Movie/TV Cliches

[WilliamRedRobin]

In this thread we list common clichés in movies or TV shows that either annoy us or we just see everywhere:
e.g.

> Character is reading a book
> It's Nietzsche

> Character is "good at poker"
> They're always dealt the best cards

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

We'll head them off at the pass!

 

[WilliamRedRobin]

We'll head them off at the pass!

I know a shortcut, c'mon.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Beautiful girl is not popular until popular boy takes an interest in her (initially not seriously). She removes her glasses and becomes a different kind of beautiful and is popular and wins the boy’s heart.

 

[catferoze]

Fridging female character to motivate male protagonist

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Fridging female character to motivate male protagonist

 

[asterixsmeagol]

*Nosebleed/cough blood* This character will die

 

[asterixsmeagol]

Cold open
*X hours/days earlier*
A couple of scenes happen
Back to the opening scene again

 

[Jrzag42]

Person picks up a book, opens it to the middle but acts like they're reading it from the beginning. Hate that.

 

[Bailey]

No one says bye, or anything at all, before hanging up the phone.

 

[WilliamRedRobin]

Person picks up a book, opens it to the middle but acts like they're reading it from the beginning. Hate that.

I never noticed this one before, but I know it will bug me forever now.

 

[catferoze]

Main character(s) being the only one not wearing a helmet into battle or immediately losing/removing it (and other similar situations with face coverings) just so the audience can see their face

 

[destined spaghetti]

*Nosebleed/cough blood* This character will die

- Similarly, it's become cliche for anyone suffering a mortal wound regardless of location to cough/spit up blood. It WAS cool, but has since been played out.

- Characters gesturing with their hands while holding a loaded weapon and no one having a problem with a gun in their face.

- OH! And there was a running gag/trope in the early 2000's where a dorky or clumsy character might engage in some slapstick or suffer a great fall off screen to jump up and say "I'm okay!". Always cringed when they pulled that one.

 

[bionicbob]

Not sure if this counts — not sure if it is just a tv/movie thing or an American culture thing—-

No one takes off their dirty shoes when they enter their house or someone else’s.

 

[WilliamRedRobin]

- Characters gesturing with their hands while holding a loaded weapon and no one having a problem with a gun in their face.

Everyone is pointing guns at eachother, but nobody is shooting because it's not that part of the scene yet.
Bonus points if one of them just runs away instead of shooting.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Tarantino does a great job of seeing these tropes and then exploiting them wonderfully in his films. The waving the gun thing is, of course, “you shot Marvin.” But one I love is the way character don’t notice strange accents when a character is pretending to be someone from another country. QT did that wonderfully in Inglorious Basterds.

 

[Jrzag42]

Not sure if this counts — not sure if it is just a tv/movie thing or an American culture thing—-

No one takes off their dirty shoes when they enter their house or someone else’s.

Oh yeah, that's an American thing, definitely not just in movies.

 

[WilliamRedRobin]

"It's military grade  technology!"

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

"It's military grade  technology!"

“Zoom. Enhance!”

 

[Jrzag42]

Main character(s) being the only one not wearing a helmet into battle or immediately losing/removing it (and other similar situations with face coverings) just so the audience can see their face

Or comic adaptations where a character who typically wears a mask must wear the mask as little as possible so the audience can see the actor's face. (See Judge Dredd (1995), with Dredd (2012) being a welcome subversion)