"The Day After Tomorrow" Why didn't the idiots burn the tables & chairs

[LynneSin]

Ok, mind you it's a cheesy-ass movie of good weather gone bad but this is the dumbasses plot manuever ever. A group of supposively genius students (they were in Manhatten for a quiz bowl) got stuck at the Public Libray in downtown Manhatten. If these kids were suppose to be so damn smart then why the hell didn't they break down the chairs & tables (all which were made of wood) and burn them instead of the books? I'm sure the Public Library had an axe in it (usually with the fire emergency equipment) and if not, they could have broken the chairs against the wall and use them for kindling.

[Radio_Lady]

1. Don't try to "think" too much about that movie --

otherwise, you'll be stuck in another, bigger "plot hole" -- like human beings walking in the freezing weather from New York to Boston. Right...

Special effects were OK -- however, if you want to have some REAL fun, look on this page for the "GOOFS" in this movie (there are many):

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/goofs

Actually, there's just as much fascinating information on the movie posted in their "TRIVIA" section:

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/trivia

Enjoy!

[LynneSin]

8. Actually it was from Philly to NYC

Their truck broke down somewhere just north of Philly

[Radio_Lady]

16. You're right, Lynne -- I got it confused with --

the recent "War of the Worlds" --

[Catchawave]

32. AH-ha, the Cheney-like VP was intentional !

From your trivia link:

Casting Kenneth Welsh as the Vice President was controversial due to his physical resemblance to US Vice-President Dick Cheney, but Roland Emmerich insisted on it for that very reason, likely to highlight the Bush/Cheney administration's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

[LynneSin]

34. they did a poor job with casting Perry King as a 'Bush-like' President

First, Perry King is good-looking and second in the script King ultimately is killed because he waited until the very last minute to evacuate DC and we all know Bush would have been out of there at the first snowflake!

[Catchawave]

36. LOL...ahead of the women and children too. n/t

[JohnnyBoots]

2. That is why my girlfriend is watching it now and I

am sipping Whiskey and posting on DU. Did watch "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton", which is good for what it was.

[noahmijo]

3. Why Do You Hate America? Tables and Chairs??

because these kids were fighting for freedom unlike you and your ilk that wants to burn tables and chairs to appease the terrorists.

[IChing]

13. They had plenty of Harry Potter books to burn so the chairs were secondary

:toast: :toast:

[WhollyHeretic]

4. I just watched that movie the other day and had the same thought

You'd have to throw a book in the fire every 30 seconds. Those kids weren't very smart geniuses.

[kodi]

5. do this: try burning a chair, then try burning a book, which is easier?

btw: it was a movie

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Scouts will tell you: start with the book, then throw on the chair

Paper fires just don't give you that long slow burn of solid wood.
:think:

[LynneSin]

9. Obviously the chairs break - they used the backings for show shoes

:shrug:

But they probably didn't think of burning the rest of them.

[Radio_Lady]

10. A successful movie -- info from boxofficemojo.com -- for your perusal:

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

Domestic Total Gross: $186,740,799
Distributor: Fox Release Date: May 28, 2004
Running Time: 2 hrs. 4 min. Production Budget: $125 million
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Est. Marketing Costs: $50 million

TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic: $186,740,799 34.4%
+ Overseas: $356,030,973 65.6%
---------------------------------------------------------------------
= Worldwide: $542,771,772

DOMESTIC SUMMARY
Opening Weekend: $68,743,584
(3,425 theaters, $20,071 average)
% of Total Gross: 36.8%

Widest Release: 3,444 theaters

Close Date: November 4, 2004



MERCHANDISE LINKS
• Original Score (Harold Kloser)
• Book: The Day After Tomorrrow by Whitley Strieber (Based on the Screenplay)
• Showtimes
THE PLAYERS (click name to view)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Actors: Ian Holm
Dennis Quaid
Jake Gyllenhaal
Emmy Rossum
Composer: Harald Kloser

GRADE THIS MOVIE
Readers B- (1448 votes)
Your Grade Log in
GRADE BREAKDOWN
A's: 309 21.3%
B's: 585 40.4%
C's: 265 18.3%
D's: 137 9.5%
F's: 152 10.5%

[LynneSin]

11. Hey, I saw the movie in the theater - twice

I didn't say I didn't like the movie, just didn't understand why they didn't burn the tables & chairs

[Wetzelbill]

7. you have never seen "Delta Force 2: The Columbian Connection" my friend...

If you think that was a dumb plot maneuver. The average Chuck Norris film is one whole bad plot maneuver.

[CanuckAmok]

12. And why did the US Gov't "negotiate" with the Mexicans and

forgive Third World debt, when they could have just taken Mexico by force.

Also, everybody is losing their fucking minds, killing each other trying to get to loved ones, etc, but some paramedics, presumably with families but obviously with superhuman commitment to their profession, abandon any chance for personal closure in order to drive to a presumably abandoned hospital to save one kid with a terminal disease.

WTF.

[LynneSin]

15. I called that their 9-11 moment

it was corny as hell!

[greblc]

14. Where would they sit?

Burning wood with Paint or varnish on it gives off toxic fumes. It probably contributes to ozone depletion, hence burning chairs would hasten their demise.

[LynneSin]

17. It's a little too late to be worrying about the ozone in this movie

since the whole concept of the movie is that we're suffering for all we have done to aid global warming

[greblc]

18. It's never too late to worry about Ozone....

[LynneSin]

20. There in the middle of an ice age - ozone layer probably was already toast

:shrug:

[greblc]

29. Ummm.... I'm joking....?

[LynneSin]

19. The funniest thing about the movie is the guys they have playing Prez & VP

They got this guy Kenneth Welsh who was the VP us the US in the movie. The guy looked AND acted just like Dick Cheney. But the president in the movie, Perry King, was definately not doing a Bush. Why? Because in the movie, Perry King waits until the very last minute to leave the White House and you know if he was playing the president like the idiot we have he would have left the moment a few snowflakes had hit the ground!

[NewJeffCT]

39. On top of that...

The "Cheney"-esque VP would not have been humbled in the end like the one in the movie... he would have gotten on the air & blamed the libruls & the media just like always, issuing bald faced lies like "this is because libruls stopped us from drilling in ANWR"

[Misunderestimator]

21. I know! Still I liked the tornadoes in LA.

[LynneSin]

22. The movie is so bad and yet not only did I watch it tonight on HBO

I have it on fricking DVD.

It's so bad it's good. But damnit, burn the fricking tables & chairs!

[Misunderestimator]

25. LOL... I saw it in a theater first... appalled that I spent that much

money on it... then I watched it when it was on HBO... LOL :shrug: I still like the special effects. (And yeah... pretty lame that they were all lounging around on couches when they were saved... :eyes:)

[susanna]

23. Thank you!

My first question that unfortunately hounded me the whole movie. That wood coulda burned a much hotter, stronger fire, but NOOOOOO. Let's burn the books! Crazy.

[LynneSin]

24. I'm not sure how that fire stayed burning when they fell asleep

At the very end they were all asleep with Dennis Quaid finally found them. That fire would have been out in about 30 minutes if the only thing they were burning were books

[susanna]

26. I know it!

I hadn't seen it before, just saw it tonight, but wow, I hear you. Books burn so fast - especially old ones. I also wanted to know why they didn't raid the freighter the minute it floated up since the weather was still okay then. I would have cleaned out that thing first off for food/medicine, etc., if I knew a killer storm was on its way. :-)

[ET Awful]

27. Because they needed a place to sit . . . DUH!!!!`

:evilgrin:

[LynneSin]

33. They wouldn't burn ALL of the chairs

Hell there was a whole library filled with desks and chairs; they still would have had those old study chairs & sofas to sit on

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. But tables and chairs are USEFUL, while books are just stupid things

for intellectuals who don't have anything better to do.

Or at least so the American pop culture seems to believe that.

BTW, The Day After Tomorrow and Stepford Wives were the two feature films that I hadn't seen on the personal entertainment system flying to Japan last fall. I watched both of them and wished I had just brought another book instead. Both films were so irredeemably STUPID. In fact, on the way back, knowing that the same movie selection would still be playing, I DID bring an extra book.

[Jara sang]

30. Fuck tables and chairs and books.

I would have been burning whole buildings down.

[CanuckAmok]

31. I just would have burned the script. n/t

[NMMNG]

35. Never saw the movie myself

But given the probability that an axe could be used as a weapon in any public building nowadays it is unlikely one would be found easily accessible in the fire equipment. It would be too much of a public safety risk. However with a few good bangs on the floor many average chairs would break apart.

Still, it is silly of you to expect characters in movies to act logically.

[Clintmax]

37. Hey, I liked the movie!

All that crazy weather stuff was scary! Loved the special effects too. And who's to say they DIDN'T start using chairs and tables towards the end, and we just didn't get to see them breaking them up? That would explain why the fire continued burning when they went to sleep.

[Rising Phoenix]

38. My favorite line...

"You don't understand. My dad is a climatoligist."

[LynneSin]

40. oooo, that could be a good pickup line

:crazy:

[Obamarama]

41. What a sorry excuse for a movie....

Like a freighter is going casually float along and navigate the canyons of 5th Avenue??

I first endured this atrocious movie on a trans-Atlantic flight. I didn't realize until I caught a portion of it on DISH that they had edited the scene where the plane rapidly descends.

What a waste of celluloid.