Thanks to encouragement from Roger Ebert, I frequently blight my own movie-watching experience by tabulating movie cliches. For example, take the Seeing-Eye Man:
"Function performed by most men in Hollywood feature films. Involves a series of shots in which (1) the man sees something, (2) he points it out to the woman, (3) she then sees it too, often nodding in agreement, gratitude, amusement, or relief."
Or the Hot Justice Syndrome:
"All trials that are held south of the Mason-Dixon line take place during the summer in a non-air-conditioned courtroom filled with people airing themselves with fans from a funeral home. Heroic lawyer always mops neck with big white handkerchief. Slimy defense attorney never sweats."
Now very many (but not all) of these painful cliches have been incorporated into this video, which I found at Urlesque, a charming site that allows me to waste more time each day than I ever thought possible. The video was created by BriTANick, two guys who:
"decided that they didn’t want to use the knowledge and experience they garnered in college for anything but creating short stupid videos that would make them laugh."
But wait -- I have one more cliche, which I'm sure will be added to Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer, Part II.
You know a scene occurs at a school because, as the scene opens on the inevitably picturesque multi-story brick building from the 1920s or earlier, the bell will always ring.
Have a movie cliche you'd like to see memorialized? Lay it on me.
