when someone is swimming underwater, and can see everything perfectly without goggles

also while swimming underwater, expelling a ton of oxygen and exerting muscle for a long time without needing air

6/28/2011 2:59:51 PM

After descending into a life of alcoholism and chain smoking, the hero is still in amazing shape and can immediately snap back into action on very short notice.

6/28/2011 3:02:14 PM

Quiet dialogue transitioning into really loud music upon scene change. This is really bad in action movies where they jack up the volume for theaters anyways.

6/28/2011 3:25:10 PM

People never check the first wipe, or any wipe for that matter. Lots of movie stars with dirty assholes.

6/28/2011 3:56:31 PM

Someone is trying to get into a door secured by a PIN pad.

"Dammit, we need a code"

They brush the buttons to reveal the fingerprints on several of the buttons.

They proceed to press those buttons IN NUMERIC ORDER and they get Access Granted

6/28/2011 4:08:00 PM

In an office there's always at least one character who calls everyone by their last name (or one character who is only known by his/her last name). "Hey, Johnson, we need those files ASAP".

6/28/2011 4:38:04 PM

Quote :

"After descending into a life of alcoholism and chain smoking, the hero is still in amazing shape and can immediately snap back into action on very short notice."

i love that one

6/28/2011 11:14:21 PM

A phone conversation:


"You need to get here right -"
Other person cuts them off and then we here a CLICK.
"-now"

6/29/2011 7:32:22 PM

cinematic views of jets landing/taking off

6/29/2011 8:00:50 PM

and then within 5 seconds of showing the main character on the plane, the flight attendant offers them a drink

Bonus points if she flirts with him and gives him an extra mini bottle saying something along the lines of "you look like you need this"

6/29/2011 8:32:28 PM

We only have one (match/bullet/missile/whatever) left

That's all we need

6/29/2011 9:22:15 PM

The hero kills a bunch of henchmen without a second thought, then won't kill the boss because "enough blood has been shed" or "he isn't worth it" or "he deserves to live with himself" or "he should be turned in to the police" or "I don't want to be like him" or "this won't bring back (person being avenged)".

Bonus points if the boss, once defeated, makes a final lunge to kill the hero once he turns away, then dies by accident.

6/30/2011 12:21:26 AM

rolling around in the grass while making out/bangin

grass is itchy as shit! no one does that unless they want rashes

6/30/2011 12:22:34 AM

while hiding behind cover someone sees another character being killed/executed then looks away and clenches their eyes shut super fucking hard

7/1/2011 3:07:09 PM

When they have a meeting at an airbase and there just happens to be all kinds of aircraft on the tarmac...What's this? A B-2, B-1, and an F-22 all within 50 feet of each other? Amazing.

7/1/2011 4:45:26 PM

self pwnt...I meant "hear" in my last post not "here."

7/1/2011 8:19:35 PM

no, you meant 'here'

7/1/2011 9:18:47 PM

How did you get this phone number?? I don't even have it...

7/4/2011 10:52:29 PM

People always carry cash and never need change at resteraunts

Two eggs and a coffee? Just keep the 20

7/5/2011 9:42:23 AM

hero about to get into some shit:

"Just tell her...."

other person interrupts:

"you'll tell her yourself when you get back"

7/5/2011 9:02:00 PM

just tired of happy endings

7/5/2011 9:57:27 PM

The cool / hip male highschool teacher wears button down shirt with tie, khakis and chuck taylors

7/5/2011 10:36:36 PM

lol it's funny how after almost 20 pages people are still coming up with these cliches. I read them and I'm like "oh yeah, I forgot about that one".

7/6/2011 11:03:38 AM

im liking how the disclaimers have finally subsided from the posts

i may be guilty of it, too, but the whole "this was probably posted but..." statements get a little cumbersome

7/6/2011 11:06:44 AM

both father and son in combat at the same time and one witnesses the other's death

7/6/2011 11:09:22 AM

Students on TV awkwardly carrying empty backpacks. Put some real books in them, at least!

7/6/2011 11:20:49 AM

I'd be down with putting together an entire spec script made entirely of cliches mentioned in this thread.

7/6/2011 10:25:37 PM

the action star survives a building exploding, a plane crash, or a bar fight with 50 henchmen


in the next scene, they have one butterfly bandage on their face and are otherwise unscathed

7/6/2011 10:35:19 PM

using the hand to close someone's eyelids after they die

7/6/2011 10:54:43 PM

^yep, or the eyes actually staying closed when you do that. Sorry, IRL when you try to close a dead persons eyes, they usually spring right back open, or at least semi-open.


Couple of my favorites:

-"You just messed with the wrong (insert menial job here)"

-Crime lords that always have decked out offices underground, in abandoned factories, or underground.

-X's Henchman says to Criminal Y: "X will never let you get away with this, he runs this city." Y says "Not anymore, he doesn't," then opens the door revealing that X is dead. X's Henchman immediately becomes Y's right hand man.

7/7/2011 8:33:17 AM

Someone making a comment about the main character being able to disappear off camera while the scene shows that character walking and a bus/train/etc go by and the guy disappears.

7/7/2011 10:19:42 AM

R rated movies where they show the main female character in a NON NUDE shower scene just to rile up all the teenage fanboys. Tits or GTFO. I don't want to sit thru 90 minutes of Whiteout just to see Kate Beckinsale's naked back.

7/7/2011 10:59:23 AM

it's gotta be an actress that hasn't FDTs yet (or FTDd, if the term 'FDT' itself has become a verb)

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 11:14 AM. Reason : maybe it's FdDT]

7/7/2011 11:13:38 AM

Confident, resourceful, ruthless, action types who just happen to be amazingly skilled in bed, too. Just once, I think it'd be hilarious to see the badass tempered with erectile dysfunction.

7/7/2011 11:13:47 AM

7/7/2011 11:21:48 AM

Stereotypes that are not just cliched, but increasingly obsolete:

child-obsessed, neat-freak, all-caring mother
lispy fashion-conscious homosexual
shut-in, computer-obsessed nerd
sports-loving, beer-drinking dad
tattooed, tuffed-up motorcyclist

7/7/2011 11:31:44 AM

"how do you live in LA and not speak spanish?"

7/7/2011 2:11:29 PM

Quote :

"I don't want to sit thru 90 minutes of Whiteout just to see Kate Beckinsale's naked back."

LMAO... not gonna lie, the only reason I watched that on HBO (or whatever), was because I saw "nudity" listed before it started. When I realized there would probably be no bewbs, I was disappoint, but felt the obligation to finish watching anyway.

7/7/2011 4:31:15 PM

In any kind of scifi movie somebody always whips out a futuristic set of binoculars that give a picture that is the same as, if not pixelated and worse, then what you get from a modern set.

However, they always have little green blips on the side that offer no real information.

7/8/2011 12:16:10 AM

Quote :

"im liking how the disclaimers have finally subsided from the posts i may be guilty of it, too, but the whole "this was probably posted but..." statements get a little cumbersome"

Ha. I know I did that several times just to suppress the inevitable stream of " I already posted that on page x " posts that were sure to follow.

No one really did that so I guess the disclaimers dried up.

7/8/2011 7:44:13 AM

^^As a correlation, Robots that are unable to see in color. They mainly only see in green, black and white, or red.

7/8/2011 9:41:28 AM

not so much a cliché, but a pervasive editing issue

lit cigarette lengths always change in an inverse or disproportional amount when the camera cuts to something else, then cuts back quickly. it's probably almost impossible to master, but i always notice it nonetheless.

7/8/2011 5:34:02 PM

- Lovable but socially awkward male lead character goes to the house of the girl he is interested in after finally gaining the courage to ask her out. She opens the door and they talk for a few mins and right before he tells her how he feels, her [previously unmentioned/unknown] boyfriend (who is usually either a douche or Mr. Perfect) comes up beside her and says "who is it honey?" and puts his arm around her.

- Person hanging on to the edge of a building or long drop or something. The hero comes in and grabs their arm/wrist half a second after they let go.

- When one of the main characters figures something out but doesn't tell the other people in the group and instead insists on showing them after making them wait. Best example I could think of is in The Hangover when the dentist guy realizes that they left Doug on the roof and is like "Hey I know where he is!" and they just drive to get him without anyone else asking about it.

7/11/2011 10:48:47 AM

^they talk about it in the car ride, actually. He just hurriedly gets them all back into the car and once their on the road he shares his revelation.

7/11/2011 10:52:29 AM

people drinking, being surprised by something, and spitting their drink out w/ a spew


never seen it happen IRL

7/11/2011 11:38:06 AM

cars crashing into each other or down a ravine and then instantly exploding


pisses me off every time I see it

7/11/2011 12:11:46 PM

Someone gets bad news from boss/customer/friend and freaks out, beating the living fuck out of them to comedic effect.

Then we flash back and realize they were just imagining that scenario, and they end up taking the news like a bitch.

7/11/2011 12:12:58 PM

It might have been the second Hangover then when he realizes the dude is in the elevator.


Also, any time people get take out, it's always Chinese food and it is always in the little white boxes with red Chinese characters on the side and they always have them left out on the table with two chop sticks sticking out the top. Whenever I get take out/delivery it's always in little round tupperware-like containers and I always dump it onto a plate.

7/11/2011 12:16:36 PM

Mine comes in those tinfoil like containers with the plastic tops that are almost impossible to get back on once you take them off. Fuck those containers.

7/11/2011 12:20:26 PM

^^I actually saw the little white boxes IRL once and was surprised to see them. Maybe there was a film crew somewhere nearby.

7/11/2011 12:23:22 PM