Any show that has an agent going to interview a serial killer or other violent criminal all by themselves. Under no circumstances does any law enforcement bureau let them do that. Even if the perp is chained up, it’s too dangerous psychologically.
When you go to interview a violent offender in a little room, always take another agent.
[QUOTE=Frylock]
I thought those shows were blatantly, unapologetically, and consistently anachronistic throughout their runs. But I never actually watched the show other than a scene here and there. Was my impression, then, incorrect?
-FrL-
[/QUOTE]
Yes, they were. That didn’t bother me. What bothered me was their inability to get their story straight and stick to it. .
The Feast of the Goat, set in 1961, includes several shots of the Santo Domingo skyline complete with recently-built high-rise buildings and satellite communications towers.
Die Hard 1, where there is an entire floor full of partygoers, but no cars anywhere near the building or in the parking gargage.
Pulp Fiction, where no one attempts to enter the compeltely full Hawthorne Grill for the entire time a lengthy robbery is going on. And the Wolf offering a ride to three people when he has a two seater car.
[QUOTE=saoirse]
My ex-wife and I used to watch the Action Pack, with the Xena and the Hercules. I like a good myth-mash as much as the next guy, but they started a whole plot arc involving Caesar. Julius Caesar.
Now a lot of the plots also centered around the aftermath of the Trojan War. Aeschylus was the son of Priam, King of Troy. He founded the city of Rome, long before there was anything like an empire. How the hell can… well, anyway that was really annoying.
[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t Aeneas–not Aeschylus–the legendary founder of Rome?
The Xena/Hercules Mythos is…umm…not a good introduction to Ancient History. But knowing some history makes the shows even more fun. And myth is not exactly history. Where’s the historical account of Aeneas? The Aeneid doesn’t count; it’s propaganda. In fact, where’s the archaeological evidence for Romulus & Remus?
Julius Caesar, held for ransom by Xena (in her pirate days), then returning to capture & crucify the pirates, was based on an episode in his life. (He left out the beautiful pirate chief–but he was known to shade the truth.) Of course, Caesar had caught Xena’s eye when, threatened with death, he said “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” (Although he may have paraphrased this bit from Shakespeare. Most sources do–especially the ones ones calling it a Native American proverb.)
Xena & Hercules are full of anachronisms & best approached for fun.
My “most annoying” inaccuracy? And–this is often seen in documentaries, or even on book covers. Accounts of “The Ancient Celts” that feature megalithic monuments. Those big rocks were already ancient when the Celts arrived in Western Europe & the British Isles. (And the Celts were probably not an invading “people” who conquered all–but that’s another thread entirely.)
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
I thought it was the placement of the nuke that made the difference - presumably it was near to critical systems inside the motheship
[/QUOTE]
Exactly. It may not make much sense in the real world, but it’s consistent with the universal sci-fi/videogame trope that a single missile, if aimed at the proper sensitive area, can cause a chain reaction and blow up an entire ship/base/deathstar. ID4 makes sense; you just have to know what to compare it to. 
[QUOTE=saoirse]
Yes, they were. That didn’t bother me. What bothered me was their inability to get their story straight and stick to it. .
[/QUOTE]
I mean… okay, I guess, but I don’t get it. The way they failed to keep the story straight is by having an anachronistic plot element. But you say that the anachronism of the show in general didn’t bother you.
Color me confused yet friendly.
-FrL-
[QUOTE=e-logic]
Almost every episode of CSI involves a blurry CCTV image of a suspect which is magically “enhanced” to show a full-res close-up of the person.
[/QUOTE]
On last week’s ep, they ‘enhanced’ a 30-year-old, rat-chewed, half-disintegrated negative of a flesh wound, to find the invisible teeth marks embedded underneath.
(And if they can find a quarter of a fingerprint, the Whizbang 3000 can get a match for it…instantly.)
I like CSI’s characters and plot lines, but their ‘labwork’ really does require suspending all common sense.
[QUOTE=Nava]
I realize that for American standards two towns that are a 7-hr drive away (according to viamichelin) are almost neighbors, but on cultural terms it’s like making a movie about rodeos set in Maine. On Christmas. That movie tanked completely, in Spain.
[/QUOTE]
There’s something similar in Rumble In the Bronx. Since it was playing in China, very few of the audience had trouble with the fact that there were majestic West-coast mountains in the background of “The Bronx.” New Yorkers were amused and/or vexed by it.
Me, I like the majestic cliffs and mountains near the seaside Virginia settlements in Disney’s Pocahantas. Ever been there? Flaaaaaaaaaaaat!
I also like the majestic palm trees outside Yoyodyne headquarters in Grover’s Mill, N.J. in Buckaroo Banzai.In fact, the Yoyodyne building itself looks bigger than Grover’s Mill. (Pepper Mill is from GM, NJ. I’ve spent a lot of time there.)
And you’d never guess how tiny and smooshed together New England towns like Salem are from their depiction in flicks like Hocus Pocus.
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
And the Wolf offering a ride to three people when he has a two seater car.
[/QUOTE]
There’s always room in the trunk.
[QUOTE=CalMeacham]
Me, I like the majestic cliffs and mountains near the seaside Virginia settlements in Disney’s Pocahantas. Ever been there? Flaaaaaaaaaaaat!
[/QUOTE]
My friends and I were all over that. We were pretty familiar with the Atlantic coastal plain.
But when it comes to “mobile” mountains, nothing can match the Grand Tetons. Thanks to the movies, they’ve been everywhere.
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke]
Wasn’t Aeneas–not Aeschylus–the legendary founder of Rome?
[/QUOTE]
Ahem, um yes, he was. Sorry, it was late when I wrote that.
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
But when it comes to “mobile” mountains, nothing can match the Grand Tetons. Thanks to the movies, they’ve been everywhere.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I kinda miss the days when most “Grand Tetons” actually were mobile.
Speaking of the Thomas Crown remake- they rewind the tape to find out that the suitcase planted in the art gallery was the origin of the heist, but did not bother to rewind farther to see who put it there in the first place.
I’m putting this in a spoiler tag because it’s a recent movie and involves the ending.
The Departed:
When Matt Damon’s girlfriend comes home and announces that she is pregnant, she is still extremely skinny and isn’t showing at all. She also announces that the ultrasound revealed that the baby is a boy. This is really nitpicky, but you typically can’t see the sex of a baby via ultrasound until around the 16-week mark, by which point a very thin woman like that actress would definitely be showing at least a little bit. It’s a small point, but being 4 months pregnant myself at the time I saw it, it pulled me out of the movie a little bit.
A channel here recently started showing “Monk”. I’ve only seen this show once before, and it annoyed me, but whatever, I’ll give it another shot. I turned it off after about ten minutes, when they showed an external shot of a house that’s supposed to be in San Francisco.
A small, but nice wooden suburban style house, with greenery all around. No other houses in the picture. Bright sunshine pouring down, deep blue sky.
I mean, have these people ever even been to San Francisco? Give me a break. The show lost all credibility with me right there.
[QUOTE=Diceman]
Mistakes involving computers could fill their own thread. But we’ll start with that laughably stupid scene in Enemy of the State where the evil government guys are looking at a surveillance picture of Will Smith, and they want to see what he’s carrying, but it’s on the other side of Will (away from the camera) so his body is blocking the view.
What do they do? They use the computer to flip the picture over, so they can look at the other side. Cartoon physics at its finest :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
That reminds me of a story about a publishing art director who asked if they could replace a cover photo of the Andromeda Galaxy with one taken from the other side.
[QUOTE=Roonwit]
On last week’s ep, they ‘enhanced’ a 30-year-old, rat-chewed, half-disintegrated negative of a flesh wound, to find the invisible teeth marks embedded underneath.
[/QUOTE]
Er, why the emphasis on “negative”? Converting a negative image to a positive one is trivial, certainly by comparison with the magical powers they’d need to compensate for parts of the image being outright destroyed or deteriorated.