r/MovieTropes

This happens with arrows too, and pretty much any penetrative projectile weapon, but is especially bad with throwing knives. A character will throw a knife and it lands with perfect accuracy, tip-first, into the enemy, causing them to instantly drop dead. As long as the knife hits anywhere in the torso (except the shoulders of course) or the head, it hits an off switch. Doesn't matter how deep the knife actually penetrated, it will stick straight out of the guy and stay imbedded. If the guy was charging at the thrower, they'll whip back and their legs will fly forward like they just got clotheslined.

And they do this with blade weapons that aren't made for throwing, meaning the balance is off, and it still hits tip-first. Even if the character is an expert knife thrower, that still doesn't mean the enemy will instantly die from a hit. Thrown objects lose a lot of energy flying through the air, especially if they're not balanced for flight. Then they have to get through clothing. Most likely it's just a flesh wound. Let's say it goes deep enough to penetrate a vital organ, the bad guy would be rolling on the ground in agony bleeding out for a while.

The only way this trope can be make logical sense is if the knife had struck the base of the brain (medulla) or the bad guy was in so much psychological shock upon being hit that they just freeze and play dead.

You know what really twists my melons? When someone gets shot, and then a surgeon saves them by removing the bullet. It’s the damage caused by the bullet that will cause death or disability. Removing it doesn’t reverse that damage.

And while I’m off on one, someone shot with an arrow does not instantly fall down dead. And someone who’s received a traumatic brain injury sufficient to render them unconscious, cannot be ‘brought round’ again by a gentle slap on the cheek, or a glass of water thrown over them.

Jeez…

Notice starting just about 2 decades ago, some action flicks have their characters eating cornflakes in between action scenes. Examples are Resident Evil (2026) and Spiderman. [Edit ‘examples’ isn’t an exhaustive list, if not self-apparent]

What’s the rationale for the choice of food? Why cornflakes? Why not sandwiches or biscuits or bread or instant noodles, if for convenience? And also, other food types are a lot quieter. Also more balanced meals with more nutrients for the bursts of actions.

The box wasn’t seen, so that rules out product placement of a particular brand. But not for the food category.

NB: I like cornflakes, as a snack. Asking as a film buff, and a foodie, trying to wrap my mind around some characters’ food choices in those situations.

All kinds of examples of this but two stood out to me from the new Carrie show on Prime.

• Whenever someone makes a "viral video" its some overly edited, wacky borderline Youtube poop version. Those typically aren't what goes viral anymore and haven't been for at least like 15 years.
• That "viral video" blows up, sometimes literally over night, to the point where everyone is talking about it and coming up to the person on the street (or in this case, a school). I'm not saying that NEVER happens but unless you're Hawk Tuah level, it is very unlikely.

I find villains more unsettling when I can follow their reasoning. Somewhere along the way, “I want to keep people safe” becomes “people shouldn’t be allowed to decide for themselves”, and I’m left wondering exactly where I stopped agreeing.

When a character has become sick and is throwing up in a scene or puking out something gross, it’s always just whatever amount of prop puke they can hold in their mouth.

There’s always the run to the toilet or trash can and sink your head into it to mask the action too.

I hate when the bad guy or sometimes the good guy gets the upper hand on the person they are fighting, has them on the ground with a gun pointed at their heads and instead of killing them instantly they go into a "Do you know who i am?!!" or "why I did it" monologue!! They will have the chance to ride off into the sunset but they HAVE to explain their whole backstory, plot, how they got away with it, how much they hate the world etc. This monologue is long enough for the good guy to deliver a catchy line like "you almost got away with it but you forgot one thing..." The bad guy will say "and what is that?!!!" and the good guy will then pull out a recorder revealing they recorded everything he said and sent it to the cops or will be slowly pulling out a hidden item that stuns him. In real life if you unalived my family and i finally catch you I dont need you to know who i am and why Im about to unalive you!!! im just gonna do it!! MOVIE OVER!!

I always hope to see more lore but they die to another random ass antagonist or just die for sacrificial causes sometimes its an overdramatic death but i genuinely dont give a fuck about it

Particularly ones that sweet-talk the protagonist into thinking they are protecting them, and you/another character watch in despair as the protagonist goes back to the manipulator. Examples I can think of are basically all from LOTR - Wormtongue, Gollum when Frodo tells Sam to go home, the Ring (when Frodo says, “the Ring is mine”), Gollum/Smeagol, Rapunzel’s mother. But none are quite what I’m thinking of…

Trying to watch the new TV show, Line of Fire. I kept getting distracted by how much the "family" doesn't look like each other.

If you have actors and actresses portraying parents with supposedly biological children, there needs to be similar facial features, hair color, and body/build.

(Sorry for bad English, it's not my first language)

I've noticed that trope has become very common in movies like that The Craft remake and the more recent Practical Magic sequel, where there is a man from magical lineage, but he has no powers and the ONLY spell he can cast is "steal woman's magic".

Like, I know it's a critique of patriarchy and all, but it's done so poorly and I find the writing quite lazy when they summarize whole characters into "jealous man". I can't remember any explanation why those guys didn't inherit the magical powers in those movies.

It would be refreshing if we got a gay witch boy in those sorts of movies. Or maybe a straight one too. Patriarchy can hurt anybody someday and somehow.

Maybe that's really petty, but i just couldn't get this off my mind. I'm sorry if i talked shi here lol.

This is done to provide a shorthand signal that the two characters are truly old buddies with a long history.

They immediately (with no discussion or preparation) break into a greeting that involves some kind of rhythmic chant along with highly coordinated hand slapping and other physical movements.