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What's one thing that will ruin a movie for you?

8 years ago by baron778 with 59 comments

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  • drunkenninja
    +17

    The Wilhelm scream.

    • cunt
      +6

      I love this, I have my ringtone set as it. I love turning the volume up, leaving my phone somewhere and ringing it

    • SevenTales
      +5

      ...I hate it so much now.

    • madjo
      +3

      That and the 'cat-wilhelm scream', you know the one.

    • xg549
      +3

      The fact that there is such a stark division - people who absolutely hate it, absolutely love it, literally do not care at all, and nearly no one lies anywhere in between - is what makes the wilhelm scream so amusing to me.

  • a7h13f
    +16

    The trailer giving away too many jokes/twists/details. If I come away from the trailer feeling like I've already watched the movie, I likely won't watch it.

    • Zeus
      +7

      I started avoiding trailers entirely. You have NO IDEA how great Mad Max: Fury Road is when you don't know a damn thing about it going in. Every twisted surprise was just that -- a surprise!

    • DCSpud
      +7

      I was telling my friend he should see Ex Mechina as it seemed like something he may enjoy. He responds with oh you mean the movie where "Entire plot happens?" Apprently he saw the trailer and it gave away the entire plot, including the twist... Like seriously...

  • SevenTales (edited 8 years ago)
    +13

    Oh man. So many things.
    Realistic movies which breaks physics.
    Most medical procedures. Like removing an arrow in the field, or using a defibrillator for no pulse.
    Katana fights with swords that clings together. In real life, this is how you get chinks and breaks.
    Bodies that flies when hit by bullets. Newton would be proud.
    Gigantic plot holes.
    Completely unrealistic dialogues, and characters retaining crucial information because it makes for more drama.
    shaky cam.
    shaky cam with fast cuts to make the action more "dynamic".
    Overusing color filters.
    Terrible acting. (I can get by bad acting, but there's a special hell for some actors who really can't act for shit)

    • zyrthofar
      +3

      My spouse thinks I'm funny when I get pissed off because the physics are off. It's ok for some movies (eg. Harry Potter), but for most of them, please make something realistic!

      • Omuhoololi
        +4

        Nothing ruined the movie Gravity more than the wire dangling scene in the middle of microgravity space.

        • zyrthofar
          +3

          Oh, I didn't notice anything wrong. Maybe I was too focused on how good Sandra Bullock looked :).

      • SevenTales
        +4

        Exactly! If it's fantastical or sci-fi or on purpose that's completely okay, but when you make a realistic movie, please get your facts straight.

  • spaceghoti
    +10

    Oh, so many things. This is probably why I don't see a lot of movies today. But a non-canonical list would be as follows:

    - Insulting my intelligence. Lots of films take shortcuts for the sake of plot when it really wouldn't be that hard to get it right. The latest remake of Total Recall insulted my intelligence when they asserted that England was naturally free of the toxic air that infected the rest of the planet when France was deadly. No, sorry, weather patterns don't work that way.

    - Important characters that are one-dimensional. I understand that not every character that appears in the film is going to have a rich, vibrant history driving their motivations with opportunities for growth. The lady selling tickets who gets blown past as the hero is in pursuit of the bad guy won't get the opportunity to demonstrate that she's a layered and complicated individual. But if your protagonist has only one expression the whole movie and never seems to have a good reason to learn anything or show anything more than one emotion then I'm going to get bored really fast. Same with villains: if the premise of the story is a struggle between good and evil or even just competing interests, the mustache-twirling villain just doesn't cut it. They need to be more than evil, they need to be credible or at least fun.

    - Juvenile humor. I avoid most comedies these days because they rely on fart jokes more than anything else. Seth McFarlane sincerely disappointed me with his Million Ways To Die In The West because it seemed to rely too much on toilet humor.

    - Plot holes. I know this can be hard to avoid, but if I can think of a solution to the problem presented on the spot in my chair I'm not likely to take the threat of the problem seriously. Likewise if the direction of the story makes no bloody sense. The reboot of Star Trek really got my goat that way when they had cadets in the Academy boarding starships and outranking other officers even though they hadn't even graduated yet. I will never forgive Abrams for that.

    - Predictability. This one is questionable, because even if I can predict where the plot is going and how the characters are going to behave it's still possible to keep me entertained if they do it well or with sufficient originality. However, most movies fail to cross that threshold, they just stay in the rut and play out the scene where everybody knows what's going to happen. Orson Scott Card offered the best advice to avoid this that I've ever heard: think of your character's first reaction and throw it out. Take the second reaction and put it on a shelf for later. Take the third reaction and use that.

    - Bad acting. Even the best-written plot can't save a movie from a bad actor. There are far, far too many highly paid actors whose only advantage seems to be the way they look or talk. Sometimes not even that, they're just riding the hype. For such actors I will skip the movie if I know they're going to play a central character.

    And so on....

    • PushPull
      +3

      Seth McFarlane sincerely disappointed me with his Million Ways To Die In The West because it seemed to rely too much on toilet humor.

      Yeah, but the Mila Kunis tie in was golden......

      • spaceghoti
        +2

        Yeah, but the Mila Kunis tie in was golden......

        I barely know who that is, let alone what the tie in was.

        • fred (edited 8 years ago)
          +3

          when he spoke Indian and they were chiding him for not wanting to take drugs, he said "Mila Kunis" which translated to "Fine!" in the subtitles.

          She is pretty, and popular with many because she is down to earth, is a gamer and isn't all caught up in the Hollywood BS...

          • spaceghoti
            +2

            when he spoke Indian and they were chiding him for not wanting to take drugs, he said "Mila Kunis" which translated to "Fine!" in the subtitles.

            ...Okay. I don't remember that scene, but I may have dozed off at that point.

            • fred (edited 8 years ago)
              +3

              I just watched it the other day and didn't remember it either. I had to find the youtube clip to figure it out.

              Of course now I cant find the goddam clip.

  • baron778
    +10

    For me it's shameless product placement.

    • idlethreat
      +4
    • StarmanSuper
      +3

      Jurassic World was awful for this. One character was introduced Beats first.

    • cunt
      +2

      If it's done in a way which adds humour(sex tape) i'm all for it. The likes of a film where the Apple logo is visible on a laptop for example i'm not.

  • cunt (edited 8 years ago)
    +7

    Where the Kid/Partner/Friend just wont listen.

    Dad: Theres a tornado heading straight for you get in to the shelter

    Daughter: Why?

    Dad: Theres a tornado heading straight for you get in to the shelter

    Daughter: But mum isn't here

    Dad: Theres a tornado heading straight for you get in to the shelter

    Daughter: But i'm having a dump

    Dad: Theres a tornado heading straight for you get in to the shelter

    Shit like this winds me up something rotten

    or

    Horror Films - Horror films provoke a fight or flight response. If i'm in a cinema seat i can't act upon these and so instead of entertaining me or scaring me they just make me stressed and uncomfortable

  • Gozzin
    +5

    Repetitive plots..I've not been to a movie in years as they all feel the same.

  • Xeno
    +5

    Sexism from a main character that is supposed to be liked. This is often my problem with many comedies.

  • DCSpud
    +4

    I've had this happen too many times, where the kid behind me is determined to obliterate my chair. It's like he was in the middle of the movie and forgot that he missed leg day and needed to make it up.

  • tehdiplomat
    +4

    Aside from some of the others that have been posted (turning your phone on in front of me and blinding my adjusted eyes near the top of the list), it's computer hacking with made up computer terminology (or actually terminology used incorrectly). And the worst of these is when they get IP Addresses wrong.

    I know you're just randomly making up IPs, but for the love of god, just don't choose a number higher than 255. Mr Robot so far has done a pretty good job of getting it's programming jargon right, but I'm pretty sure I saw at least once where the IPs were wrong.

  • DrunkOldMan
    +3

    Brad Pitt

    • zyrthofar
      +4

      Any reason why? There are a lot of fad actors in movies, but I sure don't consider Brad Pitt as one. What movie did he star in that made you hate him?

      • DrunkOldMan
        +4

        I think it's because early in his career all the women flocked to him cause of his looks whether it was a good movie or a crappy movie, so anytime I see him in anything I think almost "chick flick". BUT I will admit this much, I watched the movie Fury that he was in and once I found out Shia Labutt (I think he's a douche bag, just my opinion!) was in it also, I almost turned it off, BUT because I enjoy WW2 movies I kept watching and I have to say it wasn't a bad movie at all.

        • zyrthofar
          +7

          I understand that. It's the same with DiCaprio - made a very popular movie, girls began swooning for him, but turned out to have a lot of talent.

          It's different for some other actors, eg. the two Twilight male actors. Their popularity was disproportional to their talent. Unless I'm gravely mistaken, of course.

        • tehdiplomat
          +6

          Wow really? Some of my favorite 90s movies have Brad Pitt in them (12 Monkeys, Se7en). I don't really consider him being in a movie means it'll be a chick flick.

          • DrunkOldMan
            +2

            Just my perceptive, not trying to dog Pitt out of anything he's done, the Jennifer marriage Jolle thing didn't make him look any better to me, just saying!

  • ToixStory
    +3

    Product placement and shaky cam. Especially since, maybe it's just me, but it seems like movies have a LOT more of this nowadays and I can't stand either of them. One of the recent movies that came out which I loved was the film Kingsman: The Secret Service and a big reason I loved it was no shaky cam during the fights and no product placement.

    • gabe2068
      +4

      I hate shaky cam with a deep seeded passion. Its just like a really quiet scene and then, LOUD NOISE violent shaking and blurred figures

    • mathematical
      +2

      What about the catered McDonalds meal? I mean it didn't really feel like product placement, but still...

  • septimine
    +3

    I think for me it's the convenient solution that shouldn't be there and only exist to make the good guys meet or win.

    Star Trek reboot actually did this twice. First, Kirk gets kicked out of the ship onto I-can't-believe-it's-not-Hoth where it just so happens old Spock is waiting. Then it just so happens that they meet Scotty who invents a way to beam Kirk back to the ship. I mean come on, I hate that because they didn't even try to come up with a logical reason for old Spock to be on the planet, or for an obscure (at the time) engineer to be able to do with chewing gum and an Apple Ii what an entire nation with quadrillion dollar budgets can't do. It doesn't have to be a great reason, just not "herp derp because it's what we need to happen "

    • cailihphiliac
      +3

      Did they "just so happen to" meet Scotty? I thought Spock took Kirk to meet him because Spock knew that would help all the situations.

  • BucksinSixxx
    +3

    People talking during it. The only voices I should hear when I watch something is the actors.

  • westlake
    +3

    Nicholas Cage

    • stoa
      +2

      Hahaha!! That's true.

  • Shinyegg
    +2

    When I look in the actors eyes and can see camera crew.

  • Nerdbiscuit
    +2

    Someone munching loudly on popcorn right behind me. It's bad when it's anywhere, but if they're chewing loudly and directly behind me I'll just straight-up leave. Can't handle that.

  • zerozechs
    +2

    Unnecessary interaction with weapons to make some sort of dramatic point. Cocking back hammers on pistols, racking the slide on pistols and shotguns, clacking noises when firearms are pointed etc. It's incredibly stupid, and it's no wonder people have unrealistic ideas of what firearms are like in real life.

  • Mac
    +2

    Unnecessary side love interests. There seems to be one in every movie where a male character begins to have feelings for another female character and almost always they live happily ever after.

  • nopassword
    +2

    The shaky camera technique which more movies are adopting these days, makes me feel queasy and I'd walk out.

  • stoa
    +1

    A predictable plot.

  • Ajwerth
    +1

    For me bad dialogue if the dialogue makes the characters sound like idiots, when they're not supposed to be, all I can focus on is how stupid they sound.