What do you never wish to see in a movie again?

[Bored of Canada]

Actually, lens flare is a funny old affair. Why do DOP's deliberately leave it in? I know it makes a sunny scene look a lot more sunny with all the spots dancing across the screen, but it is a technical error when you think about it.  If you're announcing to the viewer "this is shot on film" then you might as well show the boom mike coming into shot and Tom Hanks going through his lines in the background too.

Here is an example with Jim fucking Broadbent.

Well, they digitally put it in for CGI shots to actually sell that it's real. They're trying to use all the unconscious visual grammar tricks uo their sleeve to make you believe that the shots are real, and it also has a nice aesthetic effect. Sure it gets used a lot but just take a look at the end of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre to see Lens flare that you'll fall in love with.

The Broadbent one. I don't know. I've not seen it. If it was a smaller budget one and was shot on film without a super high quality split, it could have just been an honest mistake on the part of the DOP. They might not have had the budget to get Jim Broadbent back for pickups. Otherwise, it could have been an intentional thing because of the aesthetic thing. Again, lens flare can look quite nice if used sparingly.
I can understand people deliberately trying it, because it's now so used that it's become part of the style of certain filmmaking.

Edit: Your picture wasn't loading for me before but I just saw it, and that looks 100% like a technical fuckup. I'd be incredibly surprised it was a deliberate choice for that. Think they just made a mistake, and did the best they could and clearly that shot had to make the edit. The only way I'd suggest it was deliberate is if I knew what the film was. If the other actors face being obscured plays into some subtle symbolic meaning, or maybe even foreshadowing a death or something, it could be deliberate. Don't know from a single frame.

[Pepotamo1985]

blooper reels in Pixar/Dreamworks films. Stop confusing children.

Heh, that brings back memories. I think it was Bug's Life that started this trend (might be wrong). I remember vividly watching it at school on a 'wet play' (ooh err!) day and literally everyone (apart from me - intellectual heavyweight even then I was) being utterly convinced that they were legit outtakes. I wanted to believe they were real, but just couldn't...

I don't know if I'd enjoy the films though, do they display such comedic knowingness throughout or are they just the brainless action tat I assumed they would be?

Highly recommended, they are; you won't find better silly action films anywhere (well, maybe Machete). Crank 1 & 2 know they're completely ridiculous and it's clear that everyone involved in the production(s) is loving every minute of being part of that ludicrum and revelling in it.

[Bored of Canada]

Heh, that brings back memories. I think it was Bug's Life that started this trend (might be wrong). I remember vividly watching it at school on a 'wet play' (ooh err!) day and literally everyone (apart from me - intellectual heavyweight even then I was) being utterly convinced that they were legit outtakes. I wanted to believe they were real, but just couldn't...

Highly recommended, they are; you won't find better silly action films anywhere (well, maybe Machete). Crank 1 & 2 know they're completely ridiculous and it's clear that everyone involved in the production(s) is loving every minute of being part of that ludicrum and revelling in it.

Agreed. Plus they all have enough fresh ideas to keep them going. It's not all shooty bang like you'd think. It starts going some really original fresh little things. Even something as small as that bit when Statham points at his head. I loved that.

[Famous Mortimer]

Re: lens flare, I was watching a doc on "Easy Rider" and Dennis Hopper was talking about some cinematographer who came up to him and complained about the lens flare, saying it shouldn't have been in there. Oh, how times have changed.

[Hank_Kingsley]

I was going to say 'Danny Dyer' but then I remembered he's my favourite actor.

[ArchieGemmel]

Villain and Hero are fighting. It seems like the villain has the upper hand. A shot rings out, the villains smile becomes a grimace as it turns out he was shot by the heroes sidekick/love interest/dog.

[Sam]

The unnecessary coda.

There's a fade to black you hope is the end, on the correct emotional note, then there's a superfluous scene.

In 9/10s of all films.

[Obel]

I never wish to see London or a lone prison cell that the bad guy gets trapped in and inevitably escapes from.

[olliebean]

Anything that's ever been in any other film ever. Do something original you cunts.

[monkfromhavana]

Lots of things:

1: The scene in movies where one character sees another, looks away for a second, looks back and - THEY'RE GONE!

2: When people are being chased by somebody or thing, tripping over to allow the thing chasing to catch up.

3: Kids being smarter than an adults. Or being able to solve the world's problems because THEY'RE THE FUTURE!

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

What do you wish to never see in a film again?

Jack Black.

[Brundle-Fly]

International landmarks in global disaster/ alien invasion films to show that the terrible events are happening all round the world. Britain is always represented by bloody Westminster, never Crawley town centre or Lytham St Annes.

[checkoutgirl]

Anything that's ever been in any other film ever. Do something original you cunts.

Yeah really. You're using cameras and actors? Jesus!! Change it up grandad.

Fuck sake.

[Sam]

Jack Black.

Bernie? School of Rock? High Fidelity?

[Blumf]

Tropic Thunder?

[tothenakedrawedge]

An argument reaches a crescendo, an unbearable tension is created, surely there'll be fisticuffs? Then something distracting happens, normally a phone belonging to one of the two going at it will ring, just in the nick of time.

[Sam]

reaches a crescendo

Oh dear, and in a thread about cliches, too. [nb]It's 'reaches a climax': the crescendo is not the peak but the gradual process of getting there. [/nb]

[tothenakedrawedge]

Full Definition of CRESCENDO
a :  a gradual increase; specifically :  a gradual increase in volume of a musical passage
b :  the peak of a gradual increase :  climax

[Sam]

Tish and pish. a) is the correct meaning b) is one of those things some dictionaries feel obligated to include because the solecism is so prevalent.

Crescendo means 'increasing', the proper meaning of word has a progressive sense. Would you say the moon reached a crescent to say it was a full moon? No, that would be barmy: a crescent moon is on the way to becoming a full one. A crescendo is on the way to a climax.

Most style guides warn against 'reach a crescendo'. It just doesn't make sense, not in its predominant musical sense and therefore not as a metaphor. A ghastly phrase however you try to justify it.

I apologise for the soul-destroying pedantry of this dismal post.

[Tiny Poster]

"style guides"

[Sam]

I'm not validating style guides, most of them are shit. My point was that a dictionary will only go as far as telling you the meaning of the word whereas a guide goes further towards showing how it might be used in broader context.

Interesting that since my initial post there's been a copy and paste job and a quote of one phrase. I await someone writing their own thoughts to construct an argument.

[checkoutgirl]

Tish and pish. a) is the correct meaning b) is one of those things some dictionaries feel obligated to include because the solecism is so prevalent.

'Obligated'? I think you mean 'obliged'. 'Obligated' is one of those words dictionaries feel obliged to include because thick Americans think it's a word.

[Utter Shit]

I never want to see another trailer for a sexy-but-violent flick using Death in Vegas' 'Dirge' on the soundtrack. Horrendously overplayed.

This reminds me of that horrendous period a few years ago where it felt like every romcom that came out was trailed with that same tune. It's annoying me now that I can't remember the song. Think it might be Polyphonic Spree? It starts off with a light, dreamy kind of dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun...I'm not explaining it well. Someone must know?

[phantom_power]

Mr Blue Sky by ELO was particularly ubiquitous for a while, as were various parts of Clint Mansell's score for Requiem for a Dream. Now it is the Inception "BBBBBBBRrrrrrrrrmmmmmm"s

[Utter Shit]

Just listened to the ELO one, not the one I'm thinking of but definitely another that was overused. It's going to explode my brain trying to remember the name of the one I'm on about.

[Utter Shit]

FOUND IT.

Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ENipUB8NI

Those opening notes use advanced scientific technology to allow you to smell the sexual tension between haughty-but-upstanding Sandra Bullock and laid-back-slacker Ryan Reynolds.

[The Boston Crab]

Sounds like a cunted up bastardisation of the blandest bits of U2

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I just spoke to Temper Trap and they told me you're a cunted up bastardisation of the blandest bits of U2.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Bernie? School of Rock? High Fidelity?

No, Jack Black.

[Noodle Lizard]

Here are a few for horror films:

- Creepy kids (usually doing creepy drawings and/or saying creepy things)
- Creepy old people (usually being insane/prophetic or just being creepy because old)
- Creepy ventriloquist dummies/dolls
- Use of "old-fashioned" songs or nursery rhymes because old = creepy
- Tedious creepy twists ("It's not the house ... it's your son!  No wait, it's your husband!")

Basically, just fuck off, James Wan.