Thursday
May082014
Open Thread. What Movie Thing Makes Your Eyes Roll?
Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 4:30PM 
This week's banner theme was chosen by James T who won a recent 'say what' contest. He selected 'eye rolls'. I have no idea why he chose it but it's appropriate for today since I am feeling so over it (one of those days). It was hard to think up actors for the banner. My queen of cinematic eye-rolls is totally Noni Ryder but I couldn't find a pic. But nevermind all that.
What cinematic trope/cliché, actor, movie-anything makes your eyes roll every time? Groan away in the comments! Perhaps other readers share your pet peeves.
Reader Comments (68)
3rtful, thank you! I really enjoyed the first half of Huston's memoir and look forward to the next installment.
And Jans, Shelley Duvall certainly does have admirers. I respect your opinion, but I think she should have won Oscars for '3 Women' and 'The Shining.'
People in movies ordering food then leaving before it arrives. That's food, danggit! Show some respect! >:3
Characters supposedly talking in their native language but for the audience's sake they speak in perfect English then all of a sudden speak that native language to sound fancy or underline their point. >:3
What's worse: Non-English-speaking actors speaking to one another in English despite playing foreign citizens, or English-language actors speaking in the accent of the country they're supposed to be citizens of?
The Book Thief's insistence on Rush/Watson's German accents bugged the hell out of me.
Unnecessary framing devices. Just tell your story, don't set it up with someone telling it for no reason except to make it sound more important by someone saying 'this story is important'.
Omg, I finally remembered one that always bugs me. When they hang up without saying bye first! No one does that in real life!!! You don't just assume the convo is over and hang up, you say good-bye!!!
And I gotta agree with the lack of racial minorities in films. Irks me to no end. Aside from the fact that they should be able to get better roles, you can't even employ them in smaller, non-specific roles? You can't tell me that the secretary or the doctor HAD to be white. It's just sad to me. Spread the wealth. Be realistic. To quote Cate Blanchett, "the world is round, people."
I can think of several:
Iggy...Actually, I rooll my eyes at the number of men in the movies who wear full underwear (i.e. T-shirt and boxers or briefs) to bed. Who do you know whol does that?
Gregarius...I totally agree with you about the "gimme a beer."
One plot devide that really makes me roll my eyes is the guy doing "one last heist" or "one last job"...you always know that that leads to shit happening.
One of my biggest eye-rollers, though, is when you have a scene in a car, and the driver turns his head to talk to the passenger in the front seat...and keeps his head turned for loooong seconds. Why does nobody ever get in an accident?
*Immediate dial tone after hanging up on someone
*555 numbers
*Always glistening streets
*Action heroes who are never frazzled/always composed no matter the circumstance/too cool for school
*Unnecessary romantic subplots -- I don't go to an action movie to see people fall in love. Blow some crap up.
Characters ordering a drink and then leaving the bar shortly after it arrives without finishing it.
And.... Andie MacDowell
The fact that all ancient or fantasy peoples in the movies have British accents and when people complain if Roman Legionnaire or an elven ranger (whose speaking English) has an unconvincing English accent or even, god-forbid, an American accent.
*The barrage of articles about Superhero Films/Blockbusters being the death of cinema or some such. Look, I have no problem with people having this view - I don't agree but that's neither here nor there - but do we need two or three articles a month talking about this? The irony of all this is the frequency of these articles are becoming as redundant and cliche' as the blockbusters they're criticizing. WE GET IT.
*When Person A in a movie talks to Person B on the phone and says "I have something important to tell you" but instead of telling Person B then they say "it's too important to tell you over the phone, we need to meet". Then, like always, Person A ends up dead before they do.
*Penelope Cruz and Eva Green being seen as sexy.
Wait--I'm not from your world--but does 555 really not exist at all in America?
I cannot believe.
Americans playing foreigners and foreigners playing Americans.
Keep it on the fucking turf, Executives.
Flashback montages that include scenes from earlier in the film.
@ Philip H:
That phone thing was the first one on my list above. ;-)
When people quote other characters verbatim. How do you remember exactly what someone said? And also "do you remember what I told you that first time we met?" No I don't, it was 12 years ago!
I don't want to be that guy but I roll my eyes how some male characters talk about their female love interests. Male screenwriters tend to write simple female characters whose main characteristic is their 'purity.' Or they write their problems as something that the right boyfriend would solve. This shit needs to end.
Driving scenes where the driver does not keep their eyes on the road.