TV/Movie tropes that annoy you

[The Time Ranger]

What I mean is what cliché's, tropes or events that occur often in TV shows and movies annoy you, whether it be a certain stereotype that keeps popping up or maybe it's the constant reboots which irk you. Are there certain things that mildly annoy you or will they put you off watching? Some of mine are below.

 

The hacker. The hacker will be a computer genius obviously, but for people who are often fighting against "The Man" they seem to conform to a certain image and conformity. They will often be awkward, maybe have glasses, speak rapidly and have a depreciating sense of humour. Examples would include Felicity from Arrow and the guy who replaced her, I stopped watching so I can't recall his name. Penelope from Criminal Minds is another example. Why can't there be more hackers like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish, is it a conspiracy, did the stereotype hackers ruin the chances of a sequel to that great movie, did they hack the mainframe and delete the excel document or something like that?, we will never know.

 

When a big guy gets punched in the face and it doesn't faze him, he will usually smile or laugh at the good guy and throw him across the room. This is seen in Indiana Jones Raiders Of The Lost Arc when Indy is fighting the big Nazi in the airfield who is apparently made of granite. Oddjob from Goldeneye is another offender. They may be big but they are still flesh and blood. If they get a swing at the hinge of the jaw they are going down, end of.

 

Lack of originality and the over reliance on reboots and sequels. Ghostbusters 2016 and A Good Day To Die Hard spring to mind, both poor movies imo and both examples of a needless reboot and a sequel too far. I understand they are bringing back Mcgyver, Lethal Weapon and Magnum PI for TV. I've only seen the Lethal Weapon movies and I'm not going to cast judgement on these remakes without having seen them but it would be nice to see more original shows. What's going to happen in the future, are they going to reboot original shows from now in 20 years? I get that the bottom line for studios is profits, they are businesses after all, but as a consumer I'd like to see something fresh, not just something cashing in on peoples nostalgia. I know that it is a golden age for TV at the moment but they are still some real blunders of shows being made.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Neon_Dreaming

[Algonquin Assassin]

-Needless sequels. Joe Dirt 2 comes to mind. I love the original Joe Dirt, but when I saw the sequel I wanted to gouge out my eyes it was so terrible. It's bad enough when sequels f*ck up without the original cast, but this one managed the feat even with (most of) the original intact.

I guess my point is don't give sequels to movies that don't need them.

-The classic cliche that exists in most comedies that at some point the protagonist will have a spat with one of their friends, spend the next hour or so devising a way to make things right, they make up, happy ending. Just once I would like to see friends never make up.

-Why do dumb f*cks in horror movies run in the complete opposite direction to where they should? If some crazed pyscho is inside your house don't run UP the stairs.

-Another horror cliche. Reliance on blood and gore. Some of the greatest horror movies ever made barely have to gross the audience out to scare them.

[darthYENIK]

My big gripe with a lot of more action shows is the death of characters. You don't see a body, you can be pretty sure they're coming back in the third act. For once I want to not see a character die and then never see them. Not just once, though, a lot more.

 

Edit: Also, sex scenes. Yeah, I love seeing Hollywood stars naked and grinding each other. But I hate a movie grinding (no pun intended) to a halt, so we can have a minute long scene where the stars roll around and make out. 90% of them are gratuitous and do nothing for the story. I feel like we've thankfully gotten past that as a society, though. You don't see many movies with sex scenes that don't service the story these days. Sex scenes that happen, and then you look back and say to yourself, "that was pointless".

Edited November 6, 2016 by darthYENIK

[Joemoetoe]

When a show presents its characters as badasses but the action sucks. Like in once upon a time.

[Mister Pink]

Gold old zoom and enhance, lol. I even seen it a good film recently (can't think of the name) but I reckon they were being dead-pan ironic.

 

One thing that annoys me. Well it doesn't annoy me so much as it's just something I noticed is quick deaths. In reality for a lot of things the human body can be quite resilient and a lot of deaths in films occur instantly no matter where on the body the person is injured. I probably kind of prefer it that way in a sense and I think more realistic deaths would almost be too harrowing. However, a mild shift towards realism would be nice. It doesn't have to be graphic just knowing that most people don't die so quickly as is often depicted in Hollywood.

 

Back to zoom and enhance...

 

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by Mister Pink

[darthYENIK]

In the same vein as quick deaths, knock outs during a fight.

 

How many movies or shows have one character fighting a group of people and at the end of the fight every one of the assailants is laying on the floor unconscious. Out like a light. Sometimes it's a dozen people. That's not how it works in real life. Being knocked out is different every time. Sometimes you're out and you're standing. Sometimes you are out like a light snoring on the ground. Sometimes you get knocked out, you fall, and then you pop right back up not knowing you even went down. Generally if someone goes down and stays down for more than a minute, that person's life is probably in danger. They could be dying. At the very least they have a concussion that will change their life forever. But movies act like, it's okay, they're just sleeping.

[The Dedito Gae]

In the same vein as quick deaths, knock outs during a fight.

 

How many movies or shows have one character fighting a group of people and at the end of the fight every one of the assailants is laying on the floor unconscious. Out like a light. Sometimes it's a dozen people. That's not how it works in real life. Being knocked out is different every time. Sometimes you're out and you're standing. Sometimes you are out like a light snoring on the ground. Sometimes you get knocked out, you fall, and then you pop right back up not knowing you even went down. Generally if someone goes down and stays down for more than a minute, that person's life is probably in danger. They could be dying. At the very least they have a concussion that will change their life forever. But movies act like, it's okay, they're just sleeping.

Lol ye, i knew a guy that got knocked out in a street fight and his head got so swollen he looked like a f*cking alien, he was in the hospital like a month and stuff and always had hedaches after that, if it was a movie he would have got up embarrased but no, he almost dies and apparently he's gonna feel the consequences for the rest of his life.

 

Let's just say that Martin Riggs would have probably died when he got knocked out by the south africans baddies in Lethal Weapon 2.

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

Important phone calls always break up, the guy about to die always has a wife and kid or kid on the way, sports cars always revving before they stop at the destination in the scene, fake engine noises in chases, big car explosions, protagonist is always saved at the last minute when they would've died or gotten killed, sex scenes, tripping when running away from antagonist, rich characters always pricks, black characters always religious, male gay characters are either always camp or they liked to play with dolls and dress up when they were little even if they didn't turn out to be that feminine (e.g. gay singer in Empire), I could go on and on...

Edited November 8, 2016 by Scaglietti

[Sombra]

the last episode i watched in the walking dead was the ep with lennie kerk and the sheep or whatever

 

anyway they all look in very good condition especially in a zombie apocalypse im glad they evidently stocked up on toothpaste and detergent so they can be clean and dressed well for the zombies

[RogerWho]

People aiming/shooting handguns with one hand. The only exception are common policemen who are about to die, and scared women/children clutching a tiny pea shooter with their eyes closed.

 

 

Events related to bodily injury, such as:

 

- Hitting someone on the head to knock them out for minutes or even hours. Then they wake up and they're completely fine, no brain damage or anything. Some characters get knocked out like this over and over. I watched something not long ago, don't remember what it was, but I was counting the number of knock-outs on one character and it was pretty ridiculous.

 

- Stabbed? Impaled? Shot? QUICKLY GET THE FOREIGN OBJECT OUT, preferably with dirty fingers! Because if we get it out RIGHT NOW, it'll make for immediate drama. No matter the person will die of blood loss / blood poisoning later, that's off camera (alternatively, it'll make an effective dying scene).

 

 

Women always leaving their bras on during sex scenes. L-shaped bed sheets for the scene afterwards.

 

 

Every sitcom used to do the idiotic "bet" episodes, where two people have some retarded bet. It's usually a man and a woman an the bet is something female-related. The man of course completely cocks up and has to apologize at the end. I wonder if sitcoms of today stopped doing that crap.

 

Gold old zoom and enhance

Oh geez, that's so insulting to me as a photographer, especially when they use today's technology and not some sci-fi stuff. Anyway:

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by RogerWho

[Zondar]

the last episode i watched in the walking dead was the ep with lennie kerk and the sheep or whatever

 

anyway they all look in very good condition especially in a zombie apocalypse im glad they evidently stocked up on toothpaste and detergent so they can be clean and dressed well for the zombies

They also stocked up on car care consumables too. Gotta make sure your Hyundai is shiny before fighting them zombies...

[Gnocchi Flip Flops]

Surprised the pos didn't break down either. I mean, it's a Hyundai!

[Mister Pink]

 

Women always leaving their bras on during sex scenes. L-shaped bed sheets for the scene afterwards.

 

 

Every sitcom used to do the idiotic "bet" episodes, where two people have some retarded bet. It's usually a man and a woman an the bet is something female-related. The man of course completely cocks up and has to apologize at the end. I wonder if sitcoms of today stopped doing that crap.

 

Gold old zoom and enhance

 

Oh geez, that's so insulting to me as a photographer, especially when they use today's technology and not some sci-fi stuff. Anyway:

Red Dwarf vid snip

 

I met an actress that insisted that the bra comes off as this bothered her too. As you may guess, there was zero complaints.

 

And, I didn't know you are a photographer too But yes, I love how they create something sharp out of nothing! .. Also classic Red Dwarf scene!

Edited November 8, 2016 by Mister Pink

[RogerWho]

And, I didn't know you are a photographer too But yes, I love how they create something sharp out of nothing! .. Also classic Red Dwarf scene!

Fortunately the clients I've had when I was doing it commercially never asked me to enhance some tiny detail and blast it up to billboard size. I don't know how I'd explain it

 

If it's played completely straight tho...

 

Yea. A hundred-fold magnification for starters.

 

Also.

 

It's certainly been getting better in the last decade or so, but the dumb things we've seen about anything that has something to do with video games > See here, unfortunately the video's down already.

 

Or computers in general.

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by RogerWho

[Voodoo]

1) Every time a large monster/animal/creature/dragon/dinosaur or whatever is introduced, there always has to be a scene where it gets right up in the camera and roars before attacking. If something is going to bite your head off, it's not going to roar for dramatic effect first. I blame Jurassic Park.

 

2) The future always has to be foggy or steamy. If you haven't noticed this already, you will now.

 

3) Tech always has to beep or click on keystrokes or screen rendering. If my devices beeped with every input/output like devices in film and TV, it would drive me insane.

 

4) Information on screens slow scrolling or displaying one character at a time. This is especially annoying in films or shows set in the future since obviously, current tech is capable of displaying a screen of text immediately. Who is going to sit there and watch a screen fill with text like that? It's probably beeping while it does, too.

[RogerWho]

1) Every time a large monster/animal/creature/dragon/dinosaur or whatever is introduced, there always has to be a scene where it gets right up in the camera and roars before attacking.

Oh geez I forgot about this. EVERY. F*CKING. TIME. Look directly at the protagonist/camera - short pause - RROOARR

 

0:25. It's so stupid it's not even worth making fun of. It's so overplayed it couldn't even be parodied.

 

Someone needs to make a montage of this nonsense and show to the Hollywood dimwits how idiotic it is.

 

4) Information on screens slow scrolling or displaying one character at a time.

Eh, to be fair, video games still do that for some reason, especially JRPGs. It drives me bonkers. Maybe when the Japanese take over the world, every piece of software will need to implement this nonsense.

Edited November 8, 2016 by RogerWho

[Voodoo]

A few more:

 

Every time someone has a bullet dug out of them, the surgeon/doctor/veterinarian or whoever has to drop it from a few inches height into a metal cup or pan for that "plink" sound. Count back how many times you've heard that "plink" sound.

 

The constant slide pulls on pistols and re-racks of pump shotguns in combat situations. What kind of idiot doesn't already have a round in the chamber and the safety on? Sometimes they work the pump or slide multiple times just for effect but you never see a casing eject. Don't even get me started on firing more rounds than the mag could hold.

 

Flipping the cylinder shut on a revolver. Someone probably thought it looked cool at some point but it's terrible for the revolver and it bugs the sh*t out of me. Also, cocking the hammer on double-action revolvers. Just pull the f*cking trigger.

 

Black guys in 70s and 80s movies always have to be chewing gum. Usually really actively and talking over it.

 

Peeves more than tropes, here - The headrests and rear view mirrors are always removed in cars where scenes are shot. If you look at the steering wheels during car shots , they are almost never straight. It also bugs me when the drivers are nervously jiggling the wheel while in dialog. The car would be all over the road.

[Sombra]

^ also guns that seem to have a never ending magazine requiring no reloads whatsoever but whenever the enemy gets close you can guarantee theyll run out of ammo

[LincolnClay]

- When characters who CLEARLY died episodes before just show up like "Oh hi, wassup? Yeah, just a flesh wound"

- That most action movie heroes can apparently manipulate gravity and slow down time (like when a bullet is fired at someone and they miraculously have time to dodge it)

- When enemies are so bad at shooting you'd think they were secretly stormtroopers under neath a disguise.

Edited November 10, 2016 by TheGamingPr025

[Voodoo]

Yeah, that's a good one. Hundreds of rounds fired and not one hits the protags.

 

 

Shotguns fired at buildings or used for mid to long range engagements is another.

[Gay Tony]

Horror sequels when they kill off all the survivor/s of the previous entry within less than 5 minutes after it starts.

[rtie]

Needless happy endings, it just appeases to pussies who need validation that everything is going to be okay.

[Voodoo]

Whenever lights are turned on or off in a large space, they have to go sequentially and make a huge echoey sound like a giant metal knife switch or breaker has been thrown in an empty warehouse. They hit one switch and it's CLUNK... CLUNK... CLUNK... as the lights go on or off one at a time. The worst is when this happens in small spaces just for effect or even for street lamps. Imagine if every time you turned a light on or off it did that.

[The Time Ranger]

I've seen this in numerous cop shows. When a SWAT team is about to raid a building and the main characters lead the way with only a pistol and body armour. Why not let the heavily armed team with rifles, full body armour and shields go in first? Why not let the people trained specifically for these situations lead the way?

[Candy_Licker]

^ good shout. Yeah it's always the badass heroes in light armor who go in first.

 

These are very obvious ones, but they annoy me to no end:

 

Heroes avoiding a castastophe at the very last second, like successfully defusing a bomb with a time display with only 2 seconds left on the clock. Seriously, it's just ridiculous and not dramatic.

And of course the intimate talk between protagonists when one is dying, where they always die at the right time after they shared their important revelation/confession/final words.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Candy_Licker

[Voodoo]

How about that overused big drum sound in action sequences? Every action film trailer has them too, usually timed for every cut. Something happens - BOOM boom... baboom BOOM BOOM.

 

"In a world..."

 

 

[The Dedito Gae]

When movie posters/trailers use the same old metal looking font on top of a black background... they all look the f*cking same.

[Homemade Dynamite]

Adaptations of fantastical beings focused squarely on boring old humans. The Thor movies suffered from this (though I still enjoyed the first one). I'm so glad that Ragnarok will be focusing on fantastical side of things, and the only two humans in the story, Hulk and Doctor Strange, are badasses who likely won't detract from the overall plot.

[Algonquin Assassin]

-I'm not a fan of movies with post-credits scenes. When I go to the movies I never stay back to watch the credits so it's kinda annoying to learn if they contain a clue to a possible sequel or whatever.

 

-Also speaking of sequels I don't like sequels that don't have returning characters (unless there's a reason) or the story has no relationship with the prior movie(s).

[GTA-Biker]

-Guns with infinite ammo

 

 

-Vehicles with the wrong engine sound (for example,every sports bike having I4 sound)

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by GTA-Biker