Movie Cliches

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Anderton Prime

Anderton Prime

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Okay, post your favourite (or least favourite) movie cliche! This is a scene, series of events / shots, or camera / music use etc. that helps you to predict the action before it unfolds. The most popular is the horror movie staple of the cat jumping out of the closet. But there are so many others...For instance,

A person is spying on others and accidentally makes a sound by either knocking something over, sneezing, coughing, or making a rock fall down a cliff (I just watched part of The Arrival where Charlie Sheen did this when he was spying on the aliens)

Anyone think of any others? (Famine should be good at this...)
 
Two people split up to search for something, usually an insane killer, and they end up bumping into each other. After that, the insane killer shows up.

The car never starts when you need it to.

The black person is always first to die.

When the geeky kid gets a girlfriend, she cheats on him with the captain of the high school football team.

You can win a girl's heart if you stalk her enough.
 
Or the inept character drops the keys on the floor of the car, bends down to get them, and when they come back up, guess who's at the window...
 
daan
"This is my last mission. When I get back I'm going to raise rabbits on a farm in Iowa"

Dead.

Star Trek - Bloke you've never seen before goes down to planet with away team

Dead.
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So good I said 'em twice!
 
Skinny dipping late at night is never a good idea.

When you turn off the lights at night, everything turns blue.

No matter how fast you run, you'll never outrun the psycho killer. Never mind the fact that he's only walking the entire time. Even if you do manage to make good time, you'll probably trip. Dumbass.

And when driving, constantly wiggling the steering wheel keeps the car going straight.
 
In a horror movie when the person runs upstairs from the killer.

Or the black cop that retires tomorrow (to do everything he's been meaning to) dies.
 
All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.

It's always posibble to park directly outside the building you are visiting?!

Police departments that give their officers 'personality' tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned to a partner who is their total opposite.

Any lock can be picked by a credit card or paper clip in seconds, unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.
 
Shooting bullets into a gas tank will make it explode.

Cars will always explode in a big fireball (as do most other things, even those that had nothing flammable in them),
 
The hero/heroine of a movie has about 200 bullets shot at him/her at various times/ distances. Does one hit him/her? I don't think so.

When someone says "Is it clear?" the reply is "yes". They both leave their cover and get shot in a hale of bullets.
 
I've also noticed that no one ever takes the keys out of a car when they park and get out. It's not so much a movie cliche as something that just plain catches my attention / annoys me simultaneously.
 
When a character is escaping a mob and doesn't close a door they've just gone through. Only for a pursuer to here a creaking sound and continue the chase.
 
under18carbon
All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
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And the hero always disarms it at the last second. *whew*
 
When a kid better yet, a woman is told to stay still where they are. Pretty simple command but no they have to be the hero and wind up kidknapped or dead.
 
What about when someone strangles or drowns another person in the movies, and it's never realistic (i.e. not long enough) and you always think to yourself, "Man, why don't they just hold their breath and then play dead?"
 
Anderton Prime
What about when someone strangles or drowns another person in the movies, and it's never realistic (i.e. not long enough) and you always think to yourself, "Man, why don't they just hold their breath and then play dead?"
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Nice one 👍
 
I guess we could alter this threat to incorporate annoying impossibilities in movies as well. Like in the film Eraser, when Arnold is shooting both of those "rail guns," one in each arm. Now, you can either choose to take issue with the fact that he's actually firing a gun that shoots metal pieces at nearly the speed of light or the fact that he's got two of them at once. Either way it's friggin' stupid. Not to mention the "X-Ray scopes" these guns have, that allows you to look through walls and a person's skin to lock onto their heart and blast them away...
 
I love the Rocky movies and have seen them countless times. It annoys me though how he always comes through at the end of the fight. Rocky's opponent is shattered from throwing 500 +punches to his head and can't really go on. And the referee should have stopped every major match Rocky fought as he was getting pulverised in a way that modern boxing would not condone. Some of the beatings he got were just plane funny, like when Drago punched him into the ropes and he bouced all the way accross the ring.
 
No matter how fast you are going, no matter how square on you hit the parked car, your car will always be vaulted into the air performing a corkscrew.
 
Aliens can always converse with humans in English.
 
On top of that, if you ever have to hack into an alien race's electronics system, don't fret; you'll be able to do so with your handy Mac computer. Yes, I'm talking about Independence Day, one of the Worst Movies in History.
 
It's easier than flying right into the alien mother ship without being noticed. Sure they were in an alien ship but shouldn't there be alien security at the front door to see if any would be earthlings want to blow the place up. I wouldn't expect to get in there succesfully that's all.
 
In horror movies again : When a guy and a girl are fooling around, you know at least one of them is a gonner. Preferably the guy.
 
In the movies

* all cab rides are free, just say thanks and you don't have to pay.

* no one says 'bye' at the end of a phone call, you just hang up

* toilets only exist to take drugs in, never to actually have a dump

* cars can be hotwired by twisting together wires randomly pulled from under the dash; and everyone knows how to do it.
 
OH! I've got the best one!!! Well so far...:)

When someone knocks at the door, they TURN OFF the TV! What's the deal with that?!?!

I've never seen anyone do that in my life! Unless you're just killing time before a date or something. But in movies/TV it's always the unexpected knock, then "click" the TV goes off. Like they were watching Faces of Death or something. I always thought that was dumb.
 
Either you never run out of ammo or you do so at a convenient moment.

Car doors are almost never locked.

There is a bountiful amount of empty buildings to shoot it out in or get chased in.

Whenever there are valuable things in a museum the guards are well away from it and the only thing you have to pass is a bunch of lasers.

There is always a sewer system leading into the bank, usually next to the vault.

Cars never run out of gas.
 
Swift
OH! I've got the best one!!! Well so far...:)

When someone knocks at the door, they TURN OFF the TV! What's the deal with that?!?!

I've never seen anyone do that in my life! Unless you're just killing time before a date or something. But in movies/TV it's always the unexpected knock, then "click" the TV goes off. Like they were watching Faces of Death or something. I always thought that was dumb.
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Or when there is a knock on the door, someone says "I wonder who that is at the door?" I hate that question. It's bound to be a murderer that's on a spree or policeman bringing bad news on a rainy night.
 
All phonecalls ended without a word.

The one man against a whole army ala Steven Seagal.

Cars was mentioned earlier in the thread. Did anyone point out that many cars seems to have at least 8 gears?
 
GTJugend
All phonecalls ended without a word.

The one man against a whole army ala Steven Seagal.

Cars was mentioned earlier in the thread. Did anyone point out that many cars seems to have at least 8 gears?
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Or a quarter mile at 90 mph lasts for about 30 seconds(Fast and Furious) :dunce:
 
Anything that should last a short time (a few seconds to a minute) always gets streched. The best one's are bomb detonation count downs.
 
Watching Last action hero the other night reminded me about some cliches.

The best one is that the dumb ass gang leader tells the hostage his plans, while the hostage is cutting the ropes around their wrist with a knife no one found while frisking/body searching.

And like in all Bond movies, he (Bond) is strapped to a bed and cannot escape. Why doesn't the leader kill there and then?
 
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