Topic: Film cliches you want to fuck off

[magval]

Aye what good does the repeating do? Nothing - but you've seen it in something else, so why not write it into your OWN script?

[notjosh]

Treble score if they go back too far and not far enough (or vice versa). i.e., "What did you just say?" - "No, before that." - "No, after that!"

See also: an investigator hearing something on a tape recording and repeatedly rewinding it back in increasingly small increments until it's just one phrase repeated about 12 times. It's not until the 12th time that something clicks and the investigator goes "ohhhh, he's saying 'I did it', that must mean he did it".

Think this might have started with The Conversation but can also be spotted in The Sixth Sense, I, Robot, and loads of CSI episodes, probably.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Probably in the thread already but the wide-eyed "wait a second - say that again" when a boffin needs a solution to a problem and someone says something seemingly unrelated that gives them an idea. Double score if they go back too far/not far enough and repeat some boring part of what they said. Just saw it in Dr Phibes Rises Again but it was in Independence Day as well.

And then the person will then just fuck off without telling anyone the epiphany/plan they've just had. Apparently the best way to work on a problem in a group is to have as few people know as little information as possible.

[Blumf]

Think this might have started with The Conversation

But there, the repetition has a real purpose; to clean up the recording, and because Harry misunderstands what turns out to be ambiguous phrases.

[kalowski]

But there, the repetition has a real purpose; to clean up the recording, and because Harry misunderstands what turns out to be ambiguous phrases.

I've often wondered if they rerecorded the phrase, because I got the same sense as Harry and had the same revelation when it was heard later on.

[greencalx]

The use of home cine camera footage in contemporary films to depict happy memories from the recent past.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Have any film cliches actually fucked off for good? Not as a result of this thread, we can only dream of wielding such power, but because their ubiquity has rendered them obsolete, apart from when used in a deliberately parodic context?

I can't imagine our old favourite, the hobo tossing his bottle of grog away after witnessing something crazy, being used these days even as a gag at the cliche's expense. It's too played out. Same goes for the POV shot of a murderer startling their intended victim. "Oh, it's you! Phew, you scared me! Wait, wait, what are you doing?! Aaaargh!"

You're not going to see that in a film made now, are you? Maybe I'm giving hack filmmakers too much credit, I dunno.

[beanheadmcginty]

Fight scene bursting in on a topless woman seems unlikely to happen in these PG-13 regimented times.

[Blumf]

Do they still pan away to the fireplace in love scenes?

[Gulftastic]

Fight scene bursting in on a topless woman seems unlikely to happen in these PG-13 regimented times.

Commando is my favourite for that. How hard were that couple fucking that they couldn't hear Arnie and the Green Beret fighting and shooting at each other through the adjoining door?

[Sebastian Cobb]

The use of home cine camera footage in contemporary films to depict happy memories from the recent past.

Now replaced with low-quality video camcorder footage. The latest Shane Meadows thing with Stephen Graham being a prime example.

[Blumf]

Commando is my favourite for that. How hard were that couple fucking that they couldn't hear Arnie and the Green Beret fighting and shooting at each other through the adjoining door?

Plus, what exactly were they up to? The lady appears to be behind the man, who's on all fours.

[olliebean]

The use of home cine camera footage in contemporary films to depict happy memories from the recent past.

It's the only way to get footage without timecodes and flashing "REC" indicators burned into the corners of the frame.

[beanheadmcginty]

Plus, what exactly were they up to? The lady appears to be behind the man, who's on all fours.

He's letting off some steam with a spot of light pegging.

[greencalx]

Now replaced with low-quality video camcorder footage. The latest Shane Meadows thing with Stephen Graham being a prime example.

But it hasn’t entirely replaced it - that’s the point. It’s a bit incongruous to have a movie where twenty somethings are talking to each other on smartphones and you then see some cinefilm footage of them as kids, when these two technologies are over 50 years apart.

Admittedly the example that brought this to mind (a fantasy sequence in La La Land) doesn’t quite fit the cliche, because it was imagined events rather than a way to signify a flashback. And perhaps it’s the case that it was done knowingly, due to the movie industry featuring in the film - but I’m not sure it was quite clever enough for that.

[idunnosomename]

Bring back exposition via spinning newspapers I say. Except they can now be tweets or something

[icehaven]

Do they still pan away to the fireplace in love scenes?

Or waves crashing on a beach with increasing speed?

[ProvanFan]

The Weekenders has a great spinning newspaper bit

[Andy147]

Have any film cliches actually fucked off for good? Not as a result of this thread, we can only dream of wielding such power, but because their ubiquity has rendered them obsolete, apart from when used in a deliberately parodic context?

I can't imagine our old favourite, the hobo tossing his bottle of grog away after witnessing something crazy, being used these days even as a gag at the cliche's expense. It's too played out. Same goes for the POV shot of a murderer startling their intended victim. "Oh, it's you! Phew, you scared me! Wait, wait, what are you doing?! Aaaargh!"

You're not going to see that in a film made now, are you? Maybe I'm giving hack filmmakers too much credit, I dunno.

TV Tropes has:
"Discredited Trope" - cliches and outdated tropes
"Dead Horse Trope" - tropes which are beyond discredited and only used as a joke
"Forgotten Trope" - beyond the above; not even used as a joke any more

It notes that Forgotten Tropes tend to be ones that have become outdated.