Your most pointless TV/movie/book nitpicks

[Ryujin]

I must be watching different movies.

I guess so. It's common enough to be recognized as a Hollywood trope.

 

[Vael]

I don't know if it's a nitpick, but was just reading the Trek movie thread and reminded of two Wrath of Khan goofs.

First, the Ceti Alpha V vs VI is a little weird and whatever, I'm not going to headcanon it like it's the Kessel Run.

But the one that gets me is the poor extra that has no idea what to do. During the montage getting ready for the final battle, we see a torpedo being lowered and there's this poor guy standing behind it, looking obviously unsure of what to do, looking left and right as other extras walk about with purpose. Always gets a laugh from me. An empathetic one, I've been a background extra and it's sometimes tough to "fill the screen but not be too noticeable or visibly out of place".

 

[Willie the Duck]

I wouldn't underestimate how much of this you can lay at the feet of Tolkien and Legolas. Not that Legolas was female, but the "strong swordsmen, burly axe warrior, lithe archer" paradigm established by the Fellowship does a lot to solidify the notion that archers rely upon agility rather than strength.

Honestly, if I were to lay blame, I think I would lay it at the Errol Flynn, Richard Greene, Douglas Fairbanks, and (comedically playing off those guys) Cary Elwes and their turns are Robin Hood. Also Walter Abel, Paul Lukas, Moroni Olsen, Onslow Stevens, Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, Gig Young, Robert Coote, and all the other people who played the Three Musketeers and d'Artagnan as lithe and unmuscled. These performances undoubtedly helped sell the characters as plucky underdogs when placed up against more muscular guard or main villains, and differentiated themselves from the actors playing champions-of-masculinity characters like Tarzan, Herakles/Hercules, or cowboys/modern military heroes. However, it also codified bows and rapiers as the weapons you used if you were the plucky little skinny-boys.

When tv and cinema started started women combatants into their productions, bows became the default of these two options. Possibly because a it allowed them not to show a woman struggling with an opponent, possibly because it meant more female characters they kill off can be done with a simple arrow-sticking-out-of-them-and-then-falling-over.

 

[trappedslider]

I don't know if it's a nitpick, but was just reading the Trek movie thread and reminded of two Wrath of Khan goofs.

First, the Ceti Alpha V vs VI is a little weird and whatever, I'm not going to headcanon it like it's the Kessel Run.

But the one that gets me is the poor extra that has no idea what to do. During the montage getting ready for the final battle, we see a torpedo being lowered and there's this poor guy standing behind it, looking obviously unsure of what to do, looking left and right as other extras walk about with purpose. Always gets a laugh from me. An empathetic one, I've been a background extra and it's sometimes tough to "fill the screen but not be too noticeable or visibly out of place".

my nit pick with that movie is that ricardo montalban's chest doesn't get it's own billing.

 

[MGibster]

The biggest historical/fantasy "nitpick" is beyond a nitpick and into a full-on trope though - all pre-modern armour is close to 100% useless in close to 100% of historical and fantasy TV/movies (it often works pretty well in videogames and, oddly, books, though).

Armor worked fairly well in Excaliber (1981). Another movie my parents shouldn't have allowed me to watch when I was 6. Anyway, there were scenes of knights hacking at one another with various weapons and their murderous efforts were thwarted by resplendant plate on display. But you're right, in a lot of movies it seems like armor might as well not exists.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

My nitpick with Excalibur is the titular sword looking so flimsy.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

Oooh! I have one! I just finished "The Killer" with Michael Fassbender, and a segment was filmed right up the road in a habitation or town I know (and I was driving through the filming site daily at the time). Well, this town is supposed to be "a stone's throw" outside New York City, but as Fassbender pulls up along Tilda Swinton, then turns right, the viewer can make out a sign for (Illinois) Route 64. 64/Main St. /North Ave. runs East-West, terminating at Lake Shore Drive and the Iowa border. There is a New York 64, but it runs North/South through the Finger Lakes.

I need to go back and see if the phone number for the deli there is visible. I did notice they kept its name on the window.

Hey, the prompt asked for "Pointless."

 

[Ryujin]

Oooh! I have one! I just finished "The Killer" with Michael Fassbender, and a segment was filmed right up the road in a habitation or town I know (and I was driving through the filming site daily at the time). Well, this town is supposed to be "a stone's throw" outside New York City, but as Fassbender pulls up along Tilda Swinton, then turns right, the viewer can make out a sign for (Illinois) Route 64. 64/Main St. /North Ave. runs East-West, terminating at Lake Shore Drive and the Iowa border. There is a New York 64, but it runs North/South through the Finger Lakes.

I need to go back and see if the phone number for the deli there is visible. I did notice they kept its name on the window.

Hey, the prompt asked for "Pointless."

Have you ever seen the TV show "Due South"? It's set in Chicago and there are many times you can make out Toronto landmarks. My favourite was when, during a chase scene, you can clearly see a sign pointing to Skydome.

 

[MGibster]

My nitpick with Excalibur is the titular sword looking so flimsy.

What's flimsy about this?

 

[Rabulias]

First, the Ceti Alpha V vs VI is a little weird and whatever, I'm not going to headcanon it like it's the Kessel Run.

Not sure what you mean here? The misidentification of Ceti Alpha V as Ceti Alpha VI is a plot point in the film.