Things you're tired of seeing in movies

[Fenris]

On that score you also have the post coitus waking/getting up scene. A couple have just been making the beast with 2 backs half the night, but when they get out of bed, they drape a sheet round themselves or have their back to their partner and sheepishly put on a robe or quickly scurry on some clothes. They've just been all over your unholiest of holies, why so shy all of a sudden?

Or how about them having separate sheets? Honestly, who puts 2 identical sheets on a bed?

When the girl stands up, she drags the sheet and lo and behold, the guy has a separate sheet over him. Weird.

On the same note; I read a joke before that in cinema, all bed scenes should have L shaped sheets... the larger part to cover the woman and the smaller one for the man (since he's usually covered from the waist down).

 

[Duncanator]

…Ha, ha…. an L shaped sheet! That's so true!

 

[p51]

Movie 1: I fought hard to save the world and got to hook up with my girlfriend!
Movie 2: I broke up with my girlfriend but now I got a new girlfriend!

Writers want us to take these character relationships seriously, but when it comes to the sequel, their relationship is conveniently over so they can have a fresh start or some other mumbo jumbo.

Wow, so true! The Transformers movies were classic example, but in all fairness, Megan Fox would have bene in the third if she hadn't made herself persona non-grata with the producers. But yeah, you can't take that actress in the third movie seriously, even though the writers were smart enough to have the Mom make the comment on his Shia would never get that luck again, after two women in his life looking like that.
The "Night at the Museum" movies downright confused me, there was no reason not to carry Carla Gugino's character at least to the second film and I've never read why she wasn't in that. I assume that Amy Adams won't be in the third film though there was a hint she would be with Ben Stiller's character at the end of the second film. And I'll bet they won't mention her, either, in the 3rd film.
The only franchise I can buy into that is the James Bond ones, because he's on the move all the time. That said, just once I'd love to see Bond chasing a bad guy past a hotel pool in France somewhere and have a 'Bond girl' from a previous movie stand up as she recognizes him and yells, "Hey!" but Bond runs right on by, never having saw her.

 

[NormanF]

I don't remember if any of these were mentioned:
1. Bullet proof car doors. I watched a movie where the bad guy unloaded a pistol into a truck and neither passenger was hurt.
2. The ground attacking people. An earthquake causes a huge crack to form in the ground or ice that follows whoever is trying to escape.
3. Parasites moving under peoples skin.

Granted, the last two are usually in cheesy made for TV movies (hi SyFy).

 

[dascoyne]

Everything about defusing a bomb:
1. The big digital clock
2. Which-wire-to-cut dilemma - e.g. Blue or Red ... as if villains have a standard color scheme
3. The series of quick cuts with close ups as he cuts the wire
4. When the guy is a civilian receiving remote instructions over phone/walkie-talkie
5. It's a cheap plot device to manufacture suspense

 

[dascoyne]

Cops, military or anybody with guns ruins everything trope.

e.g. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - what a disappointment to see this one played out in a major film like this nowadays.

 

[p51]

You'll be seeing more of that, "anyone with a firearm = evil" shtick is time goes on. Blame the PC-inspired Soccer-Mom crowd for that.

 

[Solo4114]

Actually, that was one of the things I most liked about the season finale of Doctor Who this year, where they made it clear that soldiers have value, and that the Doctor's oft-mentioned dislike of the military is misplaced. It stuck out to me as a rare break from the typical "Ugh. Soldiers. They always cock it up, don't they?" vibe of the show.

 

[NormanF]

Everything about defusing a bomb:
1. The big digital clock
2. Which-wire-to-cut dilemma - e.g. Blue or Red ... as if villains have a standard color scheme
3. The series of quick cuts with close ups as he cuts the wire
4. When the guy is a civilian receiving remote instructions over phone/walkie-talkie
5. It's a cheap plot device to manufacture suspense

1a. The clock beeps every second.
6. 50% chance the person is covered in sweat.
7. If the bomb is disarmed it will be with less than ten seconds remaining.

 

[Helpful Nerd]

1a. The clock beeps every second.
6. 50% chance the person is covered in sweat.
7. If the bomb is disarmed it will be with less than ten seconds remaining.

7a. Sometimes with only 1 second remaining

 

[p51]

7a. Sometimes with only 1 second remaining

I went through some Army EOD training when I was still active duty. I was told by some of the instructors at Aberdeen Proving Ground that sometime in the 80s, there was a civilian EOD guy disarming a classic stereotype 'hollywood timer' bomb and it turned out through either an error on the bomb maker's part or by design (they never found out who made the thing), it went off at about 5 minutes and seemingly random seconds on the clock.
I never got specific details, but they said they looked at what little was left and determined there was no alternate firing meachanism and someone apparently was watching through optics. You never use a radio when doing work like that for reasons that'd take too long to type here. Just shy of five minutes, that was that. EOD guy never knew what happened.

 

[NormanF]

A character finds blood, goo, or some other fluid on the ground and what do they do? Of course they stick their finger in it and then rub their finger and thumb together.

 

[dascoyne]

A character finds blood, goo, or some other fluid on the ground and what do they do? Of course they stick their finger in it and then rub their finger and thumb together.

Then they sniff their fingers and wince.

 

[Zombie_61]

A character finds blood, goo, or some other fluid on the ground and what do they do? Of course they stick their finger in it and then rub their finger and thumb together.

Similarly, they find a transparent plastic bag filled with something they suspect is cocaine (or some other illegal substance) and verify it by cutting a slit in the bag, sticking their finger in, then tasting the substance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[p51]

Similarly, they find a transparent plastic bag filled with something they suspect is cocaine (or some other illegal substance) and verify it by cutting a slit in the bag, sticking their finger in, then tasting the substance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Yeah, no cop would ever do that.
At least on Miami Vice, they had chemical test vials to test purity. I saw a re-run of them doing that the other day, cool detail.

 

[OldKen]

Yep, it's anthrax...

THUD!!!

Similarly, they find a transparent plastic bag filled with something they suspect is cocaine (or some other illegal substance) and verify it by cutting a slit in the bag, sticking their finger in, then tasting the substance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[somerset fox]

As an occasional police technical advisor on film and tv productions, it galls me when the same old cliches are used throughout productions, but it really is ignorance on the part of the directors and ADs, who having watched the tired old cliches trotted out on previous productions, automatically include them in their own productions. There is a whole host of ones trapsed out here in UK productions, and if i'm called on to work on a production, usually insist on them not being included. (the silent uniformed officers tood impassivley at the back of a suspect interview; uniformed desk sergeants at the front counter of police stations etc).

 

[dascoyne]

When a films says that laws of physics describe parallel dimensions (where other worlds presumably exist). No it doesn't.

 

[dascoyne]

"Environmentalist-fantasy" film. e.g. cancer cure is in the rain forest, global warming destroying civilization over the course of a few weeks, etc.

 

[NormanF]

As an occasional police technical advisor on film and tv productions, it galls me when the same old cliches are used throughout productions, but it really is ignorance on the part of the directors and ADs, who having watched the tired old cliches trotted out on previous productions, automatically include them in their own productions. There is a whole host of ones trapsed out here in UK productions, and if i'm called on to work on a production, usually insist on them not being included. (the silent uniformed officers tood impassivley at the back of a suspect interview; uniformed desk sergeants at the front counter of police stations etc).

I hate in US police shows, "you have to wait 24 hours before you can report someone missing." Every time I hear that I want another character to say, "No, that is only in movies and TV".