Small things in movies that don't exist/happen in real life

[SemiCharmedQuark]

Here's one. Alarm clocks with those flippy numbers. Everyone on TV or in the movies has one. I have never seen one for sale in a regular store in my life. Why are fictional families so opposed digital clocks or even the regular analog clocks?

[wellstone dem]

1. I used to have one

It was really fun to reset. It only had the time not the day of the week and the month. Unfortunately, I believe I threw this little collector's item out. I'm sure I got it at a target or kmart.

[TexasProgresive]

2. The Flippy numbers likely show up

more clearly then LED displays. And I used to have one years ago- they are noisy as the numbers change especially when all four flip.

[Ruffhowse]

3. I used to have one of those clocks. I think they haven't been made in

many years. My contribution to the list of small things you never see in real life in movies (actually this is TV mostly. Characters never seem to knock on doors on TV. They just walk right in. I don't know anyone in real life that does that, even if you are best friends or related. It's so weird when you start to notice it. Happens the most on sitcoms. Also, on both movies and TV, people use the phone weird. They never take the full time it would take to really dial, and when they connect, they never seem to ask who they are talking to, they just start right in with dialog.

[alarimer]

13. they also never have callerID

Everyone I know has but you never see it in movies.

[nine23]

4. I have one.

It's in our spare bedroom. Still working like a charm. (I received it as a stocking stuffer for Xmas, circa 1976.)

RE: "Why are fictional families so opposed digital clocks or even the regular analog clocks?"

I'm not fictional. Shall I throw this clock out while it still works perfectly well, so it ends up in a landfill, just for the "gleeful" Saturday morning consumer experience of buying another at Wal Mart?

"Fictional families"? How old are you?

[PragMantisT]

5. I had one years ago

But when one tile falls off, they suck. Like when the :50 breaks off, you never know if its :49,:50,or :51 after.

Plus, don't they create electromagnetic fields that cause cancer?

[AngryAmish]

45. electromagnetic feilds don't cause cancer

urban myth

[Lost Creek]

53. WHAT?

You can spread your opinion on my south forty.

[DS1]

6. I used to have one

Hard to find these days, but they existed and worked.

One thing that doesn't exist in movies is those stupid Hollywood Computer interfaces, where getting or sending email involves some stupid little hokey animation. Unless that's just AOL, which still sucks.

[NWHarkness]

11. And you never see anyone use a mouse

Everyone in movies uses keystrokes, never a mouse.

[tjdee]

21. That irritates me, the little "Hey dumb viewers, now the email is sent!"

Does everyone in movies have AOL?

[freeplessinseattle]

7. and who goes to bed with a fully made-up face, and wakes up in the morning

looking the same? If I went to bed with make-up on (which is unlikely since I rarely wear it anyway anymore) I'd wake up with it smeared all over the pillow and my face, and a major acne breakout.

and I don't know why I notice these things, but most tv characters seem to wear their shoes around the house all the time, don't they ever take them off, my parents would have a fit!

[hyphenate]

8. Re: clock

They can't use a regular analog clock unless it's got huge numbers for the camera to focus on. The same with LED or lighted digital, because depending on the amount of light needed for the set, the numbers are very difficult to see. Another reason: studios have these huge building for props, and recycling is what it's all about.

About 15 years ago, when I worked at Universal Studios, they were getting rid of a whole bunch of props because they were moving everything to a newer, bigger facility and were dumping some really old stuff. They were letting the employees buy some of it, and I got a couple of nice pieces. The funny thing is, some of the pieces actually had a sticker on them telling where they were from--one of the pieces I got had been used in "Rich Man, Poor Man" but even funnier was the piece that didn't have a tag, and I wondered what show it had been in. I was watching some reruns of "My Favorite Martian" from the 70s and spotted the piece in several of the episodes! So you can tell--they don't get rid of--they use props over and over again!!

One thing I noticed about most sitcoms, and while this is a matter of practicality since they're filmed on an inside stage, you notice it never rains. Setting up a "rainmaker" is costly, and it's not something a lot of places want to deal with.

[gollygee]

9. Add me to the group who had a clock like that

Everyone used to have those once upon a time.

[SoCalDem]

10. No one ever LOCKS their doors or turns the lights off

and lots of bathrooms don't have toilets:)

[Nikepallas]

26. Or when they are shown locking the door you know they aren't getting out

alive because the killer is already in the house waiting for them.

[terrya]

12. Finding a parking space right in front of a building in a big city.

I live in Chicago, and trust me...it just...doesn't...happen in real life.

[OldEurope]

15. No,no, it depends on the person:

I swear, my husband ALWAYS gets a parking space. When I am the driver, there is no space anywhere, just like your experience. But he, §$%%
he always gets one
:shrug:

[flamingyouth]

41. That's what I was going to say

"The Catalog of Cool" book defines this phenomenon as "Kojaking," because Kojak always seemed to be able to pull right up to an empty space. :D

[NWHarkness]

14. Two movie things that annoy me

1. Nobody ever takes off their shoes. In real life, people come home from work and kick off their shoes. In movies, they leave them on until they go to bed. Even if they are relaxing on the couch, watching a game or something, they always keep their shoes on.

2. Nobody ever leaves the TV on. In movies, people watch the particular thing they want to see on TV, then shut it off. In real life, most people just leave it on all day.

[tjdee]

20. I leave my shoes on!

Unless I'm wearing heels.
I must be some kind of movie freak! :)

I'm starting to change though, someone bought me some slippers that are way more comfy than work shoes.

[progmom]

24. Huh? Leave the TV on all day?

Not in my house!

[Feathered Fish]

16. Driving

Have you ever noticed that people in cars in movies have a particular talent of not watching the road when there is another person in the car? I can barely change the radio station without swerving when I drive.

[peekaloo]

18. pulling into traffic from a parking lot is a breeze

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. They also always leave the drivers window open

and only rarely lock the car.

[Phentex]

61. They almost always knock over a fruit stand during a car chase scene...

either that or the newspaper stand, but it's usually a cart of veggies getting smashed.

[Swede]

17. In action movies,when someone knocks out a badguy,

they never,never, ever take the unconcious guys gun. That is clearly the first thing someone in real life would do.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Nobody ever reads on TV

Also, in real-life, family members don't stand in a line in front of the living room couch and toss one-liners at one another.


Somebody mentioned going to bed with make-up on.

A few months ago, I saw a documentary about the Iranian film industry, and because of the censorship laws, the actresses have to wear scarves at all times, even in situations where they wouldn't in real life, such as all-female groups inside a private home. They even showed a scene of a woman going to bed in full street clothes plus a scarf, because the censors wouldn't allow her to be shown in real nightclothes or without a head covering.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

22. Middle-class or working-class people that have beach front property

I know they do it to make the location more picturesque and scenic, but it always irks me because most of us could only wish to have a house right on the beach. Even a fallen-down shack on ocean-front property costs a mint.

[UncleSepp]

43. And everyone in the city lives in a fabulous loft

Students and young people just starting out seem to live in these exposed brick wood floored lofts that are supposed to some kind of hip, cool, just-getting-by flop, but in the real world would cost a million dollars or more. Oh, and they have good appliances.

[Nikepallas]

25. What really bothers me is when you can tell time passed but

they try to play it off like it didn't.


Examples:


Ever see the clock in the background that shows 5 different (ie: 10:40, 11:10, 12:25 1:48) times when the they want you to believe the conversation only took 4 minutes.


Classic one--Who dare to admit they saw Jaws 4 anyways Richard Dryfus is overboard in the ocean and soaking wet as he is being pulled onto the boat but then as he gets over the rail his shirt is completely dry. I MEAN COMPLETELY...

yes I know logically a guys shirt is going to dry slowly and they will do scenes over and over again to get the right takes but for some reasons those little details grab my attention and just ruin the scene for me.

Yes, I will go to the metally insane wing of my local hospital now.

[Unstuck In Time]

29. Your hospital is going to need a very large wing for the insane...

... 'cuz you'll have lots of company! :)

The 'Jaws 4' goof you described is known as a continuity error (watch the credits on some movies, you'll even see 'Continuity Editor' listed) and they're everywhere.

Here's a site that lists some others:

http://www.moviemistakes.com/best.php

[Nikepallas]

31. SOOO cool what a great site. thanks

[mockmonkey]

35. Michael Caine

was who you meant not Richard Dreyfuss, and no I didn't see Jaws 4.

[Nikepallas]

49. Thank you. I did mean Michael but I also saw Richard in a movie that had

the same snafu

[cynthia]

62. that's a good one

thanks for the belly laugh!!!!


:D

[skygazer]

27. When people are on the phone in movies

When they answer, they often don't say anything - the person on the other end just starts talking. And when they hang up, they almost never say goodbye or anything - it just seems like everyone knows they're done talking and they hang up.

They very often don't wear seat belts.

Even when you know they just finished having hot, steamy sex, they get out of bed and the guy is wearing boxers and a t shirt and the girl is wearing a bra and panties. :wtf:

[brainshrub]

28. Happy endings.

Sorry, I'm depressed today.

[THUNDER HANDS]

30. that the bad guys in action movies can't shoot

like, there can be 50 bad guys shooting at one good guy and fire 10,000 bullets and miss him. But the good guy can be armed with a slingshot and 3 paper clips and kill everyone.

[signmike]

33. Nobody has to reload.

Revolvers with silencers on them.
Commercials showing the Lady Of The House waxing the floors all made up and dressed to the nines.
There is a Robert Mitchum detective movie where in the place where he's explaining the Hoodunit and who done what to the guilty gal - the scene supposedly takes oh, say 5 minutes. But she's smoking a cigarette, and with all the different camera angles, and all the takes they used - this one cigarette grows and shrinks miraculously. It's funny - it's a stub...now it's long again.
I remember a movie that the time line was way back around Viking times and they showed divers attacking the ships underwater. It wasn't "The Vikings", though, I watched it recently. Anyway here comes one of the frogmen swimming by, big close up shows his Seiko diver's watch. Oops.
And there was a TV show a few years back that supposedly took place in the '30s. It was shot here in Pasadena around the Colorado Street 'Suicide Bridge' -- the two actors are driving down Arroyo in an old box type automobile, discussing 1930's problems and there's a Pacer in somebody's driveway. haha

[yewberry]

32. Maybe it's 'cause I'm a Yankee

but fake snow in movies drives me nuts! Real snow is cold! It's wet! It's frequently hard to walk in!

Also, when it's cold outside, you can see your breath.
Thank you.

[mockmonkey]

38. I love when they use

foam for snow in the older movies. It's so dumb. Cars drive through and the snow rises up in mass and floats around.

[Nikia]

34. Action movie fight scenes

Few people keep on getting up to fight like they do in those long fight scenes especially people who are just hired by the bad guy. On a related note, few people would stick around and fight after they saw some guy kill a few other people, especially if they are only there for the money. This type of brutality seems to be alright. When a police officer or other hero kills everyone in sight to get to the bad guy, there is never an investigation into this. There is never a contreversy. Everyone seems to think that it is alright.

[Kat45]

36. Folks who are barely working who have great NYC apartments

And as someone else mentioned, finding a nice big parking space right in front of the building they are going to--in a big city like New York. And getting there without being in heavy traffic (unless something about the traffic is the joke involved in the story).

When people bring someone to the hospital, they walk right in, and the doctor comes up to greet them and sees them right away. And nobody asks them if they have insurance.

[tjwash]

37. People with minimum wage jobs...

...with apartments that run in the thousands per month, with no roommates.

[teach1st]

39. Being shot three times in the chest...

..by a large caliber handgun and still being able to effectively fight back in hand-to-hand combat.

Couples just starting out in life but who have the most exquisite interiors in large city apartments.

People may run out of gas on a desert highway, but rarely does anybody stop to get gas. If they do stop to get gas, something bad is probably going to happen at the gas station.

Surfers run up and down the beach carrying surfboards even though there's not a wave in sight.

Even though there's not a wave in sight, the surf comes up whenever the gang paddles out.

[mockmonkey]

40. Hospitals

completely empty late at night of Nurses, Doctors, Staff, and other patients.

[NightTrain]

42. You must be quite young.

Those alarm clocks were the standard when I was a kid in the 1970s. In fact, I just recently--in the last couple of years--threw out the "flippy" clock that my parents had gotten back in 1974!

[u4ic]

44. Fat/balding/ugly or otherwise schmucky guys

with drop dead gorgeous wives/girlfriends/love interests.

PUH-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ

[SemiCharmedQuark]

48. Seinfeld perfect example.

George, Kramer and Jerry are definitely schmucky guys but they would always get these gorgeous women.

[AngryAmish]

46. Damascus on the ocean

It is about 50-60 miles away. (F'n Hidalgo.)

[MrScorpio]

47. Girls making out in my living room after a having a couple of drinks

This happens a lot in movies

[Left Is Write]

50. I've seen plenty of flippy clocks in stores, although not recently.

I'm going to hazard a guess that I'm a skosh older than you are.

I received a flippy clock as a present on my 19th birthday.

[Left Is Write]

51. Oh - and for the topic - parking spaces

Unless lack of a parking space is supposed to add a comedic element (a la Seinfeld), NO ONE ever has trouble parking on TV or in the movies.

[displacedtexan]

52. No one ever turns off their car headlights.

That "drives" me insane! And the battery never dies, either.

And they also leave the car door open, and there is no annoying car alarm to signal that they've left the car door open.

[u4ic]

54. Makeup!

Notice how women's makeup is always on when they're about to go to sleep or it's on perfectly after a good night's slumber.

(with the exception of Ab Fab - not a movie, but I love Patsy's makeup after a bender)

[Ladybast]

55. notice how every computer in the movies is from Apple, with Chicago font

showing on the toolbars?

Also the computers always seem a few to several years older than what's for sale at the local computer mart.

[Tracer]

56. Oh yes, it's the computers.

Damn! They always work! They are always super fast! The person looking for the secret files always gets there just before the bad guys! The geek looking for the password always finds it in 23 seconds! What the hell kind of program are they using with the super-duper, graphics that TELL you exactly what's going on? It sure ain't MS Word.

[jmm]

57. Even worse than the make-up in bed

is when someone wears make-up to the gym or in the shower, especially when they towel off and it stays in place.

Also, I've never been in a fire but I refuse to believe that someone can escape from a smoldering building with perfect hair and no soot built up near their eyes, mouth, or nostrils.

[BearClaws]

58. Howabout

When a car peels out on a dirt road and you hear the screeching noise.

[CBHagman]

59. More unrealistic stuff in movies.

The following things drive/drove me nuts:

*In "She's the One," two characters get married on the spur of the moment by asking a nearby priest. NOOOOOO, that's not how it works in the Catholic Church. Ever hear of pre-Cana, Ed Burns?

*Somebody else mentioned above that good guys are blessed with perfect aim and bad guys always miss (unless it's the buddy who's being killed off).

*Twenty-somethings or similar who are supposed to be eniment psychologists or psychiatrists. Yeah, get a scruffy boy or a starlet to play someone who has been in school for nearly three decades.

*In what seems like thousands of movies, characters are knocked off their feet by huge explosions. No one ever suffers a broken bone or a third-degree burn.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

60. In all fairness, they banged up Denzel Washington pretty bad in...

"Under Siege". When the bus explodes.

But then again it was hardly a disposable popcorn movie.

[leftofthedial]

63. happy endings

virtual strangers making love

[Lizzie Borden]

64. Happy endings would be #1, but

that would be followed by: nobody ever having a big nasty dog when murderers are breaking in, and no one ever wearing a cross in a Dracula movie or you know, holding up two crossed fingers.