Things you're tired of seeing in movies

[Riceball]

To get things back on topic. It always annoys me in (mostly) sci-fi where they have Admirals commanding captaining their own flagships. This doesn't happen in real life because they're too busy commanding their fleet, this is why they have Falg Captains who are in direct command of the flagship, allowing the Admiral to treat their flagship as just another ship in their fleet.

 

[Cephus]

To get things back on topic. It always annoys me in (mostly) sci-fi where they have Admirals commanding captaining their own flagships. This doesn't happen in real life because they're too busy commanding their fleet, this is why they have Falg Captains who are in direct command of the flagship, allowing the Admiral to treat their flagship as just another ship in their fleet.

That assumes that the command structure is the same. In a lot of things, you have like Grand Admirals who do all the command work at the top. When you have as many ships as they do in some of these worlds, there are going to have to be additional layers in the command structure.

 

[batguy]

Darth Vader flies a TIE fighter at Yavin.

President Lone Starr flies an F-18 in 'Independence Day'.

It's a standard problem in Hollywood.

In real life most of the hands-on involvement is for people lower down in the ranks. The top brass's energies and bodies are too valuable for that. But having them sitting in chairs & talking all day is not good for the storytelling.

Nobody wants to watch a 'Top Gun' sequel where 50yo Maverick is a high-ranking officer and never flies a plane anymore.

 

[Richard Baker]

Darth Vader flies a TIE fighter at Yavin.

President Lone Starr flies an F-18 in 'Independence Day'.

It's a standard problem in Hollywood.

In real life most of the hands-on involvement is for people lower down in the ranks. The top brass's energies and bodies are too valuable for that. But having them sitting in chairs & talking all day is not good for the storytelling.

Nobody wants to watch a 'Top Gun' sequel where 50yo Maverick is a high-ranking officer and never flies a plane anymore.

I like how TNG tried to address this with the 'Away Teams'- keep Picard on the Bridge and have others directly deal with the situation,
It was not executed consistently and later mostly ignored but it was a good attempt...

 

[greenmachines]

I like how TMG tried to address this with the 'Away Teams'- keep Picard on the Bridge and have others directly deal with the situation,
It was not executed consistently and later mostly ignored but it was a good attempt...

Ditto. I felt the same as the series started.

 

[The Goon]

...Nobody wants to watch a 'Top Gun' sequel where 50yo Maverick is a high-ranking officer and never flies a plane anymore.

No, they leave that for one of his "too cool for the room" former wingmen who has been promoted out of the cockpit and behind a desk.

 

[TheWolfhound]

4 years old, neighbor kid, 5, got run down crossing in front of our house after school, only broken arm. 5 years old, neighborhood boys were running a little fight club next to the school and would grab passing kids and surround them and force them to fight or get beat up anyway and my best friend decided to fight instead of take a few whacks from the bigger kids so I lost a friend that day and his mom of course called mine to find out why he was beat to crap. 5 years old, neighbor jumped the curb trying to run us over, cousin had flipped him the bird. 5 years, my brother and sister had gone to a special summer activity at school and I went down to walk with them on the way home. Half way back we hear a bunch of kids talking about this new clubhouse they built. 2 hours later we are dragging my drunk sister home. In the clubhouse was 2 preteen boys with stolen alcohol hoping to get some girls drunk. 6 years old, selling candy down the street, old man pulls me into his house, closes the door and kisses me, let me go only because I showed him my friend was waiting for me right in front of the house. It goes on but I am happy to be alive. Crap happens to some and others are just way luckier.

Jeez mate, that's shocking. To many nutters and perverts running around. I noticed how many young lads in suped up cars are waiting outside schools at home time. They may be picking up brothers and sisters but I think the police should be asking them some questions at least. I dont blame parents for doing the school run.

 

[TheWolfhound]

I know what makes me annoyed in movies. When some 5ft 2in, kick ass dolly bird with an M4 rifle slung over her shoulder, a bullet proof vest, bare arms, ass hugging combat trousers, tattoos, make up, designer sweat and grime on face and chewing gum swaggers onto the screen in command of a team of Navy seals. Just like real life! Seen enough, goodnight, click. Unless it's Vasquez out of Aliens.

 

[Riceball]

That assumes that the command structure is the same. In a lot of things, you have like Grand Admirals who do all the command work at the top. When you have as many ships as they do in some of these worlds, there are going to have to be additional layers in the command structure.

It's not about command structure so much as it's about responsibilities. By having a fleet commander, like an Admiral, not directly command their own flagship, allows them to focus on commanding their fleet. It frees them from having to tell a helmsman which way to go, how fast, riding targets, getting target solutions, battle damage, etc. Their flagship becomes just another ship in their fleet, and it allows them to only have to worry about what they want the ship to do in the overall action.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

Obvious fight or action sequences that are cgi. Gone are the days of heightened drama and suspense.

 

[jkno]

Transformers
Godzilla
Superheroes
Fast & Furious

 

[Richard Baker]

I was watching a fairly decent movie last night- 'Hideaway' when one of the worse tropes ruining.
Basic storyline four robbers, one injured, take refuge in a remote farmhouse and hold the owners hostage. The fun part is that place they are hiding in is more dangerous that they are,
The Trope was the classic "turn on the TV and a news broadcast starts the moment the TV is on" talking about the robbery
WTF?
It would not be that hard to stage the scene with the TV on for a bit before getting to it or having it on in the background and someone notices, but to have the the news update start the second the screen lights up to say the one thing to move the plot forward?

 

[Uridium]

It would not be that hard to stage the scene with the TV on for a bit before getting to it or having it on in the background and someone notices, but to have the the news update start the second the screen lights up to say the one thing to move the plot forward?

Shaun of the Dead did this really well if i remember correctly. Which isn't surprising, as its a masterclass in film writing.

Also the almost behind the scenes story of the pandemic killing the humans in the more recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
I seem to recall that part of the story was almost completely told in background TV spots etc, while the foreground was the story of the Dr and the Alzheimer's drugs improving the mind of the Chimp.

 

[Treadwell]

This thread is so long I might have already said this, but one of the most annoying things about that trope is when someone calls a character to turn on a particular channel, and even though they're coming in late, the report somehow still starts from the beginning when they turn it on and feels complete and has no feeling of having missed context or information.