In the past week I have seen the term “Kafka-esque” multiple times to describe absurd but horrific situations (I assume because of the similarity to Metamorphosis).
The Stepford Wives certainly fits the bill.
Oops. Annie-Xmas got it before me.
If a game that had no real likelihood of being released in the first place can be said to have a setback, DNF is it. 3D Realms is no more. Bereft of life, it has ceased to be. They fired all of their developers in May of this year. The publishing rights are still held by Take-Two, and they’re suing 3D Realms for their alleged mishandling of development. But that, of course, brings DNF no closer to release (or even freaking prototype) than it ever was.
Usually with an added dollop of “opaque”, as in a situation where nobody knows why or how they ended up there, or who was responsible, or even where they could go to resolve it. Again, much like most of Kafka’s work (The Trial is an excellent type specimen for that).
Don Quixote, and as a subset, the notion of tilting at windmills.
Which reminds me of another one: Don Juan
Both ‘wonderland’ and ‘looking-glass’ are used to denote anything fantastical or highly imaginative.
I often hear people who are complaining about hopelessly bad service invoke comparisons to ‘Fawlty Towers’, if TV titles are allowed.
The title ‘Fatal Attraction’ hasn’t passed into common usage, but ‘bunny boiler’ has. Perhaps this could be a subset of the OP or a spinoff thread… metaphors derived not from movie/book titles, but specific scenes, events or imagery.
I know the OP said “commonly used” but for a long time Superfly was used to mean cool, stylish and smoove with the ladies.
Strangely, that one is actually used to mean an idiot that should have gotten the clue, or who states the obvious. “No shit, Sherlock”. Sarcasm has taken that expression so completely, that I don’t think I have ever heard it used to mean ‘talented detective’.
I’m positive there’s a Ph.D Thesis on DNF and how it proves that there is eventually a point at which it is impossible for a potential product to meet consumer expectations, and that the inertia involved in its (lack of) development is too great for the product to ever actually get made…
Lord of the Flies whenever youth gangs run amok and similar situations.
His Girl Friday - talented female assistant/protegee (this can be sexist … or not)
The Godfather
Rocky
Chinese Democracy, for example.
I wrote off DNF about a decade ago. I’m amazed that they were so recently still acting like it would ever come out.
Back on topic, I’ll say Citizen Kane, as in “The Ron thread is the Citizen Kane of SDMB threads.”
A better caption would have been “Please ma’am, no meat touching”
</probably misquoted obscure reference>
Believe it or not, 3D Realms still lives and is still working on games as we speak. According to company execs, they only fired the DNF team, not the whole company.
And while 3D Realms has botched everything related to Duke in the last 15 years or so, the ultimate goal of Take-Two’s lawsuit is to obtain the rights to the character from 3D Realms. In fact, part of the original publishing agreement allowed Take-Two to develop their own Duke game, which may or may not be completed as well.
Walter Mitty
Ironic, considering the first movie.
This too is ironic, because Walter did man up and be a hero in the end.
And also, ‘bambi-eyes’ - that awesomely ‘sad and cute’ look which would melt hearts of stone.
Jump The Shark–Not only a recent coinage, but a phrase that needed coining.