People complain when they see a Coke in a movie, crying “product endorsing!”, but nothing pulls me out of a movie to see somebody drink from a red can that is obviously not a Coke but is supposed to be.
This was really bad about 10-15 years ago, but it’s gotten a bit better. Or maybe I have.
Where? That must be the Land of the Terminally Pissed-Off.
In books, I can’t stand when people use anything other than the phrase “he said.” There are authors I can’t read because of this. In particular, I’ve stopped buying issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction because every recent issue contains a short story by a guy who uses a saidism in every single dialogue line–he commented, she remarked, he interjected… grr! It would not be so bad if it was every so often (say, one dialogue line out of a hundred), but this guy does it every single time. It totally draws me out of the story and makes me think about elementary school English class, when we had to use saidisms in our stories because the teacher thought it was more creative. It’s not creative, it’s annoying and a sign of bad writing (the dialogue itself should portray tone; the tag is there only to identify a speaker and should be invisible to readers).
I read it in an article about 6 months ago, though I forget the publication and the areas where 555 is now a valid prefix. However, IIRC, even though 555 is now in effect, a small range of numbers are still reserved for movies (such as 555-4000 through 555-5555, or something to that effect).
How about some adverbs along with the saidisms, “she asked, quizzically, angrily, unncessarily”. J. K. Rowling is one of the worst offenders, and I fear for young (and old) readers who think that this is good writing.
Oh yeah, that too. Adverbs in general are usually a sign of bad writing, since you should ideally search for a stronger verb (“he trotted” instead of “he walked swiftly,” for example).
In books, it irks me when the characters think like modern people. Yes, I’m sure in the Middle Ages there were some people who believed in women’s liberation, but not every damn female heroine!
I had the same problem when watching Blade Runner. I said “Wait a second. There’s no LOS there. You can’t actually see that, it’s just a computer extrapolation and thus pretty worthless.” I also dislike Miracle-zoom.
I felt the same way about all the Boston accents in Mystic River. Does every single person who lives in Boston have the exact same accent? It almost seemed like a joke at one point.
It does…actually, as I remember, they use a Miracle-Zoom™ to “enhance” the logo on the side of a shopping bag that was facing away from the camera. Not a reflection of the side, either.
And, apparently, every crummy little shop in Manhattan has it’s security system hooked into a high-speed internet connection, so it can be hacked within seconds.
-Accents that don’t fit in. A brooklyn accent in ancient rome stands out like a sore thumb.
-People who obviously don’t fit in. I can see trying to be more inclusive, and if it’s for artistic purposes, it dosen’t bug me. However, casting Black/Asian actors as Nobles in Mideviel Europe is just jarring, as is casting white actors for nobles in feudal japan. If it’s a movie that’s not really taking itself seriously, fine, but otherwise it’s strange. I can forgive this for stage productions or movie musicals assuming the actor is good.
-Gun stuff. I get annoyed by people who continue to cock their guns, thinking it looks cool but not realizing they’re really just throwing away ammunition needlessly.
-Elite military teams who act like rent-a-cops and get easily slaughtered by a bunch of ameuters. IE: Clear and Present Danger, Blade 2.
-People in films who completely ignore the obvious. Blair witch 2 annoys the crap out of me because they spend half the film asking “Why can’t I remember 5 hours of last night?(when all this wierd crap happened and was filmed)” The scene before they wake up, they are shown A.) Smoking Pot and B.) Drinking Beer. in mass quanities. And yet, nobody ever bothers pointing out that this may be the cause of the inability to remember the wee hours of the morning and the goth girl dancing naked around a tree.
-Sewers. I get annoyed if Sewers are shown in movie seem far too clean and well-lit for something that’s supposed to be filled with shit and underground. It’s an irrational pet peeve of mine.
Jodie Foster suddenly showing up in the middle of A Very Long Engagement, which is a French film. There’s JF speaking fluent French with what I’ve read is a recognizable Polish accent. It only threw me for a few seconds, though. She did such a good job with the role that I got over the initial shock of recognition.
For me, it’s writers having characters use ridiculous or uncommon swears; though I love Stephen King, he indiscriminately does this in every book and almost every short story. The moment a character utters a swear like “whoreson” or “whoremonger,” or says “pass me that cunt” in reference to a beer, I feel like throwing the book down.
I can usually ignore that in most movies without giving it too much thought. Helps that I’m Economically Amused.
Do you mean cock as in pulling the slide, or as in actually cocking the hammer? Because cocking the hammer just makes it easier to shoot the gun. Pulling the slide is pointless unless you don’t have a bullet chambered, or if you have a misfire/jam.
For me, it’s ventilation shafts. Ventilation shafts in movies are always clean and shiny. In reality, you only find clean ventilation shafts in just-built buildings. Ventilation shafts in older buildings are filthy, covered with grime and dust on the insides.
And they’re always big enough for a grown man to crawl through. In real life, how many times do you see ventilation shafts going through out an entire office building that are large enough to allow a full grown man to crawl through them?
“Television is the explanation for this. You see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond s*** never happens in real life, professionals don’t do that!” – Agent Paul Smecker, Boondock Saints
Though, to be fair, I’m honestly suprised that kind of thing doesn’t happen more often on Star Trek, what with the Jeffries Tubes and all.
Actually, a few years ago there was an incindent where Albert Belle got caught using a corked bat. It was confiscated by the umps and put in the ump locker room. Belle got one of his teammates to crawl through the ventilation shafts, drop through the ceiling, and steal the bat back.
So it’s not impossible, at least at major league ballparks.
Speaking of Mark Hamill, he alone is enough to pull me out of a movie or cartoon. He has two voices that he uses. One, his normal voice. Two, his Joker voice. Any other voice he does is just a variation of one of the two.