# Poorly Done Moments in Otherwise Good Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299 "2009-10-27T14:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/81 "2009-10-30T00:03:21Z")
Watching “Curse of the Jade Scorpion” on HBO right now. The conceit is kind of interesting – a period romantic comedy/detective film/noir pastiche. But Woody Allen is tragically miscast. He looks about 70 (actually 66). So the scene where he’s having witty flirting banter with Charlize Theron is just ludicrous and creepy. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/82 "2009-10-30T19:16:55Z")
Thelma and Louise. A few scenes after the heroines shoot a couple of air holes in the trunk of a cop’s car and stuff him inside. A “Rasta” style biker saunters on by. Dark skin, dreads, sunglasses, tight biker outfit, smoking a joint, the works. The cop hears him somehow, pounds on the trunk lid, and calls for help. He sticks his finger out to where the heroines dropped the car keys. The biker stops and ponders the situation. He then casually walks over to the trunk… …and blows a big lungful of smoke through the hole. 😕:eek: (but mostly 😕 ) Uhhh…what? The hell? What the hell? Hell of the what? The hell of what of hell the of what hell of? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/83 "2009-10-30T19:44:17Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Watching “Curse of the Jade Scorpion” on HBO right now. The conceit is kind of interesting – a period romantic comedy/detective film/noir pastiche. But Woody Allen is tragically miscast. He looks about 70 (actually 66). So the scene where he’s having witty flirting banter with Charlize Theron is just ludicrous and creepy. [Ned Flanders]You know, I like his films except for that nervous fella that’s always in them. [/NF] ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/84 "2009-10-30T20:37:31Z")
Spiderman 3, while not known for it’s outstanding acting (it’s a superhero flick), jolted me completely out of the film with the absolutely horendous acting by John Paxton who played the Osborn’s houseman Bernard. His acting was so bad in the scene where he explains to Harry how his dad died it makes me cringe and wince. Who the hell is this guy? Is that Sam Rami’s grandpa who he promised a role to? The DVD even has outtakes from that scene cause the guy can’t seem to get through his 3 lines of dialog. Painful in filming, painful on film. ---
**Author:** ![McGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@McGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/85 "2009-10-30T21:22:43Z")
My fave is in the 1st Matrix flick, one of the guys on the sub is explaining those robot probe things that chase them (can’t think of their name right now), and says in his best scary voice: “They’re programmed to do one thing, and one thing only: search and destroy.” I always laugh out loud - that’s TWO things!! Otherwise I love that movie. Some of mine are likely going to buck the majority view: - I love BOTH the Andi McDowell lines from 4 weddings that have been disparaged in this thread. Especially the “I think we both know that’s a big lie.” I think that line and that delivery fit her character perfectly. It was her way to keep throwing him off balance as he plodded through saying very standard things. Like that night at the door of her room when he thinks he’s making clever smalltalk with “we could skulk around here for a bit”, and she starts making fun of the idea of skulking. I think she was on his case about not being direct. Don’t say the night is young if that’s a big lie. Don’t joke about skulking around, just come out and ask if you can come into my room. - I just HATE the scene in When Harry Met Sally when she fakes the orgasm in the middle of a crowded deli. I did not believe for a moment that that character would do that, so loudly and so tackily. The filmmakers jsut couldn’t resist going for the cheap laugh. They should have had the balls to stay true to movie they’d been making up to that point. Also, since the OP said it was supposed to be bad moments in an otherwise good film, I don’t see how any of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings travesties are even being mentioned. Maybe in a discussion of good points in an otherwise awful film… I mean , he got the Gollum character right, and many of the places looked perfect. But as for the rest of those movies, Tolkien is rolling in his grave… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/86 "2009-10-30T22:38:15Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > And the horses were actually Gandalf’s added little touch, as I recall. > > I haven’t seen the film lately, but it seems to me that when Legolas jumps on the cave troll’s back he transforms from a flesh-and-blood actor to a rubber-limbed videogame character. For some reason the other SFX scenes don’t bother but that one does. Same effect used when he jumps on Gimli’s horse (an actual person would have broken his wrist and/or forearm attempting that), and the elephant scene, natch. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/87 "2009-10-31T00:01:39Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > In Fargo, the scene where Marge meets up with the old boyfriend, the Asian guy, who tries to hit on her. It seems a bit awkward, and doesn’t really tie in to anything else in the movie. > [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Haven’t we been over this a hundred times? Yes, probably. > [@](#): > > The significance of that scene is to show Marge actually believes his story. Then later she’s talking to an old friend about Mike and the old friend tells Marge Mike was full of shit. Upon realizing she was being played, she suspects in other aspects of her life she is potentially being played also. Such as by Jerry Lundegard. That’s when she decides to go reinterview him … I’ve heard this explanation before, but I don’t buy it — for these reasons: [ol] [li]She’s a police officer, a police _chief_ no less, and really ought to be well aware by now that folks are often cagey with the truth. Especially when they’re talking to a cop.[/li] [li]She’d already questioned Shep Proudfoot, who himself was hiding some important truths, and she knew it. This was before her first interview with Jerry. So even if she needed a lesson about deceptive interviewees (which she didn’t seem to), she had just had one with Shep.[/li] [li]In any case, you could still delete all the Mike-related stuff from the movie, and the plot would hang together just fine. Slightly better in fact. Remove Mike, and it still wouldn’t be strange at all (to me anyway) that she’d go back to Jerry for a second interview, following up on a few questions she didn’t ask the first time — like how exactly _would_ a car dealership know whether a given car was or wasn’t stolen from their lot?[/li][/ol] So I agree with **joebuck** : get rid of Mike, and you’d improve the movie, though only a bit because it’s already plenty good enough as it is. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/88 "2009-10-31T12:25:44Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Lose the reverb on Cate’s voice -she’s really talented, she can make the scene awesome without you trying to “help” her with that- and replace the glowing green “blaaah!” special effect with something more subtle and sinister ala the earlier scene IN THE SAME FILM where Gandalf utters his now nearly famous “BILBO BAGGINS! Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks!” and you have an awesome scene. It’s not as simple as just “oh, the CG in that scene was terrible.” (Which, again, it wasn’t. At least, not in any technical sense.) I mostly agree. Though the scene with Galadriel, along with the scene with Gandalf and the scene where Bilbo’s face turns wicked for a second are all very literate interpretations of the descriptions in the book (at least as I recall it). Seeing how literate Jackson was with the Gandalf and Bilbo scenes, it only makes sense that he “followed suit”. But I do agree that it’s a bit of a waste on Cate’s part. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/89 "2009-10-31T14:05:23Z")
During the ghetto roundup scene in “Schindler’s List,” a boy wearing a down jacket gets shot and feathers fly out the back. My girlfriend and i brust out laughing. then some jerk came over and told us to stop. Told us to stop laughing during a movie! I know it wasn’t meant to be funny, which is why it fits this tread, but i’ve always wondered about that guy. He probably owns a 4-piece suit. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/90 "2009-10-31T14:56:05Z")
Simon and Garfunkel had a lot of great songs. So why did they play “The Sound of Silence” like 5 times in The Graduate? I guess they were still getting the hang of incorporating popular music into movie soundtracks? There is also a video montage of Ben being cool that’s tediously drawn out to two full songs in length. It was a great movie, it even had great songs, but there was something wrong about the soundtrack anyway. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/91 "2009-10-31T15:46:46Z")
> [@Lethal\_Babydoll](#): > > During the ghetto roundup scene in “Schindler’s List,” a boy wearing a down jacket gets shot and feathers fly out the back. My girlfriend and i brust out laughing. then some jerk came over and told us to stop. > > Told us to stop laughing during a movie! I know it wasn’t meant to be funny, which is why it fits this tread, but i’ve always wondered about that guy. He probably owns a 4-piece suit. I know this isn’t the Pit, but I have a different impression of who’s the jerk in this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/92 "2009-10-31T17:27:41Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I know this isn’t the Pit, but I have a different impression of who’s the jerk in this scenario. That’s gotta be a troll post. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/93 "2009-10-31T18:12:12Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > My fave is in the 1st Matrix flick, one of the guys on the sub is explaining those robot probe things that chase them (can’t think of their name right now), and says in his best scary voice: “They’re programmed to do one thing, and one thing only: search and destroy.” > I always laugh out loud - that’s TWO things!! > Otherwise I love that movie. Actually, while I agree that that particular scene is ridiculous the actual dialogue is worse than you describe: Trinity: _A sentinel. A killing machine designed for one thing._ Dozer: _Search and destroy._ When I saw it in the theater, both my friend and I had the exact same reaction. Which was to both answer Trinity aloud before Dozer replied- “killing?” Isn’t that what a killing machine that was only designed for one thing would do? Kill? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/94 "2009-10-31T18:34:29Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Simon and Garfunkel had a lot of great songs. So why did they play “The Sound of Silence” like 5 times in The Graduate? > > I guess they were still getting the hang of incorporating popular music into movie soundtracks? There is also a video montage of Ben being cool that’s tediously drawn out to two full songs in length. It was a great movie, it even had great songs, but there was something wrong about the soundtrack anyway. Scarborough Fair appeared several times as well. I think it’s like you said: “they were still getting the hang of incorporating popular music into movie soundtracks”. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/95 "2009-11-03T21:53:50Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > And, as an aside, I find Andie McDowell one of the worst actresses, and am constantly amazed she still gets work. Yes! Same here. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/96 "2009-11-03T22:20:01Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > _Jagged Edge_ (1985) was a well-made, taut, exciting crime thriller. > Until the very end, when the killer is finally unmasked, from a very .. odd .. camera angle. > > _Wait, is that… ? It kind of looks like, but I can’t really… huh…_ \*\*The End. \*\* _Whuh??_ Excellent choice. It WAS Jeff Bridges, but it didn’t look like him at all. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/97 "2009-11-03T23:08:52Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I know this isn’t the Pit, but I have a different impression of who’s the jerk in this scenario. At least they weren’t making out. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/98 "2009-11-03T23:57:57Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Actually, while I agree that that particular scene is ridiculous the actual dialogue is worse than you describe: > > Trinity: _A sentinel. A killing machine designed for one thing._ > Dozer: _Search and destroy._ > > When I saw it in the theater, both my friend and I had the exact same reaction. Which was to both answer Trinity aloud before Dozer replied- “killing?” > > Isn’t that what a killing machine that was only designed for one thing would do? Kill? Adam?? 😛 My friend and I did the exact same thing when we saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/99 "2009-11-04T04:06:10Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Ah..that’s true. > That said, Galadriel going all bitch-crazy didn’t bother me as much as Arwen’s [equestrian tsunami](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoaC2imDrVQ). Not surprisingly, this was the only major special effect sequence outsourced out of WETA for the first film. They hired another company to do it due to time constraints. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/100 "2009-11-04T06:08:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I have noticed those boxes around the effects, but notice that they’re not always there – I didn’t see them in the theatrical releases; I seem to see them on TV prints. I suspect they may become more visible with later generation versions, or something. I clearly remember seeing these in one of the early theatrical runs (possibly 1977 but more likely in the 1981 ESB tie-in re-release). However, rather than black boxes, I distinctly remember them being greenish, and oddly shaped (almost like they were hand cut). Am I remembering this wrong? It looked to me as though the TIE fighters were pasted onto the background starfield cels with adhesive that had become tinged with age. (I’m 99% certain it was in one of the theatrical releases because I was a total Star Wars nerd and saw it at least 15 times in 1977/1981 at my local theater(s), but discovered girls before it was released to video so I never saw it on TV.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299.md?page=6)