10 Annoying Movie Tropes You Can't Un-See

[@getnohappy]

Having just mowed his way through a small town's worth of henchmen, the hero corners the villain but doesn't kill him "lest he become like the villain"

[@jedi1josh]

The trope I hate the most is when someone needs blood for whatever reason ( a ritual or to make an oath usually) they will cut the palm of their hand. Hands are pretty useful and having cut up hands isn't a good idea.

[@alfredomaclaughlin1185]

That's all right, though. The movie forgets they cut their hand just four minutes later! Seriously, though, just prick your finger and squeeze.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Tropes I hate: 1. Helicopters suddenly appearing from around the corner or even from beneath and having been completely silent until that moment. 2. The hero, after being almost fatally wounded, waking up in the hospital, being told that the villain is still on the run, screaming "I can't stay here", ripping out all his/her IVs and running away as if they were never harmed. 3. People around the main character, who witnessed a crime or something conspicuous, rather believing a total stranger that just recently appeared than the protagonist who is their life-long best friend, spouse, colleague, relative or the like. 4. Bullets hitting the rear window of an escaping car, piercing or shattering it, then stopping dead never reaching a seat, let alone the windscreen 5. people sitting down in a restaurant, ordering food, then leaving without ever having touched it 6. A person/group of people is captured/threatened by an evil force, a single person (law officer, PI, soldier) becomes aware of that/knows the whereabouts, goes to the place - all alone! Never telling anybody! - turns up and immediately gets killed by the threat (basically every Steven King film ever).

[@mercidee1977]

That last one pairs well with the mother that makes an elaborate breakfast for her family, but kids and husband grab a piece of toast, a slice of bacon, or a single muffin as they run past the table and out the door, leaving a largely untouched meal behind.

[@RossM3838]

The hero usually awakens in a hospital or other bed be attended to by a beautiful woman, usually patting his head with a damp cloth

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

@@mercidee1977 Apparently dental hygiene in movies happens only at night. And then they overcompensate by squeezing toothpaste along the ENTIRE LENGTH of the bristles.

[@malundy]

Excellent list. I would add a character is on the phone and says "I've got it figured out but I don't want to say it over the phone" = dead character. This is closely related to character finds important piece of evidence the puts it into a desk drawer and leaves for the night = the next morning the character will find the office ransacked and the evidence missing.

[@zacharymichael9718]

The food one is more about practicality than anything. If an actor has to shoot an exposition scene a dozen times in a day over a plate of food, they can't really eat it for a few reasons. 1. They're liable to get sick if they're constantly eating all day. 2. Food spoiling over the course of the day. This one is minor, but diarrhea or vomiting will shut down production. 3. Set dressing. Also minor, but imagine having to remake the same plate of food 15x. It definitely breaks the immersion, but there are real world reasons.

[@DoloresLehmann]

Not only they never say goodbye on the phone, they constantly arrange dates, meetings, whatever, without actually arranging anything. "Wanna meet?" "OK, see you there tonight."

[@karenwillough180]

Yeeeeeess!

[@BMakabre]

example not phone but arranging dates - the comedy tv series "Police Squad" sent up one scenario so well. Stella: "Seven o Clock at my apartment. just let yourself in." then Leslie Nielsen's brilliant narration "It took me two weeks to find her apartment, as Stella neglected to give her address"

[@jenx5870]

Not saying goodbye isn't entirely unrealistic. My stepfather has been doing that for decades. I don't think he has ever ended a call with goodbye, ever. He just hangs up. He is going on 70 yrs old now.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

... or give a time like "in half an hour" without ever looking at a watch.

[@rachelranderson]

Not a movie, but the best "gimme a beer" scene is BTVS. Anya: "I'm over 1100 years old- just give me a friggin beer!" Deadpan bartender: "ID." Anya: "...(sigh) give me a coke" 😂😂

[@AGourrier]

In regards to the trope about the antagonist toying with the hero, I'm reminded of the line from Van Helsing that goes "I think if you're going to kill somebody, kill them! Don't stand around talking about it!"

[@henrykujawa4427]

Tuco from "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY": "If you're going to shoot, SHOOT! Don't talk."

[@danielsmith5574]

"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[@rome8180]

I'm reminded of Ryan George's Pitch Meeting. The Producer Guy will ask the Screenwriter Guy something like "Why doesn't he kill him instead of just talking about it?" And Screenwriter Guy will respond, "So the movie can happen!" That's literally the reason behind a lot of manufactured Hollywood plot points. They could come up with a less artificial way for the hero to escape, but that would take more effort and creativity. Realizing that audiences are just in it for the action sequences anyway, it's easier just to have the villains act illogically.

[@undeadgentalmen]

I'm thinking of 'Watchmen' "... I triggered it 35 minutes ago."

[@RictusHolloweye]

There's a common one in horror movies and particularly slasher films. Once the protagonist picks up a weapon and knocks the bad guy down once... well it's time to drop the weapon 'cause I'm not going to need to use it again.

[@paulchapin6877]

I’m not so concerned about dropping the weapon but why doesn’t the heroine, and it’s almost always a heroine, press their advantage and take the heavy object and turn the psycho killer’s head to mush?

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Or even worse, the protagonist saves a person from being killed by knocking the villain down with one strike, then immediately drops the weapon right nect to the villain, turns around to take care of the almost-victim and does not pay attention if the villain is actually incapacitated. Guess what happens next.

[@bryanabbott6169]

Along with the glasses, you shouldn't forget the 'Letting one's hair down' trope. It transforms mousy librarians into sensual women. Sometimes paired with the taking off glasses trope, but releasing hair from buns or hair pins usually does the trick.

[@markiangooley]

Buns can look sexy and probably shouldn’t be taken down as early as they are in the standard trope.

[@Reggie2000]

Don't forget about the overalls. Gross!!!

[@flitsertheo]

Tying their hair also stresses the facial skin and gives women a "severe schoolmistress" look. I prefer long, loose, sleek hair in a natural colour.

[@johnanderson9765]

This trope was spoofed in Loaded Weapon 1.

[@Reggie2000]

@johnanderson9765 🤣 Allyce Beasley who played the very plain looking Agnes DiPesto on 80s Moonlighting would, upon taking off her glasses and letting down her hair, would turn into supermodel Kathy Ireland. And if she redid herself back up, would once again retransform back into Allyce Beasley. Very underrated comedy co staring pre Pulp Fiction Sam Jackson.

[@sirbum1918]

The worst one for me is how the hero kills hundreds of goons then after defeating the boss they suddenly grow a conscience and now the justice system will have to take it course...

[@marcussantiago]

#5: The film Nobody made notable and repeated exceptions on this trope. Whenever the hero started explaining to the dying bad guy who he used to be before he went civilian, the person he's talking to dies while he's still monologing and he never gets to finish his speech. It was a running joke throughout the movie and a refreshing subversion of the trope lol

[@JonMartinYXD]

Naked Gun 2 1/2 also played with this when Drebin is interrogating near dead henchmen.

[@trinaq]

I'm so tired of the obviously gorgeous girl who isn't considered pretty until they remove their ponytail and glasses. They should have called "She's All That" "She's Already That!"

[@thewhitewolf58]

I've seen them make girls look ugly with braids, glasses and braces. When the make over is done they pretend a 5 out of 10 girl is a 12 out of 10.

[@jamesallan5914]

My favourite send-up of that is National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, where they go so far as to change to a sexier actress when the female lead lets her hair down.

[@rustydragonling]

True, but I know other movie universes have different tastes in what is appealing. "A woman's shoulders are the front lines of her mystique, and her neck, if she's alive, has all the mystery of a border town." - John Milton

[@markiangooley]

Ponytail and glasses can look sexier anyway…

[@jamesallan5914]

@@markiangooley They certainly can, but many filmmakers deliberately set out to do the opposite, e.g. by picking thick-rimmed and inappropriately shaped glasses.

[@michaelbiljon8249]

I have two: 1) The "unexpected" car crash. If the camera lingers on the character driving along for more than 5 seconds, you just know that a pair of headlights are about to appear and side-swipe them. 2) Much like characters never saying goodbye on the phone, no one ever locks their car door.

[@Aeneiden]

People also don't seem to close their front doors when they come home.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Or people getting hit by vehicles. The vehicle appears from out of nowhere, no sound to be heard until half a second before impact. The vehicle never honks, slows down, tries to dodge the person or whatever, just hits the person and goes on straight without ever slowing down, let alone stopping.

[@Jakobman76]

Character turns on the TV. Which just happens to be on the news and going to a story related to the plot which gives characters important information, Character turns off tv.

[@dougim]

In _Othello_ not only does Desdemona live long enough to deliver a final monologue, she actually seems _completely dead_ during the preceding dialog before suddenly sitting up, proclaiming in Iambic Pentameter, and then dying again. So that trope is older than Steam power.

[@simonmeadows7961]

There's another phone based one, often seen in horror movies. When the phone line goes dead, there is an instant assumption that something awful has happened and lots of screaming from the person left hanging. In real life, you'd just assume it's a dodgy signal, shrug your shoulders and try redial, with an added 'harrumph' of indignation if that doesn't work one or two times. I've never thought that when the phone connection drops that the person I'm speaking to is being murdered.

[@rhowar1]

In movies with landlines, when the phone goes dead, or when someone tries to call out and the line has been cut, they always push the hook switch down multiple times like that's actually going to do something.

[@michikoclark8602]

had to laugh

[@ericsimonson5852]

In the olde days of dial phones pushing the hook switch repeatedly on a landline would send the call to the operator. This went out of use in the 1960s-1970s in the US depending on where you lived.@@rhowar1

[@Thurgosh_OG]

@@rhowar1On landlines it does do something. It clears the line of the previous call and frees it up for a new one. So clicking on the receiver does have a purpose and you'd hear the dial tone if it worked.

[@davidbgreensmith]

Here are a couple to add: 1. A hacker can break into a top level secure system by frantically basking the keyboard. No "three times and your account is locked" for them. 2. People text on their phones at supersonic speed and the message is perfectly legible. No ducking way.

[@axelwulf6220]

Auto Correct and the fact that people actually can do that

[@YUL695]

That could be a fun plot point to add a laugh or a misunderstanding

[@jenx5870]

A hacker wouldn't attempt to guess the password three times, though. There are other ways to crack the password without going through that. It involves hours of work, though, and a lot of sitting around.

[@Dopecheetah]

I hate that no one says good bye on the phone in movies. It’s bothered me since childhood yo😂😂😂

[@timothyivey5497]

Speaking of beer and bars, one trope I hate is when characters are drinking at a table or booth, and the table is nearly covered with empty bottles and/or glasses, meant to indicate the characters have been there a while and are likely intoxicated. And sometimes it's just a single character. Aren't there servers in these movie bars? There usually are 'cause we sometimes see them when the characters or character is first served. And sometimes the bartender is the server, too, if it's a small establishment. I know bars get busy (boy do I know lol), but in my experience bars are never so busy that empty bottles and glasses are allowed to totally crowd a table. Don't they pick up the empty bottle or glass when they bring the next beer or drink? Sorry if I'm being nit-picky...just bugs me is all.

[@MedievalFolkDance]

There is also the "Must work harder" trope. The Bourne movies use it a lot. Theres a team of techies all typing away on computers, someone stands up and says something regarding Bournes possible whereabouts & the team starts typing faster.

[@remer83]

I fucking hate this! 😅 You see it all the time though. Detective movies are sometimes the worst where they'll get some crucial lead then EVERYONE starts going crazy, making phone calls, typing and running around. Are there no other crimes to be dealing with?!?

[@Mos41f]

There are some more annoying movie tropes: - Henchmen shoot 100s of bullets but all of them miss the hero somehow. - Mobile phones always run out of battery or out of network range. - The police only shows up once all the action is over. - Rather than trying to fight or flee, side characters in horror movies just stay in the same place and accept their fate. - Villains explaining themselves rather than killing the hero and moving on. - Somehow the most good looking characters will be single and will ONLY be courted by the main character 🤣 - There's never anyone around when movie characters are fighting, stalked or getting killed on the street. - Finally, IMO the most annoying one of all. Characters suddenly develop a conscience at the most inappropriate times.

[@tvctaswegia497]

Don't forget police who turn up 10 seconds after a crime is committed. Subverted in Last Action Hero when the villain having escaped movieland kills someone in the real world and no police arrive to their amazement. They had a lot of fun with tropes in that movie. I love the bit where movie Arnie says, 'watch this' and dramatically shoots the back of an escaping car. It gets a few tiny holes in it and drives off without exploding. :)

[@946towguy2]

About half of those seem to ring true or mostly true in real life. (especially 1,3, 4 and 7)

[@julioareck]

Another trope: showing a supporting character repeatedly in a very sympathetic way so you care about them; that way it shocks you when the character gets killed afterwards. You can see it from Goose in Top Gun all the way to Yaz in Extraction 2. So now when you see they spend a lot of time showing a supporting character in a likeable way for no reason, you already know something bad it's going to happen to them later.

[@michaelmcq6565]

Dont forget shower scenes. They never adjust the water temp, they just turn on the water already at the perfect temp

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

There is also the trope of someone breaking into an appartment to look for a needed item. Suddenly the resident turns up, the burglar hides behind the shower curtain. resident enters the bathroom, reaches inside the shower without looking, turns on the shower, but instead of stepping inside to take a shower walks over to the kitchen to fix a drink to give the burglar time to escape undetected and despite being all wet, not leaving any wet spots on the floor.

[@jackbaxter2223]

That one could be explained by them just leaving the shower setting on the desired temperature when they get out each night.

[@946towguy2]

The showers in my house are all set to mix the scalding hot water from the tankless heater to a maximum temperature of 106F. Turning the knob full counter-clockwise then back just a touch gets the temperature just right for me every time. Anti-scalding shower controls have been code in California for many years now.

[@zanethomas6865]

I like how even though the bar is crowded, the bartender isn't busy and can just casually talk to the protagonist about what drink they want and calmly make it. Yeah, most of these bartenders are busy filling an order from several tables while you just want a beer.

[@KingBasieSims4]

I think your explanation of the trope is better than theirs. Frankly the trope is "the bartender is never too busy for the main character". "Give me a beer" then complain about what actually happens in all bars minus what you said with the immediate response and lack of busyness, doesn't seem like a trope since what else would you ask for at a bar? Tea?

[@stratotele12]

@@KingBasieSims4 They aren't saying you wouldn't go into a bar and order a beer. Their point is you can't go into a bar and just say "give me a beer" like they do in movies. You would need more specifics like type, brand, size, etc.

[@flitsertheo]

@@stratotele12 Certainly not in a Belgian pub where there are at least half a dozen totally different beers available. Though if you ask for "a beer" they'll give you the standard lager/pils of that pub. One character in a Flemish tv-series always asked for the "dagschotel" (dish of the day). Warning : 21 seasons ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5e7ZaSkaKqoq68

[@eduardoalfonso4509]

Hi Lloyd. Little slow tonight. Isn't it? HAHAHAHA

[@flitsertheo]

5:59 "Villain toys with the hero instead of killing them." Cats do that too, they like to play with their prey.

[@littleaussierippa]

Another (mostly) horror trope that annoys the hell out of me is the protagonist/would-be victim trying to start the car only to have it roar to life at the last second.

[@aaronthomas6155]

Or the car that explodes from a gunshot.....or that flips over like it's launching off a ramp after hitting a parked car....

[@user-wk8qt8ph1i]

I"m glad they stopped using the one where they loose control going over a cliff and explodes because it left the ground, Also overused (Rockford files and other) first 15minutes guy in suit of armour can sneak up and knock someone out, last 10minutes a dozen ninja's can"t.

[@Rkenton48]

Laughed so hard in Austin Powers when Dr. Evils' son (Seth Green) asks, "Why don't you just kill him? I'll go get my gun and we'll just shoot him right now. Pow! Pow!" "Sh!"

[@jamesallan5914]

My biggest pet peeve trope... It doesn't matter how hopeless the situation is going into a film's finale, if the heroes have a plan whose existence is revealed to the audience but not the details ("so here's what we're going to do..." *whisperwhisperwhisper*), then you have a guaranteed plot twist waiting for you that will no doubt save the day, in the vein of Chekhov's Gun.

[@justinsinke2088]

Ah yes, the "Unspoken Plan Guarantee". Which exists as a counterbalance to the trope of any plan that is explained in detail for the audience will inevitably have something go wrong.

[@946towguy2]

Anton's or Pavel's, because Pavel's gun was useless against the Earps.

[@jdonvance]

I've seen quite a few subversions of Number 1. For example, in The Matrix Reloaded, the Courtyard fight (aka The Burly Brawl) sees Neo overwhelmed by Smiths. If you follow the action from Neo's POV, he constantly puts his back to a wall, preventing himself from becoming totally surrounded. He employs a pole arm so he can maintain distance and disrupts several potential attacks by redirecting the Smiths into one another. It all happens very fast, but it all makes sense. Even the part where more Smiths join the fray, causing Neo to realize that he can't win this way, so he flies away. Also that one guy stabbing his... teammate(?) in Ultraviolet(?) is one reason that attacking all at once can be hazardous.

[@HyruleBalverine]

Another movie that does this subversion is the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Raphael makes a point of giving the Foot ninjas grief about it and tells them they can't beat him... then they all go in at once and kick the crap out of him.

[@deadcard13]

My favorite is still the beginning of the 2003 Zatoichi film.

[@bbsy1]

@@HyruleBalverinein the sequel they do it to Mikey in a dumb way making a dog pile, so he just crawls from underneath lol! But yes. Giving yourselves space and using fists feet and only clubbing weapons is the best way. Ground and pound.

[@joalhare6813]

" What do we do now?" "Now.... We wait." I have heard that waaay too many times.

[@moretea512]

There's also the "blind without my glasses" trope. Yeah, vision sucks without glasses, but most people can function (unless they are wearing coke-bottle lenses)

[@profaneangel2556]

Lens tech has come me a long way. I can not maneuver around a room w/o mine. I seriously run into tables, walls, people. You would never know how strong my prescription is from my glasses or lens. You can't necessarily tell who is wearing bifocals either.

[@tvctaswegia497]

Yeah depends on the prescription. I think might be legally 'blind' as without glasses I can't read even the top line of a chart or speed limit signs at more than a few meters. People just look like pink or brown blobs. If I lose my glasses I have to get backup glasses to find the glasses... So yeah, I would totally be that guy in the movie who loses the plot device and glasses and has fumble around feeling for them and becomes a velociraptor snack.

[@profaneangel2556]

@@Aa-Ron-Hubbard it's incredibly common in old movies.

[@timpoe7164]

It has always gotten on my nerves that people don't tell their spouce/child/family member that they love them when they hang up the phone. I mean it's not always going to be the case, but tell your wife you love her dude

[@Thrythlind]

Aside from Glasses=Nerds, most of these are just a matter of execution. You did touch on Scar/Disfigurement=Evil as another harmful trope, but didn't include it as an option.

[@alexissmith5589]

The whole 'glasses = nerdy schtick is why Emma Watson got the Hermione role. Everyone else who tried came in with glasses and acted all nerdy, while Emma came in without glasses and just was herself.

[@simondewitt7161]

Pretty?

[@WhatTheFirstAidSpray]

Eleven.

[@andreasmeelie1889]

Awfully interesting I love that story! EEP! :)

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

As soon as I saw the opening clip I was like someone in highschool who's hot but they are a nerd just because they wear glasses

[@graceskerp]

The two dimensional explosion: Our hero and SO slo-mo walk toward the camera while behind them an explosion with the blast effects going sideways and upwards, never ever towards them. No debris flying past them or hitting them or hitting the ground around them. No shock wave ruffling their hair or clothes, let alone knocking them off their feet. Never effects their hearing. Good example: The Mask of Zorro.

[@iaincook5835]

Two that annoy me big time. 1. Nobody ever finishes a meal, even in a restaurant; they take a few bites then rush off to advance the plot. 2. With opaque beverage cups eg takeaway coffee, it ALWAYS OBVIOUSLY EMPTY!!! and the person swigs the supposed first sip like it's the final drop. This one irrationally annoys the heck out of me every time (ask my wife).

[@jeremybrunk9576]

There's always the guy that misses a shot because they hesitated or never took the shot and the mentor or the persons friend shoots the person and says something like "one shot one kill" "never hesitate" or "you owe me one".

[@jdonvance]

During number 2, I kept expecting to see a time-pressured protagonist sprint off into the distance, tossing his communication device in his haste. In the movies, everything is disposable once the plot no longer needs it. See also: Most forms of transportation in the final acts of action movies.

[@dougwood8549]

A big tough guy, like a Navy Seal, beats up all other Navy Seal guys but gets his as$ kicked by a really angry 110 pound woman. A big tough prisoner in prison who can beat up anyone, gets taken down by a small guy with a lunch tray. You know, he hits him in the stomach with it, they big guy bends over, then the little guy smacks him upwards in the face, the big guy raises up, then the little guy knocks him out with one punch. When someone is sneaking up on another person in order to k|ll them, they always, ALWAYS holler "Ahhhhh!" just before they attack, enabling the victim to turn around just in time to fight them off. Being in the desert, taking a drink out of your cantene only to have one, ONE drop of water fall out. And they act surprised about it. Someone in the road about to be hit by a car, they stand there and the car skids to a stop just right before they get hit. A person has a few matches left in the matchbox. No matter how hard they try, it's always the last match that JUST lights the thing they need lit. When a fuse to a bomb gets all the way to the end and then...silence. And just when you think it's not going to blow up, it blows up. A man and a woman hate each other at the start of the movie and by the end they're having sex non stop because they love each other so much. Someone jumps out of a plane, or gets rid of a bomb or dives over something just in time to miss being k|lled by the explosion. Missing someone while shooting at them with a machine gun, but then the one they're shooting at with a million bullets pulls out a pistol and drops them right away. From 100 yards.

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

What we need is a comedy called "Trope", wherein every single movie trope imaginable gets sent up. Some spoof movies have included this idea in their scripts, but none of them use it as the central premise. If these Hollywood writers are as smart and creative as they THINK they are, they should be spending their downtime developing and fine-tuning some really great scripts.

[@SteveMoncuse]

years ago -- decades? -- Siskel and Ebert had a special show called, "They'll do it Every Time," about this exact topic. One I always remember is when there's a car chase down a busy city street, they'll ALWAYS crash into a fruit stand. They showed example after example of it.

[@Sunprism]

Lately one that's been driving me crazy...How come characters Never plug their phone in overnight? Whenever a character is woken up by a phone call, or whatever, it's just Laying on the bedside table. Charge your devices!

[@simonmeadows7961]

Nope. Not having that. I charge my phone in the evening when I get home. By the time I go to bed (i.e. about now) it's usually at least 80% which will see me through the next 24 hours. Leaving it plugged in overnight adds extra expense given how much energy prices have gone up lately.

[@joefelice5062]

The double-crossing partner. The one who stabs our hero for money or revenge, or the usually female crony of the baddie who falls for the hero and helps him defeat said baddie. Hundreds of examples out there.

[@dj71162]

Don't forget the classic that is running out of ammo at the exact time when trying to kill the bad guy or the other way around of the bad guy about to kill the hero. It's the laziest way for the writer to get the character out of a situation.

[@SAC_Crewdog]

In almost any movie or television show, regardless of genre, there are two things that stand out for me: The person who enters into a building, room, or unknown situation and immediately calls out, "Hello?" Not only do they reveal their presence and location, but just who are they expecting to answer? The other is the person who enters a house or a room and starts talking, on the assumption that someone is there to be listening. This is often accompanied by either someone sneaking up behind them, or a very obvious threat being walked right into while they are talking and sorting the mail or unpacking groceries. I must note that, no matter how loudly I yell at the tv, I can never seem to get their attention away from their banal chore 😉

[@tvctaswegia497]

This one is so common and predictable I've taken to calling out 'hello?' Just before the character does it during these scenes. My family hates it.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

@@tvctaswegia497 I get moaned at for 'reading the script in advance' by calling out whole scenes step by step before they happen on screen.

[@946towguy2]

Announcing your presence is a good way to avoid being treated like a sneaky burglar and it can reduce the risk of being attacked by an animal. Believe me, it is better to wake up a sleeping guard dog when you are at the doorway than to trip over one in the dark and you really don't want to surprise a rattlesnake.

[@simonmccormack]

One trope similar to the mirror is the fridge door opening, and then once closed, something appears

[@earlleeruhf3130]

I am always bothered by the trope where in the middle of a battle scene the wounded/dying friend and the hero have time to share a calm moment to say goodbye. Also the hero and villain in the middle of a battle can reach each other to fight one on one.

[@rhowar1]

Then there's the dream trope where you don't know the good guy is sleeping, but the bad guy comes along and shoots/kills the good guy and then he wakes up in a cold sweat. Sometimes he will wake up again to imply it was a dream within a dream. Take that, Edgar Allan Poe!

[@kevoatway2348]

Hero needs a place to hide out. Calls a friend who lives in the place they are currently in. Friend is out of town for an extended period but allows hero to use their flat. Hero gets into flat and makes a meal from the fully stocked fridge. Who leaves a fridge full of perishable items? It would be a mess to clear up when you come home

[@PaulStirk]

Hero never has a problem finding a parking space Everyone knows all the brand new songs and dances in musicals and, there's always a band/orchestra somewhere offset

[@majorprofit]

I was imaging the car and the driver can not park in front of a building and drives off around the building and comes back and says to the camera: "Hang on..". Then on the fourth drive around telling the camera: Could you just wait... I.. Just wait here."

[@remer83]

My biggest movie trope peave is heavy metal. "Hey how can we convey to the audience that this new character is a bad guy, a real tough customer who takes no shit and likes to fight and steal stuff?" "Well why don't we have him listening to heavy metal when we're first introduced? That way everyone knows he's a bad ass and we don't have to write in any plot development further down the road" It's lazy, often untrue, and super cringe.

[@jdonvance]

The two I can't unsee are when someone gets shot in front of a window or glass door and the blood splatters all over, but the bullet... evaporated? And when a conversation takes place in multiple locations without interruption. I mean, even the actors gotta think it's weird that someone asked them a question before getting in the car, then have that question answered at the destination. Ooh, I just thought of a third one I see all the time: sudden conversations regarding details and/or misgivings about elaborate plans that probably should have been discussed well before the moment of execution.

[@kirkhilles523]

My favorite is the whole "Henchmen become unconscious/dead after one kick or small attack". I'd love to see a TV series called "Henchmen" where basically it shows that these "hired goons" intentionally "take the fall" after one hit and once the hero is gone, they get back up and call their Agent who gets them a "gig" with a different Evil-guy.

[@johnanderson9765]

In comedies, one punch can even fell a main antagonist, like Biff in Back to the Future, Edward in Three Men and a Little Lady or Sack in Wedding Crashers.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

@@johnanderson9765 Done correctly, one punch can KO an opponent, so it is possible, just not by everyday Joes and Josies.

[@946towguy2]

@@Thurgosh_OG Sometimes, one punch can be fatal and other times, someone survives many years after being beaten with batons and kicked by 4 trained police officers.

[@ubergeek1968]

The "stick a floppy drive in the computer and hit two keys to save the entire 2 TB hard drive" trope!

[@Paradox-es3bl]

It's unfair to say glasses = nerd is a trope used in the Scooby Doo movies when Velma wears glasses since the character was created, as far as I know. Like, if she's the only one you're pointing to, that's just stupid. Getting the character right is now a trope? No. The real modern trope is reverse whitewashing characters. Making Ariel from The Little Mernaid and others black and stuff. Like, redheads are even more of a minority than non-whites, so it's actually anti-diversity, too. It's so dumb. And if my previous account still existed, you'd see I've basically complained about MJ and Ariel and not like Commissioner Gordon and stuff. (Though Gordon is also sometimes a redhead, he often has white hair or something, so it's clearly less a recognizable part of his character than Mary-Jane Watson, which is why Zendaya is NOT MJ no matter what you say. She's Michelle. And why I complain about her, Ariel, and Barbara Gordon Batgirl. And why I've said you COULD have a black Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent, or Peter Parker... though I also kinda find that idea dumb, especially with Peter cuz like, just use Miles at that point... but whatever) Well, didn't expect that tangent but I'm leaving it.

[@ksjazzguitaryt]

In Spain, it's very common to just ask for "a beer" (or "una cerceza") and you just get what the place has on tap.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Same in Germany. Ask for "a beer" and you get the place's house brand, if you are not more specific.

[@ksjazzguitaryt]

But yeah, it is a little odd in the States.

[@leventebardossy5962]

Here in Hungary, the first bartender who does this would get a long and annoying conversation about the buyer not having requested that. Even if they didn't say it specifically, they expected the bartender to know. Probably in the US too.

[@jhhardage]

#6 Leading into disfigured Bond villain as a trope could also add "Sean Bean dying" as yet another trope :p

[@brucelucasjr5856]

He actually has a clause in his contracts now that says he isn't to die in his movies anymore since it has become expected anytime we see him on screen

[@jfess1911]

Although the "enhance image" trope is overplayed, there are indeed techniques, some using AI that can enhance images. The AI is particularly useful for single images. If multiple images from a video or several frames of film exist, software that carefully compares them can produce a composite that is much sharper than any single frame. The technique was originally developed for star maps from telescopes, then it was repurposed for high-altitude spy photos, and later utilized for more purposes. This techniques has been used for decades.

[@AlejandroLZuvic]

I came looking for this. At this day and age, there are multiple enhancing image techniques, from machine learning models like Nvidia's DLSS, to checkerboard rendering, supersampling, antialiasing etc etc. I mean, there are still some movies that exaggerate this to phisically impossible levels, but the simple "we have a photo and we need to enhance/clean it" is not simply science fiction and anymore.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

Yes, it's called 'Stacking' (at least that's what they call it in Astrophotography).

[@jfess1911]

@@Thurgosh_OG Thanks. I knew the principle but not the correct term.

[@hallmichael132]

One that bugs me. Adult tells smallish child to stay still; then the child instantly wanders off causing consternation/dramatic rescue...

[@karenwillough180]

Not just child, no one ever waits where they’re told to wait.

[@LordRain1031]

This literally makes me want to "make a movie" and absolutely disregard EVERY trope that's been established! 😅😂🤣

[@Dachshund.Dadddy]

How bout extended in car scenes of the driver I’m always anticipating a t bone collision it happens quite often in cinema

[@wolvenmeck]

From The Incredibles - Syndrome: Oh, ho ho! You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it...

[@owenoulton9312]

For number four, I was just knew you would use the Auric Goldfinger "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!" scene. _The iIncredibles_ called it "monologuing'"

[@RockyScorcese]

Spark factories. The location where the finale/showdown happens where it seems that the only thing made is sparks and nothing else

[@CouchCoach]

If you go to any bar in Germany and order a beer. You will get a beer. Typically no questions asked other than small or large. Because every bar has one brand/type of beer as their standard. If you want something specific you have to be more specific in your order.

[@karenwillough180]

1) No one closes doors behind them after entering a house or apartment, regardless of whether it’s snowing raining or they’re being chased. 2) People don’t say, “Thank you.” Whether it’s on the phone and they’ve asked for information, get it, they then hang up without saying, “Thank you.” Even in a restaurant or at the dinner table someone will ask for something to be passed. It’s passed…no one says, “Thank you.”

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

You forgot about the "enhance" joke in Super Troopers. Otherwise good video.

[@Hogtownboy1]

How about the troupe of no traffic in every major city. I mean do think there is any downtown/city centre in London/ New York / Los Angels or Paris where an actual car chase could go more than 2 blocks

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

Guy walks into a bar the MOMENT a relevant news story is showing on the bar's television set. "Hey, turn that up!"

[@pencilpauli9442]

Character driving the car spending more time looking at the passenger they are talking to than watching the bloody road! Case in point, Robin/Dick Grayson in The Titans series. In one scene he was driving at speed through a city centre looking to his right. He was made to look worse when in one scene, his passenger realistically watched the road when she was speaking with the occasional glance at Grayson. No wonder Batman never let the boy drive the Batmobile SMH It's pretty common to see this happen, and I end up being a back seat driver on my sofa. "FOR PITY'S SAKE KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!!!"

[@timidwolf]

There are potentially more factors at work around the fighting one at a time thing, for a start the solo fighter would do their best to make sure they don't get flanked, if the enemies are side by side in front of you, you skirt around to try and keep then in a line, getting in each others way. The environment can also be used to their advantage, walls and others obstacles being used to control the arena. Unfortunately most movies don't show it that way like in most of your examples, but its pretty much why people love a good corridor fight scene, because they are able to make them look more realistic.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

More than 2 or 3 attacking at once is likely to get them hit by their own guys.

[@BLWard-ht3qw]

Lol, noticed a few before, but the henchmen one by one attack I really noticed decades ago as a kid, watching too many Kung Fu movies and being thoroughly fascinated by whatever stalling movements the background actors were doing while awaiting their next up turn. It usually involved a lot of bouncing around with unnecessary rapid arm movements and glaring.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

@@dietotaku The hitting your own guys in a brawl/fight is a real risk, so at most 2 or 3 should attack at once, more is just asking for a smack in the face. Also if more than one of you is attacking at the same time you do need to be aware of what the others are doing which slows your own reactions a little.

[@dexine4723]

If you watch real street brawls, you quite often see only one or two brave ones out of a gang of thugs going in for the attack, while others linger at the back, jeering and gesturing to look hard, but waiting to see how the fight pans out before they dare get involved. If it looks bad, they'll back off, but if the target is down, they'll all join in kicking them on the floor. Used to live opposite a very rough pub and the fights were spectacular!

[@neoinfinity5204]

The only one that will forever annoy me is the first one and debatably the offscreen death one, it’s one thing for characters like Clark to looks better without glasses since they are fake and people are blind and dumb but imagine someone wear them naturally then plot force them to take them off and follow certain stereotype my first and most impactful example is OG movie Velma the OG clumsy glasses girl herself.

[@SergeantC2]

I always think about that, too. She no longer wears her glasses, but she is still nearsighted or farsighted or astigmatic, and now her vision issues are uncorrected.

[@johnanderson9765]

@@SergeantC2 Uncorrected? A lot of adults with vision issues, myself included, wear undectable contact lenses.

[@DragonLigerX]

​@@johnanderson9765and it took you how long to get those? Even with the fastest turn around we have today it takes time and requires actually ordering them in some way.

[@robertobuatti7226]

Tropes are so overused, that's why they're tropes, I love horror but I hate the cheap jump scare, the only time I found it effective was in Exorcist 3, you know the scene with the garden shears.

[@MAZZ0Murder]

More of a TV trope, but when someone answers their phone and says "I can't talk now"/"Nows not a good time." You know those things can go to voice messages right???

[@Boone_Faustus]

I don't have a problem with any of these tropes. One of the ones I hate the most though is "The best friend or love interest is secretly evil."

[@deadcard13]

Takeshi Kitano's Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi has some fun with the "Goons attack one-by-one" trope. There's an entire gag midway through where the comic relief is "sparring" with some villagers that hilariously breaks the trope. There is also a moment in the opening sword fight that makes a case for the trope by highlighting the pitfalls of inept goons with weapons getting fighting close -quarters with a single foe.

[@rokana9641]

..and no matter how many blows (& how severe they are) they endure to the face/head, folks in movies almost never show any swelling. Just Blood at most but very rarely any swelling..

[@Fibonacci64]

That beer thing you can actually do in Sweden, every Pub/Restaurant has a standard draft beer, just say “en stor stark” then you will have a lager beer. It’s equal to “give me a beer”.

[@AshlieJermaine]

Oh, don't forget that when firing guns, the bad guys can't aim for shit!! They always miss wildly, while the protagonist is laser-accurate with their shooting.

[@ryangoodwin9115]

as far as the beer one is concerned. in Japan. in many bars. "beer" will refer to like a standard type of beer that you will always get. and if you want something else you name it.

[@gilliandrysdale5306]

someone gets thumped on the head hard enough to render them unconscious but they never suffer any brain damage

[@Jared7873]

Don't listen to the old radio shows like Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. He got knocked out every episode, remembered what happened, who it was and when, but would wake up hours later somehow, not vomiting and epileptic-- nothing but a headache. Richard Diamond did too. And the bad guy didn't conveniently murder them while they were out cold.

[@mikelmacrichard4772]

I noticed this month fifteen movies/shows; 1) good guys drive Fords (or foreign ally company) and bad guys drive Chevys (or foreign ally company) vehicles. 2) the "red shirts" trope. Example G. I. Joe: Retribution bad ninjas all wearing red dying left and right. Star Gate:SG1/Atlantis episodes. The Star Trek Enterprise uniforms only the red shirts die.

[@edmundthejedi]

Okay, the minions should attack all at once, but that last clip was Gymkata, man. Gym. Freakin'. Kata. No way you rush that. As you can see, he's just one conveniently placed, suspiciously pommel-horse-shaped object away from taking over the world... 😏

[@ajm1765]

The trope the always kills me is similar to the CCTV "Enhance" one. It is when the camera angle for the CCTV is a POV or the pan, tilt, zoom is clearly not from a mounted camera.

[@MaceyMichael]

One trope in action movies is that one of the fighters needs to throw the other one round instead of punching him unconscious or killing him for good. That throw never lets to any injury and gives the thrown person the chance to counterattack. Even superhero cannot resist in throwing their enemies around.

[@946towguy2]

Throwing people around is fun, though; like a cat playing with a mouse.

[@KaijuAKD]

Kids being stupid, spoiled and almost suicidal, used as plot devices to move the story forward.

[@leeedwards4707]

No one ever takes a necklace off properly. They grab it and rip it off snapping it and it remains wearable. Bugs me no end

[@H3rmanHan01]

First anoying trope : Henchman intanding to kill protagonist(s) is disabled but rather than being seriously wounded or killed, They are left to recover and try again as our hero(es) flee. Second related trope : Having disabled said henchmen, our heroes do not take the now avalable weapons or ammunition. Liam Neeson and John wick do not fall into this stupidity.

[@host_theghost507]

A few more of my favorites: Villains drinking milk (Alex DeLarge, Anton Chigurh, Homelander) "You and I are much the same" says tortured homicidal killer to tortured near-homicidal detective First message on the answering machine is Mom asking why you never call; second is from your unknown nemesis (also: answering machines) High school parties are always costume parties Scenes set in high school classes always begin two minutes before the bell Women walking alone in parking garages wearing high heels while killer watches from darkness Boy watches girl undress, and apparently we're supposed to find that sweet and not creepy "I'd rather not tell you over the phone" says person who's about to die "Have you told anyone else about this?" says killer, calmly reaching for his gun Bombs with countdown timers on them, which apparently only exist for the benefit of the person trying to defuse them. Not sure if this counts as a trope, but watch any movie with closed captioning turned on and you are guaranteed at least one [Dog barking in background].

[@athena8794]

Related to enemies forming an orderly queue, Inverse Ninja. Basically, the fewer the enemies, the more you should worry. 100 highly trained enemy bodyguards? The MC will tear through them like a fat kid with a bag of Doritos. 1 kind of underwhelming looking dude? Run while you still have legs. (A friend of mine summarizes it as "what's scarier: 100 stormtroopers, or 1 Darth Vader?")

[@spacehamsterZH]

The phone one is actually my biggest pet peeve on this list. No matter how serious, artistic and ambitious the movie is, none of its characters will act like real people as soon as they pick up a phone. See also: dramatically clicking flip-phones shut AKA every damn episode of 24.

[@Ash-gv7uj]

Cinema sins really drove home how prominent 'zoom and enhance' really is and I can't ignore it any more.

[@justinsinke2088]

At least with 006, his getting shot in the head was staged as a matter of plot rather than plot armor. Ah yes, that scene from Iron Man 3 with Rhodes. I'd always wondered why, once they got him out of the suit, they allowed him to simply walk away instead of, you know, killing the guy who now knew what the plan was. And as for attacking one at a time, the fight choreography that needs to be set up for the scene is significantly easier to do that way. It's often referred to as "Conservation on Ninjutsu".

[@jayluck8047]

When a spectacular vehicle-flip reveals the car has no drive-train or gas tank.

[@Dachshund.Dadddy]

After seeing Glenn close in the bathroom mirror at the end of fatal attraction I now anticipate it happening all the time

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Glenn Close*

[@rhowar1]

Another one I've noticed is that despite being in whatever big city, there's always street parking right in front of the building where they need to be. That would be fine, but nobody even mentions how lucky they are to have found a spot just a few feet from the front door of the courthouse, or the police station, or the hospital...wherever it may be.

[@stevenstump246]

I agree that anytime I see the bad guy decide to slam someone or throw em across a room instead of stabbing, shooting, or just downright snapping their neck, immediately takes me out of the moment in a movie.

[@timothyivey5497]

Doors being left open for no apparent reason - on cars, and on homes, whether it's a house or an apartment. I read somewhere a while back that it has to do with a film's running time - keeping it tight; but that sounds like bs. One lousy second to close a door can't make THAT much difference ...can it? Another trope that bugs me is the dial tone. Usually in a movie or tv show, when a landline phone suddenly goes dead, usually from someone suddenly hanging up, the person on the other end gets a dial tone. In my many years of experience with landlines, I've never had that happen...there's always just silence...and me on the other end getting very annoyed, very angry, or very confused and concerned.

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

When walking away from a huge explosion, the hero must move in slow motion toward the camera, so as to avoid being knocked over by the blast wave.

[@the_librarian4400]

Now I want to see a list of movies that pull off these tropes. Some of them, not even the original ones, do them very very well. Mothman prophecy comes to mind with mirror scares