Those big, rusty metal drums?
Bad news.
Nobody ever opened one of those and found grain waiting to be shipped to save the hungry in the third world. Nope. Toxic waste or bodies, that’s all they’re good for.
If you see those drums, just back away.
As the case would be with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, Santeria, Vodun, and so on. Christianity does not have a monopoly on evil. (I would argue another religion being worse than Christianity, but I am not ready to be beheaded yet.)
WRS
“[E]very gymnast in a movie sooner or later encounters a bar.” – Roger Ebert, quoting “an ancient movie principle”.
If it is a movie made for the Lifetime channel, there will be a mother/daughter pair who don’t get along, and one of them wlil die of cancer/exotic disease by the end of the film.
If an naturally beautiful woman (i.e. Sandra Bullock or Anne Hathaway ) has frizzy/messy hair and glasses, then she will be considered ‘UGLY’, and even a beautician/hairdresser will consider them a lost cause, beauty-wise…
Yes, it is, and if you or he feel like discussing it further, take it to the Pit. I don’t really care if you two buy into movie cliches.
When the opening from “All Along the Watchtower” or “Gimme Shelter” is played, it is “The Sixties” and/or drug use is occurring.
I am pretty sure I have heard “Gimme Some Lovin’” played for chase or car scenes in at least two different movies. Also that song that starts out “Hey Hey Hey” and launches into a horn rif signals a comedic chase.
(This is a fun thread!)
I know the song, but for some reason I can’t recall the title or the artist (James Brown?). Anyway, I do remember that this horn break is at the end of the song, not at the start.
I’m thinking he means the song “Treat Her Right” - I can’t remember who made it an “oldies” classic, but at the end he says “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and then the horns fire up.
Found a link. (It’s Ray Head).
That’s the one! It’s the song being played at the beginning of “The Commitments.” (But I think they recorded their own version.)
Well, sometimes they just explode at the slightest provocation. Shoot them? Boom! Drop them on the ground? Boom! Sneeze on them? Boom!
Can we call that The Gymkata Principle?
That’s the one I meant! Thanks!
A corollary: the closer a character gets to Vietnam, the more the probability of hearing Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth approaches 1.
If low-pitched mournful gospel music is heard, the protagonist is about to drive into a poor rural predominantly black area.
This one really bugs me. I think they look better and cuter with the mousy-geeky look on.
Well, yes, you can. It’s probably not a good idea to do that in salt water for long periods of time but it won’t hurt you too much.
And the more specific info will be diplayed on screen. A Law and Order ep the other day had some college information display whihc had two peices of info: somebody’s name… and the fact that they dropped out. Which was, oddly, the same screen that the secretary had previously and mysteriously gotten his grades from.
All ministers, regardless of what denomination they are, wear priestly collars.
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Any character going into a Roman Catholic church always goes into a hugely complex Gothic Cathedral, sits in a darkened confessional with the a screen, and says, “Frgive me Father for I have sinned.”
Nobody says does that or says that, and while there are those giant Gothic cathedrals (and they look very cool) most Churches aren’t that elaborate.
And if your phone call is suddenly cut off, you must try and reconnect it by repeatedly jiggling the receiver button and saying “Hello? Hello?” before looking into the receiver and announcing “We got cut off.” That way the audience, none of whom have ever used a phone before, will know you’ve been cut off.
Iconic City Structures, used at the beginning to establish the city the movie or show is set in, or if it is set in more than one city, to tell you where the action has moved.
Denver: Wells Fargo Center (A.k.a the Cash Register Building)
San Francisco: The Golden Gate Bridge, then row houses on steep hills, then a cablecar.
New York City: depending on the period being depicted–
1930s-ish-1975: The Empire State Building.
1975-2001: WTC
2001-present: the space where the WTC used to be
Chicago: The Sears Tower
Los Angeles: Usually, a freeway. Occasionally, that building that is supposed to look like a stack of records, but really doesn’t.
London: Big Ben, then the palace guards.
Rome: the Colliseum
Paris: the Eiffel Tower, then the Arc de Triomphe
Sydney: the Opera House
I’m sure there are others I didn’t think of.
Naw, 2001-present is Empire State Building again. No one would recognize that space. And let’s not forget the NYC Skyline. The Chrysler Building also belongs in the mix.
And of course, if those establishing skyline shots are at the very beginning of the movie, they really filmed it nowhere near that location. Probably LA or Toronto.
The Capitol Records building.
Also, Los Angeles City Hall gets used a lot.
And the Hollywood Sign and Mann’s Chinese Theater are gimmies.
Remember The Kentucky Fried Movie’s Bruce Lee parody, “A Fistful of Yen”? The camera pans New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty in the foreground. Subtitle on screen: “HONG KONG”