Xander: I still don't get why we came here to get info about a killer snot monster. Giles: Because it's a killer snot monster from outer space. I did not say that.

'Never Leave Me'


Buffista Movies 6: lies and videotape  

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


Polter-Cow - Jan 18, 2008 7:58:16 am PST #3406 of 10000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I love Cliffhanger, dude.

It's Die Hard on a mountain!


Sean K - Jan 18, 2008 8:06:54 am PST #3407 of 10000
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Cliffhanger was silly and stupid.

In a fun way, but still silly and stupid. Plus Janine Turner!

Aw, now I'm missing Northern Exposure all over again.


Laga - Jan 18, 2008 8:35:51 am PST #3408 of 10000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.

I haven't seen Juno but I agree with the above posters that when you have some knowledge about whatever subject a movie is about, you're almost invariably going to have problems with believability.

People who know a little bit about fire protection get yanked out of a story every time someone holds a match up to a sprinklerhead and the whole floor goes off.

It drives me nuts whenever someone who is chasing or getting chased through New York spots a carriage horse in central park and in two second flat converts it to a saddle horse.

Anyone else have some pet peeves when it comes to movie vs. reality?


Fred Pete - Jan 18, 2008 9:14:50 am PST #3409 of 10000
Ann, that's a ferret.

My pet peeve involves movies set in the past. It drives me crazy when they get the culture wrong.

A lot of the early talkies do this. The story will start during or just after WWI. But the clothing styles are early 1930s. Which wouldn't be nearly as bothersome if women's hemlines hadn't climbed by about a foot during that time.

And while I can't think of an example offhand, I react worst when it's done with music. If you're setting your movie in the '80s, your soundtrack shouldn't include "Baby Got Back."


Sean K - Jan 18, 2008 9:18:02 am PST #3410 of 10000
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Not a pet peeve per se, but I'm always amused by movie geography. With a single angle shift or turn of a corner, characters are suddenly miles away from where they were previously. Even when they get it right, it can be entertaining. Speed actually does a halfway decent job of depicting the bus' progress through Los Angeles, and the route can be traced on a map, but most of that movie is still well over the border into Ridiculousland for lots of reasons, not the least of which being the notion that the bus could have followed that route at a clip of 55 mph the entire time.

LA geography is also laughable in Volcano. The movie more or less shows how places are located in relation to each other, but has silly time dilation effects when people travel from one place to another. Places close to each other take a long time to travel to, and places far away from each other are reached quickly. And the effects of traffic are selectively applied.


brenda m - Jan 18, 2008 9:20:08 am PST #3411 of 10000
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there

And while I can't think of an example offhand, I react worst when it's done with music. If you're setting your movie in the '80s, your soundtrack shouldn't include "Baby Got Back."

The Wedding Singer, which is otherwise a delightful period piece - but how did they let Drew Barrymore get away with the wispy hair and babydoll dresses that no one would have gone near that decade.


brenda m - Jan 18, 2008 9:21:05 am PST #3412 of 10000
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there

LA geography is also laughable in Volcano. The movie more or less shows how places are located in relation to each other, but has silly time dilation effects when people travel from one place to another. Places close to each other take a long time to travel to, and places far away from each other are reached quickly. And the effects of traffic are selectively applied.

Best ever: Rumble in the Bronx, with the snowcapped Rockies visible in the distance across the Hudson River.


juliana - Jan 18, 2008 9:21:37 am PST #3413 of 10000
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss them all tonight…

Not a pet peeve per se, but I'm always amused by movie geography.

Like how the cable cars run everywhere in SF?


bon bon - Jan 18, 2008 9:22:27 am PST #3414 of 10000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.

I generally don't care if they don't do legal stuff differently, unless they could have gotten it right without sacrificing something else important to the film. Although, I do hate it when something key to the production is simply impossible, because of exactly what happens in the film. Take certain takeovers -- all the time on the screen people amass secret stakes in a company, and suddenly have a controlling stake. Both SEC regulations and company bylaws are designed to make that impossible in the normal course of events. Because secretly amassing a controlling stake is disfavored!

(Although the NYT or the WSJ did just do an article about how people are getting around that nowadays, but that is new)


Jesse - Jan 18, 2008 9:23:03 am PST #3415 of 10000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Not a movie, but the favorite geography thing in my family was from the Spenser TV series -- a car drove into our local car wash, and drove out miles away.