# You understand why they do it but it takes you out of the movie anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928 "2015-10-17T19:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/121 "2015-10-19T19:34:04Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > It’s interesting what does and doesn’t take you out of a scene. Gun handling has a couple for me - I can’t stand it when you have people that are supposed to be professionals running around with their finger on the trigger. It’s a little thing but very noticeable to me, and wouldn’t be hard to fix - I’m sure they tell the extras ‘hold the gun this way’ as part of coreographing action scenes. A lot of movies have started doing this right. Also, people who shove guns into their waistband or just carry long guns for an extended period of time irritates me, because that’s actually dangerous and uncomfortable, especially if you’re walking long distances. Walking dead went through a couple of seasons of this, where only Rick had a holster despite them walking miles - they would have had some serious abrasions in the back or belly. > > People racking the slide for emphasis falls into the category of ‘movie language’ for me, it’s like the talking on phones stuff people have mentioned. In the real world, if you rack the slide or pump a shotgun, either your gun wasn’t ready to fire before, or you eject a bullet/shell when you do it, it’s a dumb thing to do. But it doesn’t bother me in movies. The unlimited capacity magazines don’t bother me either, especially since doing reasonable reloads would feel very clunky in a lot of fight scenes. This. Bad guy: I don’t really want to kill you, but I must. Good guy: Bet you won’t! BG: Now I’m really going to kill you! \ GG: Nanny, nanny, boo-boo! BG: I mean it! \ GG: I know you are, but what am I? BG: Now you’ve done it! \ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/122 "2015-10-19T20:06:38Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > In no time flat she has caught up with the speeding…BMW 5 Series. On her Vespa. On the streets of Rome. Maybe not as unrealistic as it sounds; Rome is pretty built up and has really small, twisty and turny roads, as well as a lot of traffic. A Vespa is pretty ideal for weaving through all that, and a 5 series isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/123 "2015-10-19T20:08:36Z")
Good blocking and cinematography. It’s really weird, sometimes for no reason I’ll just catapult out of the narrative and say “wow, that’s a really good shot!” or “wow, the choreography of this conversation is great!” This especially happens with shots that have something happening on multiple “planes” in the shot. Like the famous shot from Citizen Kane with the [kid playing outside the window](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHaRDlUrLw). ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/124 "2015-10-19T20:51:13Z")
Any time a cat makes a cameo, we are treated to “meows”. That alone doesn’t take me out of the movie. It’s when the cat’s mouth is not even open and we get the sound. I’m looking at you, producers of Black Mass. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/125 "2015-10-19T20:51:16Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > . . . Bad guy: I don’t really want to kill you, but I must. > Good guy: Bet you won’t! > BG: Now I’m really going to kill you! \ > GG: Nanny, nanny, boo-boo! > BG: I mean it! \ > GG: I know you are, but what am I? > BG: Now you’ve done it! \ Huge happy guffaw of laughter! You’ve caught the very essence of the problem! ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/126 "2015-10-19T20:56:37Z")
The worst for me is when fire sprinklers go off in a movie or tv show. I know they do it for comedic effect, the “oh boy, we just goofed up!” scene. But it’s so far removed from how fire sprinklers work that it completely takes me out of the moment. Fire sprinklers are not activated by smoke. They’re activated by heat. And even if there’s enough heat to activate the sprinkler in that room or area, it does not activate the sprinklers in the entire building. That would be stupid! That’s why they’re built the way they are. You don’t want to ruin the whole building with flooding because there’s a fire in one room that probably is put out by the one sprinkler activation. So when I see someone burning a piece of paper in a trash can and then the fire sprinklers activate in the while building, I’m done. You just yanked me right out of whatever story you’re telling. (Oh, and people carrying suitcases that are obviously empty and light as a feather. That annoys too.) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/127 "2015-10-19T21:10:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Maybe not as unrealistic as it sounds; Rome is pretty built up and has really small, twisty and turny roads, as well as a lot of traffic. > > A Vespa is pretty ideal for weaving through all that, and a 5 series isn’t. You would have to see the movie (not recommended) but that didn’t come into play - she was just right behind them one scene later. Of course, even if the movie took that into consideration, there’s really no way in hell she would even know which small twisty streets the BMW took. The minute her covered moped fell over and she climbed out to get on the other one they’d be long gone. It’s not like she had some sort of tracking device on it or anything. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/128 "2015-10-19T21:15:20Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > All versions of Star Trek. The captain and crew will be talking to hostile aliens on a video link. Then they just cut the connection while they privately discuss whether they can trust the aliens or not. Then they switch the link back on and continue the talk with the aliens. Aliens resume the conversation without a pause apparently taking no offense. > > TCMF-2L Or: > [@](#): > > Jason Nesmith: Okay Gwen, put me back on with him. > > Gwen DeMarco: That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Jason. You ARE back with him. > > Sarris: Perhaps I am not as stupid as I am ugly, commander! > > Jason Nesmith: [to Gwen] I gave you the ‘kill’ gesture. > > Gwen DeMarco: No, you gave me the ‘we’re dead’ signal. I was agreeing with you. Like I know where the ‘hold’ button is. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/129 "2015-10-19T21:41:34Z")
> [@Dingbang](#): > > Fire sprinklers are not activated by smoke. They’re activated by heat. And even if there’s enough heat to activate the sprinkler in that room or area, it does not activate the sprinklers in the entire building. That would be stupid! That’s why they’re built the way they are. You don’t want to ruin the whole building with flooding because there’s a fire in one room that probably is put out by the one sprinkler activation. And they don’t even go off a room at a time. Evey single sprinkler head is activated on it’s own. The only person who will get soaked by holding up a lighter to a sprinkler head is the guy standing under it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/130 "2015-10-19T23:16:25Z")
Sheesh, this thread degenerated quickly. Sorry, OP. I can’t think of an example right now that actually takes me out of the movie or TV show or whatever, but the whole “timer down to 1” thing does bug me sometimes, EVEN THOUGH I UNDERSTAND IT’S DONE BECAUSE if it were much more, the audience wouldn’t feel as much suspense, and think, oh, there was no danger, there was plenty of time. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/131 "2015-10-20T00:04:24Z")
I will willingly and eagerly suspend my disbelief for almost anything, until somebody throws up. At that point I invariably notice that I think this is a horrible thing to do to the actors–to make them throw up on camera. Even though it’s fake, fake throwing up is IMO almost as bad as real throwing up, and can lead to it. And on and on, which I’m not going to do here, but I AM going to do in the movie, which ruins it for me. Now horror movies are kind of different, in that there are ALL KINDS of things in horror movies that seem horrible to do to actors. Possibly this is why I don’t watch a lot of horror movies. But if I am watching a horror movie and someone projectile vomits green stuff, oh well. Things other people have mentioned, plus things like, say, Skylab is falling, only the movie is set in 1981, will not take me out of the movie. Seeing a glimpse of a boom mike will not, etc. Wrong license plate for the state/era, no problem. Throwing up? Oh, it’s a movie, that poor actor (yeah who got paid $3 million but still). ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/132 "2015-10-20T00:17:58Z")
I hate the gasoline bomb fire ball explosions. I mean, sure, I like fireballs, but they don’t do much other than set things on fire. I’ve got a lot more to rant about, but I gotta go get a burrito or something first. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/133 "2015-10-20T01:05:49Z")
Fake sneezing. It’s next to impossible to convincingly fake a sneeze. Why try? It’s easy enough to sniff a little pepper and sneeze for real. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/134 "2015-10-20T02:23:40Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Fake sneezing. It’s next to impossible to convincingly fake a sneeze. Why try? It’s easy enough to sniff a little pepper and sneeze for real. Or pluck a nose hair. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/135 "2015-10-20T03:22:21Z")
I understand why movie animals and bad guys do this, but it’s incredibly annoying. So the bad guy–the bad lion, or bad mafia dude, or bad robot, or bad super-villain, or bad alien monstrosity–sneaks up behind the good guy. One pounce, one shot, one punch to the back of the head, one tentacle up the ass, and the good guy is dead. But does the bad guy silently dispatch the good guy? No, the lion roars, the robot whirrs, the monstrosity hisses, the black hat sneers, “Hey Cody!”. Then the good guy turns around, sees the bad guy about to attack, and has time to either pull out his gun and shoot the bad guy dead, or take a moment to savor the situation and then take off running, with the bad guy in pursuit. In real life when a lion sneaks up on you from behind they silently pounce on you, and you don’t realize you’re being attacked by a lion until you feel the fangs puncture the back of your skull. In real life it’s a lot faster to shoot someone when you’ve already got a gun pointed at them at point blank range than it is to whip around and pull out your gun and shoot them. In real life, if a lion really does walk up to you and roar, he’s not hunting you, he’s threatening you. And the last thing you should do is run, because lions can run faster than humans, and if you run you trigger his chase instincts. It’s a very dramatic scene, because the audience sees the danger, but the good guy doesn’t, and so we have dramatic tension, which builds with the threat as the good guy realizes the danger, and then the release as the chase starts. But just once I’d like to see a lion jump on a guy out of nowhere and bite his spinal cord out. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/136 "2015-10-20T03:36:55Z")
Almost anything to do with getting shot or stabbed or punched and resulting mobility, unconsciousness, or death is pretty badly unrealistic. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2015, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/137 "2015-10-20T06:11:00Z")
I wonder if anyone has ever tabulated the number of times Jack Bauer has been stabbed in the gut or shot in the shoulder in the course of 24 hours, and yet manages to subdue the terrorists at the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/138 "2015-10-20T06:30:28Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But just once I’d like to see a lion jump on a guy out of nowhere and bite his spinal cord out. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s great. I’d love to see that! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/139 "2015-10-20T06:49:28Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Almost anything to do with getting shot or stabbed or punched and resulting mobility, unconsciousness, or death is pretty badly unrealistic. In my case, more or less any fight or gunplay scene, ever. They are acted out in accordance with certain standard clichés that bear no resemblance whatsoever to reality, for the most part. Certain exceptions aside, they produce in me no sense of tension or excitement at all. I’m just waiting for the farce to finish with the conclusion required by the plot. I heard an interview with the military advisor (R. Lee Ermey I think) for Full Metal Jacket explain how monumentally difficult it was to get the actors to behave as soldiers actually behave when under fire. He described how the actors wanted to just stand or crouch in full view, but said (IIRC) a “real soldier will do _anything_ to get cover when under fire, up to and including digging with his tongue if necessary” and that they had tenths of seconds to live, otherwise. Compare that to about 90% of all gunfight scenes. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/140 "2015-10-20T08:27:59Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > To give praise where praise is due: in _Everything is Illuminated_, Elijah Wood, portraying the book’s author, Jonathan Safran Foer (who does in fact have a high prescription) spends virtually the whole movie in eyeglasses that are thick and have an obviously high index of refraction. > > Unless Wood has a prescription himself that’s anywhere in that neighborhood, which is very unlikely, he was probably disoriented and unable to see jack shit for most of the making of that movie. Nice dedication on his part, and good move on the director’s part to have him do it. In theory, you could create glasses that have their refraction reversed by contacts, but I don’t know if that’s ever been done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928.md?page=8)