Things you're tired of seeing in movies

Characters who make incredibly long journeys, even moving between countries and continents, seemingly instantaneously. No spoilers, but the most recent episode of Monarch (ep 6), has this in spades. Characters in the US seemingly make journeys that should have taken days, appearing instantaneously across the world. I know it keeps the plot moving, but stretches credibility greatly.
 
Our hero who seems to be separated/divorced from his ex and promises to be at his kid’s birthday party/play/music performance only to miss it because he’s unexpectedly involved in some major undercover operation. He can’t explain to his ex, but all will be resolved and he will get back with her.
 
Sluis Van Shipyards said:
You also have to have the scene where the ex is on the phone saying "You always do this to him! You're never around! Oh I'm sure you have a 'real good excuse' this time!" while the hero is being chased in a car by bad guys.
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I'd love to be the fly on the wall when he gets back later and asks "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED???!! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT OUR SON TO REMEMBER ME FOR??!! WASN'T THE DIVORCE ENOUGH FOR YOU??!!""
 
Yorkie Fett said:
Our hero who seems to be separated/divorced from his ex and promises to be at his kid’s birthday party/play/music performance only to miss it because he’s unexpectedly involved in some major undercover operation. He can’t explain to his ex, but all will be resolved and he will get back with her.
Click to expand...
Don't forget when the hero is captured the villain threatens to kill his wife/family in one of the following ways:

1. She calls him when he's restrained, and they hold the phone to his ear so he can have a normal conversation with her. (If it's the 1980's she's in the kitchen). Of course he ends with "I love you." And she thinks it's weird. Afterwards the villain makes an indirect threat by saying he has a lovely wife/family.

2. The hero is restrained, but the villain is on his comms talking to a sniper who is ready to take out his wife or kid. And you get the zoomed crosshair shot of the wife in the kitchen or the kid in a playground.

3. The hero is restrained and the villain shows him a live video of his wife or kid. The villain is on the phone with a stranger in the video (who might be the guy holding the camera or a different guy watching the wife/kid) who is stalking the wife/kid ready for instructions from the villain to do something bad.

I guess it really depends on the villain's budget.
 
All of this talk about the hero being divorced and not there for his kid and the villain threatening the kid and/or wife is very timely because I just watched White House Down last night and it featured all of those tropes. Channing Tatum's character is divorced and missed his kid's talent show. Later, his kid is held hostage by the bad guys and they eventually figure out she's his kid, so they threaten to kill her if he, Channing, doesn't produce the President.
 
dascoyne said:
Don't forget when the hero is captured the villain threatens to kill his wife/family in one of the following ways:

1. She calls him when he's restrained, and they hold the phone to his ear so he can have a normal conversation with her. (If it's the 1980's she's in the kitchen). Of course he ends with "I love you." And she thinks it's weird. Afterwards the villain makes an indirect threat by saying he has a lovely wife/family.

2. The hero is restrained, but the villain is on his comms talking to a sniper who is ready to take out his wife or kid. And you get the zoomed crosshair shot of the wife in the kitchen or the kid in a playground.

3. The hero is restrained and the villain shows him a live video of his wife or kid. The villain is on the phone with a stranger in the video (who might be the guy holding the camera or a different guy watching the wife/kid) who is stalking the wife/kid ready for instructions from the villain to do something bad.

I guess it really depends on the villain's budget.
Click to expand...
What I'd like to see:

The villain has the wife and/ or children in the crosshairs-

Villain: "If you do not cooperate, I'll have my man pull the trigger".

Hero: "..."

Villain: "You don't think I'll do it?!!"

Hero: "That's no my wife or kids, pal."

Villain contacts his henchman and asks to confirm address.

Villain: "You moron!!! I said 639 SOUTH Main Street!!!!"
 
pengbuzz said:
What I'd like to see:

The villain has the wife and/ or children in the crosshairs-

Villain: "If you do not cooperate, I'll have my man pull the trigger".

Hero: "..."

Villain: "You don't think I'll do it?!!"

Hero: "That's no my wife or kids, pal."

Villain contacts his henchman and asks to confirm address.

Villain: "You moron!!! I said 639 SOUTH Main Street!!!!"
Click to expand...

They would work in a comedy, but played straight the Hero isn't going to let innocent bystanders get hurt either. I just realized this scenario is a version of the trolley problem. Does your answer change if you know the people on the track?
 
Lightning said:
They would work in a comedy, but played straight the Hero isn't going to let innocent bystanders get hurt either. I just realized this scenario is a version of the trolley problem. Does your answer change if you know the people on the track?
Click to expand...

Just ask this man:

1703006732213.png


1703006707138.png
 
The repeated use of the same old threadworn, moldy, deity names used for "exotic" or "alien" powerful characters. What would extraterrestrials know about a distant ancient culture from a planet that they never encountered before? Why would they coincidentally have identical names?

Oh yes: a Greek Hercules. Really?

And then there is the whole mispronounced G thing. It's "ghen E sis" not "jenisis". There is no J in Greek, Latin, Hebrew or Aramaic. It is an old writer's trick to take items from the Bible when ideas run out. This only works well if the borrowing is not obvious.
 
drusselmeyer said:
The repeated use of the same old threadworn, moldy, deity names used for "exotic" or "alien" powerful characters. What would extraterrestrials know about a distant ancient culture from a planet that they never encountered before? Why would they coincidentally have identical names?

Oh yes: a Greek Hercules. Really?

And then there is the whole mispronounced G thing. It's "ghen E sis" not "jenisis". There is no J in Greek, Latin, Hebrew or Aramaic. It is an old writer's trick to take items from the Bible when ideas run out. This only works well if the borrowing is not obvious.
Click to expand...
It's actually Bereshith.
 
somerset fox said:
Characters who make incredibly long journeys, even moving between countries and continents, seemingly instantaneously. No spoilers, but the most recent episode of Monarch (ep 6), has this in spades. Characters in the US seemingly make journeys that should have taken days, appearing instantaneously across the world. I know it keeps the plot moving, but stretches credibility greatly.
Click to expand...
Sergio Leone did this with A Few Dollars More...but on horseback!
 
Last edited:
somerset fox said:
Characters who make incredibly long journeys, even moving between countries and continents, seemingly instantaneously. No spoilers, but the most recent episode of Monarch (ep 6), has this in spades. Characters in the US seemingly make journeys that should have taken days, appearing instantaneously across the world. I know it keeps the plot moving, but stretches credibility greatly.
Click to expand...
It was really bad in the last season of Game of Thrones. In previous seasons it would take the characters the entire season to travel just 100 yards, but in the last season, characters can travel hundreds of miles seemingly instantaneously. The worst was the expedition beyond The Wall. The group that set out on the expedition had clearly traveled for a good while, but when they got in trouble they were all of a sudden able to have one of their party run not only all the way back to The Wall but beyond that to get help. And that all conveniently happens before our beleaguered heroes are wiped out by hordes of zombies.
 
Sluis Van Shipyards said:
Undercover people who constantly touch their ear pieces and are painfully obvious in their tail of a bad guy. I watched that series Obliterated on Netflix and these guys were supposed to be THE top tier operators and they acted like amateurs.
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The remake of Casino Royal with Daniel Craig had this at the beginning when another agent touched his ear piece to talk to him and he told him not to do that and then he got made by the bad guy. I think this was the only time I saw this addressed in a movie/TV show.
 

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