Things that Hollywood gets wrong (and when they get it right)

[Life in Paradise]

The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work.  For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go.  If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond).   But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.

Sometimes its for the plot, but not always.  That is just how out of touch those people are.

"Out of touch"?  Rural areas are, in fact, filled with inbred toothless hicks.  Source: every rural area I've ever been to.

As for the part of your post that isn't an errant swipe at your ideological foes, there's nothing interesting about a road trip on interstates.  You get on, drive, stop when you need to eat or drink or sleep or your vehicle needs gas, and arrive at your destination.  Roll credits.  Now that I think about it, Rain Man did a nice job of acknowledging that fact by having Raymond state that he didn't want to drive on interstates.  Smokey and the Bandit kinda did that at the beginning of the movie, but then forgot it.

And speaking of Smokey and the Bandit, Bandit was driving a Trans Am with an automatic transmission, but the sound they used was of a car with a manual transmission.

Plus in Smokey and the Bandit, the Sally Field character says are we going 1XX? The speedometers on TransAms did not go up as far as what she said, and it was obvious that it was the Km speed.  (I know that because I was looking at those cars back then-wouldn't be allowed to own one at 16 or 17, though)

[triplemultiplex]

Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>".  This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too.  When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.

[Max Rockatansky]

Wasn't the original Planet of the Apes set in 3978?  That's certainly not enough time geologically for New York City to resemble coastal California.  None of the skyscrapers seen in Beneath Planet of the Apes in the Forbidden Zone would survive even two centuries standing.  The Doomsday Bomb in Beneath Planet of the Apes is incredibly unfeasible given they elude to it being capable of detonating the Earth.  Shame they didn't go with a Cobalt Bomb concept given that kind of fit the appearances of the members of the Atomic Bomb Cult.

Yeah they seemed to be going more for themes that reflected on contemporary civilization rather than hard science with their portrayal of a post-apocalypse.
The 'bathtub ring' of Lake Powell really stands out to me in the original film.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes really annoyed me that the conclusion was a human destroying the remnant human civilization and the ape civilization for basically no reason.  We've had tons of terrible eras in our past, so there was nothing redeemable about either society that they should have a chance to figure it out for themselves?  I get it that it's commentary about the destructive nature of man or the stakes of the Cold War or whatever but it didn't seem like a reasonable action for the human in the moment.  It was just a big "Kill me, will you? Well, I'll show you!  I'll show all of y'all!!"  He destroyed the world rather than let the apes conquer the last humans.  That's insanely short-sighted and accomplishes nothing.  Yeah, yeah, like nuclear war; super not subtle; but it still doesn't make sense for that one human in that one moment.

Destroying the world out of spite does seem on brand for Charlton Heston though.  I thought the third Planet of the Apes was way better even if it was just a reverse play on the original.

Edit:  Apparently I'm not the only one who liked Escape from Planet of the Apes, it has a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score.

[J N Winkler]

Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>".  This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too.  When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.

No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.

This error appears not just in movies and TV, but books too.  I often wonder if it is a copyediting problem.

[jeffandnicole]

Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>".  This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too.  When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.

No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.

This error appears not just in movies and TV, but books too.  I often wonder if it is a copyediting problem.

If the copyeditor is in California, they're not going to know any better either.

[cwf1701]

Hollywood often has dialogue that refers to highways that are supposed to be in some other part of the country as "The <insert number>".  This is of course a west coast only vernacular and I think they are so used to hearing it in their daily lives, they just assume that's the way the rest of the country talks about the freeways in their city, too.  When this happens in a show or movie, it pulls me out of the world they're trying to create.
No one east of the continental divide is going to refer to Interstate 10 as "The 10" in common parlance, so if I hear that in a movie that's supposed to take place in, say, Texas, it shatters the suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to enjoy a movie.

In Detroit, on some of the Canadian radio/TV stations, they use "the 401" or the "EC Row" for the freeways in Ontario.

[abefroman329]

Tattoos.  A tattoo does not look fully healed the minute the artist is complete.  Ever.

[Rothman]

Tattoos.  A tattoo does not look fully healed the minute the artist is complete.  Ever.

Ha!  Good point.

[formulanone]

Drivers almost always get great parking spaces in movies, TV shows, and commercials. In most cases, we'd get our vehicles towed. Of course, they tend to break down at inopportune times or crash more often, so it's a trade-off.

[ZLoth]

The use of technology in movies, shows, and commercial.

One thing that bothers me is when there is a "signal problem" with a digital device, they portray it as either "static" on the screen, or the picture display is distorted. Uh, no, this isn't an old analog television. You'll get a message "Signal lost".

How about those crime shows where we will search for a suspect. Initiating search, and we see all of the criminal's pictures/fingerprints/symbols flashing quickly by on the screen until we get a "search complete". A couple of problems with this.... while it looks dramatic, it restricts the search speed to the screen refresh rate, which is probably 60 or 75 frames per second (I'm assuming they AREN'T using gamer monitors here). The lab technician is probably using the computer as a "client" querying a centralized database server farm, which means each of those photos has to be sent over a high-speed data connection, decoded, and displayed. That isn't an efficient use of resources.

Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.

[hotdogPi]

Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.

My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.

[Rothman]

Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.

My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.

This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate.  Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.

[cwf1701]

Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.

My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.

This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate.  Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.

I know many states do not allow for I or O (or D) on the plates. Shows and movies like Adam-12 often will use something like KAO-535 or 345-ILC when they call for info on a plate. Even today, states like CA do not assign plates with letter with I or O because those letters might get mistaken for 1 or 0.

[formulanone]

Then, of course, they can ZOOM into a photo, perform some image enhancement, and VOLIA, a blob of ten pixels will provide us with a nice and clear license plate. Unless the picture source is at 8K resolution (yeah, right), this is highly unlikely.

My digital camera that I used in 2011 was 4000×3000, and iPhone photos are similar (I believe 4096×3072). With license plates, there is probably an algorithm to recognize letters and digits at lower resolution than humans can figure out simply because there are limited possibilities for text compared to a full image, but this won't work for things like people's faces.

This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate.  Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.

I know many states do not allow for I or O (or D) on the plates. Shows and movies like Adam-12 often will use something like KAO-535 or 345-ILC when they call for info on a plate. Even today, states like CA do not assign plates with letter with I or O because those letters might get mistaken for 1 or 0.

Alabama substitutes O (oh) with 0 (zero) on vanity plates, but I's and 1's can co-exist.

[triplemultiplex]

This past weekend, I noticed that Ontario allows Os and Ds on the same license plate.  Saw one plate that was something like "ODDODO" and wondered it the owner intentionally made it confusing.

Or maybe the owner has strong opinions about a certain character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

[Henry]

The biggest road related gaffe that Hollywood uses is how road trips work.  For 90% of road trips, one finds an interstate, and that system takes you where you want to go.  If you need to stop, services are available everywhere, and are pretty standard across the nation (and beyond).   But in the movies and on TV, trips are usually on two lane roads and the locals one deals with are dangerous hilljacks.

Sometimes its for the plot, but not always.  That is just how out of touch those people are.

"Out of touch"?  Rural areas are, in fact, filled with inbred toothless hicks.  Source: every rural area I've ever been to.

As for the part of your post that isn't an errant swipe at your ideological foes, there's nothing interesting about a road trip on interstates.  You get on, drive, stop when you need to eat or drink or sleep or your vehicle needs gas, and arrive at your destination.  Roll credits.  Now that I think about it, Rain Man did a nice job of acknowledging that fact by having Raymond state that he didn't want to drive on interstates.  Smokey and the Bandit kinda did that at the beginning of the movie, but then forgot it.

And speaking of Smokey and the Bandit, Bandit was driving a Trans Am with an automatic transmission, but the sound they used was of a car with a manual transmission.

Plus in Smokey and the Bandit, the Sally Field character says are we going 1XX? The speedometers on TransAms did not go up as far as what she said, and it was obvious that it was the Km speed.  (I know that because I was looking at those cars back then-wouldn't be allowed to own one at 16 or 17, though)

Back when the NMSL was imposed, most cars were equipped with speedometers that could only go up to 85 MPH, with some sort of different-colored indicator for 55. Perhaps the models whose generations began before 1973 were grandfathered into this law, especially the larger ones because they still had triple-digit maximum speeds on theirs while the next several generations which lasted through at least the 1980s were restricted to 80 or 85.

Seven years later after the fake events of Back to the Future, there was one thing that still bothers me as a sports fan: In the second film, the Cubs swept the Miami Gators in the World Series, but we know that this is impossible because Miami doesn't have an AL team, but an NL team like the Cubs, plus the Mets swept the Cubs in the real 2015's NLCS to advance to the World Series, which they thankfully lost to the Royals. My theory is that 10/21/2015 was selected as the date of the Cubs' clinching game because while MLB may have added several expansion teams like it did in the 90s (and the Gators were most likely an expansion team, like the real-life Marlins are), its structure was the same as it was in 1985, in that there were still two divisions per league, and the two division winners met in the LCS. And to see the Cubs lose the pennant on the exact same date in the actual year is a sad coincidence indeed, but their World Series championship the following year more than made up for that.