# Things that pull you out of a movie or book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320 "2005-04-27T04:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bclouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@bclouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bclouse)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/1 "2005-04-27T04:43:39Z")
I was watching **Back to the Future 3** the other day and was enjoying it (as much as one can) then the old west dance scene came on. It has a cameo by _ZZ Top_ and while not as intrusive as it seemed when I originally saw the film, it still drew me out. I particularly hate it when they spin their instruments around. I mean, who does that in the old west? Being a non-_ZZ Top_ fan it didn’t seem fair to me to have to endure a forced appearance for no reason except they sing a song on the soundtrack. Where was _Huey Lewis_ in the first two films? When has this happen to you? ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/2 "2005-04-27T04:51:16Z")
The 555 prefix has always bothered me, even though some people in real life now have that prefix as part of their number. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/3 "2005-04-27T05:37:41Z")
Huey Lewis was in the first film, as the judge for the battle of the bands thing. “you’re just too darn loud” ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/4 "2005-04-27T06:21:44Z")
Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he’s a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night’s movies suck me in in the first place.) Although the _Pulp Fiction_ “coffee monologue” provides great material for mocking sessions. “I buy the expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to TASTE it!” Especially good with replication of the awkwardly overdone hand motions. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/5 "2005-04-27T06:33:05Z")
I second the cameo thing. QT’s appearance in Pulp Fiction nearly ruined the whole damn movie for me. It was so cheesy and out of place. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/6 "2005-04-27T06:47:31Z")
Isn’t/wasn’t 555 a legal requirement for movie telephone numbers? (to avoid possibly real numbers being mentioned, and dialled by those who like to do that sort of thing) ZZ who? [sub]Kidding. I know who, but I can honestly say I didn’t notice a cameo in BTTFIII[/sub] I’ve never abandoned a cinema movie in my life. And I won’t permanently lose interest in a movie if it starts out well, but the closest I’ve come to being put off is by Sharon Stone’s precence in Casino. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/7 "2005-04-27T06:50:32Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Isn’t/wasn’t 555 a legal requirement for movie telephone numbers? (to avoid possibly real numbers being mentioned, and dialled by those who like to do that sort of thing) I don’t know if it’s a legal requirement, but I know Bruce Almight used a non 555 #, and received many complaints because of it. People are apparently calling asking for God. Since was amended on the DVD. However, as Roeper suggested on his show once, movie studios could still purchase a non-555 number to use in various movies. Or they could just not show the # altogther. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/8 "2005-04-27T06:56:42Z")
I forgot to mention (My whole reason for posting was to mention this, then I forgot :smack: ) I watched a movie only yesterday where a 555 number was central to part of the story. It was Die Hard: With Avengance. I know there’s not many who haven’t seen that movie. but I’m going to spoiler it anyway. Mcklain and Zeus have to solve a riddle to get the right number in 30 seconds or the bomb in the bin next to the phone blows up. “On my way to St Ives I met a man with seven wives…blah blah…How many went to St Ives?”… one, of course. The number was 555-0001 ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/9 "2005-04-27T11:39:03Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he’s a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night’s movies suck me in in the first place.) Hitchcock’s little appearances are mildly distracting if you know what he looks like and are looking for them. But they’re never obtrusive. For example in Strangers on a Train, he’s just in the background hauling a string bass up the steps into the train – he could be any extra. I’ve always enjoyed the game of trying to spot him. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/10 "2005-04-27T12:02:41Z")
When I’m watching a movie supposedly set in ancient Rome or medieval Europe and somebody flashes a big smile showing a mouth full of perfect teeth, it really brings me out of the film. It’s a silly thing to get distracted by, I know, but it always annoys me that people in films set in eras when dentistry and dental care were virtually unknown have an absolutely flawless set of choppers. Even the peasants, for cryin’ out loud! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/11 "2005-04-27T12:41:26Z")
Women’s hairstyles. It always annoys me that in a drama set in, say, the 3rd century BC, the leading ladies always have contemporary hairstyles. This was particularly noticable during the '50s (check out, say, Jean Simmons in Sparticus), but the trend carries through to today, unless the director is VERY picky. Look at the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s, where the heroine, with long straight flowing hair, generally under a flat-brimmed hat and an Indian-print poncho. Rachel Welch did a couple of these. You can come up with plenty more bad examples. Farrah-Fawcet style hair in the middle ages. A Dorothy Hamill wedge during the Victorian period, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/12 "2005-04-27T17:05:59Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > Hitchcock’s little appearances are mildly distracting if you know what he looks like and are looking for them. But they’re never obtrusive. For example in Strangers on a Train, he’s just in the background hauling a string bass up the steps into the train – he could be any extra. I’ve always enjoyed the game of trying to spot him. I should have said when the director actually plays a role in the movie - when noticing him is unavoidable. Another thing: when everyone in a southern-based movie has a molasses-thick southern accent. It’s so stereotypical and inaccurate that it completely disrupts the movie for me (a southerner). ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/13 "2005-04-27T17:29:18Z")
I concur on directors appearing in their own movies. I almost turned off \*Reservoir Dogs \* in the first five minutes because of Tarantino’s obnoxious, pointless character’s obnoxious, pointless rant about Madonna. Thankfully, his character was killed shortly thereafter. He was also annoying in _Pulp Fiction_, but then I found most of that movie annoying. The worst one, though, has to be M. Night’s role in _Signs_. When he gets out of the car and Mel Gibson’s family stops and stares at him, saying, “Look, it’s him!,” you’re supposed to think, _It’s the guy who killed Mel’s wife!_ Instead you’re thinking, _It’s the director!_, and it looks like the characters are thinking that too. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/14 "2005-04-27T18:22:15Z")
Any bit of cinematic computer gimmickry – monitors bright enough to reflect their contents on a charater’s face, “hacking” a system in six seconds, etc. But the winner is the eight-year-old girl in _Jurassic Park_ who quips, “This is Unix! I know this!” Sure you do, dear. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ZeroGyro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47774/32.png) [@ZeroGyro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZeroGyro)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/15 "2005-04-27T18:59:35Z")
I’m taken out of a movie whenever you are shown a security tape (or some similar type of video recording) that should be coming from one camera, but is edited with all kinds of shots that make it look like it was shot by a fleet of cameramen. I was listening to the commentary track for the “Heart of Ice” episode from Batman:The Animated Series and the creators mention that they did this unknowingly and regret it. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/16 "2005-04-27T19:15:43Z")
In books, badly done footnotes really take me out. In “Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell,” they were superbly done, adding much to the story and placed just so, so they wouldn’t interrupt the flow. I’m currently reading “Oracle Night” (nights?) and his footnotes go on for up to 4 pages! They also start in the middle of ideas so I have to go back and reread the paragraph from the start so I can recall what was going on. Just irritating. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/17 "2005-04-27T19:17:09Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > Whenever a director puts himself in his movie, particularly when he’s a horrible actor. See: M. Night Shyamalan, Quentin Tarantino. (Not that M. Night’s movies suck me in in the first place.) > > Although the _Pulp Fiction_ “coffee monologue” provides great material for mocking sessions. “I buy the expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to TASTE it!” Especially good with replication of the awkwardly overdone hand motions. From the first time I saw that scene, I thought it was out of place because for some reason it reminded me of if a fan spliced himself into a movie. I finally figured out exactly why not too long ago. The “dead nigger storage” exchange has him speaking in witty dialogue to Jules, who is on the receiving end of the wit. That seems wrong, that would be the kind of thing Jules would say to someone else, not just sit there and go “why isn’t the sign there?” That’s the biggest problem I have with PF, much as I love it, in some parts it seems like one of the characters is just there so someone else can say witty things to him/her. I felt that way in the scene with Vincent and Mia, Vincent had some great lines, but largely Mia just had too many lines that were just there to look cool. It got annoying. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/18 "2005-04-27T19:28:35Z")
Things that bother me most in books: Contradicting something you said previously James Kilpatrick calls these types of sentences “Stumblers”. Sentences that just read badly for one reason or another. The strange thing about this is I’ve seen even major authors do this. I don’t care what Piers Anthony says this just prooves that everybody needs a good editor/ proofreader. Jokes driven into the ground. Artifical Elizabethean style language. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/19 "2005-04-27T19:35:50Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > … when everyone in a southern-based movie has a molasses-thick southern accent. It’s so stereotypical and inaccurate that it completely disrupts the movie for me (a southerner). Yeah, that’s another one that bugs me. It doesn’t usually bother me if the accent is inaccurate as long as it isn’t too exaggerated, but sometimes it’s just outrageous. The worst example I can think of is Dan Ackroyd in _Driving Miss Daisy_. Does he really think southerners talk like that??!? ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320/20 "2005-04-27T19:43:26Z")
> [@ZeroGyro](#): > > I’m taken out of a movie whenever you are shown a security tape (or some similar type of video recording) that should be coming from one camera, but is edited with all kinds of shots that make it look like it was shot by a fleet of cameramen… In _ **Blade Runner** _ our hero is looking at an (apparently) ordinary photograph and decides to put it in some sort of magnifier. When he scans around the photo the point-of-view changes so that something that was blocking his view of something else moves out of the way. He then utilizes Miracle-Zoom[sup]TM[/sup] (my pet peeve) to repeatedly zoom-in by a factor of around ten each time. He ends up with a print-out of the tattoo on a womans shoulder who was in another room around a corner seen through a mirror and it’s still clear enough for a positive ID! For me, it ruins an otherwise exceptional film. Other users of Miracle-Zoom[sup]TM[/sup] have been Columbo (at least three case solutions _rely_ on it) and CSI. I especially hate it when they blow-up _video_! I feel like slapping the director and yelling “It’s dots, man, dots. Pixels, ya know?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-pull-you-out-of-a-movie-or-book/301320.md?page=2)