…and should not be done anymore!
Falling down to get a laugh: why are movies still doing this?? It was mildly amusing the first 5000 times but let’s try something else!
Others??
Enough with the Matrix rip-off scenes already!
I’d say that the whole schtick where the serial killer, instead of just offing the target of his revenge, concocts a huge intricate plot requiring only slightly less brain power than coming up with the theory of relativity.
And of course, in these movies, the lone genius cop is the only one with nearly enough brain power to even figure out the steps the killer wants him to take, let alone solve the case.
It was amusing in Se7en. By the time The Bone Collector came out, it had gotten pretty old.
How about the “one person who knows the real story, but no one will believe him and so he has to do it himself” story?
car chases… please god above, make them stop with the car chases. How many times do I have to see another “climatic” car chase, that’s just pointless, and cliched?
The psycho, burnout cop/soldier/lawyer who’s the only one crazy enough to get the assignment done. Screw due process, therapy and leaves of absence. He’s the only chance we’ve got.
OK, OK, we get it!! You’re the VILLAIN. You’re the guy who’s going to end the world unless the psycho cop/soldier/lawyer loner thwarts your evil plan.
Now will you please stop killing hostages, assorted members of the cop/soldier/lawyer’s family, and your own henchman just to prove to everybody how insanely evil you are? It’s amazing you every got anything done in the first place!
If the movie gears up to a big showdown at abandoned factory/construction site/warehouse, I fast forward. If I find out that the hero doesn’t win by killing the bad guy, but that the bad guy makes a mistake and falls down and dies, due to his own actions I don’t even wait for the credits.
Through skill and incredible luck, the villain captures the hero. Does he shoot the hero? Noooooo. He ties the hero up, explains every detail of his evil plan and just … leaves to check the laundry or something. Is it a psychological thing? Is the villain afraid of success? I don’t think you can chalk this one up to plain insanity.
I nominate the following:
a) one of the villain’s henchmen gets a conscience and at the last minute decides to help the good guys who would’ve otherwise been utterly screwed
b) a man and woman (from opposing backrounds, points of view or whatever) who absolutely hate each other go through a traumatic event and fall in love
Bad guys who have to explain their plan to the only person who can stop them.
Outrunning a fireball.
Air conditioning ducts big enough (and clean enough) for a full sized adult to crawl through.
Cars that hit the last parked car in a row and, instead of wrecking, flip over.
Guys who hook up with prostitutes with hearts of gold and no drug problems, psychological problems or venereal diseases. This does not happen in real life.
Two words. Product placement.
I think subtle product placement is a good thing. I just keep thinking about Repo Man.
The old “He tampered in god’s domain” moral.
Lousy film-industry luddites. If you fear technology so much, go live in a cave. :mad:
Where to even begin?
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What I like to call The Lifetime Movie of the Week: any film featuring some ho-hum woman living through some traumatic experience involving a terminally ill child/abusive husband/stalker/car accident and after recovering her memory and getting “empowered”, she “beats the odds” and saves her/her child’s life OR kills the stalker/husband OR walks again.
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Those I’m Too Sexy For This Job movies I keep running into in mainly the thriller/sci-fi/crime genre. Some supermodel-turned-cop/microbiologist is called in to catch the serial killer/wacko releasing genetically engineered super virus and after pulling completely unbelievable skills or knowledge out his/her ass, saves the human race/foreign embassy/small town while falling in love with the other supermodel-turned cop/microbiologist.
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Scary & Disturbing- Brought to you by Pepsi Co.- any “horror” movie whose plot revolves around some pop culture premise and relies almost solely on flash shots of mildly disturbing images to “scare” the viewer.
Now for some intra-film cliches I despise:
Any plot with a “twist” that is visible to the legally blind from miles away on a foggy night. This usually involves revealing some previously suspected and obviously hinted-at genetic or sexual relationship between two characters. “It’s his brother!” or “She was his mistress!”.
Anyone in a movie who loses their memory and spends most of the film wandering around with a vaguely constipated look on their face and having pointless flashbacks.
Any character who is obviously the end result of teams of middle-aged upper-tax-bracket types polling teenagers to find out what is “cool”.
The quirky best friend, the slob best friend, the slut best friend, the loser best friend, the best friend of whom to be jealous, but who is actually secretly jealous of the main character
The partner who is killed, causing the lead to swear vengeance.
The wise mentor who dispenses nothing but bumper sticker wisdom and usually must die so that the lead can find himself and/or swear vengeance.
M. Night Shyamalan.
Obscenely rich girl/boy secretly hates his/her life, falls in love with poor-but-spunky girl/boy, to the chagrin of parents, but learns important life lessons about social class structure.
Anyone who “comes of age”.
The hero who, during the final fight scene (in one of those huge Hong Kong abandoned factories/warehouses which manufacture nothing but cool fight scenes) is getting his ass kicked until he is shot in the shoulder/remembers his dead mentor’s words and then becomes Bruce Lee and demolishes the villain.
Oh, there are so, so many more, but this is all I can come up with for now.
If a woman coughs at the begin of a period film, she’ll die of consumption by the end.
If a man sits down after some activity or rubs his left arm, he’ll probably have a heart attack.
For cliches I like http://minievil.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
For nearly every maxim there I can name a movie that used it.
In any war movie, when a soldier says, “Two more months and I’m out, man.”
Dead man walking.
By the book veteren paired with loose cannon rookie.
Al Pachino making a 5 minute screaming tirade at the end of his movies.
Vampires that shop at Armani and Diesel and hang out in groovy after-hour raves.
Robots that want to be human instead of wanting to be better robots.
Dead people who don’t realize they’re dead.
A single woman who is only compatible with a drifter/alien/robot/mental patient being pursued by the authorities.
Evil corporations that commit atrocities like demolishing dilapadated neighborhoods (and thus displacing poverty-stricken tenents who are too irrational to accept a settlement) to put in new housing developments and malls.