Things You’ve Seen in Movies or TV But will Never See in Life (1 Viewer)

[Thomas Newton]

Cops or criminals pulling over to use pay phones. These days, to find a pay phone, you'd need to go to a museum …

 

[greenscreened]

A television staple is gifts that are given in boxes that have the lid and box individually wrapped, so all the recipient has to do is quickly and easily lift the lid off the box...no fuss nor muss dealing with peeling off the paper...no mess either!

I'm guessing they all have the kind of adults and children of families and friends in their lives they can trust not to have a little look-see before it's/they're actually supposed to be opened!

On the other hand, at least it cuts down on people having to shake the box repeatedly, trying to guess what's in there, possibly damaging the contents in the process...

 

[Bryan^H]

Not that I would see it in real life anyway, but someone breaking another persons neck by turning their head 90 degrees(along with a sharp cracking sound in the movie).

Always been a pet peeve of mine. IT happens so often and it wouldn't kill anyone, it would basically just make someone turn their head to the right or left.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Not that I would see it in real life anyway, but someone breaking another persons neck by turning their head 90 degrees(along with a sharp cracking sound in the movie).

Well, it tends to move the (usually bad) movie along.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Not that I would see it in real life anyway, but someone breaking another persons neck by turning their head 90 degrees(along with a sharp cracking sound in the movie).

Perhaps there is a shortage of actors and stunt doubles willing to have their heads rotated enough to actually cause paralysis or death. "What do you mean, this is going to be the most realistic death scene I've ever portrayed, whether I realize it or not?"

 

[Thomas Newton]

The scene in one of the Evil Dead movies where a disembodied hand gives its former owner "the finger".

 

[Thomas Newton]

How could I forget this one … disposition of the hero.

This applies largely to spy movies, and comic book movies, where a villain has imprisoned the hero and wishes to kill him or her. E.g., Mr. Goldfinger has been lucky enough to capture Mr. Bond, and to strap him to a sturdy metal table, where an industrial-strength laser will cut Mr. Bond in half.

All Mr. Goldfinger has to do is to wait a few minutes, with a gun handy just in case Mr. Bond tries to escape, and Mr. Bond will be dead. So does Mr. Goldfinger stay? Of course not! He leaves for a meeting, letting Mr. Bond escape.

There's an old Alan Moore comic ("Famous Villains' School") where the instructor asks a student what he's going to do with a captured hero. The student replies "Uh, shoot him?", to which the instructor replies "Give me strength! How's he going to escape and defeat you if you shoot him!". It sounds like Mr. Goldfinger would have earned high grades at this school.

 

[JQuintana]

My wife was watching one of the 20 NCIS shows still around and as I listen, the main characters and one of their I.T are in some nuclear facility that's about to explode due to a "trojan" virus that's in the facility's computer system, a "meltdown" will happen in less than a minute, but THANKFULLY the NCIS "tech analyst" says he will try to stop the virus. He plops down in a chair and camera shows his fingers flying around on a random keyboard in front of him and he proclaims "I'm in!" and magically can delete the virus. Yep, it's that easy to sit down at a random computer in a nuclear plant and just start logging in without any information about the system, no passwords, nothing. Just starts typing like a madman and fixes everything.

These kind of things are why I gave up on watching these mindless crime shows and similar cliche ridden shows.

 

[Malcolm R]

How could I forget this one … disposition of the hero.

This applies largely to spy movies, and comic book movies, where a villain has imprisoned the hero and wishes to kill him or her. E.g., Mr. Goldfinger has been lucky enough to capture Mr. Bond, and to strap him to a sturdy metal table, where an industrial-strength laser will cut Mr. Bond in half.

All Mr. Goldfinger has to do is to wait a few minutes, with a gun handy just in case Mr. Bond tries to escape, and Mr. Bond will be dead. So does Mr. Goldfinger stay? Of course not! He leaves for a meeting, letting Mr. Bond escape.

There's an old Alan Moore comic ("Famous Villains' School") where the instructor asks a student what he's going to do with a captured hero. The student replies "Uh, shoot him?", to which the instructor replies "Give me strength! How's he going to escape and defeat you if you shoot him!". It sounds like Mr. Goldfinger would have earned high grades at this school.

I agree. This can also apply to any movie where some sort of villain/criminal/monster/psycho has to be defeated. No one is ever willing to make sure the person/thing is dead by shooting/stabbing them multiple times, crushing their head with a heavy object, cutting the head off, etc. No, they just take one shot or give it a half-hearted whack on the head, so the person/thing drops and appears dead but is usually just momentarily unconscious, so it can "come back to life" for one last climactic scene.

But then I guess a lot of movies would be a lot shorter if the villain was killed thoroughly and convincingly on the first try.

These situations, where writers dumb down characters to create additional tension or comedy, also remind me a bit of this scene from Family Guy:

 

[Malcolm R]

When a character has something (ring, key) on a chain/string around their neck for safekeeping, and when they need to give it to someone, they just yank the chain/string to break it and hand over the item.

 

[BobO'Link]

My wife was watching one of the 20 NCIS shows still around and as I listen, the main characters and one of their I.T are in some nuclear facility that's about to explode due to a "trojan" virus that's in the facility's computer system, a "meltdown" will happen in less than a minute, but THANKFULLY the NCIS "tech analyst" says he will try to stop the virus. He plops down in a chair and camera shows his fingers flying around on a random keyboard in front of him and he proclaims "I'm in!" and magically can delete the virus. Yep, it's that easy to sit down at a random computer in a nuclear plant and just start logging in without any information about the system, no passwords, nothing. Just starts typing like a madman and fixes everything.

These kind of things are why I gave up on watching these mindless crime shows and similar cliche ridden shows.

This one is cousin to the authorities viewing a long shot of a car and can barely see the license plate. They ask the IT person/operator if they can blow it up. Of course! Gimme a sec... and suddenly that blurry image is full screen in sharp focus with a readable number.

We actually have had people ask us to do similar saying "I saw it on TV so why can't you guys do it?" or "Why is it so blurry? Can you focus it?"

 

[Mysto]

How could I forget this one … disposition of the hero.

This applies largely to spy movies, and comic book movies, where a villain has imprisoned the hero and wishes to kill him or her. E.g., Mr. Goldfinger has been lucky enough to capture Mr. Bond, and to strap him to a sturdy metal table, where an industrial-strength laser will cut Mr. Bond in half.

All Mr. Goldfinger has to do is to wait a few minutes, with a gun handy just in case Mr. Bond tries to escape, and Mr. Bond will be dead. So does Mr. Goldfinger stay? Of course not! He leaves for a meeting, letting Mr. Bond escape.

There's an old Alan Moore comic ("Famous Villains' School") where the instructor asks a student what he's going to do with a captured hero. The student replies "Uh, shoot him?", to which the instructor replies "Give me strength! How's he going to escape and defeat you if you shoot him!". It sounds like Mr. Goldfinger would have earned high grades at this school.

This one annoys a lot of people. Check out this clip at about 1:40

 

[Thomas Newton]

Monologuing, a.k.a. Plot Exposition.

This is where a villain feels compelled to disclose plans in detail to the hero, or to make a lengthy speech to the hero. Any plans that the villain discloses will invariably be of use to the hero, and time that the villain spends yakking is time that the hero may use to escape.

A villain who read and followed the Rules for Evil Overlords would know not to do this. In practice, few follow the Rules. Syndrome (of The Incredibles) is the only one that comes to mind as recognizing this danger, and even he repeatedly fell off the wagon.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Monologuing, a.k.a. Plot Exposition.

This is where a villain feels compelled to disclose plans in detail to the hero, or to make a lengthy speech to the hero. Any plans that the villain discloses will invariably be of use to the hero, and time that the villain spends yakking is time that the hero may use to escape.

A villain who read and followed the Rules for Evil Overlords would know not to do this. In practice, few follow the Rules. Syndrome (of The Incredibles) is the only one that comes to mind as recognizing this danger, and even he repeatedly fell off the wagon.

I think GEICO did a commercial parodying this.

 

[MatthewA]

Important but blurry, low-def image or video? No problemo: "Hit zoom–enhance. Again. And again." Voilà: microscopic detail! Why don't they use this feature when remastering old films from dupey materials? The most recent thing I saw this in was Taken (2008). It's such a trope that I've always believed they included it as a deadpan p*sstake. I ought to check the audio commentary for that scene.

This one bugs me every time I see it. Futurama mocked it in one of the post-Fox episodes by having Zapp ask Kif to do this, but Kif tries to explain to him that it can't be done.