Hollywood Inaccuracies

[Karen]

Wrong instrument to fit the picture. . .the sound is an oboe and they are playing a clarinet - that kind of thing.

And fake NY accents. . .you CANNOT fake a NY accent. Believe me. I have never heard a fake NY accent that sounded authentic.

The same for Boston accents - horrible things happen when people try. Only people who grew up here - Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and siblings - do it plausibly, and everyone else seems to think that either everyone in Massachusetts sounds like a Kennedy, or like a combination of New York City and Downeast Maine ... yuck!

[Cincy'sMom]

This is more of a nitpick. On the CSI:Whatnot shows they often show a lab scene. There is always only one vial in the autosampler (no calibration standards? Blanks?). Another one is showing an infrared spectrum and calling it a mass spectrum! (yeah, I'm a nerd.)

Those are the same ones that bother me. Of course how quick they run, and the exact match they always have in their libraries. Or when they are looking at an inorganic and use GC/MS or IR....wouldn't ICP or AA be better?

[lbaker]

WHY are there always street parking places open right in front of where the main characters are going; hotels, restaurants, major office buildings? Especially in big cities The inaccuracies when filming what should be Washington DC are amazing. Granted "It's JUST a movie" but they could at least try harder

[Karen]

WHY are there always street parking places open right in front of where the main characters are going; hotels, restaurants, major office buildings? Especially in big cities

That's funny, I never notice that, but now that you mention it, I will of course! And for bank robbers - there's always a spot just across the street for the getaway car to park! NOT!

[Crayons09]

What always gets me is when they just wake up and they look beautiful. I don't know about you I usually look like I just came out of a wind tunnel when I wake up. Hair everywhere! While they wake up with not ONE hair out of place! Drives me CRAZY! Also when they have dogs that are supposedly supposed to be vishous and they are wagging their tail while they play growling noises.

[Karen]

What always gets me is when they just wake up and they look beautiful. I don't know about you I usually look like I just came out of a wind tunnel when I wake up. Hair everywhere! While they wake up with not ONE hair out of place! Drives me CRAZY! Also when they have dogs that are supposedly supposed to be vishous and they are wagging their tail while they play growling noises.

Oh, and that every woman sleeps in full makeup, and wearing a tank top or two, and is instantly awake and presentable - and no make-up on the pillowcase!

[Randi]

Oh, and that every woman sleeps in full makeup...

Oh yes, I noticed that too - and isn't it amazing how their hair stay in shape!

[RICHARD]

http://www.santaclaritaguide.com/VasquezRocks.html

Captain Kirk fought the guy in with the frog/lizard head there.

We would watch TV when we were kids and when a movie scene filmed at VR would pop up on the screeen my dad would yell out, "LOOK! Vasquez Rocks!"

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I hate it when photos are 'fixed'.

In beginning of The Right Stuff, Tommy Lee Jones and Clint Eastwood's faces are 'photoshopped' into old pictures and it looks so fake.

Oh and I hate dubbed voices, too!

When you watch a movie and they dub the voice in when there is a line of dialogue that includes cursing.

I also hate when Foley (sound effects dubbing) doesn't quite match the action on the screen.

[kokopup]

The Andy Griffin show is my standard, "put me to sleep", watching every night.
The scenes of Mayberry North Carolina are reasonable but when they go out of Mayberry to county roads or lakes it becomes very obvious that they are shooting in California. Most rural roads are filmed in orange groves with no signs of an Oak tree anywhere. it is true that North Carolina had some dirt road back in the 50's and 60's but I have yet to see a rural paved road in a single episode.

[smokey the elder]

One editing thing that bugs me is when the sound isn't in sync with the lip movements. That can be really distracting, especially if it's a fraction of a second out-of-phase.

[kokopup]

I enable closed captions while watching most movies because of a hearing lose that dates back to my Navy days and living on an Aircraft carrier for 3 years. I have made an observation about speech patterns over the years. Today there is a lot of mumbling, with woman leading the way. When I watch older movies i do not need closed captions because most dialog is understandable. i hate the current trend of having dialog muddled or muffled by background noise. Whisper and crying dialog is also annoying.

[smokey the elder]

I need to recalibrate my home theater because the soundtrack drowns out the dialog! I've noticed that more in regular theaters, too.

[Cataholic]

@ Smokey the elder: I can't stand most surround sound set ups as I hear WAY too much non dialogue noise.

[Catlady711]

Timing!

You have a countdown to something exploding or being underwater, or the characters trying to avoid a tidal wave, lava, car wreck (take your pick) and they ALWAYS seem to have time to have a romantic moment, or have some serious dialoge, stop and grab a purse/child/laptop, whatever and the time never runs out on them, or they always avoid the catastrophe.

I don't know why, but that drives me nuts!

Another thing. Back when I used to watch soap operas (Santa Barbara) I always found it odd that one day could be stretched to last a week in real time, but strangely enough the holiday's ALWAYS matched up with the real life calendar. Go figure.

My favorite site for movie flaws..... http://www.nitpickers.com/

[kuhio98]

The Andy Griffin show is my standard, "put me to sleep", watching every night.
The scenes of Mayberry North Carolina are reasonable but when they go out of Mayberry to county roads or lakes it becomes very obvious that they are shooting in California. Most rural roads are filmed in orange groves with no signs of an Oak tree anywhere. it is true that North Carolina had some dirt road back in the 50's and 60's but I have yet to see a rural paved road in a single episode.

Yeah, California stands in for just about every place on the planet, I guess.

An oldie "North to Alaska" staring John Wayne -- 1960 I think, has a bunch of prospectors going to Nome to strike it rich. They mill around boulders and huge pine trees. Uhh, like there aren't any trees anywhere near Nome.

In one scene they take a midnight stroll to see the stars. Quite problematic since Alaska is called The Land of the Midnight Sun for good reason. We don't see stars all summer long because the sun doesn't really set.