# Things in movies that really bug you ... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2000, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466 "2000-11-16T16:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/161 "2000-12-05T21:52:00Z")
Well, I may be prejudiced, but I hate the way astronomy is treated in every movie in which it appears. 2001 got it (mostly) right, but no one else ever has. I accept that there will be things done for effect, and I honestly have little quibble with that (except that it reinforces incorrect images with viewers). I just still wish it could be done better. I wrote an article in the April 1998 issue of Astronomy magazine about the Top Ten mistakes made in Hollywood movies. One of these days I’ll put it on my website. Anyway, you can go to [http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/index.html](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/index.html) to see my reviews of current movies from an astronomical perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/162 "2000-12-06T17:35:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > **I, for one, am tired of seeing gross bodily functions on the screen!! How many times do I have to actually _see_ a character vomit? Can’t they just give me a sound effect?** Problem is (and this is another thing about movies that bugs me) the standard movie “vomit” sound effect is pretty much just a cough. Vomiting and coughing do NOT sound alike, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/163 "2000-12-06T18:37:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Me!! Joe!!! \* > \*\*The “Hero-Leaps-Away-From-The-HUGE-Explosion” Scene > > I used to just suspend my disbelief during these scenes, but they have become just all too common, trite and cliche; Just look at the trailor for Charlie’s Angels (haven’t and WON’T see the actual movie): > > The hero/heroine starts running (in slow motion, that’s a given). > > Behind them is an obviously bluescreened/CGI-ed/whatever-the term-is gargantuan explosion, sending shrapnel flying towards the camera, not to mention screen-filling sized flames and fireballs, all of which fail to hit the escaping charcters. > > The hero/heroine manages to duck behind or underneath something WHILE THE EXPLOSION IS HAPPENING ONSCREEN. Of course, the fireworks reach a crescendo just AFTER he/she/they have reached cover. > > A scant ten seconds later the fire, asphyxiating smoke & all, has disipated and all the shrapnel has stopped flying, and the explosion has failed to cause the air temperature to rise to a degree that the heroes don’t spontaneosly ignite. The audience get to see a close-up of the hero/heroine emerge from shelter panting and gasping from the exertion of running to shelter. > > Note to any directors who may be viewing this: I never ever want to see another scene like this again. I am quite sure i’m not the only one!!! > > \*\* You’re not. This reminds me of a story, which I’ll try to keep short since it’s off-task. I was driving to work one sunny morning and my car proceeded to die right before it caught fire. Having watched too many bad movies, with scenes described above, I couldn’t figure out what to do: \*I’ve never seen a vehicle explode IRL - In the movies: if you’re the good guy, you can be 50 feet away from the explosion and live. If you’re the bad guy, you can be 200 yards away from the explosion and die. - I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out if I was one of the good guys or one of the bad guys. I finally decided on a compromise between calmly moseying and panicked full-tilt bolting. I sorta jogged away from my now-flaming car. - Lucky for me, some Bubbas came along, put out my car with a Diet Pepsi and drove me home so I could call off work and find alternative transportation. Only to make this post relevant to the OP, just once I’d like to see what REALLY happens when you blow up the average Chrysler product. This is important information when your car suddenly lights itself. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/164 "2000-12-07T00:06:54Z")
How about Forced Exposition? The way that characters will say things that both of them already know and would have absolutely NO REASON to say. (At a meeting of the Evil Henchmen[TM]) “As you all know, we have planted the fusion bomb which is set to go off in exactly 24 hours under the floor of the White House, which we will disarm via this remote in my hand unless we receive the five million dollar ransom.” ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/165 "2000-12-07T00:14:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smitty \* > **How about Forced Exposition? The way that characters will say things that both of them already know and would have absolutely NO REASON to say.** ARGH! YES! Particularly vile offenders in that category were _The Puppet Masters_ and _Wing Commander._ ---
**Author:** ![Jaakko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@Jaakko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaakko)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/166 "2000-12-07T00:26:49Z")
If you want to see every single one action movie cliche ever devised in a book, that some foolish folk even call a techno-thriller, read anything by Matthew Reilly. I had the misfortune of purchasing his latest book, Temple, and I’m simply horrified (when I’m not LMAOing, that is). As for techno-thrillery parts, did you know that radioactive materials are detected with a _nucleotide resonance imager_, which measures the resonance created by molecular interaction between oxygen and the radioactive material? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/167 "2000-12-07T00:38:14Z")
Paging Dr. Geiger . . . Hell, paging Crick and Watson!!! ---
**Author:** ![Jaakko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@Jaakko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaakko)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/168 "2000-12-07T00:46:15Z")
But did you know that there is an element called Thyrium? It is ten times denser than plutonium an uranium combined, but has the same atomic structure. It is so powerful that a beer-bottle sized chunk of the stuff will produce a nuclear reaction 600 times more powerful than the entire output of the US nuclear power plants combined. If used as a weapon, it will immediately destroy a third of the Earth’s mass, but the really bad part is that it will disrupt our planet’s orbit, freezing everyone to death within minutes. 😃 (damn I need more of these smileys) :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/169 "2000-12-07T01:18:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Bad Astronomer \* > \*\*Well, I may be prejudiced, but I hate the way astronomy is treated in every movie in which it appears. 2001 got it (mostly) right, but no one else ever has. I accept that there will be things done for effect, and I honestly have little quibble with that (except that it reinforces incorrect images with viewers). I just still wish it could be done better. > > I wrote an article in the April 1998 issue of Astronomy magazine about the Top Ten mistakes made in Hollywood movies. One of these days I’ll put it on my website. Anyway, you can go to [Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Bad Movies](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/index.html) to see my reviews of current movies from an astronomical perspective. \*\* [hijack] Are you really _the_ Bad Astronomer?? Oh my god, call me a nerd, but that’s like finding out that some poster calling himself Brad Pitt really is Brad Pitt! I’m a big fan of yours and your page and am so pleased to “meet” you 🙂 Cecil Adams and the Bad Astronomer in one place… this is too exciting! I’m as giddy as a little girl 🙂 Welcome aboard! [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/170 "2000-12-07T04:26:42Z")
Bad Astronomy. Good site. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/171 "2000-12-07T19:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gr8Kat \* > I’m a big fan of yours and your page and am so pleased to “meet” you 🙂 > > Cecil Adams and the Bad Astronomer in one place… this is too exciting! I’m as giddy as a little girl 🙂 > > Welcome aboard! > [/hijack] \*\* Yep. Bad Astronomer rocks. I was too pleasantly surprised when, a couple of weeks back, I found out he is a doper. It’s a shame he doesn’t post more frequently though. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/172 "2000-12-07T19:21:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tisiphone \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Also, the exchange is always 555, which is never used for a residence or business. > > FYI, there’s a reason for that. Apparently there’s a huge number of people out there that have nothing better to do with their time than call phone numbers mentioned in songs and movies.\*\* The movie trailer for Ghostbusters ended with a 1-800 number to call; they had an answering machine set up with a recording of Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd saying “Sorry we can’t take your call; we’re out catching ghosts” It got thousands of calls. My movie pet peeve: People who need to get info out of a computer just type their questions on a blank screen and up pop the answers. Have these people never used a computer? ---
**Author:** ![RonA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@RonA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RonA)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/173 "2000-12-07T22:39:15Z")
In Star Trek, the crew comes across the spaceship of an alien race it has never encountered before. Yet the crew is instantly able to read the alien console, understand the controls, and know what every piece of machinery does. And they are always able to repair it with Fed. technology. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/174 "2000-12-07T22:45:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quasar \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Gr8Kat \* > > I’m a big fan of yours and your page and am so pleased to “meet” you 🙂 > > > > Cecil Adams and the Bad Astronomer in one place… this is too exciting! I’m as giddy as a little girl 🙂 > > > > Welcome aboard! > > [/hijack] \*\* > > Yep. Bad Astronomer rocks. I was too pleasantly surprised when, a couple of weeks back, I found out he is a doper. It’s a shame he doesn’t post more frequently though. \*\* ditto. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/175 "2000-12-08T10:13:45Z")
I’m sure the military folks here will be inclined to agree with me on these:[list=1][li]Often, the bad guys (sometimes it’s the “good guys” – anybody else remember “The A-Team”?) will disguise themselves as military members to sneak into a secure installation. Despite their long hair, improper wear of the uniform, and lack of secure area badges, they will be able to bluff their way into any place they desire to go.[/li] Never happen. When I was in SAC (and a few other places) anyone who even tried to attempt this would very quickly find themselves on the ground looking up at some very alert, very professional, highly trained security personnel, with the “oh, shit!” end of an M-16 or other lethal device aimed right at them. Any attempt to BS their way out would be inneffective. Any attempt to fight their way out would be abruptly interrupted by fast-travelling chunks of metal perforating their body. [li]Movies often show people who have no business in a cockpit just climbing in, cranking the plane up, and taking off. Stealing a military aircraft isn’t that easy. It takes the coordinated efforts of several people, both inside and outside the aircraft, to prepare an aircraft for flight. Aircraft on alert (ready to go at a moment’s notice) are kept in secure areas (see item 1, above).[/li] [li]Nobody who notices an intruder in a secure area just attacks the guy without first ensuring everybody and his brother is coming to provide backup. Among these will be some very alert, very professional, highly trained, _armed_ security personnel (see item 1, above).[/li] [li]You can’t launch (or detonate) nuclear weapons just by pressing a button. To even begin the process of activating a nuclear weapon, you have to enter several codes, _correctly_, before you can even consider it. These codes change frequently, and aren’t kept where crazy people can find them. The people who guard these codes do not hand them out for the asking, and would probably allow you to shoot them before they allowed you to get them without proper authorization. Very likely, these codes would be kept in a secure area (see item 1, above).[/li] Nuclear weapons are probably the safest weapons in the world, at least as far as not going off when you don’t want them to. They are designed _not_ to go off unless the proper procedures are followed. You can set fire to them, drop them out of airplanes, or even detonate another nuke nearby, and the worst thing that will happen is that the conventional explosives inside may detonate. Some radioactive material might escape, but you won’t get a nuclear reaction unless you set the thing off correctly. [li]Does anybody in the movies ever think to _aim_ their weapon? No wonder nobody ever hits anything. Science fiction movies are the worst in this regard. Sci-Fi weapons rarely even seem to be equipped with sighting devices. The Star Trek movies (and TV series) seems to be the most egregious offenders, in this regard.[/list=1]There have been a lot of decent, entertaining movies featuring the military. Some are even accurate. Many are not, some comedically so. I loved the Hot Shots movies – everybody knows _they_ weren’t serious, don’t they?[/li] ~~Baloo [sup]Pssst! ChiefScott, ExTank and others. Help me out with examples, huh?[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/176 "2000-12-08T16:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Are you really _the_ Bad Astronomer?? Oh my god, call me a nerd, but that’s like finding out that some poster calling himself Brad Pitt really is Brad Pitt! I’m a big fan of yours and your page and am so pleased to “meet” you 🙂 Well, I’m no Brad Pitt (I don’t smoke a carton of cigarettes a day, for example), but yeah, I’m the BA. I’ve been posting on a few threads here and there, but this one really caught my eye, for obvious reasons. 😉 The hard part was not posting every single freaking thing that ruins a movie for me! I’m really glad you like my site (though please don’t tell my boss I’m a ``doper’’; I can see a pee test happening soon thereafter). I just added a couple of things to it, and I’ll be putting on some big new pages in the next couple of months (expanding the Apollo Hoax stuff, for example). I really will be adding something about the Hollywood Top ten astro blunders sometime too. ---
**Author:** ![Mauve\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@Mauve\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauve_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/177 "2000-12-08T18:01:27Z")
> [@](#): > > **[sub]Pssst! ChiefScott, ExTank and others. Help me out with examples, huh?[/sub]** I’m neither a military guy, nor do I play one on TV, but sometimes the portrayal of the military in movies _really_ irks me. Consider, for example, **Independence Day**. Now, this movie has _so_ many things wrong with it, many of which have already been pointed out in this thread. What really annoyed me, however, is the “air force”, and the military force in general, used in the movie. C’mon, people - the U.S. Air Force is not composed entirely of F/A-18s - heck, I don’t even know if the Air Force _uses_ them (I was under the impression that they were primarily Navy planes). And what pilot, in their right mind, would fire a _sidewinder_ at a 15-mile-in-diameter alien spacecraft, and think it will have the slightest effect, even if the damn things _didn’t_ have shielding? Did the producers never hear of, say, iron bombs, fercryinoutloud? A lone B-52 would have done more damage to the ships than several squadrons of fighters firing sidewinders into it! For that matter, they could have just used the “A” aspect of the Hornet. Even without a real “military advisor” on the set, _someone_ could have taken the initiative to at least go check out a _Jane’s_ book or something… ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/178 "2000-12-08T22:39:52Z")
This may be the most unnerving trend in current cinema. A character has cause to dress up like a large animal. A _real_ animal of the same species arrives on the scene. Hilarity ensues as said animal proceeds to brutally sodomize said character. Think _Trading Places_ (gorilla), _Ace Ventura 2_ (gorilla), _Nutty Professor 2_ (genetically enlarged hamster). [sub]Won’t somebody _please_ think of the children?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/179 "2000-12-08T22:54:30Z")
Ok. I watched True Lies the other day. They smuggle the nuclear warheads into the U.S. inside Egyptian statues. Then they have to break open the statues to get the warheads out. How did they put them in if they have to break the statue to get them out??? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466/180 "2000-12-09T01:22:56Z")
dammit, c\_goat, now you’ve totally ruined that movie for me 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-that-really-bug-you/41466.md?page=10)