Impossible Movie Cliché Rant

It would be impossible to catalog all of the physically and logically absurd things that occur in movies and on television.  On the other hand, there are some things which have become more or less standard plot devices over the years in spite of being totally ludicrous, and this post is my attempt to collect them into a list. It will be augmented as new entries are suggested.  In no particular order...

• You don't need to "keep someone on the line" to trace where the call is coming from.  You can find that information well after the fact.  Just look at your phone bill.  If you've lost your phone bill, just ask the NSA. And don't talk about *67. Yes, that blocks an ordinary person from seeing the number, but it doesn't block the police from getting the information.
• If you cut the brake lines on a car, the brakes will stop working immediately, not after you "run out of brake fluid".  You will notice this backing out of the driveway, well before that really steep and dangerous hill everyone seems to have on the way to work.
• You can't cut a circular hole in glass with a glass cutter and a suction cup.  In fact, it's damn near impossible to cut a circular hole in glass with any tool.  Even with specialized power tools, you'll almost certainly just shatter the glass.
• Virtually no buildings have air ducts big enough to crawl through.  In the unlikely event you find one that does, grills are always screwed on from the outside. Those handy "EZ popout grills" only exist in movies.  
• The design flaw that once allowed door latches to be opened with credit cards was fixed many decades ago. 
• There's a limit to the resolution of any photograph.  Saying "zoom and enhance" doesn't change this.
• No alarm system on Earth is based on criss-crossing laser beams. 
• It's actually very difficult to knock someone out by hitting them on the head, and if you do, there's a good chance you'll cause permanent brain damage - or kill them outright.
• The shock wave from an explosion travels at the speed of sound.  You can't outrun it with a car, motorcycle, or on foot.
• If a large group of well trained professionals are all firing fully automatic weapons at a single man crossing an open space armed with a single pistol, that man will die - period.
• A lit cigarette won't ignite gasoline (strange, but true).  
• There is no rule that you have to wait 24 hours to file a missing person report.  You can file a report immediately if you have reasonable cause for concern.   
• Next time you're approaching your car, try to imagine how someone could hide in the back seat without being seen.  
• Cars catching fire or exploding when they're in accidents is rare enough that we're still talking about Ford Pintos 40 years later.  Mythbusters basically had to fill a car with gasoline and set it off themselves to make it look like the movies. 
• Neither computer programmers nor computer hackers use virtual reality to do their jobs.
• The first person to invent a time machine wins.  Movie (and franchise) over.
• No space suit, diving suit, hazmat suit, etc has a light on the inside illuminating the wearer's face, because all that person would see would be their own reflection.  
  

(to be continued...)