Most cringeworthy Movie Cliche.

[Gary_G]

This really gets on my goat. Extended face to face conversations in the front seats of a car while obliviously driving fast through traffic.

I see that in Real Life !

 

[Puddingbuks]

Romcoms with very wealthy people, gigantic mansions, expensive cars….. so that the average braindead person can dream away.

 

[Plcamp]

Difficult question to answer, but my initial thought is…

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like….victory”

I asked my dearest wife this question and she answered…”every romantic scene in the ‘Sound of Music’. Every one”

 

[kemmler3D]

According to some there are only 6 or 7 basic plots for stories.

Vonnegut mapped them all out IIRC as his master's thesis, but being the genius he was, he claimed a full 8: https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/

 

[Multicore]

Vonnegut mapped them all out IIRC as his master's thesis, but being the genius he was, he claimed a full 8: https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/

There's film of him lecturing this theory using a chalkboard. It's hilarious. You gotta see it. I think part of it might be in the Bob Weide doco Unstuck in Time (which we talked about in part one of your three part podcast series Prole Art Threat, Or Middle Class Revolt?).

But straight commercial Hollywood is usually simpler than Vonnegut's analysis of literature. A surprising number of such movies are in essence Redemption Through Trying Harder stories. Yawn.

 

[Axo1989]

1) Explosions in outer space that go boom
2) Guys (OK -- people, but they're usually guys, like Tom Cruise) who outrun an explosion, often in a semi-enclosed space (e.g, a tunnel).

1) Haha ... any sound in the vacuum of space. And, obviously aerodynamic flight manoeuvres.
2) Tom Cruise running is an epic trope in itself (no explosion necessary).

Spoiler: obligatory gif

 

[Blumlein 88]

Vonnegut mapped them all out IIRC as his master's thesis, but being the genius he was, he claimed a full 8: https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/

Yes, I've read an article sometime in the last couple years where they analyzed like 2000 books or some such with a computer algorithm. It largely confirmed his thesis.

I do wonder how you'd classify say Thomas Pynchon's book Gravity's Rainbow for instance? I've seen a few plot analysis of it over the years. The interesting thing is none of them are similar to each other.

 

[JustJones]

Watching a movie called Extraction, 40 minutes in and most mentioned have been covered.

 

[jkasch]

Hot 110lb female beating the crap out of a muscle-bound 200+lb villain, because she knows karate.

Racking the slide of a pistol (always pointed vertically) for effect when the hero should have chambered a round a long time ago.

 

[mhardy6647]

Yes, I've read an article sometime in the last couple years where they analyzed like 2000 books or some such with a computer algorithm. It largely confirmed his thesis.

I do wonder how you'd classify say Thomas Pynchon's book Gravity's Rainbow for instance? I've seen a few plot analysis of it over the years. The interesting thing is none of them are similar to each other.

Sort of like a plot summary of The Bible (OT and/or NT)
I know I've stated it here before, but you've given me another chance to state it. Gravity's Rainbow remains my single favorite novel.
Reflecting on it in the context of "plot" -- I'm thinking it could be looked at, in essence, as a "quest".

Then again... maybe it was just a 1970s-style statistics text.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Sort of like a plot summary of The Bible (OT and/or NT)
I know I've stated it here before, but you've given me another chance to state it. Gravity's Rainbow remains my single favorite novel.
Reflecting on it in the context of "plot" -- I'm thinking it could be looked at, in essence, as a "quest".

Then again... maybe it was just a 1970s-style statistics text.

Okay, but a quest by whom for what? Lots of characters are on a quest, and I'm not sure the main character is.

 

[mhardy6647]

Okay, but a quest by whom for what? Lots of characters are on a quest, and I'm not sure the main character is.

It's Tyrone Slothrop's... umm... well...
Or the V-2.

Back in the day, folks liked to point out that, since Pynchon's first novel was called V, his second (major) novel must be its sequel -- V-2!

PS V is also a pretty good, and also a fairly nonlinear, bit of prose.

 

[Blumlein 88]

It's Tyrone Slothrop's... umm... well...
Or the V-2.

Back in the day, folks liked to point out that, since Pynchon's first novel was called V, his second (major) novel must be its sequel -- V-2!

PS V is also a pretty good, and also a fairly nonlinear, bit of prose.

Is Tyrone on a quest or is it just everyday business like eating and sleeping for other people? No real quest just a compulsion.

 

[mhardy6647]

Is Tyrone on a quest or is it just everyday business like eating and sleeping for other people? No real quest just a compulsion.

In all seriousness, I don't know.
That said -- I was just reflecting on the topic of this thread and it got me to musing... hmm, it's too bad no one ever made a movie version of Gravity's Rainbow.

... umm...

Please, in the name of all things holy, tell me that no one has...

 

[AdamG]

The sound of the gun hammer being retraced in a Striker fired sidearm that has no actual hammer.

The sound a sword or knife makes when drawn from its sheath,

Repeatedly pumping to reload a pump shotgun that was previously loaded and never shot or unloaded. Can’t be done without ejecting the shell already loaded.

Unlimited Ammo.

Ability to hit the head of a pin while cartwheeling through a crowded room.

Bending a bullets trajectory.

A chest shot from a shotgun that blows the person 10 feet backward in the air.

One swing head decapitation with a samurai sword.

Rifles and handguns with no real recoil.

Rapid fire semiautomatic and full automatic gunfire with no empty shells ejecting.

Gun shootout scenes where hundreds of rounds have been fired but no one slips on the hundreds of shell casings that should be littering the floors. They present a real trip and sprain hazard.

Shooting a high powered rifle with little to no eye relief on the Scope.

Tucking a gun in your waist band after a shootout. Think hot steel against soft skin.

Thinking every Veteran is proficient with guns and shooting. Couldn’t be further from the truth. Most never shot or handled a gun except for a few hours in Bootcamp.

I could go on but I’ll quit here.

 

[Blumlein 88]

One swing head decapitation with a samurai sword.

Tameshigiri is the art of testing samurai swords. In the old days only the finest swordsmen were used for test cutting. And sometimes that test involved cadavers. Some swords would be rated as 5 body cuts. Such might well lop off a head in one swing.

 

[JaMaSt]

Vonnegut mapped them all out IIRC as his master's thesis, but being the genius he was, he claimed a full 8: https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/

"....stories gathered by Missionaries and Ethnographers and Imperialist of other sorts....." LOL

Edit: What a great video. Thx for posting.

 

[Mnyb]

Romcoms with very wealthy people, gigantic mansions, expensive cars….. so that the average braindead person can dream away.

Really everyone’s home in an Hollywood movie are always above their pay grade trope .

Even in cop movies they live in apartments way to big with excellent furniture and in a nice but still cool neighbourhood.

But I think it’s a bit of lazy thinking.

You get nice location shots .
The cameras and crews fits inside the location ( a tiny apartment would be more expensive it has to be built as a set with removable walls and can’t be a real place ).
More room for product placement ( this usually also explains the nice car )

 

[Blumlein 88]

Really everyone’s home in an Hollywood movie are always above their pay grade trope .

Even in cop movies they live in apartments way to big with excellent furniture and in a nice but still cool neighbourhood.

But I think it’s a bit of lazy thinking.

You get nice location shots .
The cameras and crews fits inside the location ( a tiny apartment would be more expensive it has to be built as a set with removable walls and can’t be a real place ).
More room for product placement ( this usually also explains the nice car )

I guess the Blues Brother's got this right. Their apartment wasn't above the pay grade of anyone short of a homeless person.

 

[antcollinet]

One swing head decapitation with a samurai sword.

It worries me that you know this is not possible