does your level of expertise in a certain subject affect how you watch films/ play games etc

[Erja_Perttu]

The bad swordplay however really irks me, especially because it's really easy to do right! I can count on a single hand how many good/remotely realistic swordfights I've seen in a movie on one hand and still have at least 2 fingers left over. It's annoying because there are 2 mistakes that are almost universal; fighting far too close, and launching attacks that are only ever going to hit the person's sword rather than the person's person.

Oh! In that case, what about the sword fight in The Princess Bride? Because it sure talks a good game.

OT: I tried watching Titanic the other day (with a rifftrax, so it was not only bearable, but funny!) and boy, that's sure got a lot wrong with it.

The mechanics of the sinking are pretty much all wrong, they pretty much performed a character assassination on some of the real people (Murdoch and Molly, here's to you) it does ruin the mood for me. A Night To remember was a much better film.

 

[FallenTraveler]

What's been bugging me lately has been astronomical details. I literally just took a basic astronomy course this summer and have had my immersion broken more times than I can count, mostly due to Premetheus, Alien, Melancholia (terrible film btw), Armageddon, Close encounters of the third kind, and yeah....

It doesn't help that I'm a film student either. That way I can make fun of actions, plot, cinematography, sound, and a many other flaws very easily. Ruining my immersion.

Also, just an aside, in TDKR WHO THE FUCK PUT A TIMER ON THAT BOMB!

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Well, learning to play an instrument has pretty much killed my enjoyment of a lot of music. You learn to dissect songs as you listen to them, so I'll get people telling me to listen to a certain track, and I'll pick out the boring-ass bassline which is just plodding along on root notes, and the chord sequence which I've probably heard a thousand times and think 'meh'. And the drums are usually the same 4/4 pattern through most of the song, with the occasional 'fill' where the drummers just doubles up on a snare, or hits a couple of cymbals.

On the other hand, it does mean I end up enjoying more complicated stuff all the more, because I keep re listening to it to pick out all the little details. Like this song:

Im sure this happens to every musician.

Whenever someone in a movie/TV show etc is playing an instrument but their actions dont match the sound, drives me COMPLETELY insane (Im looking at you, school of rock).

From that point on I really cant take the characters very seriously.

I occasionally see things where the lead guitarist just strums a chord when there's clearly an actual lick being played that would require him to, ya'know, move his fretting hand a bit. Who's playing the lead lick? Is the bassist doing it? Or when the actor goes overboard, flying all over the fretboard, and the actual riff isn't one that requires much movement at all. The plug in baby riff (you know the one) is especially susceptible to this; it's all played in the same place on the neck, yet I see people attempting to air guitar it and going mental.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm as annoyed as many by how games are portrayed in popular TV and movies (Big Bang Theory does ok, of course), but, I do wonder if it's a case of this...

TV Producer: Ok, next scene is the two male leads bonding over a videogame, contact Microsoft and clear us using their system, and Activision to pass usage of Call of Duty.

Runner: Ok, heard back from them both, MS wants half a million to show a 360 on screen for 60 seconds, and Activision wants a million and wants to choose scenes from their upcoming game to be placed in the show.

TV Producer: Fuck em, get props to stick a flashing light on an old video recorder, paint it black, and dig a couple of 80s joysticks outta the props bin, lets go!

I do wonder if it's laziness on the part of the makers, or preciousness and greed on the part of the games industry, or at least certain parts of it, of course.

Just, you think how many controls and rules they place on a damn indie game, how much control would MS want over having a 360 shown in a movie or TV show where millions will see it?

Diva actors would have nothing on them, I'm sure, and just to be clear, I think Sony could be even worse Unless of course it's a Sony Pictures movie, after all, look how they hamstrung the PS3's launch with the blu ray as standard, forcing the price way outta many people's reach. I'm fairly sure they're putting movies first, Sony.

 

[Brodre]

To all you who know science
I am wondering about "Big Bang Theory", do they actually get stuff right? I believe they've said that they do, but I don't know?

For me it is just in general decisions being put up as the only solutions... and then you immediatly think of 3 other and better solutions, nothing related to my education though =) (economics and law) So mostly just illogical stuff =)

Though flaws in history often ruins movies for me...

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

As a writer I can usually spot an entire plot within the first 20-40 minutes. For me watching a movie/tv show is never about 'OMG, this plot is so amazing!' It's about 'how are they going to pull off this plot with even a vague amount of originality.'

Probably the worst for me recently was DKR:

Spoiler

Within the first half hour we see a fusion reactor and get told it was decommissioned because it could become a bomb. Then we see a BatPlane that apparently has a non-functioning autopilot. One that Bruce Wayne apparently could fix.

In the theatre right then I went:
'So the Bad Guys will take control of the fusion reactor and turn it into a bomb. Then Batman will have to fly it away in the plane, which would be a suicide mission except that he fixed the autopilot and thus is able to survive.

Now how does Bane get control of the reactor? Well this woman who's come out of nowhere and is so blatantly Talia Al Ghul it hurts is in control of Wayne Enterprises. Even if she wasn't Talia, she's still the most likely candidate.'

Also obvious, Batman will retire, probably with Catwoman, and this new cop who we've never heard of but who apparently figured the secret out all on his own will become the new one.

And just like that there was no suspense in the movie at all. Sure there were a few minor concerns about would certain characters die or not but the entire movie was so obvious in its progression. Not a deal breaker, because Nolan is still a pretty good director in terms of presentation, but the story was rubbish.

It's why I love shows like Castle or Rizzoli and Isles. Every once in a while they manage to surprise me with who the killer was, but when I look back all the evidence was there to put together. (I used to be able to guess who the killer was in any detective show, including something really out there like Jonathon Creek. It used to drive my family crazy)

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

The bad swordplay however really irks me, especially because it's really easy to do right! I can count on a single hand how many good/remotely realistic swordfights I've seen in a movie on one hand and still have at least 2 fingers left over. It's annoying because there are 2 mistakes that are almost universal; fighting far too close, and launching attacks that are only ever going to hit the person's sword rather than the person's person.

Oh! In that case, what about the sword fight in The Princess Bride? Because it sure talks a good game.

OT: I tried watching Titanic the other day (with a rifftrax, so it was not only bearable, but funny!) and boy, that's sure got a lot wrong with it.

The mechanics of the sinking are pretty much all wrong, they pretty much performed a character assassination on some of the real people (Murdoch and Molly, here's to you) it does ruin the mood for me. A Night To remember was a much better film.

Not sure The Princess Bride fight counts for two reasons:

1. It is the boy's imagination. He doesn't know swordfighting or fencing techniques, so he just images something right out of PotC or the Errol Flynn oeuvre.

2. They aren't fighting for real. They are both master swordsmen who are enjoying themselves and enjoying having a chance to stretch their talents. Inigo outright admits that he doesn't like fighting full force because it's over too quickly, and Westley acknowledges him as an artist of his craft, so why fight seriously?

INIGO: You are using Bonetti's defense against me, eh?

MAN IN BLACK: I thought it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.

INIGO: Naturally, you must expect me to attack with Capo Ferro.

MAN IN BLACK: Naturally. But I find that Thibault cancels Capo Ferro, don't you?

INIGO: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa... which I have!

Also, the moves they talk are real (to a degree), Bonneti was a real swordsman who taught defense and waiting for your opponent to make a mistake, Capo Ferro taught a much more linear type of fencing, Thibault used Spanish fencing which cancelled out jabbing attacks, and Agrippa is sometimes regarded as the man who defined the rapier as a thrusting weapon as well as a cutting weapon.

However, while the terms are real and to an extent using Thibault's method against Capo Ferro's would cancel them out, the moves they are doing are utterly unrelated (see above re: boy doesn't actually know swordfighting moves)

 

[RustlessPotato]

Yeah. I'm a biomedical student and have been so for 2 years. It's annoying when some shows get some things wrong. (or Shampoo commercials, where the shampoo had special Keratine Amino Acid to strengthen your hair. KERATINE AMINO ACID? ARE YOU SERIOUS ? ). I also hate it when you have "diet shows" or something. I saw it on tv once: a woman who's a nutritionist said that you should eat a lot of spinach, because it has loads of chlorophyll, which is the "blood" of the plant that the plant uses for photosynthesis. So by eating spinach, the chlorophyll would oxygenate your blood more. I have never written so much bullshit in my entire life, but people believe that crap. Pseudoscience really should be banned by the government.

The thing that annoys me the most is when people "enhance" a picture by zooming in. CSI does that a lot: zoom in on a picture taken by a camera, add some pixels and tadaah, you got the bad guy.

 

[Something Amyss]

Nope. Not unless they claim realism or accuracy. I had a field day with that terrible King Arthur movie because they advertised it as historically accurate, and yet I can watch far more fantastic Arthurian movies without so much as an eye twitch.

CSI used to do it to me, occasionally, before I realised that they were obviously a Sci-fi show. I mean, I ignored a lot of stuff even then, but occasionally, they would just wave their genitals at science so fervently I did notice.

Do the Americans rape your Language as well?

As an American, allow me to say....Yes, yes they do.

 

[WoW Killer]

Pseudoscience really should be banned by the government.

Either that or teach people to not believe the shit they hear. The trouble is we ban some things and not others. As such there's this partial belief among most laymen that what gets put in adverts must be sort of true, as they wouldn't be allowed to flat out lie. Remove all the legislation, letting everybody bullshit as much as they want, and the general public would be more skeptical.

 

[Brodre]

The thing that annoys me the most is when people "enhance" a picture by zooming in. CSI does that a lot: zoom in on a picture taken by a camera, add some pixels and tadaah, you got the bad guy.

I always write that off as the picture loading

Makes you feel much better =)

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Well, I've stopped watching most modern war movies that aren't Act of Valor because I can't stand how unrealistic the gunplay is. I mean, I understand it's Hollywood, but that doesn't mean you have a Beretta that can fire 500 rounds without reloading (cough* cough* Bruce Willis cough*). This is especially angering because most Hollywood actors have started to believe that guns can just create ammo, and can go through people with ease, and that people can just pick up a gun and pull off another shooting massacre, which is why they're spearheading a bunch of anti-gun legislation in California.

Recently, I took a friend who mostly believed in Hollywood's lies about guns to the range and we shot at some paper targets with .22's from about 15-20 meters away. It was only after he missed most of his shots that he understood what I was saying and agreed that you have to practice with guns to be an adequate shot.

 

[Itsthatguy]

When they took off their helmets like 20 minutes into Prometheus, the movie was ruined for me. YOU DO NOT TAKE YOUR SHIT OFF JUST BECAUSE THE AIR IS BREATHABLE!!!!! Noobs...

This, but extend it to almost any game/film/whatever with characters taking of their helmets as soon as they find someplace with air. Its done all the time and is so stupid.

 

[EvilMaggot]

have been in the military i get the shits and giggles when i see movies but mostly i can look past it ^^

 

[BlackStar42]

Yeah. I'm a biomedical student and have been so for 2 years. It's annoying when some shows get some things wrong. (or Shampoo commercials, where the shampoo had special Keratine Amino Acid to strengthen your hair. KERATINE AMINO ACID? ARE YOU SERIOUS ? ). I also hate it when you have "diet shows" or something. I saw it on tv once: a woman who's a nutritionist said that you should eat a lot of spinach, because it has loads of chlorophyll, which is the "blood" of the plant that the plant uses for photosynthesis. So by eating spinach, the chlorophyll would oxygenate your blood more. I have never written so much bullshit in my entire life, but people believe that crap. Pseudoscience really should be banned by the government.

I'm about 99.9% sure the woman you're on about is Gillian McKeith. Or, to give her her full medical title, Gillian McKeith. I'll let Dara Ó Briain explain it, he's funnier than I am.

 

[DugMachine]

I minored in Music (guitar) so i've studied it quite a bit and while i'm no master I can say i'm quite good compared to most. Soooo you can imagine i'm really anal about guitar. My nephew is constantly trying to impress me with his Metallica covers and I have a few friends who try to show off country songs to me when I really don't give a shit!

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I suppose my expertise in movies affects how I watch movies. For example, I was with my girlfriend when I saw a trailer for a film called The Sessions about a quadriplegic paying a woman to take his virginity. I gradually thought to myself, "wait, I read this" because I had seen a very similar true life essay. Sure enough, immediately after I said that out loud, it flashed "based on a true story." And then there were one or two lines about "only six sessions" and "I think I'm falling for her." And I was like "That's bullshit. That wasn't in the essay." I then proceeded to lay out the entire three act structure of the movie and how it would exactly play out. I said "Guess we don't have to see that movie now."

This is why filmmakers who know more about movies than I do are so damned great, i.e. why people like me tend to worship people like Quentin Tarantino. Another thing I'll do (and have done on these boards) is focus more on the stuff I like in bad movies and the stuff I dislike in good movies. I'll pick apart Dark Knight Rises all day long, knowing full well I adore the movie, while I'll talk about a goofy campy werewolf comedy called Full Moon High like it's a lost gem. Then when someone watches it, they'll say "that was horrible" and I'm like "well, yeah."