Movie Cliches

[swanflake]

tinyshoes said:

I also hate when they have those sex in the bathtub scenes, or sex scenes in the pool. Sure, it looks sexy on screen, but in real life, once the lube gets all watered down, it feels like you've been masturbating with a cheese grater.

You can also get germs in your coochie!

Gynocological health lesson for the day...

[sumire]

I just watched The Thin Man this weekend, and there's a scene where the Distraught Daughter of the Kidnapped Scientist throws herself into Nick's arms just as his wife Nora walks in, and get this--Nick just makes a goofy face at Nora! And Nora makes a face back at him! And then comes over to help!

So refreshing--from a movie made in 1934. Where, oh where did romcom writers go wrong?

[shriekingeel]

It amazes me that plot devices that any fiction editor in the world would red-flag as blatant cliches, still find their way into, not just screenplays, but actual made professional films.

The worst one, for me, is stories that begin with the protagonist waking up and getting out of bed in the morning. It's the most obvious sign of a bad, inexperienced writer--and yet you constantly see movies that begin like this. Seemingly every single teen movie from the 80s and 90s features this hoary device, and it continues to this day with American Pie, Grind, etc.

[Deleted]

Here's one that drives me crazy. Both people have something important to say and are excitedly talking over each other and interrupting each other. Finally one of them sighs and says, "Okay, you go first." Person A gives their news which somehow undermines or defuses Person B's news.

Person A: Isn't that great?

Person B: Uh... Yeah. That's really great...

Person A: Okay, now what were you going to tell me?

Person B: Oh... Nothing. It wasn't important...

Person A: Okay! Well, see you later!

What gets me is that Person A always accepts that Person B's news suddenly isn't important anymore even though moments before they were dancing around with excitement.

[foxyepicurean]

Why does every. single. war. movie. have a variation of the old "go on without me" moment? My husband lives and breathes WWII movies, and even he thinks it's stupid. (He tells me to "go on without me" when he gets a hangnail or stubs his toe!)

The other one that comes to mind (often in war movies, but not exclusively) is this conversation:

Wounded Comrade: Tell <name of loved one> that I...

Concerned Friend: No, no, you can tell her yourself. You're going to be okay.

Wounded Comrade: But I want her to know...<death rattle>

Ugh! Just let the dying man speak! Or maybe pretend it's realistic and have the dying guy be in too much pain to think or speak clearly.

[Deleted]

On running for your life with a member of the opposite sex:

Please be advised that the male shall take the lead position while reaching back to hold the female by her hand. While this may sacrifice both balance and speed, it ensures that the hysterical woman who is clearly unable to keep her head facing forward, will not crumple to the ground to be killed/maimed/eaten by their pursuer.

[sumire]

Why does every. single. war. movie. have a variation of the old "go on without me" moment?

That was one of my favorite little gags in Toy Story, though, when one of the green plastic army guys gets stepped on. That's the good thing about cliches--they make parodies possible.

[sueli]

greedygretchen said:

On running for your life with a member of the opposite sex:

Please be advised that the male shall take the lead position while reaching back to hold the female by her hand. While this may sacrifice both balance and speed, it ensures that the hysterical woman who is clearly unable to keep her head facing forward, will not crumple to the ground to be killed/maimed/eaten by their pursuer.

I just saw The Island and if I remember correctly, didn't Jordan lead a few times?

Sue me, but I will always like XXX for making Xander relatively clueless when it came to the serious, your life is really in danger sequences toward the end.

[Hamatron]

Also, while on the subject of running: When something massive is about to explode, as long as you run really fast then jump at the last second you'll make it out with minor scratches. For added 'realism' the force of the explosion might gently propel you into a slow motion state-- this is natural. Time will resume normally again once you land face down on the ground and cough a bit.

Another one-- in parent/child body swapping movies, the parent is always some anal nerd control freak and the kid is always a bit of an unfocused screw up. One must learn to get it together and the other must learn to let loose. Apparently there are not other possible permutations of the situation.

And another, well this is more of a 'editing logic' is weird thing, but my friend pointed this out to me once and now it makes me giggle to think about. You see the character looking off into the distance at something. Then the camera cuts to a POV shot of what the person is seeing, but whatever it is it's too far off in the distance for the audience to see. So, the camera will then zoom in on the view so we get a detailed shot. By this logic? That character has super-human eye-zooming power! Awesome!

[Ripley]

Character A is under some kind of stress - either being attacked by a monster or being pulled into machinery when Character B stumbles in:

A: Do something!
B: What?!?
A: ANYTHING!!!!!