do you have a job/hobby/knowledge in a particular field that allows you to spot mistakes in movies?

[Shock and Awe]

Catching mistakes regarding firearms in movies is always fun and easy. As a rule of thumb, if there are guns, they probably jacked something up.

 

[Grach]

I study Biology, so stuff like weirdly earthly alien ecology sits just wrong with me. So shit like Avatar just falls completely flat for me.

At least Mass Effect had species with different aminoacid chirality.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Optical engineer in the house! Movies just SUCK at dealing with light & lasers. Basically, if anybody says "laser pistol/rifle/cannon/beam" and:

As an aside, is there any way that "laser rifle" would make sense? I mean, can you put rifling (or something similar) on a laser?

Catching mistakes regarding firearms in movies is always fun and easy. As a rule of thumb, if there are guns, they probably jacked something up.

Especially annoying when they get military or ex military types as advisors.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Well, I'm very interested in ancient/medieval military history, so I have a fair idea on how battles work and what tactics were employed. So, I want to fucking scream whenever I see horsemen charge right into the front of armoured infantry formations. I also want to scream whenever infantry, or entire armies, break ranks and mindlessly charge one another without any discipline what-so-ever.

Also, any film that has Roman infantry but no pilum. Seriously? Those pila are just as iconic as the scutum shield or a centurion crest helmet. Meh.

 

[Cerebrawl]

Layman interest:
History
Physics
Biology
Marine biology
Psychology
Theology (I'm an atheist)
Guns
Martial arts
Etc

Expert:
Scuba diving (I'm an instructor)
Pressure related physics and biology, especially related to humans. (see: scuba diving instructor)

What really gets me is when pressure is completely ignored or treated cavalierly. This can range from "he should have the bends" to "he should be high as a kite" all the way to "he should have exploded."(see: [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin#Diving_bell_accident[/link])

 

[Eddie the head]

Yeah, it's called EXISTING.

Pretty much. I notice a lot of mistakes in movies in a lot of areas. Noah got the biblical earth wrong. Star Trek gets time dilation wrong. Pretty much every time it gets brought up evolution is wrong. And no action movie has ever cared about Physics. You don't need to be a biologist to know that a spider bite won't give you super powers.

I'm less considered with that stuff being wrong and more considered if it works in the story. And if the story is getting me to think about those things that's where it failed.

 

[Vault101]

Star Trek gets time dilation wrong. .

does it get it wrong or does it just ignore it completely?

Nope. It was boring suit-and-tie stuff for the most part, complete with division-wide weekly reports and the most "challenging" of your daily assignments usually involving the retrieval of a computer-illiterate office drone's password.

hey now...the system always seemed to decide my password wasn't legit -_-

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I've studied enough psychology to get miffed when people refer to dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities) as schizophrenia, and other similar things. Also, I have played D&D since 2nd edition, and read 1st edition rules, so whenever people are "playing D&D" in a movie or show I find it painfully frustrating when they don't actually seem to be using any version of the actual rules. I fine with them using other systems and whatnot, but maybe they should actually call it what it is on screen and give the lesser known guys some props.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Catching mistakes regarding firearms in movies is always fun and easy. As a rule of thumb, if there are guns, they probably jacked something up.

Like how as soon as someone picks up a gun in ANY circumstance they instantly put their finger on the trigger and then wave it around, despite not knowing if the gun's loaded or if the safety is off? GAH! One movie that actually had some proper gun safety practices was Tremors of all things. Burt, the "gun nut" character, may have an entire basement wall devoted to his gun collection, but he and his wife are shown checking that EVERY gun they touch is clear of rounds in the chamber, keeping their fingers off triggers until firing is the only option, etc.

 

[EternallyBored]

As a Social Worker, it does get kind of grating to see my profession displayed as either soulless bureaucrats or the antagonist dedicated to taking away the single mother's/ mentally challenged father's/ adoptive family's kid and put them in an evil orphanage or uncaring foster home. The method by which a kid is removed from a home in movies seems to boil down to, what will create the most drama and/or allow the plucky parents the greatest opportunity to get their kids back in a dramatic court room scene.

The best representation I've seen of my profession was in the Lilo and Stitch movie, and that only barely counts since Bubbles was apparently actually a secret agent all along.

So yeah, I can usually overlook errors as part of my suspension of disbelief, but but it is a little bit depressing to constantly see my profession cast as the bad guys who just screw with the plucky single parents for giggles and shits.