Movies That Got It Wrong

[design_mom]

Empty coffee cups!

And empty suitcases and backpacks.

 

[Jonfw2]

Very articulate response.

Thanks, hero.

 

[jpakstis]

The Reanimator. Never works like that.

And stars can’t go to war!

 

[bcla]

Empty coffee cups!

You really want something in there?

I remember one of those practical joke shows that did something where an actor was supposed to be drinking alcohol in screen, but of course they generally use some sort of non-alcoholic liquid. But this time the joke was that it had real liquor in it and the actor made a face not expecting it.

 

[bcla]

One thing that bothers me in a lot of movies and TV shows is the idea that if you're not immediately good at something, you'll never be any good at it and you should do something else entirely. The flip side of that are movies and TV shows were someone gains mastery over a difficult activity without any practice or effort at all. Neither of these things is true. Even a genius or prodigy needs time to learn things.

Something that TV and film almost always get wrong are NYC apartments. Invariably, the characters live in either apartments they'd never be able to afford or that don't exist. Case in point: Friends.

Stand and Deliver seemed to compress a true story into one year of turning remedial math students into ones who could pass the AP calculus exams. I took the Calculus BC exam, and I can't imagine doing that in one year. I had to start on that path in the 8th grade. And the real story was that the school had been setting up a long term program that took 4 years before any student was ready.

As far as mastery goes, one of the really odd ones is someone who is supposedly a pilot but can manage to fly any plane or any helicopter. But each one is unique and pilots are specifically trained for each aircraft type in a simulator before even being allowed as a student pilot.

I visited someone living in a Manhattan apartment back in the 90s. Studio apartment going for about $1100 a month, which I was told was actually quite good. Might have also been rent controlled. It was clean and generally well maintained, but it wasn't fancy and was rather tiny. Someone with a lot of money can afford a nice apartment, but probably not a college student.

 

[Boopuff]

“A million dollars in small bills...” and the guys shows up with a briefcase full of money: reality check a million would weigh A LOT and wouldn’t fit in a briefcase especially small bills

 

[bcla]

- Non-athletes CLEARLY looking like non-athletes in sports movies. Best example: John Goodman in The Babe. Hits the ball straight up into the air. Home run!!!

John Goodman played college football though. I may not have translated to baseball.

I saw Major League when it came out, and according to stories, Charlie Sheen was supposedly the most experienced baseball player on the cast. But his windup and delivery didn't even look close to that of a major league pitcher. It just looked so awkward.

There was a weird one in Tin Cup, where there was the rivalry between characters played by Don Johnson (the supposed seasoned touring golf pro) and Kevin Costner (a club pro at a low-rent driving range). Johnson supposedly played a lot, but Costner had to learn for the movie. But in it, Costner has a silky smooth swing, but Johnson still looks like a weekend duffer. Go fig.

 

[Moliphino]

Basically any Disney or American made film about Ireland, set in Ireland or with Irish characters. Its been really funny over the last few years on social media, seeing how Irish people rip apart these films for inaccuracies.

Leap Year was horribly inaccurate. How do you accidentally get to Dingle when trying to get from England to Dublin? You'd have to sail around the whole country.

 

[bcla]

Well - I'm been watching some TV show on the fall schedule. I started picking up Dick Wolf's FBI: Most Wanted earlier this year. But they finished with cliffhanger where the estranged/legally separated husband of a woman literally comes into the home of her FBI agent boyfriend to confront her with a gun. The episode finished with shots being heard but the situation not clear. The really weird thing was that anyone would try that knowing that FBI agents are armed. They also didn't really really resolve it, but just moved right into the next season where they didn't explain until it was mentioned in passing that agents were cleared in the shooting death - and that was in a 3-part, 3-hour crossover where it wasn't clear when it would be mentioned. Not really related to the topic, but it segues into a discussion of the topic at hand.

They just had some episode that involved a trip to China. First of all, it's nearly impossible to get a visa to visit China these days, and the episode clearly had mention of COVID-19. Also - barely anyone is seen wearing a mask. I just found it weird because other TV shows have established that as fairly common. In addition, part of the plot point to figure out something is wrong (he's lying about something) is that he supposedly had a 7-day visa to visit China, and that he only spent 4 days at a technical conference. That one is really weird, because as someone who has visited China as a US citizen, such a visit would require just a standard visitor visa which is at least 30 days. And in any case I've never heard of a visa would work like that where it's specifically timed for the duration of a specific event.

 

[ItsOnlyMoney]

What gets my goat is the dresses so many of the women wear. Sure the cop investigator and the coroner wear cleavage baring tops and skin tight dresses. Not only unprofessional but how do they work like that? (CSI I'm looking at you.)

Also why do they yell at the suspect while they are a block away and then have to chase them down (AND manage to catch them)

 

[Carol_]

Die Hard. Ok, no shoes. But why not at least try the salvaged socks? Beats walking barefoot on glass.

 

[bcla]

Die Hard. Ok, no shoes. But why not at least try the salvaged socks? Beats walking barefoot on glass.

I specifically remember the difference between walking around in socks vs barefoot. Socks give almost no traction. But it can be fun sliding around like Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Secretariat.

So, those of you who recognize me from my annual Kentucky Derby thread may already know I'm a horse racing fan. I was so excited for this movie. I got a chance to speak briefly with Penny Chenery at an event once while the film was still in production and I asked her about it (while internally geeking out). I have read the book it's based on so many times my copy fell apart at the seams. I'm so familiar with it that when the author (William Nack) had a one line cameo in the film, I immediately recognized his voice.

Dear goodness, it was terrible. It was so bad that my friends tease me about it to this day. I can't even get into the myriad ways that the movie was disappointing. But top of the list was them not even giving a nod to the famous Belmont Stakes race call by Chic Anderson. You can't have Secretariat without him, "moving like a tremendous machine."

/Still running my own race