Hollywood, we need to talk .
Movies, in principle, are great . Most of us have a list of favorites . But that doesn’t mean that audiences can’t grow frustrated with filmmakers using the same tropes, the same plotlines and the same tendencies in so many movies.
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Will it ever change? It seems unlikely, but in any event, this r/AskReddit thread allowed commenters a chance to vent about the things they wish Hollywood would stop doing.
This isn’t how humans communicate.
“Just hanging up after a phone conversation with out saying ‘bye.’ Pisses me off for some reason.”
“And agreeing to go on a date with someone and just leaving without exchanging a time or location.
‘How does Saturday sound?’ ‘Oh Saturday is perfect.’ ‘Great! See you then.'”
But then people would be forced to read subtitles.
“Reboots and sequels. Come up with something new! Especially quit with making substandard remakes of successful non-English language films. Market the originals and trust people to be able to follow subtitles instead of producing plastic knock offs.”
Figure out the ages.
“Casting middle aged women to play elderly women and just making their hair white.
Casting late twenties/early thirties women to play middle aged women, and just dressing them in frumpy clothes.
Casting late twenties actors to play high school students.”
Have they ever been in a bar?
“Pretending people can actually have a conversation in a bar without yelling.”
“Having conversations on public transit, sitting next to others, while talking about top secret stuff, terrorism, etc., murder cover ups, and not worried at all that someone might be listening.”
This is video game logic.
“Making movies where the 1 good guy defeats 20 bad guys because the 20 bad guys attack the 1 good guy one by one.”
“When I watch these fights scenes nowadays I ignore the main fight and look at the other bad guys waiting their turn. It’s hilarious AF. They strike weird poses, fall over themselves or just writhe around like zombies.”
Food is just another prop.
“Stop having people take like 1 bite of what they ordered then leave. It’s a small thing, but I’ve never seen it happen in real life.”
“Sometimes they’ll take out a wad of cash and throw it on the table without seeing a bill or even checking how much money they’re putting down.”
– u/fzvw
It’s how they keep you on your toes.
“Whispering/mumbling dialogue then cutting to a chase scene. Dramatic posing close-ups.”
“Quiet dialogue which makes you crank the volume up so you can hear it better then a super loud action scene happens and the speakers to your TV explode.”
Shake it up, or don’t.
“Shaky cam action fight scenes. No this is not artistic. Your choreography just sucks and you have to hide it.”
“My wife can’t even watch films like that without getting sick. We’ve been excited about movies more than once, and had to stop watching like 5 minutes in because [bad] camera work made her queasy.”
Live action everything.
“Adapting [garbage] into live-action movies when they should really be animated.
Examples include upcoming Mega Man, Pac-Man and Minecraft movies which are ALL set to be live-action.”
“I thought Pixels (2015) was a pretty good live action movie including Pac- Man.”
Video game adaptations are questionable at the best of times.
“There’s multiple video game adaption movies and TV shows come out lately that miss the mark completely. Resident Evil / Halo Etc.
I know adaptations always have their quirks and things that would outrage a fan base but geez. The Halo TV show really felt like they just wanted to write their own story with already existing characters. It all comes down to executive decision.”
They just don’t animate like they used to.
“I wish Hollywood would stop treating the medium of animation as something inherently inferior to live action. I also wish 2D animation was used more for movies.”
“I completely agree! There’s a unique magic in hand drawn animation. I’d even appreciate a mix of 2D/3D or animation and live action.”
This is every sitcom ever.
“Having a main character whose job/income level does not match their home or lifestyle at all.”
“Working at a fast food joint? Better have an apartment with great furniture all to yourself in Upper East Side Manhattan!”
The universe universe.
“Turning everything into a ‘universe.'”
“Honestly, the many universe theory has been turned into the most lazy, BS writing.
In infinite other universes the story fails, but in this especially specific but still random selection, it all happens perfectly as the writers intended it. And it won’t mean [anything] when the next film happens in a different timeline.”
Everything has to be a romance.
“Forcing a love story that makes no sense in a movie that has nothing to do with romance.”
“Long kisses in the middle of a ‘we’re running out of time!’ scene. We gotta save the world, but let me take my time to say goodbye/goodluck first.”
Was Ugly Betty supposed to be ugly?
“Casting attractive people in ‘ugly’ roles.”
“Or as serious drug addicts, with clear skin and healthy muscle tone. People on opioids or meth don’t generally look good. Sallow skin, loose muscles, sores, unkempt, under weight, etc. The only ones that look that way are characters you aren’t supposed to like or care about.”
A small one, but still important.
“EMPTY CUPS. I hate seeing people holding cups and pretending to take drinks from obviously empty cups. Their hands never move right, or if it’s an open cup, you can literally see that it’s empty.”
In real life, that’s a traumatic brain injury.
“Characters getting punched multiple times in the face in 1 scene and having no signs of the trauma in the next scene.”
“Or shot, but they remove the bullet in a dirty motel and sew it up with twine and knitting needles so now it doesn’t hurt anymore and they can go fight more bad guys unencumbered.”
Remakes on remakes.
“Remakes of good movies, I don’t understand why they remake good movies, when there are tons of flops that have potential, that they could remake. Like there was absolutely no need to remake Total Recall , it’s a iconic movie, but something like Eragon or The Golden Compass those should get remakes.”
Are you afraid of the dark?
“Stop making films and TV shows that we cannot see because they are too dark and cannot hear what the [expletive] people are saying. That would be a good start.”
“I honestly think some vfx engineers stuffed up and others thought it was a trend and continued to under expose. Series 8 of Game of Thrones was about 8 slightly diffident blank pixels running about the screen.”
It’s like watching the actual movie.
“Spoiling the film in the trailers.”
“Or showing all the best/funniest scenes in the trailer and then leaving you wondering wtf am I watching when watching the movie itself.”
“Or they misrepresent the movie entirely by spinning it as a comedy when its really a drama with a couple funny bits and only those funny bits make the trailer.”
