# What are your sore spots re movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480 "2012-11-19T06:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/101 "2012-11-22T19:11:40Z")
Bullets that cause people to fly through the air when hit. Soldiers whose helmets stay on their heads during action, even though their chin straps hang loose beside their faces ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/102 "2012-11-22T19:39:01Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Any movie where there’s “mistaken identity” or “people who look like twins and trade places” is intolerable to me. It was probably an old concept when Shakespeare did it. Just stop the madness! Heck, it was old when Plautus did it in _The Menaechmi_, which Shakespeare ripped off. I mean that literally – Plautus ripped it off from an earlier Greek play. I’ll bet anything that play was a ripoff of an earlier one. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/103 "2012-11-22T20:04:16Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > At least this was one of the things that they did right with in _Flyboys_. The CGI let them portray those old biplanes with excellent accuracy, right up to the point where they put radial engines in them, instead of rotaries. It appears when aviation is concerned, most Hollywood types are very deficient in expertize. Movies like _Midway_, in which F6Fs are magically transformed into F4Us upon leaving the carrier deck, make me groan. Like, nobody’s gonna notice, right? WWII movies that show airplanes with post-WWII markings (that red stripe wasn’t added to the national insignia until 1947); or, like in _Wackiest Ship in the Army_, planes that didn’t even exist during the War (“Excuse me, was that an S2F you just launched off that angled-deck carrier?!?”) Or _Patton_ (otherwise an excellent film), in which anachronistic American tanks masquerade as German _Panzers._ Why in heaven’s name can’t they either disguise them with appliques (like the Tigers in _Kelly’s Heroes_ and _Saving Private Ryan_, which were actually T-34s), or just build full-scale motorized mock-ups? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/104 "2012-11-22T21:31:20Z")
I’ll see your “White Rabbit” and raise you “Paint It Black”. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/105 "2012-11-22T23:02:45Z")
Fonts. FONTS. _ **FONTS.** _ In any 20th century historical drama, the only type that can be used is what comes supplied with Microsoft. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/106 "2012-11-23T02:01:45Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Indeed, I am reminded of the scene in “The Hunt for Red October” - which is generally a pretty fun movie - where Ryan, at the end, gets a gun. While this enables the hilarious moment where Alec Baldwin makes fun of Sean Connery’s accent, it’s stupid and pointless. Up to that point Ryan was the hero of the story by using his brain, and then in the end he executes a guy. It cheapens the final scene, in my opinion. Sorry to say Rickjay, but if you’ve got a problem with that bit it’s not the movie makers fault, as that’s how it went down in the source novel. With Ryan taking out the GRU agent personally with a pistol. With the full context and additional background provided by the novel though it is not as jarring IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/107 "2012-11-23T14:28:33Z")
Pointless and endless car chases\* and explosions. And 3D. For sure, 3D. mmm \*unless original and done extremely well ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/108 "2012-11-23T17:56:38Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > I hate narration. I would rather be shown than told. If a movie needs an omniscient narrator, it’s an indication of poor writing. I don’t think this is necessarily true - look at what Scorsese did in _Age of Innocence_. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/109 "2012-11-23T18:05:51Z")
A few things that get on my nerves: - Blends of horror and comedy. An amusing line or two doesn’t bother me, but I find it very hard to enjoy things like _Cabin Fever_ and _Evil Dead 2_ - I’m fine with laughing and with being horrified, but the two don’t go together for me. - Neat little “touches” - e.g. a historical drama bringing in some element of a character’s life that would only be known to someone versed in the background of the story (I can’t think of any examples right now, but I seem to remember _Shakespeare in Love_ having its share of things like this). Feels like pandering. - Aphoristic dialogue - the best (or worst) example I can think of is the line in _Closer_ where a character proclaims angrily: “You know what a human heart looks like? It looks like a fist wrapped in blood!” A few scenes later, another character says something to the effect that “All I hear are your words! You can’t do anything with your easy words!” I know it was adapted from a play and this nonsense may have worked better on stage, but really now. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/110 "2012-11-23T18:07:22Z")
No, but imagine how much better **2010** would have been without the narration. Or how much better **Blade Runner** is without it. If a cartoon has to resort to an aging male comedy star to "narrate"it and expolain what’s going on, it’s a failure. That’s what they did with **Metamorphoses** and **the Thief and the Cobbler** , two films that _should_ have been superb pieces of animation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/111 "2012-11-23T19:34:24Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > On the other hand, sometimes things have to be explained to an audience that may have spent every math class passing notes to each other. But it’s nice when the writer knows this and has the other character object to being patronized. My favorite example of that was [this scene from _The West Wing_](http://youtu.be/OAnwYfEUtLw): Except that of course Marbury _is_ being “exceedingly stupid.” First of all the British Raj lasted just under one century (altho the East India Company did have control over parts of India for quite a bit before that) so “_for several centuries_” and thus his timeline is wrong. Next “ my kingdom _has_ ruled India” is wrong as that rule ended some 5 decades previously, so his tense is wrong. Finally, he’s trying to give the president some advice- but indeed as Leo points out, the President can’t create Maharajas, so the advice is useless. Perhaps his vaunted education didn’t take hold. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/112 "2012-11-23T19:35:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > No, but imagine how much better **2010** would have been without the narration. Or how much better **Blade Runner** is without it. > > . I love Harrison Ford’s narration. I don’t care for the later cuts. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/113 "2012-11-23T19:50:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I love Harrison Ford’s narration. I don’t care for the later cuts. Totally agree. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/114 "2012-11-23T20:11:33Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > (4) Any time two characters have to explain something solely for the benefit of the audience, like what a maharaja is, or the rules regarding FBI wiretaps, etc. Yes, it’s important to explain such things for the 2% of people who don’t already know, but when you have Tommy Lee Jones in _Volcano_, playing a senior vulcanologist, have to ask his co-worker what MAGMA is, you need to hire a better screenwriter. In all fairness to _Volcano_’s writers, Tommy Lee Jones played an emergency management guy. Anne Heche was the seismologist, who would likely have had to explain what magma was because no one had dealt with a volcano in their backyard before. In fact, that was the basic premise of the movie. So, yeah, the movie was kinda horrible, but not because of that. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_E.Nixon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@Richard\_E.Nixon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_E.Nixon)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/115 "2012-11-24T08:24:46Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The Rock explains this one. Sean Connery “broke out” of Alcatraz over a few weeks, doing more and more outside his cell to prepare for his eventual escape. But the door that is right next to the furnace looks from the inside, so he can use it to get out, but not to get back into his cell every night. > > Therefore, he had to learn the furnace timing so as NOT to go around another way and alert the guards he was out of his cell. This is the same reason they use this door in the movie. No reasonable person would assume this is possible, and thus, that door isn’t covered. Except that there was no furnice of that kind on Alcatraz. And even if there was, why would it still be functioning more than 30 years after the prison closed? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/116 "2012-11-24T08:58:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > If a cartoon has to resort to an aging male comedy star to "narrate"it and expolain what’s going on, it’s a failure. That’s what they did with **Metamorphoses** and **the Thief and the Cobbler** , two films that _should_ have been superb pieces of animation. But if a cartoon has an aging male horror star to “narrate it” and expolain what’s going on, it can be fucking brilliant. That’s what they did with **How the Grinch Stole Christmas**. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/117 "2012-11-26T01:40:18Z")
People who wear glasses but are somehow able to function fully even after losing them halfway through a film. Having a character have an allergy as a way of showing that they’re a loser. Small children who are oh-so-much wiser than all the adults around them; perhaps they imbibed a lot of knowledge from the dictionaries they apparently swallowed. > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > When someone’s pet gets killed. I love it though when they’re very careful to keep their pets safe, like in “Salt” when Angelina Jolie’s character puts her dog in her backpack and takes it to the little girl to look after. That Salt scene surprised me, because I think it’s one of the few times I’ve ever seen a character treat a beloved pet as if it really were a beloved pet, and one that needs actual care. Often I’m left wondering who the hell is looking after the dog that the workaholic detective supposedly loves. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/118 "2012-11-26T01:59:51Z")
People who get beaten up, hurt and thrown around throughout the entire movie and just keep bouncing back like they’re Wolverine, rather than just getting progressively more and more fucked up as the day goes by. _Die Hard_ actually handled this really well… by the end of the movie, Willis looked like it hurt to _think_, let alone run around… ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/119 "2012-11-26T02:33:51Z")
Any movie about Italian-Americans which uses “when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie” on the soundtrack. Movies about immigrant families with over-conservative parents and the other usual boring cliches. Anti-British “historical” movies (this is _way_ overdone) ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480/120 "2012-11-26T02:34:05Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Sorry to say Rickjay, but if you’ve got a problem with that bit it’s not the movie makers fault, as that’s how it went down in the source novel. With Ryan taking out the GRU agent personally with a pistol. With the full context and additional background provided by the novel though it is not as jarring IMO. On the other hand, in Clear and Present Danger the novel Jack Ryan also fills in as a gunner on the helicopter in the climax. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-sore-spots-re-movies/641480.md?page=7)