Details in films that bug you

Pacific Treefrog go Rib-it rib-it, I’m sure I heard it was now a kind of tradition to use that sound effect

The whole lack of removal of bra in sex scenes (page 2 mentioned by DezB), is a particularly americanism, was pointed out to me many year ago by my brother..i’m sorry but if were going to bed, that’s coming off before her pants! (most of the time).. and who the hell put it back on “they wake and she’s wearing a bra”.. in bed!

PS: Watch “way of the gun” for a decent gun craft (or so it seems from my non-firearmed trained eye)

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Willard

Same with Ipswich (Suffolk or Western Australian or Queensland?)

FIFY 🙂

In my defence, I was looking at a map of Australia that was upside down, so to me it looked like it was the west coast.

The text overlay that announces where they are: such as Paris, France. As opposed to what? Paris,Tennessee?

Yes it’s standard in the US, and it also helps if you don’t know geography that well. My wife was actually a little annoyed that they don’t do this in British TV shows as you’re simply meant to know where everything is. And if you’re foreign or even just young then you might not.

Similar to the way people use middle initials in the US I suppose. On one (UK based) IT system we had a rule that you could only have a . in your name if you were American e.g. Donald J. Trump because that’s how they always do it.

Yeah, but when the film has the Eiffel Tower front and centre, then the text that reads Paris, France, is obviously redundant, or here are the Pyramids at Giza and the text reads, Cairo, Egypt , stop it.. If the action is taking place in Dog Bowl; South Nebraska, sure, knock your self out…Throw up the Lat and Long for good measure 🙂

In the uk theres a batch of regular geographic telephone numbers set aside for film use so you can feature normal phone numbers for the city your drama is set in on screen without fear of smart arses phoning up some innocent. Weird its never occurred to the epicentre of movie production to have not considered that.

They can actually do this already.

The US phone number is [area code]-[exchange code]-[rest of number], but they don’t assign exchange codes that are the same as nearby area codes. So if your area code was 123 and your neighbouring area was 456, a film could safely use 123-456-7890 knowing that it was a fictional number.

Christ, I need a hobby.

Have you noticed how in every US TV show featuring an emergency, someone shouts out ‘Somebody call 911!’ as if people needed to be told? This is deliberate – it’s to make sure everyone knows the number and to drill into viewers that this is the first thing to do.

Have you noticed how in every US TV show featuring an emergency, someone shouts out ‘Somebody call 911!’ as if people needed to be told? This is deliberate – it’s to make sure everyone knows the number and to drill into viewers that this is the first thing to do.

Erm, I don’t want to leap on you for this, but as part of my First Aid training we were always told to make sure someone’s called 999.

If someone hurts themselves in a public place in front of 6 witnesses, you can almost be sure you’ll end up with 6 people standing wide-eyed and slack jawed saying “are you alright?” to someone unconscious. They’ll often want someone to tell them to call 999, because you don’t want to be that person who “gets carried away”. Shock/Panic is a funny thing.

This is deliberate – it’s to make sure everyone knows the number and to drill into viewers that this is the first thing to do.

So these are US audience only films?

Another thing – when someone goes into a strange building/house/warehouse and can instantly find their way around.
And one thing that ruined a couple of films for me – people who can’t see beating people who can in a gun fight – “Heat” and “Silence of the Lambs” both have this as their final scenes. So stupid.

Ok fair point. But it’s always in the scene for the same reasons you say, because people need prompting to think about doing it. Literally no-one does it on their own in TV shows.

The text overlay that announces where they are: such as Paris, France. As opposed to what? Paris,Tennessee?

Paris, Texas. Quite well known in the US.

Have you noticed how in every US TV show featuring an emergency, someone shouts out ‘Somebody call 911!’ as if people needed to be told? This is deliberate – it’s to make sure everyone knows the number and to drill into viewers that this is the first thing to do.

have you ever seen any sort of american viewer supplied video show – like “you’ve been framed”, although these days it’s just compilations on YouTube. It isn’t scripted, they actually talk like that. Most likely because they were all raised watching those TV shows you describe.

I may not be an expert on the sounds of engines or the practicalities of firearm combat, but obviously sped up car driving and guns that sound like an orange five on a black run when you change the angle they are pointing winds me up no end.

DezB sed> So these are US audience only films?

I believe 911 also works in the UK and several other countries. Never tried it myself but it’s reputed to divert to 999 after a brief sigh of disappointment.

And one thing that ruined a couple of films for me – people who can’t see beating people who can in a gun fight – “Heat” and “Silence of the Lambs” both have this as their final scenes

In “Silence…” Clarice shoots at the sound of the gun being cocked. Lucky, but not impossible.
As I’ve implied elsewhere go see any Fast&Furious film to reset your tolerance levels of slightly iffy film points. The dynamics of the safe being towed in F&F5 are a bit interesting to say the least. Could have screwed over Newton if he’d ever seen it.

In Fitzcarraldo (iirc) they are towing a cannon through the jungle and accidentally drop it into a ravine. It tumbles down a little before exploding. I never knew cast metal was so explodey!

In “Silence…” Clarice shoots at the sound of the gun being cocked. Lucky, but not impossible.

I know how it’s supposed to have bleedin worked… but it’s still effing stupid.

As I’ve implied elsewhere go see any Fast&Furious film to reset your tolerance levels of slightly iffy film points.

I’ve seen 2 of them, including Hobbs & Shaw, slightly under duress from a child, otherwise I wouldnt’ve have gone near them. Every minute is an insult to the intelligence and about as for from entertainment to me as watching The Commons Debates.

ps. you can go through every post in this thread and explain the plot devices, but these aren’t things that can be explained and people will go “Oh yeah! I didn’t realise dat!” – they’re details in films that bug people. Just to like, you know, mansplain a bit in return.

I don’t get too upset if this part of Kent is really in Suffolk or that brand of coffee didn’t exist until 2 years after the events of the film, I guess it can be jarring for the tiny proportion of people who actually know it, but most don’t and it’s not always possible to close the Channel Tunnel for a week to film the latest mindless action film.

Things that do annoy me is the rank stupidity of some characters. Often you’ll see a small group of protagonists locked in the battle of their lives (literal or metaphorical) things are tense, it’s looking grim, when things look their worst one of them will causally mention that their nemesis is their Brother and they know their only weakness, usually after a few of their friends have died.

Period steam locomotives and trains are often all to piss and it really bothers me, especially as they’re owned and rented out by enthusiasts who will know it’s wrong. BR locomotive pre-nationalisation for example, locomotives and coaches from the wrong region, incorrect size of locomotive (although I’ll let that slide if it’s from the right period and in the correct livery). All of these grind my gears.

The Downton Abbey film might get my award for greatest film ever simply because the locomotive, coaches and even the line were appropriate for the setting and no one in the credits had their stupid nickname in quote marks in the middle of their name.

Seeing as I just posted on the tip camera find…. Motor wind noises on digital cameras.

My 5D does make flappy mirror noises…

The entire plot of ‘this is 40’

The female lead is possible the most horrific person on film portrayed as a good person. She spends wildly on the ‘American Dream’ lifestyle (massive house, 2 very expensive cars, endless parties for kids etc).

Her browbeaten Husband’s only role in this is to provide the spends. Sadly his business is failing (no doubt to try to support the income he needs to keep her happy) but he’s too scared to tell her, when she finds out she hates him for it. He asks her if the business he set up for her (probably to keep her away from the shops) could turn a profit and she hates him for it.

She then contemplates an affair, but stops short because she’s pregnant, she hasn’t told her Husband yet.

The story should really have ended with her dying face down from an overdose after she leaves him to start a string of unhappy relationship with men looking for the next sucker who gives her the life she ‘deserves’ each partner becoming increasingly terrible as age/alcohol and drugs take her looks and mind, but it doesn’t.

Maybe it could end with them admitting that he’s a coward and she’s over-spending them into bankruptcy, she spends a few evenings arguing before finally working out their finances, make some stark choices, lose the cars, get a more modest home and rebuild their lifes, but that doesn’t happen either.

In the end they book a long weekend at a very expensive looking resort, decide it was his fault for not communicating and they ride off into the sunset because it’s all fixed now because he’s stopped giving his desperate Dad relatively small amounts of money (about a weeks worth of her spending at a guess).

There’s no sequel, but if there is a ‘this is 50’ it really should be about as much as light hearted rom-com as ‘nil by mouth’.

Period steam locomotives and trains are often all to piss and it really bothers me, especially as they’re owned and rented out by enthusiasts who will know it’s wrong. BR locomotive pre-nationalisation for example, locomotives and coaches from the wrong region, incorrect size of locomotive (although I’ll let that slide if it’s from the right period and in the correct livery). All of these grind my gears.

Just trains, full stop, are usually totally wrong as I’m sure you know. From the TGV in the Channel Tunnel in Mission Impossible to heritage lines deputising for some main line, with a knackered 47 and some mk1 coaches! Electrics on routes with no source of power, red lights on trains heading toward the camera, because the only shot they had was one going away. I don’t even get into the historical stuff with colours being wrong for different regions!

It’s amazing how often the sound of trains is wrong too. If a train goes da-dum-da-dum……da-dum-da-dum, it should end with a single da-dum.

More generally, and less anal, continuity errors are so annoying. Glasses on head… glasses on face… glasses on head again. All in 2 seconds. It’s not difficult FFS!

My 5D does make flappy mirror noises…

You’re doing it again 😆

😊

Continuity errors – just watch Deadwind. Snow, no snow, heavy snow, ice, no ice, fresh grass, melting snow, heavy snow, frozen lake, lake fine…. All in the same day, often scene to scene.

it is the most powerful handgun in the world

Not even close.

Have a gander at the Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver.

When was that thing made, though…?

Opening scene of American Warewolf in London.

“There wolf, there castle…”
My coat? Why, thank you, I was just leaving…

American flags. I can imagine the whooping and hollering in the cinemas

Re hacking. It also occurs to me that they don’t want realistic hacking portrayed as people might actually be able to learn from it. Likewise forensic science. I suspect there are deliberate mistakes in stuff like CSI to throw people off…

At least one school has banned the Harry Potter books from their library because they contain real spells to summon daemons, so by default the films must do as well, and I’m certain attempts have been made to ban those as well. Can’t have the kiddiewinkies summoning forth Satan and his minions, can we… 😈

this might be an unpopular POV but bra’s on during bedroom athletics is a winner for me. I mean, I like bosoms but unless your partner is a 22 year old model, I’m afraid that untethered they rarely live up to packaged expectations. A bit like the serving suggestion on a tin of food. Whereas in a nice piece of well crafted underwear (not a greyed out overwashed M&S everyday) then you can join the dots in your imagination and never suffer the disappointment of a spaniels ears scenario.

(I’m acutely aware too that the reverse is true, and that I would be at my most alluring in a shroud, with a buttonfly. There’s a vision for you…….)

Thermal imaging cameras that see through walls. No!!!
The wall is cold or warm they’ll see the Temperature of the wall. The only way body heat will.be seen is if the body leans on the wall and conducts the heat through it but then it wouldn’t be live moving figures.

Not really a detail, but I hate comedies that don’t go all in. East is East, bit of wife beating for the lolz. Planes, Trains and Automobiles, ha ha ha John Candy is emotionally ruined and can’t face going home. My sides are hurting.

Weekend at Bernie’s and Happy Gilmore nary a hint of seriousness. No left field emotional scenes or hint of realism. Much better.

Elder abuse side story in happy Gilmore was comedy gold 😉

Christ, I need a hobby.

Nah, there are far greater depths to plumb before you need to worry, the trainspotters have left you for dead.

Also it would appear that my missus is weird as she often leaves her bra on.

Happy Gilmore

“You eat pieces of shit for breakfast?” is still one of my favourite lines of anything ever. I know it’s not Shakespeare, but still…

San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina
San Francisco, Pichilemu, Chile
San Francisco Glacier, Chile
San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile
San Francisco, Antioquia, Colombia
San Francisco, Cundinamarca, Colombia
San Francisco, Putumayo, Colombia
San Francisco de Dos Ríos District, San José Canton, Costa Rica
San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic
San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
San Francisco, El Petén, Guatemala
San Francisco Zapotitlán, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala
San Francisco El Alto, Totonicapán, Guatemala
San Francisco, Atlántida, Honduras
San Francisco, Lempira, Honduras
San Francisco de Opalaca, Honduras
San Francisco de los Romo, Aguascalientes, Mexico
San Francisco del Mezquital, Durango, Mexico
San Francisco, Nayarit, Mexico
San Francisco Cahuacúa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Cajonos, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Chapulapa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Chindúa, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Huehuetlán, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Ixhuatán, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Jaltepetongo, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Lachigoló, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Logueche, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Nuxaño, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Ozolotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Sola, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Telixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Teopan, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Tlapancingo, Oaxaca, Mexico
San Francisco Coacalco, State of Mexico, Mexico
San Francisco Tetlanohcan, Tlaxcala, Mexico
San Francisco de Campeche, Mexico
San Francisco de Cuapa, Nicaragua
San Francisco, Panamá, Panama
San Francisco, Veraguas, Panama
San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines
San Francisco, Bohol, Philippines
San Francisco, Cebu, Philippines
San Francisco, Quezon, Philippines
San Francisco, San Pablo, Philippines
San Francisco, Southern Leyte, Philippines
San Francisco, Surigao del Norte, Philippines
San Francisco, Bilbao, Spain
San Francisco Station, Madrid, Spain
San Francisco, Colorado, United States
San Francisco, Minnesota, United States
San Francisco Peaks, Arizona, United States
San Francisco volcanic field, Arizona, United States
Mission San Francisco Solano, California, United States
Mission San Francisco de Potano, Florida, United States
San Francisco Plantation House, New Orleans, United States
San Francisco, Puerto Rico, United States
San Francisco de Yare, Miranda, Venezuela

So when you see a big, costal city on screen with steep streets, cable cars, “that” tall pointy skyscraper, and a label saying ‘San Francisco’…

…are you really suggesting your first thought is “I wonder where in Mexico they are?”

are you really suggesting your first thought is “I wonder where in Mexico they are?”

I was talking metaphorically.

Richard Ayoade has done one of them book things on the topic.

That whole bullshit American dream with teenagers living millionaires lifestyle in gigantic beach front houses, driving around in brand new sports cars, like it’s the norm and everyone’s doing it!

Glamorising/idolising/bigging up all parts of the legal profession (even the most tedious parts), police, state surveillance and secret services. The **** DA’s office!

Very few bald, fat, ugly (except when mocking or documentary) people in lead roles.

Baddies dressed in black/black leather/rubber usually Russian or Chinese.

Just in case you didn’t grasp the nerd is a nerd, glasses and bucked teeth. Or poor black, Mexican or losers.

Dealing with real life issues/mundanity via non-threatening cartoon animation.

Since when did all heroes have an office, admin team and corporate presence?!?!

There’s a message what could it be!

Titanic.
The start, the middle, and the ending.

Titanic.

Also good for weeding out armchair sailors who don’t know the difference between the tiller and rudder system.

Elder abuse side story in happy Gilmore was comedy gold 😉