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Movie/TV Cliches

Today on Star Trek Discovery they did this whole tired schtick....

"Do we go on 1, 2 and 3!" or "Do we go on 1, 2, 3 --Go!"

...and of course, one character takes off before the agreed upon "Go!".
 
When someone is terribly sad or beaten down, you can bet that it'll start raining. The camera will probably be lifted above and looking down on them as well...
 
Women in bed always hold the covers against their chest. Even when alone or wearing a nightie.
 
WilliamRedRobin said:
Women in bed always hold the covers against their chest. Even when alone or wearing a nightie.
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That reminds me of another: women wearing bras in bed.
I’ve never known a woman who wanted to sleep in a bra, and women have often pointed out to me how unrealistic this is when they see it.
 
I can respect anyone not wanting to expose their naked body to an audience let alone an entire film crew. But holding the sheets up over themselves is something that always draws me out of whatever reality the film is trying to establish. There are ways to film around nudity that both respect the actors and the audience with out drawing as much attention to it.


One trope I have always hated is when a child character is like "don't leave me!" and the adult in the situation is like "I have to leave, murder an entire colony of Xenomorphs, taunt their queen, and escape a self destruct sequence. I'll come back for you, I PROMISE". I understand there are reasons to say this, but honestly it has always come off as kind of messed up to make such absurd promises to a child in the face of death.
 
When they meet the mob boss, he's doing something innocuous like cooking, gardening, or cleaning a toilet.
Bonus point if he goes on a lengthy anecdote about a peice of historical trivia.
 
WilliamRedRobin said:
When they meet the mob boss, he's doing something innocuous like cooking, gardening, or cleaning a toilet.
Bonus point if he goes on a lengthy anecdote about a peice of historical trivia.
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Tywin Lannister's debut scene in Game of Thrones comes to mind: skinning the carcass of a deer while lecturing his son on the importance of the family name.
 
Jrzag42 said:
Person picks up a book, opens it to the middle but acts like they're reading it from the beginning. Hate that.
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On a similar note, when they play records. They just drop the needle in a random spot, usually IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DISC, and yet it starts up in the right spot at the start of the album or song. Doesn't work like that. Like books, the album or single starts at the beginning, or if they want to play a specific song on the album you have to actually look at the grooves to drop it into the right place for the song you want.
 
You can definitely drop the needle right at the start of a song. The grooves are all equally spaced, except between songs where the ridge is visibly wider. You just set the needle down on the ridge, and the needs moves into the groove at the beginning of the song.
 
Yeah that's... Not what I was saying. And yes I specifically said you can start it on a particular song, but that you have to look at it and not just randomly drop it down.
 
''Revenge isn't the answer''/''If you kill em you'll end up just like em''/''If you kill em you'll be left feeling empty and hollow inside'' basically any variation on the whole revenge is bad trope, quite frankly the hero would realistically feel a sense of catharsis from taking down the bad en that made their life hell in some way.

''Humans are soooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaad there killing deeeeeee eaaaaaaarth'' This cliche seriously needs to be retired, these big shot studio directors and executives fail to fathom the simple fact that there are good humans who actually aide and improve the earth.

''All men are misogyneeestic piiiiiigs'' A misinformative cliche that has sadly become quite prominent during films of the 2010's and 2020's that needs to die.

When a miscommunication happens between two or more parties to drag out the plot just for the sake of a conflict that could have easily been resolved had both parties simply talked things out.

Any fight sequence or before the start of said sequence were a character purposely puts themselves at a disadvantage just for the sake of honour or their own sense of deluded self gratifying machoism, any respect or likability I had for said character goes completely out the window when this cliche is in play.

When a confrontation between two advisories that leads to a potential epic duel has some phenomenal buildup only for said duel to end to quickly and anticlimactically just for the sake of a joke or a pathetic try hard attempt to be subversive.

Bringing a character back to life when their death not only had a huge effect on my emotions but ultimately served to move the plot or the characters story arc forward in a meaningful way thus completely killing the original impact of said death and ultimately making it feel cheap and pointless in the long run.

Clipshow episodes or for the movie variant of the cliche related formula reusing stock footage from previous movies to pad out the runtime of the current movie that one is watching.

Any instance of Toilet Humour....one of the lowest and laziest forms of cliche comedy in the fabric of existence.

When a VS MOVIE particularly a Monster VS Monster film or a Hero VS Hero film either doesn't devote enough runtime to its VS related title or takes an agonisingly long time for its plotline to reach said VS themed title.

When a film breaks the fourth wall and tries to dictate how I am supposed to feel about it and what my reason for coming to see it was, you can't tell me how I am supposed to feel about you movie that's my job.

When a movies events or entire timeline are either retconned or reset back to the very beginning just for the sake of an obnoxiously preachy moral lesson or for the sake of starting an entirely new continuity at the expense of the original continuity.

When censorship is applied to certain aspects of an 18+ certified movie, what's the point of censoring an 18+ certified movie when it's target audience are mentally responsible adults who know not to imitate or preach the negative connotations that they may see and hear on screen especially in public, movies like these shouldn't pull their punches as such censorship is annoying and devalues the experience of watching adultified movies of this certification.
 
Pedantic Contrarian said:
When a VS MOVIE particularly a Monster VS Monster film or a Hero VS Hero film either doesn't devote enough runtime to its VS related title or takes an agonisingly long time for its plotline to reach said VS themed title.
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Lately I feel like these movies tend to end up with the two characters teaming up to fight a bigger villain. It's fine sometimes, but it starts to get frustrating.


Pedantic Contrarian said:
When a movies events or entire timeline are either retconned or reset back to the very beginning just for the sake of an obnoxiously preachy moral lesson or for the sake of starting an entirely new continuity at the expense of the original continuity.
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I hate "it was just a dream" endings, if that counts. I think Wishmaster is a good example of everything getting reset, where it actually makes sense and is kinda clever.
 
Also, variations on the "War is Profitable" lie.

In the Fallout show, The evil company literally ended the world so that they could make money. Just dont ask what they'replanning to use the money for when they're the only people who exist.
 
Rebel Moon Part Two has too many to list.

But when all is at its darkest, when the heroes on the battlefield are broken, beaten, moments from their final doom…. A hero or the calvary will suddenly emerge to kick ass and inspire and rally the troops.

Rebel Moon Part Two does this.
Twice! Lol
 
There's a type of shot that gets used a lot, where we see a crowd of people walking in a busy city, with the main character's face in focus in the middle of the crowd. I call this a "Face in a Crowd" shot but I don't know if there's a better name for it. Anyways, whenever I see a shot like that I always just think of the shot at the end of Darkman, and I can't really take it seriously. There are other types of shots with specific framing that I always associate with a particular movie.
 
Cars and trucks never brake to avoid hitting someone. Only after they've been run over.
And cars that are off screen make no noise and can't be seen by our characters.
 
^I can't reply to the above post because the whole thing is in quotes. In any case, yes, I work in a factory and can confirm that big red buttons on machines are more often "emergancy stop"s rather than "doomsday button"s. I never thought about it, but now I'll always think about it.
 
Jrzag42 said:
^I can't reply to the above post because the whole thing is in quotes. In any case, yes, I work in a factory and can confirm that big red buttons on machines are more often "emergancy stop"s rather than "doomsday button"s. I never thought about it, but now I'll always think about it.
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I think it must have started out like the white hat/black hat trope.
An E-Stop is probably the only kind of button you could make out from a distance on an old-timey TV, and now everyone just thinks of the big red button as the main control.
 
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