Most overused Clichés in movies/TV shows?

[T & P]

During any car chase scene where the goodies are being shot at by the baddies, the back window will always be hit and shattered, but the offending bullet will then cease to exist, rather than go through the windscreen or hit the occupants. One of the wing mirrors is also guaranteed to be blown off before the chase is over, often as the protagonist is looking at it.

 

[nick]

The rear view mirror is also particularly sensitive to gun-fire: but when hit it also elicits an involuntary flinch from the occupants of the car (unlike all the other shots)

 

[AverageJoe]

Boxes of chickens, large piles of melons, two men crossing the road with a massive pane of glass....

 

[Storm Fox]

Boxes of chickens, large piles of melons, two men crossing the road with a massive pane of glass....

I'm reliably informed there’s probably some kind of secret society behind all this.

 

[Spandex]

During any car chase scene where the goodies are being shot at by the baddies, the back window will always be hit and shattered, but the offending bullet will then cease to exist, rather than go through the windscreen or hit the occupants. One of the wing mirrors is also guaranteed to be blown off before the chase is over, often as the protagonist is looking at it.

The rear view mirror is also particularly sensitive to gun-fire: but when hit it also elicits an involuntary flinch from the occupants of the car (unlike all the other shots)

I don't know if you've ever been chased in a car by a bunch of gun totting baddies - happens to me all the time, at least once a week - but those mirrors are important. How else do you expect to keep one eye on the road ahead and one eye on the Mercedes full of Russians/non-specific Arabs/blonde European hitmen wearing aviator shades/beautiful-but-deadly femme fatales as you speed the wrong way down a busy street?

 

[nick]

I'm reliably informed there’s probably some kind of secret society behind all this.

The secret society is led by the woman pushing a pram.
She is pissed off because the pram inevitably gets hit - fortunately she was “only a hobo” and the pram was full of shiny clean tin cans

 

[T & P]

When a main character is on the run and being hunted by the police after being wrongly accused of a crime, they will sooner or later walk into a store or diner that happens to have the TV on, and the news wlll of course happen to be on, showing the protagonist's face on the screen being reported as a most wanted fugitive.

Fugitives using publc transport meanwhile will invariably seat down near a passenger who is reading a newspaper with our hero's mugshot plastered on the front page. The passenger will do a double take, recognise our hero, and will then get up and walk away trying to look natural, and alert a cop who by pure bad luck is travelling on the same carriage.

 

[T & P]

Whereas bugging and recording devices used by secret agents or nefarious government agencies are miniscule and discreet devices one could hide in a lamp, stick under a desk like a piece of chewing gum, or wear on your jacket disguised as a button, all the FBI can afford when sending informants or undercover cops to try to record incriminating evidence from the baddies is a chunky device the size of a Walkman.

Not only that, but the microphone will be at the end of a long cable that can only be taped to the chest of the informant for it to work. So if the baddies suspect one of their own might be a rat, all they have to do is to rip their shirt open to reveal a cable and mic attached to their chest.

 

[donkyboy]

In secret agent films, the homes of the supposedly savvy protagonist or their equally well trained adversaries will be dead easy to infiltrate by an old adversary wanting to ask them a few questions. They will invariably be sitting in the dark, on a leather armchair in a corner of the living room, and announce their presence to the homeowner by switching on the side lamp and uttering a sarcastic one-liner.

I do wonder do they just sit on the leather armchair waiting, or are they looking around/use the toilet and when they hear the door being unlocked, quickly run to the chair?

 

[T & P]

I do wonder do they just sit on the leather armchair waiting, or are they looking around/use the toilet and when they hear the door being unlocked, quickly run to the chair?

Well that’d be tempting, but then look what happened to John Travolta in Pulp Fiction when he decided to go for a shit whilst keeping watch inside Bruce Willis’s apartment. As any fule knows, when you’re waiting all day for someone or a delivery to arrive, invariably they do right after you’ve decided to tempt fate and go for a quick shit.

 

[domestos]

This but there again I love the Three amigos

You'll also have to admit to liking the Three Amigos to know how this clip continues. You can't hide anymore

 

[Orang Utan]

Ah!

 

[T & P]

When a woman sleeps with a man at his place, the following morning she will help herself to his wardrobe and wear one of his formal shirts to the kitchen, instead of putting on any of her own clothes.

 

[Orang Utan]

When a woman sleeps with a man at his place, the following morning she will help herself to his wardrobe and wear one of his formal shirts to the kitchen, instead of putting on any of her own clothes.

And then when you turn the tables and wear THEIR knickers at breakfast, they carry on as if you’re some sort of sex criminal.

 

[DaveCinzano]

And then when you turn the tables and wear THEIR knickers at breakfast, they carry on as if you’re some sort of sex criminal.

The crotchless ban at Maccy D's strikes again

 

[T & P]

It never, ever, ever rains anywhere in the US on Halloween, certainly when the kids go out trick or treating. And in smaller towns, virtually 100% of adults out on the streets will either be in fancy dress themselves or accompanying the children. Even in car-mad America, nobody will be driving that evening.

 

[T & P]

After suffering a romantic heartbreak, a great many women will have an irresistible urge to consume vast amounts of ice cream directly out of a one-little tub, preferably in front of the TV.

 

[DaveCinzano]

After suffering a romantic heartbreak, a great many women will have an irresistible urge to consume vast amounts of ice cream directly out of a one-little tub, preferably in front of the TV.

Big sofa; inordinate number of cushions; high likelihood of slanket/duvet/blanket/throw; sat either side-saddle feet together (the sad mermaid), or cross-legged (the pouty child), or one knee up/one knee down (the disconsolate maverick).

 

[Orang Utan]

After suffering a romantic heartbreak, a great many women will have an irresistible urge to consume vast amounts of ice cream directly out of a one-little tub, preferably in front of the TV.

Isn’t that what EVERYONE does, though?

 

[DaveCinzano]

Isn’t that what EVERYONE does, though?

Only if I've got a musical montage ready to roll

 

[T & P]

Isn’t that what EVERYONE does, though?

I usually head for drinks cabinet.

 

[T & P]

In thriller or crime films involving someone being blackmailed into paying tens of millions of dollars into the baddies’ bank account, the money will not be transferred all at once as we ordinary folk see in our banking apps, but will instead be transferred slowly in a countdown metered fashion, like if you were filling up at a petrol station, and taking a good thirty seconds or longer for the transaction to be completed as well.

This clumsy banking setup will prove crucial to the goodies, as they will manage to hack into the transaction and halt it altogether at the last moment, just as the last few hundred thousand dollars out of tens of millions remained to be transferred.

 

[nick]

And the state of the art wire transfer / banking apps being used will all display your balance in 72pt font

 

[DaveCinzano]

This clumsy banking setup will prove crucial to the goodies, as they will manage to hack into the transaction and halt it altogether at the last moment, just as the last few hundred thousand dollars out of tens of millions remained to be transferred.

With the bad news reaching a low-level employee at the bank - to whom the significance is entirely lost - via fax, spewed out on a roll of thermal paper

 

[T & P]

In heist or spy thriller films requiring the goodies to break into a heavily secure facility protected by advanced technology, one of the rooms en route to the target will be protected by laser beams (one only as well, for some reason). Sometimes they will actually be visible to the naked eye, sometimes they will require someone spraying something in the air to reveal them.

Luckily a member of the team will happen to be highly flexible and with acrobatic skills worthy of a circus performer, and will execute a complex yet graceful dance routine to reach the end of the room missing all the laser beams.

Imagine the trouble the protagonists of such films would be in if word ever got out that a bog standard £80 movement sensor from B&Q would be not just far cheaper than an advanced laser beam system, but far more difficult to evade…

 

[DotCommunist]

In heist or spy thriller films requiring the goodies to break into a heavily secure facility protected by advanced technology, one of the rooms en route to the target will be protected by laser beams (one only as well, for some reason). Sometimes they will actually be visible to the naked eye, sometimes they will require someone spraying something in the air to reveal them.

Luckily a member of the team will happen to be highly flexible and with acrobatic skills worthy of a circus performer, and will execute a complex yet graceful dance routine to reach the end of the room missing all the laser beams.

Imagine the trouble the protagonists of such films would be in if word ever got out that a bog standard £80 movement sensor from B&Q would be not just far cheaper than an advanced laser beam system, but far more difficult to evade…

Entrapment

 

[T & P]

Another one just came to mind. Most American houses seemly have windows that give direct access to the highly banked tiled roof, which is not meant to be walked or sat on. Nonetheless they are the go-to place for tenagers dealing with heartbreak, continuing grief from the lost of a parent, and other emotional issues, to sit on under the stars of a summer night to reflect on their woes. Often said window will actually be that in the teenager's bedroom.

A friend or relative will find them and sit beside them, and a catharic conversation will be had that will prove a turning point in the plot and the mindset of the troubled teen.

The parents meanwhile will apparently be unaware or unbothered by the fact that their kid regularly climbs to the roof of the house when needing to think or smoke a joint, each time just a slip away from a potentially fatal fall.

 

[T & P]

When someone is seeing a psychiatrist, just as they’re opening up about a profound psychological trauma, the timer will buzz off and the psychiatrist will rudely interrupt them mid-sentence and say ‘sorry, that’s all the time we have for today’. Even when the patient is profoundly distressed or about to make a breakthrough for the first time. Some care…

 

[T & P]

High security facilities with a vault holding extremely important documents or hundreds of millions‘ worth of money/ valuables will have a room en route to the vault (and only one, mind) protected by dozens of laser beams that will trigger the alarm if broken.

The obstacle will nevertheless be successfully navigated by a member of the heist team thanks to their remarkable acrobatic skills. Though aided by the fact that the laser beams are fully visible to the naked eye.

If only someone would tell the owners of Swiss banks, CIA headquarters and Vegas casinos that even a humble £80 motion detector from B&Q would do a far better job, if not being actually unbeatable…

 

[krtek a houby]

High security facilities with a vault holding extremely important documents or hundreds of millions‘ worth of money/ valuables will have a room en route to the vault (and only one, mind) protected by dozens of laser beams that will trigger the alarm if broken.

The obstacle will nevertheless be successfully navigated by a member of the heist team thanks to their remarkable acrobatic skills. Though aided by the fact that the laser beams are fully visible to the naked eye.

If only someone would tell the owners of Swiss banks, CIA headquarters and Vegas casinos that even a humble £80 motion detector from B&Q would do a far better job, if not being actually unbeatable…

See post #445 for further details