# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/161 "2009-01-27T17:37:50Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I don’t know if you realize that “frak” was used in the original show. They changed a lot but wanted to keep bits in as a nod to the original. Haven’t seen the new BSG, but wonder - do they also still use “feldecarb” as a fake curseword? I actually still use that one from time to time, as a replacement for sh\*t, which is how they used it in the original BSG, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/162 "2009-01-27T17:47:33Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > “Doctor Davis, telephone please? Doctor Davis, telephone please?” > Doc. Davis must be in high demand, he’s in _every_ hospital, must be a frakkin’ good doctor… The Dr. Davis that I know is great. 😃 I do work in a hospital, and do know one. I’ll have to listen to the overhead pages in hospital scenes and see if there’s such an overload of Davises. > [@Wakinyan](#): > > Anyways, as a Swede, you get thrown out of the movie when you see a Swedish actor in a Hollywood film. One minute you’re in a movie, and the next moment you go: “Whoa! It’s Peter Stormare! Way to go, man! You crazy mutherfucker!” Or, the nex movie: “Fuck, it’s **Stellan**! Man, he got that Russian accent alright, didn’t he?!” I’m kind of that way with the city of Chicago. If the movie/TV show is blatantly **set in** Chicago, that’s not so bad. I’ll be thinking “I used to work there” or “cool, Michigan Avenue” but I’ll still be “in” the story. **E.R.** , **Ferris Bueller’s Day Off** , and **Blues Brothers** fit in this category. But if it’s not explicitly definitely Chicago, then I’m thrown off. **The Matrix** had references to Chicago street names and the like but the skyline didn’t look like Chicago. **The Dark Knight** was practically a love letter to Chicago architecture, but since my brain “knows” that it’s supposed to be Gotham City, I kept going “oh hey, that’s \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_” in practically every outdoor scene. I think the worst for me was showing a restaurant (a view of the awning down the alleyway) that’s a half-block from Union Station; I’ve passed that place every day for years. Another thing that took me out of a film was a return of the “rumble seat” concept - I saw **The Dark Knight** at an IMAX theater which also had deep bass speakers built into the seats, and when ‘called for’ by the sound of the movie, the speakers in the seat would kick in and vibrate the hell out of you. Trust me, this was not as potentially “interesting” as it would sound. I was stuck in a middle seat in a long, packed row, and spent the last third of the film desperately trying to get my bladder to STFU already. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/163 "2009-01-27T17:57:10Z")
So, are you familiar with [The Sausage King of Chicago](http://www.smalloranges.com/sausage/) then? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/164 "2009-01-27T18:01:16Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > So, are you familiar with [The Sausage King of Chicago](http://www.smalloranges.com/sausage/) then? 😃 Oh, of course. 😃 I was just thinking about that scene over the weekend, actually. ---
**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 27, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/165 "2009-01-27T18:27:06Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I’m kind of that way with the city of Chicago. If the movie/TV show is blatantly **set in** Chicago, that’s not so bad. I’ll be thinking “I used to work there” or “cool, Michigan Avenue” but I’ll still be “in” the story. **E.R.** , **Ferris Bueller’s Day Off** , and **Blues Brothers** fit in this category. What bugs me is when they don’t get the local details right. _ER_ is terrible at this. I remember once when they kept talking about a big accident on “the 290”. It’s “290” or “the Eisenhower” or “the Ike”… But nobody - _NOBODY_ - ever calls it “the 290”! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/166 "2009-01-27T18:30:27Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What bugs me is when they don’t get the local details right. _ER_ is terrible at this. I remember once when they kept talking about a big accident on “the 290”. It’s “290” or “the Eisenhower” or “the Ike”… But nobody - _NOBODY_ - ever calls it “the 290”! Oh yes, definitely true. And **E.R.** plays extremely fast and loose with geography of the city as well, or at least was when I stopped watching years ago. ---
**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 27, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/167 "2009-01-27T18:32:06Z")
A movie I can’t even watch now is _Bridge on the River Kwai_. Because I now know how the Japanese treated their prisoners, I just can’t suspend my disbelief enough to think that a prisoner faced down a camp commander instead of losing his head within a few seconds. Watching _Defiance_ on Sunday showed me something else that brings me out of the film. I get distracted trying to see how accurately the equipment and props are done. Near the end of the film, I’m looking at the panzer III and thinking, “They got the MG mount wrong!” Likewise, when bombs are going off, I can’t help but notice that they’re “Hollywood” bombs. And the small arms don’t sound right. This had become a bigger problem for me ever since \*Saving Private Ryan \*went to such lengths to get the details right. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/168 "2009-01-27T18:33:34Z")
Similar thing from the movie/novel “Christine.” There’s a reference by some curmudgeonly character to to kids “cruising the orange belt.” The various colored belts around Pittsburgh aren’t discrete highways. They are what you would get by taking a colored marker and drawing a belt by connecting enough pre-existing roads. Whoever was responsible for the line, Stephen King ultimately I guess, didn’t know as much about Pittsburgh as what he thought he did. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/169 "2009-01-27T18:34:51Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > So, are you familiar with [The Sausage King of Chicago](http://www.smalloranges.com/sausage/) then? 😃 Oh man, we’re dying over here. That is my new favorite Web site! I’m ordering right now, and very soon the King’s meat will be in my mouth! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/170 "2009-01-27T18:42:17Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > This is probably true, though I wonder about the rape of the queen in that context. Well that wasn’t actually part of the tale, only the narrated parts were. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/171 "2009-01-27T18:46:21Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > For me it’s films where it looks like everyone uses Apple computers. Unless they all work together and are using company-issued laptops, it’s less likely than all the principal characters being left-handed. Been to a coffee shop in San Francisco lately? > [@AuntiePam](#): > > Like when someone in a bar orders a beer and doesn’t specify the brand. If it’s a small bar, saying “Gimme a draft” is okay because it’s likely they’ll only have one brand on tap. But just saying “I’ll have a beer”? As a bit of a beer snob, this always makes me cringe. Most bars around here have at _least_ 10 beers available. Anyhoo, whenever I encounter stuff like this that takes me out of a movie, my roommate’s response is always, “[88 miles an hour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future), dude.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/172 "2009-01-27T18:50:39Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Well that wasn’t actually part of the tale, only the narrated parts were. How do you differentiate between what is and is not part of the Dilios’ tale? ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/173 "2009-01-27T19:01:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Baby bumps, or obvously hiding baby bumps. If the character ain’t pregnant, don’t use a pregnant actor to play her. Does this happen often in films? TV series yes, where you have a continuity issue, but I can’t recall it happening in a movie. > [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > Although stalking itself has bee around forever, it really wasn’t in the public consciousness as “stalking” until the 1980s when the term is commonly said to have been coined by the media in reference to celebrity stalking, and deaths of Theresa Saldana and Rebecca Schaeffer (whose co-star, Pam Dawber worked really hard on public awareness campaigns). [Theresa Saldana isn’t dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Saldana). > [@Wheelz](#): > > What bugs me is when they don’t get the local details right. _ER_ is terrible at this. I remember once when they kept talking about a big accident on “the 290”. It’s “290” or “the Eisenhower” or “the Ike”… But nobody - _NOBODY_ - ever calls it “the 290”! That’s an LA problem. All the freeways in LA seem to be called “the 405” “the 10” and so on, and so writers born and raised, or who have lived most of their adult lives in southern California have no idea that people in other parts of the U.S. don’t tend to refer to their highways with the definite article in that fashion. For me, one of the things that jars me out of a film is the token/shoehorned people of color. Much as I want to see minority actors getting work, having an all-white cast would be far preferable to having a minority character in a setting or relationship that makes no sense. Or worse, having a minority character in place just so that they can play to a stereotype (i.e. the domineering black woman who may or may not have a heart of gold, the Asian scientist or doctor, the sassy Latina) for comedic effect. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/174 "2009-01-27T19:06:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > How do you differentiate between what is and is not part of the Dilios’ tale? All but the Queen parts and the final charge was the way i saw it. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/175 "2009-01-27T19:12:35Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What bugs me is when they don’t get the local details right. _ER_ is terrible at this. I remember once when they kept talking about a big accident on “the 290”. It’s “290” or “the Eisenhower” or “the Ike”… But nobody - _NOBODY_ - ever calls it “the 290”! Yes, native Seattleite here and **Gray’s Anatomy** does this. We call them “lattes”, not “cafe lattes”. It’s called “I-5”, not “The 5” or “The I-5”. Bloody Californians… ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/176 "2009-01-27T19:26:48Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Oh man, we’re dying over here. That is my new favorite Web site! I’m ordering right now, and very soon the King’s meat will be in my mouth! 😃 Well, you just KNOW Nicole is a Sausage Muncher. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/177 "2009-01-27T19:27:56Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Yes, native Seattleite here and **Gray’s Anatomy** does this. We call them “lattes”, not “cafe lattes”. It’s called “I-5”, not “The 5” or “The I-5”. Bloody Californians… Is “The 405” or “The 101” type speech common anywhere but California? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/178 "2009-01-27T19:33:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Is “The 405” or “The 101” type speech common anywhere but California? Southern California. No one in San Francisco adds “the” in fronty of highway names. Extra irritating when the show is set in San Francisco and the characters say “We’re on the 101” ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/179 "2009-01-27T20:23:21Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I’m kind of that way with the city of Chicago. If the movie/TV show is blatantly **set in** Chicago, that’s not so bad. I’ll be thinking “I used to work there” or “cool, Michigan Avenue” but I’ll still be “in” the story. **E.R.** , **Ferris Bueller’s Day Off** , and **Blues Brothers** fit in this category. I have the same problem with Toronto, only it’s waaaay worse because 99% of movies filmed in Toronto are actually pretending to be in another city like NYC/Chicago or in Generic American Big City. Sometimes it’s very hard to spot the Toronto locations since they’ve carefully stripped out anything obvious, especially with a high-end production like _The Hulk_ or _Cinderella Man_ (they actually completely transformed sections of main streets to look like they belonged to the right place/era… it was pretty weird to walk through those parts of town during the filming). When they don’t bother to hide the noticeable Toronto stuff, though, it just drags me right out of the moment because I can’t stop thinking “hey, I know where that is!” It’s even worse when they use a recognizeable landmark, because I start wondering who could possibly expect me to believe that Toronto City Hall could be an evil multicorp’s head office in Racoon City (see: _Resident Evil_), or that the R C Harris Water Treatment Plant is a mental asylum (see: _In The Mouth of Madness_), or that BCE Place is an enclave housing the wealthy elite during a zombie attack on Pittsburg (see: _Land of the Dead_) You may as well try to convince me that the Empire State building is a high-end hotel. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/180 "2009-01-27T21:12:24Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The problem i had with the democracy stuff was that it seemed like a complete retcon. In the first movie she was a fourteen year old Queen, in the second shes a senator after serving two terms as Queen. We are supposed to believe a 14 year old got elected to lead an entire planet? It was no different than changing the guns in E.T. to walkie talkies because democracy = good and everything else = bad. But Leia was a 19 year old Senator too. For some reason the SW universe was into young girls in positions of power. Stupid, but consistent. WRT American helicopters buzzing around Cuba, Raiders of the Lost Ark had entire squadrons of Nazi troops buzzing around British held Egypt before the war. The Commies invading Area 51 in the last travesty at least disguised themselves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=10)