Saturday, December 13, 2014

Movie Cliché

First of all, I just want to emphasize here that I do not make this post to mock or criticize others work. Off course they're all great people and I myself cannot compete with them at all. I write these just to share my thought and one of the thing that I love so much, movie. So no offense, these all are not the weaknesses. However, every movie has its own beauty, that's what makes us love movies at the very first place.

What I mean by saying "cliché" is not a bad thing here. It's more like saying that the subject have their own formula which is used in many times and it's not because they don't have other great idea. Sometimes they use the "
cliché" because it is simply their own uniqueness. It is what define them, the thing that makes people can identify and watch them. Look at it based on category. Here we go:

 

BY GENRE

Action movie we know it when we see something explode, a lot of fight or weapon, usually involving chasing scene either by foot or car or motorcycle. The main cast is either have the skill to fight or just suddenly can fight spectacularly. The main cast is outnumbered by the amount of the antagonist shooter but suddenly he/she has a-never-empty-bullet and he/she can shoot precisely. At that very unbalance fight, he/she usually doesn't wounded at all, or having a few wound in unimportant part of body, like the arm or leg and continuing the fight like they don't feel anything. Or they do have severe wound but they suddenly have that big energy to finish and win the fight before they die.

Superhero movie sometimes has that similarity with action movie. The enemy usually is a bad person from the beginning or a good person who involves in some fail experiments and change to be a bad person. The threat for the superhero is usually, either his girlfriend/family in danger, but it's a better thing if you can include the safety of a larger group of people like all people in the world or all people in the city, or maybe as simple as -all people in a bus. The more people the better. The superhero character usually has a rich emotional backstory like an orphan, a dying uncle, a child who was left by his father when he was a child, or simply a geek and being bullied by his friends. Oh yes and the latest trend is to gather the group of superhero into one movie.


Musical movie will required the main cast to sing, sometimes with a cheerful choreography. There's a lot of high school element, or fairytale, or maybe the main cast work at music industry. Suddenly their soundtracks hit the billboard and have platinum certification. Great way to score more money~
 
Romance movie meanwhile (usually) has that perfect charming attractive protagonist pair. Starting from the meet-cute, has some problems in the middle and realizing everything and love each other at the end. Or, it can start with the main cast hate each other so much and when they're about to be in their separate way, they realize how they love each other, and there will be some chasing scenes (sometimes at the airport) and they pour their heart to each other (suddenly having a very brilliant and touching word for each other).

Dance movie always has the same thing as its backstory, you know, the school is almost closed, the protagonist is banned by his/her father to make a career out of dance, fighting between two gangs to use a place as their dance class. And don't forget, there will be a pair who dance romantically at the sunset. Yeah well, we know.


Horror / Thriller movie honestly, I almost never watch this genre. Not my preference. But I remember the old time when I still watched this genre, they like to end the movie with a cliffhanger. Either the ghost is still alive or something like that.



BY CAST

When you need an actress who: 

  1. Miserable life-hater in pain = Kristen Stewart 
  2. Sexy and powerful, somehow evil = Angelina Jolie
  3. Sexy naughty rebellion = Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson
  4. Brave Rebellion = Mila Kunis, Cameron Diaz
  5. Classy independent brave = Emma Watson, Keira Knightly, Anne Hathaway
  6. Happy-go-lucky quirky but still an american sweetheart = Zooey Deschanel
  7. Not-so-intelligent blonde = Kaley Cuoco, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Coolidge

When you need an actor who:
  1. Womanizer cocky party lover = Seann William Scott, Neil Patrick Harris, Russel Brand, Robert Downey Jr.
  2. Nice innocent little boy= Michael Cera, John Francis Daley
  3. Geek= Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jack McBrayer
  4. Sensitive deep love= Jason Segel
  5. Hot guy in school, girls always hysterical at = Zac Efron, Ryan Gosling, Robert Pattinson
  6. Sexy daddy = Gerard Butler, Geoge Clooney, Chris Noth, Patrick Dempsey
  7. Eccentric weird-face = Johny Depp

BY DIRECTOR / PRODUCER

Christopher Nolan will have a cerebral, often nonlinear story-telling style. He likes to make us think more before we can understand his movie, but once we understand everything, it tastes great! You usually can find a big plot twist by the end of the movie. Nolan doesn't like to just give us that simple happy ending that we always secretly want, he twists it. But don't worry, sometimes it will still be a happy ending in its own way. Nolan also likes to work with the person he is familiar with. We usually see that composer Hans Zimmer and actor Michael Caine in many of his movies. Nolan's notable works including Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige, Memento and the new one, Insterstellar.


 Judd Apatow / Seth Rogen / Jason Segel meanwhile, speaking on cast formula, they like to use same round of people in their movie. Well let's say, Knocked up, we had Seth Rogen, James Franco, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader. Superbad had Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader. Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Year One had Michael Cera, Bill Hader. Forgetting Sarah Marshall had Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader. The-40-Year-Old Virgin had Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd. This is 40 had Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Bill Hader. I Love You, Man had Paul Rudd, Jason Segel. Pineapple Express had Seth Rogen, James Franco, Bill Hader. The 20's popular series Freaks & Geeks had James Franco, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen as regulars. And the main cycle of all is... This is The End starred James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd. You see, it's good to have that friendship group of actors. They could help each other.

Martin Scorsese whom i cannot tell his formula, but i start to feel differently when i watched his movie. He can give that old, classy, timeless, unique tone into his works. Just watch his Shutter Island, Hugo, The Wolf of Wallstreet and The Aviator which had that same atmosphere feel.

Alfonso Cuaron I honestly should tell that i don't watch much of Cuaron but i think he likes to make an ordinary simple story into something very very intense and thrilling. Well, let's say Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Gravity are a dark, ominous, intense movies.

Marc Webb used to direct some music videos in the past, so that's the reason he usually picked the right song for his movies. He could move the story into a more emotional dramatic tone. He also had the formula for the ending though. His own version of ending  most likely ended by the main character couldn't be together, just like what he did to 500 Days of Summer and The Amazing Spiderman 2.



BY SCENE
  1. A fighting in the pouring rain. The girl ran away and the guy was chasing her.
  2. The-girl-bumped-on-a-guy kind of thing (and the book fell down the floor)
  3. The blind date didn't go so well so the girl pretended to go to the bathroom and ran away.
  4. The girl almost got hit by a truck when the guy stepped aside and stopped the truck by his hand (lol~we know what movie is)
  5. There was a giant green grass field and the guy asked the girl to lie down beside him, looking for the stars.
  6. The girl liked that perfect guy but it turned out that the guy whom she really loved was her own best friend.
  7. The meet-cute scene at the karaoke, and/or when the guy and the girl accidentally sang a duet.
  8. That beach romantic scene, at sunset.
  9. A group of teenager, looking for a place to have their fraternity party but instead trapped in a spooky and mysterious villa.
  10. The hatred and mockery which by the end- turned into love (what, like in three different movies? Yeah, good for you Katherine Heigl).

No comments:

Post a Comment