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!

[–] tfbeadling 16 years ago

I hate it when an actor is playing an artist and you never actually see them draw/paint anything. Even worse is when you only see them completing a painting, laying down some choreographed stokes haha.

[–] DameDigbyChickenCaesar 16 years ago

That driving thing bugs me too. You're an ACTOR. ACT like you actually have to keep your eyes on the frk'n road!

One thing that really gets my goat is faccents (fake accents). When the accents go in and out. The actor's French and one minute, they're speaking with a French accent and the next sentence outta there mouth is in Cali english. GRRRRR! I don't know why that bugs me so, but it really does.

"I just want my phone call."

[–] ahmertension 15 years ago

also, in historical movies everyone speaks with a british accent. especially romans and greek nobility. i mean wouldn't the romans sound like goddam italians?!

Everything is Becoming, Nothing Is - Plato

[–] BlueGreen 15 years ago

i mean wouldn't the romans sound like goddam italians?!

Hardly, since the Italian language didn't exist at the time...

Are you telling me you'd rather hear British or American or French or whatever actors mangling some sort of pseudo-Italo-Latin, instead of delivering their lines (hopefully good ones) in their own language?
I mean, we all know that it's a FILM, not REAL Romans - don't we?

[–] bj_e 15 years ago

also, in historical movies everyone speaks with a british accent. especially romans and greek nobility. i mean wouldn't the romans sound like goddam italians?!

I think this has to be forgiven. In fact, im not even sure if i prefer plain english or "faccents". I mean you cant have the actors speak latin, can you? So why even bother with having them adopt a southern european english accent? Rome was a great show about the romans, and i dont think the show employed faccents, as i recall anyway.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] fakeemail2486 13 years ago

also, in historical movies everyone speaks with a british accent. especially romans and greek nobility. i mean wouldn't the romans sound like goddam italians?!

LMAO! I AGREE!

[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

also, in historical movies everyone speaks with a british accent. especially romans and greek nobility. i mean wouldn't the romans sound like goddam italians?!

Actually no, they wouldn't. This one is a bit more excusable than most of the examples on this thread, because it would literally be impossible to speak exactly the way Romans 2,000 years ago spoke, with a perfect Latin accent. Latin, not Italian. And even Latin had a great variety of accents, both around the peninsula and even within the city of Rome. The senators from the rich parts of the city, and the poor from the Subura (the working-class section of Rome), spoke the same language with different accents.

But in general I do agree about "foreigners" speaking with British accents in movies even when it isn't necessary. For example I saw a movie called Gorky Park not long ago, which was set in the Soviet Union. The main character was a Soviet policeman, and he was played by an American actor who spoke with a British accent just to convey "foreignness". Like, what? Considering an actual Soviet cop would have spoken in Russian (or another language depending on which part of the country) and not English at all, why go to the effort of speaking with a false British accent just to convey a "foreign" feel in a film that's set in a country that's "foreign" to Americans anyway? Like, what, the audience is gonna forget that the movie is set in a "foreign" country unless there's an arbitrary "foreign" accent to remind them?

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

[–] iheartlucy 16 years ago

i hate it when they watch some news or a segment on tv and then they turn it off right away.

[–] Fiction0 16 years ago

When a movie or scene is filmed in one place, but is suppose to be another. Like in American Gangster with the scene that was "in New Jersey", you could clearly see the Williamsburg Bridge in the background...is it really that hard to either:

1. Take the 20-30 minutes to actually get to New Jersey to do the scene.
2. Do the scene not near a landmark which is distinctive/defining of a certain place.

Also, when the survival of the main character is purely based on luck.

Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.

[–] mr_dark_eyed 16 years ago

the driving thing: especially in chasing or when they are driving like 100 miles/hour.. how long can you keep your eyes off the road when you are driving that fast?
another thing is the silly jokes they make when they are in danger or about to die, get shot, fall from the 15th floor, etc.. a typical thing of action movies like.. Die Hard!!!! Bruce willis in general loves this kind of thing.
when they are having sex (if its not 18 or R rated or something) and you just see them after sex and she is covering her breasts with white (usually white) sheets. why will you cover yourself in bed after having sex?? didn't he see her fully nude, like a minute ago? or is she cold? I never been with a woman who had to cover herself after sex!!

Im sure i can come up with much more.. just give me a couple of days!

[–] chris_the_hot_male 16 years ago

Women wearing bras in sex scenes - Knocked Up being a recent offender. It's not like there aren't any topless shots elsewhere in the movie. It just seems wierd.

Thunderstorms coinciding with bad news/emotional moments.

The "Misunderstanding" device in Rom-Coms/Love stories, which usually occurs two thirds into the film. You know, where the lovers finally get together only for them to get crossed wires over something or other and break up. Of course the misunderstanding is revealed to one of the lovers who makes extraordinary efforts to reconcile just before the other one leaves town for ever/marries the bad guy.

Dodgy mobile phone receptions/batteries in horrors.

[–] pscott1045 16 years ago

A character character walks away from a building and toward the camera [in slow motion, the building explodes, and said character doesn't even blink.

Just one time, I want to see the character jump, or start, or turn around and look.

[–] starcookies 16 years ago

pscott1045, see the beginning of "Children of Men" for that. But yeah, second that when it comes to stupid action movies.

Did you notice that he threw you in the garbage?

[–] sweep24m 16 years ago

It's annoying to watch women in convertible cars and just a slight breeze ruffles their hair. Please. In the real world, the wind whips your hair into a tangled mess.

[–] Princess-Leia1 16 years ago

You should watch Bridget Jones's Diary for the perfect woman in a convertible ride. Absolutley hilarious!!

I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy.
T~O

[–] Lady_Pearl 15 years ago

It's annoying to watch women in convertible cars and just a slight breeze ruffles their hair. Please. In the real world, the wind whips your hair into a tangled mess.

EXACTLY. If only movies realised that in reality it's less delicately windswept Goddess, and more gale-force battered hag.

I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.

[–] marre-rh 16 years ago

I hate it when somebody turns on the TV and that exactly what they want to watch begins the second the TV is on, and it´s also the right channel. Or when they want to watch the news and when they turn the TV on, the exact news appear.
it´s just so annoying!

[–] portforchalkorlimestone 16 years ago

marre-rh, I was going to write the same exact thing! That bugs me so much! I also hate it when a character will put on a video or dvd or something, and it goes right to the start after they push one button. No changing the channel to put it on the right one to correspond with the dvd player or anything, and no having to fastforward/skip through all the crap that they put at the beginning of videos/dvds and then choosing the play option on the dvd menu. It's so unrealistic and it bugs me sooo much!

[–] InsaneFreedom 15 years ago

I have a few personal hates.
Such as the stupid missunderstandings in Rom-com movies. You're just sitting there thinking, Just waiting for he or she to really pissed off, call the whole thing off and storm out. Then guilty party will realise the error of their ways and fall to their knees begging for forgiveness. Just once I want one of them to suddenly say, "No. Screw you, ya big arse" or maybe one of them could get hit by a bus. Anything to shake things up a bit...

Or when the bad guy takes great pains to explain their plan. You gotta laugh otherwise you'd cry.

Another mentioned one is when they hang up the phone they NEVER say goobye, see ya, kiss me arse... Nothing. It always strikes me as rude. And I know its just a movie but c'mon COMMON MANNERS lol!

My final one is very vague but here it is anyway.
It's when the main character is doing something or decides to go somewhere and you're screaming at the TV, "Don't go that way you friggin eejit. It's a trap!" Or something like that but then they do and I instantly hate them bacuse of their stupidity. You're left there thinking, "What an tosspot. Even I knew not to do that." And the main guy could get hit with a laser beam from the moon and die in a tear jerking manner and I'd be like, "Meh he was an idiot anyway."

Éire is tir an fearr sa domhain!

[–] yfguitarist 14 years ago

Another phone peeve is when someone calls and doesn't say anything at all, then hangs up. Happens all the time in movies but I've never heard of that in reality.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Affirmative_Dave 16 years ago

...when they kiss while it is obvious they don't really.

...when the music doesn't fit the images.

...when the script is nice but actors are bad.

...when actors are good but script is stupid.

...when the image is not perfect sharp.

[–] Princess-Leia1 16 years ago

I just thought of one of the most annoying things in movies. When a movie (or TV show) takes place in America, it's almost always in New York City or LA. As if the rest of country doesn't even exist or is not remotely interesting.

How is the rest of the country supposed to relate to those people? The majority of us are nothing like the types of people who live in these cities.

Now that's annoying.

[–] toaduser 16 years ago

I hate tacked on love stories where you can't understand why the guy and the girl like each other. I guess for pure coincidence that they're both there.

As far as bad dubbing goes, the scene in Ghostbusters:

"Everything was fine until Willy Wick here shut off the breaker."
"These men caused an explosion downtown!"
"Is this true?"
"Yes, he's some sort of a rodent, I'm not sure which one."

They may as well cut the scene out.

I also hate when people use computers and the layout is so fancy looking, it would never actually pass as an operating system.

I also hate it when child actors talk.

[–] SweetSorcia 14 years ago

Penny, I've complained about this for years. America is a HUGE country, so why does 99% of every move/TV show take place in LA or New York? We get it already, they're exciting places. Move on, please.

"Well!!! Since when did you become the physical type?"

[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

I just thought of one of the most annoying things in movies. When a movie (or TV show) takes place in America, it's almost always in New York City or LA. As if the rest of country doesn't even exist or is not remotely interesting.

That one has always, always bothered me. Like, it's one of the biggest countries on Earth, with cities all over the place and people living everywhere, and somehow everything that ever happens can only happen in one of those two cities.

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

[–] almostknowhere 16 years ago

The driving thing irks me like you wouldn't believe.

When someone cracks a book in a movie and some how they are magically on the page they need to read, or only need to turn a few pages.

In your typical high school movie, kids wearing halter tops/skimpy clothing or talking on their cell phones.

When people don't pay for dinner/cabs in movies.

When ensembles literally change from one frame to the next. A perfect example is this scene in "Bring It On" when some chick is dancing and she goes from wearing a bikini top to a halter top.

How when women get sopping wet, their make-up never runs.

Guys who can take a massive beating, but wince and hiss when the heroine is cleaning them up.

And for some reason, when the length/amount of something drastically changes from one scene to the next (like how much of a cigarette is smoked or water in a glass.) That one is kind of lame, but it has always bugged me.

[–] Flashbacks_of_A_Girl 16 years ago

When a background extra walks by and 9 seconds later walks by again.
Like they don't have enough extras so they send the same ones in circles.

This purposefully happens in "Truman Show" but the worst I've seen this act is in "A Walk to Remember".

The same 2 guys are always walking around in the backgrounds, or they change scenes and the kid walks by going the same direction as he was before. Hmmmm

_________________________
*Human After All*

*I Love the Taste of it. HOT, FRESHLY KILLED Blood*

[–] ireadthatgrassisgreen 16 years ago

Also, when I see that over-used cliche when two people sit in a car, one of them is driving and in the exact moment they reach for an important/serious/funny subject, the one near the driver tells the driver to look out and in that instant they crash. Or they are really close to. Grr!

--
Forget her, she's a predator posing as a house pet.

[–] robeacero1 10 years ago

Guys who can take a massive beating, but wince and hiss when the heroine is cleaning them up.

I always get annoyed by that. If you can handle a brutal beating, you obviously can handle someone touching the wounds. That is so unrealistic and I always notice it and I found it extremely annoying.