I was watching some horror flick last night and it had one of the worst cliches of the horror/suspense/thriller genres. The car that wouldn't start right when then characters needed it to. I got to thinking about how much it occurs, even in situations where the car was running fine throughout the whole damn movie. There are the different kind of this scenario too, the one where the keys are not in it, the killer has the keys, etc. If you're ever watching this type of film and somebody jumps in a car trying to get away, chances are the car won't work as a getaway. What are some of your's?
In action movies: The hero is cornered by the villain, and just as he's about to die, the sidekick comes in and prevents the villain from killing the sidekick.
The "everything explodes when impacted" mantra of action movies. e.g.: Cars do not spontaneously combust in a ginormous fireball when hit by another car. This is doubly annoying when another vehicle in the movie is totally impervious to damage. Think "Die Hard with a Vengeance" for a perfect example of this bizarre duality.
Just once it would be really funny to see the hero clipped in the head by a bullet while running away from the bad guy's goons. Goons are like 0 for 34,000,000 when it comes to shooting heroes. Let the goons have their day!
Putting any hero in a "deathtrap". Heroes always escape deathtraps, after the villian laboriously reveals all the intracacies of his plan so the hero can stop it after he escapes. Plus why is the villian setting up this grizly surreal death...cause he doesn't even stick around to watch it...because that allows the hero to surprise him later with still being alive. I realize its a comic book convention...but even comic book style movies are getting realistic in other ways. I realize killing the hero ends the movie, but there is no reason for a ruthless and brilliant villian to have the hero "at his mercy" and not be sharp enough to put a bullet in his brain.
The "heroes" seem to have a magnet in there shoulder cause that is the only place they ever get clipped. and this one......."I'm too old for this schytte" Gotta love it.
All Romantic Comedys have a chase at the end, where one person has to rush or chase after the person they'd nearly let get away.....
Another one I hate is where the bad guy actually catches the good guy and has the chance to off him but does not.
Romantic comedy formula: Girl leads her life in a content-but-not-complete way Guy does the same Guy meets girl - instant chemistry Guy spends time falling in love with girl Problem occurs preventing guy from being with girl Problem ends, but guy just-misses girl by an instant By a miracle, girl and guy DO meet up and live happily ever after.
Not a cliche, but in brainstorming I thought of something I would like to see in a movie. Someone should do a dream sequence about 3/4 of the way through the movie where something really messed up happens (ie. the hero dies) and then actually start rolling the credits for a couple of seconds before the dream sequence is over. It'd be pretty unique, I think. As for cliches, let's see... - The protagonist will risk the lives of hundreds of citizens just to save one girl. - Once a high speed car chase passes through an intersection, there are always 2 cars that either T-bone each other or both swing at each other sideways, barely avoiding a collision. It's like clock work. - The final action movie scene where the hero is surrounded by ambulances, firetrucks, patrol cars with an FBI agent or the chief of police telling him how crazy he is before congratulating/thanking him for his efforts. - There always seems to be a computer whiz that can do anything and everything, from redirecting missiles to transferring millions of dollars to a Swedish bank account. And most of the time they do it without using a mouse. - Characters are never fat just to be fat. It always seems to be the set up for a specific joke or situation.
I would for once like to see a "near-future" sci-fi space exploration movie where they ship doesn't break. I mean I know that is the easiest problem to write but how about everything function normally but no asteroid hits them and no O2, H2 tank explosions. Just some cool plot where they have to make things happen with all of their resources. You can make them inadequate for the job but don't make it because they lost a section due to a solar flare or that this is just a "trial-run" and we have a skeleton crew with no supplies.
I dont know when does it started, but a lot of Chinese Directors like the scene where the sky was covered by rain of shooting arrows in those ancient combat scenes.
When the villain has the hero at his mercy, but instead of going for the sure kill, he tries to prolong the agony only to give the hero enough time to recover/escape. In addition, one of these days I would absolutely love to see a movie where the supposed main character/hero/protagonist is actually killed at the beginning. It would be a great twist that would completely throw the audience off guard. You came to see a Bruce Willis action film only to realize he dies 5 minutes into the movie.
American soldiers are capable of killing 15 men with a 15 round magazine. Foreign soldiers must empty hundreds of rounds and hope they get a shoulder or thigh. Windtalkers was a great example of this.
