Movie Cliches

[Auroranorth]

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.

And all the women still have perfect makeup.

[mostlyharmless]

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).

Reminds me of the crap Jean Claude Van Damme movie where he meets a bad guy and empties both clips of two Uzis he's carrying into the baddie and then, just to make really really sure he's dead, kicks him in the face.

[Deleted]

Every time that a character walks into a department store or supermarket, the P.A system is always playing that weird, tunelessly bland 70s synthesizer muzak (like the theme from 'A Summer Place' or something), usually to emphasise the empty vapidity of modern consumerism, and thus to score a point against the hollowness of western civilisation. This will also be played in any elevators the character enters, usually as comic relief.

Which would be all well and good, if not for the fact that every department store or supermarket I've ever been in has played real music. It's not usually GOOD music, but it's always been REAL music. They don't even play this stuff in elevators any more. Showing once again that filmmakers, especially when they try to show how hollow and inferior we regular humans are and how they're so greatly evolved, are in fact full of shit and completely out of touch.

[Malle Babbe]

If the heroine of a standard rom-com is a whisical free-spirit, this is demostrated by showing her trip over dust molecules on a regular basis. She never gets a concussion, sprains an ankle, or sustains any other type of injury; it merely enhances her "cuteness".

I, on the other hand, trip due to flat feet and noodly ankles...

[mostlyharmless]

every department store or supermarket I've ever been in has played real music.

Not to defend what are quite often some very bad movies but I suspect this has more to do with the legal aspect. Anything in a movie ( a book someone is reading, a T-Shirt with a logo, music playing etc) has to be legaly cleared and the permission of the copyright holder obtained. Quite often they'll demand to see the script, want approval, want changes, don't want any unsympathetic characters wearing their product and so on. It's a minefield and it's hard work.

If you're a moviemaker the easiest thing is get some copyright free Muzak and forget about it.

And back on topic, my favorite cliche busting scene with elevator music is Airplane II. The doors open and the DEAFENING MUSIC has everyone covering their ears, the doors close and, gone...

[shriekingeel]

Reviving this thread.

A super-strong villain fights against the smaller, weaker hero. Does he snap the hero's neck? Does he beat or stomp the hero to death in short order?

No, he throws the hero around the room, over, and over, until eventually the hero lands near the conveniently-placed Villain-Killing Weapon^TM.

[pepper67]

shriekingeel, that reminds me of my main problem with James Bond films (apart from all the sexism and stupidity, that is). Why, when the Main Bad Guy has captured and is going to kill Bond, does he always trust to his Fiendish Devices to finish him off? All they do is give the current Female Love Interest enough time to come in and help him, or give him the time to talk the Bad But Beautiful Love Interest into setting him free.

Once you've got him, shoot him in the head.

You know you're sick of a franchise when you're rooting for the bad guys to win.

[monsterzero]

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.

One clichebreaking moment from Sneakers that I love: Redford comes to the numeric keypad lock on a door and Poitier tells him there's only one way to open it. Redford listens carefully on his earpiece and then just KICKS the damn thing open. Classic.

shriekingeel, that reminds me of my main problem with James Bond films (apart from all the sexism and stupidity, that is). Why, when the Main Bad Guy has captured and is going to kill Bond, does he always trust to his Fiendish Devices to finish him off? All they do is give the current Female Love Interest enough time to come in and help him, or give him the time to talk the Bad But Beautiful Love Interest into setting him free.

Aw, but what else are we going to do with the sharks-with-lasers-on-their-heads?

[mostlyharmless]

Aw, but what else are we going to do with the sharks-with-lasers-on-their-heads?

I thought they were mutant sea bass?

[swanflake]

I always hate it when a couple has sex, and after having had this guy inside her, she proceeds to go around the apartment with a blanket or towel uncomfortably wrapped around her. Yeah, I know, the actress doesn't want to show her goodies and all, but I would much more easily believe that after they were done making whoopie, the girl just wanted to put her shirt back on during that imaginary off camera time.

I thought of this last night while watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when Kirsten Dunst was awkwardly clutching something to conceal her breasts from her sexual partner. Where was such modesty when they decided to have sex adjacent to an unconscious guy?