Film cliches you want to fuck off

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

That was done in that Alfred Hitchcock film with Henry Fonda as the wrongly-accused man (forget the title).  Have to say I can't think of another example.

Herbie Goes Bananas

what a fucking brilliant post to start a new page on.

[chveik]

it's The Wrong Man

[kalowski]

That was done in that Alfred Hitchcock film with Henry Fonda as the wrongly-accused man (forget the title).  Have to say I can't think of another example.

It's called "The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down"

[thecuriousorange]

That was done in that Alfred Hitchcock film with Henry Fonda as the wrongly-accused man (forget the title).  Have to say I can't think of another example.

Most-recently in that Shane Meadows drama The Virtues the other week.

[lipsink]

The one where a happy couple will announce to a room of their friends that they're getting married/moving away and we see a close up of the romantic lead looking devastated and heartbroken but trying to put a brave face on.

[Icehaven]

A damaged character with a fractured mindset will have their face reflected multiple times across a cracked-up mirror. Can we retire this one now?

That was done in that Alfred Hitchcock film with Henry Fonda as the wrongly-accused man (forget the title). Have to say I can't think of another example.

The Talented Mr Ripley did it too. Also had a variation on it, in which he was reflected in various different mirrors at different angles, which is less of a cliché and actually quite suits the film.

[lipsink]

If someone hears another person come in they'll talk to them without looking, thinking it's someone else: "Oh, you're back. Didn't expect you'd be back so soon..."

[gilbertharding]

That thing which, admittedly is more noticeable on old TV like The Professionals where people have conversations with one person behind the other, both facing the camera. I guess it's cheaper than having to film a reverse view for the second person's dialogue.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That thing which, admittedly is more noticeable on old TV like The Professionals where people have conversations with one person behind the other, both facing the camera. I guess it's cheaper than having to film a reverse view for the second person's dialogue.

Yeah, but it's also how you'd get grilled by a police double act innit?

[Icehaven]

If someone hears another person come in they'll talk to them without looking, thinking it's someone else: "Oh, you're back. Didn't expect you'd be back so soon..."

Slightly off topic but my colleague has just been telling me about how her friend's son's wife has just left him. Apparently she (the friend) was visiting them for a month (they live in Australia) and the wife arranged for her to go to the cinema one morning while she and the son were both supposedly at work, saying she'd meet her for lunch afterwards. The friend got halfway to the cinema then realised she'd forgotten her mobile and she needed it for them to meet up, so she went back for it. She went into the house and found the wife, who leapt a foot in the air on hearing her come in and then explained that she was leaving her son, right then and there, and two removal vans promptly pulled up outside. There's at least three film clichés in there I reckon, the surprise, dramatic leaving, an unexpected return by one character catching another unawares, the perfect timing of the removal vans.

[popcorn]

Slightly off topic but my colleague has just been telling me about how her friend's son's wife has just left him.

Something that's funny about storytelling is that actually real life is full of cliches, but as soon as you put them in a story it's hard to make them feel real.

My uncle died recently and I (and other people in my family) keep talking about him in the present tense by mistake. Like "Oh, he loves these sorts of flowers. Er, loved." If I heard that in a film I'd think it were naff to the max.

[Brian Freeze]

How about someone being chased by something,  possibly a flying thing and there's lots of ducking and dodging and diving and weaving and peril when the flight of the chasing vehicle is suddenly interrupted by a collision or direct hit and against most laws of physics it ends up picking up speed and posing even more of a threat than before.

Thats been mentioned before hasnt it?

[EOLAN]

More of a TV one; with Grey's Anatomy being a primary culprit. Having a big resolution of events towards the end but playing the music/song just as things are about to be resolved; so absolutely killing any tension about whether the cojoined twins survived their surgey and whether Bailey enjoyed getting a sneak peak of the lead surgeon's manhood. Caught my wife watching the end an episode of Station 19 and the exact same method was used; so first thing I asked was this from creator's of Grey's Anatomy and lo and behold it was.

Ok so it not a film thing, maybe only Shonda Rhimes does it so only her personal cliche; but it definitely can fuck off.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Character in a jovial social setting learns something that is a major blow, but at first keeps up a front of not being bothered. Then, there is a close-up of the afflicted character falling silent, with an upset look appearing on his face, which is at least initially unnoticed by the others, who go out of focus while laughing and talking around him.

[lipsink]

Person keeps getting calls from someone. The phone rings again and they snap "WHAT NOW???!!! (pause) Oh...sorry...I thought it was someone else..."

This was brilliantly subverted in the original SCREAM when Drew Barrymore answers the phone and says "LISTEN, ASSHOLE.." and the killer shouts over her "NO YOU LISTEN..."
It fucking made me jump the first time I saw it as I was so used to the trope of it being someone else on the phone.

[gilbertharding]

Slightly off topic but my colleague has just been telling me about how her friend's son's wife has just left him. Apparently she (the friend) was visiting them for a month (they live in Australia) and the wife arranged for her to go to the cinema one morning while she and the son were both supposedly at work, saying she'd meet her for lunch afterwards. The friend got halfway to the cinema then realised she'd forgotten her mobile and she needed it for them to meet up, so she went back for it. She went into the house and found the wife, who leapt a foot in the air on hearing her come in and then explained that she was leaving her son, right then and there, and two removal vans promptly pulled up outside. There's at least three film clichés in there I reckon, the surprise, dramatic leaving, an unexpected return by one character catching another unawares, the perfect timing of the removal vans.

Sorry - I know you were digressing - but could you explain that again more slowly, with diagrams if necessary? My head is hurting.

[St_Eddie]

Person keeps getting calls from someone. The phone rings again and they snap "WHAT NOW???!!! (pause) Oh...sorry...I thought it was someone else..."

Oh gawd, yeah.  That cliche needs to fuck right off.  Every time the phone rings for a second time, the entire audience is thinking 'oh, let me guess; it's not the same person and the character will apologise, saying they thought that the caller was someone else'.  90% of the time, that's exactly the case and the entire audience rolls their collective eyes.  Who is this cliche even for anymore?  Who sits there and thinks 'oh!  I thought it was gonna be the same nasty caller again!  What a shocking surprise!'?

[zomgmouse]

Someone falls in the water and then there's a shot of them spitting out a stream

[mothman]

And when they get out of the water, they will take one shoe off and slowly pour the water out of it in a comedic fashion.

[thecuriousorange]

Someone falls in the water and then there's a shot of them spitting out a stream

That's a cartoon one surely.

[zomgmouse]

That's a cartoon one surely.

I saw it in Bloodsport

[Dr Rock]

If you look carefully you'll see that Alfred Hitchcock put it in every one of his films.

[bgmnts]

I think rape as drama is something that should fuck off. Women being a reward for heroes as well.

[St_Eddie]

I think rape as drama is something that should fuck off.

I don't know about that, would you also say that murder as drama should fuck off too?  I thought the inciting rape scenes in Straw Dogs and Deliverance served those narratives very effectively.

Women being a reward for heroes as well.

Yeah, unless it's done as a scathing parody, I agree that the cliche of a trophy woman needs to fuck right off.

[EOLAN]

Oh gawd, yeah.  That cliche needs to fuck right off.  Every time the phone rings for a second time, the entire audience is thinking 'oh, let me guess; it's not the same person and the character will apologise, saying they thought that the caller was someone else'.  90% of the time, that's exactly the case and the entire audience rolls their collective eyes.  Who is this cliche even for anymore?  Who sits there and thinks 'oh!  I thought it was gonna be the same nasty caller again!  What a shocking surprise!'?

I love the use of the multiple calls in the Germans episode of Fawlty Towers, but that is more for the pacing of the farce rather than any necessary dramatisation.

[kalowski]

Two people are rushing to the same destination and the camera cuts mercilessly between the two. The kind of scene Hitchcock would have done brilliantly, it's now a staple of romantic comedies. And yes, I did just see it happening on some awful Pegg movie called Man Up, which is currently on BBC 1. (And which I've turned off)

[gib]

Two people are rushing to the same destination and the camera cuts mercilessly between the two. The kind of scene Hitchcock would have done brilliantly, it's now a staple of romantic comedies. And yes, I did just see it happening on some awful Pegg movie called Man Up, which is currently on BBC 1. (And which I've turned off)

Turn it back on this instant, there is no way i am watching the rest of this alone.

[kalowski]

Turn it back on this instant, there is no way i am watching the rest of this alone.

Don't panic, you're not alone. This film has my wife's name written all over it. She's "giving it 5 minutes" so that means I'll see her when it ends.

[gib]

token black guy at the party cliche, check

[kalowski]

token black guy at the party cliche, check

I'm now reading in bed, but my wife's still downstairs, so you're still not alone with this crap.