#41 to 50 Annoying Trends
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41. Broken DVDs.
I play a movie. The show is going well, there are fifteen minutes left, and...the whole thing stops playing. I eject the DVD to see
what's wrong with it, and the bottom turns out to be scratched. I try to fix it before playing it again, exactly where the breakdown
occurred. Usually, this method works, and I'm able to finish the movie. Sometimes, nothing can be done about it, so I try to locate
the same title online, at the library, or wherever, and...I find nothing! Now, I won't be able to finish the movie after spending
so much time watching it. Once in a while, it may be a technical error within the DVD after finding zero scratches on it.
42. Super Genius Detectives and Murderers.
Clues are left behind by murderers, and they're so absurdly impossible to make head or tails of, yet detectives understand them
perfectly and are able to go from one to another until they catch the murderer. The problem? It never happens in real
life! Yeah, I understand there was the Zodiac Killer. Okay, and...? Can you name me more just like him? Exactly.
43. Misleading Trailers.
Sometimes, to attract me in the hope of seeing the film, they put together a trailer, and it looks good. Then, I watch the film
only to realize that I caught all of the best parts in the trailer, and the rest is just crap. Another gimmicky
technique that was used during the 30's through the 50's is the screaming headlines across the trailer, but the movie never lives
up to any of them. Some of the examples are: "Thrill again TO ITS UNFORGETTABLE SKY," "An Announcement of STARTLING IMPORTANCE
TO THE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT," and "WITH AN OUTSTANDING STAR IN EACH FABULOUS ROLE!"
44. Funny? Funny How?
A film is advertised as a comedy, and sometimes, the cover has critics calling it "one of the funniest made!" Okay, so I see it
and I'll be like, "Uh.........?" I don't laugh. Not a single second of laughter comes out of me. And they still call it a "comedy"?
Yeah, sure...whatever. Ditto for the "comedians," especially those who were part of Saturday Night Live such as
Chris Kattan, Adam Sandler, David Spader, Mike Myers, and Chris Farley.
45. This Doesn't Look Like It.
A movie takes place in Washington, D.C. Then, it proceeds to show the background. After a while, I start to realize
none of it resembles the city itself! You'll be surprised to learn that this has happened in tons of movies which claim to
be shot on location only that they did it elsewhere or on sound stage. The most popular choice has always been either
California or Canada because it saves the studio a lot of money.
46. So Dated.
Nothing dates a movie faster than crappy-looking furniture, ugly clothes, and arcane dialogue. It frequently happens
in 60's and 70's movies, especially when they're in color. As for the prolix scripts with obscure words, it's a common culprit
among films from the 30's and 40's. They tend to put me to sleep.
47. Lack of Character.
Back then, there used to exist Clark Gable, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster, John Wayne,
Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze, and so on. What did they have in common? Their
faces had character along with their eyes. And they played memorable characters in numerous films. Today, there's absolutely
nobody who's in their league.
48. So Thin, Not So Attractive.
This is for women of the 30's who had their eyebrows specifically pencil-thin. No matter how thin they had made them to be,
it's not ATTRACTIVE. Instead, they just look ridiculous. Anytime I see these pencil-thin eyebrows on screen, I just can't stop
looking at them. Sometimes, a movie might have at least several women with the same feature, and I never could tell them apart.
I wondered if they originally shaved the eyebrows and then drew a line above their eyes. Jean Harlow was the worst offender
of this practice. The following is what I mean:
49. Smoking, Drinking, and Doing Drugs Look Cool, Huh?
They do it all the time on screen from the 1920's and onward. Characters smoke and drink everywhere. It doesn't matter if they do
it inside the house, before going to bed, or after waking up. Unfortunately, it ended up killing them younger than expected in real
life. Some of the following thespians went out this way: Humphrey Bogart (57), Clark Gable (59), Steve McQueen (50), and Patrick
Swayze (57) from a combination of smoking and drinking; Richard Burton (58), Errol Flynn (50), and Veronica Lake (50) from
drinking; Yul Brynner (65), Lon Chaney (47), Betty Grable (56), and Judy Holliday (43) from smoking; and Philip Seymour Hoffman (46),
River Phoenix (23), and Elvis Presley (42) from drug overdose. Who knows how many millions of people were influenced by them before
dying young?
50. The Travesty of an Oscar Win.
I watch a movie and think nothing of it. Either I know beforehand or find out afterwards this or that won an Oscar
for it, causing me to be baffled. What the heck...? It was nothing special or not that good! Either there was a better movie or
somebody else deserved it more. That's the problem with the Academy Awards that don't know anything about movies in
general in spite of correctly picking winners from time to time. Here's the list
of the biggest Oscar snubs.