Huge plot holes in movies

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by James Slattery, Aug 5, 2017.

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  1. Commander Lucius Emery

    Commander Lucius Emery Forum Resident


    On one commentary track, they say at one point things were tense between America and Russia. With both sides about to launch manned missions to Mars, they would put machine guns on vehicles just in case. But the real reason was the marketing people said teenage boys love vehicles with guns.

    There is a theory that in "Casablanca" Peter Lorre is not saying "DeGaulle", but "Weygand" who was an important figure in Vichy France. It's just his accent makes it hard to hear clearly and Charles DeGaulle is more familiar to today's audiences than Maxine Weygand.

    In "Battleship", do museum ships such as the "Missouri" carry live ammuntion for 16" main guns and 40mm anti aircraft guns?
     
  2. "I suggest you don't worry about it and just enjoy yourself" Basil Exposition
     
  3. Sounds like Peter is clearly saying "General DeGaulle" to me.
     
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  4. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

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    And they drink don't they? So anytime they spill water they reproduce, but there is only one Gizmo?
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
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  5. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    A "plot hole" question so important to humanity that I gave it a thread all its own last year:

    For nearly four decades now, "Smokey & The Bandit" scholars have pondered and debated many deep questions related to the holy grandfather of all car chase/smash-up movies. But surely the greatest unanswered question of all is - when did the clock start on the 28 hours that Bandit & Snowman had to get the beer?

    Could it have started right there are that truck ro-day-o thing? If so, Bandit used a good chunk of his 28 hours buying the Trans Am (including registering it, and getting vanity plates), and having a couple of relatively casual conversation with the Snowman. Did the clock start when the Trans Am and the 18 wheeler got on the road together? If it did, how did Big and Little Enis (or Enos, depending on which school of Bandit wisdom you subscribe to) know that the clock was now officially ticking?

    Why am I searching for an answer to the unanswerable? Well, because they said it couldn't be done. That's the reason, son.
     
  6. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    This actually kind of answers it. Doc is very worried about the effects of changing the timeline. If you did not want to royally mess things up, JUST putting on a bullet proof vest would be a good solution. You would not guarantee you would survive, but give yourself a good chance without ruining the future.
     
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  7. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Here's one from Back to the Future that no one ever seems to comment on... (and it doesn't have anything to do with time-travel paradoxes or anything like that)....

    In order for Marty to return to 1985 at the climax, Doc has to make a series of calculations involving speed, distance, acceleration, etc, for the DeLorean so that it can be hit by lightning at the exact moment it makes contact with the overhead wire. A lightning strike happens very quickly, so we can safely assume these calculations are very precise and specific, and would have to be followed to the letter in order for the plan to work. Doc even provides an alarm clock for Marty so he knows the exact moment in which to accelerate. However, shortly before the alarm goes off, the DeLorean stalls and Marty isn't able to get it working again right away. The alarm then goes off while Marty is still fumbling with the car, and another full 10-11 seconds go by before he finally gets it running and is able to accelerate. So therefore, he's 10-11 seconds behind schedule -- completely out of sync with Doc's ultra-precise calculations -- but somehow still manages to arrive at the clock tower at the exact moment necessary for the DeLorean to connect with the overhead wire and be sent through time. Shouldn't he have arrived at the clock tower 10-11 seconds late, due to the car trouble? I love this movie, but that part always felt like somewhat of a "cheat" to me... a case of "the rules don't apply to the good guys just so there can be a happy ending". :p

    (see also: What movie sequence cliche annoys you most? )
     
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  8. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
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    This always bugged me too. Not only that, but they only had the time the clock tower was struck from the flyer. Just having the time, still gives a 60 second window.

    So to your excellent point, we have to assume Doc calculated wrong, and by dumb luck Marty arrives at the precise moment. Perhaps the real hole, is that Doc thought he could time it precisely anyway with the information he had.
     
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  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Don't ever try to watch the Fast and Furious movies. :eek:
     
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  10. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    That's just good advice for everyone.
     
  11. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Never have. I prefer independent, art house, foreign ... and "Smokey and The Bandit". :)
     
  12. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    The comment about the Batmobile reminds me of a scene from Teen Titans where Robin (Tim Drake) had a Batmobile shipped to San Francisco. The exchange:

    - Beast Boy: How'd you get a batmobile shipped to San Fransicsco?

    - Robin: I hid it in the batarang budget.

    - Beast Boy: The batarang budget?

    - Robin: It's bigger than you think.
     
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  13. Ah but you see Doc remembers that Marty was delayed and calculated it in but didn't tell Marty for fear,of changing the time line!✌️
     
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  14. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    Possible answers:

    - Big Enos and Little Enos gave them a specific starting time*, with enough time before hand to purchase and set up the above items, with the clock starting when they actually departed to pick up the beer.

    - The clock started running from the time they departed with the beer. Big Enos and Little Enos would be able to confirm the pickup time and the time they departed with the beer (there had to be someone in the warehouse to release the beer to them). In this case, they had 28 hours from the time they picked up the beer to get it to its destination. To me this is the mostly likely scenario since the actual bet (if I remember correctly) was to transport the beer to its destination in no more than 28 hours. This would also be a more doable task compared to a round trip in 28 hours.

    *Much like in Around The World In 80 Days where Fogg said he would depart at a specific time and return no later than a specific date/time exactly 80 days later, then he sat down and calmly returned to his card game.
     
  15. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    The novel version of the movie goes into detail about how the Mogwai came into existence. They were designed by their creator, Mogwaman, to be easy to reproduce. However, a flaw caused virtually all of them to come out as gremlins with an extremely rare one coming out like Gizmo.
     
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  16. If we're talking huge plot holes and Superman, it's impossible to ignore his reversing time in the first Christopher Reeve movie, as the earthquake that killed Lois Lane would still happen once he was done. Then again, that particular action was originally intended to close the sequel, most of this filmed simultaneously, with the story being that WB felt it was a more suitable climax to the initial installment, which they wanted to focus on to see if there was even reason to complete its follow-up. My understanding is that Superman The Movie was supposed to end on a cliffhanger with one of two missiles reprogrammed by Lex Luthor being redirected into space, releasing the three Kryptonian villains from the Phantom Zone (this being the real consequence of Superman defying his father's order that he could not interfere with human history). Instead, having seen so much destruction caused by the trio in his absence, Superman was meant to end II by turning back time there. However, even this wouldn't have worked, since it would have saved the villains from and rebuilt the Fortress of Solitude. Perhaps worst of all for his character, he'd have returned for revenge on a diner bully that never attacked in the first place, making Clark Kent the aggressor rather than a victim! Back on the subject of his secret identity, let's forget the issue of his glasses to address the real mystery - just how does nobody see that he's wearing such a bulky outfit under his civilian clothes? Surely having to wear oversized shoes over those boots and having to press that padded cape against his body would make Clark look almost as well built as... Superman? Don't get me started on when he falls in the water trying to pull Lois out, as you'd clearly see the top of his costume underneath his thin outer shirt. As always with comic book films, suspension of disbelief is your best friend!
     
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  17. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    For me, a comic book reader, the turning back of time was off putting because it contradicted one of the primary rules of time travel in the DC Universe at that time (I know the movie doesn't have to follow the rule but it was just so blatant): When you travel to a time where you already exist the time-traveling you becomes a phantom. You are able to observe but not interact with the world in any way so you can't change history...all you can do is witness it. In the case of Lois Lane's death, all Superman would have been able to do is witness it...he wouldn't be able to change it.
     
  18. Another small subset of them became an instrumental rock band based in Glasgow.
     
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  19. I can imagine that being an even bolder, more heartbreaking conclusion, with Superman having to actually witness the death of Lois (rather than him simply arriving too late to make a difference), serving as his ultimate punishment for attempting to alter the course of history. Of course, since it was the first part in a planned series, Superman The Movie was never going to have this kind of payoff - that would have been like Man Of Steel ending with General Zod being murdered. Oh, wait...
     
  20. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    Of course, they could have gone with the Multiverse Concept where Superman is so devastated by the death of Lois that he leaves the Earth...and ends up in an alternate universe where Lois Lane isn't dead and he has to face the last survivor of Krypton: Superman aka General Zod.:yikes:
     
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  21. As much as I love Superman II (in either of its released forms), that would have been a great alternative... Maybe Zod's story could have served as a precursor to the Red Son comic book, where Superman was found by a Russian family who instilled Communist ideals in him rather than American values?
     
  22. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    What the heck was Jackie Gleason going to do with Sally Field if he caught her? shotgun wedding?
     
  23. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    In the movie Titanic, how does a huge cruise ship sink after it runs into an iceberg? The hull would be damaged, but the ship would not sink.
     
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  24. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    That has to be the smallest plot hole in the history of plot holes. It is just big to you because you are in the business.

    I am in HVAC and every time someone crawls around in some building ductwork in a movie I have to suspend belief.
     
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  25. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    You're right. The movie is ridiculous. Don't all ships have sufficient lifeboats for all the passengers?

    (Actually I didn't see the movie. Did have a happy ending?)
     
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