CURRENT MOVIE CLICHES

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Which gives us Memento, more or less.

Just another reason why this is one of my favs.



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Always think the same thing. Same with sex scenes in which the woman retains her bra. Nobody does that.

This stuff can take me out of the story. Sex scenes when the characters are alone and in bed, then the characters having clothing covering them takes me out of the film. The glimpse of retained underwear, the portrayal of intercourse or getting out of bed post coitus with garments that are covering the business end of the endeavor, that takes me out of the film and makes me snort. I think "How did they pull that off?"



The movie "Bad Teacher" has a terrific scene in satire of this, the "dry humping" scene between Camero Diaz and Justin Timberlake.


But they do it to protect ratings or not to offend a targeted demographic. Maybe the old school tact of panning the camera away to the crashing waves on a beach, a clock, or a piece of art on the wall; then a cut to a post-clean-up moment is better than trying to portray steamy sex without burdening the audience with the thought of exposed genitals. I'm sure that focus groups have made it clear to film producers that this is what audiences are comfortable with. I guess audiences get turned on by sex only as long as they don't have to see or think about genitals.


Is this thread about film cliches or just common film tools, innocent cheats using unrealistic presentation of common scenarios as an expedient to keep the narrative moving and to not offed the audience. The film maker asks of us a mild suspension of disbelief?

My unrealistic film tool (sorry if it has been stated) that takes me out of the film is parking right in front of the destination like a movie theater, restaurant or Hotel. Just pull right up to a deserted curb in the middle of a busy city and exit the auto a few meters from the front entrance. Why not a narrative where the characters struggle to find a decent parking spot or taking forever to find the exit of a labyrinthine parking garage?


The work "cliche" suggests to me the quality of tiredness, hackneyed. To me that means over-represented in film. More common than it should be. My three annoying film cliches are:


1. The Car Chase. Probably reached its culmination in the second "Matrix" movie and maybe jumped the shark in the "Dirty Harry" series where Clint Eastwood parodies the franchise by being chased by a remote control toy (harboring an explosive... hmm maybe presaging drone warfare?) through the steep hills of San Francisco. Still overused. But I guess the concept of the chase will always be a big part of thrilling films and being chased is a primal fear.



2. Machine-gun fights. Oh, the endless ammo. I get it in war pictures. Automatic weapons are not as common a thing in everyday civilian life to warrant their incorporation in so many films. I guess life cannot be interesting without spraying bullets.


3. Ninja chicks. I just watched "Rogue One" for the first time this week and was dismayed that the character of Jyn (Felicity Jones) was nearly indistinguishable to me from the character of Rey (Daisy Ridley) in the last Star Wars movie I had watched (The Force Awakens).



A character like Ripley ("Alien" series) who represents a strong woman, natural leader with a strong natural will and willingness to fight is one thing. Strong female characters is not what I'm talking about.



Rather, it is the emotionally damaged female harboring internal rage that manifests in almost supernatural fighting ability (at least Rey was strong with the Force) and manifests in the demolition of an endless clown car procession of male marauders is getting old. The exploits of the male ninja is not much better. Not every character harboring internal rage need be a supernatural ninja, but maybe I'm alone here...


On the other hand: Killing the dog to establish the heavy in the film works on me every time...



"Roger that"




3. Ninja chicks. I just watched "Rogue One" for the first time this week and was dismayed that the character of Jyn (Felicity Jones) was nearly indistinguishable to me from the character of Rey (Daisy Ridley) in the last Star Wars movie I had watched (The Force Awakens).



A character like Ripley ("Alien" series) who represents a strong woman, natural leader with a strong natural will and willingness to fight is one thing. Strong female characters is not what I'm talking about.



Rather, it is the emotionally damaged female harboring internal rage that manifests in almost supernatural fighting ability (at least Rey was strong with the Force) and manifests in the demolition of an endless clown car procession of male marauders is getting old. The exploits of the male ninja is not much better. Not every character harboring internal rage need be a supernatural ninja, but maybe I'm alone here...


On the other hand: Killing the dog to establish the heavy in the film works on me every time...
I saw Rogue One once (on TV - which is rare for me because I try to always avoid movies on commercial television - but for this one I had no choice).

I thought it was one of the best Star Wars movie I'd seen (since it kind of wasn't a Star Wars movie - i.e. it didn't deal with known characters as the main characters).

It seemed a more serious film as a prologue to Episode IV.



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I enjoyed "Rogue One." I was expecting more of an espionage movie but turned out to be a strait Delta Force war flick with notable action scene homages to "Saving Private Ryan," "Black Hawk Down," Apocalypse Now" and "Full Metal Jacket."



But having the lead Jyn be a ninja so similar to Rey from the other movie (they were released one year apart, "Rogue One" first) seemed a little lazy to me. Over-using the formula. Might have been better by exchanging the part of Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, let her be the Rebel Assassin and him be the abandoned son of the suspected traitor.



I enjoyed "Rogue One." I was expecting more of an espionage movie but turned out to be a strait Delta Force war flick with notable action scene homages to "Saving Private Ryan," "Black Hawk Down," Apocalypse Now" and "Full Metal Jacket."



But having the lead Jyn be a ninja so similar to Rey from the other movie (they were released one year apart, "Rogue One" first) seemed a little lazy to me. Over-using the formula. Might have been better by exchanging the part of Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, let her be the Rebel Assassin and him be the abandoned son of the suspected traitor.

Don't forget the blind samurai gimmick.



I also enjoyed Rogue One. It wasn't great. It wasn't necessary. It was, however, fun. It was OK.



...
My unrealistic film tool (sorry if it has been stated) that takes me out of the film is parking right in front of the destination like a movie theater, restaurant or Hotel. Just pull right up to a deserted curb in the middle of a busy city and exit the auto a few meters from the front entrance. Why not a narrative where the characters struggle to find a decent parking spot or taking forever to find the exit of a labyrinthine parking garage?
...
Good one! I notice that every time. In real life one would never get a parking space right in front of the building-- if parking is even allowed!...



Good one! I notice that every time. In real life one would never get a parking space right in front of the building-- if parking is even allowed!...

Why show them parking at all. Why not just show them pulling int a lot or getting out of a car.



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Regarding the movie ninjas, we know that a Hollywood schtick has jumped the shark when we start to see it satirized in other movies.


I think the Ninja fight (usually involves both guns and martial arts, but for some reason the scenes are always settled by hand-to-hand combat) reached it's culmination in "Raid Redemption" (2011) The scenes in that film were breathtaking and relentless and anything like it since has left me flat.



And we have seen some beautiful parodies of the genre, the best that I an think of are the Jackie Chan-Owen Wilson tandem movies, epecially "Shanghai Noon" (2000) where Chan does an amazing homage to Gene Kelly doing his "Singing In The Rain" dance number. Great stuff!



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This stuff can take me out of the story. Sex scenes when the characters are alone and in bed, then the characters having clothing covering them takes me out of the film. The glimpse of retained underwear, the portrayal of intercourse or getting out of bed post coitus with garments that are covering the business end of the endeavor, that takes me out of the film and makes me snort. I think "How did they pull that off?"
Could it be that perhaps the couple was so hot for each other that that they didn't bother taking their underwear off and wanted to get right down to business?



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The process of undressing before sex has been healthy fodder for humorous moments in film. Wasn't there a scene between Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo in "In The Line of Fire" where the camera is at their ankles and as they undress we are treated to an avalanche of weapons and police gear hitting the floor? Isn't this done in another movie as well?

There is the scene in "Animal House" where Pinto (Tom Hulce) is struggling with his date's bra and ends up with two fistfuls of tissues. There is an undressing scene in "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" where Peter Sellers as Clouseau trying to undress in a sexy fashion and can't get his shirt-cuffs or his tie off.

Then there is the movie cliche of lovers ripping the clothes off each other, shirt buttons flying. How many have practiced this technique in real life?

Does anyone else have any memorable pre-sex undressing scenes in film?

But I have to say that in general, and excluding quickie encounters in public spaces, that it is worth the 30 seconds required to fully disrobe before getting between the sheets for sexual activities.



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Don't forget the blind samurai gimmick.



.
That started (well, it started for me) with the TV show "King Fu" and we all know that Kung Fu is sacred. Like ancient scroll sacred. So, if it is in Kung Fu, we don't question it.






The movie "Bad Teacher" has a terrific scene in satire of this, the "dry humping" scene between Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake.
One thing that gets me with this scene was an audible squeak when he climaxed. They obviously stole this from Frank Zappa's " Jewish Princess". Gulfport Doc will back me up on this.



Average people who dig perfectly rectangular graves (either burying a body or digging one up) with crisp right angles after digging into the Earth for about an hour or so, six feet into the ground, using shovels from Home Depot.



Scenes where the house owner puts his spare key under a flower pot. Yeah, right. Who in their right mind would do this these days.
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Scenes where the house owner puts his spare key under a flower pot. Yeah, right. Who in their right mind would do this these days.
I know that's so crazy. Myself, I put the house keys under the doormat...nobody would look there



Average people who dig perfectly rectangular graves (either burying a body or digging one up) with crisp right angles after digging into the Earth for about an hour or so, six feet into the ground, using shovels from Home Depot.
This is epic. Made me laugh.



I know that's so crazy. Myself, I put the house keys under the doormat...nobody would look there
Hope you’re kidding. We have an entire spare set (we have a lot of keys) in a spot in the backyard that would be impossible to find. Even if found, I defy anyone to figure out how to get into my house using the keys. (Don’t break a window, they’re all alarmed.)