Cliches, tropes, and trends that you actually enjoy?

[Grootster]

Most of the time "clishes", "trends", and "tropes" are considered negative things in film, but what are some that you actually enjoy seeing? These can be cliches, trends, and tropes that you legitimately think makes a film better, or ones that you only enjoy as a guilty pleasure here and there.

Here's mine, this is one I legitimately enjoy:

The recent trend of retro '80s-ish throwback movies. This has really become a thing over the past few years, I'm guessing it started with the first Guardians of the Galaxy, but it may have been starting up even before that. I just really enjoy hearing the music from that time period and seeing all the retro technology and bright color pallets. Movies set in that relatively limited time period tend to be more interesting to me than movies set in the interconnected Internet era of today. Related to that, I also love the trend of old rock songs in trailers, (although not so much the trend of creepy/sad covers of old songs that Ultron started, I thought that got old really fast.)

What are some of yours?

 

[2kt09]

The number of throwback movies is too damn high, but I recently understood the appeal of a "John Hughes movie"
after checking out 3 of his most cherished teen flicks.

I love the influx of genre thrillers and all these comedy hybrids from mockumentaries to simply put outLandish.

 

[Silvermoth]

I'm always a fan of ugly person takes off glasses and is suddenly hot. I know it's problematic but I just love the big reveal

 

[Lily Adler]

Don't forget putting down their hair that's always in a ponytail too.

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

"We've got company!"

"Let's get down to business."

The cliche when it turns out to be the love interest as the culprit (it makes it more dramatic)

The good guy runs out of bullets just when the villain appears.

Slow motion for dramatic effect (sometimes it gets really artful, such as in Watchmen)

Someone barges into a saloon.

Crane shots.

LALALAND in general

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Superhero landings.

Walking slowly away from an explosion.

 

[Kane52630]

Maybe this is too wide of a trope/trend, but I'm always a sucker for those situational thrillers that takes place in one environment like Speed, Phone Booth, Die Hard, The Raid, John Q, ect.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Supporting character you thought was bad or switched sides turns out to actually be a good guy and helps save the day.

 

[Sundancer]

Here's a few I like from the Nostalgia Critics top eleven cliches

slow motion
turning the gun sideways
walking away from an explosion
The billowing long coat/cape
the villain laugh

 

[Sundancer]

Maybe this is too wide of a trope/trend, but I'm always a sucker for those situational thrillers that takes place in one environment like Speed, Phone Booth, Die Hard, The Raid, John Q, ect.

Watch Buried. Whole thing takes place in a coffin.

 

[Kane52630]

Watch Buried. Whole thing takes place in a coffin.

Saw it years ago and I loved it. It's one of Ryan Reynolds best films.

 

[Breogan]

Light it up!
The usually Dark Avenger Lighting up their Blazing Logo!
Love it! It's so overused I started a thread for it - Dark Knights - Blazing Logos

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

This one is more of an anime trope, but I'm a real sucker for tournament arcs. It occasionally pops up in films. Enter the Dragon being the classic example.

 

[Brian Braddock]

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for the 'alternate universe evil twin' trope. Love it in comic books, love it in tv shows movies; especially love it in comic book tv shows and movies.

 

[Breogan]

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for the 'alternate universe evil twin' trope. Love it in comic books, love it in tv shows movies; especially love it in comic book tv shows and movies.

Love the Alternate / Negative U evil Twin:
JL Earth X had the negative doppelganger Crime Syndicate...

(there have been a few versions)

Which to my surprise predate Trek's Mirror-verse, another favorite!

Lost in Space also did an episode called the Anti-Matter Man
Where John Robinson and Don West are transported onto a strange new world where their evil opposites exist and plan to change places with them...

The Flash has an earth-2 ep. where they run into their doppelgängers


And haha, Web-Man?

Darkwing has Negaduck, although don't know if he's from a parallel mirror universe?

 

[BestGirl]

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for the 'alternate universe evil twin' trope. Love it in comic books, love it in tv shows movies; especially love it in comic book tv shows and movies.

Yeah, I like that one too. Actors seem to have a lot of fun with it.

 

[Ninjablade]

I’ve always been a stickler for the “last guy my mentor trained went rogue” cliché. I just enjoy seeing the parallel between the rogue and the new guy. It’s always satisfying to see the new guy come out on top.

 

[OutOfBoose]

-Young female assassins;
-Bad guys forced to do a little bit of community service;
-Framed protagonist;
-Fake reality.

But it doesn't mean if a movie has something out of the list above automatically gets a thumbs up from me. It has to be good in my eyes.

 

[MilkmanDan]

I love it when the by-the-book cop and the rebellious, cowboy cop are forced to work together. It's been done a million times but I still always enjoy it when it's done well.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Super hero landings.

And sometimes I like happy endings, damn it.

 

[Breogan]

I love it when the by-the-book cop and the rebellious, cowboy cop are forced to work together. It's been done a million times but I still always enjoy it when it's done well.

I think that's how they will be approaching the next potential Green Lantern Corps film.
John Stewart the strict, by-the-book cop, Hal Jordan the more reckless, rebellious, maverick cop ...forced to work together."

 

[Brian Braddock]

Love the DCU's JL Earth X doppelgangers the Crime Syndicate...

(there have been a few versions)

Which to my surprise predate Trek's Mirror-verse, another favorite!

Yeah, I like that one too. Actors seem to have a lot of fun with it.

Ha, love it. Same reason I loved the likes of Fringe when it was on.

 

[-JKR-]

The cliche I hate the most is people who hate cliches.

It's up the writers and directors to use cliches and tropes in an interesting way, and sometimes even subvert them. And the same goes for filmmaking trends and techniques. There used to be a time when directors would slightly speed up action sequences to make them more visceral, but leave it to George Miller to make it work like magic in Mad Max: Fury Road.

I think that everything is game. As long as you know how to use it.

The recent trend of retro '80s-ish throwback movies.

^ I LOVE IT! The '80s are my favorite decade in movies, so today's filmmaker taking a page from those movies is a wonderful thing for me!

 

[Breogan]

Superhero landings.

While being labeled with a new name due to it's overuse now, it's another that's been around form the go.
Conan: Weird Tales 1933 near cinematic description of the so called "superhero Landing", even ending with the visual emphasis of the determined face, close-up.

Visual of the same landing in Savage Sword 1977:

I mean the naturally occuring visual is old as dirt, one of the most iconic reused particularly the go-to for Spider-Man landing, I grew up seeing it, even had a sticker of it abt 75 based on Ditko Spider-Man Annual #1, and repurposed by Romita, was so prelavant, the notion that its some recent visual phenomena is a bit odd.
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Although not exhaustive, here is a couple of pretty fun compilations.
The last few also include the now standard head snap-up, and death-glare, add explosion in the back, and it's unbeatable.
Would love to see it tracked back and pinpointed to its actual first visual incarnations- in comics and manga, and tv/films and anime.

Another ...somewhat seeks to trace it's film roots and evolution.

 

[Symbiotic]

I miss that thing they used to do in action movies where the heroes come in by crashing through the window.