‘It’s just a movie?’

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I am with your Dad here. I could not deal with the notion that a cancer patient became a drug king pin. He is on chemo and yet he has the energy to cook meth and deal with encroachement on his territory. Sure...right...NOT!
Yes, because it's not like there's been anyone out there who's done anything like, say, trained for and competed in Olympic-level athletic events while also fighting cancer. Oh wait...



I am with your Dad here. I could not deal with the notion that a cancer patient became a drug king pin. He is on chemo and yet he has the energy to cook meth and deal with encroachement on his territory. Sure...right...NOT!
I do see how that one makes sense, unlike most others I mentioned, but I’m with @StuSmallz here - people have done unthinkable things when fighting cancer. Think @skizzerflake has pretty much articulated where I stand on this - it doesn’t seem to make sense not to buy the original premise if you intend to be invested in the show. Hence I didn’t use that example though it’s pretty common to say WW is a bit too active for a cancer patient. To me the
WARNING: spoilers below
idea that he couldn’t make that machine gun or a bomb
jar much more, as we’re told from the onset when
WARNING: spoilers below
he goes to Elliott and Gretchen’s party
that he is pretty much a genius.



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Oh well my Dad didn't say anything having a problem with the cancer and his energy, it was just other things, such as all the gadgets he was able to invent of vastly different kinds. He just didn't buy the character being a know it all, and though it was too far fetched, or too James Bond-ish for a serious crime thriller in a contemporary setting.



Walter White being an incredible genius (but sabotaged by his own pride) is part of the core premise of the show. I think you kinda have to accept it, in the way you have to accept the starting premise of any fictional story.

When people complain that something isn't realistic, it's usually not hard to find dozens of TV shows or films they love with equally implausible things, so usually "not realistic" is not the actual complaint. Usually there's some more subjective reason they respond to some stories and not others and talking about a lack of realism is a post-hoc rationalization for a more gut level reaction.



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I bought it no problem with the acception of one of Walter's gadgets perhaps, and the DEA being able to search a bank vault. But those are just minor nitpicks, and the rest of the show I thought was completely believable. He didn't though...



I use "it's just a movie" all the time, but not as a way to dismiss fillmmaking as something secondary (it's one of the only things I actually care about, at all) but because it is a kind of mantra that allows me not to get bogged down in details that an artist shouldn't need to worry themselves over. I just want a director or screenwriter, or what not, to coast on inspiration, and not worry too much about double checking facts, or making sure every edit matches etc. Because 'it's just a movie' I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief towards most things I watch, no matter how egregiously wrong it might seem to my real world brain. I don't need to buy into the reality of the world, to buy into the reality of the films emotions. I've long thought that's a bit of a dupe, perpetrated by critics who can't find something more interesting to talk about.



Unless, of course, we are talking about music bio-pics.Then, get your ****ing facts straight, movie. These kinds of films are usually so absent of any kind of artistic merit, the least they could do is know the material they are writing about. And they almost never do. Watch 24 Hour Party People, and then get back to me.



Walter White being an incredible genius (but sabotaged by his own pride) is part of the core premise of the show. I think you kinda have to accept it, in the way you have to accept the starting premise of any fictional story.

When people complain that something isn't realistic, it's usually not hard to find dozens of TV shows or films they love with equally implausible things, so usually "not realistic" is not the actual complaint. Usually there's some more subjective reason they respond to some stories and not others and talking about a lack of realism is a post-hoc rationalization for a more gut level reaction.

Exactly.



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There are times when I am willing to accept plot holes in movies and say it's just a movie, but there are times when I feel the plot holes are just really kind of too big to swallow, and will give the movie a fail, if that's too harsh?



Depends on the specifics. Plot holes certainly exist, though in my experience half the time someone mentions a "plot hole" all it means is "something not explicitly noted in the film," even if any viewer can come up with lots of plausible and uninteresting explanations, which is another way of saying including it in the film would've been a waste of time.



....I feel the plot holes are just really kind of too big to swallow ....
Can one “swallow” a plot hole or would one fall into a plot hole?
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I use "it's just a movie" all the time, but not as a way to dismiss fillmmaking as something secondary (it's one of the only things I actually care about, at all) but because it is a kind of mantra that allows me not to get bogged down in details that an artist shouldn't need to worry themselves over. I just want a director or screenwriter, or what not, to coast on inspiration, and not worry too much about double checking facts, or making sure every edit matches etc. Because 'it's just a movie' I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief towards most things I watch, no matter how egregiously wrong it might seem to my real world brain. I don't need to buy into the reality of the world, to buy into the reality of the films emotions. I've long thought that's a bit of a dupe, perpetrated by critics who can't find something more interesting to talk about.



Unless, of course, we are talking about music bio-pics.Then, get your ****ing facts straight, movie. These kinds of films are usually so absent of any kind of artistic merit, the least they could do is know the material they are writing about. And they almost never do. Watch 24 Hour Party People, and then get back to me.
Ah yes, the only good music biopic. Steve Coogan is a next level comedian.*Why does nobody other than Michael Winterbottom know how to use him in a movie?



Ah yes, the only good music biopic. Steve Coogan is a next level comedian.*Why does nobody other than Michael Winterbottom know how to use him in a movie?



Even though it is ridiculous and takes liberties with truth and treats its subject with open hostility, Sid and Nancy is another great one. And, in fairness to Alex Cox, that is the only true way to really treat the cultural contributions of Sid Vicious. Punk rock, as much as I love it, always looks dumb when it's put on a pedestal.



As for whether there are any others, um.....Around Midnight (definitely great, but more a work of fiction as Gordon is playing a composite of jazz players, even though its easy to view it as his life story) Coal Miner's Daughter (it's okay) Amadeus (starting to stretch the term) I'm Not There (I think it mostly sucks, but at least it tries)....that's about it.



Even though it is ridiculous and takes liberties with truth and treats its subject with open hostility, Sid and Nancy is another great one. And, in fairness to Alex Cox, that is the only true way to really treat the cultural contributions of Sid Vicious. Punk rock, as much as I love it, always looks dumb when it's put on a pedestal.



As for whether there are any others, um.....Around Midnight (definitely great, but more a work of fiction as Gordon is playing a composite of jazz players, even though its easy to view it as his life story) Coal Miner's Daughter (it's okay) Amadeus (starting to stretch the term) I'm Not There (I think it mostly sucks, but at least it tries)....that's about it.
I will concede that other good music biopics might exist, but it's much more fun to be hyperbolic.*



Walter White being an incredible genius (but sabotaged by his own pride) is part of the core premise of the show. I think you kinda have to accept it, in the way you have to accept the starting premise of any fictional story.

When people complain that something isn't realistic, it's usually not hard to find dozens of TV shows or films they love with equally implausible things, so usually "not realistic" is not the actual complaint. Usually there's some more subjective reason they respond to some stories and not others and talking about a lack of realism is a post-hoc rationalization for a more gut level reaction.
Agreed. Though I am often aware that it is happening. Once a film loses me (for whatever reason), I start to notice and care more about the improbabilities or more minor incongruities. It creates kind of a snowball effect. I think that it is partly because sloppiness in one area of the film (like clunky writing) makes it feel more likely that small errors are just more evidence of a lack of care.

It's kind of like when someone is a real jerk, and you become more sensitive to the things they do that might not bother you if someone else did them.



Are we forgetting 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, has nobody seen it or is it not that good? I've always wanted to see it.


I haven't seen it, but it did inspire a classic Simpsons episode, so it gets a pass.



Agreed. Though I am often aware that it is happening. Once a film loses me (for whatever reason), I start to notice and care more about the improbabilities or more minor incongruities. It creates kind of a snowball effect. I think that it is partly because sloppiness in one area of the film (like clunky writing) makes it feel more likely that small errors are just more evidence of a lack of care.

It's kind of like when someone is a real jerk, and you become more sensitive to the things they do that might not bother you if someone else did them.
Definitely. And it can be super subtle. Sometimes it's fun to go back and try to unpack what it was that broke the immersion and made me start caring/nitpicking about realism all of a sudden.