Are 'plot holes' an excuse?

[Thaluikhain]

Also plotholes that were caused by pure laziness annoy me.

Argh, yes, when the writer could fix then easily, but doesn't seem to bother.

 

[HardkorSB]

What do you guys think? are new films subject to more plot holes than classic films, or do you think people are just looking to tare things down these days because everyone's a critic?

I think that, in the past, we didn't have the internet so even if these complaints existed before, we weren't aware of them.
I also think that because of the fact that we hear so much criticism from everyone about everything, a lot of people (like me, for example) notice more flaws more often than they used to.

I don't care about "plot holes" in regards to our reality (such as "this gun doesn't have this many bullets" or "that fall should have killed him") because a movie can have it's own reality with it's own rules.
What matters is internal consistency.
When a thing happens in the movie that is inconsistent with the movie's reality, that's when pointing it out makes sense.

 

[Dalisclock]

If the plot hole(s) mean that the entire movie/game could have been resolved in 5 minutes if everyone hadn't been acting like an idiot, then yes, plot holes can ruin a movie.

Eagle Eye is my go to movie for this, but most people didn't see it so I'm both glad(that I'm the only one who wasted money on it) and sad(I can't use it as an effective example).

Interestingly, having a bunch of plot holes otherwise is not a deal-breaker but can affect my enjoyment of a game.

I recently replayed the COD:MW games. MW2 has a lot of loose ends and plot holes, but generally works because the overall theme of the Cycle of Revenge and the setpieces in general.

Unfortunately, MW3 was made by a completely different team who apparently didn't seem to get the whole "War is Bad" memo the previous games were operating off of. It also introduced a bunch more plot holes and contradicted at least one very important plot point from the previous game(The same Russian President who ordered the genocidal invasion of the US is suddenly all into a peace treaty, Makarov suddenly running the Russian army, Price hanging out with the Delta team despite being the 2nd most wanted man on earth), making a bunch of stuff make little sense. So yeah, a lot of the missions are fun to play but now feel like a series of barely connected scenarios then an actual plot.

 

[Alterego-X]

Heroes, the show, is a perfect example. So many characters had powers that could have solved EVERY problem that arose single handed, but they refused to use them intelligently.

If you are looking for a good superhero story that takes all the powers to their most intelligently pragmatic conclusions, you should probably try reading Worm [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/].

Warning: Worm is extremely long.