# Recent movie trends you hate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 29, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030 "2007-03-29T20:59:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/1 "2007-03-29T20:59:59Z")
Note: I have not actually seen any of the following movies, but the previews are enough to drive me batty
(1) Christmas-themed movies in which neighbors attempt to outdo eachother with preposterously gaudy Christmas decorations. Where on earth did this idea come from? Has this ever happened in real life? Or is this a case where “everyone knows” that this kind of thing happens, so we make fun of it in movies, even though it has only ever happened in movies? And how can this trend not have died already?
(2) Movies in which someone (frequently a cute young thing) is a professional investigator-of-the-paranormal, starts out by saying something like “I’ve invested 50 reported hauntings, all of them completely non-supernatural”, and of course they will get their supernatural comeuppance. This usually combines (1) horror movies, (2) anti-intellectualism, and (3) anti-skepticism, none of which are things I’m very fond of.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/2 "2007-03-29T21:05:30Z")
…am I just not going to the movies enough, cause I can’t think of a single example to fit _either_ trend you described.
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/3 "2007-03-29T21:12:27Z")
I’m tired of horror movies that are remakes of Japanese films in which spooky-looking children pop up every few minutes. One spooky-looking kid popping up one time is scary. When it happens over and over in a half dozen movies, it’s a colossal bore.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/4 "2007-03-29T21:19:57Z")
I’m tired of “shakycam”. What’s the point in having a fight scene in your film if every shot is four tenths of a second long, and the camera jitters around like it was strapped to the back of an epileptic ferret? Fights are infinitely more impressive when we can actually _see what’s happening_!
I know why they do this: first, they think it’s “cool”, which it isn’t, and second, they do it to hide the ineptitude and clumsiness of the star. There’s an easy solution to that second one: hire an actor who actually knows martial arts, instead of Keanu Reeves.
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### Author:  [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/5 "2007-03-29T21:20:24Z")
I’m tired of remakes in general, especially when they’re scene-for-scene remakes such as “The Omen.” It just seems lazy to me. Can’t people come up with original stories anymore? Sure, I like “The Omen,” but if I want to watch it, I’ll watch the original. There’s no need for me to see the same story redone with different actors. Can’t they just re-release it in theaters if they want to make money off the story?
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/6 "2007-03-29T21:21:02Z")
I’m not sure one movie from each of your complaints constitutes a trend.
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool]
(1) Christmas-themed movies in which neighbors attempt to outdo eachother with preposterously gaudy Christmas decorations. Where on earth did this idea come from? Has this ever happened in real life? Or is this a case where “everyone knows” that this kind of thing happens, so we make fun of it in movies, even though it has only ever happened in movies? And how can this trend not have died already?
[/QUOTE]
This was last year’s Deck the Halls with Matthew Broderick and Danny Devito. And while I’m not sure anyone goes to the lengths movie characters do, I had neighbors who competed to make the biggest Christmas display. So it does happen, but I imagine without the Hollywood hijinks.
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool]
(2) Movies in which someone (frequently a cute young thing) is a professional investigator-of-the-paranormal, starts out by saying something like “I’ve invested 50 reported hauntings, all of them completely non-supernatural”, and of course they will get their supernatural comeuppance. This usually combines (1) horror movies, (2) anti-intellectualism, and (3) anti-skepticism, none of which are things I’m very fond of.
[/QUOTE]
This one’s The Reaping with Hilary Swank and it hasn’t even come out yet. Personally, I think it looks like a fun way to kill 90 minutes. Locusts man!
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### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/7 "2007-03-29T21:24:34Z")
More and more comedies ending with a gratuitous dance scene.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/8 "2007-03-29T21:25:15Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud]
I’m tired of horror movies that are remakes of Japanese films in which spooky-looking children pop up every few minutes. One spooky-looking kid popping up one time is scary. When it happens over and over in a half dozen movies, it’s a colossal bore.
[/QUOTE]
I’m tired of all the remakes / makeovers / rehashes of all the bad 1970s / 80s horror flicks, and subsequent sequels to the remakes / makeovers, etc. Did we really need an ‘updated’ version of _the Texas Chainsaw Massacre_, _the Hils Have Eyes_ or _the Amityville Horror_? Because quite frankly, the original movies were lousy enough.
And even though it’s not really new, enough with the romantic comedies with a supernatural twists in them - Reese Whitherspoon as a ghost, the cabin where lovers exchange love letters through time, Hugh Jackman as a ‘gentleman’ from the 1700s who appears in the modern day. Evidently, no screenwriters in Hollywood can come up with plausible romantic ‘date movie’ type scenarios anymore - there always has to be a high-concept obstacle to overcome.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/9 "2007-03-29T21:27:36Z")
Sorry to simulpost, but I forgot to mention -
Enough with the ‘wacky slapstick spoof’ movies: _Scary Movie_, _Not Another Date Movie_, _Another Gay Movie_, etc.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/10 "2007-03-29T21:35:30Z")
How about the movie where the hero (or heroine) has to fight the bad guy. At the end, the bad guy is losing. The hero cannot bring him/herself to kill the bad guy. But then (oh no!) The bad guy unexpectedly gets up, and the hero wins when the bad guy gets killed accidentally.
How about that movie where a white person goes into a school in the 'hood, and, like, makes a difference?
How about the movie where the loud minorities who meet stuffy/uncool whites and teach whitey to loosen up and act/dress like said minority.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/11 "2007-03-29T21:40:55Z")
This isn’t a new trend, but I really hate how movie makers try to exceed previous movies in blood and general gross stuff. A movie can be scary without showing body parts, blood, all that sort of stuff.
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### Author:  [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/12 "2007-03-29T21:42:16Z")
I’m sick of all the ultra violence but I probably in the minority on that. Recently, I rented Crank for my husband and son. I left; it was so pointlessly violently that I went and watched reruns on TV instead.
Ditto on remakes of almost any movie. Never seen one yet that was better or even slightly improved on the original.
And last, but not a new trend, I wish movies weren’t awash in music from beginning to end. See the movie [Dead Calm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097162/) and you’ll realize how manipulative the music is in most films (not to mention distracting.) Dead Calm had no music at all—at least none during the movie itself—and it was unbelievably suspenseful. Great film.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/13 "2007-03-29T21:44:16Z")
**HubZilla** , those are all _classic_ movie cliches, the OP specified “recent.” 😃
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/14 "2007-03-29T21:59:42Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque]
I’m tired of “shakycam”. What’s the point in having a fight scene in your film if every shot is four tenths of a second long, and the camera jitters around like it was strapped to the back of an epileptic ferret? Fights are infinitely more impressive when we can actually _see what’s happening_!
I know why they do this: first, they think it’s “cool”, which it isn’t, and second, they do it to hide the ineptitude and clumsiness of the star. There’s an easy solution to that second one: hire an actor who actually knows martial arts, instead of Keanu Reeves.
[/QUOTE]
**Gladiator** was especially bad about this. I was expecting some pretty good fight scenes, cause, ya know… gladiators! Instead all I got was a bunch of lightning fast cuts and then suddenly Russell Crowe is standing over a fallen foe. Hated that movie for this very reason.
But Keanu’s fight scenes in \*\*The Matrix \*\* are good examples of fights filmed well. I don’t know much about the technical correctness of the martial arts displayed, but the scenes are fun to watch and you can actually tell what’s happening in them because the camera lingers and it isn’t just a bunch of rapid cuts. **Troy** is pretty good about that, too. The Hector vs. Achilles fight is very well done.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/15 "2007-03-29T22:00:41Z")
The resurgence of Torture Horror.
SAW started it up again, I believe.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/16 "2007-03-29T22:02:41Z")
The lack of gratuitous nudity on the part of the leading actresses.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/17 "2007-03-29T22:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla]
How about the movie where the hero (or heroine) has to fight the bad guy. At the end, the bad guy is losing. The hero cannot bring him/herself to kill the bad guy. But then (oh no!) The bad guy unexpectedly gets up, and the hero wins when the bad guy gets killed accidentally.
[/QUOTE]
Can you name more than one movie in the last 3 years to do this?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/18 "2007-03-29T22:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque]
I know why they do this: first, they think it’s “cool”, which it isn’t, and second, they do it to hide the ineptitude and clumsiness of the star. There’s an easy solution to that second one: hire an actor who actually knows martial arts, instead of Keanu Reeves.
[/QUOTE]
Reminds me of what I am tired of. Freezing someone in the air, turning, unfreezing. When it’s still done seriously, that is.
> [@wonder9](#):
>
> And last, but not a new trend, I wish movies weren’t awash in music from beginning to end. See the movie Dead Calm and you’ll realize how manipulative the music is in most films (not to mention distracting.) Dead Calm had no music at all—at least none during the movie itself—and it was unbelievably suspenseful. Great film.
I wonder about Open Water? it seems like that would be a great one for not having any music, just to reinforce the empty dread of it all.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/19 "2007-03-29T22:05:16Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down]
Can you name more than one movie in the last 3 years to do this?
[/QUOTE]
Reminds me of another trend that bugs me–the bad guy getting away in the end! I sometimes like a nice neat ending, but things like Fallen just leave me disturbed.
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### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-movie-trends-you-hate/398030/20 "2007-03-29T22:06:31Z")
**gigi** , bullet time was _so_ cool in The Matrix–how come it sucks everywhere else? Did it get played out, or does nobody else have “the touch”?
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