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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.
#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.
#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.
#8
The very strong/smart main villain turning weak/dumb in the end fight so the heroes can win.
#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?
#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..
#17
A bad ending. If a movie was great but has a bad ending, then the whole experience is ruined.
#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!
#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?
#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..
#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.
#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.
#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.
#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.
#30
Action scenes with lots and lots of cuts, that make it obvious (or appear like) the actors can't do the fight choreography.
#31
Unnecessary/bad CGI. Watched The Greatest Showman last night, during the final score suddenly there are clunky elephants and lions appearing and then disappearing one camera angle later. Completely breaks my immersion in the movie and it's just lazy filmmaking.
#32
When the villain is always a few steps ahead of the hero for no reason. Somehow, the villain has managed to predict every move the hero and is going to make.
#33
Unbelievably lame names for technology/resources/concepts in science fiction. I'm looking at you Avatar. "Unobtainium." Give me a break. It was already an engineering joke. Why did you try to make it a real thing?
#35
"video games" in movies that are set after 1988 yet they all sound like pacman or space invaders.
What do you think ?
Literal Pigeon 2 years 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 2 years ago
Does no-one get PTSD in the movies? or develop problems with all the head trauma?
Literal Pigeon 2 years 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 2 years ago
Does no-one get PTSD in the movies? or develop problems with all the head trauma?
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