# Things in movies that just ain't right! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864 "2003-07-07T22:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/81 "2003-07-11T19:59:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > The lab in Spiderman (the “genetics” lab where they made the superspiders, not Osborn’s lab) is the most hilariously bad Hollywood lab I’ve ever seen. It would be a nightmare to try to get any work done in there. But hot damn! It sure LOOKS cool! IIRC, it’s actually the lobby(!) of the [Los Angeles Natural History Museum.](http://www.nhm.org/) They just rolled in a bunch of geeky-looking props, then called it a lab. ---
**Author:** ![CairaJade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@CairaJade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairaJade)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/82 "2003-07-11T20:23:24Z")
In both movies and most sitcoms, people always wear shoes in the house, and are always ready to leave. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/83 "2003-07-11T21:29:30Z")
Armagedon - Well basically the whole movie but my favorite is where Ben Affleks character gets fired and within a day he has his own oil company with his name on the sign and it’s pumping oil like its been in operation for 6 months. The World is Not Enough - Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist. Trading Places - Hey! lets just go walk on the Exchange floor and start trading! Jurassic Park - [//hey.its.a.unix.system](https://hey.its.a.unix.system)!: (that and the rest of the three movies) Alien movies - An alien will always be blown into space when an airlock is opened. The freak-o alien in Resurection even got sucked through a pinhole in the ship. That’s fine except that Ripley can freakin climb 12 feet out of the Sulaco’s cargo hold airlock as the air escapes the gymnasium-sized hold through a damn garage door. Oh and by the way…she has a damn 5 ton Alien Queen clinging to her moon boot! General Concepts “genetic memeory” - A person can inherit actual memories “mission control center” - All computer programmers are strapping men with goatees and hot chicks in business suits. They work in a blacklight lit control room with Jumbotrons on the wall and flat-screens and clocks that say New York, Honk Kong, London, etc and a giant digital timer counts down to whatever event is driving the film (doomsday, New Years 2000, whatever). “deep cover” - Why is it necessary to send some guy to spend six months living as a street racer/surfer/drug lord/whatever to catch the most brazen criminal in the city? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/84 "2003-07-11T22:24:42Z")
You know, it actually _was_ a unix GUI in the Jurassic Parks. Obscure one, but existing. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/85 "2003-07-11T22:29:28Z")
Yeah, but an eight-year-old girl going “Hey, this is Unix! I know this!”??? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/86 "2003-07-11T23:11:46Z")
I said nothing about that line. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/87 "2003-07-12T04:36:32Z")
**Lizard** , I don’t understand why you want to be so nasty about this, but I would hate to see this thread derailed so I am dropping the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/88 "2003-07-12T07:21:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **Lizard** , I don’t understand why you want to be so nasty about this, but I would hate to see this thread derailed so I am dropping the subject. Huh. Well, color me confused. I figured you actually had a reason for picking up this line of argument in the first place. But whatever. And for the record, “You don’t know women very well, do you?” are fighting words. Calling somebody ignorant out of the blue and then claiming _they_ are being nasty for responding in kind is disingenuous, at best. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/89 "2003-07-12T08:12:28Z")
Well, **Lizard** , this may not be GQ but if you’re going to toss out assumption-laden generalities like “I honestly feel that women don’t enjoy seeing a nude man as much as men enjoy seeing a nude woman.” you need to be prepared to be called on that. Since you didn’t try to pass it off as fact, **Lamia** couldn’t ask you for a cite, you presented it as a personal opinion and she countered with her own. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/90 "2003-07-12T08:25:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*and Catherine Zeta-Jones should be naked in all her movies. \*\* I’m amazed of how this brief comment could deviate the thread to a war zone with **Lamia** and **Lizard** as main contenders. I’m 98% sure that it was only a macho-joke (just a joke, wasn’t it?). I might have answered: yeah, sure! But… nope! Machismo and feminism always have to provoke one side or another and be an apple of discord. Why don’t you just start another thread in Great Debates? This thread is funny! ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/91 "2003-07-12T08:29:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grousser \* > \*\*Why don’t you just start another thread in Great Debates? This thread is funny! \*\* Sorry, it would be better here, in Cafe Society, something like naked men and women in pictures or some stuff like that! ---
**Author:** ![uriber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/848f3c/32.png) [@uriber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uriber)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/92 "2003-07-12T12:01:28Z")
in _Good Will Hunting_, the soppusedly “never yet solved” math problems posted on the blackboard are really easy technical problems - solved thousands of times every year by college freshmen, I imagine. Drawing all possible graphs with 5 nodes (or something of that sort - I don’t remember exactly) sure doesn’t take a genious to do. I lost interest in the movie when I noticed that. I was later told I didn’t miss much, either. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/93 "2003-07-12T16:00:06Z")
maddiesilver writes: \> . . . murderers suddenly confessing on the stand (a Matlock \> classic) . . . I guess you’re not old enough to remember _Perry Mason_ from the '50’s and '60’s, where the murderer confessing on the witness stand was pretty standard. The show _Matlock_ didn’t invent that particular ridiculous notion. Has anybody in history ever actually confessed on the witness stand? _Good Will Hunting_ doesn’t make sense in many ways, but we’ve already done a thread on this, and I don’t want to hijack this thread to repeat what I said there. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/94 "2003-07-12T17:12:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > \*\*Well, **Lizard** , this may not be GQ but if you’re going to toss out assumption-laden generalities like “I honestly feel that women don’t enjoy seeing a nude man as much as men enjoy seeing a nude woman.” you need to be prepared to be called on that. \*\* You’re right. I should always be prepared to be called on my opinion. . . . in Cafe Society. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/95 "2003-07-12T17:54:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*I’ll ruin your pleasure in a LOT of TV shows and movies. Every time you see a scene where the heroine (or hero, I just prefer thinking of heroines in this situation, but it definitely happens to heroes too, just not as often) has been captured by the bad guys and is left somewhere with her thands tied in front of her and gagged. > > Do an experiment. Put your wrists together as if tied and put them up to your face. Notice how easily they get there. Notice how your fingers are free to do thing … like remove gags. Now see if you can get your hands behind your head with your wrists touching as if tied. You sure can! So even if it’s a cloth tied in the back of the head, you can get that gag off. Or at least pull it out of your mouth. > > Now your teeth are free to work at the bonds on your wrists. > > Hands tied in front but not otherwise secured are, well, pretty darned handy! Hands tied in back are considerably less so. Every time you see such a scene – and there are LOTS of them – well, _it just aint right!_ > This message brought to you by the Loosie Awards. \*\* **Evil Captor** , I love you. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/96 "2003-07-12T18:40:12Z")
How about spaceships effortlessly doing 180 degree turns in space? Oh and the “zzzoooooommmm” sounds bug me too. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/97 "2003-07-12T18:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > this reminds me of a scene in “Enemy of the state”, where the bad guys have some video footage of will smith. The head bad guy says, “can you show me whats on the other side?”, and the techy dude says “no problem”. The image then turns 180 degrees like its being shot from the other side. In EOTS, there is the implication that they can go to satellite images IN THE PAST and see what the satellite saw. The implication there is that we have satellites recording every square inch of the earth, 24 hours a day. A truly ridiculous idea. The fact is, we have satellites that can resolve pretty fine details. But they can only do it by being positioned to view that exact spot. Stuff happening 100 ft away will go unrecorded. You would need millions of satellites to record even the large cities at all times. > [@](#): > > Anyone really tried to jump thru a plate glass window? Unless you want a quick trip to the emergency room with hundreds of lacerations, dont do what Hollywood always does and jump thru a closed window to escape. A woman did that last week here in Edmonton. She needed emergency surgery to re-attach her arm, and was cut in many other places. > [@](#): > > Oh, I was watching Sleepy Hollow the other night and while most of it seemed to have no problems that I noticed, at one point the heros are trapped inside a burning windmill. They get out and it explodes around them. > > Okay, this is an abandoned windmill in 1799. HOW THE HELL DID IT EXPLODE? Grain dust in suspension in the air IS an explosive. A powerful one. Many grain elevators and flour plants and such have been blown to smithereens by dust explosions. What makes an explosive ‘explosive’ is its ability to oxidize very rapidly. So explosives like gunpower have their own oxidant. Without that, the material can only burn on the surface where it interacts with air. Grain dust in suspension is surrounded by air, and burns fast enough to cause an explosion. Another pet peeve: People who outrun explosions. Typically a fireball coming down a hallway or something. Sorry, but if it is slow enough that you can outrun it, it isn’t an explosion. One of the worst movies for unreality had to be “Die Hard 2”. The list of gaffes, continuity errors, outright errors about known facts, etc. is very long. For example: [ul] [li]The C-130 Hercules does not have ejection seats.[/li][li]You can’t rotate a big knob and ‘lower’ the Instrument landing beam.[/li][li]A key plot point was that the jets couldn’t fly anywhere else because of fuel requirements. In reality, from Washingon DC a large jet could divert to Miami if it had to.[/li][li]Another key plot point was that no one could take to the aircraft in the sky, because the terrorists controlled the tower. But of course, the terrorists didn’t control the area control center, other towers, the myriad flight service stations in the area, or the dozens of aircraft parked on the ground…[/li][li]The action takes place at Washington Dulles airport, but all the phones had “Pacific Bell” written on them…[/li][li]Jumping from the wing of a 747 about to take off will kill you, dead.[/li][li]The whole plot hinges on the terrorists somehow knowing in advance that a major transfer would take place on the same day as a freak once-in-a-decade snowstorm.[/li][/ul] And the list goes on… And an honorable mention for injection new, unreal cliches into movies has to go to **John Woo**. It seems every movie now has to show the hero diving through the air while shooting two guns cross-armed at people 100 ft away and shooting them right through the heart. Man, that’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/98 "2003-07-12T19:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Topaz \* > \*\ ***Evil Captor** , I love you. \*\* Thanks, Topaz! It’s good to be loved! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/99 "2003-07-12T21:07:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*One of the worst movies for unreality had to be “Die Hard 2”. The list of gaffes, continuity errors, outright errors about known facts, etc. is very long. For example: > > [ul] > [li]The C-130 Hercules does not have ejection seats.[/li][li]You can’t rotate a big knob and ‘lower’ the Instrument landing beam.[/li][li]A key plot point was that the jets couldn’t fly anywhere else because of fuel requirements. In reality, from Washingon DC a large jet could divert to Miami if it had to.[/li][li]Another key plot point was that no one could take to the aircraft in the sky, because the terrorists controlled the tower. But of course, the terrorists didn’t control the area control center, other towers, the myriad flight service stations in the area, or the dozens of aircraft parked on the ground…[/li][li]The action takes place at Washington Dulles airport, but all the phones had “Pacific Bell” written on them…[/li][li]Jumping from the wing of a 747 about to take off will kill you, dead.[/li][li]The whole plot hinges on the terrorists somehow knowing in advance that a major transfer would take place on the same day as a freak once-in-a-decade snowstorm.[/li][/ul] > > And the list goes on… > \*\* You left out: 1)grenades with 30-second fuses (giving McClain enough time to strap into the nonexistent ejection seat and punch out) 2)submachineguns that can fire blanks full-auto then, with a switch of the magazine, fire regular ammo. Uh-uh. A semi or full auto firearm can only cycle with blanks if you block off the barrel to give it enough pressure to cycle. You do this either by using a prop barrel or by fastening a blank adapter to the end of the barrel. 3)lighting the streaming fuel from the 747 and then having the flame climb up the stream into the air to detonate the jet. 4)The “Glock 7, made from porcelain (!) that can go through airport metal detectors” Holy Christ. What a horrible, horrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864/100 "2003-07-12T21:45:18Z")
Oh, and I meant “Talk to the airplanes”, not “Take”. It was a crucial plot point that no one could get through to all the aircraft in the sky because the radio in the tower was under control of the terrorists. At the screening I went to, you could actually see people in the audience looking at each other and murmuring when that plot point was unveiled. _Everyone_ picked up on that silliness. And here’s another one: The aircraft needed the instrument landing system because there was a huge storm and they couldn’t land visually. But then, there’s a scene where a reporter says, “I can see the airplanes circling overhead.” Uh, if SHE can see THEM, THEY can see the ground. I’ve seen better film in soap dishes. What really annoys me about these types of errors is that they just scream, “We here in hollywood think our customers are STUPID!”. All of the errors I mentioned about could have been fixed trivially, without changing the plot at all. But you just know somewhere someone said, “Ah, don’t worry about it. The idiots in the audience will never notice.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-just-aint-right/186864.md?page=6)