Movie Cliches

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tommytimp said:

And Reservoir Dogs, and Con Air, and Mystery Men. Welles probably did it first in one of his films. The Magnificent Striding Ambersons.

The Wild Bunch, as well.

"Quick! The Bomb's going to explode in ten seconds and the bomb squad's not going to make it! Which wire do I cut?"

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DoctorNemesis said:

"Quick! The Bomb's going to explode in ten seconds and the bomb squad's not going to make it! Which wire do I cut?"

And the person is always deciding between cutting the blue or the red wire and is a split second away from cutting one, then suddenly switches and cuts the other -- which turns out to be the right one to cut.

(This reminds me, come to think of it, of someone's comments about the Omniscient Detective -- there's no logical reason why the person knows what to do -- they just know.)

[ladymadonna]

A group of mean girls rule the school. One of the mean girls is a closet nice person. She befriends local misfit, who has the misfortune to witness the mean girls doing something REALLY bad. Mean girls turn misfit into a total hottie who becomes full of herself and ditches closet nice girl. In the end misfit learns her lesson, mean girls are destroyed, and nice people once again rule the universe.

Sure. It worked EXACTLY like that when I was in high school.

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I heard this bit of dialogue in a movie or t.v. show the other day and I thought: When are they ever going to retire this tired line:

Character A: Where are you going? What's going on?

Character B: I'd tell you... But then I'd have to kill you.

It was probably funny the first time.

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Bonsai said:

I heard this bit of dialogue in a movie or t.v. show the other day and I thought: When are they ever going to retire this tired line:

Character A: Where are you going? What's going on?

Character B: I'd tell you... But then I'd have to kill you.

It was probably funny the first time.

As memorably parodied on Spaced:

DAISY: What do you do for a living, Mike? I've always wondered.

MIKE: If I told you that, I'd have to kill you.

DAISY: Why? Is it a secret?

MIKE: No.

[GirlyGhoul]

I work at a military school and sometimes go over to the PX to watch some TV while I eat lunch. Yesterday, there was a movie with The Rock (I don't know which one since I came in near the end). But anyway, it was one of those where 800 people are shooting at the hero with machine guns- but he never gets hit. He whips around with guns in both fists, completely putting himself in the open and manages to gun down all his enemies (and still he does not get hit). Then he sets up a cataclysmic explosion and as the fire and rubble are reaching to the heavens, walks away in slow motion, unharmed by said cataclysmic explosion taking place directly behind him.

As much as I love looking at The Rock, smelling what he's cooking and all that, I couldn't help but shake my head at the whole scene and think "Man, that is TIRED!"

The male cadets eating lunch around me were all hootin' and hollering at the scene, which just made me extra sad .

[emersende]

Aww, they're still young and green and untouched by the harsh realities of film.

You, on the other hand, are too old for this shit.

[Auroranorth]

Wouldn't that be a great course for military schools? "Why Combat Isn't Like The Movies."

1. Good people die.
2. People who set off explosions at close range die.
3. People who do "stupid, boneheaded, holovision hero, recruit, tricks" die. (rough paraphrase from a David Weber novel)
4. People who don't shoot from cover die.

Are you sensing a theme here?

[GirlyGhoul]

You, on the other hand, are too old for this shit.

It's true! It's true! My youthful movie innocence was lost long ago....

Though that brings me to another dreaded cliche: Aging action star goes through the same shootout, car crashes, and close range explosions as The Rock (or any other young and budding actions star) does, but lands on his butt instead of calmly walking away. He's still not hurt much, but always manages to spit out "Eh, I'm getting too old for this shit!" before jumping right back into the action.

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Anyone ever see that Robert Redford movie, Sneakers, about the gang of ex-cons hired to break into a bank by the bank, to test their security? At one point Redford is trying to out-race the alarm system, stumbles over something and sure enough, says "I'm getting too old for this shit." I think Claire Danes said it too, in that awful The Mod Squad.

Here's another: When a character has just received horrible, shocking news, or seen or heard something traumatic they might lean over the sink and wash cold water over their face. If they do this, they always seem to slowly raise their faces with water still dripping, and gaze wide-eyed at their own reflection for a prolonged moment.