Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Movie/TV clichés

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Originally posted by jwdd27 View Post
    Is your character staying in a cheap motel/hotel?

    Then their room window will be right next to the flashing neon sign, which will intermittently illuminate the room, possibly accompanied by a buzzing sound. Curtains are not used.
    And the bad guys/police will find the character, whereupon he or she will run to the bathroom to attempt an escape/retrieve a weapon with which to force an armed altercation/if not yet seen by the bad guys or police, plot a surprise ambush, often involving strangling somebody with the legs.

    Comment


      Having stealthily lifted a passcard for a secure building from another person, the person taking it might take a look at it, maybe from a couple different angles, or maybe flip it over to look at the back, and then maybe tap it onto their other hand a couple of times.
      What they will never do is PUT IT STRAIGHT INTO THEIR FUCKING POCKET TO DRASTICALLY REDUCE THE THE CHANCE OF GETTING FUCKING CAUGHT WITH IT.

      Comment


        The brother and sister or parent and child (you pick) will realise that after all the hardships they've been through in the film, the most important thing is that they love each other. Can also work for bickering husband and wife.

        Just once I'd like to watch a movie where at the end the siblings decide that actually they still think each other dickheads and decide to go their separate ways.

        Comment


          Yeah. No movie ends with "Yeah, I was right, my family are a total shower of scum, I knew I was better off without them" or "Yeah, I just have nothing in common with my family and everything about interacting with them is deeply awkward so I'll move off and just enjoy my life with the friends I had the ability to choose"

          Comment


            A few movies end that way, sort of.

            Comment


              I love my family and have nothing but good words to say about them (and for Herself's family too) but yeah. Even beyond movie cliche, "family is the most important thing" is like an absolute unquestionable tenet of life in Ireland, even though the majority of miseries here (and elsewhere, but the whole Land thing seems to amplify it here) seem to originate in family disputes and darkness.
              Last edited by Lang Spoon; 12-03-2022, 00:02.

              Comment


                Need an actor to portray a female character with feelings that she is unwilling to vocalise but is clearly feeling deeply? Hire Scarlett Johansen.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                  Need an actor to portray a female character with feelings that she is unwilling to vocalise but is clearly feeling deeply? Hire Scarlett Johansen.
                  Now, while I get your point, let’s not get carried away. Johansen is a brilliant actress. Her disembodied performance in the brilliant Her was superb. Actually, I think we’re making the same point. Och. Ok. I have a high-school crush on her. Don’t tell anyone.

                  Comment


                    If you're getting married in sitcom land, there's a very good chance that the minister will go sick the day before the ceremony. Don't worry, one of your friends will pipe up and announce that they are ordained, as they did it on the internet. So no need for stress (although there may be a need to punch your friend in the face for the smug way they announce this, like it was a surprise).

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by pebblethefish View Post
                      If you're getting married in sitcom land, there's a very good chance that the minister will go sick the day before the ceremony. Don't worry, one of your friends will pipe up and announce that they are ordained, as they did it on the internet. So no need for stress (although there may be a need to punch your friend in the face for the smug way they announce this, like it was a surprise).
                      Or else one of them will confess an indiscretion that any normal person would take to their grave.

                      Comment


                        In a diner/cafe, how do you use the items on your table?

                        The napkin ... for writing on, obviously. A phone number, a clue, whatever.

                        The fried egg ... for putting out your cigarette (preferably in the yolk, it's sunny side up).

                        The knife ... for pretending to put in your heart to show your feelings have been hurt by the person opposite, or by the sassy waitress.

                        Comment


                          I don’t know if I’ve complained about this yet, and it really is “TV tropes I’m not OK with”..,

                          Woman protagonists in action and spy films and TV are always wearing inappropriate footwear. Usually leather, with heels at least a couple of cm high. They run, keeping up with bad guys, wearing these things. Climb down balconies. Get into marshal arts style fights.

                          You’d think that as highly trained agents they’d choose more practical shoes for the job. If so they might catch the bad guys quicker and win fights faster. And certainly after the first time they did it they’d put on some running shoes instead.

                          Comment


                            Part of that is to be taller. See the previous discussion of Gal Gadot’s odd wedge boots in Wonder Woman.

                            Comment


                              All ITV sitcoms are fucking shit

                              Especially ones from LWT

                              Comment


                                Any spaceship crew making contact with different alien civilisations every episode will be mistaken for gods on one planet. This might mean they are worshipped or blamed for everything that's wrong in the world. Or both.

                                Comment


                                  Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                                  All ITV sitcoms are fucking shit

                                  Especially ones from LWT
                                  Thanks for that, man who lives pre-1992.

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                    Any spaceship crew making contact with different alien civilisations every episode will be mistaken for gods on one planet. This might mean they are worshipped or blamed for everything that's wrong in the world. Or both.
                                    On a broadly similar theme, an alien planet will only have one supreme ruler (and possibly some sort of rebels in opposition in a Star Wars-type production).
                                    There's never different areas/blocs with different political/military/economic goals that have to try to reach consensus on matters of planet-wide importance. I appreciate that would make for boring viewing, but it also seems highly unlikely that if there is life on other planets, it wouldn't be at least as diverse in views/opinions/power structures as our relatively small home.

                                    Comment


                                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                      Any spaceship crew making contact with different alien civilisations every episode will be mistaken for gods on one planet. This might mean they are worshipped or blamed for everything that's wrong in the world. Or both.
                                      I thought the "Jaynestown" episode of Firefly messed with this trope to very funny effect.

                                      Comment


                                        Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post

                                        I thought the "Jaynestown" episode of Firefly messed with this trope to very funny effect.
                                        But even that was very similar to a Farscape episode where there's a statue of a Hyneerian in a random village.

                                        And there was a Marvel Comic between Empire and Jedi where Luke and Leia find a statue of Han Solo on a planet in an almost identical story to Jaynestown.

                                        Comment


                                          Yoga only happens for one reason: sex. The character (usually female) does yoga which then leads to sex, or wanting sex, or otherwise "amusingly" introducing the subject of sex. Nobody ever does yoga for yoga, they do the instructor.

                                          Comment


                                            Ah, by bumping this thread you've reminded me: The Night Agent is a pretty formulaic action series but dialogue cliché is top notch.

                                            Comment


                                              From the discussion on the "Innovations" thread about maps v modern technology ...

                                              Maps are a common visual prop. Unfold one, try and decipher it, struggle with it, might blow away, and when a character strides off ("I know the way!") the one holding the map will be exasperated as they can't fold it up again.

                                              It might be a ragged piece of parchment but despite the river crossings, monster attacks and atrocious weather, it will remain whole and legible.

                                              It's easy to keep using maps for stories set in the past or a fantasy world, but if we do away with maps in our own time, how will visitors from out of town meet the locals and fall in love?

                                              Comment


                                                The seemingly endless series of Hallmark holiday movies can be seen as an exercise in identifying answers to your last question.

                                                Comment


                                                  The only visitors from out of town who can find love are male executives from evil mega corps who’re intent on shutting down the small artisanal businesses run by local women and who’re desperate to get back to the bright lights but who learn the true meaning of small town existence after some incident renders them incapable of returning that weekend.

                                                  Comment


                                                    I would agree with SB there, except that would show that I've watched a lot of these movies, which I can never admit, so I really have no idea what he and ursus are on about.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X