CURRENT MOVIE CLICHES

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Well I was watching the movie Superbad, and I noticed how in this movie and Sex Drive (2008), you have teenage guys who get goodlooking girls, who seem to be actually average looking. Unless Johan Hill and Clark Duke are handsome to most women? But if not, maybe Hollywood is more gutsy at being able to cast a hot male actor in a role, compared to women then for teen movies?
In my opinion, a guy doesn’t have to be handsome to get a good-looking girl. (Of course it doesn’t hurt.) He simply has to have confidence & think he’s handsome. Dustin Hoffman wasn’t exactly movie star handsome, but he acted as though he was. No way in real life could he have had Katharine Ross as a girlfriend, but, in The Graduate, it seemed totally plausible.

Jack Nicholson was never exactly a Paul Newman type, but he acted handsome & sexy. Totally believable in Carnal Knowledge that he had relationships with both Ann-Margret & Candice Bergen.

Another actor who comes to mind is the younger (not now) Mickey Rourke. So charismatic in Diner.
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In my opinion, a guy doesn’t have to be handsome to get a good-looking girl. (Of course it doesn’t hurt.) He simply has to have confidence & think he’s handsome. Dustin Hoffman wasn’t exactly movie star handsome, but he acted as though he was. No way in real life could he have had Katharine Ross as a girlfriend, but, in The Graduate, it seemed totally plausible.

Jack Nicholson was never exactly a Paul Newman type, but he acted handsome & sexy. Totally believable in Carnal Knowledge that he had relationships with both Ann-Margret & Candice Bergen.

Another actor who comes to mind is the younger (not now) Mickey Rourke. So charismatic in Diner.
Are you saying pick-up artists are right?



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In older movies, whenever someone reads a telegram, they feel have to say 'stop' after every sentence, even though people are smart enough to figure out it's a new sentence.



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Another one I noticed, like in mafia movies, whenever someone beats someone with a belt, it's suppose to be implied that it hurts a lot, but in real life, a belt hurts less than using your fists.



How were movies EVER plotted without the use of cell phones?? In some films/series it seems like the use of cell phones is the most important part of the action. Heh. Maybe that's the way it is in contemporary life...

And the sooner writers lose the phrase, "I get that", I'll be happy. Hopefully it will quickly go the way of "groovy".



Can't even see where the knob is
- Characters trying to start deep conversations with people playing video games. This would piss me the hell off.

- Every boy is EXTREMELY awkward around girls, while every girl is totally comfortable.

- "I'm just messing with you!"
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- Characters trying to start deep conversations with people playing video games. This would piss me the hell off.

- Every boy is EXTREMELY awkward around girls, while every girl is totally comfortable.

- "I'm just messing with you!"
There aren't any movies where girls are awkward around boys at all?



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How were movies EVER plotted without the use of cell phones?? In some films/series it seems like the use of cell phones is the most important part of the action. Heh. Maybe that's the way it is in contemporary life...

And the sooner writers lose the phrase, "I get that", I'll be happy. Hopefully it will quickly go the way of "groovy".
I think it's the other way around and movies were plotted better without cell phones before, because so many plots cannot happen in mordern times, because a cell phone could solve them now.



I think it's the other way around and movies were plotted better without cell phones before, because so many plots cannot happen in mordern times, because a cell phone could solve them now.
Yes, that's exactly the point I was getting at.



Can't even see where the knob is
There aren't any movies where girls are awkward around boys at all?

We're talking about tropes, not absolutes. In any case, this one, in my perception, is more of a modern one.



The male character being so dumb it's amazing he can even put his pants on correctly, meanwhile the woman who he's involved with is utterly brilliant and has no real conceivable vulnerabilities in herself, (god forbid we script a woman to have flaws), and the relationship between these two "hangers on" seems to rest solely in the matter in the fact that by the end of the movie or episode she could tell him: "You see, I told you so." or "Now what was the lesson you learned today."
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Are you suggesting that there are no flawed women in movies?
No. Not at all. I'm just saying that it's more common to see extremes these days. Male characters being completely flawed, while women not so much. We're talking about current media cliches and this is one I happen to see quite often.

To be fair, it was the inverse in older movies. Women were basically not really scripted too much, they seemed to be "bodies" for a "strong male hero's" affection or not even given much screen time at all. I'm not too keen on that either. As much as I like The Maltese Falcon it drives me a bit up a wall how that woman behaves, (as a femme fatale), I much enjoy other women who take more of a believable command in such roles.

Point I'm painting is it's gone from one extreme to another.

Either the woman is a body for a "strong hunk" to rescue. Or she can't be flawed because if she was the man couldn't take care of himself. In either case, these aren't necessarily "my type" of films. As far as films that deal with real complexities of male-female dynamics, I like the work/style of Cassavetes. Strong characters have weakness, weak characters exhibit strength. Emotion. Not some cookie-cutter script churned out by a producer to be "in vogue" with the current social times. God forbid. Ambiguity has always been a tough sell.



...

To be fair, it was the inverse in older movies. Women were basically not really scripted too much, they seemed to be "bodies" for a "strong male hero's" affection or not even given much screen time at all. I'm not too keen on that either. As much as I like The Maltese Falcon it drives me a bit up a wall how that woman behaves, (as a femme fatale), I much enjoy other women who take more of a believable command in such roles...
You need to watch more old movies! There's plenty of films from the 30s, 40s, 50s etc that had strong female leads. Just check out most any film with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Susan Hayward and 100s of others. (Yes I know you were making a point that women in old movies use to be 'arm hangers' and now it's common for men to be dunces that need a smart woman to save them,...and that's all true)



You need to watch more old movies! There's plenty of films from the 30s, 40s, 50s etc that had strong female leads. Just check out most any film with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Susan Hayward and 100s of others. (Yes I know you were making a point that women in old movies use to be 'arm hangers' and now it's common for men to be dunces that need a smart woman to save them,...and that's all true)
Right. Gone with the Wind to name just one. Fiddle-dee-dee!



You need to watch more old movies! There's plenty of films from the 30s, 40s, 50s etc that had strong female leads. Just check out most any film with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Susan Hayward and 100s of others. (Yes I know you were making a point that women in old movies use to be 'arm hangers' and now it's common for men to be dunces that need a smart woman to save them,...and that's all true)
I'm well aware... but when I think of the "Classic Hollywood trope" I'm often thinking of Ingrid Bergman type figures such as her role in Casablanca. She literally gives her mind to two men and is finally told by a man (Humphrey Bogart) at the end of the film what her life decision should be. Romantic? As hell. But being sympathetic to a female role it seems a bit demeaning in leu of a more modern age where woman have shown themselves to have a mind of their own and *gasp* completely 100% competent. So yes, you've given me three and apparently 100+ more to say, all of which I'm not arguing, as, (much like most people on these boards), the Classic Hollywood Cinema tends to be a "Mommy and Daddy" of us all. Still I feel this way about many of such narratives, as I should be entitled to my opinion.



Another one I noticed, like in mafia movies, whenever someone beats someone with a belt, it's suppose to be implied that it hurts a lot, but in real life, a belt hurts less than using your fists.

Clearly, you've never been beaten with a belt.



I'm well aware... but when I think of the "Classic Hollywood trope" I'm often thinking of Ingrid Bergman type figures such as her role in Casablanca. She literally gives her mind to two men and is finally told by a man (Humphrey Bogart) at the end of the film what her life decision should be. Romantic? As hell. But being sympathetic to a female role it seems a bit demeaning in leu of a more modern age where woman have shown themselves to have a mind of their own and *gasp* completely 100% competent. So yes, you've given me three and apparently 100+ more to say, all of which I'm not arguing, as, (much like most people on these boards), the Classic Hollywood Cinema tends to be a "Mommy and Daddy" of us all. Still I feel this way about many of such narratives, as I should be entitled to my opinion.
Dog Star Man, I was agreeing with you, then added that if you like films with strong female leads check out more old Hollywood films...not all of them or even the majority of them but there's a lot of good under seen films with strong female leads.



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Clearly, you've never been beaten with a belt.
Well it's just fists have power it seems, but I can do more research into it.