While I was scrolling through Quora last night, I saw a thread ask "What is something unrealistic that you often see in movies that annoys the hell out of you?" Some of these are such minuscule and easy-to-fix mistakes, that they actually annoy me. Here are the best answers:
1. "Explosions heard in space. There is no air in space! If something gets blown up, you can’t ‘hear’ it."
2. "Beginning a phone call with ‘It’s me’ rather than ‘It’s (name)’."
3. "Probably the worst of the 65,536 worst mistakes is 'Zoom! Enhance!' You start with a grainy frame from a security camera, and the suspect’s face takes up maybe a 10x20 pixel area of a much larger scene. The boss yells, 'Hold it there! Zoom and enhance!' Suddenly, that 10x20 blob becomes a fully detailed, easily recognizable face."
4. "When they wake up and start kissing, I cringe. No, people, no! Brush your teeth first. Morning breath is the worst!"
5. "I’m a personal trainer, and I regularly work with people on their grip and hand strength. Because of that, I get annoyed every time I see the 'hanging from a ledge' cliché in action films. The vast majority of people have trouble hanging from a pull-up bar for more than 30 seconds. And that’s a pull-up bar that is designed to fit well in the hand. Hanging from a ledge is a whole different story. Tom Cruise could NOT hang from a ledge with one hand. He’d slip off after about 10 seconds. And 10 seconds is being generous."
6. "Swords scraping out of scabbards. Nope, it's a good way to lose the lovingly honed edge before you've even used it."
7. "No one ever has to sleep in the damp patch after sex nor is it even mentioned."
8. "Ever notice the diet of most Hollywood film characters? Meat and vegetables. Yep, when there’s a dinner scene, it’s normally meat and string beans. Dry, no gravy. (I know it’s for logistical reasons, but just once, it would be nice to see them eating a messy burrito, taco, curry or spare ribs.)"
—Feef
9. "Lack of entropy. Have you ever had a toaster suddenly stop working? For no obvious reason? How about something more complicated, like a watch? Or really complicated, like a laptop computer? If you spill so much as a teaspoon of water into your laptop while it is running, it will not be. But somehow ancient ruins and old gadgets and gizmos work perfectly even when stored in somewhat sub-optimal condition for centuries."
10. "The hero is surrounded by a gang but he beats them all because they only attack him one at a time."
11. "I really hate it when a character in a movie puts a flame to a fire sprinkler head which activates, and, in turn, activates all other sprinklers. WRONG! Fire sprinklers are individually activated. Why flood an entire store and ruin everything if there is a fire in a small janitor closet? Fire sprinklers are basically spring loaded (or pressure driven) valves that are held closed by a piece of metal alloy that melts at a certain temperature or a glass tube containing a liquid that expands and breaks the glass when subjected to heat."
12. "This bugs me and I always look for it. When people take a sip from a cup. Do this test at home. Take a sip of coffee. It takes a couple seconds to take the liquid into your mouth pass it through and down your throat and swallow. Breathe out a little bit and possibly lick your lips because of the moisture. Everyone on TV takes that quick sip and then recovers too quickly to start talking."
13. "When being chased on foot by a car, they will always run down the middle of the road and it never occurs to them they could get away very easily just by running down an alleyway or somewhere else too narrow for a car to follow."
14. "I love the Doctor Strange movie, but when he flatlined, his fellow surgeon thought shocking him would bring him back to life. If someone is flatlining, give them CPR. The R stands for resuscitation and is the key word in CPR. Giving bolts of electricity will not resuscitate them."
15. "Male teachers and administrators who wear sport coats and ties all the time while teaching."
16. "Up lights inside of space-suit helmets. The idea of a vision panel in a space suit is so the astronaut can see out. This is not enhanced by having a glarey light right in your eyes! Yes, it is a problem seeing the actors’ expressive facial expressions behind the glare of reflected lighting off the from of the faceplate glass, but a bright light inside the helmet just looks dumb!"
17. "Always getting a parking spot. I think most of us have gone to San Francisco or New York and have had to drive around for a half hour to find a spot."
18. "Any character with a bag of groceries will have a loaf of French bread sticking out of the top of the bag. Because EVERYONE buys the stuff."
19. Finally, "I have a big problem with how bushes and hay are presented in movies and shows. Y’ever just hop into a bush or land in a bush from a fall? How do you think it feels? Soft? Basically a bed or a cushion? Nope! I think movies forget that bushes have branches. Hard, pokey branches. Those branches may have thorns. The leaves could be pointy."
