Film cliches you want to fuck off

[popcorn]

A cold shag can be nice and refreshing.

[popcorn]

I complained about this earlier in the thread but that was 10,000 pages ago and I've just seen it again in Dark Waters so I'm cross again: people using modern cliched phrases in period films.

In Dark Waters, set in 1991, someone says "Good luck with that." Did people say that in 1991? Not impossible I suppose but it's such an irritating 2010s phrase. Fuck off.

It's not the anachronism that bothers me. It's the way it's used thoughtlessly - just a cliche absorbed into the screenplay without anyone questioning whether it makes sense at all, let alone whether it's a tired line.

[FredNurke]

For what it's worth, it seems to have been kicking around in 1992 (there's apparently an example in Woops!) - but certainly not anywhere near as frequently as now.

[popcorn]

For what it's worth, it seems to have been kicking around in 1992 (there's apparently an example in Woops!) - but certainly not anywhere near as frequently as now.

I'm sure someone said it at some point in 1940, but it's not really the point. It's a modern cliche that's only in the film because of an unimaginative script, not because the writer thought it was an appropriate thing for someone to say in 1991. See also some fucking English general saying "All right, Mr Turing, I'll bite" in that godawful Enigma biopic, or anyone saying "Are you done?" following any rant in any film of the last 10 years, such as Spotlight.

[famethrowa]

I complained about this earlier in the thread but that was 10,000 pages ago and I've just seen it again in Dark Waters so I'm cross again: people using modern cliched phrases in period films.

In Dark Waters, set in 1991, someone says "Good luck with that." Did people say that in 1991? Not impossible I suppose but it's such an irritating 2010s phrase. Fuck off.

It's not the anachronism that bothers me. It's the way it's used thoughtlessly - just a cliche absorbed into the screenplay without anyone questioning whether it makes sense at all, let alone whether it's a tired line.

There's a later Seinfeld where he says to George "well good luck with ALL that!" but I guess that's late 90s.

Agree totally though, and the music biopics are usually good fodder for this outrage, I've noticed a few 2000s phrases carelessly written in.

[JesusAndYourBush]

In the recent Agatha Christie thing on BBC 1 (set in the mid 60's) someone said "carked it" which I'm pretty sure is Australian slang and only arrived on these shores in the 80's via Neighbours & Home & Away.

[olliebean]

In the recent Agatha Christie thing on BBC 1 (set in the mid 60's) someone said "carked it" which I'm pretty sure is Australian slang and only arrived on these shores in the 80's via Neighbours & Home & Away.

in fact, the term cark it is actually Hindi, and was picked up by the British during the Raj era. It was used prior to Australia's colonisation.

It stems from a Hindi word, like so many other english words such as bungalow, pajama, pakka, shampoo and a hundred others (books have been written on Hindi words coming into usage in english)

Back to cark.. it comes from the word Khak.. which means dirt, dust, etc. the word Khaki is also from the same root, meaning the colour of dust, or the colour of the dirt/mud, in Hindi.

So the term to 'cark it' derives from 'dust to dust, ashes to ashes' referring to death.. when we die, we return to dust.. therefore to cark it means to return to Khak...

[dissolute ocelot]

First OED cite for "carked it" is 1982 "A 'stiff dunny' is dead or, in other words 'has carked it'." Without "it", "carked" is a bit older: from 1977 "That wog ya roughed up—well, he carked." (Richard Beilby · Gunner: a novel of the retreat from Crete, which I guess would be set in World War Two.) No doubt that it's very much Australian, but while "carked" might just about be mid-century Australian, "carked it" definitely isn't.

[gilbertharding]

I used to like Call My Bluff when Frank Muir and Robert Robinson were on it.

[FredNurke]

I would guess that 'cark' and 'cark it' are pretty much the same age, given the pattern of usage in the late 70s and early 80s. There's a 1979 example of 'karked it' in a Canberra newspaper.

The Wiktionary stuff is a fine example of why you should leave lexicography to the professionals.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Both 80's Italian gangster films and 90's gangsta films all have that scene where the guys missuses are all sat together doing each other's hair and nails having an altmanesque overlapping dialogue chat about their men.

[Deyv]

A Christmas Carol, and dramatic irony. Can't think of any examples right now, though.

[neveragain]

All dramatic irony? That's like getting rid of doors.

[EOLAN]

Bombs with a nice big LED clock that always goes down to the last few seconds.

Do actual bombs contain such clocks. And could a clever terror group not just have it go off with 3:43 showing or something..

[Sebastian Cobb]

Bombs with a nice big LED clock that always goes down to the last few seconds.

Do actual bombs contain such clocks. And could a clever terror group not just have it go off with 3:43 showing or something..

According to Wikipedia the Casio f91 is a common choice in time bombs. But these days mobile phones are often used as remote detonators.

[Bazooka]

Both 80's Italian gangster films and 90's gangsta films all have that scene where the guys missuses are all sat together doing each other's hair and nails having an altmanesque overlapping dialogue chat about their men.

I hate it when they talk about me also.

[Brundle-Fly]

Brilliantly adopted in Come And See (1985) and the tank scene in The Walking Dead S1 (2010) but the high pitch tinnitus whistle after a loud explosion or when a gun has been shot at close quarters is getting a bit hackneyed now.

[thecuriousorange]

Mid fight:

"WHO SENT YOU?!"

[olliebean]

People talking on the phone (mobile or regular) with it held up to their ear like a normal person, suddenly holding it horizontally in front of their mouth like a loony when they want to particularly emphasise something they're saying, as if it makes the slightest difference to how it sounds at the other end. Saw a film the other day where one of the characters ended literally every phone call like this, and I've since been noticing it quite a lot in other things.

[AsparagusTrevor]

People talking on the phone (mobile or regular) with it held up to their ear like a normal person, suddenly holding it horizontally in front of their mouth like a loony when they want to particularly emphasise something they're saying, as if it makes the slightest difference to how it sounds at the other end. Saw a film the other day where one of the characters ended literally every phone call like this, and I've since been noticing it quite a lot in other things.

The amount of people I've seen do this in real life is crazy, but more annoying is when they hold the microphone of their hands-free headphones to their mouth.

[Clownbaby]

This has probably been mentioned already but people walking all around the house and arguing/chatting away with someone else all while brushing their teeth. As someone who can't comprehend doing anything else in case i get a minty foam/spit overload in my mouth and dribble all over myself and start gagging, this irritates me no end. Also watching people brushing their teeth is a bit repulsive. They only shove this scene in t make sure you know the characters are ''real people''. Bonus points if the woman is brushing her teeth, talking, doing her hair in the bathroom mirror a n d wearing a blokes t shirt like nightie. Guys, that means they had sex.

[notjosh]

There's a good teeth-brushing scene in Bring It On, where two characters brush their teeth while giving each other bedroom eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3-ywpMj4Jk

[magval]

"Tastes like strawberries".

True Romance and Goldeneye, but there are others. Pick another fruit, hacks. Just think about how creepy Nicolas Cage was able to make peaches in Face/Off.

[lipsink]

If someone's just died and their loved ones are talking about them:

"He has a great sense of humour.... Well, he had..."

[magval]

Remember the way your husband USED to love a good laugh?

[magval]

Someone laughs so hard they cough for ages.

[popcorn]

If someone's just died and their loved ones are talking about them:

"He has a great sense of humour.... Well, he had..."

That mixing up pesent/past tense thing is such a movie cliche and yet, as I learnt last year, when someone dies everyone does it in real life too.

I think that sort of thing is interesting - there are things that are real but you can't put in entertainment because they feel fake.

[Clownbaby]

In animated films and games, the line ''Where am I?" always seems to be said in exactly the same way with the same intonation

[Icehaven]

People talking on the phone (mobile or regular) with it held up to their ear like a normal person, suddenly holding it horizontally in front of their mouth like a loony when they want to particularly emphasise something they're saying, as if it makes the slightest difference to how it sounds at the other end. Saw a film the other day where one of the characters ended literally every phone call like this, and I've since been noticing it quite a lot in other things.

The amount of people I've seen do this in real life is crazy...

I carry an empty Martini glass around with me everywhere I go, so when I see people doing this I can perch it on their phone and say 'Thank you waiter.' I have only been slapped twice.

[AsparagusTrevor]

If someone's just died and their loved ones are talking about them:

"He has a great sense of humour.... Well, he had..."

I vaguely remember this being spoofed in A Touch of Cloth, but can't remember the quote so this post is kinda pointless really.