat on the back. Granted, this is starting to change but it’s still irritating that gay couples generally don’t kiss, let alone actually have sex. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/224 "2009-01-30T02:25:03Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Thats the easiest thing to explain. They make the king jump through hoops to get what he wants. There has to be sacrifice in order for him to get the word of the gods. If he was stopping by for tea or to drop off a bribe he could use the front door. If he is there on business then he uses the service entrance. > [@DigitalC](#): > > Having to go through “trials” is basically SOP for asking questions of an all knowing oracle in fantasy. Im sure they have a staff entrance :P. > [@Raguleader](#): > > Plus, it’s handy for them to remind the King where his place is, crawling up the side of the mountain to beg for their wisdom. He might not share their opinion, but it’s good for their egos, and since the rules evidently favor the King having to confer with them first before he can do anything, they get to set the price of admission. Alright, alright, but this is just proving my point - it’s not like with a little thought you can’t come up with an explanation, it’s that the director DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER. That’s not even the most egregious moment, just the one I was reminded of. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/225 "2009-01-30T02:40:45Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > Alright, alright, but this is just proving my point - it’s not like with a little thought you can’t come up with an explanation, it’s that the director DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER. That’s not even the most egregious moment, just the one I was reminded of. Blech. So, its the director’s fault that you’re _not_ familiar with mythology enough to know that this is how things were done back then? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/226 "2009-01-30T02:56:50Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > So, its the director’s fault that you’re _not_ familiar with mythology enough to know that this is how things were done back then? Nah, it’s more that Leonidas is doing acrobatic leaps while carrying what looks like 20 pounds of solid gold in his loin cloth. But I could buy the oracle climb if they could just have justified the bottomless pit in the center of town. Once you’re yanked out of a movie, it’s hard to get back in, and a lot easier to start MST3K’ing it. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/227 "2009-01-30T03:06:06Z")
Hair–especially if it is non-period. Meg Ryan had an awful haircut for that one movie where she goes back in a time portal, _Kate and Leopold_ or some such. I couldn’t get past the hair. Fiddler on the Roof–no matter what happened to that mother (of the 4 girls–or did they have 5?, memory escapes me), her hair remained plastered in those two “sheets” hanging on both cheeks. Drove me nuts. She did look better with her head in a kerchief… The phone thing–although I admit it would sound stupid to say goodbye on the phone in a movie (but only because they don’t). Crowd scenes where we’re supposed to get confused and lost with the actor we’re following–it’s never well done and I don’t get “lost”. Out of period dialogue–LOTR has been mentioned (“do you remember the night we first met?” from Arwen to Aragorn? You have got to be effing kidding me!). I also agree Theoden wouldn’t have said parent/child, but father/son or even father/child. It’s not a bad line, but it needed to be made more Middle Earthy. Scenes that follow one another in quick succession in a concrete operationalist manner–we see the purse. We see the snatcher. We see the snatcher snatch the purse. Does it have to be so spelled out? It’s like being in the middle of Wuthering Heights, only to have a bit of Dick and Jane in the midst of it all. (not that anyone snatched a purse in WH or D and J…). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/228 "2009-01-30T03:17:34Z")
I really like the movie [The Package](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098051/) but there is a general in an early scene who’s hair is flopping all over his ears. Later, there’s another soldier who has hair all over the place as well. He looks like he should be on the disco floor, not in the miltary, ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/229 "2009-01-30T03:39:29Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Nah, it’s more that Leonidas is doing acrobatic leaps while carrying what looks like 20 pounds of solid gold in his loin cloth. But I could buy the oracle climb if they could just have justified the bottomless pit in the center of town. Once you’re yanked out of a movie, it’s hard to get back in, and a lot easier to start MST3K’ing it. IIRC, the Spartans _did_ have a pit (though not bottomless, of course) that they dumped folks into. There was a recent excavation of the pit, and they found that the Spartans _didn’t_ find any babies dumped in there, but lots of POW types. Unfortunately, I can’t find any links to it at the moment (though I could swear I started a thread about it someplace). ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/230 "2009-01-30T04:03:56Z")
This one always kills me and it is damn near as ubiquitous as the Wilhelm Scream. TV, movies, good guys, bad guys, everybody does this. Somebody will be armed with a gun, headed into a dangerous situation (robbing a bank, holding a prisoner at gun point, etc.) They will exchange some words, stare each other down for a moment…THEN they’ll actually load a round into the chamber. WTF!?! Are directors so enamored with the sound of bolt working that they totally loose their minds? The only time they don’t so this is when a gun needs to accidentally go off and shoot somebody in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/231 "2009-01-30T04:09:33Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Hair–especially if it is non-period. Meg Ryan had an awful haircut for that one movie where she goes back in a time portal, _Kate and Leopold_ or some such. I agree with the non-period hair issue overall, but in that movie, Meg Ryan’s character was from the present, so her hair was appropriate. If she suddenly turned up in the past time period with a time-appropriate hairstyle, that would have been jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/232 "2009-01-30T10:04:17Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > The sex scene complaints reminded me of something. The way gay couples are usually portrayed. You know they’re in love because they give each other a friendly pat on the back. > > Granted, this is starting to change but it’s still irritating that gay couples generally don’t kiss, let alone actually have sex. Watch _Shortbus_, you’ll feel vindicated. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/233 "2009-01-30T14:16:25Z")
In addition to never saying “hello” and “goodbye,” how about when we only hear one side of a phone conversation and the person repeats everything the other party is saying? Real-life example, if you were in the same room as my wife: Me: Hi, honey, I’ll be getting home a little late. My Wife: You’ll be getting home a little late? Why? Me: I’m stuck in traffic. Wife: You’re stuck in traffic? What time do you think you’ll be home? Me: Probably about 6:30. Wife: About 6:30? Me: _Why the hell are you repeating everything I say??_ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/234 "2009-01-30T15:36:51Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Leonidas is doing acrobatic leaps while carrying what looks like 20 pounds of solid gold in his loin cloth. He’s just happy to be climbing. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/235 "2009-01-30T15:53:16Z")
I really hate it when characters ‘explain’ things to eachother, that they supposedly already know. Of course, what they are actually doing is explaining stuff to the _viewer_, but they can’t explicitly do that without breaking the fourth wall, so they have to explain to eachother instead. It’s pretty common in shows like CSI, House, Lie to me and the like. Musician 1: That sounded really good, musician 2! Musician 2: Thank you, musician 1! That was a “chord”, which, as you know, is when you hit three or more notes at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/236 "2009-01-30T15:55:08Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Are directors so enamored with the sound of bolt working that they totally loose their minds? Yes. That is it exactly. To directors, nothing is more badass than ending a declaration of destruction by racking a shotgun or working the bolt on your pistol. Reality be damned! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/237 "2009-01-30T16:26:18Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I also find it interesting that people in movies can have conversations while riding in a helicopter. They don’t need an intercomm system or anything. That reminds me … in _Rockstar_, there is a scene where the lead character and his girlfriend (Marky Mark and Rachel) are at a Steel Dragon concert, front row. In the middle of a number – a heavy metal number, in the front row, right next to the speakers, in the middle of 10,000 screaming metal heads – he excuses himself, walks … nay, ambles … ten feet away, and holds a conversation with two chicks as though they were standing in the middle of a library. Anyone who has evern been in a front row for a metal concert will tell you, 1) you ain’t fucking ambling anywhere. If you need to move 10 feet way, it will take you 30 minutes of shouldering your way through the throng and you will be punched in the face at least 5 times. And 2) do I really need to spell it out? Front row? You can’t hear yourself scream let alone hold a conversation. And I shan’t go off on non-musicians playing musicians. I hate fake playing. I don’t mind pantomime playing, because I understand how film works (basically) and that it’s difficult to get a live recording on film to jibe with everything else, but … things like Billy Crudup playing a guitar virtuoso in _Almost Famous_ and it’s obvious he barely knows how to hold his guitar let alone play it. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/238 "2009-01-30T16:27:22Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Yes. That is it exactly. To directors, nothing is more badass than ending a declaration of destruction by racking a shotgun or working the bolt on your pistol. Reality be damned! Nitpick: Very few pistols have bolts. The gas-operated [Desert Eagle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Eagle) does as did the [original Automag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoMag_(pistol)). The [Remington XP-100](http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP-100) was an actual bolt action pistol, of which there have been comparatively few. Most modern self-loading pistols have a slide and use some variation of JM Browning’s tilting barrel lock-up. They don’t have a bolt. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/239 "2009-01-31T05:58:29Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > So, its the director’s fault that you’re _not_ familiar with mythology enough to know that this is how things were done back then? Hell yes! Or, rather, it’s the director’s job to convince me that taking it way-over-the-top-Tom-Cruise-climbing-a-cliff-for-shits-and-giggles makes sense in the movie. It’s one thing to have a hard-to-get-to Oracle, but we’re talking above and beyond here. I should not be expected to fabricate a scene where the Oracle’s doorman keeps Leonidas from taking the chest-full-of-gold entrance. Hell, even the pit made more sense - it worked stylistically, and once you accept that this is a world where people build crazy shit, hey, why _not_ have a nice bottomless pit in the center of town? At least everyone’s following the crazy-shit-building rules. It’s when characters don’t all follow the same set of rules that the movie breaks for me (incidentally, this is part of why I could never get into horror movies - every time a bad guy pops in from offscreen in the middle of a field, it breaks). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/240 "2009-01-31T06:13:42Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > Hell yes! Or, rather, it’s the director’s job to convince me that taking it way-over-the-top-Tom-Cruise-climbing-a-cliff-for-shits-and-giggles makes sense in the movie. It’s one thing to have a hard-to-get-to Oracle, but we’re talking above and beyond here. I should not be expected to fabricate a scene where the Oracle’s doorman keeps Leonidas from taking the chest-full-of-gold entrance. > > Hell, even the pit made more sense - it worked stylistically, and once you accept that this is a world where people build crazy shit, hey, why _not_ have a nice bottomless pit in the center of town? At least everyone’s following the crazy-shit-building rules. It’s when characters don’t all follow the same set of rules that the movie breaks for me (incidentally, this is part of why I could never get into horror movies - every time a bad guy pops in from offscreen in the middle of a field, it breaks). So, the whole battle rhino business in the trailers didn’t clue you in that this was going to be a rather “creative” look at the events? And if you’re going to allow a bottomless pit, why should a nearly impossible to scale entrance to the oracle be any farther fetched? Surely they’re _both_ “crazy shit.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=13)