Your most pointless TV/movie/book nitpicks

[Artamo]

If it's a good story then I can generally ignore the bad stunt work. The problem comes when it's just some action/adventure mindless drek and they drop in something like that. I just can't ignore it.

I watched The Wrecking Crew this week with Momoa and Bautista, and there’s a scene where they do a knockoff of the Oldboy hallway fight, and it’s just so bad. It needed a better editor or coordinator or something because it just looked like a wrestling match where a punch misses by a mile and yet the guy falls down anyway.

 

[Ryujin]

I watched The Wrecking Crew this week with Momoa and Bautista, and there’s a scene where they do a knockoff of the Oldboy hallway fight, and it’s just so bad. It needed a better editor or coordinator or something because it just looked like a wrestling match where a punch misses by a mile and yet the guy falls down anyway.

I enjoyed it overall but yes, that fight stood out. Especially how each of the stars seems to be getting to beat on someone at separate times, so one wouldn't distract from the other's awesomeness.

 

[Artamo]

I enjoyed it overall but yes, that fight stood out. Especially how each of the stars seems to be getting to beat on someone at separate times, so one wouldn't distract from the other's awesomeness.

I didn’t dislike the movie overall either and I think that was more a testament to the likability of Momoa and Bautista, plus a soft spot for buddy cop movies. I also liked the over the top ridiculousness of the car chase scene, even if the FX were a bit hokey.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

New Who has action. They run everywhere. Doesn't need stunts.

They do have to do a lot of cardio workouts, though.

 

[jian]

Rare reverse example - Slow Horses S5.

(Not really spoilers as this happens nearly immediately) - A guy shoots a bunch of people with an assault rifle, gets sniped at the end of his rampage (by someone waiting for him to finish), and I was immediately like, "Well, that's a 5.56mm weapon, and that sniper rifle is 7.62mm, so they'll know he got got by someone else, but they would almost certainly initially assume it was suicide, because it's going to be hard to tell until someone who knows what to look for takes a careful look". "Also that rifle is a high-end military one, no-way the intelligence services believe he just bought it on the black market or something!".

And that's exactly what happened! Good job, writers! Actually did some research and applied some logic, even if you used a kinda-weird name for the FN SCAR.

There were actually several more hyper-specific things which I've not forgotten because they just kept getting them right, which isn't as memorable as getting them wrong.

Yes, Steal does this a lot. The first episode with the heist where you start thinking “that’s silly, you can’t just break into a pension fund office and transfer £4bn, there are all sorts of checks” immediately then walks you through how it works, very convincingly. They even have a Stingray for diverting mobiles (but don’t even explain what it is).

The writer then keeps this up throughout - how cold wallets with crypto work, how police use CCTV to track vehicles and their limitations, etc. - while also doing clever plotting and twists to keep you entertained and having some very clear things to say about inequality and the financial system. I’d really recommend it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yes, Steal does this a lot. The first episode with the heist where you start thinking “that’s silly, you can’t just break into a pension fund office and transfer £4bn, there are all sorts of checks” immediately then walks you through how it works, very convincingly. They even have a Stingray for diverting mobiles (but don’t even explain what it is).

The writer then keeps this up throughout - how cold wallets with crypto work, how police use CCTV to track vehicles and their limitations, etc. - while also doing clever plotting and twists to keep you entertained and having some very clear things to say about inequality and the financial system. I’d really recommend it.

I was avoiding Steal because poor Sophie Turner looks distracting levels of awful with flat pale blonde hair and the male leads are not actors I have seen give good performances (except maybe Andrew Koji), but maybe I'll look at that when I've finished Slow Horses. Well that and it's on Amazon so I sort of just pre-emptively assumed it was pretty bad (because most of their non-IP-based shows have been).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well that and it's on Amazon so I sort of just pre-emptively assumed it was pretty bad (because most of their non-IP-based shows have been).

Does Mr. & Ms. Smith count as an IP show? (If so, it's a pretty weak IP.) That was a really thoughtful show and definitely leagues beyond its source material. Give it a try if you subscribe again in future.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Does Mr. & Ms. Smith count as an IP show? (If so, it's a pretty weak IP.) That was a really thoughtful show and definitely leagues beyond its source material. Give it a try if you subscribe again in future.

But is it twee? Everything about it right down to the casting screamed "twee"? And my tolerance for twee is like, negative. A really good show that happens to be twee AF is a really bad show to me - I'm looking at you Pushing Daisies! Clearly a good show, couldn't stand it!

(Also wow Bryan Fuller wrote part of Predator: Badlands, huh, that explains SO MUCH. Like, how the hell you gonna make a Predator movie really cute and delightful. By getting Bryan Fuller to write part of it that's how. It did dodge the twee bullet, albeit barely at one or two points. Perhaps because he only wrote some of it.)

 

[Artamo]

I guess I have to reassess the definition of twee because Mr and Mrs Smith didn’t seem anything like it.