Have you not learned to shut up and just watch? My wife HATES any interruption (even if I’m educating her about how Non-Cinematic Science works).
I’m almost domesticated in this regard, in that I now save 90% of my being a smartypants until the credits are rolling.
You know, that’ll probably work for me because when the credits start to roll, she’s outta there. Got a nose to powder.
Meanwhile, I’m channeling Homer Simpson: “A lot of people worked hard on this film, and all they ask is for you to memorize their names.“
I’m with your wife on this, at least when I’m trying to watch a movie “seriously.” It’s the kind of thing that takes me out of the movie and makes it harder to suspend disbelief, just a little. I want to look at the screen and see that character, not that actor and/or other characters they’ve played in the past.
After the movie’s over, that’s when you can focus on who played what, what else you know them from, etc.
Yeah, she was the one the “There’s no crying in baseball” line was directed at.
You see? You see? The Doxie does it, too! Maybe it’s a canine malady. To the vet’s!
This has happened in countless fiIms. I once suggested a trope to cover that over at TV Tropes–couldn’t think of a good title, and my suggestion sunk without a trace. They have Mook Chivalry, but that is for when they politely fight the hero one at a time. So Unbreakable Mook Morale? Soldiers would have both camraderie and honor (can’t abandon your buddies) and fanaticism for a cause or deep loyalty to their country to keep them going, but even they often break and run. Mooks of the above sort tho may be fanatics in some cases, but more often they are just hired goons/mercenaries; once it is clear the fight is a losing one, yeah there is nothing to keep them in the fight.
Actually it is hard for me to think of examples of morale breaking even in war movies or TV shows; when part of Easy Company’s battalion broke in one episode of Band of Brothers in the face of a German tank assault it was rather jarring because as viewers we expect both sides to stick it out to the bitter end. But it is kind of boring and anticlimatic to have that happen in fiction. [In the ep. the cavalry arrived in time in the form of the 2nd Armored Division]
If the Italian Carabinieri had discovered a lab full of nerve gas, they’d slap the cuffs on Drax then and there. Turning it into an office buys him a bit deniability. He’s going to be launching to his space station in ust a couple days; the ruse could buy him just the time he needs.
In a way, I have to kind of respect how well Bond villains do contingency planning. To go back to You Only Live Twice, Blofeld has a small commando force to defend his volcano (even though no one is supposed to know it’s there), self-destruct charges on his spacecraft (even though there’s no benefit to blowing it up), and a personal escape plan (enabled by people who’ll be left behind to die).
How about:
Canon Fodder - The soldiers/mercenaries who continue fighting so that an action movie will have a big action scene, rather than for any ideological reason.
When I looked up “conservation of ninjitsu” on TVTropes, it linked to “cannon fodder” but the page for this is entitled Mooks. Various examples abound.
I’m reminded of a Kim Possible scene where Ron opened a door in Drakken’s lair and found a lounge with a bunch of his mooks hanging out shooting the breeze.
While scouting locations for the Quatermass II TV serial at Shellhaven, then under construction, the scriptwriter found that the workforce didnt know what they were building, and weren’t greatly interested either, as long as they got paid every Friday, and some of that was incorporated into the script.
Hank Scorpio gave really good benefits.
You mean the Scorpio from the Hammock District?
Saturday night, we watched John Waters’ 1994 comedy Serial Mom, which we haven’t seen in 30 years. We once again were delighted. Kathleen Turner is magnificently malevolent as the prim suburban Baltimore housewife who viciously murders anyone who dares upset her perfect life in any way. The murders are all pretty funny, especially the one in the men’s room, when she keeps slipping on this one poor guy’s liver, which she has extracted with a fireplace poker. She’s finally tried for the killings, and that slows down the momentum a bit, but there are plenty of laughs in between if you’re up for it.
John Waters is now semi-retired. That makes me sad. I really miss his twisted sense of humor.
I just saw the 4K restoration of Seven Samurai in a packed house (Sunday matinee). It not only holds up, but it remains one of the greatest films ever made.
Oh yeah, saw that one in the theater last year. It’s still one of the greats.
and @XOldiesJock , yeah, Serial Mom holds up pretty well, too.
Oh yeah. Still solid.
I like the movies The Quatermass Experiment and Quatermass and the Pit, but Quatermass II really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny today. It seems to tap into anxieties about oil refineries and new towns, things that were not really earth-shattering threats then, nor are they now.
I’ve never seen anything other than Quatermas and the Pit. Despite its low budget and bad special effects I found it to be very creepy and unsettling.
In honor of the passing of James Sikking I’ll mention Hill Street Blues. It’s setting was certainly of its time but I think it holds up extremely well.