Film cliches you want to fuck off

[Gulftastic]

As I said about 50 pages or something ago, I hate the "scream at each other" cliche, mainly because it is used as a joke substitute in things like The Hangover and Hot Tub Time Machine etc. Watched that Jim Carry beardo bloke in Last Man on Earth and he did a huge surprised scream and passed out after seeing someone, that was the end of that show for me.

Surely the one Last Man.... Is justified as he is stunned to see another person after being alone for quite some time?

[Brundle-Fly]

Yes, when there was absolutely no reason for anyone to be screaming. The Doctor and friends were knocking on the door. Why would it scare them that somebody opened it? And why would it scare the people inside, that there were people outside the door that they'd opened because someone was knocking on it? Really bugged me, that, a completely specious contrived dramatic moment just because they couldn't come up with a real one to go into the credits with.

Thank you. The other people screaming were my girlfriend and I screaming "FUCK.OFF." at the TV screen when they pulled this nonsensical stunt. Other than that, I actually quite enjoyed this episode.

[beanheadmcginty]

Not exactly a cliche as it isn't a deliberate contrivance, but if there is a scene in a film where someone looks at a photo of characters together when they were younger they are always incredibly badly composited.  Even if the film has a trillion dollar special effects budget, for some reason they think no one will notice that they've just bunged any old pictures of the actors when they were younger into Photoshop and stitched them together in the most rudimentary fashion possible.

[Jim Bob]

Speaking of dodgy photos in films.  It really annoys me when they use publicity stills for character photos.  A particularly egregious example can be found in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...

Apparently somebody snapped a photo of Marcus Brody whilst he was lost in Hatay in The Last Crusade and airmailed it to Indy.  Also, that shot of Sean Connery is quite clearly a publicity shot.  Why would anyone pose for a family photo in that manner?  Oh and he just happens to be wearing his outfit from aboard the blimp in The Last Crusade.  Ridiculous.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Doctor working on patient with nurse. Nurse is talking to doctor in medical jargon and handing him stuff etc. Doctor gets called away, Nurse then smiles and turns to patient and asks them 'are you ok?' then goes back to ignoring them completely and doing nurse stuff.

[magval]

Speaking of dodgy photos in films.  It really annoys me when they use publicity stills for character photos.  A particularly egregious example can be found in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...

Apparently somebody snapped a photo of Marcus Brody whilst he was lost in Hatay in The Last Crusade and airmailed it to Indy.  Also, that shot of Sean Connery is quite clearly a publicity shot.  Why would anyone pose for a family photo in that manner?  Oh and he just happens to be wearing his outfit from aboard the blimp in The Last Crusade.  Ridiculous.

There's an extension of this too: video footage of characters or events being shown to someone else on a monitor or a phone or something like that, but it's footage from earlier in the film, same editing, lighting etc. Wish I'd written down the last example I saw.

[badaids]

There's an extension of this too: video footage of characters or events being shown to someone else on a monitor or a phone or something like that, but it's footage from earlier in the film, same editing, lighting etc. Wish I'd written down the last example I saw.

Aliens is perhaps the most glaring example of this, when Ripley meets the WY board to discuss what happened on Nostromo. The images of Brett and Parker's files on the screen are clearly stills or publicity shots from Alien.

[Blumf]

Star Trek has a fair bit of it. Sometimes they manage to excuse it, like in TOS's The Menagerie. Sometimes it's completely silly, like in ST6: The Undiscovered Country, where the Klingon court appears to have nabbed a copy of The Search for Spock on LaserDisc.

[oy vey]

Star Trek has a fair bit of it. Sometimes they manage to excuse it, like in TOS's The Menagerie. Sometimes it's completely silly, like in ST6: The Undiscovered Country, where the Klingon court appears to have nabbed a copy of The Search for Spock on LaserDisc.

While we're on that scene, Michael Dorn (Worf from TNG/DS9) plays the defense lawyer, and apparently an ancestor of Worf. Funny how ancestors happen to look and sound exactly like main characters. Sorry if the "same actor playing family members" thing is posted already. Trek does this a lot.

[Blumf]

Sorry if the "same actor playing family members" thing is posted already. Trek does this a lot.

The Soong family for one. Oh, and the Yars.

[oy vey]

The Soong family for one. Oh, and the Yars.

Yeah, Brent Spiner as Arik Soong in Enterprise was the most cheesy (enjoyed it though). There was a daft Voyager flashback one with Kate Mulgrew playing Janeway's ancestor in the 20th century as well.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

In trailers for kiddy animated movies, a shot of a character (usually an ordinary type) unexpectedly bumping into another character (usually a yeti or something spooky or an animal that talks or an alien) and the one screams and then the unexpected one screams as well and isn't it so funny they're both equally scared of eachother at the same time, nut it's a kind of goofy scream so you know they'll be pure mates soon. Seen this last in the Sonic movie trailer, I swear I've seen this so much before

Recently adopted in that last Mary Shelley episode of Doctor Who at the end of the pre credit sequence.

Yes, when there was absolutely no reason for anyone to be screaming. The Doctor and friends were knocking on the door. Why would it scare them that somebody opened it? And why would it scare the people inside, that there were people outside the door that they'd opened because someone was knocking on it? Really bugged me, that, a completely specious contrived dramatic moment just because they couldn't come up with a real one to go into the credits with.

I've just watched that.  The bloke answering the door was already nervous.  He and the others in the house had just been creeped out by talk of the supernatural, and also by the storm.  When he answered, it was that burst of lightning and thunderclap that made him cry out, then the combined shock of the flash and sound in the sky and the answering man's sudden cry made the Doc and her team scream in turn.  So the scream and its artistic impact on the atmosphere were earnt.

[Thomas]

Speaking of dodgy photos in films.  It really annoys me when they use publicity stills for character photos.  A particularly egregious example can be found in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...

It's not the same because his character is also an actor, but I loved the use of Hugh Grant's own publicity photos in Paddington 2, especially as the character is supposed to be a pompous theatrical type:



Spectre suffered appalling photoshopped-head syndrome in its Mysterious Photograph moment:



In one of the franchise's few meritable moments, the publicity team for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom recreated a sequence from The Lost World to use as camcorder footage rather than just pasting in a shot. If you watch the original scene, you can see they located the right street.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Lights on the inside of space suit helmets. Surely you wouldn't be able to see out

[Blumf]

Yeah, but you need them for the obligatory holographic head-up display.

[lipsink]

When someone is confessing something to someone. The camera will hold on the person giving their confession for a really long time and you just know it's going to cut back to the other person who's fallen asleep.

[gib]

The main protagonist is in trouble with his/her own side, perhaps they're a cop who has been accused of breaking a serious regulation. The person assigned to defend the protagonist is new to the job - "have you done this before?" "no you're my first". But what's this, they turn out to be really good at their job after all, phew!

[JesusAndYourBush]

When someone is confessing something to someone. The camera will hold on the person giving their confession for a really long time and you just know it's going to cut back to the other person who's fallen asleep.

Or they're practicing to themself in a mirror.

[lipsink]

Or they're practicing to themself in a mirror.

Or to a pet.

[Icehaven]

May have already been mentioned but someone's on the phone apparently in the middle of a long/serious/deep conversation and/or explaining some great dilemma they're having and asking for advice, then they'll say something like "...well anyway, I'll have a large pepperoni and fries please." or something else that makes it apparent they weren't talking to a friend or confidant but a takeaway or a cold caller or similar. In another form they're having the conversation face to face then one of them will say "I'm sorry to hear you're going through this sir, but I'm just delivering a parcel."

[popcorn]

May have already been mentioned but someone's on the phone apparently in the middle of a long/serious/deep conversation and/or explaining some great dilemma they're having and asking for advice, then they'll say something like "...well anyway, I'll have a large pepperoni and fries please." or something else that makes it apparent they weren't talking to a friend or confidant but a takeaway or a cold caller or similar. In another form they're having the conversation face to face then one of them will say "I'm sorry to hear you're going through this sir, but I'm just delivering a parcel."

Alive and well on Twitter as "sir this is a wendy's".

[bgmnts]

"Let me get this straight, were going to [highly complex or dangerous plan of action]?"
"... yeah".
"Okay, just checking."

[Icehaven]

There always seems to be a blanket on the back seats of cars for someone to conveniently hide under.

[Dex Sawash]

The blanket is there in case of shagging, probably more commonly used for hiding.

[avatarlessnessophilia]

Do these people still exist in real life? You know the type I mean, ageing and rather haunted-looking blokes who actually walk around with an Elvis quiff and sideburns? You could still spot them out in the wild as late as the mid-90s, but I think they've all died off now.

Harking back a bit to this but we have two here, and one is in a mobility scooter. At first you think that spoils the likeness but if anything it establishes continuity and a little bit of doubt of the idea that it's not just a lookalike.

We've just had a second Harry Dean Stanton installed as well. I was quite relieved to see this as our Rod Hulls and Bee Gees were getting a bit thin on the ground.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Speaking of dodgy photos in films.  It really annoys me when they use publicity stills for character photos.  A particularly egregious example can be found in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...

Just watched an episode of Fabian Of Scotland Yard on youtube with what I assume is an example of this.

Nothing that exciting, no, but I'm mostly posting it as I liked that someone appears to have sent a photo of Pulp's Nick Banks back in time.

[lipsink]

There's always a scene in an apocalypse film (that they always use at the start of the trailer too) where a family are sitting stuck in traffic chatting and having a laugh when suddenly mom or dad notices some crazy shit going off in the distance and they suddenly have to reverse the car or something. In the trailers it always cuts to black just as the intense crazy shit gets the loudest.

[olliebean]

The blanket is there in case of shagging, probably more commonly used for hiding.

Hang on though, I've seen films where shagging goes on in the back of a car, and there's never a blanket.

[popcorn]

Well it's there, in case of getting cold during shagging.

[Blumf]

getting cold during shagging.

Doing it wrong!