Christian Toto on Movie Cliches He’d Like to Ban

My friend and fellow critic Christian Toto has a blog post about three movie cliches he’d like to ban from all future movies.

# The ambivalent hit man: Yes, “The Matador” gave Pierce Brosnan one of his meatiest film roles. But the conflicted killer routine is getting old, even if it didn’t stop George Clooney from tackling it anew.

# Young, hungry journalists: How many times do we meet a young, fetching female character who we quickly learn is a magazine writer/aspiring journalist/novelist in training? Wake up, Hollywood. Journalism as we know it has been read its Last Rites. Now, go find a new profession to exploit.

# Rom-coms set in New York: The U.S. teems with beautiful, photogenic cities. Heck, has any film producer seen Pittsburgh at night? It’s beautiful. Go find some new ones …. and leave the Big Apple to Woody Allen.

His commenters have added some of my favorites, including the chick flick routine of young women singing or dancing together and the country character or person of faith who just has to be an idiot or a crook. Fun to read!