There are certain conventions of television and film that really annoy me:
Whenever you see an aquarium in a person's home larger than any you've actually seen in real life, odds are it's going to be smashed in the near future.
When a guy about to go into a dangerous situation looks at a photo in his wallet of his wife and/or children, he will be dead within the next fifteen minutes.
When people are playing poker, they always string raise. ("I see your fifty... (melodramatic pause)... and I raise you eleven hundred thousand!")
When people pay for a cab ride, alcoholic drink, or restaurant bill, they always say "keep the change." Everyone has exactly the right amount of money for the exact amount of tip they want to give.
When someone brings home a bag of groceries, they're always in paper (never plastic), and there's usually a loaf of french bread sticking out the top.
Stop. Please stop.
6 comments:
watch for the actor's version of the phone-hang-up. it's subtle but annoying once you are looking for it. actors will often take the phone away from thier mouth and proceed to hang up in the middle of the "talk to you later" or "goodbye" ending phrase, instead of finishing the sentence, and then going to hang up the phone (like normal respectful people do). kinda hard to describe without a demonstration, but definetly noticable.
-the mole
oh, and about the groceries, also cliche is how when the person leans over and spills the contents, oranges (and other fruits) roll out freely instead of wrapped in those plastic bags.
My pet hate in sci-fi and action movies is when they shoot the control panel of a door and it opens. Try destroying your keyboard and just see if your computer activates! (Hint: no.)
I suppose that cliche comes from the fact that, depnding on the sort of lock on a door, you can shoot the doorknob and then be able to open it.
Still, I'm with you -- that "should the panel" cliche is a dumb one.
And don't forget that whenever someone in a flim says they are the luckiest (insert noun here) alive, they will be dead in < 5 minutes.
Step forward "Lord Of War".
Star Trek. Panel overloads. Nuff said.
On a tangent, I would pay a premium to be able to choose paper bags at large grocery chains. Forget their environmental advantage; they're just nice to have around the house.
Here's one I noticed the other day. When a character sees someone that clearly shouldn't be there (such as a dead loved one, family member, etc.) they will always look away. When they look back, they're gone. So if any of you die, and then appear to me, I am NOT going to look away!!
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