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Post by emmastewart on Feb 24, 2017 9:04:04 GMT
- when pregnancy is used as a plot line, but writers seem to forget the child exists after it's born.
- when characters have a conversation they obviously would have had already. This happens a lot in Gilmore Girls, where Lorelei and Rory will discuss something when they get to the grandparents' house...why not on the 30-mile drive there?
- when a conflict could be easily resolved with words (i.e. Man thinks Woman did something she didn't do) but the character doesn't say anything, the other character leaves dramatically, etc.
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Lubezki
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Post by Lubezki on Feb 24, 2017 9:09:54 GMT
-When a couple have sex with their clothes on.
-In any British drama show, the first thing that a character does when in company of others is to put the kettle on. I'm sorry, we may like our tea, but come on!
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Post by JangoB on Feb 24, 2017 9:11:02 GMT
1) Clunky exposition a-la:
- Hey man!
- Oh, hi there, man who I used to study with and who then stole my girlfriend and gave her an STD after which we ceased to be friends! How are you?
2) Thunder and lightning striking immediately after something ominous has just been said (unless used ironically/comedically)
3) This cliche:
*somebody runs up to someone else*
- She's dead! She's dead!
- Who? Who's dead?
- Catherine!
Just say the name right from the get-go, stop using the mysterious pronouns.
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Feb 24, 2017 10:03:00 GMT
These two continue to infuriate me, so I'll post them again. - When people are talking about something, then the scene cuts to them being somewhere completely different, obviously a while later and they are almost in the same place in their conversation. I was watching Legally Blonde last night and it has arguably the worst instance of this I've ever seen.
- When someone is about to walk out of an office or a room of some sort, usually after they have have had a heated discussion with their superior who is remaining in the room, and just as the person is walking out the doorway, the other person still in the room says "one more thing". I drives me frickin' mad. If that ever happens to me in real life, I honestly think I'll probably momentarily forget myself and tell the person who says it to fuck off.
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Feb 24, 2017 10:04:30 GMT
- when pregnancy is used as a plot line, but writers seem to forget the child exists after it's born. - when characters have a conversation they obviously would have had already. This happens a lot in Gilmore Girls, where Lorelei and Rory will discuss something when they get to the grandparents' house...why not on the 30-mile drive there? - when a conflict could be easily resolved with words (i.e. Man thinks Woman did something she didn't do) but the character doesn't say anything, the other character leaves dramatically, etc. Love these mentions, especially the first and third, which I would have posted if you hadn't. |
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Post by ScarletDubois on Feb 24, 2017 14:00:44 GMT
This drives me INSANE.
One that comes to mind is when characters make reference to their unattractiveness or some other character's unattractiveness and they are clearly far from it and not in a "lacking self-esteem" kinda way either.
Excessive use of first names.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Feb 24, 2017 14:01:51 GMT
Character is lying about who they are. Develops real feelings and wants to come clean. Lie is exposed right before they can.
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Post by cheesecake on Feb 24, 2017 15:55:27 GMT
- I'll echo the complaints of inane exposition.
- Overuse of useless narration when characters say the exact same thing a few seconds later (fuck you, American Hustle).
- "Hollywood disease" where someone coughs up blood and then dies.
- Hanging up the phone without saying goodbye.
- Except for the case of doctors orders, pregnant women doing nothing but being pregnant. No job or other duties. It's weird.
- Leaving every single light on in the house.
- That overhead zoom out shot when someone dies and the camera pulls back as the character holding the corpse yells "Noooooooooooooooooo!"
- Villains giving one final speech and in turn giving the hero enough time to get the upper hand.
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Film Socialism
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Post by Film Socialism on Feb 24, 2017 16:35:52 GMT
movies being serious in tone when totally unrealistic things are happening
sorkin esque dialogue
when big budget films try to be moving on a purely narrative level
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oneflyr
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Post by oneflyr on Feb 24, 2017 17:13:41 GMT
spoon-fed emotions
forced humor
self-conscious quirk
movies that try too hard
loud, bombastic scores
inspirational/life lessons type movies
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Feb 24, 2017 18:01:17 GMT
The Jack-of-all-trades (who has zero right or logic to be).
The wise-beyond-their-years child who doles out life advice to the adult characters.
When a character does the dumbest thing (basically if a plot point had a "don't push" button they allude to and then later on a character just goes and does it).
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bkguy182
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Post by bkguy182 on Feb 24, 2017 18:14:15 GMT
when people dont do/say things a normal person would do in that situation.
this is the opposite example and wish i could remember it exactly, but... in smashed (2012 - winstead). when she gets in trouble and shes talking to the principal. whatever it is she says back to the principal is EXACTLY WHAT A NORMAL HUMAN WOULD HAVE DONE/SAID. if it was any other movie in the history of time her answer would have been different.
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Post by finniussnrub on Feb 24, 2017 18:21:20 GMT
Whenever a character, after having shown no mercy to all henchmen, for some reason lets the main villain live.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Feb 24, 2017 19:21:17 GMT
Seconding fish's comment - when precocious children end up "teaching" the screwed up main character a life lesson. Shane Black has an annoying penchant for this trope.
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Post by ScarletDubois on Feb 24, 2017 19:28:48 GMT
when people dont do/say things a normal person would do in that situation. this is the opposite example and wish i could remember it exactly, but... in smashed (2012 - winstead). when she gets in trouble and shes talking to the principal. whatever it is she says back to the principal is EXACTLY WHAT A NORMAL HUMAN WOULD HAVE DONE/SAID. if it was any other movie in the history of time her answer would have been different. lol, I wanna rewatch that now to see what you mean, haha. Plus Winstead.  |
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Post by mizzaphoenix on Feb 24, 2017 19:39:57 GMT
I really hate it when characters fall madly in love with each other after only knowing one another for a few days.
Also, when characters light up cigarettes and only take a couple of puffs before stamping them out.
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Steve17
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Post by Steve17 on Feb 24, 2017 20:03:53 GMT
A lot of them have been mentioned already. One that I find truly stupid is when characters are having a phone conversation, one person hangs up, and the other is still trying to talk to the first person.
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no
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Post by no on Feb 24, 2017 21:36:55 GMT
Exceptions can be made - Hollywood depression ( The Fault in Our Stars) - glorified mental disabled person played by people with mental norms ( What's Eating Gilbert Grape) - white washing ( The Passion of the Christ) - the white savior tropes and narrative ( Rambo 3) - mystical minority ( Another Earth) - time travel plot hole breaking its own rules ( The Butterfly Effect) - cinematic universe setup at the expense of narrative ( The Amazing Spider-Man 2) - contrived social commentary to excuse indulgence and excess (American Psycho)
- historical films using bad/fake accents in English instead of actual language
(The Pianist)
- preachy atheism
(Whatever Works)
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tobias
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Post by tobias on Feb 24, 2017 21:51:16 GMT
- preachy atheism
(Whatever Works)
That's general in our culture, people thinking they're the enlighted ones, making atheism some kind of reverse religion, so it's not so much movie related. Still pretty anoying. I can't really remember it in Whatever Works but it's been quite a while. |
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Post by stephen on Feb 24, 2017 21:56:54 GMT
* Infant immortality. I'm not saying that you need to kill all kids in your monster movies, but don't try to fool me like those kids are ever gonna be in danger of dying. Looking at you, Jurassic World.
* Wise-beyond-their-years children.
* Hanging up the phone without saying goodbye. WHO DOES THAT?
* When the villain has the hero dead to rights and doesn't just kill him.
* Misunderstandings that could be cleared up in two seconds but end up being the crux of the "drama" of whatever the story is ("Wait, let me explain!")
* Wilhelm scream. Sorry, but that shit is played. Any time I hear it now, I'm immediately wrenched out of the experience.
* Diminishing returns of stakes in sequels (i.e. The Avengers deals with intergalactic monsters, then one of the follow-up films deals with . . . Daniel Bruhl)
* When a bomb stops at 00:01.
* "Enhance video!" that doesn't look like pixelated ass.
* Not getting the fuck out of the house in a horror film. WHY ARE YOU RUNNING UPSTAIRS?
* When people don't reload their weapons.
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tobias
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Post by tobias on Feb 24, 2017 21:59:49 GMT
These are all somewhat major complaints tbh:
-Cliched plots done without any attention to the drama (this might sound obvious but I mean drama more in the ancient Grece/Aristotle kind of way, we have a servere lack of high drama in movies, it's often more reminiscent to reality TV than to plays).
-dumbing things down to the lowest common demoninator (which means that movies often aim even below average intelligence).
-lack of inventiveness (I mean from watching Ruiz's films, it really struck me how extremely limited the naratives in film often are).
and last but not least: lack of exposure of movies not falling into these traps.
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oneflyr
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Post by oneflyr on Feb 24, 2017 22:19:30 GMT
Exceptions can be made - Hollywood depression ( The Fault in Our Stars)
I think that would fall under the ''cancer film'' genre. Really offensive that it's even a thing, to be honest. A better example of depression by way of Hollywood is The Hours, I think (also a film I don't like) |
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flasuss
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Post by flasuss on Feb 24, 2017 22:49:06 GMT
Besides the already mentioned ones:
Characters keeping unnecessary secrets for purely dramatic purposes. It basically happens nearly every episode of The Flash, but it isn't the only one that does that.
Characters turning down the TV in the middle of very important news. "BREAKING NEWS: THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN SHOT! MORE DETAILS FROM THE SCENE LIVE!" and then someone turns down the TV. Yeah, because that's what everyone would do.
People being "in love" after knowing each other for a few days. Very common in romantic comedies, but not only so (see Thor or Wolverine being "in love" with Jean Grey in X-men knowing her for a couple of days).
People getting knocked out by someone hitting them in the head and then staying out for HOURS OR DAYS. If someone gets knocked out like this and doesn't wake up after a couple of minutes, it's likely they'd never wake up, or suffer brain damage. If you want the character to stay down for longer, there's other means for that.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Feb 25, 2017 2:40:25 GMT
I really hate it when characters fall madly in love with each other after only knowing one another for a few days. Also, when characters light up cigarettes and only take a couple of puffs before stamping them out. Even worse - when characters prepare anything, breakfast, dinner, coffee, take one sip or bite and leave. I also cant stand how off timelines of birth/pregnancies are. In Friends Rachel's pregnancy takes forever, while Phoebe's apparently lasts only 3 months, so odd and annoying. Almost every horror movie where characters wont believe each other. If I told my friends there'd be some freak trying to kill us, they better believe me. The sound of swords being taken out of their sheath. |
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Feb 25, 2017 3:47:44 GMT
Also, when characters light up cigarettes and only take a couple of puffs before stamping them out. Hell to the yes on this one. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THAT WAS?! |
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