Annoying TV/Movie Tropes

[AuH2O]

It always bugs the hell out of me when all the cops or good guys crack the case and sit around and basically take turns explaining each step of the mystery, as they all seem to have come to the same revelations at the same time.

Every stupid law and order show is like that.
Cop 1: “maybe instead…”
Cop 2: “and then he did this…”
Cop 3: “which is why we found this…”
Cop 4: “and which is why our evidence does this…”

Cop 1: “get the DA, we got our guy”

 

[AuH2O]

Also, when good guys basically have ESP, and has some good idea that might help narrow a search for a hostage or bad guy, but magically they are able to use some dime store psychological assessment or clues to pinpoint the location.

Reacher is a pretty fun show and I enjoyed it, but some of that stuff like that is just over the top ridiculous. He will use a couple basic facts about someone and somehow know the exact location to find someone.

 

[VeloClone]

The 15 minute car chase where the hero (and his GF or family) and bad guy are weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way on one way streets, driving over sidewalks and jumping over cars. All while shooting at each other. Until at the end of the 15 minutes the bad guy crashes and the cops magically show up.

Then the protagonist just walks away... nobody cares how many people were injured, the thousands in property damage, or the danger they put 100s of people in shooting in crowded streets. The hero just walks away and everybody's cool.

Related to this is the chase scene through busy traffic and all of the cars are spaced out and alternating between lanes so cars in the chase can weave back and forth between the lanes without having to slow down.

 

[VeloClone]

Blatant exposition.

Don't get me wrong, exposition is important, and the viewer needs to be given information about who people are and important details to the story, but sometimes it's soooooo lazy, and when it is, it's just an immediate immersion breaker.
Like characters turning on a television that's immediately discussing something incredibly pertinent to the story, or having unrealistic conversations where they overtly share details that wouldn't come up regularly, or that both parties already know. Sometimes entire characters only exist to deliver exposition.

It just can be incredibly ham fisted when done poorly.

The contrast with clever and/or subtle exposition is drastic, because it definitely can be done very well.

Related to this is the phone call from someone to "turn on channel X" because news of interest to them is on. When they turn on the TV it is already on channel X and they can miraculously see the entire news story.

 

[Fishhead]

So many movies with foot chase scenes when the perp and the cop/detective go down a flight of stairs one step at a time. I can go down stairs 2 or 3 steps at a time when I’m in a hurry. One hand on the rail if needed. It’s not that hard

 

[VeloClone]

Used to be a lot more common, but adding squealing tire sound effects when vehicles are on dirt or any unpaved surface when they take off spinning and throwing gravel. You can't squeal tires on loose gravel surfaces.

This even bothered me when I was a kid watching The Dukes of Hazzard.

 

[cyclones500]

How about the “hallway” sequence in action movies where the hero must make it through a long hallway full of bad guys. Usually there is a lot of slow motion involved. That’s been done a million times. The only exception being Rogue One. That one was awesome!

Is that the one when each bad guy "waits his turn" while another guy spars individually with the hero, instead of them ganging up a fighting as a group? I love those.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Is that the one when each bad guy "waits his turn" while another guy spars individually with the hero, instead of them ganging up a fighting as a group? I love those.

Jackie Chan's career depended on this.

And I loved every bit of it.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I'm over having so many characters being able to recite famous quotes, poetry, or entire paragraphs from books. Then, writers double down by having another character respond by continuing on with from where the original person left off.

Who knew some many detectives, assassins, and customer service clerks were so well-versed in Yeats, Emerson, Thoreau, and Sun Tzu.

 

[VeloClone]

How about how the hero (Tom Cruise, anyone) is shown running - sprinting actually - and then is shown sprinting in back to back to back cameras views. The hero can apparently run an unlimited number of top speed 100m sprints and still doesn't have to stop to catch his breath.

 

[CapnCy]

The 15 minute car chase where the hero (and his GF or family) and bad guy are weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way on one way streets, driving over sidewalks and jumping over cars. All while shooting at each other. Until at the end of the 15 minutes the bad guy crashes and the cops magically show up.

Then the protagonist just walks away... nobody cares how many people were injured, the thousands in property damage, or the danger they put 100s of people in shooting in crowded streets. The hero just walks away and everybody's cool.

LOL...exactly. WOuld love to see the sequel that is all about insurance adjusters, HR reviewing protocols with the police, and the lawsuits from all the impacted pedesterians. LOL

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Here are my movie pet peeves…they were maybe cool the first time but have been done to death.

Bad guy is dominating a fight and throws good guy across the room instead of continuing to punch him. Good guy gets time to recover and gets back in the fight.

Driver is talking to passenger instead of watching the road. Something is in the road and they are forced to swerve off road and crash.

So many movies and TV shows violate these!

This one drives me crazy. The hero is just getting pummeled and then the bad guy throws him into a bookcase, or over a desk or down a flight of stairs. And then he'll slowly walk over to them, monologuing and giving the hero time to recover.

Your fists and feet were doing a great job up until that point. Why mess with a winning formula?

 

[NWICY]

Must have been shot on the old Hogans Heroes set. The palm trees in winter scenes in Germany were something.

I'm going to have to look more closely.

 

[drlove]

I'm going to have to look more closely.

you might have to watch quite a few episodes, but they are there. ;-) there are also times when it is suppose to be night time, but it is clearly being filmed when it wasn't dark.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I hate, HATE, when a character does an inexplicably stupid thing just to move the plot forward (like forget to close a door or something like that). Like just an unreasonably stupid thing that no one in their right mind would do within the context of the story.

If anyone is watching White Lotus, Gaitok with the gun last night is a perfect example. Another example is Uncle Billy just handing Mr Potter $5,000 in It’s a Wonderful Life

 

[VeloClone]

you might have to watch quite a few episodes, but they are there. ;-) there are also times when it is suppose to be night time, but it is clearly being filmed when it wasn't dark.

I find it funny in a lot of older movies - especially westerns - where they film exterior night scenes during the day with the aperture closed down to dim down the image.

 

[MJ29]

I didn't read all seven pages, but there was a stretch of movies where a "nerdy" character got a makeover and people were either in awe or didn't recognize the person. And all that really happened was they took their glasses off and got new clothes. Maybe a new haircut.

 

[SolarGarlic]

I can't stand when a character delivers a story, usually traumatic, to another character unprompted. They then start dialogue that sounds more like a short literary story, usually looking into the distance or at the floor.

Character 1: "He was right there." <looking at ground or off into the distance>
Character 2: "Who was?"

1: Dad. <looks up to character 2> Dad was right there.

Then they go into the long literary speech detailing some minute interaction that's stuck with them for years until they're consoled by character 2.

Nobody talks like that.

 

[cytor]

I didn't read all seven pages, but there was a stretch of movies where a "nerdy" character got a makeover and people were either in awe or didn't recognize the person. And all that really happened was they took their glasses off and got new clothes. Maybe a new haircut.

 

[Klubber]

Not slashers but I surmised 30 years ago S.E. Hinton didn't like adults.

Unrelated, but I hope kids are still reading her books nowadays. Outsiders; That Was Then, This Is Now; Rumblefish: all classics IMO.