Movie/TV clichés

[Hot Pepsi]

Buildings without 24/7 coverage will have an intercom system to unlock the front door. Video versions of these are increasingly common, but not ubiquitous.

The chains aren't as much of a thing anymore. We haven't had one this century.

Seinfeld portrayed the "buzzing people in" system I'm familiar with.

The chains aren't all that helpful anyway. Easy to break. But they make sense in a scene in a movie.

[ursus arctos]

No, I don't watch stuff like that.

And yes, they would all have doormen.

I was just noting that there were actually multiple reasons why the trope defied reality.

Some kind of doorman/front desk is quite common in Manhattan buildings with a dozen or more units. What will differ is how many staff there are, what kind of services they provide, and whether they provide 24/7 coverage.

Buildings without 24/7 coverage will have an intercom system to unlock the front door. Video versions of these are increasingly common, but not ubiquitous.

The chains aren't as much of a thing anymore. We haven't had one this century.

[Wouter D]

the weird ones on Bilkionaire Row

That is an excellent typo. How does one become rich? Well, one ends up living at Bilkionaire Row.

[Hot Pepsi]

Maybe the weird ones on Bilkionaire Row marketed to oligarchs, but none of the multiple eight figure pre war flats I've been in have video. There's no need for them.

The code requires peepholes whether or not the building has doormen.

Have you seen Suits?

They all live in spacious condos, far above Tor..um...Manhattan. They clearly have doormen.

I understand they should have peepholes too, but they wouldn't be worried about somebody at their door. And surely everyone now just texts to say they're on their way up.

Doormen aren't that uncommon, though, are they? I once visited a friend on the UES who lived in one of the smallest apartments I'd ever been in, with one of the smallest elevators I'd ever been in. That place had a doorman. Or, at least, guy sitting behind a small desk in a small foyer asking asking you to sign in, etc.

That reminds me, the common convention in films and TV is for the person behind the door to have the chain on it and then just talk to the person at the door through the small opening that allows. Then, if they decide to let them in, they close the door and unlatch the chain and then open it again. If it's a violent film, the intruder can just kick the door hard enough to break the chain thingy.

[ursus arctos]

Maybe the weird ones on Bilkionaire Row marketed to oligarchs, but none of the multiple eight figure pre war flats I've been in have video. There's no need for them.

The code requires peepholes whether or not the building has doormen.

[Hot Pepsi]

Peepholes are actually required in "multiple dwelling units" under the NYC building code

I assume high-end places have the electronic version now.

And all the people on Suits probably live in buildings with doormen, etc. They know who is coming before they arrive.

[ursus arctos]

Peepholes are actually required in "multiple dwelling units" under the NYC building code

[MsD]

The number of affluent people on TV who don't have peepholes or entry video in their apartments. All the characters in Suits, for example. They always throw open the front door and are constantly surprised at who they find standing there.
I NEVER open the door if I don't know who's out there and don't think I've ever lived anywhere where that's been a thing. Even my council flat had a peephole as well as an entryphone, in 1983.

[Hot Pepsi]

That too. But doesn’t apply to lead characters.

[Patrick Thistle]

I assume they do that to keep it quiet?

More like keeping liquids off set where there are cables everywhere / making it easier for the props people

[Tratorello]

Started watching the latest "True Detective" with Jodie Foster and, whilst enjoying it, I'm already losing track of the number of "Chief, you've got to see this" cliches there's been. Surely, just occasionally police officers would say what it is the Chief needs to see rather than just leave it a complete mystery.

Also, having had a binge recently of various excellent crime/cop shows, can Police officers please remember than IF you find it necessary to try to apprehend the almost invulnerable bad guy on your own at least follow standard procedure and call it in and tell despatch where you are and what you are doing before you decide to go Johnny Rambo and try to do everything without back up.

[Hot Pepsi]

I assume they do that to keep it quiet?

[San Bernardhinault]

As soon as someone pointed this out to me, I see it everywhere. You can tell almost immediately how empty coffee cups look. Perhaps if they were mugs it would be OK, but paper cups really have no mass and clearly behave differently. It looks terrible to my eyes now, but I was totally unaware of it before someone mentioned it to me. TV in office settings has been ruined.

[Sam]

The coffee cup discussion has reminded me that last week I watched something that had me thinking that if I ever become a TV director, any scenes in which a character is holding a cup of drink will involve some actual liquid being in said cup. That way the actor will have a constant reminder that they've got to keep their hand really quite still so as to avoid chucking their drink all over the place.

[Sits]

The godawful TV's own Kirstie and Phil always drink from empty mugs when chatting with homeowners. That's not so bad, but the fact that they drink from them, even sometimes doing a "cheers" with them, is just embarrassing.

When we hadn’t been in Australia very long, Mrs. S and I were extras in an advert. This entailed us spending about three hours in a shopping mall, first pretending to walk past a shop, then pretending to have coffee in a cafe. Meanwhile the “talent”, TV’s own Tracey Dale, told people about Dimetapp, great for your sinus apparently. Anyway the point is, for the cafe scene we had to pretend to drink from empty coffee cups, which was really difficult as they were too light. Tracey Dale was brought a regular supply of hot, steaming cups of proper coffee.

It’s irked me for nearly a quarter of a century.

Edit: that and the fact they sat Mrs. S and me with different “spouses” they thought we looked better with.

[Snake Plissken]

In the North American films I've seen, blinds only remain permanently closed when they conceal either the body of somebody who died months ago (possibly with their face in a bowl of soup) or a group of young computer cracks who are planning to overthrow something.

Blinds open:

"He's checking his email."

Blinds closed:

"Hello, is that the FBI. Someone is breaking into your computers."

[nmrfox]

The godawful TV's own Kirstie and Phil always drink from empty mugs when chatting with homeowners. That's not so bad, but the fact that they drink from them, even sometimes doing a "cheers" with them, is just embarrassing.

[Sits]

Just watching Episode 2 of Culprits and there was a scene in Hambleden, Oxfordshire. That’s a cliché right there.

[Hot Pepsi]

Rich people choose to intimidate characters by cornering them into conversations at events they’re hosting.

That way they can end the conversation with. “I must get back to my guests.”

[tee rex]

Something along those lines in A Quiet Place which we watched last night. Actually it ticked a few boxes on this thread, even though it wasn’t bad.

It's a good film, but it was poor parenting by dad under the waterfall, telling his child that they couldn't be heard. How did he know what the monsters couldn't hear? Idiot.

[Sits]

Or, the opposite.

”You have to stay here. It’s not safe.”
”If you think you’re going in there alone, you’re insane.”

Something along those lines in A Quiet Place which we watched last night. Actually it ticked a few boxes on this thread, even though it wasn’t bad.

The monsters/aliens are an amalgam of Alien and Predator and make very Alien-y noises. That’s become a cliché in itself; they’re even Alien brown.

[Hot Pepsi]

Or, the opposite.

”You have to stay here. It’s not safe.”
”If you think you’re going in there alone, you’re insane.”

[Sits]

“No, you go. I’m staying!”

[Hot Pepsi]

There’s no time to explain. Just get on the damn plane now.

[treibeis]

I had a movie / TV cliche to share with you all, but I see you're busy. I'll come back later.

I also had one, but three words into my announcing it, my phone rang, I answered it, my face dropped, I hung up, shouted, "The basement! It was the goddamned basement!" and then ran out of the room without telling anybody where I was going and why. Whereupon somebody at a desk, eating a pastrami sandwich and then drinking from a paper cup before finishing chewing, looked towards the door I'd just slammed, shrugged their shoulders and said, "Goers gonna go".