Film cliches!
tcaporale
Posts: 1,577
People were talking about these at another forum I post on and one in particular I thought was very true:
The good guy gets into a fight with a bunch of villains, but luckily they only take him on one at a time while the rest just circle menacingly around. After he's taken a hell of a beating with little or no signs of distress, he then winces when the leading lady dabs gently at his wounds with a damp cloth.
Another one:
A woman looks in her bathroom cabinet mirror, opens it, takes something out, closes it - GASP! A figure is now visible behind her in the mirror!
The good guy gets into a fight with a bunch of villains, but luckily they only take him on one at a time while the rest just circle menacingly around. After he's taken a hell of a beating with little or no signs of distress, he then winces when the leading lady dabs gently at his wounds with a damp cloth.
Another one:
A woman looks in her bathroom cabinet mirror, opens it, takes something out, closes it - GASP! A figure is now visible behind her in the mirror!
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9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
8/5/16 Fenway, 8/7/16 Fenway
EV Solo: 6/16/11 Boston, 6/18/11 Hartford,
1. You can never have sex. The minute you get a little nookie, you're as good as gone. Sex always equals death.
2. Never drink or do drugs. The sin factor. It's an extension of number one.
3. Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, say "I'll be right back".
I have eaten so much gold I crapped excellence - drtyfrnk29
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
soo true!
also, when a good guy fights with bad ones, they prefer not to shoot him, even if they all have guns, but have a melee fight. And if they decided to shoot of course they would miss him from any range..
the greatest cliche for me is the Big Bad Guy saying to a hero "Ok, before I kill you I'll tell you something.." and then he tells all his plans instead of simple killing.. then he turns his back.. you know the rest
Getting shot then saying "But I was only two days away from retirement".
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
2.Michelle Rodriguez in every role she's ever played.
3. the corporate guy is ALWAYS evil.
When the villain has captured the good guy, he will never just kill him there and then, he will first give a detailed breakdown of his master plan, complete with Powerpoint presentation and handouts, before leaving him in a room very slowly filling up with water or poison gas, with a parting shot of "Such a pity you have to die - we could have achieved so much together".
Man and woman are at loggerheads the whole time, it escalates into a shouting match, she goes to slap him, he siezes her wrist, they glare at each other - then start passionately kissing.
A tense situation builds up, the character is afraid something bad is going to happen, then it happens and they somehow escape only to die seconds later while they're relaxing because of a second truly unexpected attack. It seems this is the cornerstone of modern horror.
Person A resolves to tell Person B something really devastating - usually that he/she is dumping him/her. A says "I've got something to tell you - " only to be interrupted by B who excitedly tells the other person something really positive that includes a phrase like "This is just the new start I needed!" followed by "Anyway, what was it you wanted to say?" to which a shifty A says "Oh - never mind, it was nothing" at which point B completely loses interest / totally forgets A had something to say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo
-my dad after hearing Not for You for the first time on SNL .
A slight diversion, but film trailers are also exasperating in their clichedness. And I'm not talking so much about the gravel-voiced "In a world where..." or "It was a time of..." or "One man. One woman. Together, they..." etc etc etc. I mean the whole structure of trailers - they are practically identical. You get the ramp-up of edits, with a backdrop of frenzied drums, exaggerated music 'stings' and wooshing crashes, which all then stop - pause - voiceover delivers supposedly killer line: "And he's got only 24 hours to SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD" - cue renewed explosion of insane music and head-spinning fast edits - title caption, end. The only diference you sometimes get is after the pause and killer line, you sometimes have a slower series of edits with mini-blackout fades between them, with slower slushier music, if it's a more 'emotional' film, in which case you will get a montage of crying people being comforted.
Oh, and if the film has the obligatory scene of someone dancing to a soundtrack song, it will be jump-cut into the trailer.
I mean, it's a trailer, I know we're not expecting High Art, but for fuck's sake do something to not make all films look the same! (Then again, maybe all films are the same...)
The ‘NOOOOOOOO’ cry when someone dies. Three popular variations of this one:
- A character is killed, the death witnessed by a loved one who reaches out a hand in a futile attempt to save them.
- Loved one arrives a second too late. This cry is filmed from above (sometimes while zooming out), while the dead persons’ head is cradled.
- The grieving character learns second hand that their loved one has died. Griever either collapses in tears or throws a tantrum. (Star Wars fans shudder)
“we’ve got company” when being chased. (first spoken by Han Solo?)
"To question your government is not unpatriotic --
to not question your government is unpatriotic."
-- Sen. Chuck Hagel
The scene where a severed hand grabs a guy by the throat.
It's in every movie from When Harry Met Sally to Biodome.
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
Watched Scream at all lately?
...
The romantic comedy always has the long, deep hearted momologue... you know. the 'You complete me...' monologue. At least you know the movie is about to end.
...
You can always tell the bad guys (who will meet their death when they ignore the warnings of the good guys) because they always are a well regimented unit with matching sunglasses, black suits and drive black vehicles in formation... compared to the good guys who are an eclectic mix of rag-tag, quirky misfits who dress like bums and drive vehicles are pieces of crap.
...
The comedic side-kick that you know will die in the arms of the hero.
Hail, Hail!!!
This is great!