Movie Cliches

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anderton Prime
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When somebody needs to jump from a tall building, or bridge whatever, there just happens to be a pool, garbage truck or big rig filled with empty cardboard boxes.
 
One that's been bugging me for ages is how in certain movies all it takes is one hit to knock someone out/kill them. Then in a whole lot of other movies it takes a severe beating where the person who is being hit gets up and tries to resume fighting before finally being beaten down. I think there should be a certain amount of hits agreed upon until someone gets knocked out.
 
One of the biggest and lamest movie cliches is when you see the bad guy about to shoot, then you hear a gun go off, and the bad guy drops to the floor, revealing the last-minute saver standing behind him who just shot him in the back. Sometimes there's an added shot of the person who was originally going to be shot by the bad guy flinching and touching / looking at his chest to see if there's a bullet hole (but there's not...) I hate it!
 
In war movies. The dying soldier says to one of his comrades : "Tell my wife that I love her."
A used and abused, cheesy line that we could do without.
 
In prison movies : Two friends or accomplices go to jail, and always end up being in the same cell or at least next door to each other.
 
Taurine
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.
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This is absolutely my #1 most-hated idiotic movie cliche of all time. The worst was in (of course) TF&TF when they drove into the side of a semi truck that was 2-3 times as tall as the car, and still somehow did that stupid barrel roll jump.

Lifters already covered my other car-related cliche, which is that cars will explode after contact with nearly anything.

A few of my own hated cliches:
  • Going off-center in the frame means you are seconds away from being attacked by the homicidal maniac.
  • Dropping the gun, or not picking it up. Even if the gun is empty, looking armed is better than nothing, and you never know when you might run across some ammo.
  • Never check to see if the bad guy is dead. He isn't. If you hadn't been so stupid and dropped the gun a few scenes back, you could put a few slugs through his brain to check if he's dead, instead of walking right over where he can grab your ankle.
  • When you're on foot and being chased by bad guys in a car, always be sure to run straight down the middle of the street.
  • Rich people are always shallow or stupid (if they're white) or drug dealers (if they're not).
  • All corporations are always evil.
 
Corporations are always governed by a balding white dude. Like alot of today's CEO's. They do wicked things in films but always get what was coming to them. Oh sweet movie justice.
 
1) The ability to jump through a window without causing one sccratch/cut to the body.

2) When hacking a "mainframe" they are presented with a 3D virtual world where they can explore the inside of the computer.

3) In relation to the above, no one ever uses a mouse, just jump straight onto the keyboard and begin typing.

4) When performing a £ 400 million pound drug deal, always meet at an empty dock or warehouse and have a speed boat or supercar in the back of a lorry just in case.
 
1)Bad guys/evil henchmen will die in one shot, even if they are wearing body armor.

2)All good people in the movie world live in the suburbs in a huge house with a perfect family.

3)Anyone who lives in a tower block or is poor is usualy a criminal

4) (not always but somthing i noticed in some films)
Russians are depicted as mean people
Europeans are depicted as cowards/boffins
Australians are always skilled in outdoor survival
British are all snobs/useless at everything
 
I hate when somebody calls to the main character of the movie, and tells him to turn the channel x on the TV, the report/news/programme allways starts on that second.
 
I hate it when southern people are depicted in either one of two ways. It's hard to explain if you're not from the south. Anyway, you're either the rich "low-country" plantation type of person (from Chollstun or Charleston. As seen in movies like Gone with the Wind.) and you have this haughty air to you or you're the stupid hick from some 'ere up in dem mountuns up 'ere, and we's all just a bunch a stoopid raid-necks. I definately have a southern accent but I know how to control it and know when it's okay to sound southern and when it's appropriate to speak correctly.
 
I hate when you watch action movies and the hero kills about 100 people throughout the first hour and a half, but once they reach the big boss it takes them forever. In 007 films bond will dispose of all the hench men instantaneously, but once he reaches the decrepid old guy, he suddenly forgets how to fight.

I had another one but can't remember it.
 
Cops cant drive...they are always running into the back of a garbage/delivery truck during a chase but the detective always manages to slither his way thru.
Cops cant shoot to save their lives....
Half an hour drug deal/arms deal no cop in sight.....after the good guy kills them all singlehandedly, cops, SWAT, choppers, Army from everywhere as the credits start rolling.....
Why does every "hero" have a chick tagging along who is scared of guns and car chases and seems to be slowing him down but manages to deliver the final fatal shot to the bad guy with shaking hands and tears in her eyes...........????
 
I find it amazing how often the hero can escape a building just as it explodes.

I love it when the camera zooms onto a specific object for four seconds to tell us that it's important.

I love movies where the killer leaves abstract clues so that he can later be caught by the hero detective. Has anyone seen Blood Work? If so, you'll know what I'm talking about with the clue that is a string of numbers that has 'no one'.
 
Every Chick Flick Romantic comedy has the same cliched plot.

-Boy meets girl.

-Girl hates boy. (If she doesn't hate him she's married)

-Boy eventually gets girl.

-Boy screws up; Girl hates boy again.

-Boy does some really crazy romantic thing and they end up together again.
 
I'd say that movie cops are amazing drivers.... tell me who could drive a crappy Crown Vic or Caprice and keep up with a Porsche or [inserst exotic sports car here], even on a straight line?
 
Cops cannot solve the crime or capture the Big Badguy until they have been suspended by the Captain, who is always pissed off and shouts at the top of his lungs.


M
 
///M-Spec
Cops cannot solve the crime or capture the Big Badguy until they have been suspended by the Captain, who is always pissed off and shouts at the top of his lungs.


M
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Dang, there's got to be at least 100 movies like that in the past 50 years.
 
jpmontoya
I'd say that movie cops are amazing drivers.... tell me who could drive a crappy Crown Vic or Caprice and keep up with a Porsche or [inserst exotic sports car here], even on a straight line?
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Actually, the police editions of the caprice and crown vic have different engines then the civilian versions. Not to mention upgraded suspension and the like. I believe the HP for a standard police cruiser is in the 300-350 range. That would enable him to keep up with, if not overtake, most cars out there.

Speaking of that, remember cannonball run? Where the Lambo stopped at ever speed limit sign, had a girl get out and spray paint it, then she got back in and they still outran the cop that never slowed down! :lol: I don't know where that's really funny or just plain stupid.

Sorry for double post...:(
 
That would be Cannonball Run II, and it's a movie, so don't believe it 100%. Plus, if you ever have the chance to watch the intro to that movie again, you'll notice that they speed up the camera to make the Countach look like it's accelerating even faster than normal. I know both Cannonball Runs have a Lamborghini at the beginning, but part II is the one where they do the speed limit switch and also the one where the Countach is a "color-changer," and they change it from white to red with water.
 
Anderton Prime
That would be Cannonball Run II, and it's a movie, so don't believe it 100%. Plus, if you ever have the chance to watch the intro to that movie again, you'll notice that they speed up the camera to make the Countach look like it's accelerating even faster than normal. I know both Cannonball Runs have a Lamborghini at the beginning, but part II is the one where they do the speed limit switch and also the one where the Countach is a "color-changer," and they change it from white to red with water.
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Cool, it was II. couldn't remember.

But I know it's a movie and can't be taken serioiusly for something like that. That's why I said I couldn't decide if it was funny or stupid. :sly:

But I guess this really belongs in the "Technical Inaccuracy" Thread.
 
Swift
Actually, the police editions of the caprice and crown vic have different engines then the civilian versions. Not to mention upgraded suspension and the like. I believe the HP for a standard police cruiser is in the 300-350 range. That would enable him to keep up with, if not overtake, most cars out there.

Speaking of that, remember cannonball run? Where the Lambo stopped at ever speed limit sign, had a girl get out and spray paint it, then she got back in and they still outran the cop that never slowed down! :lol: I don't know where that's really funny or just plain stupid.

Sorry for double post...:(
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Not so! The "police interceptor" versions are slightly hopped up versions of the stock vehicles. They do have heavier duty suspension, Front bucket seats in some places, and some added muscle. But as per Motor Trend Magazine, most of your garden variety Crown Vics and Caprices may do an honest 120 mph. They test actual Highway patrol cars.

That is why many states are using Mustangs and Camaros as pursuit cars. If a Crown Vic could keep up with a Porsche, the 'Stangs and Camaros wouldn't be necessary.

What I want to know, is how is it that radio waves travel at about 700 MPH, and the bad guy can still avoid the cops, without a scanner?

Why is it that a freshly empty automatic doesn't go to slide lock, and the shooter keeps snapping away with an empty gun?

And why is it that a 240 lb man flies thru the air for many feet after being shot by any gun bigger than a snub-nose .38?
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the worst person for cheesy clichés.

People like Bruce Willis and Silvester Stallone also use very corny catch-phrases, but they are so bad they actually make me laugh.
 
{1. How people walk away from an awesome looking explosion caused by a bomb that is right behind them without even looking back at it. As if they were so macho and cool (like "Desparato" or "Man On Fire") Why wouldn't they want to look at it?

{2. How in the movies the problems always take place in either Los Angeles or New York City most if the time. (Worsed one)

{3. Actors respond too quickly to a sentence or phrase that should be much longer: They wait one split second and then say: "You say that the imperial mother ship is going to hit us with a satelite system signal on their own ship in just 30 minutes!?"

{4. In a love story the more in love they seem at the first half of the movie you know the more tragedy is ahead for them in order to bring out the high and low contrasted difference. (The Notebook and Romeo & Juliet)

{5. When they play "happy music" against the violent scenes of battle or war: (Face Off "Somewhere over the rainbow" song, or the "It's a Wonderful World" in the Goodmorning Vietnam movie)

{6. When in corny moments a person says: "I am sure our son is using the computer for the best of his future career." and then of course as an overused joke they show him doing the opposite (playing games or watching porn) (Surviving Christmas and countless other movies)

{7. Overuse of sarcasm whenever a guy tries to pick up a girl in a bar. Women aren't that mean spirited. Women who go to a bar in a revealing outfit enjoy being pursued. However the movies makes it look like they really were doing all that for a drink! (Countless movies but the one that does stand out is "Anger Management" the Heather Graham part)

{8. Everytime we see a person attempt to escape a security area (rather it be prison or other) there was always that one ignorant cop who either misses looking at the most important security screen or falls asleep on the job and because of this all hell breaks loose as the perfect excuse. (Countless)

{9. Revenge movies: Haven't we had enough? (Kill Bill, Hero, The Mask of Zorro, Leone The Professional, Troy (Achilles for his killed cousin) etc...etc...) The "Revenge" plot is practically coined in most stories!

{10. How in an arguement one always gets in an awed "She's right, and I am so wrong!" kind of silence and lets the person not only continue speaking, but lets him or herself get hurt in silence and tears by the other persons words. In most arguments even if people know they are wrong they still try to see it their way to spare the ego. In Hollywood egotism and stubborness does not exist?
 
The Cheif of Police is typically black and so is the president.
 
Actors that can jump/fly as if they're sliding into second base, and still manages to fire their gun(s) with deadly accuracy.

A lead character takes up their addiction (smoking, drinking, illegal drugs) again, after they've quit long ago. Usually occurs about two-thirds of the way through the movie, after a particularly stressful scene.

Perfectly clear nights, free from any light pollution in a busy city setting. Throw in a fake arangement of stars (since when did constellations get copyrighted?), too.

Computers that makes too many beeping noises when someone's typing.
 
spontaneous bullet time for no particular reason. and theres no bullets in the scene.

also, flashy camera angles hint hint CSI

Also, the red head guy in CSI miami always starts off the show with some lame catch phrase thats supposed to have some sort of impact because it cuts directly to The Whos.
 
Duke
  • When you're on foot and being chased by bad guys in a car, always be sure to run straight down the middle of the street.
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Ah, that's a classic. Just awful, and reminds me of two specific instances of cliched actions:
-Bad Company: Chris Rock (it doesn't matter what the character's name is, he's always just playing Chris Rock) is driving a shiney new Mercedes-Benz S class, and is being pursued by terrorists in a beat up old Land Rover. CLEARLY the best way to get away from them is to randomly swerve into the forest.
-Pacific Blue: This is the worst TV show ever. It's about California bicycle cops. In my collective 15 minutes of watching this show, I've seen no less then 5 chases. In every one, the cops are on their bikes, and whoever they're chasing is on foot. The pursued person is able to easily outrun them over flat ground every single time.

The lesson here is; the speed of any two partys involved in a chase is dictated solely by the writer, and never logic or physics.

The thing that annoys me the most; whenever any motor vehicle is starting or stopping under any conditions, with any driver, it will always squeel the tires. Every freaking time. This one is starting to make me twitch.
 
I hate how in movies such as Chucky, a doll that has no elbow joints and feet arn't touching the ground can have about 300lbs worth of force down on someone's throat/arms/etc
 
I hate it in horror movies, when some retard comes up with the idea of splitting up. But I think film makers now know how stupid that is so they stopped doing it, I think.
 
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