taa455

The Core -- this movie contained just about every cliche in the book.

Cusm

I can not beleive no one mentioned this one. A good guy taking on multiple foes in a fight. The bad guys all attack one at a time, making their numbers almost useless. Why not all attack at once, or when he is occupied with another bad guy?
Also on this, when the bad guy has a weapon and just stands there while the good guy gives a speech, then allows the good guy to get the drop on them and shoot/attack first killing the villain. Why not shoot the good guy while he is in the middle of his rant?

Ginwen

Better yet, don't explain your sinister plot, just shoot him in the head. Of course, there wouldn't be too many James Bond movies if anyone, in any of the movies, had ever done this.

UAIOE

"you shot me.....you shot me right in the arm!"

keyed

Just like Mick Dundee does.


The cliche I hate is they dramatize the dog always surviving. Take ID4. They had a slow-mo shot of the dog leaping into the utility closet, with the flames roaring past in the tunnel.

A related cliche is that people will put themselves in ridiculously stupid levels of danger for said dog. Dawn of the Dead.

spainlinx0

Tsk tsk tsk, what about Predator? Of course he didn't use shaving cream, but it was still a razor blade.

Shannon Nutt

Didn't take time to read the entire thread - but did anyone mention the phone tracing thing? In movies, when the good guys are trying to trace the bad guys over the phone - the bad guy always hangs up right before they are able to pinpoint the location of the call. In real life, technology is advanced enough that you can find out the source immediately...like one second.

Another thing that bothers me is when they put a fingerprint in a computer and match it to a face in a matter of seconds. Doesn't work that way...it takes about hours to match a fingerprint to a person - and that's only if it gets priority. And there are no computer systems that do this - it's done on a computer, but the computer doesn't do the match for you...you have to compare the prints to a "likely" match yourself.

This should be one of Ebert's movie laws: Technology is only as advanced or primitive as is necessary to the storyline.

talemyn

-- People dying immediately from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

While, supposedly one of the more painfull places to be shot, it also is supposed to be the place where, if shot, you are likely to last the longest before dying.

-- High tech, interactive, 3-D, VR computer interfaces . . .


Edit: Sorry if either has been mentioned already . . . by the time I joined in, the thread was too long for me to look back through all of the posts.

Rypro 525

people laying there dying, but still have enough time for the hero to cry and tell all of the theme's of the movie before dying.

Drexl

Sounds and explosions in space-would movies like Star Wars be as exciting without them?

scroll2b

I think structure is a big cliche in Hollywood. We see the star in the first five minutes, and the same goes for the costars. Look at Seven Samurai, in which it takes 18 minutes before we see the first major samurai character. Mifune actually returns at the 55 minute mark. And the bandits don't even come back until at least the mid-point. Most movies you know what's going to happen because you've been down that road before.... and that's due to structure, I think.

Saxofonix

Ha! Not when you're a clever-ass hacker who can reroute your phone call dozens of times zig-zag all across the world ... NYC .. London .. Moscow .. Rio .. Beijing .. Johannesburg .. Sydney .. LA ..

Kevin M. Dean

Happens more so on tv, but how about when people leave the house with every bloomin' light still on and sometimes the tv thrown in for good measure. Guess these people don't have to pay a power bill.

cruzness

Confucious say "early morning kiss lead to dragon breath and bitter bear face".

glassdragon

Don't forget being able to pan around the person 360 degrees in real-time

kcbrett5

Can you prove that there is no sound in space? There are definitely explosions, so I am not sure what your point is.

Groucho

Perhaps a Science 101 class at your local community college is in order?

Kevin M. Dean

While true that explosions at a distance you wouldn't hear in space, but if you were within an explosion itself enough atmosphere may exist for year to hear it. If you're at a distance but close enough for the physical effect to reach you, the suit you're wearing may feel enough for you to hear a sound conducted through the suit and atmosphere contained within.

Rivero

Stupid love interests in comic-book films, even good ones(ie. Batman, Spiderman, Superman, the Jean Grey/Logan/Cyclops BS), that are there in a lame attempt to appeal to some females in the audience. When are people gonna realize and admit that comic-books are mostly a guy thing? Adding these predictable characters like Mary Jane, Vicki Vale etc. etc. who really never add nothing to the story or mythos and must always be saved by the hero at the very end always hurts these films. FOCUS ON THE MAIN CHARACTER!

Michael Corvin

^^ then there would be no climatic moral decision to make when the villian has your girl captured at the end of the movie. Duh!

spainlinx0

Wouldn't you have to blame the creators of the comics themselves? I guess you want your superheros asexual, but I prefer some eyecandy.

jdslater

I started an earlier thread like this about what happens in films, but I'll add a few more I've noticed:

In a horror film, 2 people are talking and it goes like this:
girl 1 " are you scared?"
girl 2 " no "
girl 1 " you should be"

In Steven Seagal films were when he is fighting 5 men, it's amazing that after he has just taken down four of them the last one thinks he can have him,probably on the basis that Seagal now must be soo tired now and he can make a difference.If it was me I'll be out the door.
Also in regards to all the cellphones allways being in service range, I'll like to point out Way of the gun changed this.

dhmac

Well, there is at least one exception: Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite which had the ancient Greek theater practice of a Greek Chorus commenting on the story. So having a deus ex machina (a helicopter!) in the film to resolve one character's storyline just fit right in.


As for film clichés, one that I hate is when characters outrun the fireball from a large explosion. Sorry, but no one can run that fast!

.

EvilConradBain

I don't think anybody has seen that movie. I've never even heard of it.