Film cliches you want to fuck off

[St_Eddie]

How about:

Someone walks into a reception and thinks the person is a secretary.

"Hello, I'm here to speak to VERY IMPORTANT PERSON."

"Oh, hello I'm VERY IMPORTANT PERSON."

SHOCK! The VERY IMPORTANT PERSON is a WOMAN/YOUNG PERSON etc Mind blown!!!??!!!!

Ooohhhh, that reminds me of another, very similar, one.  In an action movie, the big burly male protagonist is fighting a slender person, who's wearing a mask of some kind (usually a motorbike helmet).

Every. Single. Time, I'm sat there saying to myself 'yes, it's obviously a woman'.  Two minutes later, once the fight sequence is at an end, the character removes their mask/helmet and it's revealed to be a woman and the protagonist has a big "whhaaaaaa?!" reaction and clearly, the filmmakers want us, the audience, to have a similar reaction.

No, filmmakers.  It's fucking obvious and it's cheap rug pulling bullshit.  "A strong woman?!  Woah!  That's crazy insane!!!  I just thought the character was concealing their face for no reason whatsoever and just happened to have child bearing hips!  What a revelation!"

[EOLAN]

Ooohhhh, that reminds me of another, very similar, one.  In an action movie, the big burly male protagonist is fighting a slender person, who's wearing a mask of some kind (usually a motorbike helmet).

Every. Single. Time, I'm sat there saying to myself 'yes, it's obviously a woman'.  Two minutes later, once the fight sequence is at an end, the character removes their mask/helmet and it's revealed to be a woman and the protagonist has a big "whhaaaaaa?!" reaction and clearly, the filmmakers want us, the audience, to have a similar reaction.

No, filmmakers.  It's fucking obvious and it's cheap rug pulling bullshit.  "A strong woman?!  Woah!  That's crazy insane!!!  I just thought the character was concealing their face for no reason whatsoever and just happened to have child bearing hips!  What a revelation!"

And the woman always has very luscious straight hair that they can shake their head and loosen it out. Has it ever been a short-haired of skin-head lady at least.

There's quite a good "You Can't go in There, he's in a meeting" trope in It's A Wonderful Life; and I am certain it was quite clichéd even back then.

[lipsink]

Saw this one in Bird Box the other day: Person is pointing the gun at a bad guy.

Bad guy: "You don't know how to work a gun, do you?"

The person then fires the gun above their head/cocks it to show they indeed do know how to work a gun. Bad guy suddenly freezes with a "Oh shit" look their face.

There's also a similar one (used in Spectre for example) where the male protagonist mansplains to a female how to use a gun. The woman then takes the gun and then does all sorts of fast swishy/clicking shit with it to show they are fucking awesome with a gun.

[magval]

Saw this one in Bird Box the other day: Person is pointing the gun at a bad guy.

Bad guy: "You don't know how to work a gun, do you?"

The person then fires the gun above their head/cocks it to show they indeed do know how to work a gun. Bad guy suddenly freezes with a "Oh shit" look their face.

See when she does that, a rake of shells come out of the shotgun. What was happening there because it looks like all the ammo is being popped out?

[lipsink]

See when she does that, a rake of shells come out of the shotgun. What was happening there because it looks like all the ammo is being popped out?

Yeah I wasn't sure if that's actually meant to happen. If you cock a shotgun loads of times does the ammo just fly out the side?

Suppose it looks cool, like.

[mothman]

Repeatedly working the slide of a pump shotgun without pulling the trigger ejects the shells one by one. Same with the bolt on a rifle or the slide on an automatic pistol.

[Berthas Fat Leg]

Horror films where a group of people split up into smaller groups to escape from a killer.

Films where the mom (invariably of the soccer persuasion) has made a lavish breakfast, but the dad is in a rush to get to work, so just grabs a slice of toast, puts it in his mouth, and dashes out of the door whilst still putting his suit jacket on. He then gets into his nondescript shitbox family car and drives to his boring job.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Someone facing from a gunman gets shot repeatedly in the back, throwing their hands up and remaining upright, as shot after shot hits their back, before finally falling to the ground, often in slow motion.

[St_Eddie]

Someone facing from a gunman gets shot repeatedly in the back, throwing their hands up and remaining upright, as shot after shot hits their back, before finally falling to the round, often in slow motion.

Excellently parodied here.

[BlodwynPig]

Films where the mom (invariably of the soccer persuasion) has made a lavish breakfast, but the dad is in a rush to get to work, so just grabs a slice of toast, puts it in his mouth, and dashes out of the door whilst still putting his suit jacket on. He then gets into his nondescript shitbox family car and drives to his boring job.

Absolute wasteful, ignorant, chauvinistic cunt. Have you got his address (work or home)? I'd like to pay him a visit.

[neveragain]

Horror films where a group of people split up

Horror films that reference this trope but do it anyway are quite the cliche now as well.

[lipsink]

In romcoms where the guy kisses the girl and then stops and says: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." and then the girl forcefully grabs him by the shirt/tie to continue kissing him.

[holyzombiejesus]

Horror films that reference this trope but do it anyway are quite the cliche now as well.

Horror film scares are all about the response to the cliche rather than the actual cliche nowadays.

[Brundle-Fly]

Obvious observation alert, but all new horror/thriller films really have to stop the 'setting up the characters in the car journey to the destination of dread' at the top of the movie now. We know already it will be a variation on these stereotypes: hero/heroine/ jock/ slut/ nerd/ moody Goth/ cool black guy)



SPOILERS BELOW





Especially the car journeys that involve a pedestrian or animal suddenly getting mowed down. I watched The Invitation (2016), Get Out (2017) and Ghost Stories (2018) consecutively with my parents over a weekend recently and the animal roadkill jumpscare happened in all three. I consider the demon in Ghost Stories an animal.

Also, has anybody noticed recently, characters in peril muttering quickly, "No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooo!!". ?

[lipsink]

Obvious observation alert, but all new horror/thriller films really have to stop the 'setting up the characters in the car journey to the destination of dread' at the top of the movie now. We know already it will be a variation on these stereotypes: hero/heroine/ jock/ slut/ nerd/ moody Goth/ cool black guy)



SPOILERS BELOW





Especially the car journeys that involve a pedestrian or animal suddenly getting mowed down. I watched The Invitation (2016), Get Out (2017) and Ghost Stories (2018) consecutively with my parents over a weekend recently and the animal roadkill jumpscare happened in all three. I consider the demon in Ghost Stories an animal.

The animal killed is usually a metaphor for the central character too. Well, it is for 'Get Out', anyway.

I'm always on edge in a film when two people are chatting/laughing in a car and the driver looks to the passenger for just a little too long. You just know there's gonna be an accident.

[Icehaven]

I'm always on edge in a film when two people are chatting/laughing in a car and the driver looks to the passenger for just a little too long. You just know there's gonna be an accident.

And it's also stupid because no one driving in films ever looks at the road properly anyway because they're not really driving.

[BlodwynPig]

And it's also stupid because no one driving in films ever looks at the road properly anyway because they're not really driving.

I once crashed my car through a cellophane manufacturing plant...

yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was subsequently driving in film.

[thecuriousorange]

Bird Box

Smashing a large ceramic vase over someone's head will instantly knock them out cold, as this film was the latest to demonstrate. They will awake, groggy but with no brain/skull damage or concussion, after all the other characters have left the vicinity.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Boss of double-hard spook double-crosses them and sends someone to kill them, but the spook overpowers their attacker and merks them, then dials a number on the phone and it rings their boss and rather than the boss saying 'hello, who is this?' or 'is that you brian?' given, you know the assassination could've gone one of two ways they say 'so have you killed them then?'.

[hummingofevil]

Any examples of that last one?

Winthorpe in Trading Places.

https://youtu.be/vk6FIuXxK1M?t=28

[kalowski]

Winthorpe in Trading Places.

https://youtu.be/vk6FIuXxK1M?t=28

The also has the classic cliché of 'cop dabs finger into white powder and tests and recognises drug'

[Gregory Torso]

Animals that don't shut up. Especially rats. Any scene with a rat in it, the rat's going "eee EEE EEEE!" as it trundles along the sewers or the crack house skirting board or whatever. Rats and mice are quiet, they don't want to be heard, they certainly don't go scampering around shouting "See me! Catch me! Eat me!"
An owl can not appear in a film without loudly announcing "hoo HOOOOO it's night time in the spooky forest!". Horses cannot wait patiently outside the saloon for their daddys to finish drinking whiskey inside without having a good old "BRRRRRRR! Neigh, neigh!".
Do you own a cat? Does it shout "MROW GETTING OFF NOW" every time it jumps off your lap?
Pirranhas chattering their teeth from under the water. Sharks roaring.

[Blumf]

All those scenes in a desert, with the Bald Eagles flying about, and you hear that screech. Yeah, that's not a Bald Eagle call...

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=156187375

[gilbertharding]

A bicycle can't pass through a shot without its bell going 'ding'.

[BlodwynPig]

All those scenes in a desert, with the Bald Eagles flying about, and you hear that screech. Yeah, that's not a Bald Eagle call...

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=156187375

We hear it every day over here - it's actually a Blue Jay mimicking the Red Tailed Hawk.

[St_Eddie]

Animals that don't shut up. Especially rats. Any scene with a rat in it, the rat's going "eee EEE EEEE!" as it trundles along the sewers or the crack house skirting board or whatever. Rats and mice are quiet, they don't want to be heard, they certainly don't go scampering around shouting "See me! Catch me! Eat me!"

As great of a film as it is, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is guilty of this.  Rats squeaking like a million creaky doors in a million haunted houses.  Also, in the same scene, Indy's torch is dripping embers onto the oil which he's wading through and yet it doesn't ignite.  As soon as the Brotherhood of Whatever chucks a small flame onto that very same oil; WOOOSSSSHHHHH!

Do you own a cat? Does it shout "MROW GETTING OFF NOW" every time it jumps off your lap?

Pet Semetery has the most egregious example of this that I've ever seen.  Before the cat is zombified, every time that the camera shows it, it's accompanied by a "meow" sound.  Even when it's an extreme closeup of the cat's face and its mouth is clearly closed.  It's as though the filmmakers didn't trust the audience to know what a cat was.  Hey dummies, the cow goes "moo", the duck goes "quack", the cat goes "meow", the old man goes "sometimes dead is betta".

[magval]

Cross cutting between bad guys moving towards unaware good guy, or even vice versa. Turns out once they open the door the intended victim is just somewhere else that looks similar. Just saw it in The Equalizer, and Breaking Bad and 24 have done it too.

[Bazooka]

Cross cutting between bad guys moving towards unaware good guy, or even vice versa. Turns out once they open the door the intended victim is just somewhere else that looks similar. Just saw it in The Equalizer, and Breaking Bad and 24 have done it too.

Or the bad guy and good person are actually in different locations, and when the goodie opens that door its actually the Avon lady or something.

[holyzombiejesus]

Someone writing a letter, screws first draft in to a ball and throws it in to the corner. Dissolve to an overflowing bin surrounded by screwed up sheets of paper. That's in The Favourite!

[neveragain]

Cross cutting between bad guys moving towards unaware good guy, or even vice versa. Turns out once they open the door the intended victim is just somewhere else that looks similar. Just saw it in The Equalizer, and Breaking Bad and 24 have done it too.

There's an excellent use of this in Four Lions though.