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You've researched your friends' recommended films on IMDB, watched their trailers on YouTube, and finally made the decision to commit a few hours of your attention to a particular production. Whether you're sitting in a dark cinema or enjoying the comfort of your home, the bare minimum you expect is to experience it.
However, as one Reddit post shows, all of that preparation can go to waste in an instant. Created by user u/pickanamehere, it asked everyone "What 100% ruins a movie for you every time?" and people did not hold back on this one. From stupid overused story tropes to aggressive product placement, here are some of the most-upvoted answers.
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#1
Having to constantly have my remote in hand to turn down the absurdly loud action scene, to then have to crank the volume for the next dialogue that is far too low.
I'm f*****g sick of it.
RELATED:
#2
When the movie calls for an ugly guy, they get an ugly guy.
When the movie calls for an ugly girl, they get a sexy girl and dress her in dumpy clothes.
Pedantic Panda 1 year ago
Remove glasses, change hair, apply make-up and you too will undergo a magical transformation. Awful.
#3
When the trailers reveal most of the plot.
#4
Overused female tropes. The angry black woman, plus sized women always being loud and clumsy, and of course, the manic pixie dream girl. This isn't some feminist soapbox, it's just lazy and uninspired writing.
TotallyNOTaFox 1 year ago
The "strong & independent" girl boss that just walks over every obsticale with ease and is the most toxic person around...
#5
"there's no time... save yourself!" when there's clearly ample amount of time for both characters to get to safety. made even worse by the fact that they usually waste a minute or more arguing about it, saying teary-eyed goodbyes, and making out before character 1 finally gets up and leaves
#6
The bit where hackers take 20 seconds of furious typing to disable a countries infrastructure
#7
When the premise for a major conflict in the movie is something that any sane person would have just said "oh no there's a misunderstanding" and they all have a laugh and go on with their days... But instead it turns into some convoluted drama.
Monday 1 year ago
Rather shouting "wait I can explain" 7 times...maybe just yell out "She's my sister!".
SailorLex 1 year ago
Good shows sometimes get to a point where the conflict is reduced to these misunderstandings. That's when you know they should have ended with the previous season.
Fantastic Mr Fox 1 year ago
If you read some of the AITAs posted here, you’ll know that reality is often stranger than fiction. The keyword is however “sane”.
Lawrencium 1 year ago
"Hold on Candice, she's about to forgive him for the cliche misunderstanding - right after she battles these robots."
Maria Veronica 1 year ago
The leading actress in a kdrama could be muted or bumbling for several long episodes, meanwhile every turns in chaos
Aamna Shah 1 year ago
A lot of situations in real life can be resolved with a calm discussion but so many conflicts arise because many people aren't ready or willing to have that conversation. Many people do not behave with common sense in emotionally charged situations and refuse to accept even the slightest bit of responsibility for their behaviour and actions so it's not an unrealistic trope.
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
Or being too embarrassed to set the record straight. But then there wouldn't be a movie.
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago
Yeah, I feel that's what they do when they don't have any actual ideas to work with...
Robert Beveridge 1 year ago
The entire second half of Gone with the Wind could have been a five minute conversation.
Sonja 1 year ago
Ah yes, I really dislike this trope. There are very few movies that do it in a sensible way. Shrek comes to mind. There it was understandable, that he thought she was telling the donkey that she couldn't be with him. He was insecure anyways and it just confirmed his own bias. But in most cases it's just lazy writing because writers don't have a real story to tell and fall back on this instead.
Reinaldo Fuentes 1 year ago (edited)
Looking at you, every single "slow burn" fanfiction I've ever come across, especially when the lovers-to-be are two dudes. For the love of fic, find a different motor to power the slow of your story's burn. Two guys who are into guys and are even mildly aware that they are into each other are finding a room in CHAPTER ONE, not 500k words later. Stop it, already. That arc is more fantastical than whatever paranormal or preternatural creatures and beings also inhabit your story. Have you even met us????
Isaac Harvey 1 year ago
There's a particular scene in a show I watched that features this as part of a subplot. Credit to the writers, they made it work seamlessly, but that's the only instance I can remember in anything I've watched.
StumblingThroughLife 1 year ago (edited)
The same in many books. But then, it would be over much quicker, haha. Recently read one where a wife saw her husband allegedly cheating on her (turns out he wasn't), but she only told him (after leaving, divorcing and eventually marrying someone else) one chapter before the last one. 😑
#8
The very strong/smart main villain turning weak/dumb in the end fight so the heroes can win.
Serial pacifist 1 year ago (edited)
I hate the generic final dialogue when the genocidal maniac goes: “You and me, we are alike/the same.” and the hero “surprisingly” replies - “I am nothing like you!”
#9
When there is a timer and it takes longer to count down than the time that was called/shown. It drives me crazy.
Generic example, 50 seconds until a bomb explodes. Dialogue for 30 seconds. Timer is showing 30 seconds left. More dialogue for 40 seconds. Timer is at 5 seconds. Quick one-liner, bomb defused with one second to go.
#10
When one character who's an expert in some field stops to explain the most basic concepts to another character *who's also an expert on the same subject*.
#11
Unnecessary love scenes where the main character and a side character fall in love just cause, despite having known each other for like five minutes.
#12
When there’s a 20+ year age gap between the leading actor and actress and it’s not addressed in the movie, especially when the movie pretends like they’re around the same age.
“We’re both experienced, leading scientists in our fields, even though I look like a grizzled war veteran and you’re fresh off the set of High School Musical.”
#13
**Character A:** (Perfectly understandable explanation for something technical or scientific, that anyone who managed to dress themselves this morning could comprehend.)
**Character B:** "In *English*, please!"
**Character A:** (Extremely dumbed down version because screenwriter assumes audience are idiots)
#14
I can often tell when actors carry fake (well, empty) suitcases, and even when they carry empty to-go cups. There's just something different in the way their bodies/muscles work then.
Jesus Christ, it's a 50 million dollar movie, how hard would it be to fill the cup and toss a couple of bricks in the suitcase?
ADHORTATOR 1 year ago
Erich von Stroheim did this...and more: When his character wore a camera around his neck, there had to be a film in it, when there was a bell on the hotel counter, it had to be in working condition even when the bell wasn' t used in the scene.
#15
Badly implemented product placement. Product placement itself doesn't bother me. If there's a character driving a Toyota, or eating a Pizza Hut pizza, I don't care. If there's a pointless shot in the movie that shows the f*****g Bud Light logo for 10 seconds, I mind
#16
Maybe not 100%, but close to it.
Fight scenes where someone make a big blow(usually the villain), but instead of finishing the deal by smashing the brains out they start talking, bragging or some other cocky s**t. And woops, the fight is back on like nothing happened..
HelluvaHedgehogAlien 1 year ago
I ducking hate these villains who start talking. For freaking glitter unicorn’s sake, just kill the person and be done with it
#17
A bad ending. If a movie was great but has a bad ending, then the whole experience is ruined.
Arthur Waite 1 year ago
Or an ending that's really just a teaser for the next movie in the series; can't really kill anybody, we need that character in the sequel. If there is one.
#18
It was a dream
Doctor Strange 1 year ago
I can think of a few movies where "and it was all just a dream" would have improved them.
#19
When things explode for no reason. “Vehicle had minor collision or simply rolls over and spontaneously explodes”
Wow great response guys! The hatred runs deeper when I think of how easily bad guys “hot wire” cars in movies also!
TotallyNOTaFox 1 year ago (edited)
We in Germany have a decades long running show called "Cobra 11" about a fictional autobahn police - and you guess it, every damn car is a rolling bomb that explodes even if they get hit in the tire
#20
Teenagers who sound like screenwriters trying to sound cool.
Never in the history of humanity have two 15 year olds randomly recited 18th century poetry to each other on the day they met, and all those snarky remarks makes the kids sound insufferable and annoying a lot more than clever.
Also notice that somehow every clever 15 y.o. always listens to music that was huge when the screenwriter was growing up, never something that is... you know... listened to by 15 year olds... as if there was no good music around presently.
PS. Also the whole sarcastic genius with no social clues...yes we get it Dr. House was a hit 20 years ago, now can we get Cumberbatch to play any other freaking role?
CheshirePhrogg 1 year ago
Well I did recite 19th century poetry at people at about 15... But they didn't return the favor and I was a pretty self ostracized socially awkward nerd that no one in their right mind would have made a movie about
#21
When it's very obvious when someone isn't actually having a conversation on the phone. They just say their lines without giving enough pause for the other person to respond. I also hate when you're supposed to be looking at security footage but it's clearly just a previous shot that's had a filter put over it.
#22
Just 10 seconds left before the bomb explodes. The hero is taking all the time in the world to kiss and hug his girlfriend a last goodbye before returning to deactivate the bomb..
Squiffle Noses 1 year ago
F you! I'm about to save all humankind by sacrificing my life and I want my fu@kin SNOG! I am earning it!!!
#23
When all you have to do is beat the boss and the entire army just collapses. Pretty much every alien and robot-using invasion has this hive concept.
liam newton-harding 1 year ago
Robot Chicken did a riff on this about Star Wars. Oh well, the rebels have blown up the Death Star, they've won...What? We still have thousands of ships!...No, no. They destroyed the Death Star, they've beaten us...We still have millions of troops! We control every planet!...No. They've won. Best go home.
#24
They hang up the phone without any warning. Like "Bob, we discovered a nuke on it's way to Washington". Click.
Or someone answering the door within a couple seconds of knocking.
These thing completely break me out of the movie and are hard to recover from.
#25
Sounds bad but an actor’s voice can really ruin a movie for me, so bad voice acting
#26
Characters who are supposed to be badass but only act like a******s and endanger everyone because they "don't play by the rules". Like James Bond, Han Solo and sadly most other action Heros as well. It's not cool or atractive to be a d**k plus it is a really lazy and over used character trait for a main character to have.
#27
Insane plot armor.
It’s okay for a main character to die.
Pieter LeGrande 1 year ago
Or have a toilet break, catch a cold, develop cold sores or a pimple, trip and break a leg, go for a hair cut. Also why not be an innocent bystander caught up in someone else's drama.
#28
When the jokes are so forced. They're just trying is hard to be funny that it isn't. Or when they're offensive or just downright stupid. Totally ruins it. Unfortunately alot of comedy movies have tons of this so I tend to steer clear of comedies.
#29
I've got six things get me every time:
1. Motivation. The antagonist has to have a motivation that the audience can understand, and perhaps even sympathize with. The cardboard, "I'm a bad guy, because I like being bad and being bad is good - GRRRRR!" is so tiresome. I'll even accept the "banality of evil" like your Adolph Eichmann's, but the ones who make a display of relishing being bad? Not so much.
2. Violence without consequence. Sure, the good guy got beaten within an inch of his life, but the next day he'll get up and mete out justice, where he would normally be looking at 3 months of PT/OT. I have friends who've been on the wrong end of a physical trauma. It's not pretty.
3. War without consequence. War is brutal and ugly, and lots of people die in it. This should include multiple key characters in your movie. Not just the "we'll give this guy screen time with the stars and he'll be the one we kill off". Saving Private Ryan was fantastic in this regard, because they were willing to kill off characters and you cared when they did.
4. Timing/monologuing. Nobody delays the start, middle, or end of a fight for a monologue. If someone is intent on killing someone, the moment that opportunity comes, they're probably going to take it without launching into a 3 minute speech and give them time to rally.
5. Guns and gunfights that defy physics. The pistol that launches a guy 3 feet backwards when shot. The gun with a suppressor that makes a sound like a mouse farting from across the street. The guy who dies instantly from a gunshot to the chest. The gunfight in a confined space where everyone isn't deafened at the conclusion.
6. "BASED ON A TRUE STORY" is so abused. There's time when you have so much to tell that you have to abbreviate it or change the story to keep the key elements. HBO's Chernobyl is an example where they had to consolidate multiple characters into Ulana Khomyuk, and that's fine. But when there's a tapestry of fiction to make the thread of truth interesting, I'm out.
Temxas Red 1 year ago (edited)
Counter point: There are surpressors out there that can actually make guns really silent. They're basically rubber tubes attached to the barrel of a gun with no exit hole. The first shot is almost completely silent. The next 9 shots sound like a surpressed pistol in a movie. The 10th shot is no longer silent bc the surpressor is basically just ruined and no longer works. Counter point to my counter point: movies use the metal surpressors that don't work like the ones I mentioned
#30
Action scenes with lots and lots of cuts, that make it obvious (or appear like) the actors can't do the fight choreography.
What do you think ?
R Dennis 1 year ago
When the movie is so dark you can't see what's happening. Why spend all that money on visual effects when you won't let people see them?
Janet C 1 year ago
Came here to say this! Too many movies and TV shows (**cough** GoT **cough**) go for time of day realism, meaning they use no additional lighting for night scenes. They are impossible to see. It's bad enough in theaters, which are almost pitch black and have giant screens. It's awful on a TV, where there's probably surrounding light and the screen is measured in inches and not feet.
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Literal Pigeon 1 year ago
When the villains have completely reasonable societal change proposals, but they need to make the audience not like them so they have them do something completely crazy out of left field to make people hate them and their opinions on society. It's a trope deeply rooted in propaganda, and it happens more than you think. (Looking at you, Marvel!)
Pieter LeGrande 1 year ago
Does no-one get PTSD in the movies? or develop problems with all the head trauma?
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago
When they do, it's only part of the background story and added for drama. Psychological consequences aren't exactly portrayed properly...
Load More Replies... HelluvaHedgehogAlien 1 year ago
I particularly despise the part where the villain decided to give a very long speech. JUST KILL the main character goddamn it
Persephone hates Pomegranate 1 year ago
I watched a show set in Alaska, and the main character flew into Jueanu and drove (DROVE!!!) into Anchorage in the span of an hour. Like have you done no research? I was laughingso hard as an Alaskan!
majandess 1 year ago
I'm not even Alaskan, but I recognize the problem with that! Holy s**t, they did that?!
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Marcus Lynch 1 year ago
Guns that never run out of ammunition. Even cheap video games do a better job with this one.
Mat Hall 1 year ago
A lot of these complaints seem to misunderstand how telling a story works. Sure, it's "unrealistic" that people hang up the phone without saying goodbye, answer the door immediately, the hero always recovers from serious injury quickly, a 3 hour drive only takes 15 minutes, etc., but if a chunk of your film consists of people doing banal stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the plot it's going to be pretty dull to watch, and if you've only got 90 minutes to tell your story it's a bit pointless wasting a load of it on realism for the sake of realism.
BravePanda 1 year ago
When the characters are supposed to have distinct regional accent but sound like a blend of 7-8 areas in a blender and came out sounding wrong on all accounts.
Glengoolie Blue 1 year ago
Beating dead-horse tropes forever, like movies about a doll that comes to life and kills people. I'm so damned tired of this as a horror movie.
Jeff Mcelfresh 1 year ago
I don't know if M3GAN really counts as a 'killer doll' movie, but I think they actually did really well with the trope! Most of them though, yeah, they suck
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Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
I get it, there are certain actors I just don’t like and I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like them. I still haven’t seen “Valley Girl” because I can’t deal with Nicolas Cage, for example.
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RaRaPanda 1 year ago
When I can’t hear a character/actor because they mumble their lines and I have to turn on closed captions. I’ve just started watching with them on nowadays.
John George 1 year ago
Audible explosions in deep space. When the two leads romantically pair up, one gives up their defining interest. Multiple takes of the same explosion.
R Dennis 1 year ago
I like space explosions, side views and pew-pews of space lasers... all that...
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Blue_Mouse (read bio) 1 year ago
How come no one mentioned when you can see a dead person breathing.
Jeff Mcelfresh 1 year ago
When the hero forgives the villain at the end of the movie, even though the villain has done some extremely messed up things.
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
It's petty, but I truly despise the woman-in-heels-stays-immaculate-in-peril c**p. (Worst one I've seen was Jurassic World 1, Bryce Howard's characetr)
Beruthiel45 1 year ago
That was so stupid. It got so I missed half the plot I was so focused on her moronic outfit. Afterwards I read that they did it on purpose. Why? 🙄
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Rodney Bowie 1 year ago
When a TV is on, it's somehow always old black and white cartoons from around 1940. A: No channel airs these (I'm talking about loads of movies before streaming was a thing) B: Why does the character have this on tv? Why are they watching it?
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
maybe the producers do not want to pay royalties.
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R Dennis 1 year ago
That half the fun of old kung fu movies. A thirty second monologue that shows up as a grunt after they finish speaking.
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Elizabeth Basinger 1 year ago
When the medical condition of a character is completely unrealistic/inaccurate. In "The Net," Julia Roberts was told her friend had been intubated. She then proceeded to walk into his room, where they had a whole conversation. Additionally, you don't wake up from a coma fully functional.
ThatOmniCapybara(she/they) 1 year ago
I hate prophecies or the whole I'm-not-like-everyone-else trope, and/or the "chosen one" theme. It's overused and boring.
Marley Nachi 1 year ago
I don't like it when the main character is a n00b who suddenly becomes 'the chosen one' and automatically think everything revolves around them or it's their job to save the world/ the damsel in distress despite there being more qualified people around.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
true, but that's kinda the trope of every hero story since beowulf 1000 years ago.
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delightfuldragon 1 year ago
Raise your hand if you would like to see closed captioning become a thing at the movies!
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago
Extreme wokeness. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE inclusivity! But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when "oh look, we're showing a gay couple!" is forced in a way that draws attention away from the story (note: It's not about depicting gay couples. I'm pansexual, I love seeing all kinds of couples, but I like seeing them being treated like any other couple that isn't presented as if they're just put there to make a point). And it's not just that, it can be anything. Like that 90s Cinderella movie with Brandy where the prince was Asian, his mom was black and his dad was white, and the stepmother was white but one of her daughters was black. I know mixed race people and adoption exist, but in that setting combos like that would be highly unlikely.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
This also bugs me. I feel like the forced diversity is like a new form of whitewashing, like “we’re going to cast diverse actors in a familiar Eurocentric story because we want to be inclusive but not inclusive enough to let people tell the own stories” And it ruined one cartoon I really was looking forward when the character just straight out said they were trans in the pilot. The character was obviously trans, there was no need to hit us over the head with it before we got to know them as a person! It was so much more impactful with something like Tales from the City, where you fell in love with the trans character and their journey before it was revealed. Give me more than 10 minutes to get to know the character before using someone’s gender as a character trait.
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Ivy at Eve 1 year ago
Endless police chases and nobody running out of gaz. Police enclosing the bad guys or crime in progress whit blaring sirenes keeping everyone awake in a mile wide radius but the criminals are oblivious. Oh and those 25 year olds with 3 PHDs, 2 doctorates and no apparent student debt.
Tracy Wallick 1 year ago
Having the male lead's motivation come from a woman in his life being murdered and/or sexually assaulted. Having the badass female character's motivation be revenge for sexual assault. Always having to shoehorn female leads into the role of romantic interest (I respect the hell out of Mad Max: Fury Road and Pacific Rim for avoiding this trope in particular).
Phillip Moderow 1 year ago
Current movies have WAAAAAAAAY too much political correctness if you know what I mean.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
Or the other way: if a movie is gross or raunchy or offensive as an attempt to be funny and isn’t. It’s kind of the same thing, too much of any extreme isn’t surprising enough to be funny.
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Rosie 1 year ago
So many! 1) Going everywhere in a big city (especially NYC) in just a few minutes. Like, Manhattan to JFK in less than an hour (usually a whole lot more). I don't care if it's 3am & it's a Jewish holiday, it's not happening! 2) People get bad news & respond w/"What do you mean? or "What are you talking about?" 3) The ancient tropes of guns w/an unending # of bullets & bad guys who can't shoot straight. I could go all day, but those are my top pet peeves.
Tjoori Vids 1 year ago
Any scene with a horse in it where the horse is basically just neighing, snorting, squealing etc etc etc. Worst I've ever seen was that King Arthur movie (don't recall the name) when he has a meeting with his opposing pagan king. Oh my effing God. Horses don't make anywhere near that much noise! It was like the horse was commenting on every sentence. Absolutely diabolical.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
I wish I’d caught this list in time, because there’s one that drives me nuts that I see all the time and never gets mentioned: when someone is brushing their teeth, especially if they’re giving expository dialogue while brushing their teeth. No one ever does this in real life, there’s no reason to show it, but I see it in an incredible number of movies and television shows, and it never makes any sense, and it always ruins the movie for me.
Elizabeth Tayler 1 year ago
Scenes that take place in a car, but the driver NEVER looks at the dam n road! Literally looking at the passenger for minutes at a time, doesn't even glance... How hard is it to at least glance or tilt your head a bit? Infuriates me.
delightfuldragon 1 year ago
When the characters are in the Arctic and there are no cold puffs of breath. Plus, they're all bundled up except their faces because frostbite isn't a thing. lol
Lara Verne 1 year ago
You forgot 'bad guy with tragic backstory'. Yeah, he's evil. But he's sole survivor of some disaster, so it's justified!
Unpopular opinions 1 year ago
Yeah, every bad guy now a days need some backstory that “justifies” them being bad. Some people are just evil for no reason.
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Thor Haugen 1 year ago
Lens filters that are obvious. Horror movies are really bad about that. If you have to rely on a lens filter for a sense of fear rather than the acting or story, something is wrong.
Thot Waffle 1 year ago
Different timelines. I don't mind if a story isn't in chronological order, but there should only be ONE timeline overall. Couldn't finish Russian Doll Season 2 because of this.
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
I know this is absurdly petty, but it still drives me out of my mind EVERY TIME: Character uses a pay phone and when he hangs up, we can hear the coins drop into the count return (instead of inside the phone where they belong). The sound people can replace that with the appropriate sound, and yet I have never, EVER seen a pay phone scene where the coins DIDN’T go into the coin return slot when the phone is hung up! Grrr! This is what drives me crazy the most: small, simple things that could be fixed in less than five seconds, and yet no one bothers. The advice by which I live my life is “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” Have movie people never heard this? Is it impossible to take pride in their work?
Dee 1 year ago (edited)
How the first 2 Harry Potter films were shot verses the remaining ones: the first 2 bright, brilliant color. The remaining movies dark, depressing filters. We get it. Ol' V-man was coming back but we'd like to see what's happening without the darkness. And each movie was directed differently: the director had to put their own original spin on the characters.
Catherine Spencer-Mills 1 year ago
1. Female cop is chased by bad guy and runs screaming. Did you lose your gun? Flunk self defense classes? 2. An Apple II can talk to the mother ship and can kill it with a virus developed on the Apple. Do they recognize the same assembly language? Have the same number of bits per character? Same mother board configuration? 3. Romances in movies and books. 2 People meet, drama ensues, friends / lovers forever. blech
Sonja 1 year ago
When the 'good' character has a huge fight with a really nasty villain, I'm talking about a real baddie who has already killed lots of innocent people and there's no way he'll ever stop, and when they eventually corner them they let them go. Especially after huge fights that definitely have hurt or even killed tons of innocent bystanders. No! You're not showing superior morality here! You have to stop them. If you just let them go on, knowing perfectly well they'll keep killing people and destroying life, you're just a goody two shoes who doesn't care gor people. You didn't care for all the collateral killings before, now every other person suffering on that villains hands is on you! Yes you should have killed them when you had the chance! And no, you're not better than them for not doing it. It is understandable that a good person who never killed before just couldn't. That's ok, that's human. But don't make it into something good or neccessary of being good.
Jane Alexander 1 year ago (edited)
'Thief of Baghdad' 1940. The dog has a major role, but the trainer/handler couldn't bother to clean up his eye before his close- up. Shame on somebody! Also that non-human actors were not given credits for their roles. I searched for 'Nosy' s name in the credits for 'The Raven', and still believe he had the title role. I found nothing.
Kevin J. Henning 1 year ago
If movies were meant to have a basis in reality they'd be documentaries. After thinking it over, forget I said that.
Thot Waffle 1 year ago
This is more of a book / tv series complaint, but when the big reveal is that the book/tv show was written by the main characters themselves.
R Dennis 1 year ago
When the movie is so dark you can't see what's happening. Why spend all that money on visual effects when you won't let people see them?
Janet C 1 year ago
Came here to say this! Too many movies and TV shows (**cough** GoT **cough**) go for time of day realism, meaning they use no additional lighting for night scenes. They are impossible to see. It's bad enough in theaters, which are almost pitch black and have giant screens. It's awful on a TV, where there's probably surrounding light and the screen is measured in inches and not feet.
Load More Replies... Literal Pigeon 1 year ago
When the villains have completely reasonable societal change proposals, but they need to make the audience not like them so they have them do something completely crazy out of left field to make people hate them and their opinions on society. It's a trope deeply rooted in propaganda, and it happens more than you think. (Looking at you, Marvel!)
Pieter LeGrande 1 year ago
Does no-one get PTSD in the movies? or develop problems with all the head trauma?
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago
When they do, it's only part of the background story and added for drama. Psychological consequences aren't exactly portrayed properly...
Load More Replies... HelluvaHedgehogAlien 1 year ago
I particularly despise the part where the villain decided to give a very long speech. JUST KILL the main character goddamn it
Persephone hates Pomegranate 1 year ago
I watched a show set in Alaska, and the main character flew into Jueanu and drove (DROVE!!!) into Anchorage in the span of an hour. Like have you done no research? I was laughingso hard as an Alaskan!
majandess 1 year ago
I'm not even Alaskan, but I recognize the problem with that! Holy s**t, they did that?!
Load More Replies... Marcus Lynch 1 year ago
Guns that never run out of ammunition. Even cheap video games do a better job with this one.
Mat Hall 1 year ago
A lot of these complaints seem to misunderstand how telling a story works. Sure, it's "unrealistic" that people hang up the phone without saying goodbye, answer the door immediately, the hero always recovers from serious injury quickly, a 3 hour drive only takes 15 minutes, etc., but if a chunk of your film consists of people doing banal stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the plot it's going to be pretty dull to watch, and if you've only got 90 minutes to tell your story it's a bit pointless wasting a load of it on realism for the sake of realism.
BravePanda 1 year ago
When the characters are supposed to have distinct regional accent but sound like a blend of 7-8 areas in a blender and came out sounding wrong on all accounts.
Glengoolie Blue 1 year ago
Beating dead-horse tropes forever, like movies about a doll that comes to life and kills people. I'm so damned tired of this as a horror movie.
Jeff Mcelfresh 1 year ago
I don't know if M3GAN really counts as a 'killer doll' movie, but I think they actually did really well with the trope! Most of them though, yeah, they suck
Load More Replies... Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
I get it, there are certain actors I just don’t like and I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like them. I still haven’t seen “Valley Girl” because I can’t deal with Nicolas Cage, for example.
Load More Replies... RaRaPanda 1 year ago
When I can’t hear a character/actor because they mumble their lines and I have to turn on closed captions. I’ve just started watching with them on nowadays.
John George 1 year ago
Audible explosions in deep space. When the two leads romantically pair up, one gives up their defining interest. Multiple takes of the same explosion.
R Dennis 1 year ago
I like space explosions, side views and pew-pews of space lasers... all that...
Load More Replies... Blue_Mouse (read bio) 1 year ago
How come no one mentioned when you can see a dead person breathing.
Jeff Mcelfresh 1 year ago
When the hero forgives the villain at the end of the movie, even though the villain has done some extremely messed up things.
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
It's petty, but I truly despise the woman-in-heels-stays-immaculate-in-peril c**p. (Worst one I've seen was Jurassic World 1, Bryce Howard's characetr)
Beruthiel45 1 year ago
That was so stupid. It got so I missed half the plot I was so focused on her moronic outfit. Afterwards I read that they did it on purpose. Why? 🙄
Load More Replies... Rodney Bowie 1 year ago
When a TV is on, it's somehow always old black and white cartoons from around 1940. A: No channel airs these (I'm talking about loads of movies before streaming was a thing) B: Why does the character have this on tv? Why are they watching it?
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
maybe the producers do not want to pay royalties.
Load More Replies... R Dennis 1 year ago
That half the fun of old kung fu movies. A thirty second monologue that shows up as a grunt after they finish speaking.
Load More Replies... Elizabeth Basinger 1 year ago
When the medical condition of a character is completely unrealistic/inaccurate. In "The Net," Julia Roberts was told her friend had been intubated. She then proceeded to walk into his room, where they had a whole conversation. Additionally, you don't wake up from a coma fully functional.
ThatOmniCapybara(she/they) 1 year ago
I hate prophecies or the whole I'm-not-like-everyone-else trope, and/or the "chosen one" theme. It's overused and boring.
Marley Nachi 1 year ago
I don't like it when the main character is a n00b who suddenly becomes 'the chosen one' and automatically think everything revolves around them or it's their job to save the world/ the damsel in distress despite there being more qualified people around.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
true, but that's kinda the trope of every hero story since beowulf 1000 years ago.
Load More Replies... delightfuldragon 1 year ago
Raise your hand if you would like to see closed captioning become a thing at the movies!
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago
Extreme wokeness. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE inclusivity! But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when "oh look, we're showing a gay couple!" is forced in a way that draws attention away from the story (note: It's not about depicting gay couples. I'm pansexual, I love seeing all kinds of couples, but I like seeing them being treated like any other couple that isn't presented as if they're just put there to make a point). And it's not just that, it can be anything. Like that 90s Cinderella movie with Brandy where the prince was Asian, his mom was black and his dad was white, and the stepmother was white but one of her daughters was black. I know mixed race people and adoption exist, but in that setting combos like that would be highly unlikely.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
This also bugs me. I feel like the forced diversity is like a new form of whitewashing, like “we’re going to cast diverse actors in a familiar Eurocentric story because we want to be inclusive but not inclusive enough to let people tell the own stories” And it ruined one cartoon I really was looking forward when the character just straight out said they were trans in the pilot. The character was obviously trans, there was no need to hit us over the head with it before we got to know them as a person! It was so much more impactful with something like Tales from the City, where you fell in love with the trans character and their journey before it was revealed. Give me more than 10 minutes to get to know the character before using someone’s gender as a character trait.
Load More Replies... Ivy at Eve 1 year ago
Endless police chases and nobody running out of gaz. Police enclosing the bad guys or crime in progress whit blaring sirenes keeping everyone awake in a mile wide radius but the criminals are oblivious. Oh and those 25 year olds with 3 PHDs, 2 doctorates and no apparent student debt.
Tracy Wallick 1 year ago
Having the male lead's motivation come from a woman in his life being murdered and/or sexually assaulted. Having the badass female character's motivation be revenge for sexual assault. Always having to shoehorn female leads into the role of romantic interest (I respect the hell out of Mad Max: Fury Road and Pacific Rim for avoiding this trope in particular).
Phillip Moderow 1 year ago
Current movies have WAAAAAAAAY too much political correctness if you know what I mean.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
Or the other way: if a movie is gross or raunchy or offensive as an attempt to be funny and isn’t. It’s kind of the same thing, too much of any extreme isn’t surprising enough to be funny.
Load More Replies... Rosie 1 year ago
So many! 1) Going everywhere in a big city (especially NYC) in just a few minutes. Like, Manhattan to JFK in less than an hour (usually a whole lot more). I don't care if it's 3am & it's a Jewish holiday, it's not happening! 2) People get bad news & respond w/"What do you mean? or "What are you talking about?" 3) The ancient tropes of guns w/an unending # of bullets & bad guys who can't shoot straight. I could go all day, but those are my top pet peeves.
Tjoori Vids 1 year ago
Any scene with a horse in it where the horse is basically just neighing, snorting, squealing etc etc etc. Worst I've ever seen was that King Arthur movie (don't recall the name) when he has a meeting with his opposing pagan king. Oh my effing God. Horses don't make anywhere near that much noise! It was like the horse was commenting on every sentence. Absolutely diabolical.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
I wish I’d caught this list in time, because there’s one that drives me nuts that I see all the time and never gets mentioned: when someone is brushing their teeth, especially if they’re giving expository dialogue while brushing their teeth. No one ever does this in real life, there’s no reason to show it, but I see it in an incredible number of movies and television shows, and it never makes any sense, and it always ruins the movie for me.
Elizabeth Tayler 1 year ago
Scenes that take place in a car, but the driver NEVER looks at the dam n road! Literally looking at the passenger for minutes at a time, doesn't even glance... How hard is it to at least glance or tilt your head a bit? Infuriates me.
delightfuldragon 1 year ago
When the characters are in the Arctic and there are no cold puffs of breath. Plus, they're all bundled up except their faces because frostbite isn't a thing. lol
Lara Verne 1 year ago
You forgot 'bad guy with tragic backstory'. Yeah, he's evil. But he's sole survivor of some disaster, so it's justified!
Unpopular opinions 1 year ago
Yeah, every bad guy now a days need some backstory that “justifies” them being bad. Some people are just evil for no reason.
Load More Replies... Thor Haugen 1 year ago
Lens filters that are obvious. Horror movies are really bad about that. If you have to rely on a lens filter for a sense of fear rather than the acting or story, something is wrong.
Thot Waffle 1 year ago
Different timelines. I don't mind if a story isn't in chronological order, but there should only be ONE timeline overall. Couldn't finish Russian Doll Season 2 because of this.
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
I know this is absurdly petty, but it still drives me out of my mind EVERY TIME: Character uses a pay phone and when he hangs up, we can hear the coins drop into the count return (instead of inside the phone where they belong). The sound people can replace that with the appropriate sound, and yet I have never, EVER seen a pay phone scene where the coins DIDN’T go into the coin return slot when the phone is hung up! Grrr! This is what drives me crazy the most: small, simple things that could be fixed in less than five seconds, and yet no one bothers. The advice by which I live my life is “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” Have movie people never heard this? Is it impossible to take pride in their work?
Dee 1 year ago (edited)
How the first 2 Harry Potter films were shot verses the remaining ones: the first 2 bright, brilliant color. The remaining movies dark, depressing filters. We get it. Ol' V-man was coming back but we'd like to see what's happening without the darkness. And each movie was directed differently: the director had to put their own original spin on the characters.
Catherine Spencer-Mills 1 year ago
1. Female cop is chased by bad guy and runs screaming. Did you lose your gun? Flunk self defense classes? 2. An Apple II can talk to the mother ship and can kill it with a virus developed on the Apple. Do they recognize the same assembly language? Have the same number of bits per character? Same mother board configuration? 3. Romances in movies and books. 2 People meet, drama ensues, friends / lovers forever. blech
Sonja 1 year ago
When the 'good' character has a huge fight with a really nasty villain, I'm talking about a real baddie who has already killed lots of innocent people and there's no way he'll ever stop, and when they eventually corner them they let them go. Especially after huge fights that definitely have hurt or even killed tons of innocent bystanders. No! You're not showing superior morality here! You have to stop them. If you just let them go on, knowing perfectly well they'll keep killing people and destroying life, you're just a goody two shoes who doesn't care gor people. You didn't care for all the collateral killings before, now every other person suffering on that villains hands is on you! Yes you should have killed them when you had the chance! And no, you're not better than them for not doing it. It is understandable that a good person who never killed before just couldn't. That's ok, that's human. But don't make it into something good or neccessary of being good.
Jane Alexander 1 year ago (edited)
'Thief of Baghdad' 1940. The dog has a major role, but the trainer/handler couldn't bother to clean up his eye before his close- up. Shame on somebody! Also that non-human actors were not given credits for their roles. I searched for 'Nosy' s name in the credits for 'The Raven', and still believe he had the title role. I found nothing.
Kevin J. Henning 1 year ago
If movies were meant to have a basis in reality they'd be documentaries. After thinking it over, forget I said that.
Thot Waffle 1 year ago
This is more of a book / tv series complaint, but when the big reveal is that the book/tv show was written by the main characters themselves.
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