What is the big deal about having a French lover in a movie these days? They eat horrid-smelling cheese, don't bathe ver
-
GeneralBuck — 14 years ago(September 13, 2011 02:22 AM)
Antibiotics in general work when they are taken at a the correct dosage to inhibit the growth of the infection for a period of time. This allows the host immune system time to marshall resources necessary to eliminate the infection. If too low a dosage is given, (e.g. due to dilution) the inhibition is not sufficient, and the infection overwhelms the host. It is not the drug that eliminates the infection, it is the host. The ultimate capabilities of the immune system is far greater than the killing ability of the antibiotic.
-
Altho73 — 14 years ago(October 22, 2011 02:20 PM)
From the 1974 disaster movie Earthquake starring Charlton Heston and made in Sensorrsund Part 1 -
Victoria Principals frizzy perm looked absolutely ridiculous!!!!! It looked like a poodle had fallen asleep on her head.
Genevive Bujold looked absolutely ridiculous in her ghastly salmon pink denim pants suit!!!!!
Walter Matthau looked absolutely ridiculous in his awful checked pants, ghastly flowery shirt, weird red floppy hat and horrible frizzy wig!!!
Why on earth did Walter Matthau appear under the name of Walter Matuschanskayasky and why the pretence that it was his real name?????
Can anyone seriously believe that the fifty nine year old Lorne Green could possibly be the fifty two year old Ava Gardners father!!!!!!
Can anyone seriously believe that the young Genevive Bujold would have an affair with the fifty year old and not particularly good looking Charlton Heston, a man old enough to be her father????
In reality if Miles the acrobatic motorcyclist has fallen off his bike when doing a loop the loop and cracked his head on a concrete surface he would have been a hospital case and could never have immediately got back on his motor cycle to try it again!!!!!
It is ridiculous to think that George Kennedys character a 49 year old veteran police officer would punch a deputy sheriff in the face and risk suspension (and most likely dismissal and loss of his police pension) when he was within five years of retirement!!!!!!
When Genevive Bujolds son was lying unconscious (and possibly dead) down a ravine where broken live electrical cables were flapping around haphazardly emitting sparks why on earth did she risk her life to climb down the ravine when it was obvious that there was nothing that she could do for him!!!!
As expected she could do nothing for him and she then found herself trapped down the ravine, unable to climb back up and in danger from the live cables.
As if she and her son were not in sufficient danger from the live cables flapping around haphazardly the movie makers had to add the additional danger of a stream of water rapidly approaching them!!!!
Her only course of action is to scream for help and as expected shortly before the water is about to reach the electrical cables Miles and his partner just happen to arrive in their truck and hear her screams.
As expected Miles and his partner manage to rescue both the boy and his mother seconds before the water reaches the electrical cables!!!!!
When the quake tears Lorne Greenes office building apart a man desperately clings to a girder to prevent himself from falling hundreds of feet. As expected there is no way he can be rescued and his grip eventually loosens but it is not sufficient for him to fall hundreds of feet!!!! No, he has to fall directly thru the glass roof of a conservatory as well. That's what you call overkill!!!!!
When the earthquake occurs why on earth did all those people in Lorne Greenes office building rush into an elevator. Didnt they think that there would be a very good chance of an elevator jamming when the building buckles????
As expected the elevator cable snaps and the elevator drops to the floor like a stone killing everyone. Dont movie makers know that elevators are designed with eight separate cables, each of which is capable of supporting a full elevator by itself and even if ALL of these are snapped they also have a braking system that will slow down the fall speed sufficiently to prevent it crashing to the ground!!!!!
When dozens of people are trapped on a floor of an office building and it is only a matter of time before they are overcome by noxious fumes and the only means of escape is by strapping each person in a chair and lowering them to the ground by means of a makeshift rope one at a time why on earth would the oldest (and most vulnerable) man be left to be the last.
As expected Charlton Heston manages to climb up the rope and by himself manages to lower the man down the rope and then descend down the rope himself and arrive down safely seconds before the rope breaks!!!!
The idea of Jody, the supermarket manager and an officer in the National Guard having long hair like a hippy and tucking it up inside a short haired wig when called to duty is totally ridiculous. I cannot believe that ANYONE ever did this, nor would it have been permitted by a Commanding officer???
To add farce to the ridiculous even when he wears the short haired wig Jodys hair is still considerably too long to be within military regulation !!!!!! -
pmiano100 — 14 years ago(October 25, 2011 11:00 PM)
From the American ABC-TV program "Body of Proof":
Dana Delany, 56, plays Dr. Megan Hunt, a role for a woman in her early 40s at most. She can't carry it off because she looks like what she is, a woman in her late 50s.
She shows off her legs in a couple of scenes in an attempt to play sexy. It's too ridiculous for words.
The detective assigned to work with her, Peter Dunlop, supposedly has some kind of sexual tension with her. This is totally absurd. He's nearly 20 years younger, and at 38, is too old to have a youthful obsession with older women.
The actor playing her husband is obviously years younger than her.
Their daughter is only 15. Twenty-five would be far more believable.
Megan was once a great neurosurgeon until an accident did nerve damage to her hands, so she became a city medical examiner. Why not a neurologist or a diagnostician, or any one of a number of more appropriate alternatives?
Megan, like most TV/movie heroines, is snarky, arrogant, leads with her chin, insults the cops she works with, and generally regards men as inferior to her. That takes a lot of nerve, considering she screwed up her last surgery and killed a patient.
Medical examiners have the bodies brought to them; they usually don't go out to the crime scene.
Also, they seldom question persons of interest, let alone suspects.
Naturally, in these days of class envy, she has special contempt for the rich, who more often than not, turn out to be the murderers. Even when they aren't, they're rarely decent people. I would think someone of her background would fit right in with them. Besides, money still talks, and like it or not, the rich can have a meer medical examiner pulled off a case with one call to the mayor.
Megan solves more cases acting like a detective than a medical examiner.
The character of Ethan Gross wears glasses, is skinny, and is very plain-looking and nerdy. This type seems to abound in television coroner and medical examiner offices these days.
Curtis Brunfield is supposedly a well-educated medical professional. But Windell Middlebrooks, the actor who plays him, acts more like the truck driver he plays in the beer commercials.
Peter comes upon a fire in time to carry out a pretty young woman who later dies. What a coincidence that the fire was deliberately set and the woman dies, not from the fire, but deliberate poisoning.
Like most such shows, nearly every accidental death or suicide that is assigned to Megan turns out to be murder.
This show is full of young women of humble roots who marry into money. Of course, the husband's family always resents her. In real life, most rich men marry rich women and vice versa.
With her contemptuous, sarcastic attitude, Megan would not last long in most big city medical examiner's offices.
Megan openly resents her boss, Kate Murphy, dating her ex-husband. Since he is divorced from Megan and Kate is single, they can date whoever they want. Considering Kate is younger and prettier, I don't blame him.
Megan is new to her job, and I assume still in her probationary period. So why does she continually belittle and oppose her boss, who could fire her in an instant?
In a city with huge African-American and Hispanic populations like Philadelphia, why are almost all the dead bodies Megan handles White?
She is always called in on cases worked by detectives Samantha Baker and Bud Morris. Are there no other homicide detectives in Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the United States?
Why do none of the murders Megan investigates occur in the gritty, poor areas of Philadelphia, where her attitude would result in a thorough ass-kicking (hers)?
Of course, novice investigator Megan is almost always right, and police detectives with years of experience and training are almost always wrong.
Supposedly, Megan has serious neurological problems with her hands, which forced her to leave surgery. So how come this doesn't interfere with any delicate autopsies?
If Megan is so great, why does her ex-husband have sole custody and call all the shots on her seeing her daughter? If she has a history of alcoholism or substance abuse, it's not evident. If she did , she would never get a job as a medical examiner.
Megan seems to devote all her time to the murder of the week. In real life, especially in these days of slashed budgets, a real medical examiner often has to work on a half dozen or more autopsies at a time. -
Altho73 — 14 years ago(November 01, 2011 02:20 PM)
More from the 1974 Sensorrsound movie 'Earthquake' starring Charlton Heston -
Why on earth were those hippy dropouts always hanging around the front porch of Jodys house waiting for him to arrive home so that they could belittle and abuse him. Was that the highlight of their day????
Also why was Jody living in a cheap rooming house in a seedy neighbourhood. Surely a man who was the manager of a supermarket as well as being an officer in the National Guard could have afforded to live somewhere better????
Also how did those creeps follow Jody into his room and carry on making fun of his being in the National Guard. Didnt he think about locking his door???
In the earthquake scene one man is eating chicken and drinking coke on the balcony of his house when the balcony gives way sending him tumbling down dozens of feet. He survives but then the whole house falls on him!!!!
What on earth was Genevive Bujold doing climbing up that hill at that very moment? It wasnt as if she could get anywhere that way and how fortunate that the falling house missed her!!!!
What sort of an idiot runs into a house full of leaking gas with a lighted cigarette in his mouth???
What idiot in the City of Los Angeles Council would set up a rescue centre for the injured and a shelter for the homeless in the basement of an unsafe skyscraper building particularly when after-shocks were expected????
As expected an after-shock does occur and causes chaos resulting in many of the survivors being killed and dozens of others being trapped underground.
In the scenes preceding the after-shock dozens of children and teenagers are seen in the rescue centre yet when the after-shock hits they have all mysteriously disappeared!!! Not a single child or teenager is seen running out of the rescue centre.
Anyone watching this movie could well believe that there were only around two hundred people living in Los Angeles because people keep running into someone that they know all throughout the movie!!!!
When George Kennedy police officer stops Charlton Heston who is driving thru Los Angeles trying to find his girlfriend he commandeers Hestons Chevvy Blazer. But guess what he has to give it back because he cannot drive it the vehicles has eight forward gears and three reverse!!!! How very convenient.
When Charlton Heston and George Kennedy rescue the little dog there just happens to be a bag hanging from the dashboard of Hestons Chevvy Blazer to put the dog into. How very convenient!!!!!
When Rosa, Victoria Principals character is held captive by Jody the crazed National Guard Officer she tries to talk him into releasing him by saying that she has another brother in San Francisco who is in the Mafia. Not surprisingly he does not believe her, who ever heard of the Mafia in San Francisco????
When Genevive Bujolds son eventually gets medical attention the doctor tells her that that he will be alright but is suffering from shock and concussion and he has given him a shot to make him sleep. Where on earth did that doctor study medicine???
Why on earth would Charlton Heston and George Kennedy be so stupid as to crawl thru a narrow tunnel to check for survivors when experienced rescue workers advised against it because it was considered too dangerous.
Also as if crawling thru a narrow tunnel was dangerous enough why on earth would they do it without wearing hard hats particularly as all the rescue workers in that area wore them.
How come that Charlton Heston could instantly recall the passageways, corridors and even the sewers of a damaged building simply because was the architect who had designed that building. Surely he would not have been able to remember planning diagrams in such minute details years later!!!!
When the people trapped in the underground parking lot with the oxygen supply running out hear noises of rescue workers getting closer what do they do to attract their attention??? Turn on the engines of all the cars therby releasing carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and endangering everyones life.
How could they have started the engines of all those cars so quickly without ignition keys??? Surely it would have been impossible to hot-wire them all simultaneously??? -
pmiano100 — 14 years ago(November 02, 2011 08:00 PM)
When a beautiful woman tells the hero she's innocent of the murder charges against her, he always believes her and she's always really innocent.
When a beautiful young woman is fleeing from danger, she almost always stumbles onto a handsome hero who can help her and defeat the baddies. Whatever the challenge, he's up to it.
Why is nearly every movie and TV poolside scene filled only with attractive young adults, especially gorgeous women? Rarely do we see kids or fat, ugly, or old adults.
In WWII movies about bomber pilots, why is every mission crucial to the outcome of the war, and totally successful? In real life, most missions were dangerous but not critcal, and results were usually mixed.
Also in WWII movies, why are most former school teachers turned German military officers kindly old men? In those days, most men teachers were very harsh and even physically abusive, especially in Europe.
According to the epidemic of TV shows and movies, vampires have been walking among us for thousands of years, and none of the legends about them (aversion to wolfbane, the crucifix and holy water; no reflections, destroyed by sunlight, etc.) are true. Wouldn't humanity have wised up in 5,000 years?
Why is it usually the vampire boy and the mortal girl and rarely the other way around?
In fact, why is it usually the bad boy and the goody-goody girl in general? Why not the bad girl and the goody-goody guy?
It's always true love between the bad boy and the goody-goody girl. He never abuses her or dumps her for a hotter chick. She never tires of his worthless ways and leaves.
How come we never see children die in disaster movies, except perhaps off-screen? Sadly, they die the same as everyone else in real disasters.
Serial killers are caught or killed quickly on TV and in movies. Often it's thanks to a sudden revelation or hunch the hero gets. In real life, it often takes years of painstaking work and team effort.
The obviously troubled cop/agent denies anything is wrong and the superior does nothing until the big meltdown. Why wasn't action ordered earlier when it was obvious he/she was having problems?
Why are so many criminals in movies and on TV such great athletes? They look totally ordinary, yet they lead the cops on chases doing things only an Olympic champion or a professional stuntperson could do. Yet the cops usually catch them.
In the movies, when a girl from an "exotic" ethnicity (Greek, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) marries outside her culture, she usually marries into a dull, colorless WASP family. Why does she never marry someone of a different but equally exotic and colorful ethnicity?
Hawaii Five-0 (New):
A woman cop is knocked out cold, revives, and continues on like nothing happened with the usual, "I'm okay." How does she know? In real life, McGarrett would force her to go to the ER to be checked out for a concussion. It's SOP.
Wo Fat is a Chinese name. But Mark Dacascos, the actor who plays him, is such a mixture of European and Asian ancestry (Filipino, Spanish, Irish, Chinese, Japanese)it's hard to believe his character is from China.
The Five-O team handles a multitude of federal crimes, but the FBI is rarely called in, even when the law would require it.
Five-O also handles a large number of national security and terrorism cases. Where are the Arabs and Central Asians who commit most terrorist acts?
Kono goes undercover and tells no one, not even McGarrett. This is guaranteed to get Five-O to interfere and endanger her cover, if not her life. By the way, Kono is a Hawaiian man's name.
What kind of an idiot cop goes into dark and dangerous places alone without first calling for back-up? why the cops of Five-0 of course. Of course, this is typical of TV cops.
These are the same morons who go up against criminals with assault rifles, shotguns and submachine guns armed with only semi-automatic pistols.
Finally: Nothing is more laughable than rich actors with portfolios and real estate holdings in the millions supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement. They fly all over the country in luxurious private and chartered jets, promoting movies they were paid millions to make, produced and distributed by billion-dollar corporations. Often, these pictures portray rich people and corporations as greedy and evil. Like who wouldn't love to fly in luxurious corporate jets and avoid the hassles of modern flying? -
Altho73 — 14 years ago(November 19, 2011 01:04 PM)
From another clichd 1970;s disaster movie, Irwin Allens The Towering Inferno
Doug Roberts returns to Duncan Enterprises after a two-year career break yet he still has a plush office with a personal secretary waiting for him!!!! What on earth had she been doing for the past two years???
Doug Roberts became immediately agitated when he found out that the electrical and wiring specifications that he had requested had been changed during his absence. Yet Roberts was an architect not an electrical engineer. In real life he would have had no involvement in the electrical specifications of the building nor would he have any knowledge about the high safety standards required for such a building.
Also if Roberts had been so concerned that his specified standards (way above the Government safety standards) were adhered to why on earth did he take a two year career break whilst the building was being constructed. Why wasnt he there to supervise the construction, he could have taken his two year break after the building had been completed.
What sort on an idiot would build a 135 storey skyscraper in the city of San Francisco which is in the heart of an earthquake zone, and how on earth would he have got planning and building permission from the City authorities?????
Why on earth did Dan Bigelow (the Robert Wagner character) have to go upstairs into one of the apartments to have sex with his secretary when he was one of the guests of honor at the ceremony for the official opening of the building. How would he have explained his absence and his employer would certainly have considered him to have been very rude.
When we first see Bigelows secretary at her desk she looks like an old woman with ugly big black glasses, a dowdy outfit and whitish hair styled in an old maid look. Yet in the typically ridiculous Hollywood fashion when she is undressed, without the ugly glasses she suddenly looks drop-dead gorgeous.
How did her hair suddenly change from an old ladys style into a sexy modern style in the time she took to get from her office to the bedroom and how could she walk around and see without her glasses?????
How come that Bigelow and his secretary only first smelt smoke when there was a raging inferno in the next room and even then she thought it was a cigarette. Oh please!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why on earth did the secretary remain half dressed wearing only that silly looking pink shirt after she became aware of the fire in the next room when any normal person would have immediately got dressed. Did the movie makers think that the sight of her slim figure and bare legs would stimulate the fantasies of male movie audiences?????
Why on earth was Dan Bigelow so stupid as to think that he could successfully run thru a blazing inferno with only a damp towel over his head as protection from burning?????
In real life Bigelow and his secretary would have passed out from the inhalation of smoke and poisonous fumes from burning furniture and plastic long before the fire would have reached the room next to the one they were in.
In typical Hollywood overkill it was not enough for the secretary to be overcome by smoke inhalation and to be burnt by the rapidly encroaching fire. No, they had to have a backdraft rush towards her and blow her out of a 65th floor window and send her tumbling down to the ground with her pantyhose falling off!!!!!!
What on earth did an attractive woman in her fifties like Jennifer Jones find of interest in the geriatric Fred Astaire, who not only looked about a hundred but was also a con man attempting to fleece her out of her savings???
Why on earth would the fire chief of the city of San Francisco (played by Steve McQueen) bother to attend the scene of (what was at that point and time,) a small fire in a storage room on one of the floors of a skyscraper. Surely he would have better and more important things to do!!!!!
Why on earth would a security guard immediately open a door from which smoke was emerging, therby releasing a backdraft and thus engulfing him and his supervisor in flames. Didnt these guys have ANY fire safety training?????
How on earth could Doug Roberts have gone into a burning room thru thick smoke and poisonous fumes and find and rescue a child without suffering any effects of smoke inhalation????
Even more fantastic when the boy asks where his sister is Roberts then goes back into the room thru the smoke and fire and manages to find the little girl and bring her out safely yet he still feels no effect from the smoke and fumes. Is this guy Superman in disguise?????
It gets even worse!!!!!!! He then narrowly escapes being killed by a gas explosion, nearly falls down a huge hole made by the explosion, desperately hangs on to a length of piping, hauls himself up to safety and rescues the two children and the woman who are trapped on the other side of the floor and then manages to work his way up to the 132 floor despite the fact that at least three floors in between are blazing with o -
pmiano100 — 14 years ago(November 19, 2011 06:21 PM)
And now the popular but totally implausible comedy, "Tower Heist (2011):
- Billionaire Howard Shaw is first seen swimming in his penthouse pool that has a picture of a $100 bill painted on the bottom. Right away, this tells us what kind of man he is. Even Donald Trump and Richard Branson aren't that tasteless.
- New York City has rain all year round and sleet, hail, and freezing cold in the winter. Yet billionaire Shaw has an outdoor pool? Oh come now!
- Josh Kovacs, the general manager of the high end high rise, hero worships Shaw, an arrogant man who treats him like a developmentally challenged child.
- Being a modern investment billionaire, we know that Shaw will turn out to be a heartless villain in these envious, anti-rich times.
- Sure enough, Shaw turns out to be an embezzler and swindler, and all the money he stole has somehow disappeared. Sound familiar?
- Josh then reveals to the other employees that he invested their pension funds with Shaw and they're all gone, even the money of his strangely untitled boss, Mr. Simon. Where did he get the authority and why didn't he ask them first? Also, how could he do that without the company accountants knowing?
- Shaw tells an amazed Josh that the car in his living room once belonged to Steve McQueen. Something like that would never go unnoticed by the NYC media. Wouldn't the maids also tell everyone about something so odd?
- Seeing the light, Josh, his brother-in-law Charlie, and the new elevator operator (in 2011?) Enrique, barge into Shaw's condo apartment. Josh grabs a golf club and smashes the lights and windows of the car, but for some reason doesn't strike the body. Hmmmm.
- Why did Josh involve his pregnant sister's husband and a new employee he hardly knew?
- When Mr. Simon fires all three men, Josh is surprised that the other two are canned. What did he expect? They did nothing to stop him.
- Why is Mr. Simon portrayed unsympathetically? He lost his pension money too. He couldn't be expected to condone Josh's actions.
- Shaw supposedly has only $600 in his checking account, but he is somehow able to make $10,000,000 bail.
- Why was Shaw given bail when he already made an attempt to flee?
- Josh decides to steal the money back from Shaw, thinking it's hidden in a safe in his apartment. That would be incredibly stupid.
- Josh puts together the biggest bunch of losers and nerds in heist movie history to pull off the heist. He thinks he will succeed because he has recruited Slide, who is obviously nothing more than a petty thief. This is beyond all belief.
- Why does Josh keep trusting Slide when Slide is obviously untrustworthy and even tells Josh, "Never trust a thief."
- Why does Mr. Simon suddenly offer Charlie, an incompetent concierge he'd always wanted to fire, Josh's job as general manager? Happy to be re-employed because his wife will soon give birth, Charlie warns the others to drop the plan or he will turn them in. They act shocked. I'm shocked they're shocked.
- The beautiful (naturally) FBI special agent Claire Denham is apparently in charge of the federal team out to get Shaw, and giving orders to agents who are much older and obviously more experienced.
- The woman is an idiot. She gets drunk with Josh and flirts with him (as in all such films). As Josh could be a material witness, a real FBI agent would never be so stupid.
- Why do women law enforcement officers have such bad taste in men? Why would a gorgeous, accomplished woman like a whiny loser like Josh?
- Lester the doorman is hospitalized for an apparent suicide attempt after losing $73k in life savings and 11 years of pension funds to Shaw. Yet he immediately returns to his job. Oh, come now.
- This movie is another cliched tirade against rich people, but most of the lead actors are multimillionaires. Ben Affleck and Tea Leoni were born into money and have never known middle class life, let alone poverty.
Next: The heist and the aftermath as the film gets even more ridiculous and defies the laws of science as well as logic.
The only thing I have against rich people is that I'm not one of them.
-
Altho73 — 14 years ago(December 04, 2011 12:40 PM)
From the ultra ridiculous movie starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as small town hicks out of their depth in New York City The Out of Towners
Any sympathy the audience may have had for the George Kellerman character was soon nullified by the fact that he behave like an arrogant jerk. Half of the awkward situations that he and his wife found themselves in could have been avoided with a sensible attitude and by following the advice given to him by people trying to help.
Not only was George an arrogant jerk who didnt help himself but the wife was hardly any better, she constantly moaned and whined about their situations and did very little to help!!!!
When their flight to New York was diverted to Boston because of heavy fog why on earth didnt George accept the airline companys offer of free hotel accommodation for the night and seats on the first available flight the following morning????
When George and his wife took a taxi from Boston airport to the railroad station they both just happened to have nothing less than twenty dollar bills to pay the driver and the driver just happened to have no change. How likely is that!!!!!!!!
Even more unlikely after George and his wife had missed the train they then hailed a taxi to drive them to the next station and just happened to hail the SAME taxi as before and the driver still had no change!!!!!!!
After arriving at New York Grand Central Station George and his wife had no way to travel from the station to their hotel because the subway trains, buses and taxis were all on strike. Didnt George and his wife ever read newspapers or watch the TV news????? Surely they could not have failed to have been aware of a total public transport strike in New York City.
How unlikely is it that there would have been a total transport strike in a major city??? There could well have been a train strike or a bus strike or a taxi strike but surely not all three together!!!!!
After finally walking all the way to their hotel George and his wife found that their hotel room had been given to someone else because George had booked the room with a directive to hold the room until 10.00pm. Why on earth didnt he just book the room for the night, period.
Why on earth was George so stupid as to go with another man who told them that he could get them a hotel room for $10 a short distance away. Only minutes earlier the desk clerk had told George that there wasnt a hotel room available anywhere in New York because thousands of office workers had been unable to travel home because of the transport strike and dozens of them were sleeping in the hotel lobby for the night!!!!!
Of course this man turned out to be a mugger who robbed them at gunpoint. The man was in his forties and was smartly dressed in a suit and tie, hardly the profile of the normal muggers who tend to be in their teens or early twenties, are scruffy and usually hooked on drugs.
Also muggers usually hang around on quiet street corners, alleyways and dark doorway not in the lobbies of expensive hotels.
When George and his wife report the robbery to the police the wife is again annoying, being more concerned that the milk trucks are out on strike and that babies wont be able to get milk rather than the predicament that they are in.
The desk sergeant then asks one of his patrol cars to drive George and his wife down to the armoury to get some food and a bed for the night. But when they are half way there the patrol car gets a radio call to respond to a hold up at a store and the officers then order George and his wife out of the car. Would police officers in real life just leave a couple who have just been robbed (and are in a state of shock) on the street with a strong possibility that they could be robbed again????? Somehow, I think not.
Anyhow George and his wife refuse to leave the patrol car so the officers conduct a high speed chase with them in the back of the car. Would real police officers have done this and risked being disciplined and the police department sued????
The police catch up with the robbers, stop the car and give chase on foot, only for the robbers to double back and steal the patrol car (with George and his wife in the back). Oh please, this is just too ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The robbers eventually dump George and his wife in Central Park where they decide to stay and sleep for the night. As you would guess they are threatened by another mugger who makes off with Georges watch.
In the morning they come across a lost Spanish boy in the park and the wife suggests that George takes the boy into the bushes and checks his pockets for an address or for some money. Why on earth would George agree to such a stupid idea?????
As he is rummaging in the boys pockets George is seen by a woman who immediately accuses him of being a child molester and shouts out for the police. What on earth was that woman doing skulking around in the bushes in the early hours of the morning?????????
George and his wife are c -
pmiano100 — 14 years ago(December 07, 2011 05:16 PM)
More skewering of the super-inane mega-hit, "Tower Heist":
This film has so many mistakes and ridiculous situations in it, it would take me months to post them all. But I'll stop with these few.
To divert Charlie, Josh and his cohorts send a message to him from his wife's cell phone that she's in labor. Where did they get the opportunity to steal it?
About to give labor at any time, wouldn't Charlie's wife have kept her cell phone within reach, and immediately notice it was missing and tell her husband?
The security staff is diverted by being directed to look at the Snoopy balloon during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They must have all seen it a dozen times by now.
Manuel the assistant concierge diverts the attention of the staff inside by showing the men the extra-dirty French Playboy magazine. But there's no indication Manuel is in on the robbery. How convenient.
What about the women employees? None are around to see anything.
Lester the doorman suddenly turns out to be in on it. When was he recruited?
Lester is supposed to be a kindly old man. So how come he steals a truck and speeds up the street in the opposite direction of the parade, endangering dozens of young people's lives?
He waves his arm wildly shouting "Get out of the way!" Does he actually think that's going to help? Does he think he's actually preventing any deaths that way? Some of thise kids are carrying heavy instruments. Some people will be trampled. There's no way there wouldn't be casualties in that situation.
Back in the hotel, Slide tricks Mr. Simon to taking him to an abandoned, renovated room, locks him in a closet, and plays a radio at maximum volume. To what purpose? Wouldn't the loud radio attract attention and complaints?
Odessa knocks out an FBI agent with her cleaning cart so the others can get in. She's such a ton of blubber, he'll easily ID her later. That's a ten year rap for assaulting a fed, but nobody seems worried.
Slide betrays the others and pulls a gun. Big surprise to everyone except the audience.
They discover Shaw's safe is empty and are shocked. How could they be such fools as to believe he would be so stupid as to put all his loot in there?
Slide fires and nicks the car, revealing it is made of gold. How incredibly convenient. When Josh smashed the car, all he touched was the glass.
Of all the ways to securely stash his loot where he could access it, Shaw converted it to gold and made a car out of it and put it in his apartment. And no one ever leaked it? He was that stupid? Hasn't he heard of offshore bank accounts? Oh, come now.
What's more, he has a hand-written, uncoded ledger, detailing all his crooked deals in the glove compartment. In the 21st Century? Oh, come now.
How incredibly lucky that when they try the ridiculous stunt of smuggling out the car, the only person who sees them is a dotty old dowager who wants them to walk her dog. And they take the dog!
They violate the laws of physics moving the car to the renovated apartment below. But now the radio is no longer playing. Why not?
What's more, what happened to Mr. Simon?
Just when all seems lost, Charlie has a sudden change of heart and saves Josh's life. Oh, come now. They never even explain why he changed his mind.
Meanwhile, Claire and her agents are taking Shaw to federal court because they got a sudden call from a judge. Of course it's a trick by Josh, but what FBI agent is stupid enought to believe the federal courthouse will be open on Thanksgiving?
Somehow they manage to dump the car in the penthouse pool without displacing a ton of water, and no one ever finds it. Then they chop it up into parts without it being detected.
The FBI drops charges against everyone except Josh, in exchange for the ledger, and he only gets two years. What about Odessa, an illegal alien who clobbered a federal agent? They'd never let that go.
What's more, Lester's reckless endangerment was a state, not a federal crime. The NY authorities would never let him get off for endangering so many lives.
What happened to Slide, Mr. Fitzhugh, and Mr. Simon? We don't see what happened to them. But everyone else gets a gold car part.
How could they possibly know how to distribute the parts equitably? Lester only gets a steering wheel while a guy not even on the heist gets a water pump, which is much heavier and worth far more.
Does everyone in that hotel know a fence? Just how do they think they can all convert gold car parts into cash without the police or FBI finding out? Contrary to myth, New York is not an open city of crime. Sooner or later, someone will rat them out.
Josh goes to federal prison, reconciled to it and even glad because he made things right. What a maroon! A wimp like him won't last 6 months in a prison full of murderers, sex offenders, gangsters, and drug dealers. -
Altho73 — 14 years ago(January 04, 2012 02:03 PM)
From the 2008 remake of the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still one of the silliest and most ridiculous movies ever made -
At the beginning of the movie (set in 1928) why on earth was the lone mountaineer wandering around the Himalayas in the middle of a blizzard in complete darkness????
When it is discovered that an object from outer space is travelling towards the earth at the speed of light and is predicted to hit Manhattan, New York what does the Government do? Gather a group of leading scientists and engineers and rush them toward the impact point. Does this make sense!!!!!
Also no effort or attempt is made to warn the millions of people of the New York area about this so that they can evacuate the city (even though they have two hours before impact). The reason the Government give for this is that they do not want to create a panic!!!! Oh please.
Why on earth do the Government go the the bother of closing down a whole highway in order to bring the top scientists and engineers into Manhattan? Wouldnt it have been far easier to have given them police escorts or to have airlifted them in by helicopter.
When the spaceship lands in Central Park, Manhattan after dark why were there so many members of the public in the park at that time and why did they just stand still until the spaceship was nearly on top of them.
Why on earth did the police and the army then immediately approach the spaceship in vehicles with sirens blasting out at full volume. Why didnt they just seal off the area from a safe distance until they knew what it was all about.
Why on earth were the scientists sent in first to see who or what came out of the spaceship
How on earth did Helen Benson managed to sneak a cellphone into a military base when they gave strict instructions to leave all cellphones and cameras on the table. She merely tucked it inside her sweater and nobody thought about searching her or make her walk thru a detector screen.
When a female soldier catches Helen using her cellphone in the toilet she does not confiscate it or inform her superiors but borrows it to make a phone call herself. Oh please!!!!!!!!!
When an alien from another planet lands in the United States who do they select to meet and speak with him? The President, Vice President, a top scientist etc. No, a minor politician who is extremely arrogant, very annoying and totally incompetent.
How come that Dr Helen Benson, a research biologist was given the task of looking after the injured alien, which should surely have been undertaken by a qualified medical doctor.
After the US Government has captured Klatu, the alien visitor they take him into a room to administer a polygraph test and just leave him there alone with the interrogator without a team of military guards and without viewing him thru a two-way mirror etc. Guess what? He escapes.
Why on earth did the indestructible robot (which could easily detect and shoot down supersonic jet fighters sent to destroy it) allow helicopters to place to lower a steel box around it and winch it up and take it away to a military base.
How come that the military had such a steel box (which seemed to have been built for the very purpose) readily available, or otherwise what was it used for on a normal day?????
The military take the robot to a secret military base and lower it into a deep pit underground which has a ready made cell with an unbreakable glass window ready for the very purpose. Again what was this facility used for on a normal basis????
When soldiers try to drill into the casing of the robot with a diamond tipped drill the casing is so strong that it shatters the drill bit. Technicians then say that it will take 24 hours to repair the drill bit, but then the commanding officer arrives and says that he wants it repaired and working in a few minutes. Suddenly the technicians repair it in a few minutes. How on earth did they do that?????
When the vehicle in which Helen, her annoying son and Klatu are travelling in hits a land mine there is a big explosion and the vehicle is blown into the air and flips over around a dozen times before coming to a halt. Remarkably neither Helen, her annoying son nor Klatu suffer any injuries or ill effects but the driver alone is killed!!!! Oh please!!!!!!
The movie ends with Klatu changing his mind about destroying all human life on earth and deciding instead to disable ALL forms of advanced technology, electricity, fuel engines, gas power etc so that humans can no longer destroy the planet and environment. The dumb idiot considers this to be more humane!!!!!!! The resulting chaos that this would cause would result in the deaths of billions of humans and yet we the movie-goers are supposed to be on the side of this scumbag!!!!!!!!!
And finally who does this movie and many others made in the period 1997 to 2008 always seem to have the hero/heroine accompanied by a young child who is not only extremely annoying and irritating but is also in dire need of -
pmiano100 — 14 years ago(January 14, 2012 06:18 PM)
In TV and movies -
Why don't detectives block the path of suspects from the very beginning? They know they're going to run. They always do.
Why are all alleys now closed with a steel fence anyone can climb over? Of course the cops always pull them off first.
Why is learning "what life is all about" defined as either working with the poor or being a lowlife?
Why do male cops and other adventure heroes who've been shot and stabbed never have any scars when they take off their shirts?
Why is a snake bite always fatal to a bad guy, but never to a good guy?
Isn't there one criminal fast enough and smart enough to outrun two detectives twice his age?
Why do cops arrest other people for taking the law into their own hands, and then do the same thing themselves? Horatio Caine of CSI: Miami is the worst offender.
When someone says, "We just want to ask you a few questions," you're obviously in trouble.
Are the vocabularies of cops so limited, they can't think of any other way to phrase that? They all say exactly the same thing.
Why are liberal rich people usually nice and conservative people nasty?
Few prime-time teenagers seem to have run of the mill afterschool jobs. They're either not working or have glamorous jobs.
What happened to all the car chases in crime stories that were so common 15-20 years ago?
Why do lazy slackers usually prosper when in real life, most of them stay losers?
Why does it take only one cup of black coffee to sober up a drunk good guy?
When the hero jumps into a lake, river, ocean, canal, or any body of water to save someone, he always succeeds, and the clothes he was wearing when he made the rescue are dry, pressed, and spotless minutes later.
His hair is also perfectly dry and neatly combed in minutes too.
Why is conventional religion disparaged but "New Age" baloney and Native American mysticism are always respected and honored? Is there nothing about them deserving of criticism? What about the frauds some practicioners pull off? They're no better than the evangelical "Christian" con artists.
Why do hopeless nerds and dweebs pursue women totally out of their league?
Why do most women cops on TV and in movies wear expensive clothes they can't possibly afford on a cop's salary?
Why do monsters always attack a woman in a group, no matter how many men surround her?
How come caves always have flat floors, and they're never completely dark?
On Blue Bloods, why does youngest son Jamie Reagan continue to patrol around in his uniform between undercover operations against the Zamponi crime family? Isn't it possible one of the members of that mob is liable to see him and recognize him? Oh, come now!
Besides, he's the son of the police commissioner. Every mobster in town would know who he is.
Why is Danny always involved in cases his PC father gets involved in? Aren't there other detectives?
And why does every major crime take place in Manhattan? There are four other burroughs.
Are we to believe that in 7 generations, no Reagan male has ever been anything but an NYPD officer? Haven't they ever heard of upward mobility?
Why do we never run into a police official of a different ethnicity (Italian, Jewish, Polish, Black, Hispanic, German, etc.) whose family also has a distingushed NYPD legacy? The NYPD stopped being mostly Irish 40 years ago.
NYPD Police Commissioner's assistant can even speak Japanese? Oh come now.
How come all the other women detectives on the show dress fashionably, but Danny's Italian-American female partner always dresses like a homeless person?
Cowboys and Aliens - No more need be said. Too stupid for words.
Two Broke Girls - How come they work as waitresses with their long hair down? Almost every waitress I've seen who serves food has it tied up or cuts it short or at least wear nets.
A Gifted Man - Why is it that every woman Dr. Holt works with, except for Rita, his assistant and surrogate mother, is young and gorgeous? -
Dracii — 14 years ago(January 25, 2012 03:45 PM)
Watered down penicillin is ineffective and as a consequence a lot of people died. This is based on real occurences during and after the war. Black market profiteering was rampant and people tried to make money any which way without thinking of the consequences.
-
Altho73 — 13 years ago(August 12, 2012 04:36 AM)
From the classic Cy Endfield/Stanley Baker 1963 movie Zulu
In the conflict between the Zulu tribesmen and the British Army the movie gave the impression that far more British soldiers and Zulus were killed than were in reality. In the final scene when Colour Sergeant Bourne read out the roll call every third name seemed to be missing. In reality only 17 British soldiers were actually killed.
The movie did Private Henry Hook a great injustice by portraying him as an insubordinate, drunken malingerer whose main aim was getting out of doing any work. In reality Private Hook was quiet, keen and consciencious and rarely drank alcohol.
In the movie Lt Chard of the Royal Engineers took command of the Rorkes Drift garrison because he was senior to Lt Bromhead of the 24th Foot infantry by a matter of a few months. In reality Chard has been commissioned as an officer a full three years before Bromhead.
The actual reason that a Royal Engineers officer took command in a combat situation rather than an infantry officer was not because he was the senior officer but was actually due to the fact that Lt Bromhead was profoundly deaf, an impediment that would have seriously hampered his ability to take charge.
Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne as played by Nigel Greene in the movie was portrayed as a middle aged man. In reality Bourne was only 24 years old, the youngest Colour Sergeant in the British Army and was awarded a Victoria Cross but turned it down in order to be commissioned as an officer.
Corporal Friedrich Schiess of the Natal Mounted Police was also portrayed in the movie by a middle aged actor, In reality Schiess was only 22 years old.
Commissary James Dalton was portrayed in the movie as a bumbling, befuddled, upper-class idiot. In reality he was the most experienced officer present and was responsible for drawing up the battle plans and defence strategies that were successful in the defense of Rorkes Drift.
In the final scenes of the movie the army show their defiance of the attacking Zulus by singing the battle song Men of Harlech. They would not have done this because it is a Welsh song and contrary to the movie a considerable majority of the 24th Foot were NOT Welsh. Out of the eleven Victoria Crosses awarded at the Rorkes Drift campaign only two receipients were Welsh.
The 24th Foot is said to have been a division in the South Wales Borderers, but this is not correct as it only became so called in 1881, two years AFTER the Rorkes Drift campaign. At the time it was known as the 2nd Warwickshire Regiment and a considerable majority of its men were from the West Midlands area.
In one of the opening scenes of the movie Lt Bromhead is shown returning from a hunting trip having shot a sprinbok. He could not have done this as Rorkes Drift is in the province of Natal whose animal population does not include springboks.
The officers and enlisted men are shown wearing dress uniforms which they would have worn only for ceremonial duties and NOT for combat or work duties.
In the midst of Olympic fever, a few points from the 1981 movie, Chariots of Fire which told the stories of two athletes who overcame considerable obstacles to win gold medals in the 1924 Olympic games.
The movie portrayed the 100 metre athlete, Eric Lidell, being informed on his departure for the Paris Olympics that the 100m race was to be held on a Sunday making it unacceptable for him to compete due to his devout Christian beliefs and having to switch to the 400 metres (an event that he was totally unsuited to) and winning the gold medal. In reality Liddell had been informed of this several months in advance of the competition and had plenty of time to adapt and train for the 400 metres.
The movie also portrayed another athlete, Harold Abrahams rise to fame as an athlete and winning a gold medal in the Paris Olympics suffering and overcoming anti-semitism along the way. In reality despite the fact that there was considerable anti-semitism in Britain in the 1920s Harold Abrahams would have experienced very little of it as he came from a prominent family, (his elder brother had represented Britain in the 1912 Olympic games).
In the movie Harold Abrahams was shown to be the very first athlete to have completed the Great Court Run in Trinity College, Cambridge. In reality David Burghley had already achieved this feat a few years previously.
The Canadian Olympic team is shown displaying the Maple Leaf, they would not have done so as the Maple Leaf was NOT the Canadian National flag in 1924 and did not become so until Canada become a Dominion in 1931. -
pmiano100 — 13 years ago(August 18, 2012 05:03 PM)
In the WAR OF THE WORLDS, it opens when an alien ship lands on earth. A priest goes out to greet it carrying a stick with a white rag on attached to it. He is zapped. Does the priest really believe that a ship from outer space knows what a holy man is or that a stick with a white piece of cloth is a flag of truce?
The Titanic sank in 1912, Jack tells Rose he did sketches in France for a dime. The camera zooms in on the dime she is holding in her hand. Its a Roosevelt dime that wasnt minted until 1946.
Gen. George Patton is usually played by actors with rough, gravelly voices. Actually his voice was high-pitched.
Billy the Kid is almost always portrayed by actors way older than he was when he died.
This is also largely true of Col. George Custer, who was only 36 when he was killed.
George Washington is always portrayed as speaking with a definite New England accent in Stentorian tones. But coming from Virginia with little formal education, he would have spoken with a Southern accent.
The late Richard Basehart, a fine actor, played George Washington in a TV movie. Washington was 6'2", extremely tall for his time. He was often described as "the tallest man in the room." Basehart was only 5'9" and the shortest member of the cast.
50 year old Jimmy Stewart playing 25 year old Charles Lindbergh in "The Spirit of St. Louis"? Oh come now! No wonder it bombed.
In a horror movie I saw, two men are in a jeep. One is driving and the other is the passenger. They drive around a boulder. When they come out the other side, the passenger is now the driver and the driver is now the passenger.
In a soap opera I saw,the villain was carrying the unconscious heroine over his left shoulder. In the next scene he is carrying her down the stairs slung over his right shoulder.
The man is standing talking to a woman. Directly behind him you see the Mediterranean. The camera cuts to her. When it cuts back to the man, there is an apartment building behind him. Camera cuts to the woman, comes back to the man and magically there is the Mediterranean.
In "Commando" Arnold Schwarzeneggers goes into the jungle in search of his kidnapped daughter. All these elite troops are shooting at him. Not a single shooter is able to kill or even wound him, yet, he is able to hit every one that shoots at him. Hes better than John Wayne in a shootout.
After chasing down Sully, the yellow Porsche is totally wrecked on the left side. Then Arnie drives it away, and it's undamaged.
In the same picture, sentries don't move as their complex blows up around them and they burn to death. That's because if you look closer you will see they are poorly constructed dummies.
P.S. I Love You: After Gerry gets smacked in the face by the 'broken' suspender clasp, we see the silver clasp land under the dresser. Yet, when he's moaning and lifting his leg to get onto the bed, we can actually see the clasp still intact on the front suspender that came loose, which is dangling right behind him (just look between his legs). Of course, in the next shot, that clasp is gone. Since the silver clasp is a major plot point, this is dumb to say the least.
Terminator 3: When John and Catherine are in the hangar at the runway, the Cessna's tail number is N3035C. When the plane is shown in the air, the number is N3973F. When they land, the tail number has changed back to N3035C.
Spider-Man: When Mary Jane is being mugged by four men, Spider-Man throws two of the men into two windows behind Mary Jane. The shot then switches to Spider-Man clobbering the other two guys. When it cuts back to Mary Jane both windows are intact.
Die Another Day: "M" tells the CIA field chief that it is his fault a female mole (Agent Frost) got into MI6 because the CIA didn't know the North Korean agent and her agent (Frost) went to the same university. One: No son of a North Korean Army general would ever be admitted to an American university because he would never get a student visa. Two: It is the job of MI6 to vet their own agents, not the CIA's.
Bond lets the NKs capture him because the jump into the water is too high. But he has survived far more incredible stunts and Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive" survived a jump equally as high.
Why do we practically never see Bond reload his weapons although he fires hundreds of shots?
In the final fight scene on the plane between Jinx and Agent Frost, Jinx is slashed across her stomach, drawing blood. In a later scene, when Jinx and 007 are pouring diamonds over one another in the hut on the cliff her stomach is unblemished.
Grease: In the soda shop, the waitress turns off the lights with her elbow because her hands are full, but she misses the light switch by at least 6 inches.
I like to watch and enjoy movies, but there is usually something in the background that catches my eye:
In Meet Me In St. Louis, Judy Garland is singing the trolley song when one of the workers yells out, Hi Judy! -
Altho73 — 13 years ago(September 04, 2012 08:17 AM)
From the TV series Dads Army a classic comedy series but they did do some classic goofs-
During the series it is revealed that Captain Mainwaring had no medals or decorations because he had spent the whole of the First World War as an Army officer monitoring and undermining IRA operations in Ireland. Whilst this may have been the case for the first few years of the war he would certainly have been dispatched to the front in France in 1917/18 when there was a serious shortage of experienced officers.
In one episode when Sergeant Wilson, (who was also Captain Mainwarings Chief Clerk at the bank) was promoted to the Manager of a bank in another town, Mainwaring immediately promoted Private Pike to be the banks Chief Clerk. What sort of manager would appoint an immature and not particularly bright seventeen year boy to the important position of Chief Clerk?????
In another episode Mainwarings platoon were considerably harassed by a teenage Scottish boy who had been evacuated to Walmington on Sea to live with his uncle Willie. Why would anyone have been evacuated from Scotland to the South Coast of England, children were evacuated AWAY from the likely source of conflict rather than TOWARDS it.
From the recently released totally ridiculous movie Promethius
For an important space mission lasting several years you would have thought that an elite crew of hand-picked specialists would have been selected who would have been well briefed and well aquainted before the start of the misson. Yet here you had a mottly crew who seemed unmotivated, uninterested, unsuitable, had not even been briefed before waking from hibernation and did not even know each other.
The character of Elizabeth Shaw looked and behaved far more like a hippy chick rather than the distinguished scientist that she was supposed to be.
Why on earth did that biologist not exercise any caution and move away to a safe distance when he discovered and alien creature that looked like a king cobra rising from the water instead of trying to befriend it and calling it babe. Was the guy stupid or what????
Why on earth did that scientist who felt ill and woke up after a few hours sleep with an alien worm burrowing out of his eye not immediately go and see the medical department instead of dressing and going to work as normal and hoping it would go away?
After undergoing a caesarian, a serious and traumatic medical operation how on earth is Shaw in a condition to go running and jumping around, abseiling down a cliff face etc???? In real life she would have been confined to a hospital bed for several days and even with the strongest pain-killers would not have been able to walk.
In the Dr Who story Kinda
When Hindle the security officer goes insane and makes a series of irrational and dangerous decisions neither Dr Who or any of the others ever thought about the simple idea of knocking him out with a sharp blow to the head even though they had plenty of opportunities to do this particularly when Hindle has his back turned.
Richard Todds appearance as the space commanding officer resplendent in khaki uniform and pith helmet was more in line with a British Army officer in the days of the British Raj in India rather than a space commander exploring planets in the 30th century.
Also his bullying boss persona rather like a 1950s British Army sergeant major would have been totally out of line with the style of command and management in the 21st century let alone the 30th century.
Why did Nerys Hughess botanic scientist appear in what looked like a massage therapists uniform, again totally unsuited to her profession.
Why is it that undercover agents in movies nearly always try to compromise their situation with the following two major blunders
Hop into bed with the first girl who makes advances towards them within a few minutes and before the end of the film have done the same with a number of other girls as well. Has nobody ever told them that a honey trap is the oldest and often the most successful way of blowing their cover?????
Spend a considerable amount of their time in bars drinking and often getting totally drunk. Again has nobody ever told them that the more intoxicated you get the more likely you are to say something that does not fit in with your cover story or even tell someone that you are an undercover agent.
Also how is it that undercover agents often get to the root of a conspiracy, terrorist plot or major crime in a matter of days. In reality getting sufficient information to blow a spy ring, terrorist organisation or a crime syndicate can take months and even years.
In 1940s and 1950s detective movies why is it that the hero detective always appears dressed in the traditional detectives uniform of a trilby hat and trench coat even when the story is set in the sub tropical climate of Florida or the Mediterranean climate of California.
Why does Lt Columbo always wear his overcoat (on top of a suit jacket) indoors and outdoors when investigating cr -
pmiano100 — 13 years ago(September 17, 2012 05:44 AM)
I'm tired of:
Action heroes and heroines able to take on twenty opponents at once and win. In real life, they'd just the shoot the fool and be done with him/her.
James Bond, the most non-secret agent of them all. In real life, his enemies would just use a sniper and get it over with.
Films and TV shows that make American corporations the epitome of evil.
The use of albinos as villains. They deserve sympathy, not stereotypes.
American super-secret agents like Jason Bourne who never fight the bad guys because they're too busy fighting the CIA, another stock villain in Hollywood films and TV.
The glorification of Native American life and Native Americans as the first environmentalists and noble humanitarians.. They drove whole herds of buffaloes off cliffs, polluted water, and had hard, difficult lives even before the white man came. They also made war on each other, stole land from other tribes, and even had slaves before the whites arrived. They were no better and no worse than whites.
African-American male characters with hair on their chins and over their lips, but none on their heads.
Crazy American right-wing fanatic generals. In real life, they keep their politics to themselves until they retire, and those who don't are forced out.
Gay parents on TV and in movies who are so perfect, I wish they'd adopt me.
American actors playing British characters who are totally incapable of speaking with a proper British accent.
The glorification of lazy stoners and stupid slackers as superior to guys who dress decently, dedicate themselves to their schoolwork and jobs, and don't do drugs.
Worthless losers and bad boys who win the hearts of nice, beautiful girls from good families.
Movie/TV parents made out to be evil snobs because they don't want their daughters to marry these bums.
Sarcastic, comtemptuous, egotistical bitches being passed off as strong and independent women whom the sexist men can't accept.
Outer space creatures who are biological impossibilities.
Vampires and werewolves, good and bad.
Female characters (the American TV comedy "Broke Girls" is a notable exception)
who complain about their lousy, deadend jobs but live in large apartments with fantastic views and wear expensive clothes.
Movies and TV shows with a female lead who is mature, responsible, and successful, and a male lead who is a "lovable but exasperating" manchild.
Movies with Gerard Butler. He's really getting overexposed.
Movies where the only alternative the characters have to get justice is to break the law and steal.
American men being portrayed as inferior to European and Australian men.
"Inspirational" films where wise minority people show uptight white people what is good and right or teach them how to enjoy life.
Movies "based on true stories," that leave out important facts that show the hero/heroine was no saint and the so-called villain was no devil.
Private detectives who are never fooled by the femme fatales and are 10x better than the police officers who are always 10 steps behind them. -
Altho73 — 13 years ago(October 07, 2012 11:44 AM)
Just to show that all bad movies did not happen since the 1970s all of the following are from the far from classic 1946 version of The Big Sleep
There is no way that you can take seriously the idea of Humphrey Bogarts Marlowe being 38!!!!! He looked more like fifty.
It is also beyond belief to see every young woman that comes into contact with Marlowe (a short, overweight, badly dressed, grubby looking, unattractive, middle aged man) in this movie are overawed by him and fancy him. General Sternwoods two daughters, the librarian, the book shop girl, the taxi driver, the waitress etc all get gooey eyed and think he is gorgeous.Why??????????
In several scenes we see Marlowe drink ample amounts of hard liquor. How on earth does a private detective expect to remain calm and quick witted when under the influence of alcohol and how irresponsible of him to drive a car.
When Marlowe leaves Geigers bookshop he goes to the Acme bookshop across the road to gain more information the girl there gives him an exceptionally detailed description of Geiger (including his interest in antiques, his pencil moustache and glass eye, what time he arrives and leaves etc). How on earth would she have known all this????
Next is one of the worst ever movie clichs, the plain mousy looking bookshop girl removes her glasses and lets her tied back hair hang looses and suddenly she is drop dead gorgeous and Marlowes eyes nearly pop out of his head as he says Hello. OH PLEASE!!!!
When Marlowe tells her that he wants to tail Geiger when he leaves and asks the girl if he can hang around until then the girl readily agrees and she closes the shop for the rest of the afternoon while they share a bottle of whisky!!!! Didnt the thought that she could be in big trouble or could be fired if her boss found out ever cross this silly girls mind????
If anyone reading this puts a smug look on their face and says Maybe this girl was the proprietor of the shop, then ask yourself this. How many nineteen year old girls do you know that own bookshops?????
Also didnt it ever cross Marlowes mind that while he and this girl were preoccupied with giggling and drinking whisky that Mr Geiger could have suddenly slipped out of the door and gone home and evaded Marlowe. Is this guy supposed to be a detective or what???
But as you can guess the girl just happens to look out of the window at the very moment that Geiger is leaving and alerts Marlowe who dashes to the door and opens it by pushing the handle despite the fact that the girl had locked it earlier!!!!!
Whilst Marlowe (sitting outside in his car) hears gunshots coming from the inside of Geigers house he runs to the door and rushes inside. Now it is hardly very clever or sensible to rush into a house where someone is shooting but nothing happens to Marlowe.
After he discovers Geigers dead body on the floor and Carmen Sternwood high on drugs and spaced out Marlowe refrains from calling the police, removes Geigers notebook and leaves the scene of the crime taking Carmen with him. In doing this he has failed to report a murder, tampered with evidence and aided and abetted the escape of a possible murderer, crimes that would result in a heavy prison sentence. Why on earth would a private detective have done that???
After taking Carmen home and telling her sister Vivien to tell the police that she was home all last night he then returns to the scene of the crime only to find that Geigers body has now disappeared. Did he not even think that he was taking an appalling risk to return to the scene of a crime that he had failed to report
As if this wasnt enough he returns to the scene of the crime THREE more before the end of the movie
the first time he finds Carmen skulking in the bushes outside and when he enters the house mobster Eddie Mars just happens to call at that time. Isnt this a remarkable co-incidence?????
The second time he follows a gunman who has just shot Joe Brody and takes him into Geigers house and finds that Geigers body has now reappeared, so thins time he does calls the police telling them where to find the body and the killer. Does this make any sense????
The third time he arranges to meet Eddie Mars there (after Marss henchmen had knocked him out, kidnapped him and intended to have him killed). This is after the police have discovered the body, in which case the whole house should have been sealed off as a scene of crime for the forensic team to investigate but there was no indication that the house had ever been the scene of a crime.
At one point the police call Marlowe at his home at 2.00am telling him that they have found a car with a body in it in the river and they ask him if he wants to come to the crime scene with them. Why on earth would the Los Angeles police extend such an invitation to a private detective???
Marlowe hires a taxi to tail a fellow names Joe Brody who may be Geigers murderer. Naturally the taxi driver is an attractive woman who thinks that Marlowe is drop de -
alfa — 13 years ago(October 10, 2012 12:50 AM)
Running out of topics? There are so many errors and misunderstandings in this post that cross posting it to The Big Sleep board would get you run out of town. Carmen Sternwood's sister, for example, is Mrs Vivian Routledge in the film (there is no Charlotte) and Mrs Vivian Regan in the book - large chunks of her dialogue and most of her plotline are retained from the novel.
The Big Sleep has an unimpeachable writing pedigree. None better.
For someone claiming to be a panjandrum of movie cliche, par contre, you don't seem to know much about genre and nothing at all about Chandler's masterpiece.