MovieChat Forums > Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2002) Discussion > Annoying little things in movies

Annoying little things in movies

posted 16 years ago by tmaj48
211 replies | jump to latest

In the beginning of "Amelie," she mentions that when she's watching a film,
it irritates her when the actor driving a car in the film doesn't keep his/her
eyes on the road, but usually spends more time looking and conversing with the
person in the passenger seat, spoiling the illusion that the actor is really
driving. What little things like that irritate you in movies?

For instance, while I have the same pet peeve about driving actors as Amelie,
I'm also bugged by:

Inappropriate accents in films: In "Gone with the Wind," why does Ashley
Wilkes, the consummate Southern gentleman, have an English accent? In "Mrs.
Miniver," meanwhile, why doesn't Englishman Mr. Miniver have one?

In "Back to the Future," the entire town is meticulously done over in
1950s sets, furniture, cars, fashions, etc. Yet in the present-day finale,
Marty's dad, a highly successful science-fiction author, shows off his latest
book, just released by the publisher. The dust jacket of the book looks
amateurish! This is true of other films, such as "Throw Momma From the Train,"
which depict authors and their books. If the set designers, etc. could spend
so much effort making the sets, costumes, etc. as realistic as possible, couldn't they make the cover of a book look like it was professionally done?

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

[–] dball77 16 years ago

I don't know if anyone will ever read this since the thread was started so long ago, but I like the topic.

My biggest pet peeve in film is flat lensed spectacles! No prescription glasses that I've ever seen have flat lenses, yet so many movies, even modern films with large budgets, choose this cheap prop. It completly ruins the illusion when I see a perfect image or even glare reflect off a character's lenses.

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

This may be because they want to avoid seeing the camera crew in the reflection.

[–] Skylab23 16 years ago

When a character looks at the camera not only once but more, when there's no real need to do that.

Wait a minute, where did I saw that?... Oh yes! In Amélie

I love this movie anyway

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
Indiana Jones, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

[–] ConfusingCheshireCat 16 years ago

Ugh. I hate when in horror movies (or any movie for that matter). When a character returns home and walks around in the dark for like 10 minutes before turning on a light and discovering something shocking! Honestly, who completely ignores turning on a light before entering their own home? It's like the first thing anyone does.

Also, in general it bothers me that so many movies are okay with including naked women but never show more than waist-up of a man. Does the penis really scare hollywood that much?

[–] ElMaruecan82 16 years ago

- When there are 2 cops investigating, one of them is always black.
- When the extras never react when they're being pushed during a chase scene
- The car explodes until the heroes are safe, but it never happen to the villain.
- When the crying looks more like a smile
- The child and the dog never die
- Not closing the car doors
- Any fast editing in recent movies to make it look 'cool'
- The Dream Sequence in the beginning of any cheap horror movie or thriller
- Heroes never need to go to the toilets.
- In Historical movies, all the actors have clean teeth
- After Sex, they never sweat
etc etc

"I'm as mad as hell and i'm not gonna take it anymore!"

[–] shannononon 16 years ago

I hate when characters never seem to use the bathroom..ever.

Or when they wake up in the morning and don't brush their teeth..that's the worst!

~Nothing in this world that is worth having comes easy~

[–] mastaaceko 16 years ago

I hate it when actors (bad ones, usually)
can't manage to actually CRY when they need to.
like, crying without tears.. sometimes I even notice
actors trying desperately to squeeze some tears out.
always funny

[–] pinho-1 16 years ago

- after being shot collapsing in dramatic fashion, then dying long enough to say something signifficant (thing nicely parodied in Tropic Thunder by B. Stiller)
- impatient and intrusive multiple knocking on doors - usually completely unjustified!
- the driving thing...

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

If they did use the bathroom, people would complain that it was filler.

[–] finterj 16 years ago

I hate when computers in movies make those high pitched beeping noises for any action that is performed. It happens in any movie involving computers especially when they are hacking.

[–] mattyharmel 16 years ago

when couples are getting ready for bed and they both are reading/talking to one another before going to sleep... who does that? GO TO BED.

when a male grabs/leads a woman out of a room by grabbing her arm.

in most action movies, the male lead can only get the strength to finish the job because his family is now in danger. (bleeding profusely, out of ammo and hiding behind something... only to hear "dad!" or his wife call his name. then that badass grimace comes on his face and he stands up and saves the day, only to fall to his knees AS SOON as the bad guy is dispatched.)

when paying for something, (coffee, newspaper, etc.) the actor never waits for their change. apparently in movieland, there is no such thing as coin money and everyone has exactly enough cash for their purchase.

the morning after the one night stand, the female is set up for dissappointment only to find the guy making her breakfast EVERY TIME. (or if he has to leave, he leaves a rose or some *beep* where the hell did he find a rose at 4:30 in the morning?)

[–] Phillygirl44 16 years ago

yeah, cause in movieland everything costs exactly $1, $5, $10, $20 etc etc...

i always wondered about the one night stand thing. The guy always wakes up first somehow and always makes breakfast lol

i hate

1. the always waking up in the morning with makeup on
2. evil guys monologues
3. when you can obviously see the sound mic above the actors (it just ruins the illusion for me)...seen it in Devil wears Prada and White Chicks
4. you can obviously tell it's a stunt double unless a comedy movie

5. and something i have recently notices in cartoons and children films is the the main character usually a child or teen is of an ethnic decent (ex Black, Hispanic, or Asian); if the family is of the middle class or "doing well" the parents are never the same race. One is white and the other is whatever the child is. Examples of this is Jake Long American Dragon, Traveling Pants, etc

[–] hannah_of_eden 16 years ago

I hate it usually in soap operas and melodramatic love movies when there is a couple onscreen having a deep and hurtful discussion and the man is in the middle of talking to the woman and the woman turns her back on him. In the mean time he continues talking and all you can see is her sad face or her answering him but not turning back to face him. People don't really do this in real life! Irritating!

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

5. and something i have recently notices in cartoons and children films is the the main character usually a child or teen is of an ethnic decent (ex Black, Hispanic, or Asian); if the family is of the middle class or "doing well" the parents are never the same race. One is white and the other is whatever the child is. Examples of this is Jake Long American Dragon, Traveling Pants, etc

What's wrong with that? Only white kids are allowed in cartoons and films? Haven't had enough white kids for the entire history of television? White kids are a cliche.

[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

5. and something i have recently notices in cartoons and children films is the the main character usually a child or teen is of an ethnic decent (ex Black, Hispanic, or Asian); if the family is of the middle class or "doing well" the parents are never the same race. One is white and the other is whatever the child is. Examples of this is Jake Long American Dragon, Traveling Pants, etc

This says a lot more about you than about the movies/TV shows you're talking about.

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

when couples are getting ready for bed and they both are reading/talking to one another before going to sleep... who does that?

Lots of people.

[–] thilo-950-73752 13 years ago

Very true!
When someone poses a question to a computer, the answer appears with a prrrrrr.
Or when you zoom into a picture, it makes ftftftftftftft.
CG appearing on the monitor always has some futuristic sound accompanying it.

In the Mission Impossible movies, this even happens in the mission messages, which are not generated on the spot but pre-recorded video.

Makes you think none of the sound people on movies have ever worked with computers.

What's also annoying is that in movies they are always able to "enhance" a blurred photograph, adjust the focus. I could understand it if we're talking about a satellite picture taken with a high-resolution camera (though I'm not sure about that either), but ordinary digital cameras or video surveillance cameras?
Wouldn't it be lovely having a detective or general in a movie tell the computer expert to "Enhance that picture!" and be told, "Sorry sir, what's blurred is blurred, can't be fixed".

Another thing that bothers me in movies is: why do they always have Chinese take-out food when staying at motels? I might have seen Italian food ONCE, but hamburgers, hotdogs or burritos? NEVER!
Also, do they have to eat on the bed? I am not that familiar with American motels, but don't they have tables at all? I know they have chairs because the hero needs a place to sit and have a smoke - that's in the early morning hours after the hot sex scene: she is still asleep and he's contemplating the future -he looks at her, then out of the window, and the camera zooms to a close-up.

Lloyd: "Your money's no good here, Mr. Torrance"

[–] ltldog2 16 years ago

I hate it when computers "conveniently" tell you exactly what they're doing. Usually some annoying female voice you never hear in a computer in real life saying "Analyzation complete. No known substance in universe" or something dumb like that. Austin Powers did a great job of making fun of this. So did Galaxy Quest.

Taking back IMDB message boards....one ignored Troll at a time.

[–] aakash-karkare 16 years ago

the thing that most irritates me is how they never seem to eat. A movie can take place over years and years and not once do you see the actors sit down to a meal and eat.

[–] Dietzbismarck 16 years ago

The movie Heathers is FULL of mistakes, but they are funny.

OMG, THE GIANT GLASS OF ORANGE JUICE! I have noticed this forever, cereal commercials included. The character has a gigantic glass of orange juice with their breakfast…a huge, huge glass. Wow. Sometimes it’s milk or water.

When characters order food but don’t really eat it, they just pick at it.

When they order popcorn but it’s white usually…doesn’t anybody butter their popcorn on TV?

When there are no people of color in a film…that to me is weird. Or when the film deals with an urban community or a large city high school…and it’s way more white people there than should be.

When the movie is like, supposed to be in the future or something, or maybe way, way back in the past like the ancient Greek days, and all the accents are varied.

The cliché, bonding over singing like an idiot in a car scene. It can be funny….but it can be way lame.

Thunder ALWAYS accompanying rain.

In nude scenes, the actresses seem to always have small chests, or pointy boobs. WTF is up with avoiding large chested nude scenes? Does it change the tone? And when a girl happens to have a large chest...they are FAKE! Fake boobs=gross out...boobs should move.

No stuttering when talking…everyone just knows what they wanna say, and says it perfectly.

In horror movies when something AMAZINGLY MENTALLY DAMAGING happens, but the characters are basically fine. A little shook up, but glad it’s over. Japanese films are good at the whole, I just saw something *beep* up and I’m now institutionalized thing.

Waking up from comas with no post mental damage, which usually follows when it comes to real comas. Or the ability to walk immediately after a coma that has lasted longer than two weeks.

Amnesia…need I say more?

[–] Necrotard 16 years ago

The Messenger, the story of Joan of Arc freeing the French from English tyranny... and all of the French characters speak with English accents.

------------------------------------------
Remember that time I ate your family?

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

When characters order food but don’t really eat it, they just pick at it.

That's because if the actors ate their food they'd be eating for dozens of takes, there would be no prop food left. Sometimes it's been sitting out for hours and hours as well.

[–] melnar1 13 years ago

"No stuttering when talking…everyone just knows what they wanna say, and says it perfectly."

Right. Never any stuttering, hesitating or trying to recall a word. But I suppose that's what they call cinematic license.

[–] ericisme543 16 years ago

it annoys me how phone numbers always have to start with 555 like someone is really going to call the phone number in the movie.

Yes, hello is this Morpheus? I'd really like to get out of the matrix soon. Just unnecessary.

[–] tmaj48 15 years ago

Actually, that's exactly why they do use "555." Because when they used to use
actual phone numbers in movies, TV shows, popular songs, etc., the real-life
owners of those numbers would be harassed constantly by idiots who decided to
call the number just to see who would answer. Charles Schulz, the Peanuts
cartoonist, once included the phone number of one of his friends in one of his
comic strips as a prank; the friend was besieged by phone calls from people
who wanted to talk to Snoopy, make obscene remarks to Lucy, etc.
To avoid lawsuits, the "555" code was implemented for fictional use.

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] matildajakobsson 15 years ago

When a character is carrying a bad or suitcase that is obviously empty, even though it's meant to be heavy.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]