Film Score Monthly
FSM HOME MESSAGE BOARD FSM CDs FSM ONLINE RESOURCES FUN STUFF ABOUT US  SEARCH FSM   
Search Terms: 
Search Within:   search tips 
You must log in or register to post.
  Go to page:    
 
 Posted:   Dec 17, 2009 - 7:03 AM   
 By:   Francis   (Member)


Speaking as a former combat engineer trained in rigging explosives and bomb disposal, unless it's a controlled explosion (like those used to implode a building to demolish it, or designed to "look" a certain way because it's for a movie shoot), any quantity of explosives strong enough to explode a building would, in real life, create massive amounts of collateral damage e.g. broken windows, shrapnel and debris for a considerable distance.


That makes sense. I wonder when did the trend of explosion catwalk start? Was it with the Rambo movie?

P.S. My favorite explosions movie:

 
 Posted:   Dec 20, 2009 - 1:54 PM   
 By:   Ebab   (Member)

… when they show houses and rooms at night without any people in but dozens of lights on, not only when depicting the U.S., but places like a run-down hotel in Murmansk in 1941 (as in “Benjamin Button”).

People wouldn’t have dreamed of leaving the lights on like this.

 
 Posted:   Dec 20, 2009 - 3:48 PM   
 By:   Doug Raynes   (Member)

What I can't stand is that cliche which has gone on for decades in films when someone says something extremely significant and the other person says "What did you say?" as if it hasn't sunk in, and then the first character has to repeat what he/she said.

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 4:39 AM   
 By:   Jehannum   (Member)

Worst f*k*n actor: Nicolas Cage. Watch SNAKE EYES.

Fixed!

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 4:50 AM   
 By:   Jehannum   (Member)

... somebody hacks into the Pentagon computers by mashing unconvincingly on a computer keyboard.

... they zoom into a photo on a computer screen again and again with no pixelation or loss of quality.

... two supposedly good chess players are locked in a tense battle over the board, then one of them makes a move and sits back with smug satisfaction. Then the hero moves announcing, "checkmate!". At any decent level of chess you don't miss a mate in one.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 5:01 AM   
 By:   antipodean   (Member)

What I can't stand is that cliche which has gone on for decades in films when someone says something extremely significant and the other person says "What did you say?" as if it hasn't sunk in, and then the first character has to repeat what he/she said.

Perhaps it's not so much a cliche as a storytelling device, when characters in a movie/TV show begin to describe a situation or talk about what they're doing in a way which is so clearly exposition simply for the benefit of viewers, where people in such real-life roles don't actually (need to) talk like that.

As an extension of this "exposition cliche", Star Trek (especially TNG and later) has sometimes been particularly guilty of drowning its viewers in technobabble, especially when using technology as a quick-fix for a certain problem.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 11:04 AM   
 By:   michael.condon   (Member)

The villain finally gets the hero where he wants him, points the loaded gun at him... then has to talk for a while before blowing his head off...



That's a classic.

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 1:36 PM   
 By:   'Lenny Bruce' Marshall   (Member)

What I can't stand is that cliche which has gone on for decades in films when someone says something extremely significant and the other person says "What did you say?" as if it hasn't sunk in, and then the first character has to repeat what he/she said.

yeah
the variation of that is the person being spoken to is so deep in thought he doesn't even realize he is speaking! ("Sorry, i was just thinking about something")
right
hate that!

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 1:36 PM   
 By:   'Lenny Bruce' Marshall   (Member)

...

... they zoom into a photo on a computer screen again and again with no pixelation or loss of quality.


yeah
that goes with my previous thread about security cameras

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 1:38 PM   
 By:   'Lenny Bruce' Marshall   (Member)

two people talking in an office
one at a desk, the other standing
after conversing the standee starts for the door
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS !. the seated person calls out the other one's name just as he is about to leave 2. just before he leaves, the departing one turns and says something clever
or ominous

hate that!

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 1:41 PM   
 By:   'Lenny Bruce' Marshall   (Member)

my absolute HATE HATE HATE
mostly, this is done on tele to add an action scene or pad out a show.

A cop is looking for a suspect . He sees him down/across the street, coming towars the cop (usually on his way to his apartment)
Instead of waiting for the person to get near the cop, the cop screams out "Hey suspect"
so the person , who is a block away, can turn and run away.
The absolute worst of the worst

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 1:55 PM   
 By:   Ebab   (Member)

two people talking in an office
one at a desk, the other standing
after conversing the standee starts for the door
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS !. the seated person calls out the other one's name just as he is about to leave 2. just before he leaves, the departing one turns and says something clever
or ominous


Funny that you say that. Only yesterday, I saw this exact pattern in a “Dirty Harry” movie and it really took me out of the picture for a moment. It was such a cliché.

 
 Posted:   Dec 21, 2009 - 2:26 PM   
 By:   Ebab   (Member)

The villain finally gets the hero where he wants him, points the loaded gun at him... then has to talk for a while before blowing his head off...

That's a classic.


… I can’t really object to that situation. Yes it’s part of a formula, but one that can make some of the finest moments in movies. The villain reveals his motives and we gain some insight into his mind. Richard Widmark’s speech in “Coma”, or Hal Holbrook’s in “Capricorn One” – they’re brilliant, and so are many others. And having the hero at gunpoint (or variations) is simply the perfect moment.

Actually, I miss those speeches. In current movies, there’s only time to tie up some loose plot points, but only hints of motivation.

I can’t deny it is a standard dramatic ingredient. But so is any love scene. It really depends on what you make of it.

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 8:02 AM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

....somebody is being chased by someone or something, finds an elevator where he seeks refuge, then the monster/pursuer gets a hand inbetween the doors, but somehow the elevator has superstrong closing mechanisms (whereas in reality, they are automatically opened when someone puts their hand in there).

...X is about to go on a dangerous mission, and Y calls X's name, then X turns and Y either says "Be careful!" or "I love you!", before X turns back and walks off, dramatically.

 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:04 AM   
 By:   Mr. Jack   (Member)

...a group of men is about to go off on some adventure/mission/quest, and a young boy or teenager asks to come along, gets rebuffed, and shows up later following the group, usually eliciting the line "I thought I told you to stay at home!" roll eyes You KNOW the kid is going to show up later, so why the pretense? See 10,000 BC, the remakes of King Kong and 3:10 To Yuma, ect.

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:18 AM   
 By:   CinemaScope   (Member)

Anyone in a film drives somewhere & they always manage to be able to park right outside the house or whatever. They've just finished making love (shagging!) & the woman is half dressed & they still have their undies on. I must have led a sheltered life, as I've never done the do with a woman who was still wairing a bra. People are trapped for days in a mine or small room (or in an episode of Bones I saw last week, in a buried car), & no one ever wants to do a poo!

 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:22 AM   
 By:   Adam.   (Member)

...someone fast forwards a videotape program to get to the part they are looking for. We hear the sped up sound which sounds like the Chipmunks. In real life the sound is muted while fast forwarding or reversing.

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:27 AM   
 By:   CinemaScope   (Member)

They want you to know the man is a good guy, they give him a black friend, it's Hollywood shorthand for, this guy's OK.

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:30 AM   
 By:   CinemaScope   (Member)

So many films have the man about 30 years older than the woman, & it's never mentioned, it's normal, but if it's the other way round, that's what the film's about!

The deadly sniper takes slow aim at the hero, he has the big telescopic lens, killing is his business, he's the best...& he always misses. I suppose a lot of James Bond films would be short if he didn't. And talking of James Bond, why don't they just kill him, they've captured him, one in the head & two in the chest & it's all over. No, shut him in that easily escapable room while we do something else. I'm on a roll!

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 13, 2011 - 10:42 AM   
 By:   Francis   (Member)

They want you to know the man is a good guy, they give him a black friend, it's Hollywood shorthand for, this guy's OK.

That's only when that black friend dresses like a white guy, if he dresses like a black man or speaks street it's a sign that the two are criminals wink

 
You must log in or register to post.
  Go to page:    
© 2024 Film Score Monthly. All Rights Reserved.
Website maintained and powered by Veraprise and Matrimont.