Common movie behaviors that never happen in real life

Zaara_sl said:

Just as an example, but this. A deadbeat and a girl working as a secretary can't afford a Boston brownstone even a quarter this size. It's nitpicky as hell, sure- because Ted's a good movie, no matter your feelings on Seth McFarlane- but most of the time when I see these lovely apartment set-pieces my eyes start rolling.

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I think you just assumed she was a secretary i certainly did not get that vibe.

Funny you mention that one because there is also the flip side where people with really great jobs who should be wealthy are shown struggling to get by or living in tiny apartments.

Kreugen_sl said:

Funny you mention that one because there is also the flip side where people with really great jobs who should be wealthy are shown struggling to get by or living in tiny apartments.

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Not too unrealistic, especially if they are still paying off massive school loans ;P

on TV or movies when someone takes a still picture with a digital camera, you still hear the old fashioned SLR camera roll/cartridge film shutter click and whirr sound effect. i realize that digital cameras and cell phone cameras still can make that noise (even though i set my phone/cam with no sounds) in the movie when they show you the pictures, not the camera actually taking the picture, but when the pictures are physically being shown to you they still play that sound effect because you might be too stupid to realize that these are still images and that your tv/movie isnt broken. this actually irritates the fuck out of me.

Other movie stuff:

Snapping necks is shown to be a rather easy and quick affair, like twisting the cap off a soda (despite how much people shit on it, True Blood did make fun of this last season, when Sarah Newlin tried to snap the neck of the True Blood company rep..."What the fuck are you trying to do??")

Jumping into water from any height is typically safe for the hero and/or main villain (underlings will instantly die upon contact with water usually)

Any regular car can make a spectacular jump, land hard, and still drive just fine

Anytime anyone uses a computer. Especially when they are "hacking". Need to hack in to some shit? Pull up a chair and start typing furiously. Don't even bother touching your mouse. Those things are totally unnecessary. Just smash your fists against a keyboard as fast as humanly possible and that should do the trick. If it weren't for the completely unrealistic graphics being shown on the computer's monitor, you'd swear they were using DOS or something.

The obligatory closing of a person's eyes shortly after they die by simply waving a hand over their face. This drives me up the fucking wall, and it's done in both movies and TV all the god damn time. Half the time the person shutting the dead guy's eyes doesn't even physically touch the dead person's face. And even if they do, it's not always easy to close a dead person's eyelids. The creepiness factor alone, plus whatever rigormortis that has already set in, will garuntee that.

Seriously...I love a good movie or TV show, but fuck movies and TV shows for all the reasons listed so far in this thread. Adebesi or whoever said it was right: The Wire would never do any of this.

Anytime there's a traffic accident or something something crazy going on on the highway, all the surrounding traffic either floors it or completely ignores it. In real life, something even slightly out of the ordinary and everyone slams on the brakes and turns the road into a parking lot. The highway scene in Final Destination was by far the worst offender of this. Cars exploding and getting battered to bits? Tons of large heavy objects crashing around over the road? FUCK IT BETTER GO 90 AND JUST PUNCH THROUGH!!!

Yeah the hacking into computer systems is pretty stupid. Just slamming keys gets you everywhere.

The only movie that actually physically disconnected their hardlines to prevent hacking was Ironically Transformers. In the opening scene at the military base and at the pentagon when Frenzy is on Air Force one. They actually say cut the hardlines. Another that came to mind while writing this was Steven Segals Under Siege 2 when at the end of the movie the bad guy is holding a laptop telling him theres no way he can stop the satellite, and Segal just shoots the laptop and satellite phone.

People in movies should really get their car starter checked.

Cars and cell phones that don't work for either tension or because the plot needs them to not work bother me a great deal.

McCheese_sl said:

It sounds like you're mainly referencing Friends here, with your "work at a coffee shop...in Manhattan by Central Park" comment. Monica inherited her apartment from her grandmother and was able to grandfather in her super cheap rent, which is why she and Rachel are able to afford to live there.

While it's not 100% accurate to real life, I think the way modern American living is portrayed in most movies/TV shows is pretty damn true to the real thing. They might exaggerate things slightly, but I can't think of any movies or TV off-hand that have people living in completely unrealistic situations without some sort of explanation for it (see Friends, above).

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Big Bang Theory: Two physicists pool together to share an apartment in LA. It just so happens that their blonde bombshell neighbor across the hall can afford the same as a Cheescake Factory waitress.

think big bang does it right. Her place is smaller and fairly certain she owes both of them money while freeloading when they get takeout etc. don't recall either of them having money issues. Sheldon not caring about money has been a topic a few times. he had has a lot of uncashed checks (some of penny's) and cash stuck in various places around the apt.
when leonard was dating raj's and she brought up that he could easily be living on his own.

goatface_sl said:

think big bang does it right. Her place is smaller and fairly certain she owes both of them money while freeloading when they get takeout etc. don't recall either of them having money issues. Sheldon not caring about money has been a topic a few times. he had has a lot of uncashed checks (some of penny's) and cash stuck in various places around the apt.
when leonard was dating raj's and she brought up that he could easily be living on his own.

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Lets leave the 2 nerds out of the equation. Is it at all possible in LA (or any other major US City) to work as a Cheescake Factory waitress and hold down your own apartment like that? Her apartment might be slightly smaller, but it doesnt look bad at all and its never implied they live in a bad neighborhood.

*Edit* Just looked it up, they are supposedly in Pasadena CA.

Per:Average Rent In Pasadena, Pasadena Rent Trends and Rental Comps

As of November, 2013, average apartment rent within 10 miles of Pasadena, CA is $1614.

Either the Cheesecake Factory is paying pretty well or Penny is selling handy-j s to customers!

Worst one for me is when some military guy goes renegade and ignores orders and does reckless shit. Hurt Locker, pretty much every thing Kirk ever does in Star Trek, and basically any movie ever with a hero who's a military member. These guys would be kicked out of the military in like 3 hours

her rent is under $1400 per month. she should be making from upper $20's to mid 30's as appears to be lead server, been there over 7 years and tends bar.
she is always having money issues and drives a beater, so don't it is nearly as questionable as other shows.

Everyone's height appears to be in a much narrower band than in real life.

Some kid is playing a (modern) video game and you hear Atari 2600 Pac-Man.

Dabamf_sl said:

Worst one for me is when some military guy goes renegade and ignores orders and does reckless shit. Hurt Locker, pretty much every thing Kirk ever does in Star Trek, and basically any movie ever with a hero who's a military member. These guys would be kicked out of the military in like 3 hours

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But they get results, damnit!

Dabamf_sl said:

Worst one for me is when some military guy goes renegade and ignores orders and does reckless shit. Hurt Locker, pretty much every thing Kirk ever does in Star Trek, and basically any movie ever with a hero who's a military member. These guys would be kicked out of the military in like 3 hours

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No shit, Hurt Locker especially because people were all over that movie's nutsack for rewards that year. Somone in EOD especially would get kicked the fuck off in 3 seconds flat. Absolutely over the top bs.

Theres been some gun ones mentioned already. Some other ones you'll see:

Snipers with a laser fitted to the gun, so that we can see a creepy red-dot on the target and totally give away that there's a sniper over there.

And the sort of thing where a character(s) goes into an area where they know the 'bad-guys' are. He has an automatic hand-gun. But it's only right when they're in a bind - and importantly they really need to remain silent. It's then that he realises that he doesn't have a bullet in the chamber, and it's now he racks the slide, slow and noisy. You'd have the gun ready before going in.