Clichés in american movies

1) Always finding a place to park right outside the destination the character(s) need to go

2) No weather whatsoever...except at Christmas, when it suddenly starts snowing everywhere

 

Got two words for ya, Vid: Roger. Corman.

 

Cliches in American films? Orange & Teal color timing. Good Gawd! End already!

 

New York City is full of dead-end alleys.

 

I'm sick of having to write Blu-ray reviews in which I describe the colors as orange and teal. Though sometimes the movies are orange and not teal, or teal and not orange!

There's a lot of amber in movies as well - those three hues really dominate these days. I'm always stunned when I watch something with a fairly natural palette!

Though I don't think this is limited to American films - I think they're everywhere!

 

Teal and amber seem more prevalent in just about every movie that isn't a huge action blockbuster.

 

IMO, the "orange" we see in movies isn't a bright orange, so sometimes amber and orange kinda blend into one. As used in films, they seem close enough that it's a potayto/potahto circumstance!

 

Destroying a Death Star

 

One cliché that I find irritating is the "Man who spends so much time working and is so devoted to his job that he neglects his wife/children/family and they end up leaving him". No sympathy for those characters whatsoever... I'm playing the world's smallest violin just for them.

 

I'm not sure if this is a cliché or not, but does every high powered US corporate executive really have whiskey decanters and glasses in their offices and do they really knock down drinks of hard alcohol all day while they're planning on how to screw people?

You seem to see that same scene played out endlessly in US cinema.

 

And if so...where the hell do I sign up ?...

 

Entertainment business or politics. Your pick.

 

I fear that I'm too honest for either ...

 

This cliche would not even exist if films were decent, like they were pre-1965. But, that's for another thread.

 

How about what I call the "Hollywood Outburst"? This happens a lot. A character will start yelling and saying mean horrible things, and throwing things and breaking things. This happens in good movies, and it bugs the heck out of me. In real life someone would call 911 and have the person evaluated by a doctor for mental illness, but in the movies it's seen as wonderful method acting, and gritty realism.
Just a few examples:
Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise goes nuts in his wheelchair in his parents' house, pulls the tube out of his urethra, yells about erections he can't have, makes his poor mom cry. She had been trying to be nice. Pukeworthy.
Godfather - Talia Shire goes nuts. Every man's nightmare wife!
Saturday Night Fever - John Travolta freaks out at the dinner table, spews venomous hateful words at his mom, just because she said something nice about his brother who was a preacher.

 

That is a leftover remnant from an earlier time when it was probably more grounded in truth. Many of these strange cliches are leftover cinematic shorthands from prior generations.

 

A witness is in hospital surrounded by armed police and somehow the suspect walks in and kills him/her and leaves without being detected.

Later a shadowy figure appears on the CCTV.

 

The ol' "rich guys get the best booze while loosening their ties" trope, eh?

 

Isn't it redundant to say 'American movie' and 'cliche' in the same sentence?

 

Not after the mid 90s it aint.

 

CCTV and mobile phone blackspots when it really matters.

 

I can assure you though that this practice has not totally disappeared - it may not be as ostentatious, but there are still managers with closed offices who still have a bottle or two on hand for "special occasions".

 

Not to anyone with even a loose familiarity with international cinema.

 

A TV show rather than a movie, but that used to drive me ballistic when I lived around Boston and watched "Spenser for Hire". You can't find a space in Agawam as easily as Spenser could in Boston. In real Boston, he'd drive around for an hour and then walk for a half a mile.

 

Hardly a movie or TV episode goes by when I don't stop and say, "gee, it's a good thing there's no video surveillance around." I can't walk in unannounced to a small business and get to the back room; in too many shows, the guy breaks into a government facility (or a police station or a bad guy's hangout or a terrorist headquarters), nobody notices, he gets past all the security guards, and manages to fulfill his mission.