Most overused Clichés in movies/TV shows?

[petee]

Quite liked State of Grace. Great cast and frankly, there's not enough films about Irish American gangsters. One of those lost films that was rarely on the telly or made it to the streaming services. Like another crime flick (again with Sean Penn, but not Irish American) At Close Range.

always it's the irish who are the cops, barry fitzgerald e.g. (speaking as someone with a first cousin and a bunch of childhood acquaintances on the force). unfortunately State Of Grace isn't on Youtube or the Criterion Channel (I have a subscription). so I must look elsewhere short of buying it.

have you read this?

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob|Paperback

From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of The Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld, The Westies: Inside New York’s Irish Mob is the true account of the vicious gang that ruled Hell’s Kitchen from the 1960s...

www.barnesandnoble.com

 

[krtek a houby]

always it's the irish who are the cops, barry fitzgerald e.g. (speaking as someone with a first cousin and a bunch of childhood acquaintances on the force). unfortunately State Of Grace isn't on Youtube or the Criterion Channel (I have a subscription). so I must look elsewhere short of buying it.

have you read this?

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob|Paperback

From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of The Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld, The Westies: Inside New York’s Irish Mob is the true account of the vicious gang that ruled Hell’s Kitchen from the 1960s...

www.barnesandnoble.com

Isn't that mad, was just about to look at my copy

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

And your cop work partner/spouse/fiance a week before the wedding/brother was killed by a perp in a way that could have been prevented if only you'd...

MENDOOOOZAAAA!!!!!!

 

[platinumsage]

If they go on a voyage there will be a massive storm which threatens the boat/ship/raft, despite such storms in reality only being encountered on a tiny percentage of journeys.

 

[krtek a houby]

If they're on a raft or adrift boat, chance are they'll see a shooting star if night or whale/dolphin/shark during the day. Bonus points for jumping up and down, waving and being ultimately disappointed when a big ship or plane passes by without seeing them.

 

[waterfallfish]

Working as a waitress and living in a huge apartment, with the fridge full and expensive clothes.

 

[T & P]

During any kind of home invasion or stalking horror film where the goodies have a dog, the animal will start barking off camera as it hears/ sees the unseen antagonist approaching, only for the barking to be abruptly cut off to a sharp yelp, followed by silence.

 

[T & P]

When someone is running for their lives trying to make it back to their car whilst being chased by an antagonist and manages to make it inside the vehicle, invariably the engine will not start right away even if it’s a modern car, and will require four or five attempts before finally firing off just as the baddie(s) reach the car and are about to smash the windows in.

 

[Spymaster]

Working as a waitress and living in a huge apartment, with the fridge full and expensive clothes.

Ditto American police officers. California based ones all seem to have houses in the Hollywood hills with fine views over LA.

 

[T & P]

For me this is not just a cliché, but a stereotypical and frankly misogynist one at that.

In a fair few if not most supernatural horror films involving a couple moving into a haunted house, it’s so often the woman who alone notices the supernatural phenomena. And almost always, instead of being supported by her husband, she’s doubted and before long branded as imagining everything. Due of course to postnatal depression, or grief following a miscarriage or the death of a child. Quite often ends up locked up in an institution as well. I’m surprised they refrain themselves from using the word hysterical.

There are plenty of such films in which everyone notices the spooky stuff of course, but funny how few when it’s just one person and it’s the man instead of the woman. I can think of some myself, but I reckon it tallies up to 80-20%.

 

[T & P]

Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen

 

[Reno]

For me this is not just a cliché, but a stereotypical and frankly misogynist one at that.

In a fair few if not most supernatural horror films involving a couple moving into a haunted house, it’s so often the woman who alone notices the supernatural phenomena. And almost always, instead of being supported by her husband, she’s doubted and before long branded as imagining everything. Due of course to postnatal depression, or grief following a miscarriage or the death of a child. Quite often ends up locked up in an institution as well. I’m surprised they refrain themselves from using the word hysterical.

There are plenty of such films in which everyone notices the spooky stuff of course, but funny how few when it’s just one person and it’s the man instead of the woman. I can think of some myself, but I reckon it tallies up to 80-20%.

The "hysterical woman" is a trope in horror films and thrillers (far from restricted to films about hauntings) but it isn't the films which are misogynist, it's the male characters who don't believe them and they usually live (or die) to regret it.

Specifically when it comes to haunted house films, off the top of my head I can think of lots of famous ones where it's a man or boy who notices or falls under the spell of the supernatural. The Shining, The Amityville Horror, Stir of Echos, The Sixth Sense, Sinister, The Changeling, The Devil's Backbone, His House, The Woman in Black, A Christmas Carol, 1409 and Burnt Offerings.

Most of the "hysterical" women in haunted house narratives are single, starting with Henry James' The Turn of the Screw and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (and their many adaptations) which are as much about their female protagonist's mental state as they are about ghosts.

The most famous haunted house film where a wife discovers the haunting is Poltergeist and her husband immediately believes her, because she produces proof.

A horror classic which fits your claim would be Rosemary's Baby (though not about ghosts) and in that her husband doesn't believe her, because he's the main villain who plots against her.

 

[platinumsage]

I just dislike the "someone knows but no one believes them" trope, I find it incredibly annoying. I therefore enjoy horror films like The Conjuring where everyone just accepts the weird shit as weird shit and deals with it.

 

[Reno]

I just dislike the "someone knows but no one believes them" trope, I find it incredibly annoying. I therefore enjoy horror films like The Conjuring where everyone just accepts the weird shit as weird shit and deals with it.

I'll take Don't Look Now, Halloween, Rosemary's Baby, The Entity or The Innocents over The Conjuring any day.

I think its simplistic to take films to task for cliches, it's part of the social media nitpicking approach to pull films apart bit by bit, rather than looking at everything in context. Don't Look Now is a case in point. It perfectly fits T & P's complaint about the wife whose husband opposes her belief in the existence of ghosts, yet I can't think of many horror films which equal it in execution and sophistication.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen

 

[DaveCinzano]

View attachment 299311

Also: visiting expert/recently divorced detective/enthusiastic amateur investigating the serial killings will leave their gruesome collage up on their hotel/motel wall at all times so that the curious perp can pop by and check on their current theories in Post-It format

Adjacent: weary dick will study buff folder of autopsy and crime scene snaps whilst on flight between murder sites, until they fall asleep and traumatise the kid in the seat next to them

 

[Reno]

Whether a police detective or enthusiast civilian, if one needs to to make a mental breakthrough in a seemly unsolvable case, the use of a large board plastered with notes and suspect photographs linked by red string is literally the only way. And let’s make this clear: red string or it doesn’t happen

Pre-dating computer technology, link charts like this were widely used in criminal investigations. Link analysis still exists but now in the form of software. The reason why you still see the analogue version in more contemporary films and tv shows is because for an audience they are a easier to grasp visualisation of the investigation than a cop staring at a computer, though you now also see that a lot.

 

[donkyboy]

Opening a closed lift door with your hands.

 

[rekil]

Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.

Three Emmerdales Of The Condor

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Vinny Dingle used one of those charts when he was trying to frame Meena.

I was going to crash in with the same thing, it was the only use of such charts that has made me smile

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Going straight to neat vodka from the bottle when someone has been dumped or someone murdered their dad at Christmas and it made them turn to the drink- best illustrated by those times Bradley in easties did it
Excessively grief policing someone less than 48 hours after a death " YOU HAVE TO FACE THIS! "
The first sign of labour - waters gushing out all over the place. That's quite far on but no previous warning. Ever.
A panic attack always causing someone to completely collapse and even lose consciousness
The new one which is people dramatically ripping their face mask off in a shop when they see another character- dialogue ensues
The only person that can tell the police what happened in a violent incident is in a coma. The perp will try to bump them off.
Blazing fire heroes always immune to smoke inhalation

 

[UrbaneFox]

Any ordinary lock, from doors’ to desk drawers’ to handcuffs’, can be picked with a hairpin or paperclip, and not just by trained special agents but often by civilians as well.

Hannibal Lecter managed to escape from a locked cage by using a small meathook accidentally left in his lamb chops.

 

[UrbaneFox]

The Royal Treatment: why is a bland romcom a Netflix smash hit?

The no-stars, no-buzz, no-budget film about a hairdresser falling for a prince has shot to the top of the global charts

www.theguardian.com

Not a cliche, but a twist, in which kids making films don't understand that technology was different in the old days, and you can't read caller id on an old fashioned landline handset.

 

[Reno]

The Royal Treatment: why is a bland romcom a Netflix smash hit?

The no-stars, no-buzz, no-budget film about a hairdresser falling for a prince has shot to the top of the global charts

www.theguardian.com

Not a cliche, but a twist, in which kids making films don't understand that technology was different in the old days, and you can't read caller id on an old fashioned landline handset.

The writer and the director have film and tv credits going back to the 80s, so they can't be that young. I haven't seen the film and never will because it looks bloody awful but what am I missing here ? This appears to take place in the present and landline phones with caller id have been available for decades.

 

[UrbaneFox]

I haven't seen the film and never will because it looks bloody awful but what am I missing here ? This appears to take place in the present and landline phones with caller id have been available for decades.

I don't intend to watch it, either, but maybe it's a just a basic landline phone without caller display.

 

[T & P]

Not sure if it qualifies as a cliché, more like an overused sound effect device. But I am really sick and tired of just about every American film and series featuring scenes set in schools and colleges introducing the scene by playing that bell they ring to call students to lessons.

I know the practice of introducing the next scene by starting to play its sound a couple of seconds before the visuals change is a very commonplace device in the industry (a bit overdone imo), but do we really need every forthcoming scene set at a school or college be preceded by that damned bell?

Fair enough if the scene starts with students actually being called to lessons. But why the fuck do we need to hear the bell for the next scene simply because it takes place at a college? Almost every single bloody time with some series

 

[spanglechick]

I know the practice of introducing the next scene by starting to play its sound a couple of seconds before the visuals change is a very commonplace device in the industry (a bit overdone imo)…

It’s called a J-cut, editing fans. The opposite (when the last scene’s audio is heard while we are visually in the next scene,) is called an L-cut.

 

[T & P]

It’s called a J-cut, editing fans. The opposite (when the last scene’s audio is heard while we are visually in the next scene,) is called an L-cut.

Cheers for that fact. Every day’s a school day around here Are you in the industry?

 

[T & P]

Going back to the subject, SIM cards being taken out of mobile phones and broken in two to avoid being tracked. Funny how whenever a goodie is being hunted by The Man, or simply an ordinary stalker with decent computer skills, the mere possession of a mobile phone with a SIM card is enough for the baddie to locate you even if your phone is off.

But if it is the police/ good guys government trying to locate someone to save them after they’ve disappeared or been kidnapped, they’re completely hapless when their phone is turned off or just out of coverage. If only a villain would teach them how to track SIMs…