Most overused Clichés in movies/TV shows?

[emanymton]

People with serious illnesses don’t take tablets the number of times a day the doctor said. At times of great stress they rattle pills straight from the bottle (not blister strip) into their mouths with abandon. Sometimes they will gaze at the label at those times. But mostly they just knock them back.

In a similar vain, people whith a health problem knock back pills and they have an immediate effect.

 

[emanymton]

And that happens immediately after someone gets a phonecall and told to "turn on your tv".

Not only does the caller have the psychic ability to know exactly when the the story is about to begin, but also the recipient of the call doesn't need to ask "what channel?"

I kind of did this when 9/11 happened, I called someone and told them to turn on the news.

I think they did ask which channel, and I just said it doesn't matter.

 

[Silas Loom]

Anyone in an upper management position with their own office, whether a corporation, lawyer firm, police headquarters or even spy agency, will have a framed photograph of their family/ spouse on their desk.

They quite often do. As might anyone with their own desk. People who hotdesk and still personalise their work environment with photos and toys every morning are the only real weirdos here.

 

[skyscraper101]

I like when American movies dress up scenes to look like 'London' and fail.

'Heathrow' Airport in Hunt For the Red October



'Brixton' in Lost


Generic 'London' street with no road markings in Black Panther

 

[skyscraper101]

There's actually quite a funny post about the Hunt for the Red October going 'peak Brit' with their attempt to pretend that scene was in England, throwing in a random union jack, some archetypal British bobbies, a double decker bus, a tube map, and a bunch of British vehicles.

Learn how to achieve ‘peak Brit’ with The Hunt For Red October

How The Hunt For Red October established a scene was being filmed in Heathrow, London, England

www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com

My favorite bit though is the dead giveaway sign for 'International Departures' which is commonplace in big US airports but just not a thing here as domestic and international flights are not separated by terminals.

 

[AverageJoe]

Not shitting has to be the most overused cliché on TV. I watched every episode of 24, and Jack Bauer never had a shit in 204 episodes. 4896 hours he went without a poo. I don't believe it for one minute but it's setting a bad example.

Watching "Rob Becketts Smart TV" (literally Never Mind The Buzzcocks but about TV) Rob Beckett just described Jack Bauer from "24" as...

"The action hero who never sleeps, or shits".

So, what is Rob Becketts username here?

I'm guessing teuchter.

 

[ouirdeaux]

I kind of did this when 9/11 happened, I called someone and told them to turn on the news.

I think they did ask which channel, and I just said it doesn't matter.

I can't remember who defined true horror as being when the same news story is on every channe.l.

 

[petee]

there will invariably be someone on board carrying a chicken in a cage, if not even more unusual livestock.

a goat.

 

[T & P]

I like when American movies dress up scenes to look like 'London' and fail.

'Heathrow' Airport in Hunt For the Red October

View attachment 416570

'Brixton' in Lost
View attachment 416571

Generic 'London' street with no road markings in Black Panther
View attachment 416572

Obviously the cost will be the driving factor for lower budget films, but it is far more puzzling with big buck blockbusters. And it happens in the other direction as well. IIRC Glasgow and/ or Edinburgh have recently served as New York, Gotham, Metropolis and whatnot for various flicks. At least Canada is a short hop from the US. When you are filming a $200m blockbuster, what percentage of the budget is saved by switching the production to the UK?

We watched The Flash the other day, and it is blatant the few outdoor scenes it contained were filmed in a British city masquerading as the US. To the studio's credit, at least it looked a bit more credible than the Austin Powers-like level of quality seen in many other films.

 

[T & P]

a goat.

Piglets also regular companions

 

[skyscraper101]

IIRC Glasgow and/ or Edinburgh have recently served as New York, Gotham, Metropolis and whatnot for various flicks.

My favourite is when they used Milton Keynes as the location for ‘New York’ in Superman IV

 

[belboid]

Obviously the cost will be the driving factor for lower budget films, but it is far more puzzling with big buck blockbusters. And it happens in the other direction as well. IIRC Glasgow and/ or Edinburgh have recently served as New York, Gotham, Metropolis and whatnot for various flicks. At least Canada is a short hop from the US. When you are filming a $200m blockbuster, what percentage of the budget is saved by switching the production to the UK?

We watched The Flash the other day, and it is blatant the few outdoor scenes it contained were filmed in a British city masquerading as the US. To the studio's credit, at least it looked a bit more credible than the Austin Powers-like level of quality seen in many other films.

Tax breaks and other favourable tax factors has a massive amount to do with it. And it's just not worth it to shoot a couple of establishing shots.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Not shitting has to be the most overused cliché on TV. I watched every episode of 24, and Jack Bauer never had a shit in 204 episodes. 4896 hours he went without a poo. I don't believe it for one minute but it's setting a bad example.

It's an increasingly less pervasive trope

From Here To Shiternity – Screenage Kicks

Poo-poos

screenagekicks.wordpress.com

 

[T & P]

Tax breaks and other favourable tax factors has a massive amount to do with it. And it's just not worth it to shoot a couple of establishing shots.

I thought that might be the case, but I am still surprised at the apparent fact taxes are that much lower in the UK than in the US, which has always come across as a country far more adverse to taxation than anywhere in Europe.

 

[T & P]

My favourite is when they used Milton Keynes as the location for ‘New York’ in Superman IV

I still remember an episode of HIGNFY from probably the late 90s/ early 2000s in which Merton & co. took much pleasure in mocking a story about Croydon Council actively promoting central Croydon as an excellent NYC alternative filming location

 

[DaveCinzano]

I like when American movies dress up scenes to look like 'London' and fail.

'Heathrow' Airport in Hunt For the Red October

View attachment 416570

'Brixton' in Lost
View attachment 416571

Generic 'London' street with no road markings in Black Panther
View attachment 416572

Ridley Scott using Bawlmore rowhouses to stand in for Manchester at the start of Body Of Lies was a stunning exemplar

ETA:

I knew I had pictures lurking somewhere












(I always have pictures lurking somewhere)

 

[belboid]

I thought that might be the case, but I am still surprised at the apparent fact taxes are that much lower in the UK than in the US, which has always come across as a country far more adverse to taxation than anywhere in Europe.

there are general rules and specific local rules. Loads of states within the US and even counties within states have specific tax breaks. Rust, for example, got about $2m of its $5 spend back. Lots of reasons to invest for tax avoidance reasons.

 

[T & P]

Most of them get the lampposts wrong. Also parking meters (to be fair they existed here but not for several decades), the colour of painted road lines, the street bins, and many other things.

Fair enough if you are filming a short scene on a real location, but if you are recreating a street in a studio, you might as well get the props right.

 

[belboid]

I still remember an episode of HIGNFY from probably the late 90s/ early 2000s in which Merton & co. took much pleasure in mocking a story about Croydon Council actively promoting central Croydon as an excellent NYC alternative filming location

Dark Knight Rises, Jason Bourne and, uhh, Da Vinci Code. They're not small movies.

 

[T & P]

Dark Knight Rises, Jason Bourne and, uhh, Da Vinci Code. They're not small movies.

Surprised at Bourne. I thought everything was shot on location, from London to Berlin to New York. Which scene(s) did Croydon stand up for another city?

 

[belboid]

Surprised at Bourne. I thought everything was shot on location, from London to Berlin to New York. Which scene(s) did Croydon stand up for another city?

actually, that one is meant to be Berlin. It has a fight scene that features the old art college on College Green

 

[T & P]

Can’t remember if this was mentioned in this very thread recently, but another oft seen error is the route taken regardless of where in London the characters are going or coming from. Every car journey seems to take them over Tower Bridge, and shortly after past the Big Ben or Buckingham Palace.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Can’t remember if this was mentioned in this very thread recently, but another oft seen error is the route taken regardless of where in London the characters are going or coming from. Every car journey seems to take them over Tower Bridge, and shortly after past the Big Ben or Buckingham Palace.

John Wayne's ‘American cop in London’ nonsense Brannigan fabricates a New Scotland Yard just over Westminster Bridge from Big Ben (actually filmed from St Thomas' facing County Hall).

 

[DaveCinzano]

Of course, no location switcheroo ever compares to Only Fools And Horses pretending Bristol is Peckham

Location³ #001: Backfields, Bristol (Only Fools And Horses)

A recent pic of Backfields in St. Paul’s (facing across Upper York Street into the new Knightstone development in the former industrial estate) contrasted with the area as shown in the 1996 C…

screenagekicks.wordpress.com

Location³ #002: Windmill Hill/Victoria Park, Bristol (Only Fools And Horses)

It’s been a while, but here are some more comparison shots from the Only Fools And Horses episode, ‘Heroes And Villains’. Del Boy and Rodney have just spotted one of the muggers f…

screenagekicks.wordpress.com

 

[emanymton]

I can't remember who defined true horror as being when the same news story is on every channe.l.

I don't know but I disagree, I bet that happened when the Queen died.

 

[Ted Striker]

I can't believe this one hasn't been mentioned in this thread already, but its 2024, and still films are getting made with the plot scene:

After a dramatic fight and using cunning and surprise, a woman desperately manages to escape from captivity in a remote house...Through the woods, they end up on a tree lined road, and, with torn clothing and bloodied face, finally sense their first moment of relief after the traumatic ordeal, as a car is spotted and slows down, to take them to safety/police/civilisation...

...Imagine the surprise, as it's revealed the driver of the car only has a flipping connection to her captors and takes her back to where she's just escaped from

 

[nick]

Can’t remember if this was mentioned in this very thread recently, but another oft seen error is the route taken regardless of where in London the characters are going or coming from. Every car journey seems to take them over Tower Bridge, and shortly after past the Big Ben or Buckingham Palace.

As spoofed in the taxi journey scene in Paddington

 

[T & P]

If a character walks into a hotel and there’s nobody at the reception desk, there will be a big fuck off bell mounted on the reception desk, which the protagonist will ring a couple of times without answer, and as they ring it a third time the receptionist suddenly materialises looking annoyed and placing a hand over the bell to mute the sound.

 

[T & P]

When the protagonist has been cornered and encircled by a large group of baddies all pointing guns at him, and the odds of our hero(ine) surviving seem pretty much zero, the baddie in charge will always feel compelled to ask ‘Any last words?’ before giving the order to fire.

Needless to say the protagonist will come back with a witty response, and proceed to effortlessly neutralise everyone in sight.

 

[T & P]

Also, when a baddie minnow working for the main villain fucks up a job badly, if they finish their apology with ‘It won’t happen again’ those will be the last words they ever speak.