# Most overused Clichés in movies/TV shows?



## Steveo44 (Dec 6, 2019)

Can be anything

I would say on soaps , every new character must have a big secret they are hiding.


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## cupid_stunt (Dec 6, 2019)

Hello Reecejackox, I suspect you'll be gone again before the night is out.


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## AverageJoe (Dec 6, 2019)

"Geddouttahere!!".

Oh. You have


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## Tankus (Dec 6, 2019)

Theres a storm coming


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## SpookyFrank (Dec 7, 2019)

'You're insane' said to the villain right after they've done the big villain speech that actually makes their evil plot sound a lot more reasonable than we originally thought it was.


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## D'wards (Dec 7, 2019)

Sweeping everything off a shelf or mantelpiece in frustration/anger


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## beesonthewhatnow (Dec 7, 2019)

Glasses = nerd, until they’re removed, thus revealing the glamorous individual that’s been hidden for so long.


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## Kaka Tim (Dec 7, 2019)

I got this!


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## discobastard (Dec 8, 2019)

‘Inspector, is this going to take much longer? I really am terribly busy.’


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## Steel Icarus (Dec 8, 2019)

Happy/neat endings


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## Saul Goodman (Dec 8, 2019)

Give me a week to catch this monster, captain.
No, you have 24 hours!
OK, I can work with that.


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## Saul Goodman (Dec 8, 2019)

You're going to regret this.
Someone regrets something.


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## dessiato (Dec 8, 2019)

The long explanation of the dastardly plot before attempting to kill the hero thus giving them time to plan/organise their escape or be rescued. Just shoot them and save the time and trouble.


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## TheHoodedClaw (Dec 8, 2019)

Head trauma ain't no thing


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## A380 (Dec 8, 2019)

There is something in the location that has shown it’s capable of taking on an defeating a team of repair engineers / special forces unit / group of scantily clad women in their 20s acting like teenagers. 

“Let’s spilt up.”


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## A380 (Dec 8, 2019)

Aha likeable, wise. and gallant  sidekick with beautiful spouse and loveable child/ren . You ain’t making it out of the second act alive.


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## muscovyduck (Dec 8, 2019)

In the first episode of the sitcom the man goes to resign from his job, makes a big speech, then an attractive woman shows up for her first day and the man changes his mind


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## Dieselpunk2000 (Dec 8, 2019)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Glasses = nerd, until they’re removed, thus revealing the glamorous individual that’s been hidden for so long.


There are some exceptions...


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## andysays (Dec 8, 2019)

cupid_stunt said:


> Hello Reecejackox, I suspect you'll be gone again before the night is out.


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## Casual Observer (Dec 8, 2019)

A car chase with one or both cars driving through a fruit and veg stall.


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## T & P (Dec 8, 2019)

“I can explain!”
Never once in the history of cinema was the character who’d uttered those words able to give a convincing explanation to the other party. Not right after anyway.

Also, countdown timers on bombs that beep every second. Timers don’t beep every second- it’d be fucking annoying in everyday use, and counterproductive to anyone planning to hide a bomb in a public place and hoping it won’t be discovered.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 8, 2019)

Final boss being the most difficult person to take down after hero picks off dozens of henchmen in 5 minutes.


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## krtek a houby (Dec 9, 2019)

Steveo44 said:


> Can be anything
> 
> I would say on soaps , every new character must have a big secret they are hiding.



Or, the character who hasn't been in it for ages & returns and fits into everyday life/goings on within 2 episodes.


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## Supine (Dec 9, 2019)

Casual Observer said:


> A car chase with one or both cars driving through a fruit and veg stall.



That was a bond film. Actually it was probably every bond film


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## Steel Icarus (Dec 9, 2019)

Something unlikely is seen by a wino who looks at his bottle askance


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## petee (Dec 9, 2019)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Glasses = nerd, until they’re removed, thus revealing the glamorous individual that’s been hidden for so long.


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## trabuquera (Dec 10, 2019)

Characters beaten to a pulp in one sequence, looking pretty handsome the next.

Detectives / sleuths / obsessives making large string-and-photo-art collages which lay the whole plot out for you because the script can't do the exposition. Connecting the dots, yeah?


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## JuanTwoThree (Dec 10, 2019)

Picking up evidence with a biro

Tasting hard drugs to see what they are


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## JuanTwoThree (Dec 10, 2019)

My favourite here is to see how they get round the plot problem of a person who only speaks Spanish when the whole lot has been dubbed into Spanish. Amazing how many Brazilians made it to the US.


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## Reno (Dec 10, 2019)

We find out how ruthless the killer is, when they kill the intended victim's pet for them to find. The most famous was probably the bunny in Fatal Attraction, which gave us the term "bunny boiler". If you see a cute pet at the start of a thriller or horror film, it generally turns up dead.


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## T & P (Dec 10, 2019)

JuanTwoThree said:


> Picking up evidence with a biro
> 
> Tasting hard drugs to see what they are


And don't forget the drug dealer with a bit of an addiction to his own wares cutting a hole on a wrapped packet of cocaine with the tip of his knife, and snorting it off same utensil.


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## SpookyFrank (Dec 10, 2019)

A movie signalling that it's more realistic, more self-aware, more tongue-in-cheek than your standard macho hollywood rubbish by having the protagonist say 'ouch' after falling off a building and landing on his face, then having him take several seconds to get back up with some visible discomfort.


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## bimble (Dec 10, 2019)

Couple get together. Cut to morning - Woman with just slightly tousled hair walking around the man’s expensive immaculate kitchen wearing just his large shirt which is not even crumpled.


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## Artaxerxes (Dec 11, 2019)

What is blood - no claret in a film despite huge amounts of beating and fighting going on. The hero maybe gets a red cut on forehead.

In general injury ain't a thing unless plot relevant.

Oh I'm evil says man who is a vizier/advisor who otherwise doesn't fight in sudden inevitable betrayal



bimble said:


> Couple get together. Cut to morning - Woman with just slightly tousled hair walking around the man’s expensive immaculate kitchen wearing just his large shirt which is not even crumpled.



L-shaped post coital blanket covering very specific parts.


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## JuanTwoThree (Dec 11, 2019)

People having or having had sex with their underwear still on.I know it does happen* but it must be something to do with US censorship that it happens that much (in other words always).

* did happen


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## Spymaster (Dec 11, 2019)

Car tyres always screech on acceleration, cornering, or braking.


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## Reno (Dec 11, 2019)

JuanTwoThree said:


> People having or having had sex with their underwear still on.I know it does happen* but it must be something to do with US censorship that it happens that much (in other words always).
> 
> * did happen


In a lot of cases that’s due to the contractual stipulations of actors who won’t do nude scenes. It can also be so a movie makes a PG rating, which isn’t so much censorship than a commercial consideration.


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## Yossarian (Dec 11, 2019)

A phone call to the authorities could help us - but there's *no signal*.


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## trabuquera (Dec 11, 2019)

Barefoot brave people managing to scamper about through disaster scenes full of shrapnel, rubble and broken glass without so much as squeaking like a parent stepping on a bit of Lego.


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## Helen Back (Dec 19, 2019)

All of TV Tropes


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## emanymton (Dec 19, 2019)

I lied to you to protect you.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2019)

JuanTwoThree said:


> Picking up evidence with a biro


Or picking it up with a handkerchief


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2019)

Reno said:


> We find out how ruthless the killer is, when they kill the intended victim's pet for them to find. The most famous was probably the bunny in Fatal Attraction, which gave us the term "bunny boiler". If you see a cute pet at the start of a thriller or horror film, it generally turns up dead.


Any incidental object observed twice, or incidental behaviour mentioned twice, will turn out to be hugely significant third time round


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## Reno (Dec 19, 2019)

DaveCinzano said:


> Any incidental object observed twice, or incidental behaviour mentioned twice, will turn out to be hugely significant third time round


Why are you quoting me ?


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## Mrs Miggins (Dec 19, 2019)

Two things I notice all the time now on films and TV shows:
1) The "ringing ears" noise that overides all other sound for a second or two when there's been a bomb blast or something.
2) That sort of bass drop sound that happens when some sort of catastrophe is about to occur. The visuals often slow right down or stop completely when this noise is employed. It is also often followed by the "ringing ears" noise if the catastrophe is an explosion.


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## BassJunkie (Dec 19, 2019)

petee said:


>




Perfect example - <removes glasses>. Stunned: "Well, hello!".


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## UrbaneFox (Dec 19, 2019)

Casual Observer said:


> A car chase with one or both cars driving through a fruit and veg stall.


Or a stack of empty cardboard boxes, Starsky and Hutch style.


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## peterkro (Dec 19, 2019)

Olde time favourite "we'll cut 'em off at the pass".


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2019)

Reno said:


> Why are you quoting me ?


Because it's in a similar vein


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 19, 2019)

555-5555


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 22, 2019)

When someone falls asleep in front of the TV late at night and the scene shows it playing white noise.

does that ever actually happen?


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## Reno (Dec 22, 2019)

skyscraper101 said:


> When someone falls asleep in front of the TV late at night and the scene shows it playing white noise.
> 
> does that ever actually happen?


It used to, when tv stations still went off the air at some time during the night. The film where this is a plot point is Poltergeist.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 22, 2019)

Reno said:


> It used to, when tv stations still went off the air at some time during the night. The film where this is a plot point is Poltergeist.



min my experience they always just had a black screen with a test tone, or teletext. Never once did I see static/white noise.


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## fishfinger (Dec 22, 2019)

skyscraper101 said:


> min my experience they always just had a black screen with a test tone, or teletext. Never once did I see static/white noise.


There was a time before teletext, when the stations used to stop broadcasting.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 22, 2019)

fishfinger said:


> There was a time before teletext, when the stations used to stop broadcasting.



I should point out I only mention this because I was watching an episode of This Life from circa 96/97 and this particular cliche was used.

In all my memory of late night 90s TV (and I watched a lot) never did a channel just cut to static.


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## fishfinger (Dec 22, 2019)

skyscraper101 said:


> I should point out I only mention this because I was watching an episode of This Life from circa 96/97 and this particular cliche was used.
> 
> In all my memory of late night 90s TV (and I watched a lot) never did a channel just cut to static.


I don't know "this life" but it was certainly true before the advent of 24 hour TV in the UK, which started in the mid '80s.


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## Reno (Dec 22, 2019)

skyscraper101 said:


> I should point out I only mention this because I was watching an episode of This Life from circa 96/97 and this particular cliche was used.
> 
> In all my memory of late night 90s TV (and I watched a lot) never did a channel just cut to static.


The Hitman and Her should have been on then.

I grew up in Germany and there some tv stations had a test image, some just went to static in the 70s. I believe the US, which by the 70s had many more channels than Europe, was the same.


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## miss direct (Dec 22, 2019)

Any film or tv programme featuring Turkey/Istanbul tends to use a silhouette of mosques and the sound of the call to prayer


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## JuanTwoThree (Dec 22, 2019)

UrbaneFox said:


> Or a stack of empty cardboard boxes, Starsky and Hutch style.



Also baddy running down an alley turning over bins to slow down the chaser.

But ... the chaser athletically jumping over the bins.

So turning round and throwing bins at them...

... which miss as our fit hero dodges them.

Arriving at a high fence which has a locked gate, panicking for a moment and climbing it....

Which the goody drags them down from, and cuffs them. Perhaps saying something funny about trash.


Of course if its the hero escaping, all these ploys work like a charm, ending with the fat panting baddies impotently shaking the fence and the chasee nowhere to be seen.


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## nick (Dec 22, 2019)

The view out of every Parisian window (and probably every window in the whole of France) is of the Eiffel Tower


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## DotCommunist (Dec 22, 2019)

T & P said:


> And don't forget the drug dealer with a bit of an addiction to his own wares cutting a hole on a wrapped packet of cocaine with the tip of his knife, and snorting it off same utensil.


extra baddie points if the drug dealer keeps an addict on hand to test the purity of drugs, last I saw that was in Godfather of Harlem.


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## T & P (Jan 16, 2020)

If you are being shot at, or find yourself in the middle of a shootout in a bar or restaurant, tip over the nearest table and shelter behind it. All tables are inherently bulletproof even if made of wood.


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## T & P (Jan 16, 2020)

Also, it will take no more than three or four attempts to guess someone’s computer login password, because apparently nobody, not even highly intelligent supervillains, has ever been capable of creating a password more challenging than the name of their lost loved one or the thing they covet the most.


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## petee (Jan 16, 2020)

skyscraper101 said:


> When someone falls asleep in front of the TV late at night and the scene shows it playing white noise.
> 
> does that ever actually happen?



adding to what others said, that was the usual occurrence (here in the states) before cable. it was a spooky moment for a kid: one second there was something on your screen, the next second a loud, scratchy nothing. were the station staff taken away in a rapture?


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## Saul Goodman (Jan 16, 2020)

The fact that you hardly ever hear the following lines in a movie must be a cliché.



> Hold that thought, I'm just nipping for a shite.



5 minutes elapses with much tapping of watch, and the pooper returns.



> Christ, I needed that! I'd give the shitter a wide berth for a while if I was you. I had a ruby last night and it's gone through me like a dose of salts.


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## yield (Jan 16, 2020)

Autistic Savants annoy the shit out of me.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 1, 2020)

Quirky upbeat pathologists on on crime dramas, doing autopsies on murder victims like they're some kind of jolly adventure. Annoys the fuck out of me.

You know what would be really original, an entirely forgettable character who is just methodical and takes their job seriously.


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## Saul Goodman (Feb 1, 2020)

skyscraper101 said:


> Quirky unbeat pathologists on on crime dramas, doing autopsies on murder victims like they're some kind of jolly adventure. Annoys the fuck out of me.
> 
> You know what would be really original, an entirely forgettable character who is just methodical and takes their job seriously.


But if you were a pathologist, you'd have to have a bit of fun, or it'd be depressing as fuck. Puppetry immediately springs to mind.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 1, 2020)

Saul Goodman said:


> But if you were a pathologist, you'd have to have a bit of fun, or it'd be depressing as fuck. Puppetry immediately springs to mind.



Yeah, sure, in the right moment. But like unfiltered zaniness while prodding about in a dead body, in the presence of police who are probably more concerned with solving the crime than having a laugh about it. It's not only a tiresome cliche, but it seems a highly inappropriate characterisation.


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## SpookyFrank (Feb 1, 2020)

yield said:


> Autistic Savants annoy the shit out of me.



That Ben Affleck movie The Accountant was especially bad with this. There's a scene where someone says that these 'autistic' people could easily look _just like a normal person_. Cue faces of shock and surprise all round the room at the sheer horror of this prospect.


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## SpookyFrank (Feb 1, 2020)

T & P said:


> Also, it will take no more than three or four attempts to guess someone’s computer login password, because apparently nobody, not even highly intelligent supervillains, has ever been capable of creating a password more challenging than the name of their lost loved one or the thing they covet the most.



Or the title of a book clearly visible from their  desk.


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## T & P (Feb 1, 2020)

Any ordinary lock, from doors’ to desk drawers’ to handcuffs’, can be picked with a hairpin or paperclip, and not just by trained special agents but often by civilians as well.


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## Saul Goodman (Feb 1, 2020)

T & P said:


> Any ordinary lock, from doors’ to desk drawers’ to handcuffs’, can be picked with a hairpin or paperclip, and not just by trained special agents but often by civilians as well.


And credit cards to open doors. The door's sat in a recess, FFS. It's impossible to get a credit card in.


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## editor (Jun 8, 2020)

Following on from my soaraway 'Did you know these things have names?' thread, I give you this fresh timewaster (which has probably been posted here multiple times already)


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## Reno (Jun 8, 2020)

You mean this ? 









						Most overused Clichés in movies/TV shows?
					

And don't forget the drug dealer with a bit of an addiction to his own wares cutting a hole on a wrapped packet of cocaine with the tip of his knife, and snorting it off same utensil. extra baddie points if the drug dealer keeps an addict on hand to test the purity of drugs, last I saw that was...




					www.urban75.net


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## belboid (Jun 8, 2020)

3 _is _absolutely correct.  

Obviously it wouldn't be if the word 'safely' were included


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## Nanker Phelge (Jun 8, 2020)

If it rains you will hold our your arms and look up to the sky, prefably waving an umbrella


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## spanglechick (Jun 8, 2020)

Our unassuming loveable protagonist is, in close up, giving a surprisingly self assured and eloquent speech in which they tell truth to power or confess deep and abiding love.  After some time we pull back or cutaway to show they are either practicing alone or the intended audience has fallen asleep/left.


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## two sheds (Jun 8, 2020)

UrbaneFox said:


> Or a stack of empty cardboard boxes, Starsky and Hutch style.


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## Sprocket. (Jun 8, 2020)

Medic to the gunshot victim, The bullet went through and through, you’ll be okay.
Two hours later gunshot victim gets in punch-up with baddie and baddie sticks thumb in bullet wound.


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 8, 2020)

Tankus said:


> Theres a storm coming


VIENE LA TORMENTA!


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## two sheds (Jun 8, 2020)

Hero and heroine meet and annoy each other intensely until their hands touch accidentally when they kiss passionately and marry soon after. 

Hero/villain chases villain/hero to within 30 metres and is closing fast to 10 metres and next shot they're within 20 metres and still closing fast.


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## UrbaneFox (Jun 9, 2020)

There used to be an exhausted American woman staggering from elevator holding a paper bag full of shopping. No handles on the bag. Slams into startled man, bag breaks, grapefruits roll everywhere. Oh, Jeez/ sheesh etc.


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## UrbaneFox (Jun 9, 2020)

Bunch of kids whooping it up in open-topped car. Car does hand break turn and weedy one in specs is shaken and mocked by the others.


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## Orang Utan (Jun 9, 2020)

T & P said:


> Also, it will take no more than three or four attempts to guess someone’s computer login password, because apparently nobody, not even highly intelligent supervillains, has ever been capable of creating a password more challenging than the name of their lost loved one or the thing they covet the most.


This is true though


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## BristolEcho (Jun 9, 2020)

two sheds said:


> Hero and heroine meet and annoy each other intensely until their hands touch accidentally when they kiss passionately and marry soon after.
> 
> Hero/villain chases villain/hero to within 30 metres and is closing fast to 10 metres and next shot they're within 20 metres and still closing fast.



Most romances in films and series get on my nerves for some reason. Sex scenes too. I dunno most of them just seem pretty cringe and completely uncessary.


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## Orang Utan (Jun 9, 2020)

This film tho


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## two sheds (Jun 9, 2020)

BristolEcho said:


> Most romances in films and series get on my nerves for some reason. Sex scenes too. I dunno most of them just seem pretty cringe and completely uncessary.



Yeh soppy bleaugh


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## two sheds (Jun 9, 2020)

The last murder in a series is happening while the intrepid detectives race towards them and arrive just in time to prevent the final knife/gun/club/axe/hammer/rope/piano wire strike and save the victim


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## two sheds (Jun 9, 2020)

"ok now, just put the axe down"


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## BristolEcho (Jun 9, 2020)

Big medieval battle happening. One side badly outnumbered. Will the back up get there or not? Zzz.


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## freakydave (Jun 9, 2020)

the alcoholic suicidal policeman is a really fucking sexy guy


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## Reno (Jun 9, 2020)

freakydave said:


> the alcoholic suicidal policeman is a really fucking sexy guy


...since Prime Suspect also a sexy lady.


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## Spymaster (Jun 9, 2020)

When armed baddies are chasing the good guy they will only ever shoot at the ground around his feet.


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## freakydave (Jun 9, 2020)

I like in 70s and 80s films set in New York there is always some wacky black guy who will make some jive-talk sort of comment 
Like Superman will come out of a phonebox and the guy goes 'Nice threads man!' or Stallone is running along the street with a load of guns and someone goes 'Oh he gon' kick somebody's ass'
It was replaced by the big fat black woman at some point


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## UrbaneFox (Jun 10, 2020)

Blind newsagent with stutter at 4.14 still manages to quip about being blind. Still, good opportunity to hear the Shaft theme:


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## T & P (Jun 10, 2020)

In horror and thriller films, when a character opens the fridge to grab a snack in their empty kitchen, invariably the antagonist will be revealed to be right beside the fridge when the fridge door is closed.


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## two sheds (Jun 10, 2020)

Someone being attacked knocks gun/knife/club/flamethrower out of baddie's hand and legs it without picking up the weapon only for the baddie to pick it up and pursue them with it. Seriously bad planning.


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## two sheds (Jun 10, 2020)

T & P said:


> In horror and thriller films, when a character opens the fridge to grab a snack in their empty kitchen, invariably the antagonist will be revealed to be right beside the fridge when the fridge door is closed.



or there's a head or their cat in the fridge


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## spanglechick (Jun 11, 2020)

T & P said:


> In horror and thriller films, when a character opens the fridge to grab a snack in their empty kitchen, invariably the antagonist will be revealed to be right beside the fridge when the fridge door is closed.


Or closing the mirrored medicine cabinet, the sinister figure standing directly behind them is revealed in their reflection.


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## krtek a houby (Jun 11, 2020)

freakydave said:


> I like in 70s and 80s films set in New York there is always some wacky black guy who will make some jive-talk sort of comment
> Like Superman will come out of a phonebox and the guy goes 'Nice threads man!' or Stallone is running along the street with a load of guns and someone goes 'Oh he gon' kick somebody's ass'
> It was replaced by the big fat black woman at some point



Much as I loved the Superman films, that kind of token role for black actors (whatever their weight) has always made me feel uncomfortable. And the mostly white cinema crowd would duly laugh at the character. Even the great Richard Pryor was wasted in the third film.


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## T & P (Jun 24, 2020)

When an antagonist is chasing a character with the intention to kill them, they magically keep up with and eventually catch their intended victim despite walking at a slow pace whilst their prey is running as fast as they possibly can.


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## not-bono-ever (Jun 24, 2020)

no one ever uses a mouse on a pc - every action involves keystrokes


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## Little Piranha (Jun 24, 2020)

Parent who has fucked up their relationship with their teenage child by 'always being on the job' or completely irresponsible saves the day by virtue of their job/being reckless.


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## Sweet FA (Jun 25, 2020)

krtek a houby said:


> Richard Pryor was wasted in the third film.


Tbf he was probably wasted in all the films.


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## Saul Goodman (Jun 25, 2020)

Sweet FA said:


> Tbf he was probably wasted in all the films.


Certainly looked like he was.


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## T & P (Jul 20, 2020)

Someone is on the ground being strangled or about to be stabbed in the eye by a foe sitting on top of them. All seems lost, but at the last moment the protagonist spots a blunt object or shard of glass laying nearby, and manages to reach it and whack the villain in the head.


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## Saul Goodman (Jul 20, 2020)

T & P said:


> Someone is on the ground being strangled or about to be stabbed in the eye by a foe sitting on top of them. All seems lost, but at the last moment the protagonist spots a blunt object or shard of glass laying nearby, and manages to reach it and whack the villain in the head.


Don't tell me that's never happened to you.


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## T & P (Jul 20, 2020)

Saul Goodman said:


> Don't tell me that's never happened to you.


Plenty of times but I just knee them in the nads.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 21, 2020)

T & P said:


> Someone is on the ground being strangled or about to be stabbed in the eye by a foe sitting on top of them. All seems lost, but at the last moment the protagonist spots a blunt object or shard of glass laying nearby, and manages to reach it and whack the villain in the head.


Don't forget those beats:

FUMBLE...STRETCH...FUMBLE...STRETCH...FUMBLE...

THWACK / DONGGG / SKKKKKKWWWW!


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 21, 2020)

Also:

OLIGATORY GEOLOGY SAMPLE


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## strung out (Jul 21, 2020)

not-bono-ever said:


> no one ever uses a mouse on a pc - every action involves keystrokes


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## Tankus (Jul 21, 2020)

2000 round magazines for pistols


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## slowth (Jul 22, 2020)

Low key jazzy instrumental plays as helicopter shot flies A) over and in between skyscrapers, picking out a policeman directing traffic, kids splashing about in a broken fire hydrant, taxi driver honking his horn before sweeping in on well dressed business guy/gal trotting up some important steps to enter an important building B) over a twee suburban town, focusing on lawns being mowed, housewives waving at each other, children playing some game or other in the road before settling on a guy getting out of his car on his drive and entering house.  _film begins_


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## [62] (Jul 22, 2020)

"Don't you get it? I got a great life here. My saving the world/robbing banks/performing amazing feats of technical knowhow days are over."


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## CNT36 (Jul 22, 2020)

T & P said:


> Someone is on the ground being strangled or about to be stabbed in the eye by a foe sitting on top of them. All seems lost, but at the last moment the protagonist spots a blunt object or shard of glass laying nearby, and manages to reach it and whack the villain in the head.


There's another strangling one. Monster/Robot/Alien etc with excessive strength demonstrated by the crushing of rocks/skulls into dust with a single squeeze of the hand wants you dead. Monster/Alien has its hand around your throat for 20 seconds before being forced to let go. Five seconds of heavy breathing and you're fine.


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## Combustible (Jul 22, 2020)

Little Piranha said:


> Parent who has fucked up their relationship with their teenage child by 'always being on the job' or completely irresponsible saves the day by virtue of their job/being reckless.


They also win their ex wife back

And in general a man's reward for his heroic deeds is that he can get together with his love interest


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## 8ball (Jul 22, 2020)

Spymaster said:


> When armed baddies are chasing the good guy they will only ever shoot at the ground around his feet.



Although later in the film when the good guy gets shot, it will turn out to be a non-serious shoulder wound.


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## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

Not so much a plot device as a visual thing, but it seems no American citizen ever is able to resist putting ribbons on fans or aircon ducts, judging by Hollywood at least...


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## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

8ball said:


> Although later in the film when the good guy gets shot, it will turn out to be a non-serious shoulder wound.


The shoulder sure gets hit a lot on supporting characters destined to live... The main protagonist tends to get grazed on the arm.


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## Reno (Jul 22, 2020)

Combustible said:


> They also win their ex wife back
> 
> And in general a man's reward for his heroic deeds is that he can get together with his love interest


Since at last the 70s that gets rejected as too corny. The Spielberg War of the Worlds, Ant Man and others come to mind where the hero wins back the affections of his kid/s but they don’t get the wife back. Kramer vs Kramer was the film where that was at the center of the plot and since then the best the hero can hope for is being on good terms with his ex and maintaining a relationship with his kids.


----------



## spanglechick (Jul 22, 2020)

Reno said:


> Since at last the 70s that gets rejected as too corny. The Spielberg War of the Worlds, Ant Man and others come to mind where the hero wins back the affections of his kid/s but they don’t get the wife back. Kramer vs Kramer was the film where that was at the center of the plot and since then the best the hero can hope for is being on good terms with his ex and maintaining a relationship with his kids.


Don’t the McClaine’s reunite at the end of Die Hard?


----------



## Reno (Jul 22, 2020)

spanglechick said:


> Don’t the McClaine’s reunite at the end of Die Hard?


There are no kids in the film.

There are still plenty of films where the hero gets the girl back but this reunion of the nuclear family due to the hero’s redemption is rare these days.


----------



## spanglechick (Jul 22, 2020)

Reno said:


> There are no kids in the film.


Yes they are.  The daughter is interviewed on tv.  It lets the cat out of the bag as to her mum’s real identity.


----------



## Reno (Jul 22, 2020)

Reno said:


> There are no kids in the film.





spanglechick said:


> Yes they are.  The daughter is interviewed on tv.  It lets the cat out of the bag as to her mum’s real identity.


...but there is no plot where he has to win back the kid. She is in one scene but is barely a character. The point made was that the hero gets his kids back due to his redemptive efforts and then someone added that then he also always gets back his wife/girlfriend. That is rare these days.


----------



## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

spanglechick said:


> Don’t the McClaine’s reunite at the end of Die Hard?


IIRC in Die Hard 3 the marriage it’s on its death throes.


----------



## Combustible (Jul 22, 2020)

Reno said:


> Since at last the 70s that gets rejected as too corny. The Spielberg War of the Worlds, Ant Man and others come to mind where the hero wins back the affections of his kid/s but they don’t get the wife back. Kramer vs Kramer was the film where that was at the center of the plot and since then the best the hero can hope for is being on good terms with his ex and maintaining a relationship with his kids.


I seem to remember it happening in that Dwayne Johnson vs earthquakes film from a couple of years ago.


----------



## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

Being gay was always a massive drama in 90's/00's soaps and shitcoms.


----------



## seeformiles (Jul 22, 2020)

No matter the calibre of bullets being fired, you’ll always be safe if you hide behind a car door


----------



## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

seeformiles said:


> No matter the calibre of bullets being fired, you’ll always be safe if you hide behind a car door



Or a settee... RPG, get behind the settee, Uzi nine millimetre, get behind the settee.


----------



## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

seeformiles said:


> No matter the calibre of bullets being fired, you’ll always be safe if you hide behind a car door


Or an overturned wooden table in a bar.


----------



## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

In zombie apocalypse films, among the recently deceased who rise from their graves there will always be either a groom or a bride in their wedding attire.


----------



## Reno (Jul 22, 2020)

Combustible said:


> I seem to remember it happening in that Dwayne Johnson vs earthquakes film from a couple of years ago.


True, that's because almost nothing is more cheesy than Dwayne Johnson movies.


----------



## A380 (Jul 22, 2020)

T & P said:


> In zombie apocalypse films, among the recently deceased who rise from their graves there will always be either a groom or a bride in their wedding attire.



And the body of a woman who was a lingerie model and obviously died during a photo shoot for a knickers and bra set that costs more than a decent push bike.


----------



## dylanredefined (Jul 22, 2020)

seeformiles said:


> No matter the calibre of bullets being fired, you’ll always be safe if you hide behind a car door


  I was quite upset when that turned out to be complete bollocks.

 As the wife pointed how convient America has recent wars to provide so many protagonists their Navy SEAL veteran back story.


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## T & P (Jul 22, 2020)

IIRC John Cusack also wins his ex-wife back in the disaster flick 2012.

A sub-cliche of such scenario is what the deal is with the current husband, and his fate. It’s usually one of two things: either he’s an arsehole and his wife realises this during the film and dumps him; or a thoroughly decent man who our protagonist dislikes because he’s with his ex-missus, but just as our hero realises the bloke’s alright the latter dies in tragic circumstances, and our hero provides a shoulder to cry on for the ex, who takes him back even before her husband’s body is cold.


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## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

T & P said:


> In zombie apocalypse films, among the recently deceased who rise from their graves there will always be either a groom or a bride in their wedding attire.



Ye and how come in that zombi 2 when they come out of their graves after years and years they aren't just bones?


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## Reno (Jul 22, 2020)

cyril_smear said:


> Ye and how come in that zombi 2 when they come out of their graves after years and years they aren't just bones?


Never question anything that happens in an Italian zombie film. They do look more gnarly than your average zombies though


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## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

Reno said:


> Never question anything that happens in an Italian zombie film. They do look more gnarly than your average zombies though



Night of the living dead 1990 remake is the best ever. First ten  minutes are still scary as fuck.


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## spanglechick (Jul 22, 2020)

Americans do like to fill the dead up with plasticisers and pickling fluid.  Their corpses don’t decay as quickly as your average dead person elsewhere.


----------



## emanymton (Jul 22, 2020)

CNT36 said:


> There's another strangling one. Monster/Robot/Alien etc with excessive strength demonstrated by the crushing of rocks/skulls into dust with a single squeeze of the hand wants you dead. Monster/Alien has its hand around your throat for 20 seconds before being forced to let go. Five seconds of heavy breathing and you're fine.


A variation on this is when they pick up and throw the hero instead of just killing them like they do everyone else.


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## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

Ross kemp ''Nobody has been able to do something or the other... until now!!!'' Wow. I did not see that coming, in spite of the fact you alluded to it just before the adverts.


----------



## cyril_smear (Jul 22, 2020)

Crime shows ''what happened next will shock and disgust you, right after the break'' fucking googled it when I saw the TV listings in the Mirror this morning.


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## likesfish (Jul 24, 2020)

Squaddies ( other armed goons are available)
Continue to chase the kids /Hero even after they have been shown to have paranormal powers.
 Rather than  going fuck this shit or searching under every rock making lots of noise so whoever is being searched for has time to getaway ( my battalion did that when ordered to hunt down a Sgt who went mad and stole his sections ammo and fled into Cyprus countryside)


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## IC3D (Jul 24, 2020)

I think a man getting the ex back through, deeds, is always go8jg to be a strong narrative. Although a woman's ex in movies if she is the lead is normally a wrongun she won't go back too it seems, but a male protagonist just needs to up his game on the flip side. I think it reflects male and female attitudes to exs pretty much.

Movies are pretty hetronormative really


----------



## seeformiles (Jul 24, 2020)

In action film chases, all cars appear to be made of Semtex on a hair trigger detonator


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## cyril_smear (Jul 24, 2020)

seeformiles said:


> In action film chases, all cars appear to be made of Semtex on a hair trigger detonator




And have a last minute cat lady pushing a trolley full of cans repellent; but only at the very last second.


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## IC3D (Jul 24, 2020)

cyril_smear said:


> And have a last minute cat lady pushing a trolley full of cans repellent; but only at the very last second.


A tramp with trolley of possesions that fly everywhere or maximum shock value mummy pulls pushchair out of the way.


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## likesfish (Jul 24, 2020)

Grenades and  hand held missiles all creating huge explosions with fireballs.
They don't even artillery is a rather unimpressive cloud of smoke.


----------



## cyril_smear (Jul 24, 2020)

A trail of petrol being ignited by a cigarette... bullshit!!

Dynamite going out in water... bullshit!!


----------



## cyril_smear (Jul 24, 2020)

IC3D said:


> A tramp with trolley of possesions that fly everywhere or maximum shock value mummy pulls pushchair out of the way.



Cop car through a play park, or if it's in South America, down a back alley where crates get knocked over and chickens running around like headless chickens.


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## Flavour (Jul 24, 2020)

All chase scenes involving a non-Western location invariably involve packed markets where people are transporting things from one side of the street to the other. And it's ALWAYS time for the call to prayer whenever we open on any city in the Muslim world.


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## platinumsage (Jul 24, 2020)

likesfish said:


> Squaddies ( other armed goons are available)
> Continue to chase the kids /Hero even after they have been shown to have paranormal powers.
> Rather than  going fuck this shit or searching under every rock making lots of noise so whoever is being searched for has time to getaway ( my battalion did that when ordered to hunt down a Sgt who went mad and stole his sections ammo and fled into Cyprus countryside)



Armed goons taking it turns to have a go at the lone, obviously-invincible person with obvious physics-busting superpowers.
"You've just variously slaughtered my four comrades in turn with your big sword, instead of already having run away, I'm going to try and stop you with my bare hands"


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## seeformiles (Jul 24, 2020)

likesfish said:


> Grenades and  hand held missiles all creating huge explosions with fireballs.
> They don't even artillery is a rather unimpressive cloud of smoke.



Oi! Don’t piss on my movie reality with pesky facts! 😉


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## T & P (Jul 24, 2020)

cyril_smear said:


> A trail of petrol being ignited by a cigarette... bullshit!!
> 
> Dynamite going out in water... bullshit!!


Don't forget bullets killing people several metres under water. It is well known that even high velocity/ calibre bullets will stop dead within a metre or two at most.


----------



## JuanTwoThree (Jul 24, 2020)

All the cops are celebrating with whisky in paper cups and coffee mugs when a worried looking person approaches the chief and whispers in their ear.

There's been another victim, same modus operandi.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 25, 2020)

The 'these men are gay' plot involves romance, subtle looks, hints, a snog, maybe a post coital moment with minimal nudity.

3 scenes earlier the lesbians have been going at it like dynamos in an extended scene in glorious HD.


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## T & P (Jul 25, 2020)

When someone hides from an assassin in the toilets of a nightclub or bar, they will hide in the furthest away cubicle. Every single cubicle door will be closed yet empty, and the baddie will leisurely kick open each one (even when he has a gun and could have simply shot through every cubicle in a few seconds), only to invariably by foiled by the goodie crawling under the partition to the bog next door right after that bog’s door has been kicked open. Either that, or the baddie gets distracted or attacked by a third party just as he’s about to kick open the last cubicle door.


----------



## Reno (Jul 25, 2020)

Artaxerxes said:


> The 'these men are gay' plot involves romance, subtle looks, hints, a snog, maybe a post coital moment with minimal nudity.
> 
> 3 scenes earlier the lesbians have been going at it like dynamos in an extended scene in glorious HD.



You are not going to get many films about gay men with gratuitous lesbian sex scenes


----------



## T & P (Jul 25, 2020)

Just remembered about two convenient yet unrealistic office building features: lift trap doors, and large air con vents that allow humans to crawl through. My other half has worked in commercial property management for many years (I’m talking proper City skyscrapers) and she tells me that in this country at least there simply aren’t any convenient ceiling trap doors for people to climb out of. She doubts it’d be any different in America. I certainly have never seen one I could access whenever I’ve been in a US hotel.

Ditto air con vent tunnels like those John McClane was so fond of in Die Hard. Even in large buildings here most of them aren’t large enough to accommodate an adult crawling through. And if they were I am told they’d be extremely unlikely to hold off the weight of a person.


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## Artaxerxes (Jul 25, 2020)

Reno said:


> You are not going to get many films about gay men with gratuitous lesbian sex scenes



It's mostly me musing on series like Black Sails and yes GoT, not sure if films like Blue is the Warmest Colour and Call Me By Your Name are in a similar situation.


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## Reno (Jul 25, 2020)

Artaxerxes said:


> It's mostly me musing on series like Black Sails and yes GoT, not sure if films like Blue is the Warmest Colour and Call Me By Your Name are in a similar situation.


There is the general thing that full frontal male nudity is more taboo while female nudity gets used in an exploitative way more often. There are plenty of films about gay men with explicit sex scenes (Weekend, Stranger by the Lake) and lesbian romances without (Carol, Desert Hearts). I haven't seen Black Sails, but most of the nudity and sex in GoT was heterosexual and there were at least a couple steamy moments between men.


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## T & P (Aug 1, 2020)

After previously squandered or dismissed various romantic advances by a long term friend or an ex, a character suddenly realises they’re in love with that person.

They go on impulse to their apartment and knock on the door unannounced intending to declare their love, only for the other party to open the door, look embarrassed, and someone shout from inside the flat “who the hell is it at this time? Come back to bed honey!”.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Aug 1, 2020)

Shouldn't this thread just be a link to tv tropes?


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## T & P (Aug 11, 2020)

When someone gains access to a large underground facility with long corridors and turns on the lights, or alternatively when someone is being chased in a hospital or similar building also with long corridors and the antagonist turns off the lights, they do not go on or off at the same time like anywhere else in the world, but one by one at 1-2 second intervals from the far end of the room towards where the character stands.

Not only that, but as each of the lights come on or off they make a loud noise akin to someone hitting a metal cabinet with a baseball bat.


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## T & P (Oct 7, 2020)

‘You don’t have to do this!’, as pleaded in desperation by someone who’s about to be tortured or killed by a deranged serial killer, or someone seeking revenge against a loved one of the victim.

Can’t blame someone in such dire situation to beg or say whatever they feel could change the mind of their would-be killer, but if someone’s fucked up enough to kidnap an innocent person and intend to kill them in horrible ways for kicks or to settle a score, ‘you don’t have to do this’ has as much chance of success as telling them God will hurt a kitten if they do kill you.


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## Doodler (Oct 7, 2020)

Car crashes in films which result in explosions. This almost never happens in real life.

Future films will have to come up with ways to dramatise electric car crashes - maybe have the vehicles engulfed by crawling electric discharges as the occupants writhe and spasm as they're electrocuted, before a massive violet-tinged plasma burst.


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## Doodler (Oct 7, 2020)

Also: distant explosions which are heard as soon as they're seen.

That electronic chattering sound when explanatory place names materialise on screen as if they're being typed: CIA HEADQUARTERS, VIRGINIA etc.


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## slowth (Oct 8, 2020)

Pointing the remote and switching off the television half way through a dramatic report because he/she have got the gist and fuck everybody else watching that wanted the details.


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## skyscraper101 (Oct 8, 2020)

slowth said:


> Pointing the remote and switching off the television half way through a dramatic report because he/she have got the gist and fuck everybody else watching that wanted the details.



That one always annoys me.


----------



## likesfish (Oct 8, 2020)

Conversations in the back of military helicopters or transport planes not happening incredibly noisy Hercules you wanted ear plugs and ear defenders


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## donkyboy (Oct 8, 2020)

T & P said:


> Someone is on the ground being strangled or about to be stabbed in the eye by a foe sitting on top of them. All seems lost, but at the last moment the protagonist spots a blunt object or shard of glass laying nearby, and manages to reach it and whack the villain in the head.



and the villain never spots them reaching for the object. sometimes they will even look sideways searching for an object to use. 

also. a couple on the run from bad guys will somehow find time to have sex in some motel.


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## krtek a houby (Oct 8, 2020)

slowth said:


> Pointing the remote and switching off the television half way through a dramatic report because he/she have got the gist and fuck everybody else watching that wanted the details.



Happened (in a nearby pub) just after one of the protests circa Iraq war, some loud posturing twat decided we didn't need to see Blair justify his excuse to invade, switched off the telly, and that was that. Understood his anger but ffs, needed to hear the reasoning from the god bothering warmonger all the same...


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## T & P (Oct 8, 2020)

donkyboy said:


> also. a couple on the run from bad guys will somehow find time to have sex in some motel.


The entire Terminator franchise depends on that one as a matter of fact


----------



## Cerv (Oct 8, 2020)

Doodler said:


> Car crashes in films which result in explosions. This almost never happens in real life.
> 
> Future films will have to come up with ways to dramatise electric car crashes - maybe have the vehicles engulfed by crawling electric discharges as the occupants writhe and spasm as they're electrocuted, before a massive violet-tinged plasma burst.


probably just stick with exaggerated fire & explosions.
battery packs do this



but the driver pinned to the dashboard watching with horror as a pool of leaking petrol expands towards a small flame will have to be let go.


----------



## two sheds (Oct 8, 2020)

fforward to 1.20 on that


----------



## DaveCinzano (Oct 8, 2020)

Doodler said:


> That electronic chattering sound when explanatory place names materialise on screen as if they're being typed: CIA HEADQUARTERS, VIRGINIA etc.


Which reminds me...


----------



## donkyboy (Oct 9, 2020)

T & P said:


> The entire Terminator franchise depends on that one as a matter of fact


That's what I had in mind


----------



## UrbaneFox (Oct 9, 2020)

Doodler said:


> Future films will have to come up with ways to dramatise electric car crashes -


I'm looking forward to motorways of fire, when they all crash into the car in front, or spaghetti junction freeways going up like bazookas.


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## T & P (Oct 10, 2020)

On the subject of clichés involving vehicles, don't forget the humble city bus (and ocassionally rubbish lorry), which serve a crucial role in making baddies, stalkers, or otherwise surprsing characters that were supposed to be long dead, disappear as if by magic.

You know, our protagonist is walking down the street when they suddenly catch a glimpse of said shady character looking back at them from across the road; at that moment a bus zooms past, taking no more than one or two seconds to do so, but somehow the spot  ocuppied by the creepy character a moment ago is now empty, leaving our protagonist all gaslighted and wondering if they're imagining things.


----------



## platinumsage (Oct 10, 2020)

People of varying but generally average athletic ability about to fall to their doom who are able to hang on to an edge with just the fingertips of one hand for long enough to either have a good-bye conversation or be pulled to safety by someone standing at the edge using one arm and who themselves has nothing to hold on to.


----------



## T & P (Oct 12, 2020)

Just remembered one of my favourites. The main character suspects an individual or a corporation of wrongdoing, but nobody believes them. Eventually our protagonist manages to sneak into the home of the individual or a building or warehouse belonging to the corporation and discovers a room full of incriminating evidence.

The next day he returns triumphantly with the police in tow and a search warrant, but the room or even whole warehouse previously full of contraband/ weapons/ drugs is now completely empty, leaving our hero red-faced.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Oct 13, 2020)

T & P said:


> Just remembered one of my favourites. The main character suspects an individual or a corporation of wrongdoing, but nobody believes them. Eventually our protagonist manages to sneak into the home of the individual or a building or warehouse belonging to the corporation and discovers a room full of incriminating evidence.
> 
> The next day he returns triumphantly with the police in tow and a search warrant, but the room or even whole warehouse previously full of contraband/ weapons/ drugs is now completely empty, leaving our hero red-faced.


Mostly it's a beat well into the film, or maybe even a hokey ending, but I like in _The Untouchables_ how a very mundane version of it at the beginning basically provides the drive for the rest of the movie - bringing down smug young Treasury man Ness a peg or two, showing him that the police department as a whole cannot be trusted, and riling him up enough to Make This Thing Personal.


----------



## T & P (Nov 2, 2020)

In paranormal horror films involving houses that have been unoccupied or abandoned, all the furniture is covered in white bedsheets, some of which resemble human shapes. Luckily when the terrified protagonist pulls the sheet off the shape in question it always turns out to be an umbrella stand, or for bonus points, a mannequin.


----------



## T & P (Nov 2, 2020)

In paranormal horror films involving houses that have been unoccupied or abandoned, all the furniture is covered in white bedsheets, some of which resemble human shapes. Luckily when the terrified protagonist sums up the courage to pull the sheet off the shape in question it always turns out to be an umbrella stand, or for bonus points, a mannequin.


----------



## Cloo (Nov 2, 2020)

Woman is uninterested in or annoyed by man who fancies her.... but he changes her mind and she falls in love! This probably does very occasionally happen IRL, but I'm sure this trope is responsible for an awful lot of crap women have to put up with ('She friendzoned me!' 'Women are weird like that, you just have to be persistent'), which at its worst leads to:

Woman has made it clear she hates man, but he starts kissing her without her permission and of course, she surrenders to him because that dislike was just that crazy, mixed-up woman way of saying how attractive she found him!

This sort of crap contributes to a culture of blokes thinking it's OK not to get a woman's consent - I mean, if they're taught that women who say they hate a guy are actually saying they want him to fuck her, of course you can't be assaulting a woman who likes you or gives any indication of liking you, it's practically a green light!


----------



## Artaxerxes (Nov 2, 2020)

T & P said:


> In paranormal horror films involving houses that have been unoccupied or abandoned, all the furniture is covered in white bedsheets, some of which resemble human shapes. Luckily when the terrified protagonist sums up the courage to pull the sheet off the shape in question it always turns out to be an umbrella stand, or for bonus points, a mannequin.



Only for the one covering the furniture behind them to slowly slide down and REVEAL THE KILLER.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 2, 2020)

Cloo said:


> Woman is uninterested in or annoyed by man who fancies her.... but he changes her mind and she falls in love! This probably does very occasionally happen IRL, but I'm sure this trope is responsible for an awful lot of crap women have to put up with ('She friendzoned me!' 'Women are weird like that, you just have to be persistent'), which at its worst leads to:
> 
> Woman has made it clear she hates man, but he starts kissing her without her permission and of course, she surrenders to him because that dislike was just that crazy, mixed-up woman way of saying how attractive she found him!
> 
> This sort of crap contributes to a culture of blokes thinking it's OK not to get a woman's consent - I mean, if they're taught that women who say they hate a guy are actually saying they want him to fuck her, of course you can't be assaulting a woman who likes you or gives any indication of liking you, it's practically a green light!


Just been watching Moonstruck and that’s exactly what happens


----------



## T & P (Nov 27, 2020)

In supernatural/ psychological horror films involving children, the troubled or spirit-bothered child in question will always be doing disturbing drawings.

Black coloured ink or crayon is a must of course, and a furiously scribbled black circle is widely popular among fucked-kids. Unsettling figures and animals, and drawings of the child’s family members being stabbed or burning to death is also a staple.

For toddlers or babies too young to draw, the faithful baby monitor never fails to pick up conversations between demons and little nippers.


----------



## Wolveryeti (Nov 27, 2020)

Who has ever slipped on a banana skin? This trope was just dreamt up for film, I am sure.


----------



## belboid (Nov 28, 2020)

Wolveryeti said:


> Who has ever slipped on a banana skin? This trope was just dreamt up for film, I am sure.


it hasn't been used unironically for at least half a decade


----------



## UrbaneFox (Nov 28, 2020)

I'm bloody sick of the leading man being a sports journalist or commentator. Or, in the old days, owning a record shop - see Mindy's Dad in Mork and Mindy.


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## Combustible (Nov 28, 2020)

T & P said:


> In paranormal horror films involving houses that have been unoccupied or abandoned, all the furniture is covered in white bedsheets, some of which resemble human shapes. Luckily when the terrified protagonist sums up the courage to pull the sheet off the shape in question it always turns out to be an umbrella stand, or for bonus points, a mannequin.


The first "scary" moment in a horror film is always a false alarm.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Nov 28, 2020)

Wolveryeti said:


> Who has ever slipped on a banana skin? This trope was just dreamt up for film, I am sure.


I actually did once slip on a bannana skin whilst walking accross wet wooden decking at Glastonbury festival, so definitely possible, and funny. 
Apparently it was trope intruduced by  early movies as a family friendly surrogate for slipping on horse shit, which was a common occurance back in the day.


----------



## Reno (Nov 28, 2020)

T & P said:


> In supernatural/ psychological horror films involving children, the troubled or spirit-bothered child in question will *always* be doing disturbing drawings.
> 
> Black coloured ink or crayon is a must of course, and a furiously scribbled black circle is widely popular among fucked-kids. Unsettling figures and animals, and drawings of the child’s family members being stabbed or burning to death is also a staple.
> 
> For toddlers or babies too young to draw, the faithful baby monitor never fails to pick up conversations between demons and little nippers.





Combustible said:


> The first "scary" moment in a horror film is* always* a false alarm.


Horror nerd alert: I can think of plenty of horror films where that isn't the case.


----------



## T & P (Apr 13, 2021)

‘Marco fucking Polo!’ game just about every single fucking time there are kids a pool in America- and plenty of times involving grownups too.

I mean, I get that’s a real game in the US, but judging by the movies/TV series it feels like it’s illegal not to play it if you’re in a pool in America. Could our resident Americans elaborate further on this?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

T & P said:


> ‘Marco fucking Polo!’ game just about every single fucking time there are kids a pool in America- and plenty of times involving grownups too.
> 
> I mean, I get that’s a real game in the US, but judging by the movies/TV series it feels like it’s illegal not to play it if you’re in a pool in America. Could our resident Americans elaborate further on this?


Polo? They play it here too


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## T & P (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Polo? They play it here too


Never once in my mind have I heard any kids playing it here.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

T & P said:


> Never once in my mind have I heard any kids playing it here.


We were made to play it


----------



## 8ball (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> We were made to play it



We had “rescue the brick in your pyjamas”.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Apr 13, 2021)

8ball said:


> We had “rescue the brick in your pyjamas”.


An odd euphemism for masturbation


----------



## belboid (Apr 13, 2021)

8ball said:


> We had “rescue the brick in your pyjamas”.


I dont think Marco Polo has ever been part of the Bronze Swimming Certificate


----------



## Saul Goodman (Apr 13, 2021)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> An odd euphemism for defecation


CFY


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Apr 13, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> CFY


If it's in your PJs it's long past saving.


----------



## Saul Goodman (Apr 13, 2021)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> If it's in your PJs it's long past saving.


Oh I don't know. I like to save mine until the morning, kinda like a little brown hot water bottle.


----------



## fishfinger (Apr 13, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> Oh I don't know. I like to save mine until the morning, kinda like a little brown hot water bottle.


Saul Goodman earlier:


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> We were made to play it


Marco Polo or water polo?


----------



## belboid (Apr 13, 2021)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> If it's in your PJs it's long past saving.


I think it was the Silver level you had to do in your PJ's


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

spanglechick said:


> Marco Polo or water polo?


Polo


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Polo


On horses??!


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

spanglechick said:


> On horses??!


Noo, in a pool


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Noo, in a pool


Please describe.  

Marco Polo is a kind of aquatic Blind Man’s Buff (bluff?) where the sightless player shouts “Marco” and the other players reply “Polo”, and try to avoid being caught via aural location.  

Water Polo is like a cross between volleyball and Football but in a swimming pool.  

Canoe polo is a variation of waterpolo, but the players are in short kayaks and they use their paddles to throw (flick?) the ball. 

Polo is a very posh sport played with horses (ponies) and long handled wooden mallets.  

Cycle polo is a bicycle version of the game with horses.  It is quite full-contact and beloved by skateboarding-types.  


These are the only games I’m aware of with polo in their name.  
What are you talking about?


----------



## cyril_smear (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Polo? They play it here too


No they don’t.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Apr 13, 2021)

A police throwing his badge at his boss or leaving it on his desk/in his drawer just before going off to do something illegal and order-contravening which he is absolved of immediately upon completion


----------



## bmd (Apr 13, 2021)

spanglechick said:


> Please describe.
> 
> Snip.



You forgot Poolo. 

Have we had this one yet?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

spanglechick said:


> Please describe.
> 
> Marco Polo is a kind of aquatic Blind Man’s Buff (bluff?) where the sightless player shouts “Marco” and the other players reply “Polo”, and try to avoid being caught via aural location.
> 
> ...


Water polo - we called it polo as we were already on in the water so the word water was superfluous  
Never come across Marco Polo even in film


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

Never played Octopush though


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

cyril_smear said:


> No they don’t.


They do. Have seen people playing it in leisure pools


----------



## Epona (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Water polo - we called it polo as we were already on in the water so the word water was superfluous
> Never come across Marco Polo even in film



I tried to play polo in the swimming pool once, my horse didn't like swimming though.  And the council objected.

EDIT: I hope it is clear that this is a joke btw


----------



## Steel Icarus (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Water polo - we called it polo as we were already on in the water so the word water was superfluous
> Never come across Marco Polo even in film


Him with the elephants, smart short sleeved shirts with collars


----------



## cyril_smear (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> They do. Have seen people playing it in leisure pools



trust you to be hanging round pools, watching kids


----------



## cyril_smear (Apr 13, 2021)

A berrieved person stares intently at a picture of a loved one, before throwing an empty alcohol glass/bottle at the picture.


----------



## cyril_smear (Apr 13, 2021)

Or... person stares at their reflection in the mirror before throwing an empty alcohol glass/bottle at the mirror, leaving their reflection distorted, indicating that they are a broken person.... as Ralph Wiggum would say: ''the rat symbolizes obviousness''


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

cyril_smear said:


> trust you to be hanging round pools, watching kids


I was a kid, you prick


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 13, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> They do. Have seen people playing it in leisure pools


But the point originally was that in American films every kid in a pool plays Marco Polo. Which, even given that you haven’t noticed this trope, clearly has a different name. So why continue as if the point was about water polo?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2021)

spanglechick said:


> But the point originally was that in American films every kid in a pool plays Marco Polo. Which, even given that you haven’t noticed this trope, clearly has a different name. So why continue as if the point was about water polo?


I thought it was about water polo. Was thinking of Meet The Fockers


----------



## T & P (Jul 25, 2021)

In superhero films in particular, and to
some degree in monster and natural disaster ones too, innocent civilians in America find themselves perilously dangling from a weakened suspension bridge with surprising regularly,


----------



## T & P (Sep 5, 2021)

In an assassination attempt that takes place in a hotel, restaurant, or conference centre, the baddie will invariably try to escape through the kitchens, and either he or the police giving chase will collide with a waiter carrying a big pile of trays or plates, sending everything flying into the air. On the way out the baddie will also topple a set of metal shelves in order to cause an obstacle.


----------



## Saul Goodman (Sep 5, 2021)

T & P said:


> In an assassination attempt that takes place in a hotel, restaurant, or conference centre, the baddie will invariably try to escape through the kitchens, and either he or the police giving chase will collide with a waiter carrying a big pile of trays or plates, sending everything flying into the air. On the way out the baddie will also topple a set of metal shelves in order to cause an obstacle.


Don't forget opening a fridge door to stop an armour piercing round.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 6, 2021)

And (I'll swear I've done this one) bumpted into killer and knocked weapon out of his hand but leaves it there and runs off, leaving killer to pick up weapon and give chase.


----------



## Sweet FA (Sep 6, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> Don't forget opening a fridge door to stop an armour piercing round.


+ throwing a pan of boiling water at pursuers. Also if you have a punch up in a kitchen, you have to burn someone's face on a hotplate.


----------



## Humberto (Sep 6, 2021)

Cop with a drink problem


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 6, 2021)

Humberto said:


> Cop with a drink problem


You'd drink too if you found out you only had three weeks to retirement.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 6, 2021)

But he's a good cop. He just doesn't play by the rules. Which is why he just had to give the captain his badge and gun.


----------



## Epona (Sep 6, 2021)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> You'd drink too if you found out you only had three weeks to retirement.



And your cop work partner/spouse/fiance a week before the wedding/brother was killed by a perp in a way that could have been prevented if only you'd...


----------



## UrbaneFox (Sep 6, 2021)

Women, unwinding after a week of stress in their New York loft apartments, are always photographers, and party with an appropriate mix of friends of various skin colours, one of whom plays soft jazz piano in the background.


----------



## petee (Sep 6, 2021)

editor said:


> Following on from my soaraway 'Did you know these things have names?' thread, I give you this fresh timewaster (which has probably been posted here multiple times already)
> 
> 
> View attachment 216682



as to #2 - this actually happens in _State Of Grace_.
in which i see (just checked) gary oldman was,
so must watch again, if i can find it. iirc, the parade goes in the wrong direction, south on 5th, not north as it should.


----------



## PTK (Sep 6, 2021)

In certain types of adventure films, there is always a daft but loveable character who gets killed.


----------



## PTK (Sep 6, 2021)

editor said:


> Following on from my soaraway 'Did you know these things have names?' thread, I give you this fresh timewaster (which has probably been posted here multiple times already)
> 
> 
> View attachment 216682


The character played by Sandra Bullock in, I forget the name of the film, encounters a demonstration in support of a public health system.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 6, 2021)

petee said:


> as to #2 - this actually happens in _State Of Grace_.
> in which i see (just checked) gary oldman was,
> so must watch again, if i can find it. iirc, the parade goes in the wrong direction, south on 5th, not north as it should.


Quite liked _State of Grac_e. Great cast and frankly, there's not enough films about Irish American gangsters. One of those lost films that was rarely on the telly or made it to the streaming services. Like another crime flick (again with Sean Penn, but not Irish American) _At Close Range_.


----------



## petee (Sep 6, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Quite liked _State of Grac_e. Great cast and frankly, there's not enough films about Irish American gangsters. One of those lost films that was rarely on the telly or made it to the streaming services. Like another crime flick (again with Sean Penn, but not Irish American) _At Close Range_.



always it's the irish who are the cops, barry fitzgerald e.g. (speaking as someone with a first cousin and a bunch of childhood acquaintances on the force). unfortunately _State Of Grace_ isn't on Youtube or the Criterion Channel (I have a subscription). so I must look elsewhere short of buying it.

have you read this?









						The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob|Paperback
					

From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of The Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld, The Westies: Inside New York’s Irish Mob is the true account of the vicious gang that ruled Hell’s Kitchen from the 1960s...




					www.barnesandnoble.com


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 6, 2021)

petee said:


> always it's the irish who are the cops, barry fitzgerald e.g. (speaking as someone with a first cousin and a bunch of childhood acquaintances on the force). unfortunately _State Of Grace_ isn't on Youtube or the Criterion Channel (I have a subscription). so I must look elsewhere short of buying it.
> 
> have you read this?
> 
> ...



Isn't that mad, was just about to look at my copy


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 6, 2021)

Epona said:


> And your cop work partner/spouse/fiance a week before the wedding/brother was killed by a perp in a way that could have been prevented if only you'd...


MENDOOOOZAAAA!!!!!!


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 6, 2021)

If they go on a voyage there will be a massive storm which threatens the boat/ship/raft, despite such storms in reality only being encountered on a tiny percentage of journeys.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 6, 2021)

If they're on a raft or adrift boat, chance are they'll see a shooting star if night or whale/dolphin/shark during the day. Bonus points for jumping up and down, waving and being ultimately disappointed when a big ship or plane passes by without seeing them.


----------



## waterfallfish (Sep 23, 2021)

Working as a waitress and living in a huge apartment, with the fridge full and expensive clothes.


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2021)

During any kind of home invasion or stalking horror film where the goodies have a dog, the animal will start barking off camera as it hears/ sees the unseen  antagonist approaching, only for the barking to be abruptly cut off to a sharp yelp, followed by  silence.


----------



## T & P (Oct 17, 2021)

When someone is running for their lives trying to make it back to their car whilst being chased by an antagonist and manages to make it inside the vehicle, invariably the engine will not start right away even if it’s a modern car, and will require four or five attempts before finally firing off just as the baddie(s) reach the car and are about to smash the windows in.


----------



## Spymaster (Oct 17, 2021)

waterfallfish said:


> Working as a waitress and living in a huge apartment, with the fridge full and expensive clothes.


Ditto American police officers. California based ones all seem to have houses in the Hollywood hills with fine views over LA.


----------



## T & P (Nov 2, 2021)

For me this is not just a cliché, but a stereotypical and frankly misogynist one at that.

In a fair few if not most supernatural horror films involving a couple moving into a haunted house, it’s so often the woman who alone notices the supernatural phenomena. And almost always, instead of being supported by her husband, she’s doubted and before long branded as imagining everything. Due of course to postnatal depression, or grief following a miscarriage or the death of a child. Quite often ends up locked up in an institution as well. I’m surprised they refrain themselves from using the word hysterical.

There are plenty of such films in which everyone notices the spooky stuff of course, but funny how few when it’s just one person and it’s the man instead of the woman. I can think of some myself, but I reckon it tallies up to 80-20%.


----------



## T & P (Dec 3, 2021)

Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen


----------



## Reno (Dec 4, 2021)

T & P said:


> For me this is not just a cliché, but a stereotypical and frankly misogynist one at that.
> 
> In a fair few if not most supernatural horror films involving a couple moving into a haunted house, it’s so often the woman who alone notices the supernatural phenomena. And almost always, instead of being supported by her husband, she’s doubted and before long branded as imagining everything. Due of course to postnatal depression, or grief following a miscarriage or the death of a child. Quite often ends up locked up in an institution as well. I’m surprised they refrain themselves from using the word hysterical.
> 
> There are plenty of such films in which everyone notices the spooky stuff of course, but funny how few when it’s just one person and it’s the man instead of the woman. I can think of some myself, but I reckon it tallies up to 80-20%.


The "hysterical woman" is a trope in horror films and thrillers (far from restricted to films about hauntings) but it isn't the films which are misogynist, it's the male characters who don't believe them and they usually live (or die) to regret it.

Specifically when it comes to haunted house films, off the top of my head I can think of lots of famous ones where it's a man or boy who notices or falls under the spell of the supernatural. The Shining, The Amityville Horror, Stir of Echos, The Sixth Sense, Sinister, The Changeling, The Devil's Backbone, His House, The Woman in Black, A Christmas Carol, 1409 and Burnt Offerings.

Most of the "hysterical" women in haunted house narratives are single, starting with Henry James' The Turn of the Screw and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House  (and their many adaptations) which are as much about their female protagonist's mental state as they are about ghosts.

The most famous haunted house film where a wife discovers the haunting is Poltergeist and her husband immediately believes her, because she produces proof.

A horror classic which fits your claim would be Rosemary's Baby (though not about ghosts) and in that her husband doesn't believe her, because he's the main villain who plots against her.


----------



## platinumsage (Dec 4, 2021)

I just dislike the "someone knows but no one believes them" trope, I find it incredibly annoying. I therefore enjoy horror films like The Conjuring where everyone just accepts the weird shit as weird shit and deals with it.


----------



## Reno (Dec 4, 2021)

platinumsage said:


> I just dislike the "someone knows but no one believes them" trope, I find it incredibly annoying. I therefore enjoy horror films like The Conjuring where everyone just accepts the weird shit as weird shit and deals with it.


I'll take _Don't Look Now, Halloween, Rosemary's Baby, The Entity_ or _The Innocents_ over _The Conjuring _any day.

I think its simplistic to take films to task for cliches, it's part of the social media nitpicking approach to pull films apart bit by bit, rather than looking at everything in context. _Don't Look Now_ is a case in point. It perfectly fits T & P's complaint about the wife whose husband opposes her belief in the existence of ghosts, yet I can't think of many horror films which equal it in execution and sophistication.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2021)

T & P said:


> Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> View attachment 299311


Also: visiting expert/recently divorced detective/enthusiastic amateur investigating the serial killings will leave their gruesome collage up on their hotel/motel wall at all times so that the curious perp can pop by and check on their current theories in Post-It format 👍

Adjacent: weary dick will study buff folder of autopsy and crime scene snaps whilst on flight between murder sites, until they fall asleep and traumatise the kid in the seat next to them 😱


----------



## Reno (Dec 4, 2021)

T & P said:


> Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. *And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen*



Pre-dating computer technology, link charts like this were widely used in criminal investigations. Link analysis still exists but now in the form of software. The reason why you still see the analogue version in more contemporary films and tv shows is because for an audience they are a easier to grasp visualisation of the investigation than a cop staring at a computer, though you now also see that a lot.


----------



## donkyboy (Jan 19, 2022)

Opening a closed lift door with your hands.


----------



## rekil (Jan 19, 2022)

Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jan 19, 2022)

rekil said:


> Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.


Three Emmerdales Of The Condor


----------



## HoratioCuthbert (Jan 19, 2022)

rekil said:


> Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.


I was going to crash in with the same thing, it was the only use of such charts that has made me smile


----------



## HoratioCuthbert (Jan 19, 2022)

Going straight to neat vodka from the bottle when someone has been dumped or someone murdered their dad at Christmas and it made them turn to the drink- best illustrated by those times Bradley in easties did it
Excessively grief policing someone less than 48 hours after a death " YOU HAVE TO FACE THIS! "
The first sign of labour - waters gushing out all over the place. That's quite far on but no previous warning. Ever. 
A panic attack always causing someone to completely collapse and even lose consciousness 
The new one which is people dramatically ripping their face mask off in a shop when they see another character- dialogue ensues
The only person that can tell the police what happened in a violent incident is in a coma. The perp will try to bump them off.
Blazing fire heroes always immune to smoke inhalation


----------



## UrbaneFox (Jan 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Any ordinary lock, from doors’ to desk drawers’ to handcuffs’, can be picked with a hairpin or paperclip, and not just by trained special agents but often by civilians as well.


Hannibal Lecter managed to escape from a locked cage by using a small meathook accidentally left in his lamb chops.


----------



## UrbaneFox (Feb 3, 2022)

The Royal Treatment: why is a bland romcom a Netflix smash hit?
					

The no-stars, no-buzz, no-budget film about a hairdresser falling for a prince has shot to the top of the global charts




					www.theguardian.com
				




Not a cliche, but a twist, in which kids making films don't understand that technology was different in the old days, and you can't read caller id on an old fashioned landline handset.


----------



## Reno (Feb 3, 2022)

UrbaneFox said:


> The Royal Treatment: why is a bland romcom a Netflix smash hit?
> 
> 
> The no-stars, no-buzz, no-budget film about a hairdresser falling for a prince has shot to the top of the global charts
> ...


The writer and the director have film and tv credits going  back to the 80s, so they can't be that young. I haven't seen the film and never will because it looks bloody awful but what am I missing here ? This appears to take place in the present and landline phones with caller id have been available for decades.


----------



## UrbaneFox (Feb 3, 2022)

Reno said:


> I haven't seen the film and never will because it looks bloody awful but what am I missing here ? This appears to take place in the present and landline phones with caller id have been available for decades.


I don't intend to watch it, either, but maybe it's a just a basic landline phone without caller display.


----------



## T & P (Feb 18, 2022)

Not sure if it qualifies as a cliché, more like an overused sound effect device. But I am really sick and tired of just about every American film and series featuring scenes set in schools and colleges introducing the scene by playing that bell they ring to call students to lessons. 

I know the practice of introducing the next scene by starting to play its sound a couple of seconds before the visuals change is a very commonplace device in the industry (a bit overdone imo), but do we really need every forthcoming scene set at a school or college be preceded by that damned bell? 

Fair enough if the scene starts with students actually being called to lessons. But why the fuck do we need to hear the bell for the next scene simply because it takes place at a college? Almost every single bloody time with some series


----------



## spanglechick (Feb 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> I know the practice of introducing the next scene by starting to play its sound a couple of seconds before the visuals change is a very commonplace device in the industry (a bit overdone imo)…


It’s called a J-cut, editing fans.  The opposite (when the last scene’s audio is heard while we are visually in the next scene,) is called an L-cut.


----------



## T & P (Feb 19, 2022)

spanglechick said:


> It’s called a J-cut, editing fans.  The opposite (when the last scene’s audio is heard while we are visually in the next scene,) is called an L-cut.


Cheers for that fact. Every day’s a school day around here  Are you in the industry?


----------



## T & P (Feb 19, 2022)

Going back to the subject, SIM cards being taken out of mobile phones and broken in two to avoid being tracked. Funny how whenever a goodie is being hunted by The Man, or simply an ordinary stalker with decent computer skills, the mere possession of a mobile phone with a SIM card is enough for the baddie to locate you even if your  phone is off.

But if it is the police/ good guys government trying to locate someone to save them after they’ve disappeared or been kidnapped, they’re completely hapless when their phone is turned off or just out of coverage. If only a villain would teach them how to track SIMs…


----------



## petee (Feb 19, 2022)

waterfallfish said:


> Working as a waitress and living in a huge apartment, with the fridge full and expensive clothes.



i would like all you limes to know that we here in nyc laugh at what bullshit Friends is. Seinfeld, otoh, is remarkably true to apartment living.


----------



## spanglechick (Feb 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Cheers for that fact. Every day’s a school day around here  Are you in the industry?


Nope.  Film studies teacher.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Feb 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Not sure if it qualifies as a cliché, more like an overused sound effect device. But I am really sick and tired of just about every American film and series featuring scenes set in schools and colleges introducing the scene by playing that bell they ring to call students to lessons.
> 
> I know the practice of introducing the next scene by starting to play its sound a couple of seconds before the visuals change is a very commonplace device in the industry (a bit overdone imo), but do we really need every forthcoming scene set at a school or college be preceded by that damned bell?
> 
> Fair enough if the scene starts with students actually being called to lessons. But why the fuck do we need to hear the bell for the next scene simply because it takes place at a college? Almost every single bloody time with some series



Man you should never watch anime


----------



## T & P (Mar 18, 2022)

In non-18 rated or generally erotic themed films, a couple is having sex and the woman is wearing her bra during the act, and sometimes even wakes up the following morning still wearing it.

I’m completely fine with an actress’ breasts not being shown during a sex scene, but there are countless ways to film a sex scene that doesn’t show nudity without the need for the woman to wear a bra. Just film the scene from behind, or do a close up shot that shows just the face and shoulders, instead of showing the full torso of the woman. Who the fuck has sex wearing a bra ffs? I can’t imagine many women sleeping wearing one either, regardless of whether they have company or are alone.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 18, 2022)

I dunno.
Might be more comfortable for some larger breasted participants, especially if they’re gonna be doing a lot of vigorous bouncing on top .


----------



## Spymaster (Mar 18, 2022)

T & P said:


> Who the fuck has sex wearing a bra ffs?



Me. Sometimes I wear stockings and suspenders too.


----------



## T & P (Mar 18, 2022)

Spymaster said:


> Me. Sometimes I wear stockings and suspenders too.


That goes without saying


----------



## T & P (Mar 19, 2022)

Also, as I watch yet another instance of it, if you are trapped in a house and injured, tied up, or simply are much weaker than the twisted deranged psychopath trying to stab you with a big butcher’s knife, if against all odds you manage to knock him out with a blow to the head, fucking finish him off ffs. 

Or at least break both his ankles. Don’t just leave him on the floor while you struggle to get out of the house or wait for the rozzers to arrive, because virtually 100% of the time it will turn out he’s not dead, and is going to catch up with you again.


----------



## Reno (Mar 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Also, as I watch yet another instance of it, if you are trapped in a house and injured, tied up, or simply are much weaker than the twisted deranged psychopath trying to stab you with a big butcher’s knife, if against all odds you manage to knock him out with a blow to the head, fucking finish him off ffs.
> 
> Or at least break both his ankles. Don’t just leave him on the floor while you struggle to get out of the house or wait for the rozzers to arrive, because virtually 100% of the time it will turn out he’s not dead, and is going to catch up with you again.


Are you still watching Fresh ?


----------



## T & P (Mar 19, 2022)

Reno said:


> Are you still watching Fresh ?


Yes, finished it a little while ago. Was just looking up the writer/ director. Her very first film it seems, an impressive debut.

Aforementioned cliché aside, which doesn’t  spoil the film in any way but simply reminded me of another bugbear I’d been meaning to add in here, I thought it was pretty decent. I was initially very slightly taken aback as I had expected a dark comedy flick (one website even uses the word  in its description romcom), but all in all perfectly decent. Though perhaps this is a conversation for the ‘what film did you watch last night’ thread.


----------



## donkyboy (Mar 21, 2022)

maybe its been mentioned already, but characters with telepathic powers always need to put their finger on their temple when using their power.


----------



## T & P (Mar 27, 2022)

I haven’t watched it yet so it could be shit (but then, who cares that much about an hour long one-off programme), but fans of this thread might be interested to know about the new Netflix documentary *Attack of the Hollywood Clichés.*

It’s produced by Charlie Brooker so worth a punt imo, and it will hopefully provide additional material for this thread we haven’t yet thought of 






						Attack of the Hollywood Clichés! review – Rob Lowe raises idiocy to a high art | Television & radio | The Guardian
					

Produced by Charlie Brooker, this jam-packed sendup of hackneyed film tropes – from The Baguette Rule to The Smurfette Principle – is a perfect hour of fluff and nonsense




					amp.theguardian.com


----------



## T & P (May 25, 2022)

Wall safes in rich people’s houses will always be hidden behind a painting. In the study, of course. They’ll never find it there.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (May 26, 2022)

I wanted a gif, but that was the best I could find


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (May 26, 2022)

T & P said:


> I haven’t watched it yet so it could be shit (but then, who cares that much about an hour long one-off programme), but fans of this thread might be interested to know about the new Netflix documentary *Attack of the Hollywood Clichés.*
> 
> It’s produced by Charlie Brooker so worth a punt imo, and it will hopefully provide additional material for this thread we haven’t yet thought of
> 
> ...


Couldn't call it holly-wipe?


----------



## krtek a houby (May 26, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> View attachment 324136
> 
> I wanted a gif, but that was the best I could find



Weren't there some allegations about him a few years back?


----------



## SpookyFrank (May 26, 2022)

petee said:


> Seinfeld, otoh, is remarkably true to apartment living.



Except in real life people sometimes do and say things that are funny.


----------



## T & P (Jun 8, 2022)

Tranquilliser darts being used on people when the other party wants to take them alive.

Not only this is a massively overused device, it doesn’t even happen in real life. Not so bad if you’re watching a silly action comedy, but I’ve seen it in big budget, supposedly serious and accurate spy thrillers too.

I wouldn’t say a tranquilliser gun has never  ever been used in a real life situation ( even though it’s a good bet it hasn’t). But it’s certainly not something a tool that any special forces or secret agent would be equipped with if the overriding objective is to capture the target alive and unharmed.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 8, 2022)

SpookyFrank said:


> Except in real life people sometimes do and say things that are funny.



Edgy


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## bcuster (Jun 8, 2022)

using the phrase "as well" instead  of "also"


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## Spymaster (Jun 8, 2022)

T & P said:


> I wouldn’t say a tranquilliser gun has never  ever been used in a real life situation  ...



Only on animals I reckon, although they'd be dead handy if they did work on humans. The trouble would be that they don't work instantly and most humans would probably pull the dart out. Then you've got the dosage issues for different sized people. Lethal poison blowpipes are definitely a thing though. Apparently the origin is from Pygmy tribes who didn't have the arm span to draw a bow deeply enough to shoot arrows effectively, so needed an alternative for hunting.


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## T & P (Jun 19, 2022)

Ah, the trusty big American city downtown alleyway. The bread and butter of local muggers, thugs, rapists and murderers to look for an easy victim, and the first port of call for superheroes and vigilantes to hang about at.

For it seems that they prove an irresistible shortcut to everyone living in L.A., NY, Metropolis or Gotham, from lonely women walking home alone late at night to old ladies going to the grocery store to Bruce Wayne’s parents, no matter how fucking dodgy and threatening they look. Because what could possibly go wrong? Extra points awarded for dead ends, large wheelie bins and steam coming out of random pipes. Marvel and DC Comics would be utterly fucked without them


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## srb7677 (Jun 19, 2022)

If ever a car tumbles off a road over a cliff, you can guarantee that it will explode as if a bomb is on board.


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## T & P (Jun 19, 2022)

srb7677 said:


> If ever a car tumbles off a road over a cliff, you can guarantee that it will explode as if a bomb is on board.


Yes, good one. And sometimes they don’t even need anything as dramatic as a cliff to go off, just a hard crash, or even a well aimed bullet. 

I’m no expert but I’m willing to bet it’s actually  just about impossible for a car’s fuel tank to explode on impact or very shortly after.


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## muscovyduck (Jun 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Yes, good one. And sometimes they don’t even need anything as dramatic as a cliff to go off, just a hard crash, or even a well aimed bullet.
> 
> I’m no expert but I’m willing to bet it’s actually  just about impossible for a car’s fuel tank to explode on impact or very shortly after.


This is a dangerous trope too. Because in real life if you're in a car crash, often the worst thing you can do is immediately run from the car. But movies have us trained into thinking if you're not out in 3 seconds you get blown up


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## srb7677 (Jun 19, 2022)

The hero will always be a crack shot with any weapon the instant he picks it up, whilst all those fully trained enemy soldiers trying to kill him cannot shoot for toffee.


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## T & P (Jun 19, 2022)

muscovyduck said:


> This is a dangerous trope too. Because in real life if you're in a car crash, often the worst thing you can do is immediately run from the car. But movies have us trained into thinking if you're not out in 3 seconds you get blown up


Why is that, out of curiosity? I understand the danger if the car is still in the carriageway, but surely there’s none if the resting place of the car is not on the road, and you ensure you don’t run back towards the road?


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## T & P (Jun 19, 2022)

srb7677 said:


> The hero will always be a crack shot with any weapon the instant he picks it up, whilst all those fully trained enemy soldiers trying to kill him cannot shoot for toffee.


However a great many villains, henchmen and boss-level alike, seem to come with a remarkably proficient knowledge of martial arts and hand to hand combat, which I guess compensates for their pisspoor marksmanship.


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## srb7677 (Jun 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> However a great many villains, henchmen and boss-level alike, seem to come with a remarkably proficient knowledge of martial arts and hand to hand combat, which I guess compensates for their pisspoor marksmanship.


The hero is usually able to quickly fight off half a dozen enemy henchmen simultaneously using martial arts. The villain in chief however is just as good at martial arts as the hero but helpfully waits until all his henchmen have been dealt with and can no longer support him before going one on one. There is always a moment in the ensuing fight where the villain in chief has the hero on the ropes but the hero always manages to turn it around and prevail in the end. The death of the villain in chief is usually dramatic.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jun 19, 2022)

spanglechick said:


> It’s called a J-cut, editing fans.  The opposite (when the last scene’s audio is heard while we are visually in the next scene,) is called an L-cut.


I've been a professional editor for about 25 years and I didn't even know it had a name.


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## hitmouse (Jun 19, 2022)

Have we had "powerful man who is constantly drinking a glass of whisky pretty much whenever he appears on screen"?
Currently watching Boardwalk Empire, and greatly appreciating the way Arnold Rothstein bucks the trend:


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## muscovyduck (Jun 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Why is that, out of curiosity? I understand the danger if the car is still in the carriageway, but surely there’s none if the resting place of the car is not on the road, and you ensure you don’t run back towards the road?


So basically most crashes don't 'stop' far from the road, if leaving the road at all. The bad ones usually being bad for a reason, like poor visibility, odd junction, motorway, something on the road etc. And then once you crash that causes a situation that throws off all the other drivers, who might have to swerve to avoid wreckage and so on. Even the scenario where you come to a rest far away from the road - well the situation and geography has sent one car down there, which makes it more likely there might be another one following. Better to keep your seatbelt on and the wreckage of your car cushioning any potential further collision for a couple seconds until everything settles and you get your bearings rather than do anything rash


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## T & P (Jun 27, 2022)

American cops and the FBI can only run surveillance operations on a given location from inside a decoy van parked half a block from the suspect’s address. A flower delivery van if at all possible, but a fake UPS one is also acceptable.


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## krtek a houby (Jun 27, 2022)

Cup of coffee falls to the ground, shattering in slow motion.

You never get this with a good old, honest cuppa tea.


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## Yossarian (Jun 27, 2022)

petee said:


> Seinfeld, otoh, is remarkably true to apartment living.



Seinfeld's apartment, however, isn't true to the laws of physics.













						Reddit Makes Unsettling Discovery: Seinfeld's Apartment Defies The Laws Of Physics
					

Reddit Makes Unsettling Discovery: Seinfeld's Apartment Defies The Laws Of Physics




					www.iflscience.com


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## donkyboy (Jun 29, 2022)

-Parking. the main characters find a parking spot easy. can pull up and park in front of a building in busy street with ease. 
-Meeting on rooftop scenes. How do they get access?


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## T & P (Aug 2, 2022)

If a car chase happens to be heading towards a railway level crossing, a train will invariably be approaching, with the car being chased managing to cross the tracks just in time, and the people giving chase having to brake and wait for the train to pass, allowing the other party to escape.


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## bemused (Aug 3, 2022)

People dying from cancer, every time they need to insert some sadness they have someone die of cancer. 

I'm dying of cancer and it's very annoying it appears in almost every movie. 

Why can't they use school shootings instead?


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## T & P (Sep 27, 2022)

When in a city, the rooftop level of a multi storey car park is the go-to place to suggest to meet kidnappers, drug dealers, spies or similar characters to conduct a dangerous business transaction. Never mind that you’re effectively trapped with only one exit route available. Flashing your headlights at each other before getting out of the car is also indispensable.


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## story (Sep 27, 2022)

bemused said:


> People dying from cancer, every time they need to insert some sadness they have someone die of cancer.
> 
> I'm dying of cancer and it's very annoying it appears in almost every movie.
> 
> Why can't they use school shootings instead?




I didn’t die of it and the way cancer is used as emotional currency enraged me while I was dealing with it. Now I don’t and won’t watch anything that uses it.




I‘m sorry for your troubles bemused . I hope the road is kind to you.


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## Orang Utan (Sep 28, 2022)

T & P said:


> When in a city, the rooftop level of a multi storey car park is the go-to place to suggest to meet kidnappers, drug dealers, spies or similar characters to conduct a dangerous business transaction. *Never mind that you’re effectively trapped with only one exit route available. *Flashing your headlights at each other before getting out of the car is also indispensable.


 That’s the reason they pick those spots though


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## A380 (Sep 28, 2022)

T & P said:


> American cops and the FBI can only run surveillance operations on a given location from inside a decoy van parked half a block from the suspect’s address. A flower delivery van if at all possible, but a fake UPS one is also acceptable.


And the hero cop leading the investigation, who has already spoken face to face with the subject of the operation, will walk up to the van in broad daylight to speak to the surveillance team...


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## MickiQ (Sep 28, 2022)

Every large organisation will employ loads of people whose sole job is to walk around and not apparently do anything. Star Fleet is by far the worst offender in this regard obviously the Federation is a firm believer in full employment no matter what.
They're not alone though the FBI is the same. We've been watching Bones and every time a new body is discovered there is a small army of people milling about yet every time Booth goes to talk to a suspect in a dangerous situation he almost always take Brennan a civilian or sometimes Sweets a psychiatrist with him. There are always loads of other agents in the Hoover building why not take one or two fof them.


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## A380 (Sep 28, 2022)

MickiQ said:


> Every large organisation will employ loads of people whose sole job is to walk around and not apparently do anything.


TBF, that can be an accurate portrayal of many police headquarters buildings (not operational stations). Apparently.


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## T & P (Oct 15, 2022)

As shown in American sitcoms, the front door or kitchen door that leads to the outside in every home in the US is kept permanently unlocked and unlatched during the day. Also, your friends, relatives and neighbours will take advantage of this and walk into your house as they please  unannounced, uninvited, and without even bothering to knock first.


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 15, 2022)

A380 said:


> TBF, that can be an accurate portrayal of many police headquarters buildings (not operational stations). Apparently.




It’s mostly management sitting down doing nothing in my experience of company life so it’s just wrong


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## T & P (Oct 15, 2022)

A380 said:


> TBF, that can be an accurate portrayal of many police headquarters buildings (not operational stations). Apparently.


Police operational stations are the busiest and most frantic working environments in America, clearly. Just not sure if the dozens of police officers and plain clothes detectives packed close together in one big open plan floor space are doing anything practical, or running around like headless chickens. They certainly have to file countless reports. Preferably by typewriter.


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## Ted Striker (Oct 15, 2022)

2 people sitting in a car, for hours/days (i.e. on a "stakeout") in an otherwise nondescript residential neighbourhood is totally normal and in no way conspicuous.


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## A380 (Oct 15, 2022)

T & P said:


> …running around like headless chickens. They certainly have to file countless reports…



Probably accurate too, I’d guess…


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## T & P (Nov 18, 2022)

Starting kit script template for most children & family films: a family moves from New York to small town America. Teenage kid deeply  resents the parents for cutting them off from their friends in the city, thinks the town is a dump, and initially has trouble making new friends. Eight-year-old kid on the other hand immediately makes friends with other kids and forms a tight-knitted group.


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## donkyboy (Nov 19, 2022)

When someone calls and asks you to turn on the TV, you happen to catch it at the moment the relevant news report starts


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## donkyboy (Nov 19, 2022)

I think my most hated cliché is letting viewers know two characters are brother and sister. When they meet each other, one calls the other sister or brother.  Black panther was the most recent one where this annoying "yes, little sister" cliché was used.


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## Sue (Nov 19, 2022)

T & P said:


> Starting kit script template for most children & family films: a family moves from New York to small town America. Teenage kid deeply  resents the parents for cutting them off from their friends in the city, thinks the town is a dump, and initially has trouble making new friends. Eight-year-old kid on the other hand immediately makes friends with other kids and forms a tight-knitted group.


See also medical professional moves to a small town after their heart is broken. They have difficulty fitting in at first with their Big City Ways and all but ultimately discover everyone has a Heart of Gold (TM).


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## Ted Striker (Nov 19, 2022)

donkyboy said:


> When someone calls and asks you to turn on the TV, you happen to catch it at the moment the relevant news report starts


. .And, despite being the most important and impactful news piece of their whole life, they switch it off half way through the report.


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## T & P (Nov 20, 2022)

When the main character stumbles upon a room full of incriminating stuff at the home of the villain, when they return with the police the following day, the room has been emptied and now contains ordinary household items. And to and insult to injury, everyone believes the main character is lying or has imagined the whole thing. Even their own friends and family.


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## ska invita (Nov 20, 2022)

Watched a film from 1950 today - copper in it, very close to retirement, gets killed in it 

i wonder when the first use of this trope appeared


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## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2022)

Sue said:


> See also medical professional moves to a small town after their heart is broken. They have difficulty fitting in at first with their Big City Ways and all but ultimately discover everyone has a Heart of Gold (TM).


minus the heartache thats the synopsis for Doc Hollywood (michael J fox)


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## T & P (Nov 20, 2022)

ska invita said:


> Watched a film from 1950 today - copper in it, very close to retirement, gets killed in it
> 
> i wonder when the first use of this trope appeared


IIRC it has become a comedy trope in some parody films. ‘And he was one day away from retirement!’


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## MickiQ (Nov 21, 2022)

Sue said:


> See also medical professional moves to a small town after their heart is broken. They have difficulty fitting in at first with their Big City Ways and all but ultimately discover everyone has a Heart of Gold (TM).


They will immediately meet their perfect match though it will take most of the movie for them to realise it.


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## T & P (Nov 28, 2022)

Private investigators in America are unhappy, single, barely functioning alcoholics who always keep a bottle of whisky in a drawer in their small, untidy office. Bonus points for a photo of their dead police partner on the desk.


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## A380 (Nov 28, 2022)

T & P said:


> Private investigators in America are unhappy, single, barely functioning alcoholics who always keep a bottle of whisky in a drawer in their small, untidy office. Bonus points for a photo of their dead police partner on the desk.



And the case they are working will end up linked to death of said police partner…


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 28, 2022)

T & P said:


> Private investigators in America are unhappy, single, barely functioning alcoholics who always keep a bottle of whisky in a drawer in their small, untidy office. Bonus points for a photo of their dead police partner on the desk.


Double bonus: unpaid/barely paid secretary is the widow of said dead police partner


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## DotCommunist (Nov 28, 2022)

Magnum PI doesn't fit this description at all.


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 28, 2022)

Minimum 50% chance that any helicopter-related contemporary character in 80s American TV or film will suffer from Nam-related PTSD (_AirWolf, Blue Thunder, Riptide, Magnum PI, Die Hard_ etc)


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## skyscraper101 (Nov 28, 2022)

Most overused cliché filter?


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## T & P (Dec 15, 2022)

Whenever someone decides to go for a tarot reading, the Death card will invariably be dealt.


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## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2022)

T & P said:


> Whenever someone decides to go for a tarot reading, the Death card will invariably be dealt.


or the hanged man or the fool.


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## platinumsage (Dec 16, 2022)

I’ve seen lots of iron grates bolted into concrete walls that come free with a brief yank recently, have we had that one yet?


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## donkyboy (Dec 28, 2022)

Kids in TV shows who are very witty, comedic and great with comebacks. never ever met any kid like this. ever. only got to watch the trailer for miss marvel for an example.


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## T & P (Jan 1, 2023)

When a goodie and a baddie are fighting over getting hold of a gun, it will invariably go off during the struggle, and the person who’s been shot will not have felt any pain or indeed be aware they’ve been shot until they look down and notice a  blood stain blossoming on their shirt.


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## AverageJoe (Jan 2, 2023)

donkyboy said:


> Kids in TV shows who are very witty, comedic and great with comebacks. never ever met any kid like this. ever. only got to watch the trailer for miss marvel for an example.


I'll introduce you to my 14 year old Goth daughter. 

One from today. 

Her "That's not funny"
Me "You're face isn't funny" 
Her "Your nan is dead".. 

And another from today (bear in mind that Mrs Joe starts Chemo on Weds) 

Her "I found some tweezers"
Mrs Joe "that's nice, you'll be able to pluck my chin hairs later" 
Her "No need, they'll come out on their own soon".

Not scripted. She's genuinely funny, if not a little offside sometimes


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## donkyboy (Jan 2, 2023)

T & P said:


> When a goodie and a baddie are fighting over getting hold of a gun, it will invariably go off during the struggle, and the person who’s been shot will not have felt any pain or indeed be aware they’ve been shot until they look down and notice a  blood stain blossoming on their shirt.



No. its always a case of the audience being kept in suspense as to who it was that was shot, until the shot one falls down.


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## bcuster (Jan 2, 2023)

"as well" instead of "also"


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## AverageJoe (Jan 2, 2023)

AverageJoe said:


> I'll introduce you to my 14 year old Goth daughter.
> 
> One from today.
> 
> ...


She's half Jimmy Carr, half Frankie Boyle and half baby Baroness. If she doesn't make it (if she chooses too), she'll be the worst girlfriend ever x


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## Orang Utan (Jan 2, 2023)

bcuster said:


> "as well" instead of "also"


What?


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## bcuster (Jan 3, 2023)

Orang Utan said:


> What?








						The use of "as well" has become a verbal tic in public speaking.
					

Has anyone noticed the recent overuse of the phrase "as well"? Almost every talking head on television, especially on news shows seems compelled to use




					www.techrepublic.com


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## Orang Utan (Jan 3, 2023)

bcuster said:


> The use of "as well" has become a verbal tic in public speaking.
> 
> 
> Has anyone noticed the recent overuse of the phrase "as well"? Almost every talking head on television, especially on news shows seems compelled to use
> ...


Seems reasonable to me. I like using both. They’re interchangeable terms. Weird thing to object to. Not overused. Just used. 
It’s like saying ‘the’ is clichéd


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## NoXion (Jan 3, 2023)

It's not a cliche in films or TV shows as well, it's just a turn of phrase that gets old men yelling at clouds. I mean the fact that the article references public speaking ought to have given it away.

Edit: fuck me, it's not even an article, it's just someone moaning in a comment thread. I'm not even convinced it's a common thing any more.



> I am catching the tragic whiff of a bit of social climbing, the desire to
> appear more cultured, more erudite.



This motherfucker lol


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## bcuster (Jan 3, 2023)

NoXion said:


> It's not a cliche in films or TV shows as well, it's just a turn of phrase that gets old men yelling at clouds. I mean the fact that the article references public speaking ought to have given it away.
> 
> Edit: fuck me, it's not even an article, it's just someone moaning in a comment thread. I'm not even convinced it's a common thing any more.
> 
> ...


Listen to American newscasters. It's endemic. To me it's posing, fake & sounds artificial...


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## Orang Utan (Jan 3, 2023)

bcuster said:


> Listen to American newscasters. It's endemic. To me it's posing, fake & sounds artificial...


Nonsense. It’s just a synonymous phrase. Deliberately sticking to just one word/phrase when you can use more to stop sounding repetitive is more ‘fake’


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## Brainaddict (Jan 5, 2023)

Ugh, I've just been reminded of one: the protaganist is unaware of a crucial piece of information that could be relayed to them in about 30 seconds but people keep coming into the room or explosions keep happening so they don't get the information and the viewer has to wait half an hour, supposedly, in suspense, until they get the information, because you know and they don't. But actually what you're thinking is, 'they could have been told it earlier, even with the explosions and shit, because actually it was really important and wouldn't have taken long'.


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## 8ball (Jan 5, 2023)

bcuster said:


> The use of "as well" has become a verbal tic in public speaking.
> 
> 
> Has anyone noticed the recent overuse of the phrase "as well"? Almost every talking head on television, especially on news shows seems compelled to use
> ...



I haven’t noticed this.
Will keep an eye out.

And an ear as well.


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## T & P (Wednesday at 11:09 PM)

If someone has to carry highly sensitive documents, illegal merchandise, or large amounts of cash across town in a briefcase, it is very important that it is handcuffed to their wrist. It might be a bit of a giveaway as to the enormous value of the briefcase’s contents, but not even the most dastardly of criminals would have the stomach to chop their hand off to steal it.


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## Orang Utan (Wednesday at 11:21 PM)

T & P said:


> If someone has to carry highly sensitive documents, illegal merchandise, or large amounts of cash across town in a briefcase, it is very important that it is handcuffed to their wrist. It might be a bit of a giveaway as to the enormous value of the briefcase’s contents, but not even the most dastardly of criminals would have the stomach to chop their hand off to steal it.


And yet people in scifis have their eyes gouged and fingers chopped off to get through retina and fingerprint scanners


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## The Octagon (Wednesday at 11:34 PM)

The _guilty pause_ in most TV shows (and quite a few films).

If I was talking to someone and asked them "is there anything wrong / I need to know / a secret child you've yet to inform me about", and their response was a noticeable silence, followed by an unconvincing "no", I'm assuming they have a secret love child and also suck at lying.

In a similar vein, this exchange that happens in everything:

"Hey"
"What?"
............"nothing"

No one does this in real life


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## Orang Utan (Wednesday at 11:34 PM)

They do


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## T & P (Wednesday at 11:40 PM)

The Octagon said:


> The _guilty pause_ in most TV shows (and quite a few films).
> 
> If I was talking to someone and asked them "is there anything wrong / I need to know / a secret child you've yet to inform me about", and their response was a noticeable silence, followed by an unconvincing "no", I'm assuming they have a secret love child and also suck at lying.
> 
> ...


I’ve mentioned this already in this thread, but no one ever IRL who’s been caught in an apparently compromising situation has opened up with ‘I can explain!’


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## Orang Utan (Wednesday at 11:40 PM)

T & P said:


> I’ve mentioned this already in this thread, but no one ever IRL who’s been caught in an apparently compromising situation has opened up with ‘I can explain!’


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