I just felt like writing this somewhere. I got the movie Phone Booth for $1 at the DVD resale store and watched it for the first time. Basically, a sniper calls a phone booth and when someone picks up the sniper says he'll kill the occupant if he tries to leave and plays with his head for over an hour. It's a good movie but if you showed it to a kid today they'd probably think "Phone booth? What's that?!?". And that got me to thinking of the other movie tropes that revolve around phones: From When A Stranger Calls: Actual movie plot: "You need to get out of the house right now! The man who's been calling and threatening you is calling from inside the house!!!" Modern movie plot: "We're trying to trace the call of the guy who's been threatening you, but it's hard! Hold on, I think we got it - he's, um. . . no he's using VOIP. We're gonna try - hey, what's that thumping noise? Hello?" From any movie where the heroine is alone and being pursued by The Bad Guy: Actual movie plot: "We've got to call Jessica and tell her Peter's after her! Oh, no - the line's been cut! She's . . . on her own!" Modern movie plot: "Keep in down, guys - Jessica's calling me. What's that, Jess? Pete cut your phone line, but you just used your neighbor's wi-fi to send the cops his picture and have him arrested? Good one, babe! It's a good thing that the password for their wi-fi is password."
