CURRENT MOVIE CLICHES

Tools    





We had a bat in our house once - flew in through the back door.
I was relying on our dog to hunt him down, but instead the dog just barked at me.
Found the bat hanging from the woodwork around window in 2nd floor bedroom (same color bat as woodwork).
Got him in a fishing net that had a big hole in it, but bat got tangled (good thing!).
Ran with him in the net outside for release. He was a cute little fella!



We had a bat in our house once - flew in through the back door.
I was relying on our dog to hunt him down, but instead the dog just barked at me.
Found the bat hanging from the woodwork around window in 2nd floor bedroom (same color bat as woodwork).
Got him in a fishing net that had a big hole in it, but bat got tangled (good thing!).
Ran with him in the net outside for release. He was a cute little fella!
Ugh. One time husband was away. A bat flew into the bedroom & a bat handler had to come in the middle of the night. Next night, same thing. We finally realized bedroom window was open & it had no screen. This cost me quite a few hundred dollars.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Cops never bringing gloves to a crime scene, and using hankerchiefs to touch things.
Or using something handy to pick up a gun. I forget what though.



Oh that's right. Thank you.





Alright already, I got it. Damn.



THE MEGA MACGUFFIN

There is the incidental MacGuffin, the thing which nominally motivates the action, but kind of falls away like a booster rocket (e.g., the briefcase in *Pulp Fiction*). There is a more developed MacGuffin which provides motivation to characters and which speaks to the content/tone of the story. Perhaps we would call this a medium MacGuffin(?), however, I am partial to the Sausage MacGuffin with Egg. Then, there is the MEGA MACGUFFIN which turns up the volume to 11 - Ultimate Stakes. Lord of the Rings has a MEGA MACGUFFIN. The Infinity Stones are a MEGA MACGUFFIN. The Mother Boxes in Justice League are a MEGA MACGUFFIN.

The MEGA MACGUFFIN is a source of ultimate power and destruction. Usually a large powerful man with a lot of armor is after the thing with a group of heroes attempting to stop him from reunifying with what was once his. Usually no more meaningful than an incidental MacGuffin, this MacGuffin compensates by having everything in the universe depend on it.

MEGA MACGUFFINS have a symmetry of form and content (it's a box, it's a rock, it's a ring that controls other rings) and purpose (elements of reality, folk-psychological states or purposes).



We had a bat in our house once - flew in through the back door.
I was relying on our dog to hunt him down, but instead the dog just barked at me.
Found the bat hanging from the woodwork around window in 2nd floor bedroom (same color bat as woodwork).
Got him in a fishing net that had a big hole in it, but bat got tangled (good thing!).
Ran with him in the net outside for release. He was a cute little fella!
I love bats. Would have asked him to stay with me. We could hang from the inversion table together.



I love bats. Would have asked him to stay with me. We could hang from the inversion table together.
Ugh, imagine getting bitten by a bat.



Ugh, imagine getting bitten by a bat.
No, to be fair, I appreciate that. Unhygienic and unsafe etc. Still, they are gorgeous unique creatures. With a sixth sense, no less. Back when we had a house in Greece, there were lots flying around/hanging off my balcony, and we’d always feed them.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Worst thing about not having screens would be bats flying into the house. We’re almost fully screened, but, once or twice, an unscreened window has been left open & bats have flown in. I am TERRIFIED of bats.

When I was a kid, I was at a summer camp in the Adirondacks and a bat flew into the dining hall while all the kids were in there. The counselors had a heck of a time keeping all the kids calm, while trying to get the bat out at the same time.

Somehow with all of my crazy phobias, fear of bats isn't one of them.

Hubby even just bought me a set of Yoki Planets bat figures for the holidays. I think they're adorable.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.






I like bats too. In Australia we have these very large ones called fruit bats or flying foxes, with a wingspan up to 1 meter (3ft). Where I live during the spring and summer months, during early evenings, you can see them flying over in the thousands. As far as I know they do carry diseases which can be deadly to humans. But for the most part they're really shy, only come out at night and completely avoid people at all times. You'd hardly even know they existed. One of the least deadly and scary critters we have here, of which there are many.





I like bats too. In Australia we have these very large ones called fruit bats or flying foxes, with a wingspan up to 1 meter (3ft). Where I live during the spring and summer months, during early evenings, you can see them flying over in the thousands. As far as I know they do carry diseases which can be deadly to humans. But for the most part they're really shy, only come out at night and completely avoid people at all times. You'd hardly even know they existed. One of the least deadly and scary critters we have here, of which there are many.
Ugh. Remind me not to relocate to Oz.

Bats carry rabies & they can infect animals as well as humans.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Whenever there is a movie about Twins who were raised in different parts of the world, and one has to impersonate the other, no one seems notice the change in accent. I.e. Double Impact (1991), Twin Dragons (1992), Maximum Risk (1996), etc.



TRUE LOVE MUST DIE

A couple the finds joy only for one of them to die. It's so bad that you start to sorry when things are going too well for a fictional couple. "Damn, this is really going great. Which one are they going to kill off?" Joss Whedon leaned on this one a lot. All happy couples are doomed in the Whedon-verse. Have a hook-up, maybe a torrid affair, pine from a distance, but for the love of all that is good and holy do not become a happy couple if you value your life.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
One cliche that is sometimes picked on that I do not understand is the age gap romance. i.e. James Bond movies, for one example. I don't understand why this has become a bad cliche to viewers, but maybe it is, and I am missing something?



One cliche that is sometimes picked on that I do not understand is the age gap romance. i.e. James Bond movies, for one example. I don't understand why this has become a bad cliche to viewers, but maybe it is, and I am missing something?
The age gap romance is the last prejudice people can openly espouse without looking like a complete bigot. Not talking about illegal underage romance.



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
Some comedy clichés I'm getting tired of:

1. Running gags without variation. A really good comedy would know how to take a gag that works really well and make it increasingly absurd every time it pops up again, which makes it even funnier and memorable. Airplane! was incredibly successful at this formula. But nowadays when they have a running gag, they just repeat it with little to no twist, making it seem like they're repeating it only because they're trying to fill time.

2. Superfluous celebrity cameos. Even Spy as funny as I found it, I kinda cringed when they suddenly had a whole unfunny scene dedicated to 50 Cent where he doesn't do or say anything amusing whatsoever.

3. Making fun of someone's name. This was maybe funny in Guardians Of The Galaxy. But after I see it pop up over and over again it gets really old. I kinda winced when they did this gag in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Why is the villain's name being Doctor Octopus inherently funny? It's been a commonly accepted name for decades, some teens finding it goofy isn't suddenly gonna make it hysterical.

4. Annoying quirky kid who never stops talking. I saw Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Spider-Man: No Way Home very close to each other, so it got especially irritating seeing the same kind of character in them who's supposed to be endearingly goofy and silly but instead just grates on my nerves.
__________________



One cliche that is sometimes picked on that I do not understand is the age gap romance. i.e. James Bond movies, for one example. I don't understand why this has become a bad cliche to viewers, but maybe it is, and I am missing something?
Yeah, I too don't understand why that would be a cliche. Many women are attracted to men much older than they. It's pretty commonplace.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Yeah, I too don't understand why that would be a cliche. Many women are attracted to men much older than they. It's pretty commonplace.
I thought it was commonplace. But in the filmmaking community, where I am, you hear people say, don't fall into the cliche of casting actors with an age gap. So some see it as a cliche I guess then.



I thought it was commonplace. But in the filmmaking community, where I am, you hear people say, don't fall into the cliche of casting actors with an age gap. So some see it as a cliche I guess then.

One problem with movie cliches is that they sometimes reflect real world patterns. When a film cliche shows us a real world cliche, the artistic problem is like that of depicting boredom in a way that bores the audience. One might argue that if a film tells us what is true, we should not object to cliche reference, but accept that the film is telling us how it is. If, however, the stock device throws us out of the story, however, the story teller needs to find a new way to tell the truth (e.g., a lot of people of means who retire may indeed, buy a boat, but there is a lot of other stuff they do too).



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
That makes sense. Thanks for the good explanation there. Another cliche is that workplace romances are accepted in the movie, unless they are accepted in rea life too, more often than one might think?